Recent dinners…
I’ve enjoyed making dinner, as I usually do, but it’s been extra fun with the changing of the seasons. I like the fall foods….it means cooking with pumpkin and squash and making more hearty, heavy, hot meals. 
Baked Beans and Dogs (The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook, p. 116). We had this with sausage cut up on top (grilled on George Foreman) and green beans.
Vegan Sweet Potato and Pecan Tamales with Amy’s Chili. I bought the tamales from Whole Foods in the refrigeration section (by the breads). The chili comes from the can (low sodium). Big salad on the side drizzled in balsamic vinegar.
Roasted Red Kuri Squash with Gnocchi (from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan, p. 141). This sauce is just amazing over the store bought vegan gnocchi I got. I could eat it by itself, and I did that too! I also ate it later in the week with other things, as you will see. Here I had a small salad and broccoli.
Tofu and Okra Stir-fry with Teriyaki and Hot Sauce. Throwing together a stir-fry is one of the most fun and delicious dinners to make and eat. It can be so satisfying and healthy too! This one was made up of tofu, okra, lima beans, carrots, tomatoes, and onions. With a side of hearty long-grain brown rice, this was awesome! I was feeling in a chopstick kind of mood (since that’s what I usually use when I get a stir-fry at Genghis). I managed to use the chopsticks until the last little bit. Then I switched to a fork so I could eat every little last bit. 
Leftovers Night. Have these at your house? I love leftovers!! I know it’s a personal thing. Eric doesn’t like leftovers at all. So when he’s not going to be around for dinner, I indulge in all the extra stuff left in our fridge. I had the Red Kuri Squash Sauce, baked beans, green beans, and broccoli. The squash and bean combo was awesome. I ate those two together. Yum!
REALLY Yummy and REALLY Quick Dinners this week!!!
This was my last single dinner before Eric got back home. I just threw together a salad with vegan thousand island dressing, and a pasta dish consisting of whole wheat fusilli, Amy’s marinara, okra, a few frozen vegan meatballs, and sprinkled with vegan Parmesan cheese. It was great and hit the spot! I love how simple, quick, and easy (yet satisfying and healthy) pasta can be.
This would be Baked Beans and Dogs (from The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook, p. 116). I essentially got the baked bean recipe from the cookbook, and then you top it with whatever vegan dogs you like. I bought the Light Life breakfast sausages and grilled then in a pan. Paired with a generous portion of crisp green beans, you’ve got a delicious and complete weeknight (or anytime) meal! Eric LOVED this! I can tell this is going in to the make it again and again file. Kids would love this!
Pesto Pasta Night!! When we lived in Scotland (and were non-vegan), we used to always make pesto pasta. It was really popular there. Since then, I haven’t been able to find vegan pesto in a jar. I’ve made it several times from scratch, which isn’t hard, but there’s something nice and convenient and delicious about the jarred pesto…call me crazy. At Whole Foods last week, I found vegan jarred pesto!! So here it is… I mixed the pesto with whole wheat angel hair pasta and added in fresh asparagus and onions that I had sauteed in a pan. On the side we had a simple, fresh salad with the new vegan caesar salad dressing I purchased.
If you cant tell I’m loving The McDougall Quick & Easy Cokbook, well I am!!! It’s true to the title, everything in it is so quick, easy, and not only that….I love how fresh and healthy all the recipes are. They have minimal ingredients too. On another school night when I didn’t have a ton of time to make dinner, I whipped up some Moo-Shu Wraps on p. 188. These were delish!! I bought raw, homemade white tortillas for this where you just cook them by heating them on both sides in a pan over medium heat. They taste totally homemade! I usually stray away from white flour, preferring the taste and health benefits of whole wheat and other grains, but I thought these would be great for the moo-shu wraps and would be a bit of a change from what we usually have. Variety is a good thing! Inside is cabbage, mushrooms, orange bell pepper, green onions, carrots, garlic, soy sauce, and tofu. I had some teriyaki sauce I bought to serve over the top. (The recipe suggests plum sauce, but I couldn’t find any at the store.) Eric put the teriyaki on his tacos, but it was plenty flavorful for me without the additional sauce. Very tasty!
Are you sick of seeing pictures of my Sunshine burgers yet?! heehee I know…I LOVE them!!! I can’t help it. This was a perfect Saturday afternoon salad toped off with a southwest Sunshine patty and drizzled with vegan caesar dressing.
I’m trying to get more into the smoothie making business. This was a simple blueberry, banana, Silk light vanilla soymilk, and ice smoothie. It was awesome though! I’ve been introduced to the world of frozen fruit.
Din Din with my hubby
Although I haven’t been as extravagant with my dinners lately (trying to just get through the first few weeks of school when it’s so hectic), I did manage this past week to try a new recipe and get some pretty decent meals on the table. See what you think…
This night we had Barbecue Sunshine Burgers (my favorite veggie burgers ever!!!!). I put the burgers on sprouted grain burger buns by Food for Life, Ezekiel 4:9. The buns were spread with Nasoya sandwich spread (vegan mayo) and yellow mustard, and then layered with lettuce, sprouts, grape tomatoes, avocado, and fresh black pepper. I made baked beans (1/2 of the recipe) to go along with it. There were even some beans left over which I happily took to school the next day for lunch and made bean and tofu tacos on corn tortillas. My class was looking at my lunch very oddly that day. For most, it was the first time they had ever seen tofu!
