Not much cooking going on here.

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we have had so much going on and most of it has not been in the kitchen. As you can see simple meals have been on the menu. Steamed yellow squash, my new love beet green's, and nooch! I can't live without Nutritional Yeast, pure and simple it rocks! Oh and the beets that came with these greens have already been devoured. :o)

Unfortunately the next couple weeks will also be simple meal because DH had to fly to Texas to be with his dad that took a terrible fall. He blacked out and fell fracturing almost every bone in his face. He is in ICU awaiting different surgeries. Dad is 85 so this is very scary. All of you out there that have a connection with Heaven, please send up your prayers. I am home with the fur kids pretty much just eating veggies and trying to keep busy.

PS - Look at this little grandson of mine, isn't he just the cutest little man you ever did see?

Check out the action on Brandie's blog. Jr. is moving now!

Technical Difficulties but I am still here.

Sorry for being away for so long. My camera decided to no longer work and DH was redoing the office so things were a bit crazy. Needless to say not much creative cooking going on and I didn't want to bore you with tons of grand baby pictures. :o) I did try a new recipe from Bryanna and it is fantastic! It is quick and very low fat. I took this picture with my phone, which seemed to work better than I thought. Oh, after the picture the noodles had soaked up the sauce so I added more. This stuff is so addicting!






Also, DH is going to til the garden this weekend and get ready to plant. Here are the last of the carrots. I hope the weather holds and we get some broccoli, carrot, and lettuce seeds started on Saturday.

January is National Soup Month

I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far. I got a newsletter from our church today along with some soup recipes and low and behold January is National Soup Month. There was a Curried Lentil Soup recipe that peeked my interest. I changed it a bit, cut the recipe in half, and have named it Curried Lentil Stew. It is thick and tasty. I just had a bowl and I bet you anything it would be fantastic over rice. Here we have it served it my VEGAN bowl courtesy of our sweet daughter. Thanks Brandie!

Curried Lentil Stew

1 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium carrots, cut in 1/2 inch rounds
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/3 cup or 76 grams dried green lentils
1 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups of No-Chicken broth
5 ounces or 142 grams of frozen green beans

Add sweet potatoes, carrots, onion, green beans, and lentils to your 4 to 6 quart slow cooker.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, ginger root, and garlic, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, add the broth, mix, and add to the crock pot. Give it a good stir, pop on the lid, and visit in a couple hours to see how your lentils and veggies are doing. Mine took about 4 hours and I used my small crock pot.

Enjoy!

Traditions, where would we be without them?

Like many of you in blogging land, I too grew up eating black eyed peas on New Years Day. My mom always made them with a ham hock, which was always disgusting to me, therefor creating in me bad memories. Going vegan has given me a great love for these one eyed beauties. This year hubby said can we have corn bread too? Well, I came up with the great idea to have black eyed pea tacos. Hey we still get the peas and the corn. :o) It seems to me that I saw a similar combination, black beans and butternut squash, on one of my blogging buddies post, but can't remember who. Anyway to who ever it was, Thank you!!!!


This years creation was so good. I called Brandie to let her know what I was having and she too said that sounds so good! They may be simple, but after the busy Christmas time, simple was just what the doctor ordered.

Corn tortillas heated in a dry skillet and filled with black eyed peas, baked butternut squash, tomatoes, and avocado. Mouth watering good!

May your black eyed peas bring you great wealth this year!

A Quiet Homemade Christmas

Happy New Year! Just a post full of Christmas love!

DH plays Santa for some families in church ever year and this year we got to be Santa for our grandson. We spent Christmas eve with Brandie, Micah, and Jr. Jr. was not even afraid of Santa! Here is myself, DH (Santa) and Jr. What a happy boy!

This is a wonderful vegan basket of goodies from a very good friend of mine and her husband. Chuck got a nice shirt, socks for me, popcorn, hot chocolate, hand lotion, organic sparkling apple cider for New Years Eve, the DVD of Sleeping Beauty, pita chips and more. N & E, Chuck and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.



Thanks to Bethany I made roasted butternut squash seeds. They were so good that they disappeared shortly after coming out of the oven. :o)

This years economy made way to a homemade Christmas. This is a little wooden house and family that Chuck makes from wood. Then I do the painting. This one is Brandie, Micah, and Jr's. Brandie loves skulls so I painted the family in hoodie's with skulls. I am so glad they liked it.

