Online Recipe Review With Links!!! (Don't Wet Yourself in Glee)

Why hello there people who read my blog...

I have a crap ton of Vegan Food Porn sitting on my computer that needs to be discussed and I find this to be an appropriate forum for such a discussion. LET US NOT WASTE TIME...

Seitan O Greatness

(Mods are 2 t of garlic powder in place of cloves and 1/4 cup approx extra water/ homemade veggie broth)  

This lovely log of seitan goodness is great for vegan sammies :) This recipe was all the hype a few years ago, if you have been vegan awhile like myself you should have an adequate spice collection to make this (Give or take a few items).  It is also magical in quesadillas with green onions and homemade Jack Cheese from Artisan Vegan Kitchen!

I got the flu this year INTENSELY for a day and was craving soup when I could eat again. My friend Tanya recommended her recipe for Slow Cooker Comfort Soup that was really easy to make via a crock pot, I enjoyed it :)

If you know my blog at all by now, you know I have a slight addiction to this thing called Melty Cheese on VegWeb... Honestly, Daiya is great but kind of overpowering when you have adjusted to a life free of cheese... The only thing I missed about cheese was its ability to hold toppings on pizza or like cover and hold together lasagna... I got over that pretty quickly... I enjoy vegan nutritional yeast sauces over cheese or even vegan cheese just about every time... END RANT! I am kinda obsessed with nachos, here is my din din Wednesday night... Nachos with Melty Cheese, homemade guac, Tofutti sour cream, and homemade refried beans that were mixed with some canned diced tomatoes with green peppers :)

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

(Mods were Tofutti SC, an extra 1/2 cup homemade veggie broth and half a chipotle chile in adobo sauce)

Next time I might add some corn, more spice, prehaps blend half of the beans... Def some sauteed onions and garlic... AMAZING BASE RECIPE HERE PEOPLES!! Thankfully my amazing friend, Janet, alerted me of this!!!

Lastly, you need some liquid to help get all this awesomeness down... Well how about HOMEMADE HORCHATA that is BEYOND CHEAP AND EASY so get on it already.

Peace.Love.Vegan.Until.I.Die

Amy

Online Recipe Reviews: Buffalo Tofu Sammies, Melty Cheese, Cauliflower Poppers, and Pad Thai

I love the internet and I love saving trees whenever possible by looking up online recipes and refraining from printing them out to add to my massive "Online Recipe Book/Binder"... I learned how to cook this way and met some awesome vegans in the process! VegWeb.com was where I got started (I don't log in much anymore due to some fucked up viruses that are supposedly not an issue anymore) and learned the skills I needed to be self sufficient :)

The 2 pictures above are of a Buffalo Tofu Sandwich (I had leftover homemade buffalo sauce from Spork Fed that needed to be used up)... Can't even imagine store bought slathered on this but my bestie said these were amazing even with the store bought buffalo sauce!

Melty Cheese from VegWeb is my go to "Nooch" sauce... Love me some vegan nachos... Sinfully delicious always! I almost prefer it to Daiya sometimes as I prefer homemade grub :)

Cauliflower Poppers from VegWeb are also a staple at the pad... You seriously know you are awesome when your drunken munchies consist of cauliflower... LOVE THIS RECIPE... Don't even measure anymore... Something to remember: If there is too much liquid left in the pan when the cauliflower is done cooking dump it out near the end and brown the cauli a little. (I have been pan frying these a lot more recently than roasting because it is quicker)

Lastly, Pad Thai! Love 2 recipes, one of which my future husband, The Vegan Zombie, created and the other HERE (Which I photographed). 

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... 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

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 9

Recipe Reviews and Links:

Manjula's Kitchen's Aloo Baingan

I thought this dish was alright. I decided I only like Japanese eggplant... Regular eggplant just has an off putting texture and I like the eggplant to be over cooked (Cooked just right for me and kind of falling apart). I really think with some more heat this would have been better, I added Sriracha and it was good.

VegWeb's Melty Cheese 

This is my go to Nooch Sauce. Don't screw with the recipe follow it and use plain soy milk!

American Vegan Kitchen's Poblano Macaroni Salad

I am not so sure I like this salad anymore... Too much chipotle in adobo for me and I like spice! Black beans as suggested were a good addition, but still I tossed half... Sigh  

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu

I love this recipe so much and I suggest you make it now and just sub vegan oyster sauce and squirt on some Sriracha at the end!

Vegan Mouse's Mini Wet Burritos

I love these burritos! Make them now as well peoples! I expect batch cooking from you this weekend!

Peace, Love, and Vegansim <3

"Milk" Making Adventures

I was outta funds but brainstorming foodie ideas as usual... I heard on VegWeb that you can make Oat Milk and was given this BAD RECIPE LOL for like Oatmeal Milk... I thought it was similar to drinking slime, though I've never actually drank slime though :) I say skip this recipe, though one VW user swears by it, I do not concur.

 (Plain Oat Milk)

(Chocolate Oat Milk ((Just added chocolate syrup)) was bearable when blended with some ice to make it shake-like)

Then I tried Rice Milk. First I attempted it in my Soyabella "Milk" Maker and it was a fail... Gooey mucous slime... 

 Then I tried This Recipe, with totally expected success cause this chick seems to know her shit, and slimy failure once again :( This could be my fault? I dunno.

 I've had a Soyabella "Milk" Maker since Christmas and finally decided to bust it out after months of dust collecting (First attempt at Almond Milk sucked cause you really need to purchase a Nut Milk Bag or it will be gritty). I had a shit ton of raw almonds in the freezer and some PURE VANILLA EXTRACT so I went for it. Epic SUCCESS! Here's what I did/ do:

Vanilla (Or Plain) Almond Milk:

1 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight and rinsed.

