Mother's Day and Food on Sticks

Well first of all happy Mother's Day to all the moms, step moms, dads pulling double duty, expecting mothers, those working on the process of becoming a mother and the list goes on.  I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a step mother and I feel very loved and appreciated.  I received an awesome card from my stepson, a wonderful text from my stepson's mother, a beautiful card from my mother-in-law and my hubby took me to lunch.  Oh and I called my mom of course. :)

Dessert from lunch today…I need to learn how to make this (no I don't).  

We've had a jammed packed weekend.  We kicked it off with a family wedding on Friday, having friends over Saturday night, and celebrating Mother's Day today.  AND we finally saw the sun for the first time in about a week!

Back to business..So if you've been reading this blog you've realized that I love cooking for people by now.  As I mentioned we had friends over last night so of course that was my time to shine.  Our friends are not vegans (thought thankfully they are very open minded!) so I needed to come up with something they would enjoy.

I'm also cooking for a five year old so I opted to make some kabobs.  Everyone enjoys food on a stick right?  Eating off a stick somehow makes food more fun for kids, I highly recommend it if you're not afraid of your child poking his or her eye (or their siblings).  

I made two versions of kabobs, one I will share with you now.  They went over really well! As you can see from the picture below I made a ton of kabobs for four people, but we only had three leftover!  I call that a success. 

 Our more popular kabob was my take on sweet and sour.  Here's what I did…

Ingredients

• 1 block extra firm tofu (pressed)
• 1 pineapple
• 1 red pepper chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1 sweet onion chopped
• about one cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
• about one cup of your favorite grape jelly

This recipe was super easy and honestly fun to make!  First step is to press your tofu to get out all the extra water.  I used my trusty tofu press, but if you don't have one wrap the block in a towel and place something heavy on top (book, tea kettle, etc.).  Next I created my marinade.  I whisked together my BBQ sauce and grape jelly to create a sweet and sour marinade.  Once my tofu was drained I chopped it into cubes and placed in the sauce.  I let this set for about twenty minutes.  

Next part is the fun part.  Chop up your peppers, onions, and pineapple and get to sticking.  I love creating different combinations of colors on the skewers.  Once all my veggies and tofu were "stuck" I placed them in the oven and cooked them for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  I will be making these again for sure as well as experimenting with different combinations of proteins and veggies.  Happy Mother's Day everyone!  

Vegan Sloppy Joes

We've returned from an amazing road trip (I'll post later) and I'm back to cooking.  I absolutely love traveling, especially with my hubby.  We visited some interesting places, ate some awesome food, and saw one of my good friends along the way.  One thing I love about traveling though is that it makes you really appreciate the comforts of home so much more.  I love eating out, but after a week away I was anxious to get back to cooking some vegan goodies.

I may have overdone it this week.  I made some vegan skewers and also sushi for the first time ever.  I see a lot of meals on sticks for my family in the future.  I love experimenting, but sometimes you need to keep it fairly simple especially on busy week nights.

I've been craving lentils (I know, that sounds weird) but really they are delicious!  They're good for you too!  We've been trying to minimize our processed food intake.  As much as we love Gardein their products are highly process and should be considered a special treat.  I've been trying to incorporate more tofu, tempeh, beans, and lentils into our meals.  Here's one way I incorporated lentils…

Ingredients

• one package of Trader Joe's precooked lentils
• one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce (I used Trader Joe's organic tomato sauce)
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/2 green pepper chopped
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• salt and pepper to taste 
• your choice of bread (I bought a baguette at TJ's and sliced it)

I love how this child and husband approved meal came out.  It was a hardy dish loaded with healthy ingredients.  It was super simple to make as well.  I cooked the sloppy joes in a cast iron skillet, but you could use any pan.  First I sautéed the garlic and onion with a minimal amount of vegan butter then added the peppers.  Once this was fragrant I added the precooked lentils, can of tomato sauce and BBQ sauce to the pan.  I stirred and let this simmer until the lentils were heated.  I piled the lentils on some bread with lettuce, vegan mayo, and some avocado I had on hand.  Boom.

I couldn't make this meal too simple, so I decide to throw some homemade back onion rings into the mix.  This meal was a hit.  The lentil sloppy joes also can make a great topping on a salad as well.  I know I've been snacking on them all weekend.  Whole food goodness (with onion rings).