DH made this wonderful wooden toy for Jr. It rolls across the floor and makes the sound similar to those stand up toys (popcorn popper). Jr loves it. Brandie loved it so much she asked her dad to make some more in different sizes so the sounds are different. DH has already made Jr. 2 more. A new tradition has been born. Grandpa has to make Jr a wooden toy each Christmas.

Another shot so you can see. The dowels in the middle are the ones that make noise as it rolls.

Because we spent Christmas Eve with Brandie and the family Christmas day was quiet and simple. Tofurky roast was the main attraction.

What a mess, but boy is it good. Susan's Green bean casserole, potatoes and gravy, carrots, broccoli, stuffing, and the best cranberry sauce ever thanks to Veggie girls great advice.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!!

Picked Garden Goodies Before the Freeze

Looks like our garden will be nearing it's end. I think winter has finally arrived.
We have a freeze warning beginning tonight, which is not good for the garden. One good thing is that I didn't have to do much thinking about dinner. Picked some veggies and made up a quick rice and lentil dish, dinner served. The rest of the garden will be covered in burlap tonight and we will hope for the best.

Here is dinner: tons of steamed zucchini, sauteed kale, 3 kinds of lettuce for a green salad, topped with fresh tomatoes, and a mixture of wild rice, brown rice, green and red lentils cooked in "no-chicken" broth, onions, and garlic.

Now I am off to the garden to tuck the veggies into their burlap bed.

Home grown goodness!

We have had some crisp cool weather along with some light rain the past couple of days so we just let Mother nature water the garden. Today with clear skies, back out to our garden I went. Needless to say our produce enjoyed Mother natures gift and have blessed us with some delicious goodies. I picked some Romain lettuce, tomatoes, and DH brought in about 17 jalapenos.

Here is one of out tomato plants

We still have maybe 6 or 7 heads of Romain lettuce growing.

Future popper.:o)

Now, most of you know that I am not a huge fan of super "HOT" foods. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dish of spice just not the kind that burns my mouth so bad that I can't enjoy or taste the food. DH on the other hand believes the "HOTTER" the better. I wanted to surprise him with something fun and with all those jalapenos I figured why not make something that I have never made nor eaten. Jalapeno Poppers. Seeing that I never liked cream cheese, the kind from a cow, poppers have never been in my diet, but tofutti cream cheese I love so why not give them a shot. I found a recipe on the Tofutti website and went for it. DH dipped his in salsa of course and I dipped mine in organic ketchup. Can you say delicious? Oh my gosh! DH was thrilled and so was I. If any of you out there want to give them a try, here is the recipe I used. I have also put my version of it below. The ingredients are the same with the addition of seasoning the flour and bread crumbs and the directions are a bit more detailed.







Vegan Poppers

12 jalapeno peppers, sliced in half lengthwise, tops and seeds removed
8 ounces Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (I use the one without transfats)
1 cup soy milk (I used plain)
1 cup flour (season with salt and pepper)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used a mixture of homemade and panko seasoned with salt and pepper) oil for frying

Preparation:

Cut the peppers in half and scrape out the seeds. Keep the halves together because you have to put them back together. Fill each half of the pepper with Tofutti and put the halves back together.
Put the soy milk and the flour into two separate bowls.
Dip the stuffed jalapenos into the soy milk and then into the flour, making sure that they are well-coated. Allow the coated jalapenos to dry for about 10 minutes.
Dip the jalapenos into the soy milk again and roll them through the breadcrumbs. Allow them to dry then repeat the process to ensure that the entire surface of each jalapeno is coated.
In a large skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil. Deep fry the jalapenos for about 3 minutes or until golden brown then transfer them to paper towels to drain.

I still have some peppers left so I whipped up a batch of Jalapeno Corn Muffins thanks to Beverly Lynn Bennett, The Vegan Chef.

We finished up this delicious meal with a wonderful, cooling green salad dressed with a Dijon mustard and cilantro dressing. Quick, simple, and tasty.

Go for it folks!

You know you want to. :o)

Going where we've never gone before!

DH and I decided it was time to try something new, go where we have never gone before, and expand our horizons with new and different foods. Now I know that many of you out there are much more adventurous and these will not be new to you, but we have to start somewhere. DH and I were watching the Christmas special on Food Network and DH got his first new food recipe to try, Parsnip Puree. For those of you who do not know my DH is a very sweet omni, but willing to try everything. Off to the store we went in search of our new ingredients.

With that said, I bring you Mr. Organic Celery Root also known as

Celeriac and Vegetable Octopus.

