Peanut butter "ice cream"

Ray and I made vegan ice cream, and it was fantastic! These pictures don't look all that appetizing because we were too impatient to wait to eat it when it was good and frozen, so we ate it "super soft serve!" Yummo! The recipe came from Vegetarian Times, and it is definitely a keeper.

Noodle salad and glazed carrots

Ray and I cooked dinner together tonight. He went shopping with me for ingredients, too. We made Miso-Sesame Noodle Salad from Vegetarian Times and Glazed Carrots, a recipe I found in Real Simple. The noodle salad was okay. We ate it, but I don't think we'll make it again. The glazed carrots were pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of carrots, but the boys really liked them. They were easy, too, so I imagine they're going to become a pretty regular thing in our house! We made them by quartering a bunch of fat baby cut carrots - enough to fill up the bottom of my cast iron skillet. Then added 1 1/2 tablespoons of Earth Balance, spread out in pieces over the carrots, then sprinkled 1 tsp of sugar on them. Then we put water in the skillet to about halfway up the sides of the carrots and cooked them on low-medium heat until the water was reduced to a glaze and the carrots were soft. We also had some Glutino herb crackers with dinner. They were pretty good.

TVP tacos and mock sour cream

Tonight's dinner was fabulous! Everyone loved it. It's was completely vegan and almost gluten free (it will be the next time I make it). I'm glad it turned out so good because it took every ounce to energy I had to make it!!! *sigh* This pregnancy will be over someday, and I will have a beautiful baby to show for it. Anyhoo - dinner consisted of corn tortillas, TVP taco filling (from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook - I liked it, but I'm going to change it up a bit when I make it next - then I'll post a recipe), a "cheese" sauce (Here's the original recipe: "cheese" recipe. I made it a bit differently, and I am going to make it gluten free next time - we'll work on that later. It was pretty good though - a bit thick.), mock sour cream (recipe below), lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, salsa, and hot sauce. Man, it was so good, and I am really thrilled that I didn't vomit any of it up!!! LOL. Nice thing to put on a food blog, eh? Oh well, it's MY food blog. LOL.
Here's a happy customer!

Mock Sour Cream
1 cup raw cashews (rinsed well)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
Blend in a high powered blender until smooth and creamy.

I even got the kiddos bentos made for tomorrow. I showed Beth hers, and she said, "It's so cute!" LOL.

Thai peanut noodles and spring rolls

Tonight I made Thai peanut noodles and spring rolls with a peanut sauce for dinner. It was super yummy! I even got all three bentos ready for school in the morning. It's so nice to feel human again.

The spring rolls consisted of rice thread noodles, tofu (cooked with Bragg), carrots, pickles, spinach, and red pepper strips wrapped up in rice wrappers. The peanut sauce was peanut butter, chili sauce, lime juice, sesame oil, and water (it was so good!).

Here's the recipe for the noodles. I copied the original recipe down from a cookbook 9+ years ago, but this version is quite a bit different. I don't know the name of the original cookbook unfortunately.
2 8-oz pkgs 100% buckwheat Soba noodles (cook according to package directions)
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 C finely chopped carrots
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1/2 C vegetable oil
4 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice vinear
4 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 tsp chili sauce
Mix all ingredients except noodles - then mix sauce with noodles! Can be served warm or cold.

I got all three bentos ready for tomorrow's lunch! Wow - I am feeling remotely human today - sort of. Livi's has tofu (cooked with Bragg), pickle and tomato skewers, carrots, mandarin oranges, and pudding. Yes, that is a ghost that the tofu is in. They were supposed to be for Halloween, but I forgot them! Oops. Ray's top tier has Thai peanut noodles, a spring roll and a bottle of Bragg. Beth's top tier has two spring rolls (I also have a small container of peanut sauce for her. Their bottom tiers have mandarin oranges and pudding.

a quick bento

Well, it's not much, but the kids like it! Sushi, rice crackers, a bottle of Bragg, mandarin oranges, and Sharkies.

A healthy, fresh breakfast

This breakfast was just too pretty not to post! It was healthy, fresh, colorful, vegan, and gluten free!

Fresh fruit: bananas, apples, Clementine oranges, and pineapple rings. Nut butters: peanut butter and almond butter. Plus - cashews! Super yum-o!

Finally felt good enough to cook!

I've been fighting morning sickness (a.k.a. ALL DAY sickness), and I haven't felt like cooking in weeks. I've been doing good if I made dinner at all - even if it was cooking eggs and hash browns. Tonight, I actually cooked us a proper meal! It was fantastic, too. I am finally going to post a recipe for oat-walnut patties and "potato heroine." Besides those things we had steamed broccoli with pimiento-cashew "cheese," and a green salad. Yum! Here's my version of oat-walnut patties:
4 C water
1/2 C Bragg Liquid Aminos
1/3 C olive oil
1 C chopped walnuts (you can substitute pecans, but I've never tried it)
1/4 C nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried basil
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp "beef" broth powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried sage
4 C rolled oats
Put all ingredients except oats in a large pot, still well, bring to a boil. Remove from head and stir in oats. Cover and let cool. Preheat oven to 350F. Form mixture into 3 inch patties and place on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes on each side. (sometimes I make these meatball size, and then put them in my son's lunch) The original recipe comes from The Seventh-day Diet.

"Potato Heroine"
The original recipe is called Lemony Roasted Potatoes, and it is from Veganomicon. I have tinkered with the ingredients just a bit, but the real changes are in the cooking times. If you cook the recipe like the book says, you will end up with hard, watery potatoes - yuck. Here's how I make them:
2 1/2 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled
1/4 C olive oil
8-10 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 C lemon juice (they say "fresh squeezed" LOL. They are obviously not caring for four children and pregnant with a fifth! Bottled works just fine)
1 C vegetable broth
2 heaping tsp dried oregano
2 tsp salt
2 tsp tomato paste
black pepper
Preheat oven to 375F. Slice potatoes in thin strips (if they are too thick - they will NEVER get done). In a large, deep casserole dish, combine oil, garlic, lemon juice, broth, oregano, salt and tomato paste. Put the potatoes in the casserole dish and pour the sauce over them. Toss to mix. Put pepper on top. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes - UNCOVERED! Then, stir, cover and cook for another 40 minutes. Stir and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir once more - check the potatoes for softness and to see if sauce has evaporated. Most likely you will need to cook them for another 15 minutes. Yes - they take an hour and 45 minutes to cook. Outrageous I know, but we don't call them "potato heroine" for nothing.

And here is the finished product!