Perfect Pancakes

A stand-alone electric griddle is totally worth buying to be able to make perfectly light and fluffy pancakes (more quickly than with a pan, too). They really are more like little cakes! This was my first attempt with the new griddle, and I was impressed. I don't think I did anything different with the basic vegan batter, either - just mixed the egg replacer with vanilla soymilk first, then beat in the small amount of oil, and added the rest of the liquids (including  more soymilk and lots of pure vanilla) before the dry ingredients.

I had a tiny bit of pumpkin left over from when I made my cake, so I used that with pumpkin pie spice and chopped pecans to make yummy extra pancakes:

Not-beef Stroganoff

Instead of making a homemade roux, I cheated and made this super-quickly with Road's End Organics brand herbed gravy mix - mixing it with almond milk instead of water, though. Added a bit of vegan sour cream, Daiya mozzarella-style cheeze, cracked pepper, and earth balance. Added seared Gardein beefless tips at the end, and spread atop a bed of eggless 'egg' noodles!

Breakfast Biscuits

A few mornings ago, I got up at 4:45am and decided to use my early-rising powers for good, and made these awesome homemade biscuits with all the fixin's ~ Smartlife sausage patties, Daiya cheddar-style cheeze, and tofu 'egg' slices - tofu fried up in earth balance, pepper, nutritional yeast, onion powder, and turmeric for color.

Seafood! (Kind of)

 These are the vegan fish fillets and shrimp I got from VeganEssentials. And since they're flavored with seaweed extract, I guess you could technically still deem them "sea" food! I'd been missing these foods fora while, especially the fried versions! I made a beer-batter for the fish, which was good, but it turns out the fish is kind of sweet, so it would have been much better pan-fried with earth balance and lemon juice; maybe some tarragon. The shrimp's texture was eerily similar to that of real shrimp. The flavor of it by itself is definitely not super-shrimpy, but a good substitute nonetheless. I have another box that I am going to use to make a peppered shrimp alfredo with spinach fettuccini.

 Had to make delicious hush-puppies! I was going to make fries too, but it was already way too much food by the time I got done frying everything. Tartar sauce from my condiments post.

Just used a regular flour-salt-pepper breading for the shkrimpies.

And couldn't resist making this! I missed you, cocktail sauce!

Condiments, condiments

Agave-Wasabi dressing/dip I tried to duplicate, from my Chick'n Cordon Bleu. Came out pretty close to the first batch I threw together:

1 1/2 Tablespoons dill pickle juice

3/4 Tablespoon wasabi powder (I get "Spice Islands" brand, because it's the only one I've seen that lists actual wasabi as the first ingredient. Some 'wasabi' powders are sneaky and just use plain horseradish or mustard). Use slightly more for extra ka-pow!

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder - dissolve 1st three ingredients together first.

Dash of turmeric to brighten color, optional

3/4 cup blue agave syrup

3/4 cup dijon-style mustard

Habanero~Mango~Pineapple wing glaze or dip

That was pretty much it, with some fresh lime juice, sugar, and chili oil - simmered on the stove. Next time I think I will puree the fruits first and thin it out with pineapple juice. Word of warning: wear gloves while cutting habaneros. My hands burned through the next day after I made this!

Tartar sauce

 Surprisingly easy to throw together-  just vegannaise with parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, mustard flour, sugar, and relish

Pico de gallo + Salsa

I love to add anything with lots of color for extra garden-fresh taste~ used green tomatillos, red tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, and a touch of garlic and lime.

Ranch (left) and Bleu Cheese Dressings

Had these sitting in the fridge for a couple days for the flavors to develop. For ranch, used a mix of recipes I found online with vegan substitutes - regular coconut milk "soured" with vinegar ('buttermilk'), vegan sour cream, parsley, dill, paprika, mustard, garlic, and onion powders. Blue cheese is just the ranch with Sheese brand dairy-free bleu cheese crumbled in, with a dash of lemon juice.



Chick'n Cordon Bleu

This took days of preparation, and was a huge challenge. But totally worth it! Had to marinate bacon strips in a mix of agave syrup, oil, and spices for a couple days. Then yesterday I took two bags of thawed Gardein Chik'n Scallopini and mushed two cutlets together to form one big one - making four big Gardein slabs in total. Then I marinated them overnight in white wine with bay leaves, garlic, pepper, and thyme. The filling is Daiya mozzarella-style shreds. These were -super- hard to work with and roll up; in no way like real chicken! Even being very careful, they almost fell apart on me. But once I did, I rolled them in a mix of bread crumbs, flour, and spices, and gently fried them. I created a very strong Agave-Wasabi dipping sauce - my version of honey mustard - and only needed a little to accentuate the dish. It is honestly the best "honey mustard" I've ever had, and there will soon be a large jar of it in my fridge. To showcase the dish, I just wanted very simple sides - asparagus sauteed in earth balance and couscous made with a little "Not Chicken" broth. A great well-rounded dinner! It definitely takes the place of the occasional fancy restaurant meals I used to enjoy!

This is one I tried with the 'bacon' strips on the outside, but even with a skewer it didn't seem to hold together that well.

Pumpkin Cake with Pecan Streusel

I think I've received more compliments for this than any other dessert I've made. I got the basic recipe from the Veganomicon cookbook, and only had to make a couple alterations to it - mainly the streusel topping. The amount of streusel the cookbook gave was far too small, and didn't seem like the right proportion/ingredients, either (called for only 1/4 cup flour, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp canola oil!). I based my streusel on Betty Crocker's French apple pie topping - using way more of everything and earth balance instead of the oil, and a dash of roasted Saigon cinnamon. I know this is more of an Autumn treat, but old man Winter has been showing his face here in Spring again --or is it his rear end?? The pumpkin pie spices meld well with the extreme moisture of this cake, and the streusel adds a great roasted pecan flavor and crunch!

Cole Slaw

I just made a quick chopped slaw for these chili-cheeze veggie dogs (gotta love that Daiya cheddar!). I make my slaw with no onions (I find them too overpowering in it), carrots (when I have red cabbage I like that in there, too!), and vegannaise with sugar, coconut milk, and rice wine vinegar. Rice wine vinegar has become my go-to vinegar after I got it to season sushi rice with. It is just not as sharp and slightly sweeter than other vinegars. For the slaw, celery seed and poppy seeds add a nice delicate touch of extra flavor.

For the doggies, I use LightLife brand and fry them in earth balance - as well as the buns! That buttery crunch makes all the difference. I also mixed the Daiya right in with the chili to thoroughly melt it.

Fried Rice

I love the buttered popcorn smell of Jasmine rice while it cooks, so that is what I started with. Fry it up with carrots, peas, onions, earth balance, soy sauce and white pepper - and scrambled tofu (with nutritional yeast) makes a perfect egg substitute for this dish. I also added turmeric for that rich color.

Holy Macaroni!

Well...whole-grain shell pasta with cheezy sauce. I used a bunch of my vegan "cheeses," including some Better-than cream cheeze & sour cream, Daiya cheddar, and even Sheese Bleu style melted in - the latter gave it a nice sharp flavor like white cheddar. Mixed tons of the sauce in with the al dente shells and earth balance, baked it, then topped with sauteed cracker crumbs. (I always have to check the label for crackers and cookies - you can never know for sure which brand is vegan without doing so).