BBQ Chik'n Sammies with Coleslaw and Yuca Patties

MoFo Post #10!!! Halfway there! (Whoooaaaaa, livin' on a prayer) I'm sorry, I had to. 

Fun Fact: Today I learned that when talking about the food, it's spelled Yuca with one c. Yucca with two c's is actually a plant or something. I definitely spelled it with two c's last night. Meh.

Most of the meals I make involve lots of chopping, slicing, dicing, stirring, cooking, etc. I lik hands on meals that I have to tend to from start to finish. It is part of the experience for me, when I put a lot of time, energy and love into something and it comes out delicious, I am happy with myself. Even when I make quick and easy meals for lazy nights, the love is still always there. I can't help it,cooking makes me happy.

I started out today with no thoughts or plans for dinner until a coworker and I started talking about how awesome avocados are and all the things we like to and want to do with them. We spent quite a while going back and forth, sending links to recipes and photos. After that I I had avocado on the brain so when I went over to Trader Joe's on my break I planned on picking one up for a snack and hopefully finding some inspiration for dinner.

As I was wandering around with my single avocado in hand I saw the Chicken-Less Pulled Chicken in BBQ Sauce. I thought it would be tasty on a sub or hamburger roll. When I think of bbq sammies, I instantly think of the toppings I can put on them. And coleslaw. My avocado was no longer going to be used as a snack, I was putting that little fucker on a sandwich. Once that was settled, my mind went immediately to coleslaw and how long it had been since I had made any. Remembering I had a jar of Veganaise in the bfs fridge, I quickly sought out cabbage. Being lazy thought I bought a bag of already shredded cabbage and a bag of carrot shreds. I never ever do that, I always try to grate, shred, whatever else my own vegetables. Again, part of the experience for me.

The chicken had a really meaty texture thought the sauce was a little sweeter and more tomatoey(it's a word now) than I prefer but overall, I loved it and piled on a burger bun with sliced pickle, tomato and avocado, it was fantastic.

I also had some leftover mashed yuca from dinner last night and thought it would be fun to form it into little patties and bake them up. I rolled them into little balls in my hands, flattened them out and put them on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes. When I went to check on them they weren't really crisping up on the outside and didn't want to let me flip them without falling apart. Instead of giving up, I jacked the heat up to 500 and gave them some more time. 7 or so minutes later they were starting to get nice and golden and I was able to flip them. I baked them for another 10 or so minutes and ended up with something more perfect than the mashed yuca they previously were. They had nice golden tops and bottoms and the insides were so creamy. These would be fantastic alongside some tofu scramble and some veggie bacon for brunch.


From start to finish this meal was so unbelievably easy and delicious and even though I took more shortcuts than I normally would, I was very pleased with myself for throwing together such an awesome meal.

Sorry for the craptastic photos. I didn't have the energy or patience to fuss with lighting or anything tonight.

Chili Lime Tofu, Mango BBQ Beans and Mashed Yucca

So I took a little under a week off from MoFo but I'm back. Life was getting a little hectic and expensive so the last real meal (and by real, I mean anything anybody may want to read about) I made was the Pumpkin Baked Ziti. Normally I do a lot of cooking on the weekends but this weekend I was feeling super lazy and I also have been at the bfs with all 3 dogs for a few days so cooking a big meal wasn't at the top of my list.

Speaking of the dogs, we took them to the park today. Before I get to the food, take a look at my 3 adorable vegan pups!

Gizmo - My little princess

Daine - The love of my life

Hero - She is a Dog Meat Trade Rescue and my little mountain goat

Since I wasn't super motivated to put energy into cooking but still wanted a good home cooked meal I wanted to make something super low maintenance but still healthy. My copy of Appetite for Reduction was laying around my guys kitchen so I turned to that for inspiration. I decided on Chili Lime Tofu, Cilantro Lime Yuca, Mango BBQ Beans and some wilted spinach.

When I got to the market I was super distracted so when buying the tofu, instead of grabbing a block of firm tofu I accidentally grabbed the pre-cubed kind. I didn't realize it until the beans had already been cooking for a  bit so I didn't have time to go back. I had to make it work. Initially, before I realized I had bought tiny cubes of tofu, I was intending on a 100% Latin American inspired meal but I modified things a bit and even though the tofu didn't have all Latin flavor, because I used some soy sauce, it was still fuckin' awesome and worked really well with everything else.

