So my last post was done from my ipad as is this one. I prefer blogging from my computer as the layout is better than using the Blogger app and I can upload pictures from my camera. They are much clearer that way. That being said I think I will still use the app occasiobally to stay on top of things so that when I do a full post it doesn't involve twenty pictures!

Dinner tonight was penne with fresh veggies and tofurkey Italian sausage from The Vegan Table. Mmmm it hit the spot and was very filling.

We have two rhubarb plants and they are already huge so I took advantage and made some rhubarb ice cream (The Vegan Scoop). Its very nice but next time I think I will add strawberries.

My Thai Birthday

Another birthday has come and gone...and with it, some delicious food. Before I get to that, here's some other dishes I made in the past two weeks.

Curried Rice Salad- Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook
This book continues to impress me, I haven't come across anything that I didn't love. This dish has a creamy dressing, with raw veggies. Billy liked it too, so double win!


Banana Ice Cream- The Vegan Scoop
This is good with some chocolate chips mixed in.



Black Bean and Tomato Soup- Skinny Bitch UEC
This has plenty of veggies and a bit of kick. It gets a really nice creaminess from blending half the soup.


Vegan Cassoulet- Skinny Bitch UEC
French for casserole, this cassoulet is great comfort food. It has leeks and white beans. It's kind of like a pot pie filling topped with bread crumbs.


Caramelized Pear and Cheese Crostini with Balsamic Reduction- Skinny Bitch UEC
I made these for my birthday party yesterday.....I would buy the cookbook for this recipe alone. It was a perfect combination of chewy crunchy bread, savoury cream cheese and chives, sweet pear and a kick of balsamic zing.


Vegan Donuts!
Billy surprised me with these from a new bakery downtown. They were nice. It tasted like banana bread in donut form :P


We made spring rolls for my birthday dinner. Correction, Billy made them and I helped a little :) I'll be posting the recipe soon.




Pad Thai- 125 Best Vegan Recipes
This is tasty, I love the mix of sweet and sour. Next time I make it, I'll be crisping up the tofu.


Here's our girlies....they get along fantastically :)

New cookbook motivation...

I don't know why it took so long, but I'm loving this balance I've found between working full time, and cooking dinners in the evening! Now, I just need to throw a more regular cleaning schedule into the mix ;) I'm still in love with my new Skinny Bitch cookbook, so most of the meals here will be from there.

Asian Macaroni and Cheese- Skinny Bitch Ultimate Every Cookbook
So good! There's no vegan cheese in it. It's cauliflower cooked with milk and water, and blended with some asian inspired flavourings. There's also sauteed tofu and cauliflower bits. The only change I made was to sub plain soymilk instead of coconut milk.


Eggless Brown Fried Rice with Garlic Infusion- Skinny Bitch UEC
I knew this was good when I watched Billy scarf it down in about ten bites without stopping. There's no greater satisfaction for this cook than watching my hubby devour something. It came together really quickly too, since you saute the ingredients then add in cooked rice. We had this with a side of teriyaki sauce.


Red Bean and Barley Bowl- Skinny Bitch UEC
I love barley, so I always like trying dishes that feature it and aren't necessarily soup. This is good hot or cold.


I'm back to casual/part-time hours at work, so some mornings I have some extra time to make yummy breakfasts. This morning, I made a fried tofu "egg" breakfast sandwich, using a recipe from Garden of Vegan for the tofu (nutritional yeast, salt and pepper). I like to slice the tofu really thin so it crisps up and I don't get a mouthful of mushy plain tofu in the middle. I served it on an english muffin with a touch of Vegenaise and ketchup.


Corn Chowder- Skinny Bitch UEC
Mmmmmmmm. The mix of almond milk and vegetable broth is perfect...just a touch of creaminess. This if filled with onions, potatoes and corn, and it's so tasty.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream- The Vegan Scoop
This flavour is dangerous. A reasonable serving size calorie-wise is quite small, but we measured portions into freezer bags to help with that. Billy wants this flavour as a constant in our freezer....but I think that might be a bad idea ;)


Spaghetti with a White Wine Garlic Sauce- Skinny Bitch UEC
This has mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and a very satisfying white wine garlic sauce. Makes great leftovers too. It took a bit longer than I'm used to for a pasta dish, since you have to cook the onion garlic mix separately from the wine spinach mix, etc, but well worth it.


