Cheezeburger Pizza

It was one of those nights where healthy food really sounded boring. I threw this together using things I had on hand and while the ingredients themselves were pretty healthy, combined it completely satisfied the junk craving I was having. I started out by making a cheeze wiz-ish sauce from Jo Stepaniak's The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I stirred for about 15-20 minutes to get it to thicken up a bit.



Meanwhile, I nuked some of Helen's Vegetarian Ground Beef in the microwave to thaw it out. For the pizza crust I used a whole wheat wrap. I spread it with the cheese sauce followed by the veg. ground beef, some onion slices and pickles, and then I squirted ketchup, mustard, and dollops of relish on top. I put this on my pizza stone at 375 for about 8 minutes until the crust had hardened up.



This was really fun to eat. We had to rip pieces off to eat it which was kind of inconvenient, but it was also entertaining for some reason. I loved this dinner! It came together so quickly and felt like real junk food :)

Peach Bars

I really love the collection of vegan cookbooks I have going on. The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes has some really great recipes in it and so far I have loved everything that I have made! I took the recipe for Apricot Bars and adapted it to Peach Bars. I think the peach jam I used definitely was sweeter than intended for the recipe, but I liked it a lot. When treats are very sweet it almost makes you more satisfied with one instead of wanting to go back for more. That's not necessarily a bad thing!

Peach Bars

1 earth balance baking stick, softened [1/2 cup]

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons earth balance, cut into small cubes and chilled in the fridge

1 1/2 cups (more or less) peach jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8x8 pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together earth balance and sugar. In a small bowl, mix flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in batches to make a stiff dough. Spread in the bottom of the pan and poke with a fork several times. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together flour and sugar for topping. Add in the chilled earth balance with a pastry cutter until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Keep topping in fridge until using.

After base has baked, spread jam across the top and sprinkle the topping on. [I found that at least 1 1/2 cups was necessary for the jam layer to cover the top - use more or less as you prefer.]

Bake 20-25 minutes, until topping is browned. Let cool on a rack for 30 mins before cutting.

Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers

I made SusanV's Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers a while back and I froze a bunch of them to keep in my freezer. I love that they are lower calorie on those days where I maybe indulged a little bit too much earlier in the day. I have just been defrosting them in the microwave for about a minute, then nuking until warm, and slapping it between a TJ's sandwich thin. It's so PINK - it looks so unlike any other veggie burger I've had.

I had mine with veganaise, ketchup, mustard, romaine, tomato slice, and tofutti cheese. Pickles too.. (they went first!)

Skillet Lasagna [Veganized]

So far, I've had so much fun trying out vegan recipes. I have started to feel much more comfortable coming up with my own stuff! I have veganized a few recipes that I had bookmarked on here. This is the first of them.

Ashley's post on Skillet Lasagna sounded awesome as soon as I saw it. I always have leftover lasagna noodles for some reason after I make lasagna - I feel like I might be doing it wrong because I would think these boxes would be compatible with most lasagna recipes. No? Maybe in a perfect world right?

I wanted to use fresh basil in this recipe but unfortunately I seem to have executed my --sorry excuse for an-- herb garden. Fresh basil would have been so much better than dried here. Next time for sure!

Skillet Lasagna

Adapted from Ashley, taken from Cooks Illustrated

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 lb vegetarian ground beef

8 ounces curly-edged whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch lengths

1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce

1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella shreds

8 ounces tofu ricotta

1/4 cup minced fresh basil [I used a few sprinkles of dried basil]

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, red pepper flakes and garlic, and cook until softened.

Layer the vegetarian ground beef, broken noodle pieces, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in that order. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup Daiya shreds. Dot heaping tablespoons of the tofu ricotta over the noodles. Cover the skillet and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the basil and serve with a huge green salad.

So, so, so good. :)

Appley Earthy Oatmeal Bars

I was flipping through my copy of The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes looking for something to make that I had all the ingredients for already. I found "Oatmeal Earth Bars" and figured that I could easily swap out a couple of the add-ins for things I already had, and I came up with this glorious, amazing, delicioussssss breakfasty dessert. I changed it quite a bit, so I'll probably have to make the recipe as written and see how similar they are!