When I decided to make the Mango BBQ Beans, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about them. I don't like mango. At all. My guys loves it so I decided to make them. I used to love mango though, in my early 20s (and pre-vegan days)I would make a Thai style mango sauce all the time to serve over non-vegan proteins. Even after I went vegetarian, and then vegan, I would still make the same sauce and serve it with tofu or fake chicken and I still loved it. I don't know what happened, the last year or two, my tastebuds have changed I guess. I did end up loving these beans though, probably because the mango wasn't the main taste in the dish. The sweetness of the fruit complimented what would have otherwise been a really tangy sauce

The yucca, oh the yucca, I love this starchy little tuber so so much. I have only ever had yucca fries with a cilantro chutney dipping sauce, but I could eat my weight in that shit. I already knew the cilantro in the recipe would be a good match but I wasn't sure how I felt about the lime so I made some changes. I did use lime, just a tiny bit though and added a little Earth Balance and a tablespoon or two of Galaxy Vegan Cream Cheese. I did cheat though, I initially had fresh yucca in my cart but once I hit the frozen section and saw a bag of it already peeled, I switched them out.

For the tofu, since I ended up with tiny cubes of tofu, I clearly couldn't press it or dry fry it like I wanted so I decided, after draining them, to toss them in a little bit of chili powder and bake them on a sheet for about 15 minutes to get some of the moisture out. Once they were done I tossed them in a pan with the sauce and cooked it until it was more like a glaze.

When I cook for my guy, I always give him his plate first so he can start eating while I am plating and photographing mine. After about 2 bites, he was hollering from the living room how fantastic it was! Success? Yes! I agree with him, I was super proud of myself when I finally sat down to eat mine. AFR has not let me down yet.

MoFo Post 3: Veggies, Balls and Pasta

Just a quick one for today folks.

Sometimes the tastiest meals are the simplest ones, especially when its someone else doing the cooking for you. I really enjoy my role as the cook in my relationship but once in awhile when the BF decides he wants to make dinner for me, I am more than happy to step back and let him do it. Especially because I know what he will be making and I love it. Pasta with meatless meatballs, veggies and sauce. Seriously. So god damned good. Sometimes I wonder if he really believes me when I tell him how much I love it. (Babe, if you're reading this, your pasta dish fucking rocks!)

It requires only a few ingredients, none of which need preparation other than being tossed in a pot or pan and stirred here and there.No chopping, no measuring, no stressing. The veggies he usually uses are Soycutash from TJ's, frozen brussell sprouts and frozen peppers. While the pasta is cooking he tosses them in a pan to steam up a bit, once they are getting cooked, he adds the balls and sauce and finishes letting it all cook. That's it. Once the pasta is done and drained, we dump some into a bowl and pile a bunch of the veggie/ball/sauce mix on top.

He made it for me the other night and since we had half a loaf of Italian bread leftover from Pumpkin Ravioli the night before, I made some quick garlic bread.

Apple Crisp for MoFo!

The leaves are turning and falling, the air is cooler, pumpkin beer is back in stores and I am wearing hoodies again... That can only mean one thing. VEGAN MOFO 2012!

This summer was unbearable, hot and humid all day, everyday. I've been begging Mother Nature to make fall hurry up and get here for months. The only thing I have wanted was pumpkin and apple everything, tube socks and hoodies. She finally listened and I can have them all! While fall only lasts a very short while before the bitter cold starts creeping its way to the Northeast, I am going to enjoy the shit out of it while I can.

I am doing MoFo yet again and while I have failed miserably the past two years, I am not holding on to any high hopes that I will succeed this year, but I will try my damnedest. To get MoFo 2012 started on the right foot, I give you Apple Crisp.

Here in New England, this is the time you want to be out enjoying the turning of the leaves, apple picking, cool breezes and the general awesomeness living here provides. While I didn't pick the apples I used for this, they are from New England.

