Oops, my bad on the picture. We just ripped into this dish and I forgot to take a picture. All I got was a picture of what was left.

Chickpea and Broccoli Macaroni

preheat oven to 350

3-4 cups cooked elbow macaroni
2 cups of frozen broccoli, thawed
2 cups of chickpeas, cooked or out of a can

Sauce
1/4 of vegan margarine
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup flour
2-2 1/2 cups of soymilk, plain
1 Tbsp Tamari or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp paprika
1/2 -3/4 cup of nutritional yeast (depending on how much nut yeast you like)
1 Tbsp of Tomato Paste
1 tsp prepared brown spicy mustard
ground pepper

In a saucepan, melt the margarine on low heat. Add in the Olive Oil. Then, beat in the flour with a whisk until thick, bubbly and smooth. Whip in the soymilk (a little bit at a time). After soymilk is added, add in the salt, Tamari, garlic powder, and paprika. Cook until thick and bubbly (while still whipping or stirring so it doesn't clump up). Whip in the nutritional yeast, tomato paste, and mustard. Add some fresh ground pepper.

Mix together the chickpeas, broccoli, macaroni and sauce in a largish casserole dish. Bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

mmmm this morning, I threw these together. It's just a basic breakfast burrito one major difference. The addition of marinated portabella mushrooms. Basically, before you cook anything marinate a few chopped portabello mushroom caps (I used 3 medium sized ones). Marinate them in this mixture:

splash of vinegar (usually I use rice wine)
1/4 cup or less of tamari
1/8 cup water
garlic
a little chopped fresh basil (or dried)

I marinate at least an hour. Usually, I don't go over 4 hours.

You can use any scramble recipe you like, mine is a mixture of a few that I have seen As your scramble is cooked about halfway through, I add the mushrooms. Now, that isn't the only vegetable. I had green and yellow peppers and onions, as well. But, I started those in the scramble earlier.

Then to assemble, I smear a tad bit of sour supreme on a whole wheat tortilla, sprinkle some chopped cilantro, scoop on the tofu scramble and then add some hashbrowns. But you can assemble them any way you like. We served it with some kiwi slices and orange juice.

I call these," I had a fight with my significant other (in my case boyfriend) chili fries."

My youngest son totally freaks out when I make these.

Sunflower Coconut cookies

1.5 cups of vegan margarine
1 cup of beet sugar(white sugar)
1/2 a cup of turbinado or brown sugar
1 cup of dry flaked unsweetened coconut
Cream the above ingredients together in a bowl.

In another bowl mix together:
3 cups of flour
1/2 tablespoon of Baking Soda
3/4 tablespoon of Baking powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 teaspoons of egg replacer (just add the powder in)
1 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Add the flour mixture to the margarine mixture. You will get a very dry mixture that won't go together very well. So, to this add in some water(or soymilk) a little bit at a time(shouldn't need more than half a cup). You can stir it in or just use your hands. Make sure you don't get the dough too sticky(if you do, just add some more flour.)
Roll into small balls (1.5 inches maybe) and then slightly flatten them on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes( or until edges are just turning golden).

Now, I realize that this is a lot of margarine... I have replaced up to half a cup with applesauce sucessfully. You really get a different cookie though and that's not a bad thing necessarily! When I do sub applesauce I always add at least a teaspoon of cinnamon. Mmmmm!

Hot and Sour Soup

This has always been a favorite. But, I have been messing around with the recipe to come up with a version that my kids will eat, as well. Well, this is it. It still has a fair amount of spicyness, but I still add some chili sauce(Sriracha) before I eat it.

Soup
4 cups of veggie broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 small onion, chopped
peanut oil
2-3 Tbsps rice wine vinegar( I use two, but you can adjust this to your own taste and add an additional tablespoon, if you like)
1/4-1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
2 -3 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can bamboo shoots, drained
sauteed tofu (you don't have to saute it, we just prefer it that way)
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup napa cabbage, sliced into thin strips
handful of snowpeas (as many as you like)

In a small amount of peanut oil, saute onions and garlic until onions are translucent. Add the broth, water, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, sauteed tofu, chili flakes, and chili sauce. Cook at a medium simmer for five minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar, bean sprouts, napa cabbage, and snow peas and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

Vegan Peach Custard Kuchen

Hello, here is what I have been working on the past couple days. Hopefully, in the very near future I can get out the recipe for this vegan custard kuchen. But, I have a few tiny adjustments that I'd like to try. It is delicious! My recipe made 3 plate sized kuchen and we are on our very last one. Yes, it has taken us less than a day to devour them. My grandma was a big kuchen maker, but she made the non-vegan version.

