More than Gluten-free Mac n Yease

When we started this elimination diet, one of the first things I thought of making was Mac n Yease. Veggie Grille and Plum Bistro here in Seattle both make a pretty delicious gluten-free Mac n Yease, so I figured making the soy-free version would be a cinch, as long as I could find some gluten-free pasta that wasn't mush. Plus it's fun to say Mac n Yeezy instead of Yease.

After a little research and some grocery aisle scouring, I found maybe my most favorite gluten-free pasta to date, Tinkayda's Brown Rice Shells. Like the package very proudly boasts, this pasta is "not mushy" has a "good texture" and cooks "al dente"! I haven't checked at Whole Foods, PCC, or some of the other health markets, but I just found it at my local Safeway and you can also definitely get it online.

As for the recipe, I adapted a copy of Plum Bistro spicy Mac n Yease recipe I found from Vegan Richa. Her recipe comes pretty close to tasting like Plum Bistro's, and it was a great starting off point for figuring out how to make a gluten and soy-free version.

Vegan Black Beans and Rice

As a vegan I get a lot of questions about my protein. How do you get protein if you don't eat meat, dairy, or eggs? The thing is though, yes, meat and eggs by themselves are complete proteins, meaning they have the nine amino acids our bodies can't produce on their own, but meat and eggs aren't the only way to get complete proteins. We don't need every essential amino acid in every bite of food. Even though beans and rice by themselves are not complete proteins, when paired together they have all the nine amino acids our bodies need. Which is great, because they make a delicious pair!

Italian Bean Balls and Spaghetti Squash

This meal is a family favorite and probably one of the easiest so far to convert to adhere to all the rules of the elimination diet. I made the tomato sauce from scratch, as I usually do. If you're more of a canned type of person, I think there are a few brands that don't have sugar, but you're going to have to look a bit. As for the bean balls, this is one of our favorite recipes. I've made it in the past with white beans and regular oats. But since oats are banned, I used gluten-free all purpose flour instead and because I had no kidney beans or white beans, I used black beans. I haven't tested this theory yet, but I'm pretty sure you could use any type of beans or nuts that you like and they would still be amazing. I did puree the mixture a bit too much since I was being lazy and trying to make it all in one batch in the food processor, so ignore the consistency in the pictures. One of those do I as I say, not as I do sort of situations.

Vegan and Gluten Free Green Bean Casserole

Holidays are a funny thing right after you get married, suddenly you have to figure out how to combine the traditions you spent the better part of your life upholding. Fortunately for us, Thanksgiving didn't present too much of a challenge since we both had a pretty standard menu growing up. Turkey (later replaced by tofurkey for me), mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing/stuffing, and so on. But one thing I never had growing up that he did, was a green bean casserole. My dad does not believe in "ruining good vegetables" in a cream sauce, and since he did most of the cooking in my house, the creamy green beans were never offered. Luckily for my husband though, I do not have the same hang ups with ruining vegetables and was happy to incorporate his family staple into our Thanksgiving.

I wasn't really sure how to go about making this recipe without the cream of mushroom soup since my cream sauces are mostly soy milk based and I didn't want to have that flavor profile in the casserole. But after a little Googling, I found a recipe that I thought might do the trick. I altered it slightly by reducing the vegan sour cream and mayonnaise since I personally found it to be a bit too runny and a little too rich for my taste, but other than that I kept true to Beth's original recipe (thanks Beth!...also check out her site, Delectably Free, she offers a lot of vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free recipes!). 

If you are looking for the Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and canned green beans taste, look elsewhere. But as my husband said, this version is better and tastes more fresh. I'll take that as a success.

Summertime Grilling

An entire garden full of vegetables and a new grill adds up to a summer of grilling. Other than the mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes, tofu, and most ingredients in the biscuits everything pictures above went straight from the garden to the grill. On the menu:

- Carrots

- Kohlrabi

- Green beans

- Potatoes

- Mushrooms

- Broccoli

- Tofu

- Beets

- Zucchini

- Summer squash

- Whole wheat "buttermilk biscuits" (made on the grill!)

And we weren't the only ones enjoying the wonderful, albeit very hot and humid, outdoors. I caught a glimpse of our intrepid hunter, Elmer, in action:

Vegan Sushi

Vegan sushi is one of the easiest things to make, as long as you have a little patience. The most difficult part of the process is slicing each of the ingredients into long, thin pieces, and then methodically spooning the rice on the nori (seaweed paper), and rolling each roll.

I'm giving you the recipe I use for the sushi rice. Other than that, I'll leave it up to you to decide what to use as the filling. The rolls pictured are a combination of salted and baked tofu, carrots, avocado, and cucumber. 

Garden Fresh Whole Wheat Pizza

This pizza was inspired by the need to use vegetables from the garden. There were a few non-garden items (I'm looking at you, olives), but the majority of  the toppings were freshly picked from the backyard.

