Egyptian Khousari

koushari  A very simple, nutritious meal with macaroni, lentils, rice and coriander-flavored tomato sauce.  When I had it at Nile Market, Fredericksburg it was garnished with crispy fried onions.  I used my new Cuisinart Dutch Oven on top of the stove to make the sauce.  I got the macaroni a bit over done, and I thought I'd like a bit more salt, but besides that, it was good.  This recipe is vegan, though I swore when I had it at Nile Market, it tasted cheesy.  There was no cheese in it, but still.  Maybe it was the olive oil in the tomato sauce.

Frying up tofu

I know I am somewhat slow on the draw.  It takes me a while to figure things out.  Yes, I have had to pee on the electric fence and find out for myself (quite a feat for a female, let me tell you).  Anyhow...

I finally figured out the secret to frying up tofu.  You have to heat up the oil completely before adding the tofu.  And that will make the oil splatter - hot oil, mind you.  But I also checked with the young lady who waits tables at my favorite Chinese restaurant ( China Delight, Fredericksburg, VA) and that is the right way to fry up tofu.  You know, I should have just asked.  I will still go there, because some nights I just don't feel like cooking.  Anyhow...

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Cooking for one? Not if I can help it!

I do not like cooking when it is just me at home. I am glad that, at least during the summer, Brian is here.  Amy tends to go out a lot.  Hopefully she will be home tonight to try the vegan lasagna.  Alison is supposed to come by here for some of that, also.  Amy picked her up, so they are together. 

Lasagna with Roasted Cauliflower Ricotta and Spinach

I am back to cooking more at home and trying new recipes.  This one comes from Appetite for Reduction, a cookbook I definitely want to use more often. I did find I didn't quite have enough of the tofu/cauliflower ricotta so I think next time I'll get a larger cauliflower (if possible) and use more than a pound of tofu.  I used fresh spinach.    I can't wait to try this, but I'm trying to hold off until at least one of my kids is home to join me.  The taste?  Maybe a touch bland.  I would prefer some pepper in the tofu/cauliflower ricotta, but that's just me.  It was light, but satisfying to eat.  Brian said he liked it also.

Vegan Fire and Spice

I made the Thai Tofu and the Spicy Peanut Sauce.  YUM.  This was the second time I made this.  I always add extra vegetables.  And there is enough to take to work tomorrow.

Vegan Mac and Cheez

Well, I had some leftover greens and wanted some ersatz comfort food.  SO... I made Mac & Shews .  Secret ingredient is sauerkraut.  I never thought I would find any use for that strange food item, but this smells delicious baking in the oven, and I invited Chris to come and partake.  Hopefully he will stop by.  Anyhow, give it a try.  I made the greens with the same recipe I used Sunday night, and I know they will be delicious.

The only negative I can think of, is, I need a much larger food processor.  Mine is tiny, and the cashews/broth/sauerkraut BARELY fit in my blender.  I don't think I got the sauce as smooth as I would like it to be.  But it did look creamy when I added it to the roux and stirred everything up.  Here's hoping!

Update:  It was nearly perfect!  I would have liked the sauce to be just a bit creamier, but even with the nutritional yeast, it tasted fabulous!

First tries from Sexy Vegan

I may have mentioned that my son Chris gave me The Sexy Vegan Cookbook for Christmas.  We finally got around to making something from it, well sort of.

Here's the finished product (food porn coming up!)

Chris helped me with the entire dinner from start of the seitan to the finishing touches on the greens.  We used the Simmered Seitan from Isa Does It, the breading recipe Colonel Schmolonel from The Sexy Vegan Cookbook, the Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from Vegan With A Vengeance, a mashed potato recipe similar to that in The Sexy Vegan Cookbook and the greens recipe from The Sexy Vegan Cookbook.  The food was as delicious as it looks in the picture, perhaps more.  Amy thought I put too much salt in the greens, so I'll back off of that a little next time.  But I do like the touch of putting some red pepper flakes in the greens.  The greens had just a hint of spiciness and were cooked perfectly, not too wilted.  Chris really got into using the mixer to make the mashed potatoes.  They turned out really well. (I didn 't use the amounts in the cookbook, just the basic ingredients; after all, I've made these before.)  The Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy has become a favorite of mine, though I'm always having to leave one or two ingredients out because, well, I forget to get stuff at the store.  Next weekend will herald a MAJOR grocery shopping day.  Just saying.

