TVP Tacos

My husband and I both love Mexican food and though this is for sure white people Mexican food, it is still tasty.



Ingredients
1 cup TVP
1 cup water/broth
chopotle powder
cumin
salt
black pepper
cholula hot sauce

1 - 2 avocados
fresh corn
cilantro
diced onion
salt
black pepper
lime juice

cilantro
cholula hot sauce
lime juice
black olives
pickled jalapeños

corn tortillas

Method
Boil water, add the TVP. Remove from heat and allow the TVP to absorb the water. Season to taste.

In a cast iron skillet, warm up a small amount of olive oil. Add an ear's worth of fresh corn. (Frozen would probably work as well, maybe 1/2 cup). Stir and allow to cook until browned and toasty. Smash the avocado and add the rest of the ingredients to taste.

Make the taco assembly line, warm up a tortilla, add some TVP, guacamole, cilantro, hot sauce, and a bit of lime juice and any other toppings.

Notes
Hmm, I love TVP tacos. It reminds me of the tacos at the Bonfire from the summer my husband worked there.

We had these for dinner and a few hours later, I found my husband digging through the leftovers making another taco. I guess he liked it!

Speaking of leftovers, we try to have none because neither of us really eat them, so next time I would probably only use 1/2 cup of TVP rather than a full cup. There was quite a bit leftover after making 4 tacos.

Almond Fudge Cookies

Another recipe from Table for Two. This cookbook is pretty fantastic for easy, whole (non processed) food. The recipes usually only use about 5 or so ingredients and they are all non processed stuff. This book helps me stick to our food budget because I don't really have to buy expensive items for the recipes.



Ingredients
whole blanched or slivered almonds

1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup oat flour
3 T cocoa/carob powder
1/4 t baking powder
pinch of salt

1/4 cup maple syrup
3 T vegetable oil
1/2 t vanilla extract


Method
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Place the almonds aside.

Mix together the dry ingredients and add the wet ones. Only combine until just mixed. It should a thick dough.

Take a couple of tablespoons of dough, roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used up. Place a whole almond or a few slivered almonds on top.

Bake until cooked through, about 12 - 15 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes
I made these in the morning before going up school and brought them up to my office. My office mates enjoyed them. I thought they were a little dry, but tasted really great with my Bengal Spice tea. Dip a portion of the cookie in and eat. So good. Also, I could really taste the salt in the cookies. Maybe I should decrease it even more or maybe eliminate it.

Crispy Tofu Sticks and quinoa with vegetables

Last week, my husband had to be at a ethics training in the morning and he asked if I could take care of lunch. I slept in for a bit, and then looked through Table for Two for inspiration for the tofu and various vegetables sitting in my fridge.



Ingredients
Crispy Tofu
1/2 lb extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
bread crumbs
cornmeal
nutritional yeast
salt
chipotle powder
black pepper
cumin
flour
water

Quinoa and vegetables
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water/broth
onions
garlic
mushrooms
broccoli (or other various vegetables)
black pepper
salt


Method
Crispy Tofu
Cut the tofu into six sticks. Combine the breading up to the flour in a shallow pan. Put flour in another pan. And water in another pan.

Bread the tofu by rolling a stick in the flour, then immersing in the water, then rolling in the cornmeal.

Fry the sticks on a cast-iron skillet with a small amount of olive oil, until all sides are brown about 3-4 minutes per side.

Quinoa and vegetables
Boil the water and add the quinoa. Cook until the water is absorbed, about 12 - 15 minutes. Add the spices.

Sauté the garlic, onions, and mushrooms until tender. Add the broccoli and a tablespoon or two of water to help soften it. Season until tasty. Add the vegetables to the quinoa and chill until ready to serve.



Notes
We both really enjoyed the the tofu sticks once we added a bit of sriracha sauce on top of them. They still had a good flavor otherwise. If I would make them again, I would marinate them before doing the breading and frying bit.

The quinoa was okay. It became a bit gummy, maybe because I made it on the stovetop instead of in the rice cooker which is what I usually do. We didn't eat that much of it, but it wasn't bad.

Not Your Mama's Pot Roast

I used a combination of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker and Table for Two. Well, just the seitan and gravy recipe from Table for Two and the method from the Slow Cooker book.



