SHIFT vegan

Day 11 of 31 days of vegan soup! Yay Posole!!!!

2011-01-12T19:17:00.001-06:00

I mentioned to my daughter that I was going to make posole and she did a happy dance like she was at a Oprah's favorite vegan things taping!! Posole is a family favorite and in the winter we have it at least once a month. It is fairly easy, versatile, cheap and tasty! Here's what I did:
1 lb red potatoes large diced, leave the peels on!
Put in pan and cover with water, simmer for about 10 minutes
put the following in the pot with potatoes:
1 small white onion, chopped,
2 teeth of garlic, pressed
2 cans posole (hominy)
1 can green chili enchilada sauce
1 vegan no chin'n bouillon cube
A couple dashes of cumin
Simmer for 10 more minutes
Garnish with chopped poblano peppers, jalapeños, cilantro, salsa casera, and a squeeze of fresh lime. Serve with warm corn tortilla and vegan butter and salt! Muy bien!

Day 10 of 31 days of soup - Pea Soup - Lookin Good!!!

2011-01-11T20:56:00.002-06:00

WOW that is a bad picure!!!! The pictures did provide some comic relief to our evening. I took about 15 photos of this pea soup, and could not get it to look good, maybe that is why pea soup gets a bad rap!!! I love pea soup, it has always been one of my favorites. I was one of those weird kids who loved pea soup, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, but not everyone is of the same opinion.
This was a simple soup:
1 pound dried peas
8 cups water
2 teeth garlic
a dash of liquid smoke
fresh cracked pepper
1/2 Rapunzel vegan broth cube
1 big tablespoon sweet white miso
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 carrots diced
put peas and water in pot and simmer for 25 minutes, then add everything else and cook til the carrots are soft.
I took some back bits(that is supposed to read "baco" thanks iPad auto correct) and added water so that they were reconstituted and added them to the top. I made the kids some noodles, because they are not peas soup fans, I added the noodle to the soup for the next photo, and it made the soup better. It was pretty good soup, not going to win any beauty pageants, but it hit the spot!!!

9 of 31 days of soup - Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

2011-01-10T21:37:00.001-06:00

This will not be a soup to remember, but it was not terrible either! Today was a snow day for the kids, 5 inches of snow and Kansas grinds to a halt!! The snow was pretty, but I did have to do quite a bit of shoveling. The late afternoon got away from me a bit and I got a late start on dinner(which as you know was soup)
Heres what we had:
Cream of Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup
1/4 cup of raw cashews
2 vegan no chic broth cubes
1 tablespoon curry
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
put all of the above with 4 cups of water in the blender and process until smooth, I would have added 1 boiled potato to the blender if I had one, makes "cream" soups a bit thicker.
After blending I put the base in my soup pot to simmer.
I took a head of cauliflower rinsed and cut into bit size pieces and did the same with some broccoli.
I tossed the cauliflower and broccoli with a bit of oil and some curry and salt and baked in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes.
Once the cauliflower and broccoli were cooked I ladled the the soup base into a bowl and placed the roasted veggies on top. For a garnish I took 2 x 2 puff pastry squares and put a dab of olive tapenade on top, pinched them up and baked for about 15 minutes.
All in all not my best effort but hearty and edible none the less!!!

2011-01-10T21:07:00.001-06:00

Day 8 of 31 - Recycled Soup -

2011-01-09T21:34:00.001-06:00

I am sorry that I had to break from the January soup program, but I helped cater a vegan wedding for 125 people and I did not have time to make soup!!! This is a repost of a lentil soup challenge from last year, it did have a happy ending.....
I am always amazed how in sync Nikki and I are, she did not know what I had in mind for dinner and suggested a lentil and sweet potato soup recipe she had found this afternoon. This morning I pulled a bag of lentils out of the cabinet and set them out because I wanted to make lentil soup. I have never made lentil soup and I thought it was a good idea because lentils cook in 20 to 30 minutes. I also had a couple of sweet potatoes that needed to be used up so I thought I would roast those and put them on top.
I figured this would be quick and easy.... pop the potatoes in the oven, go get Carter from school the potatoes would be done when we got home... cook the lentil soup and we would be eating by 5:30 Wham Bam Thank You Man!!!!
I got a work call right as I was starting on the potatoes so I did not get them in the oven before I had to go get Carter. I rushed home finished, up cutting the potatoes, seasoned them with cinnamon, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper.. and slammed them in the oven!!!!!
Meanwhile the lentils were coming to a boil.... Seasoned them with a couple of bullion cubes, salt pepper, lime juice.
I put some baby carrots, garlic and onions in the microwave with a bit of water for a few minutes to soften. After that was done I pureed the veggies in the vita mix, and added them to the soup.
In the dream scenario the lentils would have been tender and ready to blend, because they had cooked for 35 minutes, but they were still tough.... ten more minutes... fifteen more minutes....starting to question the liar who wrote the instructions on the lentil bag. The lentils took about an hour to cook, so much for quick!!!
Then it was time to process the lentils and finish up and get the hungry family fed!!!! Put the lentils in the vita mix and in about 15 seconds I had what resembled sickly colored mashed potatoes......!@#$. Keep your cool!!!!
Once I added 8 cups of water it was closer to real thick soup/paste. The color was not right, but it tasted ok. The kids shuddered when they saw what I had created, and I was right there with them.... it is not always perfect!!!!! Addison was a trooper eating a bowl full and Carter had noodles with tomato sauce. Carter will not eat soup!!!!!! YET!!!!
Once we added the green onions and jalapenos it actually tasted pretty good.

The sweet potatoes are one of my favorites savory, salty and sweet. Some pumpkin seeds would have been a nice addition too. Next time I will cook half as many lentils in advance, and I might even use the recipe Nikki found!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 7 of 31 days of vegan soup! Sweet Potato Ginger with Roasted Sweet Tomatoes!

2011-01-08T15:58:00.004-06:00

I am working on catering a big, 125 people, VEGAN wedding this weekend, and one of the items we are doing is a substantial roasted veggie platter. We decided to buy a case of sweet potatoes and a few of the sweet potatoes are the size of small dog, which is pretty big for a sweet potato!!! Since we have more than we can use I brought one home to use for dinner.

Here's the recipe:
Take 1 gigantic sweet potato or equivalent small sweet potatoes large dice, add 3 teeth of garlic cover with water and boil gently till soft.
In your blender place a thumb of fresh Ginger, minced add 1 cup of water, blend till smooth. When the sweet potatoes are done cooking put in blender and process till smooth, you may need to add some hot water to make it smooth, add salt to taste.
While the potatoes were boiling I took sweet little tomatoes, and cut them in half and tossed with olive oil, garlic, crushed Rosemary, salt and fresh ground pepper. I placed the tomatoes on parchment on a baking sheet and baked at 425 until the tomatoes looked charred, about 20 minutes.
This is so simple yet so freaking awesome, the sweetness of the potatoes goes nicely with the tang of the tomatoes, the Rosemary is essential for some reason. We also used some chutney that my mom made and sent in an a Christmas goodie box, which added a nice texture and some intenseness!

6 of 31 days of Vegan Soup - Green Curry

2011-01-07T15:58:00.005-06:00

This one of our standard favorite Tofu Green Curry, we used to get green curry at a small place in a strip mall not to far away, but after we went vegan we could not get total assurance that it was vegan, language issues. I started making the my own shortly there after!

Here's the recipe:
5 medium yellow potatoes, cubed
2 teeth of garlic, pressed
6 cups water
2 carrots peeled and chopped
1 white onion chopped(if your kids like them)
Boil till potatoes are just starting to soften.
Add one can of lite coconut milk
Stir in 2 tablespoons of green curry paste, (I like the Thai Kitchen, labeled vegan!), and salt to taste.
We made rice noodles for the base, and added roasted Brussels sprouts, and baked tofu that was dusted with smoked paprika.
A pinch of cilantro, pickled jalapeños, and sqeeze of lime and we were good to go.

Day 5 of 31 - The Neighborhood Soup Buffet

2011-01-06T15:22:00.014-06:00

This soup challenge will not get in our our way of going out to eat!!! My daughter texted this afternoon to remind me about the new noodle place a few blocks away. It opened in December and has a setup like a Mongolian BBQ, except they serve your bowl of goodies as a SOUP!!!!

I chose tofu, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, onions, green onions, rice noodles, and topped with cilantro and chili oil. You put your bowl of goodies through a little window and the cook asks what kind of broth you want. The first two times we went we were a bit nervous about the broth, but it was just water - we would then season with soy sauce and hot chili, but they now have a good vegan vegetable broth YAY!!! One of the women who works there recognized us tonight and had the sushi guy make up some "just vegetable - no cheese" sushi.

We all walked out of there with our bellies about to burst... in a good way!!!!

Day 4 of 31 Days of Vegan Soup - BBQ Chic'n and Dumplings Soup

2011-01-05T18:19:00.002-06:00

Well I planned to make this soup with udon noodles, but things took a turn in a better direction!!
I stopped at the Merc to pickup a few items so I would have something in the soup tonight, seitan was what I was thinking, so I got some white wave chic'n style.
When I got home I realized that I had some potatoes that I needed to use, and we still had a couple of tubes of store brand ready to bake biscuits left over from the holidays that needed to be used, so here is what I did:

Preheat oven to 400
slice in rounds, 2 cups of fingerling potatoes
rough chop 1 white onion
put veggies in a bowl and toss with a bit of oil, salt and pepper, and place on parchment on a cookie sheet, cook till browned about 20 minutes
Drain then, slice seitan and place in bowl with a bit of oil, 4 tablespoons of hoisin bbq sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger powder, toss then place on parchment on a cookie sheet and cook till browned, about 15 minutes.
8 cups water
3 tablespoons no chic broth bouillon
1 teaspoon dried basil
3 carrots, peeled, and cut in thin rounds
dash of rubbed sage
fresh ground pepper
mix and bring to a rolling boil, drop biscuit dough balls(dumplings) in and cook for about 6 min.

Take some of your roasted potatoes and onions and put in a soup bowl, add some BBQ Seitan, and ladle on the broth and dumplings.
Just remember soup does not always have to be cooked in just one pot, we often use a base and add things at the end!

Day 3 of 31 days of Vegan Soup - Chili

2011-01-05T16:11:00.003-06:00

Ok it's not going to be that hard.... if goes in a bowl and you eat it with a spoon it qualifies! Tonight is chilly time for some chili.... we have a tradition of the making 3 can chili, simple, tasty and fast:
3 cans of your favorite organic beans
1 can of refried beans
1 can of rotel or 1 cup of fresh tomatoes
add a can of fresh, can of posole, or frozen corn if you like.
season with:
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of cumin
liquid smoke if you like
Add 1 cup of tvp or vegan crumbles
The best part of this recipe is when it hot enough it is ready!!
Top with Daiya, Tofutti Sour Cream, salsa, cilantro, green onions, chips, tortillas or whatever!

Day 2 of 31 days of Vegan Soup - Miso Soup

2011-01-02T20:02:00.002-06:00

Had some left over rice, had some red miso paste, had some frozen collard greens... soups on!

8 cups of water
3 big tablespoons of red miso
1 white onion chopped severely or minced
3 teeth of garlic minced
2 cups frozen collard greens
add soy sauce to taste
Add one cup of rice (if you have some)bring it to a boil and it's ready.
Simple, classic, and healthy

31 days of vegan soup! Day 1 Black Eyed Peas Soup

2011-01-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

Well I have been a lazy sot when it comes to blogging.... I was pretty disciplined for a few years, then last year I made it to earth day then I just gave up.. It's a new year so it's time to dust off the old key board and camera and get back to work!
This month will be dominated by the 31 days of vegan soup... The result of slight challenge from a friend!
JANUARY 1st - black eyed pea soup served on top of rice and topped with sautéed white onions, green peppers, cilantro and French fried onions(yeah those ones in a can)

RECIPE
1 lb bep dried, follow instructions on the bag
After they are cooked (about 2 hours) add 6 cups strong veggie broth(or no chic broth), and 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
In a sauté pan sweat 1 rough diced white onion and 3 rough chopped celery. Once the onions and celery are getting soft add 2 bell peppers chopped and turn off heat, and add throw in some diced green onions(not trying to cook these, just warming)
To finish we ladled the soup over white rice, added the peas, then topped with the sautéed onions, celery, and peppers. For a added twist we topped with the French fried onions from a can, which pushed the soup over the top! Soup 1 of 31, was alright,

Shredded BBQ Tofu For EARTH DAY 2010 - 550 vegan lunches served!!!

2010-04-17T07:48:00.003-05:00

2010 is the third year for doing FREE vegan food at our local EARTH DAY celebration with Animal Outreach Kansas. Animal Outreach Kansas (AOK) is the organizing group that coordinates our monthly vegan potlucks, works on local animal issues, and works on statewide campaigns too!!
Earth Day has been a great way for us to reach a large group. While people are waiting for food we have information for them to look at and they can ask questions. We have quite few families and students who seem to be interested in Veganism and this is an opportunity to provide them with an open door of hospitality.

We received donations for the following:
The Veg Fund (for food purchases)
Central Soy Foods
Wheatfield's Bakery
Atomic Bakery
The Merc
Hallmark cards (Valentines Day bags, and Hannah Montana cups and napkins)
Members of our potluck group brought, cookies, coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad, and gluten free side dishes.
In previous years we have done grilled slabs of tofu, with the cut freeze then squeeze method, which was kind of hard and was slow.
This year I volunteered this year to make shredded baked tofu with BBQ. I did the random baked tofu method (recipe link) to cook the tofu, then made grilled sweet onions. When baking I seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika, then finished with a custom BBQ sauce.

BBQ sauce recipe: (not for the 5 gallons required for 45 pounds of tofu)
2 small cans tomato paste
4 teeth of garlic minced
2 tablespoons of black pepper
1/2 cup agave nectar (or vegan sugar)
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons of hot sauce (Tabasco, Thai, chipotle, whatever)
2 cups of water (stir in until it reaches desired consistency)
Salt to taste

It is interesting that most people chose Bocas or Not-Dogs over the BBQ Tofu, which to me showed that people are generally more comfortable with things that seem familiar. This is why the transitional Vegan foods are so important. I did challenge the skeptics with the BBQ tofu, and even though they had chosen the a Boca or a Not Dog, I asked them to try the tofu and let me know what they thought. I had quite a bit of feedback that indicated that they very much enjoyed the tofu.
I love this tofu method, like I have said before it is the only method that I have found that can hold up to tomato based sauces and retain its texture.
THANK YOU TO CENTRAL SOY FOR DONATING 45 POUNDS OF THE BEST TOFU IN THE WORLD!!!!!

Quick lunch tacos and a cat nap!!!

2010-04-14T07:43:00.001-05:00

Gabriel the solar powered cat!!!

I am not a big lunch guy... in fact it is fairly rare for me to eat lunch. I generally will have a simple snack like, some crackers, a piece of fruit, a glass of water, or bypass all of that and have a snack while making dinner. When I do eat lunch it makes me very sleepy in the afternoon and I cannot get much accomplished.
When I have evening events I do have to have something to eat in the afternoon.


