Sunday Cooking and VWAV Reviews

I cooked a shit ton of food today and probably spent half the day on the kitchen, which me being the odd ball that I am, and not having a car at the moment, actually enjoyed it.

I started off my cooking frenzy with VWAV's Carrot Raisin Muffins. These turned out pretty good and I got 2 extra muffins out of the recipe. I thought these could be a bit sweeter (never mind i just ate another one), my brother thought they were fantastic. I give this recipe 4 out of 5 stars.

Next up, was VWAV's Lemon Gem Cupcakes. These were an epic fail for me but I do admit, I really suck at making desserts and baking. First off, the cupcakes didn't rise much and ended up sinking once they got out of the oven. No big deal right?

I will just cover them with the frosting. I go to make the frosting, another epic fail. I used EB buttery sticks for the recipe and something went wrong and I had to maybe double the powdered sugar and it was still runny and now way too sweet. Next fail, the cupcakes stuck to the liners. I was pissed, I ate a few, and threw the rest away :(

I then made my weekly batch of jalapeno flavored refried beans and

4 Rainbow Salads for my work lunches

Next, I had some brussles that needed to be used up so I prepped them (discarding gross leaves, cutting off the stem, and slicing them in half), coated them with some cooking spray and seasoned them with S&P and roasted them at 350F for 30 minutes (bigger ones might take a bit longer)... Feakin delish!

I then proceeded to make VWAV's Curried Split Pea Soup and this was a winner! First time cooking with split peas and this turned out great, thank God.

I also made VWAV's BBQ Pomegranate Tofu and it turned out alright. I left off the pomegranate seed topping cause that just seemed like a pain in the ass to do. The texture of the baked tofu was awesome but again, another BBQ sauce recipe from this book that just didn't tickle my fancy, too tomato-ey and sweet, and way too much for this recipe! I say you could easily half the BBQ sauce meant to bake the tofu in, I didn't even put the full amount on the tofu and ended up scraping the sauce off. It was way too much! Not a complete fail, but I won't be making this again. Though I will use her tofu baking technique: 2 tablespoons oil + 1 tablespoon Braggs, cut the tofu into 8 pieces, place tofu in the oil and Braggs mixture until completely coated, bake at 350 F for 30 minutes, turn over after 15, and add sauce and bake an additional 15 minutes. Perfect texture!

 Lastly, I made a batch pf Viva Vegan's Yellow Garlic Rice, I always make this dish when I have some cilantro to use up, I also used half an onion too and sauteed it along with the garlic... Yum

Weekend Batch Cooking... The Key to Vegan Living

Leftovers are something I consider a necessity, especially as a vegan. There are some nights when I'm just too lazy or busy to cook so leftovers are my best friend... This weekend I made:

Tofu Scramble with carrots, kidney beans, black olives, Viva Vegan's Sofrito, cherry tomatoes, and parsley along with deep fried tempeh "bacon" slathered with cheapy maple syrup :)

Garbanzo Bean Salad Sandwich Spread with minced celery and green onions for the veggies

"Chicken" Fajitas seasoned with taco seasoning and lime, Soy Curls as the meat sub

I also made VegWeb's Tofu Sour Cream, it was alright... Maybe it will taste better tomorrow once it sets a bit more

VegWeb's Minestrone Soup, I leave out the pasta and add extra veggies... SOOOO GOOD!!!

I also made a huge batch of Teriyaki Tofu but I figure you know what it looks like already so I won't bore you with another photo ;)

Rainbow Salad

I love salad people! I eat it almost everyday drenched in Vegan Ranch. I always make a bunch at a time (Think 3 heads of romaine) and put it in a gallon sized ziploc so I can have a quick and amazing salad with only 1 days worth of chopping!

Here's my salad for this week: Romaine, Red Bell Pepper, Green Onions, Black Olives, Purple Cabbage, Carrots, Corn, Edamame, Black Beans (I add these day of so they don't get gross), and Grilled Teriyaki Tofu... Delish! I also really like peas in my salad but was sadly out.

More "Sausage" Crumbles

I can't get enough of these Sausage Crumbles! I had some leftover from making Stuffed Peppers and just want to sprinkle these magical crumbles on everything! So far I put them in a tofu scramble...

And on my Papa John's Pizza (I ordered 2 pizzas: Olive+Green Bell Pepper+Onion+Mushroom and Jalapeno+Pineapple, no cheese of course)... Yessss I'm moving cut me some slack!

CPK's Veganized Barbecue Chik'n Pizza

I made my favorite pizza again last night... CPK's Veganized Barbecue Chik'n Pizza! I didn't have red onions so I used some white and green. I am also pretty much over vegan cheese substitutes so I left my pizza cheeze free and globed on some Vegan Ranch... Perfection!

Before Baking

After

Viva Vegan's Red Chile-Seitan and Black Bean-Sweet Potato Tamales

Last weekend I spent almost all Sunday making a BOATLOAD of tamales from my Viva Vegan cookbook. The picture above is only half of what I actually made! I made 2 batches each of both Red Chile-Seitan and Black Bean-Sweet Potato Tamales which should have produced 96 tamales (2 dozen per batch) I got about maybe 75 to 80 which is still a ton. All this hard work paid off however, as I have had easy meals and lunches all week and have had plenty of tamales to share with curious coworkers.

 

I have to say I love the Red Chile-Seitan tamales the most, Red Seitan + Red Chile Sauce + thinly sliced red bell peppers and onions.

