Day One a Success

Today went well as far as food goes. I finally got a chance to try out my new cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance, and ended up making three recipes from it.

First up, brunch; I made the scrambled tofu and the tempeh sausage crumbles. I made a few changes to the scrambled tofu recipe, instead of mushrooms, which I don't really care for in the first place, so I didn't have any on hand, so I used a nice green bell pepper I had instead. I also don't have any nutritional yeast, though I do have it on my shopping list for this week, so hopefully I'll be getting some. For the sausage tempeh, I did follow the recipe almost exactly, only substituting an herb blend for the separate herbs listed in the recipe, though it was basically the same in the mix as what Isa uses in her recipe, so not really different at all. I mixed some of that in with the scrambled tofu, and I have to say I really liked it.

Though I do prefer real sausage to the tempeh kind, it was nice knowing that no animals were harmed just so I could eat breakfast. What I really missed though was the grease, and it was the grainy almost rice-like texture of the tempeh that had me glad that I had mixed it with my tofu. It's like every other meat I've tried to impersonate with a vegan alternative, I wouldn't eat it alone, but it's fine mixed in with other things. The tofu on the other hand, I loved. I've never been a big fan of scrambled eggs, so I kind of suprised myself when I decided to make this my first recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, and my first official vegan meal of the month, but I loved these "eggs."

I think a major problem I usually have with real eggs, is they are usually under or over cooked, slimy or dry, and not very pleasant to eat. However the tofu was at the same consistancy that I love my eggs to be cooked at, and the spices, cumin, paprika, and tumeric, gave it a great flavor, and just enough yellow color to make it really look like eggs.

Anyway, I live in Pennsylvania, and it was pretty cool today, and it had been so nice last week, perfect autumn weather with the leaves turning color. If I had to pick a favorite season, it would be the fall. One of my favorite things about the fall, is the baking that I always do, though with becoming a pescatarian, who would rather not use any animal products at all, I have to rething some of my favorite fall recipes. Luckily Isa's recipe for pumpkin oatmeal cookies sounded like just the thing to bake today.

I didn't have any flax seeds, which are also on my grocery list, but they were optional anyway, so I didn't worry about it. I love anything pumpkin, and these did not dissapoint, though they could use a bit more of spices in them, even with me adding some cardamom, which I always add to anything pumpkin I make, so in addition to the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe, next time I'll add some ginger and cloves as well.

For dinner, I made a type of stew, which is actually still in the slow cooker, so I haven't tried it yet, but it smells delicious. It's onions, green bell peppers, canned tomatoes, extra canned pumpkin from the cookies, lentils, carrots, garlic, Italian seasoning, and vegetable broth. I can't wait to try it.