Easy Peasy Vegan Mac N Cheezy with Tator Tots

This meal is sure to please yourself and your little one on a cold day. For the record there are no peas in this unless you love peas and want to add some

Easy Peasy Mac N Cheezy
Box of pasta, elbows, spirals really whichever shape you prefer.
1 Cup of raw spinach
Nutritional Yeast Cheese Sauce
3/4 cup of Daiya Cheddar
Vegan Parm
Hemp Seeds
Bread Crumbs
Nutritional Yeast

Preheat oven to 400º
Prepare pasta.
Mix prepared pasta, raw spinach, nutritional yeast cheese sauce and 1/2 cup Daiya Cheddar.
Spread into a baking dish.
Top with Daiya, parmesan, hemp seeds, bread crumbs and nutritional yeast.
Bake at 400º for 1/2 an hour
Broil for about a minute

Vegan MoFo Out and About in Asbury Park

Asbury Park is one of my very favorite places down the Jersey Shore. We spend so much time there because there is so much to do there.

If you find yourself on the boardwalk in the summer time I recommend you stop at Pop's Garage. The tacos can be easily veganized and they are yummy.  A second Pop's Garage location is opening soon in the Grove in Shrewsbury which is right around the corner from me, finally some good take out in the area!

Also on the boardwalk you can get vegan soy ice cream in Chocolate or Vanilla at either of the ice cream parlors! They of course have sorbets as well.

Over on 4th Ave is Asbury Lanes. Bowling, music, lounge and a snack bar that has vegan snacks too! You need to go there!

Down on Cookman Avenue is a Twisted Tree Cafe that offers an assortment of vegan sandwiches, smoothies, and deserts.

Also on Cookman Avenue in the arcade is my favorite pizza parlor Crust and Crumble which has a large assortment of vegan pizza pies, vegan subs, and vegan entrees! As I said they are my very favorite.

The Yoga Basin has a cafe and juice bar too and of course yoga.

There are some vegan options at some of the other restaurants too and if I missed any that are really noteworthy please let me know.

There are so many great shops in Asbury I am just going to mention my favorites here.

My favorite shopping is in Asbury Park as well some don't miss shops are
Bodega Shoppe on the boardwalk. I am transported somewhere else when I visit this shop. It is my favorite store in the whole world. They have something for everyone on your list.

Back over to Cookman, Organic Style is moving but just over to the next town over Ocean Grove so stop by and see Nancy in her new location the first week of December.

Holdfast has a fantastic collection of records, clothes and vintage finds.

Foolish Ginger is on the main level of the arcade on Cookman and has a beautiful collection of everything!

B Unique clothing is all the way down the other end of Cookman but don't pass it by they have great vintage finds and are totally punk rock.

Check out the exhibit at Parlor Gallery.

There are a bunch of new shops too, like the new art supply shop on Bangs Avenue ReBearth.

I am looking forward to doing all of my holiday shopping in Asbury Park this year.

Pumpkin Soup

My adventures with pumpkin  continue.

I baked up that pumpkin last week and so far I made Pumpkin Pie Brownies  and  a pumpkin chowder.

To make the Pumpkin Chowder you will need
1 small onion chopped
Olive Oil
4 cups of pureed pumpkin
2 cups of chick peas
1/2 cup of plain coconut milk
4 cups Vegetable broth
pinch of Sage
pinch of curry powder
pinch of Poultry Seasoning
pinch of Celery Salt
pinch of Spike

Saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add in pumpkin and chick peas and mix up with the onions. Add in vegetable broth and coconut milk. Add seasonings. Blend with an immersion blender if you have one or let the soup cool and blend in a blender or food processor.  After I blended it I added in some green beans,  just because.

You can season this to your preference I was in the mood for an autumny Thanksgivingish soup so I went the sage route but I have seasoned it with cayenne pepper for a spicier soup.

I served the soup for lunch last Friday and there was just enough left over for dinner.

What will I do with the rest of the pumpkin? I see muffins in our future.

Live Jolly Foods

Our local farmers market ended last week but due to some creative thinking some of the vendors have set up camp in a nearby location and will do so until it is too cold or the veggies are all gone. This is very exciting for us since it is where we get our veggies and see our friends.

