Vegan MoFo: Quick Green Salad

Being preggers, I am hungry way more often than I used to be and have to eat less at a time because my stomach is being compressed. There is no waiting for dinner- I have to eat while cooking dinner to tide me over until it's ready. True life.

Salad is great for eating standing up over the counter while stirring what's in the pot or pan and healthy! I throw in whatever I have on hand, but here is a combination I've been loving lately. 

1. Whatever greens you have- I have been loving arugula + baby spinach! 

2. Carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, whatever is already cut up and ready to be thrown in.

3. Frontier Bac'Uns. These are amazing!!! Savory and crunchy zing. Main ingredient is TVP.

4. Lime Tahini Dressing from Peas and Thank You cookbook - I love it! I will write more about this in a Cooking Through Peas and Thank You post. 

Vegan MoFo: Pita Chips Recipe

My favorite hummus-dippers are carrots and spinach. When I want something a bit more filling, I love store-bought pita chips and falafel chips but the costs add up. I find it cheaper to buy pre-made pita and turn them into chips in my kitchen. 

1. Cut your pita (whole wheat!) into manageable triangles.

2. Coat pita chips with your seasoning mixture. Be gentle, turn with a fork, so they do not break.

• I recommend 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil at a time- you may have to replenish based on how much pita you are chip-ifying. 
• For seasonings, use what you like! I would start with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of a variety of spices including 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper 
• (I just eyeball it).
• Our favorites are: cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, and garlic powder. 
• Incorporate into olive oil. 

3. Spread out in a single layer on a baking pan. No need to spray.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for five minutes, turn each chip, and bake for another five minutes.  Adjust times by a minute if you want them chewier or crispier/crunchier.

You could try broiling. It's dangerous for me because I always seem to let it go too long and burn. Use the toaster oven to save money and energy!

5. Let cool for a minute on the pan and transfer to a container. Enjoy on their own or dipped in hummus or another sauce/dip.

I like to have these on hand for snacks for guests- always a big hit! 

Egg-Less Eggplant Parmesan

Semi-Vegan Eggplant Parmesan. We nix the eggs but keep the cheese- however, the cheese could easily be Daiya or some nutritional yeast concoction! We don't really follow a recipe but this is how we have learned to make it work:

The eggplants or aubergines were long and skinny so we ended up cutting strips. On the left if the egg replacement. The proportion we use for this is:

1 tablespoon ground flax seed ~ 2 tablespoons water

Stir and let it sit for a few minutes. It was soak and become thicker. Dip in the strips and then drench in breadcrumbs. 

Set in the frying pan on a high setting, otherwise they will become soaked in the oil. Flip when golden brown.

Ian whipped up this sauce. It is just tomato paste, basil from the garden, oregano, sugar, garlic powder, and onion powder.

The finished product with a couple servings missing! Basically, layer eggplant, sauce, and cheese or cheese-like substance. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let sit before serving. Nom!

Recipe Review: Potato Tacos

 Yesterday, we made Potato Tacos from the website The Kitchn. We made the recipe and use the site for the first time and were impressed by both! I was very excited for hubby to find this because he loves Mexican food. I am not a big fan, and I have been avoiding Mexican restaurants since becoming vegan(ish) because I read others' blog posts about not being able to avoid lard, etc. To make some Mexican noms at home, we would be in control!

To start with, I ate some guacamole that we had  made that morning while we cooked. This was avocados, garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper, lime juice. Hubby added tomatoes to his.

Frying potatoes in olive oil.

Boiling two ears of corn.

Preparing the filling- garlic and peppers.

Frying the corn, garlic, peppers, salt, pepper, and lime juice.

I warmed the tortillas in a crepe pan. 

While the filling was frying and the tortillas were warming, hubby chopped up the  toppings- avocados, cilantro, scallions, and tomatoes.

Changes We Made to the Recipe

• We were out of onions, so we added some onion powder instead.
• We had jalepeno peppers so used that instead of poblano chiles. 
• Also did not have celery, now to think of it I should have added celery salt/seed.
• I could not find corn tortillas so we used whole wheat tortillas. Also, I'm sad because every brand that I found has way too many ingredients :o( I should try making my own!
• We used russet potatoes and left the skins on instead of peeling as called for. 

Overall Impressions

• The site suggests that if you do not like cilantro, to sprinkle the potatoes with cumin instead. I think cumin or coriander would be great on the potatoes no matter what because they did not offer much flavor.
• Made 6 tacos.
• Hearty and filling and satisfied this wary-of-Mexican-food girl! Pregnant at that.

Here is the finished product!

Recipe Review: Quinoa Burgers

We love making this recipe that I found on Savvy Vegetarian . com

It is a multi-step process.

1. Soak quinoa. This gets rid of the bitter layer. It also may sprout them for extra goodness. 
2. Rinse. I use a small pasta strainer.
3. Cook for 15 minutes.
4. Mix all ingredients.
5. Put in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Cooling overnight makes it form patties well BUT it does make your hands very cold.
6. Form patties.
7. Fry patties.
8. Let oil absorb.
9. NOM!

I call it party quinoa because of all the colors. I am not sure which ones are whole grain. I buy organic in bulk.

What We Love About Quinoa Burgers:

• They keep well, if you don't eat them all right away!
• Delicious. 
• Eat with a bun for a hearty meal or without a bun for a light meal.
• Quinoa is awesome- a seed though it resembles a grain, it is the only grain/seed that is a complete protein.

Quinoa burger mixture with plain white quinoa.

What We Are Iffy About:

• Frying them. All the oil is not the best health-wise and hot oil is dangerous and scares me. It is a two-person operation. Maybe they could be baked for a similar result?
• Time-consuming to make!!! 

