Spicy Asian Noodles #Vegan

This super-quick meal is another great summer dish!  The cook time is minimal, so you're not going to heat up your kitchen.  I love the lightness of this meal in the summer!  Delicious served with an Asian cucmber salad.  

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Mexican Pasta Salad

It's summertime!  So if you're like me, you're eating a lot of food that travels well these days.  We often eat at the park, beach, or a friend's house during the summer.  Even when it's at a friend's house, food may be sitting out for a while, so you want to make sure it's not something that will go bad!  This is a fast and easy pasta salad that you can take with you and it can stand the heat!

Mexican Pasta Salad

Salad:

• 1 box (13 oz) garden pasta 
• 1 C California Black olives, chopped
• ½ Vidalia onion, chopped
• ½ cucumber, chopped
• 1 (16 oz) can black beans
• 1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes with chilis (can also use fresh tomatoes and a jalapeno)
• Handful of cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 2 T salsa
• 2 T Jake’s California Chipolte Magic Dry Rub (or other dry rub of your choice)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp lime juice

Bake pasta according to package directions.  Run under cold water to stop the cooking. 

Add the remaining ingredients. 

Add dressing, toss well. 

Top with feta or cheddar cheese, if desired.


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Hearth and Soul
Tasty Tuesday - FTLOB

Chocolate Banana Bread

Have you ever heard of Xylitol?  Me neither, until the friendly people over at Emerald Forest asked me if I would be willing to try it out in a recipe.  I'm not a fan of artificial sweetners, but xylitol is all natural - they make theirs with North American Birch.  To me, it tasted just like sugar, but it has 40% fewer calories and 75% fewer carbs.  What a great sugar substitute for people who can't have sugar or who are looking to cut back on calories!

I made a chocolate banana bread with mine, and it turned out delicious!  Sorry I don't have a picture : (.  It got eaten too quickly!

Chocolate Banana Bread

3 mashed bananas

3/4 cup xylitol

2 T ground flax combined with 6 T water (or 2 eggs)

½ cup butter, melted

1 ¾ cups flour

¼ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325.  Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl whisk all ingredients together.  

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  

Bake for about an hour, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

**I received xylitol for free in order to try it in a recipe.  I was under no obligation to post about it, and all opinions expressed are 100% my own.  

Vegan Buffalo Wings

This past year I've been working on getting rid of the processed foods that I use and replacing them with whole foods.  I realize that those frozen veggie patties, while convenient, are not that good for me and very expensive!  

Slowly I've been replacing my freezer items with homemade alternatives.  I love having items that can just be grabbed out of the freezer for a quick meal!  One thing that I've been hanging onto, however, is Morningstar's Buffalo Wings.  I just wasn't sure I could reproduce it!  After seeing several vegetarian recipes online, I decided to attempt a vegan version.  I'm so glad I did!  These are so delicious!

   

The texture isn't the same as the frozen version, but the taste is even better.  This makes a very wet mixture - that's okay.  As long as they'll hold together enough to get them on the baking sheet, they should firm up with cooking.  And the more buffalo sauce cooked in there the better in my opinion!  

Vegan Buffalo Wings

3 C (2 15 oz cans) Garbanzos or Peas

1/2 cup oats (process half in small grinder)

3/4 cup vital wheat gluten ( I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Flour)

1/2 cup whole grain unseasoned bread crumbs

1/2 - 3/4 cup buffalo sauce

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup onion, chopped

Directions

Drain and rinse the beans, mash in a mixing bowl. Can leave a few half beans for texture but no whole beans. Add all other ingredients and mix with fork and then knead with hands until firm and uniform.  You may need to add more vital wheat gluten or breadcrumbs.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Divide into patties or smaller “wings”.
Bake at 375 on a Silpat (or baking sheet sprayed well with oil) until firm and heated through, about 45 minutes. Turn once during cooking.


Submitted to:


MMMM
Veggie Converter
Just Another Meatless Monday
my meatless mondays
Make Food-E Friends Mondays
Hearth and Soul
Tasty Tuesday - FTLOB
What's Cooking Wednesday Full Plate Thursday

Peanutty Noodles from Vegan Bites and a Review!

My husband is on the road a lot, and even when he’s home we have very different tastes in food.  One of the challenges I often face is cooking food in small quantities so that I’m not eating the same thing for an entire week.

