Cabbage Soup

The evening was chilly and it had been raining all day.  Just a raw kind of day.  Perfect day for a soup.  I decided to try Jill Dalton of Plant Based Cooking Show's Cabbage Soup in the Instant Pot. Her recipes for me are hit and miss, frankly. I guess my taste buds are still not ready for things that do not have a lot of spice.  This soup was a little bland for my tastes, so I added Better than Bouillon vegetable stock and some extra water.

I love using my Instant Pot. While the soup was cooking I was able to do some other things. Soup, in my opinion, is the perfect thing to cook in that appliance.

Along with it I served a wrap of Quorn Meatless Chicken Spicy Patties, leftover fried rice, Daiya shreds, and a little vegan mayo.  It was a huge hit with the hubby - the wrap more than the soup.

Fake Chicken

So I know this isn't the most flattering of pictures, but it tastes much better than it looks.

I recently came acrss Super Firm Tofu at the market the other day.  I found that you don't hae to do much to press it as it has very little water in it.  The other day, I took a package of it and sliced off a bit and just cooked it in a little oil and added salt and pepper (fresh groun pepper), and viola, it tastes like chicken.  The texture and tast was very close.  Even an omnivore friend told me it tasted like chicken.  Enough proof for me.

Next day I put it in a little container and took it to snack on.  Really good.

Throw Together Meal

 

So for this meal, I did vegan Elote (Mexican corn) Tofu Steaks, and mixed vegetables.  I have been really trying to use up what I have bought because I am very bad at letting things stay in the fridge until they are old and yucky and have to be thrown away.  Food waste is terrible but I fear I am the worst at it.

So the vegetables are peppers, leeks and broccoli sauteed in a little vegan butter (I use Earth Balance).  This meal was a very last minute type of meal.  I put BBQ sauce and vegan Worceshire Sauce (The Wizard's) and pan fried it in a little olive oil.  My husband loves Mexican corn so when I see corn at the store I usually buy it for that.  I use Earth Balance, Mayo One, a mixture of Chipolte and Ancho powder and then vegan shake on cheese made of ground cashews and nutritional yeast. Usually turns out quite good and very close to the "real thing" made from dairy based mayo, cheese, and butter.

My husband is the taste tester.  He is not a vegan, has no interest in being a vegan, but he knows how I feel and how I want to eat.  So when he likes something, I am very happy.

Welcome

As a relatively new vegan (5 years and counting) I am still learning new things. There are always new things to try; recipes, products, techniques. I want to try them all. Sometimes I just feel as if I am flying by the seat of my pants - hence the name.

The purpose of this blog is to share that new knowledge with you and also let you know that as a new vegan, trying new things is not scary.  It's fun and exciting. But sometimes people get hung up in having to follow a recipe by the letter and that's not really necessary. I have learned through the years of my cooking life (omnivore and vegan) that there are many substitutions that can be made which will yield delicious results, and sometimes you come up with a new taste thrill that can make the dish entirely your own.  I do not intend to insult vegan recipe writers by changing their formula, I just want to allow a sense of creativity to each dish I make. I would like to bring you along with me and if you like it, that's great.  If you don't, that's great too - I'd love to hear your input.

I plan to post at least once a week and feature a recipe that I have tried and let you know how it turned out and what I may have done differently or done as written. There could be some dishes that I create on the spot and I will share those as well so that you may glean what you can from that.  I do not profess to be a great cook, but I think (and my husband agrees) that I can hold my own often. I simply want to pass on knowledge that could be of help to another new vegan and together we will explore the realm of plant based cooking.

So thank you for joining me on this journey.  I hope you enjoy what is presented.  Again, please let me know if there is anything out there you would like me to try and report on.