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.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. Ours was busy, with lots of traveling, but fabulous none the less.

Here's the food I've made in the last few weeks, in random order.

Roasted garlic and tomato rice soup-Veganomicon
YUM


Braised "chicken", kale and brussel sprouts- Veganomicon

Delicious, quick and easy. I used PC meatless chicken instead of making seitan.


Pasta with arugula and sundried tomatoes- Vegan Italiano
Another simple pasta dish from VI....never goes wrong.


Vegetable Pizza- Vegan Italiano
This has tons of veggies: asparagus, zucchini, tomato, onion. And instead of tomato sauce its garlic olive oil as a base. I topped it with some Daiya mozzarella. Mmmmmmm.


Minestrone- Vegan Slow Cooker
I left the pasta in a little long at the end, so it ended being more of a pasta dish with soupy sauce, but it was fantastic. Billy devoured this.


I've been knitting like a fool since October to make my family some knitted Christmas gifts. Now that I can finally show them, here they are!

Mom-in-law's argyle lace hat
I loved that I got to make my own buttons!



Mom's cable lap blanket
Super quick and easy but it ended up being smaller than I hoped. When I make this again, I'll add a fifth panel and knit it all in one piece rather than seaming four panels together.


Sister's Firefly Shawl-
I was a bit skeptical of this but it looks awesome on my stylish sister!


Brother's Extra Warm Man Scarf
Meant as a hug every time he puts it on :)


And to use up some scrap yarn, I knitted two snoods for our dogs on those cold winter walks ;) (Also known as the hat of humiliation)

Winter is coming...

and with winter, comes the urge to cook! I cooked a lot last week and this weekend. In no particular order...

This is my new adorable cookie jar. Billy said if I got a cookie jar, I would have to fill it. So....


I made cookies! In the top left, it's the chocolate chip cookies from Vive le Vegan. These came out a bit differently, because I had to sub out some maple syrup for agave. But still tasty. In the top right, we've got the chocolate raspberry cookies from Veganomicon (a household favourite), and front and centre, we have chocolate chip cookies from Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.


Artichoke Marinara and Spaghetti- Vegan Italiano
Most of the meals I made come from this cookbook. That's because the food always comes out delicious, and the ingredients are simple and easy to find at the local grocery store. I have to be in a special and rare mood to drive to the health store these days!


Apples poached in red wine- Vegan Italiano
Very simple to make. There's a touch of cinnamon in these that makes it extra yummy.


Gnocchi with Sundried Tomato and Almond Pesto- Vegan Italiano
Yum!


Chocolate Strudel-Vegan Italiano
Holy cow people! I found vegan puff pastry at the grocery store! :) This is the first thing I made with it. Chocolate and almonds mixed with icing sugar, surrounded by a puffy, flakey crust. Billy must prepare to be puff pastried in the upcoming weeks.


Meatloaf, smashed potatoes and garlic green beans- Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Foods
Comfort food at its best. The meatloaf firmed up well the next day. The smashed potatoes are super easy (I don't believe in peeling my potatoes, so it was nice to see a recipe of the same mindset). I also threw in a spoonful of horseradish. The garlic green beans are AMAZING! They're steamed and then sauteed with onions and garlic and slivered almonds.... I also made sage gravy to top it all off.


Cauliflower soup- Vegan Italiano
I love soups.... This soup is so simple, and by blending the cauliflower after cooking, it really gives the soup some creaminess, without the use of soymilk or cream. I'm adding this one to my regulars. And Billy says its good but its still cauliflower and therefore refuses to eat it (we all hold on to some childish behaviours lol). More for me!


Lemon Cranberry Poppy Seed muffins- La Dolce Vegan

I like the addition of dried cranberries to this classic combo. Yes, those are Disney princess muffin cups!

Picture Heavy!

I haven't posted all week so I've got lots of pictures! In no particular order, because I don't feel like moving all of them around, here it is...
Bean Pizza Pocket- Vegan Italiano
Pizza pockets filled with navy beans, basil, salt and pepper and pizza sauce. I also threw in some Daiya cheese I had kicking around. These are quick, easy and yummy!



Garden Wraps-Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Foods
This was lunch this week. Whole wheat flax tortillas with a dijon mayo spread (with nutritional yeast and parsley too), and filled with green leaf lettuce, tomato and broccoli sprouts. I loved it!


Sunday was BBQ night. I did a steak and potato dinner and it was phenomenal.

Loaded baked potato: Earth Balance margarine, Tofutti sour cream, Daiya cheddar.


I picked up these weiner dog corn holders last weekend....I couldn't resist!


Grilled seitan steak with garlic rosemary sauce and mushrooms- Veganize This!
This steak is so good! I love the texture of the seitan (meaty) and it grills up really well on the BBQ. It's topped with a rosemary garlic white sauce and cremini mushrooms. It was a bit salty, but I'll just leave out the seasoning rub next time.


Here's the "steak" before being grilled.


I made these lemon and rosemary potatoes for Billy on the grill since he doesn't really go for baked potatoes.



We split a bottle of home-brewed black cherry wine courtesy of the in-laws. Best wine I've ever had!


Poached Pears in Amaretto-Vegan Italiano

And for a light dessert, poached pears in a sweet Amaretto syrup. Delicious! Cinnamon and cloves make this really special. Billy's favourite fruit combined with his favourite liqueur.


And, since I was cooking so much Italian, I wanted one of my favourite appetizers from when I was in Italy (and the easiest). Bread dipped in extra virgin olive oil, with a splash of balsamic vinaigrette.


Happy Cooking!

Carb-o-licious

Potato Tortino-Vegan Italiano
Potatoes layered with caramelized onions, veggie broth and bread crumbs. A nice, comforting casserole, served with salad.



Fusilli with lentil sauce-Vegan Italiano

I love this cookbook! Pasta tossed with a delicious sauce made of broth, spinach, lentils, tomatoes, carrots and onions. Rosemary and thyme tie it all together.

Pesto Gnocchi

Potato Gnocchi with Ligurian Pesto and Peas- Vegan Italiano
This cookbook has never disappointed. The recipes are pretty basic and the recipes are so pure and easy, that you can't go wrong. None of the recipes call for tofu or non-dairy milks, or "cheese". It's traditional Italian fare (so not the bastardized North American version) using fresh ingredients, from the regular grocery store.

Lunch today was no different. It's gnocchi tossed with peas and Ligurian (a region of Italy) pesto. So good! Billy had a bite and said "hey, that's actually really good", like he was expecting it not to be :P He's never had gnocchi or much pesto for that matter, so it was a good first experience!

The pesto has fresh basil and parsley, pine nuts, salt and olive oil. I added a bit of vegan parm too. I bought a huge bag/bouquet of basil at the market today. Honestly, you could bring me that instead of flowers and I would be happy. It's such a great smell!


Knitting
I finally finished a cushion cover I've been knitting off and on since December. I got bored and kind of ignored it for a while, but I'm pleased with the end result. My couch pillows are old and the colour doesn't go with our living room anymore so I thought this would be a cheap fixer-upper. The yarn is the same yarn used in the blanket I made a while back (also pictured).