Vegan MoFo 2015, Day 4: Weird Food Combo That I Love

4 Tell us about a weird food combo that you love.

I ONLY EAT NORMAL FOOD. *skulks about, shifty-eyed*

However, I frequently say my husband has zero taste buds. He has gained some notoriety with some of our friends over the years because of his interesting concoctions. A few weeks ago, while the girls and I were happily enjoying our granola and smoothies, I looked over and watched in mild and mounting horror as I saw my husband pour raw oats and a bit of granola into his bowl, and then topped it with – I’m not even kidding – cold leftover cooked cereal, beet chunks, and smoothie.

Then last night, I gave the girls potato soup for supper and they wanted plums on the side, so I pitted some plums. Next thing I know, GooGoo has forked up her plum and is dipping it in her soup, “because it’s HOT”, and “I want my plums in my soup”. Pretty soon Lou Who decided she also Had to Have Plums Chopped Into Her Soup, because It Was Too Hot. At first I was like… no… and then sigh… and then I chopped plums into their potato soup. And as they snarfed it down with abandon I thought in my head WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THESE WHY ARE MY CHILDREN EATING PLUMS IN POTATO SOUP. And then I remembered my husband’s beet chunk raw oat smoothie cold cooked cereal… thing… and I understood. Sort of.

But here’s something I do that people tell me is weird, even though as far as *I* am concerned, it’s perfectly normal: savoury french toast.

This past Sunday for breakfast, I made french toast and tofu bacon, and I spread mayo on the french toast and ate bacon on it. It was astoundingly fabulous. I’d like to try a lemon-dill french toast sometime, but I haven’t gotten around to it. Yet. 🙂

Vegan MoFo 2015, Day 3: Quick, Easy, and Delicious

3 Quick, easy and delicious.

I’m usually pretty good at getting lunch on the table by noon, our scheduled lunchtime. When it comes to supper, though, I tend to be a little less organised. Supper is at 5.30, and sometimes it’s 5 when I realise, “Oh, um, maybe I better fix something.” It’s our lightest meal of the day, which helps. So, what do I make when I have only half an hour?

*Whip out some muffins. If I preheat the oven right away and don’t waste time mixing them up, I can generally have those ready in half an hour. And who doesn’t like muffins? I’ll frequently serve them with popcorn and fruit of some kind. The ones above are piña colada muffins – recipe here.

*If I don’t have time for muffins, I’ll often do popcorn and a smoothie. I posted about smoothies here and also here. Usually I do not bother with a recipe for smoothies, because smoothies, like soup, are one of my catch-all, whatever-I-happen-to-have-around kind of things – but my absolute favourite smoothie recipe *ever* is Sarah Matheny’s Sunrise Smoothie from More Peas, Thank You. About once a year I’ll buy some mangoes for that and it is SO HEAVENLY.

*If I don’t have time for popcorn and a smoothie, I’ll bring out the granola (assuming any is made – usually I have it), rolled oats, and dried fruit, and we’ll have that with milk or fruit sauce or yogurt or whatever happens to be available in the fridge at the time.

I posted a granola recipe here some time ago, but I have a new favourite that is now my standby! Here it is, adapted slightly from Give Them Something Better.

Note: If you’re gluten-free, you can use gf oats and a gf flour blend in this to make it suitable!

In a big bowl, combine:
12 cups of rolled oats
1 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c unsweetened cocoanut
1 1/2 c nuts, chopped (my fave is sliced almonds, or a blend of almonds+cashews, but any will do, including sunflower seeds if you’re broke)

In a smaller bowl, combine:
1 1/2 c water
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c oil
2 T vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones. I use my hands to mix up the granola, because that’s how I roll. Then I pack it into two glass 13×9 baking dishes (packing it seems to help it be chunkier after the first stirring, which I love). Bake at 300 and stir every 20 minutes until done. It’ll usually be about 2 hours.

A lot of times I’ll double this and freeze half until we need it. It freezes wonderfully and makes my life a bit less complicated. If you do this, you’ll want to make sure you rotate your pans when you do your stirring.

