Make-Your-Own-Burrito Night

This is how we make our own burritos in our house:

1. Make a pot of beans.

Depending on how far ahead I've planned this meal depends on whether or not I use dry beans or canned beans. This time, I thought of it only on my way home from work, so canned beans it was. I added some soy-beef-bits, onion, chili powder and cayenne to spice it all up a little bit.



2. Chop of a bunch of burrito-worthy veggies.

Here, you see I have provided lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos, and onions. Oh, and some green olives still in the jar. Some people in our house like to make two burritos at a time (it's not me) so they mix and match from all the toppings to make two uniquely different "little burros." (They also like to make the burritos "wet" style and smother them with salsa and Daiya cheese, but that's another story.)



3. Pile everything -- bean, veggies, salsa, Daiya cheese, etc. -- onto a flour tortilla. Try to roll tortilla into a burrito.

I tend to get excited with the filling, which makes actually rolling it into a burrito a little difficult. The fun part is just digging in and eating it as fast as possible before it unrolls and drips out the bottom of the burrito!


Mm, Mm, Good!

A New Recipe for Vegan Stuffed Shells

Back in January, I wrote about my own vegan stuffed shells that I've been making since college. That recipe has been pretty fail-proof and seems to get better every time I make it.

Well, I decided to switch things up a bit and actually follow someone else's recipe for vegan stuffed shells (gasp!) I saw that the recipe in Skinny B called for tofu ricotta (for which they also include a recipe) and this intrigued me. I love their tofu feta, and tofu egg salad recipes, so why not try this?

Their stuffed shells recipe, including the tofu ricotta, was very similar to my own, but I wanted to see how different it would actually taste. For instance, the Skinny B recipe doesn't call for vegan cheese shreds like I use, but only the tofu ricotta and a couple tablespoons of vegan parmesan. (See recipe below.) I didn't follow it exactly because I didn't have vegan parmesan, but this is what I did:

Tofu Ricotta

Ingredients

* 14 ounce extra firm tofu, crumbled
* 3 clove garlic, minced
* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano

I added some fresh basil from my garden because it's extremely abundant right now and I need to use it!

1. To crumble the tofu: cut the tofu into squares and press each square between your hands over a sink to drain excess liquid. Then, crumble it into a large bowl.
2. Add the garlic, olive oil, oregano, and salt. Puree in a food processor or mix until nearly smooth with a fork.


Stuffed Shells

* 2 teaspoons sea salt
* 8 ounce jumbo pasta shells (22 to 24 shells)
* 1 tablespoon refined coconut oil or other cooking oil
* 1/2 whole onion, finely diced
* 1 package frozen chopped spinach (10 oz), thawed & drained
* 2 tablespoons grated vegan parmesan cheese
* 2 tablespoons whole wheat bread crumbs
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 2 clove garlic, minced
* 2 cups of your favorite pasta sauce

I just used two tablespoons of Daiya mozzarella shreds instead of the vegan parmesan, and I left out the bread crumbs.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a 4-6 quart pot, bring 3 quarts of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt to a boil.
3. Add the shells and cook according to the package instructions (about 12 minutes).
4. While the shells are cooking, heat the coconut oil in an 8-10 inch skillet over medium heat.
5. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (4-6 minutes).
6. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute.
7. Remove from heat. Add this mixture to the tofu ricotta mixture.
8. To the tofu ricotta, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, spinach, vegan cheese, bread crumbs, and pepper.
9. Coat the bottom of a 13×19″ pan with pasta sauce.
10. Drain the cooked pasta shells and rinse until the shells are cool enough to handle.
11. Stuff each shell with about 2 tablespoons of the tofu ricotta mixture.
12. Place each shell seam side down into the pan.
13. Cover the shells with the remaining sauce.
14. Cover the pan with foil and bake 30 minutes at 350F.

Okay, so they looked exactly the same as the ones I make, but there was a subtle difference in the taste. Not necessarily bad, but different. I actually loved them, but W said he likes my recipe better, and to never change it (ahhhhhhh!!) However, that didn't stop him from scarfing down an entire row of shells, going back for seconds, and claiming that I'd better get some while they last because he's going to eat them for lunch tomorrow too.

I give the Skinny B recipe an A, but as my husband requested, I will go back to my own cherished recipe from now on.

Totally Vegan Quesadillas

The other night, I felt too lazy to put together the type of grand feast I usually do, so I assessed what was in the fridge.

"We're having quesadillas for dinner!" I announced to W, who was also rummaging around the pantry for ideas. I had spotted a half-full bag of Daiya cheddar shreds and a brand new package of tortillas. W found a can of vegetarian refried beans from Trader Joes and with some homemade salsa, we could have a pretty decent last-minute meal on our hands!

While W sauteed some onions and peppers, I buttered the tortillas, one at a time, with Earth Balance and put them on the skillet at medium-high heat. While the tortilla warmed up, I quickly layered it with the Daiya cheese and some salsa. Folded one side of the tortilla on top of the other and let it sizzle. Flipped it a couple times to get both sides brown and to make sure the cheese melted.

Is your mouth watering yet, because by this point in the process mine was!

To go with these melty, cheesey quesadillas, we made a little bean dip and added the sauteed veggies on the side. Total preparation time? 20 minutes max.

