Author Archives: Melissa

Oct 27 2012
2 Comments
Raw, Recipes

A Different Kind of Tofu Scramble

I’ll usually make a tofu scramble for breakfast on the weekend, but I wasn’t quite feeling it today. That said, I had a pressed block of tofu that was ready to be eaten. So I decided to make a different sort of tofu scramble.

This was easy and turned out great with just a few ingredients:

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and drained using the wonderful TofuXpress
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp dill (I love dill)
chopped green onion or chives
salt and pepper to taste

I ‘crumbled’ the tofu with a fork and then added the olive oil, lemon juice, dill, green onion, and salt and pepper. I mixed it all up really well and then let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes. I served it on toast with a side of tomatoes.

This recipe reminded me of when I was in Israel a couple years ago and had the same thing for breakfast every day: bread with feta cheese. It’s kind of cool that I accidentally made a tofu-based vegan feta! I gobbled this up really quickly and am already planning to make it again with my next block of tofu.

Great on toast, great as a salad topping, great vegan deliciousness! –Melissa

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Oct 24 2012
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Cooking

Easy Miso Tofu

Maybe it’s the change of season, but I have found myself yearning for comfort food. I’ve been thinking about one dish in particular for the past few days: my Mom’s baked catfish. How could I recreate this dish, vegan-style? Pretty easily!

First, I grabbed a block of tofu and pressed it overnight using my TofuXpress. Then, I scored the tofu and let it sit in some miso paste and chopped green onion for several hours.

I cooked the tofu by baking the entire block in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. While it was baking, I took some brown rice and quinoa that I had in the fridge and heated them together in a pan, seasoning it with soy sauce and some garlic powder.

It really was as simple as that! I definitely want to tweak the recipe a bit, be more fancy with the seasoning and really crust some of that miso on there. But this hit the spot and satisfied my catfish craving. –Melissa

 

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Oct 22 2012
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Links

Beautiful Blogger & Vegan Halloween Ideas

Amber Starts Today nominated us for a Beautiful Blogger Award. Thanks, Amber!!

It’s a huge honor whenever we get nominated for awards. Here are the rules for the Beautiful Blogger Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. Yo, Amber. Thank you!

2. Attach the award to your site for braggin’ rights. Scroll to the bottom of the page, y’all.

3. Share 7 random facts about you.

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite TV show.
  • Most lip balms dry out my lips instead of moisturize them.
  • I think I’m mildly allergic to alcohol.
  • Celery is one of my least favorite foods.
  • Amber mentioned that shoes are always sold out in her size. I’m lucky if stores carry my shoe size at all. I wear a 5 1/2.
  • I love bracelets and necklaces, but I rarely wear them.
  • I miss Christie and Brent!

4. Nominate 15 bloggers for the Beautiful Blogger Award.

Okay, I’m going to bend the rules a little bit on this one and instead list some vegan Halloween ideas that I have seen on the interwebz in the past week or so:

What other great vegan Halloween recipes, ideas, or resources do your recommend? Let us know in the comments. Trick or treat! –Melissa

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Oct 20 2012
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Dining Out

Adventures in Dining Out: Urban Vegan

Today, I had the pleasure of dining at a Chicago vegan spot: Urban Vegan!

I took this photo back in July before their Fullerton location opened up. I’m really glad that I had a chance to finally dine here.

Urban Vegan is a vegan Thai restaurant. The menu offers the usual Thai dishes such as Pad Thai, various curries, and noodle dishes. The protein options are tofu, soy chicken, soy pepper steak, seitan, soy fish, soy shrimp, and soy chicken nuggets. Other dishes on the menu include a lentil loaf and a pumpkin, eggplant, and tofu stir fry. In case one isn’t sure this is a vegan spot, this was a dead giveaway:

How cute is this little spray bottle of Bragg Liquid Aminos??? Soooo cute. But also so not necessary since everything we had was really tasty. I thought about ordering Pad Thai (my usual choice for a first time visit to a Thai restaurant) but I was really in the mood for soup. So I got the Won Ton Noodle Soup.

