BBQ Bliss

Another favorite  at our house as far as convenience foods go are the Morningstar Farms Hickory BBQ Riblets.  They are fast, easy to cook, and can be eaten by themselves or on a bun.  This is another item that is good if you are in a hurry all the time!  Now I can say that most of Morningstar Farms' products are not vegan, but the riblets are.  You make that decision.  I like these because we can fins them almost anywhere.  Speaking of grocery stpres...I am very, very proud of my grocery!  While I was shopping yesterday, I say a VEGAN COOKBOOK on the shelves with the rest of the books they were selling!  This, I say, is progress!

Amy's Tamale Pie

 

This is seriously my favorite lunch!  It is perfect when you have a short lunch break.  I am a teacher, and sometimes I have so little time that I have to eat it at my desk with students walking in.  It always fills me up. 

VegNews Magazine

Predictably, one of my favorite magazines is VegNews.  There is so much useful information, and the recipes are outstanding.  They actually make the stuff and try it before they write an article about it.  I like the sections about where to eat when you are traveling across the world.  You would not believe all of the options that are out there for vegetarians and vegans alike.  The "I Can't Believe It's Vegan" articles are so cool because a lot of the things that the author writes about are things that I used even before I was vegan.  Another great reason to read is the commentaries by Dan Piraro, the creator of the Bizarro cartoons.  He is incredibly funny and his column is the first one that I turn too when I see VegNews sticking up out of the mailbox!  There is, additionally, all the latest news on animal rights activism, new products, and even the ads are interesting.  You can get it online, but I prefer to get the magazine because it is great bathroom and beach reading.  Two thumbs up!

Dining Alone?

I was late for dinner the other night and ended up eating by myself.  This never happens, so I decided to make the most of it.  Angel hair pasta is great with a good red sauce and lots of mushrooms and black olives.  Splash some more olive oil on top of that and top with fresh-ground black pepper.  Not complete unless you have poured yourself a glass of your favorite wine.  Turn on some nice music.  Enjoy until someone bothers you.  Then tell them to wait half an hour and savor each bite!

Eggless Egg Salad

 

This is a great sandwich filler!  It tastes great and is really versatile.  It can also be served on crackers, in wraps, whatever.   I got this recipe from Dale at the New Leaf Vegan Society.  Be sure to check out that blog, too!  We served it at the Valley Earth Fest last year and everyone (vegan or not) loved it.  Super-packed with protein, too!  Anyhow, I love it so much that I am including the recipe.  

Tofu Eggless Salad

1 carton of firm-extra firm tofu

1/4 cup each of onion, celery, sweet peppers (flexible...if you don't like it, DUH, don't put it in there!)

2 Tbsp dried or fresh parley, cilantro, etc.  (again, flexible...but adding herbs makes it interesting!)

1/2 Vegan Mayo (I like Spectrum)

1 Tbsp mustard

1 Tbsp vinegar

1/4 tsp Turmeric (no substitutions for this, it is a necessity)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 or so of salt

Drain the tofu and try to squeeze out a good amount of the water.  I probably don't get out as much as I could, but straight out of the fridge the tofu is COLD and I am wimpy.  Hey, it still turns out great, so don't worry about getting every drop of moisture out.  Crumble the tofu into a medium bowl.  Stir in everything else.  You can eat it right away or let it sit for a while in the fridge.  It gets better the longer it sits.  If you have a lot of people eating, it won't last very long, so make a double batch!

Snow Cream

Got several feet of snow?  Make snow cream.  I am constantly trying to tell my son to stop eating the snow, but all of a sudden we have so much snow that the stuff on top looks pretty clean.  So...I caved.  BUT it was on my terms.  Blueberry syrup and Rainbow Nerds made quite a tasty treat!!

Summer Blueberries In January

Gardeners freeze your foods!  Or can them, or dry them...whatever you do, save your foods!  We did a lot of canning and freezing and drying this year from our gardens and we are still enjoying summer bounty which will last us for many more months.  It's a lot of work and I have to admit that while I am very busy during the school year, all I do during the summer is garden, hike, and play at the pool with the kids.  Anyhow, this morning I pulled out a bag of blueberries and made some pancakes to die for.  Think Bisquick, egg-replacer, vanilla, and fresh (I mean frozen) blueberries.  Add some blueberry syrup and you have summer love...even with 6 inches of snow on the ground!  Now I really cannot wait for summer!  Or spring...or whatever brings warmth!  I cannot wait to start blogging about our gardens!

Birthday Cupcakes

 

We recently had a birthday here and that means CUPCAKES!  I almost always use Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate cake mix because it is allergen-free and I do not have to use egg-replacer.  But this time I decided to try Naturally Nora's Lotta Dots cake mix.  I DID have to add egg-replacer.  Occasionally I make cake from scratch, but this was in the middle of the week after school and work and I was up late making these cupcakes the night before.  I used Pillsbury chocolate fudge icing.  Not a vegan company, but the frosting itself is vegan.  You have to do what you can, I believe.  You can also make your own, as always!  These cupcakes turned out very nice, but I still prefer Cherrybrook kitchen, and if I keep the boxtops I can get prizes!

Seitan Fajitas

So now that you have these fantastic seitan cutlets, you should make fajitas.  Once you have them, you will crave them all the time.  Or maybe that's just me...anyhow...they are very easy to make and can potentially serve a lot of people.  This would be great to bring to a potluck, now that I think about it!  Easy steps to fajitas:
1.  Slice up the cutlets into strips.
2.  Saute lovely peppers, onions, and mushrooms in a little olive oil.
3.  Add the seitan strips when the veggies are tender.
4.  Add 1/4 cup of water and a packet of fajita seasoning.  Or make your own.  But if you have the time to make your own, I am insanely jealous!
5.  Mix and let it simmer for a few minutes.  Remember:  your seitan has already been cooked!  You are pretty much just giving it some heat.  No salmonella, here, folks!
6.  Scoop mixture into a tortilla.  Add some salsa and maybe some tofutti sour cream.  Fold.
7.  Enjoy!

Easy, Multipurpose Seitan

Seitan is a great substitute for chicken in many recipes.  For those of you who did not know, it is just wheat gluten that has been separated.  If you buy it already made from the grocery or co-op, it can be really expensive and you end up with not very much.  This is terrible if you have a husband and kids who love to eat.  So I make my own, and it is really very, very easy.  There are a lot of good recipes for seitan out there, but I find most of them, while yummy, are time-consuming.  So after playing around with the stuff, I came up with a system that really works for the "perpetually busy".  Throw about 2 cups or so of wheat gluten in a bowl (I buy mine in bulk from the co-op...along with hummus, falafel, you name it...).  Add a liberal amount of garlic and onion powder and nutritional yeast flakes.  Maybe a couple tablespoons of each.  Some salt is good too, so throw in some of that.  Mix it up while it is dry.  Then add water.  This is the tricky part.  Keep adding a bout 1/4 cup of water at a time and then kneading the mixture.  When you do not see any powder and you have something that looks like bread dough but springier, you are done.  Be careful because the uncooked dough is super-sticky and it is better to just pick it off of your hands and throw it in the compost or trash.  Seriuosly, it will stick to everything.  I shape mine into a loaf and then slice it into "cutlets".  I boil these in a large pot of water with vegetable bouillon for 45 minutes.  They do get much larger, use a big pot that is 1/2 filled with water.  Drain them and you can store them in the fridge for about a week or even freeze them and they are good in many, many recipes that once called for chicken.