I Love Cooking in the Fall

It cooled down over the weekend, and in this cooler weather I have been loving my time in the kitchen.

Monday morning I made this dessert. The bars took a while to prepare, but they're no bake and absolutely delicious!

After our travels on Monday, I made Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Linguine from the cookbook The Garden of Vegan. I used tomatoes packed in oil and used some of the oil from the jar in the pesto. It was ultra flavorful, creamy, and Clarissa and Veronica LOVED it. I actually made the pesto on Saturday, and then just cooked the pasta on Monday evening. I served the pasta with roasted broccoli and garnished with a variety of diced heirloom tomatoes.

For supper on Tuesday night, I made scrambled tofu, potato pancakes, and fresh steamed green beans. This meal was another hit with Veronica and Clarissa. Between the two of them, they ate 3 of the 8 pancakes I made, in addition to some of the tofu and some fruit.

The potato pancakes were a take on the Country Potato Patties recipe in The Garden of Vegan. Here is my recipe:

The ingredients you'll need
2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 shallots, finely minced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp fresh dill, minced
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp Braggs
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt

What you need to do
Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, and mash, leaving them a little bit lumpy. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well. Form into 8 patties. Cook on a non-stick griddle or in a pan with a little bit of oil, over medium heat. When the first side is golden brown, flip and cook until the second side is brown as well.

You could certainly add any kind of minced herbs that you like. I found that the dill was delicious when paired with the scrambled tofu I made, which was full of mushrooms. I love mushrooms and dill together. Also, I had dill left over from making pickles last Saturday.

Dill

At the farmers market last weekend, I bought some State Fair apples. The sign at the stand said that these apples were good for baking and for eating out of hand. Unfortuantely that was not a completely accurate description. The apples are quite soft, and I prefer a very crisp apple. They are fine for baking, though. I made cranberry apple muffins for breakfast yesterday morning.

The last dish I have to share is the mushroom stroganoff I made for supper last night. I had planned on using a particular recipe, but it called for mock meat, which I didn't have on hand and didn't have time to prepare. Also, it required whipping silken tofu and I just didn't feel like cleaning the food processor. I still made the stroganoff, but I made up the recipe as I went along. Here's the recipe:

Mushroom Stroganoff

wide ribbon noodles (eggless egg noodles)

1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup cauliflower florets, cut very small
1 lb mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, sliced
2 tsp Marmite, 2 tsp veggie soup base (I use Better Than Bouillion), or 1 tsp of each
1/2 cup vegan sour cream (I prefer Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream)
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
2 tbsp minced parsley (curley or flat leaf)
olive oil for sauteing
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in olive oil until they are translucent. Add the cauliflower and saute until the cauliflower starts to get a little bit golden brown and the onions are just starting to carmelize. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms release most of their water, but the liquid has not cooked off yet. Stir in the Marmite and/or soup base. Stir in the sour cream and yogurt. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes, to thicken the sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve the stroganoff over the noodles. I also added some fresh, diced tomatoes (not pictured), to the final dish.

That's a little recap of the cooking and baking I've been doing over the last few days. Have you been cooking anything really tasty lately? Are your cooking habits changing, now that fall weather is here?