Silk Iced Latte

Ok. I have waited years...years to have a product like this on the market. Is it a sugary caffeinated mess? Absolutely.

When I was younger I was obsessed with This Stuff. That powdered "International Coffee" was a delicious sugar bomb that I loved.

Bottled Frappuccino? You better believe I drank an obscene amount of those in my day.

Alas...none of those drinks (as well as countless other coffee-based premade beverages) are vegan. I thought I would never be able to enjoy a premade coffee drink again. Until....



I enjoy these immensely. They come in vanilla and mocha, and are way sugary, but I don't mind. I love black coffee for the most part, with an occasional flavored coffee drink, but these just hit my nostalgia zone in a satisfying way. I keep seeing commercials for the Almond Breeze Iced Coffee but have yet to see them in real life.

Food Trucks! Hola Arepa & Red Smoker

This is probably the last time of the season I will be able to get an arepa from Hola Arepa. This time, I got guac on the side, and added some hot sauce.

I also hit up the Red Smoker BBQ food truck and got some vegetarian chili with no dairy. It was made with kidney or pinto beans, and topped with green peppers, onion, cilantro, and cucumbers. Not too bad, I added hot sauce, because I always add hot sauce.

DDOW Thai Coconut Farmer's Market Soup

Part two of this week's Delivered Dish...



From the website:

Thai Coconut Farmers Market Soup (V, Paleo, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) Like a vegetable chowder but with Thai flavors and coconut milk. Simmering it with corn cobs add extra sweetness. Expect some chopped collards or kale.

The soup was great. Nice coconut flavor. It had potatoes, corn, greens (collards?), carrots, and tomatoes. I added some spice because I love spicy food, but other than that I ate the soup as-is. Great as always.

Next week for DDOW: ratatouille and polenta!

DDOW Black Lentil Salad

This week from Delivered Dish...

Lentil Salad!



From the website:

Black Beluga Lentil Salad in Sesame Ginger Dressing (V, GF, no added sugar; will contain a little soy) These beautiful organic lentils were another fun special-order from Purcell Mountain Farms (Idaho). I’m hoping they don’t lose their jet black color when cooked.

This was delicious! I really enjoyed the black lentils - the cabbage, celery, and cucumber gave a great texture and the light dressing gave a nice zing to the whole thing. I ate this both warm and cold over greens (spinach & kale). I also added a little chile pepper action because I love spice!

I also got a Thai Coconut vegetable soup, which I will review tomorrow.

Veg Fest 2013!

Very exciting - the second annual Veg Fest is going to happen in Minneapolis at Coffman Union on the UMN - Twin Cities Campus! A fun time of vegan food, animal activist speakers, and great music. And it's all FREE.

Saturday, October 26, 2013
10am - 4pm
Coffman Union
(300 Washington Ave SE Minneapolis, MN, 55455)

SUPER excited for this event. Last year was a blast, and I know that it will be more popular this year since the festival is during the academic year.

Woohoo!

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.

Spaghetti with Vegan Sausage and Vegetables - Vegan MoFo 2013

Thin spaghetti noodles, Gimme Lean sausage, cherry tomatoes, Organic strained tomatoes (for sauce), and some frozen veggies (carrot, bell peppers, onion, broccoli).

Simple and satisfying.

Mini & Regular Waffle Cinnamon Rolls - Vegan MoFo 2013

I didn't invent these or anything, but WOW they were AWESOME. I used a tube of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, store brand. Immaculate Baking Company is a brand that makes accidentally vegan cinnamon rolls as well.

For the regular size waffle rolls, I simply placed a roll into the waffle maker and closed the lid until reached desired doneness. For the mini-sized rolls, I broke the dough up into smaller bits before rolling them into their classic shape and placed into the waffle iron. The icing was from the container. Next time I will do the mini size for all the rolls.

DDOW - Romesco Rice & Garbanzo Veg Za'atar Salad - Vegan MoFo 2013

Another DDOW! This will be the last DDOW of Vegan Month of Food, but I intend to continue posting these beautiful and tasty dishes whenever I get them.

This week's featured dishes were great, as always. I mixed them together and really enjoyed it. I didn't have any greens, but it would be fantastic on top of kale or arugula or spinach. The bean salad had cucumbers, cabbage, and some fresh herbs. The rice was great too.

From the Website:

Garbanzo Bean & Veg Za’atar Salad (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) Za’atar, a spice mixture popular throughout the Middle East, comprises ground dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, toasted sesame seeds and salt, and also often ground sumac, which has a lemony tang. You might encounter it sprinkled on hummus at restaurants. Confession: I bought a large bag at Holy Land Deli on Central Ave, a local mecca of affordable spices. Run, don’t walk.

Rice Romesco (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar; contains almonds) Romesco sauce is a classic Catalonian simmered sauce of mostly red bell peppers mixed with ground nuts. The carrier here is organic brown rice. You can eat this dish cold or hot. By this week, inexpensive pecks of peppers should be all over the Farmers Markets (a peck is approx 8 dry quarts, with 4 pecks to a bushel). Take advantage of the harvest bounty and make a couple quarts at home to slather on everything (can freeze).