6 cups purified water

2 t PURE Vanilla Extract (Not cheap stuff!!!), omit if making plain "Milk"

1/4-1/3 cup white sugar (I like sweet "Milk")

1/4 t sea salt

Directions:

Follow Soyabella's instructions, this recipe is slightly adapted from the recipe book provided with the machine. Make sure you strain this through a nut milk bag once the milk has cooked and cooled.

(Vanilla Almond Milk served up with a toasted Pumpkin Bagel and Tofutti "Cream Cheese")

(Pumpkin Pie with crappy crust and modified version of Cashew Cream)

You will have leftover almond pulp/meal/flour if you strain through the nut milk bag... I didn't want to waste the pulp cause nuts are expensive homie! I tried making a pie crust which was an epic fail (Fell apart, my first attempt at using the pulp, I think it was too moist). The Pumpkin Pie was still good though, I just picked the crust off and dolloped some Cashew Cream on top! For the Cashew Cream, I recommend soaking the cashews and using "milk" in place of water and less.

To get the almond pulp less moist, I decided to bake it at 350F I believe for an hour or two, depending on how much pulp you have. One it loses it's moisture and cools a bit, I whiz it around in my food processor to make a flour like substance.

I also used VWAV's Pancake recipe to sub some almond pulp. I think I over did it though and subbed too much (I hear you can sub half for regular flour, I did like 3/4 cause I'm an idiot)... The pancakes were still very yummy with some cheapy "maple syrup" and powdered sugar :)

Feel free to send me some ideas on what to do with this abundance of almond pulp, I'm swimming in it.

I also tried Cashew Milk and strained it through the nut milk bag and got slime... Enough with the slime!

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu is my favorite dish at my favorite restaurant Thai Garden in Foothill Ranch. I really want to recreate this dish sooooooo bad! This recipe comes close. The technique used for baking the tofu is a new technique for me that I plan on using often! The only substitute I made was to use vegan "oyster" sauce. 

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1774278

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 6

Manjula's Kitchen (Indian Food):

Have you checked out this blog, Manjula's Kitchen? Sweet Baby Jesus, what an easy way to learn how to cook some bomb Indian food! All vegetarian and an abundance of vegan recipes with easy to find ingredients (Mind you, I live in So Cal, not out in the sticks)!

I made 4 dishes within a few hours and I loved all of them except for the Chana Masala (Pictured above), but mind you, this is the second recipe I've tried for this dish and I just don't get what the hype is and I am a huge fan of chickpeas!

Here are the other 3 dishes I loved:

 Aloo Masala

 Aloo Gobi

And my favorite so far... Aloo Mattar!

Go try and cook some Indian food! The main ingredients seem to center around Potatoes, Tomatoes, Green Chiles, Cilantro, Cumin Seeds, Turmeric, Hing, Ginger Paste, and Oil... 

Easy Peasy for Sheezy <3

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 4

The Vegan Mouse's Mini Wet Burritos:

These Mini Wet Burritos, or rather enchiladas in my opinion, are the bomb, seriously peoples! They even take the cake over VegWeb's Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas, and believe me, that means a lot! My love for this easy casserole probably comes from the fact that it incorporates quinoa, which I love, and I without a doubt almost always have every ingredient on hand... Go make these asap!

I had enough of the filling mixture leftover to fill some additional corn tortillas and was able to use up some homemade enchilada sauce I has laying around and just made some extra drizzle (The smaller batch with the greenish sauce and corn tortillas). I love how the drizzle turns from light pink to and orange "cheesy" looking color once it bakes in the oven, brilliant!

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 3

VegWeb Recipe Pics and Reviews:

The first day I was vegan, I googled "Vegan Recipes" and found VegWeb, and all I can say is, "Thank God for VegWeb!" I was a pretty new cook in general before I went vegan and I can tell you that making vegan food never crossed my mind...VegWeb can pretty much take the credit for teaching me how to cook not just even vegan, but in general. I have come a long way and have screwed up countless times but screwing up teaches you what NOT to ever do again :)

My favorite recipe on VegWeb so far is Baha Tofu Tacos with Cilantro Coleslaw and my recipe for Vegan Tarter Sauce. The only change I have made is to double the amount of cabbage in the slaw but leave the rest the same.

This is my second favorite recipe on VegWeb, a simplified version of General Tao's Tofu. To simplify this recipe, I don't freeze the tofu, I use ginger garlic paste in place of the minced ginger and garlic, and I omit the sherry. If I have no veggies in my house (THE HORROR) I even admit the green onions and half the sauce which I did above.

I've made this Pumpkin Pie a few times as well (Never made the crust part), it requires at least 15 minutes additional baking time for me if I remember correctly. I dolloped some Cashew Cream on top as well (Modifications include soaking cashews, replacing water with vanilla almond milk and using less of it).

Above is VegWeb's Chipotle Roasted Red Pepper Chowder. This soup will be in the regular rotation once it cools down again. Love it! I can't wait to try it in a bread bowl <3

This is my go to pasta salad recipe, Southern Macaroni Salad (With bowties obviously above), I add the dressing right before serving this because it always soaks into the pasta too much for me (Others on on VegWeb disagree with my thoughts so I'm probably doing something wrong!).

Lastly, what do you do when you want salsa but have no tomatoes and pretty scarce ingredients around? Halve this recipe of  Salsa Delicioso!!!! My modifications were :Used petite diced tomatoes instead of stewed, used garlic powder instead of fresh (Have no idea how much, accidentally dumped more than I meant to cause the cap fell off but still so so good!), fresh jalapeno instead of serrano (2 fatty ones not seeded cause I like spice), and left out the oil cause it just seemed unnecessary, and omitted the cilantro.

Check out VegWeb! It's my home away from home <3

Peace, Love, Vegan <3