Olive Tapenade w Betta Than Feta - World Vegetarian Day

Happy World Vegetarian Day!

I wanted olives, badly. What to do with them? I completely forgot to add them to a pasta dish I made (Mr. Coconut does not care for olives so I add them to my own dish from time to time). What if....

I took the last kalamata olives (10, max) and 1 big garlic clove, blended in the magic bullet along with lemon juice and a hot pepper. Result was an olive paste.

For the "feta" - I took some high-protein tofu (It's very firm) and crumbled into a small container. Probably 1-2 cups of crumbled tofu, loosely packed. Good dose of lemon juice & salt, stirred tofu. Then a teaspoon of Vegenaise, a teaspoon of nooch, and a tiny, tiny bit (1/8 teaspoon, if that) of black salt (kala namak) to give a hint of cheesey eggy flavor. Seriously, only a TINY bit.

It's best to let this sit for a while and let the flavors meld. I kept adding more lemon juice and more salt until it was about the taste I wanted.

This would have been nice on some fancier bread, but all I had was regular whole wheat bread. Toasted up, sliced into triangles, and coated with the olive spread. I am excited to try this tofu "feta" again soon, and let it hang out even longer to get more flavor.

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!

Eggplant Sandwich with Tomato and Cheez on Wheat Toast

The title says it all. I've been rather infatuated with these frozen eggplant cutlets from Dominex. They are vegan, pre-breaded, frozen eggplant cutlets. Great to add to pizza, pasta, make your own sandwiches, or baked with onions and garlic.

So, for this concoction, I toasted up some bread, pan-fried the eggplant cutlets with olive oil, then assembled a sandwich adding sliced tomatoes and a piece of Tofutti cheese. Pretty delicious.

Motherbiker - The Triple Rock Breakfast

This is a breakfast masterpiece. Herbed tofu scramble mixed with veggie sausage is on top of a layer of homefries and smothered in vegan nacho cheese. Served with wheat toast. Giant portion, feeds me all day long, and into the following day.

Another picture:



Delicious.

The Triple Rock: Cook's Revenge, Chicago Dogs and Mac & Cheese

The Triple Rock is one of my favorite Minneapolis bar/restaurants to go to. It's a punk rock bar with an attached club for rock shows and it also serves American-style bar food. Here are a few dishes from a recent visit:

The Vegan Cook's Revenge:



This is one of my favorite things to order at the Triple Rock. "The Cook's Revenge" is basically whatever the cook wants to give you, no substitutions, no refunds, you get what you get. The only request that can be made is to make the dish vegan or vegetarian rather than meaty. I've had this 100 times, and I've had just about everything under the sun from PB&J to a 4-plates of food breakfast meal. Pictured above was a bowl of goodness: pinto beans and salsa covered with veggie sausage and smashed tater tot potatoes, which was then covered with their vegan nacho cheese and topped off with star-shaped veggie sausage. It was quite good.


Vegan Mac and Cheese:



Just what it says: big elbow macaroni noodles in a nutritional yeast sauce and topped with more nooch. Served with a GIANT piece of Texas toast.

Vegan Chicago Dogs:



This is two vegan Chicago dogs topped with peppers, tomatoes, onions, relish and mustard. Served with fries (and an extra side of vegan nacho cheese.)

Other favorites of mine include the Mock Duck sandwich, vegan nachos, their housemade hummus (REALLY garlicky), and "The Best Vegetarian Sub Ever."

Grilled Turkey and Guacamole Sandwich

This was my brilliant plan. I've been obsessed with grilled sandwiches lately. I've been buttering and grilling every sandwich. Then...I grilled a sandwich with just gracamole because we were out of chips. It was awesome. Will be making that in the future to accompany a tomato soup of some sort. Or Gazpacho!

Anyway, this is simply guacamole spread between two pieces of bread, with slices of tofurky deli meat layered in between. There are also sauteed onions added for good measure. The true genius is in the grilling: Earth balance spread on the outside, as well as a good dash of cumin and cayenne. Really tasty and crispy. Excellent!