At the new "underground farmers market" there were some exciting new vendors. One in particular was Live Jolly Foods. Chris Jolly had an assortment of delicious live foods.  In celebration of Mexican Revolution Day he had an assortment of Mexican Cuisine inspired dishes including flautas, tacos, Mexican Pizza, Mexican Lasagna, vegetable fajita wraps, fiesta corn cakes, Piled-high Nachos-and a special MexBreakfast Box. There was an assortment of amazing looking desserts too but I am trying to watch my waist these days. We tried the corn cakes to start. I didn't get a picture but believe you, me, they were tasty with just the right amount of kick. 

On our way back to the car we stopped by the Live Jolly Foods table again and picked up some tacos and the mexican pizza. Both were very, very good. 


If you are in NJ they are worth checking out and offer delivery and ordering options on their website or find them at the Red Bank Underground Farmers Market located on Sundays from 9 AM - 2 PM at Chris's Deli on Front Street - River Plaza by the Marina.  

Mmmmm Curry Tofu with Ravishing Radishes & Greens

Tonight Domenick whipped up this tasty dish. It was so good I had 2 servings.

Curry Tofu with Ravishing Radishes & Greens
You will need
1 cup rice
1 bunch of radishes with greens
a bunch of kale
1 block of tofu (as much or as little as you want)
curry powder to your taste preference
4 TBS nutritional yeast
garlic to your taste preference
1/2 small onion chopped
Olive oil
4 TBS earth balance vegan butter
about 2 tsp Tumeric


Chop up radishes, greens, onions, kale and tofu

Saute radishes and onions in olive oil
Add earth balance.
Add tofu, and garlic and saute a bit more
Then add in chopped greens and kale.
Add curry powder, tumeric and nutritional yeast mix it all up and add rice saute until the radishes are somewhat translucent.

It goes something like that :)

Enjoy!

Stuffed Turban Squash or Gourds Aren't Just for Decorations

I picked up this beautiful turban squash a few weeks ago over at the farm where we go apple picking.

 

I have been trying to figure out what to make with it. Finally it dawned on me that I should stuff it. 

So I finally cooked it up. I cut off the top scooped out the seeds and drizzled some olive oil on it. Placed it in a baking dish that was filled 3/4 with water and baked it at 375º for about an hour until soft. 

Then we made some stuffing. You can make any stuffing you like we made stuffing from brown rice, TVP, greens, and some homemade white gravy. 

The meal was a success with the whole family! We will definitely be making it again.

Vegan MoFo Day 9

I will be honest with you. We have been lazy here. I slacked this weekend. I did NOT make cookies. I did NOT bake my pumpkin and I did not cook up and stuff that turban squash. So what did I do? Well I did some gardening, I spent some time in the studio, I went to Asbury Park and saw a fantastic new show at Parlor Gallery and I spent a lovely day with my in-laws. I also cleaned out my closet which was no small task!

But what did  you eat? This is Vegan MoFo afterall not what did Jenny do all weekend.

Well my DH did all the cooking. For breakfast he cooked up some cheesey grits with daiya cheese and even made some tempeh sausages they were delicious! For dinner he made us a lovely vegan baked ziti. I of course forgot to take a picture and there is not a crumb left. 

Then  comes Sunday. Since we had a full day planned I stayed home with Little Bean while DH picked up some veggies and lunch from the Cinnamon Snail. Here is where I really needed to take a picture. Lunch was amazing! I had the Seitan fennel meatballs with roasted garlic tomato sauce, kalamata olive tapenade, caramelized onion and arugula on a grilled baguette.

My DH had a breakfast burrito. I savored every bite of my sandwich my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I heard rumors of an "underground" farmers market popping up in our area and that would be awesome because it is such an integral part of our week. 

But yesterday was Monday what did you cook? Well nothing really.

Domenick made a fantastic oatmeal for our breakfast and we had quesadillas for lunch but for dinner we did something special. We went to the borough hall to support our friend's vegan lunch truck the Cinnamon Snail. I wrote about their plight here. It seems like the council members were receptive to some of Adam's suggestions and willing to work with him.

To celebrate they had their friends over for a lovely meal! And it was AMAZING. I even remembered to take a picture but I only had my camera phone.

