I’m no stranger to vegan cheeze substitutes. Most, well, don’t taste like cheese (except for my beloved Daiya!). I happened to have a butternut squash laying around, though, so I decided to give this one a go.

Butternut Squash Mac n Cheeze

This recipe made a nice, creamy sauce, and it was tasty – but it didn’t really taste like cheese. It was more like squash and garlic. Still, it made for a good side dish, and fit the bill for warm, winter-time comfort food. I’d probably like it better if it didn’t claim to resemble cheeze. I understand the need for a more whole-foods version of the ol’ mac and cheese recipe, though, so this works.

Note that the recipe makes a TON of sauce, so you will have extra sauce to put on veggies or other things throughout the week. You could almost fill a swimming pool with it.

I made this dish for my family’s Christmas get together in Chicago last week (though it was just vegetarian for them and not vegan, as I couldn’t find Daiya on short notice Christmas eve). It almost didn’t happen; do you have any idea how hard it is to find lasagna noodles at 4pm on Christmas Eve? We had to go to 2 stores, and I got the very last package on the shelf at store #2 (thank you, Target!) It was well worth the search. This lasagna got thumbs-up reviews from even the meat eaters, and I enjoyed it so much that I made it again at home for New Years.

This recipe makes a 9×13″ dish of lasagna – good for 8 serious servings (which in my case means, a freezer full of lasagna!) For the record, it does freeze and reheat very well. If you plan to go that route, let it cool down a bit then portion it out into freezer-safe containers and freeze. You can also make this a day ahead of time and refrigerate it prior to baking, then toss it in the oven when it’s time to make dinner. Just add 5-10 minutes if you’re starting with cold lasagna.

Without further ado, my favorite lasagna recipe of all times:

Now, at Olympic Star, a pizza burger was nothing more than an overcooked hamburger slathered in their one-size-fits-all marinara (you know, the same meat sauce that went with the spaghetti and the lasagna and anything else that was served with a red meat sauce), with a slice of some sort of white cheese on a cheap burger bun.

I can’t even say it tasted all that good (it really was some un-magnificent meat), but it tasted unique, and it was messy, and it was cheap. To a teenage palate, that works.

I’m a bit more picky these days. I prefer to eat food that tastes good, and I prefer to eat food that didn’t moo before it ended up on my plate. I’m still a big fan of a big, messy burger that tastes kind of like pizza, though.

Enter: another recipe from The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet. If you like burgers, this really is a fun cookbook. I have now made 5 or 6 burgers out of this book (and one of the bun recipes, too), and they’ve all been stellar. This time, I tried out the Pizza Burger recipe.

The premise here is that the burger is flavored to taste like pepperoni pizza. I did not have any anise seed, which might have been a critical pepperoni-flavor-component; I’m not sure. I don’t know what anise seed tastes like. I also knew from previous experience that the recipes in this book tend to pack a punch on the spicy side, so I decided to dial the spicy components way back.

The result was a veggie burger with a mild kick and enough pizza flavor to warrant the name Pizza Burger (though maybe not specifically Pepperoni Pizza Burger).

Here’s how it went:

So Delicious mint chocolate coconut milk

Hello there, tasty holiday beverage! (Hey, we all need inspiration sometimes).

Cooking up some pizza veggie burgers

Welcome back, Favorite Cow Towel!

Pizza burgers, ready to go into the oven

I love my little plastic burger press. These burgers are ready to bake!

Pizza burger on whole wheat kaiser roll

It’s a burger, baby.

The recipe (as I made it):

BacOs are vegan.

Yeah, BacOs, like, bacon bits – there’s no bacon in them.

(Note: vegan does not equal healthy. They’re made with genetically modified soy and a bunch of chemical crap… but they sure do remind me of my youth, and that tends to lead to some good tasting eats).

I picked up another alien (aka romanesco) cauliflower at the farmers market and was trying to figure out what to do with it. The onset of chilly fall weather has me clamoring for comfort food, so I decided to turn my Christmas Tree Veggie into cheezy bacon cauliflower.

I boiled the romanesco cauliflower for 5 minutes or so, then drained it and combined it with some Daiya cheddar, soymilk, and BacOs.

It was a glorious way to eat my veggies!

Veggie Burger and Cheezy Bacon Romanesco

Paired with a poor-man’s veggie burger (I was out of buns!)

So good.

Behold: Tempeh Helper!

Tempeh Helper

It’s a variation of Isa’s recipe from Appetite for Reduction. If you don’t have the cookbook (umm, why not??!) she’s got a similar version posted on her web site – just minus out the chili powder: Tempeh Helper. The oven mitt hand man is totally creepy.

I can’t promise that this version is as light on calories as hers, but it’s a bit more satisfying. I say this only because vegan cheeze sauces are notoriously thin and less-than-cheezy, and since the advent of Daiya vegan cheese, there’s just no reason not to indulge.

So my version used Isa’s seasoning mix and recipes for the pasta and tempeh, combined with Mama Pea’s use of silken tofu and Daiya for the cheese sauce.

