Maple Roasted Tomatoes

Roasted tomatoes are my jam. Ask anyone who knows me. 

Here's what you need:
Cherry tomatoes, halved
1 T maple syrup
1 T olive oil
garlic, minced
salt, pepper, thyme

Roast at 400 degrees on a foil lined baking sheet for about 20 minutes.

Serve on pizza, pasta, or rice. Spoon over salad, scrambled tofu (or eggs), or veggies.
They would be a perfect garnish for soup. 

SpicyCoconut Curried Eggplant

Here's what my life is like some days. Write the weekly menu and head to the local grocery for as much as I can purchase there. Remember, I live in small-town USA, so my local guy doesn't really carry stuff like cardamom pods. He doesn't even have tofu on the shelf, and believe me, I've asked for it! Like more than a few times. I sincerely think that if he'd carry it, folks would buy it. Anyway, I try to support my local businesses, so that's where I begin my shopping, even if the eggplants are dented and a tiny bit withered.

Travel across town to the huge superstore for fresh ginger, tofu, coconut milk, and the elusive spice. But happy fortune, while scouring the spice rack for cardamom pods, I find harissa! Here in my little city! What??  Happy day!!  I'm all over harissa! (Well, I'm not really sure how to use it, but I will learn, believe me.)  

Back in the car (did I mention this all takes place in a slushy snow storm? I'm dressed like a snow-woman, hat, boots, puffy coat, etc The car's a filthy mess.) to the up-scale grocery for that last ingredient - cardamom pods. Success.

Drive home, unload bags from the car to the kitchen, pour a huge glass of wine, look over the recipe, and start chopping veg. What? Where's that can of coconut milk? Back to the car, searching every nook and cranny only to find that it had rolled out of its bag.

Same kinds of shopping days for you?

If you like SPICY, then you'll love this curry.

Here's what you need:

2 eggplants

1 T oil

1/2 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 t ground cardamom

2 T ground coriander

1 T red pepper flakes

4 whole cardamom pods

1/2 t black peppercorns

1/2 T turmeric

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 cans coconut milk

rice

Here's what you do:

Dice the eggplant into 1-2  inch pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and bake on a lined baking sheet at 350 for 20 minutes.

In a medium pot, sauté onions, garlic, ginger, ground cardamom, coriander, and red pepper flakes until the onions begin to soften. Don't brown anything.

Crush the black peppercorns and the cardamom pods in a mortar and add them, along with the remaining spices, to the onions.

Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, and the eggplant to the pot and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve over white rice. Goes well with a toasted Naan bread and roasted carrots. Consider serving something cool along side this dish: sliced cucumbers maybe?

Crispy Cauliflower Cakes

Amazing! Super easy and perfect for a weeknight meal. These came together pretty quickly and were so delicious, especially with a spicy mayo for dipping. Seriously, these would be good even for company. If you have cauliflower on the menu for this week, I suggest you up your game and give these a try.

You notice in the photo above that I served my crispy cauliflower cakes with oven fries, roasted onions, and lettuce. You can bet that I ate way more than two cakes also. I mention this because today I told someone that I don't eat meat or dairy, and she asked, "What's left to eat?" I think my plate is a good example of what I eat on a regular basis. Massive amounts of veggies! (I squeeze in lots of beans, too!)

If, for example, you want to try the Crispy Cauliflower Cakes, you could serve them on a big bed of fresh greens and drizzle the spicy mayo over all of it. Lemony green beans would be great with this, or any other green veg. Rice, of course. A tomato salad. (tomatoes would have certainly given my plate a bit more color.....)

Crispy Cauliflower Cakes (from theveglife.com)

1 head of cauliflower, separated into florets and steamed until fork tender. Whirl them in a food processor when cooked - not too small
2 T ground flax seed and 6 T water - whisk and allow to sit in fridge for 15 minutes to thicken.
1/3 C flour
1/4 C cornmeal
2 T Parmesan or Nutritional Yeast
1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t paprika
2 T chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Mix well in a large bowl. Form into 12 patties. Saute gently until brown.

Roasted Red Pepper, Chickpea, and Spinach Curry (from One Green Planet)

I found this recipe floating around the internet a few weeks ago. I always love the recipes from One Green Planet, plus they post the absolute best animal photos. We all really liked this meal, but I jazzed it up a tiny bit by adding some heat in the form of 1 T red curry paste. Of course, you can add heat or leave it out - I always forget how spicy we like our food and how 'non-spicy' other people like their food. Just yesterday, a co-worker dipped her spoon into my vegan cheezy sauce and couldn't believe how spicy it was. To me, it was perfect!