I had a half dozen small Macintosh apples sitting on my counter that had a few small bruises on them. Sure, they were probably still fine, or even great, to eat, but I have a weird relationship with fruit. I can't get past bruises, cuts, dry spots, etc. I needed something to do with these apples so of course I turned to the PPK. A couple people mentioned apple crisp and it reminded me of being in high school, my favorite days were the days it was offered for dessert.

I made my first ever apple crisp and it was fuckin' tasty! I swore I had an apple corer but when I went to bust it out, it was missing so I sucked it up and cut the apples into slices by hand. Even without the corer, this was super easy. Because my apples were so small, I used the smallest Pyrex I had, I wanna say a 6 x 3? Super easy to double and use a more normal sized baking dish. If you have never made apple crisp, or just haven't gotten around to it yet this season, please, go, do it now. Well, finish reading and then go.

Here is the recipe:

6 smallish apples. Or 4 medium-large sized

1/2 cup flour

1/3 vegan butter - slightly softened

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cups brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Core, slice and peel apples. Arrange in baking dish
3. In a small bowl cut butter and flour together until size of small peas
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle evenly on top of apples
5. Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is slightly browned and crunchy. 
6. Let cool and inhale the shit out of it. 

The only thing that would've made this better was some vanilla soy ice cream or cashew whipped cream. Next time.....

The Vegg! Artichoke Tomato Quiche and French Toast

(Photo from The Vegg)

There are so many fantastic vegan meat, milk, cheese and even candy substitutes out there but there has never been anything that could recreate an egg yolk. Sure, there are recipes out there for vegan omelets and fried eggs, they look fantastic, though I have never been successful or happy with the results when I tried them. It didn't remind me of an egg at all, just weird liquidy tofu. Well folks, we now have The Vegg! Who knew that something with so few (and common) ingredients could completely recreate the look, feel and taste of an actual egg yolk. You can even make it into the shape of an egg yolk! I've been hearing about this product for some time now, and when I got my hands on a sample I couldn't wait to try it out! Once I mixed up the packet with water in my Vita-mix, the results blew me away.

It has been a few years since I have had any part of an egg, but I'll tell ya, the yolk was always my favorite. I had a friend try it who still eats eggs and asked him if it was legit. His response was "too legit to quit." I think The Vegg could definitely hold it down in a blind taste test!

I was going back and forth all week trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to make with it. I finally settled on 3 things that were a must: quiche, french toast and hollandaise sauce.

Let's talk about the quiche. Holy fuck, it was fantastic! I modified my basic vegan quiche recipe to come up with this Artichoke Tomato Quiche recipe. It had the complete look, taste and texture of a non-vegan quiche. Instead of making a pastry crust I decided to go with the box of phyllo dough I've been too scared to use up until now. I have never worked with phyllo dough before and it took some serious trial and error to get it down. I destroyed went through at least 12 sheets of it before I experienced the sweet taste of success. This recipe is definitely a winner, I highly suggest you try it out.

Artichoke Tomato Quiche with The Vegg

• 1 1/4 teaspoon Vegg powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 package of firm tofu - drained and pressed. 
• pinch or two of dried sage
• 1/2 tablespoon of dried rosemary, crushed. 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can of artichoke hearts roughly chopped, drained and squeeze to remove extra liquid. 
• 12-14 grape tomatoes, quartered. 
• 6-8 sheets phyllo dough
• 3 tablespoons of vegan butter or olive oil. 

1.  Preheat oven to 350. While the oven heats up, place a sheet of phyllo dough on the counter, brush with melted vegan butter and place another sheet directly on top. Repeat until you have used all the dough. 
2. Gently pick up the pile of dough and place it over the pie plate and using your fingers, push it into place, getting all around the bottom. Give the bottom a few stabs with a fork or knife, otherwise it wil puff up a bunch while cooking. 
3. Cook crust for 8-10 minutes and start preparing filling. 
4. In a blender, mix water, Vegg powder and cornstarch. 
5. In a food processor crumble the tofu, add the spices and Vegg mixture. 
6. Pulse until smooth and completely mixed.
7. Pour into a bowl and mix in the chopped artichoke and tomato. 
8. Once phyllo crust is pre-baked, pour in the filling and bake for 35-40 minutes. 

