Greens-n-Squash

Peanut sauce and greens recipe came from Ann Jackson's book, Heart of the Home. Mm-mm-mm.

Birfday Cake

Rich's mom made him a birthday cake yesterday! It was moist-n-delicious. Here's her recipe. And don't forget the love!

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water (I used 1 cup juice from canned cherries and 1 cup water)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pan (I used a bundt pan).

Mix dry ingredients first. Once the mixture is even, well mixed, mix in wet ingredients. Continue mixing until you obtain an even batter (no lumps). Pour into a cake pan and bake for approximately 55 minutes.

Drizzle:

1 tablespoon margarine
1 tablespoon Hershey's cocoa
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Microwave margarine in small microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM (50%) 20 to 30 seconds until melted. Stir in cocoa and water. Microwave at MEDIUM 15 to 30 seconds or just until mixture is hot, slightly thickened and smooth when stirred. Do no boil.

2. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating with whisk until smooth. If necessary, add additional water, a few drops at a time, until of desired consistency or add more sugar if needed. Be sure to whisk until smooth. About 1/4 cup glaze.

Devil's Mess Tacos

Named after a dish at LA diner, Millie's. But this version's vegan, of course. It's black refried beans, potatoes, jalapenos, cabbage, hot sauce, and avocados all on grilled corn tortillas. Muy bueno!

Leftover Sammiches

Whaddya do when you have eggplant one night? Make sandwiches outta the leftovers the next!

Eggplant Farmer Shawna-Richiano

Get it? Like eggplant parmesana-reggiano? Haahahhaa. I can't resist a bad pun. Anyway, here's our vegan version of a classic. It's derived from our friend Sicilian Sue in NJ, who makes the meanest eggplant ever. Everyone loves this dish. Everyone. Or else. Bon giorno!

1 big eggplant
jar or two of spaghetti sauce
EnerG Egg Replacer
breadcrumbs (we made our own with toast, spices, and nutritional yeast flakes)
olive oil
garlic
onions
bell peppers
sea salt
lemon
basil

Slice eggplant into thin rounds. Soak it in a bowl of water and sea salt for at least an hour, placing a plate on top to squeeze out any bitterness. Mix up a few cups of the egg replacer in a bowl. Add some juice from the lemon. Lay out plate with breadcrumbs. Heat olive oil in an electric skillet. (What? You don't have an electric skillet? Our friend and cookbook author Ann Jackson showed us the importance of owning this handy-dandy item. A regular frying pan will do in a pinch). Dip each eggplant slice in the lemon/egg replacer mixture, drag each side of the slice through the breadcrumbs, and fry 'til lcrispy in the oil.

Layer slices on top of each other in a glass baking pan. add onions, peppers, and garlic around edges of eggplant. Pur jar/jar-and-a-half of sauce over all veggies. Bake at 400 for about 45 mins.

Sprinkle remaining breadcrumb mixture on top just before it's finished baking.

We served this over whole wheat pasta, with bread and a salad friends Matt & Alison brought over.

Everything in the Fridge Lentil Soup

We make this a lot. Tonight we had friends over so it tasted even better than usual. The recipe varies, according to what's laying around in the 'fridge, but the split red lentils (masoordal) and coconut milk are constants. Sometimes a sweet potato makes it in. Sometimes whole cherry tomatoes. Red lentils cook quickly and are extra-good. The trick is to "toast" the lentils in a wee bit of olive oil alone in the pan for a few minutes before adding any liquid. Then add everything and simmer away...
Squeeze lime juice on top just before serving.

2 cups of lentils
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of water
1 can of tomato paste
1 onion, chopped
1 bulb of garlic
1 carrot, chopped
a bunch of baby bok choy
1 whole green pepper, chopped
1/2 of a jalapeno
white pepper
black pepper
paprika
tumeric
nutmeg
cardamom
1 bulb of lemongrass, peeled and chopped
1 lime

Schnax

Nori-Maki, pistachios, & trail mix

Thai Mee Up

Lunch today came from Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn. They make burritos the size of a small country. Or your head (whichever visualization works best for you). It's the Thai Mee Up burrito with grilled tofu, add avocado. Yum.

Trail Mix Slaw

So, tonight while Shawna was grilling up the Faux Chik'n and Boca Patties, I was mixin' up a little Trail Mix Slaw for the side. The sandwiches were our normal ol' recipe (refer to previous posting). The slaw was a basic slaw mix in a bag. I mixed in the following:

Veganaise: enough to to moisten

Paprika: enough to color 

Celery Salt

Pepper

Curry Powder

Red Pepper Flakes

Celery: 1 stick chopped up into small pieces

Bell Pepper: about 1/4 of one

Avocado: about 1/2 of one chopped

Trail Mix: a handful of your favorite mix, our had sunflower nuts, dates, walnuts, etc.

The slaw was amazing. And then I added a handful of BBQ Fritos for fun.

Snausage-n-Toast

It's breakfast for dinner, kids! Your favorite. Actually it was lunch. Gimme Lean "sausage" is what's featured, w/toast and li'l bit of everything salad. Enjoy!

Faux Chickie Sammich

Hot, fast, cheap and easy. Tonight we had veggie chicken sandwiches. 

Boca Meatless Chik'n Patties

Vegenaise 

Mustard

Avocado

Tomato

Lettuce

Fancy Bread

The Oldest Trick in the Book

We make this dish quite a bit for ourselves and our friends. It comes out great every time, hence the name.  To start we use the Harris Teeter brand Arrabiatta sauce over wheat pasta. We added grilled onions and green peppers this time around. We used a faux chicken product called DELIGHT SOY NUGGETS out of North Carolina. We like to fry the faux chicken in peanut oil first for crispiness. Then add to sauce as served. (Soy does not have the same properties as meat. Soy products tend to get soggy when cooked in liquids too long.) One of the salad dressings is simply olive oil and lemon juice. The white one is Brianna's Poppy Seed dressing. Tonight we threw blueberries and sunflower seeds on the salad to mix it up a bit. And now we'll leave you with the first two words we learned in Italy: Prego. Gratzi.    

Soup of the Day

So we were sitting around the other night, wanting to recreate a carrot-ginger soup we used to enjoy at Erewhon, a health food store in Los Angeles. We were also drooling over a butternut squash/curry/green bean recipe displayed in the new issue of Yoga Journal. We couldn't decide on what to make, and didn't have all the ingredients for either, so we sorta combined the two. 

Here's the recipe and evidence of the yumminess that ensued.

1 can of coconut milk

1 cup of water

1 butternut squash, peeled & cubed 

1 onion

3 carrots, chopped

1 clove of garlic

1-2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

a handful of broccoli

olive oil

salt-n-pepa (not the hip hop group, but the spices!)

Start with a big pot. Add olive oil, chopped onion, cubed squash, and chunks-o-carrots. Simmer and stir until onions are see-through. Add can of coconut milk. Add water. Add garlic and ginger and salt and pepper. Put on the lid and let boil for about 20 mins, or until veggies are soft. Pour 3/4 of mixture into a blender and blend 'til smooth. Pour back into pot. Add broccoli. Cook a little longer 'til the broc turns bright green. Pour into pretty bowls. Squirt a dash of lemon on top just before serving. Eat. Triscuits optional.