Stir-Fried Vegetarian “Duck” with Chili, Bell Pepper and Black Beans July 1, 2008

As I said  in my previous post Sunday was my birthday, one of the gifts Kala gave me was the book Authentic Chinese Cuisine: for the Contemporary Kitchen By Bryanna Clark Grogan. The first recipe we made from it was Stir-Fried Vegetarian “Duck” with Chili, Bell Pepper, and Black Beans.  It called for the old stand by a can of mock duck and we tweaked it a little bit adding a little more chili, maybe next time a bit more than we did on the first run through, and substituted yellow bell for the red bell.  It was a very tasty dish and very very easy. We had it with black jasmine rice.

–Shane

Photos: Kala

Vegan ice cream madness and sadness. June 27, 2008

We stopped by Izzys Ice cream shop today, we knew going in that they were a little on the sloppy side with dairy traces on the equipment, so Kala would be feeling very sick and very sad if she sampled some, but with her urgings I had a cone and here it is soy chocolate with an Izzy scoop (a baby scoop of another flavor ontop of the main flavor) of soy blueberry. First off I think i should have had it the other way around the blueberry really was the star of the show, so  smooth and creamy and the flavor just popped. The chocolate was good but had a lot of ice crystals in it, more than usual in their chocolate. All in all super tasty.

–Shane  Photo: Kala

Lunchy McStir-Fry June 18, 2008

 

I’ve been on such a stir fry kick lately, and today for lunch I had the urge for the yumminess yet again.  I love it because it’s one of those things you don’t really need a recipe for, you can use whatever you have in the fridge or pantry.  Today it was red bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, cilantro, green onions, mock duck, and a soy based sauce. 

 

 

-Kala 

When in doubt, make tacos June 14, 2008

 

Do you have foods that are your “go-to” fast meals that you make when you are either out of food or don’t really feel like cooking?  I do, and mine are tacos.  Soft tacos, crunchy tacos, tacos made with corn tortillas, those made with flour, I love them all!  Tonight I wanted something fairly quick and easy so I made mock duck and chickpea tacos garnished with chopped onions and cilantro.  There’s not really a recipe, I mostly just use what we have in the house, tonight the veggie was red bell pepper.  Very easy and very yummy! 

 

-Kala

The Lazy Vegan: Frozen Burrito May 24, 2008

 

Today was kind of a long day so Shane and I decided to pick up something frozen from The Wedge for dinner.  He also got a peanut butter cup shake that I stole some sips off of, soooo goooood.  And I got an oatmeal pecan cookie.  Ok, back to the burrito.  This was the first time I’d tried this flavor, Red Hot Volcano from The Old City Cafe.  It promises to be “extra spicy!” and “red hot.”  Well, it’s Minnesota hot.  It’s good, it’s just not spicy. 

 

 

For a frozen burrito, it’s also not completely horrible for you, coming in at only 4 grams of fat and 8 grams of fiber.  All in all, I liked it and would have it again when I got that frozen burrito desire.   

 

-Kala   

Scramble-licious May 20, 2008

 

Tofu scramble, what’s not to love?  I adore tofu scramble but I’m usually not awake enough in the morning to make it, I’m sooooo not a morning person.  So it’s usually a lunch or dinner item around here.  But I slept in a nice long time today so I had the pep to scramble me up some tofu.  I’m not going to include a recipe because there are a lot of things that go in that I don’t measure, but I’ll list some of the ingredients:  tofu (duh), mushrooms, zucchini, green onions, turmeric, spices, hot sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce…. lot’s of stuff.  Some people put nutritional yeast in their scramble but I’m not a big fan of the stuff so I don’t put it in.  I like mine with a nice whole wheat tortilla and a good amount of chili sauce. 

-Kala 

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt May 17, 2008

 

When I was a kid, I loved frozen yogurt.  Peach was my favorite and now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever had strawberry.  But today we had soy yogurt and we had strawberries so I had to experiment.  The result is only a partial success.  I love the taste, slightly yogurty and not too sweet.  I just want the texture to be a bit more creamy and less sorbet-like. 

 

 

This will definitely take another try or two before I get the recipe where I want it.  But it’s still very tasty and the weather is finally appropriate for frozen treats!

Sesame Noodles May 14, 2008

Long long ago a friend and old roommate of mine, the panda, introduced me to the following equation: Tahini+Noodles+Spices=Yummy.  Over the years I have tweaked and adjusted the concept to include Mock Duck, red bell pepper and cilantro. It only improved a tasty dish, making it all most a proper meal although it does sort of walk that line of being junk food. Please enjoy the noodles in their food-pornographic glory.

–Shane           photos by Kala

Chocolate Sorbet May 10, 2008

 

I love chocolate.  And I love sorbet.  But really yummy chocolate sorbet is a bit hard to find, it can be too icy or really weak in it’s chocolate flavor.  Last night I decided to make some, actually I decided the day before that but we were out of chocolate chips.  After searching around a bit, I decided to use a chocolate sorbet recipe on Epicurious that was reprinted from the book Perfect Scoop:  Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz.  I haven’t seen this book before but I want to check it out now because this recipe was absolutely perfect.  Perfect!

 

 

It’s creamy and stays creamy even when it’s been in the freezer overnight, no need to wait for it to thaw out before you can devour it.  Of course now I’m thinking of variations for next time like chocolate raspberry, chocolate orange, Mexican hot chocolate…

-Kala     

Candy caliente!!!! May 4, 2008

It was my turn to take a run at something from My Sweet Vegan and I opted for the spicy peanut brittle. It was ever so easy, and it had been sooooo long since I made brittle(10th grade chemistry class to be exact). It was very tasty, although I did double the cayenne pepper in the recipe giving it more of a kick. Sadly it went very very fast.  This will be made again, maybe even soon.   –Shane

Photos by Kala