I love grilling.

Have I mentioned to you that I have been pretty obsessed with grilling lately? Well, I am. And it was recently my birthday (...woo, 23...) and so I asked for, and received, this:


And this:


And later that night, we ate this: (Smart Dogs with sprouts and french fries)


And probably the next day, we ate this: (regular old veggie burgers)


...And this is only about 1/10 of the things we've been grilling! Oh man. I will have to do a whole post about my new favorite sandwich. The portobellas up there were used for this very sandwich. Thom and I created it about a month ago, and we've made it at least 3 times since then. (And that says a lot, 'cause I hardly ever repeat meals that often!) Picture this: Big, juicy, barbecued and grilled portabella cap smothered in roasted red peppers and enough basil to look like it should be lettuce. HEAVENLY. I must make it for you. Inquire within.

Yay, grilling!

Oh, and p.s. Thom and I have welcomed 4 new members into the family recently. Their names are Jalepeno, Habenero, Thai Hot, and Anaheim Chili. Aren't they adorable?

Monday Night Updates #3 &4

Doing more catching up! Almost done!

A few weeks ago my dad came home from the grocery store with a jar of lemongrass for me, so two Monday nights ago I decided to make that my theme. I'd never cooked with lemongrass before, so I decided just to work with ingredients I was familiar with and just lemongrassitize them. So, I came up with this:


It was tofu and eggplant baked with lemongrass and Panko in a lemongrass, garlic, and chili sauce. Thom loved it, my parents were so-so. I just make it. I did like this one, though. It could've been saucier, though it did have good accompaniments. I made a carrot and cucumber salad and added crushed peanuts and scallions on the side. Oh, how I love adding the little things at the last second...


Oh, and I almost forgot! I made these awesome salad rolls for an appetizer!


They had lettuce, carrot, cucumber, bean-sprouts, and chik'n, and were wrapped with these: (Sushi Party Soy Wrappers)


I bought them from Wegmans on a whim and am really glad that I did! They were very easy to work with and tasted good (or, really, they had a good texture. They didn't really taste like anything at all, and that was a plus!) So, I'd definitely say that I recommend the product, and I'm not someone who's even very good at making sushi!)

---

And, now, to move things along, I will show you what I made this past Monday! (I bet you didn't expect that one...)

My dad requested lasagna for this week's dinner, and I will have to admit, I was a little skeptical. I like making neat, pretty food for my parents, and lasagna definitely is not that. Usually! This one turned out to be the most well-behaved, delicious lasagna I have ever seen. I LOVED it, and I wouldn't even say I like lasagna! I think the homemade pasta (as seen below) made all the difference.


I wasn't sure whether or not to cook the pasta first, but I did end up boiling it for a few minutes, and it turned out perfectly. As for the filling, I decided to go with artichoke:


And spinach and onions, and (Isa's recipe)basil and tofu ricotta:


I sliced some Roma tomato on top-


And it turned out wonderfully! Way better than any lasagna I've ever had. I also made a little Caprese salad with marinated tofu instead of mozzerella and with roasted mushrooms just for fun.


But seriously, this was miracle lasagna. The pieces stayed together perfectly when sliced even though it was very saucy and filled! The pasta was tender but slightly al dente, and the basil kept everything nice and fresh even though it was very filling. Behold, a well behaved slice: (Thom had eaten most of his salad before remembering to take a picture---I take that as a compliment!)


So there you have it---we are now caught up in the Monday dinner department. My folks haven't yet decided what to have this upcoming Monday, so you'll just have to wait until then to find out! Cheers!

Monday Night Update #2

I have to do a little catch up here, but I'm happy to report that Monday Night Dinners with my parents are still going strong. We all have fun, my mom gets to relax instead of making dinner, and my parents get to eat vegan for one night a week! Mondays are now my favorite days.

So, three Mondays ago I made ravioli and Thom and my dad helped. It was a lot of fun and turned out really well. These were my first raviolis, and I was very pleasantly surprised!
To start out with, Thom roasted a yellow pepper for me- (The store was out of red!)


