French Toast

mmm... delicious french toast... made with eggs & almond milk!!
it's a staple of our Sunday morning breakfast rotation, and it's very simple. you need:

stale bread
eggs (4-5)
almond milk
cinnamon
vanilla
oil

decide if you want 4 or 5 eggs worth of toast and then crack those in a bowl with a flat bottom (I use a pyrex bowl.) Pour quarter sized dollops of almond milk into the eggs (one for each egg) and then beat until everything is smooth. Pour in a little vanilla (maybe 2 tsp?) to taste, and liberally shake cinnamon over the top and beat again.

Oil your pan, dip your toast, and enjoy!

What Goes Well with Leftover Enchiladas? Pumpkin Soup!

Yes really. Especially when it's goat cheese & seitan chorizo enchiladas and spicy pumpkin soup!
This is a slightly modified recipe from a cookbook called "The Complete Vegan Cookbook" which is actually where the beginnings of my goat cheese enchilada recipe came from.

The recipe in the book is Pumpkin-Rice Soup with Sage & Allspice, and I encourage you to try it as written, but I'm posting what I actually ended up making (since I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, and I made only a partial batch, because I only had 1 cup pumpkin.)

1.5 (ish) cup vegetable broth
1 cup pumpkin
3 cloves minced garlic
1/6 cup basmati rice
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp salt
a few sprinkles allspice
several grinds black pepper
1/3 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped roasted walnuts

In a stockpot, saute the minced garlic in a little oil until just a tiny bit crispy. Add the stock & pumpkin, cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then add the rice, sage, salt, allspice, and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Stir frequently. Add the almond milk and lemon juice and heat until steaming. Serve hot with roasted walnuts on top.

Makes 2 bowls, perfect for a second meal of...

Goat Cheese Enchiladas!
10 corn tortillas
1 package seitan chorizo (I love Upton's,) crumbled
half an onion, chopped
1 can green enchilada sauce
8 oz goat cheddar, grated

Saute the onions until clear, then add the crumbled seitan, and saute until a little browned. Remove from heat and set aside. Coat the bottom of a baking dish big enough for two rows of enchiladas with a thin layer of the sauce, and then pour a little sauce on a plate. Warm the tortillas and then dip both sides in the sauce on the plate, and fill with chorizo/onion mixture and goat cheddar. Roll and place seam down in the pan. I can get 5 enchiladas in 2 rows with this amount. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the enchiladas, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Let stand, uncovered, for 5 minutes before serving- they're less gooey this way, and stay together. Great with beans & rice or Pico de Gallo chips & Tomatillo salsa.

Enjoy!!

Delicious Tortilla Stew

This stew was a modified version of several online recipes... and it is delicious. And SPICY.

veggie oil

1 onion, minced

1 package Quorn Chik'N Tenders (defrosted)

3-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

liberal amount of taco seasoning

1 can green (medium heat) enchilada sauce

1 1/2 cups veggie stock

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted

4 (6 inch) corn tortillas, cut into strips

In a pot, sauté the onions and the garlic in the veggie oil. Once the onions are cooked well, add the Quorn. Sauté together for a few minutes (until the Quorn seems softer) and add the taco seasoning. I usually mix the taco seasoning into the sauté so everything is coated with little granules, and then add a little water and mix- just enough water to dissolve the seasoning and coat everything evenly.

Cook until you think the Quorn has absorbed enough of the taco seasoning flavor- maybe 10 minutes. You can even brown it a little if you want.

In a separate bowl, mix the enchilada sauce and stock. Add the chile powder, cumin, salt and/or pepper. Add this mixture to the pot with the onions and Quorn, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Mix in the beans and tomatoes. Cook the tortillas on a griddle until cooked enough for tacos, and then slice into strips and add to stew. Simmer until heated through. 

Garnish with goat cheese or fake sour cream and enjoy!!

Delicious Dal

Dahl and Pie
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

This is a great, simple recipe from a Nepali cookbook that I checked out of the library years ago.

4 cups water
1 cup lentils, red or brown or yellow, though I usually use red
1 T margarine
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 onion, chopped
pinch cloves
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch cinnamon
2 cardamom pods
1 T margarine

Warm water in a stock pot and add lentils, 1 T of margarine, salt & turmeric. Cover and simmer over low heat for 40 minutes to one hour. In a small pan, fry up the onions in the other 1 T of margarine until brown. Add the cloves, cumin, cinnamon, & cardamom pods and sauté for a few more minutes. Add this mixture to the soup and simmer for another 15 minutes. Enjoy!!

