Check out my Flickr page!

ok, so instead of posting the daily eats here on my blog, I got all fancy and started a Flickr page. It's pretty freakin cool, so check it out: www.flickr.com/photos/vegans-eat/

But I won't neglect this blog, so stay tuned.

Daily Eats

Saturday May 31

Banana Walnut Buckwheat pancakes
Chocolate soy pudding!! and Peanut butter Puffins for a snack
Linguine w/ Marinara at The Olive Garden for lunch w/ my dad and sis.
Vodka Tonic
Chicago veggie dog and banana salsa
And after I took a photo of my dinner, Matt said, "I never get any press.." so I took a picture of his meal too...vegan Boca Burgers.

Not pictured: a lemon-lime popsickle and Pringles.

Daily Eats

Friday May 30

Coffee and toast, with dried plums instead of a banana.
Leftovers from night before:

Snack--organic popcorn, dried cherries and half of a Primal Strips.

Dinner at an undisclosed Mexican chain restaurant...a margarita for me, chips and salsa and a bean burrito w/ vegetarian red sauce and guac on the side.

and a pink vitamin water.

Daily Eats

So on Joanna Vaught's Flickr page, I discovered this rad thing she does: take a photo of everything she eats in a day and post it. It gives a whole new meaning to answering the question, "What do vegans eat??" So I'm copying her. Here's mine from yesterday...


Coffee and two slices of Ezeikiel toasted, one with peanut butter and one with earth balance and cinnamon/sugar, and a banana.

Two leftover corndogs and two mini cucumbers. Above is vanilla soy yougurt with rhubarb.
Some cherry candy...
Pasta bake and cinnamon-cumin roasted carrots.
strawberry-rhubarb crisp with oat-almond topping
and a cup of Tazo Zen to make it through 3 hours of Lost.

Homemade Vegan Corndogs

Whaaaaaattttt?? No, I have not lost my mind. Yes, these are (or, were) amazing. I initially set out in search of a vegan corndog recipe and this one sounded the most promising. I knew I didn't want to veganize a non-vegan recipe because dealing with egg replacements in this sort of thing can be a pain. I honestly wasn't expecting much because a.) I have never seriously deep-fried anything before and b.) any online recipe that calls for "1/2 tablespoon" of anything is a little shady to me.

So here it is, with a little tweaking, VEGAN CORNDOGS!!

Ingredients:

5 veggie hot dogs, cut in half

10 bamboo skewers or popsickle sticks (optional)

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (in the "veganwolf.com" recipe, I took "bp" to mean baking powder--I must have been right)

1/2 teaspoon salt

black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened soymilk

2 tablespoons oil (olive, canola, whatever)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Start by heating some vegetable oil in a wide, relatively deep pan. I used one 24 oz (1.5 pt.) bottle of oil in a medium/large non-stick saucepan, which worked well. Heat the oil on medium-high heat while you mix up the batter and prep your dogs:

Mix the dry ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl. Add the soymilk and oil, and stir just until combined. The consistency should be like thick pancake or muffin batter.

Stick a skewer in each veggie dog half, then coat evenly in the batter. Gently put the battered dogs into the hot oil and fry until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Be careful not to overload the pan. I did 3 at a time.

Drain on paper towels. Leftovers can be re-heated in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

**This recipe makes 10 mini dogs.

**Get creative with flavors by adding herbs and spices to the batter, as well as trying lots of different dipping sauces. Also, easily expand this recipe for a party or cookout. Yum!!

Cheese Factory!

I hope everyone had a super fun Memorial Day Weekend! I know I did... I accompanied Matt to Northern Wisconsin for a fun-filled weekend with his parents, and on the way home on Monday, we stopped at The Cheese Factory.

