Two Dinners -- One Post Sesame Green Beans/stir fry & Miso-Ginger Rice

Sorry, didnt' realize it was so blurry, took in a hurry

Hello fellow bloggers (or non-bloggers, we don't discriminate here)!!  Since my last post I've been eating a lot of chili!!  It's finally all eaten and I have to say I enjoyed it each and every time I had it.  It was spicy and filling.  I ate it with and without rice, with cornbread a few times and with some "butter" crackers and liked it all.  I think it would be good too if you were sick.  Its spicy so it will clear your sinuses, and it has a ton of good veggies, maybe just add more broth.  =) 
 Since we've been cleaning out the fridge (again) I've put together two dinners that were based on things I already had in the pantry.  First I made Miso-Ginger rice and Sesame green beans.  The rice I found the recipe here from Whole Foods Website.  I made a few adjustments to the recipe:

I used brown rice instead of wild, because that's what I had on hand
Apple cider vinegar (again because that's what I had on hand) with a little sugar added
I was out of garlic (I know you are thinking, how can you live without garlic???  I'm not sure how but I can say I lived to survive) but had some dehydrated? garlic in my pantry.  I tossed it in place of the fresh, but after it sat and melded flavors with the rest of the dressing I spooned them out. 
I didn't have barley miso, so I used what I had, white.
I also didn't have any cabbage so I just left it out

It was good, but I totally screwed up the rice.  It was my first time making brown rice on the stove and it didn't pan out very well....not sure why I have trouble cooking rice over the stove!!  One day I'll figure it out.  It was just really soggy.  I did end up eating it, but it could have been better.  I didn't keep the left overs because it wouldn't have lasted. 

Far left, dressing for rice, middle sauce for green beans, right chopped veggies

I topped the rice with some sesame green beans, recipe here.  These were delish!!! Loved them and so did Husband.  They are very spicy so beware.  The only changes I made was agave nectar for honey, I didn't have any red bell peppers on hand so I just left that out, and I didn't use the sesame oil.  I also didn't have fresh green beans so I used one can.





Finished Green Onions.  Added some left over chopped green onions from the rice

The next night I had to make dinner on a whim because all of the recipes I planned for this week I was missing ingredients.  If someone didn't steal my visa check card number and spend all my money this wouldn't have been a problem...but that's how the cookie crumbles so I did with what I had.  Plus I ended up with another yummy meal.  

Since Husband and I both loved the sauce I made for the green beans I went with that same recipe and changed it up.  I was out of green beans, but the other day I bought a bag of froxen asian medley vegetables from Sam's Club.  It comes with all my fav. veggies.  Broccoli, snap peas, chestnuts, carrots, red peppers, mushrooms and baby corn.  It comes with a package of sauce, but I just didn't use it for this meal.  I made the same sauce as I did the day before (except I was out of agave nectar, I used just a tiny bit of maple syrup in it's place.  Just enough to sweeten it a bit but without "tasting" like maple syrup.  It still tasted good, but prefer it with the agave.  I doubled the recipe since I had more veggies this go round. 

I cooked the veggies over the stove until warm, then mixed the sauce until slightly thickened like the recipe states.  Before all of this I cooked some vermicelli noodles, and when everything was done topped the veggies on the noodles for a perfect stir fry. 



Veggies with sauce



Yummm

Again be forewarned that this was spicy.  I even preempted with some tums.  The second go round (probably from the lack of agave) it had a familiar spicy taste that I couldn't put my finger on.  Later I realized it had a very similar taste to wasabi.  I'm not the biggest fan of wasabi, but I have had it before and it's very unique.  I'm not sure what would have made this taste like that?  Maybe the dry mustard mixed with the red pepper flakes?  Regardless this was yummy and we'll probably have it again.  It was quick and easy too. 