Wikipedia definition: Celeriac may be used raw or cooked. It has a tough, furrowed, outer surface which is usually sliced off before use because it is too rough to peel. Celeriac has a celery flavour, and is often used as a flavouring in soups and stews; it can also be used on its own, usually mashed, or used in baked dishes. Celeriac is not as widely used as some other root vegetables, perhaps because it is harder to prepare and clean: Celeriac can leave quite an unpleasant taste in the mouth a little while after eating.

Now we can't forget the star, Mrs. Parsnip.

Wikipedia definition: Until the potato arrived from the New World, its place in dishes was occupied by the parsnip and other root vegetables. Parsnips can be boiled, roasted or used in stews, soups, and casseroles. In some cases, the parsnip is boiled and the solid portions are removed from the soup or stew, leaving behind a more subtle flavour than the whole root and contributing starch to thicken the dish. Roasted parsnip is considered an essential part of Christmas dinner in some parts of the English-speaking world. Parsnips can also be fried, or be eaten raw.

Parsnip Puree

The orginal recipe, which you can find here, has bacon, butter, and whole milk. I used Earth Balance, unsweetened soy milk, and chives.

As dinner was served, I waited to hear what DH had to say about his new found food. "Well it is very smooth and very sweet!" I had to agree with him on the sweet, but I liked our new recipe and although DH cleaned his plate, seconds were not in the future. He said, " I hope Brandie likes it because there are leftovers." Thank you DH for having such a open mind.

What will be next you ask? I already have my ingredients and will share them with you later this week. :o)

Blogging buddies make my week a success!

This weeks food has been made possible by 3 really super blogging buddies. First I need to send a big thank you out to Julie of Everydaydish.tv for her enchiladas recipe. Our ladies group at church has a progressive dinner each year for Christmas. This year the theme was Mexican and the main dish was enchiladas. Seeing that I wanted to eat too I needed to make vegan enchiladas, which I have never done. I emailed Julie and the same day I received an email from her describing how she makes them. Thank you so much! I followed her cooking directions along with a yummy filling of black beans, sauteed leeks, chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic, cumin the addition of some Gimmi Lean "meat" and some extra Follow Your Heart Cheddar Cheeze over the top of 2 big cans of enchiladas sauce. They were the hit of the dinner. People were shocked to see me eating them and kept saying, "Thought you were vegan". Well, vegans can have just as much fun as the rest of you. Ladies were tasting from my plate and going to get some of their own. Good thing I made 2 pans of them. Sadly in all the hurrying I forgot to take a decent picture so this is all I have to offer. They are so good!!! Boy I want to make some more!!!





My next big Thank you goes out to Becks for asking Jess if I could have her mum's awesome vegan biscuit recipe. Mum, I want to thank you for your fantastic recipe and Jess for allowing me to try them. You have an awesome MUM!!! I have not had a decent biscuit since going vegan 2 years ago. As you can see I had a comfort meal of biscuits and gravy. Brandie made some scramble tofu to go along. Thank you so much sharing!

Ok everyone, lets see what yummy comfort meals we can all come up

with as our weather turn chilly!

Daring Bakers Challenge became a family affair!

Well, folks I don't know where November went, but it is almost over and today was the November Daring Bakers Challenge due date.

This months challenge was CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING.

Brandie got hold of the camera so here I am stirring the Golden syrup.

Brandie was excited to do the decorating. She is an awesome cake decorator.

I made 12 mini bundt cakes, which were decorated in a perfect fall theme by Brandie.

Thanks Brandie!

Look at those cute pumpkins!


All pretty and ready to be devoured!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

How has everyone been? I have been busy with family and our grandson, which has left me with little cooking time. I appreciate everyone stopping by and saying hi while I have been away from my blog. So many things to write about. First off I have been given a blog award by Virginia. Thank you so much! Everyone check our her blog, she is a real sweetie and her blog is fantastic.

Other big news is about our sweet grandson. He turned 5 months old 7 days ago and cut his 2 bottom teeth. He is growing up too fast. Check out Brandie's blog for some really cute pictures. This is one of his new 5 month old pictures.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was made perfect by some great recipes that many of you were kind enough to share.

First I made the Vegan Turkey Roast by Brian McCarthy, which all of you can see and learn over at Julie's site Everyday Dish. I used a flour sack dish cloth to wrap it in because I was out of cheesecloth. I also added 1 tsp of poultry seasoning. I wish I had an electric meat slicer because this roast is going to make some really kick bootie sandwiches!

