Vegan MoFo Day 31: A Smorgasbord of Vegan Food

It's the last day of MoFo, so I wanted to leave you with a smorgasbord of yummy stuff I've eaten the last few days. I haven't traveled to Sweden, but I'm Swedish on my mother's side of the family, so there ya go.

Lemon Lentil Soup from Peas and Thank You:

Oatmeal Bread from How It All Vegan!:

Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup from Appetite for Reduction:

Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad (with avocado), also from Appetite for Reduction:

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance:

Orange-Date-Walnut Bread from 1,000 Vegan Recipes: 

Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan:

I used black tortilla chips and Daiya vegan cheddar to make it look very Halloween-y :)

I'll be back with a MoFo recap soon!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

Okay, this cooking rut I'm in, it's for realz. I just haven't felt like cooking. I haven't been inspired by anything. I really just want to go back to Costa Rica and have someone else cook every meal for me. That was so nice.

But since THAT ain't gonna happen, I do need to get my act together. However, I really dread the idea of sitting down and making a weekly menu again. Somehow, just the thought of spending 1-2 hours pouring over cookbooks and inevitably making the same 15 or so dishes over and over again makes me want to cringe. I need a kitchen intervention!

I can say one good thing that has come out of my malaise, though - it has forced me to get creative and resourceful. Since I haven't been menu planning, I haven't been grocery shopping regularly, and I don't always have a variety of fresh ingredients on hand. I mean, it's hard to shop for produce when you have no idea what you'll be making. This afternoon, I was shuffling around my kitchen and poking in the fridge, freezer, and pantry, looking for something (anything!) to jump out at me. For produce, I had two giant sweet potatoes, one onion, some sad looking baby spinach, a knob of ginger, two limes, two lemons, and the ubiquitous carrot/celery/cucumbers I nearly always have on hand. Hmm...sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes. I had 5 brown rice tortillas and about 6 small corn tortillas in the freezer. I had black beans. Enchiladas? Let's see...

A few months ago, I had bookmarked this recipe from Gena's blog. Unbelievably, I had everything I needed to make the enchiladas, but almost nothing to make her tomatillo sauce. No tomatillos, no garlic, no jalapeno pepper. Still, I would not be deterred. I rummaged through my pantry and threw a bunch of stuff into my Vita-Mix to make the easiest, quickest, no-cook enchilada sauce you could imagine. And you know what? It was pretty good! Not at all authentic, mind you, but great in a pinch! :)

Pantry Enchilada Sauce
Makes enough for 1 pan of enchiladas

1 28-oz can organic whole peeled tomatoes
1/8 - 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 4-oz can diced fire-roasted green chilies
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp agave nectar
1/2 tbs olive oil
2-3 dashes of Cholula original hot sauce
2 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach

Add all ingredients to blender and blitz until smooth.

Gena's enchiladas, by the way, were totally awesome :) Don't let the terrible photography make you think any different!

The filling is cooked and mashed sweet potatoes, onions, black beans, lime juice, and other spices. It's killer. I sprinkled a couple of handfuls of Daiya vegan cheddar cheese on top before I baked the whole enchilada (excuse the pun - I couldn't help myself). It's hard to believe how cheesy these enchiladas taste, considering there was only that handful of Daiya on top. Amazing! Sweet potatoes are the new cheese! LOL

Three-Bean Cassoulet and Kale

I'm starting to realize something that's both good and bad. The good news is, the new camera I had to buy in Costa Rica did a pretty good job of taking pictures in Costa Rica. With all of the beautiful, bright sunshine, the outdoor pictures couldn't help but come out well. The bad news? Well, it turns out that the camera takes pretty lousy pictures indoors. I definitely need to read the manual and see if there is anything I can do to improve the picture quality. In the meantime, you and I will have to put up with some pretty unappealing food pictures :)

A couple of nights ago, I was in the mood for beans. This may or may not have something to do with the copious amounts of gallo pinto I consumed while in Costa Rica :) However, I've been decidedly lacking in motivation to cook again after being on vacation. What, no one is going to provide me with freshly sliced papaya, pineapple, and banana for breakfast? Or a beautifully arranged salad of avocado, hearts of palm, and tomato? Whaaat? Yeah, I haven't been feelin' it in the kitchen. So I decided to make a super-easy bean dish I'd made and enjoyed before - Three-Bean Cassoulet from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

A base of carrots, onions, garlic, and celery is sauteed together, then mixed with tomatoes, spices, cannellini beans, navy beans, and great northern beans. After sprinkling with some panko bread crumbs, the whole skillet goes right in the oven to bake.

I also threw some kale in a pot to steam until tender. My hubby and I were both shocked when our son ate ALL his kale...and then asked for MORE! I guess all my talk about how it is so "kale-licious" is paying off :)

We were also in the mood for a little vino with our beans, so we opened up a bottle of Riesling we've had lurking in the downstairs fridge for almost a year. It must have been pretty doggone delicious, because we drank the entire bottle that night! 