 

That’s why I’ve really enjoyed Vegan Bites, Recipes for Singles.  According to the introduction, it’s meant for single young people in their teens and twenties, but I think it would be a great book for anyone looking for a simple introduction to the basics of being vegan and lots of great, simple recipes.  I’ve been a vegetarian for many years, but since my daughter has been born I’ve been gravitating towards a more vegan diet.  I like these recipes because they all look like they’ll taste great, but they’re simple enough that they’ll leave plenty of room for tweaking and making your own if you’re so inclined.

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Mexicali Black-Eyed Pea Patties

These patties are some of the best things I've made in a while - I thought they were great!  I served them on a tortilla with a spicy sour cream, spinach, and sprouts.  They were very easy to put together as well!  If you're looking for something with some spice and fresh flavors, give them a try.  

     Mexicali Black-Eyed Pea Patties

• 1 ½ C Black-Eyed Peas
• ¼ C diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• ¾ C bell pepper, chopped (I used a yellow one)
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
• ¼ C pancake batter
• ¼ C bread crumbs
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp salt

1. Mash black eyed peas, leaving some of the peas intact.
2. In the meantime, sauté the onion, garlic, ginger, and bell pepper in a little EVOO. 
3. Add the sautéed veggies to the black-eyed peas mixture and mix. 
4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
5. Chill mixture for one hour, and then form patties.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Patties can also be frozen to heat later.  

Submitted to:

MMMM
Veggie Converter
Just Another Meatless Monday
my meatless mondays
Hearth and Soul
Tasty Tuesday - FTLOB

Spring Rolls - Meatless Monday

Spring rolls are one of my favorite foods, but for some reason I thought that they must be incredibly difficult to make.  Then one day I saw a post on Mi Chiamo Candace talking about how easy they were to make, and I knew I had to try making them myself!  She was right, they are very simple!

First I cooked my rice noodles.  I then tossed them with a touch of sesame oil and some random fresh herbs I bought at the Asian grocery store.

I then assembled the other ingredients I was using.  I used avocado, broccoli slaw, and the rice noodle mixture in mine, but the possibilities are endless!  I think some red peppers would be lovely, or some thinly sliced strawberries!

After assembling your ingredients, get your rice paper ready and a shallow bowl of warm water.  My bowl was a little smaller than the rice paper, which made things a little difficult.  Next time I'm getting the smaller size of rice paper because I think it will be a lot easier!

Now you're ready to roll - quickly swipe the rice paper through the water, then lay it down and put your ingredients in.  I put mine down on rice paper, and since this was my first time I didn't worry too much about making things pretty.

Then you just roll it up like a burrito! As soon as the rice paper touches itself it will stick.  Roll as tightly as you can - I'm still getting this part down!

Your spring rolls are ready for dipping!  I just used some Hoison, Bragg's, and  Sriracha for my dipping sauce.  You could also make a peanut sauce or sweet chili sauce.

I stored all the leftover fillings in small bowls, and made new spring rolls every day until I ran out of filling. This worked better than making the rolls all at once, because as they dry out the rice paper can get tough.  When only making one or two rolls, I just ran the rice paper under the faucet quickly.

Little Miss joined in on the fun with her own bowl of water and rice paper!

I hope this inspires you to try making your own spring rolls!

Submitted to:

MMMM
Veggie Converter
Just Another Meatless Monday
my meatless mondays
Hearth and Soul

Dinner Tonight - From the PPK

If you haven't checked out the Post Punk Kitchen, I recommend you drop what you're doing now and go visit it.  It's full of yummy vegan food, and you're sure to find something that inspires you!

I'm a curry addict, so when I saw this recipe for Broccoli Curry Udon I just had to make it.  I used broccoli, red bell pepper, and baby bellas.  I also used rice noodles instead of udon noodles.  It turned out great!  I think next time I'll add some sriracha to spice things up a little, but other than that it was just about perfect.  I also topped with furikake instead of toasted sesame seeds.  That's pretty standard for me, since I always have it around and I think it gives a pretty similar affect.

What did you have for dinner tonight?  

Shared with Hearth and Soul

Philadelphia Cooking Creme Vegetarian Recipes

Last weekend we were able to host a House Party for Philadelphia Cooking Creme.  It worked out really well, because the quick and easy recipes were perfect for getting dinner ready quickly for a large crowd after the Mardi Gras parades.  I converted to of the recipes to make them vegetarian, so I'm sharing them below!

