Sweet Dreams

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

Link to Recipe & Instructions

I have been seeing these all over the place lately so I decided it was time to make them now. I followed the recipe almost exactly except that I cut the recipe in half and baked them at 315 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes. They're a little bit time consuming but you really can't mess them up. It took me about a half hour from the start until I put them in the oven. One tip to make note of is that if you keep the dough at room temperature or slightly warm before you bake them there will be fewer cracks in the cookie when they're finished baking. 

Step 1 - Mix the chocolate cookie dough

Step 2 - Mix the peanut butter cookie dough

Step 3 - Roll the dough into a ball

 Step 4 - Bake and let cool before eating

Raw Option - I came up with 13 cookies so I tried the last one raw. It was quite good and would be an excellent option for raw dessert.

The only problem with these is that now I want to eat them ALL!

The entire batch is 60 WW points, or about 5 a piece. "Pricey" but well worth it.

Enjoy!

Savory Casserole

Tonight I just experimented in making a casserole, not measuring terribly carefully, and it turned out to be tremendous. I was not expecting that. So I will give you my approximations for measurements but I don't think it matters all that much. Aren't casseroles really just about throwing things you like, that go together, in a dish and baking it?  Also, in case you haven't noticed I really love mushrooms and onions. Like, a lot.
P.S. I'm noticing a pattern in my foods looking not so attractive but they taste so good.

Chopped Onions - approx 1/3 cup
Portobello Mushroom Slices - approx 1 cup
Tofu - approx 1/4 block
Nutritional Yeast - as much as you'd like, I used probably about 2 Tbsp
Vegan Cheddar Cheese - I used approx 1.5 oz Daiya
Dash of Salt for flavor
Seasoned Packaged Tofu Meat substitute - I used Field Roast Tomato Flavor slices (2) but it would work well with any "deli" slices, fakin bacon, or soysage just for a little flavor.

In frying pan with either nonstick spray or oil, saute the onions. After a few minutes add in the mushrooms and saute for a few more minutes. Crumble the tofu and toss into the pan along with the nutritional yeast, salt, and meat substitute. Saute for another minute or two. Toss in the vegan cheese, stir in quickly and move it right to the casserole dish. Sprinkle some vegan cheese on top if you like. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes.

Easy Apps

These weren't plated well, I fully admit it, but they tasted delicious. They're incredibly quick and easy to make.

Lightlife Smart Strips with Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce

The chik'n strips can be grilled in a nonstick pan or baked in an oven. I heated up the peanut satay sauce but I don't think it's necessary.  (Total 2 points) One thing to watch for in Asian sauces is "fish sauce". It is always listed in one form or another in packaged sauces. In restaurants you should ask your server if they can make the dish without fish sauce. That's a trap that I fell into quite a bit when I first switched to a vegan diet.


Gardein Chipolte Lime Crispy Fingers with Mock-A-Mole

Pictured is two crispy fingers cut up into bite size pieces and mock-a-mole that browned a bit while I was working on all of this. I started with Bethenny Frankel's Mock-A-Mole recipe and pared it down for simplicity. I used equal parts avocado and cup(s) of canned peas and then threw in some of my favorite seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, lime juice, paprika, and salt). Of course if you have the time or the ingredients in your house use fresh ingredients, if not then packaged works just fine. (5 points-the crispy fingers are two points a piece but a small amount of mock-a-mole is just one point.)

Enjoy!

Watching It

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth; I'm still here. Through Thanksgiving I had been making loads of delicious foods for my little blog here but my hips can't take it anymore. So, I've started Weight Watchers. I've always been pretty against the program because they teach portion control (which I've never had a problem with) but they don't teach people how to become healthy eaters. A couple of weeks ago they changed their program and now most fruits and veggies are "free", meaning they don't come out of your daily points allocation. Now I'm giving it a try, we'll see how it goes. Let's face it, how many people want to see pictures of salads and not-so-attractive foods? I know I don't, so I haven't been writing. Today I decided to start it up again and I'm going to keep the posts to easy vegan meals but they'll be more healthy and I'll try to add in some fun extra things such as products that I like.

Recently I discovered the Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n. I know, I'm Gardein obsessed but some of the food is sooo good. This shicken is no exception.  Add some onions when grilling for a little and serve over a 1/4 cup of wild rice and you have a great meal (5 points for any of you other WW-ers out there). The whole thing takes no more than 10 minutes to make. I also try to make a bunch of rice at a time so that I have it cooked and waiting in my fridge. I threw my rice into the pan for the last 10 seconds or so and it turned out quite nice. The mandarin orange chick'n would be great in a stir fry as well. I find stir fry a little tough to do without oil so I've avoided it thus far but I'm sure I'll get there.

Dreamy Creamy Chick'n

Today is the last day of Vegan Mofo so it calls for a special dish. When I went to graduate school and lost my healthy eating habits, this was one of the dishes that I came up with for special occasions because it is just so over the top...but totally worth it. The pictures are old because I've only made it two or three times but you'll get the idea.

