Feed Me Bitch

Pulped

2011-10-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Guess what's in your processed shredded cheese?

Guess what's in your Fiber One cereal?

Guess what's in your Coffee Mate?

If you guessed wood pulp, you win!

We all just assume that anything we buy in a grocery store that isn't a fresh fruit or vegetable is teeming with nonsense additives and freakish artifical colors. But I'm pretty sure the last time I heard someone say their nut and grain loaf of bread tasted like wood, they were joking.

Welcome to the wild world of Cellulose, the powdered wood pulp that manufacturers are putting in processed foods in increasing numbers because it's cheaper than flour. The FDA approved the use of Cellulose in food products years ago because it is fibrous and, apparently, does our bodies no harm.

But that's not the point. The point is... ewwwwww! I don't recall the last time I looked at a piece of tree bark and thought, "Yummy! Let's have some right away!" Manufacturers are so determined to cut costs that they've turned to NOT FOOD to cut corners.

Whenever Anthony Bourdain does an episode of No Reservations that extolls the virtures of Cellulose in my coffee, I might begin to change my mind. Until then, thank you, but no.

Vegan Log, no. 2.

2011-04-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm four days into my Vegan Adventure. I thought I might go over exactly what my perimeters are. I'm following "The Kind Diet" plan for the most part, but have chosen to look at this as a chance for exploration. For the record, that means whole grains, beans, greens, and fruits. I'm not just using recipes from that book exclusively or anything like that.

*No animal products of any sort. That includes meat, milk, cheese, dairy of any sort, gelatin, and honey.

*I'm avoiding sugars and white flour. I'm using products sweetened by fruit juice and whole wheat flour, when necessary. I've switched over to agave syrup.

*Prior to my dedication to the Vegan Adventure: I've weened myself off coffee and soda and haven't had them in about a month. That was more of a battle than the vegan thing is, at least so far. I wanted to get that out of the way before I made this attempt (I was a 3-soda a day kinda gal), and I'm relieved that this hasn't kicked up any cravings.

My husband is not actively doing this with me, but he's eating what I've prepared each evening when he comes home from work, and being supportive. My best friend, Kim, has decided to give the Vegan Adventure a try as well. We are on the phone via text and voice checking in with one another and swapping food ideas.

Today I'm on a hunt for a small white board for the fridge--Kim had the brilliant idea of making a food plan for the week and essentially listing everything out. Since I live so close to health food stores, it hadn't hit me how much this could help! With deadlines looming, I need all the extra time I can get!

On Monday, my friend Michelle took me to Studio City to try Kind Kreme, a raw vegan ice cream shop. Michelle isn't vegan, but she's totally into trying new things and knew that I'd be into this. I had a scoop of Fresh (Cucumber, Kale, Lemon, Himalayan Crystal Salt) on a gluten free cone and loved it! Shoulda got a double scoop. I can see this being a regular spot for me.

I haven't had any vegan cheese since starting on Monday--and I'm trying to prolong the amount of time between starting the Vegan Adventure and actually working with it. My friend Jessica said to wait about a month before delving in because it's so different from regular cheese. I am heeding her advice because she's a genius.

I feel noticeably lighter, with more focus and energy, and a bit more alert. I'm hoping the alertness gets more pronounced as I continue with this. Shopping has been easy, and I live in a neighborhood where it's easy to comparison shop, so it's not breaking the bank. Since Kim is living in Fresno, I know this might take more effort to make happen. She has also had to deal with people asking what the heck vegan means, and then looks of disgust or laughter (seriously?! Seriously. So lame.). None of that in L.A. so far, and I don't expect it. People have too much on their own plates. Whaa wha.

Dispatch, over. Live long and prosper, I'll see you soon!

food and relationships

2011-04-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Chico I met this guy Ben who is like my domestic partner now or something. No seriously, Ben is my boyfriend. This is us:

Ben was a certified meat eater before me, and I have never set out to change that. EVER. That's his gig. I've even cooked him meat, sausages, chicken, whatever. Mostly because I don't have the right to tell him what to eat any more than a meat eater has a right to tell me what to eat. I don't have a problem with people doing their own thing, just mostly their own thing isn't what I would do.

Ben and I basically live together though and we're talking about getting a serious home/apartment together. I do the cooking, he does the cleaning. Total non gender specific roles. I just love to cook and hate to clean and cooking isn't really his bag. Awesome.

