a tasty, tasty recipe fail.

Have y'all seen the awesome blog Meet The Shannons? They are veganizing the entire Betty Crocker Cookbook, which seems like a crazy task. But they're doing it, and doing it well. Recently they posted a hilarious recipe for a Vegan Fried Egg, and I was intrigued. I never really liked eggs before I went vegan, but I do love tofu and cheesy sauce. Plus, it's so cute how the little lump "yolk" happens! I wanted to try this recipe so much, that I bought an otherwise pointless gadget for $6.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Flavor Injector!



Sadly, I think this stupid cheapo flavor injector made the recipe fail for me. I drained the tofu really well in my tofu press, and carefully inserted the plastic needle into the side of each tofu round. I tried to gently move the tofu around to create a pocket in there, then I delicately pressed the cheesy sauce into the tofu.

...and then the tofu leaked out of the top of the tofu through a little crack. Both times. But hey, they still look like fried eggs, and there's sure to still be some filling inside the tofu. So I proceeded to fry them up.



I hoped the cheesy sauce would fry on one side, leaving the yellow "yolk" patch, but instead the sauce just kind of disappeared into the oil. Bah.

I slapped one tofu slab onto a toasted english muffin, hoping for a little cheesy sauce inside.



I cut the sammich open and.... no cheesy sauce. Not one drop. It had all leaked out. Double bah. Luckily, I still had some left to spoon onto the sammich.



It still tasted awesome, despite the lack of cheesy pocket. My guess is this has something to do with the flavor injector's flimsy plastic needle. The injector The Shannons linked looks like a fancy one with a metal needle. I may try it again sometime anyway.

weirdo burritos.

Do you ever have plans for a meal that ends up morphing into some weird version of your original idea due to ingredient availability? That's kinda what happened with these burritos I made last night. They turned out mega tasty, though!



Soyrizo Burritos with Collard Greens and Potatoes

1 pack store-bought vegan Soyrizo (Trader Joe's has a good one)
2 cups fresh collard greens, torn into bite sized pieces
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced small
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup water or veggie broth
4 medium tortillas

In a large skillet, heat about 1 Tbsp oil. Add the diced potato, stir and cover for 5 minutes. Add collard greens and 1/2 cup water or broth. Cover and let steam, stirring occasionally. Once the collards are a bit tender, squeeze the Soyrizo into the skillet, and stir everything together. Cover and let cook until warm, for another 5-7 minutes.
Serve in warm tortillas.

add it up.

I don't usually make a habit of counting calories, grams of protein, calcium, iron, etc. In the past, I've kept track of my daily food intake using Fitday just to make sure I was meeting my dietary needs.
The main things I learned when logging food (besides that I occasionally eat too much) was that as long as I kept my diet varied and included fruit, veggies, beans, nuts and grains, then I more than met my nutritional goals. So my mantra has simply been, "Eat! Enjoy!". Now, without driving myself too crazy, I've found myself in need of keeping track a little better. Recently my dietary needs have changed, because I'm growing a little vegan kid in my belly. (Don't worry, I don't plan on turning this into a pregnancy blog. You are welcome to keep track of things at my other blog here, if interested.)

So, my new nutritional needs mainly consist of doubling my protein intake, and making sure I'm getting enough calcium. Eating enough protein has never been a problem before, and I refuse to become a vegan stereotype while pregnant! Getting more protein than usual just takes a little more planning on my part.

Main meals have been fairly well balanced, it's the snacks in between that I'm working on to make sure they fill me up with what I need, not just fill me up. Here are some of my higher-protein snack options so far. I would love to hear suggestions for more protein rich snacks!

Peanut butter on toast
Hummus on wheat crackers
Bagels (they average about 7g protein!)
Walnuts, cashews, almonds
Primal Strips
Tofurky sammich (yes, as a snack. I'm hungry all the time!)
Soy yogurt
Sunflower seeds
Smoothie with rice protein
Tofu "egg" salad
Tempeh "chicken" salad


As far as the calcium-rich foods, I'm incorporating as much for these foods as possible:

Kale
Chard
Collard greens
Enriched vegan milks
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Almonds
Soy yogurt

When I told the midwife that I don't eat dairy, I was expecting a lecture. But she didn't give two shits about it. She just told me to eat plenty of greens and maybe take the occasional Tums. I like her.