Vegan MoFo 2015, Day 1: My Breakfast

1 Rise and Shine! It’s MoFo time! Tell us about your breakfast.

Ever since the early days of my pregnancy with Lou Who, Mr Pine Nut has cooked breakfast almost every single morning. In those days, I was too tired to drag myself out of bed early enough, and after she was born, the routine had been well-established, and I am so thankful that I don’t have to think about that meal, too. (I do often make Sunday breakfast, which is generally more like a brunch.)

Sometimes the breakfasts he makes have been inedible. Like the time he sneaked some lentil flour in when I had a lentil aversion during the abovementioned pregnancy, thinking that I’d surely never notice. Nice try! 😉 But with few exceptions, he feeds us well. 🙂

Generally, he has an informal rotation of potatoes in varying forms, hot cereals, pancakes, and waffles. He doesn’t use recipes, so the breakfast table is always a testing centre for his experiments. But we are willing guinea pigs, and as I said, he does well.

This is what he made us this morning: a mixture of millet and oats (he grinds the whole grains with water in a blender before cooking). I topped mine with walnuts and dried cranberries, and had some cantaloupe afterwards.

2015, a Recipe Odyssey: July Edition

Well, this has been a whirlwind month. We went to Spangle, WA for Restoration International‘s Northwest Family Retreat. It was great. It was my fourth time going, and the first time that I felt like a normal human being and actually thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Things are starting to come on in the garden, too. I’ve been picking blackberries almost daily this week. Green beans are on, but I keep forgetting about them. Oops. We harvested one cauliflower so far. Tomatoes are coming on and the cabbage is putting on heads. The sunflowers are blooming.

But also my little Lou Who (who will be three next week – THREE!) is blooming. About three days ago I decided it was Time to Use the Potty, and she has not only done all her business in the toilet (barring a couple puddles on the floor the first day and one yesterday), but she’s woken up with virtually dry diapers in the morning as well. This is too easy. I keep waiting for something to go Drastically Wrong – I mean, GooGoo was over three when I started her training and it took her MONTHS before she got anything close to this proficient (and even now at 5 1/2, we still have a fair amount of Incidents. Please know, I’m not putting down GooGoo, I know every child is different, and she is highly sensitive, possibly has sensory issues, so, yanno – I’m just saying that, in comparison, that’s why this feels too easy.)

Here’s what I made! Grouped by source. (And not necessarily in order, because since I’ve been gone and/or ridiculously busy for a large chunk of this month, and this post has fallen through the cracks for weeks.)

From Vegan With a Vengeance, 10th Anniversary Edition:

1. Lemon Poppyseed Muffins – I actually really liked these, and I have never liked lemon poppyseed anything, ever.

2. Pancakes, raspberry-lime variation – For a pancake, this wasn’t bad. (I’m not a pancake fan, but I like to try different ones since my family loves pancakes and hey, why not?)

3. Cherry-Almond Muffins – I made this in loaf form and I liked it, but didn’t love it.

4. Tempeh Sausage – I made this ahead of time and froze it for use in…

5. Tempeh Sausage and White Bean Gravy – which was SO EASY to make, and we ate it on…

6. Baking Powder Biscuits – Okay, so honestly I was a bit blah about trying a biscuit recipe, because a biscuit is a biscuit is a biscuit, right? Well, these were amazing. I’m guessing it’s the use of two fats instead of just one, maybe? I did half white, half whole wheat flour, and these were so light and delicious and perfect.

As for the gravy, I really liked it, despite that it looks a little like barf on a biscuit. Mr Pine Nut thought the flavour was too strong, but I really enjoyed it, largely because the tempeh added a lot of bulk but I really didn’t taste it so much, as I do it many recipes.

7. Lentil-Walnut Burgers – I decided that I’d try something I heard about subbing zucchini for mushrooms. It worked great! I have these made up and frozen now for future meals, but I did try one of the ones that broke. It had a great flavour. My primary gripe was that they were tremendously soft and flipping them was almost impossible. I had to bake them way longer than the recipe said. Soooo… next time I think I’ll have to add in more breadcrumbs or something.