Below is the original recipe and my variations.

Roasted Red Pepper, Chickpea, and Spinach Curry

3 large red bell peppers
3 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 onion, diced
salt and pepper
1 1/3 C coconut milk ( I used a can of full fat coconut milk)
4 T nutritional yeast
2 1/2 T cornstarch (next time I'll leave this out so the liquid is thinner)
1 pinch smoked paprika
1 1/4 C chickpeas
1 C spinach (needs lots more - add it at the end to keep it nice and green)
3/4 C cherry tomatoes (I used a can of diced tomatoes, drained. Next time, I'll keep all the liquid)
(I also added 1 heaping T of red curry paste. Sriracha would be good too)
1. Bake the red peppers at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes until charred. Place peppers under some plastic wrap and allow them to cool. Remove the skin, seeds, and stems and set aside.
2. Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
3. In a blender, mix the peppers, onion and garlic mixture, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, cornstarch and smoked paprika.
4. Transfer the sauce to a skillet, add chickpeas, spinach and tomatoes. Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve over rice. 

Potato, Broccoli, and Peanut Casserole

Potato, Broccoli, and Peanut Casserole

If you can imagine the classic coconut peanut sauce (which you have  probably poured over noodles) then you can imagine this casserole. You can see from the photo that it makes a great presentation. Underneath that layer of potatoes is a whole bunch of broccoli, which make this a double whammy in the veg department.

This recipe comes from the tiny book "Vegan...Made Simple" published by Love Food. I have mentioned it here on my blog more than a few times because every single thing I've made from it has been great. The book was a gift from my mom (thanks Mom!) and at first glance it appears to be the type of book from the 'dollar' shelf at the back of the book store. But seriously, the pages are FULL of treasures. I love this book! 

Here's what you need: 

1 pound new potatoes, sliced

1 T olive oil

1/2 small onion, diced

1 3/4 C coconut milk

1/2 C chunky peanut butter

1 T soy sauce

2 t sugar

1/2 t crushed red pepper

3 C broccoli florets

1/2 C unsalted peanuts

2 t non-dairy butter, melted

salt and pepper

Here's what you do:

Drop the potato slices in boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Saute the onions in a bit of oil until they are soft, stir in the milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar and red pepper flakes. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Steam the broccoli until tender (don't over cook it) 

Stir the broccoli and peanuts into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a greased baking dish. Arrange the potatoes over the sauce and drizzle with melted butter. Bake 20 minutes or so in 375 oven. 

Party Rye

Here's another totally retro recipe I served as a lunch time snack on Thanksgiving. I remember eating these toasty little guys as a young girl when my mom would make them for cocktail parties. Now that I think of it, that probably annoyed her - us kids sneaking around in the kitchen, snatching her carefully prepared party food while she was trying to pull off a party. Sorry Mom! These were worth it!

I veganized the recipe and they turned out exactly how I remember them. What gives this simple recipe its unique taste is the rye bread - do not swap out the rye bread. Search high and low for Rubschlager Brand Cocktail Rye bread .....or take the time to cut tiny squares from another type of rye bread.

Here's what you need:
Cocktail size rye bread (30 slices for a full recipe)
1 small red onion, minced
1 C parmesan cheese (see note)
1/2 C mayo

Here's what you do:
Mash the onion, cheese and mayo together with a fork. Spread over the bread. Broil until brown and toasty - watch carefully!

Note: My vegan parm: 1 C raw cashews, 1/4 C nutritional yeast, 1 t salt. High speed blender. Totally addicting!

Retro Pineapple Cheeseball

I call this Retro Cheeseball because it totally reminds me of the 1970s. In fact, anything with pineapple and green pepper reminds me of the 70s. Lawry's Season Salt, too. I don't know why. Now that I think about it, a cheeseball reminds me of the 70s. Cocktail parties, church potlucks, open houses. Well, it's time to being back the cheeseball - this one is super.

As I was struggling with this mound of cheese, trying to roll it in the walnuts, I realized that this might be the very first cheeseball I have ever made. I served it at lunch on Thanksgiving Day and we polished it up the next day for leftovers.

