steve and i were stuffed for hours after our lunch at loving hut, but sure enough we were hungry again come 9:00pm later that night. still in an asian mood after my amazing lunchtime noodle soup, i decided to make a light chinese vegetable meal.
restaurant style chinese greens (recipe available at rasa malaysia)
i absolutely love baby bok choy, and chinese greens in general, and had luckily picked up a bag earlier in the week from my local farmer's market. i replaced the oyster sauce with lee kum kee brand vegetarian sir fry sauce and the sugar with agave nectar. the results....perfect restaurant style baby bok choy....light, healthy and delicious!!
mark bittman's soy broth (recipe available at the wednesday chef)
soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup and sesame oil...not the most traditional ingredients, but easy enough. i made 1/4 of the recipe and poured a bit over some thai vegetarian (and vegan!!) gyoza from trader joe's. i love these dumplings!!! they are sooo good, convenient and are great party snacks served with soy sauce and chili oil. the broth...well it wasn't bad. if chinese hot and sour soup is your cup of tea, i'm sure you'll love it. it just didn't do it for me.
Showing posts with label vegan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegan. Show all posts
June 02, 2009
5.30.09 | "egg" mcvegans...fail dvd!
i came across an egg mcvegan recipe and thought i would try to experiment with some tofu scramble and yves meatless canadian bacon i had picked up earlier in the week from whole foods. i got some extra sour sourdough english muffins from trader joe's, added a slice of tomato, some vegan mayo and earth balance and sat down with steve to enjoy our brunch.
i was really disappointed with the results. the sour taste of the english muffins definitely overpowered anything else in the sandwich and was simply the wrong choice for this recipe. as for the vegan canadian bacon...while it smelled delicious as i was heating it up on a lightly oiled skillet, the taste was very bland. i used the best breakfast scramble ever! recipe from vegweb.com and that came out well, as usual. the "cheez sauce" from the scramble, which i always half in quantity, removed the need to add any additional vegan cheese to the sandwich.
i think i can master this breakfast recipe...i just have to work on the components!
i was really disappointed with the results. the sour taste of the english muffins definitely overpowered anything else in the sandwich and was simply the wrong choice for this recipe. as for the vegan canadian bacon...while it smelled delicious as i was heating it up on a lightly oiled skillet, the taste was very bland. i used the best breakfast scramble ever! recipe from vegweb.com and that came out well, as usual. the "cheez sauce" from the scramble, which i always half in quantity, removed the need to add any additional vegan cheese to the sandwich.
i think i can master this breakfast recipe...i just have to work on the components!
5.29.09 | baja-style grilled tempeh tacos
i've been meaning to experiment more with tempeh, and when i came across a coupon I decided it was time to stock up and try this recipe from veganomicon.
baja-style grilled tempeh tacos (veganomicon)
the preparation started the night before by making the taco slaw and the chile-beer marinade for the tempeh. i settled on dos exuis lager especial for the marinade and substituted cayenne for chili powder.
the next day I prepared the lime crema with wild wood organic unsweetened plain probiotic soyogurt and fried my marinated tempeh pieces in some peanut oil. the plastic reusable wild wood container was the perfect size for storing and chilling the lime crema in the fridge. While the recipe instructions say to fry the tempeh prior to cutting into thin slices, I found that slicing prior to frying resulted in tastier individual pieces. steve and i heated some corn tortillas and set up our assembly line...slaw, tempeh and crema.
the tacos were good, but not great. the stars of the recipe are definitely the marinade and the lime crema. i added some diced avocado salad which rounded out the tacos really well, but i found the slaw to be too sour from the vinegar. i also missed the beer-battered filling from typical baja fish tacos. i'm thinking that some firm tofu, marinated in the same mixture and beer-battered, would produce better and tastier results, although not as healthy : /. i will try to experiment with this some more and hopefully come up with a better recipe.
baja-style grilled tempeh tacos (veganomicon)
the preparation started the night before by making the taco slaw and the chile-beer marinade for the tempeh. i settled on dos exuis lager especial for the marinade and substituted cayenne for chili powder.
the next day I prepared the lime crema with wild wood organic unsweetened plain probiotic soyogurt and fried my marinated tempeh pieces in some peanut oil. the plastic reusable wild wood container was the perfect size for storing and chilling the lime crema in the fridge. While the recipe instructions say to fry the tempeh prior to cutting into thin slices, I found that slicing prior to frying resulted in tastier individual pieces. steve and i heated some corn tortillas and set up our assembly line...slaw, tempeh and crema.
the tacos were good, but not great. the stars of the recipe are definitely the marinade and the lime crema. i added some diced avocado salad which rounded out the tacos really well, but i found the slaw to be too sour from the vinegar. i also missed the beer-battered filling from typical baja fish tacos. i'm thinking that some firm tofu, marinated in the same mixture and beer-battered, would produce better and tastier results, although not as healthy : /. i will try to experiment with this some more and hopefully come up with a better recipe.
