Tag Archives: avocado

Mar 14 2013
2 Comments
Main Dishes

Chipotle Cheddar Wraps!

A wise soul recently pointed out that you can’t have too many wraps so we’re sharing another one. You’ll need the following:

1 ripe avocado, we’re using Flordida green skin but Haas is perfect too
1 block of silken tofu

1/2 lime

1 tin of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

spring mix or spinach

Daiya cheddar wedge

1/2 cup dry soy curls per wrap per person

bouillon

flake red pepper and salt to taste

Avocados are beautiful this time of year so they’re going to appear a lot over the next few months. Our avocado tree is also blooming. YES!

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Brent set about making the soy curls according to the package directions using some flake red pepper and a cube of bouillon for seasoning.

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Meanwhile I threw a block of silken tofu into the blender with 3-4 of the chipotle peppers and a spoon full of the liquid from the can, a pinch of salt and the juice from half a lime. I blended it until it was smooth and creamy.

IMG_2468We sliced up the Daiya cheddar and placed it into the wrap along with some soy curls. We microwaved this for 20 seconds to get the cheese melty and soften the wrap. We added the avocado, greens and a generous helping of he creamy chipotle sauce.

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This wrap is AMAZING! We ate it for 2 meals that weekend. If you’re sensitive to soy, use seitan instead of soy curls and cashew cream instead of silken tofu. Let me know if it works out as well as this did. YUM!

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Feb 26 2013
2 Comments
Main Dishes

Tempeh Fajita Wraps

So we’re still on a wrap kick and so Brent decided to marinate some tempeh in some tamari, garlic and flake red pepper.
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I sauteed up with some purple onion, jalapeño, poblano pepper and a bit of corn oil.I like poblanos because they’re lightly spicy and don’t get bitter when cooked like bell peppers do.

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As the onion and pepper began to soften I added in the tempeh and stirred it all up until it was steamy and hot. I added the rest of the marinade too: it helped season the onion and pepper as well as providing some liquid to steam the veggies and keep them from scorching.

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Brent was busy making some saffron rice while I was doing this. We used a store bought baggie of Vigo saffron rice that cost us $1.89. It’s delicious all by itself.

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We chopped up some cilantro, red bell pepper and avocado to decorate our delicious fajitas with and ended up with a highly nutritious meal that was packed with flavor.

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Brent added some Daiya to his and I included some flake red pepper.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Jan 09 2013
1 Comment
Raw, Recipes

Raw Tofu & Avocado Salad

It’s 2013 and time for me to get excited about food again — in a healthy, vegan way. This easy-to-make raw salad is a good start!

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My food preparation philosophy is pretty solid. As much as I aspire to be a more creative and fancy cook, I want things to be simple, to use as few ingredients as possible, and find several ways to prepare meals using items that I always have in my kitchen and pantry. I also don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing food. Thus, this recipe is a classic “Melissa” recipe. I didn’t even come up with it myself. It’s based on this recipe.

Raw Tofu & Avocado Salad

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and drained and then cubed
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos — my first time using this in my own cooking!
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
scallions
fresh cilantro
sesame seeds

I placed the cubed tofu in a bowl. I added the lemon, Bragg Liquid Aminos, and sesame oil, and then mixed it very gently to coat all the cubes. I set the bowl aside and then prepared the avocado. I added the avocado to the bowl with the tofu but I didn’t mix it in. I topped everything with scallions, cilantro, and sesame seeds. I also sprinkled some freshly ground black pepper onto everything.

I was a little skeptical, but everything melded together really well! There was the tartness of the lemony tofu mixed with the creamy avocado, and then final fresh kick from the scallions and cilantro. I experimented a bit by eating it in a whole wheat pita:

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The pita unfortunately muted the flavors too much for my taste, but the rest of the giant pita was great to munch on in between bites of the salad.

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Easy, quick, versatile, and no cooking necessary: a classic Melissa recipe, indeed! –Melissa

 

 

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Aug 29 2012
8 Comments
Raw

Mean Green Openface Sandwiches!

I’m calling this the mean green sandwich because it’s full of raw, good-for-you awesomesauce and they’re open face because I like to look my meal in the eye. Fortunately these don’t have any eyes because I have issues with that. The first thing I did was make a basil garlic spread using the following:

1 very large handful of basil leaves

5-6 peeled garlic cloves

1/4 cup of pumpkin pits

1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tsp Meyer lemon olive oil

2 tbsp veganaise

1/2 tsp flake red pepper

1/2 cup of water (you might not use all of it)

I blended all of that up, adding water as needed to form a spreadable texture. We spread it on sliced, toasted gluten-free bread and topped it with spinach and avocado.

