What The Hell Does A PinkHairedGirl Eat?

from The Magical Loaf Studio

I made this using the Magical Loaf Studio, and I believe it’s the first time I’ve made any sort of “loaf.” This was very tasty and stuck together very well, although I felt like it had some texture issues – I went with the uncooked polenta option for a binder, and I feel like it came out slightly gritty as a result. I probably wouldn’t go with the polenta version again, but I will definitely be experimenting with different loaves with this thing – it’s definitely an easy meal, and it feels so retro.

Local: Veggies

from Veganomicon

So once a year I impulse buy a sugar pumpkin because they are so little and adorable, and then it sits around my kitchen for two to three weeks and then I make this saag. This time I managed to bake the pumpkin ahead of time, making it reasonably quick and easy to make the actual saag. Which is good, since my friend Marisa and I made this after our hula hooping class, and we were starving.

To go with it, we made some basmati rice with cumin seeds and coriander pods, and breaded eggplant with indian spices. For the eggplant, we made a mixture of bread crumbs, curry powder and garam masala, used it to bread the eggplant, and sprayed it with olive oil, and baked it. It turned out so yum! The saag was great too, even though we were impatient and didn’t let the onions cook long enough. (Is it just me, or is it impossible to cook onions to long? They just get better and better the longer you let them sit there.)

Local: eggplant

with White Bean Garlic Aoili from Veganomicon and Roasted Butternut Squash from Vegan Brunch

So I get all of these beets from my CSA, and I’m never sure what to do with them, because I am not the biggest fan of ye old beet. Sure, it stains your innards an interesting shade of magenta, but as far as actual taste goes, I find roasted and boiled beets both to be freakishly sweet. I’ve discovered what I actually like is shredded, raw or almost raw beets. They’re less sickeningly sweet, and more earthy and delicious. So when I saw this recipe, I was like “Oooh, beet veggie burgers is an interesting idea . . . ” and then I proceeded to completely change the recipe. No cooking the beets! No brown rice! Yes to a bunch of dill I had lying around! The resulting recipe is loosely based on Joanna Vaught’s veggie burger formula which sadly does not seem to be up on her website anymore, hopefully because she is planning to put it into a zine or cookbook which I can purchase, because I love that formula. (I consulted this recipe and my failing memory to recreate the formula.) The result was a very tasty burger that looked freakishy meaty before I cooked it.

with Tofutti mozzarella, avocado, tomato and mustard

Yummy Dill-Beet Burgers
Ingredients:
3 beets
1 1/2 c white beans
1/2 c dill
2 cloves garlic
2 T sesame oil
2 T Braggs
generous amount black pepper
3/4 t cumin
pinch cayenne
1 c vital wheat gluten

Preheat oven to 375. Grease two large baking pans. Shred the beets using the shredded blade of a food processor, put in large mixing bowl. Next, combine beans, dill, garlic, and spices in the food processor using the mixing blade. Mix until it’s sort of hummus-like in consistency. (You may need to add a little more liquid.) Add the bean mixture and the vital wheat gluten to your mixing bowl. Mix until everything is evenly distributed and moist, and then kneed it a little with your hands to get the wheat gluten to form strands. Form into patties, bake for 20 minutes on each side.

Note: I made this twice, and the first time instead of dill I threw in all of the beet greens, and that was also super tasty.

Local: Beets, dill

from Vegan Brunch

Oh man, this was so yummy and also felt really simple and healthy in a nice way. I managed to roast the yams the night before, so making this was just a matter of chopping up kale and yams and sauteing everything – perfect for a weeknight dinner. I did find this a little bit on the bland side as written, but once I added some more salt and a little bit of Braggs it was awesome. I really love the little bit of smokiness that the sesame oil added. (Sesame oil is pretty much my favorite thing ever.) Tofu scramble for dinner = awesome.

