Vegan Mini Pizza Rolls…

Feb9

One day I came across a recipe for a pizza roll and thought it would be a perfect recipe to veganize since my picky vegan bff loves all things pizza.  I ended up heading to their house to cook. and being men, their cooking supplies were limited.  I tried to do the best I could, but I’m not really a baker and working with raw dough is not my forte.  I rolled my dough too thin, it was sticking to the counter, I couldn’t roll it over because I made it too thin, long and full.  

So being my (sometime) dramatic self, dinner was now ruined and it hadn’t even been cooked yet.  In came the bff who keeps me in check to save the day.  We landed up cutting it in half and cooking two rolls instead of one, except at this point it was more like a calzone.  Regardless of the drama I created in my head surrounding this dinner, after it was cooked it was delicious.  And then I felt really stupid for being so damn dramatic – which happens a lot.

Now I’m on a diet because it is possible to be a fat vegan – Whole Foods can  be the devil.   I even bought a food scale and people scale so I can monitor it all, then I use an app and website to diary all my food/calorie intake and exercise.  (Since January 2nd I’ve lost 15.8 lbs.)  Today I tried a new website and it cut my calories dramatically, so I really had to be careful with dinner calories.  These little guys are only 210 calories a piece and that is with additional marinara over the top.  So here you have it, the recipe for mini pizza rolls:

1 16 oz pkg Whole Wheat Raw Pizza Dough (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)

2 cups marinara sauce  

10 oz sliced baby portobello mushrooms

1/2 cup Daiya Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

1.  Cut dough in 8 pieces - I cut and weighed 2 oz pieces and rolled them in balls.  Let rest for 10 minutes on a flour dusted cutting board or counter top.

2.  Roll out ball of dough about a quarter-inch thick.

3.  Spread 1 tbsp of marinara on dough, cover with mushrooms,  sprinkle with cheese and roll.  Repeat 8 times. 

4.  Bake on a parchment paper covered baking sheet for 20 minutes, remove from oven and  cover with 3 tbsp of marinara.

I served these with vegan fried calamari, which by the way are the bomb-diggity!  Use extra marinara for dipping.

Happy eating!

The BEST Quinoa Dish You Will Ever Eat, eat*, eat*, eat* (*that’s an echo)

Feb8

UPDATE:  About a year ago I posted this recipe and forgot about it.  Apparently the BFF didn’t because a couple of weeks ago when I asked him what he wanted for dinner he asked for this.  I seriously forgot how good this dish is and that weekend I landed up making it again while my sister was over at my house.  She LOVED it and asked me to make it for her again – which reminds me, I’ve got to get on that.  I double the recipe because it’s so good you can’t help eating so much of it.  I also make it the day before I’m going to serve it because it tastes better.  Try it!  You’ll LOVE IT!

 

Remember?  Flair for drama?  That’s me!  Seriously though, this is my friend’s favorite quinoa dish and it is really, really good and super simple to make.  I wish I had a pic, but it’s all gone – we had it for dinner last night.  During lunch today I tried to recreate it with an orange instead of lime, and great northern beans instead of black beans, mainly because I was too lazy to go to the store and get another can, but it just wasn’t AS good as the original. 

I ran across this recipe when my friend told me he was going Vegan and I googled “vegan recipes”.  It’s from a site called Meatout Mondays.  So I give you the recipe for Black Bean and Quinoa Salad directly from the site (which conveniently has a picture) and I’ve made some changes in italics and took some of the steps out because I find them confusing.  If you want to see the true recipe click the link above:

Black beans are an excellent source of fiber and protein. Quinoa is a light crispy protein-packed whole grain. Mix them together and you’ve got a high protein meal with energizing nutrients to keep you strong and healthy! Try this satisfying Black Bean & Tomato Quinoa… delicately enhanced with a touch of lime, this dish packs the power of whole grains!

Ingredients:

2 tsp. grated lime zest, grated peel (I use 2 limes)
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice (I use the juice of those 2 limes)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. sugar (I use 1 pkt of Splenda or Truvia)
1 cup quinoa
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed & drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 cups of vegetable broth OR 2 cups of water with 1 vegan vegetable bouillon cube
salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk lime zest and juice, olive oil, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper.
  2. In a medium pot, boil either 2 cups of  vegetable broth or 2 cups of water with a vegan vegetable broth bouillon cube.
  3. Cook covered for 20 minutes on low heat, or until there is either no longer any or very little liquid.
  4. Remove pot from heat and remove lid, stir; let stand for 5 minutes.
  5. Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste.

