macaroni salad

Ah, it's been far too long since I made something fantastically vegan. For a potluck last week, I made Robin Robertson's macaroni salad from 1,000 Vegan Recipes, and I've been enjoying the leftovers ever since! It was really easy to make, and was a huge success with everyone who tried it!

I think the secret to this recipe was the definitely the sauce- vegan mayo, rice milk, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and salt. Add to some cooked macaroni with veggies and relish, and you have yourself a simple, quick, and absolutely delicious side dish. Macaroni salad. Page 92. Seriously, Robin Robertson, you are a vegan goddess.

miso soup

So it may not look like the most appetizing thing in the whole world, but I could not be more pleased with my very first attempt at homemade miso soup! This is a picture of the leftovers, devoured cold, today at lunch, but it was super tasty hot, last night for dinner too! The recipe inspiration came from here, but this version is definitely my own.

You need:

* about 4 cups vegetable stock

* about 2 tablespoons white miso paste

* about 1/2 cup soy sauce

* a bunch of thinly sliced green onions

* a block of tofu cubed all tiny-like

* seaweed cut into strips

* 1 cup-ish water

Pour the vegetable stock into a pot, and bring it to a boil while you're chopping, and getting everything else ready- this includes taking the miso paste, and mixing it with the soy sauce in a little bowl. When the stock is boiling, reduce heat a bit and add in the tofu. Let this simmer a few minutes, and then add in the miso/soy sauce mixture. Turn the heat down a bit lower and add in the sliced green onion and seaweed. Let everything meld together, give it a taste, and adjust flavors as necessary. I added a cup of water here, to dilute it just a little, and make it stretch farther. That's all there is to it- miso soup! It's apparently really good for you, has tons of great ingredients, and is delicious hot and cold. What more could you ask for in a meal? :)

salad thoughts

I'm always hunting for something special to put in my salads to make them extra tasty. The other night, the roommate and I grilled out on the back porch, and after everyone ate their fill, I took the leftover zucchini and bell pepper, and added it to my salad for the next day. I know it's something so silly and simple, but it added so much to my meager greens! I was even content with using plain old olive oil & balsamic on top! I'm inspired.

For tomorrow's office luncheon, I made: romaine + cabbage + carrots + avocado + tomato + sauteed asparagus. I fried up the asparagus with just a little pepper and sea salt, and I can already tell you that that tomorrow is going to be one delicious Wednesday!

mango noodle stir fry

After a long crazy weekend, it always feels nice to get back to eating well and working out. I'm quite happy with my first real homemade dressing. See that beautiful jar full of pink? Oh yeah, that's it. I pureed a few strawberries with a splash of olive oil in the magic bullet, and was done! I poured that over a bed of romaine with tomatoes, jicama, corn, and carrots, and was quite pleased! Maybe next time, some vinegar or sugar would help? Hm, I'm not sure what it needed, but I know that I'm on the right road to delicious homemade dressings!

Now I know this is probably a meal overload, but dinner was inappropriately delicious, and I can't just NOT share it! The inspiration came from the Vegetarian Times that's currently out on shelves. This is the chilled noodle salad with mango (page 83), reinvented via me and the roommate. Sorry the picture is so shoddy- the lights were dimmed so we could continue to binge-watch True Blood during dinner.

You need:

* Thin rice noodles

* Veggies to your liking- chopped

* 1 mango chopped

* 1/2 cup soy sauce

* Juice from 1 lemon

* A teaspoon-ish chili garlic sauce

* A few teaspoons light brown sugar

Prepare the rice noodles as directed on the box while you're chopping up all the vegetables (we used onion, celery, green bell pepper, and carrots). When the noodles are almost ready, fry up your vegetables until they are the desired texture. Meanwhile, mix the soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice together in a small dish. When the vegetables are tender, add the noodles, sauce, and mango, and toss together until heated through. We added a little extra sauce, and some shrimp, but really, it's all about what you like. It was a fantastic meal if I do say so myself!

4th of july

My poor salad dressing challenge was, of course, instantly ruined with an office luncheon, and a horrible lack of groceries, but I don't think that it's over. Prepared salad dressings still bore me, and often shock me with the number of fat grams in every serving, so I'm still on the hunt for dressing alternatives! I've been looking around google, and I'm liking that there are lots of great ideas out there- pureed fruit, low fat (& vegan) yogurt with spices, a little oil with mustard or ginger or shallots. The possibilities are endless and I'm ready to continue the search!

