Vegan Homemade Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

 
Well winter is coming very quickly round here so to get ready I am warming up some soup recipes. The first one on the list is tomato, my whole life this is my most favorite of all. The fact that it is so simple to make and they are so full of flavor the no preservatives makes it all that much better.

 Daiya cheese is the only vegan cheese that I buy and use, they melt perfectly and are so close to the "real" thing that keep checking the label to make sure that it is still vegan. The simpleness of this recipe is makes it cheap, fast and very fulfilling.

Tomato Soup

6-8 large ripe tomatoes chopped

1 large onion chopped

3 cups veggie stock

1 clove garlic

1 tsp black pepper

a dash of salt

a dash of  ground clove (not more than a dash this stuff is powerful)

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp butter

Place the tomatoes, onions, veggie stock is a large pot and bring to a boil. After you bring to a boil turn it down to a nice rolling simmer and add the rest of the ingredeints and simmer for 20 mins. Now this next part can be tricky to be careful and try not to make a huge mess. Place the tomato mixture into blender and blend until smooth. While that is in the blender give pot a quick rinse and place back on stove and the butter and flour to a high heat to make a roux. Once it looks like a nice brown paste turn down the heat and the add a little tomatoe mixture at a time, with a wire whisk keep stirring to make sure that there is no lumps. Keep stiring till all the mixture is back in the pot, it will thicken up real nice and smooth. Cook on low for about 10 min and it will be ready to go.

The grilled cheese is very self explaining but just in case here we go 

4 slices of bread buttered one side

1 hand full of Daiya Cheddar Cheese (per sandwich)

Butter the bread on one side heat skillet and place bread in butter side down then the cheese then the other piece of bread butter up. Cook till brown then flip cook till cheese is melted. And if this is you first grilled cheese adventure then I feel really bad and happy for you.

Have fun and Enjoy. 

Picazzo's Organic Italian Kitchen Sedona, Arizona -Review

After hiking around the beautiful Sedona mountains we wanted some pizza. This place is the only place in Sedona that serves Daiya cheese which I love. We ordered the Awesome Avocado Pizza which should be renamed the Outrageous Olive cause of all the olives, which the only place olives should be allowed is on pizza so it was ok. The place is a non-vegan place with vegan options which makes it nice for family dining. The service was outstanding, here it is  the traditional way where you sit down and they take your order cause alot of places out here you order at the counter and then they bring out your food. None the less the pizza here is really good and everything is organic which is a real hard thing to do since so many things have GMO'S. If you are in the area I would definitely suggest you don't pass this place up.  The pizza is great, the service is fast and friendly,  and the place is spotless what more could you ask for.

Little pricey but well worth it.

The best crust I have ever had.

The sesame seed crust was awesome!!

Vegan Quesadilla and Guacamole

It was gonna be a tacos but it some how got turned in a quesadillas . This is the Mexican version of the grilled cheese and with both of us on long hours I need some quick and easy meals. The only trick to remember about making these is not to over fill them that just makes a mess. The key ingredient is the guacamole you can find my recipe here.

You can put what ever you want in these so have fun with it here is what I like 

Vegan Quesadilla 

1 package of tortillas 

1/2  green peppers thinly sliced 

1/2 onions thinly sliced

1 cup guacamole 

1 link of Field Roast Mexican Chipotle Sausage thinly sliced 

1 cup Daiya Pepper Jack cheese 

Heat up a skillet up to a med to high heat now depending type of skillet you might need a little oil it there but mine I didn't. I pre heated the oven to 350 just to hold them at temp till they are all cooked. 

Start with placing the tortilla down, then sprinkle some cheese down keeping it away from the edges. I used about 1 tbsp of guacamole per quesadilla, 2-3 pieces of the pepper and onions, 2 pieces of the sausage. Once the cheese starts to melt fold in half (wow that was hard) place in the oven to keep warm till all of the others are made. This is very easy, fast and full of flavor. Keep going till you run out of ingredients makes 6-8 depending on how full you pack them remember less is more. 

Have fun and Enjoy.  

   

Vegan Deep Dish Pizza

 

After a day of shopping in the big city I was really hungry and was craving pizza. We found this dough last year at Trader Joes it's vegan it is chewy goodness and it freezes well so you can buy a couple and freeze one for later.

Now you can put any toppings you want on this these in my opinion make the the best pizza combo I use

1 Trader Joes pizza dough

1 tbsp canola oil

1/2 onion sliced

1/2 green pepper 

2 links Field Roast Italian Sausage sliced

1-2 cups Daiya mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup pizza vegan sauce

And some vegan  parmesan

Pre heat oven to 450 and pull you dough out and let come to room temp. Heat the oil up and add the peppers and onion let them cook for a couple of min then add the sausage add cook for about 5 min then let rest. Now you don't have to pre-cook these ingredients  but I do cause I think it's better so there. 

Turn dough out on a floured counter and knead the dough out till it a little bit bigger the diameter of the pan the place into a well oiled pan now this is very important DO NOT FOR GET TO OIL THE PAN I have and let me tell you it was not fun. Press into shape and size then take a fork and poke holes through out the bottom ( keeps the crust from bubbling out of the bottom). Now in true Chicago Style you put the cheese on the bottom then peppers, onions and sausage and bake for 15 min

Then take it out and add the sauce and bake for 5-7 more min and pull it and sprinkle some vegan parmesan and  let it stand for 5 min. Forget the pizza cutter grab a knife slice this puppy up and tear it up enjoy.