Appley Earthy Oatmeal Bars (makes 9)

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash cloves
3/4 cup sugar
3 T egg replacer + 9 T water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
(almost) 1 cup cooked old-fashioned oats [I aimed for a cup (cooked) and came up short - didn't seem to affect it though!]
1/2 cup chopped dried apple [I used Trader Joe's dried granny smiths]
1/2 cup chopped walnut halves

Preheat oven to 350 - line 8x8 square pan with nonstick foil.
Combine flour baking powder salt and spices in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl whisk egg replacer and water. Add sugar and mix until combined. Whisk in oil, then add cooked oatmeal and mix. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined and then fold in dried apples and nuts.
Spread batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes (toothpick test was at 40 exactly). Cool in pan on a rack before cutting.

Rustic Kale and White Bean Soup

Rustic Kale and White Bean Soup

I made this soup to go into the bread bowls this past weekend. I loved this recipe, it was so simple, and it has so many fresh ingredients. I found it over at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Sadly I scarfed it down immediately once I finished making it, so this is a shot of my leftovers. I loaded this bowl up with nutritional yeast and parsley!

Ingredients

1 bunch red kale (or use any other green available)
1 large onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 15-ounce cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
4 cups water
pinch red pepper flakes

Prepare the kale by removing the thick parts of the center rib and discarding them. Slice the leaves thinly. Measure out 4 cups of kale for the soup; save the rest for another use.

Mist a large, non-stick pot lightly with olive oil. Sauté the onion and celery until the onion begins to brown. Add the garlic, and sauté for another minute. Add all the remaining ingredients, and allow the soup to simmer, adding extra water as needed, until the kale is tender, about 30-60 minutes, depending on the kale. Taste the soup and add more basil, if necessary.

Serve the soup, stirring a few drops of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of vegan parmesan into each bowl, if desired. Makes about 6 servings.

YUM :)

Bread Bowls

Last night, I decided to try and make some bread bowls for my mom's family dinner (tonight). I had some irrational confidence that I would be able to just pull it off first try. Not so! The recipes instructed me to separate the dough into x number of pieces and form balls from each. I don't know if the dough just didn't rise high enough or if I have a grossly exaggerated idea of what a bread bowl should look like thanks to our country's portion size problem, but I have no idea how a main course soup is going to fit into one of these bad boys.

Either way, I tasted two of the three recipes I attempted and they are GOOD!


#1

Dark Rye Bread adapted from knowell, who submitted at Allrecipes
(pictured above - the darker ones)

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups water
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rye flour
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 (heaping) teaspoon caraway seed
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

I put it into my breadmaker in this order and set it for the dough cycle.
When it beeped, I took the dough out and separated it into five sections and created the dough balls from there. I covered them and let them rise for an hour, then baked them at 375 for about 20 minutes (just kept an eye on them). This rye bread recipe is perfect. I've been looking for one just like this for a while!



#2

Bread Bowls adapted from King Arthur Flour (I used my new kitchenaid for this one!)

Ingredients:
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup corn meal
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water

Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them together -- by hand, mixer or bread machine -- till you've made a soft, smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Divide the dough into five pieces, and form them into round (not flattened) balls. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover lightly, and set them aside to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours, or until they've almost doubled in size.
Uncover the balls and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes, to develop a tough skin. Just before placing the bread bowls in the oven, mist them heavily with water. Bake the bread bowls in a pre-heated 425°F oven for 18 to 22 minutes, until they're a deep, golden brown. Turn off the oven, prop the door open a little, and leave the bread bowls inside for 15 minutes; this will keep the crust crisp.
Remove the bread bowls from the oven and cool them completely before cutting the tops off and removing the insides; (reserve the insides to make bread crumbs). Yield: 5 large bread bowls.

That last part is a lie. :(


I'll post the third once I taste it later today!