My First Vegan Potluck

Besides feeling a little guilty about Jared being at work while I got to play, today's potluck, my first vegan potluck, was a total blast. I can't even begin to tell you how much food I ate. Actually, I ate a nice amount of "food" but WAY too many desserts. In fact, I think I might be in a slight sugar coma at the moment. I got to meet a lot of cool people including the genius behind Dulce Vegan (who brought one of the best pineapple upside down cakes I have ever had) and a fellow Atlanta blogger, Laura of Eden In The Kitchen.
We had two tables worth of food! There were a couple pasta type dishes, tofu quiche, tempeh, chickpea salad, potato salad and watermelon (just to name a few)! Plus four kinds of cupcakes including pink lemonade (my favorite), root beer, chocolate and chick-o-stick. Leigh from Raspberry Swirl made a Strawberry "cream cheese" pie that rocked my socks off. Everything I ate was spectacular but I have to say the Goddess Pasta Salad Ashley made (out of Yellow Rose Recipes) was my favorite.


This was my first plate of food. Isn't that pink lemonade cupcake the cutest?

I made Mac and Cheeze, which was my version of this recipe that I added a little agave nectar and cayenne pepper to and topped with cracker crumbs with melted Earth Balance. It was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself (can't you tell I'm very modest).

Many thanks to Ashley (Vegan Invasion) and Armando for making today happen! You are the coolest!!! (and the cutest!)

Alright, time for a little nap to shake off this sugar! Wish y'all could have been here today.

Pesto Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Mac & Cheeze Plate

I have been fascinated with bread making ever since I was a kid. Between my Grammie's yeast rolls and biscuits and my Dad's pizza crusts and breads, I have been around good homemade breads my whole life. I mentioned before that my Dad found me a bread machine at a garage sale and I have been a bread machine girl every since. I still love the idea (and practice) of mixing, kneading and forming dough with my own hands, but the bread machine does provide a consistent product. This week I merged the use of my bread machine and my own hands by making a pesto spelt and whole wheat bread. I got the general idea from one of my fellow bloggers, Have Cake, Will Travel! I added both spelt and whole wheat pastry flours with some water, vital wheat gluten, brown sugar, sea salt, pesto and yeast to the bread machine and used the Dough setting. About 2 hours later, after a thorough kneading and long rise, I formed the dough into 4 loaves and baked them in the oven for about 30 minutes until they were golden brown. The bread turned out chewy and full of flavor between the 2 nutty flours and the bright (and mind you, leftover) pesto.
Baking in the oven:

Right out of the oven and cooling:

With steel cut oats becoming a bit boring in the mornings, I decided to make some muffins. With trying to stay in line with my healthier eating, a low fat muffin was in order. So, I turned to the Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide and made the Blueberry Streusel Muffins but cut the oil in the recipe with apple sauce. They did indeed taste healthier, but very delicious nonetheless.

Tonight I made one of my favorite things: Mac and Cheeze! I used quinoa shells instead of a traditional white flour pasta. The quinoa pasta wasn't as good as what my palate is use to but I think over time I will eventually get use to non-white pastas. I used the Soul Veg Mac and Cheeze recipe (the one they use at the ATL restaurants) I found online here, which is very naughty but between portion control and using a healthier pasta, I didn't feel as bad eating it. To go with the Mac and Cheeze I roasted some very sweet (and cheap!) asparagus and made a salad with mixed baby spring mix and cherry tomatoes.

gotta love comfort food and the Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook

Ever since I got my copy of Yellow Rose Recipes on Saturday I have been non-stop in the kitchen. Joanna's cooking style and ingredient lists are very similar to my own recipes, so I was very excited to get my hands on it. This cookbook is a great example of how I would want my own cookbook done: comfortable, healthy (or at least with health in mind) and beautiful!
The first thing I made was the Baked Mac and Cheese (pg. 136) because I am out to find the perfect vegan mac and cheese. This version started like the rest I've tried- cooking the pasta and making a roux with nutritional yeast but something I had never tried was using vegan cheese in a recipe. I have been pretty disappointed with most of the faux cheeses on the market, but so far my favorite cheddar style faux cheese has been the Vegan Cheddar block from Galaxy Nutritional Foods. It still doesn't taste like cow's milk cheese, but it is a nice alternative, especially in this recipe! I did make a couple changes to the recipe because, well, that's what I do. Instead of rice milk, I used soy milk, used crunched up whole wheat crackers on top and I also added ground mustard and onion powder because salt, pepper and nutmeg just didn't give it enough punch. With my adjustments for our taste buds, it is the best mac and cheese I have had being vegan. I had a little mac and cheese with a big salad that had spring mix, tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper, avocado and a homemade sherry vinaigrette.