And grilled some eggplant-


He also made the sauce. It was very good-


I ended up making two kinds of ravioli. This one had the roasted yellow pepper, onions, basil, and tofu ricotta-


And these had the eggplant, basil, and tofu ricotta- (I colored the pasta with a little bit of cocoa powder just to differentiate the two)


I had a lot of fun figuring out what I wanted to do with these and how to make them. We all had some input, and together made this a delicious meal.

Here's a picture of me and Dad making the pasta. Say Hi, Dad!


And this is what I look like when Thom's trying to take a picture of me when I'm trying to fill the ravioli-


And here is a finished plate! Not the best picture, but I assure you, they were great.


And the best part was that this was three weeks ago when it really first started getting nice, so we sat outside all together for the first time of the season and it was very pleasant. Thanks everyone!

Random Food Picture Post #1

Hey, guys. I would really like to posting more regularly and about the things I am currently cooking, so I want to post about a lot of past meals and catch myself up to the present. So, I will now share with you a wide array of foods from the past year. They are arranged in no order and pretty representative of our cooking style. (Sans all of the pizzas, breakfasts, and stirfrys I posted earlier) Nothing fancy, but all good. Enjoy!


This is some DELICIOUS Mac&Cheese with a nutritional yeast and chickpea sauce, and sauteed baby spinach with onions and garlic. I believe we ate this on Mardi Gras. Good, hearty drinking food. Recommended drink pairing: anything not blue.


Beard-Day Cupcakes! For Thom's One-Year Beardiversary. (Jan 30th)
These were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate and peanut butter beard frostings. The beard parts look beardy because of shredded coconut mixed into the icing. Delicious.


Blurry picture, but you can see that I made one cupcake with eyes and a mouth made of dried cranberries. It was sad to see him go, but they were so good.


Veganomicon Chickpea Cutlets with mashed potatoes, veggie medley, and mushroom gravy. This was made during the winter when we had feet of snow. Comforting comfort food.


Tri-color rotini with soy-sausage tomato sauce and garlic bread. Thom made this one and it was delicious! I wasn't feeling well, and he insisted that I lay on the couch and relax (and watch America's Funniest Home Videos) and he made us dinner and served it to me on the couch! Thanks, Thom!


Here's a peanut butter cup that I made Thom for Valentine's day. The color looks weird in these pictures, but they looked brown in real life. They were mildly difficult to make, but SO good.


Yum.


These are Swedish Meatballs I made for Thom---they were a childhood favorite of his. I made these out of TVP and mushroom, and served them with red skinned potatoes, green beans and mushrooms, and gravy. Also, lingonberries. It was the middle of winter and ended up having to use frozen green beans, which I don't like at all, but as a whole this dish turned out very well.


Baked tofu; sauteed baby spinach, mushrooms, and onions; and rice---topped with a tahini and garlic dressing. (Dressing not pictured) This was very good with the tahini---I definitely plan on making this again.


So-o-o, that's all for now. Like I said, I plan to start updating more regularly and on-time, so you will be seeing me soon. Cheers!

Curries and Stir-frys---A History

Over the past year Thom and I have made many, many stir-frys and curries. It is a good way to use up any veggies, and they are great when spicy, which we love. We don't always remember to take pictures, but here's what we have---a delicious walk down food-memory lane. Enjoy!

Here's a Tofu-Shirataki Noodles with Miso-baked Tofu, Eggplant, Mushrooms, and Edamame, and Garlic. Lots of garlic.


Panang Tofu, Sugar Snap Peas, Squash, and Mushrooms, with Something Purple. Red Cabbage? Onion? I don't remember. But it was delicious. Thom made this around the end of last summer. Time flies when you're eating awesome things.


I see a lot of mushrooms, onions, and various peppers. I don't remember what this was for or what I did with it, but it was surely delicious.


