Healthy Bean Dip.

Not watching the game but I got dip! This is a healthier version of layered dip. We got refried beans, olives, red bell pepper, tomato, avocado, pickled jalapenos, scallions and vegan mayo mixed with lime juice. So yummy!

Persian Red Lentil Dip

Made a yummy dip today with red lentils. The recipe calls for sweet potato but I didn't have any so I used a regular potato and added some cumin and lemon for a different flavor profile. It is really yummy. Recipe here. Oh, and before you ask, I have no idea if this recipe is really persian!

Happy Halloween!

I'm being the hermit again this year by staying in and eating scrumptious foods and watching scary movies with my husband. We're starting off with Rosemary's Baby. I didn't want to make a dinner but instead do appetizers which we could nibble on with bloody marys.


Spinach Artichoke Dip with sundried tomatoes and hot chili flakes. This will go with whole grain crackers and celery sticks. Recipe here.


Stuffed baked potato skins with imitation bacon bits. Yum!


And you gotta have a sweets on Halloween. These are pumpkin bars with cream "cheez" frosting. I am not crazy about this recipe, it was only ok. The frosting didn't set at all and the bars were a bit on the mushy/gooey side.

Father's Day Dips.

I made a couple dips to enjoy with my folks today on Father's Day. There's nothing like a beautiful weekend with sunny breezy weather, dips, chips and beer! This one is a refried bean dip with guacamole, fresh tomato, vegenaise mixed with lime juice and chili powder and sliced jalapenos.


Edamame hummus though we can't really call this hummus can we, since we're not using chickpeas? Well it's made similarly with edamame, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, ground cumin and coriander. It's a gorgeous green color and went very well with fresh carrots and celery.

Mock Crab Cake Wrap, Cauliflower White Bean Dip

Yesterday's "crab" cakes made beautiful wraps for lunch today.


Also on the lunch menu: cauliflower white bean dip. This was adapted from the "Lower Fat Cauliflower Hummus" recipe from Veganomicon. I didn't have any chickpeas so I used white beans as a nice and creamy substitute.

Saturday Nibbles.

Baked samosas. Recipe from Vegan Planet. I forgot to photograph the insides! Well, to give you an idea it has mashed orange yams, white potatoes, green peas, curry powder and cayenne.


Eggplant and Walnut Dip from The Greek Vegetarian. Served with carrots and pita crisps.

Weekend Meze.

It rained last night and the forecast had predicted rain today but it has yet to come. I took advantage of the current blue skies and sun with slight breeze to lunch al fresco once again. I'm really getting used to this! It makes me look forward to the weekend. Come summer, this is will be a regular thing. Can't wait.


Another meze lunch with lots of things to nibble on and again with the mediterranean theme. I just got a new cookbook, "The Greek Vegetarian" and I wanted to use it today. I made from it Eggplant Puree with Walnuts and Fava Bean Stew with Mint. I also made hummus and a greek salad.


Hummus on the left and Eggplant Puree with walnuts (Makedonitiki Melitzanosalata) on the right. The eggplant puree was delicious and garlicky. The walnuts are first ground to a paste and then processed with roasted eggplant pulp.


Fava bean stew with mint (Koukia Stifado me Dyosmo). Delicious and filling tender fava beans with a base of tomatoes, red onions, garlic, mint and dill. I added dill because I'm crazy about it and a lot of greek dishes have fresh dill so it seemed rather fitting.


Greek salad with cucumbers, olives, red onions and "Betta Feta", a tofu based faux feta from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. Drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.


First of the jasmine blooms I've seen this year.


Buster eating pita.


Dessert is banana bread that I made with the biggest ripest bananas that I found in our fruit bowl. The cake sunk in the middle a bit because of my impatience. I peeked in the oven way too many times!

It's all Greek to me.

I went to the library a few days ago and checked out a Greek cookbook called "The Olive and The Caper". It's not a vegetarian book but there are so many appealing vegetarian recipes in it that I wanted to try out this weekend. I should say that my interest in Greece and greek cooking has been sparked up again because of a suspense novel that I'm reading that takes place in this magical place. (The book is My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart by the way.)


