"Chicken" Peanut "Alfredo " & Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

For father's day I made a variation of the cupcake recipe found at http://shmooedfood.blogspot.com with some changes since I can't leave recipes alone. I began by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F, and then put the apple cider vinegar and almond milk in a pyrex measuring cup and let stand. Next I thoroughly combined all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. I then added to the liquid mixture: vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and the seeds from one large vanilla bean. I then combined the liquid and dry ingredients thoroughly and put into a muffin tin with liners, and cooked for 20 minutes (they were a little moist; depending on your oven you may want to cook for 25-30 minutes). I did some searching online and found that the homestyle version of Duncan Hines icing is vegan, and therefore would save me lots of time!! I gladly used it on top of the cooled cupcakes.
They were moist, flavorful, and surprisingly easy!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes:
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c almond milk
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 c oil (I think substituting mashed banana for oil would be GREAT in this recipe!)
2 tsp mexican vanilla
1 large vanilla bean


Tonight for dinner I made a spin on chicken alfredo since I had been craving some pasta recently. I began by putting the tofu, garlic, almond milk, nutritional yeast, and peanut sauce in my Vitamix. I blended for roughly 30 seconds to make sure all was combined. I then poured the sauce into a saucepan and let heat on the stove.
Next I lightly sauteed some onions, and added the "chicken". Once the "chicken" was browned, I added some spinach and let sautee for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile I chopped up mushrooms and put them in the "alfredo" to cook. I then put the onion/spinach/"chicken" into the sauce and let simmer while I cooked Udon noodles. I cooked fewer noodles than I had sauce (a pet-peeve I have is old pasta...I prefer cooking new pasta and pouring the premade sauce over!), but spooned ~2 spoons of sauce on the noodles, combined and ate.
The peanut flavor is slight, but enough to add an interesting flavor. I will definitely be making this one again!

"Chicken" Peanut "Alfredo":
1 package silken tofu
3 tbsp peanut sauce
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional- more for me getting all of my amino acids than flavor)
1 medium vidalia onion
1 package Gardein chik'n strips
2 large handfuls spinach
Pasta/Noodles- how much depends on how much sauce you want/ how you prefer your leftovers.

Butternut Squash "Lasagna"

These past few months have thrown me for a whirlwind and I haven't had the time to post any of my creations. The dinner I made tonight was so delicious I had to return to share it! (And I will be updating much more frequently now that my schedule has changed, especially with the recipes I have been making throughout!)
This lasagna recipe I made is based on the one from http://www.veganlunchbox.com/ although I made a few slight changes.
I began by peeling and thinly slicing the squash ans setting it aside. I diced the onion and water sauteed until tender, then added the chopped kale and cooked for another 10 minutes until the kale was wilted. I foiled a 9x13 pan (greasing would work fine) and placed a layer of squash rounds on the bottom. I then spread all of the onion/kale mixture, the topped with a second layer of squash. I spread the diced tomatoes on top, sprinkled w italian seasoning and garlic salt,  and cooked for 60 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Once done, I spooned premade tomato sauce on top (lightly), and cooked for another 5 minutes.

The steam coming off this made it blurry, but trust it looked, smelled, and tested SO GOOD!


Butternut Squash Lasagna
2 small butternut squash
1 bunch kale
1 vidalia onion
1 28 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes
 1/4 c tomato sauce
seasoning to taste