Thanksgiving 2010!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is over. It didn't even feel like Thanksgiving on the day. It just kind of felt like I cooked a lot of food and then it was over and done with. Anyways, I cooked pretty much the same things I do every year, but that's what makes it special, right?

 

We had:

-Two Tofurkys. One marinated in a bottle of sparkling apple cider, garlic, and fresh poultry herbs and the other was basted in the soy sauce mixture on the box.

-Stuffing

-Canned cranberry sauce

-Mashed sweet potatoes with Ricemellow creme topping

-Green bean casserole

-Mashed potatoes

-Garlic cheddar biscuits

-Poinsettia cocktails

-and store bought rolls

 

Here's my plate. Yum!

The stuffing was made with an organic bagged mix and I added sauteed carrots, onions, and celery, lots of veggie broth, and then baked it until the top was brown.

The sweet potatoes were baked in a 350 degree oven for a little over an hour, peeled, and mashed with brown sugar, Earth Balance, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then I transferred them to the oven to warm them up, then topped them with Ricemellow Creme and baked them until the Ricemellow turned brown and bubbly.

For the green bean casserole, I used this recipe and the only thing I changed was adding a package of sliced, sauteed mushrooms. This was the first time trying this recipe and it was really good! The sauce isn't white like traditional green bean casserole, so I got scared, but it tastes amazing.

The mashed potatoes were just potatoes cubed and boiled until fork tender and then mashed with Earth Balance, almond milk, and salt and pepper.

For the garlic cheddar biscuits, I use this recipe and for the herbs I add poultry herbs and garlic powder, and then stir in Diaya cheddar cheese at the end. Then I drop them on to a pan, sprinkle more Daiya cheddar, and bake.

Then for the poinsettia cocktails, I mixed equal parts of pink champagne and cranberry juice. I just turned 21 on the 20th, so I had no idea how to buy champagne, but the pink champagne ended up being yummy and the cocktail turned out great!

Now on to dessert:

 

Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pecan pie

For some reason the pecan pie fell apart when I tried to cut it into slices. I think I should have baked it longer, but it still tasted really really good!

The pumpkin cheesecake was this recipe. It's the second time I've made it and it was just as delicious as the first time! The only difference is that I used a graham cracker crust instead of chocolate.

For the pecan pie I used this recipe. I've been making it for a while now for Thanksgiving and Christmas and it's really easy and delicious. I would recommend it to anyone.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

VeganMoFo Day 9: Pomegranates

I love pomegranate juice. It's a little tart and a little sweet and really good for you. But every time I saw a whole pomegranate at the store, I felt intimidated and didn't know how to cut into it or get the little seeds out. In case someone doesn't know, the only edible part of the pomegranate are the little seeds and the juicy fleshy stuff encasing the seeds called arils. I finally figured out the best way to open up a pomegranate and get the delicious juicy seeds out of it. It seems like a lot of work, and it is, but the seeds are delicious! I'll show you step by step how to get them out.

What you'll need:

• A bowl of water that is big enough to hold all of your pomegranate seeds
• A sharp knife
• A strainer

Step 1:

 

Cut the top off of the pomegranate about 1-1 1/2 inch down.

Step 2:

 

When you cut the top off, you'll see little sections with seeds. You want to cut into the pomegranate between each of the sections like the picture shows. Not all the way through, but deep enough so you can pull each section off. Be careful of the juice, it stains!

Step 3:

After you pull a section off, it should look like this. Its easiest to work with one section at a time, so pull one off, and set the rest of it off to the side.

Step 4:

 

Now you'll want to start pushing all of the seeds out of the white stuff. If the white stuff gets in the bowl, it's fine because it floats and the seeds sink. Try to get all of the white parts off of each seed, only the seed is tasty!

Step 5:

 

Now you'll have a bowl full of sunken seeds and floating white stuff. You want to get a slotted spoon and scoop off all of the white stuff and then pour the remaining seeds into a strainer in the sink. Make sure all of the white parts are out of your seeds in the strainer.