I got paid so now that I have money back in my account I'll be going grocery shopping soon, with more meals on the way.  I have a ton of recipes planned and excited to share with you!  As always Stay Tuned and

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Spicy Vegen Chili

Soo glad it's Friday, even though it was a short week it felt like a LONG week!  The even better part is Husband has the whole weekend off, which never happens!!!  Hopefully the sun stays out!  As I'm sure you all remember the last time I made "chili" it wasn't my fav.  I thought I'd try my hand at a more traditional chili.  I found the recipe here from Whole Food's website.  They have some other recipes on there I want to try too.  It was super easy to make, just a little bit of waiting time while it cooks.  I made the following adjustments to the recipe:

1 Can of Kidney beans
1 Can of black beans
I didn't have Cumin so I used Coriander instead
I also didn't have chili powder on hand so I used slap ya mama
The recipe calls for 4 cups of water but reading the comments I cut down to 2 which I think was perfect so it wasn't so soupy. 
I also added a can of corn

It was really tasty!!  and really spicy.  I used probably a little more than 3 tablespoons of chipotles in adobo sauce.  I also took some of the sauce from the can and added it to the chili.  If you don't want it so spicy definitely cut down on the chipotles.  I loved the flavor it gave the chili though.  I cooked just a little bit of brown rice and added it to my bowl to give it some body.  I also had some cornbread in the freezer, so I defrosted that for the side.  YUMMO!!  Also I chopped my veggies kind of big, if you don't want it so "chunky" you can chop them smaller.

For dinner yesterday I was looking for something quick.  I bought some samosas's in the freezer section at Davis Food Co-Op.

I've never had samosas before so I wasn't sure what to expect but they were tasty!  I read up on the dipping sauce that typically goes with these but I didn't have any of the ingredients on hand, so I just went with what I had, a sweet chili sauce.  Pretty good for being in the freezer section. 

Till next time!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Spaghetti with Veggie Balls and Garlic Bread *Edit + Meatball Sub from leftovers!

Is anyone else counting down the days to spring like me?  T minus 61 days!  I have to say it's days like today that get me through winter.  The sun was out and shining!  It was still cold...but not so bad!  I wanted something easy tonight and spaghetti is always that and always a fav in our house.  I haven't ventured to make my own spaghetti sauce.  I'm sure its probably easy and better than the jar stuff  but I just haven't had the desire.  You can find some good sauces in the jar and when I make spaghetti it's usually on days like today that I don't want to put a lot of effort into it.  One of these days. 

I bought some Gimme Lean ground beef style veggie meat.  I was just going to crumble it up in the spaghetti but I had an idea to make them into meatballs.  The meat is very "sticky" so it worked really well.  I put the whole package in a bowl with about 1/4 cup of bread crumbs and some seasoning (italian seasoning, crushed red peppers, and a little paprika).  I molded them into about 1/2 inch thuick. 

1/2 of the Formed meatballs uncooked

I heated the oven with some olive oil and browned the meatballs 1/2 of the batch at a time.  Once they were all browned I took them out of the pot and added some chopped onions and garlic. 

Meatballs cooking

 Meatballs cooked

Then I added a jar of sauce and let that simmer on low.  Then I cooked the spaghetti.  I know I've talked about the pasta boat before so I thought I'd take a picture of mine.  Super easy to use. 

I found this super cool recipe on the vegweb iPhone app for a garlic spread.  I made this while cooking the spaghetti.  You take a whole bulb of garlic and cut the top off.  Wrap in foil and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes (I baked at about 250, but the recipe called for less temp and less time, but I found mine wasn't done in that time).  Then take out of the oven and press the end of the bulb to push all of the cloves out into a small bowl (I'm amused easily and found this quite fun!).  Mix with equal amount of butter and your fav. seasonings.  You'll want to use a fork for this so you can mash the garlic into a "paste".  Toast some bread and spread with the garlic mixture.  Really good.  If you don't like garlic you won't like it.  Then again why would you be making garlic bread?  lol, I LOVE garlic and can eat whole cloves by themself so I find this very tasty! 

Make sure not to burn yourself when handling the garlic

Once the sauce is pretty much done cooking I added the meatballs back to the sauce so they can warm up.  When the pasta is done cooking mix with the sauce and meatballs, and if you are feeling fancy top with some vegan parma!  This turned out really well.  I was surprisingly impressed with the meatballs.  I didn't have much hope for them but they turned out really good.  Husband said they tasted just like real meat.  You still get the slight after taste but not like some fake meats that tastes bad...this tasted good just the after taste gave it away that it wasn't real meat.  If that makes sense?  This recipe will make for good leftovers too. 