Happy eating!!!

Easy and Cheesy

Nov18

The dish I made for dinner last night is one of our favorites.  When I was little my mom used to babysit these two boys whose mother would sometimes send them with “souped up rice” for lunch.  It was SO good and so simple – cream of chicken soup and white rice.  I will never forget “souped up rice” and the dish I made last night is an adult, vegan version of this dish.  It is so quick and easy because I take all the help I can get from the store. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

3 cups brown rice – I buy the bagged, frozen brown rice from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

1 bag frozen broccoli – I can’t remember the size of the bag, but I remember there were approximately 5 servings in the bag.

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups Daiya cheese – I use both mozzarella and cheddar, but you can use whatever you like including pepperjack

2 – 3 cups Imagine Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup – this is my new favorite thing; it’s a little expensive, but so worth it!  It’s also on sale at Natural Grocer’s now through the holidays for almost half of its normal price.  It’s in a 32 oz carton, it does not come in cans.

1/2 cup green chile (optional) – I live in NM, the land of fresh roasted green chile, we put green chile in everything!

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, add the frozen rice and broccoli and defrost in the microwave.  To the defrosted rice and broccoli, mix in the remaining items and salt and pepper to taste.  If you need to add more soup, add more soup.  You don’t want it floating in soup, just really moist.  Transfer to your casserole dish and put in the oven for 25 minutes.  The edges will be brown and bubbly.  Take out of the oven and let it sit for a couple of minutes then serve it up.  If you prefer a softer onion texture in your food please feel free to sauté your onions and garlic before adding to the bowl.  The bffs and I like the texture and crunch of the slightly raw onion so I don’t sauté before hand.  This makes a great side or main dish.  It is one of only a few meals that we don’t have leftovers, because you can’t help but go back for just a little bit more all night long.

Happy eating….

My Way of Getting My Adult To Eat His Soup With Veggies

Nov9

Do you have those picky eaters in your family?  Have you ever heard of VEGan who doesn’t like veggies?  Well now you have because one of my bffs is that person.  I have to get creative in getting him to eat any veggie other than mushrooms (he loves mushrooms) and it usually works.  Of course there are those times where I’ve put them in sauces and when I’m cleaning the dishes his is the one with everything gone, but every diced veggie that was in the sauce.  I swear the man is magic because I have no idea how he does it.

A few weeks back I made a delicious pear, potato, lentil soup.  I’ve known him for six years, I’ve shared many a meal with him and this night he expressed his dislike for soup.  He tasted a spoonful of it and I thought maybe he didn’t like that particular soup, but nope he came out and said he doesn’t like soup period.  There are exceptions:  He likes cream of mushroom and he likes a gravy like stew I make with potatoes and Gardien Beef Tips.   That night I made him grilled Dayia Cheese and Tofurkey sandwiches with green chile.

Because I cannot make a small batch of  soup I had to get creative with the leftovers.  I thought of making a pot pie out of the soup disguising what was inside with a vegan whole wheat pie crust covered with Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry – can you believe it? It’s vegan!  When I went to the store to get the puff pastry I noticed they had puff pastry shells that are vegan too.  Instantly I thought, mini pot pies.  My only mistake was buying one box of 6 because they are reall small and my bffs have an appetite.

This brings me to yesterday’s dinner dilemma.  I’ve decided rather than getting completely frustrated with my adult child because he doesn’t like what I’ve made for dinner, I call or text him for any suggestions.  Oddly enough when he asks me to make something he likes it gives me great satisfaction to make it for him because he never asks me for anything.  Yesterday he didn’t have a suggestion so I told him I was making green chile stew with potatoes, corn, tomatoes, onion and garlic.  His huge sigh turned into a suggestion:  Get some of those puff pastry bowls and serve it in that!  Praise baby Jesus, the man is going to eat his veggies and soup!  Funny thing is, I served the first two and he ate them, but when he went back for more – I bought two packages this time – he carefully made sure he only got potatoes.  The kid is magic, I swear!

What he doesn’t know is tonight when they come over we are having the same thing for dinner for a couple of reasons:  I made a lot of soup last night and my kitchen is in shambles because we are in the process of installing my new dishwasher and I can’t really get to a lot.  I was going to try to soften the blow when he walks in the door tonight, but Whole Foods did not have any of his favorite vegan chocolate chip cookies.  We went last night to get him some while he started the dishwasher install process and they were out, and when I went at lunch there weren’t any.  So he’s just going to have to suck it up and eat the second thing he doesn’t like:  leftovers.  I’ve said it for years, this man is preparing me for kids, but I love him more than my luggage and he’s damn cute so what ya’ do?!