Step 6:

 

 

Now you have these beautiful red beauties! They're all ready to either eat by themselves or combine into any recipe that calls for pomegranate seeds. I like to eat the entire thing, though the seed is a little hard and crunchy. My mom likes to just put the seed in her mouth until the sweet juicy fruit is gone and spit out the seed. Whatever you like!

 

VeganMoFo Day 8: More Thanksgiving Plans

I like to plan ahead because if I have to rush to do something, I get really stressed out and feel like I can't enjoy what I'm doing. I love cooking so I definitely want to enjoy it and not have to rush. I decided to share my Thanksgiving plans with you because I don't have much else to talk about and I know I like reading about other people's plans.

Appitizers:

• Sweet Dinner Rolls from VegNews' new Holiday Cookbook. This cookbook has some great recipes and it's only $8, so I really recommend it! (These will also be a side)

Or

• Holiday Biscuits from VegNews' Holiday Cookbook. I kind of want to make both, but that might be too much bread...

• Black olives out of a can. We have always had olives at Thanksgiving, so it just seems natural. 

Main Dish:

• Tofurky roast marinated in a mixture of one bottle of sparkling apple or pear juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, and a bunch of fresh poultry herbs. You marinate it in a baggie in the fridge for two days.

• We might have another Tofurky cooked with the box directions too. Depends on our financial situation when we get to that point.

Sides:

• Biscuits or rolls from above

• Traditional stuffing. For this, we buy organic stuffing mix which is really just bread cubes and seasoning. And then we mix it together with onions, celery, carrots, and broth. Then bake it until it's hot and crispy on top. I've tried doing fancy stuffings and adding things like apples or cranberries, and I really just like traditional.

• Garlic mashed potatoes with chives.

• Green bean casserole. I usually use this recipe, but I've heard this one is good as well.

• Sweet potato pie casserole. I made this last year and it was so good, but Whole Foods just started carrying Dandies, so I might make sweet potato casserole with dandies instead. Not sure yet, again it comes down to financial situations.

• I might make macaroni and cheese with Daiya because it's so freakin' good, but we might have too much food already. Maybe I'll save the mac until Christmas.

Desserts:

•  Pecan pie! I love this recipe so much, it's easy and delicious!

• I might try out the Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake from the VegNews Holiday Cookbook, but if not, we'll have either pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake. I still  haven't made a good pumpkin pie, anyone have a good recipe? Mine is always either too watery or too chalky.

Drinks:

• I'm going to be 21 by Thanksgiving (Yay!) so I want to try out a Poinsettia Cocktail, which is just cranberry juice cocktail and champagne. It sounds yummy. ;)

• Hot apple cider

What are your plans??

Vegan MoFo Day 6: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I have seen a lot of vegan people on Twitter lately talking about how they hate Thanksgiving and that they will not be celebrating. While I understand the boycotting of the holiday because of the torture of animals and humans, I will not boycott the holiday because celebrating it for different reasons can end up opening peoples eyes about the real meaning. I say that I am celebrating ThanksLIVING which celebrates veganism, healthy foods, turkeys, and family.

Anyways, on to what this post is about, getting ready for Thanksgiving. In the past I have made the same things each year, which is fine and it all tastes good, but it gets boring to photograph and talk about. So this year I am looking for some new recipes and ideas. I've been looking around and I'll share with you some great sites and recipes that I am considering and that might help you too!

• First is the 2009 Thanksgiving post from one of my really good friends, Andrea. She is amazing and always comes up with the best food ideas. Her pictures are gorgeous and her Thanksgiving looks so good!! - Very Vegan Holiday Thanksgiving

• Next is the Thanksgiving page from VegWeb. Whenever I need a recipe, I always look to VegWeb because every recipe has reviews and you can almost always find a great recipe from there. - VegWeb Let's Talk Tofurky!

