Breakfast: Pizza Lucé Brunch

WOW! This is from Pizza Lucé's Brunch: Portabello Florentine, basically Vegan "eggs" benedict. English Muffins, spread with olive tapenade, stacked with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, and finally topped with vegan hollandaise sauce!!! Hashbrowns are underneath all of this, and everything is garnished with sundried tomatoes and basil.

So tasty! I'm very addicted to the hollandaise sauce.

We also got a medium pizza with mock duck and "rinotta," which is basically soaked cashews blended with garlic and other spices made into a "cheese." Also very tasty.

Breakfast: Mini-Waffles and Fakin Bacon

I made this a while back. Simple, toasted mini waffles with pure maple syrup and crispy Fakin' Bacon which is tempeh-based. I forgot the brand of mini waffles, but I do know I was VERY excited when I found them. Tasty treat!

Thanksgiving 2007

Wow! It's been a whole month since the last post?!?!?! Sorry for the disappointment. I honestly have not felt inspired to cook much plus I've been quite busy. Fear not! Thanksgiving photos are here!

The whole meal:



Starting with the mashed potatoes & gravy, going clock wise: cranberry sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, celebration roast, and stuffing.

Mashed Potatoes were homemade, as was almost everything else. I mixed a lot of veggie broth and almost 2 sticks of Earth Balance, then blended it all together until creamy, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Stuffing was almost the same: lots of veg broth and Earth Balance, salt and pepper, and I also added sage and garlic salt mix for more flavor.

Gravy: veggie broth, Earth Balance, flour, browning sauce.

The "meat" was a Celebration Roast which I LOVE. I was not much of a fan of Tofurky Roast, though I want to try again now that my cooking skills have improved a lot.

Roasted Fingerlings: halved or quartered, tossed in olive oil, chopped rosemary and garlic salt and pepper, placed on cooking sheet until tender and a little brown on some sides.

Cranberry sauce: from a can. :P

Overall, quite successful, though I didn't have any veggies. Probably the most carb-tastic Thanksgiving I've ever had. I almost always fill up on the veggies, but I was just craving more carby things so that's how my plate wound up.

Bravo! Café and Bakery: Veggie Fish, Orange "Chicken", and Fried Tofu in Brown Sauce

More pictures of food from Bravo! Café and Bakery, as I posted a few days ago.

Again, and as almost every time, I ordered the Veggie Fish with Broccoli:



This time around, I opted for the Orange "Chicken" instead of Sesame:



And finally, some Fried Tofu in Brown Sauce:




I'm sure there will be more Bravo! in the future.

Mushroom Bites with Buffalo Sauce

Okay, so I wound up making this because I wanted a snack that I could dip into some buffalo sauce. These are frozen mushroom bites from Alexia Foods, aka an expensive frozen treat I buy every now and then. Buffalo sauce was made from Frank's Red Hot and melted Earth Balance.

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:

Veggie Dogs in a Flour Tortilla with Rice Cheese

This dish was actually by the fiancé and not me, but I had to take a photo of it. It was pretty tasty because not only are the dogs in a tortilla, but the tortilla was in the toaster oven after it had been wrapped around the dogs. It ahd the crispy floury texture of a grilled burrito. Good stuff. Also included: a slice of Galaxy Foods Vegan Rice Cheese.

Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Onions

This was a really simple but satisfying dish. I sliced a bunch of mushrooms, I think I used baby bellas here. I cut wedges of onions and tomatoes, and threw it all in a pan until done to my liking. I also added a generous shake of my favorite seasoning which just found it's way back on my counter:

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.

Bravo! Café and Bakery: Tofu with Szechuan Sauce; Sesame "Chicken," Veggie Fish with Broccoli

There is a tiny little bakery near me called Bravo! Café and Bakery which is so cute and it serves all-vegetarian Asian food, and most of the dishes are also vegan. They even sell vegan cakes by the slice or special request. They have been expanding because they now serve veggie dumplings, and offer brown rice for an extra .50; the meals are only $5 and you get a LOT. Here are 3 dishes we recently got for takeout:

Silken Tofu with Sczechuan Sauce and TVP pieces:



This dish is pretty good, but only if I'm in the mood for it. Fresh tofu is usually a turn off, and in this particular instance alex ordered the Fried Tofu in Brown Sauce but they gave us this and we didn't realize this until we got home. Ah well.

Sesame "Chicken" with veggies and brown rice:



This is also fairly tasty. Little deep fried pieces of vegetarian "chicken" in a sweet and sour style sauce and covered in sesame seeds. Served with brown rice and veggies.

