Tomato Basil Cream Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti with Seitan Sausage

Yes, this meal was a mouthful, in regard to the title and nom factor. I've recently developed this obsession with blending tomatoes and cashews together. I would like to eventually experiment with other nuts, though. Heh, heh, experimental nuts.

My mom sent me home the other day with not only a belly full of BBQ tempeh, roasted potato medley, and green beans, but she sent me home with a load of fresh herbs from her garden. All the basics: chives, thyme, rosemary, sage, cilantro, and basil.

I recently bought the Vegan Yum Yum cook book, and I gotta say, it f*cking rules. There are several recipes that weren't on the site, and as the cover suggests, these are definitely decadent AND very doable recipes. Meaning I want to make sweet, sweet love to her baked macaroni and cheez recipe.

The tomato basil cream recipe sounded delicious and simple for sure, but I wanted to up the ante with some forbidden wheat gluten: Italian-style seitan sausage. I altered the recipe found in La Dolce Vegan and let it simmer in the tomato cashew sauce with some fresh basil.

This was the first time I ever tried spaghetti squash, and holy sh*t. The squash's innards just collapse into this stringy mass of, well, squash noodles. They have a nice crunch that nicely contrasts the typical texture of spaghetti noodles. Also, quite a few less carbs.

Hasn't anybody learned, don't trust a lady who cooks with sriacha?

Looking for a way to spice up that already relatively perfect ramen?

Let me backtrack a bit: I'm a complete ramen fanatic. I've yet to find a more comforting, delicious, and cheap food. The fact that it comes in a pouch with cooking directions and a spice packet just makes it all the more appealing. Several months ago, while drinking grape Rosie, my dearest friend Jess offered me her ramen enhancer: nix the seasoning packet, add soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and sriacha. Oh my stinkin' gawd. It was outrageous. It was so tasty, unlike my bottle of Rosie, that I thought it'd be wise to chase the Rosie with some cock-sauced-noodles. Ramen + Rosie = everlasting love.

I must caution: later that night, her boyfriend and I attempted to recreate the atrocious love affair that occurred between the ramen noodles and Rosie. We, meaning his tard ass alone, fudged up the measurements of each additional ingredient, consumed too much sriacha which was accompanied by to much Pabst Blue Ribbon, and set our bowels on fire.

For your safety:

2 tbs nutritional yeast
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp sriacha

Adjust measurements to your taste, inebriation, and sexiness.

-courtesy of the brain of Jess.

Hodge Podge of Sorts

I haven't been posting much lately because a) I haven't had access to the interwebz and b) things have been a touch whirl-windy because Tybrus and I just moved into a new apartment, which would explain my lack of interwebz and the access to it.

Nonetheless, I have been cooking up a storm, despite the fact that the cute, rustic stove in my new apartment has broken heating coil along with a broken hinge so the oven door can't shut which only adds to wildly incorrect temperature gauge. I've been using the side oven to cook in for the time being but I mean, srsly, when I set it to broil it barely reaches 350.

Breakfast classic: beans on toast, topped with cheddar Teese and accompanied by some English breakfast tea.



Give peas a chance! Peas?!?!

So, in my infinite wisdom, I discovered that most split pea soup recipes require a ham hock. Bleh! Ham might be one of the most unethically farmed meat products in the industry and just seems totally unnecessary in an already delicious soup. It ended up thicker than I wanted, but by no fault of the recipe- Ty had gotten an immersion blender for his birthday and I got excited. I went a bit overboard on the blending.


an awful picture of some superb stuffed shells

I stuffed the shells with my tvp mixture and some ricotta. I made up my own tofu ricotta cheese instead of depending on old faithful- Sara Kramer's recipe- and it was great. I used silken and it had a better texture than the crumbly medium tofu. My best shells yet! (I ate about 9 of them in one night!)


Asian noodles with zucchini and tofu

This meal reaffirmed the fact that I FORKING HATE WATER-PACKED TOFU!!!1 It takes forever to prepare, it doesn't hold flavor well at all, and it has an awful texture. I had some tomato carrot flavored noodles that I picked up from the Asian market and wasn't sure how to use them- I didn't know how strong the flavors would be. I figured squash would work well with the flavors. I should've left it at that! But, nooooooo, I gotta go around sticking friggin' soy in everything! Srsly, never again. It wasn't a total loss, though.

And now, a resolution: I will be leaving town to visit my father, step mother, and siblings this coming Monday, and when I return, I plan to do a raw diet. I don't know if I'll necessarily abide by the cooking temperature boundaries or not. If anyone has any cooking tips, recipes, or advice let me know. I imagine it is going to be a tad trying for me being that I eat carbs and gluten like it's going out of style (stuffed shells are a testament to this) but I'd really like to get healthy and maybe drop a few pounds. Wish me luck!

Product Review: Nacho Teese

This plate was shameful. Just, shameful. Tybrus and I cooked some refried beans and soy chorizo and topped it with gooey nacho Teese and and all the essential salad fixin's. I gotta say, though, this flavor of Teese wasn't all that I'd hoped it be.

Teese has been hailed as being one of the most quality soy dairy products out there and at a reasonable price. Unlike its cheddar and mozzarella counterpart, nacho Teese is kind of watery and really runny. It wasn't as spicy as I would've liked either. My recommendation to you is that if you do decide to purchase some nacho Teese, add some jalapeno to it. But, honestly, you could probably make a more enticing nacho cheeze sauce in your on home, with better results, and a bit cheaper, too!

Loaf of bland stupidness!

Tempeh Oat "Meat" Loaf with Steamed Kale and Cauliflower/Hominy Mash

Goddamn it. I found a recipe in an old issue of Veg Times for a tempeh and oat "meat" loaf. I was immediately intrigued by the combination of oats and tempeh and the simplicity of the recipe. I was furious to discover that the aforementioned simplicity would yield a lack of spices which would in turn yield a lack of flavor which would THEN yield a big bland loaf of bleh. Not to mention after 55 minutes in an oven the loaf still wasn't firm! Ugh.

However, the mash was bangin'. I've been trying to think of alternatives to our typical potato side dish for meals and I had a head of cauliflower just laying around. I don't think I had ever consciously eaten hominy until I made this. Hominy gives a kind of sweetness to the mash that you wouldn't normally get from mashed potatoes.

Cauliflower Hominy Mash
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1 15 oz can hominy
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tbs Earth Balance
1/4 Tofutti sour cream
1/4 cup fresh chives, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Blanche cauliflower for five minutes. Add to food processor with hominy, soy milk, and EB. Blend until it achieves desired consistency. Add mixture to bowl and mix with sour cream, chives, and salt and pepper.

Chik'n and Dumplings

Dumplings, glorious dumplings! I got this recipe from Vegan.Chicks.Rock. It was delicious, comforting and reminded me of dumpling days of yore. In addition to the celery and carrots, I added an onion and a cup of frozen peas. I made my own seitan chick'n and added some of the remaining broth from it to the broth for the dumplings. That was probably my only criticism of the recipe, the fact that there weren't any herbs added to the dumplings. Whatever, it was so delicious my boyfran was compelled to give me the greatest food compliment ever.*

"I didn't think I could love you more than I already did, but then I ate your dumplings. These would make Christ come off the cross."

*This is not counting the time my coworker told me I made O-face-inducing German chocolate cupcakes. Just sayin'.

Product review: veggie gyros by Viana

One meal that Tybrus missed more than anything were gyros. Amongst our most recent Vegan Essentials purchase were these: Veggie Gyro Strips by Viana I had actually never had gyros as an omnivore. Come to think of it, I had never eaten pitas, falafel, or tzatziki until I became vegan. Therefore, it was kind of difficult for me to judge these gyro strips. They tasted a lot like soy chorizo, only firmer. Tybrus said they were good, but didn't really simulate gyro meat very well. I heated them in a skillet with some garlic and red and yellow bell pepper. We also whipped up some homemade tzatziki sauce for the occasion. Honestly, I wouldn't really recommend purchasing these. Your better off making your own with vital wheat gluten and seasoning accordingly.