Chickpea Pasta Casserole

Based off this recipe.

My changes include using silken tofu instead of soy milk, panko instead of potato chips, a full pound of pasta instead of a 1/2 pound and adding in peas and carrots, thyme, marjoram, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and a little bit of nutritional yeast to taste.

It didn't taste like a "tuna" casserole but it did taste a lot like any other sort of casserole made with a creamy sauce. It was very good and comforting!

"Cheesy" Vegan Lasagna

Based off this recipe. I would have taken a better picture of the layers, but it's all gone now!

My changes: Used 1.5 cups of sliced baby carrots, bunch of sliced mushrooms, water instead of broth (but seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and oregano. Also put all the spinach on its own layer and only used 2 jars of pasta sauce (tomato basil sauce) and finally sprinkled more nutritional yeast on top.

It was yummy! I am pretty sick of my own lasagna recipe so this was a nice change.

Making a Killing

I finally got my copy of Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, written by my good friend Bob Torres. Bob is also co-author of Vegan Freak with his (very awesome) wife Jenna Torres.

I don't normally talk about AR here (though I might start a new blog for that) but I've been really excited about this book since Bob first started talking about writing it.

Here's the AK Press synopsis of the book:

Suggest to the average leftist that animals should be part of broader liberation struggles and — once they stop laughing—you'll find yourself casually dismissed. With a focus on labor, property, and the life of commodities, Making a Killing contains key insights into the broad nature of domination, power, and hierarchy. It explores the intersections between human and animal oppressions in relation to the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. Combining nuts-and-bolts Marxist political economy, a pluralistic anarchist critique, as well as a searing assessment of the animal rights movement, Bob Torres challenges conventional anti-capitalist thinking and convincingly advocates for the abolition of animals in industry — and on the dinner plate. Making A Killing is sure to spark wide debate in the animal rights and anarchist movements for years to come.

More thoughts on this as I read the book. I strongly suggest that you pick up this book!

Vegan Thanksgiving

This is my first official U.S. Thanksgiving here as a resident. I don't really care for the history of Thanksgiving — you know, the wanton slaughter of Native peoples, the disgusting consumerism, the slaughter of millions of animals, etc., etc. Thanksgiving in Canada is a much more subtle affair. Excuse for a day off really. I suppose there isn't a huge frenzy about it because it's not associated with shopping like it is here. The day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. is *THE* big shopping day of the year (sort of like Boxing Day in Canada).

But I digress... I suppose I should also say what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my husband (who's the best by the way), good health, being able to live a decent life without having to scrape by (been there, done that — trust me, it sucks), family, friends, the health of my companion animals (I had a rough time with that a couple of years back), and I am thankful for all the vegans out there who have made the compassionate and ethical choice not to participate in the exploitation of animals on all levels.

*climbs off soapbox*

What we have here is a Tofurkey roast with stuffing (glazed with agave nectar, orange juice and dijon mustard), homemade mushroom and onion gravy, glazed carrots, green bean casserole (based off this recipe) and mashed potatoes with green onions. It was delicious! After trying both Tofurkey and Celebration Roast now, I think I like Tofurkey better (taste and texture) but homemade seitan (Bryanna's recipes) is still the best.

I still have those stupid cranberry/apple/potato dumplings and Tofurkey gravy that came in the dinner kit box. I'm going to have them for lunch today. Hope they actually taste good.

ETA: Had the dumplings and gravy for lunch. The gravy was decent (mine is better though) but the dumplings were kind of... meh. It's like mashed potato with cranberries and apple in a perogie dough almost. I don't really like mixing sweet and savoury very often so I didn't really like the dumplings. What would be awesome is if they decided to change it to just a potato dumping (with more seasonings) and remove the cranberries and apple. Then it would be like... er... a perogie!

Vegan Irish Stew... and Spaghetti

Vegan Irish stew made with TVP chunks, carrots, potatoes, celery, mushrooms and Old Rasputin dark beer. Recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan's, Almost No Fat Holiday Cookbook.

Yeah, I know it looks super "meaty". Trust me, it's all vegan though, down to the beer. The recipe calls for Guiness which isn't vegan but Old Rasputin dark beer is. Anyway, I am not sure why I thought I would like food cooked with dark beer since I hate dark beer. I guess I thought that the flavours would sort of blend to where I wouldn't taste it. But I did and I couldn't eat it. The boy however does like dark beer so he quite enjoyed this dish. I'll make this again sometime over the winter... but without the beer.

So I ended up making myself the other dish: spaghetti tossed with broccoli, hungarian hot wax peppers, mashed chickpeas, garlic, olive oil and salt & pepper. Simple but good.

Sweet & Sour TVP

Sweet and sour TVP with broccoli, onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and red pepper. I sprinkled hot chili flakes / red pepper flakes on mine.

I've been trying to actually use my 60+ cookbooks here. I almost never use them so I am trying to make at least one recipe from one cookbook each week... starting this week. The base recipe is from Bryanna Clark Grogan's book Authentic Chinese Cuisine.

I soaked the TVP chunks in her suggested broth (soy, ketchup, water, nutritional yeast) instead of my usual plain vegetable stock and I think it added to the yummy flavour.

The dish wasn't too sweet (she has two recipes in there for sweet and sour, this is the first one) and pretty authentic — nothing like the crappy (overly) sweet & sour you normally get from restaurants. I also TRIPLED the sauce because I like a lot of sauce and because my chosen vegetables and amount of TVP I made far exceeded what she called for in the book.

My addition of tomatoes also really reminded me of my mom's tomato stirfry dish she used to make us so I think that was a good decision on my part.

Anyway, it was delicious!

Roasted Vegetables

Roasted vegetables, stuffing and corn. The vegetables (red potatoes, broccoli, red pepper, onions, mushrooms and whole cloves of garlic) were drizzled with olive oil and mixed with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic & onion powder, thyme, marjoram and sage.

The roasted acorn squash was baked with Earth Balance, brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Seitan Roast with Rice Pilaf and Brussel Sprouts

The seitan wasn't homemade, it was a Celebration Roast (1/2 size which is enough for 4 people with ample side dishes or 2 very hungry people) with packaged gravy. It was "okay". I mean, it was tasty but I make much better homemade seitan thanks to Bryanna Clark Grogan's awesome recipes! I also make a much better homemade gravy... but I was too lazy to make seitan from scratch or gravy from scratch.

The rice pilaf was made with mushrooms, onions, seasonings and vegetable broth. The brussel sprouts are my standard steam and then fry with olive oil, vegetable stock powder, Earth Balance, salt, pepper and garlic powder.