Chik'n Dinner with All the Fixin's

Wow. This came out of nowhere!

After a long time of thinking about what to make for dinner, I settled upon some Gardein Scallopini Cutlets. I wanted to try them in the George Foreman Grill.

For sides, I initially wanted brussels sprouts, but found that our frozen ones were waaaay too old and freezer burned, so instead I used mixed frozen veggies. I really wanted gravy, because I always want gravy, and figured some instant mashed potatoes would be a perfect vehicle for that. I also threw together a lemon-butter-parsley sauce for the veggies and chik'n. Finally, some whole cranberry sauce pulled everything together.

BBQ Seitan Ribz with Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, and Cashew Cheez Sauce

I finally made those infamous bbq ribz from
Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Totally worth it.

I somehow forgot the nutritional yeast and I did not have paprika at all and I used peanut butter for the tahini/nut butter. They still turned out great. I could have kneaded them a bit less and made them more thinly spread, but had quite a difficult time getting it spread out in the pan.



I made these with combination baking in the oven and grilling on the George Foreman Grill. I used Ken Davis BBQ Sauce, a favorite in my house.



Mr. Coconut liked the ribz so-so, he was more of a fan of the broccoli and cheez sauce. [on a small tangent...I have been OBSESSED with making perfect nacho cheez dip for tortilla chips this past week. I've made about 4-5 sauces in the last 7 days or so--that's a post for another day.]

This sauce was made from blending raw cashews with water, nutritional yeast flakes [nooch], mustard, pimentos, garlic salt, onion powder, and salt. The thing that has troubled me about cashew cheese is the consistency. I tried in the food processor and with a stick blender, and there was still too much grit for my taste - to the point where I was beginning to doubt all these recipes for "creamy" cashew cheez sauces.

Then I used The Magic Bullet and suddenly I understand how fantastic cashews can be for a cheese sauce! Creamy, light, airy. Delicious on broccoli!

I really liked the ribz and I am excited to try them again!

Thanksgiving 2011

America celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday and I was right there, eating along with everyone else. We had a ton of food, and tons of leftovers. Above is actually a shot of my plate this morning since I did not get a picture of the full plate yesterday.

I made chickpea cutlets and stuffing. Family supplied the rest of the food: mashed potatoes with celery root, diced rutabaga, wild rice with some other things in it, green beans with craisins, dinner rolls.

I also made a maple pecan pie recipe from
The Post Punk Kitchen:


A family member also made a wonderful salad with pomegranates, pears, raspberries, and grapes plus a wonderful vanilla dressing:

Boca Burger with Peas, Corn and Mashed Potatoes

Nothing spectacular, other than the Burger Shark in the potatoes. Just a pan-fried Big Boca Burger (slightly larger than the regular-sized patties) with mashed potatoes and peas and corn. Some Earth Balance for butter, salt and pepper.

Christmas 2007

Happy New Year!

To celebrate, let's look at some of the last big meals I had during Christmas 2007:


First off, a more traditional meal with a Tofurky, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, peas, stuffing, gravy, and dumplings:



This was my second Tofurky ever, and it was actually good. The dumplings that came with the Tofurky Feast did not work out for me, but it was fun to try them. I made the mashed potatoes (skin-on) and I made the extra stuffing, which was REALLY easy. I simply melted a lot of Earth Balance with veggie stock on the stovetop, and poured the hot mixture over the crispy bread chunks. The gravy was from the tofurky feast as well.

Next, a picture of some veggie sushi from another Christmas meal I went to:



The sushi consisted of avocado, carrot and cucumber wrapped with nori and sushi rice. A giant bowl of pickled ginger and the not pictured wasabi rounded off the appetizer. I cannot take any credit whatsoever for making the sushi, it came courtesy of Super Target.

There was also homemade bruschetta and the main star: pesto lasagna roll ups with a "meaty" sauce. Unfortunately, it was all eaten very quickly before I had a chance to take any pictures because it was SO GOOD. I promise that sometime VERY soon I will recreate the recipe and take many photos.

There was also an excellent vegan chocolate mousse, but no pictures.

More food from 2007 to come!

Thanksgiving 2007

Wow! It's been a whole month since the last post?!?!?! Sorry for the disappointment. I honestly have not felt inspired to cook much plus I've been quite busy. Fear not! Thanksgiving photos are here!

The whole meal:



Starting with the mashed potatoes & gravy, going clock wise: cranberry sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, celebration roast, and stuffing.

Mashed Potatoes were homemade, as was almost everything else. I mixed a lot of veggie broth and almost 2 sticks of Earth Balance, then blended it all together until creamy, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Stuffing was almost the same: lots of veg broth and Earth Balance, salt and pepper, and I also added sage and garlic salt mix for more flavor.

Gravy: veggie broth, Earth Balance, flour, browning sauce.

The "meat" was a Celebration Roast which I LOVE. I was not much of a fan of Tofurky Roast, though I want to try again now that my cooking skills have improved a lot.

Roasted Fingerlings: halved or quartered, tossed in olive oil, chopped rosemary and garlic salt and pepper, placed on cooking sheet until tender and a little brown on some sides.

Cranberry sauce: from a can. :P

Overall, quite successful, though I didn't have any veggies. Probably the most carb-tastic Thanksgiving I've ever had. I almost always fill up on the veggies, but I was just craving more carby things so that's how my plate wound up.