Vegan MoFo Day 7 - Cauliflower with Nutmeg Sauce

It’s Sunday so I’m going to post a family recipe – Cauliflower with Nutmeg Sauce.  This recipe is from my mother’s Dutch side of the family.  It’s one of my family’s favorite side dishes! 

Cauliflower with Nutmeg Sauce

1 medium head of cauliflower

1 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup almond milk (or any other non-dairy milk)

1 heaping teaspoon of sugar

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cook the cauliflower in salted water until desired doneness – about 15-20 minutes until you pierce the cauliflower with a fork and it’s tender.

While the cauliflower is cooking, melt the margarine and whisk in the flour.  Cook for one minute .  Slowly add the almond milk and continue to whisk/stir over medium heat.  Once the mixture becomes thick add the sugar and nutmeg.

Drain the cauliflower and put in a serving dish.  Pour the nutmeg sauce over the cauliflower.  Serve.

My mom will precook the cauliflower and sauce early in the day.  When supper is almost ready, she will heat up the cauliflower in the microwave and heat up the sauce on the stove and then pour the sauce over the reheated cauliflower. 

Depending on how big your cauliflower is you may want to double the sauce recipe.  Also, the sugar and nutmeg is to taste.  You can add more sugar and nutmeg until you like the taste.  I just keep sprinkling on more nutmeg as needed and sprinkle in a bit of sugar too.

You can also use cauliflower florets and pour the sauce over them as well.

Vegan MoFo Day 6 - Cream of Mushroom Soup

Many recipes call for cream of mushroom soup so I whipped this vegan version together.  It’s really pretty easy and tastes so good.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

4-5 medium size mushrooms chopped

1 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup almond milk (or ½ cup coconut milk creamer and ½ cup water)

Salt & pepper to taste

Chop the mushroom in small squares.  Sauté the mushrooms in the margarine until soft.  Add the flour and mix well to get out all the lumps.  Slowly add the non-dairy milk.  Stir until the mixture thickens.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can use this in any recipe that calls for cream of mushroom soup.  I like to use it to make green bean casserole.  I will add some vegetarian better than bouillon and maybe a few pinches of dried thyme too depending on what recipe I’m making. 

Vegan MoFo Day 5 - Bold cheese pizza review

Bold Cheese Pizza

I got this pizza to have on hand for a quick dinner or snack.  It’s vegan and gluten free.  Here’s a picture of the box.

Here’s a picture of what came out of the box before we baked it.  Dave and I laughed so hard because it seems like they forgot to put some of the vegan cheese on it.  It's okay because I'm not a huge fan of vegan cheese anyway.    

We were already deciding to put on our own veggie toppings so it all worked out.  We added mushrooms, red onion slices and black olives.  It was pretty good but I like my own homemade pizza better.  The Bold pizza sauce was a little bit peppery for me.  I would probably buy one again though to have in the freezer for a quick dinner or snack though.  

Vegan MoFo Day 4 - Homemade Tomato Sauce

Homemade Tomato Sauce

I’ve finally made some homemade tomato sauce from bulk tomatoes!  I went to the local farmer’s market and got two baskets of tomatoes.  They put them in boxes for transport for me.

The first box I did the shock thing and peeled the tomatoes and then chopped them up to cook them down into sauce.

The second box I just took the cores out and chopped them.  I’m okay with this because I put the cooked down tomatoes into my Vitamix and pureed them nice and smooth.

I put them in glass jars (I save them!) and then I freeze them.  I have 17 big jars of sauce and 6 smaller jars which I had cooked down the sauce even more to be more like tomato paste! 

I’m so excited to have this “fresh” sauce in my freezer to use all winter long.  I’m going to try to get away from using food from cans this year too.  Once I decided not to peel the tomatoes it made this process so easy.   You just need to let the sauce slowly cook on low heat until the tomatoes are cooked down and soft.  Having a high speed blender helps too but I’m sure you could use an immersion blender too or a regular blender.  It just might take a while to get it to the consistency you want.