Roasted Curried Cauliflower- Skinny Bitch UEC
This is one of the recipes in the book that has a full page picture beside it. I have to say, based on the picture, this wasn't as yummy as I was hoping, but I think next time I'll cook it longer so it's a bit more tender and takes in more of the curry.


Seven Layer Nacho Dip- Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food
In the book its six layers, but I added a melted cheese sauce layer. This was our Superbowl indulgence. It's got guacamole, salsa, lettuce, sour cream mixed with taco seasoning and refried beans.



Happy Cooking!

Plant a radish, get a radish, never any doubt. That's why I love vegetables, you know what they're about!

Gah! Food overload! When I get in the groove like this, I really need to update more often. My days are filled with yummy, nutritious, healthy whole foods, and I'm loving it. Let's get to it...

Scottish Broth-The Vegan Table
"Broth" in Scotland actually means stew...go figure. This is a delicious soup, and very easy to make. You throw all the ingredients in a pot (after soaking the barley, red lentils and green split peas) and simmer until done. I love barley!


Creole Stuffed Pepper and Messy Rice- Veganomicon
I've made stuffed peppers a handful of times in the last 12 months, and every time they are different. Gotta love variety. I left out the jalapeno so I don't know how "creole" these are anymore, but they're filling and the bean mixture is tasty. The messy rice is made with crushed coriander seeds (lemony!) and jasmine rice.



Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream- The Vegan Scoop
The only downside to this e-book cookbook so far is that I can't write my recipe notes in it! This ice cream is so good! I added the green food colouring just to make it more like store-bought ice cream :) I made this using all soy-based milk and creamer. Next time, I will experiment with coconut and almond milk.


Chili- The Vegan Slow Cooker
I added another cup of tomato sauce when I got home, since it dried out a bit. Billy and I loved this chili, and it was great as Sloppy Joe filling too.


Breakfast Bake- Skinny Bitch
My first recipe from my new cook book, Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Guide. I sauteed the potato, onion and tempeh bacon filling yesterday, and just popped it in the oven this morning for a delicious and filling breakfast. I also had a side of fresh fruit salad from the Vegan Table (no picture).


Chicken Gnocchi Soup- a modified recipe
The only thing I love more than a good vegan cookbook is veganizing recipes on my own! One night I felt like having gnocchi, but didn't want the typical gnocchi and pasta sauce. So I went on my allrecipes app and searched for recipes with gnocchi. I found a recipe for a creamy chicken and gnocchi soup. So I subbed out the cream and chicken with vegan subsitutes, and OH MY GOD, this is my new favourite soup. I'll post the recipe one of these days!


Chicken Salad- Skinny Bitch in the Kitch
A vegan mayo-based chicken salad, served on greens. I used PC's meatless chicken. Yum!


No-Chicken Noodle Soup- Vegan Slow Cooker
This didn't have much broth left by the time I got home, but it was a very simple and tasty "chicken" soup for dinner.


Pizza- The Vegan Lunch Box
I've been using the pizza dough recipe from Vegan Lunch Box the last few Sundays, because you can mix it up and then stick it in the fridge until you're ready to use it...which fits perfectly into our lazy Sundays. Plus, we make individual sized pizzas for portion control, and they're cute! This one had soy pepperoni, green peppers and Daiya mozzarella.


Applesauce Muffins- How It All Vegan
These are very midly flavoured, with applesauce and cinnamon, but they are so fluffly and light.

Poorly Lit Food

This week off before I go back to work has been awesome!! I've done lots of cooking, walking, and general activities that make me happy. I've also done a little knitting, but nothing major since I'm experiencing a bit of burnout after the Christmas knitting season!

This is a just a scarf made with Firefly yarn. I generally am over scarves but I only had two balls of this beautiful yarn and don't wear shawls. The lace pattern in intricate enough to keep me interested though.


Before I get into the food, I apologize for the poorly lit/dim photos. I hate the lack of natural light due to winter and most of my food is made in the evenings. I will try to do better!