Next item on our menu was The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole from Susan over at Fat free Vegan. Instead of baking this as one large casserole I put it individual dishes. Remember my problem with cooked mushroom? Well, this recipe is so good I challenge all of you who have a fear of mushrooms to go for it. Delicious!!! I always hated cream of mushroom soup and was leery, but this mushroom sauce is out of this world!

You can't have Thanksgiving with out stuffing and gravy and thanks to Bryanna we all ate way to much. :o) Her Bread stuffing and rich brown fat free gravy made our meal a huge hit! I used "no-chicken" broth for the stuffing and added an extra teaspoon of poultry seasoning too. If you don't know who Bryanna is go visit her blog, recipes galore!!!

Darn forgot to take pictures of these. You will just have to take my word for it! Delish!

Finally what I wait for all year long, Brussels sprouts. Brandie and I adore them so when winter comes we are all over them. These were roasted with some olive oil, salt, and garlic. Yum!

Sorry no desserts kids. I have been off sugar for nearly 2 months and am doing my best to continue, so apples have become my favorite dessert. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. :o)

I am indeed grateful for all of my blogging buddies. Your kindness and inspiration are a blessing to all.

Hugs!

Frustration and I've Been Tagged

Me and the kitchen are having issues today. Well, not everything, but some. I made some wonderful English muffins and some super sausage, but when it came to bread today I fell flat. I make bread every week so when something terrible goes wrong I have a hard time understanding my stupidity. First I spent 2 hours making Dave's' killer bread from Everyday dish. Now I make this all the time as you can tell from my post here, but today all was well, until I realized I forgot the salt. Nasty! I think unsalted bread is for the birds and I mean that literally. The ducks love it. With that failure under my belt I went to plan B, which is another favorite of the family, My 7 or 9 grain. All was going well until it was time to take it from the pan. It stuck, I mean stuck. The pan was greased well, but still it wouldn't budge. I finally cut it out of the pan, which left us with a very ugly loaf of bread. Next get the camera and document the disasters so all of you can have your giggle of the day and the camera won't work. The batteries have been charging for 3 hours or more and still nothing. Thank goodness I was tagged or I would have nothing to write about. :o)



Well I have been tagged so here are 7 random things about me.



1. I brush my teeth for 2 minutes every morning and 4 minutes every night. I also floss every night before brushing.



2. I rarely chew on the left side of my mouth.



3. I like the taste and texture of raw mushrooms, but can't stand the smell or texture of cooked mushrooms. I really want to and am trying as hard as I can to get past my issues.



4. My second toe on both feet are longer than my big toe, in fact my second toe on my left foot is 5/8 of an inch longer than my big toe. Brandie, my daughter has the same kind of toes and so does our grandson! Yeah! Keep the long toe gene going.



5. When I hit 5' 3" I cried for days. I have blue eyes and loved being 5 foot 2 eyes of blue. Shoot now I am 5'4". Maybe when I get older I will shrink back to 5 foot 2 eyes of blue. :o)



6. I love lizard and snakes. People think that is weird since I am a girl. Right now I only have one snake named Zero. I have had her for about 12 years.



7. I have a phobia of dirty door handles. Especially when you walk out of a public restroom. I always open the door with a paper towel. Hey, some people don't wash there hands. Nasty!!




There you have it. 7 random things about me. I am sure there are many more, but after my frustrating day in the kitchen this is all I could muster up.

Have fun playing this game!
I tag:

Brandie

Becks

Vegetation

Of course there is always a bright light at the end of a frustrating day and that is our grandson.
Isn't he a cutie? Ok, he does not have the Alfalfa look going on. That line is a branch from the haunted Halloween tree that was on the background of the photo shoot.

Can it be? Vegan Corned Beef

Fall is in the air and we have had our first drop of moisture. *cheering*!! We have had a long hot summer here in sunny southern California and today's sprinkles, wind, and patchy clouds were very welcomed. My blogging vacation is over and it time to get back to posting. Have you ever had a craving of something that you have not eaten in a long time? In fact so long ago that you don't know what it really tastes like, but you still want it? This happened to me this past week. I was craving corned beef. It has been so long since I had it that I really can't remember what it tastes like, but I was still determined to make VEGAN CORNED BEEF! After searching the Internet I found Bryanna's New Seitan "Corned Beef" recipe. Let me tell you that it takes some work and I had to use 2 crockpots because it made 2 huge roasts. I even let it sit in the refrigerator for 2 days an idea from Bryanna, which I am sure let the "roast" flavors meld and the texture to form. We sliced it up and gave it a quick heating before serving it up. FANTASTIC!!! Brandie also loved it. Her only suggestion would be to cut back to 3 whole cloves as the recipe calls for 6. This roast has an amazing texture, which in my opinion comes from the minute tapioca in it. Moist, tender, unbelievable! Click on the link above to make this mouth watering recipe. We served ours with chive mashed potatoes, zucchini, and a green salad. Look at that "corned beef"! Sorry for the little green chive stuck on the roast, but it escaped from the potatoes. :o) This recipe has not soy except some soy sauce, but it is made with vital wheat gluten. Bryanna is certainly the Queen of Vegan Corned Beef! Thank you, Bryanna!

