French Bread, Oh How I love Thee...

I do a lot of shit with french bread... I love it toasted in the oven and use it to dip in soups, make awesome sammies, slather with spinach dip, etc... Below are some of my recent love affairs with toasted french bread; Keep in mind that if I could drink Vegenaise I just might because I love to slather that shit on everything... So if you have a problem with creamy white stuff you better take your business elsewhere.

I took various versions of Garbanzo Bean Salad Sammie recipes to make easy french bread flavor toppers... Pictured is mayo + kelp seasoning (mock tuna style), mayo + indian black salt (that is pink in color ((don't even fucking ask me how this makes sense)) for an "eggy" style), and mayo + curry powder for (indian style)... All were delicious but the "eggy" flavored mayo + black salt won my heart.

I also piled these puppies with the Garbanzo Bean Salad base mix and sprinkled the seasonings on top... Yum!

Lastly, I got this idea from my friend Melissa though she adds artichoke hearts to the middle, which my cheap ass didn't have on hand. Basically here, I mixed vegan mayo, nut yeast, and black salt together, dolloped that shit on some slices of french bread like an egg yolk and dusted with paprika and baked at like 350F until the mayo turned that lovely egg-yolk-like hue THESE ARE BOMB KIDS!!! Switch these out for Chicken Periods (Oops I meant deviled eggs) for your next holiday get together. Melissa's version did not include the black salt and did include a marinated artichoke heart at the center of each of these lovely little appetizers.

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

VegWeb's Creamy Sundried Tomato Dip and Some Leftovers

 I had an extra tub of Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese and a bit of sundried tomatoes in oil that needed to be used up so I decided to make VegWeb's Creamy Sundried Tomato Dip. I am pretty broke and didn't have the chives or even green onions on hand so I subbed 3 tablespoons minced yellow onion and also added 2 extra cloves of garlic. I used about a half a cup of sundried tomatoes (Mine came julienned and I wasn't sure how much to use so I just finished the bottle). The dip came out fantastic and tasted heavenly dipped with wheat thins!

Leftovers for last nights dinner were awesome courtesy of Viva Vegan. I had leftover Drunken Beans with Seitan Chorizo and Latin Baked Tofu, heaven on Earth my friends.

Stuffed Peppers (Again... Yes I know!)

Yes my friends, I made stuffed peppers again! This time I used my own recipe since I had some leftovers that needed to be used up. The leftovers were a "Mexican" mushroom stirfry concoction that I made last weekend which consisted of thinly sliced crimini mushrooms, onions, corn, olives, black beans, and a tomato. I added this mixture to some leftover quinoa and used that to stuff the peppers. I boil the peppers first for 5 minutes, then drain, stuff, and bake them at 350F for 20 minutes. Then I topped them with minced cilantro. I thought they were a little bland but good with some salsa and vegan sour cream on top. I think they would have been better if I added some salsa or tomato sauce to the stuffing mixture.

Sorry I haven't been posting as much I just have so many leftovers that I still need to eat... Ethiopian Seitan, Jerk Seitan, 'Cheezy' Potatoes, Tofu Scramble, and now 3 leftover Stuffed Peppers are added to the list!

VWAV's Jerk Seitan and More Stuffed Peppers!

VWAV's seitan recipes are more of an acquired taste for people not used to eating seitan. My bro loved all the seitan recipes from Viva Vegan but VWAV, not so much, so I have lots of leftovers in the fridge right now. Oh well, more for me! Jerk Seitan is flavored with onions, ginger, lime, soy sauce (I used Braggs), olive oil (I left it out), maple syrup, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, cayenne, and nutmeg... It tasted pretty darn amazing! I didn't marinate the seitan because I forgot to read the directions before I started, dang it. I also didn't follow her cooking directions as I browned the seitan first, then added half the sauce along with the bell peppers and onions (I don't like mine overly cooked), then dumped the rest of the sauce in about 5 minutes later.

I also made VWAV's Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa- Stuffed Peppers again so I could give it to a friend as a bday gift (I got to save 4 for myself, score!) and they were amazing as usual. I will definitely be making this recipe again and again!

