Sausage and Cheese Biscuits

Homemade biscuits, GimmeLean Sausage, Diaya Cheese......Yummy in my tummy, I love breakfast!!

Having the right tools for the job

Sometimes inspiration comes in the strangest forms. We had our Cutco rep out to sharpen our knives and while talking he mentioned that my cheese knife (shown in below picture), which doesn't get much use anymore obviously, is great for cutting tomatoes and potatoes. This made me remember a recipe that I have been wanting to try, Potatoes auGratin. You have to slice the potatoes very thin which can be difficult, unless you have an amazing Cutco Cheese Knife!!
If you are not familiar with Cutco, I suggest giving Mike a call. www.cutcomike.com


Potatoes auGratin



4 medium potatoes (3 lbs), sliced very thing
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 oz vegan cheddar cheese, shredded
2 1/2-3 1/2 c soy creamer
7 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed

Preheat oven 375 degrees.
In 2 qt casserole dish, evenly layer 1/2 of the potatoes, sprinkle with 1/2 salt, 1/2 pepper, and 1/2 cheese. Add remaining potatoes.
combine creamer with cornstarch, whisking. Pour over potatoes. Use spatula to press potatoes into cream. They should be submerged-if not add more cream.
Sprinkle with remaining salt, pepper, and cheese. Cover and bake 45 mins. Remove-push potatoes into cream again. Sprinkle cornflakes, bake uncovered 30-45 mins.

Pesto Kissed Tomato Sauce

A nice change to basic red sauce pasta, this one mixes in pesto.

1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c tomato paste
One 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Salt and Pepper
1/4 c vegan pesto
Any pasta noodle of your choice, I did Linguine

Heat Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 mins. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 10-15 mins. Shortly before serving, blend the pesto into the sauce.

VegGriddle

McDonald's doesn't have anything on ME!!

Breakfast Casserole

It doesn't need to be morning to make a great breakfast. Tonight I made a breakfast casserole that we all enjoyed, the flavorful smell that filled the house was amazing! This is a great recipe because you can make it the night before so you have a wonderful breakfast ready and waiting for you in the morning.

2 TBSP olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 c chopped or crumbled soy sausage (I like LightLife in the white package)
One 16 oz package soft tofu, pressed and crumbled
2 c soy milk
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground fennel seeds
Salt and Pepper
8 slices bread

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cover, and cook until soft, about 5 mins. Add the soy sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 mins. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a bowl, combine tofu, soy milk, thyme, fennel seeds, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, then blend in the sausage mixture and set aside.
Tear the bread into bite size pieces and place in a oiled 9x13 baking dish. Pour mixture evenly over the bread and set aside, at least 20 mins, up to overnight (if refrigerating overnight, bring to room temperature before baking).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until puffy and lightly browned, about 45 mins. Let stand 10 mins before cutting into squares.

With summer here nothing satisfies like a fresh fruit smoothie. While you can throw just about anything in to make a good smoothie, I have found a recipe that I really like. A nice trick is using frozen banana slices instead of ice cubes because it won't water down the smoothie, but gives it that nice chill.

1 c strawberries
1/2 c blueberries
1 c cranberry juice cocktail
1 sliced frozen banana

Blend first 3 ingredients together, then add the banana and blend to desired consistency.

Egg-less Salad Sandwich

After a very long hiatus I was browsing through a cookbook and found a new recipe that I wanted to try. Oh baby was it a good one and perfect for those summer time picnics.

16 oz package firm tofu, drained, pressed, and crumbled
1 piece of celery, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 large dill pickle, minced
Pinch of turmeric
1/2 c Vegenaise
Salt and Pepper

Mix everything in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to blend the flavors.

To make a fantastic sandwich:
Toast bread, spread a small amount of Vegenaise on one piece, place a piece of lettuce, then sliced tomato, then mixture on the bread and enjoy!