You may recall my past post on this amazing restaurant. This time I ordered the Tortilla Flats--a cumin-spiced creamy spread between two tortillas and topped with plenty of sprouts. A delicious green salad with incredible honey-mustard (don't call the honey police on me, please) dressing, and blue corn tortilla chips. Matt got his usual Huevos Rancheros, and we agreed it is not possible to have a bad meal here. Cheese Factory, we love you!!

Cupcake Mania

Happy Mother's Day! The above cupcakes are the aforementioned Pistachio Rosewater cupcakes...with one small change. I couldn't find rosewater! I've seen it a few times at my regular grocery store, but of course when I want to buy some, they don't have it. Oh well. They turned out great anyway. And I think these are the cutest cupcakes I've ever made.
I've made Matt a vegan cupcake believer. He begged me to make not one but two batches yesterday. He helped, of course. Above is the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes to which I added lemon extract and used the glaze from Sexy Lowfat Vanilla Cupcakes and topped it all off with a strawberry.
Now we have Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake (with a touch of coffee) and Vanilla Buttercream with coffee. We made some French press coffee just for these cupcakes, set aside in the freezer to get nice and chilled. When the time came to make the frosting, I added the cold coffee (just 1/4 cup) to frosting, and the thick, fluffy frosting turned completely liquid! The only thing I can think of is that the coffee had just a tiny bit of heat left in it still and was enough to complely turn the frosting into mush. With some more powdered sugar, we were able to salvage it into something spreadable, if not pipe-able. It tasted good, at least.

Chocolate on Chocolate

What could be better than vegan chocolate frosting on a vegan chocolate cupcake? Little else. We made these over the weekend and they were gone in a day and a half. My favorite part was making the little flowers out of marzipan. Too cute!
P.S. Ever since getting Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World a few months ago, I am having WAAAYYY too much fun making and decorating cupcakes. Next is Rosewater and Pistachio Cupcakes for Mother's Day...

BLT's and Banana Salsa

Matt and I were majorly starving for brunch today, and BLT's sounded really, really good. We used Lightlife veggie bacon-- which, by the way, is awesome--nice and salty and when fried in a little oil, becomes crispy just like bacon.

On the side is banana salsa. Yes, banana salsa. And here's how to make it:
You need:
*2 ripe bananas, peeled and chopped into small pieces
* 1/2 medium red bell pepper, chopped small
* 1/2 large jalapeno pepper, finely minced
* juice of 1 lime
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* salt and pepper
Mix everything up. Makes enough for 2 people as a side.

This stuff is fantastic. The sweet banana mingles with the spicy jalapeno and the lime and cilantro bring it all together. This is our new favorite! Make this for your next party or cookout and people will think you are genius. You're welcome.

A Salad a Day...

Fresh, organic, raw veggies (and fruits) are the best way to get vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals in your diet. I will admit, over the cold winter months, I do not eat a lot of raw veggies. They just don't sound good most of the time. But now that spring and summer are fast-approaching, it's time to break out the salad spinner!

This big zesty salad consists of watercress, spinach ribbons, carrot, parsley and sundried tomato, all seperated out so as to look extra pretty.
Over the weekend, I did a little shopping (like I do EVERY weekend) and came across this Spectrum Organic omega-3 Vegan Ceasar. At first I was a little worried about how it would taste (flax oil, the main ingredient, is known to be a little hard to swallow) but it is fantastic! Previously, I favored Annie's Goddess Dressing, (which, truth-be-told is a little high in salt and fat) but this new omega dressing gives the same hearty rich tangy-salty flavor along with that all-imoprtant nutrient we all need.
A tropical fruit salad: yellow mango (so smooth, creamy and tart!), star fruit and organic strawberries.

