Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie

Followed one of those Tasty recipe videos going around Facebook. Video is here: http://youtu.be/aoJfD6HE1Hc

Instead of cinnamon roll ready made dough, I used crescent roll dough which is vegan and I just flattened it out, joined the seams, sprinkled cinnamon and sugar, then rolled up again and cut into pieces like in the video. I also sprinkled more cinnamon as I rolled out the round pieces for the pie. Easy!

Before baking.

Cooled and drizzled with powdered sugar glaze.

Heavenly! Very cinnamon-rolly. Haven't had them since going vegan. Make this pie!

Bowie Pie & Crack Cookies (with recipes).

Last weekend was glorious. It was David Bowie's birthday weekend. We celebrated by listening to his albums, watched Ziggy Stardust the film and on Sunday January 10th, the new album BLACKSTAR was delivered to my doorstep. Little did I know the same night I was listening to this beautifully dark and complex album, David Bowie would die. I woke up the next morning with no knowledge as I was offline all night and had gone straight to bed. My husband came to me while I was getting ready for work: "Did you hear about Bowie?" I was confused: "No, what about him?" "He died. Last night." I was in disbelief. I stopped putting on my makeup and ran to my room to grab my phone to confirm it for myself. Sure enough, it was true. I looked at my husband with tears streaming down my face. "Oh my god."

"In our madness we burnt one hundred days. Time takes time to pass. And I still hold some ashes to me. An Occasional Dream..."

It was a very emotional week for me. One of our brightest stars is gone. It feels like an end of an era. I'm a big music fan and I am an artist/musician myself so it was a lot to accept. These artists give us so much to hope for, to believe in. Their deaths are more profound somehow. My husband said: "That's life." I know this but how very sad and tragic. Here we were celebrating his life, excited about his new music, his new direction. In the next second, we were mourning his death. He's gone forever. I think of all my other idols. They too will be gone one day. It's just that we are never ready for them to go.

So this weekend, I'm thinking of David and playing his music and spending time with myself. David's favorite dish is Shepherd's Pie so I thought it would be a good dish to make today. And I needed to have some sugar too so I baked some cookies which are called "Crack Cookies". I got the idea from my friend Hope who gave me the recipe that I adapted to make it vegan. They are basically chocolate chip cookies with added oats, coconut and shaved chocolate. What's not to love?

On to the food.

"Bowie Pie". A lentil, vegetable pie with tomato base and a fluffy and crisp mashed potato topping.

Bowie Lentil Pie

1 cup brown lentils
3 TB olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced (or you can sub celery)
1 container of cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 to 3/4 cup veggie broth
splash of white wine
3 TB tomato paste
1 TB HP Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tsp dried herbs (I used a poultry herb blend)
2 TB tamari or Braggs
For Mashed potato:
7-8 peeled potatoes boiled until tender
1/2 cup soymilk
2 TB margarine

Preheat oven at 350F.

Cook lentils in a pot of water until tender. Drain and set aside. Boil potatoes for the mash. Heat olive oil in a different pot and saute onions, garlic, carrot, pepper, celery until semi-tender. Add mushrooms and saute for a while to sweat them out. Add the cooked lentils, stewed tomatoes, 1/2 cup broth, wine, tomato paste, HP sauce, salt, pepper, herbs and tamari. Cook on medium to allow all vegetables to cook through and reduce liquid a bit. If it dries out, add a little more broth. Total simmer time should be around 10-15 minutes or so. Longer is fine. Keep it on simmer. Mash the potatoes with soymilk and margarine. Season with salt.
Prepare a baking dish sprayed with oil. Pour the lentil filling into the dish and top with the mashed potatoes. Use a fork to drag lines across the top of the potatoes. This will make the topping crisp up in the oven. Bake for 1 hour at 350F.

Turntable is in full force today.

I adapted my friend Hope's "Crack" cookie recipe by using the "Toll House" recipe from last week as a guide and making little tweaks. They came out really good! They are slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with yummy things inside!

"Crack" Cookies, Vegan Style

In a small bowl stir together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups quick oatmeal

In a larger bowl cream together:
1/2 cup margarine (Earth Balance), softened
1/2 cup shortening, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla

Then add 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce and stir.

Add in the flour mixture little by little and stir as you go to incorporate all ingredients.
Add 12 oz. chocolate chips
Add 1 cup shredded coconut
Add 1/4 of a bar of grated chocolate (I used 70% dark). Grate the chocolate right into the bowl. (EDIT: USE A FULL BAR OF CHOCOLATE! IT WILL TASTE BETTER!)
Stir together all ingredients and drop by the Tablespoon onto parchment papered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 F or until golden brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven and slap it down on the counter. This will flatten cookie a bit. Let stand for a few minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Posted by Tasty on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Saw this video on Facebook and loved the simplicity of it. I already know how to make shepherd's pie but thought I'd try to go by this recipe.

I feel like the liquid is too much for this pie. Maybe it was because my veggies were smaller, I don't know. But no mind, I made it work.

I used the last of the Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Just added a couple more boiled potatoes and mashed them all fluffy.

Came out beautiful and very tasty!