I apologize for the blurry photo which does NOT do the dish any justice. It consisted of rice noodles in veggie broth with bean sprouts, broccoli, veggie dumplings and soy chicken, topped with cilantro, green onion, and fried garlic. Soooo good and filling — I took half of it home!

It’s not exactly in my backyard, but I’m already looking forward to my next visit to Urban Vegan. If you’re in Chicago, be sure to check them out! They have locations in Lincoln Park and Lakeview. You can get all the details along with their menu at their website www.urbanveganchicago.com.

I love vegan restaurants!! –Melissa

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Oct 17 2012
4 Comments
Lazy Vegan, Reviews

Viana Organic Veggie Gyros

Gyros sandwiches are something that we typically had as a treat growing up. I’ve had birthdays where my dinner request was a gyros sandwich. If you haven’t figured it out yet, gyros is one of the things I really, really miss since turning veganese. Luckily, there is a packaged vegan version at the store for when I’m feeling lazy.

I was initially hesitant to try Viana Veggie Gyros.Some vegan substitutes can be a little heartbreaking. But I had a gyros craving so bad that I just needed to pick this up.

Here’s the good: it’s tasty, good texture, none of that grease, organic, and chock full of protein (it is a tofu/wheat product).

The bad: None.

The could-be-better: I’m used to gyros meat that is thinly sliced and these were more like ‘meat’ strips. In addition, the ‘meat’ was packaged in a way that made it a task to separate the pieces, and it many cases, I ended up breaking the pieces into much smaller chunks.

This didn’t fill my gyros craving 100%, but a lot of that was my fault. I didn’t have any pita or appropriate ingredients with which to make a vegan tzatziki  sauce, so I ate the ‘meat’ with brown rice, tomato, and onion. Since I’m used to a greasy, saucy gyros sandwich, the dish felt too dry.

I’m glad to know that this product is out there (you can buy it from Vegan Essentials) but I think I would be better off making my own vegan gyros. That will have to wait for a day when I’m not feeling like a lazy bum.

Have you tried Viana Veggie Gyros? Have you made your own? What was your experience? –Melissa

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Oct 15 2012
3 Comments
Lazy Vegan

The Lazy Vegan: Samosas!

I love frozen prepared Indian foods. Treats like samosas make a perfect snack or appetizer, and I’m usually very lucky to find products that are as close to a freshly prepared product as I can get. I found these particular samosas in a neighborhood grocery store, made by Bombay Bites.

It came with a pack of chutney, which I usually don’t see offered with other brands. The cooking instructions are limited to deep frying or microwaving, but I went rogue and heated them in a toaster oven (350 degrees for 10 minutes followed by 375 for 3-5 minutes). The chutney came in a small plastic packet which needed heating up in a microwave for just a few minutes. The chutney was also very comparable from what I would get if I bought it freshly prepared.

I like Bombay Bites because their samosas are actually samosa shaped. I have bought other frozen samosas that were phyllo-wrapped triangles which, even if they tasted great, weren’t the same. The filling is very tasty and perfectly spicy (hot without being too hot), and the chutney was a nice accompaniment.

For non-vegans, Bombay Bites has a wide variety of samosas including Jalapeno & Cheese and Pizza flavors. Very intriguing, however, I’m very content with the traditional version. –Melissa

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Oct 13 2012
4 Comments
Recipes

From Zero to Girls Night in 5 Minutes

“I want to drink.”

That’s what my Mom told me earlier this evening. I also wanted to drink tonight so I made it happen. Here’s a three ingredient vegan cocktail that is super easy to make.

Three Ingredient Girls Night Cocktail

For one serving:
1/2 can (6 oz) Lychee Drink or lychee juice
2 shots of rum (I used Cruzan which is vegan-friendly… thanks, Barnivore!)

