Snape's Stuffed Toadstools

"Even your slimy gits will love this yummy treat!",  winkingly promises the recipe for Snape's Stuffed Toadstools   Well, we had no slimy gits about to try this out on (the Malfoys of the world are not invited to our Harry Potter Movie Marathon, thank you very much!), but the Hufflepuff sisters certainly enjoyed this tasty treat.

We modified it, of course, using vegan breakfast sausage, vegan Parmesan cheese, with a little olive oil in the pan.  The stuffing mix was really, really good!  We were so happy with it.  Yum!  The mushrooms themselves could have been a bit better--I don't really like EarthBalance with baked mushrooms (sometimes there really is no substitute for butter; I remember some wonderful baked mushrooms we used to make, with delicious melted butter filling the caps-- it was my grandpa's favorite!) but I think next time we would just use a bit more olive oil and maybe a bit of lemon to be sure they are fully coated before we put in the stuffing.

All in all, though, a winner!  Who knew Snape was such a good cook?  Then again, he is used to following (and improving upon) recipes from making all those potions, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised ;->

 

Indian Spiced Peas with Tofu

OMG!!!  Tyler made me an awesome themed dinner tonight.  What a happy treat to come home and enjoy a house smelling of Indian spices.  

He said the main dish was really a thrown-together recipe, as our cupboards are pretty bare. He did one of those "I have X, Y and Z ingredients on hand" recipe searches online and came up with this winner from the Whole Foods website, Indian Spiced Peas with Tofu.

It's served here with the masala dosa from Trader Joe's (soo yummy for an occasional treat!)

Variations Tyler made to the recipe, thanks to our limited stock on hand:
half the onion 
half the peas
tomato sauce instead of the "diced tomatoes with sauce" and veggie broth (with a few grape tomatoes cut up and tossed in)


I really loved this so much that I would probably make it the "Tyler way" next time vs. the regular recipe.  If you like Indian food, do give it a try. He said it was surprisingly
quick and easy to make, too :-)  


Mmm, I'm looking forward to the left-overs for lunch tomorrow!

Disney World Deliciousness

I haven't posted for awhile since I was off enjoying Disney World last week.  I really can't say enough good things about the strides Disney is making to provide vegan guests with good food.  While custom-made vegan food might be expected at the more expensive restaurants, we were treated with a warm welcome and eager-to-please attitude even at the counter-service restaurants.  If vegan fare isn't already on the menu, the chefs will come out to speak with us about our dietary needs (including allergy needs, in my mom's case, gluten-free) and prepare something special for us.  It was wonderful!

As ever, my favorite meal was at Boma Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We had perhaps the sweetest chef in the universe, Chef Brian, who not only walked us through the buffet and tirelessly pointed out what we could enjoy vs. had to stay away from, but he also prepared us special desserts and even made me a few vegan versions of some of the side dishes from the buffet, with quite possibly the most delicious broccoli I have ever tasted: 

I loved the couscous so much, I rather shamelessly asked if there was any more to be had as it was so delicious I could eat it as my dessert.  I think Chef Brian was totally tickled by that and pleased to bring me more.  It wish I could figure out how to recreate it.  It was a sweet couscous with pistachios and almond slivers, and golden raisins.  

I told Chef Brian I would be posting photos of my wonderful meal and sharing them with my vegan friends online.  Thank you, Chef Brian! ;-)

One thing I do wish Disney will incorporate in the future is more vegan desserts.  Of course, it was probably a good thing for my waistline that I had to avoid pretty much any dessert fare in the parks, but part of vacation is splurging a little.  Thank goodness the famous Babycakes bakery from NYC recently opened in Downtown Disney.  Oh  my gosh, I was sooo happy to look at a bakery display and know I could choose anything I wanted!!! :-D  Babycakes is vegan and gluten-free, so my mom was also thrilled.  If you ever find yourself near a Babycakes, GO and enjoy!!! ;->

"Fronch Toast"

I've gotta say that really good breakfast food is probably the one thing I miss being vegan.  I used to love eating breakfast food, especially at restaurants.  Now, I have to pretty much kiss restaurant breakfast food good-bye.  And, while tofu scrambles are okay and I've found some good vegan pancake recipes to make at home, my beloved French toast has always alluded me. 

Until now!

Ooo-la-la! ;-)

This is probably the closest to "real" French toast that I've come, most other recipes yielding rather disastrous results.  Thanks to the Post Punk Vegan Kitchen, you can find the recipe online here.  I was a bit skeptical at the chickpea flour, but I've liked most of Isa's recipes and this is no exception.  It really gets that nice crunch on the outside and moist center that I love from regular French toast, and it tastes wonderful with jam. 

Smoky Southwest Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

As I dragged myself back into the house on Monday after a long day back at work following winter break, I was greeted with a deliciously spicy-sweet smell and my husband telling me not to look in the oven as he had made a surprise for dinner.

And what a lovely surprise it was!  This take on the traditional British dish is a long way from the flavors I come to associate with Shepherd's Pie, yet I absolutely loved it!  It has a layer of mashed sweet  potatoes to create the top crust and the filling is beans, corn, carrots, onion and a spicy salsa to add some heat.  Tyler used a chipotle salsa and green pepper instead of the hot chiles but otherwise he didn't see a need to change the recipe and I thought it was wonderful just the way he made it.  The photo doesn't do it justice but I had to snap it quick before I hungrily tucked in! ;-)

The recipe is from Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson.

A few more festive dishes from Christmas 2011

Before we get too far into the new year, I wanted to post a few more of the fun and festive dishes we made over the holidays.

Yule Log Cake

My sister and I wanted to make a traditional British Christmas dessert and had hoped to make Christmas pudding, but we didn't have the proper culinary paraphernalia to steam the pudding.  So, we opted for a Yule Log cake instead.  We used the recipe found here from Veganfamily.co.uk .  The chocolate cake was delicious!!!  I loved the inclusion of the orange juice (very subtle flavor when cooked but still detectable and delectable!) and the frosting was also super yummy and indulgent.  Ours ended up looking nothing like a yule log, but oh well.  It was fun and probably one of my favorite vegan cakes yet! :->

"Egg" Nog

Usually, I love the recipes Isa comes up with on Post Punk Vegan Kitchen (and in her books) and I had high hopes for her egg nog, despite how odd the ingredients sounded to me (coconut milk and avocado!!??!!).  I am not a fan of the store-bought "veg nog" and this recipe got great reviews.  My sister and I tried it hopefully, especially since the avocado made it seem like it had a bit of redeeming value, but we were disappointed.  The taste was just really odd, not bad, exactly, but not at all like egg nog and not really something we wanted to drink much of considering the calorie load.  Oh well, we'll try something else next year!

German Red Cabbage

 This was for my husband.  He remembers his German grandmother making this and he loved it.  My friend Jeannette again came through with a helpful recipe.  Basically, you take a red cabbage head, medium yellow onion, and two apples, shred them and cook them down in a bit of water, butter (in my case, margarine), with sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, cloves and a bay leaf.  The recipe was a bit vague on how much of the sugar, etc. to add so we just kind of guessed at it.  The result was fairly tasty (I don't know that I'm a huge red cabbage fan, myself) and my husband liked it but said it wasn't quite like his grandma's.   This is probably because we did not use butter (or, gasp!, lard as the recipe said) and the spices, etc. were so variable.  But, it was a good attempt and he quite enjoyed it!

Happy New Year with Hoppin' John (New Year's Peas)

Happy 2012!  I decided to celebrate New Year's Day by cooking up a big pot of Hoppin' John (New Year's Peas).  I'd never cooked with black eyed peas before and am not even sure our store regularly carries them since I only found one selection in a special part of the produce section and I'm suspicious they are seasonal.   I got the recipe from Nava Atlas' Vegan Holiday Kitchen, which the local library got in just in time for my December cooking and baking extravaganza! ;-)  It's a gorgeous book and I found many tempting recipes.  The photographs are wonderful and I love the selection of recipes, from Thanksgiving through 4th of July and including even recipes for Easter, Hanukkah, etc. and some great tips on things that new vegans (or non-vegans who will be including vegans in their holiday festivities) would want to know, such as how to find vegan Easter candy.

Anyway, the Hoppin' John was tasty and surprisingly easy to make.  The picture is rather dreadful, but my lighting wasn't good.  At least you can see the "black eye" of the peas.  The dish is touted as bringing good luck for the New Year. I hope so and that  your New Year is off to a great start and will be full of good health, good food, and much joy.