Mac 'n Cheeze

Yesterday, I crossed off the date (Oct. 25) from my calendar at 9AM and the day instantly turned into a Friday the 13th. After a rough day, I needed some comfort, so I made mac 'n cheeze!

This is the third time I make man 'n cheeze using a yeast based cheeze sauce. I personally hated the boxed product and the homemade recipes were scarce growing up. However, this  recipe from Khloe's Kitchen (it's the last cookbook I bough, that's why I've made so many references to it) has really grown on me. find it here: http://chefchloe.com/entrees/vegan-mac-n-cheese.html 

• 1 pound elbow macaroni or piccolini
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• ¼ cup vegan margarine
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour)
• 3 cups soy, almond, or rice milk
• ½ cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon agave

I follow the recipe as directed. The lemon really adds a bright flavor to the sauce and the garlic makes it super addicting to eat.

Sauce over shells

 
In the book, she adds a baking step which thickens the sauce. Before baking, I added cherry tomatoes. Normally, I don't bake my broccoli in with the sauce, but I add a few for my boyfriend.

I finish with bread crumbs

In the past, I've used regular elbow pasta, whole wheat pasta, and the shell's. Of the three, my boyfriend an I prefer the shells.

The tomatoes are burst in your mouth

 While the man 'n cheese was delicious, I ended up eating a little to much and feeling sick afterwards.

Surfer Taco 'cos the SF Giants are playing

One of my favorite recipes from  from Veganomicon is the "Baja-Style Grilled Tempeh Tacos" or as I call them, surfer tacos.

 See recipe here: http://mazirian.blogspot.com/2008/03/baja-style-grilled-tempeh-tacos.html (I am going to borrow their formatting). 

Taco Slaw: I generally double the slaw and do a mix of green and red cabbage. I also add a few more jalapenos and some of the juice. I like to add cilantro as well. One time, I added onion, but I did not like the flavor.

• 3 cu. shredded cabbage (I generally do a mix of red and green cabbage)
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/4 cu. apple cider vinegar
• 2 pickled jalapenos, diced
• salt, pepper

I add cilantro to my slaw. I forgot carrot this time.

Lime "Crema:" I don't bother preparing this crema. I find it's an unnecessary use of soy and oil and the flavor wasn't something I cared much for. If I feel like having something creamy, I'll make a blended guacamole. Just blend avocado, a little water, lime, and salt (optional ingredients: jalapeno and cilantro). I might have to give the crema another try though (since I had some on my chilaquiles at Sage and it was pretty good).

• 3/4 cu. soy yoghurt
• 3 Tbs. lime juice
• 2 Tbs. grapeseed or avocado oil
• 1/3 cu. cilantro
• salt

Even the garlic plumped up. This is post-marination broth.

Tempeh Marinade: I recommend marinating overnight, so the tempeh can absorb the beer flavor. I actually don't add the oil, soy sauce, or tamiri and it still taste great. I add more garlic (cloves and powder), dry oregano, coriander, and some steak rub my boyfriend's mom gave us.

• 3/4 cu. beer
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 Tbs. peanut oil
• 2 Tbs . soy sauce
• 2 Tbs. tamari
• 3 tsp. chile powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• tempeh

Baked tempeh

 We baked the tempeh for the first time tonight and it was good, but I definitely prefer frying it.

Assembly:

From left to right: Sprouted tortillas, yellow corn tortillas, and handmade tortillas.

• corn tortillas: I've experienment with tortillas and my boyfriend and I prefer corn over flour. The sprouted tortillas are great, but they are not very pliable.  The regular corn tortillas are our favorite, they are pliable and they stay warm longer. However, because they are yellow corn, they have a different flavor which some might not like. The handmade tortillas are really thick and take a bit longer to cook, but they will hold your taco. Blue tortillas are a bit tricky to cook since you can't really see the spots forming. We've also tried making tortillas and they were delicious, but time consuming.
• Other sides: I really like green salsa with tempeh, it taste delicious. We also like the Cholula "chili garlic" hot sauce, wedges of lime, sliced avocado, and rice & beans on the side.

Voila! Tonight we had pinto beans instead of black.