I also made the Chicken Style Seitan (pg. 128) despite not clearly understanding the cooking directions. I wasn't exactly sure how long I should have boiled the seitan, so I only boiled them for a few minutes and then let it set for about an hour in the hot broth. Whatever I did, it worked. This whole process took a long time for some reason, all the measuring I think . . . but it was still very tasty. I coated a couple pieces in a little all-purpose flour and garlic salt and sprayed a fry pan with olive oil cooking spray and browned these babies up!

The last thing I made out of Yellow Rose Recipes was the Very Berry Muffins (pg. 24), again with a few adjustments. Instead of egg replacer powder (not a big fan) I used ground flax seed and water slurry. I couldn't find any cheap fresh berries at the farmer's market so I used a strawberry, blueberry and blackberry frozen mix and added a little strawberry extract along with the vanilla extract to up the berry punch. The last adjustment I made was that I added a container of strawberry soy yogurt because I like the taste and texture soy yogurt lends to muffins. They turned out very good and made the house smell like sweet berries.

This last picture was from dinner last night. I found a purple cauliflower at the farmer's market that was just screaming out my name. While I don't cook things that scream I ended up roasting this head of cauliflower with just a bit of olive oil cooking spray and salt. I also made garlic herb mashed potatoes that were made with roasted garlic, fresh chives and fresh parsley. The green beans were blanched and then cooked in large fry pan on very high heat with a bit of canola oil until they were a little charred. I added soy sauce, agave nectar, sesame oil and sesame seeds to the green beans at the last minute. This is just a standard veggie plate special at our house, but because the cauliflower was so beautiful, I had to post about it.

cheeze "steak" plate, homemade ice kream

Tonight's meal was really, really great. We picked up three new items this week: "Philly Style" Steak Tofurky Deli Slices, Vegan American Slices and 123'z and Chreese. We were mad impressed with all three products, especially the 123'z and Chreese. We found accidentally vegan "steak" rolls at our supermarket, which was also pretty great. I sautéed a sweet onion in olive oil, sea salt and natural sugar until the onions were caramelized. I added the "steak" slices in with the onions to heat it through. Next I toasted up the rolls and added Vegenaise and Vegan American slices on the rolls. What resulted was a pretty darn close version of a Philly Cheese Steak, minus the green bell peppers since we aren't a huge fan. We had a side of the 123'z and Chreese and steamed broccoli. Well rounded and awesome!

Jared and I got one another this ice kream maker for Christmas and couldn't wait to use it.

So, I made a Maple Brown Sugar Buttery Pecan Ice Kream that had soymilk, soy creamer, arrowroot powder, Earth Balance margarine, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla extract and chopped pecans. So good!
Before the pecans were added and still spinning:

After the pecans were added and still spinning:

Final product:

you gotta try this mac and cheeze

I was scanning through LiveJournal's VEGAN FOOD PICS and came across this beautiful looking mac and cheeze. It almost looked too good to be true so I had to test it out. Oh my god. This seriously was the best vegan mac and cheeze I have yet to try. It had just the right amount of nutritional yeast (meaning, it wasn't over powering) and was super creamy. The recipe can be found here. I used original/plain hemp milk instead of soy milk, shell pasta and added both black pepper and cayenne pepper. I used crushed crackers on top, although I'm sure toasted bread crumbs would be great too.

Cheezy Gemelli Bake

Tonight I made a mac and cheeze dish with gemelli pasta, which are short rods twisted together in a spiral pattern. The cheezy sauce was made from a margarine and flour roux seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, ground mustard and a pinch of turmeric for color. Hemp milk and soy milk were added to the roux and nutritional yeast stirred in at the last minute. I added the cooked gemelli pasta and cheezy sauce together, added to a baking dish coated in margarine and topped with fresh bread crumbs I toasted with olive oil. Since the dish was already cooked, it was just baked off to get a brown top and sides.
So good!
As to not be totally out of control we had a salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, grated carrots, celery and green onions topped with a homemade miso dressing that had miso paste, fresh lemon juice, soy sauce, water, sesame oil, grated ginger as well as black and white toasted sesame seeds.