Stuffed Mushrooms

I have disliked mushrooms most of my life, but am now training myself to like them. Wine helps. It also helps when you use wine to cook the mushrooms (haha). But seriously, it makes them fabulous.

I used baby bella mushies for this. Remove the stems and finely chop; fry in a pan with oil and diced onion, garlic, fresh cracked pepper, and thyme. After a couple minutes, add in some bread crumbs & sautee until they seem crisp from the oil - that's when you add the red wine!

Fill lightly oiled mushroom caps with the mix, and top with fresh shredded spinach and mozzarella-style Daiya if desired before popping in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Yum!

The Ultimate Banana Split

The ULTIMATE banana split! (And perhaps, ultimately pretentious. It's worth it, though!) The summer heat has been oppressive, so I made some homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream with coconut milk and agave nectar to try out my mint leaves I bought. That was great by itself, but then I stumbled across a blog that professed to have an ultimate banana split with three homemade ice creams, and three homemade sauces.

The vegan chef, outdone? Ha! Not on your life.

So I proceeded to construct a plan for more ice cream flavors and corresponding sauces. A simple hot fudge sauce would be perfect for the mint chocolate chip--no such thing as too much chocolate. Then I came up with more ice cream flavors I could make with the ingredients I had on hand (which required an abundance of the thick, creamy, canned coconut milk). And they are lemon lavender vanilla cheesecake flavor, made by steeping real food-grade lavender flowers and a vanilla bean with lemon zest, coconut milk and better-than cream cheese:

And the sauce that obviously would go with a cheesecake-flavored ice cream is of course, strawberry cherry:

                                                          (mmmmm, vanilla bean flecks!)

And the next, pumpkin spice flavor (had some extra pumpkin leftover from a pumpkin streusel cake), with pumpkin pie spice, naturally - cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. And I had some leftover coconut milk caramel sauce - perfect!

                            (pumpkin spice in the middle, with fudgey mint chocolate chip on the right)

And finally, after wracking my brain, I decided on apple cider flavored ice cream, with a hint of cinnamon and cloves. I wanted a strong sauce for this to complement its delicate flavor, so I went with orange sauce (that's cider-ish!) heavy on orange zest and nutmeg:

And....just serve it up quickly on a chilled dish with a split banana! I didn't really want chopped nuts with this (in truth, the ice cream flavors alone are complete), but if one were to add some, I'd go with almonds over the cheesecake, pecans over the pumpkin, pistachios over the mint chocolate, and walnuts over the apple cider.

 I also realized hat the flavors could represent the seasons of the year! I think the light, flowery lemon cheesecake best fits spring, while the mint chocolate chip reminds me of summer, pumpkin spice is definitely autumn, and of course, apple cider is winter. So if you made a sundae with these, you could taste all four seasons in one "Sunday." (Ha, ha. I never said I was a witticist :)

Gary Bowling's House of Art Fundraiser

Gary Bowling's House of Art at 500 Bland St. in Bluefield, WV is in trouble-- they may be forced to move due to low funding. It is a wonderful, enriching place for all ages to come and marvel at beautiful and unique works of art, and there you can see recycled art - trash turned into treasure. It is home to local artists, and everyone who enters is family. It is really the gem of the city, as it is an extremely economically depressed area with dilapidated buildings crumbling and businesses failing left and right.

Please buy a work of art or consider making a donation of any amount to help keep this light in the darkness alive! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Bowlings-House-of-Art/133225843375348

I wanted to do my part as soon as I heard they needed help. Fundraiser bake sales are my specialty! I love to help charities, as well as get the word out about vegan food, and I just plain love to cook. I donated all the ingredients as part of my contribution, so that 100% of what we earned could go to the cause. I also made everything $1 (waaaay underselling; vegan and organic ingredients are very expensive!) to help encourage people to come out and buy.

We didn't end up selling an awful lot, but totally sold out of the vegan sausage/cheese balls---those are always a surprise hit for non-believing omnivores!

