Underwears for dinner tonight!

Calzones in spanish means underwear, plural. Since it was a new item on our dinner menu, I thought I'd have fun with it and get the kids interested. Thus the title ...
They were more than interested. They had fun helping make them and once they were ready to eat, they devoured them! So easy, so tasty, so fun ...!!!
p.s. Thanks to Ms. Andria for being a constant source of inspiration ... ;-)

Ingredients:                                                                                                               Serves 2 adults and 2 kids
One recipe's worth of pizza dough
Kitchen sink marinara or your favorite marinara sauce
Field Roast Italian Style Sausage or vegan meatballs (recommend Nate's)
3 cups shredded nondairy cheese
1/4 medium vidalia (sweet) onion, sliced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced zucchini
olive oil

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut pizza dough ball in thirds. Then one of the thirds cut in half. Roll out one dough ball and place on either greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
2. Add meatballs or sausage slices, and veggies. Top with a humongous mound of cheese and close dough pocket, pinching the edge. Repeat with other three dough balls.
3. Spray or brush some olive oil and poke holes with fork to allow steam to vent. Bake until golden brown.
4. Allow to cool for 10 min. or so. For the kids I allow to cool 10 min. then slice in half and cool another 5 min. before they dig in.

Here's a couple more pictures, to demonstrate the success of this recipe ...




Provecho!

Vegan Zucchini Cake

This is a cake, not a bread. It is VERY VERY moist and very light. If you like the denser, more "traditional" zucchini bread, this is not for you. =-) But I highly reccomend that you try it anyway and you may just find yourself eating more than one slice. You can also toast it and spread a little cream cheese on it to accompany your morning coffee, just a thought.
I also gotta warn that the ingredients list may seem a little lenghty, but the actual work of putting them together is a cinch, so it balances out. At the risk of sounding too foodie-snobish, I will say that doing your "mise en place" is very important. That is, having all your ingredients out and set up so you don't run around the kitchen like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to get your ingredients out one by one as you mix. Just do it, it will make the process more time efficient and make you feel like a pro. Added bonus, you will be verifying that you in fact have all the ingredients you need before you get stuck half way through with not enough baking powder. (wink, wink!) ;-) Here we go...

Ingredients:
2 c. grated zucchini (one large zucchini)
1 medium very ripe banana
1/2 cup (4 oz.) apple sauce
juice of one lemon and it's zest
3/4 cup canola oil
1/4 c. soy milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2 TB. flax meal

1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups almond meal (if at all possible, Trader Joe's brand)
1 tsp. baking SODA
1/4 tsp. baking POWDER
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup brown)

1. Preheat oven to 350. In your liquid cup measure or small bowl combine flax meal and soy milk. Mix and let stand.
2. In a medium bowl combine zucchini, lemon juice and zest, banana, apple sauce and vanilla. Add oil to the flax and soy milk mixture. Mix vigorously and combine with rest of wet ingredients.
3. In large bowl mix all dry ingredients. Fold in wet ingredients. Pour batter into bundt pan. Bake for 1 hr or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool at least one hour before eating.

Provecho!

Breakfast as a 1/2 birthday celebration ...

Goofus turned 4 1/2 and instead of baking a cake, especially since I'd had quite a baking frenzy in the last few days, he was willing to celebrate with a big stack of his favorite breakfast ....

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
(inspired by Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe, Perfect Pancakes, from her book "Vegan Brunch")

1 cup white whole wheat flour (I use, King Arthur Flour)
1/4 cup almond flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup rice, almond or soy milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 large banana
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat skillet between medium to medium low heat (at least on my stove medium heat is 1/2 notch too hot, you should know yours).
2. In mixing bowl mix all dry ingredients. In another small mixing bowl mix all wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix, careful not to overmix, just to incorporate. Cut half of banana down the middle lenghtwise,so you have two matching halves. Then with knife slice down each half leghtwise again and then widthwise to dice. Or whatever, just dice the banana! Add banana and chocolate chips to batter and fold in.
3. I use nonstick skillet and have found no need to further spray or grease the skillet. Pour, cook, flip, cook, as you would any other pancake.

