Baked Black Bean & Tofu Tacos

Ingredients:
15oz can black beans
1 block extra firm tofu
taco seasoning (recipe for homemade seasoning below)
medium salsa
romaine lettuce
tortillas



Taco Seasoning:
1T Chilli Powder
½T Cumin
½t Paprika
½t Garlic Powder
½t Onion Powder
½t Oregano
½t Red Pepper Flakes
½t Natural Iodized Sea Salt
½t Fresh Ground Pepper (I just eyeballed it with a pepper grinder)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Drain, press, and crumble tofu and put in 8x8" baking dish.  Drain and rinse can black beans and pour over tofu.  Sprinkle taco seasoning of choice over beans and tofu to taste (about ¼c or all of the mixture above).  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15.  You can warm up the tortillas in the oven for the last 5 minutes on a baking sheet.

Add black bean & tofu mixture to tortilla with salsa and lettuce and eat!

Tofu Baked Ziti

This is a different recipe than previously posted.  This recipe is one I made up on the fly using what little ingredients I had and a few borrowed in a borrowed kitchen.  

1lb uncooked brown rice pasta
1 block extra firm tofu
1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3T Nutritional Yeast
1t Garlic Powder
1t Onion Powder
1t Italian Seasoning
½t Finely Ground Sea Salt
¼ Fresh Ground Pepper
2-3c Pasta or Marinara sauce

Cook brown rice pasta to package directions.  Preheat oven to 375° F.

Drain and press tofu and crumble into a medium bowl. Massage olive oil into tofu.  Add spices and mix well. Once pasta is cooked and cooled, add ½c pasta sauce to the bottom of a 8x8 baking dish.  Add a layer of pasta, then a layer of the tofu mix, then another layer using ½c sauce. Repeat until dish is full adding extra sauce on top to make sure everything is covered.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Sorry no photo - hubby and I gobbled it up!

Crock Pot Sweet Black Bean Chili

Crock Pot Sweet Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:
2c black beans (soaked overnight.  3/4c dry)
½ Red Onion, chopped
½ Jalapeno, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1¼ c Organic Vegetable Broth
1c water
1 bay leaf
½T Dark Chili Powder
½t Cayenne Pepper
½t Cinnamon
¼t Cumin
½T Raw Sugar

Directions:
Saute onion, jalepeno, and garlic in ½ T olive oil for 3-5min on medium-low.

Add black beans, vegetable broth, water, onion, jalapeno, garlic, and spices to the crock pot. 

Cook in your crock pot for 8 hours on low. (I cooked 6 hrs with with the last hour on high to speed it up.  Seemed to work out OK.)

Makes 2 servings.  Double or Quadruple for larger batch. 


Forgot to take a photo and just ate it right up!  I ate mine over some brown rice pasta.   I'd say it turned out pretty well for just winging it.  Next time I'm going to try to cook the beans right in the pot without presoaking per advice from The Vegan's Husband. 

Mexican Rice

Today is another "left over mash-up"! 

Throughout the week I have accumulated left over: Black beans, diced tomatoes, and enchilada sauce. I thought: What is a quick and easy meal I can make and combine them?

I decided to cook up some brown rice and toss it all together and voila! 

Mexican Rice

Ingredients
2c cooked Brown Rice
1c Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1c Diced Tomatoes, drained
1c Enchilada Sauce
1Tbsp Chili Lime Seasoning or Taco Seasoning (or more to taste)

Not bad for leftovers!  Lately too many things have been going bad in my fridge because I don't know what to do with them, and my goal is to have bad food no more; so expect many other "experiments" in the kitchen coming soon!

Pretzel Dogs

Pretzel Dogs

Ingredients:
Lightlife Smart Dogs
Vegan Pretzel Dough

Super simple, fast, and tasty!  Make the pretzel dough according to the recipe above, wrap around some refrigerated hot dogs and bake for 13 minutes on 425°.  Add a little salt if you desire and serve with condiments and side of your choice - I like potato wedges and ketchup.

BBQ Sloppy Joes

BBQ Sloppy Joe on Easy Vegan Bread

Chef Assistant Paul and I found this amazing BBQ sauce and I decided to try BBQ Sloppy Joes.

15oz can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
¼c Quick Oats
¼c BBQ Sauce of choice

1 Green Pepper, chopped

½ Onion, chopped

Chop up the onion and pepper and saute on medium in a small amount of water until softened.  While those are cooking, put the black beans in a bowl and mash them.  Add the black beans, oats, and bbq sauce to the pepper and onion mixture and heat until warm.  Serve on bun or bread of choice.  

Tofu Sandwich

I had some tofu in the fridge and saw this recipe in an e-mail from Peta and had to try it.

