Crack is Whack... Ditch the Cow Cheese and Switch to Daiya BITCHES

So before you get all Micro-Vegan on me STFU and focus on the big picture: Plant based vegan cheese is better than dairy cow cheese.

VEGANS: CAN WE ALL STOP AND AGREE ON THIS ONE THING FOR A FUCKING SECOND?

Ok let us begin... Once upon a time Daiya only had these goopy things known as SHREDS, they stuck to your teeth like glue... About a year later these magnificent little blocks called WEDGES came out and vegans everywhere wet themselves in sheer delight... THEY ARE JUST LIKE CHEESE... WE HAVE CONQUERED THE ONE THING that prevents all the weaklings from taking the full plunge into veganism... CHEESE!!!

And now the Vegan Police came marching in: BUT DAIYA WEDGES HAVE PALM OIL OFF WITH THEIR HEADS... Well bitches, Daiya is "trying" to find a replacement because they know vegans are pissed about palm oil... Let's get Macro-Vegan for a sec and think about it: I would rather support people getting off the CRACK COW CHEESE and going plant based instead of knocking everyone for the palm oil thing... Yes it is fucked up but it is plant based and it is vegan as far as I am concerned...

Anyways... I bought all 3 blocks a little bit ago... Mainly, to share some with my vegetarian coworker who really "wants" to go vegan but can't kick the cow cheese... Guess what? She loved Daiya and thinks veganism is possible now because of it... I see that as a victory personally.

Daiya Wedges come in Cheddar, Jack, and Havarti :) WE VEGANS HAVE IT SO DAMN HARD, I KNOW ;)

Cheddar: Mac & Cheese HANDS-DOWN you are a kid again, eat your little vegan heart out!!! I just precook the pasta and when I am ready to eat a serving I heat some Daiya with a little plain plant milk till it starts to melt and add in the pasta... Few minutes tops!!! I even ate WHOLE WHEAT PASTA AND IT WAS GOOD (That is major for me my friends)!

Here it is (above) with some roasted butternut squash :)

Jack is also good in Mac & Cheese but Cheddar is best... YES I DIPPED IT IN KETCHUP... As 2 Pac said: "Only God can judge me"... THUG LIFE HERE IN SO CAL

But I mainly love it in Quesadillas!!! I love Quesadilla Sammies with Hickory Tofurky Lunch Meat, Daiya, and some shredded lettuce once it is off the heat!!

 

Look at the gooey deliciousness above! Heaven!

My least fave for Mac & Cheese was the Havarti, it is heavenly though in quesadillas and just with crackers too!!! All these wedges are bomb quesadilla or cracker dipping status...

Moral of the story: Don't Micro-Vegan the shit out of your life, focus on the finish line, the end goal so you don't go insane in this un-vegan current living situation we have to live in... Do your best! And if Daiya wedges fill that void for you for animal cheese I APPLAUD YOU!!! Eventually though, like myself, you will probably just get over the need for cheese and view items like the ones mentioned as a special treat :)

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

What Vegan's Do After Activism: THEY MACK DOWN!!!

Hello Luvers,
I didn't make many new years resolutions this year, only a couple... One of them was to get involved with Animal Rights Activism! I have been a passive vegan for the past 3ish years just trying to convince people being vegan was easy through my happy vibes and food sharing. For 2013, I decided it was time for me to get my butt out there and use my enthusiasm to be a voice for the animals whose cries for mercy fall on death ears. I haven't been involved long but THANK GOD I GOT ACTIVE... Mind you, I went to these events BY MYSELF at first with no one with me for moral support... I felt, OUT OF PLACE... Everyone seemed to KNOW EACH OTHER... Will shit, a few demos in and I have made some AMAZING FRIENDS and my life feels that much more complete! I now show up to events and always see a few familiar faces and if not... VEGANS ARE FUCKING AWESOME AND WELCOMING... Step out of your box and get involved, I promise you it will be fulfilling! ANYWAYSSSSSS... What do Vegans do after protests? WE EAT DANK VEGAN RESTAURANT FOOD AND WE TAKE PICTURES BEFORE WE EAT IT! Soooooo awesome to find people as strange as myself :)

