One of the things that’s not really available around here is a good vegan breakfast sandwich. At least, not yet. But you can make your own. And it’s not all that hard, either. Especially with all the great products that are on the market now. I already had a package of Match Vegan Meats Breakfast Sausage left over from the batch they sent me to make holiday loafs. And Chicago Soy Dairy sent me some Teese to play with for their blogger challenge.
So here was my plan. Tall fluffy biscuits. This recipe made the fluffy awesomeness you see in the photo. For the “egg”, I started with Susan’s crustless tofu quiche recipe. I omitted the bell pepper, mushrooms, chives and rosemary and replaced the fresh garlic with a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder since I wasn’t going to fry it up. Then, instead of baking them in a muffin pan, I spread it out in a rectangular baking pan then cut into squares to go on the muffin. The Match was just formed into patties, fried in a pan with only salt and pepper as seasoning. To assemble, the biscuit was split, a couple of thin slices of the Teese creamy cheddar was put on the top half and then I slid it under to broiler to melt. Sausage and tofu egg was placed on the bottom half then everything was put together once the Teese was melty.
These were amazing! I do have a couple of changes I’d make though. I made 3 oz. sausage patties which were a little too much. 2 oz. might be thin enough. I’d try to make the tofu egg a little dryer. Maybe half the soy milk and cook it a little longer. And I’d probably switch to regular cheddar Teese so it would contain a little less moisture.
Since we got back from our gorgefest in NYC in November, I switched to a smoothie for breakfast instead of cereal. And I guess it’s a habit now because I’m still doing it. That’s a couple more fruit servings a day than I was getting before. Yay me!
The folks at POM Wonderful offered to send me some more pomegranate juice. Thinking of my morning smoothies I said “hell yeah, gimme!” Or something similar. I may have tried one smoothie when they sent a past batch of juice, but now I have that whole thing down and can get into it more.
POM Smoothie
1 banana
1/4 cup frozen blueberries or strawberries
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1 scoop Sun Warrior rice protein powder, natural
1 tsp agave nectar
1/2 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla rice milk
Throw into a blender. Blend. Drink.
The blueberry variation was the first I tried. Mainly because I’m lazy. This is my normal go to smoothie with some pomegranate juice subbed for some of the rice milk. The chia seeds are a fairly recent addition. They seem to give it that little extra needed to carry me through to lunch without wanting to attack snacks. Too much. While this version was perfectly tasty, trading the blueberries for strawberries was even better. The pomegranate and strawberries seem to boost the flavor of each. Gives you an extra fruity punch.
Since I haven’t been cooking much lately, the rest of the juice will probably end up in smoothies. I’m considering substituting pineapple for the berries. Hopefully that won’t be gross.
Wait, didn’t I just blog a Thanksgiving feast? No, that was a Thanksgiving-themed feast. This here one was on actual Thanksgiving day! Totally different. This was a pretty small gathering of 3 couples, but we didn’t lack anything.
For my contribution, I baked because it’s what I do. I figured everyone would like ciabatta rolls, so I made some of those. There was also a maple walnut oat loaf made with white whole wheat. Kind of healthy but didn’t taste like it.
Somehow I didn’t get any pictures of the snickerdoodles I made. They were definitely a hit though. Who knew such a simple cookie could be so popular? The main dessert was this pumpkin cinnamon swirl cheesecake. Tasty, but I think I would have liked it a little denser. Others liked the fact that it was a little softer. It was perfectly set up though and cut and stayed together nicely. I forgot to swirl it though so it kind of looks like rock strata.
Here’s my plate of belt-loosening goodness, clockwise starting at 12: sweet potatoes with Dandies marshmallows, mac & cheese, Stuffed Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute By Field Roast, dressing and mashed potatoes under the gravy, Match Vegan Meats holiday roast (this time the pre-made version), the maple walnut oat bread and green bean casserole in the center. There were also two cranberry sauces: the regular jelled canned kind and a home made cranberry pineapple sauce. I had to clear some space before I could get them on my plate though.
Both the roasts were great but different. A more traditional person might like the Match roast better. I really enjoyed the cranberries, apples and crystallized ginger in the Field Roast. But I know ginger is a strong flavor and can turn some people off.
I’ve been cruising the vegan blogs today checking out everyone’s holiday meals in between working and mopping up drool. As with vegan cheeses, how much does it rock that we have an actual assortment of holiday roasts to choose from now?
Oh man. The Sunday before Thanksgiving our monthly vegan lunch group (join us on Facebook) had a Thanksgiving-themed potluck hosted by the lovely Lisa & David. Two Thanksgivings in one week! Our potlucks always rock and this was no exception. Somehow we always manage to have the right mix of foods.
For my blogging about them completely unsolicited, Match Vegan Meats wanted to send me one of their holiday roasts but they ran out. So instead they sent me all the vegan meats I’d need to make one, or five. 
They have the recipe posted online, so you can do it too. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. Instead of herbed stuffing mix, I used cornbread that I added seasoning to. If you have a favorite stuffing recipe that isn’t super moist, you could definitely substitute it here. The amount you see here is a double batch of the recipe. I made a shiitake mushroom gravy to go with it. I also specifically shaped them long and thin so it wouldn’t totally dominate anyone’s potluck plate.
all sliced up for the potluck
I think the Match went over really well. Some people hadn’t had it before so it was a good introduction. If anyone wants to comment with their thoughts on it, I know the Match folks would love to hear them.
