Soup and Potatoes, Things that come around go around!!!

I am looking forward to settling into my new job, so that I can get back into my regular shopping, cooking, photographing and blogging!!!! I have been working out of town and trying to prepare for my new job so Nikki has been doing most of the cooking. I have been taking pictures and will post stories soon!!! I have to thank my family for picking up the pieces and making things work during the transition.
The title of this blog reflects the reality that this dinner is from two weeks ago and we had basically the same thing for dinner tonight.
What made this dinner special is the tomato soup that is in the second photo. It is homemade tomato soup made with grape tomatoes. I have never thought of doing this!!! My mother in law came up with this idea because the grape tomatoes are the only good ones in the winter!!!! The soup was completely awesome, THANK YOU PATSIE!!!!
I promise I will get all caught up in the next week!!!! Thanks you for your patients.

Little Pizzas... Easy Does It!!!!

I have been pretty busy lately and Nikki has really been stepping up to the plate and getting dinner together. When I get home I help her finish things up.
These are little bagel pizzas. The sauce is simple spaghetti sauce, on mini bagels. We topped them with tomatoes, onions, spinach, Light Life "Bacon" and Follow Your Heart Cheese.
They baked at 350 for about 10 minutes, all told dinner took about 30 minutes and was very easy!!!!


We also had side salads with Annie's natural goddess dressing, which I really like. Some times the really easy meals are the best, Thanks Nikki!!!

Tofu Ceviche.... Flavor Explosion

I have been craving something really spicy with loads of fresh chilis. I was standing in front of the of the chili display at the local grocery and they carry about 10 different peppers so I grabbed a random assortment thinking that I might make salsa.
When I got home I started thinking that ceviche sounded good, so here is what I did:

• 1 lb tofu nigari firm - cubed
• 5 limes -juiced
• 2 garlic teeth - minced

Mix in bowl, marinate overnight


Diced the following:

• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 poblano
• 1 serano
• 2 Hungarian red
• 2 Anaheim pepper
• 2 New Mexico green chili
• 1/2 white onion

Mixed with marinated tofu, added chopped cilantro. Served with shredded red cabbage, avocado and tortilla chips.


This was really spicy and tasty. The tofu becomes more firm and takes on the garlic and lime flavors. I generally do not cook tofu with high acid sauces because it tends to get squishy and slimy, but for some reason the marinating without cooking works great.
Mixing with the peppers right before serving keeps the different chili flavors separate, which is something I like. Nikki and I were both drooling like dogs and begging for chap stick after finishing dinner!!!!

Lighten up!!!! Roasted veggies and brown rice!!!!

Well this is a a quick and easy dinner, theoretically, but I find that really it takes just as long as everything else. I am able to clean up most of the dishes while everything is in the oven, so clean up is not as much!!!
This was a very basic roasted veggies and tofu:
Red potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Onions
Mushrooms
Poblano chilis
Tofu
Once everything is chopped I place in a big metal bowl and add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, then mix. Bake on parchment for 20 minutes at 400 degrees
I made some instant brown rice and served with soy sauce and chili sauce. This is a light but filling dinner that covers all of the nutritional bases!!! Plus roasting anything makes the whole house smell good.

Soup for the guy who gutted your bathroom!!!!

These are not food pictures..... Are you on the wrong blog!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Well this is my most recent remodeling project. This bathroom was last "updated" in the 1980's. This is also the reason the food we have been eating is pretty simple!!!!

















The tile and tub is from the 1930's, I am trying to save the tub, but the tile is worn, pink, and needs to be replaced. The bathroom will get a new configuration and new finishes.




















The new style will be cottage style, which is a nice change of pace for me. Actually I did the kitchen in this house last winter, we used quite a bit of trim and bead board.
I was able to remove the tub!!!! No Scratches!!!!
I will share more pictures as the project progresses.

















The best part of this project is that the wonderful owner is quite a cook!!! She made a fantastic veggie soup the other day and made extra to send home with me!!!!! It was savory and very delicious!!!!
Tomatoes, green beans, onions, carrots. I made some instant brown rice and English muffins. I was really tired after taking out all of that tile, so it was awesome that she made this for us!!!!
Thanks Patsie!!!!

