Vegan MoFo #8 Tofu Sloppy Joes

Everyone has their own take and recipe for the sloppy joe. At work it's even called the sloppy Jim, based on a lovable guy who doesn't keep a very clean work space. This is one of my husbands favorite sandwiches. It's one of the first things I made for him when we started dating. The recipe has evolved quite a bit since then and instead of using tvp, I now use tofu. I can still hear the annoying song my younger sister would sing when my mom made these for us, every time I cook them.


Tofu Sloppy Joes
1/2 Block Extra Firm Tofu
1/4 Red Onion Diced
1/2 Green Pepper Diced
1/2 Rep Pepper Diced
4 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Can Tomato Paste
4 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tbs Chili Powder
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tsp Sweetner of your choice
1 tbs Soy Sauce
Vegetable Broth

-Crumble tofu in a bowl and add tomato paste and stir until it's thoroughly mixed
-Saute onion & garlic till translucent
-Add peppers to the pan and add the soy sauce and saute till peppers are tender
-Add tofu/tomato paste mixture and cook on low heat and continue stirring so it doesn't stick to the pan
-Add remaining ingredients except veggie broth
-I use the broth at the end to give the mixture it's sloppiness. So that's your call as to how runny or firm you want the sandwich.

Now go make up your own sloppy joe song and get cooking!

Vegan MoFO #7 Two Sides No Dinner

So I'm sure everyone blogging this whole time has had a ton of leftovers in their refrigerators. We have too, so tonight we did leftovers and ate some sides I made a few days ago. The first one comes from a desire to use up leftover veggies & garbanzo beans I had. I love this recipe because you can really use whatever veggies you have lying around and because it's so versatile and can be a side dish for a number of entrees

Roasted Vegetable CousCous


1 Carrot diced
1/2 Zucchini diced
1/2 Squash diced
1/4 Red Pepper diced
2 Green Onions
3/4 can Garbanzo Beans
1 cup Israeli Couscous
4 Garlic Cloves
4 tsp Lemon Juice
4 tbs Olive Oil

-Preheat oven to 425
-Place all vegetables excepts green onion & garlic in a baking dish. Drizzle olive oil over then, season with salt & pepper and roast for about 20 minutes
-Bring pot of salted water to a rapid boil and throw in couscous
-When couscous is tender, strain and cool
-Saute green onion & garlic
-Combine roasted vegetables, couscous, garbanzos, and lemon juice
-This dish is usually better after it sits in the fridge for a while


This next dish came to me simply because I had a can of white beans in front of me and time to spare while the seitan patties I had in the oven were cooking. It really just came to me as a white bean/garbanzo bean dip and I wasn't sure where I was going with it but when it was done, I was really pleased. It has no oil in it so its super low in fat, but delicious.

White Bean Carrot Dip


1 cup White Beans
1/2 cup Garbanzo Beans
1 Carrot shredded
1 1/2 tbs Nutritional Yeast
1 1/2 tbs Lemon Juice
1 tbs Fresh Basil
1 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Garlic

-Place everything in a food processor and blend until smooth

Thanks for reading. I have the next two days off so expect some great things to come.

Vegan Mofo#6 Pizza Burger

Whenever Matt and I have a day off together we like to go on a little adventure to a different neighborhood. We both really like going to Wrigleyville/Boystown. There is a Reckless Records, a store that fills my shoe obsession, a cool bar with nice outdoor seating and has an indoor that is decorated to look like a older home's library. The last few times we have gone to the neighborhood, we have ended up at the Chicago Diner.


Years ago I really couldn't understand why anyone liked this place. My food was always pretty bland and I couldn't understand why it was always packed. We started giving it a second chance a little over a year ago. I began to appreciate their constantly changing menu, their specials, and the fact that they now serve a sugar free black cherry soda that turns out to be a perfect mixer to their Organic Rain Vodka. The last time we went they had their patio still open and re-vamped to be heated. We were the only ones out there and it made for a really cute romantic dinner. Matt usually just tells me to pick something for him since I know what he likes and I chose the pizza burger, which was one of their specials.


