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

"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

Recipes I've Posted On VegWeb

Here are pictures of a few of the recipes I've submitted on VegWeb. The first 2, I make ALL THE TIME... The last one, Pico de Gallo, I've only made once but it was heavenly :)

Vegan Taco Soup 

Nowadays, I omit the vegan ground "beef" crumbles and saute the onion and garlic in water to eliminate needless fat. I also add TVP usually towards the end of cooking (The fine granule kind, not chunks), about 3/4 cup and mix in to incorporate, as it cooks quickly.

My go to recipe for Potato Salad... Yummmm, think I might have to make some again this weekend!

Lastly, Pico de Gallo!

The recipe still hasn't been fixed on VegWeb but basically forget the liquid part in the directions! Just chop everything and mix it together, the tomatoes will omit enough juices on their own.

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Recipe Reviews, Baked Teriyaki Tofu Recipe, and Enchiladas

This week I made quite a few things, some turned out disastrous since either I am semi-retarded when it comes to subbing brown for white rice or the recipe was a bunk one.

I had a head of cauliflower that need to be used up and saw this recipe for Spicy Black Bean and Cauliflower Salad on vegweb.com so I decided to give it a go. Well, this wasn't anything amazing to me, in fact I couldn't eat much of it cause I felt like it was too boring to eat alone and ended up throwing it into enchiladas.

I also had some of AVK's "tuna salad" to use up and made more "panini's" (mine are obviously not, hence the english muffins)... These No-Tuna Panini's are truly bomb!

Her recipe for the Cheezy Mayo that goes in these panini's is to die for, seriously, I loaded so much of it on I ran out and had to make another batch! I seriously lick the tupperware clean and you can make it in less than a 5 minutes!

I also made some vegan sushi again finally! Fillings included bell pepper, green onion, pickled daikon, spicy daikon, avocado, baked teriyaki tofu, shredded carrots, and english cucumber.

Baked Teriyaki Tofu Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 block extra firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut width-wise into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slabs
1/2 cup Soy Vay Teriyaki Sauce or Trader Joe's Soyaki Sauce

Directions:
- Add the Teriyaki Sauce to the tofu and marinate overnight in a tupperware, flipping the tupperware a few times.
- Preheat the oven to 400F, spray a glass baking dish and layout the tofu slabs, drizzle any additional marinade that hasn't absorbed into the tofu.
- Bake the tofu for 40 minutes flipping half way.
- Place cooled baked tofu in the fridge till ready to use.

I like to store my sushi rolls as pictured, with saran wrap, it keeps the avocado from browning to quickly, and the rice from hardening up right away... These rolls need to be eaten within 24 hours or they just aren't that good.

I used AVK's Seitan mixture that was leftover from the Tex-Mex Taco Salad as well as the Spicy Black Bean and Cauliflower recipe leftovers and made two different types of enchiladas. I made a batch of Tex-Mex Taco Salad Seitan + canned refried beans and another batch of Spicy Black Bean and Cauliflower + refried beans, both casseroles were topped with Vcon's Roasted Chile Sauce (From the Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chili Sauce recipe) and AVK's Tex-Mex Taco Salad chipotle dressing that I thined out with additional soy milk for easier drizzling. The seitan stuffed enchiladas were especially good, not that photogenic though.

Lastly, I made Vcon's Hot and Sour Soup with Wood Ears and Nappa Cabbage... I did not enjoy the texture of wood ear mushrooms in this soup, it was kind of like chewing on rubber and I added more broth to the recipe cause this wasn't soupy enough for me. Next time, I think I will just sub crimini mushrooms instead.

Vegan MOFO: This weekend I made...

Yesterday I made an one of my all time favorites, an amazing Tofu Scramble.