Keeping it simple, Tomato - Spinach - Avocado	Add caption

This was one of those days... I jetted home and determined that the perfect compromise was to make some quick - simple tacos. These are just baby spinach, organic roma tomatoes, avocado (they were great this winter!), salt, and chili sauce.
After eating these I packed up a salad to take back to work with me so I had something to eat later!!!!

Busy Vegan Spaghetti Night!

2010-04-13T16:02:00.001-05:00

Spaghetti and salad has become a staple lately. No culinary masterpieces to express my artistic side!!! I have been ripping up carpet and tearing out doors. Not to mention that wedding planning season has started up, the yard needs major post traumatic winter clean-up, and so does the house!!!!

What could be easier? Spaghetti + sauce (organic jar + fresh oregano, thyme, garlic, and olive oil) + garlic bread + salad = quick turn around meal for busy vegans!! Of course the down side is that you still have to do all of that other stuff... Oh well......

Pasta with Tomato Cashew Cream

2010-04-08T11:51:00.000-05:00

I really like pasta, but have not eaten as much in past few years because of the bad rap that pasta gets. This was a quick and easy dinner with some decent organic tomatoes I found.
I decided to do the Tomato Cashew Cream because I felt that it would be the best match for the kids:
Sauce ~
1 large potato - small diced
1/2 white onion - small diced
1 tooth of garlic
1/4 cup raw cashews
Salt to taste
Simmer the above in sauce pan until the potatoes are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes if your dice is small. Put in blender or Vitamix and blend until smooth and creamy. Add a tablespoon of white wine if you like

Then add and lightly blend
1 cup cherry tomato (small pear red or yellow)
3 fresh basil leaves
Serve with a pound of your favorite pasta
I used spaghetti, but it would be good with bigger pasta like penne, farfalle, or radiatore.
Serve with a mixed greens salad.

Vegan Bagel Pizza and Salad... kids night!!

2010-03-12T11:01:00.001-06:00

Sometimes we have busy evenings, OK we mostly have busy evenings.... We are like that.... BUSY!!! So once in a while we make something quick easy and tasty!!!

What is easier than bagel pizzas and salad? These are Thomas Bagels, with bit of jarred pizza sauce, Canadian bacon, and Daiya Italian style non-cheeze! The salad is.... well your garden variety salad, romaine, red cabbage, poblano peppers, and avocado.
I made the dressing though, blue cheese style:

1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup pecans
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons tahini
2 teeth of garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 2/3 cup water
Black pepper to taste

Put it all in to the Vita Mix, process until it looks right!!

Italian Parsley Pesto, Dreaming of Spring!!!

2010-03-11T13:06:00.002-06:00

Pushing the envelope, or rather, emptying the fridge is an ongoing challenge. The other night I was making White Bean Cassoulet for the Vegan Potluck and I thought that pesto would be a nice garnish. Well... I did not have any basil, so looked in the veggie drawer hoping to find some kale, but there was not any. DANG.... no pesto, then I remembered that I had purchased some lovely looking Italian parsley for the rabbits (yeah... the real live rabbits that live under my daughters bed). I have never considered making a pesto with parsley, so what the heck!!!
Here's what I did:

1 big bunch of Italian Parsley (cut off stems and feed to the rabbits)
3 teeth of garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup raw walnuts
2 tablespoons of tahini
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon juiced

Put it all in the vita mix/blender and blend until it looks right. The pesto actually turned out really intense in a good way, the pungency of the parsley combined with the citrus and the sharpness of the walnuts and tahini worked well.
My original intention was to pair the Pesto with the Cassoulet, but the other potluckers ate it straight up, with bread, veggies or whatever. None of the pesto came home with us, but the rabbits said I could make it again as long as they get to eat the leftover stems!!!

Tofu, Potato, and Kale Bowl!! Vegan' it Simple!

2010-03-10T15:10:00.004-06:00

Not quite winter... Not quite spring!!!
This is a time of anticipation, waiting for something green to pop out of the ground... ready to hear that the first CSA pickup has been scheduled.... ready to complain that I cannot eat another bowl of baby greens!!!! For the time being spring seems a far way off, so we stick to basic ingredients.
This dish was not quite a soup, and not quite a stew!!! Here's what you are looking at:

Soup Base:

1 can lite coconut milk
1 can of water(use the coconut milk can)
1 tablespoon green curry paste
2 teeth of garlic, pressed - minced
1 cube of Rapunzel Bouillon
4 medium sized potatoes cubed

Simmer for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are just beginning to soften. Add the following and simmer for 2 minutes:

1 cup frozen corn
1 bunch of kale coarsely chopped

While the soup was cooking I took the following sprayed with olive oil, and baked on parchment at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. These were added at the end so that the kids did not have to have the onions and peppers:

2 pounds tofu large cubes (dusted with garlic powder and salt)
1/2 white onion
2 poblano peppers, cut in large pieces

This was satisfying, colorful, and most importantly easy!
My always there helper Cat.... Gabriel!!!!

Vegan White Bean Cassoulet, my culinary bastard!!!

2010-03-09T09:33:00.002-06:00

I came up in the restaurant business at the time when fancy fine dining was transitioning from continental French to contemporary American cuisines. This transition basically allowed Americans to bastardize every ethnic cuisine, steal ethnic culinary terms and ingredients, and call it fusion!!! This ultimately led to the use of culinary terms to make menus sound good rather than to accurately describe what was cooked or served. In general, traditional culinary terms have been hijacked as a way to "fancy" up menus rather than to accurately describe the actual cooking process in a way that would provide insight to the diner.
That being said.... Here is my little bastard!!!
Vegan White Bean Cassoulet... Click on the link and you will find that a true cassoulet is not vegan other than the beans, and believe it or not I do not actually own a cassoulet (the traditional deep earthenware pot), I also do not add an unsavory meaty confit. I do like the texture of white beans, flavored with richly reduced sauteed vegetables, with a hint of smokiness!!
The reason I call it a cassoulet is that I made carrot, onion, celery and garlic confit, which I added to the white northern beans. I made this particular cassoulet for a vegan potluck so it was huge batch, I used one of those restaurant sized cans that is as big as your head.
Here's a smaller batch recipe:
Start by making a winter vegetable confit -

1 yellow onion, small dice
4 stalks of celery, small dice
4 carrots, small dice
6 teeth of garlic, minced, or pressed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Take the vegetables and stir over medium heat until the onions begin to soften, then turn up heat to medium and stop stirring, when the bottom starts to brown stir again, repeat this process until about half of the mixture shows browning at the edges. The browning and reduction of flavors is what qualifies this to be considered confit in my book.
Add the mixture above to white beans, I used 4 cans of beans because I was in a hurry, but you could cook a pound of beans it you are so inclined.
Add the following to finish the cassoulet:

1 tablespoon of liquid smoke
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
fresh cracked pepper at the table

For a garnish I made parsley pesto to go with it.... dang... I slipped and used another often bastardized culinary term... more on pesto in the next post!!!!

Vegan Winter Fare!!! Cashew Alfredo and Brocolli!!!

2010-03-08T20:08:00.000-06:00

Yes.... there is a good chance that most of our meals will have broccoli this time of year..... and pasta.... or potatoes....

This was a simple cashew cream, with garlic over linguine, with broccoli and garlic bread.
This is how I made the sauce:
2 medium white potatoes, rough diced
1/2 white onion
4 teeth garlic
1/4 cup raw cashews
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 cup water
Put all of the above in a pan and cook until until the potatoes are soft, then put in vita mix/blender and process until smooth and creamy. Pour over your favorite pasta

Give me that vegan burger STAT!!!

2010-02-26T10:38:00.001-06:00

Burgers with all the fixins! Follow Your Heart Cheddar Style, tomatoes, onions, avocados, Veganaise, mustard, ketchup, pickles, and lettuce.
A quick and easy burger night with Gimme Lean's burgers and Tater Tots.
We have gotten far enough away from last summers awesome tomatoes, where I was OK with buying some vine ripened tomatoes from the grocery store. This is the worst time of year for produce in general, especially anything even remotely local. Last winter we had local greenhouse tomatoes, but they are not in my primary store this year.
We have been eating quite a few avocados this year because they have been good and they are cheap during the winter months, which seems to be the norm. I wish we had good and cheap avocados all year long, I love them!!!

Green Chili and Cashew Cream Potato Soup

2010-02-23T11:13:00.001-06:00

This soup was the result of indecision!!! This is something that happens when I stare into the pantry while hungry and think of too many possible options. Sometimes this process works well and other times the results are edible, but not outstanding. This adventure turned out pretty darned good!!!
I initially intended to make green curry potato soup with coconut milk, but I did not have coconut milk, or as it turns out green curry. I did have green chili enchilada sauce though. Here's what I ended up doing:

3 lbs yukon gold potatoes, cubed and just covered water and simmered until starting to soften, drain about half of the water.
Add one can corn to the potatoes after they boil
To prepare the soup base, put the following in the blender, or Vita Mix, and blend until smooth, then add to the potatoes and corn and simmer for about 10 minutes.

1 can green chili enchilada sauce
1/4 cup raw cashews
1 cup hot water(from potato pot)
1/2 white onion
3 teeth fresh garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon no chic base
Cayenne powder to dust soup as a garnish

So to recap, I started out to make Green Curry, Coconut Milk, Potato Soup and ended up with Green Chili, Cashew Cream, Potato Soup which turned out very well... I will make it again!!!

Vegan Soy Curl Tacos!!!

2010-02-20T17:43:00.004-06:00

I laugh every time I say Soy Curls, it always comes out "squirrels"!!! Sorry but I find that to be funny!!!
I first heard of the soy curls on facebook and thought it was a tofu preparation method not a product. After a couple of questions I found out the Soy Curls were a product that I had never seen. I got on the old "inter-web' and found them at Vegan Essentials. The first time I got them we made tacos and they were so good that I forgot to take pictures.
Nikki made a big "analog" buy a few weeks ago and bought a couple of bags of "squirrels".... I mean Soy Curls.
They are really easy to work with, just add warm water and 10 minutes later they are ready to use. They are kind of like seitan but less squeaky. They do require a healthy dose of flavoring to make them taste good.
I took the soy curls and sauteed them with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder.
Once the soy curls were done we served with brown rice, green chilis, salsa, Follow your Heart Cheddar style cheese, and Tofutti Sour Cream.
I have another bag of Soy Curls and I am not sure what I will do with them, but I will let you know.

Vegan Soyrizo and Tofu Frittata

2010-02-19T16:41:00.002-06:00

I have always liked frittatas, but like many things I assume that they will take longer to prepare than they do!!!

This was a pretty simple recipe.
1 bag of frozen shredded hash browns (the loose ones not the patties)

1 lb Nigari Tofu -crumbled
1/2 white onion diced
1/2 cup corn (frozen/fresh/can)
1/2 of a Melissas Soyrizo
1/4 teaspoon Paprika
1 tablespoon of corn or potato starch
1 teaspoon veggie oil - for the pan

Mix the ingredients above in a large bowl, put oil in a large non stick skillet (mine is a 18" Professional Volrath). Cook on first side until browned, remove to a plate - and flip. Put the frittata in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
Cut the frittata in triangles and serve with salsa, green onions, Tofutti sour cream and jalapenos. This would also be good with some black beans and tortillas!!!

Oh yeah.... dogs like frittatas.... give them a little bite!!!

Vegan Chili Not Dogs

2010-02-16T17:50:00.001-06:00

We already had chili burgers did not want to leave out the Not Dogs!! This was pretty basic and took about 15 minutes, I made Three Can Chili and put it on top of Tofu Pups.
I am not able to find Vegan Not Dog buns, DAMN you Sara Lee and your adding milk to everything. But the Iron Kids white bread works just fine.
To finish them up we added shredded Follow Your Heart Cheddar Style, diced onions, and pickled jalapenos. Wavy chips and a light beer and all was well in the world!!

Mac-n-Deja-Vegan-Vu with Brussels Sprouts

2010-02-15T16:21:00.005-06:00

Deja vu with Brussels Sprouts.... yes we are moving into the February Redundancies!!!! This is the time of the year where there is nothing fresh in the stores, the culinary inspiration of the holidays is past, and soup has become passe. This is when the record starts to stick and we start eating a lot of Mac-n-No-Cheeze and a token vegetable like Brussels Sprouts or broccoli, chili, and all manner of tacos. The only real local food this time of year is tofu, so it will be gracing our plates often in the next two months. I did sign up for the local CSA a couple of weeks ago and I am praying that we have a reasonable spring and we start getting greens in April.

Vegan Valentines Day - HOPE!!!

2010-02-12T18:45:00.004-06:00

At the beginning of the school year I signed up to bring a healthy snack or treat to every one of our son's special holiday parties. I did this for a number of reasons, but mostly because I wanted to make sure that there would be really good vegan items for him, so he would not feel left out. I also wanted to be able to share some of what we eat with the other kids and parents... maybe so they would not think that we are extraordinarily weird (I say this because I do have a certain need to be a little bit weird).
I have been really excited that the parents of the kids in Carter's class, and his school have been really supportive of our lifestyle choices, and have shown an impressive level of accommodation and understanding. This week I was emailing back and forth with several of the other kids' moms about who would bring what, and I offered to bring something with chocolate, as well as baked tofu. Yeah I know, I was worried that people would say, "Who is that kooky guy that brought baked tofu to the Valentines Day Party." I did offer up links to SHIFTvegan, so they could see that tofu did not have to be boring white slabs of boringness. I also shared that I brought tofu to Addison's parties and the kids loved the tofu. They were fine with me bringing the tofu and I offered to bring Chocolate Crispies too (just in case the tofu was a total bomb).

Here is the simple baked tofu recipe:
For the glaze, mix the ingredients below in a glass bowl, heat in microwave for 30 seconds - stir, heat for 30 seconds more and stir - the glaze should thicken. If not, heat a bit more.
1 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons corn or potato starch

Tofu preparation:
2 lbs Nigari Tofu
Cut into 1/2 thick slabs, then cut into triangles/squares/heart shapes/stars/whatever suits the event.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment and spray with oil. Brush the tofu with the glaze and put in 375 degree oven. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from the oven. Turn the tofu pieces over and glaze, put back in the oven for 15 more minutes. Repeat the last step and remove and let the tofu cool completely. You can cook the day before, just warm the tofu in the microwave for a minute before serving.

I put the tofu triangles in little paper cups and did not include a dipping sauce... I felt like this would be the best way for first graders to handle the tofu.

OK, so now to the party... the other parents arrived before the kids came back from gym class... in addition to the items that I brought, there were heart shaped chocolate cupcakes (VEGAN - Thank you Sarah!!), fresh pineapple, mini cupcakes (from a store and not vegan), and apple juice.

The kids did a quick activity, stacking conversation hearts, then they came up to the counter where the treats were and served themselves. I watched with great interest as the kids went through.

