I have been reading the blog, 101cookbooks.com, religiously, every Saturday morning and forcing myself to cook Sunday dinners. It’s snowy up here and there isn’t much to do but read, cook and watch TV, when you aren’t on the slopes.

After seeing Givers at their private show at Garwoods, Sunday called for something gigantic and greasy. In exchange for my lazyness on Sunday, I ate mine bun-less and cheese less.

I sort of adapted this original recipe from 101cookbooks.com.

For the Burger part:

• 1/2 pound-extra-firm tofu, drained and patted dry, then sliced
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup / 2 oz / 55 g fine dried bread crumbs/or dried vegetarian burger mix (avail at winco)
• 1/2 cup cashew nuts
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

For the grilling and topping:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 2-4 rings sliced red onions
• 1 avocado, mashed with a dash of salt
• 1 jack cheese and jalapeño bagel – toasted
• 2 slices of munster cheese

Basically, you add all of the burger ingredients into a food processor. Do it slowly. I did it all at once and paid for it later as my processor was too full. Also, don’t process it to a paste. I would prefer it a little chunky rather than pasty. I added a 1/2 cup cooked brown rice to the paste to achieve a better texture. Make patties out of the mixture and grill for 5-8 minutes on each side. Top with 2 slices of cheese and cover the pan.

Toast your bagel-bun, slather on avocado spead, salt and pepper, tomatoes and onions and enjoy. It’s a big meal so be ready to feel stuffed.

I made a 7-layer, more like 4-layer, with lots of ingredients, dip. I went over well, in fact, it was eaten in 20 minutes. I timed it. People under-estimate the vegetarian/vegan cook. We have to be more creative, because we don’t rely on the “natural flavorings” of chicken, beef, pork…etc. I tend to go for spice!

So, you’ll need to make bean dip, guacamole and salsa. Everything is fresh made, except for the can of beans, Rick Bayless’s Guacamole helper and the light sour cream.

For the guacamole: Roast a ‘bunch’ of asparagus for about 15 minutes, while you are prepping everything else. Coat the asparagus with olive oil, red chili pepper flakes and garlic salt. It’s easiest to put the greens in a zip lock bag and then oil and spices. Shake the bag, everything is evenly coated. Check the spears and toss it every 3 minutes or so. When it’s done, it will be a light, toasty browned color and a fork will pierce it nicely.

Let it cool down and then chop it into 1 inch sized pieces. Combine it in your food processor with 2, fresh avocados and 2 tablespoons of the Frontera mix. Blend. Add salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste. Wah La. This is your second layer, from bottom up.

For the bean dip: Combine a drained can of black beans, a roasted, and chopped, anaheim chili and the rest of the Frontera “package of green salsa stuff” in a food processor and process. This is your first layer.

For the third layer, light-organic, sour cream.

For the fourth layer, salsa: Chop a yellow and red pepper, green onion and cilantro. Combine in a large bowl with 1/2 lime’s juice and garlic salt. Add red chili pepper flakes or a jalepeno to kick it up.

Cool your dip in the fridge for 30 minutes and serve with a giant bowl of chips.

Hit maker.

I went the whole three weeks without eating bread or cheese (my dairy weakness). Returning to the states, I didn’t miss either not a bit and continued to eat without the two. Maintaining a decent figure has been cake and I have never consumed so much brown rice and polenta in week than I do now. They both are so versatile and can be used in any meal with any ingredients.

On to the food. For these simple cups, I drew inspiration from the papaya salad I ate almost every day in Thailand. Chop up spinach, jicama, mango, a red pepper, a handful of cilantro and a thai chili. Combine all of the veggies in a big bowl and squeeze the juice of one lime over the top and toss. You’ll want to toss for 2-3 minutes to make sure the oil from the thai chili is well incorporated. For the cup, cut a red cabbage in half and start pealing off the leaves until you get to thicker ones. These are what you want to use for your cups. Spoon in the spinach mixture and Wah La. Enjoy with a Singha and you’ll be set.

For home made waffles, I follow a recipe from Vegan Brunch. Pretty stinkin’ easy! If you don’t feel like making them yourself, go for Van Camp’s whole grain, frozen. For toppings, I mixed together a tablespoon of agave and natural peanut butter then zapped it in the microwave to get it piping hot. Add some fresh blueberries and dig in.

My default, tacos.  I’ve discovered that I can mix and max ingredients and spices to concoct the flavors I am craving, all wrapped up in tortilla. No fork required.

