Well, here's my very post! I've been surfing around blogspot for a few months now, drooling over all the amazing photos of vegan food. And I finally thought - hey, I enjoy cooking, I take random pictures of my food... why not share? As a bit of an introduction - I am 17 years old (will be 18 in less than a month) and have been meat free for 2 1/2 years, 2 of which I have spent as a vegan. I am the only non-meat eater in my family, but my boyfriend is a vegan and two of my three best friends are also vegetarians. I love love love to cook, especially for my friends - many of whom eat meat or are very finnicky eaters. I especially love making desserts and I think (hope!) I have a knack for it. Most things I make are consumed rather quickly (with a few exceptions, of course). I'm not big on meat substitutes (ie, boca burgers, tofu dogs, etc.) but I do very much enjoy fake dairy (ie, soy yogurt, soy ice cream, soy cream cheese, etc.) I'm not too good at making up my own recipes, but I usually tweak what I have a bit and will always cite the source of anything I steal.

I am very health concious, as you might be able to tell. I was into the raw foods thing for a couple months, but I don't have the will power to stick with it. However, my boyfriend and I still enjoy eating raw occasionally, so I'm sure I'll be posting raw food recipes and such as well! Since I have a stock of several vegan dishes that I have made and photographed, I'm going to start with them rather then what we are currently eating. Once I run out, I'll switch to more current dishes.

So, here we go, my first recipe!

Spinach, Tofu, and Kalamata Olive Stuffed Manicotti
Tweaked from Bunny Toy's Spinach Ricotta, found at the following link: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7587.0

1 lb firm tofu
1 large handful fresh chopped spinach
1 handful chopped and pitted kalamata olives, or to taste
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt (I like to use celtic)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp fresh chopped oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 package whole wheat mancotti noodles (around 6 noodles)
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (roasted garlic was great on this!)

Drain the tofu. In a food processor, mix together the tofu, spinach, olives, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, and olive oil. Mix until smooth and similar in texture to ricotta cheese.
Spread about 1/4 of the jar of tomato sauce onto the bottom of a glass baking dish. Stuff the uncooked manicotti noodles with the tofu ricotta mixture using a spoon or a pastry bag. Place the stuffed noodles on top of the sauce in the baking dish and cover with the rest of the tomato sauce. Cover with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove the tin foil, and bake for an extra 10 - 15 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!

We served this with a side of bitter greens topped with creamy italain dressing. It was really very good and very easy to make! I can't remember where I found the tip to bake the manicotti noodles without boiling them first, but it gave them just the right texture :) My boyfriend and mom both gave this a big thumbs up!