**Edit -- So I made some GREAT meatball sandwich with the leftovers for lunch.  SOOO yummy!  I toasted a bun.  Heated the garlic spread in the microwave for a few seconds, spread on the bun.  Heated a few meatballs and sauce with some daiya cheese on top.  Put on the bun with some hot sauce...Perfection!! 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Homemade In-N-Out Burgers Veganized!!

If you're like myself pre-vegetarian I enjoyed myself an In-N-Out burger or two.  I was never a big burger eater, but they did know how to make one.  Post vegetarian I enjoyed their "grilled cheese" which was delish, and post vegan I'm left with slight cravings for their grilled crispy buns, raw onions, tasty dressing and melted cheese!!  And who says you can't have one vegan???  It was actually quite easy.  Even Husband who isn't a big veggie burger fan thought it tasted "just" like an in-n-out burger...minus the veggie patty.  =) 

I used:
Boca original vegan burger patty (these are the best I've found thus far and are quite tasty!)

I bought some potato buns with onion.  I typically buy sprouted wheat buns which are my fav and are healthy for you, but I thought since I was trying to mimick INO that they wouldn't do, so I opted for the less healthy, ingredient list a mile long buns for the sake of the recipe.

Onions
Pickles
Lettuce Leaves

Homemade thousand island dressing (see below for recipe, super easy!)

daiya cheese
Mustard

Thousand island:  I used this site as a guideline to the recipe, but made some modifications.  No milk or eggs and I reduced the recipe down by a lot because I didn't want that much.  This is super fast, easy and I usually have the ingredients on hand.  If you don't have the worcestershire sauce I think it would taste just fine. 

~ 1/4 cup Ketchup

~ 1/4 cup Mayo (I use vegenaise)

~ 1 Tablespoon of relish
A few dashs of vegan worcestershire sauce
A sprinkle of sugar
Mix together all ingredients in a bowl, then refridgerate until chilled

Husband loves the animal style burger at INO.  I googled exactly what that meant since I wan't to get as close as I could and it is extra sauce, extra grilled oninos, pickles and mustard fried on the patty.  I can do that!!  You can't have INO without fries so I started there.  I took a few potatoes and instead of cubing them like usual I sliced them thin and long like fries.  I put them on a baking pan sprayed with olive oil with my handy misto.  Sprinkled salt and pepper, slap ya mama seasoning and some rosemary (this is key!  LOVE rosemary on my potatoes!).  These obviously are a step up from INO fries but thats how we do it at my house!  =)  I popped them in the oven until crispy.  Meanwhile I started the burgers.

Pre-Baked

I heated two pans with olive oil.  One smaller one for grilling the onions and buns and the other for the pattys.  I spread some mustard on the uncooked pattys and put them in the heated pan to cook.  Chopped the oninos but kept them in rings and tossed in the other heated pot to grill.  Flip the pattys until thoroughly cooked, while stirring the onions. 

When the onions were done I put them on a plate and I grilled the buns on each side until crisp.  Don't forget to check the potatoes.  Once they were done I turned the oven down to warm and kept them in there until the rest of the food was ready.  I also tossed the buns that were done in there as well since the pattys weren't ready yet.  The last bun that was in the pan I tossed the onions on the side so they heated back up.  When the pattys were done I topped with some daiya cheese and left on the stove until melted. 

Once everything was done cooking I assembled!  I used approximately two tablespoons of dressing for each burger.  Topped with onions (I like raw oninos, but used the grilled for Husband), then burger patty, pickles, then a lettuce leaf.  (You can add sliced tomatoes too if you like, but I'm not a fan of tomatoes on my burger).  If you so desire use leftover dressing for dipping your fries! 

And there you have it vegan In-N-Out burgers!!  Us vegans CAN have everything!  ;)

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler! 

Lunch at Amy's!

Today the WONDERFUL Amy treated my mom, sister and I to lunch!  She was most gracious and made us all the yummiest home made vegan meal!!  I wasn't very good at taking photos but I did catch a few.  She made a black eyed pea salad, tofu "egg" salad sandwiches, and baked apples for dessert. 

