Red chard where have you been all my life?

February 3, 2011 at 9:28 am | Posted in cooking, Life, vegan, vegetarian | Leave a comment
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I have been trying to make dinners that consist of a vegetable, a protein, and some sort of bread and/or a second vegetable. Last night I cooked Red Chard for the first time. Absolutely beautiful and tasty.  This was the first time I have cooked Red Chard, I have cooked White Chard in the past, but I think I prefer the red. It had a real nice taste and texture, and paired well with the skillet pasta with red sauce I made as the main course. Greens are so simple to cook and so tasty. So far my favorite greens are Collards and Turnip greens. They are so delish it makes me question why the only green I ate growing up was Spinach? I enjoy my greens with salt, pepper, Tabasco, and a little Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar.

Skillet Macaroni and TVP

Ingredients

2 cups prepared tvp “beef”

Large pinch of hing

  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped fine

    1 cup elbow macaroni

    1/2 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce

    1 cup broth

    1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

    salt and pepper

    1/2 cup shredded vegan cheddar cheese

Directions

  1. Cook TVP in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat about 3 minutes.
  2. Add oil, red pepper, and hing in skillet and cook, covered, until softened, about 3 minutes.
  3. Add macaroni, tomato sauce, broth, and oregano to skillet and bring to boil.
  4. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
  5. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve.

Basic Vegan Ground Beef

Ingredients

1 cup TVP
1 cups water
3 to 4 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 to 3 tablespoons oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
a couple shakes of liquid smoke (optional)

Directions:

1) Place dry TVP in a skillet and cover with water and about 2 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce. The water should completely submerge the TVP.

2) Cook over low-medium heat until the water is completely absorbed.

3) Add the oil, seasonings and more Braggs, if desired. Fry over low-medium heat until the chunks are firm and the mixture resembles ground beef.  Stir occasionally to make sure that it cooks evenly and does not stick.

Please note that these measurements are approximate, feel free to adjust as you see fit. The same method should work for any amount of TVP, just keep in mind that it will double/triple in size once the water is added.

Green Tomato Adventure Time!

October 27, 2010 at 6:10 pm | Posted in Animal Rights, cooking, utah, vegan | 2 Comments
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We just had our first snow fall last night. I woke up this morning and the grass was all white. I am still not used to snow, nor do I like it (at all) but I have to admit that it looks very pretty. Due to the cold weather we picked all the green tomatoes out of our garden as we wouldn’t loose them to the freezing night temperatures. I decided to make “baked” fried green tomatoes as it sounded healthier than the fried ones I grew up eating. I was not impressed. They sucked actually. Lucky for us I made a ton of them and stored some for later use which I fried in oil the following week and we were very impressed. If you have more green tomatoes than you can eat in one sitting I highly recommend baking the ones you won’t eat right away and storing them in the freezer or fridge for future frying action.

Baked "fried" green tomatoes with steamies. Blah.

This time I fried the green tomatoes and served them with Collard Greens and faux beef from the Asian Market in SLC. The faux beef smelled like it was Asian spiced, but we were happy eating it and nope, no Asian spicing to be found. Good stuff, quite versatile. I highly recommend it.

I was scrolling through recipes on Food.com and I found this Skillet Beef and Macaroni recipe that begged to be veganised. It was something to do with the fact that I had all the ingredients at home to create a vegan version of it. So, I did. Also, it’s been pretty cold lately and I wanted something filling and hearty to eat. My husband enjoyed it, but he said it needed some veggies on the side as it was too heavy for him. I agree, but I have to admit I was feeling much too lazy to cook the Kale in the fridge. Here is a link to the veganized version of the recipe.

The item I am reviewing today is Daiya Vegan Mozzarella. Damn good stuff. It melts, it stretches, and omg, it even tastes like cheese. This stuff is awesome and will help me kick my cheese addiction. Here is a good link on why cheese is so addictive. Really, seriously, cheese is addictive and after I gave it up I had cheese related dreams for almost a year. And if you think you are helping animals by being a lacto-veg that’s a nice sentiment and a good start but it’s not reality. Dairy cows end up slaughtered and become cheap hamburger meat for fast food restaurants while boy calfs either become veal or end up in a dead pile. There is no animal sanctuary for exhausted under producing dairy cows. For more information click this link.

Now it’s time to read and relax and try to get over this cold.

Sweets and good eats.

August 25, 2010 at 5:48 pm | Posted in baking, cooking, Life, utah, vegan, vegetarian | 3 Comments
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When I was living at home with my parents my mom would make the most delicious Toll House Cookies.  I have been craving these bar cookies lately like crazy. So I did some research and found out that this traditional recipe does good with Egg Replacer. I wish that I had margarine at home because these cookies call for an entire cuppa buttah, which I happened to have on hand. So, I made these bar cookies and the world was happy. The butter was a bit much for my delicate stomach though so next time I’ll make them vegan. But you should really make these cookies. They’ll knock your socks off! Toll House Cookies are very much superior to regular old chocolate chip cookies. After you make these you’ll never bake standard chocolate chip cookies ever again.

Bar Cookie Bliss!

We have had an abundance of garden fresh zucchini lately and we enjoy eating stuffed baked potatoes with cheeze sauce so we thought it might be nice to combine all these goodies together. I have yet to meet a veggie that dosent taste good steamed and stuffed into a baked potato and covered with cheeze sauce.

Thank you Isa for making such an amazing Fronch Toast recipe in VWAV. Last time I ate French Toast I was still living with my parents so it must have been sometime in the 90’s. We paired the Fronch Toast with vegan Tofurky Sausages and oodles of maple syrup.

The Fronch Toast even smells authentic.

Who says vegan food is boring??

Oh, my hubby and I had a field trip to Salt Lake recently and I finally got ahold of some Daiya Cheese. YUM! All the claims are true- it melts and stretches and tastes awesome! I just finished eating a grilled baked cheese sandwich out of it and it was delicious! I am just so enchanted by this stuff. This is the first time I’ve eaten a grilled cheese sandwich and not gotten either sick from using real cheese or unsatisfied from using vegan cheese. Two thumbs up to Daiya! With that all said I’m going to get on with my day and end my blog posting here. Till next time! Haribol!

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