I love good recipes!

I have fallen for the Buffalo garlic tofu at Whole Foods. The problem is, they don't always have it when I want it! So I found the recipe online which could not be more easy. I especially love it because it gives me a reason to take out the Vitamix.

I also made delicious veggie quinoa with vegan ranch dressing courtesy of one of my favorite bloggers. It had all kind of goodies in it! I added corn in place of yellow peppers because I didn't have any on hand. Oh and I totally forgot I added a bit of chopped onion and some plumped up raisins. The recipe didn't need any additions but I'm not one to completely follow the rules ;)

The best part about about both of these recipes? They are vegan and gluten free and can be eaten hot or cold!

Serious Sushi-Vegan Style

Stu decided he was going to try his hand at making a vegan sushi for us. I am so glad he did! Now we both know how to roll sushi rolls! We used vegan cream cheese, cucumber, scallions (we use scallion in everything), avocado, and even gluten free vegan shrimp! I didn't even know they existed!! But they do, so I posted a pic of the bag below. He got them at whole foods. They added something visually to the food but taste wise I would have been fine without them, they did not add flavor, only texture. 

Stuffed Potato Balls

 After having leftover mashed potatoes, we decided to make stuffed potato balls. Our mashed potatoes already had scallion and seasoning in them so we just rolled them into balls, stuffed some Daiya cheese in the middle, rolled them in nutritional yeast flakes and fried. One bite and it was like the heavens opened and the angels started singing. We also baked a few but it didnt have the same flavor as the fried ones.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

I cannot take credit for this recipe. I found it on Allrecipes. But we loved it so much we made it twice in two weeks! Here is the recipe. We made a double batch in order to use the entire bag of pasta. We also used gluten free brown rice pasta. It was also great as leftovers! Can't wait for lunch today!!

My Birthday

The week before my birthday I kept getting asked the same question about my birthday party; "What can you eat?" My family was trying to plan some sort of dish that Stu and I could eat while they were having hot dogs and hamburgers. I share my birthday party with my nephew Nick, who turned 4 this year. The theme was Iron man! I finally told everyone not to worry, I would bring myself a GFV cake and have salad.  But two days before the party I ended up in the hospital Emergency room for excruciating pain and found out I have fibroids. So needless to say I was not feeling up to baking a cake. 

When I arrived at my parents house, my sisters and niece were so excited to show me that they had made me chocolate covered strawberries with vegan chocolate chips and a GFV chocolate cake! I could not have been more proud of their efforts and they were too. We laughed as they shared the whole experience with me of them venturing into whole foods not quite knowing what gluten free was, and looking for Gluten free, wheat free and "vegan free" cake mixes! lol.. Until a kind shopper overheard them discussing the matter and gave them the rundown of what gluten free means and what vegan means, She helped them pick out the cake mix and egg replacer and they even made the frosting. I smiled ear to ear because the thought really does mean alot and the cake was delicious.

We also had a beautiful salad for lunch. All in all they went out of their way to make it special and it was.

On my actual birthday at home, Stu surprised me with a vegan gluten free version of my favorite dish: Panang! I used to eat chicken panang from every Thai restaurant we went to. But his version was amazing and included unexpected ingredients like sweet potato and kale. While unexpected, they seemed to belong in the dish and really complete it. I will find out which recipe he used and post it. 

GFV Panang

Once the kids left to their dad's last night, we finished out my birth week with something we have not had in a long time. Dirty Martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives. On his way home from work, Stu picked up some vegan blue cheese and some Belvedere vodka. He stuffed the olives while I mixed the drinks. While the texture of the blue cheese was not the same, we found that the longer it sat in the drink the more it tasted like the real thing. Verdict: more dirty martinis tonight :) Cheers!

Spring Rolls

 I was getting my pedicure done when a man walked into the nail salon with a huge tray of spring rolls for the staff. I immediately began craving one so not long after I left the salon, did I head for the nearest grocery store to get my supplies.

My sister in law used to make lumpia, which are Filipino spring rolls so I had a basic idea of what I needed. I wasn't too sure whether I wanted raw spring rolls or cooked ones so I made both!

For the raw filling I used :
1 red bell pepper
1/2 green cabbage
handful of grated carrots
large bunch scallion
handful of bean sprouts
6 cloves of garlic
grated ginger
cilantro
basil

I squeezed lime juice over it along with some sesame oil,  tamari sauce and a small amount of chili sauce called sambal oelek. After soaking the rice paper in warm water for a about 15 seconds, I wrapped them over some filling and served it with sweet chili sauce. I do not think this recipe can be messed up as it is basically throwing in the things you like, as little or as much as you like!

 Then I used all the same ingredients but I wilted it down in the pan and added extra tamari and extra sesame oil. This was the fun part because we tasted as we went along . When we were happy with the taste, we rolled up more spring rolls and popped them in the oven. I served it with THIS very simple sauce, but I changed out the soy sauce for Tamari to make it gluten free. I also used apple cider vinegar because I did not have rice wine vinegar and added a little grated ginger as well. It was amazing!

Chocolate cake anyone?

I came across this Gluten free chocolate cake recipe on Ginger Lemon Girl's blog. I have to say it was so amazing that it was gone in two days.  I added a handful more of the vegan chocolate chips than the recipe called for and it was enough to satisfy any rich chocolate craving a person could have. Next time I will use canola oil instead of the coconut oil because my son Ryan does not care for the flavor of the coconut oil that much. I also took her tip and used Pillsbury Chocolate frosting as it is vegan and gluten free and drizzled some over the top with powdered sugar. It could not have been easier!