Burgers, BBQ + Measurements (not mine! dirty!)

Butternut, Red Bean + Quinoa Burger w. Chipotle Aioli

This is a version of my most favorite veggie burger recipe of mine. I was out of a few things so I had to do with what I had. This is usually made with millet and has leeks and peppers in it as well. The original inspiration for this burger was from one of the weekly specials at my last job. I was craving it one day when I wasn't working and set out to make my own version since I wouldn't ask for the recipe. It's more fun experimenting I think. It's changed here and there over the past 2 years but I'm really happy with it and am going to set out getting proper ingredient measurements, since you can't write recipes without measurements! I'm really trying to get better at writing things down especially since I'm aiming for self publishing a book or zine at the end of the year.




Reno (basically 10 months)

With the craziness that is Reno I'm finding it hard to do, but it will happen. She is standing now, attacking the cats (one of them decided to attack her back yesterday.) I thought it was a good experience for her but she went right back to it this morning. She's eating big girl foods now (including the above veggie burger without the aioli, and avocado sandwiches.) It's all so crazy. Oh yeah and some of her babbles are curse words. At least they aren't ones that we say so we can be assured she is just babbling and not calling us horrible names or vodka.

More food...



Maple-Hoisen Grilled Seitan and Brooklyn Deli Macaroni Salad

I'm pretty sure I haven't posted about this before. I think it was one of my forgotten meals. If you've seen it already well then you get the pleasure of seeing it again.

We went to a friends house to see a friend who was visiting and had a BBQ. I brought along the V'Con macaroni salad above. Which I need to say now if you haven't made this yet you must make it now. I love it. I've always loved macaroni salads but never "deli" ones. I love this "deli" one -the peas! You will never see the peas.

Since I was the only non meat eater there I also marinated some Seitan in my Maple-Hoisin Marinade. This is a recipe that I'm actually writing the measurements down for and I am almost satisfied with it. One more go at it and I will post it.

p.s. I have a very exciting post planned for tomorrow. It's a newer version of something people got really excited about a month or so ago. I'm really excited about sharing it.

Breakfast and Cupcakes

Tofu Scramble + Sausage Breakfast Burrito

It's Tuesday so I have to bring you some Tofu goodness. I've become quite the tofu connoisseur over the past 2 months and it's not going to stop just yet. We were at my parents house this weekend with my sister and our friend Rachele. On Sunday we decided to have a nice breakfast. While the others dined on eggs and bacon Rachele and I dined on VwaV "inspired" Tofu Scramble with some sorta veggie style sausage. It was very good and hit the spot. My father even tried some after asking what is was and being told it was "fake eggs" or "feegs". I yelled out it was scrambled tofu. Don't call my shit fake. It's real people...real!!



Buckwheat Pancakes w. Bananas


Fathers Day breakfast for Peter. Yellow Rose Recipe's Buckwheat Pancakes. Peter's been asking for them for ages so he got em. My favorite thing about this recipe is that there is a mashed up banana in the batter. They were so good. Since I now have a big bag of the flour in my posession we will be eating these more often.



Chocolate Cupcakes w. Vanilla Buttercream

I'm on the phone with my sister. Another call is coming thru..it's Peter's Grandma. She asks if I can make dessert for the dinner she was hosting that night. I said "Yes." I call my sister back 25 minutes later and tell her that "I had to make cupcakes." She says "You made cupcakes?" "Yes." I said, "They will be out of the oven in 5 minutes." I then had to explain that I can't help it if I can whip out a batch of cupcakes in 15 minutes from scratch. It's just something I can do. It's something you can do to if you baked a lot.



So good. They were from VCTOTW.

Salads...Tofu Tuesday! (on tuesday!!)

Buffalo Tofu Salad w. Candied Pecans and Ranch Dressing

Back in the day when I would frequent a theme restaurant beginning with the letter H and ending in hans I would devour a Buffalo Chicken Salad. Oh it was so tasty and good. I finally decided to make a vegan version after all these years. Panko crusted Tofu drenched in a tangy hot and sweet sauce. Cinnamon, cayenne and maple candied pecans. Homemade Ranch Dressing. Crispy tortilla strips. If only I had some vegan blue cheese to crumble on top. I added some red bell pepper and cucumbers (the latter of which I had to remove because of a funky taste). All that was missing was some tomatoes. With the recent tomato problem and local restaurants not serving them I've just decided to stay away for a bit until I can get to the farmers market and get some local ones.

In the end this was just as good, if not better, than the theme restaurant version. I think the secret is the pecans and tortilla strips. This will be a favorite salad for dinner meal for the rest of the summer I think.



Balsamic-Basil Marinated and Grilled Portobellos


I generally don't eat mushrooms but will still buy them occasionally. However, made this way I'd eat them at least once a week. It's such a great marinade that I've been throwing together for a year or so. (I swear I will measure all the ingredients the next time) Balsamic vinegar, shallots, garlic, basil, tamari, olive oil, salt = incredible flavors. Especially thrown on top of a mesclun salad with walnuts, raddishes, cucumbers, tomatoes and red bell peppers. The salad is just dressed with some olive oil, lemon and salt so that it isn't dry. The marinade that coats the mushrooms flavors the whole dish when eaten.

Tofu Tuesday? Thursday

Tofu + Vegetables w. Orange-Peanut Sauce

This post was meant for Tuesday. Unfortunately on Tuesday night around 9 pm the craziest storm I've ever been apart of hit our area. The badness lasted only a few minutes but we were feeling the after affects for almost 24 hours. Since that's about how long we went without power. Luckily it came back early evening on Wednesday, real lucky since they were saying we wouldn't have it until Sunday!! Sadly I have to throw away A LOT of food that was in the fridge and freezer. We ate out last night and will eat out again tonight. By tomorrow (friday) we should be all stocked back up with food and condiments so I can start cooking and baking again.

Enough of my storm story.

Above you will see another of my new "lets eat more non hidden tofu" meals. Lightly fried Tofu, just pressed and fried, with a big mix of vegetables including string beans, red bell peppers, broccoli, scallions and garlic. The sauce is one I've been working on for awhile now which is a peanut sauce with orange juice. I love the combo of those two ingredients. They work so well together that I now want a toasted bagel with peanut butter and a big glass of OJ for breakfast. I have no edible food or OJ in the house right now...the storm!!!! Curse you!!!

I'm off to clean out my sad fridge. See you in a day or two.

Wild Blueberries

Blueberry + Chocolate Chip Scone

Jeez! I wanted to take the holiday weekend off from blogging about food and almost 2 weeks has past. Time flies I suppose. Good news for you is that I've been cooking + baking during my brief hiatus. Today I bring you some baking.

Trying to save some bucks I've been making us breakfast on the weekends and extra baked goods for Peter to eat during the week before work. I'm not a big fruit eater and if I'm going to eat fruit, especially berries, they almost always are frozen. I've been really enjoying some frozen Wild Blueberries I bought at Whole Foods a few weeks ago. Good news for me I spotted them at Costco's so I'm sure the bag there is twice the size for the same price.

Above is the basic scone recipe from VwaV which I added blueberries and chocolate chips too, yes we eat chocolate for breakfast! I cannot recommend that combination enough. Peter loved them. I just liked them but enough to make them again. They were very biscuity and not too sconey for me. I'm now on a hunt in my apartment for a scone recipe I used in a restaurant I baked for.



Blueberry Corn Muffins

Another VwaV recipe. I believe they are called "Sunny" or something like that because of the lemon used in it. The book isn't readily available for me to confirm the name. I'm sure you all have the book. If not, buy it. We LOVE these muffins. A blueberry and corn muffin all in one with a lovely lemon zest flavor added. I prefer these warm, split in the middle with some Earth Balance spread on them. Peter eats them as is.