My boyfriend and I love these tacos so much, we actually had to set a limit on how many times we could prepare them. We've gotten better about our gluttony, but our love affair with the recipe is due to all the layers, textures, and fattiness (crispy tempeh is amazing!). Also, the recipe has sentimental value, it marked a point in my life where I no longer missed meat, but it also marks a point where I realized vegan food was better. Anyway, don't expect these tacos to taste like meat based ones, but do expect a lot of delicious layered goodness.

Treasure Island Weekend

Ok, so I am still recovering from a long weekend in San Francisco. I was in the city for the Treasure Island music festival and below are some of the foods I got to try. 

Pre-festival lunch @ Papalote in the Mission District

This place is worth the hype! Check out their vegan friendly menu:
http://www.papalote-sf.com/

There salsa was creamy and might not seem vegan, but it is.

A generous portion

I had the veggie burrito (potato, carrot, and mushroom)

This salsa/salad was refreshing. It had jicama, cucumber, cilantro, lime, and chili powder.

This is from my boyfriends burrito, he had the mole burrito with tofu, it was so good! 

@ Treasure Island

Most of the food trucks at the festival had vegan options, which was awesome. 

Vegan Doughnuts! Blueberry & Vanilla, they were alright. 

Knish (I actually had these in L.A. earlier this year) they're like a Jewish samosa

Unfortunately, those are all the pictures of food I have from the festival because I was partying. There was paella, this super awesome blueberry black tea, and another dish (I forgot the name). Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the activities I engaged in. 

There was a "Silent Disco" where people listened to the music on headphones. I made sure to tag Vegan MoFo with the chalk being handed out.

This installment was huge and looked better at night. 

These shiny eggs were cool.

 

There were makeout tents. The "art tent" had various workshops, they varied from craft making to beer making. 

People actually huddled around this fire.

Treasure Island is a great music festival with lots of vegan friendly food and I recommend checking it out. 

@ Herbivore

I was bummed this pictured looked hazy, but not I feel it has a "you're not dreaming brunch" look. 

Potatoes, tofu scramble, and french toast w/fried banana, maple syrup, and butter.

 The potatoes and tofu has a flavor, but I couldn't figure out what it was. 

Tacos. My boyfriend always tries tacos.

Veggie sandwich w/roasted potatoes. 

I really like Herbivore. I didn't take a picture of the orange-ginger mimosa or cupcake I overindulged in. 

San Francisco is vegan friendly. The food wasn't as cutting edge as it is in L.A., but it was still delicious. I'm so moving there!

Review: Spelt Pasta

I'm a bit paranoid I might develop a gluten allergy, so I always mix up my grains. Last night, I prepared a quick dinner using spelt pasta. This was my first time cooking with spelt, so I kept the recipe simple.

First I cooked the pasta according to the direction

It only takes five to seven minutes to cook!

In a pan, I heated some olive oil and infused it with fresh garlic cloves. I then tossed in the cooked pasta, added dry parsley flakes and a dash salt.



Spelt pasta is delicious. I had mine with a side of kale salad.

I found the taste of the spelt better than whole wheat pasta. The noodle held its shape and it obsorbed the garlicky oil flavor well. I will definitely be using spelt again. I'm curious to see how well it would hold a pesto sauce and I wonder if it taste better than quinoa pasta.

Breakfast smoothie

Lately, I’ve been on this “drink your greens” mentality, so I have been preparing different smoothies found in Practically Raw (there's a whole chapter devoted to smoothie making).

This morning I prepared the Basic Green Smoothie:

2 frozen bananas, broken into chunks

1 cup almond milk

1 cup fresh spniach

2 pitted dates (optional)

  

I actually only used one fairly large banana and hemp milk.

 

I serve my smoothies in different type of glasses or jars for a whimsical effect. This is a re-purposed salsa jar.

 Breakfast is awesome!



Sunday Brunch: Chilaquiles

I decided to make chilaquiles inspired by one of my favorite restaurants, Sage Organic Vegan Bistro in Los Angeles. Made made with organic yellow corn chips, tofu egg and a homemade green sauce sautéed with daiya cheese; their chilaquiles are delicious and pretty simple to imitate.

Chilaquiles I enjoyed over my b-day weekend.

The first thing I did was to change the recipe. I was pressed for time (my boyfriend had to work at noon), so I cut some corners and used a pre-made chili verde sauce. Instead of chips, I used sprouted tortillas. I also ended up baking my chilaquiles.

Chilaquiles are one of those dishes meant to use up stale tortillas. Having neither stale tortillas nor the desire to uses tortilla chips, I improvised and used sprouted tortillas. The texture of the sprouted tortillas is really hardy, so I knew they would absorb the sauce  without turning into mush. Plus, they are delicious!

To keep things “traditional” I cut my tortillas into triangles.

I then ladled some sauce over the tortillas and lightly sprinkled a little bit of Daiya cheeze. I repeated the process until there were no tortillas left. My aim in layering was to create an even, cheesy, but not too cheesy bite. I placed the dish in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until the tortillas are soft.

On the stovetop, I browned some tofu, which I seasoned with spices (cumin, salt, garlic, and a little chili verde). I then added the tofu to the chilaquiles and placed the dish back into the oven to melt the Daiya on the top a bit more.



I made some Mexican styled brown rice, black beans, and  pico de gallo to go along with the chilaquiles.

At this point, this recipe might sound more like cheesy enchiladas instead of chilaquiles. However, chilaquiles are different (read the wiki article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilaquiles). Regardless of the cooking method, I encourage everyone to try this hardy brunch meal inspired by one of my favorite restaurant or just go there http://www.sageveganbistro.com/ 

Iron Chef Challenge #1: Beetroot

I made samosas for the first Iron Chef Challenge. I felt the earthy and sweet flavor from the beetroot would mix well with the fresh ginger and Indian spices. 

Instead of using three russet potatoes, I bought one large one and three medium sized beetroots. I then prepared a samosa filling, throwing whatever sounded Indian into a pan until there was a balance of flavor I liked.  

I fried mine this time. 

They looked so pretty. I ate them with chutney, no sweet sauce required. 

I'm a winner!

I won a copy of Vegan Gifts! Thank you, MoFo Challange. I can't wait for the book to get here.
http://www.veganmofo.com/

Chana Masala with Vegetable Biryani from Chloe's Kitchen

I prepared both of these recipes for dinner and took the leftover for lunch. Both recipes were satisfactory. I love my Indian food at least medium spicy and these were neither spicy nor flavorful in an authentic way. However, the fact that they’re not authentic makes them accessible (in terms of searching for ingredients/preparation).  

Both recipes can be prepared under an hour, but I took longer because I decided to cook my beans from scratch and to use brown basmati rice. You can't see the raisins in the rice, but they were really fun to eat since they plump during cooking (it was like eating tiny grapes!!!). In the future, I would like to add toasted cashews to the rice for a texture contrast. I will also double the cups of beans I cook and make some fresh hummus. And of course, I will play around with the spices.

Being a rice & beans meal, both of these dishes were easy to pack and heat the next day.

Avocado Pesto Pasta from Chloe’s Kitchen

Also found on her website: http://chefchloe.com/entrees/avocado-pesto-pasta.html

I made this pasta recipe various times this past summer. It’s super easy to prepare, it’s delicious, and it stores well.

STEP ONE: Cook pasta. I only had penne on hand, but I’ve used farfalle and rotini before. I like to add peas to my pesto; I add them when the pasta is done boiling so they don’t overcook.

STEP TWO: Prepare sauce. I have substituted the pine nuts with almonds  ‘cos they’re cheaper. I also don’t add the olive oil anymore. I’m not totally fat free, but avocado, almonds, and olive oil just seems overindulgent. I don’t have a Vitamix, so if you have a crappy blender, I recommend blending in stages. 

 

STEP THREE: Combine pasta and sauce. The pesto pasta taste great cold and at room temperature. When packing for work, make sure to store in an air tight container because it will brown a bit. I top off my pasta with sautéed cherry tomatoes and some nutritional yeast.

Overall, this recipe is a great option for a quick dinner and an excellent lunch option for the office. Just make sure to pack a small salad to sneak in some leafy greens.