Blog Recipe Cooking Challenge - day 4, week 3

Tonight I made French Lentil and Portabella Stew from FatFree Vegan. The only changes I made were the omission the celery as I was out and put in 1/2 a bell pepper since it needed to be used up and substituting Beluga Lentils for the French. This was fan freaking tastic! Tasty, hearty, rich and thick. The lentils held up nicely and the veggies cooked down perfectly. Overall I quite enjoyed this dish. It was not super photogenic but that is typically a perk, not a requirement of my food! hah



Even my lentil hating husband liked this stew! This was such a great find. I hope to make this pretty regularly this winter.

Blog Recipe Cooking Challenge - day 3, week 3

More from VegWeb's Blog Recipe Cooking Challenge! Fat Free Vegan is our blog for week 3 and it couldn't be a better one. I love love love so many of her recipes. I make the seitan ribz and scallopine regularly so I challenged myself to make something different.

Yesterday for Thanksgiving I made the Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake.


I followed the recipe exactly and love the results. Its light, airy and so flavorful. Somehow my bottom layer of cheesecakey goodness did not mound up but flowed up the sides of the pie as the top was added. Interesting and perfect so you get some with every bite! I plan on making this pie again.

Blog Recipe Cooking Challenge - day 2, week 2

Another recipe from Vegan Dad for the VegWeb Blog Recipe Cooking Challenge.

Tonight was Pasta Primavera or as he termed it "Clean out the Fridge Pasta".

I tried my best to make the recipe exactly as listed but had just a few minor alterations. First my pasta was egg free noodles since that was all I had in the cupboard. Second I added in some seitan leftover from last night just to use it up some. And finally I added a bit of herbs and spices because this was for two adults, no kids! Into the pot went thyme and smoked paprika just to round out the flavors.

I thought it was very good. Light tasting, creamy and hearty belly full. I quite enjoyed it and shall be making variations of it in the future.

Mine was quite not as photogenic as Vegan Dad's though so you must forgive me.

Blog Recipe Cooking Challenge

On VegWeb there is a lovely recipe challenge. Each week there is a blog being featured to create a recipe or several from. Unfortunately I missed the first week that featured the PPK. This week though, I did one recipe with a plan to do two more from Vegan Dad!

Today's dinner was Mini Irish Pies.

There were a few substitutions since I did not have chickpeas, beer or corriander on hand. Instead I used seitan, veggie broth with a touch of scotch and left out the herb. As you can see, they turned out fabulous!


Here is some of the prep work, including the pie crust:


Filling:


Potato topped pies ready to be baked:




I also made some lovely chocolate chip cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar! The recipe was followed exactly but I only baked 8 total, so I wouldn't gorge on them. These are soft, moist, lightly chewy but so very very good. I am excited to bake up the rest of these delights sometime very very soon.

VegWeb Gift Exchange - Sending!

Last week I finally shipped out my package for the Halloween Gift Exchange at VegWeb.

I included so much stuff but only have pictures of the homemade goodies. I did include a lot of my favorite things: PB&Co Maple Peanut Butter, Ghiradelli Chocolate squares, Ola Granola, Halloween towels, cookie cutters and napkins, a can of young green Jackfruit and a Lush Bath Bar. I did also include a shockingly cheap find of whole agar (for under $2 at the Asian grocer)!

I fretted over this apron for too long! But I think it turned out well. The recipients favorite colors were the basis of my fabric choices.



Also included were scones, Lemon Zinger Cookies, brownies, Rice Crispy Squares, and vanilla cupcakes with mini chocolate chips.

Scones full of berries! Cranberries, currants, pomegranate seeds, raspberries and bing cherries. Lovely dried mix I found at Trader Joe's.

Summer trip - Meal 2 at Millennium

So after a day of exploring San Francisco we scheduled dinner at none other than Millennium!


We ordered the Taste of Millennium and shared each dish as it came out. Angel and I both had our own favorites, but honestly, it was all beyond delicious.

We started off with two lovely salads. Both were so good. Angel liked the croutons on the second and I liked the crispy veggies and spiced nuts on the first.
Their dip of the day was a black bean and spice. It reminded me of cinnamon or garam masala. It did not last long as once the bread was gone, we scooped the dip out with our forks.
Course #2 - black bean torte. My personal favorite.
Fried Oyster Mushrooms - Good stuff there!

Their appetizer of the night was a lovely bean dip with a garlic sauce that was the most fantastic dish Angel had ever had. She wanted a whole vat full of this and for the kid who is not a fan of beans, thats saying something remarkable!
Entrees! Stuffed squash with a lovely fried squash blossom. Very good.
A tamale is hidden under all that garnish I believe.
Even their palate cleanser was delicious. Ginger Peach and so creamy!

Another batch of entrees! This was a lovely roulade that Angel didnt share more than a single bite with me.

I know this was fantastic but the name of it escapes me. This was similar in flavor base to the black bean torte appetizer. The sauce underneath was divine.

Dessert was amazing but honestly we barely had any room for much. Luckily it was all mini sized!

My favorite of everything on this plate? The lone lemon poppy seed cookie hiding under a single blueberry. So crisp, buttery and flavorful! This makes me so hungry.

Summer trip - Meal 1 at Herbivore

In June my daughter and I went on a trip. We started in California in the small mountain town I grew up in. After a wonderful week with my Mom & Dad we then drove the three plus hours to San Francisco.

Our first dining experience? Herbivore for Sunday brunch!

We started by trying out their donuts. They were good. Sweet, delicate but cakey. I am not a cakey kind of donuts girl. Overall though, they were good.

We also ordered the veggie scramble with mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes. Oh so very very very good. I loved this beyond measure. The potatoes were divine, the tofu was fantastic and the bread delicious.
We also ordered French Toast with one slice of wheat and one of sourdough. Both fantastic. Angel preferred the Wheat but honestly both were amazing. Both tasted slightly of caramel in their lightly crisp battered state.
Finally the strawberry shake. This was like strawberries made into cotton candy form and then into a drink. Light frothy and oh so tasty.
This was just our first meal in San Francisco! More pictures to come.