Linguine with roasted peppers, tomatoes and garlic- Vegan Italiano
Green peppers, garlic, diced tomatoes are roasted with olive oil and seasonings to make this delicious sauce. Then half of it is blended to make more of a sauce consistency. It was easy prep and came together quickly. I seriously love this cookbook for no-fail, healthy Italian cuisine!


Baked Risotto with Veggies- Vegan Italiano

So good! The rice was cooked in the oven, and the steamed veggies were added in afterwards. It sure beats stirring for forty minutes! It has asparagus, peas and carrots, but the veggies could change based on what you have. I plan on making the risotto again, without all the veggies, as a side dish that Billy will eat :P


Three Bean Soup- Vegan Italiano

I seriously love soup...who doesn't? This soup has carrots, onions, celery, cabbage, pastina (mini baby pasta), and a mixture of beans. It hit the spot and was very comforting as a winter lunch. Beans are so delicious...


Breakfast Quesadilla- Garden of Vegan
I took advantage of my time off to make yummy breakfasts in the mornings. This is one of my go-to favourites. Sabroso scrambled tofu, with refried beans, and Daiya cheese baked in a tortilla. I topped it with mashed avocado too.


I thawed puff pastry before New Year's, thinking that I'd make a yummy savory appetizer for the party I went to...but I ended up nixing that thought due to lack of ingredients. However, once puff pastry is thawed, it should be used....so I followed the recipe on the box to make seriously unhealthy Cheese Twists. I was a good girl and only had one at a time with my soup for lunch, but it was hard! I rolled out the puff pastry, brushed it with roasted garlic olive oil, then sprinkled on Daiya cheese, vegan parmesan, salt, pepper and basil and squished it into the dough. Then I cut strips and twisted them before placing them on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Then you bake and devour!! Billy loved these too. I think I'll try it with Pillsbury pizza dough or crescent rolls next time, as they are marginally better than puff pastry.


Chocolate Ice Cream- The Vegan Scoop

My second batch of homemade ice cream. I like this more than the vanilla I made. I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup from 3/4 cup and it was much better...not so cloyingly sweet. This has cocoa and melted chocolate chips, it's very rich. I made it with soymilk this time, just to see how it would taste, and so I'll have something to compare my oatmilk/almond milk/coconut ice creams to in the future.

Happy New Year Pt 2 !

Food pictures continued!

We are going to a friend's house tonight to celebrate New Year's, so I'm bringing some goodies.

Cappuccino Cupcakes with Espresso Pastry Creme- Vegan Cupcakes
I'm saving mine for tonight, but the creme and the batter were yummy so I think these will be great! There's creme inside the cupcake too :)


Cheesecake Strawberries
Ah yeah, that's right! I came across a blog with the recipe for these when I was on StumbleUpon.com, and had to make them! The only thing I had to change to veganize them was to use Tofutti cream cheese. It's cream cheese filling inside the strawberry, then dipped in graham crumbs. Soooo good! (And only about 20 calories a piece!)



I got a blender from my paternal grandparents so I made a delicious fruit and veggie smoothie this morning: Mango-cranberry with arugula and apple juice (from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food)


Spinach Mushroom calzones- Vegan Italiano
This was dinner last night. Not the greatest picture, but I wanted to eat it! It was kind of a pain stuffing in the spinach, mushrooms, and onions into the little rectangles, but worth it.


My maternal grandparents got me an ice cream maker for Christmas!!! I'm soooo excited to make soy-free vegan ice cream. My first batch was vanilla (from The Vegan Scoop), made with a combo of oat milk and coconut creamer. I had it with vanilla pound cake from Veganomicon. It tastes so good, and better than store bought. I think I'll reduce the sugar amount next time as even I found it a tad too sweet.


Gnocchi with ground round and veggies
This is a kinda made up recipe because I didn't have any pasta sauce. Ground round with diced tomatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, basil and oregano.


Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread- from thepastryaffair.com

Make this! I also discovered this on Stumble and immediately after showing Billy the pictures he was on his way to the store to buy yeast! It's balls of bread dough dipped in garlic butter and then piled together in a bundt pan. When it's done baking, you pull apart the pieces to eat. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Tasty dipped in marinara.