Asparagus two ways

It's asparagus season in Ontario! So exciting! I pretty much eat it every single day for a month, or until the growing season ends. I mostly eat it roasted, but I do like it steamed as well, on pizza (forgot to take a picture) or in a soup. Here's a pic of roasted asparagus with 'Spicy Thai Mung Bean Burgers' from this recipe: http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2010/02/spicy-thai-mung-bean-burgers.html. It's a pretty good recipe. Sort of mushy burgers, but tasty. I think I overcooked my mung beans, anyway- I'd never cooked them before.

And now for a less oily way to make asparagus - soup! I used this recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Cream-of-Asparagus-Soup-vegan-18803, but I added about a cup of white kidney beans for protein, iron and creaminess. And a potato. It was made even more fabulous by grated smoked cheddar flavoured vegan cheese.

Pesto and Grilled Tofu Sandwhich

I received a cast iron grill pan for my birthday, and it is a bitch to clean but I really like it! I marinated the tofu in a mixture of half tamari and half balsamic vinegar and grilled it. I added some store-bought vegan pesto, sliced avocado, and broccoli sprouts. Yum!!

Oyster Mushroom and Yves Pepperoni pizza

I made another batch of no-knead bread to use as a crust of this pizza. It's the Peasant bread recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I topped this pizza with tomato sauce, FYH vegan cheese, ton of oyster mushrooms and some Yves pepperoni. I hate that it isn't organic soy but damn are those little pepperonis good!
 

Ruben Sandwhich

I made this fab tempeh ruben with my homemade rye bread. I've never had a real ruben so I have nothing to compare this to, but it was delish. I got the recipe from somewhere in vegan-blogland. The tempeh is pan-fried with some tamari, and the sauce is Veganaise, chopped pickle and a touch of ketchup. I really am going to make my own sauerkraut soon - it seems so easy!

Rye Bread!

I made bread! And it was a success! And it was easy! I was intimidated - but I should have done this long ago. I just needed the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François to ease me in to bread-making. It doesn't actually take 5 minutes, but it's no-knead, which is good because I have barely any counter space in my kitchen and it's so much less messy to just stir everything in a bowl. You should check out this book from your local library, or just google around for no-knead bread recipes, if you're interested.

Carrot-Cranberry-Walnut Salad with Creamy Walnut Vinaigrette

 

This is the Carrot-Cranberry-Walnut Salad with Creamy Walnut Vinaigrette from Vegan Soul Kitchen. It includes toasted walnut oil, which is a new favourite flavouring of mine. This is for my lunch tomorrow, but I tried a few bites of it and it tastes awesome - sort of sweet and sour with a nice mix of textures.

Beanball Sub and product review

This delicious meal was the beanball sub recipe from Veganomicon on fresh ciabatta bread. If you look in the corner of the photo you can see that this meal also included a romaine lettuce salad. I do eat salad sometimes!

Also, here is my product review of Kenzoil, a yummy basil-based flavoured oil that was sent to me to try: it's fab. I ate it on pasta.. it was like instant pesto.. but more lemon-y. I think one of the secret ingredients is lemon.

Ps- I got The Conscious Cook, Vegan Soul Kitchen, and Vegan Yum Yum for xmas prezzies! What should I make?? I want to make everything from VYY, but the other two are more out of my comfort zone so I need suggestions.

Tempeh with White-Wine Mustard Sauce and Lundberg Rice Blend

This was our new year's eve dinner. I cooked the rice in vegetable broth, the tempeh was pan-fried in white wine and olive oil, and the sauce is a simple but amazing mix of olive oil, an onion, local lemon-dill mustard, white wine and veggie broth. Happy new year!

Mexican Millet with Oven-Baked Lemon-Pepper Tofu

Another Veganomicon recipe - the book was feeling neglected. I LOVED this recipe and I can't wait to make it again. Millet is a yummy (and cheap!) grain, and this is slightly spicy, slightly tomato-y mushy goodness. The tofu was marinated in lemon juice and black pepper and then baked at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sloppy Joes

Last night was sloppy joe night. Strangely, there is a lack of sloppy joe nights in the vegan comfort food household, considering how perfectly comfort-food-y this meal is! These are made with brown lentils, and the recipe is the "Snobby Joes" recipe from Veganomicon.