Recipe: $3 Dish of the Day: Grilled Tofu Sandwhich

I used the recipe for the tofu but added tomato and avocado to the sandwich instead with my fresh made bread!

I don't think I drained the tofu enough before pouring on the soy sauce because it probably only absorbed an 8th of what it called for.  Next time I will press my tofu before adding the sauce.  Also the soy sauce made this dish VERY salty, so maybe lighter on the sauce wouldn't be such a bad thing.

For $3, this meal gets an A!

Spicy Chik'n Quesadillas

My Nikon's battery was dead, so I had to use the Droid cam.

We had some leftover chik'n from the homemade "Chipotle" and needed to use it before it was gone.  Without having all the "Chipotle" ingredients, I thought I would throw together some quesadillas.

Ingredients:
Wheat Tortillas
Vegan Cheddar (My favorite is Follow Your Heart Vegan Cheddar)
Chipotle style Chik'n
Saintly Black and Gold Salsa from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Salsa (I used Great Value Peach Pineapple Salsa)

Both the chik'n and Saintly Black and Gold Salsa were very spicy on their own, but combined in the tortilla, cheese, and salsa it wasn't too hot and turned out very well.  I would definitely make it again.

Verdict: 8/10

Hot Skillet Salad

I've never thought of salad as being a hot meal, but this was rather tasty!

I used this recipe: Hot Skillet Salad from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

I found I did not have the balsamic vinegar for a dressing, so I made the Dijon dressing from the Good Seasons box and it worked out pretty well.  It was so good, I ate two servings... oops!  

Eating Out: Grass Root Organic Restaurant

Grass Root Organic Restaurant 

Thursday is Eric's & my "date night" and I have been wanting to check out this entirely vegan restaurant since before we moved to Florida.  Lucky for us, we bought the $10 for $20 Half Off Deals so it was a win-win!

Eric & his special "Immune Boost Water" ($1)

Water with added essential oils that smelled of ginger and did not separate from the water very well.  Not a bad price for a drink, but I'd stick with the regular water next time.  5/10

Eric got the "Everybody Loves Ramen" without the "hamm" ($9.50)

Besides the ramen noodles and broth, it was loaded with veggies.  It had a little bit of a spice to it, but did not linger.  Eric loved it and gives it an 8 out of 10 (8/10).  Although tasty, $9 ramen is still just ramen.  

Rating: 6/10.

I ate the special of the day: Tacos ($13)

These aren't your normal "tacos" as they were loaded with black bean hummus, squash, sheez (vegan cheese), lettuce, tomato, rice (and I'm sure there are some other things I am forgetting) all on a corn tortilla.  The tortilla wasn't my favorite, but I loved all the ingredients that made up this spicy meal.  Rating: 8.5/10 

Verdict:  Overall the restaurant was a great place to eat.  I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant and for eating dinner at 5:30pm on a Thursday, we were the only people there.  Menu items are a little pricey compared to your everyday restaurants, but not bad for a local, organic, vegan eatery.  I will definitely be going back.

Rating: 9.5/10

Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa

Recipe: Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa

I ate mine with a slice of kale around it.  The kale made it quite messy, so I'd recommend a wrap next time, or my husband just ate it plain in a bowl.

Verdict:  Great recipe and comes with nutrition information.  Could have used some more curry, or better curry as suggested in the recipe (I used McCormick brand).

Red Beans & Barley

Had a 7 hour work day today, and this crock pot recipe cooks for 7 hours, so I thought it would be a perfect day for it.

Recipe: WW Slow Cooker Red Beans and Barley

The recipe said not to stir until the cooking was done, but at the end some of the edges were burned and sticking to the crock pot.  I might try to stir at the last hour if able.

Verdict:  Good filling meal.  Really liking barley and it's taste and texture.

P&B's Vegan Lasagna

Howdy readers, this is Paul; Brit's assistance for her vegan meals. I'm not vegan myself, but I do enjoy some vegan meals. This recipe was made by my mother, altered by me, then adapted for Brit's tastes and vegan lifestyle. Here's how ours went:

Ingredients

2 blocks of vegan mozzarella cheese

1 box of lasagna noodles (we used rice this time, my first attempt with rice noodles)

2 cups tofu "ricotta" (We used the recipe from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch)
2 big cans of pasta sauce of your choice. (I make my own, which might be in a future post here, so check back for it folks. Most people who try it say it's their favorite. [/pimping])

Process:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Take your pan (we used a rectangular glass pan) and coat the bottom with sauce. Then put a layer of noodles down, cover that in more sauce, then add a layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat this process (while mixing in 2 layers of the ricotta in place of the mozzarella) till you reach your desired height. (I like mine deep dish.) The top layer should be mozzarella, enough to cover the top fully. Now cover in foil, and cook for 1 hour. At the 45 minute mark I like to uncover the foil on the dish to let the cheese brown. If it needs more melting and browning just kick it up to broil for 5-10 minutes and that'll get the job done. And that should be all folks. Now go enjoy some tasty lasagna, vegan style!

