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).     

Review: Daiya Mac and Cheese

Can you believe I never really liked macaroni and cheese until I was in college?  I know right?  It's two of my favorite things; pasta and cheese.  

Tonight I'd like to introduce you to Daiya's version of macaroni and cheese.  We love the Daiya products, especially their version of shredded mozzarella cheese we use on our pizza.  My mom picked up a package of this once for us and we loved it, so when I sent my husband out on a rare trip to the grocery store for him, he came back with this mac and cheese, "alfredo style."  

This is definitely one of our favorite instant vegan alternatives to macaroni and cheese.  Daiya is a little bit different from other versions of vegan mac and cheese we've tried.  Instead of a powered cheese, the Daiya version had a creamy "cheese" you add to the pasta.  It tastes JUST like regular mac and cheese (I swear!).  

Mac and cheese is fun too because you can spruce it up.  I made mine tonight with vegan beef crumble, roasted red pepper, and tomatoes.  I mixed everything together and crumbled Ritz crackers (yes those are vegan!) and nutritional yeast on top of the mixture.  Then I added a little Daiya shredded cheese. I cooked it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees in the sweet casserole dish we got as a wedding gift over the summer.  

Family approved.  Or at least the dog was begging for some.  

Chili II

My husband and I have a lot in common.  We're both special education teachers, we're both terrible at putting away laundry, and we both make a mean chili.  Those are actually the three reasons why we got married…

Okay not really, but I think it's nice to have a friendly rivalry when it comes to cooking.  We're having friends over next week and we're planning on making both of our chills.  I've introduced my version on here before, but my hubby's is very different (hence why we can serve them at the same time without being redundant).  His is very…let's say "collegey"???  And not in an educational sense, more like poor college kid throwing everything in his fridge together and some how amazingly making something that tastes good.

.  You'll know what I'm talking about when you see the ingredients…Also, please notice how the dog is stalking my husband in the picture above...

Ingredients

• 1 can vegetarian baked beans
• 1 can black beans (drained)
• 1 can red kidney beans (drained)
• 2 packages of veggie crumble
• 1 onion chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 red pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes (with the juice)

All you need to do is mix everything together.  We made ours in our crock pot and cooked it on low for six hours.  I was skeptical, but it was delicious.  We threw some sliced jalapeño peppers and Daiya cheese on there and in the words of my husband "BOOM"!

It's certainly a hardy chili with all the protein varieties.  The baked beans add a unique flavor too.  It's something that would satisfy vegetarians and non vegetarians alike.

We'll see who makes the better chili next week though...

Review: Tofutti Cuties

Growing up we always had ice cream sandwiches.  Well maybe not always, but it seemed that way.  I'm not a huge dessert person but I always can appreciate an ice cream sandwich.  

I've found a vegan alternative that reminds me of my childhood.  Tofutti Cuties.  

And they are exactly that.  Cute.  They come 8 to a box and are "snack" size (aka the perfect size according to my mom).  

If you appreciate a good ice cream sandwich, but can't do dairy (or are vegan) I recommend these 100%.  They honestly taste just like the ones I had as a kid. I really love the Tofutti brand, so many vegan alternatives can be pricey, but I always find their products to be very reasonably priced.

Enjoy!

Friday Night Pizza

Yes, I realize it's only Wednesday, but I'm behind and I'm already looking forward to Friday.  It's not so far away!

Pizza.

Friday night is probably my favorite night of the week, even more so than Saturday.  Friday night is full of promise and potential.  In our home, making pizza on Friday night is one of our special traditions.  I get my pizza dough at Trader Joe's.  I buy it earlier in the week and store it in the freezer.  I take it out the night before I intend to use it.  They have several varieties to choose from so I usually buy one of each.  It's even labeled "vegan" which we appreciate!

So here' the secret.  I use a pizza stone and I roll out my dough in corn meal and flaxseed meal.  I make sure the dough is covered in the mixture (I usually about 50/50).  I cover the pizza stone with the mixture and just throw my dough on top and use a rolling pin, flipping the dough at least once.  It makes for a crispier crust that does not stick to the stone, plus you get the nutritional benefits of the flaxseed.

The hubby and I love playing around with different combinations of pizza.  This last Friday I marinaded some Gardein chicken strips in BBQ sauce and threw that on top of the pizza with onions and garlic.  You can't go wrong.