So I didn't really get a picture of the tofu egg salad, but you can get a glimpse in the background. 

Soooo Yummy!!  We topped it with soy yogurt mixed with some agave and something else I can't remember.  Definitely going to have to make these again! 

And the best part of this lunch (besides the food, and the company, and the conversation....who am I kidding everything was the best part) was we got to talk about quilts!!!  Amy is an expert quilter and is going to make me one.  I can't wait!!!  So if you're reading this Amy thank you for having us over and for the nice afternoon.  I really enjoyed myself and I hope we can do it again soon.  =) 

For dinner I made some french toast, which I've posted about many times.   See my original post here.  It never gets old and another Husband favorite!  I was even able to bargain with him to finally get the xmas tree out of the house with this meal!!  LoL! 

I'll leave you with a picture of my niece Lilah Jo and me.  She is too cute for words!  Don't you just want to squeeeze her!! ♥



Look at those curls!!!  ♥ LOVE! 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Tuscan Pizza!!

As I'm sure you can tell I've been trying to get Husband more involved in my cooking.  I want to make things he is going to enjoy.  So I gave him some options tonight and he choose pizza.  I NEVER complain about pizza.  Prior to being vegan pizza was one of my guilty pleasures that I usually couldn't pass up.  I wasn't sure what kind of pizza I was going to make so I just looked at what I had in the fridge and put this together on a whim.  I didn't plan this but the toppings are White, Green and Red the italian flag colors!  LOVE!  =)

Pita bread (one per pizza)
1/2 Gardein Tuscan Breasts in tomato basil sauce
Pizza sauce
Chopped onions
Chopped red peppers
Chopped jalapenos
Daiya cheese (I used cheddar because I had some left over and didn't want to open mozzarella, I would probably prefer the mozzarella)
Pizza seasoning (I have a spice rack that included this)
Red pepper flakes
Parma! Vegan parmesan cheese

I had some pita breads on hand and thought they would work as a good crust.  It gets nice a crisp which I like in a crust.   I picked up some gardein at the store, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it and it worked great in this.  I choose the tuscan breasts in a tomato basil sauce.  I cooked the gardein in the microwave as stated on the package.  Then I spread the tomato basil sauce on the pita.  I added a little pizza sauce because I thought it could use a little more.  Sprinkle cheese on pita.  Top with chopped onions, jalapenos and red peppers.  I chopped the gardein in really small bits and placed on top.  Then I sprinkled a little bit of pizza seasoning and red pepper flakes.  I baked in the oven for about 10 minutes or so.  When it came out of the oven I topped with Parma!  I really like the parma!  I'm going to be making some spaghetti and garlic bread soon and can't wait to have it on there either.  Sooo yummy!  Here are some more pictures!

Prior to baking

A close up!!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Tofurkey Pizza!! YUMMM!

So I visitied the Davis Food Co-Op the other day and in the freezer section the Tofurkey pizza's caught my eye.  I saw the advertisement in Vegetarian TImes Magazine and have wanted to try them.  They make it with Daiya cheese, so pretty much guaranteed good!  They have cheese, pepperoni and italian sausage with fire roasted veggies.  I got the Italian Sausage one and it is delish!! 

The only bad part is I wanted to eat the whole pizza by myself (which I really could have if I let myself!).  The veggies definitely tasted fire roasted and you can even see little grill marks...aww.  It reminded me of a summery pizza out on the grill...which makes me depressed considering its the middle of winter...*sigh*.  Only T minus 66 days until Spring.  I'm also hopeful we get a break from this freezing weather we're having. 

For Dinner last night I made enchiladas again (also a request from Husband).  I can't help but indulge my husband's requests for food.  Especially since he lives in a vegan household and isn't vegan.  I'm so thankful he is as understanding as he is, and willing to try new things.  And when I can make him something vegan he truly loves it makes me all the more happier!  =)  I made them pretty much the same as last time (go here to see my last post).  I used different tortillas that weren't the best choice they were too small and "thick"?  But were still good.  I also used cheddar daiya this time rather than follow your heart mozzarella. 

