Texas Veggie Chili Cook-off

A group of us went to Austin last Sunday for the annual veggie chili cook-off. They had two separate categories for traditional chilis that had vegan meats and veggie only chilis. I liked many of them, but ultimately voted for The Hearty Vegan tempeh chili. They're a new business and they've come to several VSOP events. Their chili also didn't have a bitter tempeh taste, which was impressive to me. I only got a photo of their booth, but trust me that the chili was tasty. At the cook-off, I bought a pumpkin carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting from Celeste's Best. That cupcake was incredible!!

The dude cooks!

After many years of being single, I've been dating someone for a few months now. We go out to eat quite a bit, but I've also cooked several things for us. I do most of the cooking for the monthly VSOP potlucks and I've cooked a few meals for us. This past Friday, the dude invited me over to his place and said he would do all the cooking. He had made a red wine and mushroom pasta during his 30 day vegan challenge that he really enjoyed. It's a fancy enough meal for date night. The Youtube video was playing on his ipad when I showed up. I tried not to get in the way, but it was interesting watching someone else do all the work. I did volunteer to make the garlic toast, since that was easy and could be done away from the stovetop. I was very impressed! It also made me really appreciate dating a vegetarian dude. He went vegetarian after his 30 day vegan challenge and he eats only vegan food when we're together. I posted this photo on fb and many of my female friends commented that he's a keeper. I think so too. ;)

5k as Super Vegan

I totally forgot to post this here, but I ran a 5k with a friend recently. We signed up because it was a superhero themed race to benefit Child Advocate Services. I went as Super Vegan in a cape that I made from gold sequined fabric and he went as Thor. I ordered the vegan socks on Amazon here. I didn't ask his permission to post his photo here, so I'll just share my photo from after the race. We finished in 29.5 minutes! We signed up to have a reason to run and train, but neither of us actually trained. We ran less than 6 times to prepare between the two of us. Whoops! We were both pleasantly surprised by our time! Yay!

Frozen Tamales

Found frozen vegan tamales at Fiesta recently. I stuffed them into the freezer for a busy day. October was full of those, so I finally tried them. They are made by a company called White Mountain. I tried the chipotle-mushroom tamales one night and the sweet potato-pecan tamales another night. The chipotle one did not seem to include any mushrooms, just chipotle peppers and corn. They were very hot, but I really wanted mushrooms in them. The sweet potato-pecan one tasted sweet instead of savory. Overall, I'd rank these a meh and I likely won't buy them again. Bummer. I served these with some blue corn chips and Nacho Mom's vegan queso. I've had this queso before, but snagged a jar in Austin. It has a weird texture when cold, but is tasty when warm.

Quick Coconut Curry

Another clean out the fridge post! Baby carrots, onion, part of a bell pepper, coconut milk, frozen broccoli, sriracha, red curry paste, and some pumpkin or squash puree lurking in the freezer for months. Also cooked some tofu to add for protein. Served over basmati rice. Quick and easy! Look at the colors in that mis en place - gorgeous! I need to get some pumpkin or squash puree for this year.

Lunch at Whole Foods

After college football the other day, the dude and I were indecisive about what to have for lunch. His team had lost and I was patiently waiting for the evening for the FSU v. Miami game. I suggested Whole Foods because the hot bar allows you to pick and choose, or stand around and consider your choices for an excessive amount of time haha. I went for the channa masala, one of my favorites from the WF hot bar in Florida, and the samosas! I've never seen a samosa on the hot bar before, but they were very good. I was bummed that the naan bread was not vegan, but I haven't seen a commercially made naan bread that's vegan ever. I also picked the saffron rice since there was no white rice on the hot bar. The dude went for the eclectic take-out box. He picked a samosa, a scoop of channa masala, Cajun corn and stewed tomatoes, roasted carrots, and a green falafel patty. I bought an Eli's Earth Bar for dessert and he picked out dark chocolate covered pretzel. Nom nom nom.

Date Night

The dude mentioned wanting to see the new movie Ender's Game. It's based on a book, but I have not read the book. This meant the twist at the end was a surprise to me and it left me thinking. Overall, I'd recommend the movie. I decided to order tickets for opening night as a surprise date night idea. I offered to take him to dinner too, because I had a gift certificate for Pepper Tree, which is next to the theater. He ordered the General Tso's chick'n and I ordered the Cashew Chick'n. The Tso chick'n is more flaky and the Cashew chick'n is more dense. If you are particular about textures, ask which chick'n is used in the dish you'd like to order. Perfect date night, just the two of us and a mellow evening. We've both been so busy in October that it was nice to just have a low-key evening together. He seemed to really enjoy himself. I snapped this photo of our food when he went to the bathroom.