Cheezy Broccoli Soup/Puree - Vegan MoFo 2013

This was a fun experiment. Broccoli soup was one of my favorite soups as a child. So much so, it was my choice of birthday meal shared with my less-than-enthusiastic fellow five-to-seven year olds.

The "cheez" is a mix of blended (soaked) cashews, nutritional yeast, and coconut milk beverage along with some pimientos, salt, lemon juice and a tiny tiny bit of Kala Namak (black salt).

The broccoli is 2 bags of frozen steamers along with a little bit of peas leftover from another meal. I pureed everything together and made a soup-like meal. Not terrible, not blow my mind soup, either. I garnished with black pepper and red pepper flakes along with a touch of chimichurri sauce.

Go-To Remedies for Colds - Vegan MoFo 2013

I must admit, Auto-Posting is a wonderful thing that I only started using during this Vegan Month of Food 2013.

It is great to do a slew of posts in one day and schedule them to post during busy weeks, or worse - when sickness strikes.

Well, today I've been struck.

My personal philosophy of how to cure myself while having a cold includes the following:

1. Only spend a small portion of the time wallowing in sickness. Everyone needs to feel those "poor me" sick feelings once in a while, but that attitude will not help at all in the long run.
2. Watch at least one new (to me) movie, preferably a good one. (Binge-watching TV on streaming service of choice is acceptable, but at least one movie.)
   
3. If at home during the day, watch The Chew.
   
4. Drink lots of liquids (mainly tea & water), eat berries, and drink broth. The spicier the better.
   
5. Shower. At least once. It makes me feel human again. Same goes for brushing the teeth, and probably time to buy a new head for the toothbrush.
   
6. Step outside at least once. Even if it is just to check the mail or bring recycling to the curb.

So far today, I have done very little on this list other than drink broth. (And I am halfway through today's The Chew.)

Thankfully, the broth I made today was pretty tasty and easy! Still have some left. I boiled 2-3 cups (half to three quarters of a liter) water, added a bit of a veggie bouillon cube and a small chunk of mild miso paste. I then cut up (with kitchen scissors) half a jalpeño as well as 4-5 dried chiles I had on hand. I want it to be as spicy as possible. In a small magic bullet, I blended ginger paste and 3-4 large garlic cloves and added it to the broth. Brought everything to a boil, then simmered for a minute or two. I added fresh lime juice at the end, and drank out of a mug.

Crescent Samosas with Chimichurri - Vegan Mofo 2013

What am I going to make for dinner? - this thought ran through my head all the way home. Constantly flipping through ingredients I know I have on hand and weighing out whether I needed to pick up anything on the way home.

From pasta to taco night to taco pizza, nothing seemed to feel right. My mind's eye went back into the fridge and clicks off ingredients: vegan sausage (Gimme Lean), peas...crescents. Scanning the pantry and counter, I rested upon potatoes and was sold.

Once I got home, I started washing some potatoes (little reds and yellows) and sliced them into as evenly shaped and sized pieces as possible. I tossed them in a small bowl with olive oil and crushed whole garlic cloves that I tore apart with my hands. Onto a foil-lined tray for the toaster oven. Before I placed it in to bake - I also covered the tray with foil, poking 3-4 slits for ventilation.

As the potatoes started steaming, I opened one tube of crescent dough, and laid them out on a plate to become more malleable.

I did a small dice on one quarter of a large onion and started to slowly sweat the onions in a pan. At least 15-20 minutes were spent just sweating these onions out on really low heat with a little coconut oil. Once I was satisfied with the onions, I removed them from the pan and got the Gimme Lean out. Sliced off a couple chunks, and seasoned with curry powder & paprika before sauteing in the onion pan, splitting up the sausage until they were smaller chunks and added the onions back along with the peas I had already cooked the day before.

Once the potatoes were soft, I threw them into a bowl and mashed, with a little butter (not much!), then added the sausage-onion-pea mix in with some of the potatoes. I carefully placed a big Tablespoon of the mix onto a crescent triangle, then closed the dough around it and carefully placed it onto the toaster oven tray and baked a little longer than recommended, flipping the crescents over. This made about 8 samosas total.

The sauce was similar to the chimichurri sauce I did earlier this month.

Great and fairly easy, though somewhat labor-intensive. This would be even better if there was a mixture already made and then just use the leftovers the next day inside these crescents. Next time I would probably mess around with the dough a little more.

A look on the inside:

Pad Thai with Fried Tofu - Vegan Mofo 2013

Dim bar lighting does not lend itself to food photography, but I work with what I've got. Pad Thai with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions, lemon and lime wedges, and probably some other things I am not thinking of. From Señor Wong.

