STL

Last weekend I took my girlfriend and her daughter out to the City Museum. I cannot recommended it highly enough. The whole place is a piece of interactive art with tunnels and caves, a ten-story slide, a school bus hanging off the roof... Do not pass up an opportunity to go if you are in Saint Louis.

On the way there we stopped at Cafe Berlin in Columbia, MO. I got a 1/4lb veggie burger on toast with hummus, bell peppers and mushrooms with roasted russet and sweet potatoes.

The GF got a salad with some wicked ginger dressing.

 We went to the top of the arch. Here's a view from 630 ft above the ground.

Before we left we ate lunch at the Lemon Grass. I started with some spring rolls and peanut sauce.

For an entree I ordered the Com Tay Cam Dau Hu, or Veggie Rice in Hot Pot. I've never been to another place that does this. It comes out sizzling and the rice is on the bottom so some of it is very crunchy while the rest is soft. So yum.

GF got the veggie delight, which comes with a super-cute hunk of rice.

Hearty Party

Hey! Here's a few dishes.

This first one is a blended sweet potato and squash soup with sauteed mushrooms, inspired by a similar dish in the Veganomicon.

Next up is what I ate on thanksgiving. My friend's dad is quite the chef and made this stuffed roasted acorn squash. I did make the Mujadara. I used a slow cooker all evening, then reheated it in the over the next day. It turned into veggie meatloaf, I kid you not. 'twas delish!

 
If you have a friend with a wood fire oven, be sure to come over when he lights it up. We had a pizza party where everyone makes their own. Here's mine:

Chili Mac Burrito

Ok, I've been slacking. Yes, I've been eating food.

When I'm up late at night, I have unusual cravings. This is one I've been thinking about for days. I don't know what else I can say before I show it to you.

Standard nooch recipe for the mac and heavily seasoned TVP.

When I went to the Rainbow Gathering with my friends, we had quite a few limitations. Almost anything would end up inside a tortilla because it added a few hundred calories and it's an edible container, so no plate to clean. One time we were putting quinoa, cashews, spinach and sriracha in tortillas.

Also, this never got published. This is my EBLTTT, or Eggplant Bacon Lettuce Tomato on Texas Toast.

lunches

Sometimes you get a call from a client to be there in an hour and you don't realize you're going to be there for 13 hours. So I ate two Chipotle burritos on Monday because I wasn't prepared. Not that I don't like a chipotle burrito, but lesson learned, again! Invest in snacks and make enough for leftovers!

I am my mother's personal chef. Here's a few lunch salads I made for her. Just whatever I have in the fridge. Lately for a dressing I've been doing olive oil and red wine vinegar w/ salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, basil, oregano and a dab of dijon mustard. Mix it, toss it, yummm.

Last week there was an absolutely beautiful October afternoon, so my friend Brain and I took the opportunity to have a BBQ picnic lunch in Blind Boone park. I even brought the propane stove.

I had a package of Gardein's BBQ Pulled Shreds, two ciabatta rolls, a spicy slaw from Bryant Terry's "Vegan Soul Kitchen" and fried plantains. After it was all over, I wondered why I hadn't been making lunch in the park all summer, or any time in the past I can remember.

When I was in the city not too long ago, I picked up a whole bunch of nutritional yeast. Score! This meant I HAD to make some mac & cheeze with the box of tri-color pasta I had.

I have some more food items I've never used before, my plans are to use as many as I can in some interesting combination. And maybe I'll take some to work tomorrow!

free veggie lunch

I have to tell everyone. I LOVE the Free Veggie Lunch in Lawrence, KS. When I was a resident, Thursdays were my favorite day of the week (and not just because I could leave with free artisan breads). I volunteered to cook any chance I got. I made this special trip to Lawrence just to slave away in a kitchen in order to feed as many people as possible!

I cook with one of my very bestest buds, Ryan. We lived together for two years and cooked together almost every day. When we join forces in the kitchen, it's a magic synergistic event, like Simon and Garfunkel or some shit.

Here was our menu we created:

Greek salad w/ dressing
Hummus w/ pita and carrots
Mujadara
Greek potato un-salad
Lentil un-soup


The ECM had limited funds this week. Here was our challenge: feed 200 people with $100.