We'll be eating left over enchiladas and pizza for dinner (what a combo!).  See you tomorrow after another meal! 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

"Pigs" in a Blanket & Twice Baked Potatoes

Yay!! I'm back in the kitchen!!  Of course the second I'm back in the kitchen I'm starting to feel slightly under the weather.  I'm not sick just not feeling 100%.  Hopefully it will pass soon.  Luckily I still have my appetite. 

So Rich has been asking me to make "pigs" in a blanket since halloween when my co-worker made me some veggie mummy dogs.  I kept forgetting and not getting the ingredients at the store (I don't typically like veggie dogs and don't keep them in the fridge).  I finally got everything together to make them and they were quite simple to make.  I'm sure most of you are familiar with the recipe, but for the blogs sake I'll explain anyway. 

I wanted to kick these dogs up notch so I made a slit in the dog and stuffed them with Daiya cheddar.  On a side note I would like to say that I felt like a "real" chef today.  I cut the bag of Daiya cheddar with my knife.  HAHA!  Back to cooking..then I wrapped the croissant dough around the dog as so:

Then baked them for about 10 minutes in the oven.  I hate my oven and they ended up getting a little "too" done, but they were still good.  Honestly these were just okay for me.  Again I'm not the biggest fan of veggie dogs so for someone who likes them this is a great dish.  I don't do very well with fake meat, it has to be cooked with something and in a certain way for me to like it.  I always thought it was because it had a slightly funny taste to it.  Maybe it's because I've been a vegetarian for so long I don't "like" the taste of meat anymore?  Who knows.  Husband loves them.  =)  His friend is coming over tonight too so we'll see if he likes them?

I also made a recipe from my new cookbook "The conscious cook" by Tal Ronnen.  Twice baked potatoes.  They were also just okay.  I felt they needed a little more "cream".  The recipe calls for fingerling potatoes and I used really small regular potatoes that I thought were about the same size.  I'm thinking they probably have more potatoe guts to them and thus were a little dry.  Next time if I use the same potatoes I would double the "cream". 

You can find this recipe on Tal Ronnen's website here.  Glad to be back in the kitchen...more meals to come! 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Tahini Sesame Noodles

I don't think the world wants me to go to the grocery store.  We were suppose to go Friday but Rich's work screwed up his schedule so he didn't get off work until late.  Then we were going to go Saturday but we ended up busy doing other things and by the time we could have gone it was already like 9 again and we were tired.  So then we were going to go Sunday but by the time Rich got off work I was already knee deep in a migraine and there was no way I was getting out of the hosue.  SOOOO our fridge is still empty.  Rich closes all week until Thursday so we are just going to suck it up and go tonight around 9 when he gets off hopefully nothing else comes up. 

For lunch I was lucky enough to make some sesame noodles and actually have all of the ingredients on hand.  It's really fast to make (I made it on my lunch break at work) and yummy.  I got the main idea for the recipe here but made some changes. 

2 Tablespoons of Tahini
1 Tablespoon of Agave nectar
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/4 pound of spaghetti noodles
1 teaspoon of hot chili sesame oil
1 teaspoon of spicy garlic chili sauce
5-6 mini carrots chopped
3-4 stalks of celery chopped
1/2 medium size onion chopped
2 garlic cloves

1.  Cook the spaghetti (I use a pasta boat as seen on TV, they seriously are the best things ever!!  You put the pasta in the tub cover with water, stick in the microwave for like 15 minutes or so depending on how much pasta you are cooking and voila!  I found my pasta boat at the store Kohl's maybe? for really cheap!)
2.  The veggies above were used because they were the only things I had on hand.  Cabbage, water chestnuts, bok choy, etc. would be great in this.  I sauted the veggies on the stove until slightly cooked.  I like my veggies to still have a little crunch so it didn't take long. 
3.  Microwave tahini for about 15 seconds. 
4.  Wisk in agave, soy sauce, ginger, sesami oil, and chili sauce. 
5.  Pour sauce over noodles and veggies. 