VeganMoFo Day 31 Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Today is the last day of Vegan MoFo. I did it. I made it all 31 days. Yes, I feel accomplished. Today's post is a quick lunch that Brandie and I had together. It is about as scary as I can muster up. :o) Two great cooks and one Halloweegan blogger were my inspiration. Lindsay and Vegan dad have recipes for Chickenless Nuggets. I did not have all the ingredients for Lindsay's (Happy Herbivore) so I used part of Vegan dads recipe. Actually the nuggets are from Lindsay's E-book, but the breading is from Vegan dad's blog. The Frankenstein look is from River. She has had amazing Halloweegan treats posted this MoFo.

I give you Frankenstein Chickenless Nuggets!

And now I must get ready for all the little trick or treaters that will soon be arriving.

Ya'all come back now, ya hear! :o)

VeganMoFo Day 30 Mock Tuna Eaten Two Ways

Can you all believe that we only have one more day of MoFo? How quickly this month flew by. Wow I woke up this morning to some clouds and a cool breeze. I was sure today would be a little cooler day and thoughts turned to stew or chili, but as the morning got hotter and hotter that idea flew right out the window. Although it was a warm day bread had to be made. We have been out for a few days and I really hate to spend hard earned money store bought bread. Besides what is costs for a loaf in the store you can make at least 6 or 7 loaves at home.

I was also visiting many blogs and stopped in to Happy Herbivore. Lindsay had her "Mock Tuna Salad" recipe posted with pictures of an amazing sandwich, which I just had to make. Stop by her blog and see her amazing recipes she shares with all of us. She also has her secret stash of recipes that she puts into E-books, which we can all purchase. She is about to release her second E-book on Saturday. Go for it! You won't be disappointed. How about some food porn and my version of her recipe.

Here I used the "Mock Tuna" as a filling for lettuce wraps.

Fantastic! This was one good for me green plates. :o)

This is the delicious "Mock Tuna Salad" on fresh homemade bread. Oh my, I could eat the whole bowl, but I didn't. It is all about control. :o)

Here is my version of her recipe, which is very similar. You can see her recipe here. Now don't laugh, but my version is mostly done by grams. I am trying to track what I eat, so I can find my girly figure, and the program works better with grams.

Mock Tuna Salad

1 15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (236 grams)

chopped celery, (92 grams)

Sweet pickle relish (33 grams)

1 Tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce

2 Tablespoons of light vegan mayonnaise

finely chopped onion (16 grams)

1/2 teaspoon kelp powder

Mash the chickpeas, I use a potato masher, add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and chill. Eat and enjoy.

Check out the original recipe for normal measurements. Also I forgot the nutritional yeast, why who knows, but I would for sure add it next time. I love the stuff.

VeganMoFo Day 29 Daring Bakers Challenge

My very first Daring Bakers Challenge. Lets just say this was very interesting. I was thrilled that it was vegan so no substitutions were necessary, but a pizza challenge where you had to toss the pizza was a bit hysterical to say the least. DH took about 10 pictures of me tossing and never got the pizza in the picture. It was too high and I was too low. Yes, he did finally get one picture that makes me look like the wicked witch of the west, but hey it is me tossing a pizza. I told him look at me, gross take another one and I will try and smile. It didn't happen. We couldn't get both of us in the picture. lol... seriously.

Here the little pizza doughs getting ready to rest for the night.

Italian sausage, pepperoni, bell pepper, spinach, and olives with basic pizza sauce with yummy Follow Your Heart Cheese.

We had to make 2 pizzas so here is our second one. This pizza has zucchini, spinach, bell pepper, pepperoni, and Follow Your Heart Cheese.

After all that I forgot to take a picture of the cooked pizzas. Guess we were too busy eating. :o)