Tofu with Chimichurri Sauce - Vegan Mofo 2013

I am obsessed with watching food competition shows - or really, any food television show at all. It helps me become inspired, even when watching people cook non-vegan food. This dish did not come from any particular show or dish, but it was definitely a great experiment.
The veggies were the least impressive feat - just some simple steam-bag frozen veggies.

The starch used here isTrader Joe's Harvest Medley, which contains Israeli cous cous, red quinoa, split garbanzos, red and green orzo. REALLY simple to cook - boil water/broth, add some of this mix, bring to boil again, then simmer (covered) for 10 mins.
For the tofu: I drained a 16 oz block of (I think ) extra firm tofu, then sliced into rectangles of a size I felt was manageable, then baked them for about...30?...minutes at 350F. I then pan-fried them in coconut oil until they reached my desired crispiness.
The chimichurri-like sauce was the crown jewel of this dish. At first, I was just blending 4-5 Thai Bird's Eye peppers with 3-4 cloves of garlic with an idea to make some hot sauce. Then, I decided to add the rest of the fresh parsley I had on hand as well as the juice of a small lemon. The mixture was not balanced at all, so I added a dash of avocado oil, a little hunk of cucumber, and some coriander chutney (one of my all time favorite condiments to keep on hand). It evened out nicely sorry, MAGNIFICENTLY. Seriously, it was an awesome sauce that I want more more more of.

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.

Coconut Curry #321 - Vegan MoFo 2013

I know what you may be thinking, "really?! *another* coconut curry dish?"  It is true, this is one of my favorite go-to dishes.  I decided to lay off on posting this sort of dish unless I had something new to share.  Well, I do have some new things to share about the coconut curry dish I made a couple weeks ago.  

Most of the dish is fairly typical: mock duck, rice noodles, some green beans and Thai peppers.  The sauce even seems typical - coconut milk with yellow curry powder.  However, I really wanted to punch up the sauce so I took some time with it.  I crumbled in a veggie bouillon cube and at least .13-.25 cup  of fresh sliced jalapeños into it and let it simmer for a while to really get that flavor from the peppers.  I also added a bit more coriander powder and some lime juice.  Simple steps to vastly improve one of my favorite simple dishes of all time.  Of course, I don't always have all of those ingredients, but when I do, I will certainly be adding them again.  

Simple Tacos - Vegan MoFo 2013

Vegan MoFo is here! 

Today I made a quick lunch - black beans, corn, fresh salsa, and guacamole in flour tortillas.  I cooked the beans and fire roasted frozen corn (from Trader Joe's) with a little liquid and a Maggi bouillon cube.  The salsa was blended cherry/grape tomatoes, garlic, salt, a jalapeno pepper, some dried coriander, cumin seeds, paprika.  I was out of cilantro so did my best with what I had on hand.  Guacamole was Wholly Guacamole brand.  Took me about 15 minutes from start to finish. 

2013 Vegan Mofo Eve...

I FORGOT VEGAN MOFO WILL BE SEPTEMBER INSTEAD OF OCTOBER THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoops! Whatev. I was able to sign up to be on the blogroll over at Vegan MoFo. So........No theme (again) but aiming for a high percentage of posts for the month. I have been kicking around plenty of ideas of things to cook so this is the motivation I need! I had a ton of fun participating last year and imagine this year will be no different. So enjoy your Saturday, everyone, and see you tomorrow.

Foxy Falafel Food Truck - Stoplight Platter

Today I was able to be in Downtown Minneapolis around 11am, which is when most of the food trucks open for business. 
I was SUPER excited to come across Foxy Falafel, which I have been meaning to try for a long time.  (They just opened a brick & mortar restaurant last year, too!)

I tried the Stoplight Flafel Platter: 2 pieces of the curry, beet, and regular falafel (6 total); cabbage. cucumber, tomato, hummus, served with pita or corn chips.  I added some of Foxy's homemade pickles and some hot sauce.  It was delicious!

Vegetable soup for a snowy April night

That's right, it is April 22nd and it is snowing on MN.  Not a flurry, or a light dusting of snow, but several inches are falling outside.  I like winter, but enough is enough. 

So I channeled my never ending winter blues into some vegetable soup.  Pretty standard: onion, garlic, white beans, frozen mixed vegetables, one small can of tomatoes.  What makes this soup unique - Anaheim peppers diced up, as well as a lot of shredded cabbage.  I had a lot of bagged raw coleslaw mix, and needed to use it up.  Salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, veggie broth and water make the rest of the soup. 

Biscoff S'mores

Delicious snack: Biscoff cookie, 3 Dandies vegan marshmallows, covered with dark chocolate chips.  Microwave for 15 seconds, until marshmallows get all ooey-gooey. 

Gardein Burger with Fulton Beer

Burger time!  Dinner tonight: pan-fried Gardein burger with sauteed onions.  Toasted bread with a garlic butter spread as well as thinly sliced dill pickles.  I also coated the burger in cayenne hot sauce. 

Served with Fulton here's Sweet Child Of Vine IPA, which comes in a hilarious case that I took a photo of. 

Blogging via phone!

Vegan Cuts Snack Boxes!!!!!! [Jan & Feb 2013]

Whoa! It's been a ridiculous amount of time without updating this darn blog!

OK. So let's get down to business: Vegan Cuts is an awesome site that is like Groupon/Living Social type thing but with all vegan products/companies. Best of all, they have a monthly snack box that you can subscribe to for about $20/month and get samples of many popular and new products. I have been getting these boxes for a few months now, and am pleasantly surprised.