Sorry you had to wait an additional day, I uh...got tied up.

Veg Dumpling Soup

soup

6 cups veggie broth
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, chopped
2 lg potatoes, medium dice
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup of each (frozen) corn, peas, baby limas (optional, but my kids looove limas)
1/2 cup tiny vegan pasta (I use stars)
coconut or safflower oil
salt and pepper to taste
*Dumplings (dumpling recipe below) or vegan bisquit dough in a can(if you can find it)

Saute onions and celery in oil until onions are translucent. Add broth, carrots, and potatoes and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until potatoes and carrots are somewhat cooked through (but not too mushy, there is more cooking ahead). Add frozen veggies and pasta. Bring soup to a simmer and add dumplings. If using homemade, gather dough with one spoon and scrape it into the soup with another. If using refrigerator dough, just cut up and add one at a time. Dumplings should pretty much cover the soup. But, you should use a ladel to get some of the broth and splash on top of the bisquits. Cook on a low to medium simmer for an additional 10 minutes. If you use refrigerator dough the bisquits will not thicken the soup as much. I always make my own bisquits as we prefer a thicker soup.

dumplings
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance or other veg marg.
2/3 cup soymilk or soured soymilk(add a little less than a tsp of vinegar to soymilk and let it set for five minutes)

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut the earth balance into the flour with a fork or pastry blender until it is all incorporated and resembles coarse crumbs. Then, make a well in the middle and add the milk all at once. Stir until dough is just moistened. Do not overmix.

Mmm made veg dumpling soup again tonight. I will throw the recipe up tomorrow sometime.

I barely got this picture! I was mowing down the french toast when I remembered...."crap! I need a picture!" Here it is, with a little EB and maple syrup.

mmmmm vegdumpling soup. Definitely a favorite around our house.

French Toast

Our favorite recipe. Yes, we love it. We serve it with deluxe hasbrowns and a fruit bowl, usually. On top we usually just have maple syrup. But, I am sure fruit would be wonderful. Now, this is very similar to Candle Cafe's French Toast recipe, but I changed some ingredients.

1 pound silken tofu
1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of almond milk
1/4 cup agave nectar
3 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

1 loaf french or italian bread, slightly dried out and sliced into 3/4 to 1 inch slices.
dab of coconut oil and some safflower oil for cooking ( I have found that the coconut oil is important for the taste. My kids think it smells funny, but they love the way it tastes.)

Now, I have found that a certain method works best. I take out my cookie cooking racks and put either paper towels or a cotton town underneath it (there is going to be a bit of a mess). Leave it until needed.

In a blender process the tofu, almond milk, agave nectar, cinnamon, and vanilla until blended smooth. I then transfer it to a shallow bowl. If it isn't runny enough (it should be pretty runny) I add another 1/4 or1/2 cup of almond milk. I then dip the pieces, both sides, and transfer it to the cooling rack. It will then drip onto the towels and more importantly, through the bread. Repeat with all the pieces.

Then on medium heat in a large frying pan or, even better, electric frying pan, heat some safflower oil( I use about an 1/8th of a cup), add a tablespoon of coconut oil. When up to temp add the bread and cook about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Then, flip it over and cook for another 5 minutes or until lightly browned. It should be a bit crispy outside.

Remove from pan to a cookie sheet and place in the oven. I find this helps firm up the toast.

A whole loaf of french or italian bread can make several batches of french toast. I just put it into the oven while I cook the rest. The last time we made it, I got 21 pieces. So, you may want to adjust the recipe if you don't want that much.

Tofurky Melt

mmmm, I am sure this has been done before, but this is my version.

Ingredients
2 slices of sourdough bread
Earth Balance (EB)
1 Tofutti mozzerella slice, split into triangle (I don't usually like these, but I had a whole package to use up)
Veganaise
3 Tofurky brand slices ( I used oven roasted)

Spread Veganaise on the inside of the sandwich, layer on tofutti( I trangled them because my sourdough are large slices), then the tofurky, cover with other slices of bread and spread EB on the outside.

Fry sandwich in frying pan on medium, flipping and browning both sides.