Vegan Meatballs

As you can probably tell by now, I love feeding people.  My husband and I had our parents over for dinner on Saturday night and I was super excited to cook for them.  I love having people over and you can guarantee I'm going to make way too much food (who doesn't love leftovers?).  Having people over (especially on weekends) allows me to really bring it to the waltz when it comes to meal prep.

Since our parents were our guests I'm made everything from scratch. I'm kicked the husband and child out of the house (don't worry they had fun seeing Santa) so I could really get to work (and clean this place up!).  I dressed the puggle up in her best Christmas outfit and got to work…

I mentioned my sauce recipe on here before so that was in the works because I'm made (drumroll) vegan  meatballs!  How do you make vegan meatballs you may ask, well I'll tell you.  The main ingredient for my meatballs is mushrooms.  Don't turn your nose up yet.  Mushrooms are a nice meat substitute because (not to be redundant but) they have a nice meatiness to them.  You've probably seen portobello mushroom burgers on menus before.  My husband it not really a big fan of mushrooms but he likes when they are disguised in a recipe.  I've tested these meatballs out on him before and he approves so stay with me...

Meatballs are fun to make.  Vegan meatballs are especially fun because you don't have to fret about contamination from meat or eggs.  You can really get your hands dirty (literally) with vegan meatballs (after washing them first of course!).

I've seen quite a few recipes for vegan meatballs online, and I took inspiration here and there depending on my family's preferences.  My (now vegan) husband always talks about his nana's meatball recipe and how they had oatmeal in them.  Of course I couldn't make vegan meatballs without oatmeal so I incorporated that into mine.  Here's what I did…

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups oatmeal (uncooked)
• 10 ounces of sliced mushrooms 
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 shallot (you don't really need the shallot, but I love them!)
• 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour
• vegetable oil (for frying)
• salt and pepper to taste

First in a pan I sautéed the onion, garlic and shallot in olive oil until they were lightly browned.  I then added the veggies to the Vitamix (you can use a food processor if you don't have one).  I added my flour and oatmeal (add spices here!) to the mix.  

You should get a sticky brown mixture and you should not be able to differentiate between onion, oatmeal and so on.  This mix is going to be pretty hot after sautéing the veggies so let it sit in the fridge for a little bit.  Once it's cooled I scooped out about two tablespoons at a time and rolled it into a ball.  You can really make you meatballs any size (tiny ones would be great for sliders!), plus you don't really have to worry about internal temperature (since it's vegan!)

You know I like to be healthy, but sometimes you need to fry…these meatballs are a perfect example.  I put my meatballs in a pan with some vegetable oil.  I cooked and flipped them over medium heat until the meatballs were browned on the outside.   

I then added my meatballs to my homemade sauce and served over pasta.  I know they're not your traditional Italian meatballs but everyone seemed to enjoy them!  Cheers!

Happy Holidays Sangria

My husband and I had a major milestone this weekend…we hosted our first party together.  Hosting can be a tad stressful, but it's a heck of a lot easier when I have someone else I can tell to clean the bathroom and take out the trash.

Check out Sophie's festive sweater.

The holidays are a great excuse to eat and drink too much.  One of my favorite drinks to make is sangria.  I've been exposed to some quality sangria and some subpar sangria, and I've come up with what I think is a pretty solid combination.  It doesn't involve the most quality ingredients in the world (as you can probably tell by the box of wine) but it's tasty and it's great for a party.  Plus it's super easy to make!

I think the trick with sangria is that you need to make it ahead of time.  That way the fruit, juice, and alcohol really become one.  It's science trust me.

I recommend making your sangria 24-48 hours in advance (just make sure you're not going to sample it too much!).  We had our party on Friday night, so I made my Thursday evening after work.  There's nothing like making a big batch of sangria after a long day at work...

Ingredients:

• One box of white wine (I think they're usually about 3 liters)
• 2 cups of triple sec (more or less depending how potent you want your sangria to be)
• 3 cups of pineapple juice
• fresh fruit 

With the fresh fruit you can really get creative here.  You can use whatever is in season (or on sale!).  My favorite combo is a fresh pineapple chopped up, one orange cut and squeezed, and two limes cut and squeezed.  I throw everything together in a pitcher and 24-48 hours later…magic.

Happy holidays!

Chorizo Rolls

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  I certainly did and now I am avoiding pants with buttons for the next few days or so.

We had a great weekend.  Jim the Elf arrive to completely creep out our five year old (but also keep him in line), we set up our Christmas tree, and we relaxed and ate some great food.  Today was absolutely beautiful out so I took our dog out for a nice long walk at my favorite spot.  

Speaking of great food, I think I found a new favorite for my husband.  Best of all…it's two ingredients!

Ingredients

• 2 packages of puff pastry (Pillsbury is vegan!!!)
• 1 package of Trader Joe's soy chorizo 

* The two packages of puff pastry will finish off the entire package of chorizo, but if you have just one puff pastry the extra chorizo makes a great contribution to sauces or vegan tacos!

I have some Portuguese ancestry so I have a soft spot for chorizo (well soy chorizo).  A friend of mine used to bring in a non vegetarian version of these to work and they always were a hit.  She would make chorizo rolled up in a puff pastry and those things would disappear quickly.  I realized I had all the ingredients in my refrigerator and thought I'd give it a shot at making a vegan version.   

Super simple.  I put about 2 tablespoons of the soy chorizo on the crescent roll and roll them up.  As you can see some come out prettier than others...

I cooked the rolls at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.  And about 12 minutes after that half of the rolls were gone…

The hubby and I are hosting a Christmas party this weekend and I plan on making a big batch of these.  I'm looking forward to sharing more recipes/reviews for the holiday season!

Vegan Cheddar Biscuits

I love Thanksgiving.  I love everything about it.  Except for the turkey that is.

Thanksgiving can be a nightmare for vegetarians and vegans.  There's meat and gravy everywhere and lots of relatives asking you questions about where do you get your protein.  Therefore, it's not uncommon for veggies (and some of their non veggie friends) to gather together before Thanksgiving and have their own feast.  I've done with before with my friends and this weekend with got together with my husband's college buddies and had a blast.

One of my contributions to this gathering was my vegan cheddar biscuits.  Here's what you do...

Ingredients 

• 2/3 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup Bisquick mix
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter softened
• about 1/2 cup Daiya cheddar cheese shreds
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

First you need to make yourself some vegan buttermilk.  Take your almond milk and lemon and whisk it together in a bowl.  Let this sit for about five minutes.  I threw all the dry ingredients in a bowl and added the "buttermilk" once it was ready.  I cooked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I made another batch of these babies but with peppers and garlic chopped up and mixed in.  I honestly think you could add anything to these biscuits and not go wrong.  The possibilities are endless.  Happy Thanksgiving!