Avocado and Tempeh Bacon Wraps and Roasted Ratatouille Gratin

I think if I could only keep one cookbook for the rest of my life, I'd most likely choose Robin Robertson's 1,000 Vegan Recipes. I mean, duh. One thousand recipes is quite the variety, and I'd never get recipe-fatigue. Having said that, there are several recipes in this book that I make quite often -Chickpea Pancake with Rosemary; Tuscan Bread and Tomato Salad; Arugula and Apple Salad with Creamy Mustard Dressing; Tuscan White Beans and Broccoli Rabe; and Lemon-Glazed Baby Carrots with Cranberries. What can I say, when it's good, it's good! But I certainly have a long way to go to reach 1,000, so I'm trying to make a dent in the recipe count.

First up, the Avocado and Tempeh Bacon Wraps. I've made a similar sandwich before, but this one was definitely simpler to make. It was also, most importantly, super-delicious!

The Tempeh Bacon is a separate recipe in the book, and it's easy as pie to make. Just steam the tempeh, slice it, and pan-fry it with some oil, tamari, and liquid smoke. Done. Then grab a wrap (I used pumpernickel), spread it with some Vegenaise, add some sliced tomato, lettuce, and avocado, and add the tempeh bacon, like so:

Roll it up, slice in half, and serve. Yum!

Funnily enough, one day I looked in the fridge and saw that I had some eggplant, peppers, zucchini, and red onion that needed to get used up. Those ingredients immediately made me think of ratatouille, so I grabbed 1,000 Vegan Recipes to see if Robin had a recipe for it. Sure enough, she did!

This is a GREAT recipe. You just chop up the veggies, toss it with some other ingredients (garlic, canned diced tomatoes, EVOO, spices), and throw it all into a baking dish. During the last 15 minutes, you uncover the dish and sprinkle it with some bread crumbs (I used Panko), thyme, and nooch. When it's done baking, you have a creamy, delicious casserole that will satisfy anyone, including 3-year-olds...my son LOVED it!

I added some cannellini beans to increase the protein/nutrition, and that was a great decision. These soft, mellow beans are the perfect complement to the soft, creamy veggies!

I had some kale salad on the side to increase the "green" factor of this meal. It was so, so yummy!

Birthday Food: Homemade Bread, Muffalettas and Cake!

It was Mr. Bananas for Smoothies's birthday the other day, so I decided to go all-out and make him a birthday feast of his favorite foods.

I haven't made them in a couple of years, but I remember how much my hubby loved the Veggie Tempeh Muffaletta sandwiches from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. It's a delectable mix of chopped olives, capers, red peppers (raw & roasted), sauteed tempeh, celery, green onions, garlic, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. It's salty, tangy, and uber-delish.

The filling is layered on crusty bread and topped with some avocado, spinach, and sliced tomatoes. Lousy baker that I am, I would normally have bought some bakery bread, but I took a chance and tried to make my own bread - the Sunflower Artisan Loaf from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

Success! It rose beautifully and was super-easy to make, even for a novice like myself. In fact, the dough rose so much that I ended up splitting it into 2 loaves before baking. I just cut 5 minutes off the baking time and it came out perfectly.

I sliced one of the loaves horizontally, like so:

Then I scooped out much of the middle part in order to make room for the yummy filling:

Next, I added some sliced avocado:

Then I topped it with some sliced tomatoes and baby spinach:

Finally, I put the top back on and pressed down hard to smoosh everything together:

Finally, I used a serrated knife to cut the sandwiches in half. Here's an inside look:

I was tired after all my bread-and-muffaletta-making, so I just threw some sweet potato tots in the oven for a side dish:

My hubby was thrilled to have his beloved muffaletta sandwich again :) And he was very impressed by my attempt (and victory!) at bread baking!!

We made sure to save some room for birthday cake and ice cream. I don't make cakes very often, but I immediately thought of the delicious Apple-Cardamom Cake with Lemon-Maple Frosting from Vive Le Vegan!:

This cake is as healthy as cake can get - it is made with oat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, applesauce, spices, and a minimum of oil and (natural) sugar. The frosting is silken tofu-based and includes maple syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest, and agar powder. The best part is that you can eat an two enormous slice of this cake and not feel gross afterward. Yay for natural sweeteners and whole-grain flours!

The only thing I didn't make was homemade ice cream. Hey, that's what Trader Joe's is for! Cherry Chocolate Chip Soy Creamy....oh yeah!

Happy birthday to my sweetie!

Vegan MoFo Day 26: Paris, Part Deux

I promised we'd revisit Paris, the City of Lights and one of the most romantic cities in the world, so let's journey back there tonight. Last time I wrote about Paris, I shared the adventures of my honeymoon in 2001. This time, I'm going to write about my second trip to Paris, which was in March 2002. My parents came to visit my hubby and me in Germany, and we decided it would be fun to take a road trip to Paris. We were only going to spend 2 nights there, so we tried to see as much as we could, since it was my parents' first trip to Paris (and first trip to Europe!)

