Cookin' through Cookin' Crunk - fried green tomatoes and cauliflower creole

 

Those of you who know me know that my journey to veganism was a lot faster than my journey to liking vegetables and fruit.  The potential reasons for this are plentiful - possible childhood trauma (the only veg we had at home was boiled-to-death canned or frozen stuff), being a supertaster (I'm one of those people who can taste cucumber), personal preference/texture issues, who knows.

But I've always had a problem with tomatoes.  I started out not being able to eat anything other than ketchup (catsup?), then progressed to being able to eat completely smooth tomato products.  I've now reached the point that I can have small diced tomatoes, but only cooked.  I can't eat raw tomatoes.

So, as you can imagine, the Fried Green Tomatoes recipe was kinda daunting for me.  A thick slice of tomato - brrr.  But I bought those green tomatoes at the farmers market (lookit that wee one!  it's so tiny!), put on my big girl pants, and made some fried green tomatoes.

I have to say, they were alright, but I probably wouldn't make them again unless they were for someone else who really loves them.

I made the Fried Green Tomato and Tofu Sandwich with them, and that was pretty good, but it was more the tofu than the tomatoes that I was interested in.  The coating on the tomatoes gave it a nice crunch, though.  This used the Sweet & Spicy Marinated Tofu, which was really easy to make and was very, very tasty.  I can see it going into regular rotation.

Dinner tonight was Cauliflower Creole.  I did it in stages, so it probably took longer than it would have if I'd made it as written.  This was fantastic.  I don't think it really mimicked shrimp creole all that well (at least texture-wise - I've never had shrimp creole to compare the taste), but whatever, it was tasty as hell.  I served it with the remaining tofu and some brown rice.  I would definitely make this again.

My shrooms went off, so I didn't get to make the cream of mushroom soup.  I'll buy more shrooms and make that this week since I cubed the tofu chicken to use in a recipe that also requires the cream of mushroom soup.

Bean failure

My intention for today was to make a bean-based quiche-type thing.  I threw some beans in the slow cooker and left them while I was at work (so, about 8 1/2 hours).  When I got home, I tested a bean, and it was still kinda hard.  Dammit.  So, no bean-based quiche-type thing tonight.

I was already suuuuper hungry when I got home.  I was gonna just have some toast, but then I realised that I didn't have anywhere to put the toaster because the slow cooker was in the way.  Then it hit me - grilled cheese.  Even better - grilled cheese with V Bites (formerly Redwood Foods) garlic sausage slices.  Holy crap, I love these things.

Here's a not-very-attractive phone pic of my delicious sammich:

I used Allinson's high fiber white bread, Tesco smoked-style cheese (or whatever the hell it's called), and the aforementioned V Bites garlic sausage slices.  It was one of the best sammiches I've ever eaten.  In fact, I'm really tempted to eat another.

Mike will be eating a Tesco value pot noodle for dinner because we're classy like that.


I'm ... gonna go make another sammich.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 20 - Cookbook Challenge - Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day

I know this post is pretty late, but I have a completely valid reason - I slept until shortly after noon, so we ate dinner around 10pm.  I haven't had a lie-in for ages because we've had to be up early for one reason or another every weekend for months.  Everyone always says you eventually get up earlier on purpose (i.e., you reach a point when you don't sleep until noon), but I don't see that happening for me, and I have no problem with that.

Anyway, I made a couple more recipes from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! - Moo Free Seitan and the Philly version of the Pittsburgh Steak Sandwich.

The seitan was pretty easy - I did it in the oven instead of the slow cooker because I didn't get around to making it until after 3pm.  It had a really good texture, and I liked that I could throw it in the oven and actually go do things while it cooked - I went to the gym and to the store and I didn't have to rush home to take it out of the oven.  I don't think it would be all that great on its own, which is possibly my fault for not putting enough stuff in the cooking broth, but it was great in the next recipe.