It was a spicy Indian feast of salad, chick peas, lentils and potatoes that warmed my belly on the first really wintery cold day.
After dinner our friend whispered to me if I would like to try her new vegan creme brulee and I of course said YES! It was soooo good. This picture does not do it justice.

Best of all it was shared in a house full of friends and  that is what this is about. Sharing a meal in a peaceful beautiful environment surrounded by love and friends it really is just a beautiful thing.

I have been thinking of my Thanksgiving with dread because I will be with family and yes we love our family but and here is that but. We usually have a beautiful private vegan Thanksgiving. This is not usually an issue since my mother is a nurse and works many holidays and my father can't be bothered with most holidays. Much of Domenick's family lives in Florida and the ones in NJ are smart and visit FL to be with them in the warm Florida weather. But this year my mom is off and I was told under no uncertain terms was I to miss her Thanksgiving feast that it is important to be with family etc. Then she was offended when I requested she not make her signature vegan dish ratatouille for us for the umpteenth time. Not only do we have to drive hours and hours but it is an unwelcoming environment family or not and the meal is far from compassionate. I will bring food for us but this offends my mother and of course my family will make fun and say things like "Little Bean wants some roast beast" which makes me not want to share meals with them. It is ever so frustrating and now I have myself so worked up. So there is no escaping this. It is one day and that is how I am looking at it. I will see my family and it will be what it is. I do love my family I just wish I didn't have to eat with them.

To make up for this I have decided to have a huge vegan potluck over Thanksgiving weekend with our friends and family that are open to and want to share a compassionate Thanksgiving meal.

Vegan MoFo A Dinner Your Toddler will Love

My little bean loves this easy meal and cleans her plate every time we serve this.

Tofu Sticks

Baked Sweet Potato and Carrot Fries

Baked Green Beans with Garlic

 

To make the tofu sticks

Freeze your tofu

Cut frozen tofu into sticks then marinate it in your favorite marinade. We marinate the sticks in 

un-chicken stock, brags, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, poultry seasoning, spike and nutritional yeast.

We marinate them for a couple of days. The longer you marinate the sticks for the better.

Then bread them in your favorite breading. We use flour corn meal, nutritional yeast, spike, poultry seasoning, and salt and pepper

Drizzle the baking sheet with olive oil 

Place tofu sticks on the baking sheet and then drizzle the sticks with olive oil. 

Bake at about 380º

Flip them after they have baked for about 10 minutes and cook until just about crispy flipping as necessary.

Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries

• sweet potatoes, sliced thin using a mandolin
• olive oil
• seasoning of your choice

Directions

Preheat oven to 400º drizzle cookie sheet with olive oil

Spread the sweet potato strips out onto the baking sheet in a single layer, coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and spices, turning them over to evenly coat on all sides with oil and spices.

Bake for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes with spatula. Serve warm.

Garlic Baked Green Beans
Drizzle olive oil in the baking dish
Toss in about 1/8th of a cup of chopped garlic with the green beans and bake.

Vegan MoFo Survey

As I write this I have a turban squash and a pumpkin I need to cook... So stay tuned.


A survey just for some fun.

What is one food you thought you’d miss when you went vegan, but don’t?
Mozzarella

What is a food or dish you wouldn’t touch as a child, but enjoy now?
There are so many foods I wouldn't touch as a child but enjoy now and I realize it is all in the way they were prepared. But strangely I hated tomatoes as a child. I sometimes wonder if I should try preparing fresh lima beans but I think I am still afraid from the awful boiled frozen ones my mother served so often.

What vegan dish or food you feel like you “should” like, but don’t?
Tempeh. I barely tolerate it.

What beverage do you consume the most of on any given day?
Water

What dish are you “famous” for making or bringing to gatherings?
I am known for my deserts. Pies and cakes especially.

Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?
No, not really. I try to not eat dinner past 8 pm.

What’s one food or dish you tend to eat too much of when you have it in your home?
Brussels Sprouts and any sweets


What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available prepackaged?
Seitan

What ingredient or food is worth spending the extra money to get “the good stuff”?
Tofu.

Are you much of a snacker?  What are your favorite snacks?
Not really. Wildwood tofu.

What are your favorite vegan pizza toppings?
Nutritional yeast, eggplant, spinach, mushrooms.