The picture also shows samosa pie, but I wasn't happy with the crust, so I'll have to fiddle with the recipe before I post it.

Trilbys

Trilbys
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes- my grandmother and I used to make these for Christmas. Additionally, the recipe started out dairy free!

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 cups oatmeal
1 2/3 cups flour

Mix all the ingredients together, and roll fairly thin on a floured surface. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. When cool, put together as sandwich cookies with the date filling.

Date filing:
1 cup dates
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water

Boil until thick!

The date filling helps keep the cookies moist and delicious.

Pie, Delicious Pie

Pie!
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

OK, so I got a little behind, because this is still the Thanksgiving wrap up and it's almost Xmas. Oh well.

Pie!!

This pie is the Sweet Potato Pie with Three Nut Topping from Vegan with a Vengeance, made with a Pecan Nut Crust (I was trying to accommodate my MIL's diet issues- diabetic & kidney issues) with mine.)
The major mod was that I used brown rice syrup in the 3 nut topping- and absolutely hunt down the correct nuts for this- the hazelnuts made all the difference.

The crust was fantastic- but I had to double the recipe to get enough to cover the pan. So, here is my modified crust (this is doubled):

* 2 cup pecan pieces (frozen)
* 4 T melted Earth Balance
* 4 T Brown Rice Syrup

Preparation:
1. Take pecans out of the freezer and measure them into a food processor. Pulse the processor until the largest pieces are as big as lentils or split peas.

2. Add the margarine and the syrup. Blend until it's mixed evenly.

3. Dump it into a pie pan, and push with your fingers to cover the bottom and sides. It should be the right consistency to mold the crust to the pie pan evenly.

It was fantastic with this pie.

Tofurkey Wellington

Tofurkey Wellington Beginnings
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

I realize that Thanksgiving was last week already, but we had company in town and it was hard to get time to talk about what I made...
So, today is the Tofurkey post, tomorrow will be pie :)

I made this recipe last year, but forgot to write down my modifications, and because of that, had a little trouble. It's one of the recipes on the Tofurkey website, and it really quite tasty.

Tofurky Wellington
Recipe by Susan Proper

Ingredients:

One Tofurky Roast, thawed (the small one)
One Tofurky Giblet & Mushroom Gravy, thawed (I couldn't find this separately from the Tofurkey this year, so I used a different brand of mushroom gravy)
1 pound fresh mushrooms, diced (I prefer crimini, or brown mushrooms)
1/4 cup olive oil or peanut oil, for frying
2 tablespoons finely diced onions
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I used powdered ginger cause that's what I had)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pepper and salt to taste
1 package frozen phyllo dough (or puff pastry)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
1/2 cup Hummus (plain or flavored) (I used garlic hummus)
also-- melted Earth Balance Margarine and a brush

Heat the oil in a skillet, then fry the onions and mushrooms until the onions are caramelized (brown) and most of the liquid has cooked out of the mushrooms. Place the Hummus, fresh garlic and spices in a small bowl. Mix in the cooled onions and mushrooms.

Now you’re ready to assemble. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place several sheets (you need at least 6-7, not several, or your dough will break when you try to wrap it up) of phyllo dough on a cutting board or clean counter top. (You may want to spread the surface with Saran Wrap – it can make the pastry step easier).

OK- I didn't find the saran wrap thing that helpful. I tried it, and things slipped too much, so I just put in on my cutting board. I also brushed the melted margarine in between the sheets of phyllo dough, like you would for spinach pie.

Spread the Hummus mixture on the center of the dough. Place the Tofurky on top of that, and spoon 3 tablespoons of Giblet & Mushroom Gravy over the Tofurky. Bring up the ends of the dough over the top of the Tofurky, enclosing the Tofurky in pastry. Seal the pastry.

I also brushed the margarine between each sheet of dough to stick it together while I wrapped it, and when I got it into the pan (which was not easy) I then put strips of dough with margarine around it to make it look nicer.

You should now have a Tofurky “loaf” encased in pastry. Carefully turn the whole thing over, so that the pastry seams face down, into a shallow pan or onto a foil-covered cookie sheet. Cut a few decorative ventilation holes in the top.

Optional: brush 1 tablespoon margarine or peanut oil on top of the Tofurky Wellington, cut in ventilation holes with a cookie cutter (leaf or diamond shape is traditional) or a sharp knife.

Bake for about an hour and a half, or until the pastry is a golden brown. Meanwhile, warm up the rest of the Giblet & Mushroom Gravy. Serve by cutting each guest a slice and pouring Giblet & Mushroom Gravy over the slice.

So tasty.