On a side note, I hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July. I've been awfully m.i.a as of recent, but I'm attempting to climb back on the wagon, so there will hopefully be some tasty postings appearing here very soon.

Funfetti cake + cream cheese frosting + fresh fruits = one badass independance day cake- definitely NOT vegan, but festive regardless. If you wanted a less sinful version, simply replace the eggs, and you've got yourself a vegan funfetti cake! The Post Punk Kitchen has a really great article on egg replacers- highly recommend! You could also substitute that oil for some applesauce, and feel even better when you devour that second piece of cake! Happy holidays! I hope it was lovely. ♥

salad dressing challenge day #2

Today's salad involved romaine lettuce + carrots + celery + green chilies + tomatoes + corn. I thought that all those potentially gooey toppings would have been plenty of sauce in order to not miss my dressing, but I think I was mistaken. This was a good salad in theory, but it ended up lacking something. I think some beans and/or rice and/or salsa would have really made this one shine. Ok. Lesson learned. Next salad!

salad dressing challenge day #1

Now it may sound boring to you, but I love salads. In fact, I take a homemade salad to work almost every single day. For some people, this would get really monotonous really fast, but not me! I like to mix up what I put in my salads- from greens, to pastas, to fruits and nuts- salads can really be quite versatile and nutritious if you just use a little creativity. My one problem with all this salad eating, however, is what to put on top!

Salad dressing bores me. We have a couple in the house, and they taste fine, but I'm always shocked to see how high they are in fat. This realization has brought me to the salad dressing challenge for the week! Can I be more creative than just using the same old dressing out of the bottle everyday? Thus is the challenge.

For the first day of my adventure, I made a salad with romaine lettuce + carrots + tomatoes + avocado, and a very simple vinaigrette. I mixed a little olive oil, with a little balsamic, and added some crushed pepper. Done and done. It was an easy dressing to go with my simple salad. So far, so good. Let the challenge commence!

chipotle sausages

I have to make a quick post about these vegetarian sausages, because my mom will not stop raving about them. At first I thought she was being ridiculous, but today we made tacos with them, and wow- they ARE delicious. Sometimes vegan meat substitutes end up tasting horrendous, but I am actually pleasantly surprised with these Mexican chipotle chorizo sausages from Field Roast. It cooks up real fast, tastes great, and is pretty versatile.

Today we had tacos with pico de gallo, lettuce, and vegan cheese, but the sausge is good in all kinds of other stuff too- tofu scrambles, sauces, sandwiches, etc. etc. Well done Field Roast! Tasty tacos + kombucha + sunny backyard patio = lovely sunday. Too bad the dog did not enjoy the beautiful day as much as I did. She hates baths.

Fabulous. ♥

sesame stir fry with mushrooms & asparagus

I love stir fry dishes, because they're so easy, so quick, and the results are always fantastic. This particular recipe comes from my parents, and it's ridiculously fast and delicious.

you need:

* some asparagus

* some sliced mushrooms

* sesame oil

*sesame seeds

Snap off the gross bottoms of the asparagus, and chop them into bite sized pieces, and then slice the mushrooms up as well. Heat a little sesame oil in a wok, and throw in the asparagus. When it's getting slightly tender, throw in the mushrooms, and cook everything until it's just the way you like it. Finally, toss in some sesame oil and sesame seeds on top, and voila! There you have yourself dinner. I cooked a little brown rice to go with it, and also added some soy sauce and chili garlic hot sauce. It's stir fry! You throw stuff in, and it tastes great. Ooh! I should have put tofu in too. Oh well, next time for sure!

lemony quinoa with onions, tomatoes, & basil

Tonight's dinner inspiration came from two other recipes that I've been meaning to try out for quite some time. It's a mash-up of Alicia Silverstone's "hot rice with cold lemon, basil, and tomato," (from The Kind Diet) and Lorna Sass' "quinoa-corn salad with basil" (from Short-Cut Vegan). I frankensteined the two, and came out with something delicious of my own!

