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

Get Ready for... The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 1

I haven't posted since freakin July, what a shame, I haven't eaten since July either, I weigh fifty pounds now... 

Kidding!!! So as I kick back this "Lovely"... Bizarrely cold, hail ambushed, rain filled, thundery... Saturday afternoon, tucked away in my cozy apartment with the pups, sipping a vodka, OJ, frozen banana concoction, I decided I need to unload... Food Porn that is, the "Stuff" I have been consuming... 

I've been low on funds lately, which has been a blessing in disguise as I get creative with what I have and even start making my own ALMOND MILK! Gasp... Enough talkin, well typing, cause I honestly can't stand to read blogs with tons of words... Just get to the point: VEGAN FOOD PEOPLESSSS...

Massive Unload Part 1: Viva Vegan

On July 3rd 2011 (Ya, I know, 2 months ago!), I spent the ENTIRE DAY making tamales out of Viva Vegan... The total count came to something like 116 tamales, I think I made 5 or 6 batches and I just finished eating them a week ago!!! I made the Farmers Market Tamales and Black Bean Sweet Potato Tamales. Pictured above are the Farmers Market Tamales paired with Terry's suggestion of Green Tomatillo Sauce. These tamales were very tasty and very easy to make because the veggies were mixed into the masa dough instead of filled inside. I love this green sauce even though I always skip the extra step of adding the sauce back to the pot to simmer at the end. 

The Black Bean Sweet Potato Tamales were excellent as well! I paired these with Terry's suggestion of Red Chile Sauce, if you can't see above, this is what happens when you burn the chiles, your sauce looks purple/ black... Blech... I thought it was gross... I added some agave nectar to mask the "Smokey" taste and people actually liked it. One friend even look horrified when I told her I dumped it cause I thought it was gross. I wish she would have told me that before I dumped it! 

I've made the Red Chile Sauce before though and it is very good! Just don't go all crazy over-toasting your dried chiles, maybe I passed out from the intense pepper fumes without noticing?! Oh ya, note to self, toast dried peppers with all the windows open and the fan on full blast, make sure you do this by your lonesome unless your friends and family don't mind gasping for air for the next 30 minutes :)

Next up, Empanadas! I've showed you these on my blog before and they are worth every minute of effort, seriously... Viva Vegan's Sweet and Spicy Seitan Potato Empanadas (Bolivian Saltenas), paired with Terry's recommendation of So Good, So Green Dipping Sauce (Green Aji Sauce).

I make this in batches: Filling make 2 days before, Dipping Sauce and Dough make 1 day before, day of make the EMPANADAS!!! Otherwise, do this on the weekend, as you would Tamales (Unless you are a vampire or zombie that doesn't need any sleep). Make sure you put anything made in advance in the fridge, I know vegan food typically spoils very slowly, but I made the mistake of leaving the filling out for like a day and a half on the stove and it went bad... I was sad :( wasting yummy food upsets me...

The Empanadas are orgasmic and the Dipping Sauce is known to have addictive qualities... Anybody that has ever had the privilege of trying this green sauce has begged for the recipe, no joke... I can almost read their mind as they come to my cubicle, eyes wide open... I say, "The Green Sauce?"... They say, "Yessssss OMG! I need to make it what is in it?!"... I hand them a photocopy of the recipe immediately, (My recipe tweaks jotted down) to avoid bodily harm... Problem solved, vegan victory :)

I've also made my favorite recipe out of Viva Vegan, Peruvian Seitan and Potato Skewers (Seitan Anticuchos). I typically leave out the potato and just do the Red Seitan, bell pepper, and onion... Pictured is the kabobs removed from the stick. I always broil mine for about five minutes on each side since I don't have a barbecue though, even if I had one, I would probably continue to do it this way.

Red Seitan is always an easy go-to when I want to make some "Beef" like fajitas! Which are pictured above, and below, along with some homemade jalapeno flavored refried beans and Viva Vegan's Yellow Garlic Rice (I make this rice dish almost weekly).

 

Lastly, is Viva Vegan's Cubano Vegano Sandwich made with Mojo Oven Roasted Seitan, I love this seitan recipe and the sammie is alright, a little too "Meat and cheese" centered for my tastes, but not bad... I prefer this Mojo Seitan recipe as is, paired with rice and veggies :)

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Part 3 of the Post-A-Thon... Cookies, Wontons, Viva Vegan, and Soup

Robek's now has not only vegan smoothies but vegan cookies, check em out! I couldn't contain myself and bought 2 flavors: Oatmeal and Pumpkin... yummmmmm :)

I also made some vegan cream cheese wontons since I had some wonton wrappers to use up... This was the first time I made these puppies without my deep fryer (It was gross so I just threw the damn thing out) and they turned out spectacular :)

Viva Vegan cooking was in the rotation again so I tried a new recipe, Arroz con Seitan, and this is definitely a new favorite from the book!

I also made a tried and true favorite from the book, Mojo Oven-Roasted Seitan and Cilantro-Lime Rice, perfection...

I also made some Tomato Quinoa Soup from my friends blog and thought it turned out alright, it was kind of bland, so I added more tomato flavor in the form of tomato paste... It definitely thickened up as leftovers and I thought it could use some spice as well... Definitely edible but nothing to get wet over...

VegWeb's Grilled Avocado Sammie's... I slather one side with vegan mayo and the other with vegan cream cheese :)

My Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice... Always a easy peasy meal when I need food fast!

My first attempt at Portobello Burgers turned out tasty... I marinated these in garlic salt, pepper, olive oil, Braggs, and balsamic vinegar and baked at 400F for 35ish minutes, flipping halfway... I wanted to try the recipe out of Vegan Table for these but the damn cookbook vanished!

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Sorry I've Been MIA...

I have a lot, I mean A LOT of catching up to do... It's Friday night and I have an appointment tomorrow in the AM so I will break my massive amounts of vegan food porn up into a few separate posts to keep you peeps (who are still paying attention to my blog) some stuffs to look at...

Easter (Yes, I know like a month ago) was quite a vegan success... I had a Tofurkey in the freezer and this was the last time I ever planned on making the damn thing again since, I felt it wasn't that "drool worthy"... Well holy crap, my Tofurkey turned out bomb on Easter... I did the soy sauce and herb mixture on the back of the package this time and probably doubled it... Perfection

I also made a vegan cheesecake from my friends blog Vegan Machine and oh my, did this cheesecake taste delicious! I boiled down some frozen berries with sugar for the cheesecake topping, my family scarfed it down!

I have also been doing tons of cooking out of my favorite cookbook, Viva Vegan... Here is some food porn to enjoy... Above is Gallo Pinto served with some vegan sour cream, tostadas, and random garnishes... It is also pictured below with some creamy chipotle sauce made out of vegan mayo blended with soy milk and canned chipotles in adobo (plus more random garnishes), with a side of homemade jalapeno refried beans.

I also made Viva Vegan's Peruvian Seitan Skewers and Yellow Garlic Rice and served them up with some Easy Elotes (canned corn, vegan mayo, and pico de gallo seasoning sprinkled on top).

Here is Viva Vegan's Quick Red Posole with Beans. I wasn't impressed with this dish unfortunately and will not be making this again...

I made 3 batches of seitan as well a few weekends ago: Red, White, and Chorizo Seitan... All turned out magical as usual as Viva Vegan's Seitan recipes never disappoint!

I used the Chorizo Seitan Sausages to make my new favorite soup: Potato-Kale Soup with Sizzling Chorizo!

Finally, I had some Classic Roasted Tomatillo Sauce in the freezer that I thawed and used to whip up some Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce (Sans the nasty Cashew Crema)

That's all for this post! Stay tuned homies!

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Today I made quite a few things...

First off was a practically weekly double batch of Viva Vegan's Yellow Garlic Rice, I added some minced onion to the rice as well that needed to be used up

I also roasted some brussels sprouts at 450F for about 20 minutes in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Yummmmm brussles :)

Carrots were next up for roasting. I roasted them at 425F for about 20 minutes in some olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and rosemary... I thought they were too lemony so I coated them with a little pure maple syrup and they were divine.

Fajitas were up next using Trader Joe's "Beef Strips", bell pepper, onion, and some taco seasoning.

Next up was Trader Joe's Soyrizo that I added to some nuked and pan fried potatoes and thinly sliced onions for a burrito or taco filling later in the week.

I made some random Asian-y stirfry that came alright... Just crumbled tofu, Chinese 5 spice (Don't think I enjoy this flavor), Braggs, edamame, spinach, chili paste, and green onions... I ended up using this to stuff wontons since it wasn't that fantastical LOL.

Another TVP chunk teriyaki stirfry was made with the rest of the asparagus I had around added. This is good stuffed in wontons or on top of rice.

This past few weeks I've made...

Last week I made some of my favorite rice, Viva Vegan's Yellow Garlic Rice, I swear this never gets old... I dolloped it with some guac.

VegWeb's "They Won't Believe it's Vegan Lasagna"

I also made VegWeb's "Roasted Breakfast Potatoes", these make quick addition to my typical Homemade Refried Bean burrito filling.

I used the Garlic Rice and some Homemade Refried Beans plus shredded romaine lettuce, diced red onion, tofutti sour cream, guac, and a drizzle of ketchup for a quick dinner of tostadas.

VWAV's Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew, another tried and true recipe.

Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice with brown rice to sell some to a more health conscience customer, fillings include frozen mixed veggies, pickled daikon, onions, and edamame.

I made Vegan Sushi twice, the first batch was carrot, cucumber, Baked Teriyaki Tofu, avocado, and pickled daikon.

The second batch was carrot, cucumber, Baked Teriyaki Tofu, avocado, and pickled daikon, and steamed asparagus.

AVK's "No-Tuna" with some shredded carrot and green onion added to make her "No-Tuna Melt Panini's"...

Love this "Tuna" sammie :)

7 Layer Bean Dip using Homemade Refried Beans, Vegan Sour Cream mixed with taco seasoning, guac, TVP cooked in taco seasoning for the ground "Beef", salsa, black olives, and green onions.

VWAV's Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers topped with some a vegan mayo and chipotle chili sauce mixture

Costco now sells these really yummy vegan pizzas...Served with Homemade Vegan Ranch

Lastly, was a spin on VegWeb's "Wonton Asparagus Ravioli"... I stuffed wonton wrappers with a mixture of finely chopped mushrooms, asparagus, and TVP chunks, that I cooked in TJ's Soyaki Sauce... Then fried them in some olive oil... Legit

Peace, Love, and Veganism <3