Product Review: Engine 2 Plant-Strong cereal

I was wandering the aisles at Whole Foods and came across this cereal and had to try it! I am familiar with the Engine 2 vegan based diet, so I figured the cereal would be a good breakfast! By the time it took to take the picture (I took 2), the cereal was soggy. Maybe it's because I am used to the processed cereals of my past, but that just seemed fast. I used sweetened vanilla almond milk, and even with that it seemed very plain. I'm not a sugary breakfast cereal kind of person, but even with the berries, walnuts, granola, and shredded wheat; it had little flavor. I went to cereal for something different, but I think I'll stick to my oatmeal, cinnamon, and a touch of almond milk from now on. It's tasty and economical.

The many variaions of the Tofu Scramble: Spicy Spinach Tofu Scramble

Spicy Spinach Tofu Scramble

I have made the tofu scramble before (on MANY occasions actually) but I've always eaten it the same way.  Today I decided to mix it up a bit. 

Ingredients:
1.5 Tbsp Earth Balance
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 block firm tofu, crumbled
1 Tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
1 tsp turmeric 
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ c chopped fresh spinach (I just used two handfuls)
1 c Mild Organic Salsa


Put the Earth Balance and garlic into the frying pan on medium and cook for 3 minutes.  Mix in tofu, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, and nutritional yeast and cook until tofu is yellow, firm, and turns into brown little balls.  Once Tofu is close to your desired consistency, add chopped spinach and cook for another few minutes until spinach shrivels and the salsa is warm.

You an serve this multiple ways - I ate it with home made hash browns and topped with salsa and hubby made a burrito with a tortilla, hash browns, and the scramble. Yum!

The Perfect Fall Oatmeal

The Perfect Fall Oatmeal

Pardon the quality. Phone photos are just so much faster!

I know it's a little bit early to be thinking of fall, but I just love all the fall decorations and fall flavors; so I tend to jump the gun a little.  I'm already thinking about all the pumpkin goodness I can make!

I've been on and off trying to live gluten-free, but I failed a few times this week just not thinking or completely ran out of GF friendly food.  Today's recipe I believe is gluten-free, but I can't vouch all the ingredients were made in gf facilities.  It's a start!

The Perfect Fall Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 c hot water (I took mine straight from the tea kettle after it boiled)

½ c Gluten Free Oatmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)

¼ c Raisins and Dried Cranberries (I used about half each but you can use your preference)  

1 T cinnamon

dash of cloves

dash of nutmeg

1 T brown sugar

Put your oatmeal, raisins, and cranberries in a bowl (I recommend a non-plastic bowl due to the temperature of the water).  Boil the water and pour into the bowl immediately after boiling.  Stir and let sit until the oatmeal has absorbed most of the water.  Stir again and add the spices and brown sugar.  Mmm mmm mmm!  Would be perfect for a cool fall morning, or even in the summer heat of Florida with some air conditioning.  lol.  Enjoy!

 

Christmas breakfast, the "Vegal", and the best gifts ever!

Hubby eating his first Vegal

A happy Hubby is one of my favorite things to see!  For this Christmas, among the new tripod and camera bag, my wonderful husband told me he is going vegan in 2012!

To celebrate, I made an attempt to veganize one of his favorite meals - a Sheetz Schmagel.  For those of you who have never been to a Sheetz, a "Schmagel" is basically a bagel and egg sandwich with toppings of your choice.  I dubbed this new creation, "The Vegal".

For the "egg"  modified my favorite Tofu Scramble recipe.





Ingredients
1 vegan bagel of choice (hubby loves the "everything" bagel)
1 block extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
2 Tbsp Earth Balance (although this may have been a little much.  Would like to try it with 1 Tbsp next time.)
1-2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
½ tsp Tumeric
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast

Directions (Makes 4)
1. Drain and press the tofu (I usually squeeze out what I can in the container, rinse, squeeze again, then wrap in a paper towel and squeeze a few more times.  Be careful not to squeeze too hard or you'll crumble the tofu.)
2. Heat up a large frying pan on medium heat with the Earth Balance.
3. Cut tofu into 4 even slices across the length of the tofu.
4. In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
5. Place the tofu slices onto a plate and cover the tofu lightly with the half the soy sauce then sprinkle on the spices, saving half for the other side.  Flip the slices over and repeat on the other side.
6. Place the slices in the pan, flipping often.  Cook until desired consistency (about 15-20 minutes). 
7. Toast your bagel in a toaster, add the tofu patty and desired toppings and your Vegal is complete! 
Toppings I recommend: lettuce, spinach, tomato, avocado, green peppers. 


