Korean Beefless Beef Tips

This spicy and sweet dish originally call for ground beef. I veganized it by using Gardein beefless tips. Click on the link for the recipe: ElizabethBryantBlogspot

Vegan Double Stuffed Oreos

I love cookies and these amazing Oreo tasting treats deliver! The recipe comes from the Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. These ladies have really figured the vegan baking thing out.

I followed their recipe to the T, which is surprisingly unusual for me. Due to time constraints, however, I decided not to roll the dough and instead I used my cookie "shooter thingy." Had I rolled the dough and used a cookie cutter, which for some reason I don't own, they would appear more Oreo-like. Note to self: find and purchase a round cookie cutter!

"Wicked" Spicy Thai Inspirations

Both these recipes came from the cook book, "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Very spicy and full of flavor, yet low in fat, both these recipes will satisfy even the omnivores!

Unbeknownst, to me until I read this book, it is helpful to press your tofu prior to sautéing it. Remove the block of extra firm tofu from the container. Then wrap your tofu in a clean kitchen towel and place something heavy on the towel such as a small frying pan with a couple of cans in it. After a few minutes you will notice the that the towel becomes moist from soaking up the extra fluid and your tofu is more compact and dryer. Your tofu is now ready to be cut up into cubes or slices for your recipe.

Red Pepper Spaghetti Sauce

This dinner started out with a small eggplant given to me from my friend's garden. It was too small to make eggplant parm out of it, so I decided to build a meal around it. I grabbed a few ingredients that I had readily available and started cooking. First things first, I put a pot of water on the stove to bring to boil for the whole grain thin spaghetti. In the meantime, I started my fresh sauce by placing a small quartered onion, one clove of elephant garlic, 3 tomatoes, and a few basil leaves in the blender. Once well blended. I poured the mixture into an already heated pan coated with a few tbsp of EVOO. After cooking for a few minutes, I added some well drained and roughly chopped roasted red peppers to the pan.

While the sauce simmered, I prepared the eggplant by pealing it and slicing it into thin 1/4 inch coins. Since the eggplant was basically going to be a garnish, I decided to bread it and fry it. I used EnerG egg replacement (3 tsps powder dissolved in 4 tbsp warm water) and whole wheat vegan crumbs(with salt, pepper, garlic powder and dry italian herbs) to bread the eggplant. I fried those babies up in corn oil.

The sauce seemed very watery so I added one tbsp of vegan cream cheese to thicken it a little bit. Don't tell anyone but I also sprinkled some nutritional yeast flakes for a little added flavor. Somewhere in the middle I cooked & drained the pasta. I served it without cheese for me and with some shredded parmesan cheese for the omnivores in the house!

Vegan Pancakes!

I'm back!

Today I took a recipe for pancakes and "veganized" it. I replaced the dairy milk with unsweetened organic soy milk and used EnerG egg replacer. These yummy cakes were cooked with Earth Balance buttery spread and served with real maple syrup!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

With the holidays approaching I find myself wanting to bake my favorite treats. At Christmas time I usually bake 7 or 8 varieties of cookies to offer as gifts to family and friends. My query this year is whether to try to modify my recipes to make them vegan (and accept a difference in texture and taste) or to simply find new and different vegan recipes. Well, the truth of the matter is that I do not need to be eating all these cookies, anyway.

The whole idea of this is to eat healthier! What I have eaten this month has been neither vegan nor healthy. But instead of the usual mental beatings, I will move forward each day, making the best choices I can for that day.

Today, I baked vegan and non vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a party.

The vegan ( above on plate and on left in picture below) cookies contain rum soaked raisins & vegan semi sweet chocolate chips. The non-vegan ones (Right in picture below) contain milk chocolate chips only. Both are quite good and in fact I prefer the vegan cookies because the cookies themselves are chewy and the soft raisins add another dimension in texture.

Here's the link for the vegan cookies: Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I modified them by substituting Earth Balance for the coconut oil because of a coconut allergy. I also substituted chocolate chips for the cranberries.

Pasta Fagioli

This recipe from one of the Italian grandmothers goes back to my days of living in the Bronx. Easy and inexpensive to make, but hearty and filling.

Of course she never gave me exact amounts because she, herself, never measured her ingredients when she cooked.

This is my adaptation:

One cup of ditalini pasta, cooked al dente (elbows can be subbed)

One 15 oz can of tomato sauce

One clove of elephant garlic, chopped (or 3-4 cloves of regular garlic)

One 15.5 can great northern beans, drained but not rinsed. (any white bean can be subbed)

Olive oil

A few leaves of fresh basil, chopped

Salt & pepper

Cook your pasta according to the package directions until al dente. Do not overcook. Saute chopped garlic in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, until soft. Be careful not burn your garlic or it will turn bitter. Stir in tomato sauce and basil. Season with salt & pepper. Add in the beans and cooked pasta and stir until heated through. Non vegans can serve with grated parmigiano reggiano cheese. This can be served as a main dish or a side dish. To make more soupy add more tomato or some vegetable stock. Mangia!