VWAV's Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa- Stuffed Peppers

OMFG Vegan with a Vengeance's (VWAV's) Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa- Stuffed Peppers were so good and simple! I made 5 stuffed bell peppers because I could only find medium sized ones (The recipe said 4 large). The bells are filled with onions, garlic, tomato sauce, quinoa, and black beans along with a few seasonings and a cilantro garnish. To die for my friends!

Veganomicon's "A Hummus Recipe"

 I halved Veganomicon's "A Hummus Recipe" and it was just the right amount, geese a whole recipe would seriously make a boatload! This hummus is flavored with lemon juice, garlic, cumin, s & p, and sprinkled with some Hungarian paprika. Delish and extra coolness points for homemade hummus!

Vegweb's Stuffed Peppers

So I finally decided on a VegWeb recipe for making Stuffed Peppers and they turned out pretty good but I think their are probably better recipes out there so my search is not over!

 The filling in these surprisingly wasn't flavorful enough for me except for the Sausage Crumbles which I plan on making all the time now... I swear on my life these crumbles taste like the real sausage they put on pizza and all you need is a bunch of spices and TVP  to make them! On a sad note, my vegan cheeze slices never melted and turned into a hard plastic-y substance so I peeled the slices off and sprinkled a bit of Daiya Mozzarella on top instead.

Party Time! Savory Spinach Dip & Dill Dip

Another weekend and another get together with my friends, which means time to whip up some amazing vegan dips! I found the following recipe for Spinach Dip on the side of a Silken Tofu package! Silken Tofu can be found on the regular old aisle at a health food store, as it doesn't need to be refrigerated.

Ingredients:

1 package Mori-Nu Silken Soft Tofu, drained
1.75 oz. package Onion Soup Mix (I use Lipton)
1/2 cup Vegan Mayo
3 large cloves Garlic, peeled
10 oz. Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and drained well (I squeeze as hard as I can to get the water out)
8 oz. can Sliced Water Chestnuts, drained
1/4 cup Green Onions, thinly sliced

Directions:

Drain tofu and pat with paper towels.
Place tofu in food processor, blend until smooth.
Add onion soup mix, mayo, and garlic. Blend.
Add spinach, blend.
Add water chestnuts and thinly sliced green onions. Pulse just until chunky.
Refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

The Dill Dip is even easier thanks to Simply Organic and their fantastic packets of Dill DipAll you need to do is mix the packet of dill dip with 2 cups of vegan sour cream (Which is 1 tub plus another 1/2 cup Tofutti Vegan Sour Cream). So yummy!

Yes... More Vegan Sushi

If you can't tell already, I love me some vegan sushi! I made some for dinner tonight to share with my sister and it turned out fabulous as usual. Tonight's filling included baked teriyaki tofu, carrots, pickled radish, avocado, cucumber, and a new addition... green onions which will now be a regular. I admit that I'm kind of weird, I dip my sushi in Thai Sweet Chili Sauce my sister is even weirder as she prefers Creamy Chipotle Sauce... Don't tell but I think it's good too!

Sushi Fillings: 

Over the weekend I made a BOAT-LOAD of tamales from Viva Vegan, I will be posting about them soon!

More Vegan Sushi

I love making sushi if you can't tell already. This batch contained Baked Tofu, avocado, pickled radish, homemade pickled carrots, homemade pickled red bell pepper, and cucumber.

Delicious as usual! Here are some more pictures:

Sushi ready to roll up

Closeup of finished product

Weekend Batch Cooking & 7 Layer Dip

Weekends are when I do the majority of my cooking and prepping for next weeks meals. Today I made 3 batches of seitan. 2 of the batches were "Red Seitan" from Viva Vegan! For the 3rd batch I used the same technique and ingredient proportions but added different spices and flavors so the seitan would be more suitable for Asian style dishes (I added brown sugar, sesame oil, ground ginger, black pepper, and crushed red pepper). Look at all the seitan I made!

Tonight I am getting together with some of my old work friends. They are always amazed by the delicious vegan dips I bring along and of course spit out the typical, "How is this vegan, it tastes sooooo good" kind of lines. Yes people, vegan food tastes amazing... Not all of us vegans spend our days wondering the forest in search of twigs and berries... But anyway, here is my amazing vegan version a 7 layer Dip!

Ingredients:

- Bottom Layer: 15 oz can or 2 cups Refried Beans
- Layer 2: About a cup of Guacamole (I mashed up 2 avocados and mixed in some lime juice and salt to taste)
- Layer 3: 1 container of Tofutti Vegan Sour Cream mixed with 1 packet of Taco Seasoning
- Layer 4: 1/2 cup of your favorite tomato based Salsa (I forgot this layer... Oops)
- Layer 5: 3.8 oz can sliced Black Olives
- Layer 6: About a cup of Diced Tomatoes*
- Layer 7: About 1/4 to 1/2 cup thinly sliced Green Onions

*(I used 3 Roma's and removed the seeds) I also added 2 minced Jalapenos to the tomato layer since I forgot the salsa*

 So pretty from the top as well!

 While I was busting my butt in the kitchen I also enjoyed one of my favorite smoothies: Watermelon (I left out the agave... I had an awesome melon this time around!)

Another Batch of Empanadas!

I made Empanadas again! I am getting better at making these puppies with every batch! I have learned to roll the dough nice and thin and assemble them on my cutting board (She says to use the palm of your hand, which I find frustratingly impossible). Next time, I am going to try stuffing them with something from my imagination instead of using the recipe for the filling. Viva Vegan! is a really good cookbook you should definitely check it out!

Served with the "Green Aji Sauce" sauce out of Viva Vegan!

Vegan Sushi with Baked Teriyaki Tofu

Last night I threw a block of tofu in my Tofu Press so that I would have perfectly pressed tofu today. This morning I decided I wanted to make vegan sushi for lunch and what better to go in vegan sushi than baked tofu? Nothing. Especially Teriyaki flavored baked tofu! This is only my second time baking tofu and this time it turned out perfect, I think I might be baking tofu more often now!

Teriyaki Baked Tofu:

- Press tofu, preferably in a tofu press
- Marinate tofu in about 1/4 cup TJ's Soyaki or Soy Vay Teryaki Sauce for an hour, preferably in your Tofu Press with its handy marinating lid!
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Take tofu out of marinade and cut tofu in 1/4 inch slabs
- Spray a glass baking dish with cooking spray and place tofu slabs in the dish. Top tofu with any remaining marinade
- Bake for an hour, flipping tofu over after 30 minutes.
- Allow cooked tofu to cool a bit and it will stiffen up and get that wonderful baked tofu texture!

***I cut these slabs in half for sushi making***

My vegan sushi consisted of:

~ Pickled Daikon Radish (It's yellow and comes refrigerated you can find it at an Asian grocery store)
~ Avocado
~ Pickled Carrots (Carrots left to sit in a mixture of water and rice vinegar for at least an hour)
~ Cucumber
~ Teriyaki Baked Tofu

Delicious Bagel Spread & More Vegan Nachos!

Today I was busy making a batch of both Red and White Seitan and Empanadas from my Viva Vegan! cookbook so that I would have leftovers to use up this coming week. I really love this cookbook, so sorry that I can't seem to shut up about it.

So today I kept the meals I actually ate pretty easy.

For breakfast I had a bagel, smothered in vegan cream cheese (Tofutti Brand) and topped with a mixture of half a mashed banana and some strawberry jam... Yum!

For lunch I had some more Vegan Nachos, topped with some unusual extras like pan fried Red Seitan and Pickled Red Onions, both from Viva Vegan!

Dinner was a few of the Empanadas I made today, served up with a delicious green sauce  from Viva Vegan! called "So good, so green dipping sauce (Green aji sauce)." This sauce is awesome with the Empanadas and also makes for a good salad dressing. The sauce is a mix ingredients such as lime, cilantro, green onions, romaine lettuce and vegan mayo. I added probably double the amount of vegan mayo called for though cause I love my sauces and dressings creamy.