It’s a perfect throwback to Hamburger Helper, and hit a huge vibe in the Comfort Food category. Definitely a winner. This recipe could easily be bulked up with some broccoli or romanesco cauliflower (my new obsession).

In fact, writing this post might induce me to make this recipe again for dinner tonight!

I mean, have you SEEN this thing?

Romanesco Cauliflower

It’s the Christmas Tree Broccoli!

I first encountered this wonder if the form of a locally grown version while dining at the Local Chop & Grill House. It was delicious, and I’d never seen or eaten it before. I promptly forgot the name of the veggie, until I saw it today at the Friendly City Food Co-Op (and, it’s locally grown!). (BTW, juicing is expensive!! I’m going through produce like crazy, and that’s with only drinking 16 oz of juice per day!).

I just had to pick one up… not to juice, but to eat!

This thing was a blast to chop up. I tried so hard to maintain the cute little Christmas trees! It turns out, this thing isn’t broccoli. (Well, some countries call it broccoli, and there are cauliflower-broccoli hybrids out there that are similar, but this wackadoodle is a species of its own. In the US, we typically call it Romanesco Cauliflower. It chops up similarly to cauliflower, but it tastes more like broccoli.

Chopping the Romanesco Cauliflower

Now, personally, I’m not a huge broccoli fan (though I do eat it once a week or so), and I really don’t like cauliflower (even though I keep buying it anyway and then either tossing it because it goes bad before I convince myself to eat it, or I end up not liking whatever recipe I use it in). Is it just me, cauliflower-dislikers, or does it just look like it has so much potential?

But this Romanesco Cauliflower – it tastes more like a mild broccoli, and it’s really, really good! (It’s also gorgeous and funny looking and quite amusing to eat Christmas Trees).

The internet told me that this delicious little weirdo was best prepared either steamed or briefly boiled. One site suggested 2 minutes in boiling water, followed by a brief stir fry in a seasoned oil mix. I went that route, but tossed it in a quickie vegan garlic cream sauce instead (1/4 cup soy milk, 2 Tbsp nooch, a few cloves of garlic, a Tbsp or so of Earth Balance, and 1/2 tsp of basil).

Christmas Trees!

I had a bag of Shirataki tofu noodles in the fridge that needed to be eaten…

Shirataki Noodles

… so I served the Christmas Trees atop those, with some leftover Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters on the side.

Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters and Romanesco Cauliflower in Vegan Garlic Sauce with Shirataki Noodles

Wonderful dinner! Fantastic vegetable! I hope it sticks around so I can enjoy the Romanesco Cauliflower a few times before it goes out of season.

Dinner is served!

I stumbled across this recipe for Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters over on Happy Healthy Life and literally jumped up, ran to the kitchen, and made them. Nevermind that I’d already eaten dinner. (Snacks!!)

Oh yeah.

How do you resist such a thing? I’ll tell you how. You don’t.

These came together very quickly, and I’m a big fan of recipes that involve the potato masher. You can find the full recipe here. Basically, mash the chickpeas and pumpkin together, fold in some spices and stuff, coat in bread crumbs, and fry ‘em up!

Into the frying pan!

You should definitely leave more space around your fritters than I did. Flipping was a challenge.

Flipped!

But I managed!

I made a couple modifications to the original recipe. First up, I was out of hemp seeds, so I used a combo of ground flaxseeds and chia seeds instead. Next, I used 2 Tbsp of cornmeal instead of flour to help with binding. (It just sounded yummier!). Lastly, I fried them in a couple tablespoons of peanut oil instead of safflower oil. I love how peanut oil smells! Definitely didn’t need a half cup – but mine were more pan-fried than deep-fried.

Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters

Super delicious! I ended up with 9 fritters – I figure, 2 meals worth. I definitely wish I had doubled the recipe! These could be baked instead of fried, if you’re into that. I usually go the baking route, but I was feeling frisky. Definitely worth it.

Or not.

OK, so it’s pretty hard to do anything non-spaghetti-related with spaghetti squash. Believe me. I scoured the internet for recipes and didn’t really find anything inspiring.

At least I didn’t just make spaghetti with it.

* harps playing in the background as we go back in time *

It all started with this dang spaghetti squash that had been sitting on the counter staring at me for a couple weeks. I wanted to do something different with it. Easier said than done.

Whatever this beast would become, it first needed to be roasted. I like to add a little coconut oil to the cut side of the squash before I roast it. Most people seem to use olive oil, but the coconut oil has such a great depth of flavor. It worked really well here. Into the oven it went for 40 minutes. And out…

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

I started assembling stuff in search of inspiration.

Ingredients

Forking spaghetti squash is fun.

Forking the Squash

Let’s make a veggie lasagna with it!

I sauteed the onion, pepper, broccoli, and asparagus with the Herbs de Provence. Then I remembered I had 1 link of Field Roast anti-sausage left and threw that in there. In another pot, I made a tomato basil marinara.

