soup & sandwich

Now that it's officially autumn, we can bust out hearty meals. This soup, Kathleen's Mom's Tortilla Chip Soup, is a recipe from La Dolce Vegan. It's the first time we've tried it. We modified it slightly (by adding extra black beans) but kept the full amount of chili. It was very good. Especially for my currently ill hubby.

The sandwiches are made with vegenaise, dijon mustard, spinach, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and Field Roast slices) with Tings and picle spears on the side.

Very hearty.

snobby joes & tater tots

We thought we'd try the Snobby Joe recipe, from Veganomicon. Mark baked the buns from scratch. We added slices of vegan rice cheese on top of the open-faced joes, with a side of baked tater tots.

It was okay. Very lentil-y.

celebration cupcakes

Technically, these are the Basic Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Buttercream Frosting, from VCTOTW. The red & blue sugar sprinkles and the fact that Barack Obama was elected President-elect are what makes them "celebration" cupcakes.

randomness to get caught up

This is just a small group of photos I forgot because they weren't in chronological order in iPhoto. That's what I get for using a cheap 2mp camera that my MIL gave me. Not to mention being without a printer to upload and having to add them to disc. What a pain.

Anyway, these are all from the fall of 2007 to early 2008. And, now, I'm officially caught up with my posts. Which is great because right now, Mark is baking some buns to go with the Snobby Joes from Veganomicon. Also, I'll be baking Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes today followed by Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes on Saturday. All of these are first-time recipes. I'm looking forward to seeing if they are worth adding to our repertoire. Sadly, that burrito pie, pictured at the bottom, was not a keeper.


a pumpkin loaf, courtesy of VegNews.



tiny bite-sized burgers.



the tiny burgers, served along with bean soup.



Lulz...



a burrito pie, from La Dolce Vegan.

not-so heavenly sweet potato cake (10.22.08)

This cake was from the latest issue of VegNews. I was going to bake two, one for the house and one for my co-workers but it ended tasting too "vegan". A bit dry and definitely not something I'd want to share with omnis.

seitan fajitas (10.16.08)

Another recipe from RFD. This time, using the chicken-style seitan. Who knew adding white beans to baked seitan could be this delicious?

seitan with veggies & mashed potatoes (10.13.08)

I was in the mood for American comfort food and this is what Mark came up with.


panko-crusted seitan, sautéed veggies, homemade mashed potatoes, with lots of gravy and Earth Balance-d rolls. So good!

chili & cornbread

Mark made this chili from scratch (no recipe) which lasted for quite a few meals. Tasty and economical.


fresh-baked cornbread.



chili topped with jicama and cilantro.

pizza & carrot cake cupcakes (9.24.08)

Pizza made from scratch, Mark's creation, and cupcakes from VCTOTW.



there's nothing better than homemade pizza.


little morsels of sweetness.

....and, because I forgot to post this earlier, I'm just going to tack it on here. This was another homemade pizza, made with pesto.


and it was good :)

seitan enchiladas with salsa verde & refried black beans (9.20.08)

Another recipe recreation from the RFD cookbook. Although, we didn't have time to fully cook the black beans from scratch, canned black beans worked in a pinch. Also, we added salsa rojo with the salsa verde and were pleased with the results.


baked seitan, an economical and easy way to prepare it.


cooking the seitan with the salsa verde.



et voila, dinner is served.

cinnamon rolls redux (9.15.08)

This is a result of Mark's baking. Each time he bakes these, the result is tastier. Now, he adds fresh caramel, pecans, and tofutti cream cheese icing.

better with cheddar nachos (9.01.08)

One of the first recipes I begged Mark to try, from the Real Food Daily cookbook, was the nachos. We'd already had them at RFD and were interested in seeing how well we could recreate them. The cashew cheese hardened pretty quickly but easily melted. All in all, a success.



all the nacho ingredients, waiting to be assembled.


the finished product.

resto meal: Real Food Daily, Santa Monica (8.08)

This was our first joint trip to Santa Monica, which is how we celebrated our 14th anniversary. After a disastrous experience at Bubba Gump and their so-called "vegan" menu, we decided the only place to eat was at Real Food Daily. These are some pics we took of our takeaway meals. Unfortunately, I never took any when we were at the restaurant. The cookbook was worthwhile investment.


the Supreme burrito.


Mark had the brownie and I had this tasty concoction: a chocolate chip/rice cream sandwich.


vegan tea cookies. Yumminess!

veggie casserole (4.03.08)

A light spring meal of veggie casserole, fresh potato chips, and sautéed green beans with mushrooms.

enchiladas (3.31.08)

Enchiladas, the way we like 'em. Lots of red sauce, and topped with olives, green onion, and vegan cheese.

more sandwiches (3.25.08)

Mark baked the bread for these tasty sandwiches. The filling is fresh veggies and Field Roast "sausages". The macaroni salad (our new favorite), is from Veganomicon.

stiry-fry (3.29.08)

Mark made a trip to the local Asian market and came back with some mock meats. This is one of the dishes he created.

veggie sandwich with the works (2.24.08)

The veggie sanwiches were our own creation, the beans came out of a can, the seitan from La Dolce Vegan, and the macaroni salad from Veganomicon.

cheap comfort food: conchas y frijoles (11.08.07)

Sometimes, when I don't feel like busting out a meal from one of our many cookbooks, I fall back to the food I grew up with. This, of course, is the veganized version of conchas (seashell pasta shells) with refried beans, vegan cheese, and a corn dish that Mark came up with.

meal on the go: cajun pasta (2.08)

I've already experienced the (lack of) meals on the Amtrak. This time, I came prepared for the long journey home. From the Emeryville Public Market: cajun veggie pasta, salad, bread, and a lychee boba drink. Superb!

resto meal: Herbivore, SF (2.10.08)

A trip to San Francisco is not complete without a stop at one of our fave vegan restaurants, Herbivore.


bruschetta, a tasty starter.


Mark's choice: a black bean burrito with salad.



I ordered the portobella mushroom sandwich with macaroni(!!) salad. It was delish.



Dessert: a generous slice of German chocolate heaven.

a squadron of sugar airplanes (11.02.07)

I made these for my sister's baby shower and none of the omnis were none the wiser that these were vegan. Mu-ha-ha-ha.

sunday breakfast: fronch toast & fried potatoes (9.02.07)

These are from the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook though Mark usually dresses them with candied pecans, powdered sugar, Earth Balance, and maple syrup. Yummy.


Made with fresh rosemary.

roja y verde enchiladas (8.28.07)

home-made recipe, pictured next to the soy taco filling

bad blogger

I can't believe that I haven't updated this in over a year. Though, to be honest, the last year has been rough. So rough that, when I last updated, we still owned our house, the location of all the food pics I have taken thus far.

Now, we live with my mother-in-law and times are tough. On the plus side, our vegan diet is constantly evolving with the new recipes we try from various cookbooks, along with the stuff we just make up on the fly. The best addition to our cookbook library was the Real Food Daily cookbook. We bought that one after several visits to the Santa Monica location. The seitan recipes have definitely become our new favorites.

We have also been cooking most of our food as opposed to eating out. There aren't many veg restos locally and the hubby and I are reluctant to eat at standard restos with veg alternatives. We've found our own food tastes much better and we don't have to worry about any hidden animal by-product. I think our only alternatives are Chipotle and Taco Bell and those get really boring after a while.

So, I have 15 months' worth of posts to catch up on. They'll be done chronologically, of course. Each will have it's own entry, with title and date actually prepared, even though I'm posting them all today. Hopefully, I won't let posts get this out of hand again.

Happy cooking!