chickpea-hijiki sammiches with chili beans

from Vegan With a Vengeance

for the veg*n potluck

We took it Mexican-style.

Mark made the enchilada casserole, two salsas, and guacamole.

I made the 7-layer dip and Margarita cupcakes.

Here are the pics:


Margarita cupcakes (with too much green food coloring, d'oh!)


what's left of the 7-Layer Dip


Enchilada casserole, served with beans, guacamole, salsas, lettuce, and tortilla chips

cookies and cream cupcakes

from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

This is a very versatile basic chocolate cupcake recipe. I've baked German Chocolate Cupcakes with it, as well. It's just a matter of what you add and which frosting you use. They're all delectable.


cupcake perfection


in my hand, just about to be consumed...


so many cute l'il cupcakes sitting in a row...

stuffed bell peppers

Well, technically, it's called "Beef" and Orzo Stuffed Peppers. Whatever. It was absolutely delicious ^_^


packed with the filling


vibrant colors


cooked and ready to serve


the green salad, mixed with an olive oil vinaigrette and walnuts

lentil loaf and german chocolate cupcakes

It was Mark's belated birthday dinner last night. I had asked him, last week, what he wanted and he expressed a desire for something like a "meat" loaf. Only, as he always requests, keep the soy/tofu to a minimum...preferably without.

I went on a few sites and found a recipe on vegweb.com. Mark seemed okay with it and we went over all the tips left by the other users as to how to modify the original recipe. He offered to make the loaf and I was designated the task of baking cupcakes (the first recipe to be used from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World).

After much tweaking, Mark succeeded in making a fairly tasty loaf. It will be better next time, he promises, in the way of texture. The cupcakes, naturally, kicked ass. So delicious. His mother, whom we invited to sup with us, ate everything on her plate...a good sign ;)


naked chocolate cupcakes with unbleached paper liners (so eco-friendly)


holiday lentil loaf, up-close for the texture


the dinner: rolls, green beans, mashed potatoes with vegan brown gravy, and holiday lentil loaf


Mark's birthday cupcake. Make a wish!

Valentine's Day dinner <3

So, this year, I decided to make up one of our favorite dishes: Orecchiette with Cherry Tomatoes and Kalamata Tapenade, from Vegan With A Vengeance. For dessert, I tried a recipe featured in the February 2007 issue of VegNews for a Devil's Food Cake. It seemed intriguing.

Well, dinner was eaten fairly late as I had class that night and Mark works longer hours at his new job. Fortunately, I prepared most of the dinner ingredients beforehand however, I didn't have time to ice the cupcakes.

By the time we were ready for dessert, I was too tired to make up the frosting. Mark was jonesing for a sweet and doesn't care much for frosting anyway. He took one bite of these cupcakes and spit it out. Then, this coming from a man who is reticient to throw anything out, told me to throw all the cupcakes away! Oh, but I was to taste one before I threw them away to see what he meant. He was right, they were heinous! Last time I use a recipe calling for beets. And, the finished product did not look like the ever popular Red Velvet Cake. Pooh!

I'm sticking with the cupcakes from my new vegan cupcake cookbook. Lesson learned. I'd have posted a picture of the disastrous cupcakes but I threw out before I could capture them digitally. Pas de probléme.


one of the best recipes in VWAV

tomato soup, grilled cheeze, & onion rings

More results from the Everyday Vegan cookbook. This time I used the Grilled Soy Cheese Sandwiched and Velvety Roasted Herbed Tomato Soup recipes. The onion rings came from www.vegcooking.com



roasted tomatoes with garlic, fresh from the oven


onion rings and grilled soy cheese sandwich


Velvety Roasted Herbed Tomato Soup


bites from a tasty vegan meal

cornmeal chili bake and salad with basic balsamic vinaigrette

Last Saturday, I received two new cookbooks from amazon.com. One is The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton. The other is Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I haven't yet made anything from the latter but I was inspired to try two recipes from TEV. I didn't tell Mark as I wanted to surprise him. I spent most of yesterday afternoon (even had to skip my French class) cooking up a grand homemade feast for my hubby. Which included dessert, chocolate chip cookies by The Compassionate Cook.