The thing is though, my boyfriend doesn't ask me to cook him meat very often if at all. He's a huge fan of Chikn (the fake stuff) he loves tofu. Like me, he will eat fish every so often but for the most part he only eats other meat when we go out to dinner or when he eats without me. Which I find insanely respectful, and sweet.

The other day though he blew my mind when he said he was thinking about going pescatarian full time as well. Meaning no more half and half pizzas, no more double doubles from In and Out (actually he loves their grilled cheese and veggie burgers go figure) no more bacon (fake-on for real) and no more pepperoni. He's watched me struggle with my lifestyle and eating habits and is willing to at least try it.

This is love folks. I think I will put him on the 30 day weaning challenge. I did this when I gave up meat. You only eat meat three times a week, then two, then one, then not at all. It's nice because you don't have to go full stop and you get used to it.

But I love it because we can create meals together or at least he can give me ideas. Things he misses eating, I can figure them out. Mine was sloppy joes and I figured that one out with the quickness. I still haven't recreated proscuitto or pastrami but really I shouldn't want that.

(God it was good though...)

thoughts on an article

2011-04-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

The OC Register just did an article on Veganism.

I can't imagine being Vegan to be honest. I still after four years struggle with Pescatarianism and I feel like this article was a pretty honest portrayal as to how the rest of the world sees Veganism.

However I've had some amazing Vegan meals and wouldn't hesitate to try more.

Recently I invited my friend Aurora to join this blog and she's documenting her Vegan journey here. I'm excited about it. I hope it gets me back into the habit of writing about food and also taking photos of the food I create and eat.

I'm hungry, off to the hippy market

"This new girl is gonna guac my world"

2011-03-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

When Stephanie told me about "Feed Me Bitch", I was caught by surprise, and not because of the name. The truth was, even though I'm probably the most dedicated (re: stalker-ish...I love blogs and have been reading our girl for years upon years!) Stephanie reader out there, I did not know she had this blog! Needless to say, I was stoked to have more content to read, and even more stoked--dare I say, double stoked?!-- to be asked to contribute.

So, of course, since I am female and living in America and also aware of stereotypes, I have a history with food. As in, I LOVE to eat. I love all sorts of treats, carby things, veggies, meats, the whole deal...save for bananas. We all have something, I guess. I was vegetarian for a few years in college but obviously lacked the conviction to follow through once my ex-boyfriend's mother shoved a pepperoni pizza in front of me at a family dinner. Lacking the elegance to gracefully find a salad or potato, I bit into that greasy slice, loved it, and reverted back to my meat loving ways.

My body paid for it. I didn't jump back on the vegetarian bandwagon--I ate bad food after bad food with reckless abandon! I ended up gaining 50 lbs, had acne, and felt tired and unmotivated. My pleasures continued to be confined to an 8-inch plate, or a 5-inch bowl of heaping ice cream. Yum in my tum. That's right.

Eventually I was asked to participate in a weight-loss pool at one of my office jobs. I had found a motivator--money! Imagine that. I lost all of the weight on Weight Watchers, which I still heartily advocate. The program is healthy, not extreme, and makes sense if you just stay on board with it! Not to brag, but I totally won. I felt amazing fitting into a size six again.

Alas, life changed, my mother passed away, and I stressed the heck out, eating crap. I gained some of the weight back, which is where I'm at now. It's been three years since. My husband and I stick to a fairly healthy diet. I mean that, if you compare it to the rest of America. We don't typically eat fast food, save for every few months when I must have a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl's Junior (look, it's only when I'm riding the crimson wave. He usually gets something less horrible.). We eat a lot of fish, veggies, and whole grain pastas. We occasionally have red meat, but it's when we go out. We eat pretty well. But like all things, including Jennifer Aniston, we could do better.

So, what's going on right this very second? I read Alicia Silverstone's book "The Kind Diet (I'm a child of the '90's and in my private world, she and I are best friends) last week and it's got my head spinning. Ms. Cutie Face makes a very convincing arguement for at the very least trying some new foods. I'm completely loving the idea of taking care of my body, animals, and the earth at the same time. It really speaks to the multi-tasker, faux-Virgo, Filofax-carrying part of me.