Sound impossible? Well, I threw down an extra $47 to make our vision a reality. That makes this meal about $0.75 a person.

Chopped up taters

We were in the kitchen SIX hours the night before. Ryan's girlfriend Sarah came in later and was super helpful by taking charge of the lentils. I came back in 1.5 hours before the lunch so I could make the salad.

Before this happened, I had never even SEEN this much hummus in real life. 

Ryan's 4.5 Gallons of glory

This is mashed potatoes, shredded carrots, garlic, wine vinegar, olive oil and chili powder.

Two cookers with warm potato mash/bake

Then made what is basically a lentil soup, but was thick enough to put on a plate.

Two cookers w/ lentils

The Mujadara RULED. This was another dish that was alternative to the traditional version. The rice lost it's textural integrity as it slow-cooked overnight, but transformed it into the eastern European version of thanksgiving stuffing!

Then there is the Greek salad, which also ruled like crazy. I used this recipe for the dressing, and put it in this one gallon pickle jar.

This morning I made enough salad two fill two of those big tubs. In each one I put 4 heads of romaine, 10 roma tomatoes, 3 large cucumbers, 2 bell peppers, 2 large red onions, 2 cans of olives and a 1/2 gallon of dressing. Here's one of 'em:

ANNND welcome to the free veggie lunch! Here's the spread:

And the beautiful bread table:

And an example of a plate:

It was a huge success. No one ever really knows who cooked until they mention it during the announcements, so I got to walk around and hear people say things like "This is the best veggie lunch in the history of free veggie lunch!" It makes me all warm and squishy inside!

While I was in Lawrence I bought some ingredients from the co-op that I've never used before, so time for some experimentation! Till then.

KC trip

Saturday's demonstration was so awesome. OccupyKC really has their shit together and it's exciting to see democracy in action. I mentioned I was going to cook a whole bunch of chili, but this didn't work out. I don't get more food stamps until Wednesday. There was another group that cooked a gigantic amount of chili, but it was full of cow.

At the base camp, they had two stews: one veggie and one with animals in it. I tried some of the edible one. Someone could learn how to cook potatoes, but after marching all day, it was satisfying. I will make it back there soon with some really awesome grub. They deserve it.

freedom stew

Since I was in Kansas City I absolutely HAD to stop by FÜD. If you are ever in the Kansas City area, do yourself a favor and stop here. I've been to quite a few vegan restaurants in the US/Canada and this has got to be one of the best. And it's THE absolute best place to get a shake in Kansas City, hands down. I have yet to try everything on the menu, so this time I got a Jack Phish Taco and the Cheesy Mac Bowl. While I really enjoyed the taco, the mac n' chee was bomb. It's like something I would've had at my grandmother's house. Crumbly on the top, lightly baked to perfection. And the cheeziness was spot on, it could fool any dairy-eat'n mac & cheespert. If you are a local, go there. 

Currently there are 7 lbs of carrots at the house. I'm sure they will end up in most dishes for a while. Sometime this week I'm gonna do a pulled pork sammy; first, a KC-style one then a NC-style.


Thanks for reading!

Vegan MoFo Week II

Wow, I wasn't aware of how bad I neglected this! I looked at the photos on my camera and was surprised at all the neat things I made! This whole time I thought I was just staring at the pretty colors in the neighbor's yard.

Here's a standard of mine. Onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots and a bean (chickpea). Super cheap and the ingredients don't parish quickly. Add a green for your health. All I had was parsley. Spice it up with salt, pepper, paprika and whatever else. Serve over rice or some other grain.

 

I was hungry the other night, so I pulled out some leftovers. Spaghetti noodles and seitan. What to do? FRY IT UP!  SPICE IT UP!

with parsley to make it fancy!

The other day was one of my best friend's birthday, and he cooked for me and his mother. How super awesome! He did a hot sauce glazed tempeh with messy rice. This was delicious. I cook so often for myself and others that I forget what it's like for someone else to cook for me. It feels really good! Hmm, maybe that's why people like me... Thanks Brian!

So when I went up to the city and went on a spree in the natural foods store, one of the things I saw was Japanese sweet potatoes. Never heard of 'em. How could I not grab some? I had them for about a week and I wasn't sure what to do with them.

Speak to me, O tubular ones.

