Deviating from my menu...but making lots of yummy things in the process!

I had several tomatoes that were asking to be used and a couple of fresh jalepenos from my garden looking perfectly green and ripe so I decided it was definitely time to make some salsa! I also whipped up a few tortilla chips to pair the salsa with as a somewhat healthy snack. When we lived in Africa, this was a popular appetizer that my mom was known for within our missionary community. And I never doubted why!!

Fresh Salsa
5 medium tomatoes,cored and chopped
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 t sea salt
juice of 2 limes
1/2 T dried minced onions
3/4 t garlic powder
1 large or 2 small jalepenos (seed them if you want a milder salsa; leave the seeds in for a spicier version)
Serve with tortilla chips - I brushed flour tortillas with canola oil and cut into wedges. Then baked them at 400 degrees for about 4 min per side.




I have always heard that tempeh is an acquired taste and that seitan is not so much - I have found this to perhaps not be the case for us. I think tempeh has a very mild taste and seitan is harder to get used to! Nonetheless, these Baja Style Tacos were really yummy - full of flavor and topped with a very tasty slaw and lime crema.


With only a little time and after a very busy day, I tried to think of something that would require little prep, work or cleanup and decided to make yet another batch of veggie rolls. I actually used spring roll wrappers this time and really liked them. I made them up and didn't cook them right away so some of the juices seaped out, making them a bit fall-apart prone when I cooked them. So, in the future, I would cook them immediately and not let them sit. The filling was quite yummy and the wrappers worked nicely. Since I have not been able to find egg roll wrappers without eggs in them (only won ton wrappers which are small and require you to make a ton for a meal!), these were a good stand-in and were speedier to use since they are much bigger than won ton wrappers.

Easy Spring Rolls
5 cups shredded veggies (these are very versatile in that you can use any veggies you like - I used a mixture of cabbage, carrots, cauliflower,and green onions)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T sesame oil
1 T olive oil
2 T cider vinegar
3 T soy sauce
1 1/2 t sugar
3 T sriracha sauce
Spring roll wrappers

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add veggies and garlic and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook an additional 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Place spring roll wrapper in front of you in a diamond shape. Fill spring roll wrappers with 2-3 T filling. Fold bottom point up and over filling. Fold side points over bottom point and continue rolling until closed. Place a coating of canola oil in frying pan and heat. Fry spring rolls until crisped and golden on all sides - about 5-7 min total. Serve with sweet and sour sauce.

My sweet and sour sauce is a sauce recipe my family uses for chicken. It's called Canton Chicken and for years has been a favorite for us. Now that we are eating a vegan diet, I don't make it anymore. However, a while back I decided the sauce would make a fabulous sweet and sour sauce in addition to the fact that I think bottled sweet and sour sauce is sadly lacking and pricey to boot! Enjoy this tangy sauce on egg rolls, spring rolls, rice etc. My 4 yr old loves to dip his broccoli in it! I always make a double batch to have extra on hand.

Jackson Family Sweet and Sour Sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 t soy sauce
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 t salt
3 T ketchup
2 T cornstarch mixed with 3 T water to form a smooth liquidy paste.
Wisk ingredients together (except cornstarch/water mixture) in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Add cornstarch mixture and wisk until smooth and thick.

Breakfast Sandwiches - kinda tasty and good change of pace...but prob wouldn't make again!

Tried the Vegan Yum Yum recipe for Breakfast Sandwiches - pairing biscuits (that were quite tasty) with maple glazed tofu slabs and tofu "egg" patties. The flavor was pretty nice but the consistency of the "eggs" wasn't real great - a bit too mushy for our tastes. I have also discovered that though I have enjoyed a couple of recent tofu recipes, I can only take tofu in small batches. So, making tofu 2 days in a row is a bit much for me. However, it was a nice change from my usual breakfast staples and Braedon quite enjoyed it! Keith wasn't much of a fan of the tofu though he did try each component. He is doing great at trying new things (even if he doesn't like them!).

Sesame Ginger Dumplings

Veggie Dumplings - turned out pretty yummy! I loved the author's idea to steam the dumplings on a bed of cabbage leaves - worked beautifully! These call for seitan which I left out since I knew the seasoning wouldn't be strong enough for our seitan-liking. I also added some regular green cabbage, green onions, and carrots to the mixture. Then I doubled the sauce since I added so many veggies (thre recipe below reflects the single recipe amounts). I wasn't all that fond of the dipping sauce but they were still really yum!
Sesame Ginger Dumplings
2 1/2 cups shredded Napa cabbage (I prob used about 1 1/2 cups Napa and another 1 cup of regular green cabbage)
1 cup shredded carrots (my addition)
1/2 cup sliced green onions (my addition - next time I would add a lot more of these)
1 t mirin
1 t soy sauce
1 t toasted sesame oil
1 t fresh grated ginger
1 package dumpling skins (I used won ton wrappers since that is what I had on hand)

