Vegan Mofo #4 Our Halloween Night

So obviously Halloween wasn't tonight but I did take a bunch of pictures knowing I would eventually blog about it. Matt and I are definitely not huge Halloween people. Neither one of us likes to dress up and we didn't really want to go to any parties or any bars. Instead, we decided to rent a few scary movies and carve pumpkins.


Riot is confused as to what the hell we are doing.


I used a huge serated knife which probably wasn't the best idea considering how many times I almost cut my fingers off.


Matt was already done with his pumpkin when I wasn't even half way done with mine.


Show off


As you can see neither of us have much artistic ability, but we had a lot of fun, which is the entire point, right? Right. I thought mine was going to look a lot cooler than it turned out.

Matt had mentioned to me that he loved roasting pumpkin seeds when he was a kid. His mom apparently used to roast them for him and his dad and it had been probably 20 years since he'd had them last. I had never done them before, but a quick google search told me to rinse the seeds, then throw them in a pot of boiling water.


Rinsed and ready for water


I wasn't entirely sure what to put on them so I just did sea salt, pepper, garlic, & soy sauce. They turned out to be so good and so addictive we finished them off in just a couple days and we munched on them during our scary movies that night instead of popcorn. I actually wish Riot would have carved a pumpkin with us so we could have eaten her seeds too as she did try eating up all of ours a number of times.

That's that. I know it's not much, but it was so much fun and even though so simple the seeds were great. That's it for now. See you tomorrow with an actual recipe, MoFo's.

Vegan MoFo #3 Handlebars vegan breakfast burrito

My husband and I's favorite restaurant in Chicago is Handlebar. The outdoor seating is amazing. They have a full bar and it's a bicycle themed friendly restaurant/bar.



In all honesty the food has never blown me away, although their specials are often excellent and creative, but it's consistently good food and the wait staff is great. When it comes to going out to eat, it's not always the food but more of an excuse to have a place to go and enjoy a date night with my husband.I would suggest it to any vegan or vegetarian in Chicago or to someone visiting.
It rarely happens that we can get up and get ourselves together to make it to brunch. When we do, one of matt's favorite things to order is the breakfast burrito. I decided to duplicate it at home. Their burrito is seitan sausage, potatoes, avocado,cilantro & spinach.I omitted avocado & added peppers and tofu.

I didn't write down the recipe as I cooked but here is what I did.
-Roast 1 diced red potato with olive oil, cumin & paprika at 425 for about 20 minutes
-Saute 2 cloves of garlic then add 1/2 of a diced red pepper.
-Add 1/2 block of crumbled tofu with 2 tsps of cumin, chili powder, 1 tbs of nutritional yeast and a generous squirt of lime juice.
-Add a half of a bag of Upton's seitan Sausage to the skillet
-Turn the heat off and fold in a small handful of spinach along with the roasted potatoes

I realize this recipe is pretty vague but if you know your way around a kitchen like most of you do you can adapt this and it will turn out great. Till tomorrow, have a nice MoFo night

Vegan MoFo #2 Matt's 30th Birthday in Michigan

For Matt's 30th Birthday we stayed at his parents trailer in a little camping community in Michigan. It was one of the best trips we have ever taken and Riot was able to come along as well. Had I been blogging the whole time I would have made this a highlight blog so I thought I would share all the fun and food with you now.
One reason we went to Michigan was for ArtPrize. It's the second year that Grand Rapids has had an art festival where they plug art into galleries and have installation pieces all over the city. It was so cool to walk around Grand Rapids on such a nice warm day and see a bunch of amazing art. Here are a few of my favorites

A wood sculpture, 13 feet in diameter,titled "A Matter Of Time" which explores man's relationship to the earth.

This second piece was 2 horses constructed from recycled materials. If you look close you can even see spatulas being used.
After Art Prize we went to stellas!, a restaurant/bar that we are both so in love with and would be regulars if it was in Chicago. They have an all vegan bar food menu, a full bar, a great jukebox and an arcade filled with games from the 80's and 90's.


I have only eaten there twice and quite honestly 80's and 90's arcade games and a happy hour would have made me go there anyway but the food is great. Matt's dad had a rematch from the last time we went and I will admit he killed me at pinball

We spent the next few days just relaxing at the trailer cooking, reading books, going on golf cart rides, and enjoying being out of the city for a bit.
Most dogs seriously dislike golf cart rides but Riot loves them and probably would have driven the cart herself if she had to. When a dogs ears are flying in the wind and her nose is foamy from all the new country smells...you know she is a happy dog!


We made 3 meals while at the trailer. The first night I made Rosemary Chicken with gardein Scallapini and asparagus which I unfortunately didn't photograph. We also did a seitain roulade and mashed cauliflower on sunday night that turned out great. The absolute highlight turned out to be something Matt and I had joked about veganizing for a long time: Totino's pizza rolls. I couldn't even remember the last time I had had one. I was maybe 15, but I do remember them being delicious. So not only did I veganize them but I made them a little more..well a lot more upscale than a stinking Totinos pizza roll. I used Dayia cheese, Upton's sausage, mushrooms, marinara, and then rolled fresh basil, rosemary,& oregano into a cornmeal/wheat pizza dough. When I finally figured out how thin I needed to roll out the dough the results were amazing. I made big salads with balsamic dressing and tofu to go with the rolls.

I can't wait to go back. Being a city girl I thought I would hate it but I instantly fell in love with the place and seeing Riot happier than she has ever been doesn't hurt. So there is vegan MoFo #2 and for good measure one more happy Riot pic. See you MoFo's tomorrow...

