Sidesgiving

Because I am heading home tonight and M has to work the holiday, we had Thanksgiving dinner last night. Since he's a vegetarian, he prefers sides, but I did buy him a meat-free "turkey" to round out the meal. The brand is Gardein, which I bought at Honest Weight. I have to say... it was pretty good. Could have done without the cranberry stuffing, but I will probably buy this again for him for Christmas.

Our dinner -

• Green bean casserole - tried and true. First time I added soy sauce... or maybe I always have and just keep forgetting. Either way, lovely.
•  Cornbread stuffing casserole - M wanted Stove Top, but then had mentioned a co-worker had tried the Trader Joe's version and liked it. So I went with that, using vegetable stock for the liquid and added a tablespoon more butter than the recipe called for. Pretty good, I had to stop myself from eating all of it. M does need leftovers for tomorrow.
• Gardein savory stuffed turk'y - So much better than tofurky. So. Much. Better. It does have a weird taste that I couldn't place, but it wouldn't stop me from having it again. It also comes with gravy packs which helped me out since I couldn't find a veggie friendly pre-made gravy.
• Corn - nothing fancy, just heated up.
• Mashed potatoes - instant, I cheated. Fancied it up with cream and extra butter. And the gravy from the turk'y helped.
• Bloody Mary's - why not? Plus I needed to kill the last of the vodka that's been sitting there. Extra horseradish. Because. Yes.
  

Total price for this dinner, excluding drinks, was ~$24.00. All but the stuffing and turk'y was bought at Dollar Tree. So now you know, a holiday dinner is possible from there. Slightly more expensive than if I had bought it from Walmart or perhaps the supermarket, but if it's the closest place... do what you gotta do.

Vegetarian Pho

 

 

It's official - M and I are both sick. It's been making the rounds at work and for the most part I've been able to avoid it, but Sunday and Monday were pretty tough. Exhausted, sinus pressure, nausea, everything. The only thing that could make it all better was a big bowl of hot slurpy noodles.

 

I used a recipe from The Kitchn this time round, and it was pretty good. I didn't add star anise (it's lost somewhere in the house), but the Thai basil made up for that. At first I just chopped up the mushrooms and choy and added it to the bowls raw, but it was a little too raw for my liking, so I dumped the rest into the broth. Sure it ended up disclolored and overcooked, but it seemed more like a soup vegetable that way.

 

I did better on frying the tofu, although the centers were still a little soft. Should have done a better job on pressing the water out. I came across this piece on Herbivoracious which says soaking the tofu in hot salty water will create an even crispier slice of tofu. How, I have no idea... does it draw more water out? Does it mix with the tofu surface and make some coating that fries better? Well, I guess I'll just have to try that next time.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

 

 

Maybe it's due to the new year, but I have been cooking a majority of my meals. In fact, the meals that I have been packing for work have been (save one day) meat free. Kind of like a VB6, but not vegan since I still include dairy. Not that I was planning on it to be like this... it just happened.

 

Anyways, this whole week I've been mini celebrating my six year anniversay with M. While that is a long time (for me), it doesn't feel like it. I got it into my head at work yesterday that I would make him some summer rolls. We almost always order them when we go to Vietnamese restaurants, and I've had those wrappers in the pantry for who know how long. So I hit up the Asian market and Trader Joe's for my ingredients, and after watching a couple of episodes of Chuck, it was time to cook.

 

You can do a search for the correct way of making these, I loosely followed White on Rice and theKitchn - and when I say loosely, I mean I looked at the pictures. I bought the wrong noodles, but the thread noodles (made from arrowroot powder) still turned out okay. Better for jap chae or noodle soups. I completely forgot about shredding some carrot, but these were small wrappers and I had enough veggies already. I used my spring salad mix for the base layer, but I think next time I'll try shredded cabbage or baby romaine. Thinly sliced scallions, cucumber sticks, cilantro, mint, and Thai basil. For the protein, I pressed a block of tofu to get as much of the water out and pan fried them until it developed and light brown crunchy skin.

 

Wrapping these rolls were pretty painless. Similar to wrapping a burrito. The only issue was the wrapper. They are slightly brittle before you dunk it in the warm water, but even after soak, you have to be careful because if it starts to fold in on itself it can crack, as the wrapper up there did. And then there is the issue of the soak length. Probably about a minute or less, but you do need to keep an eye on it. Otherwise it gets too soft and have to scrap it altogheter. I did salvage one, but you get a lot of wrappers in a package, so tossing one isn't that big a deal.

 

I'll have to make these again and take more pictures.

Black Bean Burritos

As much as I complain about being meatless, this vegetarian diet hasn’t been too bad. I already prefer my burritos without meat, so why did it take me this long to make them at home? I’m guessing it had something to do with finding the right bean recipe. Even with cooking the beans and making the rice, this was pretty easy to make! Other than the rice and cilantro, all items used were from Trader Joe’s (I hate how much I shop there).

I’ve brought it in for lunch a few times now – I just keep everything in separate containers and put it together just before eating. It’s definitely made a few co-workers jealous.

Black Beans

2 cans black beans (no need to drain)
2 garlic cloves, minced
handful of cilatro stems
salt
pepper

Add all ingredients to a pan and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for ~20 minutes.

