Recipes

Neil and I decided since February 13th was our 5 month anniversary and Valentines day was the next day that we would each take on the challenge of making each other dinner. I got 2/13 and I decided to make a vegan 5 course meal.

The First Course:

Roasted Red Pepper Soup (vegcooking.com)
Creamy and savory, this soup is the perfect starter for any romantic meal.
1/2 cup vegan margarine (try Earth Balance brand)
1 large white onion, minced
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 roasted red peppers, seeded and chopped
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup plain soy milk, at room temperature
Fresh basil for garnish
• In a medium pot over medium-high heat, melt the margarine. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté until slightly softened.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft. Add the peppers and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and season with salt and pepper.
• Purée in a blender until smooth. Return to the pot and stir in the soy milk. Cook until warm.
• Divide evenly into 4 bowls and garnish with the basil.

Makes 4 servings

Second Course:

Stuffed Crescent Rolls

1 pkg. whole wheat crescent rolls
1/2 mushrooms
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 T olive oil to cook in

sautee in a pan.
grease a muffin tin.
stuff the mushroom/onion mixture into crescent rolls and place in muffin tin.
bake at 375F for 11 minutes.

Third Course:

Sundried Tomato Penne

1/2 small jar of sundried tomatoes with oil
1 T italian seasoning
1 t crushed red pepper

Blend in a food processor and mix with warm whole wheat penne.

Fourth Course:

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
· 2 portabella mushrooms
· ¼ c spinach, chopped
· ¼ c bell pepper
· 1 clove garlic, chopped
· ¼ c onion, chopped
· 1 tbsps olive oil
· 2 tbsps vegan parmesan (1 tablespoon for each mushroom)
· Salt and pepper
· 1 c red rice
Cut the portobello stalks and carve the inside using a small spoon, reserving the flesh.
Cover the portobellos with a little oil, using your hands so that the oil goes everywhere.
Put them in the oven and grill them until they are almost done.
cook bulgar according to directions Drain.
In a pan, heat some olive oil, sauté bell pepper, garlic, onion, spinach and portobello flesh. Add the bulgur and stir everything together. Salt and pepper to taste.
With this mixture, stuff the portobellos, sprinkle with parmesan and bake for 5 minutes

Final Course:

Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Cheesecake
Ingredients:

1/2 block soft tofu, drained
1/3 cup + 1T soy milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Mixture can be prepared the night before you plan to make it. Preheat oven to 375F. Soften tofu in large mixing bowl, combining in cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sugar. Once the added ingredients are combined, gradually stir in chocolate soy milk. Make sure all ingredients are well combined.

Pour mixture into graham cracker crust. Place in preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes until the top of the cheese cake appears solid. Allow cheesecake to sit in fridge for 1 to 2 hours, before serving.
This recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake serves/makes 4

Cookie Crust:
2 1/2 cups vegan creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (i.e. vegan version of Oreos)
2 tablespoon margarine
Cookie Crust:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place cookies in large plastic bag and crush with rolling pin. Or crush the cookies in a food processor.

3. Transfer crumbs to medium bowl, drizzle with melted margarine, and mix with fingers until well combined. Pour crumbs into 9-inch pie plate.

4. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie plate.

5. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm crumbs, Bake until crumbs are set, about 10 minutes. Let it cool.

For lunch one day I made a sweet potato corn chowder and a veggie burger on top of curried lentils and spinach topped with homemade hummus and sauted mushrooms, onions and red peppers.

I don’t remember the recipes for these unfortunately but we made a chickpea curry, some samosas, so indian bread and some indian fried rice.

This is a recipe i came up with randomly. I was making black bean soup and we had a ton of left overs so i made this.

Black Bean Burrito Bake

Layer in a casserole dish:
2 cups of red rice
1 cup black bean soup
1 cup black beans
1 cup salsa
1 cup vegan cheddar
1/4 cup green onions
top with crushed sweet chili heat chips

back at 350F for 25-30 minutes

I made this spinach ceasar salad awhile back and i believe i used the vegan ceasar dressing recipe off of the bunnyfoot blog.

I love making soup and using anything i can find in the kitchen to make it. I unfortunately do not measure much when i do this so here are the basic ingredients that I used to make this soup.

1 32oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 packet of onion soup mix
2 servings of whole wheat couscous (cooked)
1 can of butter beans
about 2 cups of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon of earth balance
1 small onion
1-2 gloves garlic

I sauted the onion and garlic in oil until the onion was soft. Then i added the tomatoes, broth and earth balance. Let cook for 10 minutes. Then add beans, couscous, and onion soup mix. let cook 10 more minutes. serve warm. best if made a day ahead and reheated.