Ingredients:

14 oz block extra firm tofu (not pressed)
1/2 a green bell pepper, diced
1/2 an onion, diced
A few baby carrots, diced (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Black salt (kalma namak) to taste or just regular sea salt

Directions:

- Turn burner to medium heat and add olive oil, bell pepper, onion, and carrots. Crumble the tofu with your fingers over the pan to add it to the pan too.
- Cook up the tofu and veggies, stirring occasionally, until you tofu turns golden. Once golden, add all of your spices. If you are using black salt sprinkle it on your scramble right before eating it, if you are using regular salt add it along with the rest of the spices.

Today I made my favorite recipe in the whole wide world, Viva Vegan's Peruvian Seitan Skewers... Yummmmmmm

Vegan MOFO: Smokey Refired Beans

 Oh my God peoples! I just made THE MOST AMAZING REFRIED BEANS and I would like to share them with you!
Smokey 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
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions:
- Place all ingredients (except for liquid smoke) 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 along with the liquid smoke and let it do its magic for a minute or two until nice and creamy.
- 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!

Viva Vegan's Chorizo Seitan Sausages and some Latin Inspired Quinoa (Take 2)

 Viva Vegan's Chorizo Seitan Sausages are way yum, loaded with many spices and a wonderful addition to some Latin Inspired Quinoa I made tonight. 3 Sausage recipe makes 6 sausages (I got 7) and I used 3 in this recipe.

Ingredients (Mostly Approximations):

- 3 Viva Vegan Chorizo Seitan Sausages, you could sub a few Field Roast Chipotle Vegan Sausages, cut into bite sized chunks
- 1 teaspoon olive oil and veggie broth as needed (You can use more oil, I'm trying to get away from using it)
- 1/4 a large white onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 mini sweet bell peppers, cut into thin rings
- 1/2 cup black beans
- 1/2 cup corn
- 1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup black olives, sliced
- 1/2 to 1 cup diced tomatoes (I used canned so probably only used 1/2 cup)
- Cilantro to taste (I only had a few tablespoons left)
- 1.5 cups leftover quinoa
- 1 teaspoon each chili powder, oregano, and cumin
- Mexican hot sauce to taste

Directions:

- Fry your sausages in a little oil until they begin to brown.
- Add onions, garlic, and bell peppers and a little veggie broth and cook until onions are translucent, adding more veggie broth if needed to prevent sticking.
- Add ALL the remaining ingredients and mix around until everything is heated through.
- Serve with avocado slices or a dollop of vegan sour cream.

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.

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!

Latin Inspired Quinoa

 Ingredients:

- 2 cups Red Seitan*, cut into chunks
- 1/2 a White Onion, sliced
- 1 huge Jalapeno (Mine amounted to 1/3 cup), de-seeded and minced
- 1 Tomato (Seedy mucous removed, about 1/2 cup total), cut into chunks
- 1/2 cup Black Olives, sliced
- 1/2 cup Beans, I used white beans
- 2-1/2 cups cold leftover Quinoa**
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon or more Cayenne, optional if you want more heat
- 1 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
- Juice of 1 Lime, about a tablespoon
- 1/4 cup Cilantro, minced
- Oil for frying

Directions:

- Pan fry seitan chunks in a little oil (Add more whenever needed throughout this recipe) until they are browned a bit, not burnt.
- Add onion and jalapeno and cook until onion begins to turn translucent.
- Add tomato, black olives, beans, quinoa, lime and spices, cook until hot.
- Once everything is hot, add cilantro and mix everything a few times and serve.
- Feel free to add any veggies you think would be good in this. I liked this dish topped with avocado slices and some vegan sour cream on the side!

*You don't have to use Viva Vegan's Red Seitan, you could use another seitan recipe or even store bought seitan. The Red Seitan I use is seasoned with Braggs, tomato paste, garlic, cumin, and oregano. So, if you are using plain seitan just flavor it up a bit with, at least, cumin and oregano and you will be fine. You could even add some minced garlic as your frying up the onion and jalapeno.*

**I cooked my quinoa in veggie broth so it was already a bit seasoned**

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

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.