Lasagna

I've had lasagna on my mind recently. We've got some wedding-related events coming up soon, and I know I needed a dish that could feed both James and myself, but could also be prepared ahead of time for reheating later. So lasagna really made sense. Now, to figure out how to do this without tomatoes!

I've also had my eye on the Soy Sausage recipe in the Cafe Flora Cookbook. So since I had the time and energy for big cooking, I took to the kitchen. The sausage is composed of mainly TVP and crumbled tofu, plus a wonderful concoction of fresh garlic, fresh rosemary (which the neighbors generously donated without their knowledge!), dried sage, thyme, salt, pepper and some crushed red pepper flakes. This mix is pressed into patties, then fried. It's a bit of a labor heavy recipe, and my mixture ended up too wet to form tight solid patties. But they fried up all the same and turned out quite tasty.

For the filling, I combined tofu, garlic, onion and oregano is my handy new stick blender (with chopper attachment - thanks John & Mary!). This is a pretty similar mix to what fills the stuffed shells.

To bring it all together I alternated layers of pre-cooked noodles, tofu spread, a veggie mix composed of spinach, carrots, broccoli and onion and a tad bit of sauce. I topped it off with a generous layer of creamy oniony white sauce (mmmm, I do love that gravy!) and a fine sprinkling of vegan Parmesan topping. I baked it for about 30 minutes.

Verdict: an excellent first attempt, I think. The structure is right, but I know how to improve it. The homemade veggie sausage wasn't quite present enough (though I have 6 patties in the freezer for breakfasts!), so perhaps some crumbled up Trader Joes breakfast patties or meatless meatballs. Also, I tossed the veggies in raw and they didn't soften up enough in cooking, so next time I'll probably saute up some onion, spinach & mushrooms instead. But it was totally yummy, with tons of leftovers.

Addendum...

Regarding the Portabello Stroganoff - I had another go at this dish, and actually ended up with leftovers. We discovered this is great over toast!

White bean casserole

One item I feel I'm not familiar enough with in the kitchen is beans. And they're so good for you. In fact, in a vegan diet, beans are an excellent source of protein.

So I've been kicking around the idea of a bean casserole, and when I recently found out most bacon bits are vegan, it all came together for me. This casserole is one can of canellini (or white) beans, cauliflower, onions, a little leftover mushroom essence and the crunchy topping is bread crumbs, vegan spread, bac'uns (from PCC), and salt & pepper. It baked for about 30 minutes. It's served with some steamed veggies and some pan-fried Yukon potatoes.

Verdict: Yummy! The topping didn't actually become the one unifying crust that I was hoping, instead it crumbled and distributed itself throughout the pile of beans on the plate. The beans are rich and creamy and the cauliflower added a nice sweetness. And the bac'uns added just that hint of smokey meatiness this dish needed. I will repeat it, but the recipe will probably tweak over time. Incidentally, what James liked most about this meal was the potatoes!

Veggie Casserole

I've been watching some stupid TV, namely "Who Wants to Be the Next Food Network Star?" on the Food Network. (BTW - as much as I love Reggie's "sass," I voted for Guy.) As far as reality TV goes, this isn't so bad. But anyway, on one of the recent episodes, the contestants learned that they needed to present a clear "culinary point of view" to entice viewers.

So anyway, I've figured out my culinary point of view. It's "vegan things with gravy." Think that would sell? Examples of recipes that involve some sort of gravy or gravy technique include Portabello Stroganoff, Stuffed Shells, and pot pie. Mmmmm, gravy. It's a handy thing, it binds ingredients, carries flavor and sometimes cheese, and makes every dish a little bit of comfort food.

Here's how this veggie casserole takes shape: I saute garlic, onion, mushrooms, carrots & celery. In another pan I boil the bowtie pasta, and then in the last two minutes, I add in broccoli and cauliflower to the boiling pasta water. When the sauteed veggies are soft, I set them aside, whip up a bechemel (basically gravy with little browning and more milk) then add grated vegan cheese to thicken. All veggies, pasta and sauce gets mixed together with salt and pepper in big casserole dish and baked with a crumbly top layer of crushed crackers for about 30 minutes. Here it's served with a side of steamed asparagus.

It comes out warm and bubbly and perfect! Had tons left over for lunches the next day, even after stuffing ourselves. We'll definitely find this on our dinner plates again.