These are best enjoyed if instead of butter and honey you simply eat as is, or spread a thin layer of almond butter on top.

Provecho!

Enmolada time!!!!

Sooooooo easy! Enmoladas stuffed with a tofu, onion and soy cheese mixture with a side of Mexican red rice ... yum!

Ingredients:

1 jar of Doña Maria Mole (can find in Mexican foods sect of any grocery store)
2 to 3 cups of vegetable broth
1 pkg. of corn tortillas
1/2 pkg (about 8oz.) water packed extra firm tofu
1/2 yellow onion
1 block of nondairy cheese (soy or almond) mozzarella style

1. With a spoon scoop out about half of the mole paste from the jar and put in a medium sauce pan with about 2 tablespoon of oil (any kind you like). Set temperature to medium low and try to break up the paste a little into smaller pieces, then add one cup of the broth and try to mix in until you have completely dissolved the mole paste with the broth and have obtained a thick but smooth consistency. It should look like very thick, gritty chocolate sauce. Continue to heat on low, if consistency seems to start to dry and become more pasty add more broth, it will continue to thicken until you turn the heat off. But you wan to make sure it is heated through and paste and broth are completely incorporated. Turn heat off and cover.
*Note: I know this was a long explanation, it just needs points of reference, so you know what is is supposed to look like, it's actually very quick and easy.
2. Drain tofu and n a medium bowl, crumble half of tofu package with hands or fork. Shred all of nondairy cheese package and add to tofu. Finely dice onion and add to tofu, cheese mixture. Blend all three with fork or spatula.
3. Heat tortillas about three at a time. They cool fast and they are best eaten hot. When the tortillas are heated through but still soft and pliable place on your plate. Add some of the tofu mixture towards the edge of the tortilla and roll to make a taco, set on side of plate with edge down so it doesn't unroll. Repeat with other two tortillas.
4. Once all three tacos are formed, place together and pour some of the mole on top, believe me you want plenty.  Add more of the tofu mixture on top. Accompany with a pan grilled faux chicken fillet and some Mexican red rice (sorry, i guess that recipe is still pending .. rain check!).
* Note that it may be a little spicy, so this may not be suitable for children.

Provecho!!!

Eggless Egg Salad

All the protein - the fat = healthier faux egg salad ... isn't it just beautiful?!?! Plus it comes together in just a few minutes and you have a quick lunch for a few days after. Believe me, you're not going to mind having this for lunch everyday for three days straight!



Ingredients:
1- 16oz. pkg. EXTRA FIRM water packed tofu
1 celery stalk finely diced
1/2 medium yellow onion finely diced
2 tablespoons sweet relish
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup nayonaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Drain water out of the tofu package and crumble tofu with your own hands as crumbly as you can. I like to put it in a strainer and after I have crumbled it I leave it there for a few minutes or so to keep draining the last few drops. Or if you're too prissy and don't like to get your hands dirty you can always just crumble it in a mixing bowl with a fork. Up to you!

2. Finely dice onion and celery. In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients; tofu, onion, celery, nayonaise, mustard, sweet relish, lemon juice, salt and pepper.That's it, done! Eat! (I will say however, it always tastes better the next day after it has sat in the fridge overnight... )

Another fun way to eat instead of a sandwich is just by diggin in with tortilla chips. These are my current favorites, Trader Joe's longboard chips. Rico!

Provecho!

Vegan "Spiked" Chocolate Pudding

Ok, this one was overdue. First of all, let me clarify the "spiked" part, no I don't put whisky in it .... although, that might not be such a bad idea ...hhmmm. By "spiked" I mean, it has carrots and sweet potato in it but the kids don't know it. SSSHH!!! Don't tell them!

Here goes ...

1 Mori-Nu (aseptic) Tofu SILKEN, NOT firm

8 oz. vegan chocolate chips (Trader Joe's, and Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet are vegan)

1/4 to 1/2 cup nondairy vanilla milk

1 small sweet potato or 1/2 large peeled and diced small (can omit if you just want all indulgence)
1 medium carrot peeled and diced small  (same as above, can omit)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*optional 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
*optional 1-2 Tablespoons maple syrup

1. Melt chocolate using double boiler method and set aside to cool.

Diced carrots and sweet potato should yield about 1 1/2 cups total.

Steam the veggies until REALLY REALLY soft.

I puree, as if for baby 1st food, with a little milk (always understood that it I mean nondairy!) in Magic Bullet Blender for a couple seconds. At the expense of sounding like a commercial, it is a great piece of gear, because it's really powerful and will give your this beautiful smooth consistency in a couple seconds. Whereas, when I've made the puree in the large blender, it always ends up lumpy, the kids don't mind, but this way it's even more covert.

Now, in the large blender I put the silken tofu, the pureed veggies, melted chocolate and about 1/4 cup nondairy milk and blend until fully mixed. Taste it and see if you like the amount of sweetness. For our taste, the sweetness provided by the veggies is enough and the kids don't know better because they don't really eat very sweet foods and rarely candy. Now, you might have to eyeball it a little bit and see if it needs a little more milk or not, and you have to remember that it will firm up a bit once it sits in the fridge. Refrigerate for at least two hours to allow to firm before serving. DONE!

NOTE: During the summer, use this exact same recipe but pour into Popsicle molds (link to BPA-free, kid size 2oz. molds) and TA-DA!, you got vegan fudgesicles. OR, if you use Extra Firm Mori-Nu and pour into pie shell and refrigerate over night, TA-DA! you got silken chocolate pie. OR, if you use Firm Mori-Nu and one entire container of Tofutti cream cheese, pour into pie shell and refrigerate over night, TA-DA! you got no-bake chocolate cheesecake, top with fruit sauce or nondairy whip, EXCELENTE! Ok, I've got no more annoying TA-DA's left ... GO BAKE!
PROVECHO!

This is one is for Andria ... pasgetti and faux meat marinara

My friend and fellow stay-at-home-mom says, "Why don't you just cook 'normal' food, like spaghetti and meatballs?". Well, Andria, here's to you .... Vegan Spaghetti and Meatballs. The noddles are brown rice noodles, no gluten and more protein. The sauce is my Kitchen Sink Marinara:

1. I sautee almost every vegetable I can find in my fridge: one head of broccoli, 1/2 of frozen peas, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1 carrot, 1/2 medium onion are the usual contenders.
2. Then add a can of crushed tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, and italian mix dried herbs. Cook for at least 30 minutes.
3. Blend and DONE.

Since this makes quite a bit of sauce, whatever is left I put in freezer bags and save for two more dinners (pasta or pizza works great!). If you want to make it "meat" marinara, I'll use a whole bag of Quorn meat crumbles and sautee in a pan with onion and garlic, then add the marinara and presto!

Dinner tonight was using that sauce and then topped with Parma! raw parmesan, yes, I'm obsessed with it, I put it on EVERYTHING! I also made some fresh bread, ok this may add to the work load, but not by much if planned right, and it's so worth to have fresh baked bread with your italian themed meal.



I use a bread machine to knead the dough, which leaves ZERO work for me after I have put the ingredients in the mixing container. You can get yourself one used from your local Goodwill or any thrift store for about $12, just make sure it has a "dough" cycle.

PIZZA DOUGH
Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups warm water
2 TB. olive oil
2 tsp. yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 cups all purpose flour (recommend you use King Arthur)
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried onion powder
2 tsp. dried garlic powder

Follow machine's instructions. It will take about 1 1/2 hours to knead. When its done, just take it out, cut in half, place one half in a baggie and freeze for later. You can also just keep in fridge if you want to use the next day. Preheat oven to 375F. Do NOT punch down dough, place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush with some olive oil and sprinkle some kosher salt. It will bake for about 20-25 min., but depending on your oven, just keep looking at it, when it looks golden brown (as cliche as that sounds!) it's done. Enjoy with some Earth Balance, "nummy, nummy", says my grumpus!

Now really, that's not so bad ... and it's so healthy and tasty! 'Til next time, Provecho!