#366 Black eyed peas and greens

This is it!!!! #366!! I can't believe it! Another one from Vegan Diner (I'm obsessed I tell you) served with steamed kale and spinach and brown rice. Super flavorful and healthy, no oil was used or missed. Even Max liked this meal. Hopefully it'll bring us luck in 2013!

#365 Pastrami Slaw Sandwiches

3 more recipes from Vegan Diner: Pastrami style seitan, sandwich slaw, and chewy chocolate chip cookies. I brought the sandwiches to Disneyland and they held up incredibly! So delicious. The pastrami was so easy and made a huge loaf. Max thought it tasted like field roast, my favorite, but expensive seitan. Yay! The cookies are amazing, my Aunt likes them as much (or better) than her Mother in Law's non-vegan recipe. The were super easy too. I'm definitely buying this book.

#364 Camping Dinners

When we go camping, each family brings dinner for a night. I did potatoes baked in the campfire with quick and hearty chili from vegan diner. Served with EB spread, Better than Sour Cream by tofutti, and frontier bacon bits. We had soyrizo potato tacos the 2nd night (didn't get a pic of those) and veggie burgers the 3rd night.

#363 Camping Breakfasts

Every year we go camping on New Year's Eve. I made a bunch of recipes from Julie Hasson's cookbook, Vegan Diner. This book has been out for awhile but it just didn't call out to me. I grabbed it from the library recently and love it!! I've never made so many recipes from a book this quickly before. I made the apple spice coffee cake, fluffy biscuits, banana chocolate chip bread, and herbed breakfast sausage patties. I brought my cast iron skillet with us and browned the sausage patties on my friend's camping stove. We made breakfast sandwiches (we called them Vegan McDirties haha) fluffy biscuit with daiya jalapeño garlic havarti wedge, strawberry jam, and a browned sausage patty. Amazing!!!

#362 Red Chile Tamales

We had these for Christmas dinner. They're a lot of work, as most tamales are, but well worth the effort. I had Ryan and Mia help me this year, it was fun! All of the recipes came from Vive Vegan: red seitan, red chile sauce, and savory masa dough. I served them with extra sauce and a green salad (romaine, cucumber, tomato, avocado and blackcreek ranch blended with chipotle in adobo sauce). Ryan and I ate tamales for breakfast lunch and dinner for the next 3 days in a row! I doubled the sauce and seitan recipes so we'll make them again soon! Yum

#361 Christmas Breakfast

This is what we had for breakfast on Christmas. From Vegan Brunch, raised waffles (blueberry for Mia and I, chocolate chip for Ryan and Max) and cherry sage sausages. We also had warm curried fruit, a tradition in my family. Ryan and I had almond champagne mimosas too!

#358 The Lone Star Sandwich

This is my favorite sandwich in the whole wide world! I even got a job at Jimbo's in San Diego so I could learn how to make it. I take my copycats very seriously ;) It contains slices of fresh baked tofu enhanced with southwest seasonings, avocado, fake bacon bits, organic lettuce, organic tomato, pickles, sprouts, house made chipotle mayo on 6-grain bread. This is a lipstick wrecker for sure. Only $5.50! Yum! I got to visit my Employee of the Year plaque, too.

#360 Pasta Alla Checca

For Christmas Eve dinner, we had pasta. Mia and I are sick of spaghetti and meatballs so we had ours tossed with Trader Joe's Bruschetta. As always, Chloe's amazing garlic bread was served along side. I had wine and hot apple cider fortified with whiskey. I usually buy whole wheat spaghetti but had purchased regular pasta for Max's foods class. He ended up not using it, so I did. I thought everybody would be happy with this not as healthy version, I was wrong! They all missed the taste and texture of the noodles they are used to. I clearly remember their aversion to WW pasta when I first started serving it. Just proof that tastes can change!

#359 Cinnamon Roll Waffles

AKA Breakfast Crack! This is insanity. Another Pinterest find, I doubt I'll ever bake them again! So fast, easy, and ridiculously delicious. I used the tube of rolls from Trader Joe's because I know those are vegan. After they were done I drizzled the frosting pack on top, Voilà!