8. Pumpkin Waffles – These were a hit! Not only did they have zero issues sticking or falling apart or things like that, but they tasted great. 😀

9. Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies – Of course I had to use up the remaining cup of pumpkin from the waffles, so, uh, THESE. These are going to be a regular. They are amazing!

10. Maple Walnut Scones – These were good, but I thought I’d like them more than I actually did.

11. Berry Scones – But I liked these even better. I used fresh-picked (like literally freshly picked) blackberries from right outside our house. The girls liked these too and overall they were more of a hit than the maple ones.

[12. ETA: Apple Pie Crumble Muffins – Oh man these were good.]

From Veganomicon:

13. Mexican Millet – This was really good and paired perfectly with…

14. Black Beans – …these. The only negative I have is that I didn’t make a double batch, because they were licked clean!

From Isa Does It:

15. Lentil-a-Roni – SO GOOD! And easy. Definitely would make again.

From Vegan Brunch:

16. Zucchini Spelt Muffins – I tried really hard to like these, but I just didn’t. I hate zucchini. 😦

17. East Coast Coffee Cake, Jam Swirl Version – oh om nom nom.

From Vegan Diner:

18. Mushroom Burgers – And nope, I didn’t use mushrooms! I used zucchini. These turned out really well and I was pleased. They are a little softer than the usual burgers I make, but still held together really well. I haven’t tried them yet; as with the lentil-walnut burgers, these are actually going to be used more next month.

Cookbooks [or other sources] represented in July: 5

Did I meet my goal? Nope. But I didn’t expect to, and I’m impressed with myself for having made as much as I did!

See you next month, with August’s recipe report!

2015, a Recipe Odyssey: April Edition

I had a disaster that sabotaged some of my meal plan for this month. It was a “somehow the upright freezer door was not closed for an undetermined period of time and everything in the freezer was warm” sort of disaster. So I quickly had to use up some things, so I made tater tot casserole again and a bunch of smoothies and things to use frozen fruit in. I was thankful not to lose as much as I might have; there were spices, flours, and jams in there and I know those are all fine. I did lose probably 8 or so packages of lima beans (boo!) and some seitan pepperoni and a number of quart bags of frozen cooked pinto and kidney beans. Some stuff that was still cold I popped in the other freezer.

So I skipped out on some of the meals I had planned to make because of this disaster, the ones that I hadn’t bought anything specially for the purpose of making.

In other news, I turned 32 (halfway to 64, wheee!) and I bought several cookbooks with my birthday money: Whole Grain Vegan Baking, Vegan Diner, Vegan Casseroles, and the new edition of Vegan With a Vengeance. So now my Isa collection is finally complete (well, once VWaV gets here! it’s not released yet!) and I have loads of new things to try!

Here’s what I made this month! Grouped by source.

From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World:

1. Cocoanut-Lime Cupcakes – I’ve been dreaming about making these for a while, and since we were all sick I held off. Until my birthday. These were delicious and I would totally make them again, especially the frosting because lime is SO GOOD.

2. Chai Latte Cupcakes – I didn’t have black tea, so I used Stash apple-cinnamon-chamomile tea instead. They were okay. I wasn’t really fond of the cocoa powder on top; it just seemed too bitter to me. I don’t think I’ll make them again, but if I do, I’ll just do them naked or with a little basic frosting.

From Everyday Vegan Eats:

3. Leek Potato Soup – I really liked this and it was very simple and yet very flavourful. Much more to my liking than the recipe I tried in January. Also, both GooGoo and Lou Who like it! Every time GooGoo says, “I DON’T WANT ONIONS” I tell her, “They’re not onions, they’re leeks.” She buys it and there is Peace at the Dinner Table.

4. Báhn Mì Burgers – Must admit the whole idea of this “báhn mì” thing is alien to me. I keep hearing about it but had/have really no idea what it IS. That being said, I am SO IMPRESSED with these burgers! They actually held together and cooked properly in my skillet – something I have NEVER been able to achieve with any other burger recipes! So excited. The pickled veggies were very easy. I used radishes and carrots, and no sugar. (And they tasted amazing!)

