Four meals: all delicious.

Recently, I became an avid follower of a food blog called Healthy. Happy. Life. The recipes are so delicious and simple. I stumbled upon it in cyberspace while searching for a good mashed sweet potato recipe. This was the recipe I found. It was awesome because it allowed me to find the lemon pepper tempeh recipe, as welll, which was based loosely on the new Tempehtations, which I'm too cheap to buy. I ended up not really following her recipe for the sweet potato mash, but everything was delicious. Accompanied by roasted garlic asparagus.

Ty's parents recently began receiving free subscriptions of Vegetarian Times. I was elated to hear this. Ty's parents send the issues to us after his mom gets the chance to write down some of the recipes she wants. This was a recipe for Rigatoni Puttanesca. (Obviously I used bow ties.) It called for half a tube of Gimme Lean Soy Sausage and it was great. The recipes in Veg Times are great because they usually only make two servings, and I'm typically only feeding two.

After receiving the aforementioned free issues of Veg Times, I rediscovered the occasional joy of making something overtly complicated and a little less instant. Behold Vcon's Baja Grilled Tempeh Burritos. My alterations: green cabbage instead of purple, fresh jalapenos instead of pickled, PBR instead of dark beer. What can I say? I'm a class act.

I saved the most comforting for last. Country Fried Seitan with mashed potatoes and more roasted garlic asparagus. With the exception of the asparagus, I would say this is your standard down-home Southern meal. The broth I used for my seitan was the "chicken" one found in La Dolce Vegan! I think the gravy came from Vegweb, or something..

Let me know if you want recipes!

Shepard's Pie

This was my first time cooking/eating shepard's pie, vegan or otherwise. I had no idea what I was missing out on. It is simply the perfect comfort food. In preparation for this meal, I had skimmed through various shepard's pie recipes on the interwebz. This recipe is an adaptation of on I found on VegWeb and from It Ain't Meat Babe. Enjoy!

Loaded Shepard's Pie
5 russet potatoes
1/2 red onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, sliced or shredded
1 bunch of kale, chopped
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp basil
1 cup Morning Star crumbles or TVP
3/4 soy milk
1tsp cornstarch
1 tsp flour
1 tbs nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste

Wash, peel, and boil potatoes, as you normally would mashed potatoes. While potatoes are boiling, saute onion and garlic in some olive oil on medium high heat until translucent. Add remaining vegetables and bay leaf. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Alow vegetables to wilt a bit. Add soy crumbles and remaining spices and cover. When crumbles are soft, add soy milk, conrstarch, yeast, and flour. Mix well and allow to boil. Prepare an 8 x 8 baking dish. Spoon vegetable filling into dish and flaten. Do the same with potatos. Sprinkle some oregano and thyme on top. Broil for 4 minutes. Stuff face.