#357 Jack's NY Pizza

My Mom and Stepdad owned a pizza place in Redondo Beach when I was growing up. They now live in Escondido (San Diego) but still make killer pizza from a pizza oven in the garage. We went down to visit this weekend and I knew exactly what I wanted for dinner. I grabbed a bag of Daiya Mozzerella Shreds and made Chloe's Garden Ricotta with spinach instead of basil for Ryan (he doesn't like Daiya). Before he baked it, my stepdad sprinkled the crust with kosher salt, sesame seeds, and dried onion. Delish!

#355 Stuffed Shells with Arrabiata sauce

After seeing Lynzie's post of this meal from Chloe's Kitchen, I knew I needed to make it ASAP. Delicious!!! Ryan and the kids loved ittoo. Like Sean and Lynzie, I usually find arrabiata sauce too be way too spicy, like inedible. Since Mia is still very sensitive to heat (I hope she grows out of that soon) I only used a sprinkling of the crushed red chilies in the sauce. It was perfect, no complaints. I served it with our favorite garlic bread, also a Chloe creation. Yum!

#356 Appetizer #1: Party Balls!

Holiday season is here! Which means lots of fun parties and also lots of appetizers to bring. I love appetizers! 

These are Nate's meatless meatballs (which are sold at Ralph's now! yay!). I baked them halfway then dipped them in sweet and sour sauce. I made the sweet and sour sauce using the recipe in Chloe's Kitchen. Then I put them back in the oven and cooked them the rest of the way. They were a hit :)

#351 Log Cabin Burgers

These are from Joni Marie Newman's book, The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet: 101 Globally Inspired Vegan Creations Packed with Fresh Flavors and Exciting New Tastes.

The "Log Cabin Burger," was inspired by imagining what would happen in you mixed a pancake with "sausage," kind of like taking the McGriddle a step further, and then taking it even further by making it with tempeh.

I misread the ingredients and used too much maple syrup. I added some extra flour to adjust for it and they ended up doughy and pasty. I also burned them a little bit! haha I checked this book out from the library and although I only made (and messed up) one burger, I was excited and inspired by the variety of recipes. I plan on purchasing this book one day, or checking it out again anyway.

#354 Eggplant Casserole

Here's another one from Vegan Junk Food! I absolutely loved this! I love eggplant parmesan and this was the ultimate eggplant parmesan. It was layered with tofu ricotta, a little daiya and marinara sauce. It baked in the oven and got even yummier. MMM!

YUMMMM!!

#353 LA-style street tacos

Yum!!! These are from Chloe's Kitchen. I love cilantro so I thought the chimichurri sauce was awesome! The Spanish rice was really creamy, almost like risotto. It was good, just different than I expected. The filling was tasty, just black beans, mushrooms, and chimichurri sauce. I also made Chloe's sour cream. It's not going to fool anybody but I like quick and easy sour cream recipes so I don't always have to shell out $5 at the store for a tub. Besides the sour cream, I topped the tacos with shredded romaine, avocado, pickled red onions (from Vegan Eats World), and more chimichurri sauce. Ryan and I loved them, the kids were not big fans. I do feel like a lot of olive oil was used throughout the meal and next time I'll reduce it a bit. I have gotten used to Appetite for Reductions 1 teaspoon per recipe I guess.

#352 Savory Lentil Loaf with Potato Filling

Michelle pinned a picture of this on Pinterest awhile ago...and of course i couldn't stop thinking about it because of the potato filling!!! So I finally made it. The recipe came from a blogger in another country (i can't remember which one) so when you click here, make sure you adjust the temperature to Fahrenheit (350).

Mmmm!

I also recommend lining your baking dish with parchment paper. The bottom of mine stuck to the baking dish. I was still able to fix it, but parchment paper would have save the day. I also recommend adding some butter and soy milk-just enough to make your mashed potatoes creamy (but still thick). I added some and it really changed the potato filling from being dry and lumpy to thick and creamy!

