A Great Video About Bottled Water!

Just double click on the video and it will take you to YouTube where you can watch the full size version!

P.S. Get rid of your expensive bottled water habit and buy a Brita filter!

VegWeb's Melty Cheese

My favorite cheeze sauce so far has been Melty Cheese. I love it on nachos and also I use it to make macaroni and cheeze.

Tips:

- If you find you need a bit more of a cheezy flavor, add more nutritional yeast flakes, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- When your cooking the cheeze sauce, whisk constantly, don't let it burn or your sauce will taste nasty.

***For my nachos, I topped my mound of tortilla chips with refried black beans, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes, green onions, black olives, Tofutti sour cream, homemade guacamole (mashed avocado+sea salt+lime juice), and melty cheese***

VegWeb's Veggie Manchurian

The Veggie Manchurian off VegWeb is fantastic! I had never tried Indian food before going vegan and it's amazing how much more variety I eat now... Food used to be kind of boring until I was forced to think (well cook) outside of the box a bit... Vegan cooks are so creative!

Notes/ Modifications:

- Instead of 1 Tablespoon each of garlic, chili powder, coriander use 1 Teaspoon (I think this was an error). I still use the full tablespoon of garlic.
- I double the recipe for the balls (First 8 ingredients) but leave the sauce amount the same, the first time I made this I remember having way too much extra sauce.
- Corn flour = Corn starch.
- I bake the balls until they look golden brown and use a mini muffin pan to cook them in so they will retain their shape more easily.

How the balls should look when they're done in the oven:

Bryanna Clark Grogan's Chinese-Style Vegan "Beef" and Asparagus

I found this recipe on Bryanna Clark Grogan's blog and it turned out great... My BF loved it! He especially loved the "beefy" flavored Soy Curls... I used the browning broth to brown an extra bag of Soy Curls for later use, and really liked the idea, I will definitely be using that idea again and again.

Notes/ changes I made:

- I used a whole 8 oz bag of Soy Curls (instead of 5.3 oz)
- I used 1 tbsp of regular sesame oil and 1 tbsp olive oil (Because I was using more Soy Curls)
- I used mirin instead of dry sherry (Didn't have any)
- I used 1 tbsp minced garlic (Out of a jar)
- I used maybe 1 tsp powdered ginger instead of the 1 tbsp fresh (Didn't have any)
- I used veggie broth instead of "chicken" broth (Laziness)
- I used store bought vegetarian oyster sauce instead of her recipe for it
- I accidentally used 4 tbsp + 1 tsp gravy browner instead of 4 tsp (2 extra tbsp... Because I screwed up!)
- I added about 1/2 lb baby carrots quartered (sliced top to bottom twice), 1/2 a large white onion sliced, and 1/4 cup frozen peas. I added the carrots and onion about half way into browning the "beefy" strips.
- I served mine with white calrose (sticky) rice

El Torito Style Sweet Corn Cake

This is soooo easy! I just veganized the recipe on the back of the El Torito Sweet Corn Cake Mix package, which didn't require much effort. I only had to substitute regular butter for vegan butter (I used Earth Balance stick butter for easy measuring). Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

- 7.4 oz package El Torito Sweet Corn Cake Mix
- 15 oz can cream-style corn
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a bowl combine corn cake mix, melted butter, water, and cream-style corn. Mix until ingredients are combined.
- Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed. Mine took about 55 minutes but my oven is lame.
- Use an ice cream scoop to serve the sweet corn cake as a side dish or for dessert.

Kombucha

So my kombucha tea turned out perfect! Though next time, I'm going to use my newly acquired juicer to juice some smoother fruit juice instead of the chunky strawberry puree I used this time... My tea didn't taste bad, it was just a little chunkier than I would have preferred.

I'm already 4 days into my next batch and it's looking great! My new baby has already formed and I am looking forward to my next batch! Remember to keep your tea in a quiet, dim, undisturbed place (Mine is in a cabinet over the fridge I hardly get into).

So bottom line: This is sooooo EASY and CHEAP! If you love kombucha, save yourself a bazillion dollars and purchase a mother here (I purchased the first kit listed only $19.95 + S&H). The only other thing you need to get started is a huge glass jar (like a gallon) and a fine strainer. That's it! People make it sound so much harder than it actually is to make your own.