Veg Pot Pie

We had a ton of refrigerated pie dough that were leftover from holiday grocery shopping that I decided I would use a couple to make a veggie pot pie. I haven't made one in a long while. Here are the innards, a delicious mixture of potatoes, gardein veggie crumbles, carrots, celery, spinach, mushrooms, lima beans, green peas, green beans, onions, garlic and corn. The gravy is seasoned with soy sauce, veggie broth and miso paste.

Out of the oven, all browned and beautiful!

Lunch.

Recipe: Veg Pot Pie

1 TB Earth Balance margarine
2 TB olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, sliced
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/4 cup flour
2 cups veggie or mushroom broth (I used Better Than Bouillon Vegetable flavor)
1 tsp yellow miso paste
1 cup gardein veggie crumbles
1/2 cup plain soymilk
1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
2 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
2 cups frozen veggie mix, thawed (carrots, peas, green beans, lima beans, corn)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 TB freeze dried poultry herbs or 1 tsp dried herbs (I used freeze dried mix of rosemary, thyme, garlic, scallions, sage)
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne
1 pie crust with 1 top (if frozen, thaw it out or use refrigerated pie dough)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Heat oil and margarine in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic and cook for cook for several minutes to soften. Once the vegetable are fairly soft, add flour a bit at a time while stirring continuously. Add a bit of broth as you go. Once it is all smooth and all the broth is incorporated, add the miso paste. Stir to dissolve miso paste. Add veggie crumbles and soy milk. Continue to cook and stir and make sure the miso dissolves. Add the mushrooms, potatoes and frozen veggie mix. Stir to combine. Turn off heat. Add soy sauce, herbs, salt, pepper and cayenne to season. If it seems dry, you may add a bit more soymilk or broth. Pour mixture into pie shell (there will be a lot) and cover with top pie crust and crimp edges. Cut a few slits on the top for steam to escape. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes until browned on top.

Happy New Year!

Hey there, happy new year! 2015 will be a fab year, I can feel it! This is what I ate on New Year's Eve.

Vegan Pie in the Sky peach pie (without the basil, didn't have any!). So good!

With soy vanilla ice cream.

New Year's Eve fish n chips supper. Sophie's Kitchen makes fabulous vegan fish fillets. So good with homemade tartar sauce and lemon.

Vegan Steak and Mushroom Pie

The veggies.

Some ingredients.

The insides before topping with puff pastry.

From the oven to the table, all puffed and golden!

On the plate with a side of mashed potatoes. This is the best comfort food ever.

The Recipe:

Steak and mushroom pie

3 TB vegan margarine + 2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 cup dry protein soy chunks rehydrated in boiling water until soft.
2 TB flour
1 cup veggie broth
1 tsp red miso
1 tsp vegemite or marmite
1 TB tomato paste
1 TB vegan worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
1 tsp thyme
1 container mushrooms sliced
salt and pepper to taste
frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed (a good vegan brand is Pepperidge Farm)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put the kettle on and boil water and pour over soy chunks in a bowl and let sit until soy chunks are soft.
3. Drain the hydrated soy chunks and put them in to a bowl. Add a couple of TB of flour and toss to coat the soy chunks.
4. Heat margarine in a pan on med high heat. Add soy chunks to pan and brown evenly, about 5 minutes. Remove soy chunks from pan and set aside.
5. Add oil to the pan and add the vegetables. Cook for a about 4 minutes. Then add vegetable broth, miso, marmite, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce and thyme to the pan. Cook for a few more minutes and then add the mushrooms. Add the soy chunks back to the pan, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and cover and simmer until veggies are tender.
6. Pour mixture into a baking dish and top with puff pastry sheets. Bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and puffy.

Vegan Steak and Mushroom Pie

Out of the oven.


More veggies than "steak" but that's ok! It was pretty tasty on top of mashed potatoes.

Recipe here.

"Steak" and mushroom pie.

My neighbor was the one who inspired me to make this dish. She had a photo assignment to photograph the pub food at Ye Olde King's Head in Santa Monica. Her photos of the steak and mushroom (or it could have been steak and ale) pie looked amazing. I said to her: "I'm going to make that!" And so I did.


This is the filling of soy chunks, vegetables and mushrooms in a savory gravy.


Finished pie out of the oven.



I didn't have potatoes so I made cauliflower mash instead!

Steak and mushroom pie

3 TB vegan margarine + 2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 cup dry protein soy chunks rehydrated in boiling water until soft.
2 TB flour
1 cup veggie broth
1 tsp red miso
1/2 tsp vegemite or marmite
1 TB tomato paste
1 TB vegan worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp thyme
1 container mushrooms sliced
salt and pepper to taste
frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed (a good vegan brand is Pepperidge Farm)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Put the kettle on and boil water and pour over soy chunks in a bowl and let sit until soy chunks are soft.

3. Drain the hydrated soy chunks and put them in to a bowl. Add a couple of TB of flour and toss to coat the soy chunks.

4. Heat margarine in a pan on med high heat. Add soy chunks to pan and brown evenly, about 5 minutes. Remove soy chunks from pan and set aside.

