Category: Recipes

Yes, potato salad in late autumn. One of the problems with shopping at Costco is that you have to buy a lot of things in bulk and we bought hamburger patties so I decided to make potato salad to go with it.

This recipe surprised me because it uses red vine vinegar and I had never seen anyone use that ingredient in potato salad before.

It came out exceptionally well and I learned a few things too.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Yukon Potatoes or New Potatoes (I used Yukon)
• 2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt (or 1/2 Teaspoon Table Salt)
• ½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
• 3 whole Boiled Eggs, Diced
• 3 Scallions, Sliced Thin
• 1 stalk Celery, Diced
• ¼ cup Sweet Pickle (not Relish), Diced
• ½ cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

Directions

1. Clean potatoes then place them (whole) in a 5- to 6-quart pot.
2. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Put a lid on the pot then simmer stirring once or twice to ensure even cooking until a thin-bladed knife inserted into the potato can be removed with no resistance, 25 to 30 minutes for medium potatoes and 15 to 20 minutes for smaller potatoes.
3. Drain the potatoes then rinse them under cold water and drain again.
4. While the potatoes are still warm, cut them into 3/4-inch cubes with a serrated knife.
5.  Layer them in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the red wine vinegar, salt and pepper as you go along.
6. Refrigerate the potatoes while preparing the remaining ingredients.
7. Mix the remaining ingredients with the potatoes and refrigerate until ready to serve.

That’s it! Pretty simple. I still consider myself a “basic” cook so one thing I didn’t know that I learned was that I could boil potatoes whole. Whoduhthunkit????

.Be careful not to burn yourself when you cut the potatoes. Let them cool a bit.

I found another moist banana bread that is really good and is also vegan. (If you don’t care whether you use dairy or not, see the other recipe I posted by clicking here.)

This recipe was easy to make. I didn’t have “real” maple syrup so I substituted the “fake” syrup and it turned out just fine.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup plain soy milk or almond milk (I used almond)
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups mashed banana, from about 4 large very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Walnuts (optional, but I did not use them)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly oil a 9″x5″ loaf pan and set aside.
2.  In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the soy or almond milk and the cider vinegar and let stand for 2 minutes.
4. Add the mashed banana, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, whisking until well combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, mixing until just combined (do not overmix!).
6.  Fold in the walnuts (if using) and pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
7. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Allow the bread to cool on a wire cooling rack for 20 minutes before serving.

That’s it! It took my loaf 70 minutes to bake instead of the 1 hour so check your bread around the 55 minute mark to see how its doing.

Another change I made was using 2 frozen bananas (in addition to the 2 ripe ones I had). I nuked them in the microwave for 30 seconds and added them (along with the juice) to the two other bananas then mashed them together.

I know, the de-frosted frozen bananas look a little weird but I have found that when I use them (and the juices that they make) the banana bread comes out quite moist. I also like chunks of banana in my bread so I don’t mush them to death.

One piece or ??? We all had two pieces which were delicious. Especially when the bread is warm.

Hope you enjoy it!

Note: The original recipe came from dairyfreecooking.

I’m finding that the simpler the salad the more tasty it is. This salad is chockful of vitamins and tastes delicious. I did not have white balsamic vinegar (again) so used regular balsamic vinegar. I must go buy some as more and more recipes seem to call for it.

Note: Make sure you lightly coat the salad with the vinaigrette and keep the rest on the side so that people who don’t like a lot of vinaigrette don’t gag on it.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Salt & pepper
• 5 cups fresh baby spinach, washed
• 1 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup sliced or chopped figs
• 1 Fuji apple, peeled, cored and cut into bit size pieces

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper to your taste then set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, almonds, figs and the apple. Add the vinaigrette a little at a time, toss the salad and taste it until the vinaigrette reaches the “right” consistency for you.

That’s it! Pretty simple, eh? The figs can be replaced with cranberries or any other dried fruit but they gave the salad a tad bit of sweetness which I liked. The almonds crunchiness  worked wonderfully with the spinach. Potato chip lovers — make a salad and use almonds for a healthier snack. Better yet, make this salad.

We had a little bit leftover and the next day I finished it off and it still tasted as good.

This recipe was found in one of my favorite books 1000 Vegan Recipes.

[amazon_link id=”B009CVA2GA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]

This simple yet delicious salad took no time at all to make. I always toss my salads with a touch of vinaigrette then serve the rest on the side as most of the time the amount of vinaigrette that’s called for drenches the salad instead of lightly coating it.

Ingredients

• 1 pound shredded carrots
• 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons walnut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the carrot, cranberries and walnuts then set this aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, walnut oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
3. Combine the dry and wet ingredients.
4. Lightly coat the dressing over the salad, toss gently to combine, then serve.