B&T: "Bacon" and Tomato Sammy

Simple sandwich: Smart Bacon with sliced tomatoes and vegenaise on toast. I did not have any lettuce or greenery to put on the sandwich.

secret to Smart Bacon: CRISPY. Otherwise, it tastes like crap. And it's not like bacon at all, just adds that salty smoky flavor that bacon can add to stuff like this.

Toast with Smart Balance Light and Nutritional Yeast Flakes

So, I go through phases where I eat a lot of toast for breakfast. This is one of my favorite ways to dress up my toast: smart balance light and a good pile of nooch (nutritional yeast flakes). Simply put, I'm crazy. This tastes good to me, but I'm the person who loves tomato soup and PB sammies. Take it As you will...

50th Post: Peppered Tofurky slices with Guacamole, Crispy Smart Bacon and Tomatoes on Toast

I had this for lunch today. I've been dreaming of an excellent tofurky-guac sandwich for a while, but the guac gets eaten pretty fast around here.

The Title says it all: I toasted two pieces of bread and pan-fried three pieces of Smart Bacon with a little bit of non-stick spray oil. The secret is to use a cover on the pan and continue to flip the pieces. I wait until they are REALLY crispy, the Smart Bacon is not worth it otherwise.

I spread a couple Tablespoons on one piece of bread, layered Peppered Tofurky slices on another, put tomato slices on the tofurky, put bacon on top of tomatoes, and then sealed the deal with the guac piece on top. The guac was spicy and REALLY brought out the peppery tofurky. Great sandwich.

Another picture:

Misc foods eaten over the past few days

No pictures, just a documenting my food type of post.

Other stuff I've eaten on 7/30:

Pesto Chik'n Sandwich:
two pieces of bread, toasted if desired
spread pesto on both pieces
add one Boca Chik'n patty
Enjoy
Tomato slices and fresh spinach or basil would be great, too

Hot Chocolate with PB Toast:
Simple, satisfying and comforting snack to make on a cold day. Or a hot day where you feel like you need a hug. Or during "that time of the month", when everything chocolate is satisfying.

One mug of soymilk, plain (8oz) (or favorite non-dairy milk. However, I'd stick to plain as the cocoa I use is plenty sweet.)
Hot Chocolate Mix, 2T (I like Ah!Laska Organic Cocoa, Non-Dairy Style)
Two pieces of Toast
2-4T (or more) of Nut Butter of your choosing


Heat milk in micro or on stovetop until warmed to your liking. Mix in cocoa. Experiment with sweetness, sometimes a little is enough, sometimes there can never be enough.

Toast your bread, slather on Nut Butter.
Fold each piece in half, and --wait for it-- dip it in the hot chocolate. Yes. Seriously. It's good. The chocolate and peanut butter or whatever nut butter you use, is awesome. Then again, I used to eat bread slathered in honey, folded in half, and dipped in plain milk. I also still eat peanut butter sandwiches and tomato soup. I'm crazy.

I also had pickles today.

5 Minute Garlic Toast with Pesto Dip

I just made this up as a quick snack tonight. I wanted some garlic toast, but I'm all out of butter, *gasp*! However, I did have some leftover Papa John's Garlic Sauce from the last time I ordered breadsticks:



So, I slathered some of the garlic sauce on 3 pieces of bread and popped said bread in the toaster oven.

While that was toasting away, I took a few spoonfuls of the pesto sauce from last night, and mixed it with some Newman's Own Cabernet Marinara Pasta Sauce:



This is my favorite packaged pasta sauce. I always pick up a jar at Super Target because it's only $1.97 there as opposed to $3-5 everywhere else I've seen it.

Enjoy!

And a quick list of other food consumed today:
Breakfast was the one-two combo of the S*bucks Soy Latte and a Clif Bar (Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch flavor today)

Lunch consisted of veggie sushi, as well as:


Really healthy today, hahaha. I also had a quick snack/dinner of a Boca Chik'n patty with vegenaise and ketchup. I'm trying to get rid of a lot of the more unhealthy foods in my house to concentrate on more fruits and veggies as well as losing some weight. Wheeee!

Now to figure out what I should eat next...