Lasagna Mac.......

Yes we are doing the basics these days. We all like lasagna so we decided to do macaroni noodles with jarred pasta sauce and vegan crumbles, Morningstar Farms. I always add extra garlic, onion, a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and oregano.
This seemed like it would be a hit with the kids, but they were not impressed so I tossed a couple of Boca Chic'n patties in the toaster oven so the kids could have a sandwich too! The plate pictured on the left is my daughters, she really likes pickles and Follow your Heart cheese. Her brother has yet to embrace any type of condiment, not even ketchup. Kids are kind of freaky!!!


Below is what Nikki and I had, a nice helping of Lasagna Mac topped with vegan Parmesan, and steamed broccoli. We also had a nice glass of red wine.

Addison makes a little lunch!!

I know it is a simple lunch, but Addison made it for herself and Carter. It is amazing to me how in tune with veganism Addison is. She knows all of things to look for on food labels. When we first made the SHIFT she was my helper in reading all of the labels at the store.
She makes lunches to take to school, although she did more of that last year. She likes to take soup or a sandwich. She also has to deal with some teasing from other kids in junior high once in a while, but she is tough and is able to explain the reasons for our choice!!!
Carter is in kindergarten, which is half day so he does not eat at public school yet; we will cross that bridge next year. He has been going to a Montessori preschool for the past few years and believe it or not, the woman who runs the school is vegan!!! She does an awesome job of making lunches for him, and has been such an incredible influence on Carter. We are also lucky that the public school that Carter is going to is very supportive--his kindergarten teacher has been very aware of his veganism and goes out of her way to accommodate.
I find both Addison and Carter an inspiration because of their understanding of the reasons for being vegan as well as being advocates for something they believe in!!!! I am so proud of them and wish that I would have been so enlightened when I was their age.

Yeah that's right... More Tacos... But these are crispy!!!!

I may have mentioned that I have started a new remodeling project. I am updating a bathroom that was originally built in the 1930's. The work of dismantling the bathroom in order to make it work better for today's needs has been to say the least tiring!!!! I am trying to minimize waste as much as possible, but I have still removed about a ton of cement and old tile!!!
So cooking has not been on the top of the agenda recently!!! These crispy taco shells have been in the cabinet for months, so yes time for more tacos.
I was pretty tired so Nikki put everything together:

• Beans
• Morningstar Farms crumbles
• Corn
• Follow Your Heart Cheddar
• Black beans
• Toffutti Sour Cream
• Avocados
• Jalapenos

The taco shells were strange, first of all they were tiny, they were also whisper thin, but they tasted pretty good. The real star was the avocado, they have been outstanding this year and very reasonably priced!!
I love avocados, when I was young I used to spend the summers with my grandparents who lived in Oaxaca City in southern Mexico. There were always many kinds and shapes of avocados. I can remember going to the "vegetable" market with my grandmother to get the week's vegetables and hearing her haggle with the vendors over price and quality. I wish that I could go to a market like that, it was like the ultimate farmers market with every kind of fresh vegetable and fruit you could imagine!!!! She was very passionate about food and spent a tremendous amount of time preparing food. I think that she really liked it when I came to visit because she could cook more!!!!
But I digress.... one of my favorite things when I spent time with them were the avocados. They came in many shapes as sizes, from the size of a lemon to the size of a football. I would have fresh tortillas with avocado for breakfast, and a favorite evening snack was toasted french bread with avocado smeared on top, and hot chocolate.