I added a lot of extra flake red pepper because I’m just that kind of girl. This was a fast and delicious meal. The buttery avocado was a great contrast to the spicy basil and pesto. The nuttiness of the bread and hemp reminded me I was getting a heaping dose of omega fatty acids and protein to go with my antioxidants and iron.  It would have been great in a nori wrap with sprouts too for a real raw meal! Maybe we’ll do that next time and until then, nom on!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Aug 19 2012
2 Comments
Cooking

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!

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May 28 2012
5 Comments
Cooking

How This Vegan Did Memorial Day

Memorial Day in the United States is (or should be) a day of remembrance and a time when we should stop and thank those who have shown their bravery and made sacrifices to serve in the armed forces. Memorial Day in the United States is also a day of grilling… grilling meat. Lots and lots of meat. Hot dogs, pork chops, brats, ribs, steaks and are you ready to vomit yet?

I had a packed Saturday and Sunday with the nieces so today was a day of relaxation. It was hot out today, too hot to grill in my opinion, and it was just me and my parents anyway, so we didn’t do anything fancy. For lunch, I made some guacamole and some bean burgers.

I used Christie’s recipe for the burgers but minus the mushrooms. My mom and I went back to Jerry’s today, which is still one of the most annoying places on earth to go to, but we also got a crapload of stuff for less than $100. Seriously. If you are in the Chicago area, a trip to Jerry’s is worth whatever it takes to get there and be there. That said, all they had in terms of mushrooms were button mushrooms (packed or you could pick) and giant portabellas. I wasn’t quite feeling either of those.

Now, get ready to vomit again. I really miss the McRib. I know, I know!!! It’s so nasty. But, even after reading what actually goes into a McRib, I still found myself craving it. CRAVE NO MORE, MELISSA. Soy curls and BBQ sauce to the rescue!

I soaked the soy curls and then covered them with some barbecue sauce. It’s as easy as that — the proportions you use are up to you. Unfortunately/fortunately, we had a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s which is the best BBQ sauce but is not totally vegan because of the brown sugar. I baked the soy curls in the toaster oven for 15 minutes at 325 degrees, turning over once, and then for another 5 minutes at 350 to get them a little crispy.

It looks dry, but I like having the BBQ flavor without having sauce dripping all over the place. This was tasty and just about one of the easiest soy curl recipes ever. I finished off the day with a slice of vegan chocolate cake and some blueberries and raspberries (not pictured on account of I ate it all).

Finding vegan ways to celebrate what are essentially food-centric holidays is a small victory. VICTORY! –Melissa

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May 09 2012
3 Comments
Cooking, Recipes

Weird-Looking Pasta Dish

I mentioned in a recent post that I have been having a gross-looking but tasty week in terms of food. If I were to rank the meals I had that fell into this category, my avocado pasta would have been the clear winner.

I wanted to use the items I had on hand instead of going to the store (the weather was crappy), so I had to get a bit creative.

1 avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1-2 garlic gloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup button mushrooms
3/4 c penne, uncooked
salt, pepper and crush red pepper to taste

I put a pot of water on the stove for the pasta and then prepared the rest of my ingredients while I waited for it to boil and for the pasta to cook.

I stuck the avocado, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic into a food processor and mixed it until smooth. Believe me, I wondered why I even bothered with the food processor since it ended up as un-lumpy guacamole.

I don’t have pictures of the next steps, but I lightly browned the mushrooms with some garlic and then mixed it in with the cooked pasta and the ‘sauce.’

Looks gross… tasted great! I’ll admit that it would have tasted better with some tortilla chips instead and mushrooms and avocado are a bit of a weird mix. Still, it was a hearty meal and I was able to use ingredients that I already had at home. WIN! –Melissa

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Mar 31 2012
3 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes

The Enigmatic Butter Bean

Butter beans are new to me. I was desperate for something ‘meaty’ to eat this past week: I realized that I was eating a lot in the way of cauliflower, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cabbage, but not much in the way of beans or legumes or soy protein. I explored my parents’ pantry and found a can of butter beans. Hmm… what can I do with this?

At the risk of sounding like a complete bonehead, I was shocked when I saw the butter beans out of the can. I mean, there’s a picture of the beans ON the can… but I still wasn’t prepared for what looked like mutant, non-green lima beans.

