Lentil Sage Field Roast Grain "Meat" Sandwich with Carrots

Well today I wanted to start what I'm sure will not continue for more than two days: blogging daily all the food I consume, even the boring foods. This may or may not force me to eat more healthy and/or be far too large of a task to keep up with, but since it's summer I decided to give it a go.

Of course, I started off with a bang by craving and creating this lovely sandwich this morning for breakfast. A sandwich consisting of Lentil Sage flavored Field Roast Grain "Meat," which I enjoy because it's a nice alternative to the soy deli meats. Field Roast is made from vital wheat gluten, which sounds gross but it is that protein which gives us seitan and more importantly, mock duck.

This sandwich consists of 3 pieces of said grain "meat," a few slices of tomato, some baby spinach, mustard and a piece of Galaxy Nutritional Foods' Rice Vegan Cheddar "Cheese," again a nice change from all-soy "cheeses."

I also enjoyed some baby carrots on the side, as well as throughout today. Sometime after the carrots, I had a Primal Strip in Thai Peanut flavor. I like these as a quick snack that fills me up and doesn't lead to mindless snacking.

So that's the food so far today. Plus lots of water and about one 8oz cup of coffee.

Vegan Marble Cake from Bravo! Café and Bakery

Simple: Vegan Marble Cake from the wonder that is Bravo! Café and Bakery. This stuff is great: thick and dense yet light and fluffy at the same time. It's delicious and $2.50 per piece. No frosting, but that's fine with me.

Homemade Blueberry Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Wow, these were fantastic. Made with Aunt Jemima pancake mix and Ener-G egg replacer, I followed the directions on the box, let the mix rest for 5-10 minutes before mixing in the frozen blueberries and Sunspire Chocolate Chips. I can never get them perfect in shape and size, but as far as taste...fantastic.

Fried Tofu Appetizer from Chiang Mai Thai

Mmm, this is fried tofu sticks with peanut sauce from Chiang Mai Thai, one of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. Crispy shallot flakes top the tofu, and it is also served with sriracha.

On this visit, we enjoyed a Laab Salad with Mock Duck as well as a Garlic Pepper Stir Fry with Mock Duck. No pictures of those, though. I completely forgot and ate most of the meal before even thinking about picture taking! Ah well, the food was pretty good despite a lack of spice in the stir fry.

Falafel with Hummus from Holy Land

Yummy. Holy Land is an awesome local Middle Eastern restaurant, store and buffet supplied with fresh pitas, hummus, tahini, falafel, and everything else yummy under the sun. This was a box of leftovers I was able to take home after a work banquet. Filled with falafel balls and hummus, I also got some tahini and tabouli and purchased some pitas at the store. Seriously: day old pitas go 30 for $4 and fresh are 10 $2.

So so so SO tasty. Holy Land Brand is sold at most grocery stores here, but it's more expensive than at the store directly.

Helen's Kitchen Chili with Tortilla Chips and Vitamin Water

This is a picture of the box of Helen's Kitchen, a company which has vegetarian and vegan frozen products such as chili, curries, etc.

I have pics of the chili, but they don't look that great, so I decided not to post them. It wasn't too bad, the tofu bits were an interesting addition to the chili. I ate the chili by dipping Garden of Eatin Red Hot Blues Chips into it.

I also enjoyed a Vitamin Water with my meal.

Gluten Free French Toast Sticks from Ian's Natural Foods

These are frozen French toast sticks, from Ian's Natural Foods. They are Wheat/Gluten Free, and are vegan.

They weren't too bad. They are made with rice flour, which gave them an interesting texture. I don't personally think I'd buy them again because they are WAY overpriced, but they didn't taste too bad with a lot of syrup. It was neat to have frozen vegan French toast sticks. Shown here with maple syrup from Target.

Fried Potatoes, Sautéed Kale, and Mushrooms

This was incredibly simple, although I wish I was able to master the potatoes a bit more. I'll cook less of them and completely in the non-stick pan next time.

Recipe:
3-4 thin sliced potatoes (I used a Mandolin and b. red potatoes)
1T vegetable oil
3-4c Kale, torn up into little pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, medium-small diced
4-5 big button mushrooms, sliced

1. slice the potatoes on a mandolin or food processor or evenly with a knife. Pan fry in a pan with some vegetable oil until tender, adding 1/2 the onions and 1/2 the garlic to the pan after a bit. The potatoes take a while, so don't start the mushrooms or kale for at least 15 minutes.

2. In another pan, sauté the other half of the onions and garlic in a tiny bit of oil.

3. In another pan, sauté the mushrooms in some non-stick spray and a little salt and water.

4. In the onion and garlic pan, add the kale, stirring constantly. Sauté until it becomes your desired texture. I like mine pretty firm, so I tend to take the pan off the heat, add the kale, stir, and plate.

5. Plate all the food, serve with optional condiments: sriracha, ketchup, tobasco sauce, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, etc.

Homemade Tofu Bacon

This was an experiment. I enjoy the Fakin' Bacon from Lightlife, but those are about $4-5 for 5 long tempeh strips. Made at home with tofu, it came out to $3-4 for about one full pound of fakin' bacon.

