Quick and Easy Peanut Thai Sauce

REAL quick and easy peanut Thai sauce for yummy gluten free/ vegan stir fries!

1/3 Cup Pineapple Juice
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
3 Tbs. Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (careful how much you add)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Sesame Oil (alittle)

Add all ingredients and heat! Enjoy with veggies and a protein!

Gluten Free / Vegan pie crust!

Hey everyone! Sorry we have not posted anything for a while- we are super busy. But here is a new recipe!

Pie Crust:

• 2 cups Flour (I used Better Batter)
• 1/4 Cup of cold water
• 3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening- keep cold (I used Earth Balance)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Egg (or for the vegan option use Egg Replacer)
• 1Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Soy Milk
  

First add flour and salt into a mixing bowl. If you are using eggs add in the bowl as well, but if you are using the Egg Replacement follow the instructions in a separate bowl and then add. Now take the stick of cold butter and shred it with a cheese shredder into the bowl with flour. I read that it helps bind the ingredients together if you keep the butter cold instead of melting it and then adding it to the mixture. Just pour in the water and knead with your hands!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Now that you have your pie dough- roll it in a big ball and press the dough out to the sides of your pie pan. Make sure you dough is no more than 1/4 inch thick. In a new bowl mix the olive oil and soy milk together and paint on the coating. Oven is ready and so is your pie! Stick your pie in the oven for only 5-9 minutes until the crust starts to brown. Take your pie shell out and you can add whatever filling your are craving!

The photo below is a Broccoli and Onion Quiche.

In the quiche recipe it said to preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once the oven temperature was ready, I placed the pie back in the oven (with filling) for 35 minutes.

Macrobiotic Foods

Hey everyone! If you are in a pad thai kind of mood try Dia's Macrobiotic Sesame and Peanut Noodles recipe out! It can be found on a great blog called Cooking with Dia. She offers many macrobiotic, vegan, and gluten free recipes.
Macro what? (That's what I said) The Macrobiotic diet consists of eating grains and fruit/veggies. Those on this diet avoid all processed foods. You can find more information on macrobiotic foods visit Macrobiotic Diet Basics

Jeff and I really enjoy Dia's Macrobiotic Sesame and Peanut Noodles. The recipe is very easy and quick. Plus it tastes like pad thai!
FYI: If you like spicy food add the 2 chili peppers the recipe calls for, however if you rather a milder meal try adding a tsp of (red or green) chile paste instead of 2 fresh chili peppers.

Dia's Macrobiotic Sesame and Peanut Noodles
(Click Listen at the top of her Post to listen to the post/ recipe!)

Thai Tofu with Pineapple and Veggies from Vegan Express

We are trying to cook a lot this weekend, as we have slacked off on it and have found we become increasingly hungry as the week progresses.

Some quick house keeping issues, first a new tofu and second, how to "properly" make tofu (and have it actually taste good). First, Jenni and I (Jeff) saw a new kind of tofu from NaSoya, it is called NaSoya Plus. The website says "Nasoya organic Tofu Plus is designed to meet the nutritional needs for those on a no/low meat diet and is fortified with B2, B6, B12, D and Calcium." I am upset by this new tofu because it adds fuel to the fire of those low/high meat diet eaters. Almost as if one of the major tofu companies realizes that all of those on a no/low meat diet need these vitamins and if they don't eat this new tofu, they will not get these vitamins and minerals. I disagree. If those on a no/low meat diet eat a proper, well-balanced diet they should be all of the vitamins and minerals from the "direct" sources. Alright, enough of that.

Second, how to "properly" make tofu (and have it actually taste good).

• Make sure the tofu is not expired. The tofu can last a long time, but it will eventually go bad.
• Optional - some people put the tofu in the freezer over night and then thaw if before they use it. I've heard that it makes the tofu more chewier.
• Holding the package of tofu over the sink, pierce the plastic wrapper with a knife.
• Drain all of the liquid from the package.
• Cut the rest of the plastic wrapper off so the tofu can easily come out of the package.
• Setup paper towels on a plate (see picture below).

• Place the tofu in the middle of the paper towel (see picture below).

• Wrap the paper towel around the tofu.
• Turn the paper towel wrapped tofu over so the seam is on the bottom (see picture below).

• Flip another plate on top of the wrapped tofu (see picture below).

• (We doubled the recipe below so that is why you see two.)

• Place a few heavy books on the top plate (see picture below). NOTE - the tofu will be squished so the top plate may not be level, causing the books to fall. To help with this, put the plate and books up against a wall.
  

This recipe comes from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. (Page 52, for those that already have the cookbook.) Because of copyright and legal stuff, I am not exactly sure what I can post from the recipe (i.e., ingredients, preparation tasks). Therefore, this will be step by step picture guide. Enjoy!







































Tada! The finished product, minus the rice or quinoa because we still need to get more from the store.

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GF/V Philly Chicken Cheesesteaks - Round 2

We decided to have the GF/V Philly Chicken Cheese steaks again this week. This time Jeff was cooking.

Started out the same way, by making 4 cups of TVP. (1 cup of TVP = 1 cup of hot water)


Then sauté the onions. Or, in Jeff's case, burn them "slightly." And add the TVP.

Next, use the fantastic mozzarella cheese by teese and shred it over the onion and TVP mixture. (ps. for those of you living in Philadelphia, there is only one place to pick the teese cheese up: the Mariposa Food Coop.)

Mix everything around and you are good to go. When you are ready to eat, the last ingredient is some ketchup. (There have been a few articles recently about high-fructose corn syrup, I would suggest Simply Heinz Tomato Ketchup.)

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GF/V Quinoa Creation!

I am on spring break and its passover... so not much to eat! But I made a quinoa creation that I really enjoyed.
1. Cook 2cups of quinoa
2. Stir fried 1onion, 1 red pepper, 1TBSP garlic.
3. Cut up a few pieces of a granny smith apple.
4. Added some fresh basil and 1TBSP of peanut butter (I know it sounds weird but it was good!)
5. Combined quinoa and mix together. Stir
6. Add a few extra pieces of granny smith to the plate.
7. Enjoy!

Should serve 2-3 people

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GF/V Philly Chicken Cheesesteaks

For this recipe I made 4 cups for the week.
1. Heat up 4 Cups of TVP ( textured vegetable protein).
(TVP is cooked just like quinoa -1cup water to 1cup TVP)
2. Combined 1TBS olive oil, 1 large onion. 2 green peppers, and 2 TBS of garlic. Heat until soft and onions are golden.
3. Combined TVP mix and stir.
4. To add the cheese in cheesesteak- add TEESE ( http://www.teesecheese.com/)
5. Stir altogether and if needed add condiments (salt, pepper, hot sauce... whatever you love about cheesesteaks!)
6. Get ready to serve! Tastes best with a toasted gluten free bun and ketchup!

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