I'm good on meal planning, but I need quality snack advice, folks! I would lovefor you to weigh in on this, if you can.

Thanks!

summer comfort.

I've been craving foods that are rich and creamy, but it has been so hot this summer that I can't really see myself packing away thick sauces or fatty creams. We love to have vegan Alfredo sauce on our pasta, but my favorite recipe for Alfredo calls for an entire tub of Tofutti Cream Cheese. As awesome as it is,  I just can't handle that heaviness when it's in the 90's outside! So I made a lighter, and dare I say, healthier version of a cream sauce for pasta. Now don't be fooled- this ain't no Alfredo. But it is light, tasty, and it won't make you feel like barfing if you decide to go for a walk after dinner.

These aren't the most appetizing pictures, but I promise the pasta dish tastes great.





Cannellini Bean Sauce for Pasta

1 15 oz. can Cannellini beans, rinsed
1 cup vegetable or "no-chicken" broth
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp Vegenaise

In a food processor, blend all ingredients together until relatively smooth. If sauce is too thick for your liking, add a bit more broth or water to reach desired consistency. That's it! I added this to a skillet of escarole and red bell pepper that had been sauteing in oil with a few basil leaves. Use any veggies you like, and serve over pasta. The broth I use use is pretty salty, but if yours isn't, you may want to add some salt.
Makes for 2-4 generous servings with 1/2 pound of pasta, or 4-6 light servings with one pound of pasta.


Oh! You know what I tried from Veganomicon that was fantastic? Midsummer Corn Chowder.



This chowder is made with sweet summer corn, carrots, potatoes, basil, and tomatoes. It was rich and creamy, but without the addition of any cream-like ingredients. I loved it, and I'm sorry the whole pot is already gone!

Okay, despite the heat I have done a little bit of baking. I had to. I ran across this recipe for Smores Bars using Ricemellow Creme, and I had an open tub of Ricemellow I "needed" to use. This recipe was pretty good, but the crust could use some serious tweaking. I think a sweeter, blondie type of crust with some crumbled graham crackers in it would be great. This crust was just meh. But I really liked how the Ricemellow Creme got all gooey and caramelized. Yum!

damn you, Little Debbie.

 I've had some serious cravings for an oatmeal cream pie Ala Little Debbie lately. I haven't had a Little Debbie anything in about ten or eleven years, so I have no idea why this desire crept up on me like it did. When in Washington DC recently, I had a chance to try a Cowvin Cookie at Sticky Fingers. And while very yummy, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for to match that individually wrapped, mass produced crap snack from Little Debbie. When I begged the internets for a recipe, a Twitter friend pointed me to this one at sugar-skull.com.



This recipe is really great. My cookies didn't come out perfect, as they were way too soft and fell apart easily. But I know that was from a combination of  the 80+ degree heat in my kitchen causing the Earth Balance to soften too much while creaming with the sugar, along with me pulling them from the oven a little too soon. I was so worried about ending up with a crunchy cookie, which simply would not do. So next time, my cookies are going to get about 14-16 minutes in the oven.  The cream filling was absolutely spot on to a Little Debbie! I was a little surprised, as the amount of powdered sugar with the shortening had me worried about ending up with more of a hard, super-sweet frosting. But instead the cream filling was soft, lightly sweet, and wonderful!

Next, I really want to try a vegan Swiss Cake Roll. Anyone know of a good cake recipe that is pliable enough to roll without cracking? 

non-cooking food.

Sadly, there hasn't been a whole lot of fun, fancy eating in our house lately. With the recent loss in our family, along with this ridiculous summer heat, I haven't been incredibly inspired to turn the oven on. But we still gotta eat. The show must go on! Here's a salad so simple it's really a non-cooking, "non-recipe" recipe.



Summer Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

1/2 lb. fresh green beans, ends snapped
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 handful of toasted pecan pieces
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
sea salt
black pepper

Boil a pot of water on the stovetop. Add the green beans and corn kernels to the boiling water and count to ten for a flash-boil. After a ten count, drain veggies in a colander. Place veggies in a large bowl, and add the tomatoes and pecan pieces. Toss and refrigerate. Once the salad is chilled, whisk together the rest of the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Use sea salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad and serve immediately.