Ingredients
Seitan
1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
chipotle powder
cumin
salt
black pepper
chili powder
red pepper flakes
1 cup water
2 T soy sauce
2 T olive oil

Rest of the pot roast
onion
carrots
potatoes
~3/4 cup water/broth
thyme

Gravy
2 T nutritional yeast
2 T flour
3/4 cup water/broth (cooking liquid from the roast)
1 T olive oil
chopped mushrooms
roasted garlic (you can wrap a head of garlic in foil and place in the crock pot when you put in everything else and it should be roasted by the end of cooking time)
black pepper
salt

Method
Seitan
Mix the dry ingredients in medium bowl until mixed. Add the liquid ingredients and knead until gluten strings develop, about 3 minutes. Place in the slow cooker.

Rest of the pot roast
Chop the vegetables and place on top of the gluten roast. Add the water until the seitan is covered. Top with thyme to taste.

Cook on low for about 8 hours or until the roast is cooked through. Slice the roast and serve with the vegetables and a gravy made from the cooking liquid.

Gravy
In a small saucepan, over medium heat, toast the yeast and flour for a few minutes until warm and yummy smelling. Whisk in the liquid ingredients, stirring constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Add the mushrooms and roasted garlic (mash into a paste before adding) and any seasonings and warm until everything is cooked through. Serve over everything else.

Notes
I really enjoyed this. My husband thought the seitan was a bit rubbery. I can't seem to get my seitan to not be rubbery if I boil or steam seitan. I have had good luck with baking it and having a good texture, but I don't want to bake it every time.

The gravy was super awesome. And I could eat roasted vegetables for every meal for the rest of my days and not get tired of them. When I was little, we would have pot roast from the slow cooker every Sunday for lunch after church and the meat was soooo dry. I would mostly eat the vegetables and not the meat. Maybe that is where my love of the roasted vegetables comes from.

Vegetable Vindaloo

This is a compilation of the recipes from The Indian Slow Cooker and Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. The Indian Slow Cooker recipe is for chicken, so I used the spices in there and the vegetables/beans called for in the Vegetarian cook book.



Ingredients
olive oil
onions
white wine vinegar
2 inch fresh ginger
7 garlic cloves
6 hot chilies
turmeric
garam masala
cinnamon
coriander seed
black peppercorn
coarse salt
mustard seeds
carrots
broccoli
cabbage
red kidney beans
1/4 cup water


Method
Caramelize the onions with the olive oil in a cast iron pot add a few tablespoons of vinegar at the end of cooking. When done, pulse in a food processor until it is a paste. Place in the slow cooker.

In a food processor, grind the chopped, peeled ginger, garlic, chilies, turmeric, garam masala, and cinnamon until it is a paste. Place in the slow cooker.

In a mortar and pestle grind the coriander, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and salt until it is mostly a powder. Add to the slow cooker.

Add the chopped vegetables and beans. Stir until well mixed. Add the water. Cook on low for about 6 hours. Serve with rice.




Notes
My husband thought this tasted a bit like potpourri. It was a bit fruity and the fantastic smell it gave off while it was cooking did not permeate the food after cooking for several hours. I am almost of the persuasion that Indian should not be cooked in the slow cooker. All the flavor seems to disappear. I am going to try this recipe on the stove top because both of the pastes I made were so fantastic that I think they would benefit from a quicker cooking time.

Soba Noodles and Peanut Sauce

This is another recipe from Supermarket Vegan. Seriously, I love this cookbook for easy, delicious recipes. This recipe is great to make in the morning and eat for lunch, which is what I did last weekend.



Ingredients
soba noodles
1 T sesame oil
1 T peanut butter
1 T tahini
1 T rice vinegar
1 T maple syrup
2 t tamari
1 t water
3 garlic cloves
1 t ground ginger
salt and black pepper
green onions
cashews or peanuts.

Method

Cook the noodles according to package directions, or about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Allow the water to drain completely out.

In a medium box, combine all the other ingredients. Add the noodles.

Cool the noodles for about 3 hours and serve chilled or bring to room temperature which we liked much better.


Notes
We added both cashews and peanuts that we had in our pantry. I was worried that this wouldn't be filling enough because it only had noodles, but it worked fine for lunch. I would add smoked tofu next time or vegetables.

I think my husband liked this more than I did, but it was still enjoyable. Just not enough vegetables in it.


Braaaaaiiiinnnsss!!!

Red Tofu Curry

My husband and I had been buying the small can of curry paste, when I saw the large tub and decided to try it out. It was great to have curry paste on hand for a quick dinner. I have plans to make my own curry paste with the chilies and everything this summer. For right now, the prepackaged one works well for me.