Bourbon Chik'n

My roommate has been craving bourbon chicken ever since he saw I bought bourbon for my Bourbon Baked Beans, so we decided to make a vegan version to try.

Ingredients:

2 packages Morningstar Meal Starters Chik'n Strips 

1-2 cup Broccoli Flouretts

1-2 cup Pea Pods

Sauce (we used this recipe for the sauce:Bourbon Chicken):

4 ounces soy sauce
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons onion flakes
1/3 cup bourbon

Cook the Morningstar Chik'n to package instructions.  Mix all sauce ingredients together and marinade chik'n overnight in a ziploc bag or container.  Shake container a few times through out the day if you are able.

Bake chik'n and marinade in oven at 325º for 30-45 minutes, stirring or basting frequently.  Meanwhile, cook broccoli and peas in a frying pan with ½ water until softened.

Combine bourbon chik'n and veggies and serve over rice.

Verdict:  According to my roommate, chef assistant Paul, it was nothing like the mall bourbon chicken as the recipe said.  I enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't make it again for myself.  We may be experimenting with other bourbon chik'n recipes in the future.

Baked Ziti

This has to be my favorite thing I've made so far!  Maybe it was just because I was starving when I got home and had to wait an hour for it to be finished, but man was it tasty!

Recipe: Baked Ziti

I added a little more vegan mozzarella than requested, and it could have used a little more sauce.

Mediterranean Spinach and Couscous

After a long day of work and meetings, I wanted something fast.  This was super fast and easy and quite yummy!

Recipe: Mediterranean Spinach and Couscous

Great for when you're in a bind (probably took 10 minutes tops for prep and cooking) and need to use up almost two boxes of couscous!  :)

Sweet & Spicy Rice

My roommate and I had a plan to make Bourbon Chik'n tonight, until we realized it had to marinate overnight in the sauce.  We had already started the rice in our rice steamer, and I was starving, so I decided to make something up and fast!

I remembered a spanish rice recipe my friends mom used to make with rice and salsa. and I had just bought an interesting jar of salsa from Walmart that I wanted to try on my burgers.

Sweet & Spicy Rice (makes 1 bowl)
1½-2c White Rice, cooked
¼-½c Peach Pineapple Chipotle Salsa (I used Great Value brand)
Fresh ground pepper to Taste

Cook the rice however you'd like, I used a rice steamer. Mix in the salsa until all the rice is covered and add some fresh ground pepper for an extra kick.

Strawberry Chik'n Salad

After seeing Vega founder Brendan Brazier, I decided I needed more greens in my diet.  I saw an idea for a raspberry salad dressing on the side of a Good Seasons box and it gave me the idea for this salad.

Salad:
Bag of Veggie Lovers salad mix
Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips, cooked to package
Strawberries, cut
Candied nuts (although I forgot to put them in for this salad!)

Dressing:
¼c Apple Cider Vinegar
3 Tbsp Water
½ Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Raspberry Jam (I like Polmer's brand)
1 pkg Good Seasons

Bourbon Baked Beans

I must admit, I was a little hesitant to make this recipe at first.  I am not a drinker, and having never cooked with alcohol before, I was unsure of the taste.

I found the cheapest and smallest bottle of bourbon I could find ($1.49 at a local wine & liquor store) and decided to give it a shot.

I used the recipe from the Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker book.

Verdict: Not too bad.  Would make a good side for a vegan cookout!

Chili Dogs

I was so hungry, I couldn't even wait to take a bite.  Yum!

For these dogs, I used:
1 Arnold Select Wheat Hot Dog Bun
1 Lightlife Smart Dogs
Galaxy Nutritional Foods Vegan Cheddar Soy Cheese, shredded
Chili


You can use any chili recipe you like, but I chose to veganize my mother-in-law's recipe for my husband.  Hopefully she doesn't mind me sharing her recipe with the world! 

Chili
2 cans light red kidney beans
2 cans dark red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package Boca Crumbles
Dark chili powder, hot pepper seeds, and sugar to taste.

Cook the Boca Crumbles in a frying pan on the stove until "browned" or cooked to taste.  Usually I cook the chili on the stove, but today I decided to use give the crock pot a try.  Dump all of the cans with juices into the crock pot with the Boca Crumbles.  Cook for 3 hours on low.  Add chili powder, hot pepper seeds, and sugar and stir. 


For the chilli dogs simply cook the vegan hot dog of your choice by it's directions, put in a bun, add a few heapings of chili, and shred the cheddar over the dogs and voila - vegan chili dogs!