Trick or Treat?

No tricks here, boys and girls! These pumpkin donuts are 100% delicious. The recipe comes from another blogger: VeganDad. Click on his link to view his blog and his awesome vegan recipes!

Vegan Enchilada Pie

I found the original recipe for this enchilada pie in a Seventeen Magazine many, many, many (I am not kidding) years ago and have been enjoying it ever since. It is so yummy that the thought of adding meat to it never occurred to me.

I modified it to make it vegan by replacing the dairy cheese with Daiya which tastes and melts like dairy cheese!

This recipe can be modified in so many ways to your liking. Meat it up with ground beef or down the fat by not frying the tortillas.

Ingredients:

One package of 12 corn tortillas

2 cans of beans, drained and rinsed

1 can of corn, drained

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1/2 a diced onion

1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 fresh hot pepper (chili, habanero), chopped without the seeds

Spices as desired, such as cumin

1 package of Daiya pepperjack shreds

Corn oil

To make your filling: saute your onion, garlic and hot pepper in a couple of tablespoons of corn oil. Add desired spices and cook until onions are soft. Add diced tomatoes, beans, and corn and cook until heated through. Bam! Done!

Cover the bottom of a small frying pan with corn oil and heat on medium heat. Using tongs carefully fry the tortillas one at a time for a few seconds on each side. The oil should be hot enough that it will sizzle and the tortilla will puff up, but not burn. Drain on paper towels, placing additional towels in between the tortillas and put aside. Lower the fat content in this dish by slightly moistening the tortillas with water, wrapping them in foil and placing them in a warm oven instead of frying.

Assemble your pie in a baking dish that measures approximately 12" x 12" by placing a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Take each tortilla and dunk each side in the filling. Place four tortillas on the bottom, slightly overlapping edges. Spoon the filling on top of tortillas and sprinkle with a couple handfuls of Daiya. Repeat for the next layer. Place your last four tortillas on top and spoon a small amount of the filling on top and the rest of the Daiya. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until the edges of the tortillas turn golden brown and crispy.

Mexican Baked Tofu Pizza

People tend to shy away when they hear the word tofu or bean curd. Curd reminds me of the nursery rhyme about Little Miss Muffet. I did not know what she was eating back then, nor did I desire to find out, and it took me a while to get on the tofu kick. I am also very aware of the big debate over the benefit and detriment of soy in the diet. Here is my stance, and only my stance, take it or leave it: I believe that moderate amounts of organic non-genetically modified soy products are safe and healthy for me! If you do not care to partake in soy, do not. Easy as that!

Baked Tofu

1 package organic non GMO extra firm tofu,

3 tsps Ener-G egg replacer

4 tbs warm water

1/2 cup vegan whole wheat bread crumbs (try Whole Foods)

Garlic powder

Italian seasoning

Paprika

Salt

Pepper

Drain your tofu and cut into 1/2 inch slices. In a small bowl mix your egg replacer and the warm water until there are no lumps. I aded a small sprinkling of paprika for color to the "egg" mixture. Place your bread crumbs in a flat dish, add the seasonings desired and mix. Take each slice of tofu and dip it in the "egg" mixture and dredge in bread crumb mix until all sides are coated with bread crumbs. Repeat with all of the tofu.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a heat proof baking rack in a cookie sheet and cover with parchment paper. Place tofu slices on parchment paper and bake for approximately 20 minutes on each side, flipping once until edges of the tofu are golden brown.

The baked tofu takes on the flavor of the spices used. Experiment with different flavors such as curry or cajun spices. The tofu should be stored in the fridge or frozen.

My pizza consisted of a corn tortilla spread with vegetarian refried beans, and sprinkled with baked tofu pieces, fresh tomato, jalapeno slices, corn, red onion and black olives.

Roasted Confetti Potatoes

I found this cute bag of tricolor potatoes in the market the other day and instantly thought: Roasted potatoes!

Take your potatoes and wash them thoroughly. Cut larger ones into bite size pieces and toss with EVOO, salt and pepper. Herbs such as rosemary or italian seasoning can be added as well. Place on a very lightly greased cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven and bake for approximately 20-30 minutes until fork tender. Done!

Rabe and Chick Peas!

I am on a broccoli rabe kick this week and I decided to make mine into a main dish with the splendid addition of chick peas. Seriously, I add chick peas to my dishes like other people add salt to theirs.

I started out by blanching the rabe, which consisted of dunking the rabe into boiling water for 30- 60 seconds and then immersing it in ice cold water for another 30 seconds. Set the rabe aside. Blanching helps the rabe to maintain its vibrant green color. In a large frying pan lightly covered in EVOO, I sauteed garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, and kalamata olives. Once the garlic and onion were well cooked, I added in the rabe and tossed it lightly. The final addition was, of course, a can of chick peas that had been drained and rinsed. Cannellini beans work as well! Salt and pepper as desired.

Can be eaten alone or on a hot steamy bed of brown rice.

A-Maize-ing Corn Muffins!

Yes, I know that I am a CORN-ball!

The recipe for these mini corn muffins were adapted by yours truly from the cornbread recipe on the package of Bob's Red Mill cornmeal.

1 cup corn meal

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1-4 tbsp sugar (optional depending how sweet you want your muffins to be)

1 tbsp agave syrup (my idea!)

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk (I use soy)

1 egg ( I use Ener-G egg replacer)

1/4 cup butter (I use Earth Balance vegan sticks)

1/4 cup corn oil (optional)

Mix dry ingredients and add wet ingredients mixing until all are incorporated. Do not to over mix. Bake in buttered mini muffin pans for 20 minutes. This recipe made 24 mini muffins and 4 regular size muffins. Regular muffins baked for about 25 minutes. I used the toothpick test to determine doneness (tooth pick placed in center of muffin comes clean)

Vegan Eye "Candy"

I love vegetables!!! But I won't eat them if they are mushy, flavorless and colorless! One great way to have spectacular tasting and looking veggies is to roast them in the oven. Simply toss with a little EVOO, salt & pepper and roast on a cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes.