Separated at birth?

"I Can't Believe It's Vegan!!"

Vegan food preparation can be tedious as some of you may already know. After a long day of work. the last thing I want to do is prepare a batch of seitan or press some tofu and wait and wait... to add to a stir fry dish. However, there is a website hosted courtesy of Peta that has a VERY long list of convenience foods that are, indeed vegan, and it will not hurt your wallet either. It can be found here. I purchashed Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate brownie mix and canned frosting (reread the ingredients since the contents sometimes change over time). I followed the instructions for the brownie mix and used Enger-g as my egg replacer. I added pepppermint extract to the batter and frosting and sprinkled with crushed candy canes. WAS SO DAMN GOOD THAT I AM POSTING TWO PICTURES!!! I have to stop eating them because my partner will be home in two hours and our guest will be here shortly after my parter gets here. It took me about 15 minutes for the assembly which is much faster than making vegan brownies by scratch. Check out the website!!

Vegan Village Internet Cafe

"Ham" Seitan!!!

I made a wonderful seitan loaf today and wanted to share it. I apologize for the crummy picture but it did taste wonderful. It is another one of Bryanna Grogan's recipe and it can be found here and there you will also find a better picture of it as well. I eliminated the "bacon" chips and bouillon and replaced it with Goya brand "ham" powder. It does taste "hammy" and it made wonderful sandwiches. I think I will make a vegan reuben with it. The "ham" roast was not bready at all and sliced beautifully!! Best of all, the recipe makes 3 pounds according to Bryanna and only costs a few dollars to make... maybe even less. It's a heck of a lot less expensive than Yves Brand and tastes a whole lot better and even better texture. If you need to really mimic the "ham" look, try subsituting part of the water with canned beet juice. Warning: I have never tried it and an not opposed to flourescent colored foods ;).

Big fat lip... :()

Haha!!! Catchy title!! I made a great vegan pizza with ONE BIG FAT LIP that held all the yummy sauce and "cheese". I intentionally rolled the dough towards the edges to mimic the ones served at the brick oven pizza joints. I finally did it!!! After many failed attempts I finally made a great pizza!! It's not only delicious but vegan as well. The pizza crust is my own recipe, the sauce is jarred, and the "cheese" recipe belongs to Bryanna Grogan and can be found here. The "cheesey" sauce resembled mozzarella but it won't fool a real cheese lover. It makes a great substitute though. For the "cheese", I omitted the flour and added a 1/4 raw cashews to the blender. Bryanna has great recipes... I mean the best vegan recipes I've ever seen and tasted but the crust recipe is my own. This recipe is a result of many attempts and experimentation to finally "perfect" the ultimate pizza crust!!! Don't omit the dried ginger, you won't taste it. It acts as a yeast activator to maximize the yeast power for the fluffiest crust ever! No one will ever guess the "secret" ingredient. Don't forget the pizza stone either. I cooked mine in a pizza pan (it has holes on the bottom) directly over the preheated stone (located at the very bottom rack of the oven).

Lucy's Bread Machine Pizza Crust

3/4 cup water (110-115 degrees)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried ginger

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 1/4 cups flour (preferably bread flour but all purpose will yield good results)

2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional, omit if using bread flour)

2 teaspoons yeast

In a bread machine bowl, dissolve the yeast, ginger and sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes. It must foam up. If not, the yeast did not activate and you need to start again. Add oil into the yeast solution. Add the flour, salt, and vital wheat gluten and then select the “dough cycle”. When the machine signals the end of the cycle, remove the dough and knead into ball on a lightly floured surface. Let dough rest for about 15 minutes. Stretch the dough out in a 14" or 16" pizza pan with holes. A this time, place pizza stone on bottom rack of oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Let crust rise for another 20 minutes for a thicker crust. Top with sauce, cheese and desired pizza toppings. Place pizza pan directly on stone and bake for 10 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the crust is lightly browned.

Doomie’s Home Cookin’

We just ate at Doomie’s Home Cookin' and had about the best vegan sandwiches ever!! I chose the "pulled pork" (not pictured) and my partner chose "Philly Beefsteak" and were both udderly (heheheh.. go save a cow) impressesd!!

Both sandwiches were on a huge roll with a side of coleslaw and wonderful onion rings. The barbeque sauce on the pork was soooo good and so was the texture of the faux meat.

We also had the fried calamari (looked like faux scallops) and gelatin dessert. The macaroni and cheese did, indeed, taste like the kind from the blue box which was one of my childhood favorite meals (I ate that stuff as a kid until it was coming out of my ears). Thank you www.toliveandeatinla.com/ for the wonderful "heads up". Furthermore the staff was friendly and helpful with regards to our dietary concerns. The bad? I wish it were closer since we are on the westside of Los Angeles.

Location:

DoomiesHome Cookin’

686 N Spring St (2nd Floor)

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Tuesday-Sunday 11:00am-8:00pm

714-883-7657 (it is an OC phone number but the restaurant is in LA)

www.myspace.com/DoomiesHomeCookin

Tofu Fish Sticks

This is a yummy recipe from fellow blogger "Jennifershmoo" . Here recipe is here: Tofu Fish Sticks . I followed the recipe almost exactly except I omitted the almonds due to personal preference. They were tasty even at room temperature.

Along the tofu fish, is a basic macaroni salad which I "veganized". I also added shredded carrots and chopped bell peppers. It was a delicious light meal.

Seitan O Greatness

"Seitan O Greatness" has hit the global vegan community and my first attempt was a great (greatness.. heheh) success!! You can see it in all its nekkid glory or sliced up, along a side of peas and vegan mayonnaise. Some have varied the recipe with different seasonings and liquid ingredients and have had great success. The baking results in a seitan that has a chewy texture as opposed to boiled seitan that is sometimes "bready" or too mushy. I love the ease of the preparation.

Isa Pizza

I finally was succesfull at making homemade pizza!! At many failed attempts with either flat pizza crusts, burned pizza crust, undercooked pizza crusts, I finally made the most wonderful vegan pizza ever. I used the recipe from "Vegan with a Vengeance" as a basis for my pizza.
I used my own crust recipe and jarred sauce. I follwed her recipe for "ricotta cheese" which was yummy। Since I could not find a large quantity of basil, here is the recipe I used for my pesto:

Spinach Walnut Pesto
3 cups of loosely packed spinach, large stems removed
2 garlic cloves
1/4 toasted walnuts
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt to taste

Pulse garlic in food processor until finely chopped. Add spinach, walnuts, and lemon juice and process on low speed until finely chopped. While motor is still running, slowly add olive oil until it becomes a coarse paste. Do not overprocess. Transfer mixture to a bowl and add dried basil, nutritional yeast, and salt to taste. Let sit for several hours for the flavors to incorporate.

Be My Valentine!!

I know I'm posting these cookies and recipe right in beginning of March but they are so pretty and delicious I would make them every week if I had the patience. Rolled cookies take some practice, but after a few batches you will baking them like a pro. I love the texture of homemade crispy cookies at Christmas but created this especially for my partner for Valentine's Day. We really enjoyed them.... he asked for them again this week. The flavor of the jam could be replaced, however, I would recommend preserves and not jelly. I veganized this recipe from here.

Valentine Heart Sandwich Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup margarine (1 1/2 sticks)

1 cup seedless raspberry preserves (heated in microwave until melted and syrupy)

confectioners' sugar for dusting (optional)

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt. With pastry blender or two knives used scissor-fashion, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 4 to 5 tablespoons cold water, 1 tablespoon at time, into flour mixture, mixing lightly with a fork after each addition until dough is just moist enough to hold together. Shape dough into a ball; wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll. (Or, place dough in freezer 30 minutes.). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll one-third of dough at a time 1/8 inch thick, keeping remaining dough refrigerated. With floured 3 or 4 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into as many hearts as possible. Place hearts, 1/2 inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet. Reserve trimmings. With floured 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out centers from half of stars. Remove cutout centers, and bake along with larger cookies, checking after 7 minutes for doneness. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. With pancake turner, remove cookies to wire racks to cool. Roll remaining dough and trimmings together to make more cookies; bake. When cookies are cool, sprinkle cookies with cutout centers with confectioners' sugar. Spread each cookie without cutout center with 1 rounded teaspoon raspberry preserves. Top each with a cookie with a cutout center, gently pressing cookies together to form a sandwich. Store in tightly covered container. To make open face jam covered cookies, place one teaspoon raspberry jam on solid heart cookie and with a small paint brush or spatula pull jam out to cover entire top.

Tofu Buffalo "Wings" in a Wrap

This is one of my favorite lunches. These tofu "wings" have a crispy "skin" and make great sandwiches or appetizers. Best of all, they are boneless : ) I got the recipe from Tofu Mom . If you have not met her yet, I highly recommend you visit her website which she frequently updates. I've tried several of her recipes which she generously shared and all of them have been "keepers". I have duplicated her original creation here, however have given her the proper credit. I hope you enjoy this recipe and her blog as much as I do.

Vegan "SpaghettiOs"

I was visiting several vegan blogs in quest of a vegan version of the famous Campbell's Spaghettios and created something pretty darn close. Don't they even resemble the ones on the Campbell's label?? The good news is that it is very easy and inexpensive to make and VEGAN!! The not so good news is that it is made with commercially made ingredients so it might not be the healthiest. However it is a quick lunch on those cold days when you are need of some comfort food, reminiscent of your childhood past.

Vegan "SpaghettiOs" (my way)

1/2 pound of "O" shaped pasta (I found mine at Trader Joe's, as pictured)

10 3/4 ounce Campbell's tomato soup (this exact brand is essential since they were the creators of the original "SpaghettiOs". Note: "tomato bisque" flavor is NOT vegan)

2 tablespoons of margarine

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/4 soy milk

1 vegan frankfurter, sliced (optional)

Cook pasta according to instructions and drain, but do NOT rinse!! I prefer my pasta al dente but if you are aiming to replicate the texture of the original version, cook until soft. Melt margarine in the same saucepan and add drained pasta. Add the rest of the ingredients and add more soy milk if it looks too dry. Turn down to very low heat and cover. You want someof the sauce to absorb into the pasta. Enjoy!!

Note: For some odd reason this brand or shape of pasta took sooo long to cook even on a rapid boil. The pasta also expanded tremendously!!! I would recommend only making only a small amount at a time because the leftovers did not taste very good. They were gummy and pastey.