Monthly Archives: August 2012

Bacon, Peas and Mac & Cheese!

Bacon in macaroni and cheese is something that would never have happened in my house growing up… now that I think about it, mac and cheese wasn’t something that happened in my house growing up… so this was a treat. All we did was grab a bag of Leahey Gardens gluten-free Mac and Cheese (a personal favorite because it’s easy, delicious and low calorie) and prepare the pasta as instructed.

Once that was done we mixed in a diced tomato to keep the pasta from sticking. Meanwhile I started the sauce with some unsweetened plain almond milk, a generous sprinkle of cayenne, a dash of flake red pepper and a cup of frozen peas.

Brent browned some tempeh bacon to perfection!

The peas and mac looked perfectly appetizing to me but we had to take it one step further and add bacon.

I did find it to be a remarkably pleasant adddition: the smoke of the bacon with the salty cheesy sauce and sweet peas was exactly the kind of comfort food we needed that particular evening. Enjoy!

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kafta? Kefta? Kofta? All that matters is that it’s vegan!

You may recall that I went to Pita Inn for lunch on my birthday and, while I loved the falafel that I had, I couldn’t help but be a tiny bit envious of my friends and the delicious smelling meat dishes they were eating. So, I made vegan kefta kabob.

Traditional kefta kabob is usually ground beef seasoned with parsley and onion. I substituted with Gimme Lean Ground Beef, and I plan to try it out with seitan and tempeh in the future. The recipe below makes about 2 servings.

Vegan Kefta Kabob

1/2 lb ground “meat”
1/4 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, roasted and chopped.
1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1/4 tsp cumin
pinch of coriander
Sea salt
olive oil (if frying)

I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and mashed them together. Then I put the mixture in the fridge to sit for about an hour.

I formed the “meat” into small patties. Kefta kabobs are usually put on a skewer and grilled. I thought about putting these in the oven, but opted to fry them since the “meat” is very lean.

I fried them in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes on each side.

I served the kefta with some roasted tomato and onion and dill rice.

The recipe is good enough as is, though I plan to use more garlic and add fresh ground pepper to the mix. I also need to try and replicate the awesome hot sauce from Pita Inn!

I love veganizing my favorites! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Southwest Soy-curl Salad

I needed a break from cooking so I decided to make something easy. I assembled the following:
1 tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 Hass avocados or 1 green avocado
1 cup of soy curls
1/4 cup salsa verde or fajita seasoning and juice from 1 lime
flake red pepper and salt to taste

I reconstituted the soy curls according to the package directions and sauteed them lightly in olive oil with salsa verde. When they were lightly browned I set them aside to cool.

Brent diced the avocado while I chopped the tomato and onion with a device Brent got for me after I cut off the end of my finger last spring. I recommend it; it’s easy to clean and makes dicing onions and other spicy, fragrant or acidic foods virtually painless.

We mixed it all up in a big bowl.

Chopped cilantro and minced garlic might have improved this but it was excellent on bread with some spinach. It was exactly what we needed: creamy, lightly acid, buttery, spicy, and hearty.

We hope you get to try it!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Long Beans and Heirloom Tomatoes

Yay! Tomatoes are finally popping up in the garden. We have a nice crop of beautifully colored heirloom tomatoes.

I decided to throw some of these babies in with sauteed long beans.

First, I sauteed about a cup of long beans in olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic. Long beans are not meant to be eaten raw, so if you have them, make sure you cook them. They maintain their crunch even if they wilt, if that makes any sense.

I cut up one of the tomatoes. Unlike the other tomatoes that we grow in the garden, these are much more meaty, less juicy, but still sweet and tasty. I love that the tomatoes we grow in our backyard require little to no embellishment to be tasty. You can eat them like apples!

I boiled some penne, coated it in olive oil, and threw in freshly minced garlic, fresh ground black pepper, and nutritional yeast. I topped it off with the cooked beans and the raw tomatoes.

Easy, delicious, nutritious. The only thing missing is a glass of fine wine! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Figs and Cashews, another Dynamic Duo!

I was a big fan of the tart savory of zing of goat cheese paired with the sweet honeyed flavors of figs but goat cheese is no longer in my repertoire so what’s a girl to do? Well, fortunately there’s Punk Rawk Labs and their delicious cashew cheese. We started with some simple ingredients:

mixed greens with spinach

arugula

figs (fresh or dried)

cashew cheese (make your own or try Punk Rawk Labs’)

marinated tofu (optional)

balsamic vinegar

I started by putting a handful of greens on each plate.

Then I added another handful of arugula.

And then tastefully arranged (I just threw it on there…) some sliced figs, cashew cheese and tofu if you’re into tofu.

This is one version (above) with smoked tofu and dried figs. The more intense sweetness in the dried figs complemented both the savory smoky tofu and savory creamy tartness in the cashew cheese. We drizzled this one with raspberry dressing that really brought out the spicy and herbal flavors in the arugula. I’m a sucker for arugula. I liked the sienna of the figs next to the white tofu and the rich green but preferred the scene in the fresh fig salad. Salmon, ebony, white and emerald green kind of does it for me.

The second version (above) is more cashew cheese with fresh sliced fig. We drizzled it with balsamic vinegar and lots of cracked black pepper. The fig flavors were subtler in the fresh fruit: more fruity and less sweet and honey-like. I preferred it to the dried fig salad which was Brent’ favorite. These are salads that would impress company because they taste decadent and look beautiful. I hope you get to try some!