They begged and pleaded with me. "Please Joe, anything but chopping us up and making us into baked Japanese sweet potato fries." Since I'm a cruel vegetable murderer, I knew exactly what I had to do. Make the food version of the Pinwheel of Death.

A little salt and pepper and that's it. Fantastic. Like a sweet potato, but more clove-y.

I also made Isa's Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie. Well, sort of. In Warrensburg there are no vegan chocolate chips that I could find. I put in unsweetened chocolate instead of semisweet. Oops! This is ok because I reeeally like bitter foods. I eat baker's chocolate straight up. This also means I get to eat seven-eighths of the pie myself. The graham cracker complimented the slight bitterness in a nice way.

 

And finally to wrap things up (yeah, I went there) is this thing that resembles a burrito. Jasmine rice, curry cabbage and carrots, tomatoes, lettuce and parsley. 

Tomorrow I think I'm going to visit OccupyKC with my propane stove and make a big-ass pot of chili before or after the march. Sunday I'm looking into making the EBLTTT: Eggplant Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato on Texas Toast. Yes. Talk to ya soon!

Day 8

So far, it looks like all I eat is fake-meaty and carby stuff. Well, maybe it's VeganMoFo and I just feel like getting a little bit ridiculous, ok?

I do actually get fresh fruits and veggies in, but it seems boring to take a picture of an apple or some walnuts. Here's a healthy staple of mine that's more picture-worthy. Find a blender, grab two bananas, some flax seeds, non-dairy milk and fill the rest with kale (stem removed).















Not too long after I drank this masterpiece, I get a phone call from a starving friend that has no food in their house. "BLTs?" I ask. She doesn't really care because she's starving, so I pack up my ingredients and bring the puppy along.

I forgot that I had no bread, so we picked up some rye at the country mart. I was pretty excited, it was my first time trying the fake bacon. How did I do it? Toast the bread, apply a generous amount of vegenaise (the kind w/ grapeseed oil of course), 3 strips pan-fried Smart Bacon, a fat tomato slice, avocado slices (YES) and lettuce

There was nothing at her house, not even cooking oil, so I just heated the bacon on the pan while being careful to make sure it didn't stick. I made this later with the oil in the pan. As expected, it was a bajillion times better, so FRY IT UP. Also, today I used the rest of the bacon to make a bacon and peanut butter sandwich. It was good, but nowhere near the BLT.

Dry Fried BLT

I was interested in what Awesome Girlfriend wanted to do in the evening, so we had dinner and a movie! This is was really exciting because it's the rare occasion for me. She wanted some sort of pasta-carby goodness and I kept it simple. Here's what happened: Dumped a pound of speghetti in a pot of boiling water. Poured a bottle of Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce in a smaller pot on medium-low. Diced up some mushrooms, threw 'em in the pot. Grabbed a package of Smart Ground, threw half of it in the pot. Grabbed four slices of rye, spread Earth Balance on, dusted them with garlic powder and tossed e'm in the oven. Drained the pasta.

I plated everything on a TV dinner tray and then we watched Trollhunter, which was fun and entertaining.

 

Today was leftovers, so nothing new to write about. Tomorrow I have work scheduled. Maybe I'll come up with a neato packed lunch, but usually it's a Chipotle burrito. Tuesday is one of my best friend's birthday, and he's cooking! Pretty excited about that. Thanks for reading!

Big Country Update

I have a few really cool things to share with y'all. 

Oct 6th

First I tossed the home fries in the oven, heavily seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper. Steak fries would have been more traditional, but I just love 'em in morsels.

Tenderloin time! Once the seitan has been made, these come together quick. I pulled out my largest pieces and coated them with a mixture of flour, greek seasoning, cayenne, salt, pepper and chili powder. Let the frying begin!

For those of you familiar with western Missouri tenderloin sandwiches, you know they have to be huge; way bigger than the bun. I could not get those kind of slices out of my seitan. What to do? Cut the center out of the buns to make them smaller, duh. 

I present to you, seitan sliders!

cute n' tasty

Put some horseradish on and they're ready for chompin'. The most critical member of the table, my carnivore brother, thought they were pretty darn good, but similar to the buffalo wings we made. We brainstormed some ideas to make them more porky.