Last Saturday, I joined Fur Free LA for a fur protest outside of Intermix in Beverly Hills straight across the street from The Ivy where all the yuppies go to try to get noticed... Fur is so cruel on so many levels and completely unnecessary in our times... If you are a caveman/woman you are excused otherwise, you are just an asshole without a heart or soul... If you need to see how fucked up this is for yourself, Peta2 has some intense videos... Animals are skinned ALIVE for fur, that my friends is SADISTIC whether companies do it or you create a demand by wearing it. Please read "Ingredients" on clothing to make sure you are not supporting fur, leather, wool, or silk... FUCK THAT NOISE FOR REAL. So after an amazing protest, I carted a car full of vegan girls and met a few other protesting homies at Doomie's in Los Angeles, CA... This is vegan fried comfort food... The shit you eat on a rare occasion so enjoy!!! Me and my friend Sara, who is also my navigator for finding demos in places outside my radius (I call her Columbus), shared 3 dishes cause we are fatties :) The Big Mac (On the "Secret" Menu), Fried Chicken, and the Seafood Combo... All were awesome comfort food and I wish my stomach was bigger so I could eat more!

Last Sunday, I boycotted the shit out of a pet store called Barkworks that sells puppy mill dogs (This Barkworks was located in Riverside). Side note: My sisters fiancee worked there so I actually have first hand knowledge that many of the puppies that arrive to the pet store DIE and the ones that do survive sit in tanks without being walked until some dip-shit buys them... Did you know that you can ADOPT the designer dog of your choice through petfinder.com for a fraction of the price?! Or, if you don't give a fuck like myself, you can adopt a fur-baby, PREFERABLY A MUTT, at a shelter (Or for me a KILL SHELTER) and save an animals life who will love you forever for it... The choice is easy: ADOPT or be the reason another homeless companion animal is euthanized this year. So on to food... Me and Sara had to go to Native Foods to try their new limited time Southern Fried Stack available only 1/18-1/20/13... I can tell you that while it was pretty good, I wouldn't order it again... Not overly impressed but ate the whole damn thing... I was impressed however with my side of choice: Chipotle Black Bean Soup!!! It was bomb and I will order it again! See below:

If I can encourage anyone out there... Look at meetup.com for vegan groups in your area or be like me and facebook friend request the hell out of vegan people and meet tons of new friends and have the inside scoop on TONS of events you would have never known existed. I know eating vegan is the most positive impact you can make but I challenge anyone reading my randomness to try one event this year... I think that is a realistic goal for anyone... Don't you agree?

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

The Post-A-Thon... 2011 Week 43 and 44

I have been eating and I have been taking pictures amongst all the drama and craziness in my life... Time to get back to normalcy and lay low... Let's get real

Let's start off with polishing off some leftovers... Spicy Eggplant with Tofu and some fried rice... I have really started to dig Japanese eggplant if you can't tell by now.

My last VWAV Stuffed Bell Pepper topped with vegan sour cream and paired with Homemade Refried Beans garnished with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, and green cabbage.

Viva Vegan's Potato and Kale Soup... Never bother with making the vegan chorizo anymore cause it's like an extra hour or so of effort and I like the soup as is.

I love me some brussels and these are the rest of the Maple Brussels I made... I ate them for breakfast cause I'm weird like that... Dipped in barbecue sauce... Don't judge

I love that vegan food doesn't go bad fast! Seriously, leftovers can sit in my fridge for practically 2 weeks for the most part without getting gross... That's awesome!

I made a batch of Crock Pot Seitan a few weekends ago and finally did something with it!

I sliced half the batch of seitan into strips, shook the strips in a ziplock with some cornstarch, fried the coated strips in oil, once they were nice and golden I turned off the heat and added some barbecue sauce and stirred to evenly coat... Served these puppies up with some Japanese eggplant that I fried in oil and coated with sweet chili sauce and some kale salad.

