In My Kitchen / Recipe Roundup & MeMeMeMeMe!

I've been cooking like crazy in the kitchen lately, yet I've haven't been taking the time to blog about it! I had a stockpile of photos I'd taken & I finally got around to editing them tonight, so let's go on a photo tour of my culinary adventures, shall we?

Vegan with a Vengeance is an awesome cookbook, but I never took the time to make dishes from it; until now! You don't need to be a vegan to enjoy this cookbook, there's so many awesome dishes using things you already have in your kitchen, plus other recipes to make you branch out from your old standards.

The Black Bean & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers were SO good, I could eat them every day. In fact, I bought more peppers to make them again this week. The original recipe has mushrooms, but since that's not my veggie of choice, I omitted them & it's still amazing! I had extra filling left over & it was a tasty lunch the next day!

Another night, I made the Revolutionary Spanish Omelet with Saffron for dinner. I am lucky enough to have saffron threads from Iran, given to me by a friend's mother. I never had a use for them besides sprinkled in Persian tea, so I was excited to find this recipe! This dish was surprisingly mild & may have been best with the Red Pepper Almond Sauce it suggested, but we still enjoyed it!

Another delicious dish from VWaV is the Maple-Mustard Glazed Potatoes & String Beans! The ingredients & process are simple, but the flavor is undeniably tasty. I served it over red quinoa & it was perfection on a plate!

I don't know what took me so long to get in to this cookbook, but I'm now even more excited for Isa's next book, Veganomicon!

Of course, I have to make dessert! I had some very ripe bananas, so I made ice cream with them & WOW, it was excellent! Here's the recipe, do yourself a favor & MAKE THIS!

Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients:
3 very ripe or overripe bananas
1 1/2 cups soy milk (I used very vanilla.)
1/3 cup sugar
a splash of vanilla
Instructions:
In a food processor or blender, puree all your ingredients together.
Put the mixture in the refrigerator until it's cold.
Once cold, add the mixture to your ice cream maker & follow the manufacturers instructions.
woo, you're in HEAVEN now! No need to thank me.

Another fun thing I've been doing is making bread. I was lucky enough to have a member of the PPK send me a sourdough starter that dates back to the Oregon Trail! As soon as it arrived, I got the starter going again & made two loaves of bread. One was consumed with a dinner of Lachesis' Seitan o' Greatness & mixed veggies simmered in tangy BBQ sauce & the other was made in to Sunday late-morning French Toast, which was perfect after a late night of dancing!

Mooks LOVED Orange Glazed Chick*n, but since that's not an option anymore, I made Orange Sesame Tofu, a dish Love Like a Vegan adapted from a Martha recipe. It's safe to say the old favorite won't be missed anymore & the tofu version is here to stay! We served it up with fluffy quinoa, a favorite around here & the sauce was so delicious, we'll putting it on everything in sight soon enough.

I love to cook for others, so when a friend wanted to get together for dinner, I suggested she come here! I used the opportunity to make the Seitan Ribz everyone loves from Fat Free Vegan, but opted for zesty Buffalo Wing Sauce. I served the Buffalo Seitan Ribz with a Corn & Cucumber Salad & homemade Biscuits. Of course, Buffalo wings need Blue Cheese dressing; enter Blue SHEESE!

I was lucky enough to find out Sheese, a hard to come by cheese alternative, was being carried at a local grocery store. It's not an inexpensive product, so I read online reviews before heading out & opted for the oft enjoyed Blue Sheese. The opening of the package revealed the typical blue cheese smell, so with high hopes I took a bite & while the texture initially was a bit lacking, the taste is great, so I don't mind! In addition to the dressing, I've been enjoying blue sheese with apple slices & put them both on a salad today with balsamic vinaigrette; wonderful! I also picked up Strong Cheddar, but have yet to open it.

Blue Sheese Dressing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Vegannaise
1/4 cup Blue Sheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon Soy Milk
1 tablespoon Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/8 teaspoon Onion Salt
1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/8 teaspoon Dry Mustard

I found the dressing to be a bit on the sweet side, so I would omit the sugar in the future. Also, I used Dijon Mustard, instead of Dry Mustard & Onion Powder instead of Onion Salt since it's what I had on hand. Many recipes I found utilized mayonnaise & sour cream, but since I didn't have both, I was able to find a recipe without the sour cream & went with that. It was good & my husband who eats blue cheese dressing often really enjoyed it!

While I try to keep the subject here to food, I was tagged for multiple memes & thought I'd give it a whirl. Hopefully, the name meme Amey, Lori & Amanda tagged me for will also work for the "8 Things" meme Natalie & Gigi tagged me for ages ago!

M is for Married (to Mook!). I've been with my husband Ryan (also known as Mook) for 9 years, but our 2 year wedding anniversary is upcoming (October 1st). When he met me I was a 17 year old with a shaved head & a bad attitude. We've grown so much together, he's my biggest fan & best friend. Seriously, any man who can deal with me is a champ!

E is for Explorer. I LOVE to travel. I have a serious case of wanderlust & try to take a trip every few months even if it's just to NYC or LA. Some of my favorite cities are London, Tokyo, New York, & Paris. I'd really like to go back to Berlin to explore more, but I also want to check out the cities in Spain, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, China, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, & more more more!

L is for Late Bird. My motto is, "Always late, but worth the wait!". If you want me somewhere at 5pm, tell me to be there at 4:30pm. It's annoying & frustrating, but I can't seem to get anywhere on time, no matter how early I start getting ready! I like to blame it on having a due date of Thanksgiving & my mother going to the hospital to have me removed from her on January 5th. I was BORN late, people!

I is for Inked. I have 7 tattoos, most of which are large pieces. My whole back is pretty much covered & the rest of my work is on my arms. I have everything from flowers to anchors to cupcakes pushed in to my skin & my plan is to have a floral half sleeve & a half sleeve of various things.

S is for Silly. I love to be silly with the Mooks or my friends! It's not odd for me to make funny noises, dance around the house, make faces at people, go to clubs & imitate people's bad dancing, jump on the bed, whatever strikes me, really!

S is for Sweet Tooth. Obviously, I like to bake, but even before I knew my way around a kitchen, I knew my way around a sugary treat! I have been known to consume more sugar than a human ever should- the 1st time I went to a Krispy Kreme, I bought a dozen, then sat down & had 8 of them before I felt the sugar buzz & stopped. These days I don't have that tolerance, but I'm still not opposed to having dessert first!

E is for Emotional. I've always been a very emotional person, a roller coaster, if you will. I can scream or punch you in the face one minute, then start bawling the next! It's really inconvenient, to be honest, but most days I'm glad I get to go through life aware & feeling everything I do, I think it's what makes me a compassionate person.

R is for uhhh.. Rock & Roll? Music is a big part of my life & always has been. Even in my days as a competitive dancer & dance teacher, I was picking rock songs when everyone else picked dance music. I found punk rock at age 13 and it really shaped my world & made me in to the person I am today. These days I've calmed down a bit & spend more time in the kitchen than at shows, but there's still a rock & roll soundtrack to my life & that will never change!