The past coupla days.....

Here's Mock Tuna from this recipe. I didn't add celery, subbed regular onion for the green and I upped the pickles and onion quantities, though.

It's very good. Reminds me of my childhood. Now all I need is some cancer-bread (squishy white bread) and some potato chips to shove on top, under the top piece of bread :p

I wonder if it would work in a "Tuna" Casserole? My hubby loved that when he was a kiddo ans still eating flesh.


Here's some pics of the 3 Bean Chili I mentioned yesterday. They are horrible, but it's a crappy cellphone camera.

The first one is the whole crock, the second is in the bowl.
I screwed up the recipe for anyone not liking spicy stuff, though. We have really cheap chili powder and I doubled it....last time I bought this stuff, that's what I HAD to do. *sigh*, it made it inedible to the males in the house. My daughter an I loved it, cuz we love spicy food :p

It was too spicy for us today (after a night in the fridge. Needed Better than Sour Cream to calm it down...

Next time I will just use the requested amount and touch up at the end.



For your sweet tooth, may I present the Cheeseless Cake w/Cherries and Soy Whip:

It was yummy, but did not taste very cheesecake-y...which is what my husband was craving. I may try it again using Better than Cream Cheese by Tofutti.

We all still liked it, as it's own kinda pie.

As crappy as my photos are, I thought the glowing dessert was kinda cool :)

Hope everyone (all 2 of you, lol) enjoyed the food porn provided today from the gilleoin house.

No pics, but a decription and review :p

My newest group of cookbooks included The Simple Little Vegan Slow Cooker, Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker and pre-ordering Nava Atlas' Vegan Express....

Yes, I was harsh on Mrs. Atlas' Vegetarian Celebrations in a past post, but this book way makes up for the Vegan shortcomings of that one :) (And again, I'll state that I do realize that the other is a Vegetarian book, not Vegan-- before a lynch mob heads this way)... We've tried two of the recipes, paired together at her suggestion. The Cheese Grits with Corn (made with Vegan Gourmet Cheddar) were a perfect accompaniment to the BBQ Tempeh Bacon with Black-Eyed Peas and Greens. Everyone in this family loved it, I used Swiss Chard for the greens and even my less-than-happy-with-greens 8 yr. old ate his serving and asked for more. So, thank you Ms. Atlas, from the gilleoin household. Bonus points to her for having one of my fave vegan blog mistresses create the photos for the book :)

Other recipes I'll be reviewing/posting pics of will come from the other books mentioned. Yes, I am a cookbook addict. I also have Vegan Family Favorites on its way here :)

I wish I could get my hands on Vegan Lunch Box, but the scammers selling used at Amazon have it priced at $101.00- $299.98 *sigh* And the second printing isn't coming out until the end of June! People who do that annoy me...it took me literally years to get a copy of Simply Heavenly for less than $35-$100 because of the same type of scammers. I finally found it at Alibris or Bigger Books or another shop like that for $13 plus shipping, so I paid what it would have cost brand new at B&N with the shipping included ($20). If you are looking for it right now, half.com has it for $16, though. It's a very good cookbook with a ton of vegan recipes, including mock meats/seafood and mock cheeses/dairy products :) We've liked all of the recipes I've made so far...

In the crock pot now- 3 Bean Chili with Chive Flecked Cornmeal Dumplings (I'm using scallions instead of chives, though) from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Don't let Vegetarian dissuade you from getting this one if you are vegan, she lists the recipes with vegan alternatives, too.
In the oven- Ruth McClanahan's Creamy Tofu Cheeseless Cake from Compassionate Cook: Please don't Eat the Animals. I did jimmy around with the measurements to make less filling so it would fit in a store bought graham cracker crust. This will be topped with cherries MMmmmMMmm.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

The chocolate experiment was interesting, to say the least. The recipe that is all over the vegan sites (yet curiously has no reviews) is awful! It tastes right on, but it makes more of a white chocolate sauce, see the pic below :)
I think I will put it in a jar in the fridge to use for rice/soy ice cream topping :p Which is great in another way, but not when you were wanting chunks of white chocolate.

My second try was using a chocolate site's percentages for ingredients commonly used in White Chocolate...Again, the taste was awesome, but the texture was of a sweet clay (like the chef's use for decorating)....


So, when life hands you lemons (or badly textured yummy white chocolate)-

You use it to decorate the scrumptious ricemilk-chocolate dipped strawberries. I also did some dark chocolate ones with the white chocolate stuff in star shapes.

The Recipe for the White Chocolate "clay"

1/2 c cocoa butter
7/8 c sugar
almost 1/2 c soymilk powder
a bit more than 1/2 tsp soy lecithin liquid
a bit more than 1/2 tsp vanilla (liquid)
1/8 c water

Set up a double boiler on med-hi heat. Melt cocoa butter, add sugar and mix well. Add milk powder and stir, add water to help incorporate everything in a smooth mix (it is a tiny bit grainy, though) Add lecithin and vanilla. Stir vigorously to mix well. Pour onto tray (or whatever) and throw in freezer to firm up. It is easier to cut/use when it has been in room temp for a few minute to warm up, though.

