yum

I've been making some real good food lately - not just ordinary food, vegan food. Most people I know misinterpret the word "vegan" as something that has weird or strange ingredients, when in fact its the exact opposite! Look at your box of mac-n-cheese or any other processed food for those kind of ingredients. Something being vegan just means its made without any milk, eggs, meat products - or basically anything that comes from an animal. Substitutions are made in place of those ingredients. For subbing cows milk I use other kinds of milk - soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, oat milk and almond milk - which is my personal favorite - and I am sure there are others I am forgetting. For butter I use a brand called Earth Balance which is made with vegetable based oils. For eggs you can use many different things - mashed up bananas, applesauce, tofu or there are special egg replacer products available in markets - there are a few other things to sub for eggs too, that I am sure I forgot. For cheese there are many, many different commercial brands that work - my favorite being Daiya! It melts wonderfully and is the tastiest stuff I have ever had in my life - better than real cheese - in my opinion. Below I made a vegan lasagna - I used trader joes soy mozzerella which is very much like mozzerella made with cows milk. I have made meals with this stuff and not told my guests it was soy until afterwards and they said they would have never known. Here is the recipe for the lasagna thats called "Love Potion Lasagna". I got it from vegweb.com which is full of any kind of recipe you could be looking for. I'm always on there looking for what to make next!

Hope this helped clear up any misconceptions you might have had about vegan food (if you had any at all). I leave you with a challenge - go find a recipe on vegweb and give it a try and come back and tell me about it.

Vegan Recipe for World Vegetarian Day

Thursday October 1st is World Vegetarian Day, and October is World Vegetarian Month! In honor of this wonderful occasion, I am posting a tasty recipe at least once a week, I might put up more just for the heck of it! My first recipe is one that I made up myself with a little experimentation. 

Leek, Sun Dried Tomato and Roasted Garlic Pizza

* this makes 2 pizzas, and serves 3-4 people. 

INGREDIENTS:   

Pizza dough of your choice (I used trader joes pre-made)

1 1/2 cups Pizza Sauce 

1/2 block of tofu
1 small can tomato paste
garlic powder, salt, pepper, dried basil (1 tsp each)

1 head of garlic 
12-14 sun-dried tomatoes (I used jar kind in olive oil)
2 Leeks sliced and cleaned GOOD
2 TBSP vegan butter or olive oil
Another 1tsp each (approx) of garlic powder, pepper and dried basil

DIRECTIONS:
**Pre-heat oven to 350-400 degrees depending on the dough you use. **
1. slice and clean leeks really good, then saute them uncovered in a pan with the vegan butter or olive oil for about 10 mins - till soft yet slightly crispy. (You can cook longer if you like them more crispy.)

2. break up the garlic into its cloves (leave the skin on!) and place them on a sheet in the toaster oven or oven and bake on about 375 for about 15 mins. Check if they are soft and roast longer if they are not. 
3. While those are cooking, get a medium bowl and mash up the tofu with your hands or fork. Add Tomato Paste, and one tsp each of garlic powder, salt, pepper and basil. Stir all together. 
4. Roll out your pizza dough on a cookie sheet. (I usually buy pre-made dough from trader Joe's)
5. Spread the tofu mixture onto the pizza dough. 
6. Once the leeks are cooked to your liking, spread them evenly onto your pizza(s). 
7. Place the sun-dried tomatoes onto the pizza(s) evenly. 

8. Squeeze/break the garlic out of their skins and spread whole cloves all over the pizza. 
9. Splash on some of the pizza sauce on the pizza (on top of the toppings)
10. sprinkle on some garlic powder, pepper, and basil all over the pizza(s)
11. Bake in oven for about 15-17 mins - or until your dough is ready. (it really depends on the dough you use)
12. Slice up and serve!