Here is the Kale Salad (Before I slopped some of the end of it onto the dish above) in all it's glory. Recipe HERE (Scroll down halfway to Tess Challis)... Lemme get that Kale Salad!

I found a tube of Soy Chorizo AT THE 99 CENTS STORE! I fried it up with some chopped green bells, onion, and garlic and made my skinny ass some tacos. Here they are topped with Homemade Refried Beans, vegan sour cream, green cabbage, and cilantro.

Here they are again with sliced shrooms, vegan sour cream, green cabbage, and cilantro.

I also made some brown mexican inspired fried rice colored with Viva Vegan's Annatto Infused Oil, cumin, oregano, S&P, onions, garlic, and cilantro... Topped with some chunky homemade guac.

I made VWAV's Hummus again... Legit, though my tahini was kinda whack and I could tell this was much lower in fat and creaminess because of it... I don't mind though since it was for my next creation...

VegWeb's Fresh Folds with Balsamic Reduced Caramelized Onions... Oh my! Delicious <3

Folded in all it's sloppy glory <3

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

The Post-A-Thon... 2011 Week 42 and Korean Potatos Recipe

Hey peeps! As you all know, I batch cook and eat leftovers. It makes being vegan easy on me as I prefer to eat homemade food whenever possible since I know what I am putting in it! I had lots of leftovers to eat all week for lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually a big salad for me everyday or soup and dinner is the meal I like to eat something spectacular. Here are some of the things I consumed this week.

Last weekend I made some bomb nachos using almond pulp from making almond milk and subbing it (I used double the amount) for the cashews in the Melty Cheese recipe (So if you made the whole recipe it would be 1/2 cup alomond pulp). I also added a little white miso to give the nooch sauce a sharp chedddary taste. Very good!

Tofu is such an easy thing to throw together into an easy meal. Two of my current favorite dishes are VW's General Tao's Tofu and SP's Spicy Eggplant with Tofu. I make them almost weekly.

General Tao's Tofu with brown rice fried up with sesame oil, garlic, Braggs, S&P, and kale.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu topped with Sriracha and paired with brown rice fried up with frozen peas and corn, Braggs, and Sriracha.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu paired with Maple Glazed Brussles and brown and white rice fried up with frozen peas, Braggs, Sriracha, and kale.

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers were a centerpiece of many meals this week with fried rice of some sort or Homemade Refried Beans for pairing.

 VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers paired with white rice fried up with peas, kale, Braggs, avocado, salsa and cilantro. This fried rice remix was my favorite of the entire week. Most days I would take leftover fried rice or just plain rice and rejazz or just jazz it up. Rice is so versatile and easy to make into an awesome side dish in minutes. I just cook it in the morning while I am getting ready for work in my rice cooker and then let it cool down during the day and it's ready to fry up when I get home from work... Simple planning peoples!

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers topped with some chipotle mayo type drizzle, Roasted Rosemary+Sage+MapleSyrup+S&P Carrots, and Homemade Refired Beans.

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers topped with vegan sour cream, Homemade Refried Beans topped with cabbage, cilantro, and hot sauce

Korean Potatoes

Korean Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds baby potatoes (Red, White, or PURPLE), halved

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

1/2 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1 T cornstarch mixed with 2 T water

Sauce:

1 T sesame oil

10 cracks black pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup garlic, minced

1/2 cup Braggs or Soy Sauce

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Place potatoes in a large pot and spread evenly

Whisk sauce ingredients and add to the potatoes.

Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn the heat to a simmer. 

Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes and mix then top with sliced yellow onions, cover and cook for another   15 minutes and mix again. The potatoes should be done by now, if not cook them covered for a bit longer. 

Add the cornstarch + water slurry and the green onions and mix until the sauce thickens.  

Korean Potatoes with brown rice fried with Braggs, Sriracha, frozen peas and corn, and plain cashews.

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Awesome Saturday! Vegan Dining at Thuyen Vien in Anaheim CA!

Holy smokes Thuyen Vien in Anaheim California is freakin AMAZING! I want to go back tomorrow for realzzz people! Take a seat and embrace yourself for some food porn and if you're ever in So Cal, get your fanny over to Thuyen Vien. Almost everything is vegan except like five "fish" dishes... kinda wonder why they even bother...

So my amazing step mom treated me to lunch today and this is what we had:

Thai Iced Tea... Solid

Spring Rolls... Wrap these in the lettuce leaf with some of the mint and double dip your heart out in the sauce

Banana Flower Tacos... Plain ingredients that somehow become heavenly

Fried Rice Thailand Style... Loved it! Tofu chunks, fake meats, cilantro, delicious short grain rice... Add some chili paste and now we're talkin :)

Soy Chicken Garlic with Special Sauce... Good, standard TVP chunks with some good sauce and green onions, no complaints

Eggplant Claypot Sensation... Eggplant is the new love of my life, this melts in your mouth, I will be fantasizing about this tonight <3

Vegan Flan... First vegan flan experience, epic, no difference!

Vegan Cheesecake... Solid, no complaints

Get your ass to Thuyen Vien HERE IS THE MENU.

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 11

I have decided I will continue the "Massive Unload" theme... I had a week full of eating bizarrely paired leftovers and a crazy weekend... Here are some slop worthy photos for real foodies haha:

 Slop Style #1: Indian Potato Cauliflower dish, Teriyaki Baked Tofu, Roasted Broccoli, all smothered in Miso Gravy with minced baby bellas added while heating the gravy leftovers (Why did I not think of the shroom addition earlier?!)

Slop Style #2: Roasted Broccoli, Creole Roasted Carrots, Indian Potato Cauliflower dish, Indian Eggplant Potato dish, and remainder of the Miso (And now baby bella) Gravy smothered on top.

I did do a bunch of cooking and food prep yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) to kind of calm my nerves for the remainder of the week. I have food to eat for the entire week in my fridge ready to go so I can relax! I made some Vegan Ranch and prepped a huge container of salad base (Romaine, cabbage, and carrots) and have containers full of prepared add ins: Kidneys, sliced black olives, corn, green onions, cilantro, and cubed teriyaki baked tofu so that lunches will be a breeze! I also made VWAV's Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, VW's General Tao's Tofu, Brown Rice, Calrose Rice, Life Enchanting Lentil Soup (Recipe received from the Mother unit, I will see if I can find a link), Spicy Eggplant with Tofu, and Maple Glazed Brussels. I do plan on making a batch of Crock Pot Seitan for an easy "Meaty" item to pair easily with items for din din.

Today I made Vegan Nachos, but subbed some almond pulp (Moist from just making plain almond milk) for the cashews. I also used almond milk instead of the usual soy for this recipe and it worked out beautifully! I will be doing this now indefinitely as I have an indefinite supply of almond pulp! These bad boys had the "Cheeze", VW's Sausage Crumbles, homemade refried beans, black olives, homemade guac, tomatoes, vegan sour cream, and green onions as toppings... Score!

I also made a huge pot (12 cups of just liquid homies) of Life Enchanting Lentil Soup. I love soup, maybe it's a vegan thing? I just love how warm and comforting it is and how many healthy ingredients you can jam pack into one serving :) Soup for me all this week... Squeeee <3 I will probably jazz it up with some additional spices and throw in some precut kale.

Lastly, I had a huge 2 pound bag of brussels from Costco that needed to be roasted and slathered in something. I have been reading Leafygreensandme for awhile and this lady is such an amazing cook that it scares the crap out of me quite frankly... I can only aspire to be such an amazing cook and recipe writer! Her recipe for Maple Glazed Brussles Sprouts was right up my alley, read: 4 INGREDIENTS THAT I HAVE ON HAND! I love her technique though with cooking down the maple syrup! My stupid ass would have just tossed the brussels in maple syrup without cooking it down so that it coats the sprouts ever so perfectly! I COULD EAT THESE ALL DAY EVERYDAY!

Go make some!

Peace, Love, and Veganism <3

Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant (Los Angeles, CA)

LA has like a million vegan restaurants, it is overwhelming to have so many options, seriously. I chose Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant and I wasn't disappointed. I didn't want the typical Asian or American themed vegan food, I wanted something different and this Latin food did not disappoint 4 out of 5 stars! 

We split the Empanadas that were served up with some salsa. The filling was TVP for sure, sinfully fried and delicious!

I had the "Chicken" Mole with Refried Beans and Spanish Rice. The "Chicken" had a texture and taste I wasn't too familiar with and the little pieces were even presented on a fake bone which kind of creeped me out, for realz. It was pretty good, I really liked the Mole sauce and the refried beans and homemade whole grain flour tortillas that came with!

My step mom got the Stew in Green Sauce with Black Beans and Spanish Rice. I liked the texture of the "Beef" or whatever they were trying to mock in the dish, the taste was decent.

I also enjoyed a glass of Horchata which was very yummy! I haven't enjoyed this yummy drink since going vegan almost 3 years ago :)

The reason I went up to LA was to see my "friend" via the internet vegan community, Quintess (Author of Radiant Health Inner Wealth), do a cooking demo and book signing. I love meeting online friends in real life and this chick is so healthy she freakin glows people, no joke! She made some kale salad and lemme tell you... It actually tasted good! I rushed to the store and bought all the ingredients I didn't have on hand so I can make it tomorrow! I tried making kale salad once and it tasted like ass. I knew I did something wrong if so many other people seem to enjoy it. I won't post pictures of me and Qunitess cause I look semi-gooberish :) The kale salad is so easy though it's just kale, lemon juice, crushed garlic, sea salt, agave nectar, olive oil, raisins, and kalamata olives... Like a perfect mix of sweet (raisins), spicy (garlic), and sour (kalamata olives)!

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 10

Randomness:

When it comes to food, I can be a mad scientist these days... I am totally weird as well when it comes to matching flavors and pairing dishes... No matter what, I always take a little bit of each item to make 1 bizarre condiment laden bite... It takes me forever to eat sometimes, concocting my yummy bites with just a little of everything :) I am done rambling folks, on to the food...

I've been hitting up the 99 cents store and they have some goodies, for reals... I picked up a big bag of poblano peppers and of course had to figure out what the hell to do with them: Stuff them of course with leftovers! Duh :) I stuffed one pepper with leftover mashed potatoes and sprinkled on some green onions and Daiya Mozzarella. The other pepper was stuffed with some leftover black bean and quinoa mixture from the Mini Wet Burritos and covered with some leftover canned tomato sauce and Daiya Mozzarella. Not bad for bizarre food combination's!

I had these stuffed peppers over the next few days paired with Homemade Refried Beans (Sans the "Smoke" just pickled jalapenos added instead), some "Spanish" Rice dish that was inspired by a friends suggestion on VegWeb (1.5 C White Rice + 2 T Annatto Infused Oil + 1 3/4 C Veggie Broth + 1 C Minced Spinach and Pepper added at the end). I even poured vegan gravy on these suckers (Next post).

 (Quinoa Stuffed Pepper with Spinach "Spanish" Rice and Homemade Refried Beans)

(Mashed Potato Stuffed Pepper smothered with Gravy paired with Spinach "Spanish" Rice and Homemade Refried Beans)

I also made a few pizzas with french bread (One of my new favorites!). One pizza was tomato sauce, green bell peppers, onions, olives, and jalapenos. The other was barbecue sauce, onions, olives, red bell peppers, and jalapenos. Both lightly covered with Daiya Mozzarella and baked for about 10 minutes at 400F and dipped in homemade Vegan Ranch.

Lastly, my beloved Gma took me grocery shopping at the Costco in Irvine! They had so many yummy vegan goodies there: Gummies, Soba Noodles, Seaweed Salad, and TOFU! To name a few... I think we vegans have arrived now that Costco of all places carries TOFU! It's about time! They also had these vegan Potato Knishes which were pretty tasty, probably not something I would bother buying again. These are like mashed potato stuffed pockets... Way too carb heavy and filling for me, I could hardly eat one!

Peace, Love, and Veganess <3