From idea conception to first drool-worthy bite. Just when you think there's nothing to eat, a little teamwork and cooperative brainstorming can result in a simple but wonderful mealtime experience! Every once in awhile it's just plain necessary to have some comfort food with your loved one a cozy Friday night anyway.

A lot of people have been asking me what Daiya is, or what I use as my cheese substitute. I know I make a lot of recipes that might look like they're full of cheese, but of course they're not! (This is a totally vegan blog after all.) There is this amazing new product out there called Daiya, and it is truly wonderful! Even before I was vegan, I have always been lactose intolerant. Therefore, my dairy intake was already very minimal.

Now, I have found Daiya, and it is the greatest thing since... well, since not being able to eat real cheese.

As their website says, "It shreds, melts, stretches, and tastes delicious." This is very true. I have been able to make any recipe with Daiya that calls for traditionally melty cheese. It actually melts and gets all nice and gooey, like how you want cheese to get on Pizza for instance.

And it's completely vegan!! Not to mention it's also soy-free and gluten-free for anyone who has those limitations as well. It comes in three flavors: cheddar, mozzarella and pepperjack; so you're pretty much covered in any kind of recipe that calls for cheese. My favorite is using it for pizza and macaroni and cheese. Click on the links below for my versions of the two:

Vegan Cheesy Pizza!

Vegan Mac and Cheese!

Even those are my favorite Daiya meals, I've also used it to make other amazingly delicious cheesey meals like:

jalapeno poppers,

stuffed shells,

tostadas,

AND burritos, and quesadillas!

It's a super healthy, vegan option if you still want something to be "cheesey."
Look! Here's the list of ingredients for the cheddar flavor:

Filtered water, tapioca and /or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and /or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegan natural flavors, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, citric acid (for flavor), annatto, titanium dioxide (a naturally occurring mineral).

Not too scary right? I know it's a lot of ingredients, but they are mostly all natural ingredients, and in my opinion, I'd rather eat some tapioca powder and coconut oil than cultured cow enzymes. I'm just saying. And as with all processed food, moderation is the key! Obviously, you wouldn't eat the stuff for every single meal, but if you're jonesing for some cheesey pizza than by all means, get some Daiya and have some pizza!

Spaghetti with "Meat" Sauce

It was supposed to be spaghetti with meatballs, but after my meatless balls refused to stick together in the frying pan, it turned out to just be spaghetti with meat sauce. My loving husband assured me that even real meatballs are incredibly difficult to master (gee thanks), so why not just make it into a "meat" sauce? Way to salvage the situation!

This mid-production modification to our meal turned out to be actually be more amazing than I think meatballs would have been. The "meat" was dehydrated soy protein bits (beef flavor) from the health food store. This is what it looks like, and it is sold in bulk.

I covered 1 cup of the soy protein bits with boiling water and let it sit for 10 minutes.

To make the "meat" mixture, I added the following ingredients to the soy protein after it had absorbed all the water:

1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Braggs liquid amino acids
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp flour.

Mix it all together.

Now, what I tried to do was make them into little balls and fry them on the electric skillet. This only somewhat worked. The outside of the balls got nice and crispy, while the inside remained mushy.

W came to the rescue with his meat sauce suggestion, so we just smashed the balls and fried up the whole mixture to make it all crispy. (We kept a couple of the balls for aesthetic purposes. Even though they were mushy on the inside, it's not like we were eating raw meat or anything! It's just soy, and it still tasted good!)

We then added the "meat" to the marinara sauce, and it was wonderful! I should have just thought of this in the first place!

Voila! Spaghetti and homemade vegan meat sauce!

Pig in a Blanket

I'm in the middle of reading a book that takes place in the 1960's. Apparently Pigs in a Blanket were trendy hors d'oeuvres for dinner parties or "Ladies League meetings" during that decade. I remember loving when my college cafeteria served a vegetarian version of the Pigs in a Blanket, and all of a sudden I had a craving for the biscuit-wrapped hot dog snack.

Mission: Pig in Blanket

I bought some good ole vegan Big Franks, by Worthington Foods...

...and made some vegan biscuit dough...

Ingredients:

* 2 cups flour
* 1 tbsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 4 tbsp margarine
* 3/4 cup soy milk

...wrapped the dogs in the dough, baked for 18 minutes at 450, and there we had it -- 3rd grade lunch!(Since we didn't use cocktail weiners and stick the "pigs" on the end of toothpicks, it felt more like elementary school than a classy 1960's party.)

They were everything I imagined them to be: doughy and soy-proteiny goodness. We dipped them in ketchup and mustard and even ate some pickles, carrot and celery sticks to make the school lunch experience all the more authentic.

It wasn't a 60's party here; but a filling, delicious mid-week dinner will suffice.

Artichokes for Dinner

The best, most simple dinner is artichokes. I picked up two gigantic chokes at Sprouts the other day, and there we go -- dinner!

Enough said.

A huge artichoke like this is very filling and delicious. I made a yummy, hollandaise-type sauce to dip my artichoke leaves in:

1 tbsp vegenaise
1 tsp spicy mustard
1 tsp lemon juice

Whisked it all together and happily dipped my leaves!

W made a garlic butter sauce for his, and we shared.

Artichokes are my favorite. I love them.