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.

GF Fried Tofu [Vegan Mofo]

Day 8 of Vegan Month of Food!!!! I took yesterday off, but I feel ok since I've had multiple days of double-posts.

I am not gluten-free, but for some reason my mom will see gluten-free items and buy them for me, conflating gluten-free and veganism. Whatever, her heart is in the right place. So that's how I wound up with a box of gluten-free pancake/waffle mix. The mis sat in my pantry for weeks & months, until I finally figured out a decent experiment to use it for: fried tofu.

This turned out ok. It was a bit too sweet, and burned easily due to the sugar content.

Bonus! Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache [Vegan Mofo]

Another post for Day 6 of Vegan Month of Food! And it's dessert again!

These were freaking delicious...because they are cupcakes, duh! Basically from VCTOW, with some help from this recipe on the PPK.

One more photo:

Veganomicon Cafe-Style Lemon Bars [Vegan Mofo]

Welcome to Day 6 of Vegan MoFo!

These were really interesting and nerve-wracking to make. It was the first time I worked with agar agar. These were really delicious, and the recipe comes from the excellent Veganomicon cookbook.

They turned out great & held together really well. They were gobbled down by Mr. Coconut as well as co-workers.

Here's the whole pan:

Curry Chickpea Stuffed Squash [Vegan Mofo]

Welcome to Day 5 of Vegan Month of Food!!!!

I made this two nights ago. I've always wanted to do a stuffed squash type of dish and now I have! The two types of squash I used: acorn and delicata. I must say that after this experience I am a huge fan of delicata squash. Light, very sweet, cooks up fast and gets nice and caramelized while roasting due to the high sugar content. I sliced both of the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and lightly rubbed olive oil all over them. Then I placed insides facing-down on a pan (does that makes sense?)and roasted for 25-45 minutes around 350 degrees F. I flipped the delicata squash every 10-15 minutes, it was done way faster than the acorn squash.

The stuffing/filling: I sauteed some thinly sliced onions and added chickpeas & curry powder. Next was some cabbage, beet greens, then wild rice and brown rice and veggie broth. I added garlic near the end along with some fresh parsley. Then I scooped into the cooked squash halves.

While all of this was cooking, I also was roasting up some beets, both regular beets and beautiful Chiogga Beets. Sliced up and served on the side of the stuffed squash.

The squash, parsley, beets, beet greens, cabbage and onion were all from the CSA.

Lemon-Dill Dressing: on Pan-Fried Tofu and a CSA Salad [Vegan Mofo]

Happy Vegan MoFo Day 4!

So many great ideas on the giant 2012 blogroll of MoFo-ers! It's fantastic to read through what others are doing this fun-filled month.

So I made this dish a while back, when I was up to my ears in dill and did not know what to do with it all! After a Google search of something along the lines of "what do I do with all this dill!?" I came across a few interesting recipes and stumbled upon this Lemon-Dill Tofu from Oh She Glows.

I had everything except the tahini, but it still turned out great and was a fantastic addition to some pan-fried tofu triangles.



My sides for this meal include some homemade simple cabbage and carrot coleslaw with a light vinegar/oil dressing and some steamed broccoli with sesame seeds. The coleslaw and dill were from the CSA. The broccoli was frozen.

I loved the dill dressing! I used it on a salad made from greens, carrots and tomatoes from the csa and topped with some flax seeds. Delicious!

Agedashi Tofu from Sakura [Vegan Mofo]

It's Day #3 ofVegan MoFo!

Today, I bring you an awesome dish: agedashi tofu. These particular photos are from Sakura Restaurant in St. Paul, but agedashi tofu is a popular appetizer at many/most Japanese restaurants. In my opinion, Sakura has the best agedashi tofu in town.

Perfectly crispy tofu with soft, creamy insides, topped with scallions as well as shredded ginger and daikon radish.

It's important to note that I order this appetizer with no dashi (fish broth) and no bonito flakes (fish flakes).

Another photo: