Kale Chickpea Mash

I know I've mentioned about a hundred times, but a majority of my meals are based on what produce I have that is about to go bad. I just threw this together in a matter of minutes, and it was soooo good. I really need to do more meals like this, where I just improvise. I feel a bit silly posting this recipe because it's too easy.

Kale Chickpea Mash

Ingredients:
2 tbs EVOO
3 tbs minced garlic
1 bunch of kale
1 can garbanzo beans
2 tbs soy sauce
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp onion powder
salt to taste

Saute minced garlic in olive oil on medium-high heat until it turns golden brown, carefully as to not burn it. Add the kale and stir, preferably with tongs to coat the kale in the oil and garlic. (You may need to add a few tbs of water.) After the kale has wilted a bit, add the garbanzo beans and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Begin mashing the chickpeas. I use a fork because I don't like them mashed too thoroughly; I still like some chunks. Garnish with some additional nutritional yeast and NOM.

Apple Cake

I spent this past weekend at my mom's, doing laundry and making use of her spacious kitchen. I'm always pretty envious of her kitchen and its appliances because I have the tiniest kitchen known to man. I have absolutely no counter top space; almost everything I prepare has to be done on my kitchen table. Did I mention my kitchen table isn't even a real kitchen table? It was a model dining set Dave inherited when he first moved out on his own. And, it's tiny. Really tiny.

Needless to say, when my mother asked me to bake for her, I seized the opportunity to cook in what I deem a 'real kitchen'. My baking endeavors were mainly brought on by the question: "What fruit do I have that's about to go bad?" Answers: apples and bananas. So, I made my mother my favorite recipe for banana bread, and now it's her favorite, too!

The second dessert I made, using the aforementioned apples was apple cake. We found this recipe scribbled inside the cover of one my great grandmothers old cook books. Being that my great grandmother is pretty critical when it comes to food and cooking, I was proud that I was able to veganize her recipe. It was was fan-freakin'-tastic. I'll post the recipe sometime in the near future, I just can't remember it off the top of my head.

Mac 'n Cheese recipe: new & improved

I think this is my official go-to recipe for vegan mac 'n cheese. I combined two recipes from La Dolce Vegan! (Notice how my bowl mac is sitting on the cook book.) I've had my share of problems with mac 'n cheese recipes: either the cheese recipe didn't make enough so it was dry, the sauce was too bland, or what have you. This made the perfect amount for two servings and was just cheesy enough without being overpowering. This is my first recipe I've ever posted on my blog, and it's simply my adaptation of someone else's recipe. I'm lame.

Supa Simple Mac Sauce:
3 tbsp Earth Balance
3 tbsp all purpose flour
salt 'n peppa, to taste
1 1/2 cups non dairy milk (preferably soy)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup soy cheese, optional

Melt EB. Leave on burner but remove melted EB from heat. Whisk salt, pepper and flour. Place back on burner and add soy milk. Allow to boil. Add nutritional yeast, mustard, and soy cheese if using, and whisk. Remove from heat immediately. Continue whisking until well incorporated. Serve over macaroni or other pasta of choice. Commence with noms.

Vegan Kitty Food

I just remembered that with my most recent Vegan Essentials order, I purchased some vegan cat food for my cat babies to try. When initially served, they seemed intrigued and were eager to try the food. But, that's only because they're complete fatties. I got them Evolution Cat Kibble, and they just weren't having it. I can't lie, I was kind of expecting that outcome, and I'm not going to force them to eat something that they don't like and simply refuse to eat. A pound of this stuff from Vegan Essentials is like, $4. Chances are your kitties are as spoiled as mine and won't really enjoy this.

Loose leaf tea! And, a hearty breakfast.

So, Dave and I are proud tea fanatics. Really, we're passionate about caffeine, in general. It's easy to support this addiction because I work at Starbucks, which entitles me to either a free pound of coffee a week or a pack of Tazo brand tea, either of my choosing, of course. Because, there's always such an abundance of both at the apartment, we very rarely try other kinds of teas, let alone superior loose leaf.















