Winter Comfort Foods Vol. 1

When it's 20 degrees outside, no only do I crave warm toasty foods I also tend to get nostalgic.  My nostalgia always revolves around food...   When I was a kid, my Mom and I used to eat Campbell's Tomato Soup,  grilled cheese and watch Little House on the Prairie together.  This was one of my favorite things to do.
So, I HAD to recreate this favorite childhood meal without the high fructose corn syrup that is in Campbell's Soup and minus the cheese and butter that was in the grilled cheese...

 For the grilled cheese, I used Daiya cheese, Earth Balance for the butter and Trader Joes Sprouted bread.  If you haven't tried Daiya yet, go buy some!  It is the most amazing vegan cheese ever made!  It melts and is stretchy like real cheese. The tomato soup I made with the help of a simple recipe that I found on www.vegweb.com with some modifications.  Here is my version of my childhood favorite.

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

2 cups almond milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch or flour
¼  teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper, to taste

Whisk all the ingredients together and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer whisking the entire time until it reaches the consistency you desire.

A Retrospective Telling of Thanksgiving

I am just now getting around to posting about Thanksgiving... It was hands down the most vegan friendly Thanksgiving I have been a part of!  I prepared Tempeh Sausage Puff Pastry, Carmalized Onion Butternut Roast with Chestnuts, Sweet Potatoes and a Gingerbread Apple Pie, but there were plenty of other foods for me to eat as well.

This is everything I needed to make the Tempeh Sausage Puff Pastry (Vegan Brunch)

Although the recipe didn't ask me to steam the tempeh I decided to anyhow.  In my opinion tempeh not only becomes less bitter when you steam it, but it also soaks up more flavor when you marinate it.

 This is my steamed, cooled, crumbled, and marinating tempeh...

Next I sauteed onions and red peppers...

Then I added garlic and spices and sauteed some more...

Then I drained the marinated tempeh and added it to the vegetables and spices...

Once it was brown and kinda crispy looking, I knew it was done and ready to be put on the puff pastry...

After cooking them in the oven, I had a finished product!

For the Caramelized Onion Butternut Roast with Chestnuts, I had to roast my own chestnuts...  That was probably my favorite part!

 For dessert I made a Gingerbread Apple Pie (Vegan with A Vengeance)

This was my first attempt at baking a pie, but honestly was the best pie I have ever eaten in my life!  Can't wait to make this again for X-Mas!!!

Teresa made Roasted Brussel Sprouts and they were completely vegan and amazing!

Ceil made this tofu dish and it was hands down my favorite part of Thanksgiving.  The tofu was perfectly chewy and the veggies were cooked and seasoned to perfection. Yummy!

This was my first Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce in the shape of a can.  My Mom decided to skip that kind since it is filled with High Fructose Corn Syrup and she bought the all natural kind from Trader Joes.  T.J., Heather, and I were initially disappointed in my Mother's lack of tradition, but I ended up LOVING the natural cranberries even more!

Dinner was great and dessert was even better!

Every year we pose for my parents Holiday Card on Thanksgiving.  It was a somewhat difficult task this year.  We just could not pull it together and everyone kept joking around.  It was however a lot of fun!

I couldn't help but make the last picture of a piece of the pie I made.... I was SO delicious!

Breakfast at A Delicious Vegan Cafe

On Thursday I took Sarah to pick up some paperwork from an elementary school where she has to complete an observation.  The trade off was her taking me to breakfast!  We went to A Delicious Vegan Cafe (3827 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60613). Although this spot is right in my neighborhood, this was my first experience there...

This was my Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte.  It was the best Soy Latte I have ever had!  Starbucks will get way less of my money now that I have discovered this!  They brew Intelligentsia coffee which is a locally roasted coffee, and is the best of the best in coffee.  Besides the delicious espresso, they also had real pumpkin in the latte!  It was unreal....