The above photo is for January 2013 (my first box was December, but did not take a photo of everything together). I'll review the products individually later.

FIRST: February 2013's Box



I have really enjoyed receiving a fun box of goodies at my door each month.

Indian food in the skyway (vegan MoFo)

Another day on the go.  This is from an Indian place in the skyway system of Minneapolis.  They are pretty great at accommodating vegans - they will even make some fresh naan with no butter. 

What's the skyway?  It's what happens when your city is an icy tundra for five to six months out of the year.  A network of enclosed pedestrian bridges throughout downtown Minneapolis.  There is also a system in Saint Paul, though not as large.  It enables people to get from one area of the city to another without having to go outside. Very fitting for today since it started out raining and is now snowing.  None of it will stick around, mind you.

Still...winter is coming. (Doesn't get old for me.)

Pad Prik On with Mock Duck (vegan MoFo)

Delicious mock duck with Anaheim peppers, onion, basil, and other herbs from On's Thai Kitchen. 

Also pictured: fresh spring rolls with mock duck and tofu. 

Another blogging on the go post.  Doing my best to keep up, but I have missed several days now.  Ah, well. 

Breakfast vegan chocolate coconut muffin with soy latte (vegan MoFo)

Another busy busy day for me and most likely no time to edit a photo and post from a computer, so mobile blogging to the rescue again!
This morning I am at Bordertown coffee, a local non-profit coffee shop with vegan baked goods, soups and sandwiches.  And of course, coffee.

Blogging on the Go (vegan MoFo)

Here's a quick snap of food offerings at a training I am participating in.  Veggie sandwich with avocado, Sun Chips,and a soda.  I became super busy and missed another day of MoFo (yesterday) but even being on the go will not prevent me from participating in MoFo!!!!

Tomatillo Salsa + Refried Bean Dip [Vegan Mofo]

Day 14 of Vegan Month of Food! So far, so good. I have missed one day posting this month so far, and we are nearly halfway through the month. I do not have a set goal in mind, just to do as much as I possibly can.

I have almost reached Day 7 of my green theme and will recap with one more post of green food tomorrow. Today, I present my first tomatillo salsa attempt! I made this in the past week or so with tomatillos from the CSA. I didn't get as nice of a roasty taste to the tomatillos, but I would really like to try this again with a ton more tomatillos. I served this with a refried bean dip that I quickly whipped up.

For the salsa: I sliced tomatillos in half after removing the wrappers and rinsing. I placed on a cookie sheet lined with foil and roasted for 10-15 mins in the oven. Because I had so few tomatillos I was worried and took them out early because their juices were all over the pan and I wanted to be sure to have enough to make salsa. I blended the tomatillos with 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 of a small onion, and some spicy chili peppers.

For the bean dip: I heated up 1 can of black refried beans in a small sauce pan, adding garlic, cumin, salt, and chili peppers. That was it. Cheap and easy. I was feeling lazy. The dip was ok, it could have been better with more effort.

CSA Green Pasta Bowl [Vegan Mofo]

Day 13 of Vegan Month of Food!

CSA Green! We are nearing the end of 7 days of green theme. This dish was delicious: penne pasta tossed/sauteed with asparagus, fresh oregano, olive oil, spinach, garlic scapes, onion and garlic. I am pretty sure the vegetables, garlic, onion, and oregano were all from the CSA, though the spinach could have been purchased at the grocery store.

CSA Stir-Fried Snap Peas [Vegan Mofo]

Day 12 of Vegan MoFo!

Green theme continues this week. Today, a pic of some snap peas stir-fried with soy sauce, hoisin, and toasted sesame oil. Simple and delicious! I went through a lot of green beans, snap peas and other beans/peas this summer from the CSA. I generally made them like these peas - sometimes with hot peppers and garlic added to the dish.

CSA Green Machine Bowl [Vegan Mofo]

Day Eleven of Vegan Month of Food!!! The green theme continues this week with another bowl of delicious vegetables from my CSA. This bowl includes sugar peas, garlic scapes and some greens. GREEN! Not the best photo, but it's Thursday and I am exhausted.

Lots more green to come!

Cilantro Pesto on Toast [Vegan Mofo]

Day 10 of Vegan MoFo! Woohoo!

As promised, I have a theme of sorts for the next few days: green. Specifically, green veggies & herbs from my CSA this year.

Today? Cilantro pesto. I was skeptical at first when making cilantro pesto, but I had a cilantro overload this summer and had to figure out how to consume it all. It's delicious and works just as well as basil. My pesto includes walnuts (unsalted), lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and sea salt.

I decided that instead of just pasta or vegetables, I'd try it on toast. I loved it, like an interesting garlic bread. It would have been even better on some crusty french bread, but it was a great snack all the same.

The cilantro was from the CSA. Here's a close look at the GREEN!

CSA Pesto - Pasta and Vegetables [Vegan Mofo]

Day 9 of Vegan Month of Food and I am still going strong!

I look forward to this week - I have a slew of green-themed photos for the next several days. First up: pesto. This summer I have been swimming in pesto thanks to the CSA. I even tried making cilantro pesto (fantastic).

I am not sure if this a basil or cilantro-based pesto in the photo. I usually make my pesto with whatever greens (basil, cilantro, parsley - or a combo of all three), lots of garlic, walnuts and olive oil. I also use a little lemon juice and salt to finish it off. I made most of my pesto this summer in the Magic Bullet, a device I use several times a week and sometimes several times per day. I served this pesto with penne pasta mixed with zucchini and broccoli.

The broccoli, cilantro or basil, and zucchini were all from the CSA.