vegan chickin parm
I didn’t have many times in my life chicken parm, but it was for sure one of the best things I had the first time I visited New Jersey. And last couple of times I asked Sean what he wants for dinner, he said “chicken parm”. So I had to make it work. Instead of chicken I used Fry’s Vegetarian Chicken Style Burgers but I am sure that any kind of vegan chicken substitute will work. I love the Fry’s products because Sean eats them without complaining about eating fake meat. He once said that their chicken style burger is better than the real thing. I didn’t “pane” the burgers as they already look like that, plus I don’t like fried food. But I am posting a recipe below for making “Chickin pane” if you are using instead of Fry’s a different product such as Gardein chickin breast or chicken style seitan.
Chickin pane
4 Vegan chickin breasts
1/2 cup soy milk
1 Tbsp EnerG egg replacer
salt and pepper
1/2 cup breadcrubms
oil for frying
In a deep plate mix the milk with the egg replacer and the spices. In a different plate place the breadcrumbs. Deep the chickin breasts in the milk mixture and then in the breadcrumbs until fully coated. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the breasts until golden brown, both sides (about 3 minutes at each side).
For the chickin parm you will need
4 pane chickin breast or your favorite vegan chicken style burgers
2 cups of your preferred spaghetti sauce
1 cup vegan mozzarella shreds
1/4 cup raw parma or your preferred vegan parmesan
Preheat the oven in 180C/350F. Grease a baking pan with olive oil and 1 Tbsp of tomato sauce. Place the chickin in the pan, top each chickin breast with 1/4 cup tomato sauce, 1/4 cup mozzarella shreds, another 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and sprinkle a bit of vegan parmesan on top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Serve hot with pasta, rice or in a sandwich. Enjoy!
Vasilopita (St. Basil’s Bread) or New Year’s Cake is a tradition for the Orthodox Church here in Greece. It can be a loaf of sweet bread, cake or a pie. A coin is baked in the dough. On New Year’s Day, after the family dinner, the cake is traditionally cut by the senior male member of the family, and the person who receives the portion of the Cake which contains the coin is considered blessed for the New Year.
Happy New Year!
Each portion of the Cake is distributed as follows: The first portion is cut for Jesus Christ. The second is for The Virgin Mary. The third is for St. Basil the Great and the forth for the house. The other portions are cut for the members of the family beginning with the eldest.
If you are interested, you can read more about the Vasilopita and its history here.
Since I went vegan 5 years ago, it became a tradition for me to bake the Vasilopita every year. Not just for our house, but pretty much for everyone in the family. For my mom, my aunts, friends etc. This is a really tasty cake and you can make it any time during the year – just don’t write the year on it. It’s great with a morning coffee or a cup of tea.
New Year's Cakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegan margarine (1oo grams)
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp ground flax seed whisked with 1/4 cup of water
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of flour
2 Tbsp corn flour
1 ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
1 cup ground walnuts
Mix the coconut milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle. Mix the ground flax seeds with the water and set aside until it forms a gel. In a mixing bowl sift the flour, corn flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix with a fork. In a big mixing bowl place the margarine and the sugar and use a hand mixer to mix them until the margarine becomes fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add the vanilla extract, flax seeds mixture and a little bit of the coconut milk and blend. Start adding the flour mixture and the coconut milk, 1/2 cup at the time and mix with the hand mixer in low/medium. Once you have added all the milk and flour add the ground walnuts. Use a fork to distribute the walnuts all over the dough. Do not forget at this stage to slip a coin (covered in tinfoil) in the cake dough. Grease and flour a baking pan, pour the dough in it and bake in preheated oven at 180 for about 40 minutes, until the cake is ready. Let it cool before removing from the pan. Dust the cake with powdered sugar and write the year on it.
That’s what I’ ve been doing this weekend….
Canning roasted pepper and tomato sauce
tomato sauce
Canning fruit jam, roasted eggplants with tomato meze, spicy pepper pickles, green tomato pickles, eggplant sauce, roasted pepper sauce, mushrooms, pickled veggies…
cannning things...
I also visited the local farmers market and I was surprised to see apples being sold for only 40 cents per kg (20 cents per pound)…
apples 
I also visited my mom’s pumpkin field and stole a couple of pumpkins.
mama's pumpkin field
more pumpkins
Almond loves his big pumpkin!
Almond and his pumpkin
And of course Peanut is back home! My sweet pumpkin head 
Peanut Love
What did you do this weekend?