About half of the kids took a piece of the tofu on the first pass through, which when you compare to the allure of sweets, I was honestly surprised that any of them chose the tofu!!! Then I watched as the kids sat down, and almost all of the ones who selected the tofu tried it before the sweets... and there were many surprised reactions, like, "What is this.... it's really good" and, "This is tofu?" and, "This tastes better than chicken!" (No I did not make that up), and finally one little girl came up and thanked me for bringing the tofu and said, "It is really yummy."

Carter was doing a really good job of being enthusiastic (hopping around like a little bird), and got the other kids who had not tried the tofu to get some. They did, and I did not hear a single complaint. The kids ate all but a few pieces, the parents ate the rest!!!

Ironically, I brought the Chocolate Crispies because I was afraid the kids would not like the tofu, but as I turned out I brought more than half of the Crispies home!!!

One of the main reasons I do this blog is to show that just because we are vegan doesn't mean we miss out on normal, everyday stuff; and to show that vegan alternatives are not weird. I was happy that the little boy stated that the tofu tasted better than chicken because it really illustrates that in many cases the item being cooked is really judged by the flavor added and its texture, not whether it was a plant or an animal!!!

Thank you for reading my blog..... if you are vegan you are not weird!!! If you are not vegan... please consider reducing or eliminating animal products from your family's diet, it makes a world of difference, especially to the animals!!!!

Vegan La La Lasagna

2010-02-10T11:45:00.003-06:00

Lasagna was one of my favorite meals when I was growing up. My mom would make it on a regular basis and it was always good when it was first served for dinner then the next day as leftovers. My mom would serve it with garlic bread and a big tossed salad, we would all smell like garlic for a couple of days!!! Of course it was in no way vegan....
These days Nikki will put together lasagna over her lunch time, or right after work on a day that I am working late. It is a nice cooking break for me, and the final product is really awesome. Nikki works as the Director of Special Gifts for PCRM, that's right she's walkin' the walk and talkin' the talk!!!
The lasagna is pretty basic, but very good:
1 large jar of pasta sauce (many vegan choices)
1 bag of Boca Crumbles
1 lb nigari tofu, squished and seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast (about 1/4 cup).
1 box of no boil lasagna noodles
Daiya Italian style cheese, or other vegan mozzarella, use as much as you would like.
I do not think that I need to explain the assembly process. With the no boil noodles it takes about 20 minutes to assemble, and 30 to 45 minutes at 375 degrees to cook.
The tofu mix is especially good for us because we have a really awesome local source for organic, nigari tofu, with the added seasonings it is very much like ricotta, the Daiya cheese on top is a nice touch - it has that stretchy cheesy-ness, and a good taste.
The salad is a romaine salad with Annie's Goddess dressing and leftover grilled veggies from the night before. Whenever Nikki makes lasagna it brings back happy memories of childhood and I hope that it will do the same for our kids......

Big Hurry Red Curry!!!

2010-02-09T12:49:00.000-06:00

Everything rhymes in February...
The winter soups continue to warm and comfort us as our colder and snowier winter drags along. I have been wanting to make a red curry for a while, but usually red curries are too spicy for the kids and too sweet for me. Nikki picked up some prepared red curry paste in a jar a while ago and I saw it in the cupboard the other night, and that was that, time make a nice warm winter curry.

I love curry in general, but I do not like the sweet ones, which is how most restaurants serve red curry, so I seldom order it.
This red curry is very simple:
Take 1 lb Nigari Tofu (firm), and cut into large cubes and place in a bowl with a teaspoon of oil, and place on cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven, bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
For the soup:
3 tablespoons prepared(vegan) red curry paste

1 tablespoon no chic bouillon
1 can of lite coconut milk
2 cans of water (use the coco can)
5 medium yellow potatoes (big dice)
1/2 yellow sweet onion (rough chop)
1 sweet potato medium dice
2 teeth garlic, pressed
Salt to taste

Take all of the above ingredients and add to your soup pot, simmer over medium heat until potatoes are just beginning to become soft (15 to 20 minutes), remove from heat.
To finish add:
1 package of rice noodles (or bean thread noodles) they will soften in a few minutes without heat. I you do not want to use the noodles you can serve with rice.
Present in large bowl, top with the baked tofu, cilantro, red chili sauce, and fresh peppers (if you like!!).

Snow Day... Big Baked Potato Night!!!

2010-02-06T14:49:00.001-06:00

Wow... another big snow... 5 inches of prime snowman making snow!!! The back yard looked extra nice with the fresh coat of fluff. The super heavy, wet snow reminded me of mashed potatoes, which reminded me that I bought some big potatoes for baking!!! I had Addison put the potatoes in the oven, and when I got home from work I got to work on the toppings. We still had seitan left from our big order from Vegan Essentials.
Here's what I did:
Chopped 1 pound of seitan

1/2 onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Put the items above in a sauce pan and browned with a tablespoon of oil
I made 2 cups of no chic broth, stirred in 1 tablespoon of potato starch for thickening, and added to browned onions and seitan
to finish of the sauce I added 1 tablespoon of tahini, and 1 teaspoon of Marmite (which I have been adding to some of my cooking the few months, it adds a distinct flavor that is very different from nutritional yeast).
The final toppings included green onions and Italian Style Daiya. We served with steamed broccoli.

Wagon Wheels and Roasted Veggies

2010-02-04T13:33:00.000-06:00

A dinner fit for a kid...or a busy dad!
I was pretty busy at the end of January so one night Nikki put together a happy, healthy, pasta that really hit the spot. Roasted cauliflower with Indian spices, wagon wheel pasta with a garlic and Buttery Stick butter. Finally steamed broccoli. Nikki had this bowl waiting when I arrived home, a few dashes of soy sauce, and I gobbled it all up!

We Like Seitan Fajitas

2010-02-01T19:18:00.003-06:00

Oh the tacos you will know...
We actually have not had tacos in a while, have to have a change in scenery once and a while. We tend to eat quite a few tacos in the summer time because of the great local produce.
Nikki ordered some seitan from Vegan Essentials and I thought that would be a good use for our first package. I like seitan because it has a solid texture, the problem is that it tends to be a bit squeaky, in that it squeaks on your teeth when you are chewing. The Upton's Natural was pretty basic and and tasted good, and not too squeaky!!! I pan sauteed it with a bit of oil, garlic powder and salt. For the rest of the fajitas I made simple guacamole:
1 avocado + puree of 1/4 onion, 1 tooth of garlic, and 1/2 cup water.
White rice, pinto beans, red salsa, and oven roasted poblanos, white onion, and red peppers.

Corn Bread Raft Afloat in Sea of Discontent

2010-01-31T20:31:00.014-06:00

This is Nikki, reporting in on the cornbread raft incident. This meal happened on a Friday night that came at the end of a long week--one that I spent part of in Los Angeles, dodging waves of El Ninos (Los Ninos??) and that Andre spent picking up the proverbial slack around here. I was in L.A. training a new staff member, and she was so kind as to feed me lunch one day while we were working together. She made me a cornbread casserole--veggie chili on the bottom with a layer of green chili cornbread on top. It was really delicious! Thanks Riva!

Back on the home front after my return, patience and good humor was waning by the time the Friday dinner hour approached. So I decided to give Riva's casserole a try, but I didn't have the recipe. I winged it (wanged it? wung it?). I did a casserole dish with pretty basic chili ingredients on the bottom (black beans, chili beans, crumbles, red enchilada sauce, seasonings). I mixed up a batch of cornbread from the side of the corn meal container, subbing in egg replacer. I plopped the cornbread batter on top, intending to spread it out neatly as I observed Riva doing, but there was not enough to cover the chili. Thus the raft. Oh well, there was no turning back at that point. Into the oven it went at 350 for about 30 minutes.

It turned out pretty good--a pretty loose interpretation of Riva's and not nearly as awesome, but definitely tasty!

I served it up with Daiya, red salsa, salsa verde, jalapenos, and a couple of stiff cocktails. It was all good.

Vegan Chili Burgers

2010-01-30T10:00:00.005-06:00

I like the challenge of pulling a last minute dinner winner together!!! The other night I was faced with two choices. Chili or burgers!!! DUH... make chili burgers!!! When I was a kid this was one of my favorite meals!!!
This seems like one of those things that would be hard to make but it is not. I made a basic three can chili - recipe, then I made Gimme Lean Burgers. I placed the patties on toasted white bread, smothered with chili, topped with chopped onions, Rotel, and avocado. We sprinkled Daiya Cheddar on top and served with fries.
Boy oh boy this hit the spot... THEN WE WENT TO THE GYM!!!

If you give a vegan girl some tofu, she'll want rice to go with it...

2010-01-29T15:45:00.002-06:00

Every once in a while I get really busy I have to step back and not make dinner, the other day Addison asked if she could put dinner together. She has really taken an interest in cooking and has good fundamental skills, patience, and a good sense of making things taste "right".

The only skill she is lacking is knowing how long it will take to prepare something, and I consider myself lacking in that department sometimes. She likes to make super thin baked tofu. It is good for building knife and oven skills. This is what she did:

2 lbs of firm nigari tofu - sliced about 1/8 of an inch thick

Brushed with the following:

Teriyaki
Soy Sauce
Garlic
Veggie oil

Then baked on parchment paper at 350 for about 20 minutes or until curling or browning at the edges.

The goal is to caramelize the edges, without burning the tofu. The glaze becomes more intense as it loses moisture.

The final plate included steamed broccoli, steamed jasmine rice, and crispy baked kale (courtesy of Nikki).

Breakfast + Sunshine + Kids at Grandma's House = Happiness

2010-01-24T13:28:00.002-06:00

What a dreary winter we have had so far.... I like some snow, but no sun for a few weeks was a bit much. Woke up this fine Sunday morning with birds chirping, squirrels working, and the sun shining--time to make coffee and a savory hot breakfast... life is good... again!!!
Back in the days before having children and becoming vegan one of our favorite things to do on weekends was to sleep late (after a night on the town) then go to one of the many fantastic breakfast places in Denver.

Well the kids stayed overnight with Grandma last night and we went out on the town. We sat at a bar (something we have not done in years) and had drinks and sushi!!! It was really fun!
Then we slept in, really late, and got up to enjoy the silence of our house and have a nice breakfast. We would have gone out to breakfast if there was anywhere that served a vegan breakfast locally, but there is not.
Besides I would say that I do pretty well in breakfast department.
Here's what we had:

Oven Hash Browns
Sauteed White Onion and Green Peppers
Scrambled Tofu with Pecans
Daiya Cheeze sprinkled on top
Toast and grape jelly
Coffee

The addition of pecans to the scrambled tofu is new; it added a nice texture and a subtle sweetness.
Now we are going to read the Sunday Paper and enjoy the silence!!!

Supreme Vegan Nachos!!!

2010-01-22T20:22:00.002-06:00

OK sometimes you have to do the basics... these are simple Supreme Vegan Nachos, but man they were very good!!!
I made nacho cheezzzzz, guacamole, garlic refried black beans, salsa verde, and topped with Rotel and vegan sour cream.
Nacho Cheezzzzz Recipe:
1 can new potatoes (save the water)
1 white onion
1 tooth garlic
1 handful of baby carrots
1/4 cup raw cashews
1/2 of a Buttery Stick (vegan marg)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno juice
1 teaspoon mustard sweat
1 teaspoon salt
First: Water from a can of new potatoes + 1/2 onion + handful of baby carrots + 1 tooth of garlic, microwaved til soft
Second: Put the following in VitaMix or whatever blender you have: can of new potatoes (yes lazy but fast), raw cashews, buttery stick, spices + salt + teaspoon mustard sweat (yeah it is just the water that rises to the top, too much mustard and the kids won't touch it), add the softened veggies from the microwave. Blend till it is cheese sauce, the pour on the chips, save the rest and eat at two in the morning, cold right out of the fridge!
I made Salsa Verde, which was 1 can of green chili enchilada sauce, 1/4 cup of cilantro, and one fresh jalapeno, run through the VitaMix until there were no noticeable chunks.
The beans were made of one can black beans pureed with 1/2 white onion, 1 tooth of garlic and simmered until hot.
The Supreme Vegan Nachos were topped with guacamole (1 avocado squished with a bit of the Salsa Verde), Toffutti Sour Cream, and Rotel (right out of the can)!!!

Miso not tired of Miso!!!

2010-01-21T14:36:00.002-06:00

Red Miso is a miracle.... Prep time of soup is about 10 minutes... so simple and so satisfying!!!
Two large table spoons and six cups of water and you have a warm and wonderful soup. Add baked tofu, sauteed white onions, kale, cilantro, green onions, and some crunchy chow mein noodles and you have a meal.
A link to a blog post about my favorite red miso paste.

OH Yeah Vegan Chocolate Mousse!!!

2010-01-20T16:42:00.003-06:00

Generally speaking a label that says "non-dairy" is a big F'n lie!!! This is one of the many reasons you might find me cursing in the grocery store on any given Saturday. Non-Dairy items often contain casein which is derived from milk. Casein is found in many foods and is one that I am constantly on the look out for.

I found Coffee Rich a while ago in the local store and after contacting the company, verified that it is indeed "Non-Dairy", (click here for my Coffee Rich discovery post). I also suggested that if their products were indeed dairy free that they should add vegan to the description in their marketing materials, which they have since done!!!

Back in my restaurant days I can remember seeing the whipped topping that came from the freezer, and was non-dairy, but I did not piece together that it was the same company that makes Coffee Rich. A couple of weeks ago I was at a wholesale restaurant supply place and I saw the Rich's Whip Topping in the freezer case!!!!! Needless to say I left skid marks when stopping to investigate.
There it was, frozen, vegan, and in a container that was reasonable for family size, they do make smaller containers, but I have never seen them.
As soon as the product thawed as recommended, I whipped up a batch. It did just that it whipped up like a dream, or like cool whip, or real cream. Now I am not saying that the product is good for you, but it is not bad for your conscience. We ate the first tub with graham crackers.... the stuff did not stand a chance!!!
For this version I whipped the cream and added unsweetened cocoa, cinnamon sugar, and served with graham crackers. WOW it was great.... I am really looking forward to fresh berry season, short cake anyone?

