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
Sunday, March 27, 2011
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.
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!
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!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Brr! Its cold out!
One benefit to moving "down south" was the short and sweet winters...
Well, someone decided to play a cruel joke this winter! I demand a refund, a full refund... including the cost of my coat.
Anyway, some amount of months bad I came across this wonderful looking recipe for raw avocado/spinach soup and have been anxious to make it since then. Well, Aldi's had a wonderful sale on their avocados 49 cents each!!!!! So Michael's mom bought 4. Then a friend gave me another one... all five went ripe all at once! So, we exhausted pretty much every avocado recipe we knew (short of guac) and we still have left overs. Which is when I pulled out that awesome recipe...
It is awesome.
I made half a batch out of fear of being repulsed by it... I'd never had capers before, and apple seemed a weird addition. I also used fresh thyme straight from the garden but perhaps could have used just a little more. I still think its awesome. I also think there could be a few ways to adjust it to make other equally wonderful soups.
Well, someone decided to play a cruel joke this winter! I demand a refund, a full refund... including the cost of my coat.
Anyway, some amount of months bad I came across this wonderful looking recipe for raw avocado/spinach soup and have been anxious to make it since then. Well, Aldi's had a wonderful sale on their avocados 49 cents each!!!!! So Michael's mom bought 4. Then a friend gave me another one... all five went ripe all at once! So, we exhausted pretty much every avocado recipe we knew (short of guac) and we still have left overs. Which is when I pulled out that awesome recipe...
It is awesome.
I made half a batch out of fear of being repulsed by it... I'd never had capers before, and apple seemed a weird addition. I also used fresh thyme straight from the garden but perhaps could have used just a little more. I still think its awesome. I also think there could be a few ways to adjust it to make other equally wonderful soups.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Its been awhile!
I'm all moved! HOORAY! Unfortunately my house looks like a storage unit (everything still in boxes and piled on top of everything else).
ALSO on top of all that jazz, the laptop (only computer) has crashed :( SO - I'll be blogging off of Michael's mother's computer.
I've had some fun cooking here and there... not a lot of time to do so though.
So far I've made carrot curry soup, curry coconut chickpea soup, and lemon poppy seed muffins *nom*. I'll post photos as soon as I figure out where the cord is for my camera as this computer doesn't have one of those nifty card ports...
OH OH! I also made my very first green monster today! Its so awesome! I'm really impressed. For those of you not familiar with green monsters... you should check them out!
Here is the recipe I used:
1 frozen banana
~1/2 cup frozen blueberries
~1 cup frozen peaches
~1 cup almond milk
~1 cup orange juice
~2 kale leaves
Don't be turned off by the kale! Most people use spinach instead but I didn't have any, so I hesitantly used kale and was pleasantly surprised!!! YAY! :D I drank the whole thing... and then had to build a fire to warm up again :P Maybe I'll stick to making them on warmer days. :)
ALSO on top of all that jazz, the laptop (only computer) has crashed :( SO - I'll be blogging off of Michael's mother's computer.
I've had some fun cooking here and there... not a lot of time to do so though.
So far I've made carrot curry soup, curry coconut chickpea soup, and lemon poppy seed muffins *nom*. I'll post photos as soon as I figure out where the cord is for my camera as this computer doesn't have one of those nifty card ports...
OH OH! I also made my very first green monster today! Its so awesome! I'm really impressed. For those of you not familiar with green monsters... you should check them out!
Here is the recipe I used:
1 frozen banana
~1/2 cup frozen blueberries
~1 cup frozen peaches
~1 cup almond milk
~1 cup orange juice
~2 kale leaves
Don't be turned off by the kale! Most people use spinach instead but I didn't have any, so I hesitantly used kale and was pleasantly surprised!!! YAY! :D I drank the whole thing... and then had to build a fire to warm up again :P Maybe I'll stick to making them on warmer days. :)
Friday, January 14, 2011
Wee, a little break from REALITY.
Or not. Sorry I've been quiet guys, in the process of moving, life, etc. Also - I just plain stink at cooking... this blog is basically showing the few successes I have when it comes the things I make. So when I'm quiet, I'm either having a bad streak OR I'm eating stuff out of a box (*shame*).
Anywho. I've made a couple things in the past few days that are pretty good... Yesterday I made vegan cabbage rolls which Michael thought were great and I thought were "eh" but if he likes it, that makes me happy.
I also made some stuffed manicotti, I used daiya cheese for this & it was pretty rad. *heart*
Tonight I had a ripe avocado... I REALLY wanted to try this recipe for a raw avocado soup and I had all the ingredients but one, spinach :( SO I had to find something else. I decided to dig out my nori sheets and make myself some nori rolls! YUM!! AND SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EASY! You can't mess them up! Now, I just wish I had some wasabi.
**Edited to add a note: A friend of mine suggested that I needed to work on "presentation". I know this. However, until I work on my cooking skills, my presentation skills will have to wait. Sorry to any this may inconvenience. *thpbt**
Anywho. I've made a couple things in the past few days that are pretty good... Yesterday I made vegan cabbage rolls which Michael thought were great and I thought were "eh" but if he likes it, that makes me happy.
I also made some stuffed manicotti, I used daiya cheese for this & it was pretty rad. *heart*
Tonight I had a ripe avocado... I REALLY wanted to try this recipe for a raw avocado soup and I had all the ingredients but one, spinach :( SO I had to find something else. I decided to dig out my nori sheets and make myself some nori rolls! YUM!! AND SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EASY! You can't mess them up! Now, I just wish I had some wasabi.
**Edited to add a note: A friend of mine suggested that I needed to work on "presentation". I know this. However, until I work on my cooking skills, my presentation skills will have to wait. Sorry to any this may inconvenience. *thpbt**
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Raw kale salad
I just ate a whole lotta kale. Like, a whole giant bowl full :D
I found this (I recommend the video) really great recipe for raw kale salad... and it looked DELICIOUS. However, I didn't have all the stuff for it. SO, I improvised. I didn't have avocado, so I used a sprout mix that I grew. I didn't have cherry tomatoes so I used one tomato off the vine. I sprinkled it with sea salt, a little chopped up nori, and some flax seed and sliced almonds. Used olive oil and a splash of rice vinegar. I think next time I'll use a little lemon juice instead. It was really really tasty... I ate it all so I wasn't able to take a picture (my bad!).
I found this (I recommend the video) really great recipe for raw kale salad... and it looked DELICIOUS. However, I didn't have all the stuff for it. SO, I improvised. I didn't have avocado, so I used a sprout mix that I grew. I didn't have cherry tomatoes so I used one tomato off the vine. I sprinkled it with sea salt, a little chopped up nori, and some flax seed and sliced almonds. Used olive oil and a splash of rice vinegar. I think next time I'll use a little lemon juice instead. It was really really tasty... I ate it all so I wasn't able to take a picture (my bad!).
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