I will be experimenting with this recipe more in the future until I feel it is "just right", but for now Hubby is satisfied and approves.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Love,
Brit at VeganAmore

 

Vegan Banana Waffles

Hello out there!  Yes, I am still alive.   My life has gotten so hectic, I have neglected this blog yet again.  I've mostly been strictly cooking out of the McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook, so I have been unable to post actual recipes here for a while, but I will try to post sporadically whenever I make something off the web or one of my own concoctions. 

Vegan Banana Waffles
(Don't mind the crappy cell phone pic)

I started with this recipe: Vegan Banana Waffles, but modified it slightly.  I used:

    1 3/4 cups nondairy milk
    1/2 cup coconut oil
    2 cups whole wheat flour   
    1 tablespoon brown sugar
    4 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 banana


Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.

2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Add nondairy milk and coconut oil and mix. 

3. Mush ripe banana and add to mixture.  Beat on med-high with hand mixer until banana thoroughly blended.

4. Scoop batter into 2/3-1 measuring cup and pour into Belgium sized waffle iron (use less for regular waffle iron). Let cook for about 6-8 minutes, or according to directions (usually when the steam stops coming out from the edges). 

5. Remove waffles with a fork and let cool on wire rack. Serve with jam, maple syrup, or flavored agave nectar.

Makes 4 Belgium sized waffles
Preparation time: 10 min.
Cooking time: 6-8 min. per waffle

Breakfast Feast

Tofu Scramble, Home Fries, Toast, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Tea, and Orange Juice.

Dad's in town on a surprise visit and I really wanted to make him something special.  We ended up going out for lunch and dinner the last two days so I could show him the town and all our favorite places, so I made him breakfast before work today and went all out!

Breakfast included:

Tofu Scramble w/ Home Fries

Toast (Made with fresh bread using my new bread machine and this recipe - Simple Bread Machine Wheat Bread)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Made the same except I used vegetable oil instead of Earth Balance)

Hope he liked it! 

Strawberry Granola Cereal

As I am trying to plan my meals for the week and suddenly hunger hits and I needed something quick before grocery shopping. 

Strawberry Granola Cereal

½c Granola

3/4c Strawberries, chopped

½c Plain Rice Milk

Drizzle some agave over it and mix

Quick snack to hold me over, but wasn't quite what I was craving seeing it's 5PM and no longer breakfast.  But at least I know a great breakfast alternative for the future!  

Rating: 8/10 as a breakfast, but would probably up the portion.  

Banana French Toast

Banana French Toast with Maple Syrup

Actually being home for breakfast for once (well, technically lunch time by the time I woke up), I decided to try another french toast recipe from the The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook.

As with the first I tried, these did not cook well.  I used rice milk in place of soymilk, and I used a defrosted banana I froze instead of fresh, so I am not sure if that had anything to do with it or not.  Might suggest toasting the bread beforehand to see if that gives it  makes it any less soggy.

Verdict: As is, not a fan.  Would be willing to try again with some changes to the recipe.

Banana Muffins & Banana Bread

While searching the vegan sites I came across this recipe.  Seeing how our bananas always ripen too fast, I thought this would be a good recipe to keep on hand!

Peta.org |  Banana Muffins

I used melted Earth Balance margarine instead of oil, and used Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips inside.  Since there wasn't a time listed in the recipe, I wasn't really keeping track, just testing it every so often.  I would guess the muffins were in about 20 minutes, but the bread was in about 50 with aluminum foil on top for the last 10.  All in all both turned out delish! 

Verdict: I give both versions an A. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes

Yum! I have a friend in town and wanted to make her some of my favorite vegan meals! This is by far my favorite breakfast: Vegan Pancakes (click for recipe) with Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter.

Day 6: Pancakes & Getting creative with Toaster Ovens

Back to making interesting foods again!

Breakfast: This morning I made some very tasty Vegan Pancakes! I used the recipe below:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/veganpancakes.htm

The pancakes cooked very well, but I put it on a little lower of a temperature for a little longer so it didn't brown as much.