Below are a couple of recipes I’ve talked about above – remember this makes a lot of food so cut it down as you please:

Green Chile Stew

6-8 Yukon gold potatoes cubed

1 cup chopped roasted green chile

2-3 cups frozen corn kernels

16 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

1 small onion diced

2-3 cloves minced garlic

Cover with veggie broth, not beef broth or not chicken broth about 1 inch above the ingredients and cook on high for 4 hours in the crock pot.  To thicken the stew take 3 tablespoon of corn starch and desolve it with 6 tablespoons of cold water and add it to the stew slowly while stirring it in.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Bake the puff pastry shells as directed on the back of the box for “extra crispy shells” – 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Grilled Sandwiches

If you have a George Foreman grill pull it out and use it for these sandwiches.  It is quick, easy and makes perfect sandwiches.

Slather bread of your choice with Earth Balance butter – just a little bit as to not add a ton of fat

Cover with shredded Daiya Cheese of your choice

Add three slices of your choice of lunch meat – I use any and all of the Tofurkey lunch meats

Cover your meat with cheese

Top it with another bread slice, butter side up and press that sandwich with the top of the Foreman grill until golden brown.  You can also use this method for quesadillas, just sub the bread for tortillas.  I add green chile because it’s good that way, but if you don’t have green chile that’s good eats too.

Hope you enjoy!  Happy Eating!

Vegan Posole – A Holiday Tradition

Nov7

I know, I know, I’ve been a total slacker with my blog.  You know what it is?  I make something that turns out really good, the BFFs and I devour it, and there are absolutely no pictures taken of the yummy dish only an empty dish.  I guess I feel the need to offer you pictures, when I don’t have any I don’t post.  So the next few posts are some really good recipes I’ve come across, adapted to make them my own, or they just popped into my head while I’m processing loans at work.

Halloween is “my” holiday; in other words, I’m responsible for hosting the fam for Halloween.  Every year my sister, brother-in-law and their three kids, my dearest friends and their little guy, my parents, my cousin (sometimes my grandma comes with her), and my besties come over and eat before going out in my hood to trick-or-treat.  They come back with lots of candy and eat again. 

I don’t know why I even bother asking, but I ask my sister every year what she wants to eat for dinner.  Every year she comes back with the same answer, “Posole”.  Last year my mom made the posole and brought it over, I’ve never made it before so she offered to make it.  Her posole is the best, but because I needed to make a vegan option for me and the besties, I told her I would go ahead and cook it.  Unfortunately, my grandma and brother-in-law didn’t make it, but I had a few extra guests.  By “few” I mean 7, which brought my total guest count to 20 including me.  In true Hispanic woman fashion, my mom and I cooked for 50 linebackers.   I not only had two different types of posole, I also had refried beans for tostadas, my dad’s red chile for the traditional posole and vegan red chile, salsa, guacamole, vegan and regular sour cream, onions, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, tortillas, sopita (a fideo and tomato base side that would take the place of spanish rice and is delicious) and then my mom brought crock pots full of food: ground beef for tacos, queso, and the traditional sopita (hers is made with chicken bouillon, mine with veggie bouillon).

Below is the recipe for vegan posole.  For the traditional posole I did the same thing, but added cubed pork.  If there weren’t going to be kids eating it, I would have added the red chile directly to the crock pot.

1 2lb bag of frozen, uncooked posole defrosted and rinsed – During the holidays this is hard to find.  I went to two Smith’s and finally found it at Sunflower Market where I bought the last bags. 

1 whole onion peeled and halved - you could also dice the onion but I wanted to take the onion out because my grandma doesn’t like pieces of onion in her food

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

Lots of veggie broth – I used 5 cans of veggie broth and still needed to add water.  My suggestion is fill the crock pot with veggie broth because the posole will absorb the liquid in order to pop.  I would buy 2-3 32 oz cartons next time and use what I need.

You will need to add salt and pepper, but wait until the posole is done before seasoning.

I cooked the posole on low, in four hours it was done.  If overcooked or if there is not enough room in your crock pot it has the tendency to get mushy, so the bigger the crock pot the better.

