I LOVE curry – literally anything with curry!  Thus, I love veg curry pies!  I saw the recipe for these quite awhile ago but never got around to making them.  A few weeks ago I was in Santa Monica to stopped at the Tudor House for one of their super yummy veg curry pies and I knew I just HAD to make them soon.

So, my pies didn’t look nearly as nice as VeganLovie’s but they tasted amazing!  I don’t know what I did to that dough – although, she did say the photo above are of ones she fried – so maybe that’s whey they’re nice and flaky.  I baked mine and to be honest I was a little confused – she says to bake them for 30 minutes at 180 degrees – that seemed low, but I did it – they were definitely not golden and didn’t seem done, so I cranked it up to 380 and baked them for a bit longer.  I was disappointed that they had a harder crust to them, like a pie crust rather than the flaky crust seen above.  Luckily they still tasted wonderful.

Yesterday I warmed one up in the microwave for lunch at work and it was perfect!  The crust was soft – absolutely perfect!

I made these for Valentine’s Day dinner and made them heart shaped.  Unfortunately I must have accidentally deleted the photo from my blackberry but at least I still have a photo of the delicious mixture before I put it in the dough.

Get the recipe!!  You’ll LOVE it too!  Maybe you’ll have better luck with the dough – although in the end I liked them anyways – especially as left-overs

I made this last night and I absolutely LOVE it!  I think the butternut squash is an amazing addition to the classic veggie chili!

From Chef Elizabeth Hales, Executive Chef, Compass Group

Serves 6

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin, ground
3 cups butternut squash, peeled, in 1-inch dice
2 cups water
1 cup diced canned tomatoes with chilis, drained
2 cups black beans, cooked
1 cup red kidney beans, cooked
1 cup great northern beans, cooked
1 cup black-eyed peas, cooked
1 cup pinto beans, cooked
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Add the oil to a large stockpot over medium heat. Saute the garlic, onion, and bell pepper until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.  Add the chili powder, cumin, and oregano and stir to combine. Add the squash, water, and tomatoes and bring to a boil, stirring to combine.

Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the beans and simmer another 5 to 10 minutes until the squash is tender and the beans are well heated, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.

I just made these pumpkin dog treats for Winston and he loves them!  I used nearly all organic ingredients as well!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, mix together and roll into little balls, smash them down with a fork – like you would for peanut butter cookies, then bake for another 20-25 minutes or more depending on desired crunch.  I made these on the softer side for Winston but if your dog prefers a harder crunch bake them longer – you can’t really over-bake them (unless you burn them) but even if they’re super crunchy and dried out your pooch will still love them. 

Note – if you make them softer keep them in the refrigerator – mine got moldy sitting out.  In the end I decided it was just easier to bake them longer and have them be crunchy so I could keep them out on the counter.  You could also roll them out and cut into cute shapes – this is what I normally do but I was being lazy.  The reason I prefer to roll them out is because then they’re thinner and thus bake faster and more thoroughly.

The other night for dinner we had potato pancakes.  I hadn’t made them in forever.  I don’t really eat eggs anymore but I had some from a farmer at the market who has very happy chickens that don’t live in nasty cages so I used one of those.  I added a twist to the traditional potato pancakes that I love and added shredded carrots!

I had made a huge batch of mashed potatoes and needed to use them up so I added an egg, shredded carrots and chopped onions, mixed it together and made patties and put them on the griddle.  Brown them – more than you see here – they were half way done – and serve.  I had sliced avocados on the side and it was a lovely dinner.

I saw the recipe for this on Urban Vegan the other day and thought it looked pretty yummy, since I had noodles, cabbage, onions and garlic I gave it a try yesterday and loved it.  I did forget the mushrooms but I have a little leftover so when I warm that up I’ll saute in some mushrooms.

Get the recipe!

This looks so delicious I can’t wait to make it myself!

get the recipe

I  made the pumpkin cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and they’re amazing!  I didn’t bake them long enough – I didn’t test them before I pulled them out but that’s fine they’re still fabulous.  I also didn’t have enough chocolate chips so I added pecan pieces to make up the difference and that worked – it was a nice addition.  I don’t love nuts that much that I would substitute half of the chocolate chips for pecans next time but in a pinch it was a good add. Also, I was out of cinnamon so I used ground cloves.   Grab yourself a copy of the cookbook to get the recipe!  In the photo above I warmed up the cupcake and slightly melted the frosting on top – it was AMAZING!

These look AMAZING!  I can’t wait to make them!  (using soy sour cream and soy cheese)

Written by Heather Carr

I recently made these Beet Pancakes and they were AWESOME!  I love beets so they sounded great to me right from the start.  If you’re not too sure about beets I must say this is probably the best way to try them.  They’re super healthy for you and in the form of pancakes they give the old standby pancake a healthy punch and they look pretty!  I’ll definitely be making these quite a bit!

(Since I don’t like to eat much dairy I substituted firm tofu for the ricotta)

Written by Vanessa Brown

I like to get creative in the kitchen when I don’t have much. The other night I’d brought home some left over grain rolls from a lunch at work where no one even touched the bread basket and they’d have otherwise been tossed. I cut the rolls in half and drizzled Tuscan Herb Olive Oil from Old Town Oil on them and grilled them under the broiler. Then I took a slice of vegan mozzarella cheese for me and buffalo mozzarella cheese for Eric and melted those on the bread. Finally I took veg chick’n nuggets (which I’d already baked), put them on the bread, spooned on marinara sauce and added some Italian seasoning. They were fantastic!
Part of being eco-friendly is to not waste. So try to make an effort to buy less food at once so you’re not throwing stuff away and then when you’re really low on food in the kitchen get creative – you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you can come up with!
Enjoy!