Homemade Gnocchi and Basil Soup with Beans

I'm so excited! I just made my own gnocchi from scratch!

Gnocchi is one of my favorite Italian dishes, but I'm not always certain that it's vegan if I see it on a menu somewhere. Problem solved: make it myself! I saw this recipe for a soup that called for gnocchi, and I thought -- why not make my own? I had made gnocchi one time before and I remembered it was a sticky, gooey mess. This time I found a recipe for it on veganyumyum.com. It was so easy to make! I didn't get a chance to take a picture because I was so eager to throw it in my soup and taste it!
Here's the recipe and pictures from vegan yum-yum's site, and that's pretty much how mine looked too! (I only made the gnocchi part of this recipe.)

As I just mentioned, I was planning to make a soup that called for gnocchi. The recipe is from the website of Post Punk Kitchen. (Recommended by fellow veggie-lover LMG.) Post Punk Kitchen calls it "Pesto Soup with Gnocchi, Greens and Beans." I followed the recipe exactly, with of course my homemade gnocchi, and it was so delicious. Nothing is better than soup and pasta made from scratch, you know what I mean? I think The Husband heartily agrees. He said it was the perfect flavor and would make a great winter stew. Ironically enough, even though it's June, it feels a little bit like winter here in So-Cal. (Which means it's cloudy, misty, and 60's.) Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the recipe calls for fresh basil and Swiss chard, which I was pleased to be able to simply snip from my little patio garden! Homemade AND home-grown! Seriously, this is an exciting day.

Click here for the recipe from Post Punk Kitchen.

Southwestern Breakfast Hash

The birds woke me up at a very inappropriate hour for a Sunday this morning, so what was I supposed to do? Catch up on my magazines of course! In the April issue of Whole Living I found this amazing recipe for breakfast and couldn't wait for it to be breakfast time so I could make it for us. (That's how early I was up -- way too early.)

As soon as I heard W rustling around and getting into the shower I headed to the kitchen. By the time he came out, I was up to my elbows in breakfast preparations.

"What are you making me!?" He asked just as excitedly as I was making it. Then he saw the magazine on the counter and said in even more amazement, "You're following a recipe?" Recipes for breakfast are a big deal around here, since we usually toast a bagel and put some tomatoes and avocado on it or just eat a bowl of Multigrain O's from Trader Joes.

Surely, I was following this recipe from Whole Living Magazine and it turned out to be delicious and everything we were expecting it to be. I also added my own version of scrambled tofu so it was more like a scramble-hash or something. I made a few modifications so I'll just write how I made it. Here you go:

Southwestern Breakfast Hash

2 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 Tbsp safflower oil
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
2 jalapenos, finely chopped
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved and quartered
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp nutritional yeast seasoning
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Bring potatoes to a boil in a pot of salted water. Cook about 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp of the oil in a skillet (I used an electric) over medium heat. Add tumeric and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to bowl; set aside.
3. Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add jalapeno, onions, tomatoes, beans, and yeast, stirring until tomatoes begin to break down, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and cook until everything is nice and mixed together and heated through.

We put the potatoes and tofu scramble side-by-side on our plates, but ended up just mixing it all together to create our scramble-hash and it was delicious.

While I was making the hash, W made fresh juice from a grapefruit, mango, apple and kiwi. We enjoyed it with our healthy, vegan recipe-breakfast, and life is good.

A Mediterranean Feast!

(Isreali Cous Cous with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, roasted yellow peppers, capers, and tofu feta)


Last night Grandma K, Aunt D and Uncle P, and Cousin B came over for a visit and dinner. Grandma had offered to make gluten-free, vegan falafels, so I put together the rest of the Mediterranean-themed meal, and Aunt D provided a smorgasbord of fruit for dessert. It all was so amazing and delicious!

For the falafels, I had two different kinds of hummus and a tahini sauce from Trader Joes. I chopped up some tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers for filling; and we piled it all on to whole-wheat flat breads.

It was seriously the best falafel sandwich I had ever had. B said they were better than the Pita Pit in his college town and went back for a second one. (The last of the flat bread, by the way. Oops, should have bought two packs of those. The rest of us just made falafel salads on top of pita chips.) The falafel balls were definitely the best part -- thanks to Grandma. She gave me the recipe so I can make them again, which I will for sure be doing in the near future.

Grandma's Falafel Nuggets

2 Cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 egg replacer
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 400. Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine chickpeas, rice flour, parsley, egg replacer, lemon juice, minced onion, garlic, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt and red pepper in food processor or blender; process until well blended. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Fry falafel in batches until browned. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets; bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Thanks Grandma! I can't wait to try these again!

It's That Time of Year for Potato Salad.

I love salads. Any kind of salad. Green salads, tossed salads, pasta salads, cous cous salads, 3 bean salads, "egg" salad, "chicken" salad, and finally POTATO salad!

You get the idea.

The last of those salads is the one which I will be describing today. I actually have never made potato salad before this past weekend. I've eaten it for sure, but not since becoming vegan. Every vegan cookbook on the planet has an awesome potato salad recipe in it, but I went with the McDougall version.

