Birthday Lasagna!!

Yesterday was my birthday, and even though I had a busy day with lots of yoga classes to teach, I was in the mood to celebrate! Some years I'm not really in the groove, some years I am - and this year I am. So, I decided to make myself a giant lasagna. I really, really love lasagna. It's probably one of my favorite things in the whole world, but I don't make it all that often because it's a lot of work. Which means it's a perfect birthday splurge! Also, if I do say so myself, I make a damn good vegan lasagna. So, as my birthday present to you, I'm sharing my recipe with you! Go forth and lasagna!

The day before yesterday, I made a big double batch of Tofu Ricotta, a batch of cashew creme, and the tomato sauce. That made actual birthday-day work quick and not too much. Plus, Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats helped me in the kitchen, which is quite rare, and we had so much fun goofing off together while we assembled the lasagna. Here it is, all ready to go into the oven at the right time! I even have a pretty lasagna dish that Mr VE&T gave me a few years back!

Please forgive me for this blurry picture, but when this big beauty came out of the oven, we were all eager to dig in! In addition to Mr VE&T, we celebrated my birthday with my super love friend Jane and her great husband and their little cutie pie daughter. It was really great.

Jane and her family brought along this BIG and beautiful salad, all with food fresh from their amazing organic farm. So light and fresh and deeeelicious. It was a perfect compliment to the lasagna, too!

While we were in the kitchen making our lasagna, Mr VE&T also helped me make myself a birthday cake! After MUCH deliberation, I decided to make the Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake with Meyer Lemon Sauce from the Millenium Cookbook. Their recipe in the book is actually for 6 mini cakes, so I one-and-a-halved their recipe for my full-size bundt pan. I'd never made it before - but Hot Damn! didn't it just turn out perfectly??? I was quite delighted.

Here it is all dressed up and ready to be eaten... complete with Meyer Lemon Sauce drizzled all over it. So beautiful and... more importantly ... so super delicious. Moist, lemony, light, and positively perfect. I can't wait to make this cake again!

We had the cake with some amazing strawberry compote that Jane brought (with strawberries from their farm!), and pineapple-coconut ice cream... it was a perfect, fruity-fruity combo! And also, it was a perfect little birthday dinner... special and warm and fun and peaceful. Lucky me! To extend my birthday joy, now I will share with you, my beloved blog readers, my lasagna recipe:

Amey's Amazingly Yummy Vegan Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lb lasagna noodles

Tomato Sauce:

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes

1 28-oz can tomato sauce

1-2 tsp olive oil for sauteeing

1 large onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried basil

1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper

Tofu Ricotta (recipe from Voluptuous Vegan):

1 lb. firm tofu

2 Tbsp good extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp salt

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tsp mellow miso paste

2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Cashew Creme (adapted from Veganomicon):

1/4 c. cashews, soaked in water for at least one hour, or overnight... the longer, the creamier)

1/2 lb silken tofu

4 1/2 tsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp arrowroot powder, or cornstarch

1 small clove of garlic

pinch of nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Veggies:

1 tsp olive oil

4 zucchini (not the humongous ones)

2 carrots

3 big batches of spinach

Let's Get Cookin':

You can make the tomato sauce, tofu ricotta, & cashew creme all the night before, if you want.

Also, first things first, get your cashews soaking for the cashew creme.

To prepare the tomato sauce:

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until they are translucent, approx 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1-2 more minutes. Add all the spices and saute another minute or two. Now add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

To prepare the Tofu Ricotta:

Crumble the tofu into a food processor. Add in the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, garlic, and miso. Process it all up until it's pretty smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Now add in the rosemary and pulse a few more times until it's all integrated. Scrape out into a bowl and set aside.

To prepare the Cashew Creme:

Add everything into the food processor (or blender) and blend it up until smooth. Scrape out the creme into a ziplock sandwich bag and set aside until you need it.

Cook your veggies:

Slice your zukes and carrots into thin little rounds (maybe 1/8"). This is an excellent opportunity to use your mandoline, if you have one. Then, heat the oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrots first, and stir occasionally. After about 5 minutes, add in the zukes, and continue to saute until they are nicely softened, but not overly browned, about 10-15 more minutes. You can't really screw it up. Don't worry. Once they're ready, remove from heat and set aside.

If you can multi-task in the kitchen, you can wash your spinach while keeping an eye on the zukes and carrots. All the spinach needs to be really well washed. Then toss the leaves into a big skillet or soup and cook until truly wilted. Squeeze off any & all excess liquid, or else you will have a watery lasagna experience and you will be sad. Set aside your cooked-down spinach.

Cook your noodles! Until soft, but still firm. Basically, follow the directions on your lasagna noodle box.

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Now, you are officially ready to assemble your lasagna. I like to be very orderly about this affair and have everything laid out in one place on the counter top.

1. Put a little tomato sauce in the bottom of your dish

2. Lay down a layer of lasagna noodles

3. Take out 1/3 of the tofu ricotta and crumble/spread it all over the noodles. (I use my fingers... but wash your hands first, kiddos!)

4. Lay on half the zuke-carrot mix.

5. Lay on half the spinach.

6. Spread on some more tomato sauce.

7. Repeat steps 2-6 (noodles-ricotta, zuke-carrot, spinach, tomato sauce)

Be sure to save enough tomato sauce for the top!

8. Lay on another level of lasagna noodles.

9. Spread on the final 1/3 of the tofu ricotta

10. Spread on the rest of the tomato sauce.

11. Get your baggie of Cashew Creme and cut a smallish piece off one of the corners of the plastic baggie. Pipe the cashew creme all over the top of the lasagna.

