Random Foods Without Appropriate Recipes!

Last week I was notified that one of my writing gigs has come to an end.  This was one of my FAVES.  It's because of this that I have been in a funk.  I spent a lot of time writing for this place and eventho I understand the need to end it at the moment I am missing it very much!  I have been a little 'off' because of it I guess.  So today I thought I would post a few random vegan dishes I have eaten the last few weeks and have yet to blog about here.

First up is this lil diddy!  It's Multi-Colored CousCous topped with a Veggie Burger cubed up.  I added Wildtree Golden BBQ Sauce to the CousCous and on top is a blop of Garlic Just Mayo!

An interesting tidbit about this pic...Shannon Elizabeth LIKED it on Instagram. You remember Shannon Elizabeth from the American Pie Movie?  Yup!  Her!  She's a Vegan!!!  AND she LIKED my photo!  Woot!

Next up is one of the many attempts at a vegan mac and cheese.  This wasn't my best work but it was still edible.  It was VERY cheesy and I added vegan bread crumbs but it made it a bit salty and a strange texture.

Another side note...I have been putting a sprinkle of nutmeg on just about everything these days!

These are some of the Cacao Balls my mom and I made a while back and I will probably be blogging about them more in length in the future because I used the Indigo Herbs Cacao Powder and they turned out yummers but I don't have the recipe with me at the moment.

We rolled some of them in Cacao Powder some of them in a combo of Coconut Shreds, Red Pepper Flakes, and Sea Salt.

This was a great base recipe and I'm looking forward to trying out more toppings!

And last but not least...a simple pasta with vegan marinara!  I got the sauce from Wegmans and sprinkled - you guessed it - Marinara on top!

So sorry I don't have the recipes for these dishes at the moment but I will have some soon!

And don't forget tomorrow is a NEW MidWeek Munchies Week!  Tomorrow I will be featuring my haul from Dollar Tree!  I couldn't believe everything I found there!

Last Day of Vegan MoFo '15 ~ Fusion & More

Today is the last day of the 2015 Vegan MoFo.

I'm sad it's ending.  This has been my favorite year YET!  I want us all to keep in touch year-round!  I've been thinking about this for half of the month!  And I hope you will join me!  I will be making a personal blog roll of those of us who would like to A) Keep in touch year-round B) Visit and comment on each others posts on a regular or semi-regular basis.  Those are the only two things to consider prior to signing up for this blog roll!

Let me know in comments if you are interested and I will try and maintain this on going list and blog roll.  Feel free to tell others about this and grab these little graphics to post on your blog and link back to this post.  After today I will have the list at least started.  Feel free to copy and post that list if you wish! (Building and maintaining Blog Roll at the end of this post or see side bar.)  I had some thoughts of doing once a month blog hops with this list, too, but could use some help with it as I do have some time constraints.  Let me know if you would like to help.

Yes...this is going to be a very long post for several reasons.  One because of my little 'pity party' over MoFo ending and how I will 'miss everyone' and because I'm following suit with my fickleness and couldn't post just one thing based on today's prompt which was "Fusion".  I goofed earlier in the month when these were swapped out for seasonal foods but I figured I would post a little bit more of potential fusion dishes today from my archives or more specifically WORLD FOODS that I have done in the past and want to try and do again in the very near future!

First up...

Foods from Vietnam!  THIS POST featured the photo you see here which was Vegan Vietnamese Peanut Dipping Sauce next to Vegan Store Bought Spring Rolls.  Oddly the original post was from the 2013 MoFo.

In that same post you will see my attempt at West African Sweet Potato Peanut Bisque, too!

Next up was my first attempt at Panelle and you can check that original post out HERE.

This Vegan Panelle was inspired by and LOOSELY based on a Sicilian recipe I saw years ago!

I have to say that the Garlic Dijon Aoili really completed this!

Another country I featured was Turkey with this Turkish Red Lentil Soup.

From Denmark I tried to veganize a Parsley Sauce HERE.

Check out this Casablanca Cous Cous I did a while back, too!  I will have to do another Cous Cous very soon!  I've been HUNGRY for it - that's for sure!  And it's SO versatile!

During this years Vegan MoFo I blogged about some of the Irish Foods and Norwegian Foods I have tried to veganize and I want to do more of that in the near future, too!  If you have ideas of dishes and/or countries you want me to try let me know!

Another 'first attempt' I was pretty tickled with was the first time I tried to make Vegan Fried Green Tomatoes!

Check that out HERE.

I didn't have a lot of Fried Green Tomatoes growing up because I was very much a 'Yankee'.  My husband, on the other hand spent a few years of his childhood in the south and often tells me about the foods from that region.

Friend Green Tomatoes being one of them.

Black Eyed Peas being another.  But I will get to that in a moment.

Also in the Friend Green Tomato Post you will find this next photo for Veggie Fried Rice!

This turned out YUMMY and it was when I was using the VEGG product that was sent over to me.  That is a neat product if you can find it!

I really LOVE all of the color in this dish!