The sandwiches came together pretty quickly - it would've been even quicker if I hadn't been cleaning and trying to sort out storing the leftover seitan (to get it out of the way) at the same time.  Slicing and cooking the seitan is pretty much all you have to do with this recipe.  I also had to warm up the ciabatta and shred the cheese, but I had garlic mayo so didn't feel the need to do the spread (especially since Mike doesn't like spreads on his sandwiches and I only did a half recipe).

The sandwiches were simple and delicious.  I wouldn't make them frequently only because that much bread and cheese doesn't really fit with my weight-loss plan.  But I might use the seitan cooking method for Mike's lunch sandwiches.

Tomorrow is a new cookbook challenge week, but I have a few more things I wanna make from this book, so I'll still be cooking from it.  In fact, I think I might make the Oreo Wafflewiches for breakfast tomorrow ... right before I go to the gym.  They're the new Little Chocolate Donuts.

Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet (pt 2)

Sorry this is so late - we're just back from seeing the cinema re-release of Ghostbusters!  I love that flick - I've probably seen it 100 times (no exaggeration) - and it's even better on the big screen.  I wish more of my favourite films would get re-released (or that the Cameo cinema would bring back the Breakfast Club, the once-a-month weekend morning show of an 80s classic).  I know this re-release is just a lead-up to Ghostbusters 3 (which I'm not sure about), but whatever.  Anyway, on to the foods.

I made another recipe from The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni-Marie Newman.  Tonight was the Bacon Cheeseburger.

I would like to draw your attention to the bread substance containing the burger.  That is regular-sized sliced bread from the store.  The burger is overflowing the bread.  It is a giant-ass burger.  The recipe said it makes 4, but when I made the first two, they were humongous, so I made 4 more patties out of the rest of the dough.  Those went in the freezer because I knew neither of us would want more than one.

These were pretty easy to make and didn't take too long.  I think I cooked them longer than the recipe suggested because they were so huge (I didn't think they'd cook through with only 3-5 minutes of frying).  If I'd had more time, I probably would've baked them, but that would've made us late for the movie.   I might bake the other ones whenever I decide to eat them.

As far as taste, I thought they were a bit too sweet.  They have barbecue sauce and maple syrup in them, and I feel like I could've had less of one of those (probably the syrup).  I would've liked a little more smoky flavour as well.  Despite the 1/2 cup of nooch, I didn't think they tasted particularly cheesy - the sweetness kinda overwhelmed that flavour.

I used beef-style broth for the TVP.  The only thing I subbed was tahini for the peanut butter, since the Freenut butter is too sweet to sub in savoury dishes.

I don't know if I'd make these again.  I prefer a more basic burger that I can add things to, and I prefer my cheeseburgers to be cheesy.  I'll try out one of the basic burgers and see how that works out.

We set our clocks back tonight, so if you're in the UK, don't forget - 3am becomes 2am!  But only once!

Vegan MoFo - Another lazy dinner

I had another convenience food dinner tonight.  Cooking was involved, but not a single thing actually eaten was hand-made by me.  I didn't even bother taking a picture because it was so simple and full of packaged goodness - a Redwood's quarterpound burger with a bit of smoked cheddar Sheese (made in Scotland!) between two pieces of store-bought bread (Alinson's batch baked wholemeal, in case you're interested) with mustard, Infinity Foods' smoked garlic mayo, and ketchup, with a side of microwave-steamed veggies (frozen 4-pack from Sainsbury's).  Simple, but quick and delicious, though I feel a bit guilty writing about it.  But it is Saturday, and I technically don't have to do an entry today, so whevs.

OK, so the guilt got to me and I did something.  It's not much, but it'll serve me well in coming months - homemade hot chocolate mix.

I used the Go Dairy Free recipe, which has always been decent.  Another quick and easy thing that will come in handy when Mike wants hot chocolate but I can't be bothered standing over the stove to make it from scratch.  I went with the plain recipe because I like to be able to customise my hot chocolate each time and don't want to be tied to a particular flavour.