Colombian Arepas - Vegan Style

2010-01-18T12:30:00.006-06:00

I told you that I was going to go south for the winter.... I have been wanting to make tamales for quite awhile, but I have a hard time pulling together multi-step meals that require several days of prep. OK that is an excuse because tamales are not that hard, but still, there is no way that I could prep all of the fillings and not eat them before they reached the steamer. A few months ago I purchased some South American basics and pledged that I would make some things from my old pre-vegan playbook.
Arepas are something that you do not see very often in the states, but are a standard in the south. I purchased the precooked corn meal, PAN is the best, I was very excited that I was to be able to buy it.
I decided that I wanted to experiment rather than make traditional arepas, which I would describe as somewhere between a tortilla, gordita, cornbread, and a pancake. Arepas are served as a side like bread, often with sauces, and in some areas are split and served with fillings like sandwiches. The corn meal/flour being precooked makes a significant difference in the taste and the texture of the final product.
I decided that I wanted to experiment and combine a couple of things that were floating through my mind at the same time. I really wanted tamales, so I decided to start with basic arepa batter and add.
The traditional recipe is:
2 cups of PAN corn flour
2.5 cups of water

Here is what I did:
2 cups PAN Arepa Flour
1/2 cup Maseca Tamale Flour(I love the taste of tamale flour, that's why I added it)
1/2 White Onion + 2 Teeth of Garlic + 1 cup Water in the vita mix/blender until smooth

1.5 cups of soy milk (this is variable because you want the batter to be just thick enough to pour, it will also thicken over time so you may need to add)
1 teaspoon salt
Mix all of the ingredients above to a smooth consistency. With this batter you can start making arepas, by pouring, like pancakes, on a medium hot griddle that has been lightly greased. Serve with warm salsa of your choice.
I chose to add some additional items for the sake of experimentation:
1 cup frozen organic corn
3/4 pound of small diced smoked tofu
This satisfied my desire for tamales, I cooked them as described above.
To complete the plate I made sauteed onions, just seared and finished with a 1/4 cup of salsa.
I made a warm salsa with a can of Rotel, fresh chili's, 1/4 white onion, run through the vita mix then simmered for about 5 minute.
I also made long grain rice, cut some avodado, warmed some Morningstar Farms seitan strips.
So to recap, this was not really much less intense than making tamales, but they were very good and I will make them again, soon?

Addison's Vegan Spring Rolls

2010-01-08T20:12:00.001-06:00

Snow Day....what to do?
Well Addison(my 13 year old daughter) decided to take on a project and make spring rolls. This was a good lesson for her... sometimes things that seem simple take a long time to make.
She has made spring rolls a couple of times before, but has had dad as a back up to help expedite things a bit. She worked on these all day, she prepared all of the fillings, baked tofu which took a couple of hours, rice noodles, carrots, lettuce. Then she assembled the spring rolls, which is fairly simple, but it takes time.
She then made peanut sauce from 'Vegan Comfort Food". She made a big plate of the spring rolls and I made some instant brown rice and teriyaki peas to fill our plates.
She really did a nice job on the spring rolls, and she did a great job cleaning up the kitchen and putting stuff away.
Thank you Addison!!!

Simple Soupy Vegan Curry Noodles

2010-01-07T11:51:00.003-06:00

I have been making Mac~N~No~Cheese too much lately. It really tastes good and the kids like it, but in face of a few extra holiday pounds I made this pasta as an alternative. It is a light curry with organic frozen peas, and corn.
I was really wanting to do some thing like a chicn pot pie but I did not have the ingredients so this is what I came up with:
1 pound of pasta, your choice boil first
Sauce:
1 tooth garlic
1 tablespoon light curry
2 tablespoon or 2 cubes of vegan chicn bouillon
Salt if needed
4 cups of water
1/3 cup raw cashews
1 can of new potatoes, including liquid
Put the ingredients listed above in the blender or Vita Mix, and process until smooth, put in sauce pan over medium heat, stir until this comes to a simmer, turn off heat and add:
1 cup frozen peas
1 can corn
Pasta that you cooked earlier. The sauce will be kind of thin which is a nice change of pace from the thicker "Cheese" sauces I have been making lately. I would have added a side salad, but it had been a long day and this was enough!!!
The beauty of this dish is that you can cook everything in one pan, so clean up is a snap. Leftovers went to school for lunch the next day, and reportedly held up well to a night in the fridge and trip through the microwave.

Vegan Feijoada [Brazilian Black Beans]

2010-01-05T21:27:00.000-06:00

I have been on a South American kick lately..... I wanted some homemade black beans the other day and actually remembered to start soaking the beans in advance. While they were soaking and I was doing other things I decided to go Brazilian in theme with the final presentation, Feijoada, the Brazilian national dish.
The beans were simple..... Buy a bag of black beans and follow the instructions on the bag!!! I always reinforce the disclaimer on the bag about the black beans being a natural product that try as they may, occasionally dirt clods and rocks get missed!!!! If you like your teeth take a minute and look through, I have found many natural non bean items over the years! Back to cooking, I like to add two bay leaves and a couple of dried whole cayenne chilis. When the beans are finished cooking, I take about 5 teeth of garlic(minced) and one half onion(small diced) and saute' then add to the beans, along with 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke. I also lightly mash the beans with a potato masher to help thicken the beans.
I served the beans with Jasmine rice, reconstituted Bacos(yes I take Bacos and add a bit of water and put in the microwave for about a minute, makes nice little smokey bits). Then I topped the beans and rice with green onions, cilantro and Farofa.
What is Farofa you ask? Farofa is manioc/cassava/tapioca that is dried and coarse ground like corn meal, I take the manioc and toast it in a skillet with garlic. When it is toasted it turns golden brown and has nice earthy flavor and adds a bit of crunch to the mixture. I have had good luck finding manioc in natural foods stores and online at specialty South American food stores.
Now had I really been on the ball I would have made fried bananas and served with collard greens and orange wedges, but all said and done it was pretty darned good.

Vegan Colombian Cazuela Soup

2010-01-04T21:31:00.003-06:00

Man...... what is with this cold weather???? This is the longest, cold snap we have had since we have lived in Kansas. Cold weather puts me in the mood for soup, and nothing satisfies like a good rich Colombian Cazuela.
Traditionally this is a seafood dish, but it is better without it... in my opinion. This is a rich, herbed, tomato, coconut milk broth that I learned how to make from a good friend from Colombia, back when I was the chef at Cafe' Brazil in Denver in the mid 1990's.
Since it is wintertime and fresh tomatoes are not any good, I did cut a couple of corners, but I added kale which was a nice addition.
Here is what I did:

1 white onion, halved then sliced thin
3 teeth of garlic, minced
1 table spoon oil

Saute onions and garlic over high heat until beginning to soften, deglaze pan with 1/2 cup white wine.
Add the following and simmer for about 10 minutes:

1 can mild red enchilada sauce (or two cups diced tomatoes)
1 can lite coconut milk
4 cups water
1 teaspoon no chic Better Than Bullion
3 tablespoons of smoked paprika

Finish by adding 8 cups of rough chopped kale (which will shrink down to about 2 cups), stir into soup until it wilts, hurry up and put it in bowls, then garnish with green onions, cilantro and some red chili sauce. The best part about this dish is it only took about 25 minutes to make.
Enjoy!!!! And think warm thoughts!!!

Vegan Green Chili with New Potatoes

2010-01-03T20:29:00.000-06:00

I love green chili.... but with kids it is hard to dedicate a whole afternoon of preparation and then have to make something else for them. Over the years I have come up with some variations that work, this is one of them.
First I boil 2 pounds of new potatoes until the are just starting to soften then I add:
1 can organic corn
1 can green chili encilada sauce
1 can of diced green chili
3 cups of NO chic broth or veggie stock
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Then I cut up tomatoes, pablano peppers, and cilantro to garnish. I often serve green chili with warm corn tortillas.
This week I am planning to do a Colombian soup with a herbed tomato coconut milk broth.... I can hardly wait.

Time to step off..... Vegan Miso!!!!

2009-12-29T20:10:00.005-06:00

Wow the holidays are not the easiest time to eat right. This was our fourth Vegan Christmas!!! We generally we eat pretty healthful, and are fairly moderate in the amount we eat so the shock of all of the heavy holiday foods really weighed us down. In addition to fattier foods than normal we have eaten out quite a bit more with all of the hustle and bustle of December. This miso soup was the first light meal we have had in a few weeks.
What a simple and delicious meal, here's what it took:
1 white onion sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 pound tofu nigari small diced
Brown onions then add tofu and let brown until the tofu sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Add and simmer until hot:
2 tablespoons red miso
1 tablespoon no chick bouillon
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
4 cups of water
4 cups rough chopped fresh kale
Serve with red chili garlic sauce
This should only take about 15 to 20 minutes to make. This is a light broth with a small amount of oil, yet it fills you up nicely.

Seitan Ribs

2009-12-28T20:15:00.005-06:00

I am catching up before the end of the year in posting some highlights of our fantastic meals that have not made it onto SHIFT vegan yet.
The summer here in Kansas is pretty hot and sticky and everyone is out in the evening grilling. We try to grill once in a while but honestly there are only a few items I like to grill, most of the time a hot oven does the same thing, but we are always up for trying some thing new.
This was an idea that Nikki saw on the Fat Free vegan website, she made the seitan ribs and I grilled them with my own bbq sauce. The ribs were backed in advance and then finished on the grill.
I grilled peppers, yellow squash and sweet onions. To finish the plate off I made coconut rice. The coconut rice was simply steamed rice with half a can of lite coconut milk, a 1/4 teaspoon of curry, a dash of garlic powder and salt.
The final product was very good, there is something about charred food that is primal and satisfying. We ate them all up, and we really need to make them again. Of course by the time we finished putting this meal together the fat freeness had been pushed to the side, but it was worth the extra long walk afterwords.

Chocolate Nut Bombs, Kid Eating Green Stuff and Farmers Market Stew

2009-10-16T08:01:00.001-05:00

I rarely make desserts.... honestly I do not really like sweets, but once in a while I go there and it's not pretty....
This is a simple chocolate nut log unit:
pecans
walnuts
sesame seeds
coconut
sunflower seeds
I toasted then added raw sugar about a 1/4 cup per cup of nut mix, added cinnamon and nutmeg. When the sugar melted I turned off the heat and stirred in chocolate chips and scooped into a muffin tin. The final result was like those mall nuts, covered in chocolate! Quite tasty!!!

A funny picture of Carter eating pea shoots... HA HA HA

This was a stew from farmers market finds:
Fresh potatoes
Little carrots
Broccoli
And Tofurky Bratwurst
Simple decent and delicious!!!!

Vegan Chorizo Tofu Scramble and Oven Browns

2009-10-13T08:04:00.001-05:00

There are times when I could eat nothing but breakfast for a week!!!
So simple, so tasty, and so easy!!!
This was actually a dinner meal:

Scrambled tofu with soy choriso
Oven hash browns, frozen hash browns with a touch of oil, garlic powder, onion powder and salt, baked on parchment at 400 until browned.
Warm tortillas.

When I was growing up and as a young adult, going out for breakfast was one of my most favorite things to do, getting up early, hot coffee, warm and savory breakfast made to order.
Nikki has been vegetarian as long as I have known her and so early in our relationship and marriage, breakfast was a meal that we could easily enjoy together. The shift to veganism really hit hard in the breakfast department because it took out some of the key ingredients that defined breakfast for us.

~~Eggs, Cheese, Butter, Milk, and Cream~~

At the beginning it was hard to come to grips with the idea that 99% of menu items at breakfast places are not vegan.... so basically we did not go out for breakfast anymore. We did some experimenting that yielded some not so awesome substitutes.
We have had some great vegan breakfast meals while traveling, but in general breakfast at a restaurant is not something that is easy to veganise.
A few years ago a small Co-op restaurant opened and started doing vegan breakfast on the weekends, we went there and it was so incredible to be able to go somewhere and have a vegan meal that was tasty, simple and fresh. They offered pancakes, french toast, scrambled tofu, and breakfast potatoes. Unfortunately the Co-op restaurant did not last long, but in some ways offered the hope that maybe there would be others in the future.
We have a "formal" breakfast meal a few times a month and it is just as good or better than anything you could find in a restaurant(including non vegan restaurants). But there is something lost when you have to make it yourself.... I miss being in a space with other sleepy people enjoying their first meal of the day. I am looking forward to taking a trip in the fall and finding a vegan breakfast place.... I hope their tofu scramble is as good as mine!

CSA Bounty Meals... you never know what you will get!

2009-08-29T07:50:00.000-05:00

I love summertime and the bounty of the farmers market and the weekly Rolling Prairie CSA veggie pick up. I usually go to the farmers market at least one week night and on Saturdays. Generally speaking the offerings at the farmers market are pretty much tied to is ready and most of the vendors have similar items. But not all veggies are created equal, some vendors work harder to produce their bounty and you can see the dedication on their faces and in how they respect what they are sharing.
I try to spend at least $20 per farmers market trip, which is spread around to the various vendors I have come to know over the years.
The Rolling Prairie CSA is a different deal... there are some choices, but you get what they bring. I love the fact that they bring things that I would never imagine buying on my own, and in some cases things I have never seen. This year we have been getting Parslane, which is great in salads and has some interesting medicinal benefits.
The bounty of Rolling Prairie is shown in these pictures, a salad with Russian Kale, Asian Cucumber, Tomatoes, Green Chili (Anaheim), and the Fava Beans were from a can. We also had corn on the cob, and boiled new potatoes. It was not a typical meal for us but everything was fresh and vibrant.
I will be doing some posts soon with all of the magnificent chilies that I am able to get locally. There is a wide variety that can be prepared and stored used all year.

Future Vegan Food Bloggist

2009-08-26T08:05:00.001-05:00

I have to admit that I do not share the kitchen enough!!! I am usually in too much of a hurry and with my cooking background I know quite a few short cuts.
My 13 year old daughter is very interested in cooking and has begun preparing her own lunches and occasionally cooking dinner for herself and her little brother.
This was one of her efforts one night when I had to work late... I think she is going to be a food stylist some day!!!
She did not really push any culinary envelopes with the Bocas, but she is starting to develop a taste for spicier foods so she has been doing some basic experimentation with Asian Noodles with basic sauces. She is starting to learn basic cooking technique, which she picks up quickly and excels rapidly. I think she enjoys the scientific side of mixing flavors and textures.

Sponge Bob Vegan Pants - Happy Birthday Carter

2009-08-25T07:59:00.003-05:00

This post is only 60 days old... I posted photos on Facebook, but forgot to do a blog post.
Carter aka "soy boy" requested his favorite meal for his birthday dinner. which was not technically on his birthday. You parents out there know that birthdays are a long, drawn out series of three or more birthday related events: first the school day treat, then the birthday party/s then the family get-together.
Carter chose Chick-Pea-Patties with Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and Broccoli. This is just such an awesome combo that works well for special occasions. Nikki makes the Chick-Pea-Patties and I make the rest, we have gotten good at this and we can do the whole meal in around an hour. We make extra of everything and we have great leftovers!!!!

For family birthday dessert Carter chose ice cream (So Delicious - Vanilla Coconut), chocolate syrup, bananas, and cherries. Of course he had to have a #6 on top!!

Happy Sixth!!!!

This is the cake from his Birthday Party,
Sponge-Bob-Vegan-Pants!!!!!

Vegan Roti and Curry Cauliflower

2009-08-21T08:06:00.003-05:00

Nikki really likes Indian food.... so do I but I tend to be recipe adverse so light curries tend to be as far as I go.
We go to a couple of places in Kansas City every once in a while to get her a FIX.
Nikki wanted Indian one night so she settled on curried cauliflower with edamame. She prepped everything and worked on cooking the cauliflower. She also made vegan roti (Indian flat bread), and formed the dough balls and then flattened. I did the roti cooking. I really enjoy when she takes on a recipe, she is focused and I work to be her kitchen helper.. its fun!!! She does not give herself enough credit for her cooking skills, she really does a great job!!!

