CauliPot Soup

Another slow day at work led me to many vegan food blogs and recipe sites. I had a ton of cauliflower to use up and wanted a simple healthy meal for dinner (and leftovers for lunch!).

I found this cauliflower soup recipe somewhere on the web, but as usual had to alter the amounts so I wouldn't be eating it for weeks! It takes very little time but tastes a little bland. It would be quite tasty with a cheese sauce mixed in - perhaps some nutritional yeast (?!) Oh well next time!

• 2 c. cauliflower, washed
• 1 med. potato, cubed with skin still on
• 3-4 c. vegetable stock
• 1/4 c. chopped onion
• 1 c. soy milk
• 1-2 tsp. nutmeg
• salt and pepper

º In a pot boil cauliflower and potato in vegetable stock until tender
º Drain about 1 c. vegetable stock and pour the remainder of the pot contents into the blender
º Puree for about 2 seconds, ensuring the consistency is slightly chunky
º Pour back into the pot, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until ready to eat

Carrot Cake Muffins w/ Cream Cheese Goodness!

I found this recipe for a sugar-free carrot cake online and altered it just a tiny bit, mostly because I despise raisins! I also pulled the icing recipe from "The Garden of Vegan" and made several adjustments. The carrot cake muffins were deliriously moist and just the right amount of sweetness. I found it difficult to remove them from the liners until they had been refrigerated for at least a couple hours.

Carrot Cake
• 1/3 c. OJ
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 1 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. soymilk
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. packed grated carrots
• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 tbsp. chopped (into very tiny bits) walnuts


º Preheat oven 350
º Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl
º Mix wet ingredients together in a different bowl
º Pour bowl contents together until just mixed
º Spoon batter into cupcake liners
º Bake for 20-25 mins until toothpick or other sharp utensil comes out clean


Cream Cheese Icing
• 1 tbsp. earth balance
• 1/2 tub of plain tofutti cream cheese
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

º Add more powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency

Shroomnach Pennoni

I'm quite curious whether cannelloni or mannicotti noodles exist in Toronto? I went to at least 3 different grocery/rabba type stores and not one had either of those types of noodles.

Anyways today started off with French toast straight off the pages of "How it all.." and how delicious! It reminded me of growing up with my brothers who both loved FT.

Right, back to business. This pennoni was a complete experiment but turned out better than I could have hoped. Hooray for lunch tmw!

• 12-14 pennoni noodles, cooked
• 1/2 28oz can of diced roma tomatoes
• 3/4 can of tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp. vegan parm.

FILLING
• 1/2 pack of firm tofu, crumbled
• 2 large shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 c. spinach, chopped
• 3-4 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

º Preheat oven to 350
º In a blender of food processor add filling mixture and blend until well mixed
º Evenly spread 1/2 tomato sauce across the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish
º Pack filling into pennoni noodles using a small spoon/end of a chopstick (which is what I used!) and place noodles in the baking dish
º Dump the diced tomatoes on top of the noodles
º Top with the rest of the tomato sauce
º Sprinkle parm over top
º Bake for approx. 40-45 min or until noodles are very tender.