I actually liked this stuff more than I thought I would. I just ate it all plain, but I could tell it would be great in a tomato and guacamole/avocado sandwich.

RECIPE
1 16 ounce package extra firm or firm tofu, water packed
2T Soy sauce (shoyu preferred, but regular soy sauce is ok.)
1t Liquid Smoke
2T Nutritional Yeast (optional)
1-3T oil, vegetable or another neutral oil (NOT sesame or peanut or olive)

1. Drain and press tofu.

2. Slice tofu into thin strips, similar to thick cut bacon.

3. Mix soy sauce and liquid smoke.

4. In a pan, heat vegetable oil and fry the tofu strips until crispy.

5. Remove from heat, then pour in the soy sauce/liquid smoke mixture.

--> okay, I need a larger pan, but I wound up making this mixture twice for my whole package of tofu. It was still good, but I love salt, so maybe this would end up being too salty for some people. In that case, mix a little water in the liquid smoke and soy sauce mix, and then pour half into the pan if you have a small pan like me and can only fit half the tofu in it.

6. Flip the tofu several times, making sure that both sides soak in the sauce. As the liquid disappears, you can add the nutritional yeast, again making sure both sides are coated. You could even mix the nutritional yeast in with the liquid before hand. The Nutritional yeast is not 100% necessary, but works out great.

7. Let tofu bacon rest on rack to drain and cool a little bit, eat and enjoy. Like I said, I only had it plain, but this would be great with breakfast or in a sandwich.

Chik'n Potstickers!

I made my own potstickers today! It was a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. Here is the finished product, pan fried chik'n potstickers with soy sauce/miso/ginger dipping sauce:



Ingredients:
filling:
1 bag of Morningstar Chik'n Strips, cooked, small chopped
1/2 an onion, small dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1.5 cups broccoli, cooked and blended/chopped finely
to taste:
soy sauce
ginger paste
rice vinegar
toasted sesame oil
garlic chili paste

Also:
1 package of potsticker wraps, which can be purchased at any Asian grocery as well as many major chain supermarkets
Canola oil
butter for sealing edges of wrapper

Hardware:
One deep pot or pan for pan frying
One pot to boil the potstickers in (should be able to just cover the potstickers)
A station set up on a counter to assemble the potstickers and set them on a plate
a station to set/drain the finished potstickers
A tablespoon to measure out filling
a pan for the chik'n, a pan for the broccoli (or steamer)

What to do:

1. Make the filling. First, cook the frozen chik'n strips until heated through. Get the water for the broccoli boiling, add broccoli (I used frozen.)

2. To the chik'n, add onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Turn off heat. Once cool, chop up the chik'n and set into a bowl. Chop very small/fine. Blending may work for this, too.

3. Drain broccoli when it's done, let cool. Once cooled, blend or chop finely.

4. To the chi'n, add ginger, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and garlic chili paste -- all to taste. Add in the blended mush of broccoli and mix everything together. That's the filling! Other options worth trying: scallions (I didn't have any), rice noodles, rice, carrot, etc.



5. Get your assembly line ready. It's best if you can work in a left to right or right to left line: a place to set the open wrappers and fill them, fold them; next a plate to set the folded potstickers; next into the boiling water; into the frying pan with oil and finally onto a place to drain the oil and get served.

6. For filling: put less than 1T (3/4 or so) of filling into the middle of the wrapper. I buttered the edge to help it stick together, but it didn't always work. Fold in half, then crimp edges and set on plate to await boiling. Important: avoid air bubbles, avoid holes, make SURE the edges are sealed.



7. You'll know when they are done boiling because they turn transluscent. Remove and set each potsticker into the frying pan and fry either one or both sides until golden brown. Drain off excess oil, EAT!

Amy's Kitchen Non-Dairy Beans and Rice Burrito with Chips and Salsa

Just a simple beans and rice burrito with hot salsa and tortilla chips. Nothing too special. From Amy's Kitchen.

Illionois/Chicago: The Hilton Gardenview and the Sheraton at O'Hare

I had to take a short trip to the Chicago area and here are the hotel/suburban foods I had. (I plan on going back to Chicago proper sometime soon to sample all of their great vegan restaurant selections.)

First up, the airport hotel. Room Service breakfast, which is the same at nearly every hotel I've been to: hashbrowns, fruit bowl, toast, peanut butter and jelly. The Sheraton @ O'Hare:



I must say that the fruit bowl was actually quite good and all the fruit tasted fresh and ripe. The hashbrown weren't too bad. Nothing spectacular and definitely not worth the price, but that's room service for ya.

Next up, a very similar breakfast from the Hilton Gardenview: fruit, mini bagels and diced potatoes:

Illinois/Chicago Area: Stir Crazy in OakbrookTerrace

Stir Crazy is a restaurant I went to while in the suburbs of Chicago. It serves various Asian dishes as well as featuring a make your own stir fry.