Two heads of cauliflower in the big pan, with onions, garlic, curry, and edamame.

The finished product served with roti, and brown rice. The kids tend to be more adventurous with Nikki's cooking over mine.... They loved the cauilflower, but were not thrilled with the edamame.

New Potato Green Chili

2009-08-19T08:08:00.002-05:00

The re are times when simple foods are so appealing, but I choose to go down the path of complexity!!!! I cannot help myself.... I know as I travel down that path that I am most likely making something the kids, well the youngest at least, are not going to like!!!
This green chili was terribly easy and tasty. I took new potatoes from the farmers market and boiled for 10 minutes in water, added white onions, no-chic broth and a big can of hatch green chili's.
Nikki and I had some warm corn tortillas too.
I had to make sandwiches for the kids because they are weary of warm green things, especially when served in a soup like configuration. In fact Carter starts gagging if you say the word "soup". Some day we will laugh.... RIGHT!!!!

OK-Bobs - Skewered Veggies Tofu and Tofurky

2009-08-07T07:52:00.001-05:00

I got a new "mini" grill after our vacation this year because I enjoyed grilling while we were in Mexico. I have not been a grilling enthusiast the past few years, partly because many on the vegan items really do not lend themselves to grilling.
Boca burger stick, plain tofu sticks, not dogs pretty much stick, and so do the not-sages. That has usually left me with just veggies. Don't get me wrong, I love grilled veggies, but they are kind of boring. I can roast veggies in the oven and pretty much get the same affect.
One night I had a dream that we were at a big BBQ and they had vegan kebabs.... the next day I went to the store and got all of the pieces.

Poblano Peppers(local)
Red Peppers
Sweet Onions(local)
Tofurkey Beer Brats
Hickory Smoked Tofu(local)
Tofu Pups - not dogs for the kiddos

Years ago I was the chef at a South American restaurant in Denver and we used to do an Argentinian style kebab that was marinated with olive oil, salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic, fresh oregano. That's what I made for these, although I did not marinade I brushed it on. The benefit of brushing the oil on is to keep stuff from sticking!!!

I was very pleasantly surprised that the tofu stayed firmly attached to the skewers, and did not stick to the grill. The not-sages did well too, I think the proximity to the veggies helped flavor both the tofu and not-sages.

Check out the grill marks, I am drooling right now looking at the pictures, I may have to stop at the store on the way home!!!

We served the kebabs with a bed of mixed greens with goddess dressing. If I would have had enough time I would have made white rice and smoky black beans to go with these. The kids had not dogs and enjoyed every bite!!!

Simple Walnut Pasta + Vegan Pralines

2009-08-06T07:55:00.002-05:00

This is a nut based post, so if you are allergic to tree nuts look away!!!
I started off with dessert because the pictures are pretty good and I rarely post on desserts.
One night I was craving something sweet, which believe it or not is not normal for me!!! I have made some nut based candies recently and they were pretty good. I had some nuts on hand so I started thinking about Pralines. I got online and searched...
And found this recipe. I am not a big recipe guy, but I want these to turn out well. I did not have enough pecans so I used cashews, sesame seeds, pecans, walnuts, and almonds.
They turned out really well, and looked good for their portraits!!!
Needless to say they did not last long.
I will be making the pralines again!!!

The pasta is nut based too... I like really basic pasta sometimes, so this is penne with fresh garlic, walnuts, olive oil and fresh herbs from my garden.

Time to go home!!!!

2009-07-22T21:46:00.001-05:00

Our trip was super awesome, but all good things have to end. On our last day we had time for one more stop on our way to the airport.
We started driving towards the airport with the intent of stopping at Puerto Morelos for a quick look around and a bite to eat. We did such a good job of getting things together that we were able to dart into Aventuras Akumal run down to the beach real quickly and look around.
We had never been to Aventuras Akumal and it was pretty but a bit crowded for our tastes.
We loaded back up and hauled arse for Puerto Morelos, it was so nice having the rental car. So much more freedom to wander and see things off the beaten path. Puerto Morelos looked like a nice place, a bit crowded, but a nice place for a day trip.
We found a place to park and walked down by the board walk and found a cafe to have a little snack before going to the airport.
We got some things to share, rice and plantains, chips and salsa, and guacamole. The kids ordered their last orange sodas. We had plenty of time to sit and enjoy the calm bay and talk about how much fun we had on our trip.
After our lunch snack, we headed to drop the rental car off at easy way. We were running a few minutes early which was a good thing because we had a hard time finding the rental place.
We finally made to the airport and after a bunch delays we made it home six hours later than scheduled.
Tired, tan, ten pounds heavier, and a great time had by all!!!! Thank you Nikki!!!!

Vegan Torpedoes!!!

2009-07-22T07:57:00.002-05:00

Found some photos from this summer that I did not post. I miss eating at Subway every once and a while, but I cannot justify $5 for a shredded lettuce, crappy tomatoes, olive and slimy green pepper sandwich.
We make our own with Ciabattia bread and all of the fixins. With Phaloney and/or Tofurkey!!
Oh and a random cat picture!!!

Day on Tulum beach

2009-07-21T09:43:00.005-05:00

Nikki and I went to Mexico a few years ago and one day we took a taxi from Akumal to Tulum to spend a day on the beach. Nikki had researched the whole stretch of beach and came up with a list of must visit areas and restaurants. We got out of the taxi at the north end of the beach and started walking south. We stopped for breakfast at Mezzanine (toast and jelly, mango smoothies, coffee), and hiked, and hiked some more, then we stopped for something to drink (at Cabanas Copal, which is apparently frequented by those who enjoy naked frolicking :O), then we hiked and hiked and then we stopped for lunch at Zamas Que Fresca. I enjoyed having the adventure with Nikki, and it was fun to revisit the area.
Well this year when we moved to the villa we decided to spend a day further exploring Tulum beach, with the rental car we could cover some of the highlights of our previous visit, with out making the kids hike too far.
After checking out a couple of menus, including the vegetarian one at Maya Tulum, we settled once again on Zamas Que Fresca. Nikki and I shared an entree, it was rice, beans, fresh salsa, squash, and avocado. Everything was fresh and outstanding. The kids shared an order of chalupas, they were so good that we had to place another order. This inspired me to make gorditas the next evening for dinner.
The next picture is from the menu at La Zebra Tulum on the beach. We had stopped here to take a late afternoon swim in the ocean. The waves were pretty rough, but Tulum is probably one of the most beautiful sandy beaches in the world, and you just have to get in.
I am constantly amazed that there are more and more places and people that know what vegan means. I am constantly seeing glimmers of hope and understanding, and I hope that more people are moving towards veganism.

A Day in Akumal

2009-07-20T20:30:00.002-05:00

Ok this string out the blog posts from vacation is just taking way too long....... SORRY!!!!
I will try to move this along!!!!
We went to Akumal, it was a beautiful day.
We ate at Lol Ha, the burritos were very good, we snorkeled and swam with the turtles.

Nikki is beautiful.
Carter loves cats.
Addison is beautiful.
The plate of guacamole was huge and tasty.

NEXT SLIDE!
Wait.... Akumal is one my favorite places ever, many good memories there. It is such a nice mix of beautiful beach, bay, just enough people, and calm warm water, and very nice coral. Addison and I swam out in the bay and swam with the sea turtles. Carter got to snorkel out and see the cannons on the bottom of the bay. This year we just went for a day, it was really nice and familiar, someday we will stay there for our whole trip!!!!

Now We Eat!!!! - Tacos- Gorditas - Yucca -

2009-07-18T09:29:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the meals we ate while staying at Casa Del Corazon.
As I had mentioned before the fruit and vegetable stand had really good stuff, and I really tried to keep things simple, always easier said than done!!!

The first picture is of tacos with BBQ potatoes, avocados and salsa. Kind of boring except the avocados defy description, firm and very flavorful. The salsa is made from grilled poblano chilis, tomatoes, cilantro and onions.

The next plate was inspired by chalupas that we ordered at a restaurant. I bought Masa Harina and made corn flour dough, which I fried in coconut oil, which took them to a whole different level of goodness/badness. I have always considered these to be gorditas not chalupas, but who's to say!
I make gorditas at home on occasion, the dough, Maseca Flour - water and salt is easy to make, then you form patties about a 1/4 inch thick, and about as round as an English Muffin. You then fry them until golden brown. You can top them with any vegan topping you like, Tofutti sour cream, faux cheese, veggies, veggie crumbles, roasted veggies, or whatever you have in your pantry.
I topped these gorditas with refried black beans, grilled onion and pablanos, and salsa fresca (tomato, cilantro, lime juice and serrano chile) I grilled the new potatoes almost every night we were at the villa because Addison really liked them and the were fairly easy.

I found nice looking yucca while I was at the veggie stand, so I got some. I have cooked yucca/cassava before but was not really sure of the exact times, and procedures, so I went on facebook with my iphone and contacted a friend in New Mexico, she gave me some hints on prep, and cooking method. I loved having internet access, I was able to post food pictures as soon as I took them!! I was also able to request cooking instructions online several times. The plate below is the yucca, which I ended up boiling for about an hour before it was tender. I took half of the yucca and served it with mole(not the animal - say MO-lay) which I made from a Chilimole that was vegan and had remarkable flavor. I served it with white rice, avocado and tortillas. Yucca is similar to potatoes, but it has more of a "tooth: to it and it more of an earthy flavor, which was nicely complemented by the slightly sweet and robust flavor of the mole. I had hoped that I would be able to buy the Chilimole cubes online when I returned, but I have been unable to find it;( I guess I will to go back and get some.

The final plate is a picture of yucca fries. I had coconut oil left from making the gorditas so at the suggestion of my friend Mariela in Santa Fe, I made yucca fries. I took the boiled yucca and fried until golden, and served with ketchup, THEY WERE FREAKIN AWESOME... I generally do not fry things, not good for you, messy and it stinks up the house. I did fry bananas one night, I used to fry bananas all the time when I was the chef at Cafe Brazil in Denver, but they are hard to do without a large commercial fryer. They tasted good, but looked awful.
The villa did not have windows, it had screens and shutters, so while I was cooking I had everything open, it was like cooking outside.
The last picture is from the front patio of the Casa Del Corazon, this basically the same as the view from the kitchen sink. I wish this was my everyday view!!!

Casa Del Corazon - Vegan Villa Living

2009-07-17T09:32:00.003-05:00

After 5 days of the being at the Barcelo and enjoying the ease of the all inclusive lifestyle it was time to go out on our own and move on to a villa. Nikki has always wanted to do this but I have been reluctant to rent a car. I also did not really want to spend vacation going to the store and cooking!!!! I get plenty of that in my day to day life.... right!?!?!?
Well the last time we went to Mexico we did a bit of exploring and I visited a couple of grocery, and farmers markets. I found so many things that I wanted to cook on those trips that I started thinking cooking down there would be fun and exciting. Nikki also researched numerous restaurants in the Tulum area so we could eat out if we did not want to cook.
We checked out of the Barcelo fairly early in the day and drove to Tulum and did a little bit of grocery shopping at The San Fransisco Super Market. The SF Super Market is pretty much the same as any small to grocery store with a wide variety of food, beverage, housewares, and other random stuff. It is a bit less intimidating than the small un-air-conditioned markets like the "Pool Market", which has more of a sense of urgency to it, eat now or it will spoil kind of feel. The Pool Market was a bit overwhelming for the kids, it was hot, fairly stinky, and everyone was speaking Spanish at a fast pace. The Pool has some really awesome produce which more than makes up for it's roughness.
I stocked up on some of the basics, avocados, fresh tortillas, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, poblano peppers, mangos, bananas, melon, coconut oil, soy milk, Zucartitas, and pasta. We also picked up some orange Fanta, beer, and tequila.
As you can see from the first picture the beach was unbelievable. The entry to the bay was grassy, but the water was bathtub warm and the villa was literally 15 yards from the waters edge. The villa is named Casa Del Corazon, which had three sleeping areas, a living room, dining room, a very well equipped and fully functional kitchen, and a gas grill. There were some basic provisions in the pantry, spices, pasta, tomato sauce, oil, and believe it or not there was tofu!!!
Of course they also had some non vegan basics in the pantry too, but nothing offensive!!!
The first order of business was to go swimming and hang out on the beach. In the late afternoon, I cleaned all of the produce. Everything was rinsed with Microdyn so that we would not have to worry about tummy troubles!!! The water for the villa is trucked in and is pumped with low volume pumps which really helps limit your faucet water use. There was also a large bottled water set up on the counter for drinking and cooking.
I will do another post on meals at Casa Del Corazon, because we had many very nice ones, I will alos do a post on eating at restaurants and while traveling.
Our first meal was almost all cooked on the grill. Took all of the veggies I had on hand and brushed them with coconut oil and garlic, and grilled them. The grill was built into a counter top, it had good controls and well.... cooked things just fine. We had grilled: peppers, onions, carrots, squash, potatoes served with black beans and mole(not the animal, say MO-lay - a traditional mixture of dried chilis, spices, corn flour, coffee, chocolate and oil that is ground into a very thick paste) we ate this with tortillas and then we licked the plates!!!!! The picture is not very good because I was hungry and did not want to find the camera. OH YEAH, there was a few beers and tequila involved too. In addition to this meal I also prepared garlic pasta for the kids!!
The plate below was one of our last meals it was simple canned black beans, white rice, avocado, tortillas and grilled potatoes. The avocados were so good that I was tempted to just eat them with a spoon.
Cooking was really fun, I enjoyed having some new items to cook with. I liked that there was no microwave, although I realized that I really rely on mine for cooking fast. The cooking did take some time, but I liked the fact that we did not have to get cleaned up and dressed or drive anywhere. In fact I cooked with no shirt and no shoes!!!!!
I enjoyed going to the store, especially when Addison went with me, fun adventures trying to decipher labels. We did buy mostly fresh produce so that was not too hard. She enjoyed hearing stories about when I used to visit my grandparents and go to the crazy markets in Oaxaca.
The picture below is my cooking buddy while at Casa Del Corazon ~ Pekas the dog was ever present during cooking time, well for that matter he pretty much stayed in kitchen all of the time!!! Pekas lives at Casa Del Corazon and has an interesting story. When we first arrived we were greeted by several smaller dogs, then when we got to our villa there was Pekas waiting. He looks a bit rough, and he sounds like Darth Vader, when we first brought our bags in I thought there was something seriously wrong with him that required immediate medical attention!!! I was afraid that we were going to spend the rest of our vacation taking Pekas to Vets and trying to figure out how to get him back to Kansas!!!!! (I could tell you some stories from past Mexico trips)
We asked the couple who manage the villa what his deal was, he has throat cancer and the tumor causes him to have very raspy breathing. He has had some surgery and had chemo treatment before we arrived. Perfect dog to have camp out with us!!!!!
Well as Pekas and I worked out our cooking system I lovingly started referring to him as "Darth" or "Lord Vader", not to tease, but to endear. He was a steady helper, watcher, and cleaner of plates!!!!
After this trip, I think that I would prefer staying in a villa, being vegan really requires careful attention to so many things, it is nice to be able to relax and not have to worry what you are eating and enjoy the rhythms of life.

