Easy Peasy Vegan Hoildays with TJ's Vegan Turkey-Less Roast

Well folks, in case you haven't noticed, Trader Joe's (aka TJ's) carries a Vegan "Turkey-Less Stuffed Roast with Gravy" at a whopping price of..... $9.99!! Holy shit batman,  vegan store-bought holiday roasts just became both inexpensive and still delicious! This roast is reportedly made by Gardein but packaged by TJ's :) so that means half the price! So enough with all my exclamation points!!!!!!!

I enjoyed this roast for ThanksLIVING...

...As well as Christmas this year. (I did not eat that animal butter!)

The roast is really easy to bring along and pop in the oven and it is done in about an hour. You will need some veggies like potatoes, onions, carrots and celery to surround the roast when it is baking as well as a little seasoning to taste. 

On an important side note, the gravy tastes like caustic chemicals so I really wouldn't bother polluting your roast or mashed potatoes with it ;) 

So hopefully, you have a TJ's in your area or I am just sitting here typing and feeling like an asshole since I was also able to stuff my face with store bought vegan pumpkin pie...

The life of a vegan is just so damn difficult these days ;)

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

Sorry I've Been MIA...

I have a lot, I mean A LOT of catching up to do... It's Friday night and I have an appointment tomorrow in the AM so I will break my massive amounts of vegan food porn up into a few separate posts to keep you peeps (who are still paying attention to my blog) some stuffs to look at...

Easter (Yes, I know like a month ago) was quite a vegan success... I had a Tofurkey in the freezer and this was the last time I ever planned on making the damn thing again since, I felt it wasn't that "drool worthy"... Well holy crap, my Tofurkey turned out bomb on Easter... I did the soy sauce and herb mixture on the back of the package this time and probably doubled it... Perfection

I also made a vegan cheesecake from my friends blog Vegan Machine and oh my, did this cheesecake taste delicious! I boiled down some frozen berries with sugar for the cheesecake topping, my family scarfed it down!

I have also been doing tons of cooking out of my favorite cookbook, Viva Vegan... Here is some food porn to enjoy... Above is Gallo Pinto served with some vegan sour cream, tostadas, and random garnishes... It is also pictured below with some creamy chipotle sauce made out of vegan mayo blended with soy milk and canned chipotles in adobo (plus more random garnishes), with a side of homemade jalapeno refried beans.

I also made Viva Vegan's Peruvian Seitan Skewers and Yellow Garlic Rice and served them up with some Easy Elotes (canned corn, vegan mayo, and pico de gallo seasoning sprinkled on top).

Here is Viva Vegan's Quick Red Posole with Beans. I wasn't impressed with this dish unfortunately and will not be making this again...

I made 3 batches of seitan as well a few weekends ago: Red, White, and Chorizo Seitan... All turned out magical as usual as Viva Vegan's Seitan recipes never disappoint!

I used the Chorizo Seitan Sausages to make my new favorite soup: Potato-Kale Soup with Sizzling Chorizo!

Finally, I had some Classic Roasted Tomatillo Sauce in the freezer that I thawed and used to whip up some Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce (Sans the nasty Cashew Crema)

That's all for this post! Stay tuned homies!

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

My First All Vegan Thanksgiving

This year was dinner at my pad. I was joined by my brother, sister, sister's BF, a friend, and my mom... I bought a a few items premade just to make the task a bit easier: Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix, Hain Gravy, a Tofurkey, canned corn, and a frozen vegan pumpkin pie. The only thing I enjoyed out of these prepackaged items was the gravy. The Tofurkey also turned out pretty good, but nothing mind blowing.

 Spinach Dip served with Wheat Thins

Salad served with vegan ranch or poppy seed dressing

Homemade mashed potatoes, seasoned with red onion, garlic, and parsley

Sweet potatoes, roasted and seasoned with vegan butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, courtesy of my bro

Main dish, a Tofurkey Roast surrounded with carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes

Tofurkey Roast sliced up for serving

Pumpkin pie topped with Rice Cream

So full... I had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year being around like minded people. Yay :)

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!

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!)

VegWeb's My Husband's Deviled Egg Solution: Potato Angels!