We walked along the Champs-Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe:

It was pretty cool underneath the Arc!

Of course, we had to go to the top. We survived the spiral staircase from hell and were rewarded with amazing views of the city:

We also visited the Musee d'Orsay, which was a real treat for me. I am happier than a pig in poo walking around art museums. The museum itself is a work of art. It's housed in a former railway station, and it's just so lovely.

The art history course I took in college really came in handy! I was basically dumbstruck coming face-to-face with literally dozens of paintings I had studied...works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, Seurat...it was just amazing. I could just stand and stare at them all day!

But...I didn't. We had lots more of Paris to see, after all! Like Sacre-Coeur:

...and Moulin Rouge! We didn't go inside, though...it costs something like $100 to get in!

We also did something my hubby and I hadn't done on our honeymoon...we visited the Eiffel Tower at night. Wow, was that AMAZING!!

I love how the only food pic I have of Paris is my hubby and I eating donuts and drinking cappuccino in the Eiffel Tower. I mean, really, people.

I didn't eat here, but how cool was this crepe stand. They have Nutella by the truckload and a bumper sticker that says "J'<3 le pop corn." LOL

We had a lot of fun in Paris. It was great to go back and revisit some things, as well as see some things we missed the first time...and eat more chocolate croissants, of course!

Tonight I wanted something French for dinner, and what is more French than pate? 'Course, I don't do the whole animal-liver thang. I opted for some tasty Walnut-Mushroom Pate from Veganomicon. I made tartines, with toasted sourdough bread, a thick layer of pate, some sliced pearl tomatoes, shredded baby spinach, and shredded carrots.

On the side, I had a hefty salad of baby spinach, celery, and carrots, drizzled with Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. I also had a big scoop of extra pate with baby carrots. Can you tell how much I love carrots?? All I needed was a glass of carrot juice to wash it all down! :)

The pate was delicious, the terrine was awesome, and it was all so much better for me than a donut and cappuccino!

Tofu Dill Salad Sammiches and a Smoothie Recipe

When I'm in a cooking rut, or an I-just-don't-feel-like-cooking kind of funk, I look for quick and easy recipes. I mean, you gotta eat, right? But even when I'm not feeling inspired in the kitchen, I'm still too stubborn (and cheap) to call for take-out. Besides, being vegan in a small town, it's not like there are a ton of take-out options for me. I don't exactly get psyched about spending $20 on a take-out pizza that has no cheese on it. It also seems like when I ask for no cheese, they also take it to mean no toppings, too. I mean, throw a vegan girl a bone, would ya? I'm saving you the cost of the cheese, so could ya pleaaase put some more veggies on there so I don't starve? Thank you.

Okay, enough about that. So, yesterday, I didn't feel like cooking. Enter the most perfect, quick, no-cooking-and-very-minimal-chopping-type-recipe I could think of: Tofu Dill Salad Sammiches from Vegan with a Vengeance.

VWAV is Isa Chandra Moskowitz's first cookbook, and I'd be willing to bet it's in almost every vegan's kitchen. VWAV is legendary! And this sandwich is one of my faves from the book. It's so easy to make, and it's rescued me on many a nights when I just didn't feel like cooking. It's simply tofu, fresh dill, red onion, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, vegan mayo, and salt & pepper, all mashed together. I served it on some oatmeal bread with some sliced Roma tomatoes and baby spinach.

We had some tater tots, baby carrots, and cucumber sticks on the side, along with our favorite dips: organic ketchup for the tots, and Grey Poupon for the veggies. I'm positively addicted to veggies dipped in GP!

Earlier in the day, I decided to make a spin on my Pumpkin Pie Smoothie, using actual pumpkin this time. I had a bunch of leftover canned pumpkin in my fridge, and I didn't want it to go to waste! I made a simplified version of my usual smoothie, and it came out quite delicious! There are no measurements (other than the coconut milk) because I just dumped stuff into the blender, so feel free to go with your instincts here!

Pumpkin Pie a la Mode Smoothie 
Makes 1 large serving / 2 small servings

1 1/2 cups coconut milk (I used So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk)
1 large frozen banana
canned pumpkin (I probably used about 1 1/4 cups?)
few shakes of cinnamon
quick shake of nutmeg
Sweetener, to taste (I used about 1 teaspoon of maple-flavored agave syrup and a about 1/2 teaspoon of blackstrap molasses)
5-6 ice cubes

Blend on high until smooth and creamy!

I found this version to be a bit thicker and creamier than my usual version. I might even like this version better!