I’ve spoken of this baked bean recipe a bunch and posted several pictures, so I think it’s about time I posted the recipe. I think Mary McDougall will be ok with it. It is the best!! Seriously, it’s easy and you’ll just love them. Eric begs me to make them all the time.
Baked Beans
by Mary McDougall
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Servings: 6-8
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4 15 ounce cans great northern beans
2 15 ounch cans mixed beans (see hints below)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash liquid smoke (optional)
Drain beans and place in a large bowl. Place the onion, garlic, and water in a small saucepan and cook until softened and water has evaporated. Add to beans. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Transfer to a covered casserole dish. Bake covered for 1 hour, then remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Hints: Mixed beans are sometimes called chili beans. They are usually a variety of kidney, pinto, and black beans. Or use your own variation of canned beans in this recipe, 6 cans total. These are always a favorite at potlucks. They may also be cooked on the stovetop for 1 hour or in a slow cooker for about 4 hours.
A favorite of mine….angel hair spaghetti. This time I made it topped with Amy’s low sodium marinara sauce, fresh bok choy, and pineapple chunks. A side salad always makes a nice accompaniment to pasta.
Baked Tofu Loaf (p. 199) from The McDougall Quick& Easy Cookbook by John and Mary McDougall. I forgot to take a picture of my predinner plate, but there were plenty of leftovers, so you can see what I had for lunch the next day. I made mashed potatoes (which ended up being a mixture of two red potatoes and one sweet potato). I had never made it this way before, but the sweet potato gave the mashed potatoes a lovely flavor. I’ll definitely do this again. I mashed them with soymilk and fresh black pepper. That’s all! Frozen organic green beans steamed in the microwave in a bag rounded out our meal. Oh and for gravy…you can see a wee serving in the pink container. It was Tofurkey’s mushroom and “giblet” gravy, bought in the freezer section at Whole Foods. I would have actually prefered to make my own gravy because I haven’t ever made vegan gravy, but I needed something quicker. Tofu loaf was awesome though. Eric still doesn’t know it was made with tofu (although he will know now after reading this). He is a tofuphobic who loves seiten and tempeh. He always says it’s the texture of the tofu that gets him. I made sure to really crumble the tofu up in the loaf, so as to hide it from him. When he asked me what it was made of while we we’re eating, I named off the ingredients and for the tofu I said “soy meat substitute”. So that wasn’t a total lie! haha He even said at the end of dinner that he would want this to be a repeat!
Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza (found in the freezer section). I’ve had this many times, but it was Eric’s first. We also had fresh okra and onions that I sauteed in a pan with olive oil and water and a side salad.
Natsumi is a new gelato, frozen yogurt, and sorbet shop that opened near our home. On a recent hot Texas afternoon (which I know is like every afternoon lately), Eric and I stopped by and indulged. We got three flavors: mixed berry, guava, and tropical fruit punch. We both agreed our favorite was the guava. The tropical fruit punch came in a very close second. If you’re in Dallas, you should definitely check out Natsumi! It’s probably the best sorbet I’ve had.
Last days of summer (for me)
This was my quick, small breakfast before Bikram. A tiny bowl of cereal and a wee teaspoon of peanut butter was enough fuel to get me through class.
After a trip to Whole Foods, I made lunch. Sometimes a simple meal of soup and salad really hits the spot. Amy’s makes some terrific canned soups. I usually buy the low sodium varieties since canned foods tend to have so much salt. It was split pea today with a salad of crisp iceberg, crunchy carrots, red onions, tomatoes, and fresh black pepper. Salad dressings on the side are balsamic vinegar and Annie’s Goddess Dressing. Dessert was a slice of the banana cake I made on Friday (the last of it) with a tiny scoop of what was left of my So Delicious vanilla ice cream.
This is one of my favorite snacks, pretzels and nut butter…raw almond butter today.
Dinner felt like we were at a BBQ, in fact, we did have this exact meal on the 4th of July. The baked bean recipe comes from Mary McDougall. She is the author of several cookbooks, along with her husband, the famous, Dr. John McDougall. I got this recipe when I attended the McDougall’s celebrity chef weekend that they hosted in Santa Rosa, California at the end of July. I tasted them when Mary made them at her demonstration and absolutely loved the sweetness and familiarity of the baked beans I used to have as a child. Among other things, you put molasses, vegan Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and ketchup. We adore these beans! Accompanying them is a Sunshine veggie burger (my favorite frozen burgers to buy) with lettuce, red onion, mustard, nasoya sandwich spread, and ketchup.
Here’s a picture of the vitamins I am currently taking. The multi I take daily and the B-12 about every other day. I buy the multivitamins on veganessentials.com. Check out the lovely watermelon behind them. I got it today at Whole Foods. It’s organic and unlike any other watermelon I’ve ever seen before. Look for more pictures of the melon coming soon!