He absolutely loved it. Being always ready for a cooking challenge I inspected the texture & flavor & decided it wouldn't be long before he would be eating a better pizza burger at home.


Pizza Burger
For the Seitan Patties:
1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp fennel
1 tbs fresh basil
1/2 tbs fresh rosemary
1/2 tbs fresh oregano
1/4 cup white beans
1 tbs tomato paste
2 cloves roasted garlic
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth

-Preheat oven to 375
-Combine all dry ingredients(first 6) in a bowl with salt & pepper and mix
-In a food processor combine white beans, tomato paste, and roasted garlic. Pulse until it is a smooth mixture adding a little veggie broth if you need to
-Put that mixture into your bowl of dry ingredients and add 1 cup of veggie broth to the mixture
-Knead the mixture for a couple of minutes until its a tough feeling dough
Cut the dough into 3 or 4 equal portions(depending on how big you want your patties) then form into patty shapes
-Put 1 1/2 cups veggie stock into the bottom of a baking dish with the patties on top and cover the dish with foil.
-Cook for 30 minutes, then flip the patties and cook for another 20 minutes uncovered.
-You can either use the patties as is or saute in a pan with olive oil for a crispier patty.
-Top with warm marinara & cheese( we used Daiya) and place in the broiler till cheese is melted

And now for my exciting weekend news:
I know this isn't food related but there is absolutely no way I couldn't blog about this. I have always wanted a painting of Riot done. While in Memphis in September for Goner Fest we ran into our friend Ben Lyon, who drew our wedding invitations and I mentioned to him that I would love for him to do a painting of Riot. I didn't know that Matt and Ben had been talking about this since then. Ben's sister was driving through Chicago Saturday night and dropped it off. Matt told me he had to run outside to drop off his band's rent money for their practice space. He really couldn't hide it anywhere in our house so he just gave it to me right then. I freaked out and was practically in tears. Ben is a great artist and you can check out most of his art here http://www.myspace.com/69917582/photos


That's it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow. See you then!

Vegan Mofo #5 Chicken Chipotle Tortilla Soup

I'm usually pretty good about having dinner planned early in the day. So much so that my husband has called me crazy for calling him at 8:30 in the morning to spew off a list of dinner options for him to pick from. My excuse though, is I'm Italian and was brought up to always be thinking about food.
We are both on the broke side right now, so I wanted to make something that didn't require spending a lot or better yet, any money at all. After looking through our kitchen at what we had, I came up with a chicken tortilla soup. It turned out amazing. I reminded myself that sometimes the best recipes are created when you are forced to just use what you have. Here is a step by step of the process with a recipe to follow.


red pepper, garlic, green onion, and carrots


green onion and garlic cooking sauteing in olive oil with chili powder, cumin & smoked paprika



red peppers & carrots tossed in and sauteing



half a bag of trader joe's chicken-less strips ready to go in the pot along with the book I log recipes in



chicken and veggies all together


a random can of fire roasted tomatoes with chipotle peppers went in as well as a half a can of leftover black beans


whole wheat tortilla cut into strips


final product

Chicken Chipotle Tortilla Soup
4 garlic cloves
3 green onions + 1 for garnish
1/2 red pepper
1 carrot
1/2-1 bag trader joe's chicken-less strips chopped
1 can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Petite Diced Tomatoes With Chipotle Peppers
1/2 can black beans
1 1/3 cup veggie broth
3 tsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp lime juice
1 tortilla

-Preheat oven to 325
-Saute garlic & green onion with one tsp of cumin, chili powder & smoked paprika
-When translucent add red peppers & carrots & continue to stir till tender
-Add chicken-less strips and a splash of lime and cook until chicken is browned on all sides
-Turn heat down and stir in the tomatoes,vegetable broth,black beans,the remaining spices & lime juice
- Let simmer on stove while making baked tortilla chips
- Slice tortilla into strips with a pizza cutter and sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on a cookie sheet
- Bake for 4 minutes then flip. They cook pretty quick so keep your eye on them
- Crush half and fold into hot soup and use the rest for garnish & dipping

Next time you MoFo's are broke, remember, there is always something you can throw together.

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