Mushroom Florentine Casserole

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Meatless Monday - Sometimes Simple is Good!

We've had a really busy weekend here.  Dinner party on Saturday, and the Mardi Gras parade on Sunday.
So today I imagine I'll be eating pretty simple foods.  This is an incredibly easy dish to make, and it's also healthy and good!

Simple Asian Stir Fry

Saute some broccoli slaw in a little sesame oil.  Serve over rice (I used red rice), and top with a little of your favorite sauce - I used a miso teriyaki.

Super easy and fast!  Especially if you're already cooking the rice for something else.

Happy Monday!  I hope you'll join our blog hop today!

Asian Salad - Meatless Monday

Last week I had a post on making a ground beef substitute, so this week I'm going to give you a great recipe to use it in!  This is based on an Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe, but I simply made it into a salad.  I love the spiciness of the "meat" contrasting with the coolness of the salad!

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Ground Beef Substitute

In case you haven't noticed, there are a LOT of recipes out on the internet that call for ground beef.  As a vegetarian, you can either ignore all of those recipes or come up with other things to put in place of the beef.  They sell faux crumbles at the store, but I'm not a fan of overly processed food, and question if they are any healthier than meat.  
That's why I was thrilled when I saw that Veggie Converter had posted a recipe for ground beef substitute.  I had to give it a try!  I made some changes to make it my own, and here is what I came up with.  I was very pleased with how it turned out - it's not "meaty" tasting, but it has the right consistency to use in recipes that call for hamburger.  

Ground Beef Substitute

• 2 C Brown or Red Rice
• 2 C Green or Brown lentils
• 2 Tbsp. steak seasoning (I used McCormick's Santa Fe spice blend instead of a steak seasoning)
• 1/8 C olive oil
• 1/8 C steak sauce
• 1/4 C diced sauteed or marinated mushrooms
• 1/4 C vital wheat gluten
• 1 C rolled oats, chopped (I used a coffee grinder)

Cook rice, lentils and steak seasoning until slightly soft (I put them in my rice cooker on brown rice setting).  Be sure there is no excess water when done.  Mash slightly with a potato masher - leave it chunky though!  This step gave it a great texture in my opinion.  Combine with remaining ingredients, mashing some more if needed.  Spread into a large pan and bake at 300F for 1 hour, stirring at least every 15 minutes to evenly dehydrate mixture. Store in portion-sized freezer bags. It will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week or freezer until used.



This makes a lot!  This time around I put the entire mixture in one casserole dish - I think next time I will use two dishes to let it cook better.  I've used this in one recipe so far with great results!  I use 2 and 1/2 cups of this mixture to equal a pound of ground beef.  

Meatless Monday - Indian Samosa Casserole

When I spent a summer in Oxford, England for school, one of my favorite foods was Indian Samosas.  They were easy to find since street vendors sold them everywhere, and the perfect filling food to carry along with you while you were heading out on your next big adventure.  There was  a vendor who sold them right outside the train that connected Oxford and London, so I was always getting them to eat on my way to a London adventure.

I've always looked for something similar in the U.S., but have never been able to find anything like it.  Of course, this may have to do with the fact that my husband doesn't like Indian food so we rarely visit Indian restaurants while travelling : ).  Anyway, I was super-excited when I found this recipe from Vegetarian Times in my e-mail one day.  I'd never attempted to make them before since it seemed a little complicated, but a casserole I can do!

I used a mixture of sweet and white potatoes to make it a little healthier.  Since I used sweet potatoes, I left out the agave nectar.  

And I also added some mushrooms to my vegetable mix because I love mushrooms!  I had a bag of frozen mixed veggies that needed using up, so I substituted that for the carrot and peas.    

I also had some Fillo Dough I needed to use up, so I used it for a crust instead.  It was good, but doesn't reheat that well so unless you're eating the whole thing in one night I'd recommend going with their recipe for the crust.  

Eat alone, our with some raita or chuney.  Delicious!

I had some leftover filling, and it worked really well in a wrap as well.  

Meatless Monday - Buffalo Tofu Po-Boys

Here in the Panhandle, everyone is gearing up for the Mardi Gras season, so I thought this week we'd focus on Mardi Gras on the blog!  Before I moved here, I thought Mardi Gras was only celebrated in New Orleans, but there are actually some great family friendly activities all along the Gulf Coast!