I did find another regular white chocolate recipe online with way different proportions than either of these. I will be trying that soon and will post the results :p

Yes, yes, I am a woman on a quest.....for vegan white chocolate that I can use for dipping fruit and for making Ostara candies, that I don't have to spend lots on and wait for it to be available or for it to be shipped :(

Not-So-Healthy Vegan Meal

Yes, even the most devoted vegan has junky moments, so hey- you may as well make them *fun* junky moments ;)

Meet Mr.Not Dog Face!

He has a ciabatta stuffed with a "not" dog (tofu dog) mouth, apple eyes with choc. chips, and carrot eyebrows. We had happy, angry and sad variations on all of our plates :)

The kids love it when I make food "pictures", even if it is a simple butterfly (sammich cut in triangle fourth and turned around to look like wings around a piece of celery).

And it is fun :p


TONIGHT'S PROJECT-

Trying to turn the items you see on the right hand of this font into Vegan White Chocolate.

I am fiddling with a recipe I found a while ago, because my local places do not carry powdered soy lecithin. I had the option of large granules or liquid. I chose liquid, hoping the outcome would still be smooth (the reason why powder is recommended)......It is cooling right now.

I will post pics and the recipe if it works...Hell, if it works I may open a business making white chocolate confections, lol. There seems to be a huge void for vegans there.

I know dark chocolate is good and good for you, but as a vegetarian, I was a white chocolate girl...This is for a Valentine's idea I have :p

Dinner Tonight

MmmmMMm, Indian Food! This started out because I needed to find a meal using coconut milk (hopefully a curry :p) that I had leftover in the fridge from yesterdays birthday cake.

I found a Chicken Coconut Milk Curry online and checked out a recipe for Naan, an Indian flat bread. When I went shopping this a.m. I forgot flour (for the naan) and after going to the CVS and Family Dollar up here (both have a surprising amount of groceries for the people around here who are car-less) and realizing that neither had flour.... I ran into an ittybitty Middle Eastern market in the same plaza, praying to every diety they'd have flour....Someone heard me- they had Naan in pkgs, and it was vegan :)

I ended up picking up some chickpeas and a box of seasoning for them also.

So, tonight I present-
Mock Chicken Coconut Curry, Chana and Spinach Chholay with Brown Basmati Rice and (not pictured, Naan)

I thought it was tasty, the kids all liked it but said I should cut the spices down a little in the Chholay.

I'll get the hubby's input tonight after he gets home from work.

The recipe for the Chicken Coconut Milk Curry is here, I substituted Morningstar Farms "Chicken" Strips (cut into bite size pieces) for the chicken. The naan recipe that I have every intention of trying is here.

I will be updating here a little more often now :blushes: As long as life stays calm for a bit. We did a cold rotation in the house and I was in no mood to cook, much less post!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HUBBY!!

Who is now an old man...not really, he just turned 33 and I baked a nice vegan cake, as well as a romantic candlelight dinner (well the food was really not romantic- dh is of sturdy poverty-ridden stock, so it was his fave dishes- Shepards Pie and Cauliflower w/"Cheese" Sauce).

The cake was pulled straight from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It's a Chocolate Coconut cake with a Coffee Buttercream frosting I added the final touches of toasted coconut all the way around on the sides and the dark specks on top are homemade Chocolate Coated Creme Brulee Flavored Decaf Coffee Beans (yum!). It basically incorporates a lot of things Mr. Gilleoin loves.



I didn't take pics of the meal foods, they got eaten too quickly. I guess thats good. Direct quote from my eldest "Mom, can you stop taking pictures of it so we can eat it?" Is that considered child cruelty?

Shepards pie is easy-
2 cups soy grounds/tvp/ground seitan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 c onions, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 Tbsp flour
1/2 Tbsp tomato purée
Half a glass of red cooking wine
1/2-1 Tbsp Vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 cups fake beef broth. prepared (I use the bulk frontier coop stuff)
1 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 lb parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
2 Tbsp margarine
A little soymilk/ almond milk, or water

Heat some vegetable oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion, garlic and thyme in it until these are very soft. Add the "meat", dust it with the flour and then add the tomato purée and salt
and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add the red wine, Worcestershire sauce and the "beef broth". Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes to 45 minutes, until the liquid has thickened. Take it off the heat, adjust the seasoning and allow it to cool.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes and parsnips in boiling, salted water for about 20 minutes, until tender. Mash the potatoes and parsnips together, season and add the margarine and enough non-dairy milk to give a firmmash.

Pre-heat the oven to 400ºF. Put the "meat" mixture into a large casserole dish and top with the potato and parsnip mixture, spooning it on and evening and roughing up the surface with a fork. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the topping is golden.

Cauliflower "Cheese"

1/2 large head of cauliflower
1/4 c flour
1/4 c margarine (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
1 Tbsp mustard powder
2 c non-dairy milk and water (whatever ratio you prefer, I did more water than milk)
1/3 block of Vegan Gourmet, cheddar style- grated
A few twists of fresh ground pepper

Steam the cauliflower until al dente. Melt butter and make a roux with white flour, add non-dairy milk/water gradually until thick sauce obtained. Add mustard powder and freshly ground pepper. Stir in grated "cheese" until it mostly melts, don't worry-you'll see- baking makes it awesome.
Drain cauliflower carefully, place in small casserole dish and coat with the cheese sauce and cook until it darkens a little in the broiler.