What is your favorite vegetable?  Fruit?
Probably brussels sprouts and cherries

What is the best salad dressing?
Green Goddess

What is your favorite thing to put on toasted bread?
Just a bit of Earth Balance Spread and maybe some wheat germ

What kind of soup do you most often turn to on a chilly day or when you aren’t feeling your best?
Lentil or corn chowder

What is your favorite cupcake flavor? Frosting flavor?
Vanilla with strawberry frosting

What is your favorite kind of cookie?
I love baking simple chocolate chip cookies. But these shortbread cookies are delectable.

What is your most-loved “weeknight meal”?
Gardein sauted up with some brown rice and greens

What is one dish or food you enjoy, but can’t get anyone else in your household to eat?
Coconut pie and cherry pie. I miss making coconut and cherry pies but my DH can't stand coconut or cherries!

How long, in total,  do you spend in the kitchen on an average day?
A couple of hours

Vegan MoFo Homemade Granola

Let me just start by saying I am overwhelmed by all the vegan goodness in the Vegan MoFo.

Reading through all the posts inspires me to get into the kitchen.

Nothing beats homemade granola. It smells so amazing while it is cooking and tastes so good!

Homemade Granola

4 cups of oatmeal

½ cup of sunflower seeds

½ cup of pumpkin seeds

½ cup of slivered almonds

¼ cup of ground flax seeds

¼ cup of wheat germ

2 TBS of peanut butter

¼ cup of molasses 

¼ cup of maple syrup

¼ cup of apple juice

½ cup of canola oil

½ cup of sugar

1 tsp cinnamon 

½ tsp salt

Combine everything except molasses, maple syrup and apple juice. 

Spread onto a greased baking pan that has sides. 

Combine molasses, maple syrup and apple juice drizzle over the granola mixture

Bake for 20 minutes at 315 degrees. Stir 2 times.

Vegan MoFo

I have to say I absolutely LOVE the vegan thali from Bhojan Vegetarian in NYC

I always order the vegan lunch thali it offers so much and is so delicious.  

For just $8 you can't go wrong!

My lunches there are so relaxing. They fill my body, mind and soul. 

SERVE, LOVE, GIVE, PURIFY, MEDITATE, REALISE. 

- Swami Sivananda Saraswati

Bhojan Vegetarian Restaurant

Shiva Natarajan

102 Lexington Avenue

(Between 27 & 28th Streets)

New York, NY 10016

Ph: 212-213-9615 • Fax: 212-213-9794

Vegan MoFo New Orleans Rice and Beans

New Orleans Rice and Beans

1 cup of chopped okra (frozen is ok)

1 Onion chopped

1 cup chopped celery

1 tsp Cayanne pepper (you can add more if you prefer it to be really spicy)

1 Cup of red or brown rice (your choice)

1 Tsp Salt

4 TBS of Earth Balance dairy free butter

1 cup vegetable stock

Splash of red wine vinegar

1 tsp white pepper

½ tsp gumbo file

1 can of beans, kidney beans or white cannellini  beans 

Directions

Prepare rice according to directions add salt. 

Sauté okra, onion, celery and cayenne pepper. Add butter, vegetable stock, red wine vinegar,  beans, white pepper and gumbo file. 

Add cooked rice and simmer. 

The longer it sits the more the flavors will seep in.

VEGAN MOFO Day 3

Lunch with My Vegan Little Bean

So you may see by now that I don't really have a set path for my vegan MoFo posts and am just winging it. 

Many people are surprised when they ask me if my baby is vegan and I respond yes, of course she is. I am not sure why they are surprised. Perhaps they are surprised at how healthy and robust she is. People sometimes seem shocked but as any vegan knows there is nothing to be shocked about. Veganism is full of variety and healthy foods, foods full of nutrients and even not so healthy foods.  I know quite a few vegan babies and they are some of the healthiest babies I have seen. They also seem to not to be such picky eaters.  We are lucky our Little Bean does eat a wide variety of foods and is not too picky at all. Some of her favorite snacks include tofu, kiwi's, frozen bagels (they feel good on her teeth when she is teething).

 My husband does just about all of the cooking around here and he makes sure that we take in all our nutrients. But since I work from home lunch time is all about me and Little Bean. I usually make lunch for her right after her morning nap.