First up, Eggplant and Yogurt Dip. I swapped greek yogurt for plain unsweetened soy yogurt. It's a beautiful mixture of eggplant pulp, yogurt, garlic, red onions and salty black olives. This was amazing. I'm definitely going to make this for parties.


Next, "Russian" Salad. Green beans, carrots, potatoes, in a lemon-caper mayonnaise (vegan mayo of course!). It's supposed to also have lima beans and peas but I left them out. Very good and creamy.


For the main dish I made Gigantes which are big beans in a tomato based sauce. We're supposed to use authentic greek big beans here but large lima beans are a popular replacement. I didn't really use the recipe from the book but instead adapted this recipe I found online. The beans are baked with diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, dill, oregano and olive oil. I replaced the honey with a bit of sugar and left out the carrots. They baked up beautifully (though a little mushy) but were so tasty both warm and at room temp.


Closeup of the tender buttery beans. The dill flavor shined through just the way I had hoped.


My plate with a side of pita for dipping!


To go with the Mediterranean theme, dessert was orange blossom cake with fig yogurt sauce. I used kittee's basic vanilla cake recipe and subbed a little orange juice and orange blossom for some of the water. For the sauce, I just whisked a few spoonfuls of fig jam into plain soy yogurt.


The cake was moist and sweet with orange blossom notes. The yogurt sauce took it to another level. So many beautiful flavors!

Pizza with Daiya Vegan Cheese

Hello melty gooey vegan cheese that is Daiya! Found some shredded Daiya at Whole Foods and decided to make this yummy pizza. It's got tomato sauce seasoned with za'atar, chopped garlic, tomatoes, onions and sliced olives.


This cheese is very melty and to me tastes kind of similar to Follow Your Heart. (I think I might like the taste of FYH better...) I liked it well enough but would not go out of my way to have it on pizza every time. It was nice to have a change from cheeseless pizza.


And to go with my "lounging on the weekend and watching dvds in bed" theme, I brought a tray to my room. I topped the pizza with arugula salad. Also on the tray, homemade baba ganouj/sundried tomato hummus with cucumbers for dipping and a gingerberry kombucha. I enjoyed all of this while watching 'Death on the Nile' which was most excellent!


Later on, I brought tea and dessert to bed. The tea is Cameronian gold blend and dessert was Fabe's chocolate chip cake.


Considering this is a "health food" brand of cake, it was still very moist and sweet enough (it's not sweetened with sugar, but rather barley and chicory syrup).

VeganMoFo: Mini Meze

Meze = a selection of small dishes

My husband and I like to do this every so often for dinner. It's fun to just have an assortment of things to dip bread and vegetables into. Don't have to slave over a stove or put anything in the oven. I whipped up some hummus yesterday so all I had to do today was prepare za'atar in olive oil and make a second dip. Since I used my new favorite book yesterday, I didn't want to miss another chance to use it again. I looked in the "Appetizers" section and found an eggplant dip that looked good. This eggplant dip is called Bathinjan Mfasakh in arabic and the recipe originates from Syria and Lebanon. It was very easy to prepare. I just needed to salt the eggplant and drain it for a while and then quickly saute in olive oil until browned. Then I mashed it all up and added vegan yogurt, garlic, dried mint, salt and pepper. YUM-MEE. We used whole wheat pita and fresh cucumber for dipping. For drinks we shared a Gingerberry kombucha.


Closeup of the eggplant dip.

VeganMoFo: Spinach Artichoke Dip

Let's go Dodgers! Game 1 of the NLCS is tonight and I'm going to be heading over to my bro's house after work to watch the game. I'm really excited and I hope our boys kick the Phils' butts! I prepared my famous spinach artichoke dip to bring along with crackers, chips and salsa and hummus and pita bread. Can't wait!

Artichoke Spinach Dip

1 container Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (I find this at Trader Joe's, Ralphs Market and Whole Foods Market)
1 cup Vegenaise
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 10 oz box frozen spinach, thawed, drained and chopped
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
2 TB nutritional yeast (optional) or 1/4 cup vegan parmesan (optional. I've left these out with no problems.)
2 TB lemon juice
1/2 tsp italian herbs
salt and pepper
chili flakes

Combine all ingredients and pour into a baking dish. Top with crushed chili flakes and extra vegan parmesan. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F until browned and bubbly.