Local: Kale, tofu

loosely based on Hominy Casserole from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

I love me some hominy, but there don’t seem to be a lot of recipes that feature it, other than the occasional posole. So when I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman cooks, I was determined to veganize it even though the main ingredients other than hominy were bacon and cheese. Fortunately, it was super easy! My version of the recipe:

* I package Tempeh Bacon
* 1 whole Large Onion, Finely Diced
* 4 whole 14.5 Ounce Cans White Hominy, Drained
* 2 whole 4-ounce Cans Diced Green Chilies
* 1 recipe Nacho Cheez from The Uncheese Cookbook

Preparation Instructions

Fry the tempeh bacon in a little olive oil until almost crisp; remove from skillet. Crumble the bacon and set aside.
Add onion to skillet and cook for a couple of minutes. Mix everything together in a large baking dish and sprinkle top with extra tempeh.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until hot and heated through.

I realize this looks kind of ugly in the picture, but oh man, so tasty! I am totally going to make this all the time, because it is freaky delicious. I may even play around with adding some veggies to it – I think some tomatoes or spinach would be great in this.

from Vegan Brunch

Oh man, this was so freaking delicious. And I used some of my frozen pesto to make it, so it took no time at all to be done. Oh, tofu scramble, just when I thought you couldn’t get better, along comes pesto and WHAM! Amazing! I want to eat this all the time.

Local: Tomatoes, tofu, basil

From Veganomicon

I was going to clean my house this weekend, but then I made cookies instead. Now when people come over, I just give them a cookie and they get distracted from the fact that my house is dirty.

These cookies are freaking delicious, although they have a frightening amount of sugar in them. I’m a freak for almond flavored desserts – I love marzipan – and I think that these might be My All Time Favorite Cookies. (I may have to make a batch of these cookies and have a Battle of the Cookies to make sure.) The dough for these cookies is sort of dry and hard to work with, but the end result is so worth it!

Fritatta from Vegan Brunch, beet salad based on ‘Wichcraft

This salad is based on my vague memory of the beet salad from this sandwich. It’s just shredded raw beets, olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper, but it’s so delicious. Seriously, maybe my favorite way to eat beets. Is it weird that I love raw shredded beets but don’t really like them roasted?

The fritatta is from Vegan Brunch and it’s so freaking good. Seriously, totally worth the like eight dollars I ended up spending on shiitakes from the crappy market next to my house after the health food store didn’t have them. The dill and the mushrooms and everything is just amazing, and it tastes kind of weirdly eggy, or maybe just the taste I now associate with the concept of “eggs.” Also, super easy! You just mash stuff into a pie tin with a fork and let it cook for half an hour or so. And my fritatta held together this time. Victory!

Local: Dill, beets

from Happy Vegan Face

Oh man, Jessy always makes the best soups. This one was brothy and hearty and used up all my random CSA produce and made a giant batch of soup for pretty much no money. (Seriously, lentils & taters = cheap.) I think this is definitely one of those soups that gets better as it sits around, which is good, because as I mentioned, giant batch. I used chard and beet greens instead of kale, because that’s what I had, and I loved all the greens in this, for added nutrients and yums. I also added a bunch of Braggs instead of using marmite. It’s been freakishly cold here in San Diego, and you really cannot do better than a big bowl of hearty soup with some nutritional yeast and hot sauce mixed in. And it’s good for you!

Local: Chard, carrots

Ah yeah, it’s the Italian Baked Tofu from Veganomicon again, cause that’s how I roll. I like the whole “stick this in the oven and go” aspect of this, especially when I can remember to stick the tofu in the marinade before I leave for school in the morning. I also love how the leftovers from this are great in a billion things, from salads to sammitches.

And speaking of salads, lately I’ve been making my own salad dressing from whatever I have in the fridge. This time I had a half can of coconut milk to use up, so for this dressing I blended coconut milk, miso, rice vinegar, garlic, and sesame oil together in the food processor. The result was delicious! Super fatty and not a traditional salad dressing at all, but very tasty.

Local: Tofu, salad fixins