Bún Chay

Tired of the same old lunch menu (PB&J, hummus & dippers, chickpea salad sandwiches, etc), I decided to google "vegan lunch recipes" during my menu planning last week.  It's been fun reading through new recipes, but I was most excited about this one!  I have been looking forward to it since I typed it in on Sunday.

Bún Chay (Vietnamese Noodle Salad) was a hit with the kids!  I did find rice sticks and we tried those today, but decided that we don't care for the texture so we won't be using them again.  We also sautéed the tofu bits instead of deep frying.  Otherwise, we pretty much followed the suggested items and then I let the kids choose how much of each item they wanted in their bowl.

I was proud of my littlest sidekick, who tried everything and only turned her nose at the cilantro. ;)  My 10 year old didn't care for the mint or cilantro, but was the only one of us who liked the rice sticks (noodles).  My 13 year old liked everything except the rice sticks.  Their favorite was the dressing...mine too! :)

Comfort Food

Our family's comfort foods have slowly started evolving as our menu has changed.  One thing that has remained consistent: our kids find comfort in a warm bowl of soup.  Taco soup, noodle soup, veggie soup...we love soup!  Soup that cooks in a crock pot is even better!

I decided to switch things up a bit and check out a new recipe for lentil-veggie soup.  This is a crock pot recipe, but I had to finish it up on the stove top.  If I had it to do all over I'd soak my lentils overnight, and make sure my veggies were chopped small enough to cook in a crock pot in the time allotted.  Otherwise, the flavor was wonderful.  The kids loved it and have already asked when I'm making it again.

Alongside our big bowls of soup were steaming, delicious corn muffins.  One of the girls helped me whip these up from a box mix.  We used applesauce in place of the eggs.  They were delicious!  Very dense and moist.  Yum!

Comfort Food: Veggie Pot Pie

This morning I woke up and smelled it, last night's dinner.  You know when you bake something and can still smell the delicious aroma the next day?  That's what happened.  I immediately started daydreaming about leftovers at lunch.  Sad, huh?  But it was that good.

My family loves a good pot pie.  I hadn't made one since we jumped on the vegan wagon in August.  I don't typically make them in the hot months of the year, so as soon as it started cooling down our cravings picked up.  We needed pot pie.  A google search and some recipe reviews turned up some great ideas.  This one was the most inspiring, but I already knew it would have to be tweaked.  I planned on using store-bought crust and only the veggies that I already had at home.  My stomach is growling right now, and I'm starting to wonder if we really need to save those last two slices for Daddio (who was, sadly, overnighting in the The Bahamas and missed out on this delicious dinner!).

Without further adieu...

Veggie Pot Pie

Ingredients:

Cashew Cream
1.5 c raw cashews (*soaked)
1 c. veggie broth
1 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 t. nutritional yeast
1/4 t. salt

Veggie Mixture
1 t. olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
hashbrowns**
frozen mixed veggies (my medley included corn, carrots, peas, green beans)**

Cashew soaking:  Four to eight hours before you need them, place the cashews in a bowl and cover with piping hot water.  Allow to soak and then drain immediately before processing.

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Pour olive oil into skillet on medium-high, add onions as oil begins to heat up.  Sauté until they begin to caramelize.  Add hashbrowns and allow to begin browning before dumping in mixed veggies.  Sauté for a few minutes to get the cooking process started.

3.  While veggies are sautéing, put cashew cream ingredients into high speed blender or food processor and liquefy.  Add more nutritional yeast and/or salt to taste.

4.  Combine veggies and cashew cream and stir well.  Season to taste.

5.  Pour veggies & cream mixture into pie crust.  Cover with another crust and pinch edges to seal.  Poke holes or designs in top crust to vent.

6.  Bake for 40 minutes.  About 1/2 way through baking, cover edges of pie so they don't burn.  I have a crust shield, but foil works well, too.

7.  Remove from oven carefully and allow to sit for 20 minutes.  This will help the cream thicken up and allow the pie to cool a bit.  It will still be very warm when you cut into it.

**Add veggie amounts based on your personal preference and what dish you're planning to use.  If I could keep mushrooms long enough to use them, I would've put those in this dish to add some meatiness.  However, we absolutely didn't miss them or the meat!

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do it justice.
I'll be totally honest and say that I couldn't spare the time to make it pretty
and take a good picture because the smell was so enticing.  :)

And that's what it's all about!

In our homeschool co-op, Sunshine is taking a class in which each student has to complete a 20 minute presentation on a topic of his/her choice.  Today was Sunshine's day to present.  Their teacher instructed them to choose something they felt passionate about.  Sunshine chose...veganism!  :)  We were very proud of her informative presentation and her passion for veganism.

