Sunday, February 08, 2009

Fatfree Vegan Just Made My Morning!

It's that time of year again, where I stock up on my six pound (yes, six POUND) bucket 'o nutritional yeast from Vegan Essentials. Ever since this lovely stuff arrived in all it's flakey, golden glory, I've been salivating thinking of the things I've been craving to make with it. What I woke up and *thought* I'd be treating myself to was a vegan omelette a la FFV, but alas, I had no tofu. Knowing that Susan would surely have something I that would inspire me I headed over to Fat Free Vegan and this caught my eye, her Golden Potato and Tempeh Casserole.
I halved the recipe and only used one really large Russet potato. I also found, at the last minute, that I had no miso in the house (which was sadly ironic as I had it in my hand at the store the other day thinking, 'wait. i have a ton of miso at home, right?' wrong!)

In the end, this was a-MA-zing as it was. I can only imagine that the addition of miso would make it heavenly. I otherwise kept to the recipe, minus swapping a couple shakes of my shoyu bottle in place of my absent miso. I also used store bought LiteLife Tempeh Fak'n as I had some in the 'fridge that needed using up. The only Spanish paprika I have is smoked so I used that and it just intensified the smokey flavor. Oh, and I omitted the optional vegan parm dusting at the end. Guess I didn't follow the recipe exactly much, eh?

This was the best brunch (with the addition of a quick smoothie while it baked made of a banana, some frozen raspberries, frozen mango, and some plain soy milk, yum!) I've had in ages! I can't wait to make the full recipe again some time soon.
The sauce really gets thick and creamy and cheezy and crusts up on top and along the sides like good cheese sauces of old.

Thank you, Susan! For adding to the vegan repertoire, another morning meal success!

If you're not a fan of smokey things (I never used to be) I'd bet that Isa's tempeh fauxsage crumbles from VWaV would make a phenomenal sub and, actually, I'm gonna try that variation next.

I'm not able to cook up a lot of elaborate things in the morning as Taylor is all about a.m. play time, but her Aunt gifted her a little walker (i know, i know, they're awful contraptions that only negligent and horrible parents would use these days...spare me*) and we happily roar and giggle in the kitchen some mornings as she chases the dog around and tries in vain to open cabinets. it allows me to cook a hot meal in the morning on occasion and allows her to run around free instead of flapping her arms in a tizzy until we walk her incessantly around by the hands since this kid thinks crawling is for babies* and will be walking on her own in no time!

*i, and a whole generation of now able-bodied folks grew up with walkers and developed just fine. my daughter is never left unattended and is thrilled by her newfound 'freedom'.

*i am also aware how important the act of crawling can be in development and we try multiple times daily to win T over to the art of crawling, but she is the master of her own everything and she's not having it. so stubborn. i have NO idea where she gets that from ;)

11 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Taylor is TOO CUTE!!! :-D

Virginia said...

your daughter is adorable.

Susan G said...

I always liked the walker. We also had the stationary one - this was good when there was more than one kid and we had to worry about them leaving the basement door open!

Brandie said...

OMG that potato-y 'cheezy' goodness loof AWESOME! I want to make it right now! lol...

My mom keeps saying I need to get Jr a walker for just those times when i want to cook etc... but not to leave him in it all day (as I 'cry' about the evils of it ruining his development lol) but he's a crawlin' fool! He loves to stand up but has no idea of walking yet... he's scootin along superbly on his belly still :)

Taylor is cute Bry, good job!

JENNA said...

Those potatoes are calling my name! I can't believe how big Taylor is getting! Such a cutie!

Katy said...

Ok, I HAVE to make that casserole! I remember that post, and completely forgot about it!
Taylor is such a cutie!

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, your pictures of the potato casserole look sooooooo yummy! Looks even better than the pics on Susan's site. I'll have to try it soon!

Beth said...

my god, there is someone against everything, no? I have never heard that the walker is a bad thing, fer chris' sakes, sometimes mommy can't hold the baby.

Stella said...

WHOAH. I have to make this. Whoah.

Also, Taylor's expression mirrors the one on my face while looking at these pics.

VeganLinda said...

That casserole is one of faves. Taylor is too cute!

Lady Q said...

this looks delicious! I've only been vegetarian since January but wow. Any tips for someone who wants to start adding more vegan meals to their diet?