Here's the scoop on "The Kind Diet". It's a vegan/macrobiotic plan. It explains the danger of having meat products in your system and the toll it takes on the environment, as well as the crazy stuff sugars and processed foods do to you. I'm 30 now, so I am starting to be very aware of how my body is changing and is affected by my environment. I want to be responsible and conscious. I have absolutely no reason not to. And to contrast the elimination of easy-to-find-in-vending-machine foods, the book is loaded with vegan'macrobiotic recipes that acutally look awesome. I'm talking peanut butter cup awesome.

I'll be documenting my vegan experiments on "Feed Me Bitch", and on my own blog, "Trois Mois". It's about to get all soy up in here. For the time being, I'm just finding recipes on-line and in books. I hope to get so adept with my new vegan ingredients that eventually I'll be concocting my own recipes from scratch.

Here's to a new adventure! If any of you are vegan, what resources do you use and do you have any tip for someone just trying it out?

I’m in Evol

2011-03-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

(this is reposted from my main blog Spin Spin Sugar)

Since moving to Chico, one of the places I go the most is S & S Organic Produce & Natural foods. It’s close to my house and my job and they have so many things I (as a vegetarian/pescatarian can eat. But this morning my life changed, when I popped in to get something for breakfast.

I discovered Evol Burritos.

This is a line of frozen burritos, not dissimilar to Amy’s another great company. They carry meat products, vegetarian and vegan products. And bless them, they make breakfast burritos. BIG ONES. I just got the egg & green chile burrito and it’s actually really good. It’s huge and full of eggs and spices, something most frozen foods lack. It does take a little longer to cook than most and is still steeper in price than say… Taco Bell (ugh, damn their cheap but bad for me products!)… I paid 1.99 for mine this morning on sale, but damn if this isn’t good.

Best part is that it didn’t explode in the microwave like burritos are want to do. I don’t know if these puppies are hand wrapped or if they have some very sophisticated robot up in their burrito plant but it stayed together until then end of my breakfast… And I’m full.

delicious

*after some research I found out these burritos are hand rolled. Totally worth the price of burrito admission!

Fewds

2010-09-02T19:05:00.001-07:00

Not my torts at Chronic Tacos

Fish tacos at Chronic Tacos

Eggs and toast at the End Zone

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sushi Sushi Sushi

2010-08-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

All of these were taken at the Rawbar in Chico. This place is amazing at presentation, which any foodie knows is half the damn experience...

reviews!

2010-08-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

I've been getting some delicious pescatarian and vegetarian eats from this great little Mexican food joint here in Chico. La Cocino Economica apparently used to be a taco truck in town and now is a cute little sit down taco joint with beer and the whole nine yards.

Grilled fish tacos

I've had a pretty wide variety of things on their menu, from the shrimp tacos, fish tacos, veggie burritos and now I've actually tried some breakfast goods. The Huevos Rancheros were delicious and had just the right level of spice and blew me away. But the front runner right now is the vegetarian breakfast burrito that I had today. I don't even know what all was in it, other than I wanted to kiss whomever made it when I was done. This thing is HUGE too, you could probably share it easily if you were looking for a lighter meal. Oh my gosh, easily the best breakfast burrito I've ever had.

See I really do eat there.

If you're ever in Chico and you're looking to get completely stuffed, make your mouth happy and not spend a grip of cash, this is the place to go.

Battered fish tacos. So good I actually married them...

reviving this blog?

2010-08-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

I've been cooking again, even if just once a week, so I'm thinking of reviving this blog to show off what I make. And possibly to review places I go to eat around Chico. I don't know if any one is still reading it though... I mean what it's been a year since I've posted. We shall see!

quiet

2009-03-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd just post and tell you guys I'm still here. I haven't been creating as many meals from scratch lately and really haven't had anything to post.

Also I'll admit that lately I've been struggling with my diet. I haven't gone back to eating meat (other than my occasional fish dish) but I'm feeling rather uninspired by cooking vegetarian right now. Hopefully after my next trip to the grocery store, I'll be a little more inspired to cook and create new things and share them here with you.

homemade pizza

2009-01-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

So I've been trying to perfect homemade pizza.

As a mostly vegetarian eater, there aren't a lot of frozen pizza options for me out there and we don't get delivery where I live. Also The Boyfriend is very picky about what goes on his pizza. He HATES mushrooms (I LOVE them) and isn't a big fan of olives. I'm also pretty sure he hates bell peppers. Since I don't eat meat the traditional pepperoni or sausage isn't going to work, and I think we're both getting tired of pineapples.