That’s it! Pretty simply, eh?

I found this recipe in one of my favorite vegan cookbooks called 1000 Vegan Recipes.

[amazon_link id=”B009CVA2GA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]

I have finally found a banana bread recipe that is absolutely fantastic because it’s the moistest banana bread I have ever tasted. I tweaked the recipe just a tad because I didn’t have 2 medium bananas but had 1 banana and 1 frozen banana. It worked beautifully.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 medium ripe banana, sliced
• 1 frozen banana, thawed and smushed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan
3. In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
5. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt then stir this into the butter mixture until smooth.
6. Fold in the sour cream and bananas including the juice from the thawed banana.
7. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared loaf pan.
8. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
9. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

It came out perfect and oh so moist! This is now my “go to” banana bread.

Anyone for a slice?

Special thanks to allrecipes.com for this recipe.

It’s not easy to find a good potato soup. Why is that?

I finally found a vegan one that I “unveganed.”  (laughing)  I left out raw cashews and soy milk so this is basically a new recipe. In addition, I added sour cream which gave the soup a more “full bodied” taste.

The soup turned out good but you have to be careful how much white pepper you add … although, I thought I had put too much (what the recipe called for) and my husband thought it could use more.  Go figure.

I have to remind myself that I might think a recipe is too sweet, tart, etc. but to someone else it’s perfectly fine. Hmmm … I guess not everyone is like me. (laughing)

Ingredients

• 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into small pieces then boiled until cooked (thrust a fork through a piece and if the fork comes out easily, ie the potato is not hard but soft, then the potatoes are ready
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 3 tablespoons sour cream

Directions

1.  In a medium sized frying pan, sauté the onion until its soft.
2. Add 2/3 of the potato to the pan, along with the broth, rosemary, white pepper, and salt.
3. Simmer this mixture, covered, for 10-15 minutes.
4. Pour this mixture into a blender along with the milk.
5. Blend until smooth.
6. Put the blended mixture in a soup pot, add the remaining 1/4 potatoes and the sour cream then stir.
7. Cook through, stirring often, over low heat until hot.

That’s it! I’m learning to play with the ingredients in recipes that I find and it’s quite fun to experiment. I served this with banana bread that went beautifully with it.

I’ve changed parts of this recipe (that I recently found) because I made “newbie” mistakes.

First, I didn’t read the recipe close enough so when it said “white balsamic vinegar,” I read balsamic vinegar which I already had in my cupboard. Second, the recipe called for white pepper and I read “pepper” which I, again, already had in my cupboard. That’s what happens when you try to find a new recipe quickly.

I think the original recipe was trying to make the salad look “white.” But you know what?  It turned out great!. The recipe below includes the changes I made to the original. Oh — one last thing. This was supposed to be a vegan salad but I used REAL cheese. So, if you want it to be vegan, just use soy cheese or leave the cheese out.

Ingredients for the salad

• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced or shaved
• 2 pears, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes or so
• Parmesan cheese, grated

• 3 tablespoons walnut oil
• 2 tablespoons brown balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons agave syrup
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground fennel seeds

• Fennel also goes by the name of anise in the grocery store
• The whole top portion of the fennel is not edible although some people use the grassy-looking part as garnish
• If you’re going to “shave” instead of slice the fennel, a useful tool is a mandolin
• Here’s a link to a Youtube video on fennel that I found useful (it’s not for this recipe but as a newbie cook I found it quite helpful)
• Here’s a picture of the top of the fennel. The bottom looks like a tulip bulb.

It’s always fun to try new recipes since I’m not the kind of person who knows how to put food together without one.  Special thanks to Vegalicious Recipes for the inspiration.

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I’m not overly fond of cauliflower but this recipe received rave reviews so I thought, why not try something new?

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups aged white cheddar, shredded
• 1 cup milk or cream (I used cream)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Potato Flakes (optional)

Directions

1. Toss the cauliflower florets, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of  oil in a large bowl then arrange them in a single layer on a large foiled baking sheet.
2. Roast the cauliflower in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 30 minutes.
3. Heat one tablespoon oil in a medium pot over medium heat.
4. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and thyme and saute for one minute, more or less.
6. Add the broth and cauliflower to the onion mixture, bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer (covered) for 20 minutes.
7. Puree the soup in small portions with a stick blender or in a regular blender until it reaches your desired consistency.
8. Bring the pureed soup back to the pot, warm through, add the cheese, let it melt then season with salt and pepper.
9. Add the milk, stir and remove from heat.

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