Ingredients
4 T Curry Paste
1 can coconut milk
potato
carrot
onion
broccoli
tomato
firm tofu
cilantro
peanuts

Method
Press your tofu.



I was inspired to do it this way after seeing the TofuXpress. Genius! I take two tupperware containers and sandwich the tofu between the two, place a cutting board on top and something heavy like a cast iron wok. Let is sit for 30 - 60 minutes.





In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the curry paste and coconut milk until combined. Add the potato and carrot chunks and allow to simmer until nearly tender. Add the onion, broccoli, and tofu.

While the potato and carrot chunks are simmering, sauté the tofu in a cast iron pan over medium heat in olive oil until browned on both sides.



Right before severing, stir in the tomato, cilantro, and peanuts. Serve with rice.


Notes
We are both big fans of this curry paste and will probably eat a lot of it in the years to come. I know that we probably shouldn't eat an entire can of coconut milk in a sitting. Maybe I can do half a can of milk and half water or almond milk.

You can use whatever vegetables you have lying around your kitchen for this.

Tempeh Sausage Gravy over potatoes

Since I received a copy of Vegan with a Vengeance, my most made recipe has to be the tempeh sausage crumbles. I love to mix them in gravies or when I want some "meat" texture.



Ingredients
Tempeh Sausage Crumbles
1/2 8 oz package tempeh
soy sauce (not too much, I learned the hard way. Or eliminate it because some is going in the gravy)
olive oil
maple syrup
fennel seed
sage
oregano
marjoram
basil
water to cover

Gravy (Adapted from Vegan Vittles)
1 T cornstarch
1 T soy sauce
3/4 cup water
garlic granules
black pepper
1 T tahini


Method
Tempeh Sausage Crumbles
Crumble up the tempeh in a small saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the water. Add only enough water to cover the tempeh. Cook on medium heat and allow to simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed/evaporated, about 10 - 15 minutes. Move the tempeh to a bowl while gravy is made.

Gravy
I used the same saucepan as the tempeh so it had some of the spices left over. Add the cornstarch and soy sauce to the pan and whisk to combine. Add the water and any spices, whiskey constantly. Place over medium heat and whisk pretty much continuously until it starts to bubble a little and has thickened. Take off the heat and whisk in the tahini.

Add the tempeh to the gravy. Serve over hash brown potatoes with some avocado and whole wheat bread.

Notes
I put waaaayyy too much soy sauce in this. I added too much to the tempeh when it was simmer and the salty flavor became concentrated. I then added more to the gravy, ugh. Other than that, the flavor was very good and this is one of my favorite ways to enjoy tempeh.

My husband also concurred with the too much salt verdict. He had to separate out the tempeh from the rest of the gravy because it was too much for him. He liked it otherwise.

Aloo Palak

One of my favorite thing to order at Indian restaurants used to be Palak Paneer. Since I have given up dairy, I have found that Aloo Palak is an adequate replacement. It is my favorite variety of Tasty Bite. Speaking of Tasty Bites, they have some delicious easy food. The ingredients are always good and many of their meals are dairy free. You can see my previous blog post about the Tasty Bite Aloo Palak here.



This is adapted for my 1.5 qt slow cooker. It is another recipe from the Indian Slow Cooker.

Ingredients
5 oz fresh spinach, washed, but not dried
onion
1 tomato
ginger
7 garlic cloves (The original recipe called for 20 in a 5 qt slow cooker)
3 hot chilies
1 T ground cumin
1 T chili powder
1 t garam masala
1/2 t turmeric
salt
1/2 yukon gold potato


Method
Put everything except the salt and potato in a slow cooker. You might need to shove and push. Really you don't need any water. The spinach cooks by steaming in the liquid adhering to the leaves. Cook on high for 3 hours.





Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until all the chunks have disappeared. Add the potato and salt. Cook on low for 2 hours, or until the potato is cooked.

Serve with rice.

Notes
Again, the fantastic immersion blender to the rescue. I was really surprised that everything was able to cook without any added water. I didn't have any problems at all with spinach sticking to the side or things not getting cooked through.

I really enjoyed this recipe a bit. I still had to up the spices before serving to make sure it would be enjoyable.

My husband thought this was good, but he missed the paneer.

EDIT: I had the leftovers for breakfast a few days ago, and the flavor was fantastic. I will be making this again for sure. It was really good!