I've been to a few of this style of restaurants, but I like this one the best so far for a few reasons. First, it's nice that they add your tofu (or other protein of your choosing) when they cook the ood so you don't have to take up space in your bowl that can be used for broccoli or other veggies. Second, they have brown rice as an option. Third, they were nice enough to offer up their complete list of sauce ingredients so we could figure out which ones were vegan or not.

First, the coconut curry vegetables served with tofu and udon noodles:



This was really tasty. The sauce was awesome and the tofu was really great.

Next, a make your own stirfry with lots of veggies, tofu, and brown rice:



Overall, I had a great experience there and was impressed by both the service and the food.

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."

Baja Sol Express - Veggie Burrito Sol Bowl

I love Baja Sol because it has actual vegetables for veggie burritos and the hot salsa is fresh and HOT. They also have actual diced jalapenos rather than just pickled ones. While the burrito bowl is not the most photo-friendly food, it is quite tasty. This bowl features rice, black beans, vegetables (zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, yellow squash), lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, HOT salsa, fresh jalapenos and hot sauce. I also usually take a few lime wedges to add some zing.

French Fries with Seven Grain Veggie Cakes

The title says it all. I just baked some crinkle cut fries and served some mini veggie cakes as appetizers along with them. Dipping sauce are: ketchup, dijon mustard and yellow mustard.

The veggie cakes are from Super Target. A close up:



They weren't too bad, sort of like little mini veggie burgers. It would be cute to serve them on tiny buns with all the fixings.

Pan Fried Tofu

Best. Tofu. Ever.

I have officially become addicted to this style of tofu because it's super easy and gives the satisfaction of pan-fried fatty goodness.

Ingredients:
extra firm tofu (16oz)
salt
pepper
canola oil
optional: Montreal Steak Seasoning or garlic salt of some sort

How to do it:

1. Take a block of extra firm tofu (the water packed kind, not the hermetically sealed silken kind.) Cut the whole block in half, then into 1/4" thick slabs. Drain/press the tofu with paper towels to get more of the moisture out.

2. In a frying pan, put 2 T of canola oil in it and heat it to med-high.

3. Season the side of the tofu facing you with salt, pepper and optional seasoning. Lay that side down in the pan and season the new side with same ingredients. You should be able to fit about 3-4 slabs in the pan, depending on how big your pan is. Allow each side to fry until golden brown. (5 minutes on each side?)

4. Remove tofu, place on paper towels or tea towel to remove extra grease, re-salt if necessary, enjoy in a sandwich or as-is.

The salt is just right on these and makes the oil taste more like a buttery sauce than just canola oil. The Montreal Steak Seasoning, which I'm obsessed with, adds a lot of flavor, too.

Chino Latino

Chino Latino is a local restaurant owned by Parasole which serves "Street foods from the hot zones." It's a mix of Asian, South American and Latin American foods. The waitstaff is always friendly and is willing to go to great lengths to figure out what is vegan and what is not.

This is tofu satay, which was a new offering. We usually get portobella satay, which is really tasty, but this was excellent as well. Crispy fried tofu cubes on skewers, served with sweet and sour dipping sauce, quick-pickled cucumbers, and sticky rice.



I enjoyed my skewer with soy sauce and added hot sauce. I really wish this was served with the garlic soy sauce that accompanies the portobella satay. We also had several veggie potstickers, but I didn't take any photos of those because I inhale them all too quickly. Last, but certainly not least, we had "Popocatepe" aka "nacho fries." I order it minus the dairy (cheese, sour cream, and chile de arbol sauce which apparantly has dairy in it.) It's served with pico de gallo, black beans, and guacamole.

Pizza Luce Brunch - Breakfast Burrito, Hashbrowns, "Cheese" Toast

Pizza Luce brunch, once again!



I finally had the breakfast burrito, which is the last vegan item on the brunch menu that I had not tried. It was very tasty! It's scrambled tofu with peppers, onions, black beans, veggie sausage and soy cheese wrapped in a tortilla and smothered in quinto sauce (tasted like enchilade sauce sort of) and pico de gallo and more soy cheese. It's served on top of jalapeño hashbrowns and a side of salsa. I also had a side of their awesome vegan hollandaise sauce because it's great with everything.

Axel ordered their vegan cheese toast with soy cheese (they use Follow Your Heart mozzarella) as well as jalapeño hashbrowns with a side of the vegan hollandaise.

Fasika

This is one of my all time favorite comfort foods: the veggie sampler from Faiska, a local Ethiopian restaurant here in St. Paul. It's just really tasty and nutritious: lots of lentils, cabbage, veggies, greens, split peas, all cooked in different spices and served on top of Injera, a spongey pancake-like bread made from teff flour. The best part about Ethiopian food is that you eat with your hands, using the injera to scoop up the food.

I highly recommend clicking on the above photo to fo to the Flickr photo because I labeled everything. I'll try to describe it as best as possible.

In Center: Misir Key Wot (red lentils cooked in Berbere sauce) and from L to R: Atkilt (cabbage, potatoes and carrots); Gomen (cooked greens); horseradish? puree at the top; some unknown potatoe-y thing; kik alicha wot (split peas cooked in curry and other spices); beets; and a salad with oil/spices as dressing and peppers and tomatoes.