Easy Vegan Alfredo Sauce

1 block silken Soft Tofu
1/4 cup Unsweetened Almond or Soy milk
2 pressed cloves garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
PUREE

mix in lots of fresh basil(sliced thin)

Change as needed, like add more milk if too thick or more salt etc.
This is so easy to make.  Warm slowly in sauce pan. (optional: add 1 tbl of Earth Balance butter )

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Amazing...This cake is a tease between a brownie and a cake.  

Amazingly you would never know it was Vegan.

Look at that texture....melts in your mouth.

Recipe.

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour (I added 1 TBL, add 2 if over 2500 ft.)

1 cup sugar ( I added 1 TBL, it needed to be a little sweeter for me)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup sugar

4 tbsp margarine

2 tbsp soy milk

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

Note: if you don't care to make it vegan, or don't have soy milk or margarine, you can use butter in place of the margarine, and whatever milk you prefer in place of the soy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In an 8X8 square pan/dish, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt with a fork, making sure it is really blended together. Add the water, vanilla, oil, and vinegar, and again, mix together so that it's really blended together. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides if necessary.

Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Cool on a rack completely (2 hours).

For the glaze, in a small saucepan, bring sugar, margarine, milk, and cocoa to a boil. Stir frequently; then reduce heat to a simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. It'll look gloppy, but it's just the bubbles! Remove from heat and stir for another 5 minutes.

Add vanilla, stir, and immediately pour onto cake. Glaze dries really quickly, so spread it immediately and add any sprinkles now. Let this cool for an 1 hour, if you can wait that long!

Purely optional, but chocolate cake always looks so...plain, so add some sprinkles if you like.

Vegan Lasagna

Ingredients in Blue (don't forget the Vegan Mozzarella at the end)


Lasagna Noodles: Bowl, drain, set aside

Use any kind of red sauce you wish.

Key:
Soft silken tofu
Unsweetened Non dairy milk ( I used almond)
3 garlic cloves, pressed
Italian seasoning
lemon juice and pepper to taste

Puree Tofu with about a tablespoon of almond milk, you want it slightly lumpy, add milk as needed.
add garlic, squirt of lemon juice spices to taste.  you may want to add a little salt, but not necessary.

Spinach. Boil, drain and squeeze very dry
Zuccini, spiced,
Mushrooms, chopped

Spray 9 x 13 pan with Pam.  Bake 350F (cover for 20 min, uncover for 10)
Layer:
Sauce
noodles
Tofu mix
veggies

reapeat, finish with sauce on top
then sprinkle with a Vegan mozzarella grated.  I like "follow your heart"

Vegan Baked Enchiladas

Ingredients


Small flour tortillas
Green Lentils
onion
green pepper
corn
mushroom
***Chop and use as much or as little as you want, we just used to accent texture


Vegan Sour Cream
Small Can of Green Enchilada sauce
Vegan Diaya(sp) Chedder Cheese
Mexican Rice(make according to package or make your own with chili powder and veg broth)

Boil about cup of lentils till soft, drain, puree about half with squirt of lime juice, return to pan and mix.
Saute onion, grn pepper, corn, mushroom till cooked add to lentils.
Preheat oven to 350F,

Spray 9 X 13 glass pan.  Prepare tortillas with lentil mix, lil rice, chreese, fold and close tighly with seam side down placed in pan.  Repeat until your pan is filled should fit 5-7 in pan.
Puree green enchilada sauce with 1/4 cup vegan sour cream.  Pour all over top of enchiladas, make sure tortillas are coated or they will dry out.  Top with a little more chreese.

Bake till sauce is bubbling.  Serve with a side of vegetarian refried beans and side sour cream.  We also had Chips and Salsa.

Vegan Holiday Menu

Christmas Eve


Vegetables with Vegan Creamy Dip
Crackers with Hummus


Main Event Soup one of the following:
Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili 
Zuppa Toscana
Stocked Spit Pea 


Sweet Cornbread


Vegan Brownies and Peanut Butter Bars




Christmas Day


Fruity French Toast
Veggie Sausages with maple syrup


Celebration Roast
Chunky Cheezey Potatoes

Cheezey Peas
Cranberries
Dinner Rolls


Vegan Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

...what we had for Thanksgiving

Vegan Artichoke Spinach Dip with Pita Wedges and Chips

Vegetable Tray with Vegan Creamy Dip

Celebration Roast

Dill and Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Croissants(not vegan) stuffed with Veggie Pepperoni

Sweet Corn

Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake with Soy Whipped Cream

Apple Pie

Updated:Coming Soon

I really want to update everyone on the finances of a Vegan Lifestyle, but I feel like Christmas is sneaking up on me.  So I plan to post a financial update after Christmas.

Priority.....
I am going to post a menu what we made for Thanksgiving and what I plan to make for Christmas.
If anyone wants to experiment with a Vegan Variation I will email you the recipes.  I will link the items when I pulled from the internet.

Vegetarian (maybe vegan): "Olive Garden" Zuppa Toscana

First thing,

This soup, as is, is totally amazing.  We made it for our Christmas Eve Dinner before we started this vegan adventure.  I had to find a way to incorporate this fantastic soup into our Christmas Holiday.   

vegetarian

Instead of sausage: Use Soyrizo or other Italian Veggie Sausage (most have egg in them, be mindful).  I don't know if this Soyrizo has egg in it.  We used it anyway.

Instead of cream:  a) use 1 cup rice milk or almond(original) milk

b) puree soft Silken Tofu and 1 cup of milk(above)- this makes it more thick, not so brothy

Use Vegetable Broth or Bouillon

I use 1 TBL garlic,  we love garlic.

Omit Bacon.  I also added a can of washed and drained Northern Beans (makes for a hearty dish)

I also do 1-2 more potatoes.  I like it more like a stew.  

The kale is also great in tiny pieces, especially if you don't like Kale (steve).

Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana

Makes: 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
• 1 large diced white onion
• 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
• 2 tsp garlic puree
• 10 cups water
• 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
• ¼ of a bunch of kale

1. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!