Meze Supper.

Tonight husband and I wanted to dine on an assortment of appetizers or "meze". I was happy to make a dip of chickpeas and fava beans (not quite hummus because I only had about 1/2 cup of chickpeas), za'atar in olive oil with fresh tomato and onion as well as a light eggplant dish, Misaqua'at Betinjan bil Laban or 'Browned Eggplant with Yogurt'. I used plain unsweetened soy yogurt* and added about a tablespoon of vegan mayo for more creaminess. Try as they might, soy yogurts just do not have the same texture nor flavor as regular dairy yogurt. The vegan mayo added to it made it much creamier and it was simply flavored with salt, garlic, cumin and coriander. This recipe is from a Iraqi cookbook I have called "Delights from the Garden of Eden". The recipe is also online here. The eggplant was really good (well, anything that is fried is good!) and the salty olives and pita were yummy accompaniments.


Chickpea & Fava Bean Dip with Za'atar topped with fresh tomato and onions.


Yummy fried eggplants with garlicky soy yogurt!


All together...

*Note: The best plain unsweetened soy yogurt is Wildwood Organics. The other brands plain are just way too sweet.

Chips n Dip.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Mine was wonderful and I'm so sad it's coming to an end! So many activities the past few days. Thursday night I went out to dinner with my husband to Pomodoro Ristorante in Westwood. I didn't take any pictures of the food but everything I had was delicious. I had a green salad with balsamic and olive oil, fresh fresh bread with more olive oil for dipping and my main was spaghetti pomodoro (fresh tomato, basil, garlic and olive oil). It was all so filling. Friday, my cousins came over to visit and we had tea and sandwiches (again no pics!) but I stuck to the usual tofu salad sandwiches and pb &j with hot hot tea. Saturday I went to a Dodger game with my husband and gorged on veggie dogs (yes, Dodger Stadium carries vegan dogs only on certain levels.) while cheering on my ballclub (they lost, boo.). This morning we went on a beautiful hike in Temescal Canyon and had a yummy picnic afterwards of fresh sandwiches on seeded baguette (sorry no pics!). After our hike, we came home to relax, watch the ballgame with lots of dips and chips. I made the one you see in this post. It's refried beans mixed with the other night's chili, topped with fresh tomato, chopped onions, bell peppers and pepperoncini. Then drizzled with vegenaise mixed with chili powder and lime juice and fresh salsa. Was so good!

Sweet Potato Samosa and Cinco de Mayo food.

Today is my day off and I didn't want to waste a chance to cook. I had a large sweet potato to use up so I made baked samosas which were a recipe from 'Vegan Planet'. They are stuffed with mashed sweet potato, peas, onions and seasoned with curry powder and cayenne. I know this is not very "Cinco de Mayo" so I made up for it by making fresh guacamole and chipotle refried bean dip with grilled peppers and onions topped with lettuce, tomato and cool ranch sauce. The ranch is from 'You Won't Believe It's Vegan'. It has pureed tofu in it which I was very wary of at first but after adding some seasonings like taco spices, lemon juice and garlic powder it didn't taste half bad.

Here are the pics. All this food was gobbled up while watching Dodger baseball!


Samosa in a variety of sizes. They were delicious.


Yummy bean dip. Only things missing were jalapeno and olives.


Creamy guacamole made from 2 large avocados.


Oh and I did make something healthy. A mango, orange banana salad.

Superbowl Foods.

Went to my little bro's house for a Superbowl party. We set up a build-your-own taco/burrito bar which worked out brilliantly. I didn't take many pics as I was too busy preparing as well as eating but this is what I got...


My famous Spinach-Artichoke dip. Oh yes. Find the recipe posted here.


Along with normal salsa, I also made corn salsa for the taco bar.


My burrito filled with baked tofu strips (can't really see them!), chipotle black beans, cilantro-lime rice, guac, corn salsa, tomato salsa, grilled onions/peppers and lettuce. Whew! It was definitely over-filled. And delicious.


I never forget dessert! Mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache and topped with flaked coconut and rainbow and chocolate sprinkles.

So this is it with the pigging out. I am so stuffed and uncomfortably so. I am actually glad I'm doing a detox diet starting tomorrow. Will get back to you tomorrow on that!