I did end up putting a bit of cinnamon in this, and topped it off with vanilla soy milk to cool it faster and make up for using less-than-vanilla-y vanilla sugar.

BTW, do us a favour and check out PPKer Jen's blog, That Pain in the Ass Vegan, a couple of times a day.  She's trying to get a million hits during MoFo so she can donate the money generated to her local food bank and animal shelters.  Unfortunately I can't help (other than trying to get the word out) because only US hits count.  Boo-urns.  So click it, share it with your friends, and then just keep refreshing the page all day.  That would be swell.

Vegan MoFo - Me and Sammiches

I was gonna write about ice cream, pancakes for dinner, and things of that nature today, but a friend was in a pickle (pun intended) about sammiches, so I offered to help.

Ruth, who blogs at dorkymum, posted about Perfect Sandwiches (caution: not vegan!) a few months ago.  Today, a reader commented that she doesn't eat sandwiches because she's dairy-free and (presumably) can't find a dairy-free spread.  Rather than simply comment about dairy-free spreads, I offered to write up a little something for her to pass along.



I wrote a whole bunch of superfluous stuff, and then I wrote what follows, which frankly is enough on its own.  So let's just go with this - a few ideas for spreads and sandwiches that will get you back in the sammich-making game.  FYI - most of this is aimed at the UK reader (e.g., the bits about where to buy), but there are a couple of things that will be helpful to anyone. 

Margarine - Pure do a variety of non-dairy spreads, made from soya, olive oil, and sunflower oil.  These can be found at the vast majority of big box stores.  Some of the big boxes also carry Vitalite, which is my personal favourite.  It's more spreadable and just has a nicer flavour.  You might also be able to find Suma spreads at health food shops like Holland & Barrett, Real Foods (Edinburgh), Roots and Fruits (Glasgow), and Whole Foods (London). 

Mayo - Mayo shouldn't actually have any dairy in it - its creaminess comes from an emulsion of egg and oil.  Regardless, there are a few good vegan mayos.  You can get Tiger Tiger plain or garlic mayo at larger Sainsbury's stores.  There's another brand found at most big box stores whose name escapes me.  Some health food shops will also carry Plamil mayo, which comes in a variety of flavours (garlic, chili, tarragon and chive, etc.).  My current favourite, which I bought at Real Foods in Edinburgh but which should also be available in Brighton and probably London, is Infinity Foods' organic vegan smoked garlic mayo.  I want to eat it with everything!  OK, everything savoury.  It's much thicker than standard mayo, but it's crazy good. 

Mustard - I admit that I rarely eat mustard without something else, but it can be good on wholemeal bread encasing a plain old (homemade) seitan cutlet.  You can make them beefy or chickeny (or even hammy), but they'll all be good with a swirl of mustard.  In fact, mustard is pretty much the only thing Mike will eat on his sammiches. 

Dressings - Some salad dressings would make a great sandwich spread, especially if you can make them yourself and cut out some of the liquid to make them more spreadable.  For a few ideas, click on the look inside thing on the Amazon page for Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  The salad section usually comes up first, so you could try a few of those out before you buy the book (which I would recommend because it's amazing). 

Sandwich ideas - Check out the (small) selection of sandwiches in the PPK Recipe section.  This is another place where Amazon's look inside feature is helpful - you can preview The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Newman (FYI - if you log in, you can see more).  And if you can wait a while, Tamisin Noyes, author of American Vegan Kitchen (which, incidentally, has a section on sandwiches, though unfortunately has no look inside option) and Celine Stein (co-author of 500 Vegan Recipes and a couple others) are writing a cookbook all about sandwiches!  Tami has 43 sandwich-related posts on her blog!

I hope Ruth and her reader(s) find this helpful.  Or maybe you're new to veganism and didn't realise just how little you actually have to give up in the sammich department!  Either way, hopefully this wasn't just an exercise in remembering where I've bought or seen certain products.

What's your favourite sandwich or sandwich spread?