Finally, we have my favorite (and blurry, sorry) Veggie Fish and Broccoli in Brown Sauce:



OMG. I think that they make the "fish" from scratch. It's like a chewy tofu, but different. The taste is actually somewhat "fishy", and they even have a "skin" on it made of nori or something. Soooooooooooo good. Love love love it.

That's all from Bravo! but I'm sure I'll have more soon.

Ginger-Orange Baked Tofu with Garlic Greens and Squash

This was one of the best dishes EVER.

Total credit for the marinade to The Post Punk Kitchen, though I did tweak it a bit.

* note: since The Post Punk Kitchen changed layouts, all the old recipes are not available (yet). I'll update the link when the changes occur.

(My Changes are in Bold)

Equipment:
9 x 13 baking dish
bowl

Ingredients
1 pound extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

Marinade
2 tablespoons grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice (fresh is preferred, you can use the juice of the orange that you zest)
1/4 cup dry white wine I Used Champagne Instead
1/4 cup pure maple syrup I Used Agave Nectar Instead
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons veg oil


Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F.

Combine all ingredient for the marinade in a small bowl and wisk vigorously.

Cut the tofu into 8 slice crosswise. Pour 1/2 marinade into the baking dish and dredge tofu slices. Pour the other half of marinade over the tofu. Let sit 10 minutes.

Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from over and flip pieces over. Cook 15 more minutes uncovered. To give the tofu more chewiness, place in the broiler for 2 minutes on each side.
My baking was a bit screwy because I used a ceramic cooking pan, so it took a little longer. I ended up baking until the marinade was very thick and became more of a glaze.

For the Greens:
I cleaned a lot of collards, then chopped them up to smaller bite size. (Take out the hard center part.)

I crushed 2-3 cloves of garlic and 2-3 shakes of red pepper flakes in a pan with 1T of olive oil, then put the greens in until just wilted.

For the Squash:

I had a nice winter squash, which I sliced in half, then spooned out the seeds. I placed both halves face down in a glass casserole pan which I put some water in (1/2 inch?) and covered the top with foil. I baked for 20 minutes until tender, scraped out the flesh and served with vegan butter.

Ok, this was AWESOME. The sweetness of the squash and the tofu balanced really well with the bitter garlicky greens. Awesome. Tasty as hell.

Photo 2:

Crispy Buffalo Tofu Triangles

Wow. This was a fun experiement, and one I am doing again!

What You Need:

1 water packed container (12-18 oz) tofu, extra firm
1/2 of a small box of Shake and Bake Extra Crispy (or seasoned breadcrumbs)
1 bottle of Frank's Red Hot
Lots of Earth Balance Vegan Butter

Ok. I should say that in addition to the 18 oz container of tofu, we used a frozen block of tofu as well (I think it was 12 oz) which we thawed and drained. This was just to compare the two textures to see what worked best. We both agreed that the frozen was too tough when cooked side by side with the fresh stuff. Perhaps it would work better to cook the frozen tofu separately. It was still edible, but it was just too chewy for my preference.

1. drain your tofu, cut into triangles.

2. Make the buffalo sauce. I used the recipe off the Frank's Red Hot bottle which was something like one cup of Red Hot to 3/4 cup melted butter.

3. Put the tofu triangles in a bowl and pour the buffalo sauce over them. Allow for some good marinating time. I was too impatient and only waited 15 minutes or so.

4. Pour Shake n Bake on a plate and coat tofu piece by piece. (NOTE: next tiem, I will try to actually shake the tofu in a bag, but I was afraid that it might fall apart.)

5. Place breaded tofu on sheetpan which is covered in foil. Preheat oven (I think I did 325 F? I made this a while ago and I just followed the directions on the Shake-N-Bake box.)

6. Bake tofu. This took longer than I wanted it to, maybe close to 40 minutes? It took a while, but the breading eventually stuck on the tofu and really became a nice crispy coating.

7. Make dipping sides: I just used more buffalo sauce and some chipotle BBQ sauce.

8. EAT.


This was super addictive and I'm excited to try it again. We made WAY TOO MUCH with two big containers of tofu, but it was still great.

Another photo, sorry for the gross lighting:

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:

Butternut Squash Ravioli Pan-Fried in Garlic Butter Sauce with side of Broccoli

This was awesome. I'd been wanting to do something special with the package of butternut squash ravioli from Rising Moon Organics. So, I decided on a garlic butter sauce with a ton of olive oil, vegan butter (I use Earth Balance), lightly toasted pine nuts, and diced tomatoes. I used plain old boiled frozen broccoli for a side which I flavored with lemon pepper and garlic salt/seasoning.

Notes: I didn't quite get the crispy pan-fried texture I wanted, and it didn't brown, so next time I think I would sauté the ravioli a little more in a lot less oil. That was the other problem: way too much oil. Well, not WAY too much, but I could cut it in half since I wasn't really making a sauce and I'm more after the flavors. I would also possibly cut the pine nuts in half. My bigger problem is I need a non stick pan that's twice the size of the one I have so I can concoct these larger all in one pan meals.

What You Need: (Serves 2)
1pkg Butternut Squash Ravioli
16g garlic (rough chop)
157g diced tomatoes (I used Roma)
.125c Olive Oil (1/8c: but I might have used as much as 1/4c)
.25c Butter (Could be different with actual animal fat butter)
36g onion (small dice)
40g pine nuts (lightly toasted)
429g broccoli (A lot, I know. I love broccoli.)

To Taste:
red pepper flakes
salt & pepper
also at the very end: basil flakes or fresh basil

1. Put pine nuts on a sheet pan, lightly oiled (I used generic nonstick spray) and set in oven. I used a toaster oven and burned them a little, so I'll have to get back to you on exact times and whatever. They definitely get a nutty-popcorny smell when they are done. KEEP AN EYE ON THEM. It only takes a little bit.

2. Ravioli: you know what to do. Boil water, GENTLE boil, not rough hard rolling boil. Gently add ravioli, boil until pillowy and extract with a slotted spoon.

3. In a pan over med. heat, heat up olive oil and butter together. Put garlic in this mixture, but don't brown it. The purpose is to get the garlic flavor permeating this oil. Add onion and stir until transluscent.

4. Add Ravioli. Sauté until they get golden brown. I was unable to do this, so maybe a different approach would have to take place. I kept flipping them around in the pan until they got a tiny bit crispy but thye never browned for me. Salt and Pepper and Red pepper flakes are good to add now.

5. Add pine nuts and tomatoes until they are cooked in the mixture.

6. Turn off pan, add fresh basil or dry flakes.

DONE. Whee! I am definitely making this again and tweaking hte recipe, so watch for another version of this. The flavors were spot on. Calorie-laden and fat-tastic, but so worth it.

Fruit Bowl: Kiwi, Strawberry, Banana

Not too spectacular, but oh so pretty. I like to eat kiwi with the skin on (washed, of course). Actually, you should always wash bananas, too. There is a really high incidence of rat pee on bananas, or at least I was told that by a SYSCO SafeServ training many moons ago...

Another one, because I can't choose:

Creamy Tomato Soup and Peanut Butter Sandwich

This is my ultimate comfort food. I dip the PB sandwich in the tomato soup, because it's good. The only way I can eat this is with Campbell's condensed tomato soup made with (soy)milk. Other tomato soups just are not the same.

Noodles with Beefy Gravy, Mushrooms, Onions, and Peas

I craved a gravy dish the other day so made this up as I went along.

What You Need:

1.48oz dry pasta (I used Whole Wheat spirals)
50g onion
120g mushrooms (I used sliced baby bellas)
1/2c ricemilk (or other milk)
3t Whole Wheat Flour (or all purpose white)
65g peas
1 veggie burger, crumbled

To Taste:
Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Salt
Pepper

Okay. I started by cooking the pasta normally, drained and rinsed and waiting for the gravy.

I sautéed the mushrooms and onions and added a microwaved veggie burger (I microwave to thaw) which I cut into pieces in a pan. Then I added some of the flour, as well as some rice milk, stirring constantly. I added the rest of the flour and milk, as well as some Bragg's, salt, and pepper. I dumped the peas in to mix with everything. It took some time to get just the right consistency fo the gravy.

I poured the gravy over the pasta on a plate. This was one large serving.

Overall, I need to improve the gravy. It was still a little heavy on the flour taste, but the Bragg's worked really well. Next time I may try adding butter or fat of some sort. Interesting experiment.

Lentil Soup and French Bread

Or maybe it's Italian bread. Or a generic white bread. I'm not sure.

This dish is from a local café on campus called Espresso 22. It's a "spicy" lentil soup with a LOT of bread on the side (a whole mini loaf as you cna see). The soup is very filling and made from scratch and cheap. A medium coffee and a bowl of soup with bread is less than five bucks. I think it's great.

Another picture:

Gnocchi with Red Sauce and Parma!

No, I'm not just excited about this dish (although it was tasty). Parma! actually has an exclamation mark in its name. Parma! is worth getting excited over, though. It is by far my favorite vegan "parmesan". Everyone should try it.

On to the food. Gnocchi are little dumpling like things made from potatoes and flour. They are found in the pasta section of the store. I attempted to make these from scratch last year, with disastrous results. I may try them again as the holidays near. I always try to make a few items to share for all the family holiday meals I attend.

The dish that's shown has a serving of gnocchi, 1/2c of Newman's Own Cabernet MArinara, and a good shake of Parma! Raw Parmesan. VERY simple, very tasty.