Bookmarked Recipe: Bacon-Topped Mac Uncheese (Veganize It!)

Hi everyone! During last year’s Vegan MoFo, Susan of Kittens Gone Lentil did a recipe round-up from Veganize It! by Robin Robertson. When I saw the bacon-topped mac uncheese, I knew I’d have to make it! So I borrowed the cookbook from the library (after paging through it, I think I’m going to have to buy a copy for myself; there are so many additional recipes that I’d love to try) and made the mac uncheese for lunch today, using Lightlife vegan bacon to keep it simple. The sauce is so, so good; I’ll definitely make this recipe again soon, but until then, I have some leftovers to enjoy! 

Here’s Leela stopping by to say hello! 

Peace. :)

Spaghetti & Meatballs & More

Hi everyone! This week I tried the new Lightlife veggie meatballs...

...and I think these are officially my favorite vegan meatballs! They were really good! 

In garden news, my cucumber harvest total is at 80! This week, I pulled up half of the cucumber plants to make room for some broccoli. Last year's broccoli didn't do well in the heat, so I'm hoping that planting it later will help. I also planted snow pea, kale, and cauliflower seeds, so we'll see how that goes. Oh, and I checked, but the carrots aren't ready to be harvested yet, so I still need to wait a bit more for them. The cherry tomatoes should be ready soon, though!

Here's Daisy guarding one of the cucumbers...

And here's another sharpie & colored pencil sketch...

P.S. Buttons got the all-clear at her follow-up appointment on Monday; they had to lightly sedate her in order to get a good look in her mouth since she was being incredibly squirmy, but they said everything looks fine!

Peace. :)

Bacon & Cheese Omelette

Hi everyone! Vegan MoFo's Memories & Traditions theme week has begun (here's the round-up for last week), and the prompt for today is: Favorite memory – What’s your favorite ever food memory? Recreate it. Growing up, my family often went to a diner in town for Sunday breakfast, and I always ordered the same thing: a bacon & cheese omelette. To recreate a vegan version of it, I used the VeganEgg, some Lightlife bacon, and a slice of Chao (creamy original). The omelette was pretty good; it tasted quite similar to how I remembered it, especially the Chao cheese!

Here's a sleepy Daisy...

Peace. :)

Dom's Bacon and Eggs

Hey everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is: Feed the Alien – An alien lands on your doorstep. What are they going to eat? I had a little chuckle because this prompt was perfect for another Veganlist post!

In "The Artax Network (No. 41)" (Season 3, Episode 20), Red shows up on the doorstep of Elizabeth Keen's grandfather (Dom) after his experience in Cape May (as discussed here yesterday), and they have a bit of a tense visit, during which Dom makes them some bacon and eggs.

To make this breakfast this morning, I used Lightlife bacon, cooked in some canola oil and liquid smoke, and finally gave the VeganEgg a try. It went well overall and scrambled easily, but I'm glad I finally ordered some kala namak; it was definitely necessary to sprinkle some on top of the scrambled "eggs" for an eggy flavor. The texture was good, though, definitely egg-like, and I look forward to trying to make an omelette next since I still have more of the packet left. 

For today's cute kitty picture, here's Leela; I think she might sense an alien...

Peace. :)

Random Food in May

Hi everyone! Quick post today covering some of the new foods I've tried this month. First up are some goodies I got at the Vegan Pledge...

The lemon poppyseed cookie from Alternative Baking Company was amazing! 

The orange dark chocolate from Equal Exchange was really good, and I have a second bar to still enjoy, hooray! 

The sea salt drops from Bridge Street Chocolates are great; I've been taking my time to savor them, haha! 

Zach suggested trying the Daiya cheezy mac with veggies, and we both liked it; Zach already made sure to pick up another box on our last grocery trip hehe. 

I was so excited to find the breakfast patties from Lightlife, and they are awesome, definitely the best vegan breakfast sausage I've tried so far! Served with a tofu scramble & toast. 

Some new chips I've tried... The sea salt ones are good, but the salt & pepper ones are fantastic! 

