Vegan Barley Casserole Via Crockpot

The first recipe I chose to make for Crockpot Week is "Barley Casserole," which I found online. The recipe was simple enough; I made it easier by using a package of pre-cut mixed celery/onion I purchased at Meijer, adding in a little bit more onion (again, pre-chopped but from the freezer section!). Also, I didn't use fresh garlic, but the pre-minced kind in a jar. The only real prep work I had to do was chop a green pepper. Everything else was open and pour. :)

Overall this meal was pretty good, palatable to my omni fiance, too. It was kind of like a real thick tomato-based soup. We ate it with some rosemary olive oil bread. However, we both agreed the dish needs... je ne sais quoi. Something needs to be added to take this dish from "pretty good" to "Wow." It definitely has potential and I hope to fool around with it someday to make it better.

Vegan Barley Casserole

Prep Time: 20 minutes. Cook Time: 8 hours.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked pearl barley
• 1-1/2 cups tomato sauce
  
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 14 oz. can ready-to-serve vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or chopped walnuts

Keep the pine nuts/walnuts aside, but place all other ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on low for up to 8 hours or until the barley and veggies are tender. Top with the pine nuts/walnuts before serving.

A few of my personal cooking notes about this meal: The estimated prep time was 20 minutes, which I found to be about right. Cook time was stated as 8 hours, though I thought the casserole looked done around 5-6 hours. It got really thick so I thinned it out with more veggie broth as well as some water. I should've kept track of how much additional broth I used; I'll be more careful about that next time. If you chose to make this, you may want to do it on a day when you'll be around to check on it and add in some extra broth here and there.

And, apologies for the crappy photo; now that it's getting darker earlier in the evening, I need to figure out the best lighting to use for my photos. I have a homemade lightbox that I've used to take photos of things I've sold on eBay, but my current space restrictions don't allow for that to be set up as often as I take food photos.

My sister has invited me to take part in her "Halloween Pasta Night" on Wednesday. I plan to make my next crockpot meal--a pumpkin soup--that evening to go with the pasta. Come back to see how it all turns out! :)

Lazy Yet Fancy Cream of Tomato Soup

I'm continuing my "lazy cooking" theme this week by jazzing up one of my favorite foods: cream of tomato soup. This particular dish is so easy yet it impressed an omnivore, too!

I began by making elbow macaroni. I know I could've done without the pasta carbs, but to me, cream of tomato soup just isn't cream of tomato soup unless it has elbow macaroni in it! LOL While the water was boiling for the pasta, I opened a standard can of condensed tomato soup. Instead of using water, I mixed in one can of plain soy milk with the soup. I mentioned yesterday that I was saving leftover diced canned tomatoes and its juice from the tempeh dish I had prepared. I dumped those diced tomatoes and juice into the soup and stirred well. Then I added in some dried basil, oregano and a bit of rosemary to taste and heated the soup on low while the pasta cooked. I added my preferred amount of pasta to the soup and voila! A super easy yet fancier cream of tomato soup. :)

My sister currently lives upstairs from me (we live in a multifamily home) and I joined her for dinner because her hubby wasn't going to be home till later that evening. She had prepared a chicken breast and side of veggies for herself. When I appeared with my bowl of yummy soup, she said "Wow, that looks gooooood. Can I taste it?" She said my soup looked more appetizing than her meal. :) Score another one for the veg*ns!

Tempeh Tuesday #1

I'm back from vacation. As promised, I'll post about my trip but I'll need an extra day or two to ready the photos and write it up.

In the meantime, I'm going to post my lazy cooking habits since coming back home. LOL. Sometimes it's difficult enough coming back from a trip and getting back into the groove of the reality we call everyday life, without having to worry about cooking elaborate meals. So, my theme this week is EASY. I'm trying to use ingredients I already have in the cupboard and just keep things simple.

I had three packages of tempeh in my fridge because I'm trying to motivate myself to cook this soy-based food more often. I decided to make the tempeh sausage crumbles from Vegan with a Vengeance. I love this recipe soooooo much. The crumbles are so good. Much much tastier than any similar product that can be purchased pre-made in a store, and they're really not that difficult to make. So, I prepared the tempeh as directed in Isa's book. I also made pasta: Meijer Organics whole-wheat cappenilli, which I coated with a bit of olive oil when it was done. I opened a can of diced tomatoes that was pre-mixed with olive oil and garlic and, with a slotted spoon, scooped out some tomatoes (leaving most of the juice) as a topping to the tempeh and cappenilli. Simple yet tasty. :)

I did save the remaining tomatoes and all the leftover juice... I have plans for those later this week. ;)

