Pass Along Recipe - Baked Potato Soup

I just wanted to pass along a great recipe I found for Baked Potato Soup.  This was one of my favorite types of soup back in the day, and its great to find a recipe that replicates the taste and creamyness so well.  Its great topped with Daiya cheese, tempeh bacon, and green onions.

http://www.cestlavegan.com/2010/11/loaded-baked-potato-soup/

I'll post some recipes from Thanksgiving soon.  Everything turned out really well, but I made way too much food.  Sometimes I get over zealous about showing how delicious vegan food can be.

Vegan Thanksgiving - Potential Menu

Thanksgiving is my second vegan thanksgiving that I have at my place for coworkers and friends who work too late or have nothing else to do on Thanksgiving.  Here's my preliminary list for the holiday menu:

Cranberry Walnut Bread
Tangerine Sorbet Cups
Blueberry Cheesecake
Coconut Whipped Cream
Strawberry Sauce
Vegan Jello
Oreo Pie
Pecan Pie
Apple Crisps

Chicken Pot Pie
Candied Squash
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Spiced Quinoa with Cranberries and Nuts
Stuffed Mushroom/ Pepper Caps
Green Bean or Brussle Sprout Casserole
Steamed Veggies

I'm looking for more suggestions too.

Tofurky Pizza

So a while back I saw on a vegan outreach enewsletter (which I highly recommend signing up for) that Tofurky was coming out with a line of vegan pizzas in the fall.  I was super excited the other day when I finally saw one at whole foods.  I finally tried it with Steve tonight, and it was amazing.  It had the crispy crust that you can only get from frozen pizza.  I haven't had frozen pizza since I was in France a year and a half ago and this was as good as any frozen pizza I had, and probably better than most (because it had the right kind of sauce).  They use daiya cheese, so its great on that front.  We would have gone out to get a second one if it hadn't been 11 o'clock at night and the store hadn't been closed.  I'll definitely be eating more in the near future.

http://www.tofurky.com/tofurkyproducts/pizza.html

Nerd Blizzard Adventure

When I was a kid, my favorite thing to get at dairy queen was a nerd blizzard.  It was basically just nerds mixed with vanilla ice cream, but it was really delicious and a great sugar rush.  But now dairy queen doesn't even make them anymore, and they wouldn't be vegan anyway.  So I figured out how to make my own.  This isn't a recipe exactly, but just a suggestion for a delicious treat.

I took some so delicious soy ice cream and let it soften for a while.  Then, I dumped it in a tupperwear container and mixed in a box of nerds.  Sometimes its hard to find them, but I got them at Walgreens.  I just mixed them around and then refroze it, and it tastes really similar to what I had as a kid.  If you leave it for more than, say, 12 hours, the ice cream dissolves the shell of the nerds a little and makes it taste even more amazing.

Chickpea Snack

This is a really simple but tasty snack.  Its basically just roasted chickpeas, but I could eat it all the time, and chickpeas are really healthy.

Heat up about 2-3 tbsps of olive oil in a frying pan.
Dice one medium yellow onion and 3 cloves of garlic and throw it in the oil.
Let this cook for about 1-2 minutes, until it softens a little.

Add a rinsed can of chickpeas to the mix.  Allow this to cook for about 5-7 minutes, until everything starts to brown a little.  Serve it up and salt and pepper it to taste.

Posting should become more regular again.  I'm in my own studio apartment and just got my internet hooked up. My cat broke his hip somehow while at my parent's place, but he's doing much better now.

Ruby Rhubarb Ginger Crunch

Got the base for this recipe from my farm CSA's newsletter for last week when they brought Rhubarb.
I changed things around to improve it.

3 cups Rhubarb, chopped
1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

Combine rhubarb and other fruit with the sugar.  Mix well, let it stand about 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Butter a pie pan.  Add the other ingredients to the fruit mix, and pour all of them into the pie pan and spread evenly.  Bake 20 minutes.

While this is cooking, make the crunch topping.

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup quick oats
4 tbsp earth balance butter

Combine all of these into a bowl and mix well. When the base is done cooking, pull it out of the oven and pour the crunch topping over it, and spread it evenly over the top.  Bake the crunch for another 30 minutes.  Wait a little while for it to cool down, but eat while still warm.

Vegan Cookout with my Sis

Yesterday I went out to the suburbs where I'm from to visit my sister.  She's vegetarian and will someday be vegan, once she leaves home.  We were originally planning to go kayaking and boating in the river by us, but due to all the flooding it was too dangerous.  We were going to grill, but then apparently my parents got rid of their grill.  So, we just cooked inside.  Pictures will be posted later, but here's what we made:
Apple Sage Sausages
Pasta Salad
Grilled Eggplant Slices
Corn on the Cob
Ruby Rhubarb Ginger Crunch
Pan con Tomates