Peanut Sauce for my Sister

Sorry for the lack of posts lately; I've been busy trying to get in all the DC things I should have done instead of watching t.v. the whole time I've been here (just kidding mom, I really do go out a lot).
The other night I wanted to make peanut sauce with brown rice, tofu, and veggies galore.  So I found a recipe here, and went to the store to buy all the necessary things for this; which are only in small amounts but sold in ridiculously large bottles (like peanut oil which is really expensive too).
So one thing you should know is I use recipes mostly as a guideline, and do what I want with them.  This recipe has mushrooms in it, I HATE mushrooms.  When I go out to eat I say I am allergic to them so they keep them far away from my plate.  Same with peppers, but I can pick those out of my food (I don't mind the flavoring they add).
So instead of putting in the veggies and amount they say, I just put in a LOT of everything I wanted: corn, peas, onion, carrots, and broccoli .  I tried a new brand of tofu this time, Silken, because it was cheaper and it said it was extra firm (which I found out it was not because it broke into a million pieces while I cooked).  So this is a lesson for myself, just because something is cheaper does not mean you should use it (which I'm sure my dad is laughing about because he always says that I am too cheap).
As a side note I would like to add that Nasoya tofu is outrageously delicious.  But always make sure you get organic tofu because gmo soy beans are no good!  Don't believe me?  Watch GMO a Go Go!
Anyway, this what my veggies and tofu looked like when I went to fry them up:

Now I must confess, the peanut sauce looked gross when I made it, so I did not take a picture because I did not want to scare anyone.  I thought once I mixed it with the veggies and tofu it would look better.

Clearly, it did not look much better.  I was not a fan of this meal, I can eat it but it is not my favorite.  I believe this is mostly because I hate peanut butter (weird I know) and this tasted more like peanut butter on rice and veggies instead of a peanut sauce; which is annoying because I bought all those expensive ingredients for nothing.

However, my sister came this weekend and loved my leftovers, so I would not discourage you all from making this meal; especially if you like peanut butter.

I am now in my last days of DC, I go home Friday.  It is truly bitter sweet because I want to go home but there is still so much more to this city I did not get to explore. 

TTFN, ta ta for now!

Dairy-Free "Dairy" Products

Hello anyone considering going vegan/ using less dairy products,
I know the thought can be overwhelming: what about cheese, what about milkshakes, what about butter on my summer corn?!  How will I survive?!?!
Well I am here to tell you that there are dairy substitutes that are not just some creepy lab experiment that you don't want to eat.
First, vegan butter:

If this was on a plate in front of me I would not have known it was not real butter.  It has the same taste and melts great.  This on fresh summer corn is amazing!  I need to test out its baking abilities before I draw conclusions on its full use, but so far I'm in love.

Second, dairy free frozen yogurt:

I was in Chinatown on Friday with a friend and we were at H&M and I had to use the loo.  They told me to go accross the street in the little frozen yogurt place (I sadly forgot the name). Anyways, as I was leaving I saw they had dairy free fro-yo: mango and watermelon.  They let me taste them and they were delicious so I got myself a little treat.  And I put sprinkles on because why not?

Third, dairy free milkshake:

I am currently living in the Columbia Heights part of DC, and right by the metro is Sticky Fingers Bakery an all vegan bakery and winner of Cupcake Wars.  They have a million amazing things to eat there, but I LOVED the milkshake I got the other day.  It was cookies and cream and you can pick either soy milk ice cream or coconut milk ice cream.  I got it with the coconut milk option and it was beautiful.

(If anyone wanted to get me a nice gift of a vegan baking cook book I would like the one in the picture above)

There is also Daiya cheese that I mention in my lentil tacos post, but I am not sold on that being something I really want to eat (the cheddar cheese is not very cheddar-like in my opinion).

Please let me know what you think of these products, or if you know of any others I should try!

