A Kitchen Montage: November and December 2011

A kitchen montage for you!

 December harvest (we didn't frost until Dec. 12th!)

 Pecan Pomegranate Bread Pudding 

 Chocolate Spice Cookies (from ED&BV)

 Holiday crafts!

And the house is bare.  

 Here it was before:

Trader Joe's Gingerbread House (Gingerbread house itself is vegan, some of the candies aren't, the sugar mix is if you don't use egg whites.). Same for the giant Gingerbread Man kit (the man himself is vegan, haha!)

 Frozen cubes of Basil Pesto, used to help make the lovely...

 Toasted Artichoke and Pine Nut Linguini

 My friend Sonia's delicious arepas! Las arepas estan deliciosas!!

 Bok Choy.  I sauteed it with garlic, oil and a little Bragg's.  We ate it all (don't ask).

 Portobello Burritos from The Urban Vegan.  I totally assembled them a day ahead (this picture), and then baked them the day of with a bunch of Daiya cheddar on top (there is some inside as well).  It worked great (I was very nervous about doing that, thought they might get mushy, NOPE! They were amazing!).

 Personal (vegan, of course) Pizza Marinara

 With Organic Arugula!

 Fudge (mostly organic :-) from Vegan Lunch Box.  Easy and delicious!

 Seitan Roast with Cranberry Walnut stuffing, Sauteed Mushrooms, Sauteed Spinach and Spinach Linguine. 

 Gingerbread House #2 (from the school "candy house party," using a pint milk container as the house base, great idea!).  Candies not vegan (was made at school), but those guys are, I think.

Vegan Latkes.  SO amazing.  It's a mixed up recipe from VCon (combines Autumn and Potato Latkes!) Basically, grate your potatoes and carrots (if using) and onion in a food processor, dump into a bowl.  Add salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup (if you have 2.5 lbs of potatoes, less if you used less) of potato starch or cornstarch, mix thoroughly.  Add 1-2 cups matzo meal (depending on how many potatoes you used) mix and let sit about 10 minutes until it gets sticky.  Fry or saute in oil in a cast iron pan about 4 min per side.  Serve with Tofutti Sour Cream and Organic Applesauce!

Have a wonderful winter holiday season.  I'll catch up with you guys in the New Year!

In the Kitchen

Here's a look at what I've been cooking this week (or, eh, rather, like three weeks ago, I somehow forgot to put this post up!).  Anyway, it's nice to be back in the kitchen after the whole VegNews fiasco.  Ahhhhhhhhh.

One of my favorite things for breakfast or dinner is a sweet and white potato hash with red and yellow bell peppers and a sweet onion.  My husband makes it and it is amazing every time.  Sometimes he fries up vegan chorizo (Trader Joe's kind) and adds it, but it's great plain, too:

Hubby's Hash

Homemade vegan pizza with sourdough baguette, olive oil, spices, organic basil, organic Roma tomatoes and Daiya mozzarella, just put it in your toaster oven for a few minutes and it's done.

This isn't a great pic, but I love to put the potato hash over pasta, whether it has the chorizo added or not! 

This is my quick marinara sauce (with spinach).  It's so creamy dreamy because I added some cashew/tofu ricotta to it that I had in the freezer.  That stuff freezes just fine, then just defrost on 50 percent power in the microwave for a few minutes.

I served the creamy spinach marinara over packaged gnocchi and it was fantastic (and quick and easy!).

And then on Friday I just had to try Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking.  I love that book and everything I have made from it comes out great (and receives the review of "best ever" even from omnivores and even in comparison with traditional baked goods).

 I added walnuts to one dozen of them.

P.S. I want these all time time, now.  I honestly think about making them every single day. JOVB is the best!

Next, I had to try Isa's new recipe for Mac & Shews and, as expected, it was stupendous.

 My hubby rinsed, drained and cooked the sauerkraut for me with white wine, freshly grated pepper and probably secret ingredients.  He used to make it as a fancy side with pork chops.    

It's so gross and sad to think of eating any part of a pig now :-(   But the kraut is fantastic.

Here is the finished product.  AMAZING.   

If you guys want recipes for anything above (except the cookies, those are from Colleen's book, but I can ask her to post it if you guys want!), let me know.

Enjoy your week,

Dawn