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!

Thai Noodles with Sesame Tofu

I tend to use whatever I have on hand, and this is one of those times when random available ingredients come together to make a spectacular dish. I just used fettuccine noodles topped with a sauce of canned coconut milk, cilantro, lemongrass curry paste and fried cabbage and carrots. The tofu I fried with soy sauce, sesame and ginger and it complemented the green curry flavors well.

Fancy Potato Soup

I wanted a classic thick & creamy potato soup with a little something extra. I just used potatoes, their own boiling water, and some almond milk as the base with parsley and onion. I love these little purple potatoes, their color is even more vibrant when raw or baked - but I wanted to add some crisper fried chips for a nice texture contrast. The roasted red pepper puree is a great complement in small quantities, as well as a nice visual presentation when paired with a sprig of fresh green sage.

Coconut Chocolate Drops

I made these last year around the holidays, and they are a big hit! It's basically a combination of canned coconut milk/cream, powdered sugar (organic), and unsweetened shredded coconut - rolled in balls, chilled, & dipped in melted vegan semisweet chocolate tempered with a touch of earth balance margarine. They are like a vegan mounds bar, and they're so good I wonder why the original candy bar would even want to use a milk product.

Vegan 5-Bean Chili

I had some leftover cornbread after new year's, so I decided to make chili for the cold weather. Even though this has been the warmest winter by far I've ever spent in West Virginia...but I digress. I like to saute finely diced bell peppers, onions, and garlic in a little oil or earth balance, to soften and to infuse the small amount of fat with flavor that will later be dispersed throughout the dish. Then I add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, white beans, black beans, light & dark red kidney beans, and pintos, my secret blend of spices (including cayenne, chipotle, and cumin) and a dash of sugar. It gets better the longer it simmers ~ best after a night in the fridge!

New Year's Day Good Luck Dinner

Foods can often be symbolic as well as sustaining to people, and in my family we always prepare a couple traditional New Year's Day foods that are supposed to bring good luck and wealth throughout the coming year. You eat the foods that are symbolic of what you'd like to receive: mixed greens represent green cash (I like to season with plenty of earth balance, mixed peppercorns, garlic, and red chili flakes), black-eyed peas represent coins (seasoned with earth balance, onion and garlic), and cornbread represents gold (made with smart balance vegetable oil, soy milk, egg replacer, and a dash of sugar). Usually, pork is consumed in some form because the pig represents progress - well, I certainly think that Gardein scallopinis are even more progressive! I lightly breaded and seasoned those with thyme, salt & peppercorns and fried in vegetable oil.

Sometimes my family would make a cake with a coin in it - if you got the slice with the coin, you'd have great luck that year! I made an almond version with orange glaze this year but I forgot to photograph it before everyone ate it all, looking for the coin!

4-Layer Pudding Pie

Okay, so technically this one's 3 layers & topped with nuts. But it's a take on what my mom used to make a lot around the holidays, that has a crust of flour & ground walnuts, a layer of "cream cheese" & powdered sugar, your pudding flavor of choice (I think chocolate is best), and usually whipped cream. This is a vegan version of just that (but I couldn't get my hands on any vegan whipping cream, and apparently didn't scour the net enough for a homemade recipe - because I am now fairly certain you can make some with coconut milk & sugar). So...I definitely won't mind re-doing this the "right" way! :)

Belle Birthday Cake

This was a smash at my daughter's 5th birthday party! I will admit, this was a bit tricky for me - mainly baking the "skirt" of the dress in a metal bowl! If the bowl is overfilled, the middle will never get done - so I had to layer a round cake with what was baked in the small metal bowl. The regular-sized doll is still too tall for this, however! (I wanted my daughter to be able to have the doll to keep when the cake was done with, but they do specially make half-dolls for cakes of this nature). Next time, I think I will use a bundt cake pan in addition to a couple rounds layered up for a nice effect. I also made & piped the icing in quite a hurry (trying to coordinate other birthday activities!), so that could definitely use some improvement. Other than that, a very cute cake!

Black Bean Enchiladas

I realized that I hadn't made black bean enchiladas since I was 12 (when they were a big hit!), so I decided they must promptly be made again - and veganized! I went mostly by an old Betty Crocker recipe, which calls for you to make your own zesty tomato sauce topping (more like a salsa, really) - with fresh tomatoes, onions, cumin & cilantro. What really made this dish outstanding (if not a little on the hot side!) was Upton's Naturals brand seitan, in chorizo style! I wasn't sure if I -ever- liked chorizo anything, but I like this seitan! After rolling the seitan & black beans filling up in the tortillas & topping with the tomato sauce, I of course smothered it in cheddar-style Daiya before baking and serving. I like mine with better than sour cream and black olives on the side - I bet guacamole would be fantastic with this.

Quesadillas!

These are surprisingly easy to make when you saute the Gardein beefless tips in a pan separately first, seasoning with taco sauce if desired. Then just slice them into smaller chunks, add them + plenty of Daiya cheddar-style shreds to the tortillas & fry in veggie oil. Voila! Serve warm & gooey with salsa & Better than sour cream!

Vegan Fried Shrimp

I love this brand of breaded vegan seafood - Sophie's Kitchen! They also make some bangin' calamari rings, and I've yet to try their breaded fish fillets (but can't wait to - vegan essentials has been sold out of them every time I place my order!) Not only are these superior in flavor and texture, but I love that they are pre-breaded and thus hassle-free! A quick and tasty treat that rivals a sit-down seafood restaurant's meals when paired with these organic fries or tater tots and cocktail sauce!

Crispy Rice Treats

These are great around the holidays! When using the Chicago Soy Dairy brand of vegan marshmallows, no other alteration of the original recipe is necessary :) Nice to have a quick & easy treat!

