Category Archives: Appetizers

Soft Pretzels w/Smoked Salt & Dijon Mustard

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Spelt Soft Pretzels ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Chew slowly.” — A note scrawled on a big bag of pretzels that President Bush sent back to the press cabin on Air Force One, a day after he fainted after choking on a pretzel

Hot, soft, salty goodness! From The Joy of Vegan Baking, page 174. Keith substituted spelt flour for the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe when he made these phenomenal baked goodies. He also used a combination of coarse plain sea salt and smoked sea salt on top. We enjoyed these hot with dijon mustard. This pretzel recipe is amazing!

Marjoram & Peppercorn Brie

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Marjoram & Peppercorn Brie ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Brother Ben, this is the best damn sandwich I ever ate, it’s a baguette, with brie and butter, had four of these damn things every day I was there. (he reaches in and finds another one) Got a couple left – here, try one.” — Jerry from David Lynch & Mark Frost’s masterpiece, Twin Peaks

Even the mice loved the vegan brie that we made using Miyoko Schinner’s inspired recipe from her newest cookbook Artisan Vegan Cheese, page 12.

This smooth and creamy cheese is made using cashews, coconut oil, and rejuvelac, which is full of probiotics. We made two big wheels of cheese but we ate most of it before we got around to taking this picture because it was truly tasty and went down nicely with some bread, apples, and kombucha.

We followed Miyoko’s recipe advice and made one wheel of peppercorn and one herb wheel (in our case, fresh marjoram).

Cheeze Platter

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Cheese Platter ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Craving a tasty snack? Fix yourself a cheeze platter! :) Tempeh pimiento cheeze ball from 1,000 Vegan Recipes, page 19, and smoked “gouda” from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, page 161. Served with rice crackers and kalamata olives. Both of these dairy-free cheeses were delicious and really easy to make as well as gluten-free, wheat-free, and sugar-free. The “gouda” was made using carrots, cashews, nutritional yeast, agar flakes, tahini, lemon juice, liquid smoke, and mustard. The cheeze ball was made from tempeh, pimientos, vegan mayonnaise, soy sauce, and nutritional yeast, and then rolled in tasty toasted pecans. Say cheeze!

Heirloom Apples ~ Pink Pearl & Red Gravenstein

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Apples: Pink Pearl & Red Gravenstein ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“My best traveling was done during winter months when the cold has settled in and my feet are bared; the icy earth quickens my step.”  – Johnny Appleseed on why he went barefoot.

How do you like them apples? I know I did… gorgeous and tasty pink pearls and red gravensteins. These heirloom apples appeared at our local health food store extraordinaire, Rainbow Grocery Co-op last week. Neither Keith nor I had ever seen pink pearls before. They were so pretty I just had to take a picture of them to share with you. They were creamy pink on he outside, and fuschia on the inside! The gravensteins gave the pearls a run for the money, too. They were a beautiful vivid ruby red in color, with green accents. Both varieties were crunchy, sweet, and juicy, and were perfect lunch break apples. :) Be sure to eat your apple a day, as apples are high in fiber and vitamin C and apple pectin is powerful at cleansing the body of residual radiation (and we all know that we’re getting more than our fair shares of radiation from wireless devices and nuclear fallout these days).

Keith’s Tasty Garlic Cheese

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Keith's Tasty Garlic Cheese ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

I just adore Keith’s tasty garlic cheese! This is an “Eastern Block” classic, the foodstuff of Keith’s Polish and Hungarian ancestors. For the dinner pictured here we served it spread on toasted brown bread with vegan cold cuts and a side of sauteed dandelion greens (dandelion is a fantastic liver and kidney cleanser and tonic). Click here for Keith’s super-easy-to-make garlic cheese recipe! :)

Let’s Go to Greece ~ Spanikopita!

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Spanikopita ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

We made this yummy spanikopita to bring to a potluck at our dear friends Christie & Pablo’s’ beautiful home in Mill Valley. It was a blast and the pot-luckers approved of this great recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, page 91! Made using filo dough, spinach, tofu, nutritional yeast, walnuts, scallions, garlic, olive oil lemon juice, nutmeg, dill, & oregano. This is now our go-to recipe for spanikopita. Tastes great with kalamata olives and dolmas.

Let’s Go to the Mediterranean! ~ Hummus Platter

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Hummus Platter ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Another game day luncheon. Hummus (made using a really tasty recipe from Veganomicon, page 67) with veggies, kalamata olives, dolmas, and pita chips. We always drizzle olive oil and lemon juice on our hummus, and then sprinkle paprika on top. We also use dried chickpeas that we cook at home instead of canned ones to save on packaging and cash money, and to reduce our exposure to the BPA that is in food can linings. For those of you who have never made pita chips, it is so easy! Just preheat your oven to 350°. Then cut your pita breads into little wedges, arrange them on a baking sheet, and pop them into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, flipping the chips once halfway through cooking. Allow to cool and then devour! :)

Fresh Tomato Salad

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Fresh Tomato Salad ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

This salad was indeed very fresh and tangy! Made using 3 varieties of seasonal heirloom tomatoes, red butter lettuce, chopped fresh herbs, and a truly delicious tarragon vinaigrette. This salad would be a great companion to virtually any entree. From 1,000 Vegan Recipes, by Robin Robertson, page 65.

High Tea!

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HIgh Tea: Cucumber & Cream Cheese Sandwiches - From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Cucumber & Cream Cheese Sandwiches, from The Vegan Table, page 78. Perfect for a luncheon with tea, fresh fruit, and muffins or scones. We made ours using Follow Your Heart cream cheese, but any other non-dairy cream cheese would also work well. The cream cheese was blended with mint, chives, and dill, and this was layered with thinly sliced, seeded cucumbers slices and baby arugula. We made ours using fluffy white bread (I know, not the healthiest choice, but it was heavenly) with the crusts cut off, just to be fancy. ;)

Geek Gaming Snax

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Geek Gaming Snax - from Vegetate, Vegan Cooking and Food Blog

Sun-dried Tomato Olive Spread (with pumpkin seeds) on crostini, from ExtraVeganZa, page 11, and Ryan’s Mushroom Poppers, from The Vegan Table, page 256. The roasted mushrooms were stuffed with Fakin’ Bakin’, Tofutti cream cheese, and chives. Served with grapes, nuts, and store-bought choco-cherry-cream cupcakes. To fortify the heroes and the Overlord through the “Descent: Sea of Blood” campaign. Best game evah!

Sesame-Crusted Oyster Mushrooms Over Burdock Kimpura

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Sesame-Crusted Oyster Mushrooms Over Burdock Kimpura - from Vegetate, Vegan Cooking and Food Blog

With wasabi cream, kecap manis, and sea vegetable salad. From The Artful Vegan cookbook. One of the tastiest appetizers served at the world famous San Francisco vegan restaurant Millennium is a version of this… it is so good that I highly recommend ordering it as an entree. This recipe is from one of Millennium’s wonderful cookbooks.