So it starts. Hopefully this month will get me back into blogging and I will continue it after November ends. I have to say that I'm definitely having a bit of a hard time remembering how to post pictures and setting up my page, but hopefully it will all get easier. I hope in a few days to have a cheetah print background or even have figured out how to tag posts. For now I will just work on the simple things I have figured out which are typing and posting pictures.
Since this is my first MoFo post I'm going to keep it short and just go over some ideas I have for things to post about. This will give you an idea of what to look forward to and will remind me so I don't forget them.

1. I would like to once a week gain inspiration from all the Bon Appetit & Food & Wine magazines an old foodie friend from work gives me. I usually go through a stack at a time and tear out pages that interest me. So I plan on taking a recipe idea and then go from there, using my own techniques to make it something I would eat.

2.My favorite cookbook to date is The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen.


It's the only cookbook I have ever taken a recipe from and followed it from top to bottom. That night me and my husband got dressed up and had a fancy dinner. I made the Peppercorn-encrusted Portobello Fillets with Tomato Bearnaise & cauliflower mashers

I would like to have at least one more fancy dinner party for two this month and once again cook straight out of his book.

3.My dog Riot has been vegan for the last 6 years. I think a great post would be to talk about the dog food she eats, the reason for me choosing to feed her a vegan diet and include some dog treat recipes I have come up with. Actually let me just say know i don't think I go an hour without bringing up my dog so be ready for lots of Riot inserts, pictures, and an explanation on why her nickname is noodles. If I could figure out how to record my voice on here you would be also forced to hear the 30+ songs I have made up about her.

4. I'm excited that vegan MoFo will coincide with Thanksgiving. Working in a kitchen I will have to work that day but plan on cooking a huge meal the following day and celebrating thanksgiving then. I will finally record all the recipes that have been floating in my head for years and show the process of the seitan roulade that I have been tweaking for the last few years.


5. Music is HUGE in our house so I'm going to post my current 5 favorite records and try to come up with a recipe to go with each album. This may be a stretch but I think I can do it. I will also be posting what bands I'm listening to on days that I blog about what I cooked for the day.


So what do I hope to accomplish with this blog? In the words of The Little Killers....To have some god damn fun

A lot has happened since my last post

My last post to this blog was January 2008. I was in such a different place then and so much has changed. Two months after that I met my now husband and on September 12 2009 we got married.
The ceremony was amazing including 2 punk bands plus his band playing and a night full of great friends, great music, vegan food, and the prettiest flower girl I have ever seen.




I worked at a dog daycare/ rescue for 2 years which I loved.
I still work withPuppy Love/Love Cats www.puppylove-lovecats.org/ I'm her facebook admin and try to support Linda and her amazing rescue when ever time allows. Me and two friends held a fundraiser for the dog rescue in April and now hope to make it a annual event.

I got a job back in a kitchen again and although its not my ultimate dream job I have learned a lot and made a couple great friends along the way.
The reason for doing this blog again is because I feel that I finally have the time to do it and a man to back me and motivate me in this process. I have had a rough time in Chicago and after meeting my husband I now feel like I can finally relax. He has taken me to more places than I ever thought I would visit, motivated me more than anyone ever has, and made me believe that this is the first step I need to take if I want to get to where I want to go.
So I start vegan Mofo

eggplant-tofu stacks

grilled eggplant and grilled tofu stacked in between a tomato basil sauce on a bed of zucchini noodles

thrown together dinner

spaghetti squash with balsamic marinated tempeh
tomato cream sauce with mushrooms, artichokes & sun dried tomatoes

breaded okara

Why I decided to fall back in love with this vegetable right at the same time of it being out of season I will never know. This is breaded with nutritional yeast and assorted spices and baked in the oven. I served bbq sauce with it.

mushroom stroganoff with baked tofu over spaghetti squash

with fake beef strips


Cheesy mushroom stroganoff
1 small red onion
12-15 cremini shrooms (3 cups)
soy sauce
garlic
2 cups veggie broth
1 2/3 cup nooch
2 Tbs dijon mustard
1 Tbs lemon juice
liquid smoke
black pepper
salt

cook down red onion with as much garlic as you like..I'm italian so i never admit to how much garlic i use. When onions are translucent add mushrooms, a splash of soy sauce and a splash of liquid smoke. Saute mushrroms for about 10 minutes.
In a sauce pan combine veggie broth, nooch, mustard, garlic, a dash of liquid smoke and soy sauce, & salt and pepper to taste. Whisk all the ingredients together and turn to a low simmer, letting the sauce thicken. *
* If you want it to thicken without adding so much nooch you could add less nooch and arrowroot powder or flour.
Pour sauce over mushrooms and fold everything together. Use sauce to top noodles and add baked tofu, fake meat, seitan, or tempeh for protein.

AN ADDED BONUS:
vegan shrimp scampi over noodles

dessert of the summer

grilled pineapple with vanilla soydream and chocolate syrup---granola on top

baked tofu wth nooch basil & balsamic sauce

I made a basic nutritional yeast sauce but added balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, and tons of garlic. Served over baked tofu

fart party

if anyone else could describe me being flakey better she would be me click on the picture to read in a better size thru flickr

happy hour--

-this food is usually greasy gross & offered at a bar..here is the healthy vegan version of the typical slop
onion rings--breaded and baked..but soo good


stuffed shrooms with a spicy TVP mixture


the same mixture stuffed into mini breaded peppers

memorial day

here is the memorial day spread which proves how behind I am

tofu fries


spinach, artichoke & sun dried tomato dip


veggie tray, dip and crackers


vegan pigs in a blanket



skewers


my secret homemade bbq sauce




after the grill

breaded eggplant

cheesy potato bake..white trash vegan G-Ballz--thanks!

dessert..mini raspberry banana cheescake..thanks Marge


the grumpy chef I'm actually not mad and not sure why I look so pissed