October » 2011 » VeggieGirl

Cookbook Friday: Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites

If you thought that going vegan meant giving up things like macaroni and cheese and spicy wings you have to get your hands on Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman! This book is full of recipes for home-style comfort food that will please vegans and convert omnivores. There are vegan versions of classics such as 5-cheese baked macaroni, chocolate stout chili, as well as a bacon and egg breakfast sandwich. With this book you can even make your own sausages and hot dogs! There are tips scattered throughout the book on what side dishes are best served with entrees as well as reminders to eat your veggies, because sometimes even vegans don’t get enough greens. In addition to being full of mouth watering recipes, this book is full of mouth watering photos. The book itself is gorgeous with a nice clean layout and lots of beautiful photos of the finished recipes.

I started out with Orange Chipotle “Wings”. As I’ve said many times before, my culinary experiences were very slim before going vegan, and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten spicy chicken wings. I’m fine with that as this tempeh version was really delicious and no chickens were harmed in the making of them.

I don’t think I’ve ever had pasta carbonara either, but that didn’t stop me from loving this Pasta Alla Carb-onara. Yum!

The mushroom sauce on this Baked Asparagus with Mushroom Sauce was divine! It would taste good on just about anything!

Despite the fancy appearance, this Black and Braised Tofu was super easy to make. I sautéed some kale while the tofu was braising to make it a complete meal. This was super spicy, so it was a perfect meal for Dennis.

Now that the weather has cooled off, I can turn the oven on and cook casseroles again. This yummy Cheesy Chili Bake was one of my first casseroles of the season!

This Creamy All In One Bowl is another dish that super easy to make, as well as being really fast to throw together. I’m always a sucker for spicy peanut butter sauce, so I knew I’d love this before I even cooked it. This combination of peanut sauce, broccoli, tofu and pineapple just might be my new favorite.

Lasagna with potatoes instead of noodles? Oh yeah! This Chorizo and Potato Lasagna Bake was super warm and comforting for a cold and rainy day. And we had lots of leftovers for lunch the next day!

When I was little, I used to secretly mix together hamburger with mac and cheese on my plate not realizing that it was “a thing” already. This Beefy-Cheesy Mac reminded me of those meals and I didn’t have to eat it in secret. Steamed broccoli added a little extra yum to the meal!

Lasagna Tart

I love fall! Not only is it time for all things pumpkin and apple, but I can finally turn my oven on again and start making casseroles and lasagnas for dinner. This lasagna tart is super easy to make, and is a little fancier than regular lasagna, so you can impress all of your friends at a dinner party or a potluck with it.

Ingredients:

Crust

2 cups spelt flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup cold water

Cashew Ricotta

2 cups raw cashews, soaked for an hour or more

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt

6 tablespoons water

Process all ingredients in a food processor until fluffy and “ricotta- like”

2 medium zucchini, sliced into thin disks

28 ounce can tomato sauce (or you can make your own)

1 cup Daiya mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 10 inch pie pan or tart pan. Combine the crust ingredients in a bowl and kneed until mixed. Roll onto a lightly floured surface until it’s about 13 inches across. Gently pick up the dough and place in the pie pan. Press into all of the corners and trim away an excess. Bake for 10 minutes.

Spread half of the ricotta inside the crust and then layer half of the zucchini on top of it. Top with half of the sauce. Repeat with another layer of each. Top with the Daiya. Bake for 40 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Dinner at Rutherford Pancake House

With dishes like tofu scramble and pizza, Rutherford Pancake House in Rutherford, NJ has always been my go-to place for vegan breakfast and lunch, and it now looks like it’s going to be a frequent spot for dinner too. Last week they started serving dinner Tuesday through Saturday with a very vegan-friendly dinner menu. The dinner menu consists of mainly Italian/Mediterreanean style dishes with things like pasta, pizza and sandwiches. Chef Spiro has been hard at work creating these wonderful new dishes and it shows – everything I tried was amazing. Rutherford Pancake House has all of my meal needs covered now!

Dennis and I decided to start out with an appetizer of loaded vegan nachos, which was a mistake. It wasn’t a mistake because they weren’t good (because they were), but because it was really difficult to finish the rest of my food later in the meal. Note to self: when faced with the choice of either an appetizer or dessert, always save room for dessert.

All entrees come with soup or salad…

… and fresh bread. FRESH bread. Bread is baked fresh daily at Rutherford Pancake House. Since we ordered vegan dishes, our waitress made sure she brought us vegan margarine – we didn’t even have to ask if it was vegan!

Dennis and I ordered Seitan Parmesan…

… and Seitan Marsala, and we split the two dishes. They were both so good that I can’t pick a favorite. The seitan was perfect – not too chewy or rubbery and it tasted really fresh. And our waitress brought us vegan parmesan to sprinkle on our pasta.