One of the great things about Mardi Gras is all of the wonderful food.  This is the only time of year you can buy King Cakes everywhere, and traditional foods such as Po-Boys abound.  This Tofu Po-Boy is super-easy to make, and one of my favorite ways to have tofu.

Buffalo Tofu Po-Boys

1. Press 1/2 of a package of tofu for at least 30 minutes.
2. Cut tofu into strips.  Put into a glass dish and coat tofu blocks with Bragg's.
3. Bake tofu blocks at 350 for about 30 minutes - I sometimes cook longer because I like mine to get rather crispy.  Turn after 15 minutes.
4. Coat tofu with your favorite Buffalo Wing sauce, or make your own sauce with Frank's Red Hot and butter.  
5. Cook tofu another 10-20 minutes.  
6. While the tofu is cooking, saute some mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper.
7. Pile tofu and sauteed vegetables onto some good quality french bread.  Add lettuce if you'd like, and enjoy!  I serve mine with oven-baked fries.  

Skillet Gardner's Pie - A Great Way to Use Up All of those Veggies

The other day I realized that I had a ton of veggies that needed to be eaten, and only small amounts of each thing.  I've been wanting to make a Shepherd's Pie for ages, so I decided that this would be a great time to do it.  I used this recipe as a guideline, but changed it a lot to use what I had on hand.  Mine had green beans, turnips, collards, carrots, onions, and mushrooms.  I also used leftover mashed potatoes.

It turned out really well, I'm sure I'll make it again!   

What is one of your favorite recipes for using up a bunch of leftovers?  

Meatless Monday - Tofu Chili

Ready to eat!

This recipe is perfect for a cold winter day!  It also comes together pretty quickly.  I got the recipe off of an e-mail from Nasoya, and didn't do much to change it.  I used fire roasted crushed tomatoes and a green pepper instead of a red pepper.  I added a peeled and diced turnip that I needed to use up - if I hadn't done this, I probably would have added some mushrooms.    I also only used half of a 14 oz block of tofu, which I pressed.

These are the sauteed veggies and tofu before I added the tomatoes.  

Meatless Monday - Vegan Sausages

I wanted to try using vital wheat gluten for a long time before I did.  However, I was a little nervous as well.  The original recipes I saw involved lots of steps and boiling things in broth and the reviews always had extremely mixed results.  However, eventually a batch of recipes cropped up that seemed not so difficult, and people were getting good results!  I finally decided to take the plunge, and used this as my base recipe:

Pasta with Peppers and Sausage

I added a roasted red pepper and a ton of basil, since these were things I had on hand that needed using up.   I also changed the spices up a little in an attempt to get spicier results.

To make the sausages, you combine all of the dry ingredients in one container, and all of the wet ingredients in another container.  This is done to ensure that the ingredients are mixed well, since once the liquid hits the vital wheat gluten it gets clumpy and a lot harder to mix.

Once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, scoop it out and put into tin foil.  Roll into a hotdog shape, and then steam for 40 minutes.  I have to say, these turned out really great!  Next time I'll make them a little spicier, but the texture turned out really good and the flavor was good as well.

You can slice these and saute them, or eat like hot dogs.  

CSA Cooking - Brown Sugar-Glazed Beets

This was my first time cooking beets and they were wonderful! I used a mixture of beets and turnips in mine. I love the vibrant red color!

Brown Sugar-Glazed Beets

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Meatless Monday - Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa

This Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa is a great meal for a busy weeknight!  I used cooked dried beans, because I had the time to make them.  Other than that, the recipe came together in less than 20 minutes with pantry staples, making it both easy and cheap!

I was out of quinoa, so I used one small bag (the 2 serving size) of minute rice instead.  I omitted the onion because I didn't have any on hand, but I did add onion flakes when I added the tomatoes.  I also added fresh peppers when I added the tomatoes, simply because I had some I needed to use up.  The ginger and curry really shine in this recipe, so don't leave them out, and use a good quality curry powder!

CSA Cooking - A Thanksgiving Side Dish

Recently, I got to attend the Thanksgiving veggie potluck with Little Miss and her cousin.  With our busy schedule, I rarely get to attend anymore, and it's something I really miss.  This month was our early Thanksgiving meal.  Everything was so delicious!  Since I had a hard squash and some pears that needed using, I made this dish.  I loved the sweet and savory combo!

Cranberry Squash Bake

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