Baked Tofu with Cilantro Ginger Sauce & Apple Mint Beets - Vegan MoFo 2013

Alas, this was not made by me, but it is from a local co-op's deli. The sauce on the tofu was thick and almost pesto-like in consistency. The beets were great, with hints of fresh mint and tart apple cider vinegar throughout the dish.

DDOW - Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet w. Rosemary - Vegan MoFo 2013

I am a little late on posting this from last week's second part ofdelivered dish of the week.



From the website:

Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet with Rosemary (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) A lightly braised stew of market veg and giant heirloom scarlet runner beans (and regular red beans). Good with crusty bread, a glass of wine or all by itself. Cool beans!

A hearty bean stew, basically. I realized that I have never had scarlet runner beans while eating this. They are huge! And I want more! I served this with some pretzel crackers for crunch. Great dish!

DDOW Raw Zucchini Noodles w. Tomato Sauce - Vegan Mofo 2013

Another week, another Delivered Dish!


You can check out other DDOW posts by clicking the tag below or here.


For today's dish, I am going to highlight the raw zucchini noodle dish. From the website:

Zucchini Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce (V, Paleo, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) Carb-free pasta! Fresh sage and oregano flavor the simple sauce. Super low-cal.

I must say, other than this time last summer, I don't know if I ever really had zucchini noodles before. And that last time didn't count too much as I had the noodles with spaghetti. This dish was light, refreshing, and flavorful. Even though the yellos is what you can really see, which I assume is yellow squash, the green zucchini is definitely in the dish throughout. It came packaged with plum tomatoes throughout, as well as some basil and other herbs. This may inspire me to make zucchini noodles on my own!

Zesty Bean Dip - Vegan Mofo 2013

I've made bean dip before, and this will not be the last time I make bean dip. Hang in there, we are a little over halfway through Vegan Mofo, and I have a busy week.

I made this dip a little different than I've made other dips in the past. I blended up some onion, 3 big garlic cloves, 1-2 Thai Chili peppers, cumin, dried coriander, and water. Then simmered that mix in a pot, added half a veggie bouillon cube, and then added one can vegetarian refried beans. This was really soup-like, and I simmered it down for a while. It thickened even more as it cooled in the fridge. As usual, the flavors become more intense as time goes on, so this would be really great made the day before. I can rarely have it last that long in the house.

Clear Noodle Soup: Mushroom Edition - Vegan MoFo 2013

Halfway through Vegan Month of Food 2013!

http://www.veganmofo.com


Remember that soup from yesterday? Well, there were about three portions total, but we only had a bowl a piece. So I ate the rest later, except this time I used mushrooms. I sauteed mushrooms in the same pan that the mock duck had gotten all crispy in and was able to deglaze the pan, making the mushrooms even more delicious. Added hot peppers, arugula and kale, as well as cilantro. Spooned this mix over the last bowl of soup, garnished with lime and cilantro.

Clear Noodle Soup w. Mock Duck - Vegan Mofo 2013

Can you make me some soup? Mr. Coconut asks.

Sure.

"Soup" means one of three varieties of instant ramen or rice noodle soups in the pantry. Flip through the food we have in my head. I mentally mix and match flavors, textures, colors.

ginger garlic onion greens - will arugula work? - rice noodles peppers - jalapeno or Thai? - tofu mock duck what vegetables do we have soy sauce coconut oil hot sauce


Got it.

One can of mock duck - drain, rinse, tear into smaller pieces. Coconut oil to saute in a pan while water boils for the broth and noodles of this soup:




Spicy Thai chili peppers get tossed in with the mock duck, along with a good pour of soy sauce. Seasoning powder into the boiling water, along with the rice noodles. In the mock duck pot - a handful of kale and turn off the heat for both pots.

I ladle broth and noodles into the bowl, then place the greens and mock duck on top of the soup. Garnish with limes and cilantro.

DDOW - Spicy Chile Verde w. Beans - Vegan Mofo 2013

As promised, here is the Spicy Chile Verde with Beans from this weeks Delivered Dish of the Week order. From the website:

“Spicy Chile Verde with Beans (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) An opportunity to see why chef Crescent Dragonwagon in her book Bean for Bean insists there is no substitute for Santa Fe Green Chilies from New Mexico. With green bell peppers.”

This had a ton of vegetables, as you can see. It actually had quite a bit of broth, too, but for the sake of the photo, I emphasized the veggies and beans.
I enjoyed this dish – it was a satisfying lunch that I will have more of tomorrow. I added a little bit of spinach because I add greens to as many things as possible if I have them around, and adding them to soups is one of my favorite ways to incorporate greens easily.

It was not quite what I expected – but then again, most of the dishes I have received so far are different than what I expected – and that is great. I love the semi-unexpected surprise of trying new foods or foods prepared in different ways than I would. It has been really invigorating and inspiring for my own cooking.

Next week for DDOW, I will be getting (and blogging) a container of Zucchini Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce as well as a container of Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet with Rosemary. Sounds great!!!!