Monday, September 27, 2010

Viva Vegan's Tofu Chicharrones and Mojo Oven-Roasted Seitan

Viva Vegan's Tofu Chicharrones was alright, nothing amazing as far as the flavor goes. The marinade was pretty basic and consisted of soy sauce, liquid smoke, garlic, red wine vinegar, and agave syrup. I cheated and made this on the Forman so that I didn't have to fry it up in a bunch of oil. Any tofu I cook on the Forman I let cool and firm up a bit before chowing down, it just tastes better that way.
I made Mojo Oven-Roasted Seitan again since I found some oranges growing on some trees near my house along a bike trail. I really like the citrus-y marinade used in this dish, yum!

Lots of leftovers left to eat, hopefully I will get around to cooking more soon :)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

VWAV's Homemade Seitan + Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers

 VWAV is a pretty amazing cookbook though Viva Vegan still has my heart. One thing I enjoy is trying different recipes for making seitan, for us seitan makers out there, we know each batch of seitan has a life of its own and is a bit different even with the same recipe! So this time around I figured I would use VWAV's recipe for Homemade Seitan and I thought it turned out pretty standard as far as seitan goes... Nothing insanely amazing like the seitan recipes out of Viva Vegan.
So I made the seitan to use in VWAV's Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers recipe. The recipe looked like it wanted me to use the entire batch of Homemade Seitan but that seemed like way too much seitan (And definitely more than 4 cups) so used half the Homemade Seitan recipe and it came out perfect. I really liked this dish! The seitan is flavored with serranos (I left the seeds in), ginger, garlic, cumin, cardamom (Didn't have), turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, and red wine. The seitan turned out really "meaty" and moist, quite heavenly.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Creole Roasted Carrots

I love carrots, especially roasted and if you didn't know already, my favorite seasoning in the whole wide world is Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning!

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375F
- Get as many handfuls of baby carrots that you feel like eating and put them into a glass baking dish
- Spray the carrots with a bunch of cooking spray and season the carrots generously with creole and shake everything around a bit
- Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, turning the carrots halfway.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Taco Style Seitan and Creamy Refried Beans

Tonight I wanted a quick and easy dinner and had a big batch of Refried Beans sitting in the fridge. I needed something "Mexican-y" to go along with the beans so Taco Style Seitan was the plan.
Taco Style Seitan:
- 4 cups seitan cut into small chunks, (I used 2 loaves of Red Seitan from Viva Vegan)
- 2 small or 1 large bell pepper, cut into small chunks
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, cut into small chunks
- 6 crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
- A drizzle of olive oil for frying

Directions:
- Fry up the seitan chunks in oil over medium high heat until they blacken a bit.
- Add the bell peppers and onions and fry for a few more minutes until they soften to your liking (I prefer mine not to be overly cooked).
- Add the criminis, taco seasoning, and water. Cook until the criminis begin to soften.
- Add the cilantro and stir everything around to get it coated evenly.
Creamy Refried Beans:
- 1 pound dried pinto beans, soaked overnight, then rinsed
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 to 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- A few jalapenos, chopped (optional)

- 1 onion, chopped

Directions:
- Place all ingredients into a big pot and cover with about 1.5 inches of water.
- Bring everything to a boil, then cover and everything simmer for 2 hours.
- Drain your beans in a metal colander and pick out the bay leaves.
- Place your cooked bean and onion mixture into a food processor and let it do its magic for a minute or two.
- Taste and see if additional salt is needed and don't ruin your beans by over-salting them!

See you don't need oil or lard to make creamy refried beans, just use a food processor!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A trip to L.A. to see The Getty and eat at California Vegan

Me and my brother wanted to do something different this weekend and take a trip to L.A. We decided that we wanted to check out The Getty and get a bite to eat at California Vegan.
The Getty was awesome and we only went through one of the many buildings (We will be going back to see more since it's free). There was tons of Renaissance-Age and European artwork (I liked this picture with the cute puppy) and famous photography. We also checked out 2 of the gardens which were amazing but my camera died so no pictures.
There are TONS of vegan restaurants in L.A. so it was a tough choice. I felt like Asian food and California Vegan is a Thai restaurant. Below is my brother siting in the cutesy little restaurant.
I had the Spicy Eggplant with Tofu and asked for it extra spicy and it was not spicy at all so I had to load on the chili paste. The dish had a lot of veggies though, which I love but mostly bell peppers and the tofu wasn't cooked the way I like it, it was just kinda thrown in the dish and left mushy.
 
