Veggie fried yum yum

I can’t say enough about the awesome that is Vegan Yum Yum by Laura Ulm.  The latest recipe we tried was the vegetable fried rice with tofu.  Fried rice is one of those things I can’t get enough of and this is an amazing recipe, tasty and easy to make.  There are a wide array of veggies involved: zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, broccoli,  spinach, snow peas, and carrots along with tofu and sesame seeds (we used black sesame) and a very simple yet tasty sauce.

Really everyone should just go out and get the book, we are seriously going to break the  spine with the amount of use we have gotten out of it in just 14 days. It just might be the best cookbook out this year.

–Shane     Photos by Kala

Tahini Lemon Rice and Beans

Dinner last night was a delicious rice dish from the new book Vegan Yum Yum by Lauren Ulm.  We bought the book a few days ago and have already made two dishes, this and the tomato chickpea soup (also delicious!).  The Tahini Lemon Rice and Beans was easy to make, very yummy, and full of veggie goodness.  It has a really interesting tangy flavor that I love, we’ll be making this again for sure!

 

   

-Kala

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Holy crap this stuff is delicious!  Last Tuesday at my knitting group, someone brought a loaf of chocolate zucchini bread that smelled heavenly.  It wasn’t vegan though so I didn’t get to try any, but she told me where she got the recipe so I could make some of my own.  The recipe is from Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchenand it was crazy easy to veganize, all I had to do was use Ener-G instead of the eggs.  I also used nutmeg instead of allspice because allspice is evil and gross I totally recommend this recipe though, the bread is so moist and delicious and not overly sweet, it’s also a great way to use up zucchini!

-Kala

Tofu Again!

 

Dinner tonight was pretty simple, Shane made mashed potatoes and cauliflower and I marinated and then baked some sliced tofu.  The mashed potatoes came out really good, it’s a veganized Weight Watchers recipe and we’ll definitely be making them again.  The tofu was yummy too, I just threw together a quick dijon mustard based marinade, yay for simple weeknight dinners!

 

-Kala

Indian-ish Tofu and Spinach

Dinner last night was Indian-ish tofu and spinach, the “ish” part has to be said because when it comes to Indian food I’m somewhat clueless.  I spent many years hating it (and I still can’t handle it if I can taste even a hint of cloves) but I’ve been giving it a try over the past couple of years. 

I decided I wanted tofu, so I walked down to Whole Foods and grabbed some.  Other than that, this dish is made up of weird leftover stuff from the fridge including part of of an onion, some mushrooms, and what was left of the soy yogurt container.  It was a nice way to clean out the fridge and it was pretty tasty too!

 

-Kala

Muffin Quest

 

Muffin Quest, the eternal search for the perfect blueberry muffin.  Every once in a while, I loves me a good muffin, and that good muffin is usually blueberry.  But I haven’t really found a recipe that I love yet, not that I haven’t tried many of them.  Last night I made two batches, first I made the Bakery Style Berry Muffins from Vegan Brunch and then I made a batch of the Blueberry Lemon Muffins from The Joy of Vegan Baking.  First, the ones from Vegan Brunch:

Good texture, pretty good flavor, but there could definitely be improvements.  The flavor just isn’t quite there for me.  And the ones from The Joy of Vegan Baking:

I really don’t like the texture of these, they’re weirdly smooth.  The flavor is good though, I like the lemon with the blueberry, it’s a nice combo.  So maybe the perfect muffin is somewhere in between, more experimentation is needed!  Do any of you have a great go-to blueberry muffin recipe?

 

-Kala

Brown Rice Sushi

There are few things tastier than a lovely plate of vegan sushi.  I decided that I wanted something yummy for lunch today (I can’t face leftovers again) so we headed down to Lunds and picked up a pack of brown rice vegan sushi.  Of course, homemade is always best, but as far as supermarket sushi goes, Lunds is my favorite. 

And we’re making sushi for dinner tomorrow, because you really can’t have enough sushi in your life!

-Kala

And the winner is…

 

….Rahzh from Hungry Hungry Veganos!  Thanks to everyone who entered, it was fun watching the comments pile up and reading through everone’s faves.  I’m personally thrilled that mint chocolate chip got so many votes since it’s my personal fave!

Vegan Scoop Contest!

***Contest is now closed for entries, thanks!***

Yay, Shane and I have made it to our 100th post!  And to celebrate we’re giving away a brand spankin’ new copy of  The Vegan Scoop by Wheeler del Torro.  It’s full of yummy vegan ice cream recipes along with toppings and all sorts of deliciousness!  To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite ice cream flavor.  We’ll pick a winner via random number generator next Saturday, July 25th.  If you post something about this contest with a link to this post on your blog you receive a second entry, just let us know when you do it!  Open to those in the US only please, thanks.  And please make sure we have a way of contacting you if you win

-Kala and Shane

Gluten Free Goodies

 

Today before work Shane and I decided to take a walk over to Cooqi, a gluten free bakery in Saint Paul, for a little treat.  Their vegan selection is limited to say the least but their pumpkin chocolate chip bars are pretty good.  Would I go out of my way to go there if it wasn’t in my neighborhood?  Not a chance, the service isn’t great and the atmosphere is lame, but a vegan pumpkin bar within walking distance gets me every time!

 

 

-Kala