So the other day I made my first homemade pizza using Pillsbury biscuits for the dough.

This worked okay except that it was hard to get the crust cooked. It was my first attempt and I tried not to be too hard on myself about it.

The flavor was great though. I made sauce, like when I make pasta. I threw some frozen veggies in the wok to get them tender. Added cheese and some faux chickn and threw it in the oven. The result wasn't gorgeous by any means or perfect, but it had good flavor. I knew if I worked on the crust problem, this could end up being one of my favorite things to make. Well that and you know buy a pizza pan and a rolling pin, because I was having to roll out the dough with a wine bottle covered in flour. Hey, don't laugh, it totally worked.

Here's what my first pizza looked like:

Like I said, it wasn't perfect. But it tasted okay.

I went to the store a few days later and spied some other Pillsbury product that seemed better suited to getting the crust I wanted and picked it up. Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations run about the same price as the canned biscuits and you can find them in the same section at the store.

This worked much better as pizza crust, aside from the fact that one sheet of this stuff isn't really enough to make more than a personal pizza. Of course I didn't know this at the time and had to add in some biscuit dough to make it large enough for two people. I also baked the crust a little before adding the toppings, so this helped too. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this particular creation.

Anyway when I finally get it PERFECT, I'll post the recipe. And some photos of course.

easy vegetarian soup!

2009-01-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I decided I'd like to be able to make my own soup. For the most part canned vegetarian soups are expensive, come in small cans and aren't always available in small towns or bargain grocery stores. Vegetarians are poor too people! So I set out to create a soup that could be made by anyone, anywhere, regardless of season.

WHAT YOU NEED:

3 cans of Swanson Vegetarian Broth

1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables of your choice. What I do is I usually buy one bag of either a California Blend or Italian Blend and then another bag of just regular mixed vegetables.

1-2 red potatoes

1/4 -1/2 clove of garlic depending on your personal taste

seasoning according to taste

(Optional: rice or noodles)

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Add all three cans of vegetable broth to large pot on medium heat. Add garlic to broth.

While waiting for the broth to warm, wash and slice or dice your potatoes (again according to your personal taste)

When broth becomes warm, add potatoes.

The add either an entire bag of frozen vegetables, or if you plan to mix your veggies, do half and half of each. Two bags would over power the broth.

Wait for soup to boil and reduce heat. I typically let this simmer anywhere from an hour to four hours, depending on how long I have to get it made.

Stir every so often and make sure to taste it. As the broth cooks, the flavor will change and you may need to add your spices of choice.

To beef up the soup (pardon the expression) you can also add rice or noodles. I recommend boiling this addition in an additional pot until it's ALMOST done (or you know, al dente) add the noodles or rice about 10-15 minutes before you plan on serving the dish, in order to keep them from getting too mushy.

This could also be done with fresh vegetables, but I'm keeping in mind that not everyone has access to affordable produce in the winter months. The whole mess usually costs me between 3-5 dollars to complete and will serve 8. It also keeps pretty well in tupper wear and also reheats well. Good option if you're trying to take your own lunch to work/school/etc.

Using my love for Soyrizo

2009-01-14T09:56:00.001-08:00

Last night it was pretty warm here in California so I decided a salad was in order for dinner. I went to the store to pick up some lettuce when a brainstorm hit me!

Soyrizo Taco Salad! I did this on the easy and cheap. This recipe could be easily veganized.

What you need:

1-Bag of salad mix. I did a mixed greens and baby spinach leaf mix

1-tube of soyrizo

1-bag of taco chips

1-cup of shredded cheese (or vegan cheese)

1 1/2 cups of sliced olives

1 1/2 cup of salsa

1 green bell pepper

2 cups of chopped green oinions

sour cream or vegan sour cream

salad dressing of choice. (I used Kraft Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette with Roasted Red Pepper)

Preperation:

Chop the bell pepper and oinion, saute in a wok with a touch of salsa and some of the olives until the bell peppers are tender. (I also thew a handful of Frenchs Dried Oinions in for texture and flavor and a dusting of garlic sea salt.)

Take a skillet and heat soyrizo to texture preference. Cook it longer on higher heat if you want a firmer, crisper, texture.

Turn both pans down to low to keep warm.

Take taco chips and crumble. Toss salad with taco chips, cheese and the remaining olives.