Well, apparently the meal was so succesful that Mark ended up eating most of the smaller casserole dish. Thankfully, it was low in fat, lol.

I found that, with the amount of groceries purchased for the recipes, I was able to make a double batch. Which was a good thing.


cornmeal chili bake


mixed greens salad with basic balsamic vinaigrette

taco night!

I loooove eating Mexican food and I especially lurve tacos. Even more when they're served with homemade tortilla chips and salsa and guacamole. Big meal, lots of flavor.

We use a soy taco filling by Frieda's. I dislike the other brands, such as Lightlife. They are too gummy and sticky, imo. I like Frieda's because it's pre-spiced and tastes like the tacos I remember eating as a child. Plus, the texture is a bit drier and finer.

We serve our tacos with guacamole, salsa, beans, and rice. Everything is homemade except the beans. We use the Rosarita brand, instead. A blend of the vegetarian, black beans, and zesty salsa beans. Very tasty.

Garnish with cilantro, cabbage, tomatoes, green onions, and red onions and serve in fried corn tortilla shells sprinkled with chili powder. C'est magnifique!

falafel sammiches with "antipasto" & salad

Mark came up with some interesting new touches to our usual falafel and hummus meal.



The salad, with its homemade croutons and walnuts, was especially delicious.

raw diet was too much

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to try a raw diet for a week, every month. Mark agreed to go in on it with me and we thought we'd start on the first. We didn't start until last week, and we barely made it through the day. For one thing, the food I made (Ensalada and, for dinner, Spinach-Avocado Soup) left us still hungry. Another thing, the weather was unbearably cold last week. Therefore, the diet seemed ill-suited for this time of year. We figured a raw diet would be better in the summer and we would try to incorporate one meal of raw food daily. A 50% - 60% raw diet is our goal.

Besides....I love a hot meal.


an attempt at raw "cooking": Spinach-Avocado Soup


freshly sautéed spinach on top of a crusty white bread


Ummm.... ribollita, hot and hearty!

let the post holiday dieting begin....

After gorging ourselves on lots of tasty vegan holiday food, Mark and I are settling back into eating simple food. For example: a quaint dish of homemade Mexican rice and beans garnished with green onions, cilantro, black olives, and avocado. So delicious and filling.



We'll be eating raw, for one week, starting in January. It's part of our New Year's resolutions......

Success: vegan cinnamon rolls!

One day, while browsing various sites, I came across a recipe for vegan bread. Apparently, you could easily adapt it to a cinnamon roll recipe, as well.

On Christmas Eve, Mark thought it would be a good idea to try the cinnamon rolls as it has always been a Christmas tradition in his family. Unfortunately, the recipe was written confusingly so Mark tweaked it and the results are shown below. The unfrosted cinnamon roll was from his first batch. The one sprinkled with walnuts and pecans was from the second batch. Which, by the way, was much better than the first :)

The frosting was made of powdered sugar and Tofutti cream cheese.


sans nuts


with nuts

Christmas cupcakes

I've made these cupcakes before, using the cupcake recipe from Vegweb and the buttercream frosting from VCTOTW (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). However, I decked them out in festive Christmas nonpareils and candy canes. Yum :)

chocolate chip cookies and veggie burgers

Mark had been pestering me to find a vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe and I kept putting it off, thinking that any recipe I would find might taste heinous. Finally, I caved and was searching online late one night and stumbled upon this site

There was a video that accompanied the chocolate chip cookie recipe and it was very helpful. I especially love the fact that the recipe is simple and free of the artsy-esoteric ingredients that are usually found in vegan cooking. I used the suggested products, as well, such as Earth Balance margarine (which we always use) and Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also used an equal combination of nuts: 1/2 cup of toasted pecans and 1/2 cup of walnuts. Since I used a 1/4 cup to form the cookies, they only made 24 cookies as opposed to the 40 the recipes says it should make. These cookies were definitely delicious. I'm always pleased whenever I find a tasty vegan alternative to the usual animal by-product laden original. A success! My compliments to the creator of this recipe. It's a keeper ;)