 I planned on serving the quiche with a side of asparagus drizzled in hollandaise sauce but sadly, the sauce didn't turn out so well. It was in no way because of The Vegg, it was the Earth Balance. There have been talks of EB having a slightly fishy flavor in recent months but hadn't really noticed. I don't use EB for much more than buttering a bagel before I smother it in vegan cream cheese. Well, last night the fishy taste was really apparent and gross. Once I mixed the sauce together, it certainly had the velvety texture that I remember hollandaise having but even when I added more lemon juice and Vegg, the fishiness still came through really strongly so I had to toss it. I will however, be making it again very soon with a different vegan butter. I am confident that I will be wowed with the results. Because of said confidence, I will post the recipe, but you have been warned: do not use Earth Balance for this!

Hollandaise Sauce

• 6 tablespoons of premixed Vegg yolk
• 1 tspn lemon juice
• 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted

Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl and chill until desired consistency is reached. I think adding some cornstarch to this and maybe cooking it for a bit would help thicken it so you wouldn't have to chill it, but that is something I will try and report back. 

Are you ready to talk about french toast? I am. I used the recipe on their website and it came out pretty good, though I wasn't entirely in love with it. Again, nothing to do with The Vegg, this time it was the bread. I used my favorite sourdough bread but it wasn't the best choice for this recipe, the mixture didn't absorb deep enough into the bread and the edges were a bit too chewy for french toast but the taste was pretty spot on. I'm going to buy a regular loaf of bread and give it another go. Since I am not a huge fan of maple syrup I drizzled them with agave nectar and a raspberry-strawberry puree. Overall, I was pleased and they definitely hit the spot. 

All in all I am so in love with The Vegg. So much so that I want to scream it from the rooftop! Not only do they have a fantastically delicious and realistic product, but 10% of all net sales go directly to a very deserving non-profit animal advocacy group, Compassion Over Killing, from now until 2014.

American Flatbread and Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels!

Have you guys tried either of these yet? Holy shit, they rocked my tube socks right off!!

A good friend of mine came over the other night for a night of drinking wine and catching up, we were in the mood for some vegan noms and even though I live right on the line(literally) of several awesome vegan friendly Boston neighborhoods. But sadly none of them deliver to my apartment. And even though I love to cook and my friend, Morris, is an extremely talented cook and pastry chef, we did not want to cook. We decided to take a walk to our local Star Market in search of quick and delicious vegan food to eat.

Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs because we bought a bunch of stuff but the feast we had was fantastic! I have never tried, or seen, this pizza we bought so as soon as I saw the words "vegan cheese" on it, it had to be mine. American Flatbread is a company based out of Vermont and while they only make one vegan pizza, it's a pretty mean one! They use lots of organic ingredients and Daiya! The pizza was a perfect combo of sauce (not a lot which is how I like it), spices and cheese. This pizza brought me back to my omni childhood. My parents both worked at Papa Gino's when my siblings and I were kids so we ate more than our fair share of pizza. Even into my teens and 20s when mom and dad no longer worked there, we still claimed it to be our favorite. As a vegan, I have had tons and tons of vegan pizza and they are all super delicious but none ever reminded me of Papa Gino's. I never really realized I was subconsciously seeking that certain taste until this pizza. It was like a flood of tasty memories pouring into my mouth. I think it was the herb combination used in the sauce and on top of the Daiya. Of course I don't know what herbs it was because on their website it lists parsley and other herbs, I guess I will just have to keep buying it. But then again, at around $10 a pop, I might just ask the fam what the herbs are and try and recreate it on my own.

Moving onto pretzels...


Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels are like whoa. They only have 2 vegan flavors but my market only carries the Apple Cinnamon. It is literally a pretzel stuffed with apple pie filling. Do I really need to say anymore? I don't think so! They also carry Chocolate Crumb, I really need to get my paws on some of those bad boys.

Sorry for the craptastic (and lack of cooked product) photos, the lighting in my kitchen sucks big balls.

We also bought some vegan buffalo wings but I forget the brand, they were sort of freezer burnt anyways.

I'm back bitches! I bring you Whoopie Pies!