This is Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Guest Blogger: Turning Veganese – Recipe Veggies Makhani

veganbloggersunite's avatar

Please welcome Christie and Brent who are a vegan couple with a lovely personality and a knowledge to share. Here they are in their own words, “Turning Veganese is written by Brent, Christie and Melissa. Melissa, the creator of the blog, invited Brent and Christie to participate when she felt the urge to do more for her health, the environment and animals by going vegan. Posts in the blog are submitted by varying combinations of the three authors, each bringing their own taste and style to the table. This particular post is brought to you by Brent and Christie. Brent hails from Washington state and spent 6 years in Portland, Oregon working as an engineer for Xerox and playing drums for the rock band Of Former Fame before moving to Miami to join long time love Christie. Christie’s early experience in genetics at the Harvard School of Public Health…

View original post 893 more words

Vegan Lifestyle: Shoes

We here at Turning Veganese could write many posts about shoes, handbags, and other accessories, and how turning vegan has changed how we shop. This post is about one particular brand of shoe: TOMS.

TOMS are pretty popular these days, but they first ended up on my radar when I was searching for vegan boots. They make a pretty damn cool vegan boot:

 

It was disappointed to then learn that their classic slip-on shoes are not vegan, though they do have some vegan styles. This is so exciting to me. I have two pairs of TOMS, one classic and one ballet flat, and I was finally able to get a pair of the vegan chambray slip-ons. They were on backorder for a long time!

 

While I wish TOMS was exclusively vegan, I have to appreciate that they make vegan products at all and are proud to do so. There are a lot non-vegan products that I’m having a hard time letting go of. It’s wonderful to know that I can still enjoy my comfy TOMS without compromising my vegan integrity.

Visit TOMS by clicking here.

Do you like TOMS shoes? What popular brands have vegan products? Let us know! –Melissa

Tagged , , , ,

Raw Vegan Crackers 2.0

Brent and I manage to juice more often and that’s fine with me. I’m writing this because our cracker recipe has gotten more complicated and more delicious! Our juice varies but usually involves some combination of spinach, kale, parsley, mint, basil, apples, oranges, lemon, ginger root, carrots, celery, mango, beets and cucumber. When we don’t have time to make crackers, we just throw the pulp into a baggie and freeze it.

The ratios don’t matter much, but you’ll find the stronger flavors will come out (celery in particular) in the crackers and will complement the spices well. If you’re not using any sweet fruits or vegetables, you might consider adding a little molasses. Typically we juice everything that we can make into crackers (which is just about everything except for cucumber) and then empty the pulp into our blender. If you’ve made enough juice for one person you’ll add the following (and this doubles nicely)
1/3 cup of flax meal
2-4 teaspoons of soy sauce or suitable substitute
2-3 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp flake red pepper
water as needed
We blend this up until the consistency is uniform and somewhere between a batter and a dough. Taste it and adjust the seasonings. It took me a while to get used to the idea of eating this raw or dehydrated so I understand if you’re wary. We use a spatula to spread it into the non-stick trays that go with our dehydrator and let it go overnight.

Sometimes I sprinkle sesame seeds on top but this isn’t necessary. You’ll have to put some pressure on each seed to make sure they don’t fall off once the crackers are dry. It’ll take some time adjusting the thickness of the dough when you spread it out in your dehydrator but you’ll end up with light crispy crackers that are great for you and awesome with hummus, bean dip or spinach artichoke dip. We store them in a giant plastic bag to keep the Miami humidity from softening them.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Peaches and Mango

Mango is still in full swing here in Florida and we’re starting to get lovely Texas peaches (though I’m partial to the Georgia sort here in Florida) so we did what any vegan hedonist would do: PEACH MANGO DAIQUIRIS!


All you need is mango and peaches [and rum if you’re so inclined]. We use Flor de Caña rum because it’s vegan. If you’re not sure about your favorite libation check Barnivore. Barnivore is a great resource for those who love a good glass of whatever and doesn’t want to feel guilty about it. We got our mango from a local powerhouse of raw vegan organic AWESOME called Glaser farms just about an hour South of us. We’ve been visiting their farmer’s market every weekend for years and they’ve made being vegan in South Florida virtually painless!

We took the flesh of one ripe mango, about 2.5 cups (they’re huge here so you might want more than one) and 2 cups of peaches and 1/2-1 cup of rum. That all went into the blender for a fresh fruity and slightly naughty treat. Its great without the booze too but this is a Sunday afternoon.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , ,

Simply Vegan

I reached another milestone yesterday: I had another birthday! It was my first birthday as a vegan. I don’t know about you, but for birthdays and other holidays, I like to enjoy a decadent meal, guilt-free. This year, I knew exactly what I wanted: a Tofurky cheese pizza and a Chicago Diner cake (which you can find at Chicago-area Whole Foods in addition to the diner itself). Props to my family for getting me exactly what I wanted! My nieces even loved the cake:

She’s a goofy one! That was dinner. Lunch was pretty darn good, too. My sister treated me to falafel from Pita Inn which is the falafel that I measure all other falafel against. In other words, it’s the best.

It was such a breeze to know exactly what I wanted to eat for my birthday. Previous years have been almost annoying… do I want Chinese food? Pizza? If pizza, deep dish or thin crust? Steak? Fried chicken? Gyros? Basically, what awful and unhealthy food should I get? I love that that wasn’t an issue this year.

In other news, I think I have finally settled on the perfect vegan Filipino breakfast:

Super garlicky rice with tempeh strips and tomato salad. I have finally embraced the wondrous tempeh strip. I credit Brent and Christie for that. This breakfast is so easy, super yummy, and hearty! And it MUST be eaten Filipino-style, with a spoon containing a little bit of everything on the plate:

Now please excuse me while I have another slice of that delicious birthday cake! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,