Thursday, August 16, 2007

"Meat" Loaf with Scalloped Potatoes and Veggies

Yummy!

I easily veganized this recipe by substituting soy milk for the whole milk, and Earth Balance for the butter. I used 2 c. soy mil instead of 2 1/4 c. (It also cut the fat in milk by about half.) A good addition to this would be vegan "ham" and/or very thinly sliced onions.

Out of the oven






The meatloaf recipe is here on my blog (scroll down)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Cucumber 'Noodle" and Carrot Salad/Spaghetti with Joni's Meetballs

I made this up today because I always throw away my cucumbers before they get eaten and I wanted something fresh and healthy. I am never on a diet but I do like to watch what I eat. Sometimes I am better and watching things as I eat them, but there are days where you just want something fresh!!






This Asian-inspired cold salad hit the spot. You may or may not be able to tell from the blog but Asian food is my favourite. I love Chinese, Thai, Japanese sushi, and Korean when I can get it. I made it up with ingredients from the cupboard and I really liked how it turned out. This dressing serves one, but you can easily get 2 good salads out of the vegetables. Adjust to taste. There are no measurements because taste is very different.

*1 cucumber, peeled
*1 carrot, peeled
*1 small dollop of Miso Mayo (1/2-1 tsp)OR light-flavoured chickpea or sweet white miso (1/4-1/2 tsp)
*1 small splash of tamari/soy sauce
a few drops of sesame oil
1 small splash of rice vinegar
black or white sesame seeds for garnish

I do not have a fancy-schmancy raw food noodle maker thing, but I DO have a vegetable peeler, a food processor, and a grater. I assume you have one of these also.

All you do to make the "noodles" is peel with a vegetable peeler, or you can grate/food process shred them. Be sure to rotate the vegetable (if peeling) so you evenly cut from it or it will be hard to peel.
If using the vegetable peeler, just stop when you get to the seeds. OR you can cut the cucumber in 1/2 lengthwise, scoop the seeds out, and try peeling that way.
Lay your cucumber "noodles" on a paper towel to dry or squeeze the heck out of them. You want to not have a lot of water, and cucumbers are wet vegetables.

As you can tell in the picture, I shredded the carrot and made the cucumber into "noodles". You can either shred all of the vegetables, make both into "noodles" or do a combination. Just use what you have. If your food processor has a blade, you can prep your veggies in under 30 seconds.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients in a very small bowl, pour over carrot/cucumber and garnish.

Spaghetti with Joni's Meetball recipe!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Cornflake "Fried Chicken", White Gravy, and Mashed Potatoes

You'll have to forgive the non-detailed recipes. I burned 4 fingers on my right hand and shut my left index finger in a door within 24 hours so my hands aren't happy right now!

I remember corn flake chicken as a kid. I wanted to try it with seitan. The corn flakes give a crunch without a ton of fat. The gravy is also reduced fat from the original recipe, but it's not healthy by any means. Gravy recipe from Bobby Flay (shame!!) but I cut the portion down by 1/2.









I had corn flake sietan, boyfriend had "fried chicken" seitan, so here are both recipes:

Corn Flake Chicken Seitan/Fried Chicken Seitan

Measurements completely depend on how much you want!

*Seitan, prepared
*Vegenaise
*Spices- anything you want- I did poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper, or seasoned salt
*Bowl of soy milk + 1-2 Tbsp vinegar= buttermilk
*1-2 c corn flakes, crushed (or food processed like I did). Not all the way to a powder, but a nice crispy crumb
*flour

Corn Flake:

Place vegenaise and spices in a bowl. Add a very small amount of soy/nondairy milk to thin *slightly*

Dip sietan in Vegenaise mixture to coat well. Place in corn flakes and flip over to coat both sides.

Place in a sprayed cookies sheet/cake pan and bake at 400 for about 40 min, turning over halfway through.

Fried "Chicken"

Soak seitan in "buttermilk". Place flour in a bowl and add seasonings. Place clean soy milk in another bowl.

Dip buttermilk-soaked seitan in the flour, then in the clean soy milk, then back in the flour. Set aside on a plate and prepare a pan of hot oil.

Fry on each side or deep-fry if you have a deep fryer.

Gravy!
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 c soy milk

Mix the canola oil and flour in a saucepan and cook this roux over medium heat until it looks grainy and becomes slightly golden in color, just a couple of minutes. Remove from heat. Add pepper and salt and mix well. Add soymilk, return the pan to the heat, and increase heat to high. Whisk until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Add hot water to thin, if gravy is too thick. Remove from heat to prevent scorching. The gravy should be as thick as pancake batter.

Mashed Potatoes
2 servings desired potato, cleaned and cut
1 onion, sliced thin
several cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper

Boil potatoes until they easily slide off a fork. While they are cooking, mix all other ingredients in a small pan and roast until onions and garlic are soft and tender, and golden.
Whip or mash potatoes, and add onion/garlic mixture until well-mixed.

Bonus shots of my kitty cat



Monday, August 06, 2007

Sushi, Ribz, Stuffed Mushrooms, Baked Potato + more!

This plate has Ribz, stuffed mushrooms (recipe on this blog), and baked potato with roasted garlic and onion, cheez sauce, Tofutti sour cream, green onion, and Bacos.











Pizza from Decent Pizza. I added FYH Mozzarella.


SUSHI

Setup: carrot, zucchini, roasted peppers, red and green onions, teriyaki mushroom, avocado, inari pockets cut into strips