Breakfast Feast

Tofu Scramble, Home Fries, Toast, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Tea, and Orange Juice.

Dad's in town on a surprise visit and I really wanted to make him something special.  We ended up going out for lunch and dinner the last two days so I could show him the town and all our favorite places, so I made him breakfast before work today and went all out!

Breakfast included:

Tofu Scramble w/ Home Fries

Toast (Made with fresh bread using my new bread machine and this recipe - Simple Bread Machine Wheat Bread)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Made the same except I used vegetable oil instead of Earth Balance)

Hope he liked it! 

Day 9: Potato Curry

After multiple trips to the store for forgotten items, I made Potato Curry from the McDougall Cookbook (page 220).

So far everything I have made from his cookbooks is pretty good, but kind of bland. I like a little kick to my foods, so I usually add some pepper or more spices.

The recipe today had potatoes, frozen peas, onions, garlic, ginger root & a ton of different spices (surprisingly curry wasn't one of them!), but all put together you didn't taste much but the potatoes. Not sure I'll make this one again anytime soon, but a nice add in to break up the usual menus.

Day 6: Pancakes & Getting creative with Toaster Ovens

Back to making interesting foods again!

Breakfast: This morning I made some very tasty Vegan Pancakes! I used the recipe below:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/veganpancakes.htm

The pancakes cooked very well, but I put it on a little lower of a temperature for a little longer so it didn't brown as much.

After watching Cory eat his pancakes with peanut butter, I had an idea: Adding Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and making a pancake sandwich! It reminded me of a place I loved in North Carolina called Stack 'em High. My new favorite breakfast!


Lunch: A bit of leftover Tofu Scramble

Dinner: For dinner it was time to get creative. I had a recipe for 'cheesy' enchiladas, but realized I used the last of the nutritional yeast on the tofu scramble. So instead I mixed a few different enchilada recipes I had.

I used this recipe to make refried black beans http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=20765.0

For the enchiladas I used:
1/3 cup tomato & green chilies
2 cups instant mashed potatoes, cooked
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
Refried black beans from previous recipe
1 10oz can enchilada sauce
4 tortillas

Seeing as my oven still does not work, I had to use the toasted oven. I used a 6x6in (I think that's what it is) pan and covered the bottom lightly with enchilada sauce. Mix the mashed potatoes, corn, and tomato & green chilies together. Spoon on an even amount of the potato mixture and the refried beans onto a tortilla and wrapped it up, placing it in the pan. Repeat 3 more times to fill the pan and pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the burritos (I could have used another can of enchilada sauce, but apparently I only bought one instead of 2). Place the pan in the oven (or toaster oven in this case) and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

For a toaster oven meal, it turned out pretty well and still one leftover for lunch tomorrow. Hoping to hear about the oven soon, but the toaster oven works well in a pinch.

Day 2: Leftovers, Packaged Meals, & Potato Soup

Today I have been feeling rather lazy since I got up and didn't feel like making much.

For breakfast I had my leftover Granola Bowl from yesterday and a banana.

Lunch I ate 2 Yves 'Hot Dogs' with Arnold Wheat Hot Dog Buns, some Heinz Ketchup & mustard. Quick and very easy for the lazy days and I found both the hot dogs and buns at a Walmart Market near by. I LOVE veggie dogs and was excited to find them so close and cheap! Now I just need some dill relish to complete the meal. :)

For dinner I made a Potato Soup I found online some time ago. Super easy with minimal ingredients.

Easy Potato Soup:
1 medium red potato, cut into cubes
1/2 small carrot, sliced thin
2/3c celery tops and leaves, chopped
1c plain unsweetened soy milk
dried dill, garlic powder, and black pepper to taste

Boil the potato and carrot in water until soft (about 15 mins), drain. Lower the hear, add remaining ingredients, and simmer to combine the flavors

The recipe makes 1 big serving, or two small bowls; so I quadrupled the recipe, subbed soy milk for rice milk, and used parsley instead of dill since I did not have it. I think I put a little too much pepper in, but still turned out pretty good. Nice and simple meal to use up those leftover veggie parts.

Tofu Scramble w/ Home Fries

Thought I would get some practice, seeing as I am not the best cook and am not as knowledgeable on vegan cooking as I should be; plus I needed to use up some tofu about to expire in my fridge along with some potatoes starting to sprout.

I combined two recipes I found on the internet, give or take a few ingredients.

Home Fries:
5-6 Large Potatoes, cut into 1/2in cubes
5-6 tablespoons olive oil
Cook on medium until soft
Add garlic powder, sea salt, and ground pepper to taste.

Tofu Scramble: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/TofuScramble.htm
I used this recipe minus the onions, green peppers, and onion power; and I used Earth Balance margarine instead of oil.

Once both were cooked I combined them probably 60-40 potatoes to tofu. I even added a smidge of ketchup to my bowl for kicks.

I think this may be one of my new favorite breakfasts (although I had it for dinner) and even my roomate Cory (the non-vegan meat & cheese lover) and my other roomate Paul (the picky eater) loved it. Edit 11:30p: Most importantly, hubby loves it too. Said it is his favorite thing I've made, vegan or not.

I have made vegan dishes out of the McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook before, but this was my first attempt at "winging it" with ingredients I had. I would call first attempt a success.