Let me just say, I apparently did not make enough. The husband could not get enough. It's always nice when your loved ones rave about your food, but this was like I had just made the best thing since sliced bread.

I have to admit, this potato salad was pretty darn good. It's not smothered in mayonnaise like the "real" stuff, which always turned me off from potato salad. I used just a little bit of vegenaise, and added some diced pickles (along with the rest of the recipe.)

Added to a meal of pasta salad, veggie burger, and mango chutney -- it was the perfect summer feast! Yummylicioius!

The McDougall Potato Salad

2 pounds small red potatoes, cute into chunks (I used Idaho Russet Potatoes)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green onion (I didn't have any, so I used carrots instead)

Dressing:
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon soy or rice milk
1 tablespoon parsley flakes (I used Italian seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
1/8 teaspoon salt
several twists of freshly ground black pepper

Cook potatoes, but don't let them get too soft.

Combine all ingredients for dressing.

I let the potatoes cool in the fridge overnight and then mixed everything together.

Yum.

International Food Fairs

I love these kind of things! Tons of food booths in one area, all serving delicious food the represents their country? Yes, please.

Okay, so most of the featured ethnic foods were some kind of meat product, but don't get me wrong -- there was also enough vegan dishes to completely satisfy this vegan foodie.

First up - Lebanon. We were ravenous by this point, so this was the first booth we saw. We quickly ordered the stuffed grape leaves and gobbled them down before even seeing what other countries were around. Mmmm, mmmm, good.

Still starving we just went to the next booth on the row -- India! This had been what I was waiting for, because I was positive they would have samosas. And they surely did. We ordered the samosa combo plate which came with chana masala and jasmine rice. This was by the best food of the day.

Feeling much less starving after visiting Lebanon and India, we finally decided to wander around and see all the countries represented. There were at least 20 countries. What to try next?!

Two hours later we had sampled cuisine from Spain, Italy, China, Czech, Ukraine, Ireland, and the good ole USA. All delicious. Here is the Varenyky and Kapusta from Ukraine (totally vegan, I asked!)

Events like this are just the best aren't they?

Bibim bap? Not quite.

I found a recipe on quarrygirl's blog for a vegan bibim bap. I think we can all agree that Korean food is probably one of my top 3 favorite foods, so I was excited to try this out.

Granted, I'm more of a kimchee soon dubu soup gal, but I'll get bibim bap every once in awhile too. It's actually already vegan if you just ask them to leave the egg and meat off.

Anyway, I tried the recipe at home because it included how to make a Korean BBQ-style soy meat and a tofu "fried egg."

Well.... I didn't exactly have all the ingredients, so improvised on the side dishes. They didn't really come out right because I stir-fried them like you would with Chinese food, and that kind of defeated the point.

However, the soy BBQ beef was AMAZING. It tasted really close to actual Korean BBQ beef. It was even a little crispy and smokey-flavored. YUM! One hip-hip-hooray in that area.

I'll definitely use the recipe for the beef again, but the tofu "fried egg" was kinda gross, and the rest of the vegetables just tasted like stir-fry. Overall, I'll give it a half shoulder shrug and a grunt.

Recipe from quarry.com:

BBQ “beef”

Dried soy beef slices “Thit Chay” from an Asian market (or 4 plain wheat gluten sausages, sliced thin)
2 squares of vegan beef bullion
1 tsp of liquid smoke
2 tbs black mushroom soy sauce (black soy adds the dark color of beef)
1 stp garlic powder (or fresh)
Red pepper flakes to taste
1/4 brown sugar
2 c water

Put everything but the fake meat in a large sauce pot and bring to boil, reduce heat, add the “meat” and simmer on medium until the broth is evaporated and the “meat” begins to stick and burn to the bottom. Fight the urge to rescue it! The little bit of burnt will add give it a realistic bbq flavor. Then pour in a half cup of water and let the burnt edges loosen from the sauce pan. Drain and squeeze the meat, return to pot and set aside.

Pho Goodness

I love Pho.

It's just a gigantic bowl of noodles, veggies and tofu yumminess.

As soon as we moved into our new place several months ago we discovered our new favorite restaurant EVER: Pho San Marcos.

Before we moved here, the best place to go for Pho was off of Clairmont Mesa BLVD near downtown. NOT ANYMORE!! Pho San Marcos is the best pho we've ever found. Seriously. And it's literally less than a mile away from our house. Okay, maybe it's exactly a mile away, but still, it's THAT close.

It has a ton of vegetarian options, including the most important thing -- pho -- which I was super excited about, because at most hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese places, they don't have an option to get vegetable broth instead of beef broth.

We hadn't been here in a while, but last week I was home sick with a sore throat and achy body so W suggested we meet for a nice hot bowl of soup for lunch.

I dragged myself out of bed, and it was totally worth it. I swear this stuff healed me on the spot.

Stuffed and satisfied, we looked at each other after lunch and said, "Why aren't we coming here for EVERY meal?"

It's so good.