And thanks to a VERY generous donation from a dedicated patron, we ended up making $255 in total. About a quarter of what they need monthly for rent - $1,000. A HUGE thank you to everyone that came out that night!

Red Wine Lasagna

I've made lasagna so many times already because it it fairly easy, delicious, and will feed a crowd. But I've already done several variations like spinach lasagna...and I'm always looking to try something new. I've really enjoyed cooking with wine lately, so naturally, I had to try red wine tomato sauce! The dryer the wine for this dish, the more you will taste it in there. I simmered my signature homemade sauce (use fresh veggies whenever you can!) on the stove with the wine for several hours, adding more wine every now and then when the sauce condensed. I also figured for such a nice sauce, I should add a few special ingredients - what better than an entire layer of roasted red peppers and garlic cloves?! Roasting these guys in foil in the oven just brings out the flavor so much; it is delectable. All of this with whole grain noodles (you can't tell a difference from regular pasta in the lasagna), tofu ricotta (tofu, lemon juice, basil, nutritional yeast) and a generous portion of mozzarella-style Daiya. Voila, magnifico!

Thai Coconut Lime "Shrimp"

I started with garden fettuccine noodles (they have spinach and tomato in the actual pasta) for a base. For the sauce, I used coconut milk, cilantro, lime, lime zest, and a little thai red curry paste. I used breaded vegan shrimp from Sophie's Kitchen (my favorite mock-seafood brand, by far) - I thawed them and sauteed with a touch of coconut oil and some shredded coconut. Did I ever say that I love coconut? (I do). Throw the sauce on the noodles and top with shrimpies!

Gourmet Veggie Pizza

I like to deviate from the norm every once in a while, and tonight I wanted Greek-style pizza with veggies. Roasted red peppers, of course, and garlic cloves. Avocado--I was unsure about that as a pizza topping until I tried it a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. Classic homemade crust and tomato sauce, with just a little sprinkle of Daiya. But I wanted a little extra pizzazz (pun intended) so I decided to try a quick pesto. I used pine nuts and parsley with hempseed oil. It definitely gave it a unique kick, while keeping the charm of old-style Greek pizza a la my Greek grandmother!

Sourdough Bread

Keep a working starter in your fridge - take it out every once in a while to feed it. You are supposed to do it weekly, but being busy most of the time, I often forget and I don't think the starter has suffered any for it. I think the starter for this bread is over a year old now, and the older your starter gets, the more developed the flavor of bread. Another secret to good sourdough is that during baking the loaf, you have to brush the top with cold water quite often.

Stuffed Peppers

These are easy & filling, & they reminded me of when mom used to make them when I was a kid! I love love LOVE recreating old recipes. Just roast the peppers a few minutes alone in the oven, then add the filling of soy crumbles, precooked rice, tomato sauce (I used tomato paste with a little water; same difference) garlic, onion, chili powder & a couple other spices! Finish roasting in the oven & top with Daiya vegan cheese at the end, if you want (I ran out of mozzarella style, as you can see, but that is el traditional topping).

Caramel Apple Streusel Pie

This is a great recipe to get rid of apples that may be past their prime! It's a basic pastry just topped with whatever apples you have on hand, chopped & piled high - & topped with cinnamon & coconut milk caramel. It's crowned with brown sugar and cinnamon streusel before browning to a golden crunch in the oven, and served topped with even more caramel. Perfect served with vanilla bean coconut milk dairy-free ice cream!

Caramel Apple Heart Galettes

This idea for "free-form" mini-pies comes straight from the Veganomicon cookbook, but I wanted to add my twist to it - caramel!

Easy Chick'n Parmesan

This couldn't get much simpler ~ take your favorite brand of thin spaghetti or other pasta (I like Smart Taste because of extra calcium and fiber, plus plenty of protein - the garden veggie kind is another good one!) covered in your favorite marinara (you can doctor up canned sauce) and put it in a baking dish. Top with lightly microwaved Boca vegan chick'n patties and Daiya mozzarella-style cheese, pop into the oven until melted. Healthy as well as hearty, and it takes less than 30 minutes!