The Black Bean-Sweet Potato Tamales were also good but I ended up stuffing the majority of the tamales with mainly black beans as there was definitely not enough sweet potatoes to go around. Next time, I might halve the amount of black beans and double the amount of sweet potatoes.

The Best Vegan Meatloaf!

I have been searching for some good vegan meatloaf and have had a handful of failed attempts thus far. After my latest failed attempt, I remembered how awesome Vegan Dad's recipe for Veggie Lunch Meat was and how much it reminded me of meatloaf. So what did I do? I used Vegan Dad's recipe and technique and added a few veggies to make this more well, meatloaf-y. Success at last! I cannot wait to make this again!

Vegan Meatloaf:

- Cut up 1 cup of peeled carrots and half a medium white onion into small pieces and sautee until tender in some water or oil, add 1/2 cup frozen corn towards the end of cooking, set aside.
- Make Vegan Dad's Veggie Lunch Meat Recipe and add the cooked veggies to the gluten flour the same time you add the blended ingredients and mix everything together. Some veggies may fall out of the gluten ball but that's okay, you can just fold them in or press them on top of your gluten loaves before they get wrapped in foil.

- I broke the gluten ball into 4 pieces and made mini meatloaf's the same way you would make the big loaf but just steam for 45 minutes (Flip loaves around halfway through steaming) and bake for 45 minutes.
- The last 15 minutes of baking, take the gluten loaves out of the foil (Be careful) and place them on some parchment paper. Top the loaves with ketchup and finish baking them.

This vegan meatloaf also makes fantastic meatloaf sandwiches. Just slice it and place it toasted bread slathered with vegan mayo, add some romaine if you want.

Lazy Dinner

So I just can't get enough of these Grilled Tofurkey Sandwiches!!! This time I had 2 english muffins to use up... Fantastic as usual!

I also made a cake referred to as "Pouding Chomeur" from The Vegan Mouse and it was pretty good, but definitely not very pretty... I was planning on taking it to the monthly birthday celebration at my work but decided against it. I would give the cake 3.5 out of 5 stars though for taste.

Easy Peasy Wet Bean & Rice Burritos

 I love me a wet burrito, especially one filled with leftover homemade Mexican rice and refried beans (Courtesy of my BF's mom). I also have an addiction to onions of any form, so I added a bunch of minced white onion on top of these bad boys.

What you need:

- Flour Tortillas
- Leftover Refried Beans
- Leftover Mexican Rice (Rice a Roni Spanish Rice is vegan I believe if you're lazy)
- Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese (Optional)
- Red Taco Sauce (La Victoria Red Taco Sauce Medium is my favorite!)
- Minced White Onion (Optional)
- Your favorite toppings (I chose fresh Diced Tomatoes and Creamy Chipotle Sauce)

What you do:

- Prepare your favorite burrito toppings
- Heat flour tortilla/s in the microwave for 30ish seconds
- Put tortilla on a plate and add rice, beans, and vegan cream cheese (These were all leftovers straight from the fridge).
- Fold tortilla up burrito style, with the burrito seam side on the plate (Repeat previous 3 steps if you want 2 burritos at once)
- Top burrito/s with red taco sauce (Spread with a spoon) and then onions.
- Microwave for 2 to 3 minutes
- Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy! Easy Peasy :)

Vegan Sushi with Baked Teriyaki Tofu

Last night I threw a block of tofu in my Tofu Press so that I would have perfectly pressed tofu today. This morning I decided I wanted to make vegan sushi for lunch and what better to go in vegan sushi than baked tofu? Nothing. Especially Teriyaki flavored baked tofu! This is only my second time baking tofu and this time it turned out perfect, I think I might be baking tofu more often now!

Teriyaki Baked Tofu:

- Press tofu, preferably in a tofu press
- Marinate tofu in about 1/4 cup TJ's Soyaki or Soy Vay Teryaki Sauce for an hour, preferably in your Tofu Press with its handy marinating lid!
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Take tofu out of marinade and cut tofu in 1/4 inch slabs
- Spray a glass baking dish with cooking spray and place tofu slabs in the dish. Top tofu with any remaining marinade
- Bake for an hour, flipping tofu over after 30 minutes.
- Allow cooked tofu to cool a bit and it will stiffen up and get that wonderful baked tofu texture!

***I cut these slabs in half for sushi making***

My vegan sushi consisted of:

~ Pickled Daikon Radish (It's yellow and comes refrigerated you can find it at an Asian grocery store)
~ Avocado
~ Pickled Carrots (Carrots left to sit in a mixture of water and rice vinegar for at least an hour)
~ Cucumber
~ Teriyaki Baked Tofu

Delicious Bagel Spread & More Vegan Nachos!

Today I was busy making a batch of both Red and White Seitan and Empanadas from my Viva Vegan! cookbook so that I would have leftovers to use up this coming week. I really love this cookbook, so sorry that I can't seem to shut up about it.

So today I kept the meals I actually ate pretty easy.

For breakfast I had a bagel, smothered in vegan cream cheese (Tofutti Brand) and topped with a mixture of half a mashed banana and some strawberry jam... Yum!

For lunch I had some more Vegan Nachos, topped with some unusual extras like pan fried Red Seitan and Pickled Red Onions, both from Viva Vegan!

Dinner was a few of the Empanadas I made today, served up with a delicious green sauce  from Viva Vegan! called "So good, so green dipping sauce (Green aji sauce)." This sauce is awesome with the Empanadas and also makes for a good salad dressing. The sauce is a mix ingredients such as lime, cilantro, green onions, romaine lettuce and vegan mayo. I added probably double the amount of vegan mayo called for though cause I love my sauces and dressings creamy.