My brother had the California Chow Mein with Tofu that was again mushy. Overall we both thought the restaurant was just okay, I probably won't bother going back again.


Saturday, September 18, 2010

VWAV's Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew

I thought VWAV's Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew was pretty good but not amazing, a bit too tomato-ey for my tastes, I might make it again. The stew consists of the obvious ingredients in the title plus onion, garlic, cumin, s & p, canned crushed tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, and lime. My brother and friend really liked it though.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

VWAV's Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa- Stuffed Peppers

OMFG Vegan with a Vengeance's (VWAV's) Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa- Stuffed Peppers were so good and simple! I made 5 stuffed bell peppers because I could only find medium sized ones (The recipe said 4 large). The bells are filled with onions, garlic, tomato sauce, quinoa, and black beans along with a few seasonings and a cilantro garnish. To die for my friends!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Veganomicon's "A Hummus Recipe"

 I halved Veganomicon's "A Hummus Recipe" and it was just the right amount, geese a whole recipe would seriously make a boatload! This hummus is flavored with lemon juice, garlic, cumin, s & p, and sprinkled with some Hungarian paprika. Delish and extra coolness points for homemade hummus!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Viva Vegan's Costa Rican Refried Rice and Beans (Gallo Pinto)

Wow I love Viva Vegan's Costa Rican Refried Rice and Beans (Gallo Pinto)! I doubled it this time since I have a very hungry brother around keeping me company through this difficult time. This recipe is just leftover rice, beans, garlic, onion, red bell pepper (I used orange this time), vegan worchestire, liquid smoke, cilantro and some Latin spices. Amazing!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Viva Vegan's Mojo Oven-Roasted Seitan & Yellow Rice with Garlic

Viva Vegan's Mojo Oven-Roasted Seitan & Yellow Rice with Garlic were the bomb as usual.
I loved the Mojo Oven-Roasted Seitan, it was her recipe for White Seitan (Chicken Style) marinaded in lime juice, orange juice, garlic, oregano, and cumin. I actually let it marinate overnight, which was not required, and it tasted heavenly.
 Yellow Rice with Garlic was also amazing and it gave me a chance to use up some of her recipe for Annatto-Infused Oil.
 The rice was flavored with garlic, the Annato-Infused Oil, and veggie broth then cilantro is stirred in at the end. Delicious!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A New Way to Prepare Tofu...

 So I have been trying to eat healthier and cook with less oil... I had some tofu that had been pressed with my Tofu Press, I sliced in about 8 slices width-wise and marinated it in some Soy Vay Teriyaki Sauce overnight... The next day, I pulled out my dusty George Forman Grill that I haven't used since going vegan (1.5 years ago) and decided it is time to try some tofu steaks on this damn thing! It worked perfectly! No oil, just grill the tofu about 5 minutes until browned to your liking. Fantastic! I think I will be using this grill all the time for tofu now if I can.
I dipped mine in some extra teryaki sauce out of the bottle... Yum!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Viva Vegan's Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce

Yet another amazing recipe from Viva Vegan! I got 15 enchiladas out of this recipe instead of 10. I also left off the Pine Nut Creama because it is the only recipe in this book I have found to be absolutely repulsive and my enchiladas turned out just fine. I instead topped my enchiladas with vegan sour cream when serving... Yum!
 The Green Tomatillo Sauce is to die for and it is awesome salsa as well. It really made a pretty boring recipe of mashed chickpeas and potatoes shine. I will be making this again soon!
My enchiladas kind of fell apart, the ones I had leftover to cool a bit stayed together much better but I was hungry and couldn't wait.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

I'm Back Bitches! Viva Vegan's Costa Rican Refried Rice and Beans (Gallo Pinto) and more Peruvian Seitan Skewers

Have I mentioned how much I love this cookbook!?! Viva Vegan's Costa Rican Refried Rice and Beans (Gallo Pinto) is amazing. The liquid smoke and vegan worcestershire really make this rice and bean dish shine.
I have made the Peruvian Seitan Skewers three times now as they are so easy and so good! This time I left out the potato and just did the Red Seitan with bell peppers and onions. Yum :)