Easy Peasy Pasta Bake

So I kinda just threw this together and thought it turned out pretty good... My BF really liked it and said I should post it! Quick comfort food... Though next time I would add more veggies... Maybe even an entire extra bunch of asparagus or some broccoli. I will list exactly what I used this time, feel free to add more veggies if desired. Serve with salad for a perfect vegan meal.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 bunch of asparagus, tough ends snapped off, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 white onion, sliced
- Garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste
- Cooking spray
- 12 oz box medium pasta shells
- 10.75 oz can condensed tomato soup + 10.75 oz can worth of water
- 1/2 to 1 cup fried onions
- Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

- Prepare asparagus and onions.
- Preheat oven to 400 F and get a big pot of water boiling for the pasta.
- Once pasta water is boiling add pasta and cook until al dente, then drain in a colander (Save the pot).
-Meanwhile, put the asparagus and onions in a large rectangular caserole dish and season generously with garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, and crushed red pepper. Spray your seasoned veggies with cooking spray and mix the veggies around until everything is evenly coated. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until asparagus is tender crisp (Save the casserole dish).
- Turn stove down to 350 F.
- Thoroughly mix condensed soup and water in the pot, add cooked pasta and mix until pasta is evenly coated. Add this mixture to the asparagus and onion mixture in the casserole dish and mix thoroughly. Once mixed, cover with fried onions (You can mix the mixture around again if you wish or leave the onions as a topping).
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tomato soup has thickened a bit.
- Generously season casserole servings with creole.

Makes: 8 Servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Kombucha Part 2

Okay, so I'm done with the brewing process... I let the kombucha brew for 10 days and a baby scoby formed so I did something right! Now, I'm going to let my strawberry flavored kombucha (I flavored it with pureed strawberries) ferment in bottles for like 3 days so it gets nice and carbonated... Can't wait to try my finished product it looks like it's gonna be tasty :)

Easy Chik'n Ranch Wraps

INGREDIENTS:
- Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips (you can use another brand if you can't find these)
- Shredded romaine
- Vegan ranch dressing
- Oil

DIRECTIONS:

- Fry frozen chik'n strips in oil until lightly browned, I like to cut them up further with my spatula as I'm cooking them. Once browned, dump the chik'n strips into a bowl and set aside.
- Using the same fry pan, heat up your flour tortillas. Once heated place on a plate and top with shredded romaine and vegan ranch.
Wrap up and enjoy! So simple and delicious :)

Preparation time: 1 minute
Cooking time: 5 minutes

VegWeb's Baha Tofu Tacos with Cilantro Coleslaw and Vegan Tarter Sauce

This recipe, by far, is my favorite recipe on Vegweb! It never disappoints, I promise... I'm going to post the recipe here so that I can break it down for you and make things easier :)

INGREDIENTS:

*I use 4 pie pans for this recipe, it makes things much easier*
- 1 package extra firm tofu
- 4 cups vegetable oil (or just use a deep fryer like I did)
- 10 corn tortillas
Pan #1 (Rub):
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tbsp kelp or seaweed seasoning (optional)
Pan #2:
- 1/2 cup flour
Pan #3:
- 1 single serving container of plain vegan yogurt
Pan #4:
- 2 cups Panko bread crumbs
Cilantro Coleslaw:
- 1/3 cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- 3 cups multi-colored coleslaw blend
- 1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro
Vegan Tarter Sauce (my recipe):
- 1.5 cups vegan mayo
- 4 tbsp sweet pickle relish
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp onion powder

DIRECTIONS:

Make coleslaw the night before to let the flavors blend and absorb. To make the coleslaw dressing, place 1/3 cup fresh lime juice, sugar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon cumin, and chipotles in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture over slaw mix, stir in cilantro, mix well. Refrigerate until you are ready to eat.
Make vegan tarter sauce the night before as well, to allow the flavors to blend. Mix all tarter sauce ingredients (vegan mayo, sweet pickle relish, vinegar, garlic powder, and onion powder) together. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
When your ready to make your meal, wrap tofu in paper towels, place a cast iron skillet or other heavy object on top of the tofu to press the water out (I use a tea kettle filled with water). Let it sit for 30 minutes, flipping the tofu over after 15 minutes and replacing with new paper towels.

While the tofu is pressing, get your pans ready. Mix all tofu rub ingredients in one pan. Then get the yogurt, flour, and panko pans ready too.

Unwrap tofu, cut into 10 equal sticks. Rub all sides lightly with the tofu rub mixture, next dip each piece of tofu in flour covering all sides, then yogurt, then panko crumbs. Pat crumbs into the tofu to get them to stick well. Set on plate until all the pieces are breaded.