Shiitake mushrooms with green and yellow bell peppers, onions, potatoes, and a head of garlic. I think this may actually have been a breakfast!


Soba noodles with eggplant, mushrooms, snow peas, water chestnuts, onion, garlic, and carrots. And if I know me, there is tofu baking in the oven just waiting to be added.


Udon and Spinach with yellow peppers, mushrooms, edamame and basil. I think this was really spicy---made with hot chili oil. We like spicy. A lot.


This one was SUPER spicy. Seitan and Snow Peas with white button mushrooms and garlic. Tons of chilis and chili sauce. So spicy. So good.


There will be many more dishes of this kind to come. Summer produce is on its way and I am READY.

Breakfasts (are the best)

I love breakfast. A lot. The thing is, though, we're unfortunately not the hungriest people in the mornings. On the weekdays we're usually busy and just eat out of necessity (this morning: a toasted pb&j) but weekends are when we really like breakfast. Usually at night. Sometimes with beer. We like fresh veggies, spicy peppers, crunchy pancakes. Okay, so we're not the most traditional breakfast eaters, but we sure do make some great ones. And it never gets old, either. Living in Virginia, there's really nowhere to have vegan breakfast in a restaurant unless I want to drive the hour to DC for brunch on a weekend, 2 hours to Richmond (where I don't know of any specifically vegan food, but I assume they have some) or the 4 hours to Gillie's in Blacksburg (which I would love to do!)... There may be other places that I just don't know about---so let me know if you know of any.
The point is: I love to cook breakfast. I love to eat breakfast. Sommmetimes we remember to take pictures of breakfast. So, here's a small sample of breakfast, our way:

Miso-Tempeh and Potato Hash with onions, peppers, and lots of garlic. Also a big glass of OJ. Mmm.


Breakfast Sandwich! With spinich, baked tofu, and homemade maple-glazed seitan bacon.


Also, my finger. I think this one was a night-time breakfast.


More breakfast sandwiches!


I think these ones were made during a power outage? I believe the grill marks are from a grill-basket Thom held in the fireplace. Much more delicious than toaster-toasted. Try it sometime.


And, I already posted a closeup of this dish a few weeks ago, but it is just too good to forget. Thom's pumpkin waffles with red pepper hash-browns and blueberries. One of my favorites!


So, I thought we had more breakfast pictures, but I guess we don't. So: To Be Continued.

I will end this with some bacon, 'cause that's what everyone likes.
Bacon: (made of tempeh)


More breakfast pictures to come. Cheers!

Pizzaaaa!

Here's a look back at a very, very small portion of the pizzas we've made here in the past year. Thom is a 4-Star Dough-Master, so we like to have a lot of pizza. And of course friends always love pizza, too---It's a crowd-pleaser. Even omnis love a good veggie-pizza. Nice and fresh for the summer, and hot and hearty in the winter. Mmmmmm... methinks we will be having pizza some time quite soon.

Enjoy!

To begin: pizza party! This was a night of many pizzas. I believe we had three. Maybe four. ...Shared among four people. 'Twas a night of excess. I think we even had champagne.


One of the pizzas: Grilled eggplant, red and green bell peppers, onions, tomato, soy cheese. Delicious. (Especially that pan of extra eggplant I see in the back there... Mmm.)


Here it is again, along with a partly eaten veggie-crumble pizza. (This was made back when Morningstar crumbles were still vegan. Boo Morningstar. Why change?)


Next up: a different day. This was a humongous, semi-rectangular, tofu-ricotta pizza with roasted eggplant, mushrooms, basil, and roasted red pepper.


Here's a closeup, for texture. So good.


Another night: Half pesto, mushroom, eggplant, and artichoke; and half pineapple, tomato, and jalepeno.
Thumbs up!


Same pizza. Proof that vegan cheese can melt! This was Follow Your Heart brand Monterey Jack, I believe. The package says it melts, and it delivers.


Conclusion: we love pizza. With eggplant on top.
Yum!