Tempeh Étouffée

Another one for the Slow Cooker Challenge. I don't think that I ever tried real étouffée before, so I have nothing to compare against.



Ingredients
8 oz tempeh
onions
celery
bell pepper
water
thyme
marjoram


Method
In a slow cooker combine chopped onions, celery, and bell pepper. Add enough water to cover and season with your favorite spices. Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.

Chop the tempeh into 1 inch cubes and brown in a skillet over medium heat. Add to the crock pot for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Notes
I still had some rice left over from the Inca Parcels, so I just used that instead of making new rice.

This came out okay. Not amazing. I was very rushed that morning and might not have followed the recipe exactly and maybe that is why it did not come out as good as expected.

My husband has been sick all week, and while I ate this he had some miso soup.

Tasty sandwich

My amazing husband made me this sandwich yesterday while I was studying for my comprehensive exam. He is the best.



Ingredients
toasted baguette bread
Vegan mayo
olive tapenade
sautéed cremini mushrooms and onions
thinly sliced raw onions
thinly sliced cucumbers
red bell peppers
arugula
sriracha


Method
In that order, place onto the toasted bread. Devour with Kettle TIAS Salsa Picante chips and Orton Brothers Cookie Buttons in the ginger flavor.

Notes
We love to make tasty sandwiches. Other things to add are smoked tofu, avocado slices, and fresh basil.

Crockpot Party!

This past Friday, one of the new graduate students had a crock pot party at his apartment. Everyone was bringing over crock pot creations to share. Inspite of my crock potting skillz, my offerings did not turn out as I wanted.


Brownie Pudding Goo


Spinach Artichoke dip


Tatertot casserole

Recipes

Brownie Pudding

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Tatertot Casserole
frozen tater tots or hash browns
cream of mushroom soup (I tried to make my own with coconut creamer, but it did not turn out well)
TVP or frozen Boca crumbles (I prefer the boca crumbles
frozen spinach

Mix together in a crock pot crock. Heat on low for about 3 hours. Stir occasionally. Season to taste, salt, black pepper, chipotle powder, etc.

Notes
Brownie Pudding - I accidentally mixed together the pudding part of the recipe into the brownie part. You are supposed to just put it over top and cover the crock pot. So, it turned out to be brownie goo, instead of brownie pudding. It was still good, just not what I expected. Meh.

Spinach Artichoke Dip - this one is always good. Success!

Tatertot Casserole - I put this together in the crock pot on a whim. I was going to do lentil soup, or falafel, but I thought I would try this. I tried to make my own cream of mushroom soup since I couldn't find a non-dairy version at the store. I sauteed up some diced mushrooms, added coconut creamer, added corn starch, then brought to a boil until thickened. I mixed that with the hashbrowns and reconstituted TVP (the hippy store did not have frozen crumbles) and then cooked for a few hours. I added some frozen spinach at the end to give some color and maybe flavor. This came out being so bland and boring. I even added some maple syrup to bring out a bit of sweetness. My lovely husband took care of throwing away the entire 3 qt pot of this. I would like to try this again, but I think I need to work on the cream of mushroom soup part. FAIL

Vegan mac and cheese

I was coming home from a Burlesque show in Saturday night and decided that I really wanted to have some mac and cheese. I quickly came up with, has to be, the best vegan mac and cheese ever. I need to work a bit more on the recipe, but the taste of it is fantastic.



Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut original creamer
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 t tomato paste
2 t soy sauce
2 t white miso paste
chipotle powder
dried basil
black pepper
green onions, for garnish
3/4 cup macaroni or other pasta

Method
This feeds approximately 1.

In a medium sauce pan, bring water to boil and cook the pasta until your desired firmness. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan over low heat, add the creamer, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, soy sauce, and miso paste. Using a whisk, stir constantly to full blend together. Add any herbs and seasonings you desire, to taste. *Bring to a low simmer, and allow to reduce in volume until it is the desired thickness. Mix together with the pasta and top with chopped green onions and freshly ground black pepper.

*This is what I should have done.


Notes
This is freakin' fantastic. The taste of it is amazing. My husband also agrees. I failed to thicken up the sauce before adding it to my pasta because I was hungry. I am going to be making this again this week to tweak the recipe and make it more awesome. My husband said he wasn't hungry and then he kept chowing down on my pasta!

Lentil soup: lunch edition

The other day, I had the brilliant idea of bringing my slow cooker up to school and making lentil soup in it for lunch. I set up the cooker in my husband's office, and it made everyone in his office jealous that we were eating something that smelled so good. This is also another entry in the Slow Cooker Challenge.