Ingredients

1 Package (4 pieces) of Gardein™ chick’n scallopini

¼ cup Tofutti® Better than Sour Cream 

  (Can be replaced with a ¼ cup ground cashews for a slightly healthier version)

¼ cup Soy Milk (I used Lite Original Silk)

¼ cup Nutritional Yeast (Amount can be cut down by up to half, depending on personal taste)

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Onion Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 oz Daiya Italian Blend /mozzarella style “cheese”™

 

Crispy Cheesy Garnish -  1 oz Daiya Italian Blend /mozzarella style “cheese”™

Directions

Slightly defrost Gardein™ chick’n scallopini so that it’s easier to work with; put in microwave for about 30 seconds. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix Tofutti® Better than Sour Cream, Soy Milk, Nutritional Yeast, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Salt and Pepper. (Add more Soy Milk for desired consistency)

Moderately coat the Gardein™ chick’n scallopini with the mixture. There will be a lot of the mixture left over to use as a sauce on final dish.

Press ½ oz of the Daiya cheese on each side of each “chick’n”.

Grease cookie sheet/oven tray and place the coated “chick’n” on the sheet.

Evenly place the 1 oz Daiya cheese on the tray as well in its own section so that it does not melt into the chick’n. (or place on separate tray)

Bake at 350⁰ for 10 minutes, flip “chick’n”. Remove the Crispy Cheesy Garnish when it stops bubbling and starts browning.  Bake the “chick’n” for another 5 minutes. (Time/Temperature may need to be adjusted depending on your oven, mine cooks particularly hot.)

Remove “chick’n”, place on plate, spoon remainder of sauce over “chick’n”.  (sauce can be used hot or cold)

Place Crispy Cheesy Garnish on the “chick’n” and serve. 

Notes

If using cashews in place of Tofutti® Better than Sour Cream, grind in food processor. Heat soy milk and mix the sauce in the blender rather than a bowl.

The dish is very creamy. The amount of Daiya can be reduced or the dish can be made without the Daiya at all if it is too creamy for your taste.

Ground sesame seeds can be added for a slightly more “Parmesan” taste. Soy milk will need to be increased. 

Vegan Thanksgiving Round-Up

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving, regardless of what you were doing or who you were with. My family was giving me a hard time about taking the foodie pictures so I had to snap a couple of pics very quickly on the sly and they didn't always turn out well. So, I apologize in advance for some of the pictures. Here was my Vegan Thanksgiving...

First, I made bread

Two main courses:
Seitan en Croute with Madeira Sauce

and Vegan Dad's Maple Apple Cider Tofu with Stuffing (although I just used my cranberry sauce as a topping instead of his chutney which looks delish).

I have to say, this was absolutely amazing. I will definitely be making it again!

Cranberry Sauce

Sweet Potatoes (which were made by my mom) with Glazed Pecans that I jarred.

And for Dessert...

My famous apple pie. Quite frankly, the pictures don't do it justice. I'm just sayin.

and Pumpkin Bread

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I ate as much as I enjoyed eating it. My family ate everything except my main course. My weight watchers devotee mamma made some grilled asparagus that was vegan but I don't have any pix.  Hey, it's a start!

Thanksgiving Part 5: Sides

Traditional Thanksgiving sides are really easy to make vegan.

Substitutes:

Butter == Earth Balance
Chicken stock == Vegetable stock OR there are vegetarian bouillon cubes that are meant to taste like chicken stock
Sausage == vegetarian sausage such as Lightlife Smart Sausage
Sour Cream == Tofutti Sour Cream (I use this for dip)
Marshmallows == Dandies (taste like store bought marshmallows) or Sweet and Sara marshmallows (taste more like homemade marshmallows)
    *I will be putting glazed pecans on my sweet potatoes instead of
      marshmallows. They're incredibly easy to make.

If there's anything that I left off the list, please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to get back to you with a veg*n substitute.

Here's a recipe for a delicious cranberry sauce that I made yesterday for my family's Thanksgiving.

APPLE CIDER CRANBERRY SAUCE

12 oz Cranberries
1 cup of Vegan Granulated Sugar
1 cup of Apple Cider
Clementine zest and approximately 1-2 tbsp Clementine juice


In a sauce pot over medium heat, combine a dash of clementine zest and juice, cider, and sugar. When the sugar is dissolved stir in the cranberries. You will know the sauce is done when all of the cranberries pop. It usually takes 10-12 minutes.

Really I just wanted to do something a little more exciting than the traditional sugar/water/cranberries - cranberry sauce. I <3 apple cider and thought it would be a good combination. A lot of people will use orange juice instead of water so it occurred to me that a bit of clementine would be a nice touch.

Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving round-up after the dinner.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!