FYI - the two boxes were 2 for $12!  What a bargain!  They call them "canning" tomatoes and they don't look pretty but it doesn't matter when you start cooking them down for sauce.

Vegan MoFo Day 3 - Ciabatta Bread

I think the smell of homemade bread is so comforting.  I absolutely love eating it too!  It also kind of freaks me out what can be in breads now that they can stay on the counter for weeks without going moldy and drying out and makes me wonder what chemicals are in them?   

So, I made this yummy Ciabatta Bread. 

Ciabatta Bread

Ingredients:

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 ¼ cups warm  water

½  tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

5 cups flour

Instructions:

In a large measuring cup mix the yeast, salt and sugar with the warm water.  Set aside while putting the flour in the mixing bowl.  Slowly pour in the water mixture into the mixing bowl using the paddle attachment on low speed.  This a very thin mixture (not firm at all.) 

Let mixture rest for about 15 minutes.  Then mix again for about 5 minutes at medium speed.

Switch the paddle to the dough hook and mix “knead” for another 5 minutes until the dough starts to pull cleanly off the sides of the bowl.   The dough will be very sticky but smoother. 

Grease a bowl with olive oil and pour dough into it.  Cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap in a warm spot until the dough has doubled.  (about 2 hours)

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and dust generously with flour.

Divide dough into two and mound each on the cookie sheet.  Dust with flour on the tops.  Cover again and allow to rise about another hour.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees and place baking stone in the oven to heat up.   Place an empty pan under the baking stone.

When oven is ready, slide the Ciabatta breads onto the baking stone with the parchment paper.  Add 2 cups of water into the empty pan beneath the baking stone. 

Bake 20-25 minutes until the loaves are lightly browned. 

Remove from oven and slide parchment paper with loaves onto a cooling rack.  Cool completely before cutting.

A few things I’ve noticed with homemade bread:

-      - It tends to go quick!

-      - If there are any leftovers it does get hard pretty quick so once it’s completely cool it needs to be stored in an air tight container.

-     - It’s great to use the “leftovers” for stuffing.  I just break it up into pieces and freeze until I’m ready to use. 

Vegan MoFo Day 2 - Butternut Squash Soup

I’ve been looking forward to this Vegan MoFo.  I really hope it kick starts me back into blogging.  I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything since January 2^nd  prior to this month.  I guess I wish there was a Vegan Year of Food!  LOL  I’m not sure if I’m going to do any themes yet.  I was thinking of doing the same type of dish on certain days.  Like Tuesdays would be soup day, Sundays would be  family recipe day etc.  I guess I need to plan it out and work on a schedule. 

Soup is one of my favorite things to make and eat.  This butternut squash soup is very easy and heats up well.  Butternut squash is a little bit sweet so it’s nice to add the savory onions and thyme for this soup.  

Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeded and cut into cubes

1 medium potato peeled and cut into cubes

1 small onion chopped

1 T margarine

Salt & pepper (1/2 tsp salt and ¼ tsp)

½ tsp. dried thyme

Water

Sauté the onion in the margarine until soft.  Add the butternut squash, potato, salt, pepper and thyme.  Put in enough water to cover the squash and potatoes.  Bring to a boil and then cook over medium heat until squash and potatoes are soft.  

Put mixture into a blender (make sure you open the ven and put a cloth over top if you do this while the soup is still hot).  Puree until smooth.  You may also use an immersion blender right in the pot.    Add additional salt and pepper to taste.  Add more water if you want a thinner soup; don't add all the liquid from the soup if you want a thicker soup.  Or add coconut creamer or almond milk for a richer flavor.  

Vegan MoFo Day 1

I’m so excited to be blogging in my second Vegan MoFo!  I have lots of ideas and recipes to post this year!  I can’t wait to start posting recipes and other tidbits!

I need to give a shout out to my daughter’s friends at school who have been super supportive of me and my new way of eating!  Brienna, Laura Lynn, Maddie and Margaret!  You rock.  We are so blessed to have you come into our lives!

I have a few personal things happening in my life right now but I’d like to post as many recipes as I can on a daily basis!