Ingredients
1 cup lentils
2 cups veggie broth
1/2 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
cumin powder
chipotle powder
salt
several handfuls of kale

Method
This was made in a 1.5 qt slow cooker. I put the lentils, onions, carrots, cumin, and chipotle powder in the slow cooker before I left for school. I carried the veggie broth in a mason jar to add when I arrived. Add the broth to the vegetables and cook on high for about 4 hours, or until the lentils are tender. Add the chopped kale, cover and let the kale wilt a bit before devouring with toast, salt, and sriracha sauce.


Notes
This was so good, we are going to buy a slow cooker to keep up at school for days when we want some sort of soup. It made the office smell delicious and our meal was hot and ready when we wanted to take lunch. Both my husband and I gave this the two thumbs up.

Rice Pudding

I was still trying to use up the rest of the leftover rice I mentioned in the last post, and thought rice pudding would be fabulous for dessert.



Ingredients
1 cup cold, cooked rice
1 cup coconut milk
cardamom pod split and seeds extracted
splash of vanilla extract
maple syrup, to taste


Method
In a small sauce pan, combine the rice and coconut milk over low heat. Stir frequently to keep the rice from sticking. When the rice absorbs most of the coconut milk, add the seeds, vanilla, and maple syrup. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Notes
I had some local blueberries to put on top which added an contrast in textures. This was delicious. This recipe is pretty much a repeat of one I posted before, but now I have a picture!

Cabbage Rolls and Sea Vegetable/Cucumber Phyllo Purses

With the school year starting in a few weeks, I really want to get back in the habit of not eating out very much at all. I plan on making my lunch be what we had for dinner the night before. If I can just remember to pack the lunch boxes at night, I think that will work out just fine.

I was in the mood for cooking this evening!



Recipes from:
Inca Parcels (cabbage rolls with rice instead of amaranth) from Vegan

Sea Vegetable and Cucumber Phyllo Purses from Real Food Daily

Notes
This is the picture of our lunches that I packed tonight. Included with the parcels and purses are hummus, cherries, carrot sticks, corn nuts, and mini peanut butter crackers.

The phyllo purses are amazing. The texture is fabulous, the taste is outstanding, and they are fun to eat! Two thumbs up from both of us.

The parcels are just okay. The rice filling is pretty tasty, but when wrapped in the cabbage, the cabbage seemed to make everything taste very bland. I'll probably just eat the rice filling tomorrow and keep the cabbage separate.

Also, we still really really really like our Planet Box lunch boxes. They are just about the right size for us and are super cute. We get comments on them every time we eat lunch. I love them.

Sushi Salad

The other day, I had leftover rice in my fridge and I was going to make sushi with it, but the rice had dried out too much to stay together in a roll. So I just threw all the vegetables I had cut up into a bowl with the rice.



Ingredients
1 cup cold cooked rice
1 sheet nori
avocado
cucumber
carrot
smoked tofu
sriracha mixed with vegan mayo


Method
This is for one serving. Chop up the vegetables and tofu, combine with the rice in a bowl. Cut the nori into squares and mix into salad. Top with the spicy mayo sauce.


Notes
Hmm, this was really delicious and much much easier than rolling sushi rolls. I made this for my husband and he really enjoyed it.

Airport Salad

I recently traveled to Newfoundland for a conference and traveling always proves hard to find adequate food. I was really happy to find this salad in the Toronto airport.



Notes
For airport food, this was really good. I would buy it again.

If anyone is ever in St. John's, Newfoundland, there is a FANTASTIC vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Sprout on Duckworth. We went two days in a row and was a great respite from seeing fried cod fish tongues on menus.

Crepes!

My husband made crepes one weekend morning. We even bought a flat round cast iron griddle to use to make crepes.



Ingredients
Crepes
mushroom/onion/garlic mixture
nutella
cherries

Notes
Oh man, these were really filling and super tasty. I would make these again. So great.

Tasty Pasta: Lunch Box Edition

My husband made a double batch of pasta one night and we had it cold the next day for lunch.



Ingredients
tasty pasta
carrot sticks
sourdough bread
cherries
peanut butter crackers
orange
granola bar

Notes
Next time we have this in the lunch box, we are going to put it directly in the lunch box instead of the round container. It was not quite enough food, but close. This was super tasty.

Thai Tofu Cakes: Lunch box edition

The day after we made the Thai Tofu Cakes for dinner, I put them in our lunch boxes. I took them to lab lunch and everyone was super impressed with my lunch



Ingredients
Thai Tofu Cakes
carrot sticks
cucumber slices
grapes
dipping sauce
red bell pepper
lime wedge
peanut butter crackers

Notes
These were very tasty the second day! I would love to make them again. Both of us became very hungry in the afternoon, so this was not enough food for the day, but it was really good.