Simple Split Chickpea Curry

For my birthday this year my sister added to my cooking obsession by buying me a cast-iron wok and a cookbook. The cookbook is The Indian Slow Cooker and it is pretty fantastic. It is mostly vegetarian with only seven out of the fifty recipes containing meat. I looked at a few of those recipes and they are easily veganizable. Well, everything in here is easy to make without the dairy. I have a slight criticism of this cookbook and it is some of the recipes are really similar. For example, are two recipes called "Split Green Lentil and Rice Porridge" and "Whole Green Lentil and Brown Rice Porridge" really necessary? Overall, I am pleased with the book, though, because I love Indian food.





This is adapted for my 1.5 qt slow cooker.

Ingredients
1 cup dried chana dal, cleaned and rinsed
onion
1/2 tomato
fresh ginger
garlic
hot chili pepper
1 t cumin seeds
1/4 t turmeric
1 t chili powder
salt
3 cup water

Method
Put the chana dal, tomato, chili, garlic, water, and half of the rest of the spices in a slow cooker. Cook on low for about 8 hours. Add the rest of the spices and stir to combine. Using an immersion blender, pulse the soup until there is still some texture left.

Notes
I have decided that cooking Indian spices for a long period of time does not make them intensify, it only makes them mellow and disappear. My husband had the great idea of only adding half the spices at the beginning and then the rest right before serving. Such a great idea. I did have to add just a bit of sriracha because my grocery store only had mild chilies and not any hot ones.

This was the first dish I used with our immersion blender. Oh my goodness, how did I get by before without one? It worked so well (maybe a bit too well, there is not much texture left, but that is really because I was playing around with it) and so quickly. I was amazed. No more hot liquids in the blender for me!

I am going to increase the spice level for sure next time.

Why yes, I did eat this with a toasted whole wheat hot dog bun.

Corn Soup

I might or might not be obsessed with sriracha sauce. It just makes everything taste so much better. It is not that I want that taste all the time, it is I want that level of hot all the time and it is the easiest way to do that.

The soup below shows the amount of sriracha I put into a bowl of corn soup.





I followed the same recipe as I posted about previously and added some kale at the end of cooking.

Blended Root Beer Float

I was at a party the other day when I had some root beer for the first time in...years, probably. I never drink sodas. I am a water or low sodium V8 type woman. I guess it was part of my Mormon upbringing of no soda and I just got used to not having any. I'm not really a fan of anything carbonated. Anyway, drinking the root beer randomly made me remember having blended root beer floats from Sonic when I lived in Texas. I decided to make my own with awesome ingredients.





Ingredients
Tommy's Naked Soda in Righteous Root Beer flavor. (It has no added color, nothing artificial and actually tastes fabulous.
Coconut Bliss Coconut ice cream in Naked Coconut flavor.

Method
I haven't perfected the ratios yet and this was a bit thin to my taste, but I put in about four big scoops of ice cream in a blender and added one bottle root beer. Briefly blend to not break down the ice cream too much. Pour into tall glasses and drink quickly.




Notes
This needs to be worked on a bit. Overall, very tasty. The coconut flavor wasn't over powering the root beer. I really like this line of sodas, for when I really want one. They have a great cream soda as well.

Roasted Eggplant Muffuletta Sandwich

This is a recipe from Veganomicon. I have been eyeing it since I got the cookbook and finally made it the other day. I am going to make this many times more.



You can find the recipe in it's entirety here.

I didn't change anything about recipe. It is perfect the way it is. You need to press the sandwich for a few hours prior to the devouring and you should have seen all the physics text books I had stacked on top in my office. It was comical.

Notes
My husband thought this needed a creamy layer, like a mozzarella cheese. Maybe some tofu would suffice? I thought it was great.

Pizza!

My husband and I regularly make pizza. Well, I usually sit on the couch, drink wine, and chat with my husband while he makes pizza. The recipe below is all based on my observations with some input from him.




Ingredients
pizza dough (bought from the grocery store. Now that we have a bread machine it will be easier to make our own)
homemade hummus
potatoes
sun dried tomatoes
olives
caramelized onions (we made these in the crock pot. Super easy.)
basil
oregano
rosemary
red pepper flakes

Method
According to the husband:

The pizza dough is really hard to roll out, so I usually roll it out a bit, then put it in the cast iron skillet to heat it up some. When it is warmer, I roll it more and go back and forth until the dough is of a sufficient size.

The thinly sliced potatoes are cooked in a bit of water in a sauce pan until they are par-cooked.

