Vegan Tator Tot Hotdish

This is an old favorite.  I used to complain when my mom made this...ungrateful.  Anyway, I had an urge to make this old school comfort food.  I give it a vegan gal rating of 6.


White sauce:

• 2 cups soy milk
• 3 T. vegan margarine
• 2 T. flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Casserole:

• One 16-ounce bags of frozen veggies, I used mixed beans, peas, corn and carrots
• One bag of tater tots, use only enough to cover the top of the casserole
• 1/2 package of soy crumbles
• 1 bag of Daiya® cheddar cheese
• 4 dollops of vegan margarine

1. Over medium-low heat, mix the flour and margarine. When light brown and bubbly, remove from heat and add soy milk slowly while whisking. Take your time, make sure it’s thoroughly whisked and not lumpy.
2. Return sauce to medium heat and cook until the sauce thickens. Use a wire whisk constantly as sauce thickens.
3. Once thickened to coat a spoon, remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
4. In a 9 x 12 inch casserole, mix the frozen veggies, crumbles, Daiya and white sauce.
5. Scatter the dollops of Earth Balance on top.
6. Top with 1 layer of tater tots, side-by-side, end-to-end.
7. Bake for 1 hour at 375° F.

Fudge from The Joy of Vegan baking cookbook by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
The peanut butter sent it over the top!  I give it a vegan gal rating of 5!  You better have the unsweetened almond milk to go with it because this stuff is rich.

Happy Vegan Eating everyone!

Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 can black beans, well drained
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs or 2 pieces of vegan bread, crumbled
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Preparation:

Sautee the onions till soft, about 3-5 minutes.  
In a large bowl, mash the beans until almost smooth. Add sauteed onions and the rest of the ingredients, except the oil, adding the flour a few tablespoons at a time to combine well. Mixture will be thick.

Form bean mixture into patties, approximately ½ inch thick and fry patties in a small amount of oil until slightly firm. Make veggie burgers and enjoy!  Vegan Gal rating of 5.5!

Vegan Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 coarsely chopped vegan chocolate sandwich cookies, like Newman’s Own - use a food processor to "chop" these
6 vegan chocolate sandwich cookies halved for garnish

1. Preheat over to 350˚F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper or foil muffin liners. I got when I made this batch.
2. In a large bowl combine the soy milk and vinegar and allow it to sit for a few minutes until the milk curdles. Once curdled, add the sugar, oil and vanilla extract and beat with a hand mixer until foamy.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand mixer until well combined. Fold in coarsely chopped oreos with a spatula.
4. Fill cupcake liners halfway with batter. Bake for 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a cooling rack before icing. Garnish each cupcake with a halved cookie.


Vegan Gal Rating of 5.5



Triple Berry Rhubarb Crisp

This is yummy!  I have made it before, but this is a slightly different twist.  Rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.  Top it with a oat / brown sugar mixture and this is a great, sweet snack or dessert.  Add some vegan vanilla ice cream and you create a little bit of heaven.

Pizza and Pasta

Vegan homemade pizza - Vegan Gal rating of 7

Next time there WILL be homemade crust!

"Meatballs"

Vegan Gal rating of 7.5 with Spaghetti and Marinara

1 package Gimme Lean (Sausage or "Beef" Flavor)
 6 oz vegan burger crumbles
 1/2 cup cracker crumbs (I used panko bread crumbs)
 1/2 tsp onion powder
 1/2 tsp garlic powder
 1/2 tsp dried oregano
 1/4 tsp basil
 1/4 tsp salt
 dash of pepper
 2 Tbsp olive oil
 additional vegetable oil for cooking

Combine all ingredients with your hands or a mixer. Form into any size balls you like. Brown on all sides in oil. Continue heating until hot throughout.  Pair them with marinara sauce, noodles, vegan BBQ sauce (watch out for honey!) or on a hoagie for a sub sandwich with black olives!

Father's Day Fun with Food

I made sloppy joes and brownies today.  I give the burgers a Vegan Gal rating of 6.5.  I paired them with Kettle Brand Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper chips.  All that's missing is a pickle on the side!

 As for the brownies, I give them a Vegan Gal rating of 8.5!  Thanks to my friend Heidi for the brownie recipe!

I'll post a picture of the brownies later...unless they all get eaten first!

Lemon Vanilla Cookies with Raspberry Preserves

Check these out.  They are sort of like fancy shortbread cookies that you buy for $3 a pop.  I give them a Vegan Gal rating of 7.5!

    1 1/2 cups + 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1 cup raw sugar
    1/2 cup canola oil
    1/4 cup liquid sweetener (agave or maple syrup is best)
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
    3 tablespoons nondairy milk (I used vanilla almond milk, yum)
    1 medium lemon, zested
    1/4 to 1/3 cup blueberry, raspberry or strawberry preserves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium to large bowl, combine all the flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk to get everything incorporated nicely. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Stir in  liquid sweetener, vanilla and lemon extracts, nondairy milk and lemon zest.

2. Mix these ingredients together, then slowly shift/stir in the dry ingredients. Use your hands to get a dough to form. Avoid overworking the dough. Next take small portions of the dough and roll into walnut sized balls.

3. Gently press cookie between your palms and fingers to form little disks. Push a small dimple in the center and add 1/2 teaspoon or so of blueberry preserves.

4. Place on prepared cookie sheets and bake for 10 until the edges turn a faint golden brown. Allow a few minutes for cookies to cool before removing from sheet pan, then transfer to wire cooling rack and allow to completely cool.

I have been having a lot of breakfast for dinner lately!

Have you ever seen that episode of Scrubs where Turk begs Carla to make him breakfast for dinner or "brinner"?  You should check it out if you have not seen it...hilarious!

So, anyway, I made drop biscuits and tofu scramble.

The biscuits did not turn out quite like I had hoped but they are still darn good.  I give them a Vegan Gal rating of 7!  The recipe called for a non-dairy butter such as Earth Balance.  I used Willow Run but I bet they would have turned out more golden brown had I used the Earth Balance.  I added some canola oil to make them rise a bit more.  They are yummy with jam on them or imitation honey.

Then, I made tofu scramble.  With just the seasonings, I gave it a Vegan Gal rating of 4...but once I added the Daiya Cheddar cheese and the tomatoes, I increased the rating to 7!

Tomorrow I will plan to eat the tofu scramble on a tortilla with daiya, lettuce, tomato and possibly tofutti sour cream for a "Sunshine" taco.  You could also make a frittata or other similar "egg bake" recipe with this.  It would be great with green onions, garlic, mushrooms, tomato, etc.  Yummy!

This is what I used:
http://www.fantasticworldfoods.com/products/productdetail.aspx?s=073825122707:Tofu+Scrambler+-+2.7++++++++OZ.