5. Minestrone – This was a big hit! Mr Pine Nut and I both loved it, and it’s already on next month’s meal plan again.

6. Hungarian Tomato Salad – I loved the flavour of this, but for the amount of tomato/cucumber called for, my veggies were absolutely drowning in the dressing! We had to fish the veggies out with a slotted spoon.

From the interwebs:

7. Teriyaki Chickpeas Bao – I’ve been wanting to make these ever since I saw Vegan Richa post them to Facebook, and I was not disappointed. I used up some sort of homemade Asian sauce I’ve had in my freezer forever, and I had some cilantro so I threw in a bit of that minced up. Super yummy. There wasn’t quite enough filling for all my buns, though, so some of them I just steamed as buns with no filling. I also had some trouble getting my first batch extracted from my steamer, so they mostly didn’t look super gorgeous. Tastewise, they were great, and even GooGoo ate them!

8. Pita Bread – THIS WAS SO EXCITING! It puffed! It pocketed! It tasted awesome! I actually made this twice this month. The first time I did it as dictated in the recipe; the second time I used about a 50/50 ratio of white/whole wheat flour. I actually liked them better the second time, and they even seemed to puff better.

From Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day:

9. Cabana Cheese Sandwiches – You GUYS, this cottage cheese is the BOMB. It’s totally like real cottage cheese! I didn’t have tomatoes, but I served this on the green monster rolls I made and froze last month with the lettuce and topped it with dilly beans.

10. Pesto Pitzas – I had to sub dried basil for fresh. My only complaint was they were a bit salty, so I would skip adding salt to the pesto next time. The cheese has enough plus the flavour of the capers. It was kind of a lot of work for the results – just four pita pizzas, which was enough for Mr Pine Nut and me, but nobody else – so I don’t know that I’ll rush to make it again, BUT I was so excited about the cheese, because it actually does melt! It didn’t melt so much on ours, but on the plain pitas-with-cheese for the kids it melted more.

11. Hot Brown Sandwiches – I wanted so much to like these, but the sauce was way too noochy and I just didn’t like the flavour combinations or the fact that they were sort of hard to eat. The smoky tofu bits, however, are a definite “will-make-again”. YUM.

12. Bulgur Hummus Wraps – I’ve wanted to make these ever since I won this book during MoFo 3 years ago, and I’m just now getting to it. But they were SO good! I served them in pitas instead of tortillas. This is a definite success in my opinion.

13. Beans Not on Toast – I’ve made the bean part of this before and eaten it on actual toast, but not the waffles, so that’s what qualifies this as a new recipe. 😉 The waffles were great! I was a bit worried they’d seem overly sesame-oily but I hardly noticed it at all in the finished product. I would definitely double the waffles next time though, because four waffles in this family of four was Not Enough.

14. Navajo Tacos – Oh man. These were astonishingly good. I’ve wanted to make these ever since having the book but the frying part seemed like So Much Work, so I didn’t ever get around to it. I doubled the recipe and we ate almost all of it.

From Vegan Brunch:

15. Raised Waffles – These were really good! They did not taste yeasty to me, which I was a bit worried about (I’ve tried yeast-raised muffins before and they just taste like flavoured bread, basically) and I will definitely make them again!

16. Tofu Omelette – I did a half batch of this because I had half a package of silken tofu in my fridge to use up. They were tasty. More noochy than eggy, in my opinion, but good. Half of one was plenty for me. I filled them with chopped red bell peppers that I sauteed in oil and liquid smoke with some fennel seeds.

17. Lemon Poppyseed Muffins – These were okay. I always hope I’ll find a poppyseed recipe I’m super excited about but it hasn’t happened yet! I forgot to add the salt, but they were pleasant with some Nucoa and raspberry jam. 🙂

From Whole Grain Vegan Baking:

18. Raisin Bran Muffins – Super good!

19. Onion Caraway Loaf – I don’t have beer around 🙂 and I didn’t have seltzer water either, which was the recommended sub, so I subbed some of the veggie stock I just made. I’m not sure if it affected it. The bread was nice, I wouldn’t say fantastic, but it was eaten.