Homegrown:

- Sund dried tomatoes which had been dried and frozen from last year

-  Zucchni

- Green peppers

- Onions

- Fresh oregano & basil

Not Homegrown:

- Canned olives (because despite what my fiance says, a pizza is not a pizza without olives)

- Daiya cheese

- Canned tomato paste for the sauce

It just doesn't get any better than using local, fresh ingredients.

Fried Rice with Marinated Three Grain Tempeh

As it turns out, after 25 years of life, I do in fact actually like tempeh and Brussels sprouts. I have just yet to have them prepared in a way that was palatable. Keep reading for how I made them in a way that tasted good and you might find two more ingredients to add to your grocery list.

Vegan Lentil Loaf

As I was casually looking through some of my favorite blogs, I came across Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen's post for Dreena Burton's lentil loaf and on a whim decided that's what I wanted for dinner. I read through the recipe, checking off in my mind whether I had the ingredients and concluded the only thing I didn't have was the bulgar. Before canceling my dinner plans altogether, I did a quick Google search and found that quinoa would probably be a reasonable substitute. So I got to cooking and was halfway through, when I discovered I only had 3 tablespoons of ketchup, not the required 7-8. Yes that's right folks, I had quinoa, nutritional yeast, even flax meal, but not ketchup. Since it was already 9 o'clock at night, going to the store was really not a desirable option. After a slight panic, I remembered my stash of fast food ketchup packets I had been holding on to for far longer than I care to admit. I unfortunately barely made a dent in my ketchup packet supply, but fortunately, I had enough to finish making my dinner!

All in all, I would say this is probably in the top 10 of lentil loaves I've had. I think the best is still the one I ate a St. Dames, a vegan restaurant in Seattle. But who knows, if I had used bulgar, this might have given St. Dames a run for their money.

Dinner Last Night

SBLT (Smart Bacon Lettuce Tomato Sandwich)

Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup recipe via here. My boyfriend, who is a more recent meat-eater than I, said the soup has a beef-like quality to it, so if you're looking for a replacement to beef broth, this base may do just the trick. And while I cannot completely attest to that since I don't really remember the taste of beef, I can attest to the fact that Gabi over at Honest Fare has come up with a winner of a recipe. I can't stop eating this soup.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

I'm aware St. Patrick's Day is over, but you can save up this recipe for next year! Or you can just make it any time because it is delicious. It's also really quick and doesn't require too much prep work, so it's perfect for those days/nights when you don't have much time/energy, which for me is basically every night. And then if that all isn't enough, it's also pretty good for you, depending on the fake meat and vegetables you use and how much butter and nutritional yeast you put on the mashed potatoes.

I'm giving you the ingredients I used to make it, but you can use whatever. Use whatever vegetables you want, whatever meat substitute (Bocca crumbles, tempeh, tofu, TVP), and make the mashed potatoes however you like! Go crazy!

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and Basil

I spent a good portion of my weekend making cakes and cleaning up the sticky mess of the frosting. Even still I'm finding powdered sugar in various nooks in my kitchen. So by the time Sunday came around I wanted something quick, easy, and delicious because I was in no mood to make and clean a complicated meal. This pasta dish satisfied all those requirements wonderfully. I kind of just eyeballed things and made it to my liking, so feel free to make adjustments however you see fit.

Baked Falafel with Tahini Sauce

 

As I think some of you know, I'm a contributing writer for the food column over at Joonbug.com. I just wrote an article today about baked falafel and tahini sauce, so you should check it out!

The falafel pictured on Joonbug isn't mine, but the above picture and all the ones below are. I made them last night for dinner and had them again for lunch today, they were that good.

 

On a completely unrelated topic, I would really like to have these pants:

image

Fettuccine in a Creamy White Sauce

I have a confession. I actually made this for dinner quite some time ago. I'm talking weeks. I've had the picture uploaded and all ready to go just as soon as I wrote the recipe out, but I've been lazy. There's no other excuse. Well, the time has come for me to not be lazy anymore! Finally you can all go and make some amazing vegan white sauce for your pasta.

Other things to look forward to now that I'm not going to be lazy: my sister's coconut with raspberry preserves and a lemon butter cream frosting birthday cake*, granola bars, and lemon poppyseed muffins. Get excited.

*Yes, I'm aware it has basically been a month now since I first mentioned posting about her birthday cake, I'm just trying to build suspense.**

**I'm actually just waiting to get the pictures from my mom's camera, but I haven't been home since my sister's birthday festivities.

Vegan Pot Pie

 

I used to love chicken pot pies when I was a kid. There was just something so satisfying about the soggy crust on the bottom and the way that all the vegetables and chicken were cut into cubes. Thinking about my cubed hashbrown post a few days ago, I'm beginning to wonder if I have a thing for cubed food...hmm. Anyway, as I got older and became vegan, I kind of forgot about pot pies. But then last year one day after work my sister surprised me with a vegan pot pie with tofu. The vegetables and tofu were all cut into the same sized cubes, the crust was soggy on the bottom, but not too soggy, the top was nice and flaky. It brought me straight back to my childhood. 

