Food Trucks! Hola Arepa & Red Smoker

This is probably the last time of the season I will be able to get an arepa from Hola Arepa. This time, I got guac on the side, and added some hot sauce.

I also hit up the Red Smoker BBQ food truck and got some vegetarian chili with no dairy. It was made with kidney or pinto beans, and topped with green peppers, onion, cilantro, and cucumbers. Not too bad, I added hot sauce, because I always add hot sauce.

DDOW Black Lentil Salad

This week from Delivered Dish...

Lentil Salad!



From the website:

Black Beluga Lentil Salad in Sesame Ginger Dressing (V, GF, no added sugar; will contain a little soy) These beautiful organic lentils were another fun special-order from Purcell Mountain Farms (Idaho). I’m hoping they don’t lose their jet black color when cooked.

This was delicious! I really enjoyed the black lentils - the cabbage, celery, and cucumber gave a great texture and the light dressing gave a nice zing to the whole thing. I ate this both warm and cold over greens (spinach & kale). I also added a little chile pepper action because I love spice!

I also got a Thai Coconut vegetable soup, which I will review tomorrow.

DDOW - Romesco Rice & Garbanzo Veg Za'atar Salad - Vegan MoFo 2013

Another DDOW! This will be the last DDOW of Vegan Month of Food, but I intend to continue posting these beautiful and tasty dishes whenever I get them.

This week's featured dishes were great, as always. I mixed them together and really enjoyed it. I didn't have any greens, but it would be fantastic on top of kale or arugula or spinach. The bean salad had cucumbers, cabbage, and some fresh herbs. The rice was great too.

From the Website:

Garbanzo Bean & Veg Za’atar Salad (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) Za’atar, a spice mixture popular throughout the Middle East, comprises ground dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, toasted sesame seeds and salt, and also often ground sumac, which has a lemony tang. You might encounter it sprinkled on hummus at restaurants. Confession: I bought a large bag at Holy Land Deli on Central Ave, a local mecca of affordable spices. Run, don’t walk.

Rice Romesco (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar; contains almonds) Romesco sauce is a classic Catalonian simmered sauce of mostly red bell peppers mixed with ground nuts. The carrier here is organic brown rice. You can eat this dish cold or hot. By this week, inexpensive pecks of peppers should be all over the Farmers Markets (a peck is approx 8 dry quarts, with 4 pecks to a bushel). Take advantage of the harvest bounty and make a couple quarts at home to slather on everything (can freeze).

DDOW - Cuke, Corn & Hominy Salad - Vegan MoFo 2013

Another Delivered Dish of the Week (DDOW). Again, from One Dish at a Time's Tracy Yue, I ordered and received a quart of this lovely chilled salad made up of hominy, corn, and cucumbers, in a perky cilantro lime vinaigrette. From her website:

"Cuke, Corn & Hominy Salad in Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) As well as being the basis of Posole stew, chewy hominy (rehydrated treated white corn kernels) is surprisingly nice in salads. I’ll use raw sweet corn for added crunch and because it’s frankly easier than par-boiling. The local sweet corn has been great this season."

One of my co-workers asked me what hominy was and my reply was "corn? Is that right? Is it just corn...but not?" I realized I didn't really know, which typically ends with me scouring the internet or other sources for information. From Wikipedia:

"Hominy consists of dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization."

Umm...ok? Why?

"To make hominy, field corn (maize) grain is dried, then treated by soaking and cooking the mature (hard) grain in a dilute solution of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or wood ash, a process termed nixtamalization. The soaked maize is washed, and then ground into masa. When fresh masa is dried and powdered, it becomes masa seca or masa harina."

Huh. Information for the day.

Tomorrow I will highlight the second dish I received for this weeks DDOW, Spicy Chile Verde with Beans.

Farmers Market Quinoa Salad - Vegan MoFo 2013

This was a dish made of a lot of fresh herbs and veggies from the farmers market, along with some quinoa. The veggies included: cucumbers, kale, peas, as well as mint and basil. The quinoa also had some olive oil in it. I added sliced almonds and some nooch at the end.

Great stuff!

Bean & Vegetable Salad with Chimi dressing - Vegan Mofo 2013

Whoops!  Lost this weekend, but still making great food.  Hopefully this week I will get the chance to fix some of the goofy formatting that has been happening.  It is the first time I have been blogging via iPad, phone, and computer on a rotating basis.  

Getting Delivered Dish of the Week over the summer and again starting last week has inspired me to make more awesome vegetable-packed dishes.  This is a salad I made for lunch at work last week.  One 15ozcan of white beans, half a medium green bell pepper (diced), cherry tomatoes sliced in half, shiitake mushrooms, diced jalapeno, parsley, one baby cucumber (peeled), and that crazy chimichurri sauce I made earlier.  Great stuff, though the mushrooms were not a great fit.  This would be great with greens like spinach or arugula, but I was out.  I am excited for this week of Mofo - I will highlight another DDOW and maybe have a couple treats from local restaurants.