Enjoy!  If you have any questions about any of the products I use, please let me know.

Our New Addiction

Aug22

In my house we do things subtly.   I got home from work last week and found this on the counter:

This picture is a sure sign that we are currently out of my newest vegan concoction, and our new addiction, Veggie Cream Cheese.

It’s super simple to make and I can kick myself for not thinking of it sooner.  I decided to try this out one afternoon while running errands.  They opened a new Einstein’s Bagels near my hood and I was thinking how much I loved their  everything bagel with veggie schmear.  As it all came together in my head I figured something good out. 

Costco recently started selling everything bagel thins and they are awesome – I’m sure you can find them in your local supermarket.  I buy Tofutti cream cheese all the time because it is so darn good.  So I went to the store and bought some fresh veggies and herbs.  I’ve made this three times and each time I try a new veggie to add to the base of veggies and herbs.  It is utterly addicting with pretty much anything.  We eat this not only on bagels, but with Wheat Thins, tortillas, in a wrap, and last night we used the bagel thin as a bun, smothered it with veggie cream cheese and added a Boca Burger.  DELISH!!! is all I gotta say to that.

So you will need a food processor for sure.  The base is as follows:

1 peeled carrot

2 scallions

1-2 cloves  garlic

cilantro (rip some off the bunch)

flat leaf parsley (again, just rip some off the bunch)

salt

My first batch I made with a stalk of celery, my second a peeled rutabaga (which is pictured above) and my third a small beet.  The beet turned the cream cheese pink and my sister was reluctant to try it because she was expecting sweet, but was pleasantly surprised to enjoy a fresh, savory flavor.  The beet batch was also used on the boca burger last night.  It’s green chile season here in NM and after peeling and bagging three sacks yesterday my next batch I’ll add roasted green chile to the mix.  In fact, I may have to do this today since it sounds so darn good. 

My veggie cream cheese is now a  staple in my house.  This is also a great thing for parties and get togethers.  I hope you try it and let me know how much you’ve become addicted as we have.

Crispy Tacos, Are They a Thing of The Past? I Think Not…

Aug11

In my opinion crispy tacos are highly underrated.  Sure you have the phenomenon of taco trucks in all the big cities, but they are all soft tacos.  And while there are some super yummy soft tacos out there –  carnivorous, veggie, and vegan – I still put all my support  behind the crispy taco.

Earlier in the week I picked up some soyrizo and tofu thinking it would be a good breakfast – if you get firm tofu it tastes just like scrambled eggs and chorizo and makes a great breakfast burrito.   Because I’ve made some pretty elaborate, labor intensive meals lately I decided to go simple this week and turned my extra firm tofu and soyrizo into taco meat with the addition of small diced fried potatoes.    If you haven’t tried soyrizo I implore you to try it.  If you like chorizo, but don’t like the massive amount of red grease it sits in or the pork/beef parts and pieces, this is the perfect alternative.  It requires a little salt and a touch of oil to get it browned up, but I’m telling you it is the best thing ever.

When I was little, much to my dismay, my mom would put diced potatoes in our taco meat – the ground beef was barely seasoned and it just never was my favorite.  Obviously my palate was not as adventurous as it is now, and I would throw a BF (bitch fit) all over the place because I wanted my tacos to be like Taco Bell.  (I shake my head in disgust now that I think about it.  I can see now why my mom would tell me if I didn’t like it I didn’t have to eat but she wasn’t going to make me something else.)  Eventually, she got tired of hearing me bitch about the potatoes and started making just ground beef.  Again, not necessarily my favorite but with the addition of massive amounts of cheese and salsa all was ok with my dining experience.

Yesterday as I was thinking of making the breakfast burrito filling into taco meat I remembered my mom putting diced potatoes in her tacos.  I took some Yukon Golds I had in the fridge and diced them into roughly 1/4 inch cubes and fried them in about a tablespoon of grapeseed oil, heavily salting and peppering them.  Once they were pretty much done, I finely crumbled the soyrizo over the potatoes – casing must be removed – and added a little salt to the soyrizo.  Once that was all mixed together I pressed all the water out of the extra firm tofu and crumbled that into the pan stirring it all together.  I kicked the stove to high heat and let the soyrizo brown up a bit.

We topped the tacos with my fresh salsa, cilantro, lettuce, tomato and scallions and they were SO GOOD!  I’ll update this post with a picture of the taco meat later today, but in the mean time you must try this out.  You will not be disappointed.