The instructions in the book are long and I like to abbreviate if possible so I will write what I did to simplify.
Heat large skillet over medium heat and add about 1 T oil. Add green onions and saute for 3-4 min (I can't eat raw onions so I always cook them even if a recipe calls for raw). Add remaining veggies and ginger and stir-fry until veggies begin to soften - about 5 min. Add remaining ingredients (except dumpling skins) and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat. Take one dumpling skin at a time and fill with about 1 T veg mixture. Fold to create triangle and moisten edges with water before pressing to seal edges. Repeat until all dumplings are made. Place steamer over med-high heat. Line steamer with cabbage leaves and spray leaves with cooking spray. Steam dumplings for about 5-6 min or until skins are translucent. Steam in batches if necessary. Serve.

Tofu has redeemed itself!

This caesar salad was fantastic! I made my own croutons and sliced organic romaine and tossed it with this yummy and very simple dressing. I topped it off with a sprinkle of seaweed gomasio. A make again for sure!!


I have not been a big fan of tofu in the past but I am determined to find some ways I like it prepared since it is healthy and cheap. I have finally found a couple things that it turned out perfectly in! These burritos were really tasty - a combo of bbq beans (really simple and very flavorful sauce) and pan-fried tofu. I used locally made zesty pepper Nigari tofu. I sliced the tofu thin and crisped it. Though it didn't add a lot of taste, it added just enough spiciness and a wonderful chewy texture. We topped the burritos off with a dollop of Tofutti sour cream. Yum!

Now - you can't go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate so this was an amazing dessert! Silken tofu was the base for the peanut butter filling. I made a regular graham cracker crust instead of a prepared chocolate one. I took a pic before I topped it with the chocolate because it looked so nice. Once I topped it with the chocolate, it looked kinda ugly. Oh well - at least it tastes fabulous!! Recipes to come...

Smoky Joes

So, I am not overly fond of sloppy joes - if they are cooked just right and don't make the bread soggy, I enjoy them. When I came across this recipe, it looked tasty so thought I would give it a go. Very tasty! The picture is quite dreadful but I forgot to take a pic before we ate so that's what I got! The sauce was thick enough that it didn't make the toasted buns soggy. I also pulsed the seitan in the food processor to resemble the consistency of ground beef. This worked beautifully. This is my favorite seitan recipe so far. The seitan didn't have any bready or weird taste and it took on the flavor of the sauce perfectly. This was the seitan I made and froze a couple weeks ago. Recipe called for green pepper but again, my hubby's not a fan of those so I left them out.
Smoky Joes (Source: Vegan on the Cheap)
8 oz seitan, finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T tomato paste (I subbed A1 sauce as I was out of tomato paste and I saw this used as a substitution in another recipe)
1/4 cup water
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped
1 t brown mustard
1 T chili powder
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 t liquid smoke
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
4 burger rolls, toasted
In a large saucepan, heat oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook until tender, about 10 min. Add the seitan and brown. Stir in remaining ingredients and turn heat to low. Simmer 10 min to allow flavors to blend. Serve on toasted buns.

Savory Vegetable Cobbler

This was a really yummy all-in-one meal. The sauce was really flavorful, it was full of veggies and was topped with delicious biscuits. A definite keeper and also one to use for colder weather - comfort food for sure!
Savory Vegetable Cobbler (Source: Vegan on the Cheap)- the recipe called for seitan and celery but since my hubby doesn't like celery and I only like seitan if it is seasoned distinctly, I decided to leave it out. This sauce was a bit too mellow to use seitan in my opinion.
Filling
8 oz green beans, trimmed and cut in small pieces
2 T olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large white potato, peeled and chopped (I used 2)
2 T fresh chopped parsley
1 t dried thyme
1/2 t dried sage (I used 1/2 T fresh from my mom's garden)
1/2 t dried marjoram
1/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 cup thawed frozen corn kernals
1 cup thawed frozen peas

Sauce
3 T vegan margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock (I used faux chicken)
2 T soy sauce
1 cup plain unsweetened soy milk

Topping
2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 T vegan margarine
1 cup plain unsweetened soy milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. For the filling, team the green beans and set aside. In a large skillet, heat the oil and add the onions, carrots, potatoes and cook until veggies are tender - about 7 min. Stir in the spices and cook for 3-5 min. Stir in the green beans, corn and peas. For the sauce, melt margarine in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Slowly stir in the stock, soy sauce, and soy milk. Stir until sauce thickens - about 7 min. Add sauce to filling mixture. To make the topping, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut in the margarine until coarse crumbs form. Add the soy milk until thick dough forms. Pour veggie mixture into prepared pan. Top with spoonfuls of topping. Bake for about 30 min or until topping is browned.