Delivered Dish of the Week - Vegan Mofo 2013

Over the summer my office started to get delivered lunches from One Dish At A Time, chef Tracy Yue's Delivered Dish of the Week service. She produces a menu about 4-6 weeks ahead of time of. Two choices each week to get in either quart or pint deli container sizes. Always vegan options, most also gluten-free and/or paleo, among other things. I have really enjoyed getting these, and plan on getting them throughout September and will feature what I get throughout Vegan Mofo.

This week: a Quinoa Kale Salad in Horseradish Vinaigrette and a Roast Beet & Cabbage Salad with Tahini Dressing.

The verdict: great! Scratch that, the beet dish was FANTASTIC, the other dish was still great!
I ordered one quart of each which for me resulted in enough food for two lunches. The photo truly does not do it justice.

Veggie Wrap and trail mix - Bellagio Casino, Las Vegas, NV

I recently traveled to Las Vegas, NV, and enjoyed quite a few delicious meals. It takes a little more searching to find truly satisfying vegan food (something other than just french fries) but it exists.

Pictured above: a veggie wrap with no cheese filled with alfalfa sprouts, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, served with a little garnish salad of cabbage, sprouts and veggies as well as a pickle. It also came with a plate of french fries. This was off of the room service menu at the Bellagio.

Pictured below: tasty trail mix from the Bellagio gift shop, Tutto. Why take a picture of it? It was impressive for trail mix: pepitas, roasted soy nuts, roasted flax seeds, raisins, goji berries, sliced almonds.



We also ate at a fast food type of place in the Bellagio called "Snacks," where they had vegetarian lentil soup and fries. They also had a veggie sandwich but we didn't get it or inquire if it had cheese or other non-vegan items.

Christmas 2007

Happy New Year!

To celebrate, let's look at some of the last big meals I had during Christmas 2007:


First off, a more traditional meal with a Tofurky, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, peas, stuffing, gravy, and dumplings:



This was my second Tofurky ever, and it was actually good. The dumplings that came with the Tofurky Feast did not work out for me, but it was fun to try them. I made the mashed potatoes (skin-on) and I made the extra stuffing, which was REALLY easy. I simply melted a lot of Earth Balance with veggie stock on the stovetop, and poured the hot mixture over the crispy bread chunks. The gravy was from the tofurky feast as well.

Next, a picture of some veggie sushi from another Christmas meal I went to:



The sushi consisted of avocado, carrot and cucumber wrapped with nori and sushi rice. A giant bowl of pickled ginger and the not pictured wasabi rounded off the appetizer. I cannot take any credit whatsoever for making the sushi, it came courtesy of Super Target.

There was also homemade bruschetta and the main star: pesto lasagna roll ups with a "meaty" sauce. Unfortunately, it was all eaten very quickly before I had a chance to take any pictures because it was SO GOOD. I promise that sometime VERY soon I will recreate the recipe and take many photos.

There was also an excellent vegan chocolate mousse, but no pictures.

More food from 2007 to come!

Chiang Mai Thai: Laab Salad with Mock Duck

This is probably my favorite dish in the Twin Cities. It's from a restaurant called Chiang Mai Thai, and stands as one of the very few, if only, Thai restaurants I trust 100% to understand that vegan means no fish sauce or oyster sauce.

This "salad" is made here with mock duck, roasted rice powder, bell pepepers, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, onions, and some other spices/seasonings. It's served with 1/4 of a head of iceburg lettuce, 2-4 large slices of cucumbers, and 2-4 tomato wedges. Recently, they started serving it with fresh mint as well, which makes it even better. It's also served with a side of sticky rice. The idea is to make your own little lettuce cups. I also usuually get a spice level of 2 or 3 out of 4 because I like it spicy. I'm sure I'll have more pictures of this in the actual restaurant, maybe with an appetizer, too.

So freaking TASTY. They have some other dishes at Chiang which are decent, but it is really hard for me to ever order anything other than the Laab. Let's take another look:

Tofu Spinach Salad with Jalapenos, Cucucmbers, and Green Peppers

Here is a picture from sometime last week, a salad I made to take to work. It's made of a couple cups of baby spinach, sliced cucumbers, green peppers, jalapenos, and cubed tofu.

For the tofu, I used up more of the frozen then thawed tofu from the other day. I was keeping it in the cold water container, so I squeezed out the excess and cubed the tofu, 100g total, to put into a marinade. A note for the future: this tofu is extremely chewy, and I say the smaller the cubes the better. My cubes were a little too large.

