Monday, March 28, 2011

YUM! Kale stir fry & turnip carrot patties.

So, Michael's mother (yes, her again! I love that lady *love*) went out to dinner with a friend last night, they had parsnip & carrot patties and a kale stir fry. That sounded FABULOUS to me. So I dug up a few recipes... Unfortunately I didn't have parsnips, but I did have turnips so I substituted. OK, so here is the recipe for the patties. I felt like the mix could have used something else to bring it together to make it stick more... we added a little extra rice flour & its possible that the turnips had more liquid in them than parsnips. I think next time I will try EnerG like I did with the potato latkes.

For the kale stir fry I just put some safflower oil in a heated frying pan, added onion, minced ginger root (fresh), sesame seeds, a little bit of celery, a big handful of chopped kale & some canned mushrooms.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Mmm... CRUNCHIES!

OK, so this is adjusted from one of Michael's mom's recipes. I don't know what to call it, we just call it "crunchies" haha. :) We make it once every three days or so, and eat it on almost everything... soups, salads, occasionally oatmeal, or plain. I'd take a photo, but I'm too lazy.

Ingredients:
2 packs Ramen
1/2 of an Edward & Son's bouillon cube - I prefer the Not Chick'n (if you're not vegan you can just use one seasoning packet from the ramen).
Approximately 2 tablespoons oil (I use half & half safflower and sesame)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup almonds
handful of nutritional yeast

OK all of these measurements are approximate because I kind of just throw stuff in the pan and hope for the best.

Which is usually why I fail so much.

Anyway.

You crush the ramen while its still in the package, I make pretty small chunks, like smaller than a dime.

Heat the oven med-high and toss the oil in the pan. Once hot, add everything except the nutritional yeast.

Toast until fragrant and lightly browned... tastes ok burned too :P

Let cool, add nutritional yeast and toss. Eat using only your hands.

Nom.

P.S. Sorry for the lack posts. To be honest, I haven't been cooking, I've been eating like crap and I have been enjoying the GREAT outdoors. Spring is here and it is beautiful! I'm tempted to stop blogging mainly because I can't keep on it and also because there are SO many other things going on in my life that I'm more interested in but don't fit under the topic of "vegan foods". I guess I've always had problems staying interested in things for more than a few months... I'll take a break now and come back to it later! I always do :P

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Confessions of a vegan girl

1. I don't much like oatmeal. At least, not unless its smothered in maple syrup (the real kind. "Would you like some oatmeal with your maple syrup miss?") or in cookie form. Also, I prefer it to have some kind of fruit in it... I tend to dump a handful of frozen blueberries and a handful of frozen peaches into it before I nuke it. Nom.

2. Mangoes are freaking weird. Papayas are disgusting. Yes. Papayas taste like pine trees... compare it to the the "Spruce beer" that Canadians drink. That stuff is gross too.

3. I drink my coffee with maple syrup instead of sugar. It is the shiznit. You should try it. Not joking.


Thats all for today. Meeting adjourned.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Woo. Been awhile (again)

I guess it probably wouldn't have been so long if I'd actually been cooking. However, since I haven't I guess I'll do a little food item review today.

So, Michael is still only vegetarian, so even though he is lactose intolerant he feels the need to indulge in tasty dairy treats... frequently. This mostly doesn't bother me... occasionally when he brings a pizza home I get whiny... or lately it has been boxed mac & cheese. I haven't had that stuff in a LONG time. I crave it now and then. So when Michael was at the local food co-op he bought a box of Annie's mac for himself and a box of Road's End Organics Dairy Free Shells & Chreese for me made by Edward & Sons. Now you guys have heard me mention Edward & Sons before when I mentioned some really really REALLY awesome NOT Chick'n bouillon cubes.

I didn't realize that they were by the same company until after I had started munching away at the macaroni goodness.

First thing I DID check was to see what the Chreese mix had in it. Nutrtional yeast is the second ingredient. This is really what most of the vegan mac & cheeses I've seen begin with.

I cooked according to directions, and as suggested added a dollop (1-2tsp) of buttery spread (olive oil based from Bestlife) and used almond milk. *Note on almond milk... if you haven't tried it, you really should.

The sauce was pretty creamy, not that awful bright yellow color other boxed mac & cheese suffers from. Almost "alfredo" colored. I put the pasta in it, mixed - had a similar consistency to "homemade" mac & cheese. Gooey and creamy at the same time. My mouth watered.

I tasted it before seasoning. It was ok. I didn't think it was cheesy really at all, but again - I don't think nutritional yeast is cheesy so I wasn't surprised. Overall I thought while the ease of tossing it into a pan was great and the appearance was nice... that I probably would rate it a 2 out of 5 star rating. I added hot sauce (almost any hot sauce that has garlic would work here) to it to give it a bit of a kick which helped some. I also ate it with a side of steamed kale which is still my absolute favorite green.

I've been really busy with work, finding stuff still missing from the move and working in the yard. Here in Eastern TN. It is absolutely incredibly gorgeous. For my birthday the other day (YAY ME) it was in the mid 60's... in early MARCH. Holy COW. I'm from upstate NY originally and I'm used to my birthday being snow covered and freezing. So this was a wonderful change.

I have also been planting vegetable seeds which will hopefully appear as full grown veggies sometime this summer.

One other thing you guys might be able to look forward to is my adventures in wild food foraging. I've have a few things I would like to taste and see if I can't work into a recipe or two. Can't wait until the world is green once more!