Now that your dough is sufficiently large, spread the hummus (or tomato sauce, it tasted better then the hummus when cooked) over the dough. Top with the tomatoes, tomatoes, onions, and olives. Top with the seasonings. Bake at 450F until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Notes
The first time I had potatoes on a pizza was when I was hanging out with my friends Mark and Laura and they had just found some potatoes from their garden and they made it to the pizza. I was surprised at how good they are on it. Try it, and you may like it!

We were experimenting with making a large scale hummus pizza. It tastes much better when the hummus is not heated. So I would suggest using tomato sauce. Not that it is bad, just not as tasty as it could be.

Bread Machine Bread

Recently, my husband and I bought a bread machine from Goodwill for $15! We go through bread pretty frequently and with this, it is a lot cheaper and we get the smell of fresh bread in the apartment. I am so happy we bought it.




We use a recipe from Bob's Red Mill for white whole wheat flour. Instead of the water/dry milk called for in the recipe, we use the same quantity of almond milk.

We also proof the yeast before putting it in the machine. I know, they tell you to never do that, but it seems to make the loaf come out so much better. The vital wheat gluten is vital to the success of bread dough in general. It makes the dough rise by about 10% more. We had the dough hit the top of the lid a couple of times.

Also, while the dough is mixing, we open the lid and check for dryness/wetness and add more flour or liquid as appropriate. You can still touch, feel, poke your dough even though a machine is doing most of the work for you.




Look at it! It is delicious!

Almond Milk

Making your own nutmilk is easy, cheap, and delicious. We started making our own when we decided to stick to a food budget and the carton of almond milk was constantly going bad from us not using it fast enough. Now we usually only make enough for the recipe we are using it for.

Ingredients
blanched, slivered almonds (if you do this with whole almonds you will need to blanch them first and discard the skins. I think it makes the milk bitter, or that is what I heard. I haven't tried it with the almonds skins on.)
water
maple syrup (I haven't added sweetening to it in a long time, it doesn't really need it.)

Method
Using a ratio of 1 part almonds to 4 parts water, place the water and almonds in a blender.



Blend until everything is blended about 30 seconds - 1 minute. Add any sweetener. Devour.



Notes
I don't strain this. The almond bits are pretty small and can usually be added to whatever I am putting the almond milk into.

We both think this a pretty fantastic. We use it every Saturday in our weekly pancakes and when we make bread or any other time a milk is needed.

Breakfast for dinner

We needed to use up some homemade bread, so I thought French toast would be the perfect dish. We also had some horribly out of season blue berries that were nearing the end of their life as well, I added them to the mix. Then some potatoes and kale called out to me. As well as the nutritional yeast in my pantry. They all got to come to the party in my belly.





Ingredients
bread
almond milk

blueberries
soy yogurt

yukon gold potatoes
kale
onion
garlic

Cheezy Sauce

Method
Put the almond milk in a pie dish and soak the bread in it until it is nearly soggy, but not falling apart. In a cast iron pan over medium heat, cook the French toast until brown on both sides. Keep warm.

Blend the soy yogurt and blueberries together in a blender. Add an sweetener you desire. I thought it was perfect.

In a cast iron pan, saute the onions and garlic until brown. Add the diced potatoes and cook until tender. I added a bit of water and put a lid on the pan to help steam them a bit. Near the end of cooking time, add the kale and mix until it has wilted. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, basil, more black pepper, and magic.

Warm the cheezy sauce and either pour it over the potatoes or put it in a condiment cup.

Plate it up and eat.

Notes
All of this was great. I liked the cheezy sauce, but there is something about it that makes me want to experiment more and make a better sauce.

The husband thought this was good.

Baja Style Tempeh Tacos

Another recipe from Veganomicon.

I halved the recipe from the book and I used water instead of beer for the marinade because we didn't have any.




My sister bought me a cast iron wok for my birthday and used that to push down the cabbage slaw. It is coming in handy, already! I need to wait until I move next month to season it before I can start using it.





Notes
We both enjoyed these tacos throughly. When I was cooking the tempeh, I just added all the marinade to the pan and let it cook down. My husband couldn't stop eating that sauce. I look forward to making these again.

Tofu "Quiche"

This is based on a recipe from Vegan Brunch. I was a little dubious if this would come out edible, but it was great.