After watching Cory eat his pancakes with peanut butter, I had an idea: Adding Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and making a pancake sandwich! It reminded me of a place I loved in North Carolina called Stack 'em High. My new favorite breakfast!


Lunch: A bit of leftover Tofu Scramble

Dinner: For dinner it was time to get creative. I had a recipe for 'cheesy' enchiladas, but realized I used the last of the nutritional yeast on the tofu scramble. So instead I mixed a few different enchilada recipes I had.

I used this recipe to make refried black beans http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=20765.0

For the enchiladas I used:
1/3 cup tomato & green chilies
2 cups instant mashed potatoes, cooked
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
Refried black beans from previous recipe
1 10oz can enchilada sauce
4 tortillas

Seeing as my oven still does not work, I had to use the toasted oven. I used a 6x6in (I think that's what it is) pan and covered the bottom lightly with enchilada sauce. Mix the mashed potatoes, corn, and tomato & green chilies together. Spoon on an even amount of the potato mixture and the refried beans onto a tortilla and wrapped it up, placing it in the pan. Repeat 3 more times to fill the pan and pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the burritos (I could have used another can of enchilada sauce, but apparently I only bought one instead of 2). Place the pan in the oven (or toaster oven in this case) and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

For a toaster oven meal, it turned out pretty well and still one leftover for lunch tomorrow. Hoping to hear about the oven soon, but the toaster oven works well in a pinch.

Day 1 - pt 1: Breakfast, Exercise, and Day Planning

Today is my first day as an official Vegan and starting myself on a healthier path of life.

I will admit, last night I went out with a bang: I ate and drank the most unhealthy things possible. Probably not the best idea in hindsight, but I was out at iHop with friends and knew that would be a place I would probably never go again after that night. I got their Cinna-Stack pancakes: Pancakes with cinnamon roll center and icing. Very tasty, but after I few bites I felt like it was too much sweets. I also had some of Eric's hash browns and 3 Mountain Dews... ouch! I will have to be working off those calories this week!

This morning first thing I did when I woke up was went straight to the Wii Fit. It was the first time I had been on it in 341 days according to the Wii. My weight is 109 (using the -2lbs for clothes weight if that is even correct) and my BMI is 20.56.
I worked out with a few of the balance games and all of the yoga moves for 40 minutes.

After my workout I ate a serving of Quick Oats oatmeal with tons of cinnamon, a few handfuls of Emerald CoCoa Roast Almonds (which I think are vegan), and a full glass of water. I plan to do more cardio later in the day by rollerblading with Paul and then biking once Eric gets home.

To add to my day I also would like to clean the house and rid if of the last few Christmas decorations and I need to go grocery shopping for my meals for the week. Last night I planned out all of my meals and figured out which stores I thought would have the ingredients I needed for the cheapest. I tried to use recipes with things I had or I knew were cheap and easy to attain at stores like Walmart and Save-A-Lot, minus a few items I will need to get at a natural foods store in town.

Being Vegan and changing my lifestyle is going to take not just knowledge and will power, but planning to fit everything into my week.

I will write more after lunch and dinner to tell you what I have accomplished!

Tofu Scramble w/ Home Fries

Thought I would get some practice, seeing as I am not the best cook and am not as knowledgeable on vegan cooking as I should be; plus I needed to use up some tofu about to expire in my fridge along with some potatoes starting to sprout.

I combined two recipes I found on the internet, give or take a few ingredients.

Home Fries:
5-6 Large Potatoes, cut into 1/2in cubes
5-6 tablespoons olive oil
Cook on medium until soft
Add garlic powder, sea salt, and ground pepper to taste.

Tofu Scramble: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/TofuScramble.htm
I used this recipe minus the onions, green peppers, and onion power; and I used Earth Balance margarine instead of oil.

Once both were cooked I combined them probably 60-40 potatoes to tofu. I even added a smidge of ketchup to my bowl for kicks.

I think this may be one of my new favorite breakfasts (although I had it for dinner) and even my roomate Cory (the non-vegan meat & cheese lover) and my other roomate Paul (the picky eater) loved it. Edit 11:30p: Most importantly, hubby loves it too. Said it is his favorite thing I've made, vegan or not.

I have made vegan dishes out of the McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook before, but this was my first attempt at "winging it" with ingredients I had. I would call first attempt a success.