Merry breakfast

Christmas morning is the kind of occasion that demands a fancy breakfast. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, two entire bonus days off basically forces you to use the time wisely. I should be doing those self-improving and  home-improving things I said I would with all this time off, but instead I choose to use it to make delicious things that normally are to time-consuming for me to bother.
That includes Mom's Morning Casserole from Vegan Brunch. It's awesome. It's one of those dishes that reminds me I don't deprive myself of deliciousness being vegan.
It has four layers, and in my opinion is vastly improved since Daiya was brought into the world. It's a layer of potatoes (pre-baked on their own in the casserole dish, which does increase the time needed significantly), then a a tofu mixture and a tempeh mixture. Then a final sprinkling/meteor shower of vegan cheese about ten minutes before it's done to finish it off. It's delicious, stands up on its own a vegan dish to omnivores too, and is perfect for fancy mornings, or just when you have some to make a bad-ass breakfast.

Breadmaker focaccia

I bought a breadmaker on the weekend. It was a great price, and my last one had long since given up. But we know what this means: a month of home-made bread, then intermittent neglect mixed with bouts of baking galore.
So, for my inaugural project: pizza dough. It actually tuned into three calzones and some focaccia. To keep me happy with minimal effort, I spread vegan pesto and Daiya vegan cheese on the focaccia before baking. I have yet to find a perfect whole-grain focaccia recipe, but yes, it's like sex and pizza: even if it's bad, it's still pretty good.

Black bean burger from Veganomicon with cheddar-style Daiya vegan cheese.

Grilled cheese breakfast

Breakfast today: grilled cheese with cheddar-style Daiya, cooked in my panini press. An excellent way to start the day.

Lazy nachos

Too lazy (tired/sick/self-pitying) to post any decent content. So here, have some oven-fresh vegan nachos with Daiya!

Vegan pizza FTW!

I made some pizza and took it to a friend's as munchies for a clothing swap tonight. I ran out of time to make anything else, so when I was making pizza last night, I eventually realized that two crusts came in the package--so fine, I'll just make two!

When the hostess asked what I brought, I said, "Vegan pizza." She said, "That's great!" We re-heated it in the oven, then I cut it into inch-wide slices and put it out.
It went over very well. I was actually expecting to apologize for the pizza--cheese is one of those things that people say they can't live without. So I wasn't sure vegan cheese would cut it. But the hostess said it was fantastic; I heard someone proudly saying, "It's totally vegan pizza!"; another guest said she didn't realize it was non-dairy cheese until I mentioned it; someone else even authorised me to describe the yummy food noises she was making as "orgasmic". Yes, organic noises over vegan pizza!
Unfortunately, the pizza pictured is not the pizza I brought. I took a picture with the camera phone, but now it doesn't seem to exist and...I don't want to talk about it. (My smart phone has never before been so cruel...)
The pizza I took to the party was ridiculously simple; it takes about 10 minutes to assemble. I use Shasha  spelt pizza crusts, which handily come two in a package. Instead of tomato sauce, I used store-bought tapenade over the crusts. As with all packaged food, check the ingredients to make sure it's vegan! You can also use store-bought pesto, bruschetta, etc... Anything with flavour will do the trick. Top with mozzarella-style vegan cheese and heat in a 350-degree oven until is melted to your preference. Then take to a friends and impress the hell out of everyone there!

Plug in, eat up

I do love my kitchen gadgets. I always toast bread, because keeping a loaf in the fridge means it always needs a little heat before eating. I use my stick blender almost every day to make smoothies. A coffee frother makes delicious faux-lattes with foamy soy milk. And then there's my panini pres...
A panini press is definitely more of a luxury item. Unlike my stick blender, it really does only one thing--make sandwiches, or sandwich-like foods. Unlike my coffee frother, it costs wayyy more than a latte. But it makes cooking so easy.
Tortilla shells are something I pretty much always keep on hand. I have been buying sprouted grain tortillas, which need to be kept frozen, so it makes them slightly less instant, but the added benefits of having something other than plain wheat tortillas makes it worth it. Why? Because my Mexican-style dinners can ready in minutes with my beloved panini press.
With tortilla shells on hand, the only other things I need for an almost-instant meal of vegan quesadillas are chedddar-style Daiya and salsa. If I have cooked black beans on hand, add them and I up the heartiness by half. Add avocado and you double the decadence. To really bring on the delicious glam and the nutrients too, I add cubed sweet potato and kale for a huge, panini-pressed stuffed tortilla. When I make it with that many ingredients, I fold the shell in three so I can press the whole thing but still hold the goodness in.
...I may have a somewhat-unhealthy relationship with my panini press, but the healthiness (and speed!) of the resulting meals more than makes up for it. Happy panini-ing!