For dessert we split a Chocolate Mousse Parfait. I’m not sue how Spiro did this because the mousse was both light and fluffy and rich at the same time. It was amazing! This dessert is definitely worth saving room for.

There are other vegan meals on the RPH menu such as moussaka, veggie stew in a bread bowl and cheesecake, so I will be going back again soon! The RPH menu also has gluten-free options, so be sure to tell your server if you have a gluten intolerance.

Terry Hope Romero Vegan Pie in the Sky Book Signing

Thursday, October 27, 2011, 7:00 PM

Watchung Booksellers

54 Fairfield St , Montclair, NJ

Terry Hope Romero is author and co-author of bestselling vegan cookbooks Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and Viva Vegan!: Authentic Vegan Latina American Recipes. Terry’s new book Vegan Pie in the Skywill be available for purchase from Watchung Booksellers, and Terry will be there to sign your copy.

Vegan Pie in the Sky continues the vegan world domination mission of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero by bringing dessert to a whole new level. In their third baking volume, you’ll find recipes for pies, tarts, cobblers, betties, and more—all made without dairy, eggs, or animal products. The innovative recipes range from old-fashioned classics like Mom’s Apple Pie to new trends like Salted Caramel Pecan Pie. From fruity to chocolaty, nutty to creamy, Vegan Pie in the Sky has it all.

A chapter on crusts reveals the secret to perfect traditional pastry crust made vegan, as well as nut-based, gluten-free, and chocolate-cookie variations. Luscious ice creams, toppings, and sauces make your pie a showstopper. With color photos and the authors’ irreverent commentary throughout, Vegan Pie in the Sky is the modern baker’s bible for pastry that is out of this world.

Walk for Farm Animals

I will be participating in Farm Sanctuary‘s Walk for Farm Animals this year! To sponsor me, go to http://events.walkforfarmanimals.org/participant/veggiegirl

Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals is a series of annual fundraising and outreach events that take place in cities across the United States and Canada. It’s an opportunity for those who want to help farm animals and who are concerned with the cruel and horrific practices of factory farming to take a stand in support of compassion for all! The Walks raise vital funds for Farm Sanctuary’s life-saving work and bring together thousands of people to promote kindness towards animals.

Cookbook Friday: World Vegan Feast

I’ve been doing lots of cooking from World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan lately. I have to admit that when I first received this book, I was a little intimidated by it. There are quite a few dishes that I’ve never heard of before, and the recipes seemed time consuming. However, after further inspection, I found a lot of dishes I wanted to try, and I noticed that most of them have short cut options. Recipes that take less than half an hour are marked, so it was easy to find dishes I could make quickly on busy weeknights. There’s such a wide variety of versatile recipes in this book, that I could easily cook from it for a few more weeks!

I bought some cute little multicolored tiny potatoes at Whole Foods, so I started out with Greek Nugget Potato and Kalamata Olive Stew. This is a nice warming dish for a cold fall evening.

By now, you should know that I can’t pass up a taco recipe, so I was really eager to try Baja-Style Tempeh Tacos with Special Taco Sauce and Roasted Fresh Pineapple and Red Pepper Chipotle Salsa. These were so good, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I ate four for of them!

I love all things pineapple, so I was happy to try the Fresh Pineapple Noodle Stir-Fry. I used bought baked tofu, which helped speed cooking time up. The combination of pineapple, swiss chard and portobellos was delicious!

The recipe next to the Pineapple Stir-Fry was Singapore Noodles, so I decided to give it a try too. I used pre-made seitan and baked tofu. This was really good, and I have enough leftovers to have lunch the next day too!

In addition to tacos, I’m a sucker for curry, so I made Thai Coconut Curry with Asparagus. Once again I took a short cut and used bought baked tofu. This was super simple and quick to make, so it was the perfect dinner for a weeknight after work.

I used to love penne in vodka sauce, and for some reason I haven’t tried to veganize it. This Pasta with Cauliflower and Spicy Tomato-Creme Sauce reminded me of of my old love, and was really delicious. It’s so easy to make a tomato cream sauce – I can’t believe I didn’t try it sooner!

This Pasta ala Pescarese was another really easy and really delicious dish. And once again I had enough leftovers for lunch. Apparently this is a take on a traditional Italian seafood dish, that I’ve never had, but that doesn’t matter, because you don’t need to try the original dish to appreciate the vegan version of it.