Lentil Tacos

Hola amigos,
I hope your weekends were lovely and not too hot because I was really concerned that I was melting on Saturday.
But before I melted away into misery, I made these delicious lentil tacos I found here.  And let me tell you, they were so delicious! I am salivating while writing this because I want to eat my leftover-taco-lunch right now.
So I basically just followed all the directions but used low-sodium taco seasoning and skipped the sour cream sauce, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes (but I did put on daiya cheddar "cheese" but I liked them better without).  I added some corn into the mix because 1. I think corn goes with almost everything, and 2. it added the nice juicy sweetness that corn always does.

pre-corn photo once it was fully cooked                         with the added corn

Now these might not look appetizing to you, but I find ground beef revolting so to each their own.

I wanted to add something to the tacos that would be refreshing and make it seem more authentic Mexican that was not lettuce (because I think eating lettuce on hot food is gross).  So I made my favorite topping guacamole (seriously what is better than a giant bowl of guac and endless corn chips?)

I like my guacamole chunky with lots of garlic and a hint a jalapeno.
I also boiled up some string beans because I had them and then feasted on my meal.

I had another massive taco after that because they were just so good.  I felt like Olive from Easy A at the lobster restaurant.  If you don't know what I'm talking about look at the picture below, and if you haven't seen it seriously go watch it, it's hilarious.



P.S. I am the happiest big sister ever today because my sissy is home from Africa finally!

Vegan Pizza

Friends,
I have found the impossible: vegan pizza!  There is a pizza place right off my metro stop (you would literally walk straight into it if you came off the escalator not paying attention), and this place is called Pete's Apizza.  They have vegan cheese to put on your pizza (but not vegan pizza by the slice)!  Not only that, I also got gluten free crust (because it was smaller and I heard gluten makes you puff out over your pants so now I'm also trying to eat less of that).  This place is great; you have basically unlimited topping options and they are  not one of those cheap $0.50 a topping places (seriously how stingy can you be?)  So I got my 12" gluten free vegan cheese pizza with red onion and roasted whole garlic (clearly I was not on a date because these are not good breath toppings).  And you know what?  I LOVED this pizza!

Now I am not going to lie, the melted vegan cheese has a creamy stickiness to it that is not like regular pizza cheese, more like a fancy cheese you cannot pronounce that you buy to make guests think you are more cultured than you really are.  But it really was good and I would definately eat it again (in fact I will when I get home because I couldn't eat that whole pizza in one sitting).  And to spice it up a little, I added, something so surprising, roasted red pepper flakes!  The only thing I will say is that I was not a huge fan of was the amount of garlic on the pizza, it was alarming at first.  However, the taste was not over whelming, but I still picked some off so I would not smell like garlic all week.

When I got home I wanted something sweet, but ate all my So Delicious bars.  Then I remembered the rediculously expensive organic pianpple I bought so I cut that sucker up, paired it with some of my organic grapes, and had a light and sweet dessert that I could be proud of.  Overall, it was a wonderful day to be a vegan.



Some Quinoa Fo Ya

'Ello Mateys!
I hope you're not drowning in the sea of this heat wave, but rather staying afloat with cold drinks and hopefully a dip in the pool or ocean if you are so lucky to have them near by.  If you need a way to cool off I suggest following the lead of these two.

Here in DC I have neither of those things, so I try to stick with as much air conditioning as possible.  I do still turn it off when I am not home as part of my journey to be more of a conserver of the earth and it's resources. 
Last night I was feeling a rumble in my stomach and an emptiness in my brain for creative vegan ideas.  When in doubt, I take the quinoa out!  This is such a versatile grain that you can really pair with anything.  So I cooked a cup of it with a cup of water and a cup of organic vegetable broth (the box said it would make it savory but it really did not).
Because I was not thrilled with the less than savory taste, I just added all the veggies I could find in my kitchen (which are all organic): corn, carrots, peas, half a white onion and a plum tomato.  In hind site I should have added the carrots while the quinoa was still cooking (at least for 5 minutes) to soften them up a bit. But otherwise, it was a delicious meal.  And of course I added on top salt, pepper, OVOO, roasted red pepper flakes, and some chopped garlic, because that's what I do.

 For a beverage I had this organic hard cider.  It was good but a bit tart, it took some getting used to.  It was nice and refreshing after trekking through the heat to my apartment (sometimes being 21 really is magical). 

