Vegan No-Eggy Salad

The BEST vegan egg-less salad! 

Original recipe here:

https://theyummyvegan.com/blog/thebestveganeggsalad?rq=Egg%20Salad

I added a little more than a teaspoon of turmeric because I always add more turmeric than a recipe says. This … mashed on some pumpernickel toast with melted Daiya cheddar shreds, some homemade pesto, and fresh baby spinach was absolutely delicious! 

I always make the Bestest Pesto from Isa Does It because it IS the bestest pesto. You need look nowhere else! 

Makes a yummy quick meal. 

Vegan Brunch with Muffins! yay! (and a quick dinner)

Mmm. Made a vegan brunch today thanks to my favorite vegan cookbook, Vegan Brunch.
I made the "swiss chard frittata" (which ended up being a baby kale and caramelized onion frittata because Whole Foods was out of chard). I also made my polenta topped with roasted tomatoes. Mmm.

I made the Blueberry Ginger Spelt Muffins on page 155 of Vegan Brunch for the first time.
These were pretty good; I was craving some blueberry muffins and these hit the spot. I think I prefer a more dense bran-type muffin, so maybe I'll make blueberry bran muffins when I run out of spelt flour.

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt (a 6oz container) (as I'm typing this I realized that I actually screwed up and used 1 cup plain soy yogurt but it was totally fine!)
1 cup mylk (any kind of nut mylk will do)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups blueberries
(original recipe also calls for 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger, which I omitted.)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl with the exception of the blueberries. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold in the blueberries (and ginger if using). Scoop batter into muffin tin and bake 28 - 32 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the tin before transferring muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.

---

Later, for dinner, I made a salad and a quick steamed spaghetti squash with vegan meatless balls. Mmm

This salad was also satisfying and it was just kalamata olives, mesclun lettuce, cucumbers, fresh heirloom tomatoes, roasted chestnuts, and the balsamic dressing that I made yesterday.
I paired it with some steamed spaghetti squash "pasta" and a veggie-loaded tomato sauce and Whole Foods' brand vegan meatless balls.
This is my lower carb alternative to pasta. meh.
To steam spaghetti squash (the lazy way): Cut ends off squash and then cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and put in a microwaveable dish with about 1 centimeter of cold water. Microwave for about 13 minutes. Hold squash with a potholder (it's HOT!) while you scrape out the strings into a bowl.
To make the sauce (the lazy way): I sauté a sliced onion in a little olive oil in a saucepan until translucent. Then add a 28oz can of organic diced or crushed tomatoes and some Italian herbs and spices such as oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flake, salt, and pepper. I also added some frozen artichoke hearts to this sauce which I had reheated in the microwave. (This was my first try of frozen artichokes. Blech. I will stick to canned or jarred.) Heat through until flavors blend - about 5 - 10 mins.
Prepare your favorite vegan meatless balls as directed, put on top of spaghetti squash, top with sauce and enjoy! yum. (Add a basil chiffonade for extra yum yums.)

Slowcooker / Crockpot Apple Butter!



 

Apple Butter is surprisingly easy to make! I was looking for something to do with all my CSA apples and came across this simple recipe for apple butter in a cookbook I found on a neighbor's stoop. heh. The cookbook is called Endangered Recipes: Too Good To Be Forgotten by Lari Robling and it features some classic American recipes.

 

Apple Butter Recipe:

5 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into 1 inch pieces (about 12 cups)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 - 2 teaspoons cardamom

1/2 cup apple cider

 

Put everything in crockpot for 4 hours on high, then scrape sides down and cook on low for about 10 hours more. Puree in crockpot with immersion blender. If it still needs to thicken cook an additional hour or two with lid ajar. Puree in blender afterward if you don't have an immersion blender. Voila!

More on Vegan Bagel Spreads ...

