Summer Eats

This summer has been filled with a good balance of staple recipes and new culinary adventures. This summer I cooked over and open fire for the first time while camping. Sure, all I did was open some cans of vegetables and beans and throw it into my trusty cast iron skillet, but it was a step beyond roasting veggie dogs on a skewer over a campfire. (Which I did my fair share of as well.) I also made sushi for the first time this summer!

plum sake, you cruel mistress.

 Sushi is the perfect summer food. The only cooking involved is steaming the rice, and two nori sheets worth of sushi yields enough to feed 3-4 guests. I kept it simple for my first try, using a filling of carrots, cucumber and avocado. Next time I think I'll try the spicy tempeh filling from Vcon.

check out the steak fries! recipe courtesy of Rachel Ray.

 Tragically, I'm a regular viewer of 30 Minute Meals. Ray Ray has passed some nuggets of culinary knowledge down to me over the years and this is perhaps one of the most useful. 30 minute homemade fries! I don't really like buying prepackaged, frozen fries. They're expensive in comparison to their natural counterpart and you an't control the sodium/oil content.

wannabe 3D steak fry shot.

Scrub your potatoes and the slice them lengthwise in half. Cut each half into 5 strips and parboil the strips for 5 minutes. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Place a cooling rack over a backing sheet. Coat your parboiled and drained potato slices in oil, salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you want. I chose rosemary. Arrange the slice on the cooling rack and bake for 25 minutes. To channel my inner Ina Garten- how easy is that?

gratuitous homemade thousand island dressing shot.

I've probably made these biscuits and gravy over a hundred times. It's such an easy, reliable one. It's the recipe from the Vegan Girl's Guide to Life and I feel no need to use another recipe ever again. The gravy in the recipe is just a plain white gravy, but I added some mushrooms for texture and what not.



















I really need to make more recipes from Appetite for Reduction. Most of the recipes are cheap to make, super easy and super tasty. Plus the meals are light which is quite welcome in the dense Appalachian heat. I made the Every Day Chickpea and Quinoa Salad. I never keep raw cashews in the house and even if I did, Tybrus would surely scarf them before I had the opportunity to cook with them. I used almonds instead and it was still good. My only additional vegetable was grated carrot.

I've been eating more oatmeal lately. Mostly because I've been really broke lately and oatmeal is much cheaper than cereal. But hell, I could use the fiber. My everyday oatmeal is topped with agave, walnuts and cranberry. So... what's everyone else been eating?

Vegan Mofo: Word Play

What is one food you thought you’d miss when you went vegan, but don’t?
Dairy products. I wasn't sure I could completely avoid using Parmesan cheese or using milk for cereal. But, I did! Hooray for me.

What is a food or dish you wouldn’t touch as a child, but enjoy now?
There were a few vegetables I didn't really enjoy as a child like brussel sprouts and cabbage. I now love both!

What vegan dish or food you feel like you “should” like, but don’t?
I'm pretty excited about all vegan food.

What beverage do you consume the most of on any given day?
Toss up between plain old water and coffee. Usually Sumatra.

What dish are you “famous” for making or bringing to gatherings?
I don't go to a lot of vegan food gatherings. I usually only bring food to family dinners where I need to otherwise I won't have anything to eat. My favorite story about this is when I brought a vegan broccoli and cheese casserole to Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend's family. When I went back for seconds, it was gone! His family demolished it! And, no one knew it was vegan.

Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?
I don't like mixing fruits with dishes that are intended to be savory.

What’s one food or dish you tend to eat too much of when you have it in your home?
Ramen noodles. Steamed rice and frozen veggies. Baked goodies.

What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available prepackaged?
Hummus and seitan.

What ingredient or food is worth spending the extra money to get “the good stuff”?
Soy and rice cheese.

Are you much of a snacker? What are your favorite snacks?
I snack to a fault. Lately it's been mostly fruits and veggies with some kind of bean dip.

What are your favorite vegan pizza toppings?
Mushrooms, olives, bell pepper, onion, and tomato slices. Artichokes are welcome, too.