Vegan Chic-N-Biscuits

I have been wanting to make biscuits for a month or so but have been too busy to make them from scratch. When we first made the shift to veganism I made biscuits and gravy a bunch of times. I will have to make Gimme Lean sausage gravy and biscuits one of these weekends!!!
In the last week or so every time I turn around I have seen something about biscuits! The handmade version is really pretty easy, but I do not like getting flour all over the kitchen, the recipe has a lot of shortening, and they take about an hour from start to finish.
I decided to use Bisquik, using soy milk. It was that easy, mixed them up, rolled them out, cut them and tossed them in the oven!!!! From start to finish they took 15 minutes, I tossed some Boca Chic'n Patties in the oven too. I warmed up some eda mame and peas.
Then I made fast gravy:

• no chic broth, 5 mushrooms
• 1/4 onion, garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of corn starch
• Boiled in the microwave, and run through the Vita Mix.

I LOVE my vita mix, it is a critical tool in the vegan kitchen, I use it almost every day! Nikki gave it to me for Christmas two years ago and it has been doing its magic ever since.
The biscuits were alright, not the best, or at least not as good as those made from scratch, But it did make a good comfort food kind of meal, in a very short amount of time!!!!!!

Another Night at the Taco Stand!!!!!

You might assume that these are small tacos because there are three of them in one pan, but you would be wrong!!!! This pan is a major player in many of our meals, it is a commercial Volrath 20 inch non-stick saute pan. I used to use my wok for most meals, but it did not work well for things like tacos that prefer a grill, unlike a grill it has sides that keep splatters down and makes clean up a snap.
Things are hectic again this week,
I have started a new bathroom remodel, evening school activities, and the day to day busy life we lead.
Tacos are always a quick and easy meal, and usually ready in 20 minutes which is very handy when Addison has 6:00 basketball practice. I have a feeling that you may be seeing a few taco nights in the coming weeks, and some more chili nights. Although taco are surprisingly simple yet there are so many ways to make them, each time can be different.
These were very basic:

• Flour Tortillas
• Vegetarian refried beans
• Veggie Crumbles with taco seasoning
• Follow your Heart Cheddar

Heat those in the big pan
Top with:
Lettuce, tomatoes, left over Aji of Campana(fresh salsa), Tofutti Sour Cream, and Wholly Guacamole(there was a big clearance sale at the store last week end, $.79 per pack, I bought too many!!!!)
Many times when we have tacos that is the whole meal, since it has all of the different elements of a complete meal I usually do not make sides. Also it is easy to adjust the toppings so that everyone gets what they want.

OH Yeah!!!! POTLUCK NIGHT!!!!! Vegan Feijoada!!!

One our favorite monthly events is the local vegan potluck. We started going about a year and a half ago, and we look forward to the gathering every month!!!! There are other vegan kids and lots of great food!! The group is very welcoming, I wish that more people who were curious about veganism would come!!!!
I take the task of cooking for the potluck very seriously to the point of stressing myself out.
This month I decided to make a large pot of Feijoada(FAY-JO-ADA the national dish of Brazil), vegan style.
What makes Feijoada different than just black beans is that it is more like a stew, and it is traditionally filled with smoked meats(which obviously would not work for us).
First I cook a pound of black beans with bay leaves and two small hot dried chilis. When the beans are tender, I add 2 potatoes small diced, and three carrots small diced.
After those soften I take 10 teeth of garlic, minced, and cook in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until brown, then add to beans. I also add about 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke. Before serving I take my potato masher and smash about half of the beans, this thickens the stew.
Traditionally you would serve with white rice, farofa(casava flour toasted with shallots), aji of campana(a fresh sweet pepper and onion salsa), and malaqueta pepper(which is like Thai bird chili), then you could also serve orange slices and and fried bananas. I was pretty busy on potluck day so we made a quick salsa with pablano peppers, white onion, vinegar and olive oil.
One of the requirements at the potluck is to list the ingredients of the dish you bring, vegan and gluten free folks keep close tabs on the ingredients.
One of the big winners of this past potluck were individual serving Reubens. They were gluten free and vegan!!!!! JoAnn made the bread, topped with seasoned smoked tofu, kraut, and topped with Follow Your Heart Jack cheese. They were super awesome!!!! My pictures did not turn out well, but you can see one on the side of the top picture.

If you double click on these pictures you can see the ingredient lists. Next time I will take better pictures, we were running late and I waited until everyone was eating to take pictures.