But enough about me. There was a whole spread of deliciousness. I didn’t even get pictures of everything.
garlicky potatoes
Vic posted the recipe for this root salad. I’m totally going to make it. I love eating stuff like this. Great way to make autumn/winter veggies pop.
redneck caviar and chips
green beans
cranberry sauce two ways
sausages, fruit
sweet potato pie, chocolate almond brittle
my plate
My plate piled high. I see some mac & cheese, greens and stuffing that didn’t make it in the pics. Lisa also made a chocolate layer cake. Yum!
Apparently I’ve been revisiting old favorites lately. The piles of Fall squash in the markets always make me think of this dish, Tanya’s Asian Creation from How It All Vegan. Another one that comes together quickly with ingredients that can hang out for a while without going bad. I love to have a few of those up my sleeve for weeks when you don’t really know what you’re doing one night to the next.
This time I used a cute little butternut I had hanging out. Even though it was small, I had extra that I put in the freezer already cubed for later use. Oh, and make the gomashio. It makes the dish and is quick and cheap to make.
So, I’m copying people again. But hey, isn’t that what VeganMofo is all about? Well, partly about. Getting yummy new ideas from other people. I impulse bought a delicata squash and needed something to do with it, then I saw this. Perfect! Is there anything more comforting on a cool day than some lovely roasted vegetables? This recipe is pretty simple, but amazingly tasty. For the herb option, I went with rosemary and thyme. To go with it, I made polenta. Creamy polenta, roasty vegetables. Mmmm….
Also, if you haven’t tried delicata squash yet, you must. It’s a great lazy squash because the skin is fairly thin and you don’t have to peel it. See the little striped bits? Tasty!
One of the fun things about VeganMoFo is how it inspires you to try different things. This week, I only made a minimal soy milk and cereal run so dinners had to come from ingredients on hand. Of course, I could probably live for 6 months on my hoarded ingredients, but still. One meal’s inspiration came from Jessy’s bourbon baked beans post. I had sweet potatoes and collards on hand. And a bag of frozen black-eyed peas. Sure, those will work. And work they did! Kevin thought they were a tad sweet. I can see possibly cutting back the sweetness and/or adding something sharp like a bit of cider vinegar. But all in all this was a perfect fall meal.
Dinner in a flash seems to be a recurring theme around here. If it’s not so flashy that I’m having someone else cook it, it’s often something that takes little fiddling. Bonus if it’s something that I can keep around for a quick meal without worrying about it going bad.
Enter the easy vegan cheese sauce mix. Your Vegan Mom posted the recipe a while back and ever since I first whipped it up I try to keep some around. I always keep frozen peas and pasta of some sort in the house. And I always have soy milk. So half a cup of the mix, plus one cup of milk equals sauce. If you’re feeling fancy, add soy curls, tofu, chopped up seitan log, whatever. Here instead of the peas, we had spinach on the side and I tossed in some tofu leftovers I had. Really you can just dump whatever you like in it. I only wish I had a vitamix to get the mix more powdery. I think the sauce would come out smoother.
Early into VeganMoFo, I saw this recipe on Mo’s blog and it totally appealed to me. Especially since I think we were in the middle of the great flood of 2009. What’s more appealing on a gloomy day than an lovely bowl of soup. Especially one with such bright flavors.
I did make a couple of small changes. There were only a few sad looking jalapenos at the farmer’s market so I grabbed a serrano instead. And I chucked in a sliced clove of garlic with the ginger because I just couldn’t help myself. Oh, and I almost forgot, I also chopped up a couple of romaine lettuce leaves and chucked them in the bowl. This was really easy and totally satisfied the pho craving I’ve had lately. Well, for now. But it’s easy enough to bust this out another time pretty quickly.
obviously, i'm not a food stylist...
Apparently I can’t stop with the Daiya. I swear they aren’t paying me. Or even sending me free cheese. I’m not opposed to that though. 
How is it that there are so many styles of vegan mac & cheese that are so freakin’ good? You have ones based on nutritional yeast, cashews, whatever magic Soul Vegetarian puts in theirs, etc. So I had to see how Daiya would do. And the answer is, quite well thank you very much. Because I’m lazy, I used this recipe. I still had some lunch meat log so I chopped that up in place of the veggie ham. I also made a half batch so I wouldn’t be eating nothing but mac & cheese for two weeks, not that there’s anything wrong with that. When making it, I went with the lower amount of soy milk and I think I would like it saucier so next time I’ll try the higher amount at least. The taste was spot on though. I say this as someone that hasn’t eaten cheese in years, but I have been through a ton of vegan mac & cheeses and this one seems to hit closest to the blue box kind. I’d love to get the opinion of an omni or vegetarian on Daiya.
Seriously, how 70s does this plate look?
One of the things that’s not really available around here is a good vegan breakfast sandwich. At least, not yet. But you can make your own. And it’s not all that hard, either. Especially with all the great products that are on the market now. I already had a package of Match Vegan Meats Breakfast Sausage left over from the batch they sent me to make holiday loafs. And Chicago Soy Dairy sent me some Teese to play with for their blogger challenge.
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