What is your favorite vegetable? Fruit?
Mushrooms, eggplant, asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, kale... And, strawberries, honey crisp apples, clementines, red grapes...

What is the best salad dressing?
As long as you put Annie's Goddess dressing on it, it's perfect. But, I usually like green salads with grape tomatoes, chickpeas, and red onion.

What is your favorite thing to put on toasted bread?
Chickpea salad. Or, if it's for breakfast, margarine and homemade blueberry preserves.

What kind of soup do you most often turn to on a chilly day or when you aren’t feeling your best?
I don't really have a standard soup I make when I'm sick because I'm so rarely sick. The last soup I made due to illness was about a year ago and it was a chickpea and tempeh stew in a tomato base.

What is your favorite cupcake flavor? Frosting flavor?
Red velvet with a Tofutti cream cheese frosting!

What is your favorite kind of cookie?
Chocolate chip coconut. Or, Molasses.

What is your most-loved “weeknight meal”?
Tofu stir fries. Generally really easy and yields a lot of leftovers.

What is one dish or food you enjoy, but can’t get anyone else in your household to eat?
My boyfriend is not a fan of eggplant or any kind of sweets. Also, no one in my family will humor tofu.

How long, in total, do you spend in the kitchen on an average day?
In the morning, about ten minutes. Usually just to make coffee. In the afternoon, I usually just microwave leftovers, so another ten minutes. For dinner, I can spend up to three hours preparing, cooking, and cleaning.

Vegan's Hundred

The Vegan’s Hundred
The rules:

* Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
* Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
* Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
* Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
* Pass it on!

1) Natto

2) Green Smoothie

3) Tofu Scramble

4) Haggis

5) Mangosteen

6) Crème Brûlée

7) Fondue

8) Marmite/Vegemite

9) Borscht

10) Baba Ghanoush

11) Nachos

12) Authentic Soba Noodles

13) PB&J Sandwich

14) Aloo Gobi

15) Taco from a street cart

16) Boba Tea

17) Black Truffle

18) Fruit Wine made from something other than grapes

19) Gyōza

20) Vanilla Ice Cream

21) Heirloom Tomatoes

22) Fresh Wild Berries

23) Ceviche

24) Rice and Beans

25) Knish

26) Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27) Dulce de Leche

28) Caviar

29) Baklava

30) Pate

31) Wasabi Peas

32) Chowder in a sourdough bowl

33) Mango Lassi

34) Sauerkraut

35) Root Beer Float

36) Mulled Cider

37) Scones with buttery spread and jam

38) ‘Jello’ Shots

39) Gumbo

40) Fast Food French Fries

41) Raw Brownies

42) Fresh Garbanzo Beans

43) Dal

44) Homemade Soymilk

45) Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46) Stroopwafel

47) Samosa

48) Vegetable Sushi

49) Glazed Donut

50) Seaweed

51) Prickly Pear (cactus fruit)

52) Umeboshi

53) Tofurkey

54) Sheese or Teese

55) Cotton Candy

56) Gnocchi

57) Piña colada

58) Birch Beer

59) Scrapple

60) Carob Chips

61) S’mores

62) Soy Curls

63) Chick Pea Cutlets

64) Curry

65) Durian

66) Homemade sausages

67) Churros, Elephant Ears, or Funnel Cakes

68) Smoked Tofu

69) Fried Plantain

70) Mochi

71) Gazpacho

72) Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies

73) Absinthe

74) Corn on the Cob

75) Whipped Cream, straight from the can

76) Pomegranate

77) Fauxstess Cupcakes

78) Mashed Potatoes with Gravy

79) Jerky

80) Croissants

81) French Onion Soup

82) Savory Crepes

83) Tings

84) A meal at Candle 79

85) Moussaka

86) Sprouted Grains or Seeds

87) Macaroni and ‘Cheese’

88) Edible Flowers

89) Matzoh Ball Soup

90) White Chocolate

91) Seitan

92) Kimchi

93) Butterscotch Chips

94) Yellow Watermelon

95) Chili with Chocolate

96) Bagel and Tofutti

97) Potato Milk

98) Polenta

99) Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

100) Raw Cookie Dough

Wow, I've had like, nothing. I need to work on this.