You need:

* 3/4 cup quinoa

* 2 1/2 cups water or veggie stock

* 1 cup corn

* some chopped onion

* some chopped tomato

* some chopped fresh basil

* 1 lemon

Bring a pot of salted water (or vegetable stock) to a boil. I find that cooking rice, cous cous, or quinoa in vegetable stock instead of plain water, really gives the grain a nice flavor. When the liquid is boiling, add the quinoa and cook for 11 minutes. After the 11 minutes, add in the corn, and cook for 5-ish more minutes, until the quinoa is tender to your liking. Drain the mixture well, add to a serving bowl, and fluff. The book says to wait until the quinoa is room temperature, but who can wait that long when it looks so good? Add in the tomato, basil, onion, and squeeze the juice from the lemon into the mix. Stir everything together, and when all the flavors have melded properly, serve it up! This was exactly what I wanted tonight. Something fresh, light, and delicious. Perfect.

peanut sauce

You know what was silly of me? Posting all about seroendeng, and not including the recipe for the peanut sauce! My bad. So without further ado, here it is, delicious peanut sauce straight from the Holland friends.

You need:

* 2 1/2 Tbs peanut butter

* 1 cup milk (I make mine vegan with rice milk)

* 2 Tbs ketchup

* 2 Tbs soy sauce

* sambol, tabasco, or ground hot peppers

* 1 clove garlic- chopped

* 1 small onion- chopped

* sugar

* pepper (black and/or white)

* great spices that you have on hand

Heat a little oil, and fry up the onion and garlic until brown. Add a little sugar, pepper, and any spices of your choice, but no more than a teaspoon of each (curry, coriander, cumin, ginger, chili powder, and cayenne pepper are all nice). Add the peanut butter and milk, and stir until the peanut butter has dissolved, and the sauce is smooth. Add the sambol (or tabasco), ketchup, soy sauce, and some crushed peanuts or coconut if you'd like. If it's too thick, add milk. If it's too thin, let it boil slowly until thick enough. Bon Appetit!

I know it's an awfully vague recipe, but the peanut sauce came out so good, and it's great on just about anything. Rice, noodles, veggies- it all tastes a little better with some peanut sauce on top :)

tofu scramble

After a ridiculous weekend filled with Pride activities and the Westword Music Showcase, it was so nice to head over to the parent's house for a lovely Father's Day brunch on the back patio. We had hash-browns, Morningstar sausage patties, and a tofu scramble, a favorite breakfast item for all three of us. The entire affair was incredibly delicious.

for a tofu scramble, you will need:

* a random assortment of veggies, spices & other things you'd like

* a block of firm tofu

Put a little olive oil into a skillet and soften up all your vegetables & other items. Today we had onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, and chunks of soyrizo. When everything is the way you like it, take the block of tofu, squeeze out all the liquid, and crumble the tofu into the skillet. Mix everything together, and season- we use garlic salt, pepper, tobasco sauce, and cumin. I am all about the cumin. Once everything is mixed up and heated through, serve it up! We topped ours with rice cheese and let it melt into gooey deliciousness. It was a lovely morning and a very tasty brunch. Happy Father's Day, Pop! I love you!

seroendeng & other delicious things

I love the fact that my parents are adventurous cooks. They're the reason why I love and appreciate so many different kinds of foods. Occasionally a dish will turn disastrous, but most of the time they turn out beautiful dishes that I would have never even thought of trying. This is exactly what happened yesterday when I went home to see Mom and Pop. This recipe comes from our friends in Holland, and is called seroendeng (seh-roon-dang). Apparently there's amazing Indonesian food all over Holland, and this is one of our friends' favorite dishes.

You need:

* 1 small onion

* 1 clove garlic

* 1/2 cup peanuts

* 1 cup shredded coconut (also add 1 tsp. brown super if the coconut is not sweetened)

* spices

Fry up the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Add cumin, cloves, ginger, coriander, and the peanuts. Then add the coconut and fry until light brown. Mix together well and serve!

Above is our dinner. On the left is the seroendeng, on top is fried veggies (mixed with the same spices as the other dishes), on the right is peanut sauce, and in the center is a big heap of white rice. You're apparently supposed to eat them all separately with the rice so you can really taste the flavors, but when everything got mushed together, it was pretty damn good. It was quick, easy, and delicious. I will definitely have to look further into Dutch Indonesian food.

no hurry vegetable curry

What a perfect meal for a wonderful night. My friend Quinn came over this evening for dinner, drinks, and some girl talk, so I decided to try a tasty looking recipe from Robin Robertson's Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, called no hurry vegetable curry- and let me tell you, it was fantastic.