Tofu Scramble

Tofu.  It's a wet block of soy with endless possibilities.  Have I sold it yet?

As a vegetarian, tofu is something I need to be well versed in.  It's loaded with protein and the options are endless as to what you can do with it.  

I've been extra inspired lately.  The hubs and I are lucky (for many reasons) but mostly because we live in walking distance (though we've never walked there) to an awesome Chinese food restaurant.  I measure Chinese food "awesomeness" by two criteria…

1. Does it make me feel disgusting after?
2. What are my vegetarian options?

First of all this place does not make me want to beach myself afterwards.  The ingredients are fresh and the food isn't greasy.  Second of all this place has an entire page of vegetarian/vegan options.  Awesome!

Last night we order a ton of food including two tofu dishes (they list it as "bean curd" mmmm bean curd).  They were both delicious as well as very different from one another.  That's the beauty of tofu.  

I want to share with you one of my favorite tofu go to's, the tofu scramble.  This is a dish my husband introduced to me (I use slightly less butter, and by slightly I mean not a whole stick).  Tofu scramble is super versatile, in that you can really do whatever you want with it, adding what ever veggies and sauces you wish.  I'll share with you our favorite tofu scramble.

Ingredients:

• 1 block extra firm tofu
• 1 pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 sharlot
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 crown of broccoli
• 2 tablespoon butter or olive oil
• 1/4 Bragg's amino acids

Again, you can use any veggies you want.  I try to make this for my family every Saturday morning and I use whatever I have on hand.  Below is a picture from one of my more aggressive Saturday morning family breakfasts since I don't have a good tofu scramble picture.  

Back to the tofu scramble.  Basically you're going to start with sautéing you're garlic and shallot.  Once those are cooked add the peppers and then the broccoli. 

 The most important part is the tofu.  Make sure you by the extra firm version of tofu.  There' are all different consistencies of tofu out there but the extra firm version is going to give you the most scrambled egg like texture.  Tofu is packaged in water, therefore it's important to wrap the tofu in a dish towel before using it.  If you can place a heavy-ish object on top of the wrapped tofu that is even better and will get a lot of the water out.  They do make tofu presses but we don't have one yet.  

Once your tofu is pressed crumble it up with your hands over the veggies and add your sauce.  Tofu scramble!

Super easy, as healthy as you want to make it (you can use more or less butter and oil), and super flexible.  You can't go wrong.  Once I added a cup of rice to our tofu scramble for fun and my husband loved it.  I hope you do as well.  

Here's Sophie doing what she does for 95% of the day.  Sleeping.  

Easiest dessert ever...

I'm not much of a baker.  I'm not really a sweets person.  Lock me in a room with a cake and I wouldn't touch it.  Lock me in a room with a loaf of bread however, and it wouldn't be pretty.  During my single days grocery shopping for myself, I would rarely buy any type of dessert food.  Now I have a husband and four year old who can polish off a box of cookies in two days.

I have committed my life to a man with a sweet tooth, therefore, I have committed to making a dessert once in awhile.  I like branching out and vegan baking can be quite a challenge.

However, this dessert is not.  And it was still delicious.  And vegan.

Did you know that you can make a cake with cake mix and 8 ounces of soda?  Thank you Pinterest.  The possibilities are endless.  Plus it's two ingredients, amazingly easy.

I've dabbled with several combinations of cake mix and soda, but this particular one was a home run.  This is the perfect cake to make with kids.  Two ingredients = less of a chance of mess = everybody wins!  Our four year old likes to bake with me so he and I went to pick out ingredients to make a cake for dad.  We originally wanted to make something with root beer (we are both big fans), but we opted for cream soda instead.

As for cake mix everything I've seen from Duncan Hines has been vegan, containing no eggs or milk products.  I had never made a cake like this with spice cake so I grabbed it.  Gotta keep our marriage spicy, right? 

Making a soda cake like this is super easy.  I'll say it again….. easy. I don't even need to list the ingredients.  Basically, you add the soda (I used 8 ounces, but I have seen variations of the amount to use) and the entire cake mix.  Stir it together, and place in a greased pan (I used Earth Balance butter).  I used a 9 x13 pan because that was what I had available.  Cook for the amount of time displayed on the box, however I cooked mine about 7 minutes longer than directed.  

The combinations of cream soda and spice cake mix was delightful.  It smelled great and tasted great.    Our little guy ate it up.

You're welcome.