If you are confused as to why one should buy organic, here is a neat little comparison I found.  I choose organic because I don't trust pesticides on my food, and growing organic is better for the environment.  I encourage everyone to buy organic to help our planet, but I understand it does cost more.  I suggest buying these things when you can, and know that every time you do you're making improvements to our home (Earth for all you aliens out there unsure of what I mean).

Vegan Take 2

Hello friends!
I hope you had a lovely weekend, as I did.  Unfortunately, I was not a good vegan this weekend :(
I went to visit my lovely friend Danielle down in Harrisonburg, and to get the last things I left in my apartment from last semester (good news I got my measuring cups!).  Hanging out with Danielle and everyone we saw was wonderful, but going out to eat threw my vegan diet out the window I am sad to say.
I was emailed a guide to being vegan from the twitter account @GoLoveVegan which should be extremely beneficial later on.  One thing on the list that seemed really helpful was to check out the restaurants menu online first so you can see if they have vegan options.  You can also call ahead to see if they can make alterations to make certain options vegan.  So keep that in mind if you are attempting this adventure too!
But today, back on my strict vegan diet!
I had this So Delicious yogurt for breakfast, which was not my favorite (watery consistency).  I need to see if they have a Greek yogurt version and then I will be in business.  But once I put some organic blackberries in I did not mind it as much.

 

For dinner I took my mom's white bean, broccoli and pasta recipe and used my substitute Parmesan on top (that stuff is really great).

So first I fried some garlic and roasted red pepper flakes in olive oil (I basically start all recipes like this).  Once that is cooking I added the rinsed organic white beans (also known as cannellini beans) and more olive oil and let them fry up until they looked carmel-like in color with a crunchy shell.  Like this:

 

I cooked my whole wheat pasta, with some not whole wheat ditalini because I ran out of my fusilli, and added the broccoli for 5 minutes.  Then I tossed in the beans with more olive oil, because the beans absorb a lot and are still pretty dry, and salt and pepper.  So good I ate until I was so stuffed I thought I would pop.  If you try it out let me know what you think!

Not a Great Day

Today I had to leave work early because of a migraine.  It was horrendous.  Then I got home and laid in the dark for hours and ate a little bit of my left overs of my tofu and stir fry (still delicious by the way).
After my pity party in the dark/nap, I woke up with a headache instead of a migraine and the Advil helped me not want to rip my brains out. For dinner I tried to make the vegan pesto I found here.  It did not turn out correctly and I'm pretty sure I know why.  (For those of you who do not know, I am living in a sublet apartment in DC so I mostly just brought clothes with me and rely on my subletter to provide me with furniture and kitchen belongings.)
So here are the reason I believe my pesto did not turn out great:
1. Her blender is not the best and did not finely blend the basil leaves.  They ended up just being big shredded chunks instead of a paste.
2. I also cannot find any measuring instruments like a teaspoon, measuring cup, etc.  I had to just guess the amounts for the ingredients.
3. I did not have any fresh lemons because I didn't go to the grocery store today due to my migraine.
4. I also did not add any extra veggies to my dish like they did on Veggieful, I just put this mishmash pesto on whole wheat pasta.
So here it is, with the Parmesan cheese substitute I made from my first post sprinkled on top.

 Because this post seems kind of whiny I wanted to also add these beautiful flowers I saw this morning in the butterfly garden that is next to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  I cut through it every morning on my way to work and I just love seeing all that natural beauty in the heart of DC!

Vegan Stir Fry with Black Pepper Tofu

Day 2 of my semi-vegan life:

I did have cheese today during lunch.  But I told you I would do this, learn to listen!  But in its defense this cheese is jalapeño and chive goat cheese (YUM) that is from an all-natural farm in Maryland (yay!).  And when I bought said cheese at the farmer’s market last Saturday I grilled the sales woman on how the goats were fed and treated.  And as long as she was not lying things seem to be pretty great for those goats.  

I also had these vegan cookies, and I have to tell you they were surprisingly delicious.  I did not know something sweet and tasty could come without heaps of butter.

