Curry Burger April 29, 2008

Well recipe contest season is upon us and I am starting to work on a few recipes for submission to various contests. A couple of days ago I did a curry burger and here is the pornographic evidence. I won’t get too specific as to what’s in it but there are chickpeas potatoes and grains. And it was dressed with a little mango chutney. It was tasty and I think it might be ready for submission.

-Shane

Photo by Kala

Blueberry Cheesecake April 26, 2008

 

Vegan cheesecake goodness!  This is the first recipe I’ve tried from My Sweet Vegan and it’s brilliant.  The only change I made was that I left out the brown rice syrup because we didn’t have any and I don’t think it’s something we’d use much.  The recipe calls for jam as a topping and I used some organic blueberry stuff.  Very yummy!

 

 

-Kala

Black and Blue Smoothie April 24, 2008

This is my standard go-to smoothie recipe and it’s super easy, just like a smoothie should be.

 

 

Black and Blue Smoothie

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup frozen blackberries, rinsed
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, rinsed
• 1 cup soymilk (I use Silk Vanilla Light)
• 1/2 cup soy yogurt (I use Whole Soy and Company because it’s good and doesn’t try to kill me with traces of dairy like some soy yogurts do)

Instructions:

1. Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth. 
2. Be a fancy pants and serve it in a wine glass.

-Kala

Cookies – The 5th Food Group April 20, 2008

 

Really, life without cookies just aint worth livin’.  I’ve been known to skip a meal, usually lunch, just so I can fit some more cookies into my day.  I made these last night, they have chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter, and coconut.  They’re a modified version of the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from Soy, Not Oi! , a recipe that Shane shared with me early on in our relationship.  He won me over with cookies!  😉

-Kala  

Chipotle Glazed Black Bean Burgers April 18, 2008

 

Tasty, but not quite perfect yet.  Vegan burgers are a harsh mistress and this was no exception, they were a bit too delicate and quick to fall apart.  But this was my first go at a black bean burger so I’m optimistic about next time.

-Kala

The Lazy Vegan – Buffalo Wings April 16, 2008

 

Sometimes you just need something quick and easy for lunch (or dinner) that you can just throw in the microwave or oven and not have to fuss over.  Today was one of those days.  After working in the dirt patch in the front of the apartment that will become a little garden, I wanted me some wings!

 

 

The wings in question are Chicken-Free Buffalo Wings from Health is Wealth and they are gooood.  Not quite as spicy as they claim, but I like things pretty spicy.  Caliente if you will 😉  Plus they’re not terrible for you which is nice, lot’s of fiber (as if vegans need more fiber…)

 

 

I had mine with a mixture of ketchup and chili sauce on top for some added spice and flavor.  I totally recommend these and will definitely be buying them in the future. 

 -Kala

Sushi Time

I introduced Kala to sushi fairly early on in our relationship, I was a little nervous at first but now its a frequent visitor to our table. Although not as pretty as professional sushi its always tasty. Typically we do a cucumber roll and a spicy tempeh roll often with a a few variations on how we make each roll.
–Shane
Photos: Kala

Two Bean Salad April 12, 2008

 

Maybe if I make food that’s Spring/Summer appropriate, the weather will cooperate.  Ok, probably not but I had a weird desire to making something with black eyed peas so I came up with this simple little bean salad.  It may be snowing outside (it’s mid-April, this is so wrong!) but dinner was totally picnic worthy. 

 

 

Two Bean Salad

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 TB apple cider vinegar
• 1 TB Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
• 1 tsp. chili sauce  
• 1TB maple syrup
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red peppers
• 1 16 oz can of black eyed peas
• 1 16 oz can of garbanzo beans
• 12 medium button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped

Instructions

1. Combine the first eight ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside.
2. In a medium to large pan, saute the onion and bell pepper for a couple of minutes or until they start to soften up.  Season with salt and pepper. 
3. Add in the zucchini and mushrooms and continue to saute until all the veggies are as soft as you like. 
4. Drain and rinse the beans and add them to a large mixing bowl.  Add in the veggies and the dressing you made earlier and mix well. 
5. Serve warm or set it in the fridge for a while to cool.
6. Enjoy!

-Kala

Mock Muffeleta April 10, 2008

 

 

Since Shane and I are going to see Jesse Malin tonight (squee!) we decided to have food delivered for dinner.  One of our favorites is the Mock Muffeleta from Pizza Luce.  BBQ sauce, olives, peppers, tomato, mock duck, what’s not to love?

Simply Vegan, my first cookbook. April 9, 2008

I am a cookbook whore, no denying it, I like them even if I never make something from it I can steal ideas, or just look at pretty pictures. That said, I have decided to make my first post a review of the first vegan cookbook I ever purchased, its also the first cookbook of any kind that I purchased. Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman. The book was first published in 1991, and I picked up my copy in 1995 shortly after going vegan.

Simple is a good word for the cookbook, has few illustrations and the back has a nutrition section with a glossary and many charts and tables. There is nothing flashy in this book. The recipes are not all that flashy either. Most are very simple and are very easy to prepare, a good thing since at the time I still had next to no idea of what I was doing.

Besides being simple easy recipes, have a bit of a hippie 70s vegetarian sort of vibe to them, looking back on them now they feel a bit dated. They are not for impressing people with your culinary skills, its all about quick and relatively easy.

The recipes are divided up by beverages, breakfasts, sides, soups sandwiches, mains etc with a special section for tofu and tempeh. The chickpea dishes were always my favorite since I had not yet gotten over my fear of cooking tofu, the recipes introduced me to many ingredients that were fairly alien to small town Minnesota such as Bok-Choy, black-eye peas, and well chickpeas, a staple of salad bars everywhere but Minnesota, at least back then. A lot of the recipes also lack a bit of balance, such as maybe adding a vegetable in with the seasoned bunch of beans. There is also a desert section, in the shadow of books like My Sweet Vegan and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, the less said about it the better.

Looking back on it I am not sure I would recommend this book now, even though 13 years ago I was quite enamored with it, although it is a good way to look back at how vegan cookery has changed and evolved.