New food and a recipe as promised

Arborio Rice with Roasted Peppers, Basil and Pine Nuts- The Vegan Table

I cooked this tonite, after already having cooked something for dinner, because I was still in the mood to cook, and I didn't know if that would last through the week...so now I have leftovers. I ended up eating this as my dinner anyways. The arborio is so creamy, and the fresh herbs combined with crunchy (and expensive!) pine nuts is fabulous. It comes together really quickly too.


Pasta and Beans On-hand Soup- Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Foods

A simple soup with chickpeas and broken up noodles, it hits the spot! I blended the soup a bit with an immersion blender to make it come together a bit better. Hubby likes!


I've got lemon bars setting in the fridge, I will get to those later this week.

As promised, here is the manicotti recipe I made last weekend.

"Meat" Manicotti

1 box manicotti

1 pkg Ground Round or approx. 1 lb TVP (prepared) *I used TVP to keep it soy-free
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1/2 lb. "mozza cheese" (I used daiya)
salt and pepper
egg replacer for two eggs
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (if dry add more)

Method:
Saute "meat", onion and garlic then add next 6 ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Cook the box of manicotti according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water.
Stuff with filling (I used a piping bag to fill the tubes!).
Place shells in single layer in greased lasagna dish. Pour 2 cups of sauce over the tubes (I also mixed in some Tofutti cream cheese I had into the sauce). Top with more cheese if desired. Cover and bake for 25-35 minutes at 375 or til hot. Remove cover for the last 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Knitting

I've been working on a blanket for the living room that features cables and seed stitch. It's knit in 5 panels or "scarves" and then seamed together...which I'm not thinking about right now...I hate seaming!

This project is going on hold for a while, as I'm working on a last minute gift for a friend.

The baby blanket I showed before is now finished and wrapped up, waiting for the shower on Saturday...I love it!

Delurk yourselves! :)

Whoops...our Thanksgiving dinner of stuffed manicotti and brownies was so delicious, we ate it all too quickly before I remembered to take pictures! I will post the recipe soon though. I'm quite proud of it, as Billy ate most of the recipe including leftovers, and it's a task to try and get him to eat leftovers.

Here's an apricot loaf I made from How It All Vegan, in an effort to make recipes from some of my more neglected cookbooks. I'm not a huge fan of dried apricots, but I was gifted with a large bag of them and wanted to try them out before just tossing them. The bread itself is quite lovely, with apricot juice but next time I would drastically reduce the amount of dried fruit or substitute for one I like. If you love dried apricots, this bread is for you!


And finally, if you have been stopping by, I'm asking that you leave a comment, even just to say hi. Why? Because I'd like to say hello, and stop by your blog if you have one! Plus, it makes a girl feel good to see some comments after her hard work...ok, not hard, but still :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

So despite the fact that my "good" camera died, and the only one I have takes horrible pictures...I've decided I'll keep blogging with the pictures it takes. This blog keeps me motivated to cook good meals and to try new things.

So, hubby and I were in Nova Scotia this weekend for his brother's wedding, and I didn't do any groceries before leaving, so our Thanksgiving dinner is made with things that were on hand...more on that later. Aside from giving thanks tonight, we'll also be celebrating the fact that DH got a job that starts tomorrow. I won't go into details, but it's in his field that he went to school for. We'll all very excited. I'll post our cruelty-free Thanksgiving dinner later.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia (My first time seeing the Atlantic since I was a baby)


Meals before the trip were kept simple, this is a mac and cheese casserole with mozza daiya cheese and bread crumbs. Mmmmmm.


My friend and I get together every Sunday to cook some vegan food together. Last week it was jalapeno poppers (recipe follows) and stuffed mushrooms using the same filling from the poppers. I also tried a mushroom poppers recipe from The Vegan Table:





I added leftover bread crumbs on top for some crunch. These are quite nice, I would make them for parties.

Recipe for Jalapeno Poppers: (makes 32 servings, 1 serving is half a jalapeno)

1.5 containers Tofutti cream cheese, softened
1 cup cheddar cheese *used daiya, shredded
1 tablespoon simulated bacon bits
16 jalapenos, seeded and halved
1 cup non-dairy milk of your choice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup dry bread crumbs
oil for frying (we used canola)

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese with the cheese and bacon bits. Spoon mixture into jalapeno halves.
2. Put the milk and flour into separate bowls. Dip the stuffed jalapenos into the milk and then the flour, coating well. Allow the peppers to dry 5-10 minutes.
3. Dip the jalapenos in the milk and then roll them in the breadcrumbs. Let them dry again, and then repeat to ensure the jalapenos are well covered.
4. Heat the oil in a pan (enough for the poppers to deep fry, at least 4 inches). When oil is hot enough, deep fry the jalapeno poppers in batches for 2-3 minutes or until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towel. Serve hot.

These are certainly not healthy, but they're great for when you start craving junk foods you used to have!