Breakfast... Something vegan for everyone

2009-07-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

When my grandparents retired in the 1970's they decided to move to southern Mexico, because they loved the culture, the scenery, and the food. In this country we are rediscovering the concept of the farmers market. In many countries that is the only kind of market!!!! Many of my fondest childhood memories were visiting them in the summertime and being immersed in another culture with a different language. It was scary yet very exciting at the same time. I learned so much watching my grandmother move through the never ending vegetable market that had so much variety that I could barely comprehend it!
I am so happy that we have been able to take our kids out of the country!!! The resorts are not the best place to be immersed in a culture, but they do offer some similar experiences, culture shock experiences that stick with you. We rented a car on this trip and were able to get off the beaten path and see the how people really live here. Poverty is something that Americans do not see very often. I will tell more of the stories of shopping in a later post.
Carter's favorite food in Mexico is Zucaritas, Frosted Flakes, or as Carter called them when he was little "Tiger Flakes". I think that Zucaritas translates to little sugars, which is pretty accurate!!! The exciting discovery this year was that the resort had Leche de Soya ---- Yeah!!! Soy Milk!!! This was very exciting because it made cereal an option for the kids, and it made the coffee much more enjoyable. Finding soy milk has always been a bit of a challenge so the last few trips we have brought it in our luggage along side our snorkeling gear.
Addison prefers the Coco Krispies!!!
Generally the morning routine is for me to get up fairly early with the kids and take them to breakfast while Nikki prepped the beach bag and equipment needed for the day. The breakfast reminds me so much of spending time with my grandparents. They would get up early and have coffee, rolls and fresh fruits every morning. I would get up with them and enjoy fresh tortillas and avocados, or rolls and hot chocolate. I also remember eating fruit the was sweeter than candy but so refreshing.
Addison ate quite a bit of fresh fruit while we were there, they had wonderful melons, mangos, bananas, and the pineapple was outstanding.
There were always hash browns, fresh tortillas, salsas, a wide variety of nuts and dried fruits. They also had fresh orange juice, grapefruit, pineapple, tomato, and a made to order juice bar.
We found plenty of options that were vegan and tasty, this only represents a small portion of the offerings, and the non vegan stuff did not bother me as much as it has in the past. In the past I have found being around buffet environments has really stressed me out because I used to "miss" some of the things being offered. As I have shifted into being a vegan, I have found that I miss those things less and less. I now revel in all of the things that I can have and relish the opportunity to eat without the guilt that I used to feel. Becoming vegan has been a process that has taken considerably longer than I realized. I feel like in some ways this trip represented the final shift for me, I am comfortable with my choices, and I am proud to be part of a family that shares in this common held set of beliefs. I used to think that I was making sacrifices, but now I feel that I make deliberate choices that reflect an important set of beliefs.
The picture below was taken with my phone so it is not super clear, but this is pretty typical of my morning breakfast. Fresh tortillas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, fruit, and nuts. I also had coffee, and orange juice. I promise that I did not have the hash browns every morning!!!

Vegans on the Mexican Riviera!!!!

2009-07-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

We traveled to Mexico in early June and I am just now getting to back to a place were I am caught up enough to get caught up with SHIFTvegan. I have decided to break our recent trip into several posts, I have many pictures and observations. Our trip was arranged in into two parts, half at an all inclusive resort and the other half at a villa, right on the beach. This is part one of the visit to the resort.... specifically dinners.
One of the best parts of traveling is supposed to be eating local foods and enjoying local traditions. When you are traveling as a vegan family you are jumping into an abyss of uncertainty.... and the inevitable list of questions.... that well.... make traveling a bit stressful!!!! Add in a couple of moderately picky kids and traveling and eating are tenuous at best!!!!!
We have traveled to the Mexican Riviera a few times and have generally found that the all inclusive resorts offer the ability for vegans to add a few pounds while traveling... just like everyone else!!!! Often the resorts have pretty decent selections of vegetables on the salad bar, and usually there are plain pastas offered, and you can find unpolluted rice and beans. There are usually a few made to order offerings that are prepared in front of you so if your Spanish is ok, and you keep your eyes on the cook you can build some nice custom vegan delights. And if you cannot find healthy choices, you can always find, fries, guacamole, sugary tropical drinks and beer!!!!
The resort, Barcelo, is much larger than any we have visited before, and the only reason we went to that resort was because they were virtually empty because of the Swine Flu scare, oh yes their rates were lower than normal too!!
The resort was quite nice and the food was pretty darned good. The first picture is of gazpacho, which I added lettuce and extra cucumber and some very good wheat bread with olive oil.
This resort also had a wood fired pizza oven, and at dinner time you could order pizza with whatever you wanted. Of course you have to take a little time explaining what you did not want too!!!! The first couple of times we went to Mexico after becoming vegan it was really frustrating trying to explain, but we have found that persistence + smiling + saying thank you over and over really does make a big difference.
This pizza was "todas vegetales con salsa tomate solomente, SIN QUESO POR FAVOR!!!!" or "all of the vegetables, with tomato sauce, without cheese please!!!!" I am sure that there is probably a better way to say it, but I'm a vegan not a Spanish translator. I do have to say that sometimes it is helpful to pull the fake allergy card, so that perceived threat of pending death helps trumps the dumb why are you vegan questions!!!!
Carter ate quite a bit of pasta the first few days of our vacation, but that suited him just fine. They also have the best simple breads, I wish that in America you did not have to go to a specialty bakery to get simple breads without milk, eggs, and honey!!!!! He ate like four bolillos(rolls) at every meal. He also liked the pizza with just sauce, SIN VEGETALES!!!
When you go to the all inclusive resorts you eat most of your meals in buffet/cafeteria areas. It is fairly easy to pick through the offerings and find the vegan stuff without having to do much ordering. Nikki generally eats way more fresh produce than the rest of us do, but on the Mexico trip she is in salad bar heaven, there really are quite a few choices and they are not her normal fare. Good salsas, jicama, several types of beans, raw veggies, capers, olives, nuts, and fresh fruit, yum!!!
At dinner time you do get to make reservations at their special restaurants once or twice during your stay. Usually this is an alla carte menu, that is tailored to all of the things we do not want to eat, so we have shied away from these the past few visits. During our trip this year we made reservations for the Thai restaurant, and they had several vegetarian offerings that were easily veganized!!!!
We had a very nice waitress who really worked hard to understand our limitations and the food was excellent. I do find it interesting that we seem to get pretty positive attention from the service staff and the cooking staff even though we are making special requests.
To start we had miso soup and spring rolls. For main course we had broccoli and tofu, and pad Thai. Carter had rice and broccoli. Addison loved the pad Thai!!!
The pad Thai was particularly good with just the right amount of sweetness and saltiness, this was the only tofu we had on our trip.
The resort it's self was like I said before very nice, but it lacked the charm of the smaller properties we have visited in the past. The kids loved the pool, Nikki and I loved the beach, none of us liked the fact that you spend half of your time walking from one thing to the next. The walking did help work off the some of the extra calories, but it takes so much time dragging all of your stuff around.
We have really grown to love the Mexican Riviera, and highly suggest a visit there, I will be doing additional posts on the rest of our trip to share some of our new vegan experience there. The best is yet to come!!!!

Tomato Soup and Sandwich

2009-07-07T09:10:00.002-05:00

There are many times when I take pictures of very boring meals and I think that there is no way that I can publish these pictures. The food either looks bad, or is not the most exciting thing from a culinary standpoint. This is a perfect example... Grilled Follow Your Heart Cheddar Sandwich with.... DRUMROLL PLEASE.... Campbell's tomato soup.
Yes this was basic.... but it was easy - fast - and cheap.
The important things in life do not always have to complicated!!!!!

Broccoli and It's all Good!!!

2009-07-06T09:11:00.001-05:00

It's All Good is a new type vegetable based Chick'n that comes from Canada. It is similar to Morningstar Farms Chic'n strips. They are both made from Gardien, which is a patented vegetable protein product. The chic'c was pretty good, but was a bit on the squeaky side. This was pretty basic stir fry and the "it's all good" stood up to the heat well.
I have heard that there "beef" style is better than "chic'n", so we will try that soon.
It's All Good is pretty expensive, so I do not see us using it often. I have to be honest that I do not like the name, it's all silly!!!
The stir fry had broccoli, a frozen organic stir fry mix(not the best), carrot and It's All Good.
We tried the No Beef skewers the other night and they were so good that I was not able to get a picture for this post. I cooked the No Beef skewers on the grill and really handled the heat well and were very well seasoned. I highly recommend It's All Good, it's worth the price!!!!

CSA Salad

2009-05-28T21:11:00.001-05:00

Wow this was a great salad, all fresh, all local, all good!!!
It is starting to feel a bit like summer in Kansas, warm and muggy. This is a nice change from the extended cold rainy spring we have had.
Every Monday I will be picking up our produce from the Rolling Prairie group, a farm collective that provides weekly distribution of the freshest picked that day produce. I like the variety of things that we get. Much of the produce is things that you would not find in the average grocery store, or in fact any store!!!! It is fun to bring it home and figure out what to do with it.
This week I received pea shoots, baby greens, sorel, chives, asparagus, leaf lettuce, shittake mushrooms, and radishes. I made a quick dressing with Extra Virgin olive oil, garlic, white vinegar and salt and pepper. All of the veggies are so flavorful on their own that the dressing really needs to be basic not to smother the other flavors. Soon we will start getting veggies that will be cooked, I will keep you posted!!!!

Farm Fresh Soup and Salad

2009-05-24T19:20:00.002-05:00

I love the early part of summer, everything is green it is warm, but not hot, and there is loads of good local produce. When you are vegan this is a really special time of the year!!!!!
All of the ingredients for this meal came from the Rolling Prairie farm collective.
From some reason I was one of those weird kids that really liked veggies, and asparagus was one of my favorites, I like it grilled, roasted, stir fried, steamed, raw and in soup.
I made asparagus soup, with shitake mushrooms, and green onions. I cut up the asparagus, mushrooms, and onions and covered with water and simmered until just soft. Then I put them in the Vita Mix and pureed. I did add a bit of No Chic Bullion and black pepper. The soup tasted great, but I over pureed so it was a little too frothy!!!!

I also received a big bunch of radishes, so I sliced them and added green onion. I dressed with lime juice and olive oil, wow it was great. The radishes are super crunchy this year, it must be form all of the rain!!!

First Florida Corn

2009-05-20T20:38:00.004-05:00

Growing up I always looked forward to the first corn of the summer and it usually disappointed. Growing up in South Eastern Idaho was not the first stop for the best produce, we were lucky to get iceberg lettuce, onions, and believe it or not we had more potatoes than you could shake a stick at!!!! When I moved to Boulder in the late 80's I started seeing Indian River sweet corn in high end restaurants. This corn was only available for a few weeks in the spring, but it was extremely crisp and sweet! I can remember one night after a busy shift the kitchen staff boiled up a whole case of the Indian River corn and we ate it all, man it was good. Well I have to say that the corn in these pictures was just as good. I did not see it advertised as Indian River and I picked it up at the local discount grocery, 3 ears for a dollar, it was awesome. I am usually a big proponent of eating local, but local corn is at least 2 months away, and it just looked too good.
I made Gimme Lean burgers, and sliced red new potatoes, that I baked with garlic and black pepper.
Carter really enjoyed his corn, finally getting a hang of the cob!!!!

Teaching Sofi(the Berner) how to eat corn on the cob, she got the hang of it pretty quickly. Tucker(the Lab) just wants to take it away and rub it all over the carpet.

Don't be Alfredo!!! It's vegan!!!

2009-05-19T20:59:00.000-05:00

Man... I miss the 1980's. Being young... no responsibilities(aka kiddos)... Back to The Future Movies.... kick @sS electronic music.... and all you can eat pasta bars!!!!!!
Man noodles were cool, pasta was king, sauces were liquid gluttony!!!
I had the good fortune to work in some pretty outstanding restaurants in the 80's and 90's and got to experience a range from Contemporary American renditions of of European classics to working in a very polished northern Italian place complete with a cleaver wielding maniac chef from Florence, Italy. He taught me how to make Farfalle alla Brava and Capellini Alla Checca(I will divulge those secrets another day)
I have always been a noodle snob and being vegan has made it easier for me to not have to order pasta at a restaurant, because I am not easy to please when it comes to pasta!!!
The sauce must match the pasta!!!!!! This sauce is basically the same as my Mac N No Cheese recipe - minus the carrots(or the sauce would look like cheddar) and I add extra garlic, white wine and black pepper. This sauce has a big flavor, is thick, and goes well with regular spaghetti - linguine, or fettuccine. Green onions are nice garnish, but chopped capers would have been better.
The salad was basically red leaf lettuce and Annie's Goddess Dressing, we bought a big, giant bottle at Costco, and it took 3.5 months to use it all. Honestly though it is one of my all time favorite dressings!!

Vegan Lasagna Mac

2009-05-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

OK... I try to make things that both look and taste good, unfortunately the photos do not always turn out as nice as the food tasted. I have found that it is universally difficult to photograph tomato sauce, and well the veggie crumbles are tricky too!!!
This was a simple dish for a busy evening. Martha Gooch big macaroni elbows(kids totally love those), Ragu Garden Veggie sauce, Boca Veggie Crumbles, fresh thyme, fresh oregano, extra extra virgin olive oil, and extra fresh garlic. We topped with Vegan Parmesan. We also had a nice big salad, and we would have had crusty bread but I did not have any!!
I love lasagna but it is kind of a hassle to put all of the ingredients together in advance and wait for it to cook, this dish basically achieves the same goal in one step. This is also a very inexpensive(about $10 for 6 servings), tasty and quick vegan meal. It takes about 20 minutes from opening the pantry to putting it on the table!!!

New Tofu Method = Awesome Tofu Salad Sandwich!!!!

2009-05-15T09:30:00.005-05:00

I am always looking for new methods to cook tofu. I am constantly surprised how much the texture and ability to hold flavor changes with preparation method:

Fried
Raw
Frozen
Baked
Shredded (like Cheese)
Crumbled
Grilled(BBQ)
Grilled (George Foreman)
Scrambled
Roasted

A few weeks ago I discovered a new method "random large grate shredded" then baked. The key is to use the big slice side of the grater, and to turn the tofu as you grate. This creates randomness that helps create a fantastic texture when baked.
After grating the tofu, put in large bowl with 2 Tablespoons of oil(per pound of tofu), and add your favorite spices. I used curry, oregano, garlic, onion, salt and pepper in this batch.
I will be posting some other various soon, including fajita style.
Then I sliced potatoes and carrot in my new food processor(birthday gift from Nikki... THANK YOU!!!)
Gently mix until spices are evenly distributed on tofu and veggies.
Spread on parchment covered baking sheet, and roast at 400 degrees. At 15 minute increments take out of oven and turn/mix. 30 minutes should do the trick, what you are looking for is browning on the edges of the tofu. some will be more cooked than others, randomness is your friend!!! EMBRACE!!!!!
Take out of the oven and let cool, if you can wait!!! The kids were drooling so I served them up, while finished mine.
To finish my tofu(Chic'n Style) salad, I added Veganaise, minced white onion, and green onion!! I served this on tortillas with baby greens. Unfortunately only had two tortillas, so after I ate these I made a baby green salad with the Chic'n Salad on top.
Very tasty!!!!!
Super Mario Approves!!!!!

