Breakfast Scramble Wrap

Sometimes you need to keep "fast food" on hand. If at all possible, I'd rather make it myself. In the past I've had Amy's Breakfast Scramble Wrap "made with organic tofu, vegetables and cheese." The list of ingredients included Smart Bacon which is something I normally don't cook with but in this case I did. It added a nice low-key smokiness. Amy's Wrap was super easy to veganize and I made extras to freeze. I was quite pleased with the results. Makes four wraps depending on how much filling you use and how large your tortilla is.

Ingredients
14 oz. tub of firm tofu, drained, pressed and crumbled
1 Tb olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 scallion, chopped
1 cup raw spinach, chopped
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1/4 tsp chili flakes
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp turmeric
mix up spices and set aside
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1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
3 slices Smart Bacon, minced
1-2 TB nutritional yeast (depends on how much you love or hate nooch)
1 cup grated cheeze – optional (your favorite vegan style)
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4 whole wheat tortillas (I used sprouted grain, mmmmmmm)

Directions
Heat olive oil and saute garlic and onion. Cook until garlic starts to brown and add spinach. Cook until spinach begins to wilt. Add spices and cook for a minute. Add tomatoes and Smart Bacon and cook for about a minute. Add tofu and nutritional yeast. Cook for 1-2 minutes until hot and take off heat. Add cheese and stir to mix.

Put 1/2 cup of mixture into lower center of heated tortilla and fold once, fold in sides and roll up.

Pumpkin Cheezecake with Cranberry Drizzle

Oh my. This was nirvana. I've attempted to make vegan pies in the past but now I'm older, wiser, and things have changed. The recipe was delivered to my email from Vegan Planet, one of my many vegan subscriptions. The recipe is also in 1,000 Vegan Recipes cookbook, which I own but let me tell you, one picture is worth 1,000 words. I saw the photo and had to make it. Besides it seemed fairly simple to make. The ONLY thing I'll do different next time is to make twice the amount of Cranberry Drizzle so there's plenty to go around.

So for the recipe, Robin Robertson's remarks and additional photos of this totally WONDERFUL dessert go to
http://veganplanet.blogspot.com/2010/11/pumpkin-cheezecake-with-cranberry.html

One other little detail - DO let the pie refrigerate for four hours before you eat it. It really makes a difference in the texture and the taste. Enjoy!!

Shepherd's Pie

I wanted to make something new and different for Thanksgiving. I also didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen. And I wanted to avoid cooking with tofu, seitan, or anything that might be construed as a meat replacer. The November-December 2010 issue of VegNews has a veganized version of Shepherd's Pie that looked perfect. Lots of "Thanksgiving Day" ingredients: potatoes, peas, carrots, gravy, and mushrooms. The Shepherd's Pie did take a bit of time to make but was much quicker than making a bunch of side dishes.

And oh, was it good! Very savory and delicious. This is an adaptation of the VegNews recipe and please note, it only serves 2-3 people. I cut the original recipe in half. Today, I'm kind of sorry I did that because there are no leftovers!

Ingredients
1-3/4 cups potatoes, peeled, diced, cooked
2 TB Earth Balance margarine
1/2 tsp salt
2 TB rice milk
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1 TB olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
2-4 TB of white wine
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1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup diced carrots
2 TB diced celery
1 clove of garlic, minced
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1 TB spelt flour
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1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
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1/3 cup vegetable broth
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1 cup cooked lentils (be sure not to overcook!)
2 TB fresh parsley, minced
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp tamari
1/4 cup frozen peas

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil loaf pan. In large bowl combine cooked potatoes, margarine, salt and milk. Mash and set aside.

In medium size saute pan, heat oil and add onions. Saute for several minutes over medium heat. Add wine and cook until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms, carrots, celery and garlic and cook until mushrooms get limp. Add flour and cook for a minute. Add spices and cook for another minute scraping bottom of pan so nothing burns. Add broth and stir till thickened. Add more broth if too thick. Add rest of ingredients: lentils, parsley, Worcestershire, tamari and peas. Stir well and place in loaf pan. Pile potatoes on top, distribute evenly and rake a fork across the top. Sprinkle paprika and fresh pepper over top and bake for about 40 minutes until bubbly and top is lightly browned.

Creamy Asparagus Over Toast

Luscious vegetables taking over the frig - what to do, what to do? I had a bag of mushrooms and a container of fresh asparagus that needed cooking. I found a recipe well suited in "The 30 Minute Vegan" by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray. All the recipes I've made from their book I've enjoyed. I would love to take one of their cooking courses; some are for 3 days, some for a week, all of the recipes look absolutely delicious. In the meantime, I have a couple of their cookbooks. I loved chipped beef on toast when I was a child, I think mainly because of the cream on the toast - I loved the way the toast got soggy. It never was about the meat. This is a pretty tasty dish and I had some sourdough bread in the freezer that I toasted. Very delicious. Perhaps next time, I'll puree fewer veggies so it'll be chunkier.