Finally, I tried another roasted chickpeas recipe this week, this one from Tofu for Thought. They were great in a bowl with potatoes & veggies. 

It got pretty hot this week; while digging out a fan from the hall closet, I tossed out the old drop cloth from the last time I painted. Leela quickly made a nest in it, and growled at Buttons when she tried to crash the party!

“This is Fort Leela, no Buttons allowed.”

Peace. :)

Tofu Scramble Mix

Hello everyone! This week I decided to try out Phoney Baloney's tofu scramble mix that I'd gotten from Vegan Essentials. The ingredients are: black salt (kala namak), nutritional yeast, black pepper, and spices. 

I simply cooked the broken-up tofu (extra firm) in some vegetable oil and then added the seasoning at the end. It definitely had an “eggy” smell (which was a nice nostalgic touch, though kinda weird at first), and it tasted great. I think I'll have to look into getting black salt after all so I can make my own version of this seasoning. 

Served with toast and Lightlife Smart Bacon (cooked with some added hickory liquid smoke).

Here's Leela and Cringer sharing the bed earlier this week... 

Best wishes for a happy first day of spring (or fall) tomorrow!

Peace. :)

Swanson-Style Black Bean Burger

Hello everyone! This week I tried the Lightlife Black Bean Burger Smart Patties, in the simple, straightforward style of Parks & Recreation's Ron Swanson.

“Here's mine. It's a hamburger, made out of [beans], on a bun, with nothing.”

“Add ketchup if you want; I couldn't care less.”

And of course, I had a similar reaction to everyone who tried Ron's burger; it was really good! Dressed up with all the fixin's, I'm sure it could be even more awesome, but sometimes nice & plain is exactly what you need. 

P.S. Today I found PEACE in the ruins. :)

Peace. :)

Chick'n Stromboli

This week, inspired by another bookmarked recipe, the Vegan Ham Cheese Stromboli at Veganopoulous, I decided to make stromboli with my sister. 

Unable to find vegan ham slices, I decided we'd try a chick'n stromboli, using the chick'n strips from Lightlife. 

I cooked the chick'n strips, seasoning them with some parsley and rosemary. Then we rolled out the dough, splitting it in half, and layered on spaghetti sauce, chick'n, Daiya cheddar and Follow Your Heart mozzarella. 

After that, we rolled up the dough, sealed the ends, cut slits along the top, and sprinkled on a bit of garlic salt. We then baked them at 400°F for 11 minutes.

They were delicious! I definitely want to experiment with different fillings for the stromboli, especially if I can find some vegan ham slices, but this was a pretty good version to try first! 

Here's Buttons being cute and sleepy...

...And Leela being silly with her lower half sticking out from under the bed (whenever she does this, it makes me think of The Wizard of Oz, with the Wicked Witch of the East's legs sticking out from under the house).

Peace. :)

Herbed Spaghetti

Hello everyone! So, I finally tried a new recipe from my collection of random recipes cookbook (I started with a really easy one). I'd copied down the original recipe on an index card, so I don't remember the source. I ended up halving it and made some adjustments, so here's the version I prepared:

Herbed Spaghetti 

Ingredients:
--2 servings whole grain thin spaghetti
--1 ½ tsp vegan butter
--1 ½ tsp lemon juice (original recipe also recommended a bit of lemon zest, but I went without it)
--herbs: parsley, tarragon, chives (original recipe called for ¼ cup, fresh and finely chopped, but I just went with a few shakes of the dried herbs)
--salt and pepper to taste 

Directions: Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving ¼ cup pasta water. Return pasta to pot. Stir in vegan butter, lemon juice, and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Add some of the reserved pasta water to adjust consistency, if needed. 

It's a simple recipe, very easy to prepare, and it turned out well. I usually prefer to have sauce on my pasta, but this was a nice change. The first time I had it, it was with some Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders. This was my first time trying these as well, and they were pretty good. I think they're probably my favorite Gardein product so far.

The second time I made it, I added in some kale and had it along with baked slices of tempeh (Organic Three Grain from Lightlife). Another good combination all in all. 

And of course, here's Mystery, trying to get at my plate. 

Peace. :)