Cilantro Lime Rice

You can use any rice you want, but I used parboil rice because I didn’t want sticky grains and because it would be fluffy. Cook rice according to directions and transfer to a bowl. Add oil (pick a good neutral one so the flavor doesn’t overpower), chopped cilantro, salt, white pepper, and lime juice. Start off with a little lime juice at the beginning and adjust after mixing all the ingredients together.

I was going to go with boring plain tortillas, but these were just calling out to me. Habanero? With a hint of lime? I’m all in.

I really need to watch how they roll burritos next time I’m at Chipotle. But here you go – rice topped with black beans, baby spinach and avocado slices. Sour cream, cheese, salsa is optional, but then you get into that burrito overflow and it’s not pretty.

Yakisoba

Not only was the ramen on sale at Mitsuwa, but the noodle packs were on sale as well. Normally I don’t buy these because come on… yakisoba is similar to pancit and I don’t really need a kit for that. The recipe is in my DNA thankyouverymuch. But it was on sale and they had all these different flavors so yea, why not. This was the soy one, but I also got curry and miso. Added some carrot, cabbage, onion, garlic, and scallions. Cooked the vegetables first as the directions indicate and then set aside to cook the noodles. Throw the vegetables back in and tada! I used the whole bag, which had three servings. Three servings and that was pretty much all for me.

Still not used to tiny portions.

Preparation For the Feast

M and I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving early this year. He unfortunately has to work the holiday and I am going home for the rest of the week. I originally planned for this HUGE fest and invite people to come over and gorge out on our vegetarian meal. 

But then I got lazy, and figured people wouldn't want to stay out late on a Monday night. So I scrapped that plan and figure hey... make a tofu turkey.

Then I saw the recipe. A two day affair? Pass.

I ended up making vegan oat burgers, which I plan to use for vegan stuffed cabbage rolls to bring home for Thanksgiving. It's actually pretty good, I may make this stuff more often.

M made some mac & cheese. I don't know why he's been on a M&C kick, but it's here and made it for dinner. I left him alone with that because I really don't think he would appreciate me looking over his shoulder making sure he's following the recipe correctly.

How'd it turn out? In M's words: "I can't follow a recipe."

Seasoning was an issue, but it was okay! Just couldn't eat too much of it. Oh well.

Maybe we'll try again for Christmas.

Both Near and Far : Vegetable Curry

M has been on my case about using up what we have in the kitchen. No more shopping for food stuffs which you know I can't really follow through on, but I am trying. Onions, carrots and beets from the garden, and fake meat chunks I brought back with me from my trip to Jamaica. Added with some medium hot curry and served over rice mixes I bought at TJ's.

This was surprisingly good, but TJ's brown rice basmati mix doesn't cook up well in the rice cooker. At least for me.

A Little Peeved

There are all these great food related events going on. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fantastic and right up my alley. But I feel like they’re neglecting a group of the population, a group that M is a part of – vegetarians.

Exhibit A - The Chefs Consortium Dinner at Bannerman Island Castle:

• Chilled corn and crab bisque with tarragon crème fraiche
• Northwind Farms turkey ballotine with pipian sauce, corn and butternut squash salsa

Exhibit B - 100-point Beer Dinner at Mcgreivey’s:

• Jamaican oxtail stew with butter beans and fried plantains
• Crab cocktail with mango sabayon over Bibb lettuce
• Chicken Etoufee with fried oysters and dirty rice

And then there are the wild game dinners, Baconfest, I’m sure this “Taste of Elegance” thing coming up will be more of the same. And don’t even get me started on our eating situation when we attempt to go out.

Plenty of things for me to devour, but hardly anything for M. And before I would ignore it, and just think, “oh well, that means more for me!” But that’s selfish thinking.

Well I’m taking a stand. More vegetarian friendly dinners! Show our veggie loving friends that they too can come to the dinner table… and have some really awesome beers paired with it.

Vegetarian dinner with beer pairings.

Someone. Please. Make this happen. And if you do, I’ll be first on line.

Non-Foodie Food

R is a foodie. I am not. Heck, I'm anti-food enough to have been a devout vegetarian for the past 14 years of my life, and as such, preventing me from savoring all that delicious beef, poultry, and pork (oh bacon). But I still manage. Here's a little something I threw together after R roasted up some veggies on the BBQ. A fried corn tortilla, vegetarian refried beans, mixed garden lettuce, roasted veggies, and cojita cheese. (Er, maybe being around R is starting to rub off on me a little bit.)

Toasted onion bagel, shredded mozzerella, tomato, salt & pepper, topped with fresh basil.

Double stacked Gardenburgers with cheese, lettuce, and tomato on grilled wheat.

My Memorial Day

No grills. No fireworks. Not even real meat - these are Boca burgers. But M was leaving and I really don't think 4 patties is enough reason to burn some propane. Surprisingly, I liked these. They were the original ones, and reminded me of a Burger King burger. And I do likes those from time to time. Now I wish I had bought more when they were on sale. 

Souped Up

Not too long ago I ordered some ramen and it cost me just over six dollars. What I got was not what I had expected and now I wonder if I'll go back to this place again (review in te works I swear).

Friday I made myself some ramrn. The cost of that? Two bucks... at most.

Top Ramen + stir fried bokchoy + scallion garnish = warm and satisfying meal