Can't Wait to Make This and That

Since I'm working through leftovers, I'm not cooking tonight.  But, that does give me some time to browse through some recipes I would like to make sometime soon.

Sweet Potato Torte from Vegetarian Times.  I'll figure out if I want to use actual dairy for this one or find a good sub.  But, regardless, the mandoline will make slicing the sweet potatoes ridiculously easy, and I do love swiss chard.  I'll play with it.

Vegetarian Times also has a video on how to make your own seitan, which is now on my list after my amazing pan-seared seitan meal at Blossom in New York City.

Chocolate Mousse Pie from Science of Spirituality Vegetarian Life.  I don't see myself jumping on the raw bandwagon anytime soon, but I am curious about this vegan dessert, which gets its creaminess from avocado and almond milk.

The Whole Foods website has oodles of holiday recipes, including both vegan and vegetarian options.  The two that caught my eye were Harvest Stuffed Acorn Squash and Celebration Lentil Loaf.  The stuffed squash dish has walnuts,which are a big allergy no-no for me, but pecans would be an easy sub.

Awhile back, at a work function, the vegetarian option was a quinoa stuffed bell pepper.  This recipe from Chef In You looks quite similar and tasty.  Since I'm not a frozen pea fan (and they also are technically an  allergy issue for me, which likely contributes to my lack enjoying them), I'll tinker with this a bit.

Husband and I have been discussing Shepherd's Pie, and I've been searching for a recipe that will satisfy his desire for a more traditional preparation and my vegetarian adventurousness.  This recipe from Clean Eating Magazine looks like it has the potential to make us both happy.

Of course, with winter fast approaching, soup sounds like a great idea.  Healthy Bitch Daily recently sent out a vegan autumn minestrone that looks like it will hit the spot.  And, if I want to give my immersion blender a workout, I can make a vegetarian version of this butternut squash soup.

Lastly, we all know of my great love for macaroni and cheese.  Since I am eschewing packaged foods and dairy, I will be staying away from the kraft deluxe and the velveeta shells and cheese (I may need help from a sponsor here - any volunteers?).  Fortunately, I came across a great looking Fancy Mac & Cheese recipe on Daiya's Facebook page, courtesy of Natalia Eats.

Well, that's enough food to last for weeks now, isn't it?  Now, must find the time to try all these out!

What vegetarian and vegan recipes are you looking forward to trying?

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad

If you haven't guessed by now, I am a huge fan of anything with roasted veggies, so I jumped at the chance to make the Roasted Vegetable Pasta salad from the newest edition of Clean Eating Magazine.  (It's on Page 48 if you're a subscriber).

For those of you who aren't familiar with the magazine, it's chock full of recipes that eschew refined carbohydrates, added sugars, high amounts of saturated fats and processed foods containing lots of additives and preservatives.  Each issue comes with a food budget planner and a monthly meal plan.  While not all the recipes are veg, they're full of fresh fruits and vegetables, and it's often easy to sub or modify to make the dishes veg friendly.

This recipe calls for roasted peppers, onions, tomatoes and zucchini, and a vinaigrette chock full of garlic and fresh herbs.  It also calls for goat cheese, but it can be made vegan by omitting the cheese. I thought it would be perfect to take to tomorrow's Fourth of July BBQ. 

I did make some subs to this recipe for a variety of reasons.  First, as much as I love eggplant, we're taking this to a party at my brother & sister-in-law's house, and as she is allergic to eggplant, I omitted it from the recipe.  To make up for it, I added some navy beans and an orange pepper in addition to the red, yellow and green.  Second, although I was dying to try kamut pasta, it wasn't available at Balducci's (and their whole grain pasta offerings were scant, in my opinion).  Since we had enough errands to run yesterday without another stop, I ended up going with some nicer traditional macaroni. 

Another sub I made was the verjus, which is made from the juice of unripe grapes. They did have that at Balducci's, but only in a large-ish bottle.  A quick google search revealed that red wine vinegar was an okay sub, so I used that and fresh lemon juice.   And, finally, I doubled the whole recipe, which serves eight as it's written in the magazine.

My mother always told me that pasta salad tastes better the second day, so the whole thing is marinating as we speak.  I'll bring the goat cheese along and plan to toss it in right before we serve it.  We'll see how it tastes tomorrow!