Hubby's home from Haiti!

Yay - my long lost husband is home!! He is longing for fruits and veggies and homecooked meals! I have promised lots of vegan deliciousness immediately! So excited to be back to my cooking adventures - having leftovers this past week has been fabulous but I have missed my culinary ventures a TON! Many new recipes to come :-)

Chocolate-Oat Bars (Source: Accidental Vegan)
1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup canola oil
1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup unsweetened creamy peanut butter
(The recipe called for 3/4 cup vegan margarine but Earth Balance is pricey and if used in baking, seems to disappear too quickly for my liking! So, I decided to try using canola. However, I thought peanut butter would be a tasty addition to this recipe and thus decided to add some as another butter substitute. Great results!)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup unbleached flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 t fine sea salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 cup rolled oats
10 oz vegan chocolate chips.
Combine all ingredients except oats and choc chips until smooth. Add oats. Spread 2/3 cup mixture into 8x8 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle choc chips over bars. Spread with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over chocolate chips and bake an additional 15-20 min. Let cool and cut into bars.

Asian Soup (Source: Vegan on the Cheap - I made a ton of adaptations to this recipe like adding extra veggies and increasing the sriracha for a bit of spice. In the future, I would also leave out the vinegar)
1 T oil
5 green onions, chopped
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 minced garlic cloves
5 cups vegetable broth
1 T sriracha sauce
2 T hoisin sauce
2 T rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 8 oz package white mushrooms, sliced
8 oz cooked chow mein or other long noodles
1 small can water chestnuts
1 small can bamboo shoots

In a large pot, saute the garlic, onion, and ginger in oil for about 2-3 min. Add the broth and the next 4 ingredients (through mushrooms) stirring after each addition. Simmer 5-10 min. Add remaining ingredients. Serve.


This meal wasn't quite as good as I was hoping but it was still pretty yum. The scallion flatbreads were really a pain - my mom helped a ton with these (she did all the rolling out which was really time consuming) and they were yummy but not worth the work. The soup was pretty good but I think it would have been better without the addition of the vinegar at the end. The dessert I made was super fabulous! My parents were here visiting which is why I got to have the treat of cooking a fun meal (instead of leftovers!!). I am not going to post the scallion flatbread recipe as the recipe is hugely long and they were more trouble than they were worth. The original recipe can be found in Veganomicon. NOTE:I had leftover soup for dinner tonight and it was very yummy a few days after the day I made it! Keith asked to try it too and loved it. So, I would say this was a "make again" recipe!

Also made a tasty Asian slaw but didn't get a picture.

Asian Slaw (Source: Adaptable Feast)
1 lb napa cabbage
1 shredded carrot
1/2 t salt
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 t celery seeds

Toss cabbage and carrots together and set aside. In a small saucepan, combine remaining ingredients and heat until sugar dissolves. Pour over cabbage mixture. Let sit for 15-30 min. Serve.

Hurry Up Alfredo With Broccoli

I must admit I was a bit unsure about this recipe. Though it looked really good, I was just skeptical it would be as good as I hoped. And alas, it was fabulous! The sauce is very creamy and flavorful. The soy milk didn't give it a weird tast (that I sometimes think soy milk gives) and the nutritional yeast (which I think is an acquired taste) added a wonderfully cheesy/salty flavor. Truly yummy!

Hurry Up Alfredo With Broccoli (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)
1 cup soy milk
1/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews (I had cashew cream on hand so I just used 1/3 cup of that)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 T soy sauce
2 T Earth Balance
1 T tahini
1 T lemon juice
2 t Dijon mustard
1/2 t paprika
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch salt
black pepper, to taste
3 minced garlic cloves
3 cups cooked pasta
2 cups cooked broccoli florets

Mix together soy milk, cashews, yeast, soy sauce, Earth balance, tahini, lemon juice, mustard, paprika, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and garlic in blender and process until smooth. Heat the sauce in saucepan until heated and bubbly. Serve over pasta and broccoli.

Oh hold for a bit...

While Frank is in Haiti, I won't be cooking a whole lot - the fridge is packed with leftovers and I am taking advantage of that!Thought this would be a good time for an update though...
One of my main reasons for starting this veganizing trend in our family was to see if this type of diet might alleviate Frank's frequent migraines. Thankfully, they have subsided considerably! Unfortunately, stress is a MAJOR trigger for him so he got a migraine both Friday and Saturday - both in direct correlation to high levels of stress. It is great news that overall, the vegan lifestyle has greatly diminished his migraines and also that our family has adjusted very well and is actually enjoying the mainly vegan life! I am thrilled and very surprised! I will work on adding some more recipes this week that I still haven't managed to put up!