Veganomicon's Seitan Piccata

seitanpiccatameal, originally uploaded by veggiebytes.

This was a great meal and something I've never seen attempted in any other veggie cookbook.
The Piccata sauce was very tasty with olives and capers! Even though this is supposed to be an Italian dish served over pasta or polenta, I think the PPK girls did it justice with the mashed potatoes....I am a potato lover after all....eating rice at almost every meal growing up made potatoes a novelty for me. :)
Anyway, the photo above is the dish not plated.
Here it is in its fancy "I-should-be-at-the-Millenium" version with the haricots verts standing up.

So many pics..so little time

Alas! I have so many pictures of beautiful vegetarian food, but so little time to put them up!
Probably close to 75 meals have not been added due to the fast ticking of the clock.
Is it bad blog technique to backtrack for more than a month or should I just start fresh, like Springtime?

Anyway, above is a picture of a wonderful cake I made for my hubby's 34 B-day.
The chocolate cake part comes from Vegan Fusion Cuisine's Big Momma Freedom Cake.
Very moist and not overly sweet. I added some fresh organic strawberries and TruWhip, Cool Whip's Hip Cousin. It's not vegan (has some casein) but its a far healthier alternative to whip cream or the trans-fatty fake stuff.

Fish Are Friends Sticks

fishstickscoleslaw, originally uploaded by veggiebytes.

Here are some crunchy sea-flavored tofu sticks that will make you think of a friendly Gordon's fisherman...he's a man all for letting fish do their thing in the vast ocean.
Anyway, the recipe come from The Vegan Lunch Box and it has some interesting items added to a basic flour breading, including almonds and kelp granules. I didnt have kelp granules so I put part of a nori sheet in my spice grinder to get a similar amount.
These "fishy" sticks are baked and not fried, but get nice and crispy.
It's served with some steamed broccoli, coleslaw made with vegenaise and also some tartar sauce also made with vegenaise and color-free Cosmic Cukes!

Time to make the DONUTS

veganspicedonuts, originally uploaded by veggiebytes.

MMMM...donuts. Who hasn't felt like Homer Simpson and just want a nice cake donut. Well, if you don't eat eggs, you just might not get to have donuts anymore because almost all of them do unless you live in Seattle and can get Mighty-Os.
Then to the rescue comes a good vegan donut recipe and a cake donut pan. The pans are hard to find but I was able to get one off Amazon.com. A great plus is you do not have to fry 'em. Just spoon in the batter and bake for 10 minutes and you have donuts.

I got the recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan's vegan recipe archive.
Next time, I'm going to try some icings or make some carob ones or maybe even blueberry! These were great dipped in my hempmilk.
That's another great thing to try...it's less heavy than soymilk and not just for hippies anymore.

Vietnamese Lunch

vietnameselunch2008, originally uploaded by veggiebytes.

I've been trying lots of recipes from Veganomicon and I haven't been disappointed.
The recipe for the vietnamese sandwich, banh mi, came out quite nicely.
I don't have the cookbook with me by my computer but it's called something like Vietnamese sandwich with dipping broth.
I didn't make the dipping broth as I actually took the time to make Pho (pronounced fuh). It's a very fresh tasting light soup with warming spices like star anise and cinnamon.
It's an authentic recipe coming from a fundraiser cookbook called Recipes with Borders, for Saheli, an Asian women's empowerment group here in Austin, TX.
Both the sandwich and soup have seitan that was made using Veganomicon's Seitan Cutlet recipe.
Anyway, it was a nice, filling but healthy lunch.

Buckwheat Noodles with Spicy Peanut/Pumpkin Sauce

buckwheatnoodspeanutsauce, originally uploaded by veggiebytes.

This is a fast staple in our household and so good for everyone.
The buckwheat noodles cook fast and are a nice Asian alternative to having spaghetti all the time. The Pumpkin/Peanut sauce is something that I know by heart now, but the idea originally came from Vegan Family Favorites.
You basically take some sesame oil and sautee minced garlic or hing, about 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger, then add about 1/4 cup peanut butter. Add about 1/2 can of pumpkin puree (NOT Pumpkin Pie Mix!), about 2 TBSP Braggs, and 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water, depending on how thick you want it. For dad or mom, you could add some chili oil for spiciness and leave it out for the little ones.
We fried some tofu to add and steamed broccoli to add the "green" component.
It's a nice filling dish and a great way to get Vitamin A from pumpkin throughout the year.

Natural Gingerbread House

I wanted to create a Gingerbread House without all of the fake colored hard candies...I never liked those anyway. The red and green everywhere reminds me of the red and green colored cherries in fruitcake, one of humankind's worst culinary creations.
Anyway, the mix comes from Dancing Deer. Since I never made the dough from scratch before, I thought we'd leave it to the professionals for the recipe and ingredients.
-After baking and assembling the house with the icing (not vegan, had some egg whites - oh well).
it was time to decorate. My 3 year old daughter helped and didn't even eat too many of the roof shingles (almonds).
The colors come from the India Tree natural food coloring kit. I still think it is too expensive, but worked nicely.
Here's what is on it:
Roof shingles:almonds
Star: Fennel Seeds
Door Frame: Panda Licorice stick
House Border: 365 White Chocolate chunks
Path: Sunflower seeds
Window and side of house: Raisins
Chimney: Goji Berries
Stones along bottom of house: Dates
Various gingerbread cookies decorated with colored icing

Next year I will probably attempt to make something else and get a correct icing recipe.