20. Spelt Rye Crackers – I didn’t have any spelt flour handy so I used wheat. I liked these but maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for caraway seeds, because neither this nor the loaf above really wowed me. And I love rye bread and caraway seeds, so I dunno.

21. Blackberry Allspice Muffins – Muffins great; blackberries must have been bad because they tasted weird.

22. Apricot Cardamom Cake – I liked this. It was a bit too cardamom-y for my taste – I think I might replace part of it with cinnamon next time – but I would make it again. GooGoo ate a piece but didn’t want any more, and Lou Who didn’t ask for seconds either.

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar:

23. Macadamia Ginger Crunch Drops – Loved the dough, was not as crazy about the cookies. They were slightly too crunchy. Maybe I overbaked them. I think this would lend itself well to a bar cookie though and if I make them again I may do it that way.

Cookbooks [or other sources] represented in April: 7

Did I meet my goal? YES YAY.

See you next month, with May’s recipe report!

Piña Colada Muffins!! or, Another Recipe Unearthed from the Bottomless Pit That Is My Drafts Folder

I had the better part of a can of pineapple slices in my fridge. I also had cocoanut milk. This means piña colada muffins NEEDED to happen. (You could also make doughnuts out of these, if you have a doughnut pan.)

I actually wrote this up aeons ago, and it’s been sitting in my drafts folder ever since. I’m pretty sure that these were awesome.

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c pineapple juice (from the canned pineapple
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c pineapple (chunks or tidbits, your call)
1/2 c cocoanut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T cocoanut oil, melted

Option: Top with 1/2 c cocoanut (I used 1/4 c each of sweetened baker’s cocoanut and unsweetened flaked)

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet ingredients, including melted oil, in another bowl. Combine them together just until mixed. Drop into greased or papered muffin tin, top with topping if using, and bake at 350 for… I have “X MINUTES” written down, so that means I either forgot to pay attention to my baking time or… or something. Start with 18 minutes and go from there. That’s usually safe for muffins. Toothpick test will tell you when they’re done!

Ginger-Apple Smoothie

I made this tasty smoothie a while back. I haven’t posted a recipe in a while, so I’m going to share it, even though some people claim it’s Too Cold for Smoothies. (They are wrong, by the way. It is NEVER too cold for smoothies.)

In a blender, combine:
1 T flaxseed
1 apple (i used 2 tiny ones)
1/2 c vanilla soy milk
1 c frozen strawberries
1 c orange juice
1 tsp fresh grated ginger

And then slurp it down with delight.

Vegan Month of Food, Day 17: Sham Ham and Cheese Sandwich

So, Maggie’s Brown Bag Lunch Series, and particulary this Cream Cheese Bagel Sandwich, gave me an idea for another sandwich. I had been a little stumped what to do for this last sandwich Tuesday. I mean, a sandwich is a sandwich, and Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day has pretty much covered the vegan sandwich base, right?

Well, Maggie’s bagel reminded me of something I used to eat a lot when I was young: egg sandwich on a buttered  bagel with ham and cheddar cheese. How un-vegan is that? I haven’t had it in a Very Very Very Long Time, because even if I still ate eggs and cheese, you couldn’t pay me to eat ham.

But, maybe there is a vegan solution, thought I. And here’s what I came up with.

I bought my bagels at the Corvallis WinCo. They have several choices there that are vegan and tasty, if not particularly healthy.

Then I had to decide how to make my egg. I thought of marinating tofu, but then I thought, “Why not use the eggy-flavoured tohu, thinly sliced and fried?” The tohu recipe makes more than enough for one quiche. So that’s the egg.

For the ham, I used this recipe, using 1 T brown sugar instead of maple syrup, and leaving out the food colouring.

I used my cheezy sauce from Sunday’s post and spread that on both halves of the toasted bagel, then slapped on some sham ham and the fried wedge o’ tohu.

