Edamame Salad

I spent the last week cooking for 150 people. I should clarify, I was one of three cooks. I was excited that 4 of us were vegan/vegetarian. But since I spent 16-20 hours a day in the kitchen while at girls camp, I haven't had a chance to blog since returning. I have been spending most of my time sleeping (imagine that).

                                             

Today I made  edamame salad. It was a recipe my sister made for me when I was visiting her last month. This recipe is so good I have already made it 2-3 times since returning home. Here is a link to her awesome recipe.

Mushroom and Spinach Stuffed Shells

I love to cook. I went to lunch with my good friend Nancy yesterday and on the way there she said that since she cooks for everyone else, she doesn't like to cook for herself. I am all for cooking for others, but if I get to the point where I don't wanna cook for myself - I don't get to eat. Being vegan in an extremely rural area means making most of my food all of the time. I am so excited to tell you that this recipe comes together in about 30 minutes of prep time and just needs 30 minutes to bake. Here is what you need:

 

18 jumbo shells

1 can of Hunts Garlic and Herb Pasta Sauce (or your own favorite sauce - keep in mind making it from scratch will add time to the recipe)

1 cup Daiya shreds (mozzarella flavored)

 

Filling:

5 oz frozen spinach (cooked according to package directions)

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup sweet onion, diced

1 Tbs olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic

1 block of super firm tofu (refrigerated kind)

2 Tbs lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

 

Sauté the mushrooms, garlic and onions in the olive oil. While that is cooking take a fork and crumble the tofu. Once the onions are tender and translucent stir the onion, garlic mushroom mixture as well as the cooked spinach, lemon juice, nutritional yeast flakes, salt and pepper. It should look something like this.

 

The next couple of steps should be pretty obvious, but you will want to take the cooled shells, don't try to do it with hot shell, and stuff them.  You will need to grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and place a layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Next using a spoon fill the shells and place them in the pan. A 9x13 pan will fit 18 shells.

Pour the rest of the can of sauce over the shells once they are all in the pan and sprinkle with the Daiya mozzarella shreds.

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve while hot and enjoy!

Pulled Jackfruit

This week I have been doing everything I can to prepare for girls camp. I have done loads and loads of laundry, as well as shopping and even some cooking ahead of time. I got the menu this week and I noticed pulled pork on the menu. In the last 3 years I have made a lot of things, but veg pulled pork wasn't one of them. So I turned to my good friend (the internet) for some ideas. Let me just say there are some extremely creative people out there when it comes to this. I saw some using seitan or other mock meats, others using oyster mushrooms but the most interesting, to me at least, was canned jackfruit. It was new to me which I found scary but also a little exciting. So I took myself to the Asian food market and plopped down $1.49 for a can of green jackfruit in brine. All the blogs said not to get the one in syrup but instead to get one in either water or brine, so that's what I did. 

Next I opened the can and drained off the brine and rinsed it we'll. the next thing I did was take the center more firm part off. Now some people used knives for this step but I just used my hands. I also shredded the fruit as I went and removed any seeds or pods as I went. It looked something like this.

Next I mixed together a rub. I used:

1tsp granulated garlic

1tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground mustard

I just stirred all the spices together and rubbed it into the "meat". Next I cut up some onion and cooked it in a little bit of olive oil until it was soft and starting to caramelize. Add in the seasoned "meat" and continue to cook an additional 5 minutes. Next you add in about 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Spray a baking sheet with oil and spread in a thin layer. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve on your favorite roll. Enjoy and Happy Independence Day!