Weekend Batch Cooking... The Key to Vegan Living

Leftovers are something I consider a necessity, especially as a vegan. There are some nights when I'm just too lazy or busy to cook so leftovers are my best friend... This weekend I made:

Tofu Scramble with carrots, kidney beans, black olives, Viva Vegan's Sofrito, cherry tomatoes, and parsley along with deep fried tempeh "bacon" slathered with cheapy maple syrup :)

Garbanzo Bean Salad Sandwich Spread with minced celery and green onions for the veggies

"Chicken" Fajitas seasoned with taco seasoning and lime, Soy Curls as the meat sub

I also made VegWeb's Tofu Sour Cream, it was alright... Maybe it will taste better tomorrow once it sets a bit more

VegWeb's Minestrone Soup, I leave out the pasta and add extra veggies... SOOOO GOOD!!!

I also made a huge batch of Teriyaki Tofu but I figure you know what it looks like already so I won't bore you with another photo ;)

Viva Vegan's Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce

Yet another amazing recipe from Viva Vegan! I got 15 enchiladas out of this recipe instead of 10. I also left off the Pine Nut Creama because it is the only recipe in this book I have found to be absolutely repulsive and my enchiladas turned out just fine. I instead topped my enchiladas with vegan sour cream when serving... Yum!

 The Green Tomatillo Sauce is to die for and it is awesome salsa as well. It really made a pretty boring recipe of mashed chickpeas and potatoes shine. I will be making this again soon!

My enchiladas kind of fell apart, the ones I had leftover to cool a bit stayed together much better but I was hungry and couldn't wait.

CPK's Veganized Barbecue Chik'n Pizza

I made my favorite pizza again last night... CPK's Veganized Barbecue Chik'n Pizza! I didn't have red onions so I used some white and green. I am also pretty much over vegan cheese substitutes so I left my pizza cheeze free and globed on some Vegan Ranch... Perfection!

Before Baking

After

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!

Easy Peasy Wet Bean & Rice Burritos

 I love me a wet burrito, especially one filled with leftover homemade Mexican rice and refried beans (Courtesy of my BF's mom). I also have an addiction to onions of any form, so I added a bunch of minced white onion on top of these bad boys.

What you need:

- Flour Tortillas
- Leftover Refried Beans
- Leftover Mexican Rice (Rice a Roni Spanish Rice is vegan I believe if you're lazy)
- Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese (Optional)
- Red Taco Sauce (La Victoria Red Taco Sauce Medium is my favorite!)
- Minced White Onion (Optional)
- Your favorite toppings (I chose fresh Diced Tomatoes and Creamy Chipotle Sauce)

What you do:

- Prepare your favorite burrito toppings
- Heat flour tortilla/s in the microwave for 30ish seconds
- Put tortilla on a plate and add rice, beans, and vegan cream cheese (These were all leftovers straight from the fridge).
- Fold tortilla up burrito style, with the burrito seam side on the plate (Repeat previous 3 steps if you want 2 burritos at once)
- Top burrito/s with red taco sauce (Spread with a spoon) and then onions.
- Microwave for 2 to 3 minutes
- Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy! Easy Peasy :)

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!

Easy Peasy Fried Rice and Sweet & Sour Tofu

 I am going to take a short vacation this weekend but I just wanted to post about this easy meal I made with minimal food around... Though I did have a block of tofu waiting for me when I got home from work, pressed ever so perfectly in my Tofu Press!

I made about half a recipe of my Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice. For the veggies I used a frozen peas and corn mix as well as some thinly sliced green onions. I also added half a block of extra firm tofu that I had coated with a little cornstarch and pan fried until golden (I did this first and added it to the fried rice towards the end). I love eating rice with Roasted Seasoned Seaweed you should try it!

The other half of the block of tofu was also coated with cornstarch and pan fried until golden but I added some of my favorite store bought Sweet and Sour Sauce that needed to be used up.

"Chicken" Fajitas

Tonight I wanted my dinner and I wanted it quick! I made a bunch of seitan this weekend using recipes from my new Viva Vegan! cookbook so tonight I decided to use half a batch of White Seitan for the "chicken" in my fajitas. I also used some leftover "So Good, So Green Dipping Sauce (Green Aji Sauce)" as a topping.

Ingredients:

- Half a batch of White Seitan or 12 oz store bought "chicken" style seitan, cut into strips
- 1 bell pepper total, I did half a green and half a red, sliced lengthwise
- 1/2 a large white onion, sliced lengthwise
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped small (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon each: thyme, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne, and oregano
- 1/4 cup water
- Oil for frying
- Corn tortillas
- Favorite fajita toppings, I used shredded romaine, diced tomatoes, and that green sauce!

Directions:

- Get your veggies and seitan prepped and spices out on the counter
- Put some oil in a big fry pan or wok and add your seitan, cook until it begins to turn golden.
- Add your onions, peppers, spices, and water and cook until veggies are cooked to your liking and water has evaporated.
- Turn off heat and add cilantro, mix around a bit so cilantro is evenly distributed.
- Heat up your corn tortillas, add fajita mix, and top with your favorite toppings

 White Seitan

Fajitas

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.

Vegan Nachos!

So I made some nachos again for a quick dinner tonight. Vegweb's Melty Cheese is da bomb! Along with the Melty Cheese, I topped my nachos with...

Homemade Guac (Mashed haas avocado + a little lime juice + salt)
Vegan Tofutti Sour Cream
Diced Tomatoes
Thinly sliced Green Onions & Black Olives
Canned Vegetarian Re-fried Beans

***Please use soy milk when you make Melty Cheese, I tried Almond and thought it tasted gross***

Easy Peasy Island Teriyaki Stir Fry

 Trader Joe's has some awesome sauces to choose from! This trip to TJ's I bought some Hawaiian flavored teryaki sauce called Island Soyaki. If you don't have a TJ's near you try to find Soy Vay Island Teryaki Sauce, it tastes exactly the same and I can find it at almost any grocery store around here.

Also, if you eat a lot of tofu please buy yourself a Tofu Press already!!! These things are so awesome! No more wasting paper towels, waiting for your tofu to press, finding heavy objects to press your tofu with, ect. I just put a block of tofu in my tofu press in the morning and left it in the fridge. This makes dinner making much faster when I get home from a long day of work.

Anyways on to the "Recipe"...

Ingredients:

- 1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into cubes
- 6 handfuls cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1/2 a white onion, sliced to your liking, I prefer thicker slices
- 1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Island Teryaki Sauce
- A few tablespoons of oil for frying

Directions:

- Fry up tofu in a tablespoon or so of oil until golden
- Add cauliflower chunks and another tablespoon of oil if needed, cook for a few minutes just to begin the cooking process.
- Add sauce and cook until the cauliflower starts to look closer to being done. Add sliced white onions.
- When your cauliflower is done cooking and the sauce has been pretty much absorbed, turn off the heat and add the green onions. Stir to coat everything evenly.

VegWeb's "Chicken" Taquitos

 These "Chicken" Taquitos were DA BOMB! LOL... But seriously, so easy! And dipped with my Chipotle Vegan Mayo I think I died and went to heaven.

Here is my VegWeb review for the recipe (With pictures added):

"These were both easy and delicious! I added a packet of fajita seasoning to the pan and a little bit of water with it. I didn't even need the salsa for blending, it blended just fine (It may have been a tasty addition though).

I made some amazing chipotle mayo for dipping these babies: 1/2 cup vegan mayo, 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, and a little bit of plain non-dairy milk to get it to blend.

I baked mine and they turned out perfect. I microwaved the leftovers and they were perfect too! Really easy recipe!"