Lay salad out on plate. Top with soyrizo and bell pepper garnish. Add dressing to taste. Top with sour cream and a dollop of salsa. I topped the boyfriend's sour creme and salsa mix with a little olive to make it pretty. You can also sprinkle some of the shredded cheese on top for color.

mixed veggie casserole

2009-01-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I posted my recipe for Green Bean Casserole, which is one of my favorite vegetarian holiday foods. When I served it to The Boyfriend, he ate it but I also noticed he was picking out all of the green beans. Turns out he likes green beans about as much as he likes mushrooms, which is not at all. Oh well that's what dating is for, to learn what other people like and don't like.

Being as I love this dish and I also love casserole in general because it's sometimes two meals at once, I decided to give it another shot. Last night I cooked up what can only be described as mixed veggie casserole.

What You Need:

1-Can of potato soup. I used a roasted garlic potato soup.
1-Can of mixed veggies
1-Can of cream of mushroom soup
1-Can of French's Famous Fried Onions.
crutons

What You Do:

Pop open the potato soup and add to a pyrex dish.

Mix in the can of mixed veggies

Open up the mushroom soup. If you got condensed soup DO NOT ADD THE MILK, the mixture will get too mushy and you'll get more of a soupy texture and less casserole action. Add mushroom soup.

add either crushed croutons, precrushed breadcrumbs, or if you're feeling crunchy do whole croutons. Stir mixture around.

add about two handfuls of the dried onions. stir in.

Heat oven to about 350 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes.

Pull dish out after 20 minutes, stir in some pepper and seasonings of your choice. Coat the top of the dish with dried onions, these will become your crust as you bake the dish further.

put back in the oven for another 10-20 minutes or until hot and crisp on top.

let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

A word of caution: this is a really filling and delicious dish. It's also not very pretty. But it worked, I got my casserole deliciousness on and The Boyfriend didn't pick out any of the ingredients this time around. Score.

Soyrizo!

2009-01-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

As someone who grew up in Southern California, I've been eating Mexican food my whole life. And before giving up meat, I ate ALL of it. I've been having a hard time finding substitutes for some of my favorite meats until a neighbor of mine turned me onto some Soyrizo.

Holy crap, this stuff is good! And it's so easy to cook up. Just a few minutes in the skillet, depending on how crisp you want it. And because it's soy, there is very little mess left behind in the pan (something I do NOT miss about real meat, is the clean up.)

Best of all Soyrizo seems to be a great compromise in my house, since The Boyfriend does still eat meat. He gets the deliciousness that is Chorizo and Eggs and I get to not have actual Chorizo in my house. It's a win, win for everyone.

Just as a heads up though, because this isn't meat, the "casing" on the "sausage" is NOT edible. I didn't see any mentions of this on the package, but the "sausage" is wrapped in a thin saran wrap, so make sure to cut the plastic off and squeeze the Soyrizo into the pan before cooking.

a twist on the green bean casserole

2008-12-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

A few years ago my vegetarian friend Russ was living with Jen Wa and I at one of crack house apartments and wanted to make us dinner. This was the first time I had the Famous French's Green Bean Casserole. He and I went to the store and I handed him a Pyrex dish and about half an hour later we had some delicious dinner.

Over the years though, I've made this recipe with a few tweaks, mostly to satisfy The Boyfriend who doesn't really like green beans, mushrooms or anything without a steak in it. Last night I made it again and for the first time ever, there weren't any leftovers! Triumph! Here's what I did.

WHAT TO USE:

1 can or 9 oz of green beans (I like the French of Fancy cut beans the best)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of potato soup
1 can of French's French Fried Onions (really these make the dish)
1 cup of crutons (I used garlic cheese flavor)
Milk
casserole dish

WHAT TO DO:

1-Open and drain green beans. Set aside.

2-Add can of cream of mushroom soup to casserole dish.

3-Add can of cream of potato soup to casserole dish

4-fill one of the empty cans with milk and stir into dish

5- stir in green beans

6- stir in crutons.

7- salt and pepper to taste. bake on 350 in oven for 20-30 minutes or until hot and thick.

8-remove dish from oven, add French's fried onions to the top of the dish like a crust

9-replace in oven and bake for 5 minutes or until top of casserole is golden brown.

10- remove from oven and let stand for about 5 minutes

The crutons and potato soup mask the mushroom soup and give the casserole more depth and texture, making it seem more like a meal than a sidedish. The Boyfriend had seconds and thirds, and he's a big meat eater, so I must have been doing something right.

Best of all, this is a fairly cheap dish to throw together and in our house, baking something in the oven is almost better than turning on the heater! Enjoy!

bento! (or holiday gift ideas for your veg friends)

2008-12-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

So recently I've become kind of obsessed with the concept of Bento Boxes. I have a lot of time on my hands and like to cook. And I love anything cute. I joined a community for Bento and I realized a lot of people who are into Bento are also vegetarians. The community on LJ has all the entries tagged so you can click straight through to veg or vegan boxes and there are some really creative ideas in there for packing a more appealing lunch.

With the holidays coming up I thought I would start a series on gift ideas for you to ask for or to give your vegetairan friends! So today's idea is all about the bento.

Some examples of the boxes:

This is a pretty traditional Japanese Bento.
It comes with:
*2 tier lunch box
*Lunch box bag
*Chopsticks
*Erastic belt

Or if you want to go a little more cutesy, there is this Black Sheep box.

And as far as I'm concerned you can't talk bento without bringing Miss Hello Kitty into the mix.

There are alot of extras you can also throw in when introducing someone to the art of bento. Like rice molds, so that they can create rice balls or even use them to make sushi. Some people like egg molds for hard boiled eggs and another almost essential product is a sauce container.

The best part about the bento is its resuable and you save some plastic waste, especially if you make sure to get the sauce/condiment container.

There are also loads of cook books on how to make bento boxes that would make a handy companion for a first time bento maker. The Manga Cookbook comes with a bento box already while Vegan Lunch Box takes a more American and totally vegan take on making and packing lunch.

I'll leave you with some photos of delicious looking veggie bentos. Come back soon for more gift ideas....

A couple of lunches prepared by jokergirl

contents:
Vegan Korean stew, -with sihmeji and enoki mushrooms. Then there's tomatoes, carrots, a dumpling and a mini muffin, and rice in the top layer.

Big box (top): Millet and chili sin carne decorated with parsley. Millet is actually rather tasty, but not very different from couscous texture and flavour-wise. Mmm.
Small box (bottom): Tiny croquettes on picks decorated with oregano; mini chocolate chip muffin (made in a condiment cup with a tiny amount of muffin dough), star-shaped carrots and a cup of tsatsiki.

Easy Breezy Beautiful Covergirl Shepherds Pie

2008-11-19T07:43:00.001-08:00

I'm Irish and lord knows many traditional Irish recipes call for two things: booze and meat. So last St Patricks Day, I was newly veg, and planning a party. I had no idea what to make until I came across a recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Now I'd had the meat version before at a pub in Santa Monica and thought it was pretty delicious and filling and would make a nice dish for the party. However all of the recipes I found were really time consuming and too much work to feed to a house full of drunks who were probably just going to complain about the lack of meat. So I went on a mission to make it just a little easier...

What you'll need:

For the topping:

Mashed Potatoes. Yes you could totally go boxed on these, but gross. I made my own and I'm a lazy bitch, so let's assume you're going to need real ones. To make mashed potatoes you need:

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled and quartered length-wise
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Tbsp heavy cream (or milk substitute)
2 Tbsp butter (or vegan butter substitute)
1 Tbsp milk
Salt and Pepper
1 teaspoon of minced garlic

1 Put potatoes into a pot. Add salt. Add water until potatoes are covered. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes, or until squishy and mashable

2 Warm cream and melt butter, together, either in microwave or in a pan on the stove. Drain water from potatoes. Put hot potatoes into a bowl. Add cream and melted butter. Use potato masher to mash potatoes until well mashed. Use a strong spoon to beat further, adding milk to achieve the consistency you desire. (Do not over-beat or your potatoes will get gluey.) Salt and pepper and garlic to taste.

Okay now set that aside, you'll need it in a little while.

Most Shepherds Pie recipes require you to make the filling yourself. But when I'd like to be drinking Guinness with my friends, I'd rather not be constructing what amounts to a vegetable soup all flippin day. So I called on Amy... Amy's Kitchen that is.

You'll need about two cans of Amy's Organic Soup. I used chunky vegetable (pictured below) but she's got a few interesting veggie combos brewing in her kitchen, if you know what I mean. I chose this brand because they have an easy to read "key" on their products that tells you if it's veggie or not. If you're new to the vegetarian game as I was last year, you might not know a lot of the "vegetable" soups that are on the shelves still have meat products in them. So be careful if you're using another brand.

