good to be back, plus a hotdog rant

I have had more internet woes.  Nuff said.  Anyway, here's I be.  Superbowl Sunday!  I have a lot of work to do today.  I haven't watched much football this season, but I am sort of excited to see Pittsburgh in the bowl.  And that requires much food to be made...and a lot of cleaning to do before I start cooking!  It's been kind of a weird week, a lazy one, which I don't always like, but maybe I needed a week of lazy.  I've been kind of tired.  Anyway, I have my first bit of news to reveal!  If you noticed in the sidebar, I have a new little icon that means I am now a featured blogger on Wellsphere in the vegan community!  This is a site dedicated to healthy living, and yeah, I was probably as surprised as you are that they contacted me to be a part of their community.  Still, I must remind myself that I do try to live a healthy lifestyle and that if anyone can learn anything from my ramblings about how awesome vegan food is, then I'm happy to be a participant!  Head on over to their site and check out other vegan bloggers.  Most of them seem to be doctors and experts, so I feel priveleged to be considered among them.

Food time.  I have a lot of catching up to do here!  We haven't cooked anything groundbreaking this week, but there have been some interesting meals.

teese quesadilla

So maybe quesadillas aren't really that interesting, but they are when you have Teese!  This was my first teese encounter, and it's pretty good.  That's the newish cheddar flavor, and I found the flavor itself to be better than FYR cheddar.  The texture is still a little weird, but at least it melts!  You see, I used to be quite the quesadilla addict back in my vegetarian/omni days.  It's a super quick lunch and it's gooey and comforting.  This pretty much hit the nail on the head under those criteria.  Still, I honestly think I like the flavor of my own cheeze sauce better, but it's a helluva lot less work to use teese.   Anyway, I had this for lunch twice this week, so it couldn't have been too terrible, right?

soycurl fajitas

Can you tell I recently  made an order from Vegan Essentials?  This was my first soycurl experience as well, and I have to say that I love them.  I was a bit suspicious of their crusty appearance at first, but they really soak up a load of flavor and have a great texture!  Plus, they cost waaaaaay less than Morningstar chickn strips and don't have a 'flavor' to begin with.  These fajitas (made by Michael) are made with peppers and a red onion.  Michael read somewhere that traditional garnishes to Mexican burritos/fajitas/etc are radishes and green cabbage.  I have never heard this ever in my entire life, but it was delicious!  I was worried that they would taste too...  well, radish-y and cabbage-y, but somehow they flavors complemented the fajitas really amazingly well.  They add just the perfect amount of crunch without getting soggy, like regular lettuce does.  If you would like to attempt this, make sure you drizzle the radishes and cabbage with some lime juice and then salt & pepper them.  That makes them extra yummy.

roasted tempeh with veggies

Ok, I have to admit that all of the dishes you've seen so far were made by Michael, including this one.  I was in a bit of a cooking slump this week for various reasons, but I think I'm out of it now.  I hope.  Thank goodness I have him to help me out when I feel that way.  Still, a schedule change happened this week that put me a little out of whack, so I had to get used to it.  Next week will be better.  Anyway, this is some marinated tempeh roasted up with red potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, red onions, and garlic.  It was so good!  I don't know what was in the marinade, I'm sorry.  But it was salty and kind of soy-y and altogether very good.

tempeh with bulgur pilaf

I did contribute something to this meal, however.  That's a bulgur pilaf with leeks, and it was amazing.  We haven't had much bulgur lately, mostly because we ate it so much this summer that I think we got burned out, but I had a hankering for a healthy grain, so this emerged!  I even have a recipe for you.

Bulgur Pilaf w/Leeks

1:2 parts dry bulgur: water (i used a coffee mug to measure, so mine was probably 1.5 cups bulgur to 3 cups water)

2 small leeks, thinly sliced (ALL of them, even the dark green parts)

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp EVOO

3-4 Tbsp red wine vinegar

juice of one small lemon

1/4 cup chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

This was so simple, guys.  First heat up your oil in a large skillet.  Saute leeks first for about 2-3 minutes, then add shallots and continue to saute until soft.  Add bulgur, water, and red wine vinegar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 12-15 minutes.  Uncover, add lemon juice and parsley, then taste and add salt and pepper until you think it's right.  That's it!  Especially good served with roasty toasty tempeh.

pizza...?

Oh, this was just to prove that we did have pizza again Monday night.  And it was even better this time.  We also had mac n cheeze, but I didn't take a photo.  Just imagine pasta shells covered in yellow.  Yay!  Mac n Cheeze!

buddha chocolate

I just thought this was cute...  It's a buddha shaped chocolate (also from Vegan Essentials) that has hazelnut bits in his belly.  I got this for Michael when I did the order (in addition to other yummy chocolates for us to share...we don't get chocolate much here) because he's very interested in Eastern religions, Buddhism in particular.  So adorable!

skallops

Watching Jamie make scallops all the time on Top Chef and hearing Fabio saying stuff about 'This isn't Top Scallop!' in his crazyawesome accent finally got to me.  I ordered a can of veggie skallops.  We sauteed them with some sesame oil, tamari, sriracha and sesame seeds...  and then...  (I'm almost too ashamed to admit this...)  ....

...   added them to Chinese food that we ordered.  Ok, ok, that is so lazy, I know, but it was really pretty good!  The skallops themselves were mostly just ok (the flavor was great, but the texture was a little strange).  They were just like chunks of seitan, really.  Still, worth the experience, I guess.  And I got some greasy lo mein out of it.  Worth it!

agave spiced cornbread w/beanie weenies

This cornbread is from the testing of recipes for the Cookin with my Craw-Daddy zine.  For some reason, mine didn't rise up and get fluffy, but the flavor of it was amazing!  Slightly sweet and spicy from chilis.  I found it to taste a little like hush puppies, which cannot be a bad thing.  And then, those are beanie weenies.  I've posted about them before...  But I have to say:  vegan hotdogs rule.  They are the one fake meat item that we buy regularly, and I was trying to figure out why that was...  First off, they only have like 45 calories per dog, which is ridiculously awesome because you can eat like 3 of them without even feeling the least bit guilty.  Also, I think it's because hot dogs themselves (omni ones) are such bullshit that they're really easy to recreate.  There must just be some universal 'hot dog flavor' that they add to all hot dogs, be it a cow, pig, turkey, or soy dog.  Granted, the texture of soydogs aren't the same, but..uh...thank goodness!  Regular hot dogs are standardly horrendous in all ways.  I do not understand why omnis the world over don't just switch to soydogs.  I mean, they don't know what's in their hotdogs anyway (nor do they wish to, I'd imagine...blegh!), so why not at least eat one that's good for you?  

In conlusion, soydogs rule.  Except LightLife soydogs, those suck really bad (weird flavor).

Ok, it's noon.  Time to wake up my Michael and start cleaning so that I can start cooking!