 

Pour the lychee drink into a glass, add the rum, squeeze in a lime wedge, stir… and then drink! This cocktail is completely deceiving. I can only taste the lychee juice but I sure am feeling buzzed. The only thing missing was some fresh lychee fruit to toss into the glass.

I am currently heating up some samosas by Bombay Bites for us to enjoy with these. Stay tuned for my review in a future blog post.

Cheers, everyone! Drink vegan and drink responsibly! –Melissa

 

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Oct 10 2012
6 Comments
Thoughts

The Unadventurous Vegan

I needed to restock on tofu so I visited the giant Korean grocery store today. It was a great day to go since a pack of tofu was only 98 cents (down from $1.28)! In addition, Mori-nu silken tofu is regularly priced at $1.09 a box. I also picked up some soy puffs. I’m not sure what to do with these, but I’m excited to try them out:

 

I always come across weird stuff in the giant Korean grocery store. A few months ago, I saw this and bought it, but I was so freaked out by it that I never ate it:

 

It comes in a beef version as well which like roast beef: the perfect imitation meat if I were craving an Italian beef sandwich or something. There was just something really weird about it. I’ll admit that if I had found it in Schmole Broods or Raider Boe’s, I wouldn’t be so put off by it. But I can’t help but be weary of some of the products I find in Asian grocery stores (and I am Asian).

Now, they say to never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry, and “they” are right. I found myself lurking in the snack (read: junk food) aisle when I saw something that looked vegan. I was right… and I was also kind of freaked out:

I Googled VegeUSA right away and only found information on their frozen “meat” products, which actually look pretty delectable. These guys scared me, though. They had “steak,” “chicken,” and “pork” at the store. The instructions are to rehydrate them and then use them as a meat substitute. Sounds like soy curls, right? I wasn’t thinking about that at the time. I think my shock mostly stemmed from finding these next to chips and crackers and initially thinking that they were chips. Again, I was kind of freaked, so I put them back on the shelf and took it as a sign to not buy any junk food.

While I like to think of myself as an adventurous vegan, there are some things that I am not brave enough to try just yet. My last big leap was probably with tempeh, and I have yet to try seitan. I don’t think I need to try everything: just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s good for you, right?

Have you tried any of the products above? What did you think? Are there any vegan products that you’re not willing to try? Let us know in the comments! –Melissa

Oh, hey! Don’t forget about our giveaway! It’s a good one!

 

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Oct 08 2012
1 Comment
Cooking

Easy Pigeon Peas

Since going vegan, I’ve easily had guacamole and chips for dinner at least once a week. It sounds weird when I say it out loud, but it’s the reality of my vegan lifestyle. That said, I was in no mood for guacamole tonight. So I threw together a pigeon pea dish.

 

Ingredient list:

1/2 dried pigeon peas or gandules
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1 tbsp tomato paste
dash of annatto powder
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I boiled the pigeon peas in 2 cups of boiling water for a few minutes and then set it aside for an hour. Then, I heated a pot, browned the garlic and onions in olive oil until the onions were translucent, and then added the diced tomato. Once the tomato was softened to my liking, I added the peas, the spices, tomato paste, and a cup of water. I covered the pot until it boiled and the water had dried out a bit. I served the pigeon peas over some garlicky fried rice.

I was definitely in need of something more hearty than guacamole for dinner and this fit the bill! –Melissa

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Oct 06 2012
1 Comment
Thoughts

Oh My Freaking Pie

I have these moments when I find myself smelling a cheeseburger or fried chicken, or I have a nasty craving for a hot dog. A small part of me says, “Hey, it’s okay to give in” while the rest of me says, “The gastrointestinal consequences are NOT worth it.”

Then there are moments when being vegan is the bomb. Like when I’m shopping and I spot it: Vegan Cherry Pie!

I can’t put into words how f’ing delicious this was. Guilt-free, 100% vegan, cherry pie. I don’t know how they did it and I don’t need to know. I’m just happily enjoying it.

Here’s to a short and sweet post! –Melissa

 

 

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