I chopped up everything last night, and stored it in the fridge, so when I got up this morning, the only thing left to do was measure spices, and throw everything in the slow cooker. 10 hours later- voila! The vegetables came out perfectly tender, and all the flavors really came together nicely in the end. It needed a little more salt than I anticipated, and I didn't like how soupy it was, but when Quinn brought out a package of Naan for sopping up all the sauces, everything was set right again. Great food. Great company. Great night.

quick sandwich & pasta slaw

You know what makes a wildly busy day at work amazing? A great lunch. It may be obviously simple, but I threw together this meal in 5 minutes, and it totally made my day. Carrots? Check. Orange? Check. Sandwich? CHECK!

*avocado

*bread

*delicious mustard

*tomato

For this simple sandwich, I mashed half an avocado with a little salt and pepper, and spread it on one side of the bread. On the other piece of bread went spicy brown mustard, and then the sliced tomatoes went in the middle. DONE AND DONE. I think it could be enhanced with some vegan mozzarella cheese, or perhaps some sprouts. Even without those delicious extras, it was a super simple sandwich that totally hit the spot this afternoon. I'm pleased :)

When I got home from work, I had to eat quickly before the company softball game (which was, of course, rained out). I recently purchased Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson, my vegan idol, and I'm outrageously excited to start trying out some recipes. Pasta slaw (page 91) is the first of many delicious meals.

It's just a big mix of cabbage, carrots, green onions, apples, pasta, and I added a can of kidney beans to make it a little more substantial. My only suggestion: make more dressing! The flavors are subtle, which is nice, but since I made so many veggies, I think a little more sauce would really help. Otherwise, the slaw is fantastic, and since it's so hot right now, a healthy, cold salad loaded with fresh ingredients is perfect. All in all, a very tasty day. I'm excited to take some pasta slaw to work tomorrow for lunch. Yumm.

lemon birthday cupcakes with lemon frosting

What a beautiful weekend for some birthday shenanigans. Yesterday was my friend Molly's 23rd birthday, and being that she is vegan, me and the roommate threw a fabulous vegan appetizer and cocktail hour before the bar crawling commenced. Homemade guacamole, vegetable kabobs in homemade teriyaki marinade, lemon cupcakes, and plenty of drinks for all.

The cupcakes were superb- a total smash hit with everyone! The recipe comes from Robin Robterson's 1,000 Vegan Recipes aka one of my all time favorite cookbooks. Robin Robertson is my vegan idol, and every single one of her recipes is outrageously delicious. I used the white cupcakes and "buttercream" frosting recipes with the lemon variation. I've made the spice variation before, and they were great as well. All in all, everything was delicious and the birthday celebration was a blast. Happy birthday Molly! ♥

overnight pineapple oats

Warning: This is an oatmeal post from a girl who does NOT like oatmeal.

This recipe is from Lorna Sass' Short-Cut Vegan, a fantastic little cookbook I got from my friend Christy this year. I don't normally like oatmeal, but this recipe totally has me hooked. Her version called for a couple of items that we didn't have in our pantry, so here is my version of Lorna's overnight pineapple oats:

* 3 cups oats

* 1 cup pineapple chopped up with juice and all

* 1 1/2 cups soy milk (it was about half rice and half soy)

* 1/2 teaspoon ish cinnamon

* A dash of salt

Combine everything in a glass bowl, cover, and let sit overnight. In the morning, throw in some sliced bananas and you're ready to go! My roommate liked his helping warmed, but I actually preferred it served cold, in a cup, devoured in the car while running late to work. It's light, nutritious, and the pineapple and banana are so nice first thing in the morning. It also makes a ton of food, so there's plenty for the whole week. I might make this one OFTEN :)

lemony orzo with broccoli and white beans

Tonight was one of those nights where the fridge was empty and we didn't feel like going to the store, but still managed to throw together a delicious meal! This is an original recipe from yours truly and I'm very pleased.

You need:

*One head of broccoli cut into bite sized pieces

*As much orzo as your heart desires

*One can of white beans (we had Great Northern on our shelf)

*Juice of one lemon

*Olive oil and various seasonings

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, throw in the orzo, and let it cook until al dente. Meanwhile, saute the broccoli in a skillet with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and any other spices that strike your fancy. Open the can of white beans, drain, and rinse well. When the orzo is done, drain. Add the cooked orzo, white beans, and lemon juice to the skillet with the broccoli. Mix everything together, and when it's all warmed through, you're good to go! My roommate added butter and parmesan to his serving, but I think it's tasty as is. A successful meal from an empty kitchen if I do say so myself!

eating veg at the ballpark

So yesterday I went to a Rockies game at Coors Field with my dad, and I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am to have discovered tons of vegetarian and vegan options! When I think of baseball games, I usually think of hotdogs, hamburgers, nachos and beers, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of other healthy options as well.