Other Notes:

• If you are gluten-free, use potato starch instead of conventional flour.
• We save and reuse the oil each time until it gets groddy. Let it cool and then store in a mason jar. 
• I eat mine topped with hummus and spinach. Mmmmm!

This was Ian's, topped with tomato sauce and spinach. Made with red quinoa.

What kind of 'burgers' do you make? Bean, lentil, veggie, walnut? How have you gotten around using all this oil?

Vegan Staples: Hummus

What probably was the impetus to my vegan-ism is hummus. I live for it and by it, seriously. Super flavorful and versatile- a spread, dip, sauce, dressing, binder, what doesn't hummus do?!

I get a lot of my non-perishable vegan ingredients from amazon.com, so I get 2 shipments of http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GZU7QQ every month. Yep, I go through at least 24 cans of chickpeas a month. These are organic and salt-free (has some seaweed) and cheaper than you would find at an organic store or even conventional grocery store. I have never had luck with dried chickpeas, but that is for another post.

I would love to give you a hummus recipe. Here is where I suck- I hardly ever follow a recipe. Sometimes my noms are a failure, and sometimes they rock but I can't ever get the same results. It is a terrible system. Here is basically how we make hummus, though measurements could be off. Taste test as you go along. This is kind of from my Jewish father-in-law:

Ingredients:

3 cans of chickpeas. Include the liquid from one can (good idea to get no sodium added) 

2 large or 3 small cloves garlic

1 tsp. ground cumin

Squirt of lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup tahini, Stir well!! (I've always used this kind: http://www.amazon.com/Joyva-Tahini-15-Ounce-Packages-Pack/dp/B001FA1L6Q/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1301273717&sr=8-8 Keep in mind this is NOT raw)

Dash of salt

Optional garnish: olive oil, paprika, cilantro or parsley

Add all ingredients to a food processor and go for it. May have to stir/dislodge occasionally. Hubby likes to process the garlic first to make sure no cloves remain intact. There are a ton of variations on hummus. Sometimes I add Old Bay, because I am ridiculous. Others like to spice it up with different types of peppers. Up to you. 

Again, the ways to serve and use it are endless. I like to eat it with carrots and spinach or pour it over a salad. I usually don't like bready things but will occasionally eat it with pita, homemade pita chips, crackers, or tortilla chips. It is also an ingredient in a quinoa recipe we love to make which I'll do a post about. And with falafel, of course. 

Ah, I think back so fondly on my beginning hummus days. Before we had a food processor, I made it with a blender, a masher, and even a fork, and we finally have it down to a science. A science that is hard to share because I eye-ball it. Enjoy! I will try to take better photos of our next batch. 

Vegan is Variety

I am so picky when it comes to food. For most of my life, I have been been the unwilling dude from Green Eggs and Ham (who my Kindergarten students figured out is named Mr. Nox from Fox in Sox). As a person transitioning into veganism and now as a full vegan depending on one's label definition, I am so much more willing to try new things (though not something from a pig or chicken, no matter the color).

A Not Exhaustive List of What I've Eaten as a Vegan:

Rice Dream Chocolate Bar mmmm

Garbanzo Beans/Chickpeas

Brown Rice

Vegetable Fried Rice from Chinese restaurant

Samosas, chana pindi, and naan from Indian restaurant (future post)

Uh...tortilla chips from a Mexican restaurant

Packaged tortilla chips

Soy sauce

Briggs amino acids

Packaged pita bread

Frozen packaged samosas

Homemade potato and leek soup

Homemade humus (future post)

Homemade quinoa burgers (future post)

Homemade butternut squash risotto

Homemade vegetable risotto

Peas

Chex mix

Pretzels 

Vegan yogurt: soy, coconut

Lemon juice

Variety of herbs and spices

Spirulina

Pickles

Cucumber

Avocado

Cilantro

Tofu

Packaged brownie mix

Homemade cookies

Homemade vegetable broth

Homemade split pea soup

Homemade lentil soup

Kale

Variety of packaged frozen 'chicken' (future post)

Bananas

Olive, canola, and coconut oil

Almond butter

Sunflower seed butter

Almonds

Homemade pesto (future post)

Homemade pizza (future post)

Variety of vegan cheeses (future post)

Vegan milks: soy, almond, coconut, hemp (future post)

Coconut water

Vegan ice cream: soy, almond, coconut

Nutritional yeast

Packaged whole wheat buns

Spinach

Red lettuce

Carrots

Apples- gala, fiji, pink lady

Bartlet pears

Tomato paste

Garlic

Goji berries

Orange juice

Orange soda (Ok, it was one time and I totally regret it)

Homemade smoothie (future post)

Vegan chocolate chips, carob chips, grain-sweetened chocolate chips

Raw cacao powder

Maca powder

Variety of flax oils

Ground flax seed

Hemp protein powder

Agave nectar

Flour

Cane sugar

Triscuits

Canteloupe

Brocolli  

Tempeh

Cabbage

Sprouts

Homemade mashed potatoes

Ginger

Peanut butter

Variety of mushrooms

Artichoke

Earth Balance butter like substance

Popcorn

On my list of things to try:

Seitan

Textured Vegetable Protein

Sea Vegetables

That's all I can recall at the moment. Even after all of this, I still detest tomatoes, peppers, onions, and okra. Apologies because I am world's worst photographer. Anyway, these are some of the recipes I will be posting, but my hubby will eat anything so some recipes will go beyond my weirdly picky tastes. Lots more posts, to come, thanks for reading! I guess the take away message is eating vegan is not restricting and for me it has opened up new food opportunities.