Marinade
1T Olive Oil
2T Balsamic
splash of lemon juice
Splash of Bragg's
cracked black pepper
shake of red pepper flakes

Stir up the marinade, then add cubed tofu. It's crazy! The tofu is a sponge and all of the marinade should be able to soak into the tofu. I must say that there was something missing from the marinade. Maybe too much Bragg's and lemon? I'm not sure. It was tasty in the end, just a little tangy.

Once tofu has soaked up the marinade, sautée for ten or more minutes. It takes a while, and you may essentially burn some parts of the tofu. My aim was to get some crispiness, but it didn't really work.

Once tofu is done, cool down, then place in a container (I used a zip-top bag) in the fridge for the salad tomorrow. Note: This tofu would be fine warm, too, I just liked it cold on my salad. It's easier to keep things cold than warm.)

The salad amounts are as follows:

100g tofu, cubed and cooked after marinating
90g Green Pepper
100g cucumbers
10g jalapeno

I often don't like dressing, and for this salad I used only salt and pepper. It would probably benefit from a creamy dressing like Ranch. I lost my powdered vegan ranch which was the most amazing dressing and dip. However, they make quite a few creamy vegan dressings.

Also, this salad would be nice with some tomatoes or something to balance the other ingredients.

Appetizers: Mediterranean Plate

Here is a cute little appetizer layout I did the other day. On the plate: stuffed grape leaves, pita triangles I toasted, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers. In the mini bowls: olive tapenade and hummus.

The stuffed grape leaves, untoasted pitas, hummus and olive tapenade are from Holy Land Bakery in Minneapolis. Actually, they were from one of the many local grocery stores where Holy Land sells their wares.

EDIT:Actually, the stuffed grape leaves were from a can. I forgot about it, haha. They are really tasty but I forgot what brand. They are also fairly cheap for the anount you get. A couple bucks for at least twelve or more.

Another look:


I altered the hummus a lot because it was rather soupy. Since Holy Land makes fresh hummus, every now and then there will be a not so good batch. I took the tub of hummus, added one can of garbanzo beans, a little garlic, some cumin, some red pepper flakes, and olive oil. I blended it all in the Magic Bullet and wound up with some excellent thick hummus.

I toasted the pitas in the toaster oven, then sliced into triangles.

Last look:

The Great Pickle Experiment

I love Claussen Dill Pickle Halves. I ate the last one a couple nights ago and got to thinking...could I make pickles from the remaining pickle juice.

I've made homemade pickles before, but I am experimenting to see if I can get anything tasty from the pickle juice itself without adding anything. I sliced up some cucumbers and put them in the juice. We'll see in a few days if anything comes of it.

Juicing Experiment #1

Ok, after only having 3 hours of sleep last night, I gleefully slept in until nearly 10am today! wheee!

I sat on the couch drinking water for a bit, pondering what to do with some of the ingredients in my fridge and cupboards. I know! JUICE!

On Christmas of 2006, I received a Jack Lalanne Juicer.

For those of you who don't know all about Jack Lalanne, he's insane. He's about 92 years old now, and swears by juicing everything. He does crazy stunts every ten years on his birthday, like when he was 60 years old, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf for a second time handcuffed, shackled, and towing a 1,000-pound boat.

yeah. The juicer is great. I LOVE it. It's small, sturdy, and clean up is straightforward. I haven't been using it as much as I should, so I decided to experiment a little bit.

What you need:


Hardware:
A Juicer

Software:
200g cucumber (I've got young babies fresh from a friend's garden)
100g celery, segmented to go into juicer easier
8g ginger root, peeled
160g apple, quartered (ok to leave peel, stem, and seeds)

Juice ginger first, then celery and cucumbers. Put apple through last.

Here's what it looks like:


GREEN. So what does it taste like?

Ass. Total and complete ass.

Haha! Quite the setup for a disgusting drink, huh? I need to document it so I know how to change it next time. I like cucumber juice, but this is the first time I've used celery in juicing and it is definitely strong. The ginger is great, but I like eating ginger. Overall, I'd up the cucumber, take back celery, and maybe add more apple.


Ok, ok. That was cruel. How about a tried and true juice recipe?

"Real" Lemonade

What you need:


1 whole lemon, with peel (mine came to about 150g)
3 whole apples

The type/flavor of apples makes a HUGE difference. The whole lemon is very tart, but balances with the apple for a very tasty drink. So, if you like super tart, Granny Smith will achieve that. 3 Red Delicious apples make it much more sweet. 2 Red Delicious and 1 Granny Smith is a nice combination. Pink Lady, McIntosh, whatever, go crazy and experiment!

Slice the "nubs" off the ends of the lemon:

Quarter all the apples (or slice in half, whatever fits in your juicer). Leave teh skin, stem, and seeds.

Put lemon through first, then all the apples. Makes about 2 cups of liquid. Drink and enjoy: