Veggie Sushi!

Sorry for the bad photo, but the sushi is actually quite good. I'm able to get this slightly overpriced but at least freshly made sushi on campus. This is one of two veggie varieties offered: two big "mushroom shitake salad" rolls, and six smaller avocado and carrot rolls. I already spread wasabi on these and poured soy sauce on them, so they look weird. Plus it's hard to focus or get good light in this particular room.

Chik'n Fried Tofu; Sautéed Spinach and Onions

This was an awesome experiment in my ongoing search for the perfect coating for fried/pan-fried/baked tofu. This stuff was really good. The coating came from McCormick Season 'n Fry Seasoned Coating Mix.

One tub (16 oz) of tofu, pressed/drained and cubed. Coat each piece with the seasoning. An easy way to do this is placing the seasoning in a plastic zip-top bag and shake like crazy! I then pan-fried the tofu in some vegetable oil until golden brown, drained the tofu, and re-coated and did the whole process over one more time. It actually stuck to the tofu, but left quite a bit of leftover flour/seasoning in the bottom of the pan. Very tasty, though.

I also enjoyed a bowl of sautéed spinach and onions with garlic on the side:

Apples, Peanut Butter, and Medjool Date Wrap

Whole Wheat wrap spread with Parkers Farm Inc. Natural Peanut Butter, sliced Red Delicious apples, and 2 quartered and pitted medjool dates for texture and sweetness.

Yum yum yum. I've made many peanut butter and apple wraps, but the addition of the madjool dates really makes a difference. I've been adding dates to many things lately, most notably my morning breakfast oatmeal/multigrain hot cereal.

The Peanut Butter is quite good, cheaper than lots of other natural peanut butters, and it's local. So I love it.

I've also tried out and enjoyed both Hempmilk and Oatmilk as something different than just soymilk. My favorite is still chocolate almond milk. I still need to try Hazlenut milk.

--> I must note that I know all the non-dairy alternatives to dairy milk are technically not allowed to be called "milk" and are to be referred to as non-dairy beverages. Meh, I still call them "milk."

Axel's Bombastic Black Bean Dip

The Saucy Coconut Food Blog is Back in Action! I know, I've said that before only to not post for weeks on end. Hopefully this time I'll stay true to my word and post more often. Well, this is a fantastic post to come back on:

Axel's Bombastic Bean Dip!

This is seriously the best bean dip EVER. I've made endless excuses why not to make my own bean dip: laziness, "too much work," and...laziness. There really isn't a good reason why I haven't been making my own bean dip. Yet it took my fiance, Axel, to have a heavy dose of inspiration in the kitchen to get me on the "make my own bean dip from now on" train.

This is a rough estimate of the creation of the best bean dip ever, but it will be recreated soon with more details and tweaking.

What's in it, roughly:
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 can of refried black beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of Rotel^TM Original Tomatoes and Green Chilies
4 cloves of garlic (or less if you aren't a fan of garlic)
good shake of red pepper flakes for spice
good shake of cumin for flavor

Directions (sort of):

1. In a big bowl, mash almost all the beans up with a potato masher

2. Add the Rotel^TM, mix thoroughly.

3. Either mince the garlic into a paste, or blend it with a hand blender, or the Magic Bullet Blender.

4. Blend the bean mixture, and also place into hot pan and cook mixture. Add some of the whole beans that were set aside before you started mashing. Leave these as whole.

5. Add cumin, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Fresh chilies like jalapenos, habeneros, etc., would be great.

Serve hot OR cold with chips, fresh veggies, crackers, pitas, or anything else you can think of. This dip gets better and more garlicky/spicy with each passing day, so try and save some for tomorrow!

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!

Nachos!

These are just nachos made with TVP "beef," though I hydrated the TVP with water mized with taco seasoning to give even MORE taco flavor. I also sauteed half an onion before tossing the TVP in the pan to give more flavor. Then I spooned the "beef" over a small pan of nacho chips which was on top of foil for easy clean up and transportation. I shredded a lot of Follow Your Heart mozzarella on top, and broiled it in the toaster oven until the "cheese" melted a bit.

It wasn't too bad, needed something more, like salsa or nacho cheese dip.

Hearty Vegetable Soup with Toasted English Muffin

Homemade soup with lots of fresh vegetables, served with a toasted sprouted grain English muffin.

Ingredients:

2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Mirepoix (onion, chopped carrots, chopped celery)
3T olive oil (optional)
frozen veggies
1-2 Potatoes, diced/chopeed

seasonings: poultry seasoning, SALT, pepper, celery salt, oregano

1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, along with 2 of those cans filled with water added to pot


1. Sautee the onion, garlic, carrot, potatoes, and celery and the dry seasonings.
2. Add frozen veg and oil.
3. Add tomatoes with juice, stir, add water.
4. Boil, then bring to simmer.
5. Cook until poatoes are tender.

DONE!

Holidays 2007: Leftovers

Not a very photogenic dish, but tasty anyway. Chunks of Celebration Roast with roasted vegetables such zucchini, carrot, and squash.

Just some leftovers from the holiday season. These particular leftovers were eaten a day or two after Thanksgiving.

Tortilla with Chipotle "Sausage," Leeks, Potatoes, and Rice Cheese

When I made this, I was looking for a sort of breakfast burrito type of meal. I had recently come across the Field Roast Grain Meat Company's Chipotle "Sausage." Field Roast makes Celebration Roast, among other things. The recipe is simple:

Sliced leeks, sautéed with sliced potatoes and the sausage until done. Pile into tortilla and melt one slice of rice "cheese" on it. Eat and enjoy.

The chipotle sausage was actually quite spicy and good. I would really like to try it with a tofu scramble to really get a breakfast burrito taste.

Pan Fried Potstickers from Bravo! Cafe and Bakery

That's right, Bravo!, one of my favorite local restaurants, is back with a vengeance. They recently (aka several months ago) added pan fried veggie potstickers to their menu. I thought they were quite good, but a little on the greasy side.

Here are the potstickers in action, along with some mock orange chicken, mock fish, broccoli, and brown rice:

Fried Potatoes with Ketchup

This satisfied a craving I had for simple fried carbs. One potato, sliced up into thin rounds, then pan fried until tender in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Serve with ketchup.

Not too fancy, but very tasty. Especially for breakfast.

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!

Pizza: Papa John's

Just a jazzed up piece of Papa John's pizza. I added a bunch of garlic sauce, some cumin, Parma!, and red pepper flakes. The toppings from PJ's were: Green Peppers and pineapple. Maybe onions as well, can't remember.

Nothing special, but still a nice treat.

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.