Apple Strudel
I come from a Czech family (on my mom’s side), and so apple strudel is a very traditional Czech dish. My dear grandmother has made it my whole life (many many times throughout the year). Whenever any company came in town, like a distant aunt or uncle, my grandmother always had strudel on hand. I haven’t looked at her recipe to try and veganize it (besides…I bet her recipe is in her head, not on a piece of paper). When I got The Joy of Vegan Baking a couple of months ago, I knew I would have to make the apple strudel. Not only do the pictures of it in the cookbook look amazing, but Colleen Patrick-Goudereau’s recipes do not disappoint. Sunday afternoon, I decided what a perfect time for an apple strudel. Oh my grandma would be so proud!! Here are pictures of the strudel in the process. Doesn’t the bowl of apple slices look yummy?! They are all rolled up in sheets of phyllo pastry. (I used whole wheat phyllo pastry because that’s what I had on hand.)
Golden brown Apple Strudel right out of the oven! Cinnamon, sugar, and roasted almonds are sprinkled generously all over the top. Our house spelled of yummy apples and cinnamon…definitely a fall smell. Once cooled, we dug in and split a piece before a late afternoon Sunday walk. We would indulge in more later! 
Sunday night Cowboys game dinner consisted of a veggie burger (on the yummy Ezekiel sesame buns), a veggie mix, and a pickle. Our cat, Scotch, obviously like the smell of this dinner! She jumped in my lap when I was trying to photograph. I caught the back of her head in the picture!
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.
I heart Sunshine burgers!!
I know I’ve mentioned this a ton of times, but Sunshine Burgers are the coolest thing on the face of the earth. They are so delicious and healthy. I just adore them. If you haven’t ever had one, oh my goodness…rush to the store RIGHT this minute. They are great by themselves, crumbled on top of a salad or soup, or plopped on top of a salad like I did here. I like all of the flavors, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the southwest.
The best way to eat one though, in my opinion, is the old-fashion way, veggie-burger style. Loaded up with mustard, ketchup, vegan mayo, red onions, avocado, heirloom tomato, and fresh black pepper, it doesn’t get any better than this. Unless you include a yummy, big, dill pickle on the side! Also, this burger was extra delicious this time because I bought some new Ezekial seasame burger buns. I’ve always purchased the sprouted whole grain ones, but I noticed the seasame ones this time. They are AMAZING!! So delicious. Like the package says, the bun inself could be it’s own meal (because they’re so hearty and nutrition-filled). This first picture was my bun all ready to go. It’s just waiting for the burger. (By the way, my favorite way to heat up the Sunshine burgers is for 1 minute on high in the microwave. How easy is that?!)
Veggie burger finds a home.
I can’t eat it like that though. I must put it together. Wow…that is one honkin sandwich. Yum…I wanna eat, I wanna eat!
Here we go….all cut and ready to eat. Man this is going to be good.
And it was…the best veggie burger I’ve ever had or made. It was a combination of the seasame bun, the awesome veggie patty, paired with the freshest and ripest avocado and heirloom tomato….I’m gonna have to make this again REAL soon. 
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.
New Leaf
New Leaf is a new, local grocery store right by my in-laws. It’s very similar to Whole Foods. (Although I think better in my first experience there…at least for a vegan.) Don’t get me wrong, I love Whole Foods, I mean that’s all I have in Texas. New Leaf was a wonderful mecca of vegan delights though. They carried brands I’ve only read about before like Nana’s cookies, and they had an amazing ready-made foods section, that included a sandwich bar. This is a picture of Eric’s sandwich actually, as I devoured mine before taking a pic. Mine was the same except with multi-grain bread. He loves sourdough. On it was a Sunshine burger, avocado, pickles, mustard, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and sprouts. I told Granny she should go there every day for lunch to get a sandwich! It was only $5.50 too, which I thought was an excellent price for that caliber of a sandwich.
Later this day, we were on our way back to Texas. At New Leaf, I picked up a couple of things to eat on the plane. This was a tasty egg-salad like wrap. It is made by Sweet Earth. Eric thought he would be cute and pretend a little hand monster was eating it I guess. ha