• I don't know why, but I never posted my Thanksgiving from last year. I uploaded the pictured to Flickr, but never posted them. But, I think last years Thanksgiving was pretty good. The only thing I didn't like was the potato rolls, if anyone has made them, please tell me how to make them better. They were really heavy and gooey. - My Thanksgiving posts and my '09 Thanksgiving pictures

• Vegan Dad always has some awesome recipes on his blog, and these two in particular seem great for Thanksgiving. They're a little different than your normal desserts - Pumpkin custard and Chocolate pumpkin pudding cake

Other than that, one big tip I can give you for Thanksgiving is that if you marinate your Tofurky for two days in sparkling apple cider, garlic, and herbs, it is AMAZING. I make it this way every Thanksgiving and it is so good.

VeganMoFo Day 5: Lasagna

I've only had lasagna twice since I became vegan over two years ago. I didn't really enjoy vegan lasagna because I didn't like tofu very much and the ricotta I made was mostly tofu. Since Daiya vegan cheese has come out, I really wanted to make a lasagna with it. It's stretchy and gooey, and I thought it would make the perfect lasagna. Well, the other night, I decided to make one. And let me tell you, it was one of the best lasagnas I have ever had. Vegan or non-vegan.

 

Delicious cheese lasagna

Ingredients:

•  1 box of no boil lasagna noodles (You can use the boiling kind, but this is easier and tastes better to me)
• 1 jar of tomato sauce
• 1 bag of mozzarella Daiya cheese
• 1 tub of extra firm tofu
• 2 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning (more if you want it more season-y)
• 10 basil leaves, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 c nutritional yeast
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Drain and mash tofu in a large bowl
• Add non-dairy milk, seasoning, basil, garlic, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper. Mash well
• Cover entire bottom of a deep square dish with tomato sauce
• Lay down lasagna noodles to cover whole bottom
• Spread a portion of ricotta cheese over layer of noodles
• Sprinkle with Daiya cheese and cover that with more tomato sauce
• Repeat layers until all of your ricotta mixture is gone and you have enough Daiya left to cover the top
• After the last layer, add one more layer of noodles and cover them with sauce, then sprinkle the cheese over the whole top.
• Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes
• Uncover and bake for another 20-30 minutes until the noodles are soft and cheese is all melted.

I know the directions aren't very technical, but this lasagna is delicious! You can add veggies or faux meat to this as well.

Vegan MoFo Day 3: Cheesecake

I can never make a good vegan cheesecake. I have seen so many people write about how delicious their vegan cheesecakes were and I thought to myself "Either you like a sweet pie shaped chunk of tofu, or I'm crazy!" Needless to say, every time I made cheesecake, it would just taste like tofu/soy. I never made cheesecake for any non-vegans because I knew they would think it was disgusting and write off all vegan food. I decided to try out a new PUMPKIN cheesecake recipe I modified a bit. I've tried two different pumpkin cheesecake recipes in the past, but I can definitely say that I now see what people are talking about when they rave about their vegan cheesecakes! This one is so creamy and delicious that you can't tell it's vegan at all!!

 

Pumpkin cheesecake with chocolate cookie crust (I made it for our Halloween party. :))

Pumpkin cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 1 package firm silken tofu (12.3 oz)
• 8 oz. nondairy cream cheese (1 tub of Tofutti)
• 1 c canned pumpkin
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1⁄2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1⁄8 tsp. salt
• 1⁄4 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Puree all ingredients in blender or food processor and pour the mixture into the prepared crust (A recipe for chocolate cookie crust follows, but you can use just a graham cracker crust if you want.)
• Bake cheesecake for 50 minutes.
• Cool for about an hour and then cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, best overnight.

 

Chocolate cookie crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c chocolate cookie crumbs (I used cat shaped vegan cookies from Trader Joe's, but you can use Joe Joe's, Oreo's, Newman O's, etc. It takes about 20-30 sandwich cookies WITHOUT filling.)
• 6 tbsp. melted Earth Balance

Directions:

• Grind up cookies in food processor to make 1 1/2 c
• Melt Earth Balance and combine with crumbs
• Press crumbs into pie plate 
• Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees

VeganMoFo Day 2: Cupcakes!