Pour the vegetable oil into a 10 quart sauce pan (or just use a deep fryer) and heat to 365 degrees Fahrenheit over medium heat. Deep fry breaded tofu pieces in oil 3-4 at a time until golden brown.
Spray each corn tortillas with cooking spray or just use some oil, heat 1 or 2 at a time in a large fry pan. (You can also spray them and then place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Serve by placing one piece of tofu on top of a warmed tortilla, top with coleslaw and tarter sauce.

**This recipe could also be simplified to make "fish" sticks with tarter sauce, just skip making the coleslaw and tortillas**

Makes: 5 servings
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups rice (I use Calrose)
2 cups water
1/4 cup diced green onions
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup julienned carrots (or frozen would work too)
1.5 cups frozen broccoli florets
Hot chili sauce (Sriracha), to taste (start with 1 tbsp)
Sweet chili sauce, to taste (I use Mae Ploy brand)
2-3 tablespoons Braggs/soy sauce, or to taste
3 tablespoons oil (or enough oil to keep the rice from sticking to the pan)
*I added some white onion and red cabbage this time*

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put 1 1/2 cups rice and 2 cups water in a rice cooker and cook (takes about 15 minutes). If you don't have a rice cooker or are using a different kind of rice just follow the directions on the rice package.
2. Let the rice cool completely. I usually cook the rice earlier in the day and eat it for dinner.
3. Scoop rice out of cooker into a large bowl and mix with 2 to 3 tablespoons Braggs or soy sauce to taste, be careful not to add too much!
4. Add the carrots, peas, broccoli florets, and corn to the rice mixture (you can substitute or add different veggies if you wish). Do not add the green onions yet.
5. Heat about 3 tablespoons oil in a large pan or pot and add rice and veggie mixture, cook for about 5 minutes on high heat.
6. Add green onions, hot chili sauce, and sweet chili sauce to taste, cook for another 5 minutes on high heat.

**I like to serve my fried rice topped with sliced avocado and scoop spoonfuls into seasoned roasted dried seaweed slices, but you can just eat the fried rice plain, either way it's delicious, enjoy!**

Preparation time: 5 minutes + rice cooking and cooling time
Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Makes: About 4 big servings

Strawberry Milk!

I seriously loved strawberry flavored cow's milk as a non-vegan, so I just had to create a vegan version so I could enjoy this again! I think this version is even better: no cholesterol, no crazy chemicals, just sheer simplicity!

INGREDIENTS:

- 4 medium/large frozen strawberries
- 1 3/4 cups vanilla flavored vanilla or soy milk (not unsweetened)

DIRECTIONS:

- Place in a blender and blend until smooth, creamy, and dreamy!

Makes: 2 cups worth of heaven

My Veggie Kitchen's Sweet & Spicy Tofu Steaks

Recently, I made Sweet & Spicy Tofu Steaks from My Veggie Kitchen and they were tasty :) though I didn't enjoy the texture of the tofu since it was kind of mushy in the middle. I let the steaks marinate for a few days and followed his cooking instructions, to fry the tofu steaks, for half of my batch.

For the other half, I cut the tofu steaks into thin slices and baked them at 350 F for about 40 minutes, flipping half way. I used the tofu as a filling in spring rolls!


This was my first time making spring rolls and they didn't look as beautiful as I usually see them but they were delicious. I found that tofu and avocado are a must have in spring rolls so don't make spring rolls without them!

Thick and Creamy Vegan Ranch

When I first went vegan I never thought I would still be able to still enjoy RANCH! Thick and creamy RANCH! Thank God I can or I wouldn't be eating many salads because it's just about the only salad dressing I like and I have tried TONS. Here is my perfected version of this recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

- 1.5 cups Vegenaise (vegan mayo)
- 1/4 cup vanilla almond or soy milk (not unsweetened)
- 1 to 2 tbsp red wine vinegar*
- 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 10 cracks fresh cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Put all the ingredients together in a blender or Magic Bullet and blend.

* 2 tbsp gives you a really tangy ranch. I like it this way but you can taste the vinegar.

Strawberry Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 can coconut milk (high in fat, mine has 14 grans per serving)
- 2 to 3 big handfuls frozen strawberries
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour in an ice cream maker and let it churn for 20 to 30 minutes... Walla! Vegan ice cream :)

I like mine melted a bit and stirred around! Pic below: