Miss Lexy's Top 15 Vegan Miss Recipes (To Date)

I've been blogging Vegan Miss since 2009 and while I wish I posted more frequently with recipes (real life interferes, blast!), I do have some of my favorite gems. Here is a list of recipes that I think back to fondly (in no particular order):

1. Homemade Grilled Potato, Onion, & Cheeze Pierogies: These babies are well, bad ass. I have yet to find frozen vegan pierogies for sale in store. If you make a huge batch of this, it'll freeze and keep nicely for later use. Pair with some Polish braised red cabbage and sour cream for a very tasty Polish delight.
2. Balsamic Sage Butter Tortellini: I have yet to find vegan tortellini's anywhere as well. Someone should really just make tortellini's and pierogies in the frozen vegan variety. And cheese sticks. They would be a huge hit, I think! If you are feeling adventurous, these little guys will definitely rock your world. As with the pierogies, you can make a big batch and freeze them for later use. I would serve this with raw kale salad for a perfect meal!
3. Pumpkin Curry Soup: This soup is magnificent. Perfect fall weather soup. Even my mother who declared she hated pumpkin before trying this was converted. She had me make another batch just for her and my dad and again at Thanksgiving dinner. Serve with fresh brown bread.
4. Tiramisu: One of the desserts I crave still is tiramisu. I made a regular version for Valentine's Day 2011 and then a raspberry version for this past Valentine's Day. It's kind of like crack. Really delicious crack. Warning: you may want to eat way more than one serving.
5. Balsamic Baked Tofu Caprese Sandwich: One of my first recipes for Vegan Miss. The trick to this is to let the tofu marinate for preferably 24 hours. It'll really take in that flavor (tofu being like a sponge and all).
6. Deep Dish Pizza: Ah, vegan deep dish pizza. Living in Chicago for almost 7 years now, I've never had the traditional deep dish. This is my solution. It's an awesome, awesome solution. It was even my competition dish for the Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown. nom nom nom!
7. Italian "Beef" Sandwiches: Once again, in all my years in Chicago, I have never eaten an Italian beef sandwich. And trust me, they are mighty popular, originating here and all. This would be my vegan version which has been a hit with vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores a like. Don't forget the giardiniera!
8. Ginger, Carrot, Beet, & Sweet Potato Soup: This is the best winter soup. If you don't like beets, you will now. It is just the right combination of different root vegetables to have only a hint of that earthy beet taste. Don't blame me if you go back for seconds!
9. Vegan Horseshoe Sandwich: Most people don't know what a horseshoe is, so basically it is Texas toast with whatever meat you want on top and then cheese fries on top of that. Not healthy. The cheese sauce I came up with for this is still my go-to cheese sauce when I need to make nachos or anything cheezy like that. Even my omni, cheese loving friends liked it.
10.Chick'n Divan: Ah, 1950s food. This is recreated from the book, Dishes Men Like. I've been told this tastes a lot like the real thing sans all that gross meat and dairy. Serve with Caesar salad.
11. Chick'n Scallopini with Wild Mushroom Risotto: This one of my favorite romantic dinner recipes on my blog. It would be perfect for Valentine's Day or an anniversary. Gardein is such an amazing mock meat product that is ever expanding on the markets. I keep a package of their chick'n scallopini's in my freezer at all times! Serve with a bowl of French onion soup.
12. Chick'n Katsu: Did I not tell you that I keep those Gardein scallopini's in my freezer at all times or what?! I really adore Japanese culture and cuisine. I did my undergraduate minor in Japanese and studied in Japan as well. ♥ One of the nation's favorite dishes is katsu. Serve with some veggie miso soup.
13. Spinach & Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo: Several of my followers have remade this dish and all have fallen in love with it like I have. This is another one of those romantic dishes I enjoy. Serve with a heaping bowl of Italian wedding soup!
14. Vegan Fried Rice: This is an oldie recipe, but a goodie. It has something like 12,000 hits on VegWeb. It is a great recipe to whip up during the week and have plenty of leftovers.
15. Southern Food Gone Vegan: Country fried seitan steaks? Check. Mashed potatoes? Check. Southern greens? Check. Biscuits and gravy? Check! If you want a simple gravy, you can dumb down what I have to a black pepper gravy. This is one of Vegan Miss' most popular entries over the course of the last three years. Another southern favorite is my chick'n & buckwheat waffles with preserves recipe. No one ever said southern food was healthy for you! ;]

Well, there you have it. My original intent was to have 5-10 recipes, but I just couldn't stop at 10! If you ever decide to recreate any Vegan Miss recipes, please email the pictures at veganmiss@gmail.com or post pictures on VM's Facebook and post a review of the recipe on VegWeb for me! 