Oct 7th 

The next morning I went to Gentry County to help get my grandparents stuff ready for auction. Some people say "It's hard being a vegan in [insert city]." Those people have never been to NW Missouri. I lived up there for a year, where the closest people get to veganism is "Did you say vegan? I heard about that on the food network!"

Several years ago my dad asked "so what can I make for you now?" My answer: "Just plants." Ever since then, it's been no problem. For lunch he made a lettuce salad with 'maters, radishes, cucumber, green onions and carrots. 

thanks pops!

 After a full day of moving old fridges and stoves around, he asked me what we should eat. I decided chili. One pot simplicity and the ingredients are at the grocery store. I grabbed an onion, green bell pepper and a can of: kidney beans, pinto beans, diced tomatoes (two cans), kernel corn and green chilies. Diced up the veggies, drained the beans, tossed in the cans and added plenty of chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Before I scooped it in my bowl, I put tortilla chips in the bottom. This turned out tastier than I imagined it being. 

 
After coming home from a concert with Most Awesome Girlfriend and seeing that she had some leftovers to snack on, I decided to whip something up too.

Remember those mini tenderloin buns? I'm not one to be wasteful with food...

Chili in a bun!

Thanks for reading! I have more food excitement planned for today, with an update in a day or two.

Seitan luvvers Part 1

It all began last night. It's so much better to whip some pre-made out the next day rather than add over an hour of prep time to any dish you want to use it in. For the broth I usually use veggie bullion cubes, soy sauce, garlic powder, herbs, spices, onion slices...

Just like my party days when I got overwhelming munchie attacks at 2am, I made some stove-top popcorn while I waited. Then while I waited for the popcorn, I sliced up some tofu and plopped on some vegenaise stirred w/ curry and pepper. YUM. Sometimes I used to go up to five layers deep with it. It's all in the timing.

Some of the seitan will be used in The Amazing Western Missouri Vegan Tenderloin Collaboration Sandwich that I will make with my brother soon. Tonight, I invited a test subject over and just improvised. Here's what I came up with:

Jasmine rice in the rice cooker (if you don't have a rice cooker, get one and change your life).

then sauté:
1/4c onion, softball sized, chopped
5 BIG cloves of garlic
1/2 red and 1/2 a yellow bell pepper

Then I cut the seitan into strips and battered it with a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, cayenne, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder... go wild with it and FRY IT UP.

Put it in a bowl, topped it with fresh parsley, romaine and alfalfa sprouts.

The rice and the zingy seitan kept it heavy while the fresh greenery lightened the whole thing up nicely. Success! Variations of this will happen in the future.

Seattle Trip

Vegan MoFo has officially kicked off and I'm late for the party. I was busy celebrating my birthday in Seattle. I did normal things you should do while in town: hit up Pike's Place, drink coffee (I'm normally caffeine-free), walk a TON, hopped in on some protests, go to a music festival, annnnd of course took breaks for some vegan eats!

Sometimes I do my research before I travel to a city with such diverse options. This time I just went on HappyCow, wrote down 5 addresses and if we got close to one we would stop in. Not on the list was a veg thai place called Wedgwood II. The three of us ordered the Panang Curry, Yellow Curry and the Red Curry because we're curry freaks and had to try them all.

Consensus was... most excellent! The Red Curry (Gang Gai), was my favorite. It didn't quite top that thai curry dish I had in Norman, OK (there are lots of surprises in the mid-west), but the service and the folks working were delightful.

The other experience relevant to vegan food-blogging was at a bar. We got the Fish n' Chips, 'cause that's what people eat when they visit Seattle, right? I wanted to order so much stuff off the menu, but we were put off by the service, unfortunately our dude working that night was not attentive enough. I would go back to try out more stuff. They were doing vegan bar food right.

One night in Port Angeles I made everyone these killer burritos with soyrizo, guac, salsa, black beans, brown rice, sautéed onions & peppers, tomatoes and lettuce. I totally didn't take a picture! Lesson learned. Just trust me, they rocked that big old farm house.

Now that I'm back home, I'll get to the meat of what vegan blogging is all about. Wait, no I won't. But what I will do is show you some really awesome food, most of it being either my creation or that of a local vegan. Expect more soon!

Some produce at Pike's Place

Matsaman

Fish n' Chips