I wasn’t sure at first bite what I thought. But by the time I had finished the sandwich, I was very much in love with it. It’s very reminiscent of the sandwich of my past.

Vegan Month of Food, Day 16: Nutty Cheezy Bacun Quiche

First of all, my friends, It’s not a kwish. It’s a KEESH.

Second of all, I’ve never made a quiche, vegan or non-vegan. (At least not that I recall.) But I have eaten them, and this is what I’ve come up with today. You’ll use the tempeh bacon, the eggy tohu, and the cheezy sauce from yesterday’s post.

Heat your oven to 350 and prepare your crust.

In a food processor, process until crumbly:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 c walnuts
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 c oats

Add:
1/4 c water

Spray an 8.5″ springform pan, bottom and sides, and press in the crust mixture evenly on the bottom. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside while preparing quiche filling. Leave the oven on!

In the food processor, process until smooth:
24 oz eggy tohu
3/4 c plain soy milk
1/2 c garbanzo flour
1/4 c nooch
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black salt

In a pan, sautee:
1/2 c chopped red onion
1 packed cup chopped greens (kale, spinach, whatever – and by packed, I mean overflowing)

Stir sauteed greens and onions into the “egg” mixture and spread in the pan.

Next, layer on the tempeh bacon crumbles and press them lightly into the top.

Lastly, drizzle on the cheezy sauce. Alternatively, you could wait until the end of baking and sprinkle on some Daiya for the last 10 minutes or so.

You’ll bake this 45-60 minutes. I did mine about 50 and it was still quite soft inside. Or maybe use a larger springform so that the quiche layer is not as thick? I’m not sure. At any rate, it did taste really good even if it was on the squooshy side. I also let it sit for 5 minutes or maybe a little longer after I took it out before I released the spring.

But, reheating slices after it had been in the fridge overnight worked really well. I just plopped a wedge in a non-stick saucepan and heated it over low heat on the stovetop until it was warmed through. It wasn’t squooshy any more and I think it tasted even better than fresh!

Bonus MoFo Post! Tempeh Bacon, Cheezy Sauce, and Eggy Tohu

This coming week, we’re doing a couple recipes that call for the same base ingredients, and rather than clutter up those posts with a bunch of extra recipes, I’m doing a bonus post with THREE recipes that we can just refer back to.

And yes, it’s lame that I have no photos, but my laptop is STILL having issues, and I only have the bacon on hand to photograph anyway. I’ll try to add a picture of that in later.

Let’s start with BACON.

In a shallow dish, combine:
3 T soy sauce
1 T liquid smoke
1 T brown sugar
1 T oil
1 T tomato paste
3/4 c veggie broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Add 8 oz thinly sliced tempeh to the marinade and allow to sit overnight.

When ready to cook, dump marinade and tempeh into a non-stick skillet. You can either leave it in strips or crumble it. Cook it at a fairly high temperature, stirring often. It will absorb the marinade and get nice and browned. If you don’t eat it all straight out of the pan, keep whatever’s left in the fridge. Obvs.

Now, on to the cheezy sauce.

In a blender, blend together:
1/4 c water
1/4 c cashews
1 1/2 T roasted red peppers from a jar
1 1/2 tsp nooch
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder

Blend until completely smooth. This can easily be doubled, tripled, whatever.

And now: EGGY TOHU.

You might wonder what on earth tohu even is. Well, it’s like tofu, but made with garbanzo flour. Plain, it’s an awesome replacement for silken tofu for people who can’t have soy. And it’s super easy to prepare. Thanks to Vegan Mommy Chef for sharing her recipe with us! This is my adaptation from her plain version to have an eggy flavour.

In a bowl, mix together:
1/2 tsp black salt
1/4 tsp regular salt
1 1/2 T nooch
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 c garbanzo flour
1 1/2 tsp agar powder

Gradually stir in:
5 c water

Pour into a saucepan. Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Continue to stir for about 10 minutes. Pour into a sprayed loaf pan and put into the fridge to set.