5. Add oil to the pan and add the vegetables. Cook for a about 4 minutes. Then add vegetable broth, miso, marmite, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce and thyme to the pan. Cook for a few more minutes and then add the mushrooms. Add the soy chunks back to the pan, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and cover and simmer until veggies are tender.

6. Pour mixture into a baking dish and top with puff pastry sheets. Bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and puffy.


Pie poured over cauliflower mash. This was SO TASTY.

New Year's Day Lunch.

Spent all morning preparing this fantastic greek spinach pie. I was so eager to eat that I forgot to photograph the whole pie. This recipe is from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". I added cremini mushrooms and red bell pepper to the spinach filling which was a nice change.


We ate this with dijon potato salad, chickpeas with yogurt sauce and a Bulgarian relish called Lutenica. Delicious food!

Veggie Quiche!

Made a veggie quiche with tofu, broccoli, spinach and mushrooms. It's yummy right out of the fridge or warmed up.


I served it with a sauce made of Vegenaise with a touch of ketchup plus a baby lettuce salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Greek Lenten Spinach Pie

I've been on a greek food kick lately. Can't get enough! This is the greek lenten spinach pie from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". It's basically spanakopita without the cheese. It is served during lent when animal products are forbidden. I've had non-traditional spanakopita with tofu (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) which is very rich and filling. This pie is a little on the lighter side yet satisfactory. I think I may use a few sheets less of phyllo as I found it way too much.


My pie had a serious hump top from the phyllo puffing up a lot. It soon deflated a bit when I cut into it. I think I might double the filling next time.


Served with russian salad, a potato salad popular in greek cuisine and lutenica which is a red pepper spread from Bulgaria.


Good stuff.

Fatayer bi Sabanakh

My post earlier about Mediterranean food made me want some! The fatayer (spinach pies) I had at the restaurant were so good that I wanted to try it out myself at home. Got this recipe from a wonderful book "Classic Vegetarian Cooking From The Middle East and N. Africa". The book asks for pizza dough so I looked no further than Trader Joe's for their pre-made pizza doughs. Worked out perfectly! They were delicious and not as tart (from lemon) as the ones I had at Gaby's. I didn't mind though. They were chewy and crisp on the outside and really lovely inside. Steamy spinach, nuts (in my case almonds because I didn't have pine nuts), onions, sumac and a touch of lemon.


Inside shot.


With a side of baby lettuce salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Perfect summer dining on the patio.

Pot Pie, Tea Sandwiches and Gardein Buffalo Wings

This is an adaptation of Vegan Dad's pot pie. I didn't use seitan but used chickpeas instead. I had a spelt crust in the freezer that I wanted to use and for the top crust, I used an oil based recipe which I cut into pumpkin shapes. I added a few things to the sauce/filling, namely 1 tsp. white miso, 1/2 tsp. vegemite and 1/4 tsp. dried thyme.




The other day I bought a package of Gardein buffalo wings to try out. I had them with cucumber sandwiches and salad. To be honest, I wasn't crazy about them on their own. The texture was good but the taste was kind of weird. I think they would be better in a sandwich with other things.

Giving Thanks.

Over the years on Thanksgiving, my whole family gets together at an aunt's house to celebrate together and eat together. It's usually a gigantic Thai-American potluck and boy, can our family eat! Our family parties last all day and into the night with non-stop eating. It's quite amazing and makes me laugh when I think about it. I won't be partaking this year at the family party because my mom has to work all day today. We decided to have a small dinner tonight for the 5 of us here at home (me, husband, brother, mom and dad). I'll miss seeing my many many cousins but I know that christmas is just around the corner and I will most likely see them at the holiday shindig in December. I'm so grateful to have such a large family who all enjoy being in each other's company and always want the best for each other. I can't imagine not having them in my life. I am thankful for so many things in my life, number one being my family.

So as this is a food bog, on to the food!


I made this Tofu Dinner Loaf last year as well. It's wonderful and bakes up firm and sliceable. I love it with orange herb gravy. Recipe here.


My plate: tofu loaf with orange herb gravy, stuffing (I used the vegetarian stuff in a box, not homemade sorry!), green bean casserole, glazed dijon carrots and mashed potatoes and cranberry/mandarin sauce. All very simple recipes that took no time at all!


The best part of the meal is dessert I think! Here is my favorite vegan pumpkin pie with a spelt crust.


A slice served with maple sweetened cashew cream!!!!! Recipe is here. This cream is unbelievable! I used rice milk instead of the water in the recipe and a little more maple syrup than usual. So freaking creamy and delicious!!!


I also made a VERY EASY AND QUICK puff pastry apple tart. Seriously, all you need to do is slice a few apples and toss them in sugar and lay 'em out on a piece of frozen puff pastry and bake! This was yummy as well.


Here's a bonus pic of my baby. He had a "Thanksgiving Day" flavored dog food today to celebrate.

Shepherd's Pie

There's nothing better than digging into a bowl of comfort food on the weekend while kicking back on the couch watching tv on dvd. This pie came together quickly with veggie crumbles, frozen veggie mix and mashed potatoes. The gravy was flavored with red miso, red wine and veggie broth. It was delicious!