After eating salad for a couple of days, Mark and I felt like eating some veggie burgers. We prefer Amy's brand over any other as it has less sodium than the rest. Our particular favorite is the Texas flavor. Mark basted the patties in barbecue sauce and cooked them in the oven. He normally grills them, propane-style, but it's been too cold. Then he baked the fries in the oven and made a tangy dipping sauce of veganaise, dijon mustard, and agave nectar. The burger and fries were accompanied by veggie chile and our favorite condiments. It hit the spot but I think I'm ready for salads again, lol.

all ready for the oven (measured at 1/4 cup)

our first all-vegan thanksgiving, part deux

More pics from our Thanksgiving meal. The only food item I was disappointed about was the pumpkin pie. Though I followed the directions, it had a bitter aftertaste. The pecan pie was suprisingly delicious. It's a keeper!


Mark's version of "jellied" cranberry: real cranberries mixed with lemons, oranges, and pineapple. Not usually my cuppa but I admit this was tasty.


fresh sautéed veggies (my personal favorite) including: spinach, corn, carrots, onions, celery, and porcini mushrooms


my plate, heaped with tasty vegan vittles. No animals harmed in the making if this meal!


pumpkin pie and pecan pie


yes, we always have a slice of each, with a dollop of non-dairy whip cream

our first all-vegan thanksgiving!!

Except for a few mistakes, this Thanksgiving meal was a delicious success!



fresh green beans with fried onions


roasted butternut squash soup (from VwaV)


creamy rosemary garlic mashed potatoes


celebration roast garnished with thyme and sage


A view of the feast: mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, yams, butternut soup, green beans with fired onions, field roast, and gravy


See next entry for remaining photos.

Mushroom Barley Soup & Pumpkin Spice Cake

I had a few things in mind when I spent Saturday afternoon scanning VegWeb for inspiration and....
I knew I wanted soup with barley and/or wheatberries and something like a spice cake for dessert.
I lurve this time of the year! The changing leaf colors, the brisk chill in the mornings and night, the layering on of clothing. Yes, 'tis the perfect weather for hearty soups, spicy cakes, and french-pressed coffee!

This is what I ended up cooking yesterday:
Mushroom Barley Soup and Pumpkin Spice Cake. With only a few simple modifications, they both turned out fabulous!

With the Mushroom Barley Soup, I used 15 mushrooms instead of the 10 the recipe calls for. I think I used well over a cup of the pearl barley, too. Oh, and I added an extra potato, 8 oz of vegetable broth, a few dashes of vegan worcestershire sauce, and used an entire head of cabbage. I forgot to add the turmeric but no big deal. Mark made some pan-toast and served along with the soup.

With the Pumpkin Spice Cake, we didn't have enough pumpkin purée nor maple syrup so I supplemented 1/3 of a banana with the pumpkin. For the maple syrup, I used 1/2 cup maple syrup + 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1/2 cup Sugar in the Raw to equal the 1-1/2 cups the recipe called for. Other than those two improvisations, I realized I had forgotten to add the apple cider vinegar to the batter after I'd put the cake in oven. There were several good hints on the VegWeb page regarding this recipe. I followed the one about the extra leavening by adding up to 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder. Maybe that helped save the cake without the apple cider vinegar? One more comment: I preheated the oven but I still had to bake the cake for an additional 10-15 minutes. I checked every five minutes til the toothpick came out clean. When it was done and had cooled off a bit, I served a slice to my hubby, after dusting it with a light coat of powdered sugar and he loved it.

The pics:

Wholesome veggies, prepped and ready for the soup


The finished product, served with Mark's pan-toast


Pumpkin Spice Cake with a dusting of confectioner's sugar