Chickpea Casserole

I absolutely loooove casseroles when it's cold and windy outside! It's just great comfort food!

So when I came across several of Isa's Mac 'n Cheeze variations as well as this post, I had to make it work with whatever I had! (Which was pasta, plently of chickpeas -after a great find of a 7 lbs bag of dried ones in an Indian food store closeby! *yay*, I cooked several batches-, cashew nuts and home made bread crumbs.)  We're not GF so I didn't strictly follow the recipe but still liked the outcome!

I threw some roasted cauliflower as well as broccoli in the mix intead of peas, sprinkled some nooch on as well as some hot sauce, done! :D

Hubby didn't enjoy it too much, unfortunately.. but ok, more for me! :p

I froze the majority in portions so I'll always have a quick, comforting lunch!

[I realize this pic probably doesn't look as appetizing as it tasted! lol]

Tonight will be some yummy soup and fresh bread! I love the fall and crispy weather!!! =)

2 Soups and 1 muffin

As we've already discussed in a previous post, I love soup! And with the colder temps approaching (finally it's starting here in Sicily as well!..), I can easily whip up a pot of soup 3-4x a week!

The other day a creation happened quite accidentally actually. I planned to make a dish from my[click!] Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure cookbook,  but sure enough, I didn't follow the intructions to a 'T' and ended up having a more liquid-y red bell pepper/potato mix. I wasn't in the mood to have it like that over quinoa or anything, so I just added some more vegetable broth, some soy milk and home made vegan tofu 'sour cream', salt, pepper, smoked paprika, done! Blend it all up and this beautiful 'Roasted red bellpepper potato soup' was born! :) 

-By the way, that book is one of my very first veg books I got years ago when I became a veg and a great book to have if you're veg*n and love your pressure cooker! All of the recipes can be easily veganized! ;) -

Take 3-4 small potatoes, 1 whole red bell pepper (roasted before in the oven), 4-6 cups of water/veggie broth, cook in pressure cooker for ~3 minutes, let the pressure come down for ~5 min naturally, then release and open the lid.

Add 2-3 Tbsp tofu 'sour cream' and a splash of soy (or any other plant) milk, salt, pepper, smoked pepper.. everything to your own personal taste, blend, done!

I just added some roasted zucchini and some nutritional yeast for the extra healthy boost! ;)

 Who doesn't love 'Chicken' noodle soup!? Especially when it's cold and rainy outside (like it was that particular day here) and just cozy to have this kind of soup!

I didn't follow any specific instruction/recipe but just diced up 1 small onion, sauteed it in some water, then added 2 diced carrots, 1 diced stalk of celery, 1 c (already cooked) chickpeas, 4-6 c water/veggie broth (I actually used 1 frozen 'cube' of Kathy Hester's [click!] Vegan Slow Cooker 'chickn' bouillon' and then later added 1-2 Tbsp of [click!] Bryanna's home made chicken broth powder).

After ~5-10 minutes I added some spaghetti pasta broken into ~2" pieces (which were still too long! Next time I'll use smaller pasta to begin with!), cooked it for another 10 minutes and done! At the very end I added a handful of vegan 'chick'n strips' just because I was in the mood to, but it certainly would work well without too!

On to my sweet tooth recipe! ;)

A long time ago I stumbled across Cleo Coyle's[click!] Coffee House Mystery website after having bought a few of her Coffee House mystery books and looking forward to reading them. One recipe in particular caught my eyes, the ones for 'Coffee Shop Doughnut Muffins'! Oh I was so going to make them!!! I simply veganized the original recipe and it was a huge hit in my house!!! ;)

  

 You can find the original recipe here:   Doughnut Muffins

My veganized version:

~*Vegan coffee shop doughnut muffins*~

For the batter:

*6 Tbsp apple sauce

*6 Tbsp coconut oil 

*1/2 c vegan sugar

*2 egg substitutes (I used Ener-G)

*1 c plant milk (I used home made oatmilk)

*2.5 c flour (I used 2 c ground oatmeal, 1/2 unbleached white AP flour)

*1/4 tsp baking soda

*2.5 tsp baking powder

*1/4 tsp salt

*1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the topping:

*1/4 c vegan sugar

*1 tsp cinnamon

*2 Tbsp vegan 'butter'

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and prep the muffin tins with liners, gently sprayed with some cooking spray. [If you use silicone muffin forms, you won't need liners, of course!]

To make the batter mix the apple sauce and coconut oil together with the sugar with an electric mixer. 

Make the egg replacer (3 tsp Ener-G + 4 Tbsp warm water), let sit for a few minutes. [You can also use flax meal, 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds + 6 Tbsp water.]

Add the plant milk and the egg replacer to the sugar/oil/apple sauce mix.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mix just until it's all comined.

Fill each muffin cup with 1 scoop of the batter (an ice cream scoop works well for that) and once all tins are filled, bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

Let the muffins cool completely.

Once the muffins are cooled out, you can finish them with the cinnamon-sugar topping:

Melt the vegan 'butter' and mix the cinnamon with the sugar in a small bowl.

Brush each muffin top with a bit of the 'butter' and immediately dip it into the cinnamon-sugar mix.

Voila, ready! Now put on a nice brew of coffee and enjoy one of those muffins with a cup of joe! =)

Nutritional value (calculated for my ingredients above; might vary slightly if you use other plant milk and/or flour!)

Per muffin: 

156 calories, 6 g fat, 22 g carbs, 1.6 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 2 g protein

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Stay tuned for more veganized recipes from Cleo Coyle's Coffe Shop Mystery books! ;)  

Comfort food II -Spaghetti with 'meatballs'

Nothing spells more 'comfort food' than pasta and fresh bread or rolls to me!

Yesterday we had a classic comfort food (for me), spaghetti with 'meaty balls' from Jo Stephaniak's Vegan Vittles (great book, buy it if you don't own it yet!).

Since you can find the recipe by doing a Google search for it, I feel ok to share it with you all! ;)

In her book she says it makes 12 balls but I actually got 18 out of the mix!

Since I calculated the nutritional value per ball, I can even tell you that info too! =)

~* 'Meaty balls' from Vegan Vittles *~

Ingredients:

1 cup TVP granules 1/4 cup rolled oats 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp dry mustard 3/4 cup boiling water 2 Tb ketchup 2 Tb lite soy sauce or Bragg's 1 rounded Tb smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup flour, any kind 1 Tb nutritional yeast flakes (optional) Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Mist a baking sheet with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper. Place TVP and dry spices in bowl and combine well.  In small bowl, combine boiled water, ketchup, and soy sauce and stir until blended.  Pour into the TVP mixture and stir well.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Add peanut butter and mix well until it is incorporated.  Stir in flour and optional nutritional yeast thoroughly.  form into 12 (or more) walnut-sized balls and arrange on baking sheet.  Mist tops and sides with nonstick spray and bake for 25-30 minutes, turning over once during baking. Sprinkled with some home made 'Parmesan cheez' (ground sesame seeds, walnuts & some nutritional yeast). Nutritional value (1 ball): 28 calories, 0 g fat, 3.1 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 0 g sugar, 2.8 g protein. Guten Appetit!

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Speaking of comfort food:
A recipe for some dinner rolls (sourdough this time) will follow soon! ;)