Portabello Stroganoff

I will humbly admit that I have, for as long as I can remember, turned my nose up at any and all mushrooms. "Too slimy," I'd say, or "I've got texture issues with that." So imagine my surprise to find myself really enjoying the past few Portabello attempts. I guess it's all in the preparation, and the French Dip is a good example of that.

So again on James' suggestion, I attempted a Portabello Stroganoff. Traditionally, this is composed of beef cubes, mushrooms and sour cream to create a creamy meat-filled gravy served over pasta.

So I know gravy - I saute what ever veggies I have, then remove them, toss in some vegan butter (about 2-3 tbsp), let it melt and brown up a bit, then add an equal amount of flour. I stir this, let this roux brown just a bit (browning adds flavor, even in the veggie world) then take it off the heat and slowly start stirring in soy milk. This clumps up so I use a whisk. I add soy until it's thick, then add just a little more until it's too thin again, then back on the heat - stirring until it thickens. Then I toss the veggies back in.

This is exactly what I did with these tasty portabellos, and for a finishing touch of authenticity, I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of Tofutti sour cream. All this is served over a bed of ribbon noodles with side of plain steamed veggies.

The survey says: Well, I had planned on making enough for leftovers the next day, but instead we ate it all. I think we'll be seeing this one again!

Falafel

I guess I really don't have to preface every post title with "veggie" now do I??

Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern dish. It's a fried patty or ball made of ground garbanzos & spices, served in a pita with veggies and tahini sauce. Now, I've made this from scratch from the Cafe Flora Cookbook before and it was very good, but I just didn't have the time or energy to dirty every bowl & appliance in the kitchen just for dinner which I was already starving for! So I humbly admit that this falafel mix came from a box, and it was pretty dang tasty.

These patties fried lightly in canola oil, and I warmed up some pita & chopped up some veggies to go with. We recently picked up some garlic-tahini sauce at PCC, and I've been putting it on everything, but this is what it's made for! It was so yummy.

The grain salad on the side is an adaptation of a recipe mom found in the Seattle PI. It's quinoa mixed in with green onions, more garbanzo beans, raisins, dill & salt and pepper. The original recipe called for lots of crushed garlic and lemon zest, but I didn't think James' poor mouth could handle the acid assault, so I used about 1/4 cup of his favorite salad dressing - Annie's Naturals Lemon-Chive vinegar free dressing. Incidentally, Annie's is the only company that we've found so far that offers a vinegar free salad dressing. They also offer a vinegar free green garlic and it looks like they've got a new offering - Artichoke Parmesan, which is also vinegar free, but not vegan as it has cheese.

The verdict: I'll do it again. It was quick (which I love!) tasty and filling, with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. The spices may have been a bit much for James' mouth, but perhaps we can find a way to tone those down next time.

Veggie Pho

So we were craving a simple filling soup - and James suggested Pho. (Some pronounce it "foe," some pronouce is "fuh." Who knows which is right?) We looked online for recipes, but once again, Mother Hubbard's cupboards we bare on a few items. But really, who has star anise just laying around??

Anyhoo - the broth for this is a little bit of mushroom essence left over from the portabello French dip, plus 2 cubes of vegan bullion in 6 cups of water. I added a chopped up onion and lots of water and boiled it with the cubes of tofu so they could pick up some extra flavor. At the last minute, I threw in some carrots, broccoli & asparagus so they were still a little "al dente." In a separate pot, I boiled a bunch of water, and then poured that over the rice noodles to soften them up.

To serve, I forked some noodles in the bowl, then poured some veggies and broth over the top.

Verdict: It was good, but the leftovers remain untouched. It just wasn't as good as the takeout version, but we could repeat it.

Saturday morning waffles

Three great things about Saturday morning:
1. Sleeping in
2. The regae show on KEXP
3. Waffles!

I veganized this recipe from the Joy of Cooking using the stand-by vegan substitutes of Earth Balance vegan spread, soy milk and EnergG Egg Replacer. I then whipped up a fruity sauce to top it with; it's basically the contents of one of our pre-prepared smoothie packs and contains blueberries and chopped up peaches. I brought these to a boil with some cherry juice and stirred in some cornstarch to thicken it up.

Survey says: Awesome. They turned out far crispier than any egg & milk waffle I've ever made, and I can't figure out why. But I think the crispiness was a good thing. Of course I love the fruit topping (mom used to make this all the time for our dutch babies when I was a kid), but James tasted it and did without. Oh well, more for me!