Whoa! Hey there! Remember me? I've been gone for quite a while. Too long a while. I've missed you, have you missed me? I'm really sorry I haven't been around, it's not you, it's me... I've said that to plenty of guys but I never thought I'd actually have to say it to my readers =(

Life has been so crazy the past 3 months, I've been working my ass off so I've hardly had time to cook for myself, never mind actually photograph it and then write about it. It's been killing me a little more every day. Cooking and baking have always been some of my greatest passions, and then when I started actually blogging I fell in love with them all over again so for me to be absent for so long has really made my soul (who knew, I actually have one of those!) a little empty. I'm sick of having all these great ideas for recipes and not having the time or energy to actually follow through. I have a stack of cookbooks that I have either never used or only made one or two things out of them, it's sickening really. I have never been a fan of making resolutions but I promise you dear readers, in 2012 I resolve to bring you the best and most delicious food on the reg! I won't abandon you again.

Now, the treat that forced me back into blogging.................................................

WHOOPIE PIES!!!!!

How could I make something so deliciously perfect and not share it with the world? It would be selfish and awful!

So for Christmas this year I got some pretty sweet stuff. One being a Vitamix (there will be plenty of posts using that beautiful piece of machinery soon!!!) and the other being a Whoopie Pie Maker! Wait, what?! A Whoopie Pie maker? Hell yes folks. My sister's amazing boyfriend got me in our annual Secret Santa swap and this little fucker was part of the awesome gift he put together for me!

(photo from the babycakes website)

I am absolutely in love with this little machine and the heavenly treats it produces! The best part is that they only take about 3 minutes to cook! 3 minutes!!!!!! For the first batch of standard chocolate whoopie pies I used the recipe that came in the little booklet with it. It's not a vegan recipe but it was so easy to veganize, just subbing Ener-G Egg Replacer for the egg yolk and soy milk mixed with a little apple cider vinegar for the buttermilk. I didn't use a recipe for the frosting, I just kind of created my own as I went along. I didn't measure anything but I will be sure to next time because this frosting came out fantastic and it needs to be shared! It's a cross between a standard (vegan) buttercream frosting and a (vegan) cream cheese frosting! I also want to make a frosting using Ricemellow in the future.

I decided to make a shit ton more a few days later. I made some more of the standard chocolate with vanilla frosting like the first batch but then things got crazy! Using the recipe from VCTOTW for Golden Vanilla Cupcakes I made some plain vanilla. That's not where the craziness started though.... When I was halfway through the vanilla batter I found some colored sprinkles in my cabinet. I literally said out loud to myself, "Oh fuck yes" and then started adding them to the batter. Funfetti fucking whoopie pies people!!!!! Though next time I will definitely add wayyy more fetti, I didn't know how it would effect the cooking time or results so I didn't want to mess with them too much. Sadly the funfetti ones didn't photograph well.

For fillings I used some of the vanilla/cream cheese frosting hybrid to fill some of the chocolate, plain nilla and funfetti pies. But for the rest I made the decadent Chocolate Mousse Topping also from VCTOTW. And get this! For some of the funfetti pies I rolled the sides in the leftover fetti!

I have a million more ideas of different flavor combos that I can't wait to make and share with you all! Next up will definitely be a chocolate pie on the bottom, peanut butter frosting in the middle and a vanilla pie on top! What flavor whoopie pies do you want?

Need some xgfx awesomeness in your life?

If you haven't had a chance to check out the shiny new Gluten Free Vegan site, xgfx, you need to click over there as quickly as your little fingers can take you! The site was created by Allyson of Manifest Vegan, Kittee of Cake Maker to the Stars and last but not least Jessy of happyveganface. They are a badass trio!

Isn't it just the sweetest little site you've ever seen?!  You can find recipes, tips on getting rid of gluten, a blog, tutorials and some pretty fantastic product reviews. The product reviews are written by a lovely lineup of vegan ladies, some gluten free, some not. The best part is, I get to be a part of it all! Wooooooot!!!!

Seriously! I wrote my first product review for the site and it posted today! I got to nom on some deeeeelicious Liz Lovely Gluten Free cookies and write a post on whether I loved them, liked them or just hated them! I'm super stoked to announce that I LOVED them! You can read that review here. 

I don't know why you are still here.. Get your butt over the xgfx.org and start drooling over all the yummy pictures! I am so excited to be a part of this and to learn more about gluten free nomming!