Since vegan cupcakes won the hearts of the judges on Cupcake Wars, they have been quite popular. A local coffee shop here in Arizona was actually on Cupcake Wars too, called The Coffee Shop, and they actually won!! Well, recently I was informed that they too are now offering vegan cupcakes! Two people, Jenna and Bobby, have formed a little business called Cruelty Free Cupcakes and they are offering them at The Coffee Shop. I was excited to see the variety in their cupcake menu since all we had around here was Sprinkles cupcakes who offer plain (BUT DELICIOUS!) red velvet cupcakes. The menu includes, but is not limited to:

• Red Velvet
• Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream
• Chocolate Coconut
• German Chocolate
• Chocolate Raspberry Truffle
• Chocolate Sundae
• Mint Chocolate Oreo
• Carrot Cake
• Vanilla Bean
• Pina Colada
• Almond Joy
• Maple
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Raspberry Lemon
• Fruit Loop
• Toffee Nut

My Grandma was nice enough to pick us up two cupcakes the other day from The Coffee Shop&Cruelty Free Cupcakes. She picked us up Rocky Road and Gingerbread.

 

Rock Road Cupcake

This is the Rocky Road cupcake. It was a chocolate cupcake with white frosting, almonds, chocolate syrup, and vegan marshmallows. (Dandies, I assume. :P) It was great! The cake is really moist and flavorful, and the frosting was really good. A lot of vegan frostings can just taste like a gob of Earth Balance, but this was really good.

 

Gingerbread Cupcake

This cupcake was delicious and adorable. It was a gingerbread cupcake with white frosting, a little gingerbread man, and edible glitter! I love the glitter added to it since I always see non-vegan cupcakes with the glitter and get sad because I can't have any. Anyways, this cupcake was so delicious too! It was moist, again, and the frosting was just right. The cake was a little spicy and a little sweet, just like gingerbread should be.

Then tonight we went back for more! I guess today was the vegan bakers day off, so there weren't many vegan cupcakes left. So we got the last gingerbread and then a rainbow sherbet! I was excited to try the sherbet one because the frosting is a few different colors swirled together with edible glitter on top!

 

Gingerbread cupcake (again) and Rainbow Sherbet cupcake

The picture doesn't do the rainbow sherbet cupcake justice, because the frosting is super bright and multi-colored. The picture isn't great because all I had was my cell phone, and I needed to devour the cakes immediately. Anyways, I already talked about the gingerbread, but the rainbow sherbet was really yummy. The cake was (I think) lightly flavored with orange, and the frosting tasted like cherry and another fruit. I don't really know what all the flavors were, but it was perfectly fruity and delicious! And again, the frosting did not taste like vegan butter.

I am so glad I found Cruelty Free Cupcakes and I can't wait to eat more!!

Link to coffee shop: The Coffee Shop AZ

Link to Cruelty Free Cupcakes: CrueltyFreeCake on Twitter

Link to Cupcake Wars: Cupcake Wars on Food Network

First day of Autumn 2010!

Yesterday, September 23rd, was the official first day of Autumn. Autumn and Winter are my two favorite seasons, so when they approach, I get so excited! I usually cook something for the first day of Autumn each year, and this year was no different. I wanted something with pumpkin, and immidiately thought of sweets. But then as I was browsing around recipes, I found a lot of pumpkin pasta recipes. Yum!! So I decided to make this:

 

Penne with pumpkin and sage sauce

I found the original recipe on Food Network's website by Rachael Ray, but I veganized/changed it a bit!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 shallots, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
• 1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
• 1/2 c to 1 c of pasta cooking water (you want to get it the consistency of a sauce, so add what you need.)
• 1/2 c non-dairy cream or milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 tsp of hot sauce
• a pinch of nutmeg
• two pinches of cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 sage leaves, sliced, plus more for garnish

