Mac and Yease

Another Macaroni and Cheese. Yup.

What can I say? I don't necessarily miss cheese but there is the comfort that comes with pasta and a cheese sauce that can never be matched. This is an awesome recipe that also has a kick of spice to it from a restaurant in Seattle called "Plum". While it's not my nature to share the recipe here, as I like peeps to go out and buy these books and experiment... it's already posted on someone else's blog so I will share the link! This texture is the closest I have come yet to actual mac and cheese. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you.... "Mac & Yease".... make it! Enjoy!!

http://rootielicious.com/?tag=mac-yease

Remember, it has some kick to it!

Fried Chicken Sandwich with Bacon, Ranch & Pepper Jack Cheese on Ciabatta

Fried Chicken Sandwich with Bacon, Ranch & Pepper Jack Cheese on Ciabatta

This is my second attempt at this sandwich and I do declare this attempt was much better than the first. I took the Seitan recipe from my very first Vegan Cookbook "Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food" by Atlanta's Alicia C. Simpson. MmmmmmMMMM. I have made so many recipes from this book that all the pages are spattered with food, gross, I know. But it means the book is good! I made the seitan and then breaded it with the breading recipe from this book. The ranch dressing is a combination of a sour cream recipe from "Vegan on the Cheap" (mention in a post earlier) and ingredients from this book, the Vegan Comfort Food book's ranch dressing recipe. I put this baked Seitan on some fresh Ciabatta bread and topped it with some Lightlife brand Smart Bacon and Daiya brand  

 Pepper Jack Shredded Cheese.

It was like junk food without the junk...mostly! Try it!

You can get this book on Amazon.com here:

http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Vegan-Comfort-Food/dp/1615190058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360977138&sr=8-1&keywords=quick+and+easy+vegan+comfort+food 

Orzo with Mushrooms, Sun Dried Tomatoes & Basil

This dish is awesome and super easy to make. The flavors create an earthy dish, you can find all the ingredients at your local supermarket...why? Because it comes from a handy cookbook called "Supermarket Vegan" by Donna Klein. This is another cookbook I have had for a few years but am just getting around to going through, I am excited to try something else from it after this dish. I know we can't all get to a health food store or Whole Foods all the time, and this cookbook offers up the solution to that while staying on the Vegan path. 

Buy the book here:

http://www.amazon.com/Supermarket-Vegan-Meat-Free-Egg-Free-Dairy-Free/dp/0399535616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360779657&sr=8-1&keywords=supermarket+vegan

Vegan Nacho Supreme

Made some nacho's tonight, I had a hankerin'...

I used Garden of Eaten Blue Corn Tortilla chips topped with 

Vegan Chili

Vegan Daiya brand Pepper Jack Cheese

Jalapeno

Black Olives

 Vegan Sour Cream from the cookbook in my last post 

"Vegan on the Cheap" by Robin Robertson

D'lish.

Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson

Hiya!
I have had this cookbook for a few years and just hadn't made my way to thumbing through it to actually make something from it. Last night was the night! And it was all soy delicious.

My dear friend Kelly was coming over before we were going to a concert and she has been going through some hard times, I wanted to create a comfort dish. This book offered me a recipe for "comfort loaf" .... score.

We had Comfort Loaf with Creamy Mushroom Gravy along with some mashed taters and green beans drizzled with garlic vegan butter. Delicious!

Dessert, of course. We had an excellent Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake. I was worried when putting this cupcake together as it seemed it would not be moist and the frosting would just be a sticky mess. End result, yes...not the moistest cake experience, but still delicious. The frosting was not insanely fluffy but I liked that the recipe wasn't a ton of confectioners sugar, so it evened out for me and the cupcake was delicious.

From this cookbook you can get the recipe's for the Comfort Loaf, Creamy Mushroom Gravy and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes. I'm certain to return to this book, I'm only so sad it took me this long to dive in!

Here is the amazon link for this book, at $9.99 it's a steal!
http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Cheap-Recipes-Simple-Strategies/dp/0470472243/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360693876&sr=8-1&keywords=vegan+on+the+cheap

The Grey Dog in NYC

My friend Niki was in town visiting me from Chicago this last week. We had lunch at "The Grey Dog", at the Chelsea location.

As a vegan I always get the questions about wether or not I can eat at certain places. I never make dining out an issue. I feel so awful when someone I am about to eat out with does, at every turn they are like "oh, you can't eat there". More often than not there is at least ONE thing on any menu I can enjoy. Actually, being a vegan has made eating out much easier than it used to be, now, at a non vegan establishment I am faced with usually only a few items to choose from, and I honestly love that.

While looking at the menu at "The Grey Dog" I was a little overwhelmed and concerned there actually wasn't anything on it besides the fresh fruit that I could enjoy! Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of choices with which I could make special request to make the item vegan but I felt the items on this menu were so specifically crafted, I hated to ask to have anything too specially made.

When my turn came to order I asked the friendly employee at the counter for Vegan advice. She suggested #10, The Hummus with Swiss, Avocado, Plum Tomato, Pepperoncini & Lettuce on Toast...hold the swiss. Heaven! I had overlooked it and was very pleased with the suggestion. Next she asked me what kind of bread I would like, this posed yet another dilemma...they had at least 8 breads to choose from! She was on it before I asked with recipe cards in hand finding out what breads they had without egg in the ingredients....Rye it was.

http://www.thegreydog.com/

I highly recommend this place to anyone who just plane and simple loves food, vegan or not! This was the second time I visited and each experience was a wonderful one. Thank you to my friend Kelly for introducing me to it!

Raw/Vegan Foodie's Party

Once a month I gather with like minded folk and we each make a vegan or raw dish. Each time is like Thanksgiving for me! I love it so much. There are always new people and everyone is always so excited to eat what others have made and share their own creations.

For the gathering in January I went all raw and made a Raw Pizza and Raw Carrot Cake.

BOTH....truly amazing.

If you are expecting "pizza", crust wise this won't be your thing. But the taste of the marinara and cheese is all there on a very healthy and protein packed crust made of nuts and seeds. One slice is very filling.

The carrot cake was the bomb! Again, this was all raw and one of the things I'm getting used to is the difference in texture. I made it in two layers as it is pictured here. I doubled the batch of frosting to make sure I would have enough for two layers, this left me with a little frosting left over that my friend Rachel used for her vegan/gluten free donuts. The base of the frosting is cashews, so delicious!

Just a note the the pizza crust will require a dehydrator.

Both recipe's were found in the queen of raw cooking's cookbook "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen" by Ani Phyo. I bought mine on amazon... here is the link to the book:

ttp://www.amazon.com/Anis-Raw-Food-Kitchen-Delectable/dp/1600940005/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1360285523&sr=8-5&keywords=ani+phyo