Chris wants to do some more cooking, and I for one want to encourage him.  I enjoy his company in the kitchen and I have also told him chicks dig a dude who can cook. (Now to get Marcus to do some vegan cooking... he is going to make Nirvana Enchilada Casserole some time soon, I think.  Shucks that would make enough food to feed one person for a week.  Of course, on the day of the Chargers game, we snarfed it all down in no time flat.  But...

I think you could make Fried Seitan out of just about any decent seitan recipe.  But I do want to try the Sexy Vegan seitan recipe some time soon.  Wow.  I am so satisfied by this meal, I decided NOT to bake chocolate chip cookies until another night this week.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup

Amy requested soup for dinner last night.  Of course, I acquiesced, and thus made White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup from Vegan With A Vengeance.  It was a little thin, even with the beans and garlic pureed (using my wonderful  immersion blender Marcus gave me for my birthday), so we added frozen mixed vegetables.  I also made a couple of other changes - I only roasted one head of garlic and not two - I thought two was a bit excessive- and I put in a half teaspoon of white vinegar instead of the lemon juice. (I keep forgetting to buy lemon juice.  I'm not sure why.)  Anyhow, I'm not sure I will make it again, but if I do, I will try two heads of garlic for sure, and of course, the lemon juice. It was quite good.

To go with the soup, I made Irish Soda Bread  from Recipes For A Small Planet-well, a recipe for it, with white whole wheat flour, using molasses  instead of honey and soured soy milk instead of yogurt AND applesauce instead of an egg.  It was rather gooey and had to be spread in the pan, but Amy liked it.  I was pleasantly surprised, because Amy is not one for liking bread all that much. All in all, I would say it was a successful supper, and we will have the leftovers for lunch today!

Seitan and Broccoli with Pantry BBQ Sauce

More goodness from  Isa Does It.  Using the Chicky Seitan recipe, I made about two pounds of seitan, all of which I used in the recipe.  The BBQ sauce is as it says, using all items that are pantry staples.  It really was very simple to rustle up, and the flavor of the seitan was really brought out by the steaming.  My son Chris, who has been vegetarian for nearly 10 years, really liked this, his first time trying seitan.  Amy and I liked it too, and I definitely want to make this again.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls (Bread Machine)

I made these using my breadmaker on the dough setting.

Here is the recipe, altered to make it vegan:

• 1 TBSP ground flax seed + 1 cup water at room temperature (whisk until foamy, then add to bread pan first
• ¼ cup oil (I used vegetable)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3½ cups flour (I used all purpose)
• 1½ tsp active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread maker pan in order presented.  Prepare using your bread maker's dough setting.

Prepare the filling:

• 1/3 cup soft Earth Balance spread
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 TBSP cinnamon

Mix together and let set until dough is finished.

Once the dough is finished, roll out with rolling pin until it is flat, kind of like a square pizza.  USing a flat spatula, spread the filling all over the dough as one would pizza sauce on a pizza.  Then, roll the dough up jelly roll style.  Cut the roll into small cylindrical shapes (a kitchen knife will do fine).  Next, place the cinnamon rolls on one or two flat cookie sheets to prepare for baking.

In a warm place (we heated our oven to 170º then turned it off and placed the pans inside) let the buns rise for about 45 minutes.  Once the buns have finished rising, preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Bake the cinnamon buns for 25-30 minutes.

Prepare the icing:

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 3 TBSP almond milk
• ¼ tsp vanilla

(I doubled the recipe to make more icing)

Once the buns are finished baking, take out of oven, pour icing over them, let cool a bit, then ENJOY!

Update:
Sadly, I think 1TBSP of ground flax seed is way too much.  Also, perhaps one would do better to use bread flour.  And do NOT double the filling.  It melts and ends up really nasty.  I may try this again, but I think I will use applesauce instead of flax seed.  These were positively dreadful.