I have to give a special 'shout out' to the one and only time I made a recipe from Moldova, too!  It was a soup!

Check that out HERE.

Now...back to the Black Eyed Peas...

I rarely ate them when I was young.  Again - because I was from the north and my family wasn't really 'into' them.  I have since tried incorporating them into some recipes and foods I have eaten.  They aren't my favorite bean.  But I'm ok with them either way...just not one I would reach for first if you know what I mean.

But this dish could just be the FUSION recipe this post needs?  It's a Boston Black Eyed Peas Variation I did a while back.  It's something from the New England States.  North AND South...FUSION.  What do you think?  A stretch?

Vegan MoFo 2015 "Off Season" Community Blog Roll

Jennifer @ MyBlissfulJourney

Vegan Power/Vegan Peace @ My Cat Loves Daiya

Tea and Sympatico @ Tea and Sympatico
Emma @ Walks, Talks and Eats

Add Your OWN:

An InLinkz Link-up

"Cheesy" Veggies & Rice

Last night I made this for my lunch today.  It's Vegan "Cheesy" Veggies & Rice!  For the veggies there are Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Carrots.  For the Rice I used Brown Rice eventho it's hard to see in the pic because it's covered with "cheesy" sauce...and because it was taken with my iPhone.  (Speaking of which...I hope to be getting a new iPhone in the next few weeks so my iPhone pics should be better!)

I did the tasty Vegan Cheese Sauce I did for the Mac & Cheese I posted yesterday but kicked it up a notch.  I used more of each ingredient but then I also used Instant Mashed Potato Flakes as a thickener.  It worked really well in this case.  Plus I really like the potato flavor it added to this dish.

Is it wrong of me to want to eat this as BREAKFAST?

I'll hold off as long as I can...

YUM!

Chipotle Lime Polenta "Chick'n" and Tomato Flavored Quinoa with Artichokes and Green Chilies

 Chipotle Lime Polenta "Chick'n" and Tomato Flavored Quinoa with Artichokes and Green Chilies.  I made this last night for my lunch today.  I had a little bit of Polenta left over (I will have a separate post about that in a bit) and really wanted to use my Chipotle Lime "rub" from Wildtree in something.

So...here is what I did...

A little less than 1/2 of a store bought Polenta "roll" but I cubed it (instead of my usually slicing)

I 'seasoned' the Polenta with...

Wildtree Grapeseed Oil
Wildtree Chipotle Lime Rub
Nutritional Yeast

all to taste and texture

I noticed this was an interesting alternative to "chicken" so that is why I named it that.

I added in regular Quinoa that I had flavored with Tomato Paste and Agave Nectar.  It was sweet and tomato-y.  Paired with the Chipotle and Lime it made for an interesting flavor that I ended up really liking.

I wanted more color...so...I added Artichokes and Green Chilies.  Had I had carrots on hand I would have added those, too!

So, this is one of my thrown-together dishes and I have it ready to go for lunch today.  I'm looking forward to the Chipotle KICK.

Participating Post in...

Freedom Fridays
Friday Chaos
Friday Flash Blog
Friday Food Fight
Healthy Vegan Fridays
Strange But Good

Meatless Monday A-Z: Spinach

Today at Meatless Monday from A to Z the ingredient is SPINACH.  I LOVE Spinach!  Some of you might remember some of my Spinach attempts like my Vegan Creamed Spinach - pictured above.

Or the Spinach Salad that was part of my Thanksgiving this past year...

One thing I want to get into more is Green Smoothies.  I go in spurts with them but with my NEW Ninja Blenders I'm looking forward to it more!  It will be MUCH EASIER!

I'm getting especially hungry for Lasagna!  Someone told me the one strip pictured here looked like bacon! LOL

Participating Post in: Project 52, Show & Share, Meatless Monday, and Just Something I Whipped Up!

But I have to say I'm looking forward to more and more Spinach in my near future!

Left Overs - Spinach Rice Chickpea Dish

The other night I made Vegan Creamed Spinach and that recipe can be found HERE.

Last night I had that for dinner and wanted to do something a little different with the left overs for my lunch today.  So I took a little bit of the following:
Splash of Wildtree European Dipping Oil - Chili (Grapeseed Oil)

Chickpeas
Corn
Long White/Basmati Rice

I heated it up and am eating it now!  I'm VERY happy with this left over concoction!  I would definitely do it again!  It's tasty!

Casablanca Cous Cous

 Last Night I made Casablanca Cous Cous.  I found a recipe online and tweaked it based on what I had handy.  I figured you could serve this two ways.  Above I did the Cous Cous on the bottom with the mixture on top and below you can see I mixed all of it together.  I've tried the first one - last night - and mixed the rest and will have it for lunch and dinner over the next few days!

This dish had:
Cous Cous

Wildtree Grapeseed Oil

Wildtree Lemon Pepper

Sliced Carrots

Chopped Celery

Cubed Tofu

Tomato Sauce

Curry & Cayenne to taste

Chickpeas

Mushrooms

Wildtree Onion & Chive Blend

I'm pretty tickled with myself for this attempt!