Vegan MoFo Day 14 - onion & garlic polenta

I absolutely love polenta.  I like it creamy when it’s first done and I like to put the rest in a casserole dish and make it into squares.  It freezes very well too.  Here is one of my favorite polenta recipes!

Onion& Garlic Polenta

2 tablespoons olive oil or vegan butter spread

1 medium onion chopped

1 clove minced garlic

4 cups water

1 cup ground cornmeal

2 tablespoons vegan butter

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon pepper (I like to use white pepper)

Sauté the onion in the olive oil/vegan butter until slightly caramelized over medium heat.  Add minced garlic and cook for one minute.  Add the water.  Turn heat up to high and bring to a boil and slowly add the cornmeal whisking constantly to avoid lumps.  Once the mixture is thick and creamy (20 – 30 minutes) take pot off heat and add the vegan butter, salt and pepper. 

Serve as is or put in a greased 9x13 glass pan spreading out evenly.  Place in refrigerator to cool completely.

After it is set, cut the polenta into squares in the pan or turn the polenta out onto a cutting board and cut into desired shapes i.e. circles, triangles, etc.  

Put a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and sauté them over medium high heat.  

Vegan MoFo Day 13 - quickie fried rice

Fried rice is really very easy and very yummy!  Well, as long as you have leftover rice.  But even then making rice really isn’t that hard either!  (see below)  I often had fried rice growing up but the only difference was my mom added ham to the mixture.  You don’t even miss it!  It’s the soy sauce.  Isn’t it always?   

Quickie Fried Rice

2 tablespoon canola oil

1 medium onion chopped

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

2 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)

3 cups cooked rice

Sauté chopped onions in canola oil until soft over medium heat.  Add frozen mixed vegetables.  Cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are soft.  Add soy sauce.  Stir.  Add cooked rice and stir to combine all ingredients.  Cook until desired temperature.  Serve.

This recipe is actually more of a wing it recipe.  You can add as much vegetables to rice ratio you want as well as the soy sauce.  You could also add some fresh garlic to the onions.   Remember you can always add flavor so slowly add salt or soy sauce to flavor.

How to cook rice – basically it is 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.  I like to put my rice right in the water and bring to a boil.  Cover and let simmer over medium low to low heat until water is all absorbed which is about 20 minutes.  You can add ½ to 1 tsp. of salt or soy sauce to water to flavor.  I like to make extra rice for a dinner and then have some to make this fried rice the next night or two for an easy quickie dinner.

Vegan MoFo Day 12 - sushi

We had sushi for dinner last night.  It’s 30% off night.  I got avocado rolls and avocado/cucumber rolls.  Yes, I shared!  I don’t like seaweed though so I get mine with no seaweed at this restaurant.  They do a good job of making rolls without seaweed.  Most places won’t do it so I usually have to get them rolled with soy paper.  Soy paper on sushi rolls is much better than seaweed, in my opinion, but just so you know most places also charge per roll to make them with soy paper.  I forgot to take a picture of my dinner though.  It would have looked pretty blah though on my white dishes anyway.  

Vegan MoFo Day 11 - spaghetti

Spaghetti has always been a favorite meal of mine.  I think I’ve become even fonder of it the past year.  (Is that possible?)  I know many plant base people get sick of it and especially when they go out to eat but I really haven’t (yet!) Buying fresh mushrooms and quartering them really add to my meal.  I used to cut my spaghetti (I'd say I'm not Italian cuz I'm not) but I've become a noodle twirler now too!  I find I eat a lot slower and enjoy the challenge!  Oh the little things!  

p.s. When buying mushrooms I find that picking ones that don't have holes in the stem and feeling their weight.  I like heavy feeling mushrooms.  You'll understand once you start feeling their weight when you compare them at the bulk mushroom bin.  David was laughing at me at Wegman's picking out my mushrooms for dinner.  He was like "What are you doing Mom?"  I'm sure people wonder what the heck I'm doing but try it for yourself.  It does make a difference.

Vegan MoFo Day 10 - rice, beans & veggies

 Last night’s dinner was very yummy and one of our favorites.

Rice, Beans and Veggies

Cooked rice

Black Beans

Onions

Carrots

Cauliflower

Mushrooms

Zucchini

Splash of soy sauce

Sauté the veggies in a little olive oil.  We cook the mushrooms separately because David doesn’t like mushrooms.  Then we sauté the onions, carrots and cauliflower until tender crisp.  Right before we are ready to eat we add the zucchini and cook a few more minutes.  Add a tablespoon or two of soy sauce to veggie mixture.  While the rice is cooking, cook the beans over low heat.

Vegan MoFo Day 9 - spinach dip

Thankful.  I am thankful for so many people and things in my life.  Friendship is the most amazing gifts we receive from people.  I’m sitting here thinking about all my different friends and what they mean to me.  I have friends from high school, college, work, neighbors, through my children (school, sports, etc.), support groups, etc…  The list goes on and on and how wonderful is that?  Some of our friend groups overlap too. 

I am very thankful for all my wonderful friends and in particular my “baby” girlfriends.  We’ve been friends since we all quit work to stay home with our children.  We all lived on the same street together for many years.  There were/are some crazy and fun years there!  Now there are only two of us left on the good old street but we still somehow get together for lunches and our famous scrapbooking weekends.  They are also always very supportive of my cooking and trying my dishes.  But Colleen just asked when they would be mentioned in “the blog” so here it is Col!  LOL

In honor of our scrapbooking snacks I made a plant base version of our spinach dip. 

Spinach Dip

Frozen spinach

1 cup mindful mayo

1 cup vegan sour cream

1 package vegetable soup mix

Thaw out spinach and squeeze out excess liquid.  Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Cover and refrigerate for a few hours to let flavors develop.  Serve with cut veggies and/or crackers.  I also think it would be good on my artisan bread too.

Col – I’ll bring some down to you!

Vegan MoFo Day 8 - twice baked potatoes

Twice baked potatoes are relatively easy to make plant base if you have the right ingredients.  I love twice baked potatoes and Dave is really nice to make them for me a lot!   I like them with sautéed green beans too.  

Twice Baked Potatoes

Idaho potato

1 tablespoon Earth Balance vegan buttery stick

1 tablespoon Coconut milk creamer

Salt & pepper to taste

Bake the potato until soft for about 1 hour in 400 degree toaster oven.  Cut off a small piece off the top.  Scoop out the potato and put in a small pot, add a tablespoon of the margarine and a splash or two of the creamer.  Use potato masher to mash the potatoes until creamy and add salt and pepper to taste.  Put mashed potato mixture back into the potato shells.  Put back into toaster oven and bake until warm/hot all the way through and nice crust on top. 

You can always add Daiya cheese to make cheesy twice baked potatoes, sliced green onions, vegan sour cream, etc.  Whatever you’d put in a baked potato.  I'm pretty plain Jane with my twice baked potatoes but I may start making them more interesting.

I may need to do a whole post on Daiya products soon.  I absolutely love their products.