Directions:

1. Boil water for pasta, salt, and cook pasta to al dente.
2. While pasta is boiling, heat your oil over medium heat and add your chopped shallots and garlic.
3. Cook the shallots and garlic until soft, about 3 minutes.
4. Add pumpkin, water, and cream or milk and stir to combine. Add more water or cream/milk if the sauce isn't thin enough for your liking.
5. Stir in hot sauce, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Simmer over medium heat until thickened and well combined.
7. Stir in sage.
8. Add pasta to sauce and toss to combine.

This was really delicious and so easy to make! It remnded me of mac 'n cheese a little bit, but with a twist.

Anyways, happy Autumn, and hopefully you'll see more Autumn recipes from me soon!

Beef Stroganoff

I was craving beef stroganoff like no other. My mom used to make it when I was little and it was one of my favorite meals. I did a little research online of traditional stroganoff recipes and I came up with this!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp oil 
• 1 medium onion, diced.
• 1 large container of mushrooms, sliced (You can add as many as you like. I like a lot.)
• 1 bag of Gardein beef tips or 1 pound of setian cut into chunks
• 2 cups cream of mushroom soup (Imagine brand is vegan)
• 1/2 of a container of vegan sour cream (I use Tofutti.)
• A couple dashes of vegan Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 pound of any pasta you like (I used whole wheat rotini.)

Directions:
Heat a large pan on medium heat and add oil. When the oil is hot, add your onion and cook until slightly brown. After the onion is brown, add the mushrooms and cook until all the water is gone. Then add the beef tips or seitan and cook until browned. Then add the soup and sour cream and bring to a simmer. Add the Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes so all of the flavors can combine. When the sauce is done, you can either mix it all with the pasta, or serve it over the pasta. I mix mine all together.

4th of July BBQ

A little while ago, Pom Wonderful sent me a sample box of their delicious 100% pomegranate juice to try out in some recipes. It took me a while to get the time to test some recipes out, but what I came up with was totally worth it!!

I decided to try out some recipes to have on 4th of July. What I came up with was smokey pomegranate BBQ sauce and pomegranate limeade cupcakes. Both were amazing with the addition of tart pomegranate juice.

Grilled Gardein chik'n with pomegranate BBQ sauce and homemade pasta salad

Pomegranate BBQ sauce
Ingredients:

• 1 c Pom 100% pomegranate juice
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 1-1.5 tbsp molasses
• 2 tsp of your favorite hot sauce
• 2 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• Salt to taste

 Directions:

• Combine all of the ingredients together in a sauce pan
• Let simmer and thicken about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Once thickened, brush on your favorite food and grill!

Next up, we have these:

Pomegranate limeade cupcakes

For the cake
Ingredients:

• 2 1/8 c unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/8 c sugar
• 1/2 c oil
• 3/4 c non-dairy milk (I use almond)
• 3/4 c limeade
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lime
• Juice of 1 lime

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and have about 20 muffin cups ready
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
• In another bowl, combine sugar, oil, non-dairy milk, limeade, vanilla, zest, and juice and mix well.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and make sure everything is mixed really well.
• Fill each muffin cup about 1/4 of the way full and bake for 15-20 mins or until brown and a tooth pick comes out clean.
• Let cool.

Pomegranate buttercream frosting
Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 c powdered sugar
• 1/2 c non-dairy margarine softened (I like Earth Balance soy free)
• 4 tbsp pomegranate juice
• A couple drops of red food coloring (This is optional, but without it, the frosting is kind of brown and not pretty.)

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Beat on medium speed until it starts becoming fluffy and thick
• Add more sugar or juice as needed to achieve a thick fluffy frosting
• Frost cupcakes!

These cupcakes are amazing. They were a huge hit with non-vegans and tasted like a little bite of summer!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and a great summer to come!