Sarah and I both ordered the Breakfast Sandwich (tofu fried egg, uptons "sausage", cashew "cheese"(both the sausage and cheese are locally made), on an english muffin).  Sarah added avocado to hers and I had mine plain.  It was very tasty.  My favorite part was the cashew "cheese".  I love vegan products that are not filled with soy.  It was also just nice to eat breakfast and drink a latte with one of my favorite ladies in complete vegan comfort! 

A Delicious Vegan Cafe will definitely get my business again! They use local products, are completely vegan and have rice milk, almond milk and agave (as a sweetener) for your coffee.  Delicious and I are a fantastic match!

A Lunch Date at Blind Faith Cafe

On Wednesday, I met my friend Amy in Evanston for lunch at Blind Faith Cafe (525 Dempster St, Evanston, IL 60201).  It is a vegetarian restaurant but they also have vegan options...

I'm not sure if it actually was, but it sure felt like the coldest day of the year on Wednesday, so all I wanted to eat, was soup.  I ordered Dumplings in Ginger Shiitake Broth (Vegetable dumplings filled with tofu, and fresh ginger in a shiitake broth, garnished with green onions and sprouts).  It was a light soup, but incredibly delicious...

Amy got two different things but shared her chili with me and it was pretty tasty.  It had brown rice, beans tomatoes and a nice fennel seed flavor.

She also ordered the Santa Fe Salad (mixed greens, jack cheese, barbecue seitan, corn, peas, onion, tomato and a house vinaigrette).  I didn't try this since it had cheese in it, but it looked yummy and was HUGE!

We think that they probably thought I was a food critic (since I was taking pictures of the food) because at the end of our meal they brought us a complimentary Vegan Cappuccino Brownie that was to die for!  I had a great time at Blind Faith Cafe, good food and wonderful conversation with one of my favorite ladies.

"Friends"giving

I could not have had more fun with this newly invented holiday!  When I first decided to call it "Friends"giving I was only thinking about a Thanksgiving meal shared with friends, but the more I talked about it I realized that any vegan thanksgiving meal should be called "Friends"giving because it's friendly... No one gets harmed on "Friends"giving because ALL the food is cruelty free!

The event began with Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs (Vegan Brunch).  I made them in a different shape than the recipe called for and was very happy with the way they looked and held together.  I would say that they were delicious, but I never even got the chance to try one.  They were gone before I knew it!

My roommates Chris and Alexis made a fresh salad.  It was very yummy and the salad dressing came in a spray bottle!  How fun is that?

I made Caramelized Onion Butternut Roast with Chestnuts (Veganomicon) for the third time this holiday season and I have to say that the third time was a charm!  It was perfect!

Sarah made these amazing green beans.  They had almonds and sauteed onions and were so good I could eat them all day!

For the main course I made Pumpkin Seed-Crusted Tofu and Baked Pumpkin and Cranberry Relish (Vegan With A Vengeance).  It turned out well although it had a rough start.  The tofu I defrosted and stuck back in my fridge refroze because my fridge sucks, so Sarah and I had to run out at the last minute to get more.  I was still cooking when everyone arrived... Leia helped with the tofu and the pumpkin and Sarah and Nick helped with the cranberry relish.  It is always so nice to have help in the kitchen, thanks everyone!

These are mine and Sarah's plates.  I didn't get a picture of the Sweet Potatoes that Alicia made, but you can see them featured on both our plates.  They were made "Mexican" style and were quite possibly the best sweet potatoes I've ever eaten!

This is everyone that came and ate with us minus Kipp who was taking the picture.....  The second picture we took for my Mom.  She LOVES to have group pictures of everyone posing as Dr. Evil.  This one is for you MOM!

For dessert I made Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World) and Leia made a Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Cranberry topping.  Leia and Tony worked very hard on the topping and I think it was well worth it!  Great job guys!

 Dessert was awesome, but the best part was everyone chipped in and cleaned up!  I didn't need to wash a single dish!  Love you guys!  "Friends"giving could not have been more perfect!