For these mini bites of goodness, picked up some winter butternut squash, a can of chickpeas and a bag of fresh arugala. It was just after Thanksgiving and my aunt had made me a special vegetarian lasanga with butternut squash, so that roasted, buttery flavor was still lingering on my palate.

For this simple taco, I roasted the squash with a healthy seasoning of black pepper, salt and a pinch of brown sugar. For the chickpeas, I curried them, borrowing a quick recipe from 101 cookbooks. I topped each taco with arugala and mango salsa. Delicious and simple and even better the next day for lunch once all the ingredients had a chance to mingle.

Ah, dinner time. The hours leading up to it can have anyone’s brain spinning in circles, especially when the dinner is only for you. No one to impress but yourself. And hey, if you made it, you’ll probably eat it, no matter the taste, right? I personally, have only thrown away two “concoctions”. One being vegan-avocado frosting and two, vegan tofu “crab” cakes. Both turned out awful, even following a tried and “trusted recipe” from a magazine. (Maybe I should have read the reviews…?)

This dinner came to me while at the gym. I am realizing that working out hungry is a bad idea. I really didn’t want to stop at the store, so I decided to wing it and just do with what we had in the fridge. Thankfully, my roommates are big meat eaters and had some excellent (vegan) BBQ sauce on hand.

I dried, cubed and baked squares of tofu on 375 degrees for about 45 minutes turning over every 10 minutes or so. During that time, I cut brussel sprouts in half and coated with olive oil, garlic, basil and chili powder. I put these in the oven about half way through the tofu baking process. In the microwave, I made some instant brown rice from Trader Joe’s. Now, to put it all together. At the bottom of the bowl, I placed raw kale and topped it with the steaming hot rice. (this way it steams it) Next, the sprouts. In a small bowl I tossed the tofu squares with the bbq sauce and siracha and then added that to the final product.

I found these new “chicken” chunks at the co-op claiming to be made from quinoa. They were also on sale which was a plus and incentive to buy.  I am not usually a fan of fake meat but always give it try to see how the industry is advancing in taste and texture.

For the cold chicken salad, I first sauteed the pieces (the whole bag) in water, salt, pepper, garlic and yellow curry powder. After cooling, I folded in 2 cups chopped raw broccoli, 2 cups chopped raw spinach, 1 medium mashed avocado, 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, a pinch of cayenne pepper and 4 tablespoons of whole grain mustard. My good friend Tracy picked up some 9-grain bread from Great Harvest and I used that to make the toasted sandwich. The “salad” kept for 3 days in the fridge, only because it got eaten very quickly by some hungry carnivores.

Everyone complimented on how nice and fearless I was to cook with meat. HA! Thanks to Smart Ground Sausage and italian bread crumbs, the recipe is pretty simple.

You’ll need:

• 1 finely chopped green apple
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 package of Smart Ground Sausage
• 2 tablespoons Italian Bread Crumbs
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 small package (about 8oz) herbed goat cheese or cheese of your choice.
• 12 large mushrooms (de-stemmed and clean)

Saute the apples, onion and garlic for about 3 minutes and then add in your sausage until browned. Let the hot ingredients cool down and then mix it with the cheese, bread crumbs and salt and pepper. Put all of the mushrooms on a lightly oiled baking pan, top down and begin to fill the cups with the mixture. Stuff them as full as you would like! Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until the start to sizzle a bit. You may even broil for a minute or two at the end to get a crispy top. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve!

I officially became a vegetarian at my sister’s highschool graduation party after my brother jokingly asked me to watch a PETA video while I was eating homemade jambalaya.  I picked out all of the beef, left the seafood and kept eating.

I found out a few years later that the fish I was eating a weekly basis wasn’t too healthy either and completely cut the sea dwellers out of my diet.

Every now and again, I get an incredible crazing for an egg and sausage croissant. I figured out how to make it, veganized. Very easy and very much a once in while thing as it’s not too healthy.

You’ll need:

• about 2 oz. Smart Ground “sausage”
• .25″ thick, length wise slice of extra firm tofu
• toasted bagel, biscuit or croissant
• vegan “american” style cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Smash your sausage into a patty and place into a well oiled pan to cook. Brown both sides, salt and pepper to taste. While your bread of choice is getting nice and toasty, “fry” the tofu slice like you would an egg until slightly browned. Salt and pepper both sides. Top with cheese, cover until melted. Put the sandwich together and enjoy with a big glass of OJ.