When making the lentil mixture, I also recommend slicing the mushrooms pretty thin. Mine were a little too thick.

straight outta the oven!

All in all this was delicious. Sean loved it. I poured a little gravy on top and voilà!

#360 Appetizer #3: Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Sooo Rich and Creamy

 This recipe came from another blog. You can find the recipe here. This was another hit amongst the vegans and non-vegans!

#358 Appetizer #2: Walnut Artichoke Crostini

I made this once before for a sandwich. This time I brought it over to Michelle's. Everyone ate it all up! It was loved by all :) MMM! The recipe came from Chloe's Kitchen. Make this appetizer for your holiday party!!!

#350 Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

 I love breakfast for dinner. This totally hit the spot! The recipe came from Vegan Junk Food. Sean and I both really enjoyed this. Some notes on the recipe: I only made 1/2 of what it called for...but when I was pouring the tofu mixture into my baking dish, it just seemed too thick so put it back in the blender and then I added a little soy milk to thin it out. When I poured it into the baking dish for the 2nd time, it just didn't seem like enough tofu mixture. So I added the 2nd half of tofu and a little more soymilk. It came out fabulous!!! I drizzle a little ranch on top and served it with sliced avocado and tomato and toast with marmalade. MMMM!

#349 "Chicken" and Waffles

I just adore breakfast for dinner. Who doesn't? I made raised waffles from Vegan Brunch. They took an hour to rise but there's an option to let them rise overnight in the fridge. I'm going to do it that way for this year's Christmas morning blueberry waffles! While the waffles were rising, I baked up some Gardein chicken strips from Trader Joe's. Served with some earth balance and maple syrup. Delicious! Next time I'll throw some fresh fruit into the batter or on top just to give it it some color...besides brown!

#348 Artisanal Vegan Cheese

Clockwise: Red pepper and jalepeno, herb, plain, and olive

Yummmm!

Olive

Pepper and jalepeno

herb

Sean made these delicious cheeses with cashews. He added probiotic powder to help with the fermentation of the cheese. Then he added ingredients and put them in the dehydrator for 48 hours. They came out amazing.

#347 Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

Lynzie took these with her to class tonight. They're always bringing treats in to share and feel sad for the kale eating vegan. She doesn't need your pity, she loves kale...and gets to eat delicious treats all the time too! She said everybody enjoyed them. I topped them with cute lil gingerbread trees, recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. The cupcake and frosting are out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

#346 Club Sandwich

This was a double decker! MMM!! I toasted white bread (sour dough would have been better but we didn't have any). I started with veganaise, spicy mustard and avocado mash. I layered tofurky turkey slices, lettuce, tofurkey tempeh bacon and tomato. I put mayo and both sides of the center piece of bread. and layered in the same order minus the bacon. It was yummy!!! I only made sean's a double decker. We both loved it :)

#345 Seafood Salad

This is another Pinterest inspired meal. It's a vegan take in the imitation crab salad sold at every grocery store you've ever been to. Shredded hearts of palm take the place of the imitation crab. There's also minced onion, celery, red bell pepper and a sauce that consists of: reduced fat Vegenaise, Dijon mustard, old bay seasoning, dried dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I served a large scoop of the seafood salad on top of mixed baby greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocado. It was amazing! Ryan and the kids loved it too. I'll be doubling the recipe next time. I like Trader Joe's hearts of palm, it's affordable (around $3) and comes in a wide mouth glass jar. Not only does it taste better bottled in glass (the cans can have a tin flavor) but its a great jar to keep for making pickles or storing dry goods in and there's no BPAs to worry about!

#344 Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce

This is another recipe from Chloe's Kitchen. I absolutely loved the filling inside these shells!!! The miso and basil were totally yummy!

The shells were so good. If you still haven't bought this book you really should!!

I didn't make me own sauce. I bought a jar of arrabbiata sauce from Trader Joes instead. The sauce was way too spicy! Sean said it was like eating salsa. Next time I make these shells, I'll either make my own sauce or used a jarred marinara.