My daughter cooked!

Last Friday I asked Angel what she wanted for dinner early in the morning, before I left for work. In her cranky, sleepy teenage drawl she replied "Spaghetti". So I picked up all the fixings after work and we cooked!

She diced onion, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash and tomatoes. Plus she sauted them quite well, though she stirs things a bit much for my taste, but thats all practice! We did cheat and use a jar of sauce but she added herbs of her choice, basil, oregano and lots of garlic! The pasta turned out just fine even if I insisted on being the one to drain it.

I was pretty proud of here and I could tell, she was proud of herself!

Its funny but my mom started teaching me how to cook when I was very young. And I tried to encourage Angel to learn, but this time, I think it made an impression. How often do you get to encourage a 15 year old to cook an entire dinner?! And they do so happily? That was the best part.

Earlier in the week we tossed dinner together and did some baking for a Relay for Life bake sale at my work. First we made dinner, I made Chickpea Mushroom Noodle Casserole and she made roasted cauliflower. She picked out the spices for the cauliflower and enjoyed sprinkling on salt, pepper, garlic and 1 teaspoon Spanish Smoked Paprika. At the end of 30 minutes the cauliflower was fantastic. Sharp, pungent and a perfect veggie to serve alongside the casserole. It had the lovely hint of smoke and the faint bite of heat.

After dinner we baked up mini loaves of Banana Bread, Mini Chocolate Mousse Pies and Orange Creamcicle cupcakes. Angel did make chocolate soup that was supposed to be a boxed brownie mix, but measuring seemed to elude her. Unfortunately that had to do down the drain. But everything else was lovely. The bake sale raised over $500 from everyone's contributions! Plus I got to eat some VCTOTW Cookies & Cream Cupcakes made by a coworker! YUMMY.

This week's menu is far from complete but so far we have a large salad planned for tonight, to beat the 90+ heat. Stirfry using the leftover veggies from the salad on Tuesday and Wednesday I plan on making some delish Indian food; Mushroom Curry and then my awesome Chickpea recipe. After that, who knows!

As the move draws closer and closer my condo gets more and more boxed up and I fear cooking will become challenging. Luckily its just across town and I should be able to move the kitchen as is almost without much strife and hopefully in one day.

Pictures from the long silences

Here I sit, after a good long absence, thinking I would wow my minuscule fan base with two dozen pics of everything I have made. Wouldn't you guess, I took a whole 4 notable pics all month. *sigh*

So let me apologize and say, this will happen again. But I hope to have a much better photo spread next time! ;)

Arroz con Seitan made with mild chik'n flavored seitan of greatness.


My Sweet Vegan French toast with a blood orange slice or two. Good stuff!

Peach muffin. So good, was moist, light and gooey. Perfect lightly warmed.

Chickpea's over Basmatti rice. This recipe is from my awesome coworker friend Andal. She makes this recipe for her family regularly and shared the secret with me. Personally, I think its awesome with cauliflower mingling its mild flavor amongst the savory Garam Masala, coriander and cumin. I will share the recipe at a later time when I make it from it exactly as she wrote it or I note my changes. I love Indian food.

Today I did go to an awesome vegan Potluck. It was so good. I am still stuffed beyond full from the huge array of awesome eats; appetizers, salad w/homemade dressing, casserole, pizza and of course more desserts than the table could hold. Yum!

Seitan Snausage and two homemade cheezes! Very yummy.


This awesome confetti salad was A-MAZING! I must get the recipe and make it frequently.

Caesar salad dressing over yummy romaine. That dressing was unbelievably good and superb on pizza!

A lovely garlicky bean dip with a zip of lime in it. So yummy.

Requisite spinach dip and crudities. So good though. Those raw green beans were fabulous, just like the dip!

Artichoke spinach dip! With pita chips!

mmmm Pizza!

Tortilla Casserole.


And finally, dessert! Sexy Low Fat Lemon cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream, Green Tea cupcakes w/ green tea icing, Soy Delicious Ice Creams and Chocolate Mousse.

Week of the Casserole

When I planned my menu for the week I went with warm, quick and comforting. Hence we have almost an entire week full of casseroles. Tonights dinner is the ever wonderful Chickpea Mushroom Casserole. Its rich, creamy, satisfying and will become a staple in your line up. I promise!

I should have added some peas and carrots but this was fabulous just basic. I even saved time by sauteing the mushrooms on Sunday. It should be entirely possible to make the creamy mushroom chickpea roux and save it for another day when you are pressed for time. Now all I need to do is learn how to make my own fried onions and not burn my mouth as I scarf this down!

Recipe Reviews: Gumbo & Pie

Since the awesome trip to Boston's Veg Food Fest netted me three cookbooks, I decided to plan this weeks menu around some of the new recipes I have in my hands.

First on Monday I opened my Little Vegan Monsters cookbook and decided the Mexican Pie sounded awesome. I followed the recipe as close as possible for me, which is never exactly. The recipe asked me to sauté about 12 ingredients including tofu. Rather than put it all together I added the oil, onions and tofu and let it sauté until the tofu was reasonably dry. Once it seemed slightly firm, about 15 minutes, I added everything else and sautéed more. The dough was lovely though I did diverge and use a wheat flour. Once everything was ready I assembled the 'pie'.

Needless to say that once I poured the entire filling into my largest casserole dish I did not have much room for the topping. Rather than simply use less topping I scooped half of the filling and put it in a separate casserole dish. I divided the topping equally and plopped it all in the oven as directed. This turned out satisfying, savory and tasting like tamales but without the work of stuffing corn husks! This hearty 'pie' had all the traditional (to me) Mexican flavors. Creamy Pinto beans, crisp corn kernels, sharply biting cilantro all married to a lush savory cornbread fit for a king. Next time my goal is to use the large casserole but make mini muffins from the excess topping.

Unfortunately my pictures were a horrible blurry mess and I did not want to disgrace this awesome recipe with poor pics, so you only have my word. I am not sure what I will try next but this cookbook is simple, easy to use and the first test pulled out a hearty B+ with a definite need to repeat this one.


On Thursday night I tried out Veganomicon's Smoky Pepper & Bean Gumbo shown above. This was amazing. Seriously smoky, savory and oh so filling. I followed the recipe exactly as directed and only had to leave two items out, as somehow my fridge was mysteriously out of beer! That was a tragedy.

The steps were simple, completely explained and even times given on how long to let the roux simmer and the onions & peppers sauté. I followed that exactly and it turned out beautiful. The flavors have that fire roasted flavor but the kidney beans impart a lush creamy mouth feel. Even the okra was perfect with its subtle green flavor and softness to the tooth. I did serve this with Jasmine rice dollop. It added a smooth base for the tomatoes and peppers to shine from.

I will be making this again and it rates an excited A for making me stuffed beyond belief with just that bowl. Winter is coming! Get your soup bowls ready!