Foodie Friday: Like Noodles, But Not

It's Foodie Friday! Foodie Friday is my weekly feature that gives you a window into my kitchen. I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to read cookbooks, and I love to inspire people to give vegan food a chance. Thus, Foodie Friday was whipped up and baked to perfection.

I didn't do a ton of cooking this week. I blame those long weekend late lunches! But what cooking I did do was extra-super good, and I even have some of my own recipes for you!

First up this week is a healthy dinner.

Oven-roasted spaghetti squash (before shredding and after)...
...and carrot spaghetti (with Newman's Own Sockarooni sauce)!
Both of these pasta substitutes turned out to be delicious and got the noodle-loving husband's "I'd eat it again" seal of approval. Even if you don't use either of these dishes as dual main courses like I did, try them! I'm sure they'd be excellent veggie side dishes, and the leftover carrots made for a tasty cold lunch the next day. I'm hungry just thinking about them!

And now for something a bit heartier:

Chili!
Heidi Renée's Chili
Serves two very hungry adults with leftovers, so probably serves four normally)

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 huge yellow onion, chopped
3 green onion (scallion) stalks, chopped
8 tsp. chopped garlic (about 16 cloves)
12 oz. veggie burger crumbles (I used one bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Grillers)
2 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes
3 15 oz. cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cayenne
8 leaves chopped fresh basil plus more for garnish

In a large soup pot, sauté yellow onion in olive oil until translucent. Add green onion (reserve some for garnish if desired) and garlic and sauté until garlic is fragrant. Add burger crumbles, tomatoes, and kidney beans. Stir until mixed evenly. Add chili powder, cayenne, and basil. Stir well. Simmer uncovered until everything is heated through and bubbling merrily. Serve garnished with green onions and basil.

Note: Two teaspoons of cayenne makes for spicy chili, in my opinion. It was a bit too hot for Jason, but I enjoyed it after the initial shock. If I had served it to my dad he would have asked me if I was trying to kill him. If you don't like spice, use one teaspoon of cayenne or leave it out altogether and just use chili powder to taste. Chili powder is much more of a muted spice than cayenne!

The great thing about chili is that you can adjust everything in it--want more beans? Add another can! And you can keep nearly all of the ingredients in your pantry or freezer so it's easy to throw together on short notice without a trip to the store.

For this week's showstopper, I present to you tonight's dinner:

What is it?
Red velvet pancakes!
Here's my recipe, based on this one and veganized by yours truly:

Dry ingredients (same as recipe linked above)
1 ½ cups flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
3 tbsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients (veganized!)
1 ¼ cups soy milk
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Egg replacer equivalent to two eggs (I used Ener-g)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. red food coloring
2 oz. nondairy butter, melted (about 1/2 a stick, but I just scooped a couple of spoonfuls of Smart Balance Organic out of the tub and it was about right)

You'll need two bowls--a large bowl for the dry ingredients and a medium bowl for the wet ingredients. Combine all of the dry ingredients in the large bowl, stir well, and set aside. In the medium bowl, add soy milk and apple cider vinegar and stir well--these ingredients mimic buttermilk. Add egg replacer. Melt nondairy butter in a bowl or mug in the microwave. Add melted butter, vanilla extract, and food coloring to the other wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined and uniformly red. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients bowl and mix, mix, mix. Pour batter by the quarter-cup onto a hot pan or griddle, cook, and enjoy!

If you're interested in some of the history of red velvet cake, definitely read through the original recipe post.