My boyfriend told me that being vegan is “bad” for you, and being the wonderful and kind girlfriend I am, I told him “you don’t know what you’re talking about,” and I probably said something along the lines of "stop being stupid," but I’m fuzzy on the details of this verbal harassment I may or may not have done.  For those of you nay-sayer and meat-is-life-sayers here are some links to the health benefits of being vegan.

http://www.veganurbanite.com/2010/05/04/59-health-benefits-of-being-vegan/ 

http://www.evolvingwellness.com/essay/the-benefits-of-being-vegan-over-vegetarian

http://www.oprah.com/health/The-Benefits-and-Dangers-of-a-Vegan-Diet-Advice-from-Dr-Katz

Everything in life is determined by how you handle it.  So deciding to be vegan the healthy way means I have to make sure I get the nutrients I need from different plant-based food (that was quite the self-absorbed statement).  For those of you who are picky eaters and want to be vegan without eating green veggies or beans, quit now because it will not work for you.  A rainbow of foods is what you should aim for in your daily diet.  And by this I do not mean hot pink Starbursts and neon green Gatorade (gross).  

I highly suggest for any of you that are trying to eat better, but not necessarily vegan, put down anything that is florescent in color.  I.E. doritos, nerds, gushers, etc.  While I have enjoyed all of those foods in the past, I truly believe if you can’t find those colors in any natural foods then you probably should not put it in your body.  Yes there are frogs and caterpillars that are all sorts of bright colors but do you know why?  It is because they are poisonous to other animals (or imitating poisonous animals but you get my point)!  So think of that next time you challenge yourself to eating a whole bag of M&M’s by the end of Duck Dynasty (seriously the best show on television).

So tonight, my vegan meal was black pepper baked tofu and vegetable stir fry with brown rice (yum)!

The tofu recipe I took from my mom who used Martha Stewart's recipe.  But cheeky little Martha did not put the the oven temperature on her website version, so I just left it in at 350 until it looked browned on the edges.  I would suggest cranking it up to 375 or 400 to follow Martha's recipe.

As for the stir fry, SIMPLE!  I cooked garlic and roasted red pepper flakes in OVOO, sesame seed oil, and soy sauce.  Once the garlic is browning I just added my veggies: corn, onion, broccoli, peas, and carrots (all organic).  Make sure they are cooked all the way through (taste test here for it when the are cooked through).

Then I added my brown rice, that I cooked straight from the bag directions.  I added more of the sauces to brown it up a little and voila!  Sorry this post is so long, but I hope you at least skimmed to the end.

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First Vegan Meal

Hello hello everyone,
I have started my journey to veganism.
First, let me admit that I will not be going vegan cold turkey.  I have a lot of cheese products that I bought before my new found knowledge and I am in no position to throw out food that is edible (unpaid internship).  But really no one should do that because it is just ridiculous.  I mean why would you ever waste food for no reason?  Plus, as you'll see if you read my bio section, cheese is and always will be my first love.  So I need to slowly wean myself from our wonderfully delicious, but not vegan relationship.  I know cheese will be okay and find other lovers, I just really hope I can find other items to help me fill the void in my broken heart.
Anyway, back to my first vegan meal.  I made whole wheat pasta with organic cherry tomatoes, organic corn, fresh picked basil (from the plant my mom gave me), garlic, olive oil, salt&pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes.  It was delicious if I do say so myself.  I must admit when looking at my finished dish I thought "big chunks of mozzarella would be perfect in this!"  But I resisted my cheese urge.
On top I added this Parmesan cheese substitute I found here
So here is my first meal (minus the "cheese" because it is yellow in color so made the food look weird but taste delicious!)

 It was so delicious I could not wait to put my leftovers in a Tupperware and pack it in my lunch box for tomorrow.

 

Then this happened :( I spilled my beautiful, delicious, healthy, vegan meal all over the floor.

I was highly upset because 1. I hate wasting food as mentioned above and 2. I have to make a new lunch for tomorrow.  So then I had one of my new vegan frozen treats and if you love coconut, as I do, then this is the dessert for you!  I had to restrain myself from eating the whole box.  And then I was not so sad about losing my lunch for tomorrow.  So maybe becoming vegan won't be as hard as I thought!

Well de-be-de-be-de-be dat's all folks (Porky Pig Voice).  I hope you enjoyed my first blog post, and will be tuning in for more!  Please post any vegan recipes, stores, restaurants, whatever else you know!