Pineapple Not-So-Fried Rice

I made the pineapple not-so-fried rice from Chloe's Kitchen. This recipe uses a tiny bit of oil, hence the name. I couldn't find very good looking cut fresh pineapple, so I decided to use canned pineapple in just juice. I also used pre-shredded carrots to save some time. I roasted the tofu while the rice was cooking and I was preparing the other components. I thought this was quite good. It had peas, raisins, cashews, carrots, pineapple, and roasted tofu. Yum! It would have been cool to serve it in a pineapple like the cookbook photo, but it was delicious.

Brunch

I hosted brunch at my house last Sunday. My friend that served as our group's social organizer moved recently, so I decided to take a leap into hosting at my house. I hosted the vegan cheese party, but that's really been the only big event hosted at my place. I had a kickball friend comment on the donut photo I posted recently on my fb. That inspired me to host donut brunch. I made the donuts and tofu frittata. I served the frittata with avocado slices. I've made the tofu frittata from Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites before, but this time I omitted the french fried onions on top, used Daiya mozzarella instead of havarti, and used Upton's chorizo-style seitan. I had a coupon from Austin VegFest for the seitan. My friends brought roasted potatoes, roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh strawberries and blueberries (picked nearby), green smoothies (kale, arugula, green apple, and cucumber). One of my friends RSVP-ed but all the food had been claimed, so she sneakily left $5 on my kitchen counter. How sweet, right? I don't have a picture of the full spread, because I was standing over the hot oil while people were chatting. By the time I brought a plate of donuts into the dining area, I wanted to sit down and eat, instead of thinking about a photo. I had a photo of the leftovers - a few slices of frittata and some donuts I fried after everyone left.

PB-Sriracha Tofu

I found this recipe through Pinterest and it seemed like a good meal to make on my vacation. I did not get a chance to do that, so I made it this week instead. I served it with a sample pack of brown rice that I got at Austin VegFest and some frozen broccoli. It was pretty easy to put together. The cooking time of the rice allowed me to brown the cut edges of the tofu. I thought this was a great meal after a long day at work. I just missed the 5 o'clock shuttle home, so I had to wait a while for the next bus. I gave my tofu a quick press while I set up the rice cooker and made the sauce ingredients. The directions are accurate in saying that you should only simmer the sauce for a few minutes with the tofu, because it really does thicken up quickly.

Fat-Free Alfredo

After indulging in lots of fried foods and sweets on my vacation, I didn't want to make my usual alfredo recipe because of the amount of Earth Balance in the recipe. I already had a pack of silken tofu in the fridge, although I couldn't remember why I bought it before my trip. I decided to do a Google search for fat/oil-free alfredo sauces. Many had cauliflower, which sounded good but would require a trip to the store. I found this recipe that used ingredients that I already had. I served the sauce with wheat pasta, peas (cooked in the pasta water), and chick'n strips. I bought the Kroger store brand chick'n strips. This was a quick meal to prepare and made enough to last through kickball nights.

Chickpea Sloppy Joes

I've been on a chickpea kick lately. The lastest chickpea meal was chickpea sloppy joes. I made these on my vacation and my mom even said they were good! I served these on wheat buns (purchased these) with mashed avocado. Sooo good! I would highly recommend these, and I will probably use the seasoning mix with other beans (like lentils) in the future.

Obsessive Confection Disorder

There's a vegan candy company called Obsessive Confection Disorder. I recently saw a deal for a sampler pack on Vegan Cuts. I ordered immediately! I had these shipped to my mom's. I shared them with my mom and my BFF. There were 4 candies in the pack, listed below:
- Sweet Stix: a Twix knock-off that is incredible! Tastes way better than Twix!

- Ruthless Mama: These were good, but probably my least favorite item of the pack. (Something has to come in last place, right?)

- Dark Mal: My favorite from the sampler! Om nom nom.

- Vanilla Bean & Sea Salt Caramels: These are the best vegan caramels I've tried!

Hot Fudge on the Bottom Cake

My mom picked this recipe from Chloe's Vegan Desserts as her birthday dessert. This was a little strange to me. The recipe has a thick batter layer, a sprinkling of cocoa and sugars, and then hot water poured over the entire thing. I was skeptical this would work. This turned out like a brownie with hot fudge underneath. Perfect for serving with coconut ice cream!