Ok. So, I tried the Cashew Cream Cheese recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen and it's a pretty damn good raw vegan soy free alternative to cream cheese. It beats the smashed avocado. I also made the Tofu Ricotta from Veganomicon which is a good one too. I'm thinking the Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon will probably be the winner. I'll try that next week. ;)

Here are some pictures of delicious wraps I've had over the past week or so. The first one is a veggie wrap from Strokos in Washington Heights (St. Nicholas Ave at 166th St.) and the second is the Smoky Avocado wrap from Blossom du Jour (three locations in Manhattan). Blossom du Jour is a 100% vegan takeaway. They also deliver and cater events. It was so yummy that it'll be my new Friday afternoon lunch after my yoga class. ;)

Simple Vegan Banana Muffins

 

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup oil or vegan margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour (I used whole wheat.)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup nut milk (I use almond milk)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F. Mash bananas with a fork in a large bowl until mushy and just a little lumpy. Stir sugar and oil into bananas. Mix all other dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add to banana mixture. Add nut milk and stir just to combine. Fill 12 muffin cups with batter and bake for 20 mins. Enjoy!

Makes 12 small muffins. 

Approximate nutritional info (per muffin): 204 calories, 5g fat, 40g carbs, 2.5g protein, 21g sugars.

Vegan Swiss Chard Frittata and Tomato Rosemary Scones

I finally decided to post this recipe because it's so, so delicious! Buy Vegan Brunch! It's the best cookbook ever.

Vegan Tomato Rosemary Scones recipe here:
http://sundaegirl108.blogspot.com/2009/11/vegan-tomato-rosemary-scones.html

Swiss Chard Frittata
(recipe from Vegan Brunch p. 34-36)

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I find that this makes it very garlicy, so you can easily halve the amount of garlic)
1 bunch red Swiss chard, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons oregano
1 pound firm tofu
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard (yellow, dijon, or whatever)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric (I usually put in a little more)
several dashes black pepper
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Preheat oven to 400F. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Saute garlic in oil for about 3 minutes. Add the chard and oregano and saute the chard until it's wilted. Add water if needed.
Meanwhile, prepare the tofu base. Give the tofu a squeeze over the sink to remove some excess water. Use your hands to crumble it into a large mixing bowl until it has the consistency of ricotta cheese. Add the soy sauce, mustard, tumeric, black pepper, and yeast to the tofu and mix well. Add the chard mixture to the tofu when it's done and mix it well to incorporate it. Lightly grease an 8 inch pie plate and firmly press the tofu mixture into it. Bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Here is a pic of Lucas, my handsome fiance, enjoying our new year brunch ~ complete with cava!

Vegan Tomato Rosemary Scones

These are the Tomato Rosemary Scones from Vegan Brunch p.184.
These are so easy to make and super delicious!

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 14oz can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary

Method:
Preheat oven to 400F. Lighty grease a baking sheet or spray with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Measure olive oil into a large measuring cup and whisk in the rosemary, vinegar, and tomato sauce.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the tomato mixture.
Gently mix using a wooden spoon until batter is loosely holding together.
Flour a surface and turn batter onto surface. Knead until a soft dough forms.
At this point, I took a spoon and scooped the dough in 12 parts onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 14-16 mins. Makes 12 scones.

Vegan Creamy Avocado Potato Salad

This is the Creamy Avocado Potato Salad from Vegan Brunch p.123.
This is, quite possibly, my favorite cookbook ever! Seriously. Buy this book!

*This is how I made the recipe that is in the cookbook. (i.e. My ingredients/measurements are slightly different.)

Ingredients:
2 pounds potatoes, chopped into small cubes
2 avocados
2 tablespoons lime juice, from a lime or two
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 fresh tomato, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
Green onions, chopped small for garnish

Method:
Cook the potatoes however you like to do it (boil 'em, steam 'em, etc.)
Prepare the dressing by scooping avocado flesh into your food processor, add lime juice, salt, and cayenne pepper and puree until very, very smooth.
Add chopped tomato and onion and pulse just to incorporate them.
Throw cooked (and cooled) potatoes and the avocado sauce into a bowl and mix.
Garnish with green onions.
Delish!

***I served this with my Crunchy Lentil Salad. Yum!
Recipe here:
http://sundaegirl108.blogspot.com/2009/02/avocado-hummus-and-crunchy-lentil-salad.html

Vegan Chorizo Sausages and Swiss Chard Frittata

I made vegan sausage! ... and it was actually pretty easy! yay!

The recipe for each of these can be found in Vegan Brunch. You must buy this book. It is amazing.