I titled this post "Tempeh Tuesday" because I'd like to make Tuesday dinners my tempeh night, in an effort to try more tempeh recipes and learn to cook it better. (Did I ever mention I once tried to steam tempeh in the microwave and it came out as a hard, black block of yuck?) If you have a really great tempeh recipe, I'm all ears. I'd love some ideas from my blog visitors if you have any recipes to share. Please send them to: veggiecookster [at] gmail [dot] com. If I cook up your recipe, I'll give you credit and link back to your blog, so be sure to include the URL in your e-mail. :)

Bahama Breeze for Veg*ns

My boyfriend and I dined out at Bahama Breeze yesterday. We've eaten there before, so I knew there was something I could order from the menu. And, that dish was the Sun-Drenched Portobello & Vegetable Sandwich. Per the restaurant's Web site, the sandwich features char-grilled seasonal vegetables, tomato, asparagus, pepper-jack cheese and fresh basil, hot-pressed on Cuban bread. I enjoy this sandwich. I think it's pretty darn good! I never finish it though, cuz I feel it's pretty big, especially when we start off with an appetizer like the Roasted Cuban Bread (fire-toasted with vine-ripened tomatoes, parmesan cheese, fresh cilantro and basil) which can easily feed four people as an appetizer if you don't want to spoil your dinner. So it's always a to-go box for the second half of my sandwich. :)

Other veggie options on the menu include the "new" Vine-Ripened Tomato and Basil Flatbread, soups [though I don't know if they contain animal stock...the recipe they have posted for their Cuban Black Bean soup calls for bacon :( If it's soup you're after, stay home and make the recipe yourself, minus the bacon! hehehehe] and salads.

Jamaican Veggies with Spicy Chik'n

Tried to keep it simple last night. My local market had fresh veggies cheap this week, so I bought a lot. I decided to chop up peppers, eggplant, onion, yellow squash, zucchini and sunflower seeds and sautee them. I used a Jamaican seasoning blend I found here. Funny story behind that. I made some homemade seasoning blends for my Daddy-O for his birthday. I had tiny amounts left over from each batch, so I put them in sandwich baggies, figuring I could use them down the road. Well, the next night, when I had finished cutting up a yellow pepper for a salad I was taking to work the next day, I realized that in my haste, I tossed the half cut pepper into the baggy with the Jamaican spice blend, instead of the empty baggy just a few inches away. D'oh! Therefore, last night's dinner became Jamaican so I could use that half pepper with the spice all over it. :) I served the veggies over a Boca Spicy Chik'n patty (have I mentioned how much I love the spicy patties?) for a quick, delicious veggie meal!

"Chicken" Marvalasala and Papardelle with Rosemary Gravy

I didn't actually cook this meal. This yummy dish is compliments of my sis and her hubby. We had my parents over for dinner last night, in celebration of their birthdays this month. We cooked dinner for them. My sis and hubby took the main course, and I was charged with drinks and dessert. (See above blog for dessert.)

They modified this recipe from Rachel Ray's cooking show. My sister pointed out that they used veggie stock instead of chicken stock. I believe they still used the non-veggie Worcestershire sauce, tho, but I didn't make a stink about it since they went through the trouble to replace the stock and stuff. My family is still learning what is vegetarian and what isn't. Underneath all those yummy mushrooms in the photo is an organic Boca spicy chik'n patty.

This recipe was deeeeeeeelish! I definitely will try making it again, subbing the Worcestershire sauce, of course. ;)

Veg*n Taco Ring

I made this fabulous Veg*n Taco Ring last night. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Kitchen Ramblings from a Fairly Odd Tofu Mom. This blog has some of the most amazing recipes I've ever seen. She has a great writing style that is very down-to-earth and easy to follow. And, she posts great photos that always have me saying, "Oooh, I want to try that!"

My omni BF has been working long hours lately; summer is his busy season. He wanted to come over to see me last night before he went out of town for work. I really wanted to make him a yummy homemade meal before he went out of town.

The baked taco ring was a hit with my BF. His words to me were, "This is a keeper." :) He also was very impressed with the presentation. And, quite frankly, so was I. I haven't handled a lot of dough and was a bit worried I hadn't arranged it properly, but it all turned out OK in the end. Next time, I'll have more confidence arranging those triangles!!! ;)

Hot and Spicy Shake N Bake Tofu

Double post today, because I feel so bad about not posting in such a long time. Tonight, I made myself this tasty dish--Shake N Bake Tofu over Brown Rice. Now, I kinda cheated cuz I didn't actually bake it... I fried it. But, next time I most definitely WILL bake it. This is the second time I've tried Shake N Bake with tofu, and it tastes great, but when frying it, I find that some of the crunchy flavoring tends to fall off quite easily. :-/

Anyhoo, for this recipe, I simply marinated some tofu slices in Italian dressing... then I coated the slices with Shake N Bake Hot and Spicy. Fried those up in a little bit of Olive Oil. While doing that, I fried up some day-old brown rice, and a frozen mix of peppers and onions. Combined it all together and... YUM! I really enjoyed this. I don't like my food too spicy, and this was just right in my book. :)