She spent 3 weeks doing research and organizing her notes, prepared a PowerPoint presentation, and then decided that she wanted to share some vegan food with her friends.  After all, most people assume that vegan food is nasty.  She wanted to prove otherwise, so she armed herself with chocolate chip cookies.  YUM!  We've made these at least 4 times in the past (almost) 7 weeks.  They come together easily and are delicious!  (I've had several non-vegan friends ask for this recipe, too!)

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. flour (I have used 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c. Earth Balance "butter"
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
replacer for 2 eggs (either 1/4 c. applesauce per egg or Ener-G Egg Replacer)
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl.  In a separate bowl cream "butter", sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and "egg".  Add dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are golden.

Cooking for non-vegans

Last week we had company in town...of the non-vegan sort.  The goal was to make food items that would be filling and satisfying so they didn't realize they were missing anything.

We had pancakes for breakfast from a mix, using almond milk and egg replacer.  They were light and fluffy, topped with strawberries and delicious, maple syrup.

For lunch, we went with a build-your-own sub sandwich bar.  We had lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, avocado, vegan ranch dressing, and veganaise.  To be 100% honest, we also offered our guests ham, cheese, and Miracle Whip.  I think they were relieved.  ;)  The subs were good, I love to use the ranch as a sandwich spread.  Mmm!

Dinner time was another build-your-own bar, but this time we went with burritos.  We had black beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, corn, avocado, salsa, and cilantro.  I also served cilantro-lime rice.  This is one of my simple meals that is easy to put together on a busy night, and everybody is happy because they can add whatever they like.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

Make 2 cups of rice in rice cooker.  Add 2 tablespoons of lime juice and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro. Stir & serve.  So easy!

Sick day!

Last night about dinner time, our littlest herbivore got sick.  UGH!  As soon as I got her settled and felt comfortable leaving for 30 minutes, I ran to the grocery store for rations.  Lemon-lime soda, little noodles, cleaning supplies (we try not to use paper towels but when somebody gets sick I have no problem using disposables), bananas, bread, etc.  You know, stuff to follow the BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) diet.  There went my plan of using up pantry food and not hitting the store again until payday.  Oh well, going with the flow!

Fortunately, the bug seemed to be very short-lived (knock on wood) and Punky was up for some solid food by lunch time today (we tested her stomach this morning with saltines).  I relied on an old standard, what my mom always made us when we were sick but able to stomach solids: little noodles in chicken broth.  But, uh, no chicken broth, right?  Unless you use these awesome little nuggets of goodness:

I wanted to make a substantial amount of broth, so I used 4 cubes to make 8 cups of broth.  As soon as it came to a boil I added angel hair pasta that had been broken into small pieces.  The pasta now mimicked the "little noodles" my mom used to make us (Skinner Fideo Mediano, but our grocery store didn't have any in stock).  My kids have learned to appreciate a mug of little noodles as fantastic comfort food.  They were all delighted to slurp their noodles down with some saltines on the side.

Review by the kids:  They all ate happily, and said the "Not Chick'n" broth tasted just like the real thing.  They actually used straws to slurp their noodles and said it was the perfect way to warm their bellies on our first fall day (yay for Texas cold fronts!).  There was nothing left in the pot or their mugs after lunch.

Review by the mom:  The broth was fantastic, and I'm glad we found it at our grocery store and decided it would be a good pantry item (it was also endorsed by a v-friend, who said she orders it from Amazon).  The angel hair was a great sub for the little noodles.  I'm glad I didn't get discouraged when I couldn't find the old standard. 

We made it vegan: Korean Beef

I'm a sucker for a simple, kid-pleasing recipe.  I stumbled across this Korean Beef recipe on Pinterest a while back.  I made it once and the kids loved it, so it quickly became a favorite.  Other than making sure I had beef in the freezer, it was a pantry item menu filler.  At least at our house.  I did modify it just a bit to make it more pleasing to my kids (they don't like green onions) and hubby (he loves water chestnuts) and me (not a fan of ginger).

Ingredients:
"beef" crumbles
1/4 c. soy sauce (organic, low sodium is our preference)
*1/4 c. brown sugar (or sugar and molasses)
hoisin sauce (1-2 T)
1 tsp sesame oil
small can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
crushed red pepper (I usually leave this out, but you can definitely add it to desired spiciness)
green onion (see above)
ginger (see above)
**cooked rice

Put sesame oil in skillet with garlic for a minute on medium.  Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and hoisin sauce.  Stir carefully.  Add "beef" crumbles and water chestnuts (and optional ingredients as you wish).  Allow crumbles and water chestnuts to soak up the delicious sauce and warm through.

Serve over cooked rice.  Garnish with green onion if desired.

*I used the information in the sugar & molasses link to make a substitute for light brown sugar using vegan sugar.
**I use a rice cooker to make life easier.  I always burn stovetop rice. ;)