Well, I haven't posted a recipe in a few weeks because I have been quite busy. I got a terrible cold and that put me out of  business for a week then my lovely daughter got married. I can't believe it! It was a beautiful ceremony and we are quite happy to welcome her husband into our family. They are a wonderful couple and I wish them a lifetime of love and happiness.

After all the wedding hoopla was over guess what happened? My cold came back for another two weeks of misery and snot! Yuck! The happy news is I'm finally back to the land of the living and ready to cook.

I came home today and was craving Kale. I love kale. I try to eat it at least once a week but with illness and weddings I haven't made any in a few weeks. So, tonight I eat Kale my friends!

This recipe is just one of my simple easy ways to enjoy kale and mashed potatoes. It's kind of a comfort dish for me and I hope you enjoy it.

Kale with mushrooms and Mashed Potatoes (geesh that sounds boring but it really isn't!)

Large bag of Kale (I use Glory Foods that I get at Publix. It's already cut up and ready to go... again Lazy!)
container of baby bella mushrooms
sweet onion
14 oz vegetable broth
lemon pepper
sea salt
garlic powder

Mashed potatoes (I'm assuming most people know how to make mashed potatoes)
When I mash my potatoes I use some Earth Balance butter in them with a little salt/pepper but I leave them a little bit dryer then I normally would for this dish then if I were just serving them as a side dish. When you spoon the Kale and mushrooms over the mashed potatoes some of the juice comes too and that adds liquid to the mashed potatoes. However, mashed potatoes are a very personal thing and you, my friend, make your mashed potatoes however your little heart desires. My potatoes, your potatoes they all taste great with this Kale on top!

Get Cookin'

Peel the potatoes for your mashed potatoes and get them boiling

Chop up the onion and slice the mushrooms
Heat a large saute' pan with a lid with about 1/4 c vegetable stock. Add onion and mushrooms. Saute' until tender. Wash chopped kale and add to mushroom/onion mixture. This bagged kale that's already chopped up is handy but I find that I need to pick out the hard stems. No biggie if you don't but I usually pick out some of them but don't make yourself crazy! When adding the kale go slow and add a little at a time stirring in between until you have added about 3/4+ of the bag. (The rest of my bag goes to the wild rabbits that live behind my house.) Mix well with the mushrooms and onion. Add the rest of the vegetable broth. Season with lemon pepper, salt, and garlic powder to your taste. Cover and turn down heat to low. Now here's the deal, I cook mine on low for about 1/2 hour because I like my kale real tender but it really is a personal thing. I know some people like their kale not so tender so just cook it a little less. Just keep an eye on it until it is your desired tenderness. Be sure not to let all the liquid cook away. If it seems to be getting dry just add a little water. I like mine to have some yummy juice to it.

While you were fooling with all the kale I'm assuming your potatoes were boiling. Now do the mashed potato baby! Sorry I always think of that song when I make mashed potatoes. Ok, make your mashed potatoes your way. (Dancing the mashed potato while you make them is completely optional. I, however, feel it gives my mashed potatoes that little extra goodness!)

To serve place a heaping spoon full of mashed potatoes on plate and top with a big ole spoon of the kale mixture juice and all! Yowza! There you have it....comfort food that's good for you! If you really want to kick it up serve with a nice slab of cornbread! ENJOY!

My husband loves Italian food. So, I make a lot of pasta! One of his favorites is lasagna and when I cut out dairy products I had to figure out a way to make the ricotta cheese layer of the lasagna. I mean, let's face it....it's ain't lasagna without that layer! So, I was making some eggless egg salad one day and a little lightbulb went off in my head....Hey, I can use tofu for the ricotta. Little did I know this was no new idea. Apparently, vegans have been making fake ricotta out of tofu for a long time, but I'm still going to give myself a little pat on the back for thinking of it anyway even if it wasn't exactly an original idea. This lasagna recipe is what I call my Quickie Lasagna because it goes together really fast and uses jar sauce which is a real time saver. It's a favorite in my house and I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Vegan Quickie Lasagna

1 to 1 1/2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce (I use Newman's)
Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Grain Lasagna Noodles (uncooked)
2T Italian spice mix
1T Nutritional Yeast
14 oz package Extra firm tofu
Soy crumbles fake ground beef
Baby Bella Mushrooms
Daiya Mozzarella cheese


Get Cookin'

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Saute the mushrooms in a pan in a little olive oil for a few minutes, add the soy crumbles and about 1/2 cup pasta sauce. Cook until crumbles are no longer frozen and simmer while you make the tofu mixture.