V Note

On Sunday Dennis and I took a trip into NYC and had lunch at V Note. I had been there once before when they first opened, which was almost a year ago, but Dennis had never been and he wanted to try it. I bought a Groupon for V Note a few months ago, and it was going to expire soon, so we wanted to use it. I often buy Groupons for vegan restaurants in NYC so that we’ll have an excuse to take the train in and have a fancy meal, but today I realized that we’re really not saving any money because we spend so much on mass transit to get there. But still, it’s an excuse to go to NYC and have a fancy meal, so I’m going to keep buying them.

We started out with Seitan Schinitzel, which we split. This was large and filling and could have easily been a meal for one person. It was also extremely tasty. Really, really tasty. There were two pieces of breaded seitan, really delicious rosemary potato salad, crispy vegan cheese and blueberry reduction. Thinking back on this appetizer is making me hungry and I really want to go back right now and have another plate of it.

When I go to places like V Note, the health counselor and the fan of delicious flavor in me often have an internal fight. Here, the health counselor wanted me to order a Vegetable Market Wrap with a side salad. But the fan of delicious flavor really wanted a sloppy sandwich and fries. And she won. I never order veggie burgers when I’m out unless it’s the only vegan thing on the menu, but it spoke to me and I decided to go for it. This veggie burger was covered in Daiya cheese, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, soy bacon and a really wonderful chipotle aioli. I was very sad that I was too full from the schnitzel to finish the whole thing.

Dennis ordered the Southern Seitan Sandwich with fresh cut fries. I would have ordered this if we hadn’t had seitan for an appetizer. He said it was “stupid good” and he managed to finish the whole thing.

So who wants to go back to V Note with me for lunch?

Mango Tempeh Curry

Now that it’s Tuesday, my Vegan MoFo plan seems to be taking shape. On Mondays, I’m going to post about upcoming events in my area, which are sort of food related, in that all of the events revolve around cool vegan people talking about vegan food. On Tuesdays I’m going to be posting recipes. On Wednesdays I’m going to talk about restaurants and delcious food that I’ve eaten in them. On Fridays I’m going to review cookbooks and post food porn. But what about Thursday, you ask? I’m still not sure what to do on Thursdays. Should I post health tidbits? Reviews of my favorite vegan foods? Cute cat pictures? Should I just take a nap? I still have two days to figure that one out. So without further ado, here’s a recipe:

Mango Coconut Curry Tempeh

Ingredients:

8 oz package of tempeh

1 tablespoons coconut oil

1 medium red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh minced ginger

1 large mango, peeled and cut into small cubes

1/2 cup pineapple juice

14 ounce can coconut milk

1 tablespoon curry powder

sea salt

Instructions:

1. Cut the tempeh into 1″ cubes. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the tempeh to the oil and cook for about 2 minutes per side, until each side is lightly golden. Remove the tempeh from heat and set aside.

2. Add the onions, ginger and pepper to the pan and heat for about 5 minutes, until the ginger is fragrant and the onion is translucent.

3. Stir in the mangos, pineapple juice, coconut milk and curry powder. Add the tempeh back to the pan. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover and simmer for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in a pinch of salt and remove from heat.

4. Serve over brown rice and with a side of leafy greens.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is coming to Montclair!

Monday, October 17th at 7:00pm

First Congregational Church

40 South Fullerton Avenue,

Montclair NJ

Being a Joyful Vegan – Experiencing the Benefits of Living Compassionately and Healthfully

Whether you’re already vegan and want to hone your communication and advocacy skills or you’re veg-curious and want answers to the typical questions about veganism, you won’t want to miss this inspiring and informative lecture. Combining humor and wisdom to tackle the most popular excuses for not eating a plant-based diet, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau leaves no rationalization unexposed and offers sound and practical tips for anyone who’s ever said: ”I tried eating vegetarian, but I just craved meat/dairy.” “I don’t eat a lot of meat/dairy/eggs.” “I don’t have time to chop vegetables.” “What about protein?” Q&A and book signing to follow.

About Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

For over 12 years, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has guided thousands of people to becoming and staying vegan through sold-out cooking classes, bestselling books, inspiring lectures, engaging videos, and her immensely popular audio podcast, “Vegetarian Food for Thought.” Using her unique blend of passion, humor, and common sense, she empowers and inspires people to live according to their own values of compassion and wellness.

The award-winning author of five books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, and Vegan’s Daily Companion, Colleen also contributes to National Public Radio and The Christian Science Monitor, and has appeared on The Food Network and PBS. Her fifth book, The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, published by Random House, just came out in August 2011. Visit colleenpatrickgoudreau.com for more.

Vegan Month of Food

Welcome to Vegan MoFo! I have no specific plan for the month, other than trying to keep up with my blogging, which has been suffering from my busy schedule. I do plan on getting back to my cookbook reviews on Fridays though. In order to entice you into coming back to visit, I give you this photo of grilled pineapple tofu.