Then, I layered the squash and veggies with some red pepper hummus and Daiya vegan mozzarella and baked it all for 35 minutes or so at 350F.

Spaghetti Squash Veggie Lasagna

Look at all those veggies! The only downside – it probably could have used a double-batch of marinara. That didn’t stop me from licking the plate clean.

Spaghetti Squash Veggie Lasagna

The peppers were from the garden of a colleague of mine, picked less than 24 hours prior. So good!

This was a much more enjoyable way to eat spaghetti squash – and I can say with a good deal of certainty that this is how I’ll make lasagna from here on out!

Yes, I know. You missed me yesterday. I’m back this evening for your foodie enjoyment, and a little birdie told me there’s a morning edition on its way, too.

First up: pesto veggie sandwiches! Oh. You mean, you’ve seen those before here? Or here? Hey – I promised I’d try to make 20 posts about food in the month of October. I never promised it’d be different food every day!

What can I say? I eat a lot of pesto veggie sandwiches. To make this instance a tiny bit more palatable, I will show you one of my magic kitchen weapons. This little beast makes chopping veggies super easy:

Pampered Chef Food Chopper

It’s the Pampered Chef Food Chopper. I couldn’t really tell you if other choppers work as well. I’ve used this one for years and it still looks and works like the day I bought it. The thing can take a beating (I’m a clutz) – it just keeps chopping away.

Now, I didn’t use it to chop these leeks…

Chopped Leeks

… but I did use it on the baby bellas (got a sweet deal on organics!) and the red peppers:

Leeks, Baby Bellas, and Red Peppers

Sometimes I use onions instead of leeks. It just depends what’s in my fridge. These leeks were on their last legs, for sure. This mix is made of 1 carton of baby bella mushrooms (16 oz), 1 large sweet red pepper, 3 leeks, and 3 cloves of garlic. Saute and salt to taste… voila!

Pesto Veggie Sandwich and Green Bean Fries

With my buddies the Green Bean Fries on the side (baked, not fried… 18 mins at 400F… salt and pepper… nom).

How about: Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Garlic Toast. Better?

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Tomato Basil Sauce, Field Roast Italian Sausage (vegan), and Twin Oaks Tofu

Let’s start Vegan MoFo Week 2, shall we?

Spaghetti is my comfort food. It reminds me of my dad, which is comforting. After last week’s sad news of the passing of Steve Jobs, I needed some comforting. Since my dad is now hanging out with Steve (asking how he ever managed to corrupt his daughter into drinking the Kool Aid), well, spaghetti it is.

I tried out two new products in this meal – both discovered via a couple of my favorite food bloggers. First up, Twin Oaks Tofu (which I discovered via Kath Eats). First of all, Twin Oaks is a cooperative, worker-owned farm. Second, they make local tofu – the farm is about 60 miles from where I live in Virginia. Third, it’s organic, non-GMO tofu, and it gets rave reviews from everybody I know that has tried it.

That makes plenty of reasons for me to take a stab at it! I grabbed a package of their Italian Herb tofu from the Friendly City Food Co-Op:

Twin Oaks Italian Herb Tofu

Now, word on the street was that this tofu didn’t have to be pressed. Now, it took me a LONG time to finally “figure out” tofu – and only now that I have a handy dandy Tofu XPress tofu press do I truly appreciate it as a meal option. So, a tofu that wouldn’t require a day sitting in a medieval torture device? Interesting.

I figured I would put it to the test of all tests, and try baking it, straight up – no pressing whatsoever. Sliced up, straight out of the package. (I did add a bit of garlic powder to get the garlic toast thing going on).

The other new product in this meal was Field Roast Italian Sausage – a “grain meat” that I discovered via Emily over at Daily Garnish. She had discovered Field Roast veggie dogs at her local market in Seattle, and they sounded better than most of the “fake” meats I’ve tried. I’m not much of a fan of fake meats – but I was never much of a meat fan even when I was eating meat, so it’s not surprising.

Grain or “wheat meats” are usually based on some form of a recipe for seitan, or wheat gluten. Seasoned properly, these “meats” – when prepared properly – can be nearly indistinguishable from “the real thing.” Texture is usually the hardest part to replicate, even if the flavors are spot-on.

I sliced up 2 links of the Italian sausage and sauteed it for just a few minutes until browned, then added a jar of organic tomato basil sauce and simmered for a bit.

I served the sauce and sausage over whole wheat noodles topped with a little ‘nooch Parmesan, and a few garlic tofu slabs on the side.

All I have to say is… look at this tofu!!

Look at this tofu!!

Seriously, people. Best tofu I’ve ever had. It baked up wonderfully chewy with a nice little crunch on the outside. So flavorful. So easy!

And with regard to the sausages, I have to agree with Emily. Field Roast is top notch in the vegan meats department. I even enjoyed a sausage plain on a giant roll the other day, and it had fantastic flavor and texture. I wish I could find more of their products locally here.

From my plate to yours, here’s to delicious food that makes you feel good!