Boeuf à la Bourguignonne

This is another of my new favorite dishes, because I've quickly fallen in love with wine in my cooking, as well as traditional French food in general! From what I understand, this began as a peasant plate (wine was needed to tenderize tough, cheap cuts of meat) and evolved into haute cuisine. This is a pretty simple version due to the beefless tips being too tender to cook for long in the wine, so they are sauteed separately with the onions and mushrooms. The red wine sauce is prepared with herbs and spices and some Not Beef broth and served over everything. Just about any red wine will do, but I am learning the nuances that come in the flavor and dryness of them - pinot noir is the most delicate, merlot is a nice medium-body, and cabernet is very dry and strong. Bon appetit!

Vegan Sausage Balls

I had some vegetarian friends getting married on 4/20/2012, and they requested I bring a dish as they had attended my 2011 vegan Thanksgiving feast and enjoyed it. The sausage balls are a surprisingly uncanny replica of the traditional heart-attack-in-delicious-round-form. It's just a tube of Lightlife brand vegan "sausage" with added sage, pepper, and a couple tablespoons of vegan shortening because the sausage substitute itself has no fat, plus 2 cups of cheddar-style Daiya and some heart-healthy bisquick mix, baked for about 25 minutes. Even the older skeptical family enjoyed these as well as our group of vegetarian friends, and the whole batch was gone shortly after the reception began!

                                                       Sam & Sarah, the happy couple!

Relay for Life Vegan Bake Sale

On 4/16/2012 I had a vegan bake sale at Concord University in Athens to benefit Relay for Life. My best friend and my stepmom are both cancer survivors, so I wanted 100% of the proceeds to go to the American Cancer Society. We ended up making $144 total, including a donation my stepmom sent in! We had a really nice display and had a ton of fun - not to mention we sold out of almost everything! I kind of low-balled the prices because a. it's for charity and b. these are college kids we're talking about. I decided to change my Facebook page I made for my award-winning Vegan Baked goods (for public events & possibly small-scale private catering) and Eco-Friendly arts, and called it "Mark it with V":

http://www.facebook.com/MarkitwithV

There were orange rolls, Chocolate Chip Cookies, gluten free rice krispie treats, gluten free peanut butter cookies, friendship bread with golden raisins, mocha brownies, and vegan rainbow cupcakes. For the rainbow cupcakes, they came out more like tie-dyed. I usually just make them vanilla with vanilla/coconut buttercream frosting, but this time, I made half of them fruity by adding kool-aid powders in flavors corresponding to each of the colors! Can't decide on which are my favorite, though. There also seems to be a growing interest for gluten-free items, which I'm going to have to put more research and experimentation into to build my baked goods repertoire! The day was an absolute success.

Vegan Königsberger Klopse

I love to experiment with new ingredients and spices in the kitchen, as well as push the limits of what original recipes I can convert to vegan. So far, I haven't found anything I can't do! This was definitely new and interesting, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. In fact, it got me on a kick for cooking with wine! The main source for new experimental & foreign recipes that I've been looking at is a 2012 calendar my French professor gave me, that is comprised of international recipes from the staff that produce the Vista Higher Learning books we use in class.

This is the recipe for Novembre, and is a famous traditional German recipe served with boiled potatoes as a side. Instead of making the meatballs by hand, I used my favorite prepackaged vegan ones by Nate's & fried them in oil with pepper & salt until crisp on the outside. The sauce is a basic roux I made with some leftover coconut milk in place of the cream, pinot grigio white wine, capers and caper juice, and parsley and lemon. I was not sure I'd like the capers in it, as I didn't really care for them by themselves, and thought of leaving them out - but I wanted to give the original recipe a chance. Indeed, the sauce tastes a bit funny on its own, but boy, was I bowled over when I tasted the complete dish! Absolutely fantastic ~ and led me to decide to prepare more of the German dishes from this calendar (and more wine dishes!).

