Chick Chicken Soup

Is it clear yet what my favorite bean is?
This wasn't a good summer soup, more of a hearty winter soup, but very tastey.


2 Cups Veggie broth
1 Cup chickpeas
4 Cloves garlic
1 cup chopped Wheat Meat
1 Head broccoli
2 Tbl. nut. yeast
1/2 tsp. mustard powder
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic with some olive oil, when clear add veggie broth and cooked chickpeas and wheat meat and bring to a boil.
Add nutritional yeast, mustard powder and other spices.
Cook on high for another 10 minutes. The soup should start to thicken.
Add chopped broccoli and serve when broccoli is bring green in color.

Pesto Chickpeas

As you may know, I am not a fan on pasta, but once again I found myself wanting pesto pasta. After figuring out it was really just the pesto I wanted, this is what I came up with:

Pesto Chickpeas:

1 cup cooked chickpeas
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
1/2 bunch basil
2 Tbl. chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 Tbl. pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute the chickpeas with some garlic and olive oil until the chickpeas are cooked all the way through.
2. Prepare the pesto. Food processors are best for this job, blenders second best, and mincing with a knife is third. My food processor left, the blender broke and I was left with a good sharp knife (I could write a country song!) Basically, process, blend, mince, everything together. Add some olive oil and mix until pasty.
3. Mix together and serve warm.

Sweet and Savory Green Dinner

Simple Salad and Green Beans Dressed Up
With very lose recipes.

Salad with Figs and "Honey" Mustard Dressing:
Simple salad of: torn butter lettuce, thinly sliced carrots and onions; tossed together.
Chopped figs and slivered almonds added.
Then drizzled with an agave, mustard mixture right before serving.

Maple-Mustard Green Beans:
This was based off of Isa's maple, mustard potatoes and string beans.
Steam the green beans and just before they are done, transfer to a frying pan.
Mix the sauce and pour over the green beans in the frying pan. Cook until the sauce has been cooked and well coated on the green beans.
Serve warm.

Sauce:
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

The Brian Burger

Mr. Bolsh, my pseudo-husband, is a big guy and needs to eat a lot of food to stay alive. I often like light meals that highlight the flavors of the veggies. Brian just likes anything that tastes pretty good and fills him up.
I like to try to make things for him that taste FANTASTIC and fill him up. So this is what I came up with:

The Mr. Bolsh Burger
Toasted bun
Lots of Vegenaise
1 grilled portabella mushroom cap that was marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, thyme, salt, garlic, and onion powers
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Tempeh faken bacon, or some marinated temphe in some braggs, liquid smoke, spices and a splash of maple syrup.
Mustard
Avocado slices
Tofurkey slices
Love

In order of appearance: (from bottom to top) bun, vegenaise, portabella mushroom cap, avocado slices, mustard, tomatoes, tofurkey slices, tempeh, avocado slices, lettuce, vegenaise and a toasted bun.
We did decide the tofurky wasn't needed to make this burger.

He was quite happy. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed he needed to eat two of these, but he loved the taste so much he couldn't stop!

Sweet Scramble

This was made for the livejournal Vegan_cookoff.

I'm a big fan of sweet things for breakfast, but I wanted to play along in the vegan_cookoff community, so this is what I came up with. It's a lot like oatmeal, but has a different texture. Next time I will add more apples and roast them.


Sweet Scramble
1/2 block firm tofu
1/4 cup agave
1/4 cup chopped apples
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup blue berries
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
large dashes of: clove, nutmeg and ginger

1. Shred tofu and start to saute with some olive oil an 1/4 cup agave
2. Add chopped apples and spices, saute more.
3. Add apple sauce and saute until sticky. Add sliced almonds.
4. Place blueberries on top of scramble and let cook for about two minutes.
5. Mix together and serve with sprinkled almonds.

Zucchini side dish

If you planted zucchini, this is the time of year you, like me, are probably sick of zucchini bread, and wondering what to do with the mountains of squash you have. Or maybe your neighbor is paying you to take theirs.

Last night I was planning on having some steamed zucchini, but it turned into this wonderfully flavored dish that still highlights the flavors of the veggies. I served it with some fresh harvested red and purple potatoes which were roasted with oil.


Zucchini Side Dish
1 large garden zucchini
1 big handful spinach
1 Tbl. Minced sundried tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. Rosemary
1/2 tsp. Chopped fresh marjoram
salt, pepper to taste
olive oil for sauting

1. Cut the zucchini into 1/4 rounds and cut in half
2. Place zucchini in the steamer and sprinkle with rosemary. Let steam. Just before it's finished throw the spinach on top and cover until just steamed.
3. Saute two cloves of garlic in olive oil, add sundried tomatoes and marjoram and saute until garlic is clear.
4. Place zucchini and spinach in a bowl, pour/sprinkle the garlic mixture over and mix together. 5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper before serving.

Side note: Right after I took the photos I dropped the entire plate on the floor! Most of it was saved. The mess left on the floor has been black-dog-approved.