Vegan Philly & Cheeze

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You have to have a good sandwich every once in a while. As much as I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, they are not "dinner worthy". I wanted a sandwich to serve my teenage son that would make him say "wow!". 

This whole idea started with the portobella mushrooms being on sale at the store this week. I grabbed 4 big mushrooms and through them in the cart and started looking for inspiration. It always takes me time in the grocery store, because I do love to browse and look for new ideas. I just walked up and down the isles gathering my already planned meals and looking for something, other than Stroganoff  I could make for dinner. (Nothing wrong with Stroganoff, but we have had this meal a lot & I'm just tired of it at the moment.)

 I found a steakhouse marinade when looking at pasta sauces. I decided to try and marinade my mushrooms and grill them up into a Philly style creation using up the rest of my Lazy vegan Beer Cheese sauce. This was not a recipe for the health conscious vegans out there, it was a recipe for a family dinner without worries. My messy, gooey, cheesy, tangy, "meaty", hearty, and delicious sandwich was a hit at dinner & will be come a regular rotation at the house since it was so easy to prepare.

More delicious  family meals:  Italian Roasted Tempeh w/ Whole Garlic Cloves, Harvest Vegetable Soup w/ Grilled Cheeze, Short Cut Red Beans and Rice, & Red Curry Veggies and Ramen, Easy Vegan Sunday Dinner & for desert try No Bake Banana Oreo Pudding

Philly Portobella & Cheeze Sandwiches:

4 (8oz.) Packages fresh mushrooms, sliced*

1 (16 oz) steakhouse style marinade *

1 (16 oz) Frozen peppers and onions

1 cup Lazy Vegan Beer Cheese , or other vegan cheese sauce

4 sub style rolls

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sliced jalapeños (optional )

Just Mayo (optional )

In a deep bowl, cover mushrooms in marinade. Cover tightly.

Place bowl in refrigerator for at least 1 hour ( I did this in the morning before work & cooked them when I got home).

Preheat oven to broil .

Warm up your flat griddle to high (or heat up a non stick skillet over medium heat heat).

Drain excess marinade from mushrooms.

Cook mushrooms, peppers and onions on griddle for about 8 minutes, until browned. Season to taste.

Place split rolls on a cookie sheet.

Coat each side with cheeze sauce

Brown under broiler. Remove from

Top rolls with mushrooms, peppers and onions. Pour more hot Cheeze sauce over mushrooms and top with desired toppings.

Makes 4 sandwiches

* For a quicker sandwich, you can use 2 bags of Gardein Szechuan beefless strips. Save the glavor packet for another meal. Cook strips over medium high heat with olive oil, A1 sauce & 8 oz. Chopped mushrooms.

Prepare as directed above.

Baked Spinach and Artichoke Pasta

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My son loves spinach and artichoke dip, so he is my inspiration tonight. This was a modified version of the cauliflower alfredo I make for my kids. The idea struck me, while grocery shopping, that I could do better than just plain alfredo for dinner tonight. I wanted to make it hearty. A meal to stand up to this cold weather and make you feel loved. I think I accomplished that with this dish. This is a dish good enough to take to a potluck & have no one notice it's vegan. I served this with broccoli steamed in fresh lemon juice and tossed in a little italian seasoning... it was a perfect meal for the kids tonight. I hope you family will enjoy it on a cold night in the future. 

Looking for more Vegan Pasta Dishes? Try my Vegan 'Meaty" spaghetti, Lemon and Garlic Pasta, Kale Stuffed Eggplant Parm, &Chipotle Mac-N-Cheeze w/ smokey lentils

For the Pasta sauce :

1/3 cup olive oil

5 cloves garlic, crushed 
3 cups Frozen or fresh cauliflower, thawed & chopped into small pieces

2 1/2 cups unsweetened plant milk

Salt and pepper to taste

3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1 (12 oz ) jar artichokes, rinsed and drained

1 (16 oz) package of cooked rigatoni

For the breadcrumbs:

4 slices of bread

2 Tbsp vegan butter, melted

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp. dried parsley

To Assemble:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil and garlic over medium low heat until garlic is golden brown and fragrant.

Add milk and allow to come to a boil.

Add cauliflower, salt and pepper to taste. Cook an additional 5-6 minutes.

Remove from heat and add nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Set aside.

Toast bread.

Break toast up into rough pieces and add to a food processor with nutritional yeast, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, & dried parsley.

Pulse on high until toast becomes breadcrumbs.

Add cauliflower mixture to a high powdered blender.

Set to "food puree" and blend until smooth.

Pour cauliflower sauce over rigatoni in a deep mixing bowl . Add spinach and artichokes. Stir to combine.

Grease a 2 quart casserole dish.

Pour rigatoni into casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs.

Drizzle melted butter over breadcrumbs.

Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until breadcrumbs are golden brown and pasta is bubbly.

Makes 4-6 servings

Easy Pulled Jackfruit

New Year's Day is a big celebration around our house. It is my husband's birthday and, in the South, we have to cook a big traditional meal. That meal ( greens, black eyed peas and pork) is supposed to bring us luck and money in the new year. As a vegan, obviously, we won't be eating pork. What do Vegans eat for New Years? 

This year I decided to try one of the latest vegan food trends - Jackfruit. This is an Asian fruit that shreds like meat when cooked. It has a bland flavor which takes on any sauce you cook it in and is perfect for making pulled jackfruit sandwiches! You will probably have to go to an Asian specialty supermarket to find the cans of green jackfruit. Make sure you get the jackfruit in water or brine & not in syrup...that's a whole other thing. 

So...Happy new year!! Go celebrate and try new things!

Looking for some more southern classics?  Try my Buffalo Tempeh over cheeze grits, fried green tomatoes, Banana Pudding Pie, Applesauce Cornbread Muffins, Vegan "Chicken" (jackfruit) Casserole , & Cheezy Butternut Macaroni

Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches:

I made 6 sandwiches from this recipe...

4 (17oz.) cans of green jackfruit in water, drained.
1 (16oz.) Jar of vinegar based NC BBQ sauce (or your favorite BBQ sauce)

1 package of hamburger rolls
Vegan Coleslaw (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. spread your jackfruit out on a greased 11x13 casserole dish.

3. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring after about 10 minutes. Continue to cook until jackfruit begins to brown on the edges and no longer looks transparent.

4. Remove jackfruit from the oven and toss with 2/3 of your BBQ sauce. Place back in the oven about 10 minutes.

5. Remove jackfruit and allow to cool about 10 minutes.

6. Using 2 forks, pull your jackfruit apart. It should resemble shredded meat. Make sure you pull the rougher core pieces, and large seeds apart also for a better texture. 

7. Place jackfruit on your roll and enjoy!

Serve with vegan coleslaw for authentic NC BBQ sandwiches. 

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