englandsword

Today I bring you a great crowd-pleasing lasagna recipe. We made it for Christmas 2009 and repeated it for Christmas Eve dinner this year. We've made it a few other times for omnivorous guests and they can't believe there's no cheese! I Can't Believe It's Vegan Lasagna 1 box lasagna noodles 2 jars spaghetti sauce 12 oz. soy crumbles 4 cups veggies - spinach, mushrooms, zucchini 6-8 oz. shredded mozzarella soy cheese (like Follow Your Heart, Daiya) 1 block firm tofu 1 8 oz. tub vegan cream cheese (Tofutti), can use 6-8 oz. 2 tbsp olive oil (optional, I omitted) 1.5 tbsp. lemon juice 3 cloves garlic 3 tbsp nutritional yeast 1/2 teaspoon each oregano and basil 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste Boil lasagna noodles, drain when firm but cooked and let cool. Cook veggies and drain. Microwave soy crumbles, shred soy cheese. Put tofu ricotta ingredients except cream cheese into food processor and pulse or use a potato masher. I like the potato masher met...

Here's a quick, man- and omni-friendly recipe that has no vegetables and isn't very healthy. Ha! You don't see many of those on my blog! We made this as a quick lunch while at my dad's house. Mac 'n Sausage 1) Boil pasta. 2) Cut up vegan Italian sausages, brown in pan. 3) Add jar of tomato sauce, heat. 4) Add macaroni to sauce and sausages. 5) Cover with daiya. 6) Get yourself a salad, too. A couple random things - I tried one of these a couple weeks ago: I liked it! It tastes kind of like apple cider, and not like vinegar. You'll probably like it if you like kombucha. And it was about a full dollar cheaper than a bottle of kombucha. Also, I took a picture of myself before heading out on NYE. Both the shirt and the jeans were birthday presents from my mom! I got to pick them out at Plato's Closet, though. =) I think I've written of my love for Plato's Closet before -- I love second-hand clothes! The shirt still had the tags on and the jean...

Wow, it's been almost a week since I posted! I didn't mean to disappear, but I've had every single moment of my time dominated by family - and I mean that in a good way, of course! Now I'm at my dad's house in Lawrence, Kansas and I'll be here until Friday. I have a lot to share with you but I'm still pressed for time so I'll just share our Christmas morning brunch right now. On Christmas morning my brother came over and we opened presents first thing! First up was stockings: My big present was some money towards my Screen Actors Guild union membership. Yay! We also played with my brother's puppy, Buster. And then we made and enjoyed brunch. Here I am, with the spread: French toast, fruit salad, and veggie breakfast sausages. You guys are going to love the french toast recipe, because it was delicious, easy, healthy, and perfect for special occasions! Apple Cinnamon French Toast One loaf of bread, sliced - we used wheat sourdough, but anything...

Dinner last night was my vegan take on classic American food - meatloaf, mac and cheese, and green beans. And it was all easy! The green beans were already cooked, as I had cooked a bunch of them the day before and used some in the pasta salad. I made a quick easy dressing and just mixed them up and served it cold. Maple Dijon Green Beans 5 cups green beans 1 tbsp dijon mustard 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tsp tamari 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp rosemary cracked black pepper to taste (I used a lot!) Boil green beans for about five minutes until cooked but not mushy. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Mix dressing with a fork and add water until consistency is as desired. Mix with green beans and serve! Notes: I ran out of lemon juice but I think hat would be a good addition. Agave would also taste great instead of maple syrup. And, as always, my measurements are total guesses. Just add as much of every ingredient until it tastes good. For the meatloaf, I bought a pre-made...

I have another lovely dinner for you guys today. And I can even post the recipe this time! For lunch yesterday I ate the leftover veggies from the previous night's sandwiches along with some leftover salad and Indian curry hummus. For dinner I made pasta salad, fruit salad, and BBQ seitan and tempeh. We ate it in our dining room, but I think it would make for great picnic food. That's another thing I love about vegan food - it doesn't go bad and give you diseases when it sits out in the sun for a few hours. Yay! The fruit salad had grapes, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, a few blueberries, Braeburn apples, and an entire fresh pineapple that I cut up. All organic. Yippee. The BBQ seitan and tempeh was the easiest part of the meal - I just put it in a pan, let it brown a little, then put on some barbecue sauce and cooked it until it was warm. I didn't know whether my dad and step-mom would like seitan or tempeh, and that's why I made both. Tempe...

Last night's dinner was EPIC. I made the biggest sandwiches the world has ever seen. And they were awesome. I made the Panini with Lemon-Basil Pesto on pg. 162 of The Vegan Table, along with Split Pea Soup from page 98. I had considered making a salad, too, but it ended up being unnecessary. We had plenty of food. I started the pea soup first, because it needed at least an hour to cook. The recipe calls for two cups of dry split peas, and I just eyeballed it when I bought them from the bulk section. So imagine how freakin' pleased I was with myself when I poured them into a measuring cup and saw that I had EXACTLY two cups of peas. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Cool. I won't reprint the recipe out of deference to the author, but you should check out the cookbook. I think it's a great soup recipe because it's easy and provides a lot of food for cheap - dry split peas are really inexpensive. The soup has split peas, carrot, celery, onion, potato, basil, parsley, marjor...

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent lots of time thinking of what recipes to make for my dad and step-mom this week. So I came up with some recipes and tried to think in threes. Now as a vegan I'm very used to eating a meal centered around vegetables and I'm happy with just one meal in a bowl. But I know lots of people grow up with the plate divided into threes - meat, starch, and vegetable. My mom raised us that way (though for lunch sometimes the third section was fruit) and lots of people don't feel like their meal is complete without it. So after I made my list I went with my step-mom to the Merc, the local co-op. She hadn't been there in years, since the last time I had dragged her there. We got lots of good produce and when we came home I got down to work. I made Pad Thai with a side of Dark Leafy Greens with Sesame Miso Dressing. Both recipes are from The Vegan Table . The Pad Thai is on page 26 and the greens are on page 37. For my greens I used kale. ...