Ingredients
Crust(I used a recipe from Whole Foods for the Whole Family)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
2 T cold water
1/4 cup oil

Filling
1 - 2 onions
olive oil
1/2 cup cashews (my grocery store does not carry raw cashews, so I used toasted and it worked out fine)
salt
black pepper
sriracha
nutmeg
thyme
1/2 lb extra firm tofu

Method
Crust
Mix the flour and salt together. Add the water and oil using a fork and mix until a dough is formed. It took about 1 minute to properly mix it up. Roll the dough between two sheets of waxed paper until it is a then circle. Place either in a pie pan or tart pan(s). This recipe makes enough for one pie crust or three individual tarts. Prick with a fork and bake at 350F for about ten minutes until slightly brown.

Filling
You are going to caramelize the onions. I usually do this in my crock pot, but I didn't plan it out last night, so I did it on the stove top. A little time consuming and it is worth it.

Place the onions over low heat with enough olive oil to coat and not stick to the pan. Put on a lid and walk away. Come back about every five minutes and stir. They should turn an amber color. This should take 15 - 20 minutes. Now take the lid off and raise the heat to medium. Stir more frequently and let the moisture evaporate. The onions should now turn a dark caramel brown, about 8 more minutes. Taste to make sure they are okay and try to stop eating the whole pan.

In a food processor, place the cashews and process until there are only crumbs left. Pulverize the nuts. Add the seasoning. Whatever you think would be tasty. I will be greatly increasing the seasonings next time. Next add the tofu. Make sure to try to wring out some of the water before adding it to the food processor. Process the mixture until smooth, about 2 minutes. At this point you can add some of the caramelized onions and pulse to chop up into the mixture, then add the rest of the onions and mix to combine.

Spoon the mixture over the crust and smooth the top. Depending on your vessel will determine the amount of time it will take to cook. The full pie should be about 40 minutes, the individual tarts about 20 minutes. It should be browned on top and on the crust.





Notes
As mentioned above, this tasted really good, it just needs more seasoning. I'll add a bit more thyme and oregano as well as black pepper. This is also open to different fillings: spinach, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, olives.

My husband, who is a pie crust snob was incredulous when I told him I was making a vegan crust for the quiche. He is of the school where butter rules all. After this came out of the oven super flaky and good, he said he might use it with his pies. Dairy free crust for the win!

Veggie Calzones

This is a meal my husband made with all his awesomeness.





Ingredients
pizza dough (we picked up dough at the grocery store)
veggie sausage (Tofurky Italian sausages)
onions
garlic
mushrooms
olive bar olives
tomato sauce

Method
Preheat oven to 400F. We do this in the toaster oven and it cooks just as well as in a regular oven.

Sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil until browned. Add the veggie sausage and cook until heated through. Mix in the olives at the end.

Roll out the pizza dough in a 12" circle. Put on a tiny, little bit of sauce. Add the ingredients. Fold the dough over to create a semi-circular parcel. Bake in oven until browned about 20 minutes.

Fantastic! Both my husband and I love this a lot.

Orzo Pasta Salad

This is another recipe from Supermarket Vegan. I really really like this book. It doesn't have any pictures, but it has a great amount of recipes easy enough to do when ever you have a little bit of time to cook. My only complaint is the seasonings are never high enough, although, I think I say that about every recipe I try.





Ingredients
orzo pasta
lemon juice
olive oil
crushed garlic cloves
salt
black pepper
fresh basil
kalamata or other cured olives (I used a mixture from the olive bar)
artichoke hearts
frozen corn
green onions

Method
Boil orzo until tender, about 8 - 10 minutes. Place the frozen corn in the colander and slowly pour the hot pasta cooking water over the corn. Drain the orzo. Leave the strainer over the sink while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

In the still warm saucepan, place it on the same warm burner and add the oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and black pepper. Stir until the oil smells like garlic. Add the orzo/corn mixture as well as the other ingredients. Stir and either serve warm or refrigerate for three hours.

I wish I had added some red pepper flakes when I was heating up the oil. Other then that, it was delicious. I might add smoked tofu next time I make it, for some added protein.

My husband gave this one two thumbs up.

Breakfast Sandwich

I have previously written about breakfast sandwiches, but since I eat them so much, I thought they deserved another mention.

My husband and I have these about twice a week and after we eat them, we fantasize about opening up a sandwich cart and only serving the best sandwiches.

The toppings tend to change based on what we have in the house but below is a favorite combination:
sourdough toasted bread
vegan mayo
sriracha
pickles
avocado
kale
smoked tofu
sautéed onions

Other optional ingredients:
cucumber
mushroom
fried egg - I do that for my husband
olive tapenade
pretty much anything that is tasty on a sandwich should go on here.

I love these so much and I would make them every morning if avocados didn't cost so much and I need a bit more variety in my diet.