Now, you are almost there! Pop your beautiful lasagna creation in the hot oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Personally, I like it a little crispy, so I leave it in a little closer to 1 hour. Take it out, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before you cut it open. Eat, enjoy, be a lasagna piggy.

Happy Lasagna to You!

Persian Puff Pastry Cookies

These are the Yazdi Turnover Pastry with Cardamom (aka Sanbuseh) cookies from Silk Road Cooking. I made them a little while back and loved them! I think this is maybe only the second time I've ever bought/used puff pastry, since it's not exactly health food. But how cool that it's so easy to find vegan puff pastry at the supermarket! Don't they look beautiful and puffy?!

These cookies are stuffed with the most amazing filling EVER. I think I will have to make the filling and just eat it on its own. It's a simple but alluring combo of almonds, sugar, cardamom and rose water... somehow those few ingredients combine into a glorious hallelujah moment of tastiness. Once baked, the cookies are rolled (gently, now!) in powdered sugar and sprinkled with ground pistachios. Now I'm all jazzed up to find more excuses to make these again... they're that good!

Vegan Diner!

I've been meaning to write up a review for Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson for quite a while now, but I keep making more and more things from it - and wanting to include those in my post too. In case you're in a hurry, here's my review in a nutshell: This book is amazing and I love it and you should go buy it!! Now, for the more complete review...

The first thing I made was the Smoky Spinach and Tomato Salad (with Smoky Curls). First, let's talk about those Smoky Curls. This recipe calls for Butler Soy Curls, which most of us have to get via mail order - but they are worth it. They're made of non-GMO soy protein with a totally neutral flavor that can be tweaked in countless ways, and they have a great texture. These Smoky Curls are just amazing. Soooooo good - salty and smoky with a touch of sweetness... they come together in 20 minutes and make a delicious little snack, addition to a salad, or an evening protein blast with an otherwise light dinner. I have made them many times already. In fact, Mr Vegan Eats and Treats is totally nutso for them and requests them all the time. Looks like I'll have to order some more soy curls soon!

Here's the completed Smoky Spinach and Tomato Salad - topped with the lovely Creamy Tomato Dressing. What a delicious meal! So full of flavors and textures and nutrients... rich and light all at once. Protein! Greens! Veggies! Flavor! So good!

Next up, I tried my hand at Julie's cheeze recipes. First I made the Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze, which I really, really loved, but somehow it escaped photo-documentation. Pictured here is the Garlic Dill Cheeze - also amazing! Both recipes are made with a base of silken tofu, so they're packed with protein, and then all the added spices give great flavor so that you don't at all feel like you're eating a big hunk of tofu. Also, the texture is absolutely perfect - you can slice it or spread it - and it's creamy, creamy, creamy. I made a big batch of bagels recently for a friend (Pesto Bagels from 500 Vegan Recipes - such a perfect recipe, by the way!!) - and I made a couple extra for myself. I loved the Garlic Dill Cheeze on a pesto bagel with some cucumber and tomato slices... heaven! This temptation alone has me planning another batch of Garlic Dill Cheeze for this weekend.

My friend who needed bagels also needed some muffins. So, I looked through Vegan Diner and picked out the Cherry Almond Poppyseed Muffins - bonanza! The whole "What's the difference between a muffin and a cupcake?" issue can be complicated and confusing sometimes, but not here. These muffins are what I would consider a True Muffin, and I was super stoked about that. They're just pleasantly sweet, but not at all overbearing - and definitely not "a sweetie." I love that Julie's recipe called for oil and applesauce, to not go overboard on the fat and calories, but to keep the moisture of the muffins. Also, I loved the overall flavor combo - cherries, almond extract, and poppyseeds! I plan on making more of these again soon. Possibly tomorrow. :)

Next up: Quinoa Burgers! One batch makes 6 burgers, which was great for me, because we each had one for dinner, and then the rest went straight to the freezer (precooked) where they were available for quick lunches or dinners. Notice my use of the past-tense... they didn't last long! I really loved these burgers a lot. They were not too crumbly, which can be an issue for some homemade burgers. Great flavor - a little smoky, rich, with a surprising depth of flavor. Also - special bonus - they are gluten free so I can make them for my GF loved ones too! You can see that I used red quinoa, since that's what I had in the fridge, which gave them a pretty look.

Here's another burger shot, just because.

Finally, just last night I made the Pastrami-Style Seitan Loaf. HOLY YUM, Batman!! Honestly, I don't think I've ever in my life tasted pastrami, so I can't vouch for that. But I have tasted YUM in my life and I can definitely vouch that this stuff is The Yumz. Big time. Plus, it took about 3 minutes of effort, and then 50 minutes of doing nothing. I love recipes like that. I've been needing some more protein in my life lately, what with all my new muscles (yeah!), and I really don't foresee that being a problem now that I've found this great recipe. I can't wait to try the other seitan recipes in Vegan Diner too. This loaf was quick, easy (almost effortless), has amazing flavor, and perfect texture. I am in love!

Lastly, but not leastly, I'd like to mention what a totally beautiful cookbook this is. I know it shouldn't matter, but we all know it does. Vegan Diner is just lovely - beautiful cover, excellent fonts (I'm nerdy like that), great layout and color scheme, high quality paper, embossed writing on the cover (fun to touch!), great pictures throughout the book, lovely little write-ups for the recipes... it's just a joy to flip through and read. I've made quite a few things now, and there are still many, many more that I can't wait to try out. Congratulations and big thanks to Miss Julie, for such a great cookbook!!