Vegan shepherds pie

Vegan Shepherds Pie

Mashed Potatoes
6 Potatoes peeled and chopped
When cooked mash and add:
1/4 c soy margarine
1 Tbs onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 c soy milk
Drain the potatoes and mash with the margarine and seasonings. When mashed add in milk to desired consistency.
While the potatoes are cooking:
"meat" filling
About 2 cups of ground seitan or a vegie hamburger substitute 
1/2 of an onion diced
Sautee the onion in 2 Tbs olive oil until clear add in ground seitan and brown. 
To assemble:
Put the "meat" on the bottom of an 8*8 baking dish. Spread a bag of corn on top. Then smooth on the mashed potatoes. Bake @ 375* for about 1/2 an hour until the top is golden.

BBQ Seitan Ribs

BBQ Seitan Riblets

These are great for a summer time BBQ and are so easy to make

3/4 c vital wheat gluten flour
1/4 c brown rice flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 c water
1 Tbs soy sauce
BBQ Sauce

 Mix the dry ingredients, add the wet and lightly mix. Form into 6 patties and place on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 325* for 40 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes. Then turn the oven up to 400*, brush on BBQ Sauce and bake for 10 minutes, flip, brush on more BBQ and bake 10 more minutes. Be careful not to burn. 
These can be made ahead by only cooking for 40 minutes and then baking or grilling in the BBQ before serving.

I need to give Chef Mark Anthony credit for this recipe. I found this recipe and thought the idea of a no-knead seitan was great. I changed the seasonings a bit, but the idea was his.

Breakfast Blueberry Pie

Breakfast Blueberry Pie

Who wouldn't love pie for breakfast. With this yummy, healthy version you can. Whole grains and antioxidant rich blueberries make this a great choice

Crust
1/2 c Oat Flour ( can be bought or made by grinding oats in the blender or food processor)
1/2 c Unbleached White Flour
  1 c  W.W. Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c water
2 Tbs Lecithin Granules
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Blend water, oil and lecithin granules until emulsified. Pour into flours and lightly mix. Roll 1/2 of the dough out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and lay in the bottom of a pie pan. Put in your filling and roll out the remaining dough for a top crust. Seal the edges by pressing together and crimping. Make sure to put a couple holes in the top so air can escape.
Filling
1/2 c apple juice concentrate
1/2 c water
2 Tbs corn starch
1 bag of frozen blueberries
Bring apple juice concentrate to a boil. Mix the corn starch and water in a separate container. Slowly drizzle and mix in. Let cook on med/ low for 1 minute and stir in blueberries. Pour into crust.

This crust can be a little tricky since it is such a soft  dough but this makes it really tender when done. The main things to remember are not to over mix and any tears can easily be pieced together.

Tofu Cheese Cake

1-8 oz container of nondairy cream cheese

1c. tofu mashed

3/4 c. Fructose or Florida Crystals

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 Tbs. corn starch

1 tsp. vanilla

Blend in blender until smooth (may need to add a bit of soy milk). Pour into graham cracker crust and bake at 350* for 35 to 40 minutes. Done when the top turns golden and just starts to crack.

Raspberry Coulis

1/2 c. Fruit Sweetened Raspberry Jelly

1 bag of raspberries

Put the Jelly and 1/2c of water into a sauce pan and let melt. Add in the berries, stir and take off the heat.

Easy Vegan Manicotti

Now that there is a bit of chill in the air it makes me feel like turning on the oven and making some yummy dishes. This is an easy way of making manicotti using lasagna noodles so that you don't have to try and squish your filling into a little tube.

Boil 1 lb of lasagna noodles, not quite al dente, just until pliable. Rinse well with cold water. I use Tinkyada brown rice noodles. I like the taste better than whole wheat and they are just as healthy since they are whole grain.

Tofu Ricotta filling
1 lb tofu (rinsed, drained, and mashed)
1/2 C soy cream ( recipe follows)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed dried basil
optional
1 cup steamed drained spinach
1/2 c daiya mozzarella
Mix everything together.