Vegan Sliders and oven fries! Oh My!!

2009-05-13T14:55:00.000-05:00

I love burgers and fries!!!! I had a hard time getting used to Boca, Garden Burgers, and Morningstar Farm patties over the years. Before becoming vegan Nikki would eat them while I had "regular" burgers(of course in retrospect I feel like a $@&! for doing that, but I cannot travel back in time). Although for many years Nikki was vegetarian and I was not, I very rarely cooked any meat at home, I could not get into "earth" burgers, too dry, too bread-like.
After becoming vegan, we ate the traditional Bocas and Morningstars on occasion, but once we discovered Gimme Lean burgers moved back into regular rotation. The Gimme Lean comes in a tube and is easy to handle (although it does gross me out how it feels "meat" like). Once the patties are shaped they are pan fried for about 5 minutes on each side, or until brown. So very easy!!!!
The texture is great, you can finish with soy sauce and a bit of water and they are remarkably juicy!!! I like to load them up with all of the toppings and have the juices dripping off my elbows!!! I did these one slider style with onions, tomato, spinach, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. The rolls were from a local bakery, they had caraway seeds.
The fries were fresh potatoes, tossed in a bit of oil and baked on parchment at 400, til brown.

Vegan Nachos (Not Yo's)!

2009-05-12T21:00:00.003-05:00

We love Mexican food!!! We love Mexico!!!! We love Mexicans!!!! Swine flu be damned!!!!
Nachos are an easy meal to whip together in a flash and it is generally well received by the little people!!
These nachos have Follow Your Heart cheddar, Follow Your Heart jack, black beans, Boca Crumbles, onion, green peppers, jalapenos and Tofutti Sour Supreme.
I layer every thing up and cook at 450 until the chips start to brown, then I broil for a minute or so until cheese bubbles!!!!

The rice is simple instant brown rice, with green chili enchilada sauce on top!!! This meal took about 15 minutes to prepare and was on the table 25 minutes after starting.
I try to follow as many other vegan food blogs and blogs about the challenges of being vegan. There are so many people who beat themselves up for not doing enough with activism and I like to encourage those people to reach out and share the joys of veganism with others and to share your story of compassion choices.
Just keep in mind that your compassionate choices make a difference. And even if your voice is not real loud it makes a difference for those with no voice at all. Leading one person to understand why you choose to be vegan is helping open the door for others to make the SHIFT. I tell my kids when they are given grief about being vegan to hold their heads high in the knowledge that they can go to bed each night with a clear conscience knowing that they make deliberate choices with the intent to do no harm to animals!!!!

CSA Salad #2, Wasabi No Oil Dressing

2009-05-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Get used to it!!!!!
This is going to be something you will see many times of the course of the next few months. I will go and pick up the Rolling Prairie CSA produce on Monday's and we will have a big salad!! But these salads are local, organic and fresh picked!!!! I will be adding new dressings and toppings as we move along.
Local items: baby spring greens, with extra arugula, spinach, shitake mushrooms.
From the store: red pepper, green pepper, white onion, garbanzo beans.

I decided to do a light dressing to complement the wonderful greens, so I took a teaspoon of wasabi and mixed with a tablespoon of soy sauce, a half teaspoon of powdered ginger, and a quarter cup of water. I just mixed the ingredients until well combined. The dressing had just enough bite to stand up to the nuttiness of the arugula, but it did not overpower the rest of the salad.
I really like to make my own dressings, they really can take a boring salad and take it to surprising places! I made a sweet style choke cherry dressing once that was pretty and exciting. Let me know if you have any exciting dressing ideas to try!!!!!
The salads were topped with a Boca Chik'n Pattie, lazy but tasty!!!!

Jalapeno Man

2009-05-08T19:00:00.001-05:00

It's not all serious here at SHIFTvegan.
This is Jalapeno Man, he was spotted on Nikki's plate after his amigos burned her tongue real bad!!!!!

This is Jalapeno Man's cousin Pancho.... Looking hot!!!!

April Vegan Potluck

2009-05-05T20:40:00.001-05:00

These are pictures from the April vegan potluck sponsored by Animal Outreach of Kansas. We meet at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries building near the University of Kansas campus. We have been attending the monthly potlucks for about year and a half. It is an diverse mix of ages, backgrounds, levels of advocacy and interests. It is nice to get together, talk about current events, share a great vegan meal, but mostly the energy of a group of people that share a philosophy of ethical eating and commitment to the welfare of animals.
Did I mention the great food!!! We meet at 6 pm and I am always rushing to put something together. I am always impressed with the amount of time and energy everyone puts into preparing food. I do think that we all get plenty to eat, this is our opportunity to celebrate the abundance in our lives!!!
You might search in your area to see if there are any groups in your area that sponsor vegan potlucks, it is a great way to meet really nice people and share good food. If you are just exploring veganism it is a great place to make connections, learn some of the tricks, and hear the ups and downs of veganism.

This month we had:
Potato salad

Green beans, red peppers, almonds and rice.

Asparagus, portabellas, and apples.

I made tofu salad, with roasted tofu, onions, celery, carrots and veganaise.
There were also several fresh salads and some really good chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips.

2nd 21st Birthday BBQ, Thanks Nikki!!!!!

2009-05-04T21:00:00.002-05:00

I am a lucky man to have such an awesome and wonderful wife!!!! She orchestrated this lunch and made a cake too!
She made BBQ seitan, from Jason Wyrick, the Vegan Culinary Experience, which was served on ciabatta rolls. She made cole slaw and baked beans. My mother in-law brought the potato salad. We had beers too!!! We ate too much, which made it real easy to not do much the rest of the day.
The cake recipe was from Sinfully Vegan and was very good. It was a dense cake, that would make a great base for cake donuts!!!! We had Tofutti vanilla, and Tofutti almond bark ice cream.
My big present was a new food processor!!! I will be slicing and dicing some new stuff here in the near future!!!!

I wanted to share the photo below, because there is a woman that Nikki has become friends with that is a big supporter of animal rights causes that has taken an interest in our kids. She send nice notes and little gifts, with positive animal messages, once in a while. She sent the book that Carter is holding for Easter. What a sweet story, I highly recommend it "Buddy Unchained", by Daisy Bix and Joe Hyatt.

Vegan Taco Tuesday!!!

2009-04-28T07:54:00.001-05:00

I love tacos.... so easy, so fast, so cheap, so kid friendly. There are many nights when we need to put together a quick dinner that works for everyone. Carter likes them with just beans, Addison has been developing a taste for spicy things, and Nikki and I usually go extra hot. I always try to keep it simple and let the garnishes define which taco is for whom.
20 minutes from start to eat!!!

Here's the line up:

Canned organic black and pinto beans, seasoned with cumin, garlic powder, onion powder
Morningstar Farms, Vegan Steak strips
Grilled onions
Rotel, canned tomatoes and green chili's
Follow Your Heart vegan Jack cheese
Toffutti Sour Supreme
Romaine lettuce

We served these soft taco style and just warmed the flour tortillas up in the microwave.
Most of the time I will heat up the tacos in my giant "18" Volrath commercial frying pan, but on this night we streamlined.
As we move into summer you will see more tacos, because it is a quick and easy way to utilize many of the veggies from the CSA and the farmers market.

Mac N No Cheese

2009-04-26T07:55:00.003-05:00

I love spring.... watching as the first green shoots fight their way out of brown earth, then the explosion of flowering trees and shrubs, then finally the electric light green of the new leaves on the trees.
This year there signs of a new kind of spring that heralds a shift to growth in the understanding of importance of choosing foods mindfully. There is growing momentum in the press(LA Times supporting the importance of eating vegetables(organic and local being the best choices) and radically decreasing the the consumption of animal products(there is a common call for humanely raised animal products, which I do not agree with). But even though I do not totally agree with all of the elements of the shifts being proposed I am encouraged that reinforcement of the benefits of a plant based diet and the concept of moderation will have some positive effect in the lives of animals, but to be honest factory farms will not go away. I am also hopeful that people are finally understanding that a plant based diet can have enormous benefits to their health.
I have a very diverse group of people visiting this blog, some veteran vegans, some foodie vegans, people interested in their health, some just curious, and those that are considering the SHIFT to veganism and looking for ideas. I am glad to have all of you here!!!!
My goal with this blog is to show as many vegan meals as I can so that people understand that moderation is a start, and that it is possible to vegan, eat well, be healthy, balance family life, and that once you learn a few basic meals it is pretty easy.
I am going to start working on posting weekly menus, and talking about food cost. I am fairly frugal and will share some product reviews and suggestions. There are many new vegan friendly products coming to market in the coming year!
Oh.... I forgot to talk about the meal displayed, this is simply Mac N No Cheese (click for recipe), and Boca Nuggets. Right now the only place I can find vegan Boca Chic'n Nuggets is at Target, but by the end of the year they are reformulating all of their products to be meatless so it will be easier to find them.
Eat with thought, eat with passion, eat with purpose!!!!

Early Spring Broccoli Tofu Rut!!!!!

2009-04-24T07:52:00.000-05:00

I have been looking through old posts and man we eat massive amounts of broccoli. I think this is the case because it is the only veggie that Carter really likes other than edamame. But low and behold on this day not only did we have broccoli, we also had tofu and edamame, yes I know it is a bit redundant. To shake things up I added snow peas.
This was pretty basic set up:
Tofu in the Foreman Grill
Broccoli pre steamed in mircowave
Stir fried peas, edamame, garlic, and broccoli, then added a 1/2 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and stired in 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, and a handful of peanuts. We served this over instant brown rice. The whole preparation time was about 20 min.
It will be interesting to look back in a year and see what we have eaten and identify trends. If anyone has a suggestion for something they would like to see me cook please let me know.

Vegan Marshmallows ARE A BIG DEAL!!!!

2009-04-23T08:02:00.001-05:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words!!!!
Here's 3000.....

This is Carter on Easter morning realizing that he is holding a bag of VEGAN marshmallows. DANDIES CANDIES is run by Chicago Soy Dairy, they are making some serious progress in providing new vegan products in the difficult to replicate category.
This has been a dream come true for Carter!!!! He did a very nice happy dance!!!!!!
Nikki heard about these and got on the waiting list and we were able to get three bags for Easter. I was worried that they might not be as good as expected, but I was very pleasantly surprised!!!! The texture is spot on, and they have higher quality ingredients. ORDER SOME TODAY!!!!! (Not a paid endorsement)
It is nice to have one more treat that our kids can have that are just like what other kids have(without harming animals)!

Happy Drooly Boy!!!!!

Making smores, we will go camping soon and try them out over the campfire!!!

SPRING HAS ARRIVED!!!! Local Organic Greens

2009-04-22T08:07:00.003-05:00

It has finally happened..... Spring has sprung!!!! Our meals will begin to change as we receive our weekly allotment from the Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance. Each week we will go to pick from an assortment of locally grown organic produce. What I love about this set up is that you have to make some choices but you end up getting things that number one you would never see in a grocery store and number two you would probably not pick if they did have it in a grocery store.
I was so excited for the first pick up that I had a hard time focusing at work.
Here' what I got in the first pick up:

Baby Lettuce Greens
Swiss Chard
Red Leaf Lettuce
Shitake Mushrooms
Sweet Pea Shoots
A Big Sweet Potato
Chives

After picking up the produce I drove like a vegan maniac home, washed the produce, while dreaming up a salad masterpiece.
The greens were easy, but I needed to use the mushrooms so I rough diced the with chives, and mixed them with garlic, Panko bread crumbs, and olive oil. I took the mixture and placed it between two thin layers of tofu and cooked in the Foreman Grill.
After the tofu cooked, I sliced it and placed it on top of a bed of baby greens and sweet pea shoots. And dressed with Annie's Goddess Dressing.
I have never eaten sweet pea shoots, they were about 5 inches long, tender sweet, and absolutely fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! I think that these would be easy to grow in planter, think I will try!

This is my second salad, not as pretty. I chopped shitakes and chives and placed on top. I also added peanuts!!!

Since we had light salads for dinner, Nikki made some chocolate chip cookies!!! Yea for Nikki!!!!!!!

Bean Noodle Stir Fry = Love and Devotion

2009-04-21T08:47:00.003-05:00

Yes the posts have been short lately. I have been getting caught up on posting meals from the lost month. The lost months of February and March, starting the new job finishing up old projects. Nikki really picked up the slack and made some great meals. There were many nights when she was like a prep cook, she got everything ready and then when I got home I finished things off. It is really awesome that she and I can work together that way. Until becoming vegan we struggled to work together in the kitchen, but the past few years we have really started enjoying cooking together!!!
This was one of the meals that Nikki put together and had ready when I got home from a long day. This is a spicy red curry stir fry with rice noodles. The spice was just right, with a hint of cinnamon. Nikki I love you and all you do for our family THANK YOU!!!!!

Field Roast Sandwich, Boring

2009-04-20T08:45:00.001-05:00

I have to say that this is the most boring picture I have done to date. This was an evening were I got home late and literally flung a slice of Field Roast on a couple of pieces of Iron Kids Bread, slathered on some Follow Your Heart Veganaise, a couple of roma tomatoes and some romaine lettuce. Dinner...Simple.....Decent. Then repeated for another sandwich.
Field roast comes from http://www.fieldroast.com/
Their products are very good, although a bit salty. They started selling their sausages here a few months ago, but we have yet to try them. They are a bit pricey but they look pretty good. As soon as it stays warm we will give them a try on the grill, with some grilled veggies and crusty bread, I am really looking forward to summer!!!

FREE Vegan BBQ for Earth Day 2009!!!!

2009-04-20T08:13:00.004-05:00

This the the second annual Animal Outreach of Kansas booth at the Earth Day event in Lawrence Kansas. This event used to be held as a Meat Out event, but last year we got rained out and did the Vegan BBQ as part of Earth Day. The weather this year was a bit sketchy but did not hamper our spirits!!!!!
We served between 500 and 600 people!!!! The line was long, but we had a chance to answer questions about veganism, animal issues, and why food choices not only impact the lives of animals, but are directly tied to the environment calamities that we face on our planet.

