'twas a good day for LOVE

Today is that special day, where lovers everywhere spend a bunch of money on roses, chocolates, and lingerie, and the singles complain that they are alone and hate the stupid cupid. 
Not this girl.
I told my husband, who managed to get my present only yesterday, "No flowers, no chocolates." He just stared at me and said, "Then what??" Ha ha. After 6 years, he should know the drill, "Surprise me." I said.
This morning I woke up to some badass patent leather red heels. Yes..that's perfect!

Since my husband decided he is also now eating only a plant-based diet (AWESOME), I decided that our V-day plans would be to go to lunch at the local vegan restaurant, Pura Vida. I love Chef Mayra's fun personality. She has some videos (here) you can watch and see for yourself! I also am completely in love with her incredible Latin inspired food. I knew my hubby would, too. So we went for lunch, filled out bellies with delicious food, and talked about what to do for dinner.

I had planned to make portobello piccata, but I found a "tasting menu" on another site yesterday, and wanted to try that fun combination of different foods. I am a sucker for food, obviously, and if I have the option to have MORE of it, I definitely take it. So, I made some of the recipes I found on the V-day tasting menu from The Family Kitchen, here.
We had:  
- 5-Minute Spicy GlazedVegan Meatballs, with less spice in half to be more kid-friendly.
- Cheesy Pumpkin Chickpea Croquettes, hubby's favorite of the night
- Lemon Sunflower Pesto Pasta, we used rotini and the kids loved it

- Salt and Pepper Tofu Triangles, which were my brother's favorite. The maple adds a slight sweetness that I also enjoyed a lot   

Also, from my own arsenal of ideas:
-Portobello Piccata, with mashed potatoes. I used slices of big caps that cooked down and caramelized perfectly. I will make a recipe for this someday. I just eyeballed it.
-Chocolate covered strawberries, which were dipped in melted grain-sweetened chocolate chips. These are my favorite, and they have this fun stickiness to them when your mouth melts them. I love them!

And, my dear friend, the Red Velvet Cupcake.
No, no, this wasn't a big dinner. It was actually a nice, somewhat romantic one with my husband and toddlers, and my brother sneaking in (and out) to grab his servings when it was all done. 
I told you, I love food. 

I got the red velvet cupcake recipe here. The cupcakes were moist and dense, exactly what I was going for, in the texture dept. But the flavor...It was not even close. These cupcakes were definitely lemony beet cupcakes. They were tangy, and...beet flavored. Not bad, really, it fits perfectly for that gorgeous red hue and the 6 tbsp of lemon juice it called for. I even amped up the cocoa powder and added water to balance it out. But that was not the slightly cocoa flavored red velvet I was looking for. Chef KC said, "You know what would be good, if you filled them with that chocolate avocado mousse." I know he was just teasing me about the veggie-ful odd recipes I make, but I am going to call his bluff and actually do it tomorrow. Who knows, maybe it will be an awesome combo.

Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache filling

 Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache filling

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
⅓ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp salt
⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup canola oil
1 tbsp soy milk (any vegan milk will work)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Ganache filling:
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips, or vegan chocolate chips/chunks/baking pieces


 First, prepare the ganache. It will need to set up a bit, so give yourself some time, about an hour before you plan to make the cookies, to let it firm up in the fridge. If you're like me, and need(want) the cookies ASAP, you can put it in the freezer and shorten the wait.
Heat a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add all ingredients, and stir well until thoroughly melted. Pour into a shallow glass dish and put it in fridge/freezer to set.

Ganache ball

Now for the cookie dough.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Combine oatmeal, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the syrup, oil, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.
Bring the ganache back out and spoon out a piece a little bigger than a marble. let it rest on top of the cold ganache, and get some dough. Grab a ping pong size ball of the oatmeal dough and smush it into the palm of your hand, so you have enough to wrap around the ball of ganache. Wrap the ganache in it...it might be ahrd to get it all covered, but a little bit of cracks will be fine.
Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet and press down slightly on the balls to flatten the tops. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Eat while warm, so they're gooey and melty!
This will make about 15 cookies, if you do them like I did. Your sizes may vary, but don't worry, they'll be delicious any way!

A little but of ganache melting out

The ooey gooey inside

Mushroom Stroganoff

 

This recipe is so quick! It is much faster than the version I used to make, uses much less ingredients, and tastes amazing. Be sure to use rotini or fettucini noodles, because the wide twirly noodles all have eggs in them, unless you get lucky enough to find some. I didn't today, but I may in the future. On to the recipe...

Mushroom Stroganoff

serves 4-6

2 tsp oil
1 large onion, diced
2 pkgs mushrooms, any kind you like, about 16 oz
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup soy milk (you can use any vegan milk kind you like)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp vegan worchestershire sauce (Annie's makes a good kind, or you can use use soy sauce)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/8 tsp thyme
1 pkg (12-16 oz) rotini or fettucini pasta, cooked

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook noodles as directed on package.
Meanwhile, Saute the onion in the oil over medium high heat for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic, and cook for 4 minutes covered, then 4 minutes uncovered, until the juices are released. Stir in the flour, coating the mushrooms, and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the milk, water, vinegar, worchestershire/soy sauce, and stir well. Cook for 3 minutes, until it bubbles and thickens. Sprinkle on the nutritional yeast ans thyme, let cook 1 more minute to combine flavors. Serve over noodles.

If you try it, let me know what you think!