You can serve it warm or cold.  I had it both ways and they were both good.  Quick tip, when serving your dish be sure to mix up the veggies and sauce, they tend to settle at the bottom of the bowl.  I promise I will be back in the kitchen soon. 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Eating Out -- Pad Khee Mao

Sooo living in a one car household we sometimes have to compromise, and I guess Rich going to work wins over going to the grocery store.  Who would have guessed. LOL.  So even though my fridge has been empty for days I'm not heading to the grocery store until tomorrow.  Honestly I can't complain because that means I got to eat out and get the most amazing Thai food at Taste of Thai here in Davis AND it's walking distance from my house.  Well most restaurants in Davis are in walking distance.  =)  If you haven't been you need to check it out.  They also have another location in Natomas.  I got the Pad Khee Mao (Drunken Noodles). 

It's made of wide rice noodles, thai chilis, hot basil leaves, broccoli, snow peas, cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms and bean sprouts.  The great thing about Taste of Thai is you get to customize the spiciness of the dish.  Mild, Medium, Hot and Thai Hot.  Word to the wise when they say hot they MEAN hot.  I LOVE spicy food and the first time I had this dish I ordered Hot (Husband tried to get me to order Thai hot thank God I didnt' listen to him).  You would have to love spicy food to enjoy the Hot.  It's so hot you have to take breaks and drink LOTS of water.  Husband said he even felt light headed after eating it, so if you order hot don't say I didn't warn you!  This time around I wanted spicy but not over the top so I ordered Medium.  It was still spicy but wasn't painful, and I didn't need to drink water with it.  Still just as tasty though.  If you don't like spicy food you probably wouldn't even like the medium and should probably go for the mild.  I'm hoping to be back in the kitchen and bloggin soon, so stay tuned!!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

ENCHILADAS!!! & Bodega Bay -- Mediteranean Bagel Sandwich

A day or so before my sister left we all got in the kitchen to cook one last dinner together.  My sister and her boyfriend make some good enchiladas so I took their direction and made a few vegan for myself.  It was really easy and really yummy.  PERFECT combo! 

Baking dish
Tortillas (heated for a few seconds so they are warm before wrapping)
Green enchilada sauce (you can use red if you prefer)
Cheese (This meal was last minute so I used mozzarella style follow your heart cheese and shredded it, they don't carry Daiya in the stores near my mom's, it was still yummy even without the daiya, but I would probably use it next time)
Jalapeno's chopped small
Minced yellow onions
Minced green onions

1.  Spray the bottom of your baking dish and take about two tablespoons of green sauce and spread on the bottom of the pan.
2.  Heat the tortilla's for a few seconds so they are warm to wrap
3.  Sprinkle some cheese in the middle of the tortilla, Add a few tablespoons of green sauce, spinkle some chopped jalapeno's, then wrap. 

4.  Place in the baking dish and repeat until all enchiladas are wrapped. 

5.  Spread a couple more tablespoons on top of the enchiladas until covered.  Shred some more cheese on top, I topped with more chopped jalapenos, and white onions. 

6.  Bake in the oven at about 350 degrees until crispy on top.  Then top with green onions.

I took some just old plain white rice that was left over in the fridge.  I heated it up with a dash of water, salt, pepper and some slap ya mama seasoning.  Delish!  Definitely will be making these again.  Thanks sis for the recipe!!! =) 

Yesterday we went to Bodega Bay on the most perfect day.  The weather was soooo nice.  If you've never been it is always windy and cold there, even in the middle of summer.  It was sunny and warm and not too windy.  In the morning we stopped by Posh Bagel in Davis and picked up a bagel for breakfast (I got mine with hummus!).  The family was giong to stop at a place in Bodega for sandwichs so I figured I'd get one at Posh just in case.  They have a mediterranean sandwich that is soooo yummy.  I got the whole grain with seeds bagel and it comes with hummus, sun dried tomato spread, lettuce, pickles, sprouts, red onions and pepperoncinis.  With a side of the AWESOME dirty chips, jalapeno heat!

Here are some photos from the trip! 

Bella passed out in the car

LOVE the water!  I would live on the beach if I could.

A pretty little waterfall

Amy trying to take a cool picture

And then getting soaking wet from a big wave!  HAHAHA

A live starfish we threw back in the ocean

My Beautiful fam (missing Rich)

I'll leave you with a picture of Husband and I.  I have lots of yummy meals planned and can't wait to share them with you! 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!