Today we had quesadillas with artichoke hummus, spinach, Daiya cheese, and black beans.

Quesadillas are a favorite lunch time meal since when cut into triangles they are so easy to eat.
We had a calcium rich  fresh juice made from kale, parsley, carrots and apples.

For a side snack Little Bean had a tofu stick. And for dessert we shared a kiwi. She was very happy as was this vegan momma.

Little Bean

VEGAN MOFO

The Cinnamon Snail Needs Our Help

Those that have been know that Adam from the Cinnamon Snail has been serving up vegan yums for quite some time. He is the one who created our AMAZING wedding cake shown below.

The Cinnamon Snail catered Little Bean's 1 year birthday party and WOWED our non vegan guests with amazing food that looked and tasted wonderful.

The Cinnamon Snail makes the most amazing spinach pie that Little Bean gobbles down. Feeding a 1 year old can be tricky at times and I am thankful that she loves to eat something so much.

He has been serving the Red Bank area for years. Last year the Cinnamon Snail took to the road to serve up some vegan deliciousness in Hoboken. He serves Red Bank in the evenings. If you haven't you need to try the food. My favorite right now is the Korean BBQ. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-! I still have to try some more food off the new fall menu but everything I have had has been delicious. 

Now why does the Cinnamon Snail need your help? Well Red Bank is actually a very business unfriendly town. So many store fronts sit vacant because well 1 rent is ridiculous and 2 it is so difficult to obtain permits etc etc etc to do business.  The Cinnamon Snail Vegan Food truck has permits to operate in Red Bank NJ. Adam runs the Cinnamon Snail on the allowed streets and at the farmers market on Sundays. The Farmers Market is about to close for the season! And Red Bank's extreemly strict vending ordinance just got worse last week, adding White Street and a couple others to the list of streets which restrict vending. Now, unless we fight to reverse the ordinance's amendment, there is nowhere in Red Bank the Cinnamon Snail will be permitted to operate!

We need the community to come together and show the mayor, council and River Center, that The Cinnamon Snail is a valuable asset for the town.

The Cinnamon Snail DOES NOT COMPETE WITH BRICK AND MORTAR RESTAURANTS. The fact is, that aside from parking nowhere near other open restaurants, serving a unique product, sharing none of the benefits of a brick and mortar business (bathrooms, seating, heating/cooling, wait staff, etc.) they also bring a ton of out of town foot traffic to Red Bank. They extra traffic they bring also supports other local businesses, and brings extra revenue to the town parking.

Please flood the council and mayor with calls and emails, showing your support. Let them know if you are a voting Red Bank resident, or a loyal "out of towner" who supports other Red Bank businesses and parking when you come to town for our truck.

You can contact ALL of the council people and Mayor Menna using this form:https://my.c3alert.us/redbanknj/contact/make

There is more information on the Cinnamon Snail Facebook Page, with a picture of the entire list of restricted streets (it's a long list of streets!)

If you do not have time write your own statement, Snail customer "Dee JayZero" has drafted one that you can copy and butcher your own version of if you like. You can download her draft here:
https://www.yousendit.com/dl?phi_action=app%2ForchestrateDownload&rurl=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.yousendit.com%252Ftransfer.php%253Faction%253Dbatch_download%2526send_id%253D979395807%2526email%253Dfa1ddbfc72045c82ddf3017b212c7b15

Vegan MOFO

I have discovered that I really love cake decorating. I have a lot to learn yet but I am slowly learning and a lot of it is practice. This is my third decorated cake, made for our Halloween bash. It was a hit with the vegans and non vegans. 

My favorite way to convince people that Veganism is the way to go is to start with yummy beautiful food.

What will my next cake be? I am thinking a cake for Thanksgiving. Then comes December a month of birthdays just waiting for cake.



jenny marmalade

VEGAN MOFO

I just heard about Vegan MoFo from the Post Punk Kitchen. That stands for "Vegan Month of Food." The main idea is for bloggers to blog about vegan food for the month of November there are not a lot of guidelines but the idea is for bloggers to write at least 20 times in the month or more about vegan food. The blogs can be anything related to food.  There is also a website devoted to the Vegan MoFo challenge. Sign up here.

I will be participating in this challenge so stay tuned for some vegan yummmms.