In the morning, I was feeling a little guilty about my wine overconsumption, so I decided to atone with a simple tropical smoothie. I threw some frozen mango, frozen banana, and frozen pineapple in the Vita, along with some water and a dash of coconut milk. It was creamy, fruity, and refreshing, and most importantly, very hydrating :)

I've finished going through my Costa Rica pictures, so I hope to get that post done in the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

Eggplant Provencale

There's nothing better than free food, right? I think I've rhapsodized about this before. Recently, I was the lucky beneficiary of not one, but two people's garden overproduction, and on the same day, no less!

Bag-o-plenty #1 came from my hubby's parents, who had a bumper crop of tomatoes, purple eggplant, zucchini, and green peppers. Since I was too busy lazy to till my own garden this year, I've gotten downright giddy when gifted with others' homegrown produce. I love being asked, Do you want some of our extra veggies? Will you use them? Um, is the Pope Catholic?

Bag-o-plenty #2 came from my good friend, Allison. She had a monster bag of white eggplant and cherry tomatoes for me. She didn't ask if I'd want them. She knows me pretty well :)

So, I now had an unexpected (but greatly appreciated) bounty of tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and peppers on hand. But what to do with them? I started flipping through my cookbooks, looking for inspiration. Then I remembered a recipe I had made a couple of years ago from Vegetarian Times for Eggplant Provencale. I was pretty sure it had all of these ingredients in it. Turns out - I was right!

Eggplant, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and garlic are sauteed together, then tossed with chopped green olives, capers, parsley, and spices. 

A light coating of Italian breadcrumbs, nooch, and melted Earth Balance tops it off before baking.

I rounded out the meal with some steamed broccoli and brown rice rotini tossed with some eggplant pasta sauce. Yum!

The eggplant was silky, soft, and delicious, and the combination of tomatoes and breadcrumbs reminded me of Eggplant Parmesan. It was fabulous!

Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado

Nothing strikes fear and trepidation in my heart quite like the prospect of making homemade lasagna. Even though it's one of my favorite Italian dishes, I think I've made maybe 5 lasagnas in the last 10 years. I keep thinking I'm going to make another one of these days...and then I start thinking of the lasagna noodles. And the tofu ricotta. And the sauteed veggies. And the sauce. And the layering.

And then I make myself a smoothie to calm myself down.

But a Bean and Corn Tortilla Lasagna from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan? Yeah, I could totally handle that.

Step 1 - mix a bunch of spices, beans, tomato sauce, and garlic & onion (uncooked! yeah!!) in a bowl
Step 2 - spread half the mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish
Step 3 - top with some corn tortillas, avocado slices, frozen corn, and lime juice
Step 4 - top with more tortillas, remaining sauce, and crushed tortilla chips
Step 5- top this with a sprinkling of vegan cheese
Step 6 - cover and bake
Step 7 - devour

Let's see - no precooking or sauteeing required; no noodles to boil; no complicated ricotta to make. Just mix, layer, and bake. My kind of lasagna!

Here it is, all assembled and ready for baking:

Here's a slice, fresh out of the oven!

And the inside "money shot." The avocado layer gives it a little somethin' somethin':

If only Italian lasagna was this easy!

Aargh for Me....But Yummy for Them

It's Day Six of my self-imposed Bland Food Fest. Toast, rice, bananas, graham crackers. I'm getting a bit depressed over it. I mean, I love food. I love to eat. I don't love feeling like this. I also miss exercising. I look out my window and see people running and I want to throw something at them. Like maybe one of my innumerable bowls of rice. I finally broke down and called the doctor's office this morning, but there were no openings today, so I have to wait until Monday to be seen. Hopefully, whatever is ailing me will be gone by then. I'm starting to think something moved into my belly and has taken up residence there. Some kind of mad, rice-eating punk who hates running or something.

But alas, just because I can't eat anything, it doesn't mean I should deprive my dear hubby and son of food. Since it is also Day Sixteen of my self-imposed I'm-Not-Going-to-the-Grocery-Store-if-I-Can-Help-It project, I had to come up with another pantry-and-freezer-friendly meal. I browsed through a bunch of recipes I'd saved to my computer and realized I'd hit the jackpot when I came across the Tempeh Tamale Pie recipe from Mama Pea's awesome and pea-lightful blog. My hubby and son both love beans, tempeh, corn, and cornbread. I think we have a winner!

Tempeh, onions, garlic, pinto beans, spices, and some zucchini (my addition) were sauteed and simmered together, then placed in a casserole dish. You top this with a quick homemade cornbread batter  studded with frozen corn kernels. Finally, a light sprinkling of Daiya vegan cheddar cheese goes on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, and voila, dinner is served.

I threw some frozen green beans on the stove to steam while the casserole baked. I am pleased as punch to say that both hubby and son ate it up with gusto. I can't wait to actually try it myself some day (soon...I hope!!)