Veganized Chicken and Cream Cheese Taquitos

Taquitos original recipe

I saw the above recipe and had to try them! It called for everything processed except the spinach, but it was worth the treat.

1 package Morningstar chicken strips (thawed)
6 oz vegan cream cheese
1 couple spoonfuls of vegan sour cream
1 cup Daiya cheese of your choice (I used a combo)
1/2 cup salsa
2 cups baby spinach (stems removed and chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
12 medium sized flour tortillas

Mix everything together.

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Put 1-2 spoonfuls of the mixture onto a tortilla and spread it out in the middle. Roll up the tortillas so it looks like a a cigar. Use more or less of the mixture depending on how big you want the taquitos to be.

Place seam side down and make the rest. Spray tops with cooking spray. I ended up with 12.

Bake about 20-25 minutes or until the tortillas are crisp.

Serve with salsa and guacamole.

They are creamy and gooey and yummy.  We had 6 left over so they make great leftovers.

Happy Herbivore Carrot Cake Pancakes

Mmmm.   Carrot cake pancakes? There are recipes all over the net but this was the first I'd tried. I like that it didn't use any oil.  I found it Happy Herbivore's Everyday cookbook and I'm so glad I made them.  They aren't too sweet and have a spice cake taste.  The toughest part was grating the carrots. I used a microplane and grated 1 1/2 medium sized carrots to get a 1/4 cup.  Now that I type this, I realize the hardest part was not eating them all! I was able to make 6 medium pancakes and one little Mickey Mouse pancake for the child.  The only tweaks I made were a teaspoon of cane sugar and a little squirt of maple agave.  I did this because when I tasted the batter it didn't seem sweet at all. However, next time I'll skip the sugar. I don't think it added much at such a small amount.  The agave would be enough. And since I made cream cheese "syrup" the pancakes were plenty sweet.

I used about 2 oz of vegan cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar, 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla and a splash of unsweetened almond milk and blended until smooth. It poured like syrup and while not an exact replica of cream cheese frosting, it was close enough.  Perfect with the pancakes.

Spaghetti Squash with Balsamic Beans

You can find the recipe for this here:

http://www.food.com/recipe/spaghetti-squash-with-balsamic-beans-222176

I did everything it said except I roasted the squash (halved) for 45 min with olive oil, salt and pepper. Once it finished, I sautéed it a bit (shredded) in a skillet to make it less "crunchy."

This is really quite good. I'm not a squash fan but this has no squash taste. An excellent substitution for pasta.

Green Chili Tofu Migas

My sister gave me Quick Fix Vegan for Christmas and I think I have more than half of the cookbook flagged.

This is a great weeknight food, especially if you like breakfast for supper some nights. I followed the recipe to the letter and it came out great. I can't believe I was once scared of tofu!

Tempeh Arugula Caesar Wrap

Tonight I made a Tempeh Arugula Caesar Wrap from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day. Even cutting some corners (such as not soaking the cashews for an hour and only marinating the tempeh for 15 minutes) it turned out awesome. The recipe made 4 or 5 wraps so I'll be taking this to lunch.
I love tempeh. I steamed it first in a microwave steamer.



Update:
Better to keep the salad separate until assembly for lunch. The dressing and vegetables make the tortilla a bit soggy if made the day before.

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese

http://www.vegkitchen.com/recipes/pasta-and-noodles/pasta-dishes/vegan-macaroni-and-cheese/

Above is where you can find this recipe. I added thawed frozen peas, topped it with "buttery" (Earth Balance) bread crumbs and baked it for 20 min. Man oh man. This is excellent. Tastes very comforting and rich.

Paula Deen's Sausage Pie Veganized

Every year I would make this pie

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/rons-tybee-island-sausage-pie-recipe/index.html

for Christmas morning. It was so good I even made extra for family. Now that I'm on a plant based diet, I wanted to try to recreate it. While it wasn't a smashing success, it was close. With some tweaking, and actually following the recipe, I should get it next year. The original recipe calls for 3 oz of cream cheese. I should have read that before hand. I used 8. (Tofutti I cream cheese). It was very creamy!

1 frozen deep dish pie crust
1 package of Gimme Lean sausage style
1 package firm tofu, drained and cut into pieces
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 oz vegan cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt and pepper
1 squirt of yellow mustard.
1/2 a large onion, chopped
1/2 cup almond or soy milk. I used almond.
Handful or 2 of Daiya cheddar shreds.
Poke a few holes in the thawed pie crust. Pre-bake pie crust on 400 degrees for 10 min.

In a food processor blend the tofu, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, turmeric, mustard and milk. Blend until smooth. Mine was still thick, like a thick batter.

Heat vegan sausage and onions until sausage has browned.

In a large bowl combine everything and mix well.

Add mixture to the pie crust and bake 30 minutes or until the top is set.

Let it cool a few minutes before serving.