More cookies

I had pumpkin leftover, so I made the Pumpkin Puff Cookies from La Dolce Vegan. These are deceptive cookies, in that when they are done, they don't look done. But they firm up well and cook through. They're nice and soft and chewy and have a great spice combo of ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Mmmm mmmmm.













I made a non-traditional shepherd's pie, from How It All Vegan last week. There's no ground round or corn. The filling is made of veggies and lentils, and topped with the mashed potatoes. Yummy! I topped it and the broccoli with some cheese sauce I whipped up. Just like when mom used to melt cheez whiz onto our veggies to get us to eat them ;).














When I was in grade 7 I gave up red meat, but I still liked to cook dinners for the family, and my parents sure appreciated it! I often made meals from Cooking for the Rushed by Sandi Richard (she has a show on the Food Network now). I recently rediscovered the book and borrowed it from my mom. There's a few recipes in it that could be veganized. I made one today...the Chicken teriyaki toss over spaghettini. It turned out just as good, meat free! I'll post the recipe since I changed so much about the recipe. I plan on making this with "chicken" seitan in the future, I just didn't have time to today...although it is great with just the veggies too.

"Chicken" Teriyaki Toss over Spaghettini
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp. Mrs Dash Original Seasoning
1/2 tsp. (or to taste) crushed chilies
~3 "chicken" seitan steaks
1 small onion, 1 small zucchini, 1/2 each of green and red pepper
10 mushrooms
350 g whole wheat spaghettini
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lite soya sauce
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce (for more spice you can sub in a few tsp's of black bean garlic chili sauce for some of the sauce)
1/4 cup "chicken" style stock, 1 cup "chicken" stock
2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp maple syrup or agave nectar
1/2 tsp basil leaves

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Heat oil in large nonstick pan/wok over med-high. Cut seitan into bite sized pieces, add to pan as you chop. Season and stir til warm. Chop onion, zucchini and peppers in that order into bite sized pieces and add to pan as you chop. Wash and slice mushrooms, adding to pan as you go, tossing occasionally.
Place pasta in boiling water, stir and cook uncovered for 8 minutes. Add cornstarch to small bowl and stir in soya sauce until smooth. Mix in teriyaki sauce and 1/4 cup of the broth. Add to veggies, stir and simmer on low.
Rinse pasta with hot water in colander and let drain. In empty pasta pot on med-low mix remaining broth, curry, syrup and basil. Stir together, add pasta and toss to coat. Remove from heat. Serve veggie mixture over pasta.