Soy Cream or Mayo

1 c unsweetened soy milk      

  1 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder               

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbs clear jell (modified food starch)

1/2 to 3/4 c olive oil

2 Tbs lemon juice

Blend the soy milk and seasonings together. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until it thickens. Stir in the lemon juice. Sour cream keeps in the fridge a week.

This is a great multi purpose item. I use it as a mayo for salads, on sandwiches and with a little more lemon juice as a sour cream. The clear jell is optional but it works as a thickener allowing you to use less oil.

To assemble

Cover the bottom of your baking dish with tomato sauce about 1/2 in thick. Cut the lasagna noodles in half. Place about 2 T of filling on one end of the noodle and roll up, place in the dish. Continue until you run out, place snugly but don't squish them together. Drizzle with tomato sauce on top and a light drizzle of olive oil. Cover and bake at 375* for about 1/2 an hour. Optional- may sprinkle with Daiya cheese.

We ended up having a double birthday party, one for each of my sons, so of course they each needed their own cake. My big guy got the surfer about to meet his demise and my little guy got the great white just cruising around. Making the sharks and air brushing them was so cool. I really like how all the shells and fish turned out and the wonky design of my little guys cake adds just a little whimsy. It looks like they were a hit. The cake is vegan. it's a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. YUM!

Tofu Cheese Cake with raspberry sauce

This is a super yummy, decadent and easy cheese cake to make. Best of all it is much lower in fat than a traditional cheese cake but still plenty rich. I will be demonstrating this at the Natural Living Expo in Sturbridge, MA on Sept. 30. I'll post the recipe after the event, for now the picture is just a teaser.

Corn dogs

I was at Target recently and I saw this mini corn dog maker. It was on sale so I thought I'd try it out. i didn't realize it was so small but it is the perfect size for little fingers or appetizers. After some modifications on the recipe it came with this it what we ended up with. A great snack that is fairly healthy.

Shark Cake is coming soon

My little guy is three today. He told me he wants a shark cake for his birthday. We won't be having his party until next week but stay tuned for pictures of the cake. So many ideas! Yesterday we made some sharks, coral, sea shells and fish to decorate it with, now to let those dry and then to paint with edible colors. It should be a really cool cake. Watching Shark week on Discovery channel gave me all kinds of ideas.

Birthday Cake

I have always loved cake decorating and just recently have started some fondant work. This is a vegan lemon cake with lemon frosting that my daughter designed for her 14th birthday. All the decorations are edible if you like how they taste. My friend at www.facebook.com/sweetandjazzy has all the cake decorating tools you can imagine, and lots of know how, without her it would have been a much simpler cake. Between the three of us working on it, this was our masterpiece

Southwestern Vegetable Soup

I love my vegan plant based diet and I hope to share that passion with others thru recipes, product tips and easy little shortcuts. My passion is food ,coming up with new recipes and beautiful presentations. 
This week I did a vegan cooking class and this is my version of a Southwestern Vegetable Soup, topped with some pico de gallo and daiya cheese, served with blue corn chips. 

Southwestern Vegetable Soup

2 c diced carrots

2 c diced onion

2 c dice zucchini

1 red pepper diced
1 pablano pepper diced
4 cloves of garlic minced

1/4 c olive oil

4 ounce can green chilis

15 ounce can diced tomatoes

15 ounce can tomato sauce

16 ounce bag of frozen green beans

16 ounce bag of frozen corn

15 ounce can of black beans

6 to 8 c water  

2 corn tortillas broken up

1 T paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp oregano

1 tsp agave

2 tsp salt

Put the carrots to cook in the water, with the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Saute' the zucchini, onion, peppers and garlic. Add vegies to the broth along with the tortillas and seasonings. The tortillas will thicken the broth as it cooks. Delicious served with tortilla chips and pico de gallo.