These pot pies are kind of a good amount of work (which makes me appreciate my sister's surprise last year even more), but I had been craving them for quite some time. So I decided I would take advantage of the weekend and make these. It ended up being a two day process, mostly because I kept forgetting to do things, such as thawing out the tofu and refrigerating the crust. But even though there were some frustrating moments and it did take me two days, I'd do it all over again because they were just so darn tasty. Thanks to my sister for the recipe for the crust!

New Year's Black-eyed Peas

So it turns out I've been living in a bubble for my entire life because I had no idea that eating black-eyed peas on New Year's day is supposed to bring good luck for the upcoming year. I made this discovery when my boyfriend's mom called him on New Year's Eve to make sure he was stocked up on his black-eyed peas for the next day. I then proceeded to Google it, and sure enough, according to Wikipedia anyway, you're supposed to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's for good luck! Who knew?!* Luckily, we were going grocery shopping anyway, so we made sure that black-eyed peas were added to the list.

I kind of threw all the stuff we had together to make these black-eyed peas. I wish I had some green or red peppers, but I forgot to get some at the store. C'est la vie. Even lacking peppers though, I think it turned out just fine. And the hot sauce really helped to fight away some winter chills, that's for sure!

Comfort Food

When I was sad as a kid, my parents, or rather, mostly my dad, would use food to help cheer me up. If it wasn't a 7-Eleven slurpee, then it was a candy bar, or some sort of fruit...yeah, I was a weird kid and liked fruit, but no matter what, it always seemed to help. For better or for worse I continue to use food to help cheer myself up, and as I've gotten older I've started to realize that I don't limit this practice to just making myself feel better. For example, when my boyfriend was down from a really awful beginning of the week this week, my initial reaction was to make him food, and not just any food, all his favorite comfort food! So the meal for tonight was vegan barbecue ribs, vegan macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

The green beans were just from a can, so not really much to tell there.

The macaroni and cheese I made with original soy milk (not vanilla), Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheddar Cheese, Earth Balance soy butter, and pasta (shells of course). After 1/2 lb pasta was cooked to al dente and drained, I added about 1/4 cup soy milk, about 1 TBSP soy butter, and 2 TBSP soy cheese. You can add more or less of any of the previous ingredients depending on your tastes. It's not an exact science by any means. Then just add salt and pepper to taste.

For the mashed potatoes I boiled 3 peeled russet potates until I could stick a fork all the way through each one.  Once done, I drained the water and then added a bit of original soy milk to the potatoes, as well as about 1-2 tablespoons of Earth Balance soy butter, and some salt and pepper to taste. Then I just mashed away until I got the right consistency of the potatoes.

The ribz, I made some modifications to a combination of The Vegan Chef's recipe and FatFree Vegan's recipe, see below.

Anyway, I think the meal was a success, just like my childhood slurpee trips!

Pumpkin Pasta with Crispy Sage and Toasted Walnuts

I used Chef Chloe's recipe for Creamy Pumpkin Penne with Crispy Sage and Toasted Pecans. I didn't have any pecans, so I used walnuts, and I didn't have penne, so I used shells and elbow macaroni. I also added about 2 cups of non-dairy milk rather than 1 1/2 to make it a bit creamier. But other than that I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. Just the right amount of pumpkin so that it wasn't overwhelming, the sage balanced out the pumpkin nicely, and the nuts gave each bite a bit of crunchiness. Overall it was quite easy to make and really really delicious.

Thanksgiving

 

roll dough made by my dad

vegan rolls fresh from the oven

vegan apple pie

vegan apple pie made by me

vegan avocado pie made by my sister

homemade "tofurkey" made by my dad

vegan dressing made by my dad

vegan mashed potatoes, peas, "tofurkey," and lentil gravy

"tofurkey"

peas, lentils, "tofurkey," rolls

vegan pumpkin pie made by my mom

just some of our pies. clockwise from left: vegan lemon cheesecake, vegan pumpkin pie, vegan avocado pie, vegan apple pie, vegan pumpkin cheesecake pie

Thanks to my boyfriend for the pictures!

A Cornbread and Chili Kind Of Day

vegan cornbread and chili

Recently my parents have gone on a canning spree. Anything that can be canned, has been, from raspberry preserves (fresh picked off mountain roads by my mother), to tomatoes grown in their backyard vegetable garden, to barley and potato soup, and of course, chili. Since I don't have the set up my parents do for canning, I usually just borrow (read: take) a few jars of whatever they have around when I go home and visit. This last visit I left my parents' house with fresh homemade rye and plain bagels and two jars of barley and potato soup. And the time before that I got a jar of chili, a small jar of pickled green chiles, a jar of raspberry preserves, and a jar of apple butter. It's nice living relatively close to my parents.

The last couple days here in Virginia have been cold and rainy, i.e., perfect weather to break out my dad's chili...which is something that really deserves a post of it's own, but I'll leave that for later...and of course I had to bake some cornbread to go along with it. This was actually my first attempt at cornbread, with a recipe I adapted from Better Homes and Garden. It wasn't too shabby for my first try, if I do say so myself.

vegan corn bread