Here's what you need:
8 oz cream cheese (I used Tofutti brand vegan cheese - it's excellent!)
1/3 C crushed pineapple (drained well)
2-3 T minced green pepper
1-2 T minced green onion
1-2 t Lawry's season salt
1 C chopped walnuts

Here's what you do:
Bring the cheese to room temperature. Using a fork, mash in the pineapple, green pepper, green onion, Lawry's, and 1/2 C of the walnuts. Place cheese mixture in fridge to completely chill.

Spread the remaining walnuts on wax paper and plop the completely chilled cheese on the nuts. Carefully, press the mass into a ball and place on a serving plate.

Banana Rabanada (Brazilizan French Toast) from Isa Chandra

Banana Rabanada (Brazilian French Toast)

Just saying the name of this recipe is fun and elevates it to a more exotic level. 

Banana Rabanada. Banana Rabanada.

 I love it! 

I tested this recipe and made this meal for my son a few months ago, planning to serve it to my sister-in-law and her friend when they visited from Brazil in September. The bummer was that I never actually had the chance to make it when my Brazilian guests were here. We did eat well, and I did get to cook for them, but  brunch was never in the plans, so my Banana Rabanada had to go by the wayside. 

This recipe is another total winner from Isa Chandra's "Vegan Brunch" cookbook. Basically you soak good bread in a super delish banana milk, toast them in a hot skillet, and serve them with cocoa and cinnamon. Simple ingredients, fantastic result. The bread is key here - choose a high quality baguette and toast it completely to create those chewy places. I think I might have gone overboard with the cocoa powder, but it was worth it. I think this would be a good choice for a brunch party, because it could hold well in a warm oven - it's pretty sturdy. 

Here's what you need for 4 servings: 

2 very ripe bananas

1 1/2 C non dairy milk

2 T cornstarch

1 t good vanilla

1 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t ground cinnamon

1 stale baguette, sliced diagonally in once inch slices

extra fruit for garnish

Here's what you do:

Blend the bananas, milk, cornstarch, and vanilla in a blender. Place bread slices on a baking sheet and pour the banana mixture over them. Allow the bread to soak for about 20 minutes, turning them over at the 10 minute mark. 

Heat a skillet, use a small amount of oil, toast the bread slices for at least 5-7 minutes on each side. Do not try to turn them over too soon! Let them get brown before you flip them. You don't want any of the banana goodness to 'peel' away from the bread and get stuck in the pan. 

Mix the cocoa powder and cinnamon together and dust each serving liberally before serving. 

Thanksgiving Menu Inspiration: Part Two

Yesterday I shared appetizers, soups, and salads. Today I share vegetable side dishes, main courses, and desserts.

Zucchini Tart - much easier than it looks! 

Vegetable Bake with Crispy Topping - I only made this once, but I still remember it. It's on my menu for this year's Thanksgiving. 

Nut Loaf - excellent! serve with potatoes and gravy and everyone's happy

Autumn Harvest Stuffed Squash- The colors of Thanksgiving

Adonis Cake - one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever eaten

Pear Frangipane Tart - I've made this many times and it always gets rave reviews 

Thanksgiving: Menu Inspiration Part One

Some menu ideas for your upcoming day of thanks. I chose recipes that can be made ahead which makes the big day of eating and watching football and being with family and friends a little more relaxing.  You can find recipes by clicking on the links.

This will be the 4th year that I have not served or eaten the traditional turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, and guess what? I'm still alive to tell about it! I didn't shrivel up and waste away because I didn't eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Can you rise to the challenge and step out of the the box a tiny bit? Try some new foods and see how much your guests appreciate it. 

Today I'm sharing appetizers, soups, and salads. Tomorrow I'll share vegetable side dishes, main entrees, and desserts galore. 

Burgundy Mushrooms- serve with good bread to soak up the juice - it's amazing! 

Maple Nut Snack Mix - put down the puppy chow. (You have powdered sugar on your chin)

Cauliflower and Potato Soup with Applesauce Reduction  - this is a restaurant photo, mine is much different, but my version of the soup was memorable!

Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup - a meal in itself, but perfect as a first course on a Thanksgiving table.

 

Celery Salad with Miso Dijon Dressing - I always associate celery with Thanksgiving.

Dijon, Orange and Dill Dressing - good on greens or veg.