Brunch is my favorite meal of the week. This meal was definitely my favorite of the week.

Yummy in my tummy. That is all.

Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins (vegan)

Recipe from Vegan Brunch p.162 (These just might be the best muffins I've ever tasted, let alone baked myself!!!)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped or pulsed in a food processor
1 cup pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped (i used walnuts)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Make a well in the center and add orange juice, oil, zest, and extracts.
Mix until all dry ingredients are moistened. Add nuts and cranberries about half way through mixing.
Fill the muffin cups 3/4 of the way full and bake for 23 to 27 minutes, until muffins are lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
When cool enough to handle, transfer the muffins to a baking rack to cool completely.
Enjoy warm with some vegan butter. Mmm.

MAKES 12 MUFFINS.

Vegan Brunch

Image source: http://superspark.wordpress.com

When winter was coming to a close, I stocked up on a few cans of pumpkin purée. (I love pumpkin.) So ... I made the pumpkin bran muffins from Vegan Brunch on Monday. They are so yummy! Mmmmmmmm.

This is after a failed attempt to make the pumpkin pancakes from Vegan Brunch. The pancakes just remained a pile of mush no matter how long I cooked them. meh. I followed the directions to a T ... I dunno what happened.

So, go for the muffins. They are super yum. :)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I made the lemon poppy seed muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance this morning for brunch. Yummy yum yum.


Photo source: http://www.eatmedelicious.com/

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup rice or soy milk
6 ounce container of soy yogurt, plain or vanilla (I used plain)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (zest from 2 lemons)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, rice or soy milk, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the lemon zest to the wet ingredients. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry; halfway through mixing fold in the poppy seeds.
Spray a 12 muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Fill each cup 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20-25 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Tofu Scramble

This morning, I made the tofu scramble recipe posted in the last entry. It was delicious! It was actually better than I had anticipated. Lucas even thought it was eggs. He liked it too. :) This is definitely going to be a regular occurrence for weekend brunch. Mmmmm.

P.S. Served with some grits and cinnamon toast. Mmm.

Going all the way...............

It's getting to the point that I am totally grossed out by all meat.

I was eating fish (e.g. see two recipes below), but that is an increasingly rare occurrance. I bought some tuna fish to make some tuna salad for lunch and I couldn't bring myself to eat it. I just had to throw it away. I wasted $1.99. I hate that. Thank goodness I also bought myself a yummy indian veggie microwave meal. I guess I'll give the other two cans to Lucas for lunch this week. yuck.

I also looked up some not-so-good facts about eggs. I really haven't concerned myself with cholesterol levels of foods because I eat mostly vegetarian (like 90% of the time). I do, however, enjoy eggs on the weekends for brunch. It seems that women really shouldn't eat more than 300mg cholesterol per day and a single egg has 220mg of cholesterol in it! ick.

Maybe I will try to make a tofu scramble this weekend. Of course, the occasional indulgence is OK ... and I probably don't come anywhere near 300mg per day on most days, but still ... I want to enjoy old age and travel my arse off!

So ... this tofu scramble sounds good and it doesn't call for nutritional yeast like most other tofu scramble recipes. (I am too lazy to search for this ingredient because I will rarely use it.)

Curried Tofu Scramble with Spinach
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 countainer firm or extra firm tofu, pressed and crumbled
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tomatoes, diced
1 bunch fresh spinach

Preparation:
Sautee the garlic and onion in olive oil in a large skillet. Allow to cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until onion turns soft. Add remaining ingredients except spinach and cook, stirring frequently for another 5 minutes or so, until tofu is hot and cooked, adding more oil if needed.
Add spinach and cook a minute or two, just until wilted, stirring well.
Makes two servings of tofu scramble.

Nutritional Information:
Calories per serving: 236, Calories from Fat: 96
Total Fat: 10.6g, Saturated Fat: 2.0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 166mg
Total Carbohydrates: 21.7g, 7% daily value
Dietary Fiber: 8.3g, 33%
Protein: 21.0g
Vitamin A 340% RDA, Vitamin C 116%, Calcium 55%, Iron 9%
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Recipe Source: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/curriedscramble.htm