Pop and I decided on the veggie dog and the garden burger- not the best I've had, but certainly not the worst either. I'm just excited the the option even exists! In fact, Coors Field is incredibly veggie friendly, and I love it!

Veggie Dogs & Garden burgers can be found at section 137

Wraps & Soups at section 137 and 223

Paninis and Sandwiches at 137

The Infield Greens Salad Cart at 120

The Gluten Free Cart at 147

A beautiful day, with good food, and great company. If only the Rockies would have won, it would have been perfect!

giant old-fashioned oatmeal cookies

It's a beautiful day in Denver today, so why, you ask, am I inside baking? Because these giant old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies are AMAZING. I found the recipe at Vegan Family Favorites, and I am completely in love. I used about 1/3 cup silken tofu for the egg replacer, and it worked like a dream. I invited a neighbor over for the taste test, and he came back for seconds! Easy, vegan, and ridiculously delicious. These cookies = an epic success! :)

lemon oat muffins with cranberries and walnuts

Whilst doing some blog lurking today, I came across this recipe at Nom! Nom! Nom! Blog from author Kris Holechek. I checked out her book 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes at the library a while back, and let me tell you that it is AMAZING. Her pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and banana bread recipes are both super easy and ridiculously delicious. I've made both dishes a few times, and everyone adores them (vegan or otherwise). Since Kris Holechek is now my vegan baking hero, I thought I'd give another one of her recipes a try. I just pulled these lovelies out of the oven, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow for the taste test. So far, they look delicious and smell great. Can't wait for morning!

dining out vegan #1

Looking for vegan food while dining out can sometimes be challenging, but i'm actually quite pleased with my selections today.

1. For lunch, I got Bridget's veggie sandi at Gvnr's Park- the olive tapenade was super delicious paired with the hummus, sprouts & avocado. I don't know how many other vegan options there are on the menu, but that sandwich & a blue moon was the perfect meal for sitting out on the patio in the sun.

2. If you haven't been to Watercourse yet, stop everything you're doing, and go there right now. This is the perfect restaurant to take your friends who happen to wince every time they hear the words vegetarian or vegan. Everything on the menu is ridiculously delicious. I've had the po boy, portobello cap, and today I had the toulouse scramble with tofu and a homemade biscuit. OMG seriously amazing. I can't recommend this place highly enough. Just trust me- eat there.

Ooh it's been a very gluttonous weekend, but a delicious one too :)

braised white beans w/tomatoes, zucchini & garlic

Ooh, this is one of my favorite recipes from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin. I love it because it's full of delicious things, it's hearty, and it's all warm and gooey and wonderful. My roommate is running a half marathon tomorrow morning, so we also made bulgur wheat to go along with it. If he's carbo-loading, that means I can too right? :)

For the veggie ragout, you just need garlic, potatoes, zucchini, a can of diced tomatoes, and a couple cans of white beans- the original recipe doesn't call for red onion, but I add it in, because onion is delicious. Everything comes together in a big skillet, and when you're satisfied with how tender all the veggies are, you're done! I won't go into full detail, but it's such a simple dish, and makes a ton of food, so there's lots of leftovers for the week. Add a nice big piece of crusty bread on the side? Phenomenal.

ps. The frozen banana pops are great. If you like your banana a little less frozen, I'd stick it in the fridge for a bit before devouring. Still. Delicious.

frozen bananas with chocolate & walnuts

It's random nights in the kitchen like this that get me so excited about creating food. I really wanted cookies, but was hoping for a healthier alternative. I stumbled across this idea somewhere in my blog lurking, and not only is it ridiculously easy, but I'm betting that they're going to be ridiculously delicious too.

* A bunch of bananas cut in half

* Popsicle sticks (I used skewers broken in half, but they weren't particularly sturdy)

* Chocolate (or for a healthier vegan option- peanut butter)

* Chopped nuts of your choice

The roommate helped me make an impromptu double boiler for the chocolate, and once it was all nice and melty (a splash of canola oil helps a bit), I took the skewered bananas, rolled them in the chocolate, then rolled them in the chopped walnuts, and popped them in the freezer on a bit of wax paper. DONE AND DONE.

Now the hardest part comes- waiting until they're all frozen and wonderful for devouring. Results will come tomorrow :)