Vegan MoFo Day 30 - Vegan Asian Cabbage Ramen Noodle Salad

I made this salad for our cast party this summer and it was a huge hit!  Everyone loved it – young and old alike!  It’s so tasty!  I was asked to bring it to a meeting we are having because everyone loved it so much. 

Asian Cabbage Ramen Noodle Salad

Salad Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage shredded or 2 bags of coleslaw mix

1 bunch of green onions, sliced both whites and green tops

8 Tablespoons slivered almonds

4 Tablespoons sunflower seeds

2 packages of oriental ramen noodles

Dressing Ingredients:

¾ cup of sunflower oil

4 Tablespoons rice vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 packets of the seasoning from the ramen noodles

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Put the cabbage or slaw mix in a big bowl with the green onions, almonds and sunflower seeds. 

Break up the ramen noodles in the package by crushing them in your hands or pounding them with something.  Brown over medium heat in a frying pan.   Be careful not to burn.  Put in the bowl with the cabbage.

Make the dressing by putting all the dressing ingredients in a measuring cup and stir.  Pour over the cabbage mixture and stir the salad well to coat everything.

Refrigerate 2 – 4 hours.  

Vegan MoFo Day 29 - Vegan Butternut Squash and Potato Casserole

Here’s my version of a butternut squash casserole.  The butternut squash makes it sweet and delicious.  I think I will be making this for my Thanksgiving dinner this year!

Vegan Butternut Squash and Potato Casserole

½ a butternut squash peeled

2 medium Yukon gold potatoes peeled

½ small sweet onion finely chopped

1 Tablespoon Earth Balance Margarine

1 Tablespoon flour

1 cup non-dairy milk

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon thyme

Slice the squash and potatoes thinly.  Arrange in an oiled casserole dish.  Layer the squash and potatoes alternately in a layer. Dot with the margarine and sprinkle the onions over top.  Continue with the layers.

Mix the flour with the non-dairy milk and add the salt and thyme.  Pour over the squash and potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 ½ hours at 400 degrees.

This makes a smaller casserole version.  If you are making it for a family meal, I would double the amounts and use a larger casserole dish.

I used the leftover butternut squash and made my favorite butternut squash soup!  YUM!  Added bonus for me!

Vegan MoFo Day 28 - Vegan English Muffins

I know I’ve said this a lot but I’ve been meaning to make these English muffins for a while too.  These English muffins are wonderful.  They aren’t necessarily labor intensive but they take a while to make with the waiting time.  So, worth the effort.  We all love them! 

Vegan English Muffins

Starter

¾ cup of flour

½ cup water

½ teaspoon active dry yeast

Mix all three of these ingredients and stir until smooth.  Cover and let stand for 10-12 hours.

English Muffin Dough

1 cup of non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance margarine melted

1 teaspoon salt

Starter

3 cups of flour

Cornmeal for dusting

Mix the non-dairy milk, yeast, sugar, melted margarine and salt.  Stir in the starter. 

Slowly add the flour.  Stir and knead until dough comes together until smooth.

Cover and refrigerate overnight to rise.

Dust a baking sheet with the cornmeal.  Break off little piece of dough and form into about a four inch circle and kind of flat.  Put on the baking sheet.  Continue with the rest of the dough.  This should make 12 to 16 muffins.

Heat a skillet with a little oil in the pan.  Cook over medium heat for about 6 minutes.  

Vegan MoFo Day 27 - Beet Soup

I really love beets.  I’ve found that not many people like beets at all.  I think they are so tasty! 

I decided to try to make a quick beet soup.  And I must say it is very tasty.  I like how it’s like a vegetable soup with the beets chopped and the potatoes and onions.  It’s pretty simply but yummy!

Beet Soup

1 can of sliced beets with juice, chopped up

1 big Yukon gold potato peeled and chopped

½ small onion chopped

2 cups water

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried thyme

Add all the ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Cook until potatoes are tender.    

Vegan MoFo Day 25 - Stuffed Mushroom Casserole

I’ve been craving a mushroom casserole/dish for a while.  So, here’s my first version.  I love the flavor! 

Stuffed Mushroom Casserole

8 ounce package of mushrooms

1 Tablespoon Earth Balance margarine

½ small sweet onion, chopped finely

1 stalk of celery, chopped finely

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon thyme

1 piece of bread, crust removed and crumbled finely

1 Tablespoon Earth Balance margarine

1 Tablespoon flour

½ cup non-dairy milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Clean the mushrooms and trim the stems.  Pull the stems out of the mushrooms and chop finely.  Melt the margarine in a skillet and add the chopped mushroom stems, onion and celery.  Sauté until soft.  Add the salt and thyme. 

While the mushroom stems, onion and celery are cooking chop up the whole mushrooms.  Put these pieces into a small casserole dish.  In a pot melt the margarine and whisk in the flour.  Slowly add the non-dairy milk and continue to whisk.  Pour mixture over top the chopped up mushrooms in the casserole dish.

Add the crumbled piece of bread into the skillet and stir well.  Sprinkle this mixture over top the mushrooms in the casserole dish.

Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Take the cover off and continue to bake about 15 minutes until the top is brown.

Serve with crackers or over thin slices of a baguette.  

Vegan MoFo Day 24 - Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

I’ve been craving a carrot ginger salad dressing for a few days.  So, I finally whipped it up today.  I think it would also be wonderful over some grated carrots.  I may have that tomorrow! 

Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

3 small carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 Tablespoon sweet onion

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

Put the carrot chunks and onion in a pot and add enough water to cover (about a cup.)  Cook over medium high heat until carrots are tender – about 20 minutes.  Cool.

Put the carrots, onion and cooking water into a blender.  Add the ginger, salt, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar.  Blend until smooth.

I had mine over romaine lettuce and sliced grape tomatoes.  It is absolutely delicious.  It has a nice spicy flavor.  If you like a sweeter salad dressing, you might want to add an additional teaspoon of sugar.  

Vegan MoFo Day 23 - Vegan Nachos

After I made the awesome queso cheese I knew I had to put together some nachos.  Wow!  They are amazing! And pretty easy too.  I just heated up the refried beans on the stovetop and heated up the queso in the microwave.  Then we just layered all the ingredients on top of the tortilla chips.  Dave and I loved them!

Vegan Nachos

Tortilla chips

Vegetarian refried beans (no fat refried beans are vegan too)

Vegan sour cream

Salsa

Diced red onion

Black beans

Black olives sliced

Vegan Queso Cheese Dip

Heat the refried beans in a pot on the stove.  Meanwhile, heat up the queso cheese dip in the microwave. 

Put a few handfuls of tortilla chips down as the base layer.  Then put spoonfuls of all the ingredients.