Pan-Asian Family Dinner

Last night was Pan-Asian Vegan Family Dinner and we had a fantastic time! About 15 people showed up and there was plenty of food and wine for everyone to get nice and full.

James, Angie, and Alicia brought a Sushi Plate that had yummy veggie rolls!

Sarah made this delicious cabbage salad it had lots of fresh ginger!

Alex made this gingery noodle dish which included homemade udon noodles!  I was super impressed.

Leia and I worked together on the main, Orange Tofu and Jasmine Rice.  We fried 3 pounds of tofu and every last piece was devoured!

For dessert I made a Cambodian dessert, Num Tirk Doung (Coconut Pound Cake). 

  Since I couldn't find a vegan recipe for this I made up my own.  It turned out surprisingly well, so here is my recipe:

What You Need:

1 cup Vanilla Soy Yogurt

2 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Melted Earth Balance

1/2 cup Coconut Milk

1/4 cup Frozen Grated Coconut

1 1/2 cup Sugar

2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

What You Do:

Preheat oven at 325

Grease loaf pan and lightly dust with flour

Cream melted Earth Balance and Sugar together.

Add Yogurt and mix well.

Add Vanilla, Baking Powder, Salt and Coconut Milk and mix well.

Add Flour and Coconut and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Let cool completely before removing from the pan.

Everything about last night was wonderful!  It's so nice to have such fantastic friends to share a vegan family dinner with.  My favorite part besides socializing and cooking is trying the  food that each person brings.  Thanks everyone for another fantastic and delicious family dinner!

Upside-Down Shepherd's Pie

I am still in love with my new cookbook Appetite for reduction- Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  This week I decided to try making Upside-Down Lentil Shepard's Pie.  I usually HATE shepard's pie, but since it called for lentils instead of a meat substitute I decided to give it a shot.

The french lentils were cooked with zucchini, shiitake mushrooms, onions, garlic, peas, vegetable broth and spices.  The mashed potatoes were a combination of potatoes and cauliflower with vegetable broth and a little olive oil.

This was an amazingly filling, delicious,  and healthy meal!  I ate it all week!  It was hands down the best shepard's pie recipe I have ever made or sampled.

New Year Cookies

This was the first year in a long time that I didn't host a New Years Eve party. Things were just a bit to hectic for hosting this year.  Luckily, I was invited to my friend Tiffany's party so I had the chance to ring in the new year with a bunch of new friends!  I made

Nutter Betters Sandwich Cookies- Vegan cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

 The recipe claimed that they would taste just like Nutter Butter cookies and it was right!  They tasted JUST like the real thing, but less processed!  I only got to eat one of these bad boys!  Everyone there LOVED them.  The best compliment I got was when Tiffany went to hand me back my Tupperware she emptied out the last few cookies.  I'm glad they went over so well!

 

Grad School Quick Meals Vol 3.

Lately, I have been trying out some healthy meals from my new favorite cook book Appetite for Reduction- Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  Many of the recipes are quick and ALL of them are healthful!  This is perfect for a busy bee like me.  The bonus of this book is that the nutritional information is included for each recipe.  

Wednesday night I made Garlicky Mushrooms & Kale.  

I served it along side of some whole wheat pasta and it was perfectly healthful and delicious!

Without meat or a meat substitute I ate 18 grams of protein, 10 grams of fiber and got my supply of Vitamin A, C, Calcium, and Iron!  All of that with only 6 grams of fat and 260 calories!  Very exciting... 

Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas Eve is the big day for my family in the holiday season.  Since the celebration was taking place at my parents house I brought my chef's knife,  a bunch of produce, some Earth Balance and Puff Pastry to make Portobello Wellington.

My Mom has two kitchens so I had the basement kitchen all to myself, so I had a great time chopping, cooking and as usual singing along and dancing to some of my favorite tunes all at the same time.

I used star shaped cookie cutters to make them fancier!  

Here is my plate!  Ceil made a roasted root vegetable medley and her famous Tofu and Green Beans (my favorite!)  The Wellington was a hit.  Almost everyone sampled some of it and they all said it was delicious! 

Vegan Christmas Cookie Adventure Vol. 2

This year for X-mas I made 4 different cookies, Minono's, Carmel Pecan Bars, Carrot Raisin Spice Chewies, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows. Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar- Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

The Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows required a bit of some time, but they were well worth it!

My 3 year old niece Olivia decided that these were her favorite Christmas cookie for the holiday!  I love that she picked a vegan cookie over all the other cookies to choose from!

These are the Carmel Pecan Bars, which were my sister Heather's absolute favorite.  I gave her most of the leftover ones on Christmas Day but while she was at work on Monday, her family devoured them, so I had to supply her with a couple more when I saw her on Tuesday. 

The last cookies that I made were Carrot Raisin Spice Chewies.  My Mom raved about these and I thought they were pretty delicious myself!

My Vegan Christmas Cookie Adventure was a HUGE success!  It was nice that two of the cookies I made were chosen as a favorite by a few different people.  Goes to show you that vegan cookies are just as delicious as the non-vegan variety, even on Christmas!

Winter Comfort Foods Vol. 2

Any type of food that can be served at a diner is comfort food to me.  The only problem is that although diner food tastes delicious and warms up my belly, it is usually filled with animal products and LOTS of fat!  Wednesday night I was in the mood for veggie burgers and onion rings so, I decided to try a healthier approach to this tasty food combination.

Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers are my absolute favorite vegan veggie burgers out there! They have the best flavor and with a little oil and my cast iron skillet, they cook up very nicely.  I like to eat these on whole wheat flats instead of on a bun.

For the onion rings, I cracked open my new low fat cook book, Appetite for Reduction.  I found a recipe for oven baked onion rings.  They were made with Vidalia onions and whole wheat bread crumbs.  They were pretty tasty and cooked up super quick!  I'm glad to know that I can eat onion rings and not have to eat 20 grams of fat!