I sauteed the beans – they heated up really quickly and also got mushy pretty quickly. But they are meaty and have a nice texture – a little crunchy on the outside and quick to pick up the flavor of the garlic I cooked with it. I added some tomato paste and ate it with some garlicky fried rice and fresh grape tomatoes and cucumber:

I had leftovers, but I was already bored. So, the next day, I made myself a butter bean burger. I added a little flax meal, nutritional yeast, fresh chopped parsley, and herbs de provence, mixed in a little water, and then mashed it into a burger patty and pan-fried it in safflower oil. I had a ripe avocado, so I mashed it into a spread with some cilantro, and topped my burger with it:

I still had a chunk of beans leftover, so for my next dinner, I cooked some whole wheat pasta in a tomato pesto sauce that I made. I topped it with the beans and some Parma and capers:

One can of butter beans. Three hearty and satisfying meals. I like this bean and I look forward to cooking it in many other ways… including making a butter bean cookie! Nah, I had the worst baking experience today (will blog about that later) so I don’t think I will be making cookies anytime soon. But, just so ya know, butter bean cookies are a thing!

Hope you’re having a great weekend! –Melissa

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Mar 14 2012
4 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes

Eggplanitas Tacos

Eggplant has saved my life again. It’s quite nice when you can go from “Crap! What will I eat for dinner?!” to “Awww yeeeah, baby, I just had an awesome dinner!” I took inventory of what was in the fridge and decided to try something new today: Eggplant tacos!

Ingredients:
2 roasted Chinese eggplants — we roast our eggplants by sticking them under the broiler (try not to set them on fire)
3/4 tsp chipotle chili powder — use ancho chili powder if you want something less spicy
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 of a small onion, diced
olive or safflower oil

 

I took the eggplants out of the fridge chopped them into about 1 inch pieces, and then ‘shredded’ them by mashing them with a fork. It reminded me of carnitas.

I added my spices and the onion and mixed it all together. I then debated whether or not to eat it just like that. Roasted eggplant is pretty awesome when it’s cold.

I heated up some safflower oil in a pan and then added the eggplant mixture (medium heat). The eggplant is already cooked so I mixed it up in the pan until any water had dried up and the onions were translucent. It didn’t take long at all for everything to heat through.

I heated up my tortillas and then hung them up to shape. I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but I feel like a genius.

My mom showed up and got all fancy by adding avocado to her tacos. Ansg thesgn I atgje shle ghoog. Oh, excuse me! I shouldn’t type with my mouth full. I made a cilantro slaw to go with the tacos:

Cilantro Slaw
1 cup shredded cabbage
juice of 1 lime
chopped cilantro (maybe 1/4-1/3 cup or so)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I’m so glad that I decided to get creative for dinner tonight. I am thrilled with how it turned out. Now please pardon me while I stuff my face.  —Melissa

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Mar 04 2012
4 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Mushroom and Tofu Tacos

I love mushrooms. I love tofu. I also hate both of them a little. There’s something about how mushrooms lose all their water and shrink when you cook them that bugs me. I also sometimes dislike how that mushroom flavor gets permeated into everything mushrooms are cooked with. As for tofu, I sometimes can’t stand that ‘tofu’ taste, like no matter what I do, I can still taste that it’s tofu. (Yes, I know I’m being silly.) Today, the only vegan thing in the fridge was mushrooms and tofu sauteed in garlic. I got so depressed at the idea of eating it. Then, I saw them: tortillas. Beautiful corn tortillas. I also had avocado, cilantro, lime, and tomatoes. So, I gave the mushroom/tofu dish a makeover:

First, I made some taco seasoning by mixing together the following:

3/4 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cumin

Then, I browned the the mushrooms/tofu in some garlic and then added the taco seasoning. When everything was just about heated through, I threw in some sliced onion, mixed everything around (this is where I would flip the stuff in the air if I were someone who could do that without getting food everywhere), and removed from heat.

At the same time, I took some leftover (read: on the verge of spoiling) rice (brown/white mix) and decided to make a really weird version of fried rice:

3 cups of rice, cooked (this will generally work better if you use leftover rice that is not heated)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth (I used a ‘not-chicken’ bouillon cube)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen lima beans
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 diced onion

When that was done, I made an avocado salad of sorts to top the tacos with. Um… I was so excited to eat that I didn’t get a good photo of it:

1 ripe avocado
1/2 diced plum tomato – mine was on the verge of being ripe which was perfect because it wasn’t too soft and had a nice little crunch to it
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
juice from 1/2 lime
salt, to taste

By now, I was beyond ready to eat, and boy did I eat. I kept eating and eating and eating!

I sprinkled some Tapatio on everything and it was so delicious. I’m so proud of this that I have to post another pic.

I love food makeovers and I love stuffing my face with delicious food. It makes me happy. I hope you get to stuff your face with delicious food today… Melissa

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