For about $30, we got like, 6 tin cans of loose leaf tea from Adagio. Each small tin is good for about 10 cups of tea. We got the green tea starter package, which came with the tea steeper thing and four kinds of green tea: gunpowder, citron green, genmai cha, and hojicha.
And, damn. So good. This thing is so easy to use and I'm pretty mad that I didn't manage to conjure up this simple design.
















Dave and I also ordered two extra sample size tea cans. I'm a huge Earl Grey junkie and Dave's been wanting to try darjeeling tea. There ya' have it.
















Along with our starter set, Earl Grey sampler, and darjeeling sampler, we got complimentary stuff, too! Because I entered in my date of birth when setting up my account, they sent me Scorpio tea. I guess they have a line of astrological or horoscope teas. I have no idea what it is, really, but it smells fantastic. I know that there is real dark chocolate in it, but I don't know if it contains dairy. I still need to email Adagio and find out. Along with it, we got one of those weaved flowers that blooms in your tea water. Talk about clever fuckin' marketing. They send me one of those, but not the pretty transparent tea pot to make it in. Alright, Adagio, you got me.





















And, above you see it in action. Setting atop your tea mug pushes something up that makes space for the liquid to come out but not the loose leaf tea. And, that mug- it rules. It was one of Dave's birfthday presents and it have the actual molecule for caffeine on it. How perfect.















And, this morning I made brunch which is probably the best meal of the day. I think I've assigned myself this recipe as my signature tofu scramble recipe. It's kind of an adaptation of Julie Hasson's and the one I posted from It Ain't Meat Babe. It was accompanied by some tempeh bacon from VWAV, which I wasn't very happy with. Abrupt post ending, commence.

Dave's Birfday Pizza

There is certainly nothing authentic about this meal, which I guess I feel a little bad about. But, Dave and I both get home some time around midnight every night, and Davey loves pizza. I don't know why I'm posting this because I really cooked none of this, other than the tofu. I "assembled" it. I guess I'm posting this because I'm just really passionate about Teese?

Lord, Have Mercy!

After the Easter feast you saw in my previous post, I dragged my stuffed self home to further stuff myself with these. Here are some basic chocolate cupcakes with exceptional peanut butter cream frosting from VWAV. kljfklgdjgfj. So good. Surprisingly, I've been able to restrain myself. I've limited myself to one of these bad boys a day and sent Dave with a few of them to his coworkers.
Needless to say, they were enjoyed.

My Easter Feast

For Zombie Jesus day, my mother was kind enough to buy me some eggplant. I marinaded it in some balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. It also had rosemary and garlic cloves. My mother was also kind enough to bring home this little guy:
















How absolutely adorable is he? My mom hasn't decided on a name for him yet, so you guys should help us out. :) Give me suggestions, folks! If it helps, he's 3/4 American Bulldog. Now, commence with the brainstorming!

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.

Peanut Tofu and Thai Noodles

Dave and I had this for brunch today. A tad unconventional, I guess. I used the sauce from VWAV and sliced my left index finger while mincing lemongrass for it. What brewtal cooking. I mixed in some broccoli that I steamed with some of that jarred minced garlic and extra-firm tofu, drained and then fried in peanut oil until crispy. Totally worth that chunk of skin I'm missing.

Can you tell I've ordered from Vegan Essentials?

I would like to begin by pronouncing my utter disdain for UPS. I loathe UPS. I received my order almost a week late because my UPS delivery guy refused to notice the countless failed delivery slips that I had signed the back of. I'm steadfast in my belief that he wants to see me cry.

On with the noms. Oh. My. Word. I experienced nerdy euphoria while I sat around, eating my weight in this and dominating Peggle. Baked spaghetti with molten mozzarella Teese. Certainly not healthy.
















Next up, what to do with some homemade sammie bread, cheddar Teese, and your last tomato? Oh, I think we know.
















Grilled Teese Sammich. I've completely eliminated the word "sandwich" from my vocabulary.
My bread recipe was Kramer's Sassy Sandwich Bread. It didn't rise as much as I would've liked, but it's still pretty awesome and dense.