Tater Tot Casserole

I am always on the lookout for ways to incorporate tater tots into my daily life.  Thus, when I ran across Zsu Dever's Everyday Vegan Eats and saw that it had a tater tot casserole recipe, well, add another cookbook to the pile.

This book is newly published and I can't find the recipe posted anywhere online, so this pic and write-up will have to suffice.  And, to add insult to injury, the library does not have this book, so I was forced to purchase it sight unseen.  I'm happy with it so far and have several recipes in the queue to try.  The recipes are comforting, straightforward and not too complicated.

But, really, how bad could a recipe be that features tater tots?  I liked it well enough, but I'm not convinced on the soy curls.  I still have that old tater tot casserole recipe stuck in my head and my taste buds--you know the one with hamburger, cream of mushroom soup and tater tots.  While I don't miss the hamburger or crave it at all, I kept trying to think of something besides the soy curls that I'd want in this casserole.  The soy curls were fine, don't get me wrong, but they just weren't quite right.  I know for sure that I wouldn't use burger crumbles because I don't like them in much of anything.  Mushrooms would definitely be great in this..  Maybe green beans.  But I'll experiment and see what I can come up with.

I had this for breakfast this morning, if that tells you anything.

Vegans have junk food, too

My haul today from Nooch:

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my take today was limited by the cargo carrying capacity of my bike bag.  But I think this will hold me for at least a few days.  Will let you know the verdict on those Tofurky Pockets.  I don't think I've ever had a regular hot pocket, so my opinion may be for naught, but that's true of most of my opinions.

Oh, and I definitely have a plan for the Soy Whip.  Will fill you in on that as it develops, as well.

Time flies

My 6th Veganversary went by with nary a mention.  I was just thinking about it and couldn't remember the year I started, but I thought it was 2009.  Turns out it was 2008!  Yes, the post is from 2009, I didn't start blogging until July of that year.  

Times have changed, for sure.  There are now so many great vegan options out there, more vegan cookbooks than a person can possibly read or own, more products, and more overall awareness.  All of these things are very good.

And, after 6 years, I've very much settled into a vegan diet.  I can't imagine going back, although a person can never say never.  Some sort of apocalypse, who knows.

Anyway, I made some chocolate chip cookies today and they were wonderful.  Further evidence that vegan food is damn good.  From Vegan Diner.

Video and recipe here.

Still cooking, still eating

Still taking lousy pictures of tasty food.  However, lately it has just been too much damn effort to post the pictures and write about them.  I will do my best to backtrack and catch up.

While I'm still enamored with Isa Does It and am now going back for round two of fave recipes, I've had a diversion or two in the midst of the Isa love.  For example, Vegan Pizza!  I've had pizza at least once a week (well, twice, since my pizza dough recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas), but I am not complaining.  Such a perfect food.

Anyway, nothing earth-shattering in the Vegan Pizza book, but they are solid recipes.  I'm not one to do a whole lot of experimenting in the kitchen, which is why following recipes has such appeal to me.  I'm a compulsive rule-follower, plus I don't like wasting food when experiments go awry, so I'm definitely a recipe gal.

Some pics:

All American Barbeque Pizza

Broccoli Cheddar Pizza

Cowboy Pizza (my fave of the bunch)

Peanut Barbeque Pizza (recipe here)

And up this week is Thai Peanut Pizza.  And while the pizza recipes have all been good, there are some gems in the ingredients, as well.  The sweet and smoky soy curls are delicious, and the cheddar cashew cheese sauce is fantastic!  I have used it in several other recipes and am not ashamed to admit that I would eat this by the spoonful as soup.  There are also recipes for burger, taco, and pizza crumbles that I haven't gotten to just yet but that look promising.

I got this book from the library, as I try to do with any cookbook before making the purchase plunge, and with this one I decided to copy the recipes of interest and pass on the purchase.  No particular reason, other than I'm trying to be judicious about cookbook purchases and while this one is solid, it did not bowl me over.  That's not to say the recipes aren't great and that I haven't enjoyed the pizzas, it's just that I didn't see myself referencing this book over and over like I have with others.  Still, it's definitely worthy of a look, so check it out if you get the chance.

Pizza, how I love thee.

Mmm, cookies

So I am WAY behind in posting stuff, but just to get something out there, today I made German's Chocolate Cookies from Bake and Destroy.

(Slightly modified) recipe here.

If you like German Chocolate Cake, you will like these.  Or maybe I should say, if you like chocolate, coconut and pecans, you will love these cookies!  These are definitely different than the usual cookie--it ain't no chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin kinda cookie.  I knew these were going to be delicious when I tasted the batter and the baked cookie is better than the batter.  I'm so glad I avoided the tried and true and tried something a little different this time.  My taste buds are very happy today.

Cincinnati Skyline Chili

This is one of the dishes I turn to when I want an easy, cheap, filling dinner.  I have a couple of go-to recipes for this, and tonight I went with Happy Herbivore's version from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook.  I never had the "authentic," meat-based version of Cincinnati Chili, but there's something about the sweetness combined with the spicy that I find really appealing.  I make this dish every couple of months year-round and it's a definite favorite that never fails to satisfy.

I can't find an online version of the recipe but here's a variant.

I also tried a new sour cream recipe and found it to be delicious.  It has a cashew base rather than a tofu base, which I much prefer.  I wish I could remember where I got this one, but alas, I cannot.  So here you go:

Vegan Sour Cream

1 cup raw cashews, soaked and rinsed well

¼ cup water

¼ tsp salt

1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar

½ -1 lemon juiced

Drain and rinse your cashew really, really well! Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Slowly add more lemon juice to taste, and water until desired consistency is reached.

The best part of the Super Bowl

The queso dip, of course.  Such a painful game to watch.

I can't remember the last time (pre or post-vegan) that I had a bowl of queso dip.  Creamy, soupy, gloppy queso dip.  This one is quite excellent.  Recipe from The Little Foxes.  Get it here.