This event is an extension of the vegan potluck group we belong to. The potluck members brought side dishes and and helped serve food. This was yet another affirming activity that may have opened some eyes, illustrated that vegan food is not weird or yucky!!!!
We served, vegan burgers, vegan brats, vegan not dogs, BBQ tofu. Potato salads, cole slaws, chic pea no-tuna salad, macaroni salad, and vegan cookies.

Thanks to all of the organizers!!!

Thanks to all of the people who brought huge side dishes!!!!

Thanks to those who worked the grills!!!!

Thanks to the donors that provided funds to support this event!!!!

Thanks to the companies that provided food products!!!

Follow Your Heart
Central Soy Tofu
Turtle Island Tofurkey
Parma
The Merc
Wheatfields
Lumen Soy Foods

But most of all thank you to those who joined us for lunch, listened to our message, and hopefully will consider that by eating a vegan meal with us you made tangible difference! GO VEG!!!!

Vegan Peanut Sauce Noodles, Garnish with Green

2009-04-17T08:48:00.001-05:00

You just can't go wrong with noodles. They are quick, versatile, and fun to eat. Nikki cooked these one evening while I was on my way home from my bathroom remodel project. I was beat tired and she waited to eat with me. What a sweet heart!!!
This was a Simply Asian peanut noodle kit that she added fresh broccoli, cilantro, green onion, jalapenos and extra peanuts.
I do not usually go for the boxed units, but the Simply Asia brand is great because they are not afraid to label items vegan. This is very helpful and I do use several of their sauce bases in many dishes. Their green curry is fantastic!!!!
I wish there were more companies that would label their products vegan, I think that the word "vegan" has less of a stigma to mainline companies than it once did!!!

Boca Nuggets cauliflower cheese sauce

2009-04-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

This is a basic meal that really hit the spot. I really like Boca Nuggets, they have good texture, they are kind of greasy and they cook in about ten minutes in the toaster oven. The kids like them too, in fact Carter was the one who renamed them from "chic'n nuggets" to "soy nuggets" since they have no "chic'n" in them. We are excited that Boca is removing eggs from their formulations by the end of the year, this means there will be even more mainstream vegan products.
Carter is five but he has a genuine understanding and empathy for why we have chosen to become vegan. Now he has only been vegan for three of his five... going on six years. Before that he was vegetarian and ate quite a bit of cheese, but he understands the issues with dairy production. It has taken him a long time to warm up to vegan cheese, but he has started begging for my vegan mac n cheese, this makes me happy!!!!!
The steamed cauliflower is topped with left over cheese sauce from Mac n Cheese the night before. For a starch we had instance brown rice, all of the nutrition in 7.5 minutes!!!!

Happy Seitan and Broccoli!!!!!

2009-04-14T16:21:00.001-05:00

This is a meal from the "LOST" month. I do not believe that I cooked this. I think that my sweet Nikki angel made this one night while I was working late, but I could have made it?!?!?!? See what happens when you do not keep on top of your blog.
I do remember this dinner, sugar snap peas, broccoli, onions, Morningstar Farm Seitan Strips with a no beef base sauce.
This is one of those classic meals that is pretty easy to make and is enjoyed by all segments of the family.
Noodles are a winter time item, I do not really like to boil water in the summer, it's too hot and humid in Kansas for that. We will be moving towards more rice and fresh greens, tacos, salads, and sandwiches. We will also be laying off the chili and baked potatoes soon. As spring progresses into summer, I will yearn for the tomatoes and then we will have about six weeks of tomato based gluttony I cannot wait!!!! We have had a wet and mild spring, I hope that bodes well for apples, peaches and cherries. I am drooling on the keyboard, must stop thinking about summer!!!!

Very Awesome Vegan Easter Brunch

2009-04-12T20:25:00.002-05:00

Easter has always been a holiday of conflicts for our family. Should we go to church, what is the meaning of Easter, how do we reconcile this with our other beliefs??? I could go on and on, but there are others who can better articulate the conflicts. I know how to cook and I hope that I can show anyone who is willing to try, to try at least a few vegetarian meals and possibly a few vegan ones too!!!! Believe it or not small incremental changes can make a huge difference, in your life and the lives of animals!!!
The meal we prepared this Easter was yet another example of how with a few modifications we had a very nice meal and no one got hurt. There was plenty to eat and we were all quite full when it was all over.
Here's what we had:
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins
Bread Pudding with Almond Milk
Biscuits with Gimme Lean Sausage Gravy
Sweet Potato Hash Browns
Strawberries
Pineapple
Patsie did all of the sweets and I did the savories. Carter and Addison painted the decorations for the table, Nikki did the table set up and mimosas. Nikki and David managed the thundering herd of dogs, cats and rabbits.
I remember the first few holidays after becoming vegan I was not happy with our new traditions, I missed the old ways. Now I am more focused and secure, we are not missing out, we are not being hypocritical, we are not being judgmental, we ARE enjoying the bounty of this world with the freedom of clearer conscience. With great joy, we practice what we preach!

Spring Rolls, thanks Addison!!!!!!!

2009-04-11T19:00:00.007-05:00

Addison likes to cook, but I usually hog the kitchen. She has been wanting to make Spring Rolls so she went the store with me and got all of the ingredients.
I helped by doing some of the prep work for her, and cooking the tofu. She did all of the assembly work.
Here is what you need:
Spring roll wrappers
Romaine
Carrots
Bean Sprouts
Bean thread noodles
Baked tofu(cut 1/4 inch thick, brush with oil, garlic powder, soy sauce - bake for 15 min at 400 degrees) when cool cut into strips.

Addison piled all of the ingredients in the center and rolled, she is very good at this and the end product looked very professional.
She is very talented and I really need to let her do more. Look how organized her work area is!!!

Nice afternoon light in the kitchen

One down 15 more to go!!!

Beautiful!!!!

Peanut and Red Chili Dipping Sauce

The Clean Up Crew!!!!

Sublime Carrot Soup

2009-04-10T08:50:00.002-05:00

Nikki gets to go to all of the awesome vegan restaurants when she travels for work. We get the benefit of her take on what was good, and it challenges me to be better at what I do!!!!
This was a work related project for Nikki, to make a soup from the Sublime cookbook as a preview for cookbook for PCRM. It is a Carrot Ginger Soup with coconut milk and fennel seed. There were a few ingredients that I did not have, fennugreek, whats that?!?!?!!?
As I have said before I am not a recipe guy..... I have a hard time keeping track of ingredients is frustrating!!! This soup was surprisingly simple and was very delicious. Everything was cooked until soft then into the Vita Mix it went, the color was truly stunning!!!!
I knew the kids would be turned off by the color, even though they both love carrots!!! I made grilled Follow your Heart cheese sandwiches with Tofurkey to go with the soup. Please double click on the photo below to get see the fantastic color and detail. We will make this again!!!!

Vegan Ginger Cleanse Stir Fry

2009-04-09T08:45:00.002-05:00

There are always winners and losers, this one looks ok in the photos, but I pulled a rookie mistake. Fresh ginger goes a long way!!!!
Addison had a friend over for a slumber party and I decided to make noodles and tofu. A simple, easy, crowd pleaser!!!
I made a marinade with fresh ginger, garlic, salt and some oil. When I peeled the ginger I prepped about twice what I needed so I thought what the heck more is better, right....... Wrong!!!!
Well I went ahead and cooked the tofu, no problem. Then I cooked the broccoli and carrots, which I should have cut into strips. I took the remaining marinade and added corn starch to thicken. The problem became apparent when I poured the liquid in the pan and my eyes started to burn a bit!!!! That was the point that I realized I had gone too far with the ginger.
I added more liquid in an attempt to spread the flavor out but it was pretty strong.
I apologized to everyone for the strength of the sauce, everyone was polite and ate up their dinner. I am sure that the quantity of ginger did a good job of cleaning us through and through!!!
I used to make this mistake all of the time, over spicing, but with kids I have learned more restraint, which in many ways has made me a better cook.

A Rueben for a hung over Leprechaun

2009-04-07T16:24:00.000-05:00

This really was not left overs, we ate all of the "corned" tofu because it was so good!!!! Nikki had been talking up Reubens for a while so I made more corned tofu and we made Reubens, with kraut, Follow your Heart cheddar, and secret sauce(yeah ketchup and veganaise)

The salad was fun... quinoa, tomatoes, green onions, and kale. I dressed it with olive oil and lime juice.

The kids really liked the tofu, which had baked rather than cook in the Foreman, and they had fries.
I find it very interesting how many of the foods that I remember liking from my non vegan days really were more influenced by the accompanying flavors. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is nothing lost by eating a tofu Reuben, so there!!!! I like to dream that some day there will be faux Swiss Cheese!!!

Vegan Leprechaun Chow

2009-04-07T08:41:00.004-05:00

There some things that I really did not like before becoming vegan, that I like now. the traditional St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage was one of them. Well I have made several variations of this now and it is pretty awesome.
I take tofu and marinate it in the following:
2 tablespoons dried pickling spice
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon of veg oil
Put all of the ingredients in the vita mix or blender and pour over tofu slabs cut 1/2 inch thick, marinate for at least 2 hours, overnight if you have patience. I cooked the tofu on the Geo Foreman, but it could be pan fried, baked or raw. To each their own!!!
The cabbage was basic, cabbage, onions, salt, pepper, little oil, nutmeg.
The potatoes are boiled and then finished with a little bit of buttery spread.
I was happy that my leprechauns liked it. The tofu was so tasty that I used the same recipe a few days later to make Reubens!!!!!

Mac N Salad N Brussell Sprouts

2009-04-06T16:19:00.005-05:00

Well I have like 50 meals photographed that need to be posted. I have been lucky to become very busy lately. I am starting to get my head back above water, which reminded me what a bad blogger I have been!!!
Like you have heard in so many acceptance speeches..... I could not have managed the past couple of months without the wonderful support of my wife, who has achieved super woman status in my opinion, my kids, animal companions, and friends!!!!! We have continued to live a rich and culinarily interesting vegan life!!!! We have on many occasions leaned on simple standards to make it through, some recipes have become even more refined(in simplicity, not in high standard) As an example, Carter was begging(AKA Grinding) for Mac n Cheese, I have been using the Veg News veganize it recipe with a few simple changes, but I did not have any fresh potatoes or canned potatoes. I USED INSTANT MASHED POTATOES!!!! Oh the humanity!!!!!!
DID YOU CATCH THAT CARTER WAS BEGGING FOR MAC N CHEESE.... He has been the model of a skeptic in the faux cheese department, he has come around to the cheese sauce and he likes Follow Your Heart cheese. I bought some Tofutti slices the other day just to see if they still produce the Kryptonite reaction!!!
But as is often the case it turned out very good, in the taste department, not the high quality, freshest-local-organic-nutrient dense kind of way. I will be working to post some of the highlights of the past couple of months while working on some new meals. If anyone has suggestions for meals in the next new months..... please share!!!!

Check out the roasted Brussel sprouts, they were very garlicky and tasty!!!!

Pizza Fusion....... another step in the right direction!!!!

2009-03-12T21:09:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday we decided to go to Kansas City in the afternoon for a change of scenery. We went to the mall, a rare occasion indeed!!! While we were there we started thinking about going to get something to eat. Of course the food court holds little promise for vegans and there is just too many people, crammed together eating unhealthy, greasy foods!!!
Nikki ate at Pizza Fusion on a trip recently and said that they were opening a store in Kansas City somewhere. We looked it up and it was only about 10 miles away so we decided to check it out.
Pizza Fusion was located in Leawood(south side of the metro area)
This is what we had:

FUSION SALAD
Arugula, romaine, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, basil, shaved carrots, and crostini.

VERY VEGAN (PIZZA)
Crimini mushrooms, roasted garlic, tomato sauce and soy cheese(Follow Your Heart). Carnivores love it, too!

FLATBREAD AND DIP TRIO
Flatbread brushed with herb olive oil and served with marinara, olive tapenade and garlic olive oil. A delicious way to begin your meal! (this was for Carter, the olive tapenade has cheese so the subbed extra marinara)

FRESH HOMEMADE BROWNIE
A delicious homemade brownie.(which is vegan and served hot)

All in all the food was very good, it was a bit pricey, but three of us shared the pizza and salad. The pizza crust was thin and crisp, yet chewy. Their sauce is very good, bright and chunky, the Follow Your Heart mozzarella was melted perfectly and the mushrooms and garlic were fantastic. The salad was large and perfectly dressed not swimming in dressing.

Carter really liked his flat bread and marinara!!!!!

The brownie was warm, crispy on the outside chewy on the inside, very good and eaten quickly.

The dining area was nice but the greenwashing, and patting them selves on the back for being green was a bit over then top!!!! I think they could scale that back a bit. The server was well trained and understood veganism well.

I am sure that we will go back, and we encourage others to try it. By the way, they also have gluten free, vegan pizza, hey they are trying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Valentines dinner... theres no place like home(yeah it took a month to post)

2009-03-10T20:02:00.002-05:00

One of the challenges with living in a smallish midwestern town is the lack of "nice" restaurants in general, but we have at least one vegan friendly upscale place in town. It is called the Scarlet Orchid and has interesting food and very good service, and is very vegan friendly although it is not a vegan restaurant. But to be honest I would not be caught dead in a restaurant on Valentines. I worked in restaurants for too long and holidays in restaurants stress me out. I used to laugh at the dumb dopes who were trying to impress their dates!!!!
So we always cook a nice meal at home. This year Nikki and I cooked together and made Chic Pea Patties from the V-con, mashed potatoes and gravy, and seared collard greens. We have made this several times and it has become a family favorite. It takes slightly more time than a regular meal but what nice is that Nikki and I have gotten good at doing this meal as team!!!! I really love it when we are synchronized, it's like a dance!!! We had a good bottle of red wine, and shared cards, and ate chocolate. It was an awesome family evening!!!!

Soup can be hard to photograph!!!!

2009-03-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

SOUP..... AGAIN...... YES IT IS STILL WINTER...... I am ready for spring although I am keenly aware that just because it will be spring soon, there still is not any fresh local produce for months. I have been craving salads lately, but most of the produce we get is from so far away that it does not have much in the taste department(including the organic). The further from the farm the lower the flavor.
The soup above looks.... well... not so good!!!!! it was a basic soup:

potatoes
carrots
onion
garlic
kale
cauliflower

then I processed in the vita mix to thicken it a bit. Once things settle down a bit I am looking forward to being more deliberate about food again. Nikki has been doing all of the shopping and most of the cooking the past few weeks as I have been basically working two point five jobs.
After I upload this posting I am going to look into signing up for our local CSA(community supported agriculture) last year we missed out and I was real sad.
The CSA is really awesome, you never know what you are going to get so it makes for some creative juggling. I learned more about produce the year that we did the CSA than ever before. The cost was $15 per week and you got a pretty good bag of veggies. I cannot wait to see what wonderful greens they will have, and the earthy smell of the produce on the way home from pick up days!!!!
IT RAINED OVER THE WEKEND AND THERE ARE GREEN BLADES OF GRASS IN THE YARD, I WILL TAKE PICTURES FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE NORTHERN CLIMES!!!!!