In a bowl, place the drained tofu, Italian spice mix, and Nutritional yeast together and mix with a fork until it resembles ricotta cheese.

In a lasagna pan, spoon about 1/4 cup sauce in bottom of pan and spread it out. Layer uncooked noodles on top of sauce, then place soy crumble mix on top of noodles, pour pasta sauce over soy crumble mixture (about 1 cup), then place another layer of noodles, then tofu mixture, top with final layer of noodles. Pour remaining pasta sauce over top. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven, sprinkle Daiya Mozzarella cheese over top, return to oven until cheese melts. Remove from oven and ENJOY!

Ahhhh bananas, I love 'em! Not only are they good for you, they work great as an egg replacer, they travel well, they are a great ready to eat snack and they taste AWESOME! I use bananas a lot...banana bread, banana waffles, bananas in my green smoothie, peanut butter and banana sandwich, you get the idea. I love me some bananas! I baked and ate a lot of banana muffins to come up with this recipe and I'm pretty happy with it. The streusel topping makes all the difference so don't skip it! I change the topping up depending on what I have in my pantry. Today I used sliced almonds in the streusel topping but last time I used pecans so be creative but add some nuts. Nuts give the topping a nice crunch and texture.  You could make this as a loaf of banana bread but nothing beats a handy-dandy-easy-to-eat muffin.  Enjoy!

 

Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Streusel Topping

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c applesauce
3 very ripe bananas
vegan chocolate chips
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c vanilla soy milk  plus 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Streusel Topping
1/3 c regular uncooked oats
1/3 c flour
1/3 c light brown sugar
3 T vegan margarine
1/3 c nuts of your choice

Get Cookin'

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Add the apple cider vinegar to the soy milk and set aside.

Cream together the oil, applesauce and sugars. Add the mashed bananas, soy milk and vanilla. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix well but do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips.

Make streusel topping by mixing all dry streusel ingredients together, then cut in the margarine with a pastry tool or just use a fork (like I do) until mixture is crumbly.

Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan with liners. Fill about 3/4 full then top with struesel topping. These muffins don't rise a whole lot so don't worry if the muffin cups are almost full.



Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool and Enjoy!







All done!

I enjoy cooking with Seitan. It's a great meat substitute and just about every recipe I've used it in has been a success. So, call me a sinner but Seitan is my friend. I buy pre-made Seitan (wheat gluten, wheat meat, mock duck) from Whole Foods or Ada's which is my local health foodie market. I have yet to make my own but I've read that people have great success making it from scratch. I'm just not that adventurous yet and the pre-made Seitan works great for everything I've used it for. So, if you have plenty of time and want to try to make your own that's awesome but if you are a bit lazy or too tired after working all day like me just buy the pre-made stuff!

I came up with this recipe because I love the flavor of Marsala wine and mushrooms. My husband and daughter both love this recipe. Me, I love just about anything served with mashed potatoes!

 I hope you enjoy it!

Marsala Seitan with Mashed potatoes

2 cloves garlic

2 shallots (chopped)

2 T. olive oil (approx)

1 cup (or more because I love mushrooms) Baby Bella mushrooms (sliced or whole, your choice)

1 cup Marsala wine

1 T. flour

1 T. margerine or butter

1 cup Vegetable broth

salt/pepper seasoning to taste

parsley for garnish

Get cookin'

Saute shallots and garlic in olive oil, add mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes and then add Marsala wine. Continue to simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Pour mushroom mixture into a bowl and set aside. place pan back on stove and add 1 T butter/margerine. Melt butter and add 1 T. flour to make a roux. Whisk and cook until light brown and smooth. Add vegetable stock and whisk to make a gravy. Slowly add mushroom mixture and return to simmer. Stirring occasionally. Remove seitan from box, drain and discard liquid, separate and add to Marsala mushroom mixture and continue to simmer until heated through. Add more vegetable stock if you want a thinner gravy.

To plate...mound mashed potatoes on plate and spoon Marsala Seitan with gravy over mashed potatoes and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve with a nice bread of your choice for sopping up that yummy Marsala gravy.