Durian Diaries

After watching Bizarre Foods and No Reservations on the Travel Channel, it was clear that the exotic fruit called the durian is a force to be reckoned with. Some have described it as having the taste and smell of rotting meat and stinky cheese, yet we have also read that it has a sweet, almond-y taste. Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods couldn't eat one (yes, the same dude that takes pleasure in consuming BBQ guinea pig and bull penis cannot down a bite of this fruit), and Anthony Bourdain practically made love to the thing.
So which is it? A fruit of the gods or a horrible inedible spiny bomb?
We were (or maybe more so Matt was) determined to find out the truth, so a visit to the asian market (and $7 later) we came home with a durian. I expected it to be smelly right away, but it didn't: a cross between a muskmellon and almonds comes to mind.
But after a day or two on the counter, the smell became more pungent, so we decided we had better crack this baby open before it got too ripe (apparently the riper it is, the worse it tastes and smells).
After cutting the durian open, the smell was, honestly, pungent and not pleasant. I wasn't looking forward to tasting this fruit after the scent filled the kitchen. But Matt took a bite (of the creamy flesh, not the seeds--they are poisonous) and said it wasn't bad. The texture is a bit stringy but also very creamy and smooth. The flavor is actually quite complex. When it first touches the tongue it tastes a bit like it smells, but then quickly becomes sweet (simmilar to a banana), with a hint of onion, then a tart and fruity, like a mango. Overall, I would say a not-too-ripe durian tastes like a puree of onion and banana. Not entirely unpleasant, but not something I would buy and eat the whole thing.

Now we can say we've tried durian!

More Medi

Last night for dinner, we had a FEAST! I thought up this amazing (if I do say so myself) green bean and spinach salad: a lemon-parsley dressing tossed with lightly blanched green beans, spinach ribbons and walnuts. Heaven.
Marinated Lentil Salad from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. This was so simple, yet the flavor and texture is wonderful.
Hummus, of course...
and homemade pita chips.

I could eat this meal everyday.

Walnut Sauce with Penne and Green Beans

I recently picked up The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein and I love it! Matt and I both agreed Mediterranean is overall, our favorite cuisine and we would get a lot of use out of this book. There is a recipe for homemade gnocchi which we are determined to one day (soon) try, the salad recipes sound amazing, and there are plenty of pasta and grain dishes to keep our carb cravings satisfied.
Tonight I made the Walnut Sauce, which is very much like a parsley-walnut pesto but has a hint of tomato-tang from the tomato paste and I added a little fresh spinach for extra nutrients. This is a creamy, fresh, yet rich and delightful sauce that goes perfectly with pasta, green beans and a sprinkling of walnuts.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Here's another one from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

Wowie-Zowie! These little cupcakes mean business. I was a bit skeptical as to how much coconut and lime flavor would actually be in the cupcake itself (I didn't use coconut extract), but it really delivered. The frosting for sure is loaded with tangy lime zip--which is good because these buttercreams can be overly sweet and rich for my taste.

Someday (very soon) I need to try one of the cupcake recipes involving chocolate. Mmmm...chocolate cupcakes.....

Spring Comfort Food?

Ahhhh....Spring is here! The days are longer, the sun is brighter, the flip-flops have come out of the closet, and only a few weeks until we start getting CSA boxes!
So, in honor of Spring's arrival, I thought I would make my favorite light and healthy (yet comforting) dish: Lime-Cilantro Rice with Savory Black Beans and Roasted Corn. A long name for such an easy meal-in-one dish.

Start by cooking the rice (I love to use Basmati). While that's going, heat a small skillet over med-high heat, add a teaspoon or so of olive oil and throw in some chopped red onion, fresh or frozen corn, some red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Let this cook (without stirring too much) until it smells smoky but is not burning. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan or saute pan, add one can of black beans, a bay leaf, 1 teaspoon cumin, a splash of liquid aminos, a dash of hot sauce and two crushed garlic cloves. Bring to a simmer and let cook until the liquid is reduced, about 12-15 minutes. When the rice is done, stir in some fresh lime juice, a pinch of salt and chopped fresh cilantro.

Spoon the beans on the bed of rice, followed by the corn and topped off with a sprig of cilantro and a lime wedge. Mmmm...It's so good!!