Homemade Grilled Potato, Onion, & Cheeze Pierogies with Kielbasa

Well, I finally broke down and bought myself a grill pan. I've been meaning to add this item to my kitchen for a long time. Naturally, I am now obsessed with it. The next few posts may all involve a grill pan, be warned!

I ran out of all-purpose flour as I was making this, thus the added whole wheat flour. Please make with whichever flour you choose, though. This recipe is rather involved as one should really freeze the pierogies overnight before you cook them. Luckily, this recipe makes a lot and you'll have plenty pierogies left over in the freezer for a later date to bake, boil, or fry up! They would go wonderfully with a combination of some vegan sour cream, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and minced chive.

Homemade Grilled Potato, Onion, & Cheeze Pierogies with Kielbasa

* Prep Time: 2 hours to make pierogies, then freeze overnight
* Cook Time: 20 minutes
* Ingredients (for pierogi dough):

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp soy butter*
• 2 "eggs", prepared via box instructions*
• 1/8 cup vegan sour cream*
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup water

* Ingredients (for rest of pierogi filling):

• 1/2 recipe of VM's "My Mom's Mashed Potatoes" sans rosemary
• 1/2 cup Daiya Cheddar Cheeze*
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil

* Ingredients (for rest of recipe):

• 2 vegan kielbasa sausages*
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 small yellow onion, finely sliced
• 1/8 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste

* Recipe (for pierogies):

1. In a mixer, combine all ingredients for pierogi dough.
2. Form dough into disk and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
3. Just before your hour wait is up, in a medium skillet on medium-low heat, add the olive oil. Sautee the onions until translucent and soft, about 10 minutes.
4. Take out of fridge, dust counter with flour, and roll out dough with a rolling pin.
5. Roll out dough to about a quarter of an inch thick and cut into four pieces. Roll each piece out until it is just a couple millimeters thick. Cut circle with cookie cutter that is about two inches wide.
6. When done making mashed potatoes, add the cheeze. and cooked onions. Mix well.
7. Place about a tsp of mashed potato mixture in the center of circle.
8. Dip finger in cold water and wipe more than half around of the edge of the circle.
9. Fold over and press all the air out sealing the edges. Use a fork to crimp the edges.
10. Freeze overnight. Freeze on a wax paper on a baking sheet so they do not stick. Once frozen, one can place them in a freezer ziplock bag. The recipe makes about four dozen pierogies.

* Recipe (for rest of recipe):

1. Heat grill pan on medium heat. Add the kielbasa and cook for about 10 minutes, turning each side every few minutes.
2. While the kielbasa are cooking, combine one tbsp olive oil with the onion in a medium bowl. Coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. When the kielbasa are done, set aside. Add the onions onto the grill pan. Cook until translucent, about 10 minutes.
4. Coat about a dozen frozen pierogies in one tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper.
5. Take the onions off the grill pan and add the pierogies. Cook each side for about 5 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While pierogies are cooking, slice the kielbasa and dice the onions.
7. Combine the mustard, vinegar, remaining olive oil, and parsley in the medium bowl. Add the kielbasa and onions. When the pierogies are done on the grill, toss them into the bowl. Mix well.
8. Serve and enjoy.

* Note: For soy butter, I prefer the olive oil based Earth Balance. For egg replacer, I use Ener-G. The vegan sour cream I used was Tofutti. One can find Daiya at most health food stores now or online. Lastly, the vegan kielbasa I used was Tofurky brand. Personally, I find them rather dry but with the dressing they were not that bad.