A Very Vegan Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of preparing food for a crowd of people. Quite a crowd of people; there were thirteen including myself & the little one! That's definitely more people than I'm used to cooking for, so it was a challenge! This was a get-together the day after Thanksgiving for some friends and family and some new friends of all dietary persuasions! It was really a blessing and totally worth all the effort to be able to share it with such open-minded & appreciative people. When I got back from dropping the kiddo off at her dad's, everyone had put away the food and done the dishes. It was amazing.

Most of the recipes I quantified turned out to be enough or just enough, except I could have easily doubled the gravy recipe. I was really impressed with some of the new recipes I used (and was nervous about using at first!). I spent Wednesday cleaning & sanitizing the house, as I get a little OCD about cleaning before important events. Then I prepped a bunch that evening, cooked for nearly 17 hours on Thanksgiving, and finished the remaining dishes Friday afternoon/evening. I reheated at the refrigerated things I'd made before in a really hot oven - I'd never done this with a mass quantity of food before, but it worked fine, & I kept a few more things heated on the stovetop & my dual buffet I'd not gotten to use yet! It tickles me that everyone ate my entire faux cheesecake with strawberry sauce! Better than Cream Cheese is truly a good substitute for the original here. I might make another one in a couple days so I can use the rest of the strawberry sauce! We had a merry night of stuffing ourselves silly (sometimes uncomfortably full!) drinking a little chardonnay and beer, and finishing the night off with freshly ground vanilla, hazelnut cream, and cinnamon flavored coffee.

                                            Pressing 12 blocks of tofu for the 2 roasts!

 "Sausage" balls! Made with Lightlife sausage, cheddar-style Daiya and biscuit mix. Everyone in my family makes the original version around the holidays, and these taste better than the original! I did 1.5x the recipe, and they all got eaten :)

 Toasted pumpkin seeds in chile & sesame oils with black lava salt for an appetizer; also had kalamata olives in thymed oil.

 The cheesecake before it was chilled. I was worried about this one, and the pictures don't do it justice. It was probably the tastiest pie!

 This picture is dark too; it's the pumpkin pie.

                                The giant bowl of sausage balls on the appetizer table

Used 10 pounds of potatoes for mashing with earth balance & rice milk - it made 2 9x13" pans! About 1/3 of the second pan was gone by the end of the night. Whoa!

Two loaves of beer bread. The front one is made with Sam Adams Black Lager, and the back is Boston Lager. Both very good, but I prefer the dark one.

I'm so excited I got to use the buffet I got this year! It was perfect! It's just heated with two regular tealight candles, which worked surprisingly well - after I reheated the sweet potato casseroles in the 425 oven, the candles kept them hot until they burned out.

The sweet potato casseroles were the same except for the toppings. They both had brown sugar, earth balance, and Dandies vegan marshmallows melted in. This one is topped with pecans that I lightly caramelized with pure maple syrup and ground cinnamon.

...and these I topped traditionally with more marshmallows! (Those got nice & melty & golden brown when I reheated them in the oven just before serving!)

 And this lovely creamy mac'n'cheeze recipe I got from the Daiya site, if I'm not mistaken. I used rice milk & mimiccreme in it & doubled it for this big 9x13 pan.

          Maple pecan pie! This tasted just how I remember pecan pie, and it is so delicious!

 My daughter talked me into making hush puppies, even though it is time-consuming and dangerous! They were yummy & enjoyed though, so I guess it was worth a couple minor grease burns :)

 The orange-flavored tofu roast, with tangerine zest, brown sugar, ginger, red chilies, white pepper, mirin, and sesame & peanut oils.

 The traditional-flavored roast, with not chicken broth, thyme, sage, rosemary, and earth balance.

 A yummy new recipe for gravy that I added some mimiccreme to, and about 20 servings of stuffing! I'm glad they finally have a stuffing mix that is vegan because you add your own broth, as well as chopped celery and onions.

Yet another poorly lit picture of a dessert sampler. I was really just too tired and busy to be bothered with taking expert photos at this point...and being as it's dessert, I was extremely full too!

There were also a big tray of mini corn-on-the cob and a big tray of whole green beans/wax beans - the latter of which I tossed in oil, earth balance, cracked mixed peppercorns, and red salt.

All in all, I'd call it a grand success. Happy Holidays/Joyeux Fete de la Grace!

Pumpkin Pudding Parfait

I just used an organic vegan vanilla pudding mix for this & added fresh roasted & cooled pumpkin. Then I topped with just a drizzle of some pumpkin spice syrup I made for coffees. Sprinkled with pumpkin seeds that were pan-toasted in sesame oil, chile oil, and black lava salt with activated charcoal for an even smokier flavor. Then I topped it with some creamy caramel I made from canned coconut milk (mostly the thick cream), brown sugar, and pink Himalayan salt. C'est parfait!

Fried Tofu & Waffles

...........Because I just had to. And they were good.

Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls

Apparently there is another awesome dread-headed vegan chef out there, and she is over at Sugar-Skull. I used her tip from the blog for substituting cornstarch for the meringue powder, and it worked out great! My piping skills aren't quite as nice as  hers, but these were fun to make. These day of the Dead sugar skulls are used as a celebration of lost loved ones' lives in Mexico. "Dia de los Muertos" is usually celebrated on or around November 2nd (with the 1st being for fallen children, "Dia de los Innocents").  The bright colors in a way mock death, and leaving these out on the celebration night invites lost relatives to come and feast on the treats while journeying through the after life. I specifically made a couple to represent my fried Sarah and her unborn child that died several years ago at the hands of domestic violence. It's a nice way to teach children about celebrating the memories of loved ones and the positive things about them, rather than being too macabre on the subject.

And, we talked about Piet Mondrian a lot in Design this semester, so...I guess I just had to throw this in :)