Cauli Steaks, Green Beans and Potatoes

Tonight, we decided to have a fancy dinner! Cauliflower steaks with a side of green beans and potatoes. 

I used 2 cans of green beans and 1 can of diced new potatoes. Put all, juice included, in a crock pot. I used 1 tsp of Better Than Bouillon Seasoned Vegetable soup base. Mix it all together well and cook on low for 3 - 4 hours. No additional Seasoning is required. 

 Peel the leaves off the cauliflower and cut the stem off. Slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices. Some fell apart, so I just cooked the pieces too!

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 20 minutes, flip and bake for 15 to 20 more. Keep an eye on the steaks to make sure they don't burn. It's ok if they get a little crispy though. 

Let stand for about 5 minutes and serve crispy side up!

Vegan Lasagna

I found recipes for vegan ricotta and vegan lasagna in different places. I put them together to make them my own.

The ricotta is:

1 block of extra firm tofu

1 cup of cashews (soaked over night)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp salt

Juice of 1 lemon 🍋 

5 cloves of garlic

Italian seasoning to taste

Fresh ground black pepper.

Mix all in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth.

For the sauce:

1 yellow onion 🧅 

2 cups of fresh mushrooms 🍄 

5 cloves of garlic minced

Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are done.

Add 2 jars of red sauce. I used tomato basil sauce. Simmer while you make the ricotta. 

For the lasagna: 

Lasagna noodles (not all noodles are vegan) (I used oven ready noodles)

Ricotta mixture

1 tub of baby spinach

Fresh basil

Sliced roma tomatoes 🍅 

And sauce

Put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place noodles as evenly as possible. Then layer with ricotta, spinach and basil, followed by sliced roma tomatoes. Then more sauce. 

Continue to layer in this fashion until the dish is a little less than full, with sauce finishing at the top. I placed a few dollops of ricotta on top.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. 

Pro Tip:

Before putting in the oven, place the dish on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in the oven with the dish on top in case any sauce spills over.  This will prevent it from dripping into the oven and you can simply wash the baking sheet. 

After baking, let stand for 15 - 20 minutes. Slice as big a chunk as you wish and enjoy!

I chose not to use pre processed vegan cheese, but you can certainly add to the top if you like.

Let me know, in the comments, what you think of my recipe!

Vegan Reeses egg

This recipe by Brittany Jaroudi of The Jaroudi Family... with a twist. You can access her video by clicking here

I used 1 cup date paste, 1 cup oat flour, 1 can of chickpeas and 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter. Mixin a food processor until smooth.

I then froze for 20 minutes and rolled into balls and formed. Put on a silicone mat and froze for another 20 minutes. 

I took vegan chocolate and melted in the microwave. Dip, or submerge, or drizzle. 

Turns out amazing!!

Asheville, NC for my birthday

We took a trip to Asheville, NC to celebrate my birthday at a vegan restaurant called Plant. My beautiful wife planned the date. She is not vegan, but LOVED every bite! 

Happy James!!

This dish is a vegan take on shrimp and grits. It has fried mushrooms and a cheesy flavored grits!

Grilled beets with a horseradish mayo with balsamic herbs, and onion tumbleweed. This was REALLY good.

A vegan cheese dish. THIS was the star of the show! Cheeses made with cashew nuts. Apples,  golden beets, dates and toast bites all contributed to a dish we will go back for.

This is a peanut curry dish. It was really good too. Fried tofu, red cabbage, roasted red peppers, eggplant and sweet potato with peanut curry sauce. I could drink this sauce by the gallon it was so good.

This was a smoked portabello with fennel salad, greens and cauliflower  sauce as well as a red pepper steak sauce. The greens are hiding under the mushrooms. While this dish was good, it was my least favorite dish of the night.

We told the server we were celebrating my birthday. She made sure to end the evening on a special note... or WITH a special note.

Our Recent Endeavors!

This mouth watering picture is of some of our travels.

My wonderful wife has been on the hunt for vegan restaurants for us  to visit. She's found a few. Most are winners, a few... meh...

In Nashville, TN, visit AVO to have lunch and definately order the Kimchi Spring Rolls. Also the Chocolate Cheese Cake was really good.

In Jacksonville, FL, definitely visit Southern Roots Filling Station

and Sweet Theory Baking Co.

Haven't posted in a while

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I have not been cooking. I plan to make a shift in the near future, so I can begin posting again.

My apologies to any and all of my followers, I will do better. May not be weekly, but every now and again I will post something. Even if I do not have pictures to go with it.

Thank you for bearing with me.

James King
The Vegan Potato

Veggie Loaf!

1 medium sweet potato and several carrots shredded. A medium onion chopped and several cloves of garlic minced.

1 can of kidney beans. Chopped collards, and 1 cup of quinoa. A handful of chopped walnuts and a handful of chopped pecans.

About 2 cups of ground flax and chia seeds, and a handful of almonds ground. I added enough veggie broth to make it sticky.

I mixed it all together, then added cumin, salt and pepper and some nutritional yeast.

I cooked 2 loaves for 60 minutes at 350 F covered with tin foil then uncovered, I bumped the heat to 400 for 15 min.

Turned out pretty good!

Once I decide on my favorite gravy recipe, I'll make this with some mashed potatoes and gravy!

Enjoy!