 My Husband's Deviled Egg Solution: Potato Angels! off VegWeb is amazing: Roasted potatoes with a potato-salad-like filing made to resemble deviled eggs... I wish this recipe had been posted before Easter, as I definitely would have brought it over to my Dad's. I served my deviled "eggs" with some cubed, pan-fried tofu, coated with my favorite barbecue sauce and some thinly sliced green onions... My boyfriend LOVED this meal... Score!

Notes/Changes:

- I used 7 white rose potatoes instead of new potatoes as that was all I could find at the local market
- Since the potatoes were much bigger I ended up quadrupling the "egg" filing
- These were best when the potatoes reached room temperature and filled with cold "egg" filing... Leftovers were also good but leave the deviled "eggs" out until they reach room temperature

Easter Dinner

I had a fantastic Easter this year! My Dad and Step Mom are starting to get into this vegan thing and almost all the dishes were vegan! The vegan items included: Bryanna's Soy and Seitan "Turkey", mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes (coated with "butter" and brown sugar), carrot and onion stir-fry, stuffing, salad with poppy seed dressing, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake for dessert!

This is by far the best holiday meal I have had as a vegan and I love that some members of my family are being so supportive! I hate when all there is for me to eat is basically whatever I cart over and a salad. Sorry I don't have too many pictures of all the goodies I got to eat. I was halfway through my dinner when I realized I forgot to take pictures!

Bryanna's Soy and Seitan "Turkey" turned out fantastic and I will be using this recipe again for the next holiday get together! I used Method #1, hand kneaded my "turkey" dough, and baked my "turkey" in a 2.5 quart Corningware Casserole dish. The texture was fantastic, it had the exact same texture taste of turkey. My only suggestion for this recipe is reducing the amount of Bryanna's Homemade Vegan "Chicken-Style" Broth Powder used... The flavor was too overpowering on the outside of the "turkey" but the inside tasted much better. Bryanna says to use 1/3 cup broth powder for 2 cups of water, next time I am going to try using only 4 teaspoons of broth powder (The regular amount used when using the broth powder in other recipes).

Bryanna's Soy and Seitan "Turkey"



Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Thick and Creamy Vegan Ranch

When I first went vegan I never thought I would still be able to still enjoy RANCH! Thick and creamy RANCH! Thank God I can or I wouldn't be eating many salads because it's just about the only salad dressing I like and I have tried TONS. Here is my perfected version of this recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

- 1.5 cups Vegenaise (vegan mayo)
- 1/4 cup vanilla almond or soy milk (not unsweetened)
- 1 to 2 tbsp red wine vinegar*
- 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 10 cracks fresh cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Put all the ingredients together in a blender or Magic Bullet and blend.

* 2 tbsp gives you a really tangy ranch. I like it this way but you can taste the vinegar.

The Witchy Kitchen's Beyond Easy Dinner Rolls and Vegan Caesar Salad

Dinner Rolls:

So I have been checking out this blog lately called The Witchy Kitchen and decided to make some Beyond Easy Dinner Rolls along with some caesar salad for a simple lunch. Oh my, these rolls turned out fantastic!

To make these rolls vegan, I substituted the egg using Ener-G replacer for 1 egg (1.5 tsp Ener-G mixed with 2 tbsp warm water). I also used black and white sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds because that's what I had on hand. Next time, I will use more "butter" to coat the top of the rolls since I skimped on it a little this time and buy some poppy seeds (the sesame seeds did not make the rolls taste bad or anything).

Caesar Salad:

I have to admit, I didn't whip up my own batch of caesar salad dressing because Follow Your Heart makes an entire line of salad dressings with many, if not most of them being vegan. I haven't tried all of them, but I can tell you for sure the Vegan Caesar, Vegan Honey Mustard, and Thousand Island Dressings are fantastic! I haven't tried a dressing from Follow Your Heart I haven't liked yet.

The additional vegan salad dressing flavors, besides the ones I just listed are: Sesame Dijon, Creamy Garlic, Lemon Herb, Sesame Miso, Organic Balsamic Vinegar, and Organic Italian Vinaigrette. Here is their website: Follow Your Heart the dressings are listed under the Organic Salad Dressings and Fresh and Naturals tabs.

Vegan Dill Dip

Wow this recipe from VegWeb is great :) I left out the beaumonde seasoning and it was fine without it.

It's a little bit too salty, so maybe try halving the seasoning salt, otherwise it's perfect.