Vegan Mofo #21 Italian Beef Sandwich... kind of

This last vegan Mofo blog came from an idea of trying to use up some Gardein beef tips we had lying around. Matt mentioned that we should make an italian beef. I was totally down, but admitted that I had never made an actual Italian beef and I actually confuse that with a French dip sandwich. I said I will make an Italian beef sandwich but just do whatever I want with it and not try to mimic what that sandwich actually is. So I give you my version of a vegan riot's
Italian Beef
1/4 red pepper julienned
1/4 green pepper julienned
8 Gardein Beef tips thawed
2 cloves garlic chopped
3/4 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tbs fresh basil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs California white cooking wine
2 tsp tomato paste + 3 tsp water

-Saute peppers and onion in the pan until tender
-Add beef tips,dried oregano,onion powder and lemon juice
-Keep stirring until tips get browned on all sides
-When tips are sticking to the pan deglaze with white wine
--Mix tomato paste and water in a small bowl and add that mixture to the pan at the end cooking so that it heats and thickens a bit
-Remove from heat and stir in rosemary & basil
-Assemble sandwich


I served it with one of our favorite sides...beans -n- greens


So comes the very end of November. Vegan Mofo was something I had forgotten even existed and for some reason at the ass end of October I jumped on the ppk to look at food porn and was reminded of this. I thought about doing it, talked to Matt, even posted something on facebook, but even then I really wasn't sure I would follow through. I promise Matt heard me talking about it and probably thought I would be done 3-5 posts in. I may have started one or two things in the past without finishing....a few.
I want to thank everyone for all your blog comments. They motivated me and made me want to keep going. I want to thank my friends who messaged me on facebook saying that they were reading and loving it. The people who texted Matt, the co-workers who would randomly tell me they loved last night's post, the mentions of my blog over beers at the bar. THANK YOU! It's hard to do something like this and keep going if you're not really sure anyone is reading or cares one bit about any of it.
I can't end this without thanking Matt who pushed me to keep doing this, gave me great dinner/blog ideas, helped me edit my far too long sentences and poor spelling, and for making me feel great about myself and about something I was doing.
This isn't the end of this blog, just the end of this month. Vegan Mofo was a blast and you haven't seen the end of me....or Noodles