Jasmine Rice with Curried Lentils and Vegetables

I'm a firm believer of pairing curry with white Jasmine rice for the rich, buttery smell & taste - brown rice is certainly healthier, but the white rice provides a milder background for the stronger flavors of the curries. I made the lentils in my favorite fashion - with coconut milk & a premixed green curry with lemongrass, zefir limes and Thai ginger. I threw in some fresh spinach after the lentils were done cooking, so that it didn't cook down too much. Separately, I fried up some onions, purple potatoes, and tomatoes in a little oil before adding red curry paste, which has a warmer and more savory profile than the green curry.

Raw Lemon-Lime Tarts

I recently tried a few of Hail Merry's brand raw tarts (I'm certainly not "going raw," but am trying to incorporate more raw foods into my diet) and fell in love! So I wanted to try my hand at it and looked up some copycat recipes. The crust is basically ground up walnuts, almonds, shredded coconut, and lemon juice. The filling is made of soaked cashews, coconut cream, lemon & lime juices, and blue agave nectar - with some arrowroot starch for thickener (most recipes recommend agar agar or Irish moss, which I had neither on hand). After blending the filling in the blender for a few minutes, poured it into the crusts and refrigerated for about 2-3 hours before they were firm. They were definitely rivals to the store brand, and makes me excited to experiment more with raw foods. A fresh crisp dessert that actually has some health benefits!

Peppered Shrimp and Spinach Fettuccine Alfredo

The peppered shrimp for this is pretty easy, just fry the vegan shrimp (by Vegetarian Plus) up with oil and pepper. For the sauce, it's just a basic roux sauce with lots of freshly ground peppercorns (I love the 4 peppercorn blend for a deep, warm flavor) and earth balance, and to make it "alfredo" I added a ton of Daiya mozzarella-style vegan cheese and a dash of lemon juice. Simply serve over spinach fettuccine noodles (or any noodles, really), and voila! A fancy dish good enough to serve to two in candlelight.

Mardi Gras Checkerboard cake

 This one is pretty much self-explanatory! I mainly wanted to give my new checkerboard pans a spin. There's nothing mystical about it; it's just an insert that you put in each regular round pan that you wash off & reuse every time that separates the colored batters while you pour them in. Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the last day of feasting, merriment, and general mischief before Ash Wednesday & the 40-day abstinence of whatever you desire to sacrifice, or fasts according to tradition, during Christian Lent. As some of you may know, I adore French culture as well as baking - and the Mardi Gras festival is a big part of that. Its traditional colors are d'or (ou jaune), verte, et violette, which are presented here in vanilla cake and lemon buttercream frosting. Vegan sprinkles for the win!

Seitan Napoleon

This is a dish I tried to imitate from Gillie's Restaurant in Blacksburg, VA - it didn't come out as good as theirs, but it was still pretty tasty. It consists of some very tender seitan, grilled eggplant, grilled portabello mushroom caps, roasted red pepper puree, and a sweet/salty balsamic glaze.

Potato Salad

Using nayonnaise, mustard, and nutritional yeast with a bit of vinegar, sugar, and celery seed makes a fantastic potato salad sauce. This is one of those things that gets better when it sits in the fridge for a day or two. Try chopping up some fresh salad veggies to throw in with the potatoes, like bell peppers or cucumbers, for a refreshing treat.

Vegan Rangoon / Wontons

Phyllo dough provides the crispy wrapper for these, as I can't find other vegan wrappers anywhere. I think they work fine if you don't have time for your own homemade wrappers! The filling is simply Tofutti's "Better than Cream Cheese," onion, soy sauce, and a smidgeon of sugar. They're then baked for a fairly short amount of time. I've heard of using red pepper slivers to imitate crab meat; maybe one day I'll try that or some actual vegan crab meat. These are an addictive snack!

Spring Rolls

 

These are easily made by quick-frying  shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, and shredded carrots in sesame oil and soy sauce, then rolling in sheets of phyllo dough & baking until golden brown!