Anyway take the two cans of Amy's Soup and combine them in a large pot. Add one pint of Guinness Beer and cover to simmer. I threw in some more garlic and pepper just make sure there was a kick to it.

Traditional Shephard's Pie does have meat in it and some people use artificial crumbles or whatever to replicate that texture and flavor, but I'm not really a faux meat crumbles girl, so I skipped it.

After heating the soup up and waiting for the Guiness to cook off, pour the soup into a pyrex dish. Wait a second for it to cool, because it will give the soup some "tackiness" which you will need.

Take the mashed potatoes you made earlier and spread them across the top of the soup, like a frosting or pie crust. You can also add some cheese or vegan cheese sprinkles over the top of the potatoes once you get them sprinkled in.

Put in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. If the potatoes are browning and the "cheese" is melting, your dish is done.

This recipe made about a large pryex casorol dish and a half for us and served about 11 people. This could also be an excellent edition to your Thanksgiving table.

ThanksflippingGiving

2008-11-17T10:45:00.001-08:00

This is going to be my first year as a Pescetarian at Thanksgiving. Now if I were hosting the dinners as Pescetarian we'd just have salmon or mussels or something but I am not and every where I am going to eat is tradition central. I came across an article at www.delish.com that has some veggie recipes so I thought I'd share that first.

http://www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/holidays/thanksgiving/vegetarian-thanksgiving-recipes?GT1=47003

But also I wanted to share my easy as a box of cornbread dressing I mixed up the other day.

Ingrediants:

1-box Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing

1- can Swanson Vegetarian Vegetable broth <-- btw the only broth I found at my local grocery that is 100% vegetairan.

1/2 green granny smith apple

1 green onion

How to do it:

Dice up the onion and green apple before putting the stuffing on.

Prepare the stuffing just like the box says except instead of water, use the can of vegetable broth. Add the apple and onion when you add the stuffing mix. Five minutes later you have delicious.

Other suggestions to add would be: dried cranberries, carrots, garlic, etc.

Later I promise to share my easy breezy beautiful covergirl recipe for Sheppard's Pie!

Review!

2008-11-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I had lunch at a great place in Bakersfield, California.

(I'll wait while you recover from the shock of this revelation)

Mama Roomba's in Bakersfield is a Caribbean place that sprung up a couple of years ago and despite having a fabulous menu that isn't totally meat laden, and very authentic, it's stayed open. Praise the food Gods.

I stopped in with my friend The Loss Adjuster and had a few things from their menu.

We ordered some sweet potato fries, sauteed mushrooms, plantain chips, and some calamari (because as I have mentioned before, I do sometimes eat fish) and washed it all back with some homemade Sangira.

Everything was beyond fantastic. The real treat at the end of the Sangria being of course all the fresh fruit that had been soaking in the glass. They offer it by the glass or by the pitcher for 19 dollars. Also our lunch came up to be about 40 bucks for two people with drinks, so it wasn't expensive.

I had been to Mama Roomba's a few years back and have also tried their mojitos. They are pretty much to die for.

After having spent Monday evening at the Los Angeles Farmer's Market, marveling at everything there that was available for a vegetarian person to eat, I was thought I was pretty spoiled, but Mama Roomba's really took the "cake" if you know what I mean.

Definitely if you ever do something wrong and are banished to Bakersfield, California for an evening, check out Mama Roomba's. Once you're full and happy you can grab a drink at the Alley Cat bar next door and really see some wild life...

my breakfast cereal subsititute

2008-11-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

Okay so everyone knows some cereals have animal products in them. And to be honest, I HATE OATMEAL. There I said it. Oatmeal is flippin' gross. Sue me.

So when I was a kid my mom made me something else on cold mornings and I finally reproduced it Vegan style yesterday morning and wanted to share.

Rice Cereal!

Now this takes about 10-20 minutes depending on how long your white rice takes to cook. My bag of white rice said 20 minutes but it was done in 10. I have a gas stove, so who knows, maybe it's hotter.

What you need:

1 cup of white rice

Soy/Rice/Almond milk

Vegan Butter

Sugar or sweetener substitute

How to do it:

Step 1 - Boil your rice. As mentioned before, this could take anywhere from 10 -20 minutes, so if you're busy in the mornings, you can always make the rice the nice before and stick it in the fridge. It works either way.