5.29.09 | mendocino farms
steve and i decided to head out for a sandwich on his friday off and i suggested mendocino farms, an "eco-artisan" sandwich shop in downtown. i had gone once before and had an amazing soy-cutlet sandwich which sadly turned out not to be vegan after some investigating by local blogger quarry girl. we settled on the vegan shwarma which was just as delicious.
vegan schwarma: mediterranean soy shwarma with merquez lentil and white bean puree, vegan tzatziki, ren onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and shredded romaine on grilled tortilla wrap.
what i love about mendocino farms is their fresh seasonal ingrediants and the fact that they are a certified green business, always a plus in my book. the sandwiches are a bit steep ($9.25 for the shwarma), but you are paying for quality. steve and I offset this by splitting a sandwich and bringing our own home-made salad with organic mixed greens, tomatoes, hemp oil, balsamic vinegar and hemp seeds. the seating is patio food-court style and shared by all the lunch shops in area, so we were being frugal, not ghetto :)
sadly they are only open on weekdays from 11:00am to 3:00pm, but perhaps this is a good thing...
vegan schwarma: mediterranean soy shwarma with merquez lentil and white bean puree, vegan tzatziki, ren onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and shredded romaine on grilled tortilla wrap.
what i love about mendocino farms is their fresh seasonal ingrediants and the fact that they are a certified green business, always a plus in my book. the sandwiches are a bit steep ($9.25 for the shwarma), but you are paying for quality. steve and I offset this by splitting a sandwich and bringing our own home-made salad with organic mixed greens, tomatoes, hemp oil, balsamic vinegar and hemp seeds. the seating is patio food-court style and shared by all the lunch shops in area, so we were being frugal, not ghetto :)
sadly they are only open on weekdays from 11:00am to 3:00pm, but perhaps this is a good thing...
May 27, 2009
Favorite Meat Substitutes
I am always on the quest to find the best vegan meat alternatives for my dishes....it's made my boyfriend's transition to a mostly plant based diet much easier and I love that you don't have to give up your favorite dishes to help the planet. We are still working on the seafood thing : /
Below is an on-going list of my favs so far:
Deli Slices Tofurky Deli Slices
My local Trader Joe's has these for $1.99...score!! On their own they are a bit dry...but add some Veganaise and you've got yourself a nice little vegan ghetto snack. Steve and I always add these to our veggie subs from Subway or Quiznos. Soooo good with a Quiznos Torpedo!
At $5.99, this isn't exactly the cheapest meat substitute, but a nice treat once in a while. This tastes great with some balsamic vinaigrette or with Follow Your Heart's Balsamic Mild Barbecue Sauce. Two minutes in the microwave and you're done! I will never eat another nasty Tofurky loaf on Thanksgiving!!
Ground Beef Yves Meatless Ground Round Original
Trader Joe's stocks this which means I can pick some up at a great deal. Used this for an Italian wedding soup recipe with meatballs and it worked out really well.
Hamburger Patties Yves Meatless Beef Burgers
If I'm craving a burger and can't get my ass across town to M Cafe for a Big Macro, this is the next best thing. Better taste than Boca Burgers in my opinion.
Hot Dogs Tofurky Chipotle Franks
Simply the best vegan hot dogs...and even better if you can track down the Frankenstand and get a Wolf Dog with some Veganaise, mustard and jalapenos....yum!!
Sausage Crumbles recipe available at Veg Web
So easy to make and really great to have on hand for brunch recipes. So much junk goes into fake meats, so its' always great when you can make something yourself at home.
May 26, 2009
5.23.09 I vegan sandwiches in echo parque
of all my years exploring the east side, i somehow never found my way to echo park blvd. but suddenly there i was, with boyfriend and dog in tow, on a sunny saturday afternoon in search of some vegan sandwiches at chango coffee house. the particular block we were on was so cute and reminded me of being in san francisco...sigh!! we made our way in and promptly ordered our food...pesto chicken salad sandwich for me and the manlier and "meatier" steak and cheese for steve, both of which were toasted upon ordering. the sandwiches were so freakin good!! the bread was nice and toasted on the outside, but warm and chewy on the inside...yum!! I thought the steak and cheese could have used a couple more minutes in the oven to fully melt the teese, but steve didn't seem to mind one bit. i also ordered an iced soy latte, which I can't really comment on because i couldn't get over my delicious sandwich. apparently the sandwiches are a hit and we were lucky enough to score the last two of the day...nice! full review available at quarrygirl.com.
afterwards we headed over to scoops for some vegan soy ice cream. a one-scoop serving split between banana chocolate and chocolate peanut butter was enough to fulfill both our sweet tooth cravings. best vegan ice cream in l.a.!!!
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