Ingredients
2 TB olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 fresh garlic clove, minced
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1-1/2 lb. asparagus, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup spelt flour
2 cups rice milk
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toasted bread
parsley for garnish

Directions
Saute the onion in the oil for several minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms and spices and saute until the onins are translucent, stirring frequently. Add the asparagus and water, cover and cook for about 4 minutes. Take off lid and cook off any extra liquid. Add flour and cook for a couple of minutes until browned.

Add rice milk to blender or food processor. Add cooked vegetables, reserving some for garnish or to add a bit of chunkiness to sauce. Blend till smooth. Add back to saucepan with reserved veggies and heat. Toast bread and top with saucy vegetables.

Apple Quinoa Spelt Muffins

What delicious little gems these are. They are not very sweet which I really like since it seems I'm usually cutting the sugar quantity in recipes. The original recipe is from vegangoodeats.com. I was attracted to them because I love to use quinoa in my cooking and especially my baking. The spelt flour was an added attraction. Spelt flour is easy to find if you look for it in the Bob's Red Mill flour and cereal section - usually in the health food section of your grocery store. You can also get a 4 pound package of organic prewashed quinoa at Costco for $9.99. If you want additional commentary (worthwhile!) or the original recipe go to: http://vegangoodeats.com/2010/04/quinoa-106-carbs-are-evil-apple-quinoa-spelt-muffins/

But here's my version...

Ingredients
3 tablespoons ground flax seeds
6 tablespoons filtered water
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2 cups of spelt flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
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1/3 cup of walnut oil
1/2 cup 100% maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
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1 cup of cooked quinoa, cooled with no clumps
1 apple, peeled and grated

Directions
In a small bowl, mix the flax seed and water, blend briskly and set aside. In medium bowl add the flour and rest of dry ingredients; mix. The flax should be gelatinous by now. Add the oil, syrup, applesauce and vanilla to it and mix together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until it just comes together and there are no clumps of dry flour. Fold in the quinoa and apple. Spoon in to muffin tins lined with paper cups. I like to use a oiled ice cream scoop. Bake at 375 degrees for 22-25 minutes until toothpick comes cleans and muffins are lightly browned on top. Makes 14 muffins.

Many Seed Soda Bread

This is a variation of the soda bread recipe on the 101cookbooks site. I veganized the recipe since the original called for buttermilk. The next time I make this I'm going to half the recipe and just make a mini loaf since it's a quick bread and really doesn't keep well. I found the bread much more flavorful after I let it cool down - although we all know the tendency to immediately chow down on a freshly baked loaf of bread!

2 1/2 tablespoons each of your favorite seeds:
sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds,
poppy seeds, flax seeds, etc.
I like to coarsely chop the larger seeds.
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1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1-3/4 cup soymilk
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1 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup spelt flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Preheat your oven to 400F. Mix milk and vinegar together and set aside. In a small bowl combine all the seeds and reserve 2 tablespoons.

Sift the flours, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir in all but 2 tablespoons of the seeds. Make a well in the flour, pour in the soymilk, and stir until the dough just comes together. Place on floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to make a loose ball.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and slash it with a deep cross across the top, cutting two-thirds of the way through the loaf with a serrated knife. Brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with the remaining seeds, making sure plenty of seeds make it down into the cracks.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden crusted. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes a single loaf.

Garbanzo and Cabbage Soup

Tis root vegetable season and that means cabbage and warming soups! The beauty of this recipe is you most likely have everything on hand and it is quick and easy to make. And yes, it's even better reheated the next day. I found this recipe on the VegNews website. The only revision I made t0 the recipe was to add 2 teaspoons of Vogue Veggie Base powder broth. This is a pretty tasty soup. Here's the link:
http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1815&catId=10

Betty Crocker Apple Crisp - Veganized!

Who doesn't love Apple Crisp? This is a very quick and easy recipe. I've cut the quantities down so it serves 2. If you want to make the full-blown recipe, just google "Betty Crocker Apple Crisp." Some good apples to bake with are Fuji, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp.

Ingredients
1 medium tart cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced
2 TB packed brown sugar
2 TB whole wheat pastry flour
2 TB quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
2-1/2 TB Earth Balance Vegan butter stick
1/4 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 scant teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions
Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of small baking dish.
Spread apples in baking dish. In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed; sprinkle over apples. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.