Vegetarian Pot Pie

Although I am not currently eating vegetarian, when I cook, I prefer to cook vegan.  It's simpler for me, and I don't worry as much about food going bad.  So, if I could cook at home all the time, I would definitely be vegan;  It is just getting to the point of cooking at home all the time.  But that is a post for another time.

Anyhow, it has been some time since I made a pot pie.  The recipes I used were Veggie Pot Pie and Classic Crisco Pie Crust

When the children were little, I used to make pot pie all the time, because I found it was a good way to get them to eat a variety of vegetables, without having to inspect them too closely!  Homemade pot pie is so much better than the store-bought stuff (and I always liked those!) - I can do a double crust the way I prefer.

First, the "innards" of the pie:  The filling turned out quite well.  I used the carrots, potatoes and frozen peas I had on hand, as well as onion. (If it doesn't have onion in it, I don't like it as well!)  Also when served, Brian added some Mrs. Dash to the servings - this was delicious, and did not add any extra sodium.  When I cooked the filling on top of the stove, I did have a little extra liquid, so I added an extra TBSP of cornstarch.  It still looked a bit too "liquid-y" but it turned out perfect! Oh, I did mince up the garlic, but I forgot to add it, and didn't realize this until it was in the oven. It tasted good without it.

Pie crust has always been problematic for me.  I can never quite get the consistency right.  It is either too wet and mushy or too dry.  Tonight, I erred on the dry side, and the raw crust simply did not want to hold together.  I think I need a pastry mixing tool, to do it up right (I seem to have lost mine, so I used a fork).  I will use this recipe again, and see if I can do a better job of the crust next time.

The good news is that Brian and Nicole liked the pot pie, and I have some left over for lunch tomorrow!  It's a win-win!

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.

Mom and Amy do it!

We are having a fabulous ISA CHANDRA MONTH OF FOOD!!!

Saturday, I made the Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese.  Tonight, we made Creamy Potato and Leek Soup AND Roasted Vegetable Romesco Sandwiches.  Man, this stuff tastes so good that it HAS to be fattening just thinking about it.  (Actually not so much, though cashews and almonds make appearances, and I used almond milk in the soup instead of water)  Amy loved the sandwiches, and amazingly enough, there is enough sauce that all we need are veggies and rolls to have this again tomorrow night.  I even have enough soup to take to work, if need be.  For breakfast, I made Chickpea Scramble and roasted potatoes which were delicious.

Fast food - what needs to actually happen

McDonalds is losing money, adding quarter pounders and other new items to try to revive flagging sales.  The thing is, all that stuff is still meat and dairy products deluxe.  Why not introduce some vegan items?  They would be healthier and I bet Mickey D's would see some increase in sales.  Is going cruelty-free so difficult?  Not only are vegetarian/vegan items better for the environment and healthier to eat, they mean less of a demand for products that come from cruelty to animals.

I'm trying to figure out what items would be on the menu at my ideal vegan fast food place.  Definitely a hummus entree, with pita bread chips or slices and veggie slices.  Maybe an offering of baby carrots and hummus.  Some sort of BBQ seitan sandwich, and fries - both potato and sweet potato.  A variety of salads - maybe two salads to start out with, traditional and ...oh, I'm not sure what else.  How about an order of vegan potato salad?  Or vegan tacos and burritos?  I could see a sweet potato and black bean burrito, since those items are inexpensive.  And some kind of veggie/corn salsa/black bean/avocado burrito similar to the veggie cantina burrito Taco Bell carries.  And make sure the burritos are seared on the outside after folded - Taco Bell, Qdoba and Chipotle all do this.  And perhaps a vegan chili bowl.  That would be good.

Just a few thoughts.  Of course, you wouldn't want to try to do too much.

Twice baked potatoes

I used to make my own recipe for these back in my pregan days.  I used copious amounts of sour cream, but pretty much they were like the video in the link below:

Twice Baked Potatoes - Food Wishes

Anyhow, I think I can veganize them as follows:

Bake several russet potatoes at 400ºF for an hour.

Placing them lengthwise, cut about 1/3 of the skin off, and scrape out the the potato from the skin.  Save the cut part, and put it inside the hollowed out larger part.

Mix together the baked potato, some Earth Balance spread, some green onions, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.  When mixed well, add some Daiya cheddar shreds and some vegan sour cream. (The original recipe calls for butter, cheddar cheese and heavy cream)  Mix all this together very well, until it is creamy.  Fill the potato husks so they are heaping with potato filling.

Bake the filled potatoes at 400ºF for 20-30 minutes to brown them.

Eat and enjoy!

Crockpot Black Bean Stew

Brian has a chorus concert tonight, and we very much need dinner to be ready by 5.  Hopefully, that will be the case.  The thing is, the crockpot recipes in the cookbooks cook in under 8 hours.  I have anywhere from 10-13 hours before we eat dinner, so I need something with a longer, not shorter cooking time.

 Soooooo....
This is one I made up all by myself.  Pretty much.  I cut up carrots, celery, and potatoes and put them in the crockpot.  Then I emptied a bag of dried black turtle beans into the pot.  I added ½ tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp cumin and 1 TBSP chili powder to the mix.  My greatest fear with this is that I may have added too many dried beans and not have enough water to cook them completely.  The pot is chock full to the brim.

Shepherd's pie

Amy did a beautiful job layering the mashed potatoes on top of the filling.  And it tasted even better than it looks.

T TBSP flour + 1 TBSP Earth Balance + 2 cups soy milk made the sauce with onions and a bag of frozen vegetables.  Baked for a half hour.

I originally thought I'd make soup for this first day of the MoFo but Brian wanted shepherd's pie, and he gladly boiled up the potatoes to get us started even before I got home from  work.

Amy said, "I think it's very tasty, especially if you add some chili powder and some cheese."  (The cheese she added was Daiya chedder style)  Brian had only one word: "Good."

I guess my behavior speaks for itself - I had three servings of it!

Teens cooking vegan

My son Brian and daughter Amy made a delicious shepherd's pie last night.  A nice touch was the topping of Daiya, which was Brian's idea.  Mmmm.  I would like more of it tonight, but I doubt we have time.  I could eat shepherd's pie just about every night of the week if I had to.  It is so easy to make, I only had to give them minimal instructions (I was ill last night when I arrived home, and still had to take my other teen, Chris, to the pharmacy to pick up some meds).  We have grown used to cooking vegan - to tell you the truth, they don't like overdoing the meat these days, though Brian & Amy still eat it.  Chris has been vegetarian now for, oh, I believe 7 or 8 years.  He still hasn't taken the vegan plunge.  He's very resistant to that.  Oh well, give him time.  I know it took a lot of years for me to take the plunge.

Vegan Colcannon!

I took the recipe in the link and made it my own.   I omitted the leeks (since I didn't have any) and did not use nutmeg.  I used about three TBSP of Earth Balance spread to add some flavor, as well as plenty of salt and pepper.  My kids LOVED it (although they DID add mayonnaise - non-vegan mayonnaise - to the mixture).  I think I will try this again with either leeks or onions.  Oh, and I used Nature's Market Soy Milk, since we don't have the 8th Continent brand here.