2010 Continues

I realized I didn't post my New Year's Resolutions. Since they all relate to food, I figured it's important to log it here.
(1) No microwaving plastic - accomplished by buying Pyrex glass 17 piece kit. :)
(2) Use KitchenAid to bake once a month.
(3) Make one new recipe per week.
(4) 100% vegan :)

Tofu with Asian Marinade from Vegan with a Vengenance -- Used the marinade to flavor the potatoes that I mashed with the KitchenAid. Nom nom nom.




Delicious Black-Eyed Pea Masala (FatFreeVegan recipe)




Excellent Baked Seitan with Orange Sauce (FatFreeVegan recipe)
Steven liked the sauce over his chicken breasts.




*Mediocre* Mexican casserole (Inspired by this FatFreeVegan recipe)
Flavor of the layers was great, but the corn tortillas didn't crisp. Perhaps because I stored them in the frdige. Layers included sauteed onion, red and green bell peppers, mini yellow sweet peppers, Poblano pepper, tomato slices with the seeds removed, refried beans, black beans, cumin, chili pepper.




Super Bowl Sunday is coming up. Since the Saints are playing, I am baking a King Cake since I actually found the right colored sugar sprinkles and cooking red beans and rice. But I'm debating on the other dish: tofu jambalaya, chickpea gumbo, or fried tofu po'boys... I'm leaning towards the po'boy but we'll see what I decide on by Saturday...

New Year!

At the end of last year, I managed to pass my last course and enjoy the beginning of the holiday season. I had a vegan Christmas meal of Thai-style tofu with udon noodles. Very un-traditional, but I had to pack something to take to my grandma's since I knew there weren't going to be vegan options. After Christmas, my mom made me a tofurkey, potatoes, and some veggies. It was good. I got an awesome Kitchenaid mixer as a gift!


Making cookies - Recipe for Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cookies - I used these vegan chocolate chips.


Finished product with some soymilk in the mug from Steven's mom




Tangerine "Beef" with Snow Peas (from the Food Made Fast: Asian cookbook, but I used Gardein beefless tips instead of beef)




Crock Pot Spicy Black Beans from FatFreeVegan served with some quinoa

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, a coworker invited me over, as well as people from his lab. He made a turkey, which he made all by himself. It was first for him so he was very nervous about it turning out badly. I made homemade biscuits by Paula Deen and a French silk pie for Steven. They weren't vegan, so I just had a bite of each to taste them. I made the pie at a friend's house because I don't own a stand mixer powerful enough to mix the ingredients to the right consistency. Next time, I will make the whipped cream on the day of the consumption, instead of in advance. I made a a faux turkey that was decent. It is from Vegan Cooking Club. It was better than I expected, but it was a little stretchy (maybe not fully cooked) in certain middle parts. I dipped it in my potatoes to make it better. Steven and I had talked in advance about setting aside some of the veggies for me to make with Earth Balance instead of butter. So I got my own portion of potatoes to whip with soy milk and Earth Balance and my own portion of corn to add Earth Balance and pepper to. I steamed some green beans for everyone. I wanted to serve them with roasted pine nuts, but I burned the pine nuts. Boo. I also made glazed carrots using a recipe from Recipezaar (#40452) for everyone too, which I used Earth Balance in and no one noticed. This was my first vegan Thanksgiving. Last year, my mom got me a Quorn roast which has some egg protein in it and I had most of the sides. I really enjoyed the meal. I had thought about making baked cinnamon apples as my dessert but I didn't.

In other news, I have discovered my favorite bread contains vitamin D3. The Arnold Dutch Country Whole Wheat was once listed as "accidentally vegan" by PETA, I think. I noticed today that this is not the case. Vitamin D3 can only come from animals, unless the company is getting it made synthetically (doubtful). I am sad. I will have to find a new bread to avoid the D3. I think Arnold has another whole wheat bread that is vegan, which I really like so I'll have to check the label next time I'm at the store. Turns out my favorite Naan bread also contains buttermilk, so after I finish this pack no more! I need to find a vegan version somewhere. I don't want to cook every single thing from scratch. Curry is one of my "go to" dinners when I come home late. A can of organic diced tomatoes, a can of organic beans, add in some fresh garlic and onions, and voila! Serve with Naan or rice and dinner is served! Soooo yeah, we shall see how I can work around that.

In a random note, I found a vegan thin mint style cookie at Costco. They are so freakin' good. No wonder Steven claims to have gained ten pounds due to my love of sweets. Guess I'll be cutting back for both of us. He is going to start doing P90X again in the mornings. Maybe I should start hitting the free gym at work in the afternoons.

LML (Love My Life)

Now, on to the food porn!

I used the marinade from vegandad's tequila chili lime tofu to soak my tofu briefly before grilling it. I topped it with a little salsa. The "refried" beans are made from scratch! I used a recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. The Mexican rice is from a box from the Publix Greenwise section.




Grilled some seitan. The recipe is based on fatfreevegan's recipe.




Romaine lettuce topped with organic chickpeas, sauteed onions, garlic, and bell peppers. A healthy salad that actually tastes like something!

My Life Is Amazing!

=

Since this is my hobbies blog... On my trip to Minnesota, I read several books: Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, and Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. I started reading Thrive, but I haven't touched it since. Oh well. Steven and I have been cooking up a storm! I am really starting to come into my own and be confident in my cooking skills.


Sweet and Sour Malaysian Tofu from Vegan Dad:


Quick and Easy Fried Noodles from Vegan Dad:


Red Bean and Coconut Quinoa from Swell Vegan:


Sloppy Joes-style Lentils from food.com, formerly RecipeZaar:


Red Beans and Rice (a basic Google Search will turn up a decent recipe):


Purchased Italian Herb Tofu, served with potatoes cut using my Jacard mandolin:


Vegan Waffles and Hash Browns:


Asian dishes we made up during our date night:


Grilling Night:
Me:

VeganDad's recipe

I absolutely adore my new boyfriend, Steven! He loves to cook with me, even if he's not vegan. He's very accomodating. We cook one to two nights a week together. We made the Sesame Crusted Tofu with Udon Noodles from VeganDad. He had chicken because he's not a huge tofu fan. But he did admit that the super extra firm tofu I got is better than the other (less dense) forms. It is, I really like dense tofu. The squishy kind is icky.





We went to the Keys and found two vegetarian restaurants. I got BBQ tofu and fried tofu at the Cafe. I got a BBQ tofu sandwich at Sugar Apple, but I was so hungry I didn't even snap a photo of it like a dum-dum.

I am planning to make the Malaysian sweet and sour tofu and Thai-style sweet and tangy noodle dishes from VeganDad soon. His food looks amazing. Eventually, I will make his one of his mac and "cheese" dishes. I found a Leahey and a Road's End mac and "cheese" at the store.

Springtime

Been craving seitan. Health food store by my house was closed today, so hopefully they will have wheat gluten when I stop by tomorrow. Also, saw a sale on organic canned beans that I am going to hit up tomorrow. Sometimes I'm too lazy to soak and cook beans. (Dumb, I know.) I've been eating a lot of pre-made foods at home, veggie burgers mostly, and sandwiches so I need to quit being a bum and cook more often. I should plan my meals in advance more often.

Also, my work finally admitted they've been paying me too little. When they cut me a check for the difference, I'm hoping to do some shopping and take the kitties to the vet. After that, I'll either save it or do some work on my car maybe... With the increase on each check, I plan to be able to buy more organic foods and be more adventurous in my cooking. I'm no longer in debt to Visa from the move!! So woo-hoo!!