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! 

Naughty Vegan Treats

Since I found out I passed my glucose test... 

Photo from http://thekrazycouponlady.com

This is basically sugar disolved in water
but it is soo good and organic
so I don't let myself feel too bad.

I am contemplating indulging in a sugary treat.

Photo from http://moneysavingmom.com

Damn the vegan blog that
informed me these are vegan!
That is dangerous information.

(I have already started enjoying one of these. Shhhhhhh)

Vegan Junk Food: Popcorn

Popcorn is a whole grain! Eat it all the time and have a happy tummy! I make it in large quantities because it stores pretty well and takes a while to go stale. We also buy it in bulk from Amazon.com for pretty cheap, and organic! Seriously, our popcorn stash will last us forever.

You can add whatever you'd like to popcorn, but my go-to is Earth Balance, Nutritional Yeast, and Cajun Seasoning. If you do not use Cajun Seasoning or Old Bay, you should include a little bit of salt. Other yummy toppings are Italian Seasoning and Garlic Powder. By the way, that is not Parma, just Nutritional Yeast, though Parma is great. Basically Nutritional Yeast with little bits of walnuts. I cannot imagine ever eating popcorn with Nutritional Yeast ever again. So delicious.

This may look a little scary, we had the burner too high. Pour a bit of oil at the bottom of a pot, a little salt, turn to medium heat and add your popcorn kernels. Stir or shake pot often to prevent sticking and burning. It will cook very quickly! Take off the heat once pops have one second between them and pour into another container immediately, preferably with a bit of Earth Balance to melt it. Mix it up and dig in!  

What is your favorite way to enjoy popcorn?

Vegan Junk Food: Crab Chips

Sorry for the long hiatus! I will be posting more soon as my spring break is next week!!! I am mostly busy finishing up my student teaching to be followed by writing my master's thesis and trying to find a job (and maybe also planning my cat's first birthday party).

I ran into a conventional box grocery store after school to pick up some treats for my third graders. As a vegan, I am compulsively checking labels of packaged foods to ensure there are no egg or milk products. Fortunately, these are required to be listed as allergens. 

Let me pause to say I am not a junk food vegan. Really. Most of my diet is raw, most is homemade, and most is organic. (Hopefully soon I can say that most is homegrown). I rarely ever eat potato chips, like once or twice a year. When I do, they are likely to be Utz Crab Chips. I looked at that labeled out of curiosity.

HONEY. They are made with honey. But not just honey, some sort of honey product that I don't remember. I will do a post soon about honey and the vegan mind. 

If you are interested in an alternative and don't begrudge a bag of chips every once in a while, I found one at my nearby-ish organic store: Route 11 Chesapeake Crab Potato Chips

The website clearly lists the ingredients. Nothing from an animal! They are yummy and crunchy. Try them out.

This post might mean nothing to you if you aren't a Marylander. I have spent most of my life in Maryland and now live very close to the Chesapeake Bay. Even though I no longer eat seafood, I get my kicks from the seasoning usually used on it: Old Bay. 

I have to tell you that I did not pose this picture for this post. This was taken freshman year of college in my dorm room five years ago. I brought Old Bay with me to the cafeteria every day. Thankfully, I stopped that after the first semester, but it just makes everything taste better,

I still like Old Bay but use it infrequently. I also started using the low sodium variety, though I actually have low blood pressure so sodium is not a big concern. Probably, I could mix up a seasoning similar to Old Bay myself but somehow the thought makes me feel like a traitor. 

I hope I've put you in the mood for summer!

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.