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

Round Two of the Vegan Food Porn Post-A-Thon... VegWeb's Potato Angel's

Okay here we go again! A few weekends ago, I made a tried and true favorite with a new twist: VegWeb's Potato Angels! This time, I added black salt (an Indian spice that gives dishes and "eggy" flavor) and OMG did this taste like a deviled egg (Well the yellow filling definitely did)... This was so good I swear you could use the filling (made out of potatoes, vegan mayo, yellow mustard, minced onions, pepper, black salt, and paprika) as spread for vegan egg salad sammies... Seriously legit folks... Get off your ass and get some black salt, look at this!

I served the Angel's alongside some tofu that I baked in Braggs and Olive Oil (find the technique in Viva Vegan) at 400F for 20 minutes and another 15 minutes or so slathered in store bought barbecue sauce, served with some roasted brussels sprouts...

The "Egg Salad" was served alongside some slices of Vegan Dad's Lunch Meat, thickly sliced and smothered in ketchup, served with roasted carrots and brussels...

Oh ya, and I also made some vegan sushi cause I can't go long without my fix... This was pretty simple since I didn't have much on hand... Just avocado, carrots, pickled radish and cucumber.

An unplanned Mexican themed week 1/3-1/9/11

I started off the week with some bomb homemade potato salad... So yummy!

This week I ate a lot, and I mean a lot of bean burritos, tacos, enchiladas, nachos, etc.

I make a big batch of refried beans every week: Soak 2 cups of dry pintos overnight in water, rinse, boil them for 2 to 2.5 hours on medium heat with a quartered and peeled onion, 4 bay leafs, and s & p, drain and remove bay leafs, whirl the beans in a food processor with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pickled jalapenos and some added salt to taste... perfection every time!

Bean and brown rice enchiladas topped with salsa, guac, olives, and Tofutti sour cream

I also had some leftover Viva Vegan Red Seitan that got thrown into this weeks Mexican mix in tacos, enchiladas and even piled on nachos:

Tacos made with Viva Vegan Red Seitan sauteed with onions, topped with Tofutti Sour Cream, guac, refried beans, and cilantro

I also made the tacos into enchiladas by just rolling these puppies up and covering them in salsa

I also pan fried the seitan and put it top of some nachos... These nachos weren't that great since I didn't have any plain soymilk to make Melty Cheese, I just used the cheese recipe from VW's Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas, it was alright

I decided to try a homemade tofu marinade I found on VW... called Tasty Tofu! A Zesty Herb Marinade... I added only half the oil and thought it turned out pretty good, though not even close to as good as my Teriyaki Tofu

It was pretty tasty heated up and placed in a sandwich though :)

Today I snacked on some sushi rice (calrose rice + rice vinegar + sugar + salt) and some roasted seaweed slices :)

I also made my insanely loved Vegan Taco Soup... I'm selling a few bowls to coworkers next week for some cash for salad... Score! Love this stuff and ate a bowl topped with Tofutti Sour Cream... Heavenly! I always sub about 1/2-1 cup TVP for the vegan beef crumbles... Just add it in along with the canned veggies.

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 ;)

VWAV's Scrambled Tofu and VegWeb's 'Cheezy' Roasted Potatoes

This weekend I tried VWAV's recipe for Scrambled Tofu and thought it was pretty good, but I've had better. I think tofu scrambles are in the same category as garbanzo bean salad sandwiches though to us vegans in that everyone has their own personal way of making it. I thought the scramble was a little too heavy on the nutritional yeast and needed some bell peppers in it for sure but I followed the recipe exactly as written. I served mine up with some salsa and sliced avocado... Yum!

I also made VegWeb's 'Cheezy' Roasted Potatoes. I used multicolor fingerling potatoes and they seriously melted in your mouth! I didn't notice these being at all 'cheezy' tasting but they were still both beautiful and delicious, give 'em a try!

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.

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.

Viva Vegan's Peruvian Seitan and Potato Skewers

Wow this recipe for "Peruvian Seitan and Potato Skewers" is flippin' fantastic! I included all veggies that were optional (Red bell pepper, onion, and small waxy potatoes) and because of this, I thought the recipe could use a little more marinade for the potatoes, but it was still to die for! I also don't have a barbecue so I just broiled these puppies for 10 minutes, flipping them halfway.

Geese people, invest in THIS COOKBOOK already! Basic ingredients (For a So Cal vegan anyways) and easy recipes... My kind of cookbook! I am making theses skewers again probably Friday, considering I found 3 full packs of skewers while moving, whoops...

Vegweb's Salisbury "Steak" and Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Vegweb's Salisbury "Steak" is an easy meal that will be ready in less than 15 minutes! The only things I do differently for this recipe are:

- I use 8 ounces of thinly slices fresh button mushrooms
- I also fry up the Boca patties first so they won't be mushy
- After the patties are nice and golden I add the onions and cook for a few minutes
- I add the mushrooms and gravy last.

Vegan Mashed potatoes are easy. This time around I just...

- Boiled some potatoes until soft and let them drain in a colander
- I then sauteed jarred garlic in olive oil for a minute in the pot the poatoes were cooking in
- I added the potatoes back to the pot along with some vegan butter, vegan milk, dried parsley, nutritional yeast, seasoned salt, and black pepper
- I took my hand-held mixer and whipped all the ingredients together until light and fluffy
- I also quadrupled the gravy mixture from the Salisbury "Steak" recipe so that I would have plenty of gravy for my mashed potatoes (I made a boatload)

Vegweb's Super Yummy Cheesy Pot Pie

I made this Super Yummy Cheesy Pot Pie for dinner tonight and thought it was pretty yummy. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars this time around but next time I'm sure it will be even better!

***Update: I thought this pot pie was much better the second day as leftovers!***

I used the veggies listed in the recipe but doubled the broccoli, added half a chopped white onion, and used Melty Cheese for the vegan cheese sauce. I also made my own pie shell using the empanada dough recipe for "Richer Wheat Dough" out of Viva Vegan!

 Things I did wrong:

- I should have nuked the potatoes for longer than the other veggies because they weren't cooked all the way when my pot pie was done.
- Next time I will use only half the empanada dough recipe and roll it much thinner, my crust was too thick.
- I should have used the whole recipe of Melty Cheese. I saved some (Like 1/2 cup) to feed my addiction to Vegan Nachos.... Oops
- Also make sure to have a pan under whatever you're baking the pot pie in, mine started bubbling over and got all over my oven.
- I should have added more spices to jazz the filling up. I did add salt and pepper even though the recipe didn't call for it but the pot pie was still a bit bland.

VegWeb's Scrumptious Corn Chowder

VegWeb's Scrumptious Corn Chowder is to die for! It is really rich and creamy. I used a russet potato this time and I always substitute Creole Seasoning for the "2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash, Spike, or herb blend"  and leave out the added salt. This chowder is super easy to make so give it a try!