vegan birthday dinner for the veggie-curious

Alrightie, here's the story. My mom always invites me over & cooks me a birthday dinner... whatever I want. Well this year with Mom's osteoporosis getting worse & her knees still not healed from her surgery I thought it would be fun if *I* cooked dinner for my parents, so they could see that I'm not just living off of carrot sticks. I already talked to my mom, and she's willing to try whatever I cook up. I've got vague ideas, but no real "menu" yet and could really use a little help putting something together.

* It's gotta be vegan - no cheating
* I don't want tastes-like-meat products, but I DO want to sneak some sort of protein alternate in one way or another
* Mushrooms would be good... maybe grilled portabella cap strips???
* Berries... don't care how or what kind but I've gotta have berries
* and I want some sort of disgustingly rich two-bites-is-plenty chocolate dessert - to go with the Adagio Chocolate tea Mom's got at their house. I'd make my brownies, but I still haven't got the vegan alternate quite right yet.

Mom is a carnivore, and Dad is openly curious about vegetarian food. They'll both try just about anything though. And my baby sister may or may not be there with her boyfriend... he doesn't eat anything anyway and what my sister will or won't touch is anyone's guess so I'm not worried about them. My birthday's in 3 weeks so I've got a little bit of time to test recipes & stuff... does anyone have any ideas???
love,
mom

 

That's an awesome idea, good luck

Mushroom recipes
The general category ... http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=456.0
This one took my fancy as I had something similiar in Italy a few years ago, and it was great ... http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10915.0
Portabella parmesan ... http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=11086.0 (does use soya cheese, if that's an issue)
Portabella steaks and gravy ... http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10979.0

Vegan brownies
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6640.0
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6575.0 (gooey hot fudge brownies)
http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/desserts/brownies-peppermint-frosting.htm

General suggestions of a 'chocolatey' nature
http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=305.0

Hmm couldn't find any suggestions for berries, but I suppose a nice 'fruit salad' of them would be a great accompniment to the brownies.

 

dessert: Choclate bronies wtih a scoop of vegan icecream and berries on top!?

 

portobello mushrooms are sooo good grilled whole - mix some vegan margarine (or olive oil) with finely chopped garlic, fresh coriander and, if you like spice, some fresh chopped chillies or chilli flakes. You can serve them as a main or as a side - either way, they are great.

For something kind of substantial, we made vegan cannelloni the other day

- I cooked some sliced portobellos with onion and warm spices (dried coriander, a hint of cinammon etc) until they browned just slightly. Then I added a nip of whisky and set it alight, just for a minute. This caramelises the mushrooms and intensifies the flavour, without having to add sugar.

Meanwhile I blended some tofu with fresh garlic and a hint of paprika till it was smooth and kind of a ricotta cheese texture. I stirred this together with the mushrooms and used the mixture to stuff cannelloni tubes

I baked these in a rich tomato/basil sauce and I sprinkled garlic breadcrumbs on top. It was so good served with a dark green leafy salad (spinach and rocket leaves and so on) and, because we were serving it to a large crowd, I made some vegan wholemeal foccacia on the side.

It's a lot easier than it sounds, and so delicious.

 

I dunno how you feel about pudding, but you could put it on a cake it tastes amazing.

"Sinful Chocolate Pudding"

1 cup soft tufo
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sweetener
4tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vinilla extract

In blender or food processor, blend all ingerdents until smooth and creamy. Chill before serving and it makes between 2-4 servings.

"Auntie Bonnies wachy cake"

1 1/2 cups flour
4tbsp cocoa or carob powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dry sweetener
1 1/2 tsp vinilla extract
1 tbsp vinegar
5 tbsp oil
1 cup cold water

Preheat oven at 325 f. In a large bowl stir the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bakinf soda and salt. Add sweetener, vinilla, oil and water and mix gently until its is "just mixed". Pour into slightly oiled pan, bake for 45-50 mins. Test with fork, and if it comes out clean its done.

*I usually don;t put my cake in that long*

These came for my vegan cookbook called How it all vegan by Tanya & Sarah.

Spread the pudding on the cake ahh its so good and moist. Have a great birthday

 

Sorry Im flipping through my cook books and you said you where thinking about brownies.

"Decadent Brownies"

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup dry sweetener
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups soy mil
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cups nuts (I like walnuts, but what ever nut you want.)

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl sift the flour, cocoa, sweetener, bakind soda, baking powder and salt. Add soy mlk, oil and nuts. Stir gently until it is "just mixed". Pour into a lightly oiled 8x8 pan. Bake for 30-35 mins. (or until fork/toothpick comes out clean) Makes 8-16 depending on size.

(this are really good, but if you put like a pudding or an icing their even better)

I got this recipe from The Garden of Vegan by Sarah & Tanya

 

if you can use an adhesive other than Egg. I recommend frying some crumbed mushrooms. Like a mushroom schnitzel I guess. They are DELICIOUS

 

Ohh y'all I'm just sitting here drooling looking at all these yummy new recipes to try out! My husband says WE'LL just have to try them all out! He said since I'm not an omni anymore he'll have to "help me" and give me an omni's perspective

Drumminmama... I've recently re-added avocado to my diet as well! I ate them & loved them as a kid, but cut them out when I found out how much fat was in them. Since my diet is soooo lean now I figured I could "afford" a teensy bit of natural fats, and have been having so much fun reintroducing myself to old favorites

Thank you ALL so much! All these ideas sound sooooooo yummy! And - I MUST try that tofu pudding... is that made with the "silken" stuff, or the stuff just labelled "soft"? I've only used the extra firm & the silken so far.
love,
mom

 

I think either tofu (soft or silken) would tast fine just different textures maybe.