Step 2- Put rice in a bowl and add your milk product (I used Rice Dream Original) to taste.

Step 3- Add your butter product to taste

Step 4- Add your sugar product to taste

Step 5- Stuff in the microwave and heat it up like you would instant oatmeal. This should be good at about 1 minute on high (obviously you can do this on the stove as well, but this is all about the fast, it is BreakFast after all.)

Step 6- Pull out and stir around. Stick in face. Be full.

You can dress this mess up just like you do oatmeal as well. Brown sugar or cinnamon or fruit. It tastes very similar to oatmeal without the gross texture.

Plus this is a fairly cheap breakfast to make and as far as I know, kids like it!

GUEST RECIPE

2008-11-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

Jen Wa and I have a great friend, TheGreatestStar, who is also going veg! Here's her guest recipe on our blog! Thanks girl! This looks delicious

Vegetarian Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn
2 cans diced tomatos with chilis
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning Mix
1 packet taco seasoning
1 bag Morning Star Crumbles
2 medium raw onions
1 jalapeno (optional)

Directions

Sautee onions, chopped jalapeno (optional), crumbles, taco seasoning, hidden valley ranch seasoning and 1 cup water.
Add all other ingrediants without draining. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
May want to add garlic and chili powder.

Number of Servings: 10

We're all poor, I get it

2008-11-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

So today I was scanning some of the vegetarian blogs I read and someone posted a link to a website where you can feed your family of 4 for a week on 40 bucks. Now I know this is possible. Neither Jen Wa or myself are rich by any means, but it's always interesting to see someone else's take on it.

Over at HillbillyHouseWife, they've posted the menu that they use for this sort of eating and I was pleased to see it's almost entirely meat free and could be veganized with a few substitutions. Not that I'm all about converting others to my life style, but it's nice when others realize it's not all that bad.

election night nachos

2008-11-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

So last night I had a last minute election party and had to make a nacho/layered dip out of stuff I found in my cabinets. My recipe is completely vegetarian but could be made vegan with a few adjustments.

Ingredients:

1- Can of Black Beans

2- can of Vegetarian refried beans. This brand is my favorite.

3- can of diced tomatoes. the kind I had on hand were diced for salsa or chili, I use them when making my veg sloppy joes.

4- Cheese dip. Now since I'm not vegan, I just used the Tostitos Salsa Con Queso but for you vegans out there, I looked up a recipe for 30 Second Vegan Chili Cheese dip. Since that recipe calls for beans, you could forgo one of the other kinds of beans I used, but I actually think this would work just as well.

5- jar of salsa

6- cheese (or vegan cheese)

How to make it:

Grab an oven safe casarole dish. (Pyrex is best, y'all) Add the black beans as your bottom layer, then cover with the diced tomatoes. After that layer on the refried beans. Cover that layer with your cheese dip of choice. Sprinkle real cheese over the top.

How hot you cook it, really depends on how fast you want it. Since I wasn't in a hurry, I put mine in the oven at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes. Once I saw something boiling up in the pan, I pulled it out.

I served mine over Mission Round Tortilla chips and everyone went back for seconds at least, even the meat eaters...

beating the fast food cravings

2008-10-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've only been eating and cooking vegetarian for about 10 months now, so sometimes I get cravings for certain fast food things I used to eat when I was a meat eater. Namely the snack wraps at McDonalds. Gross, I know, but I was on the go a lot and there was a McDonalds right off the freeway near my old apartment.

Late for work? Grab a snack wrap! Going out and need some food? Snack wrap. After doing some grocery shopping the other day I figured out, that yep, I had the thing ingredients to make myself a "snack wrap" at home and I was pretty over joyed. It turned out pretty good and you can make it as simply or as complicated as you want. This recipe isn't Vegan, but it is entirely meat free.

What you'll need:

1-Morning Star Chikn Fingers (or another brand. I tricked my meat eating boyfriend with these though.)

2-Package of flour tortillas (or corn if you prefer)

3- Shredded cheese

4-Lettuce and whatever veggies you would like to throw in

5-Sauce of your choice. I made mine with honey mustard

What you do:

If you're looking to duplicate the McDonalds style snack wrap, you'll need one chikn strip per wrap. These can be microwaved, but honestly I prefer mine baked in the oven, it gives the faux chicken a crispier texture.

After your chikn is cooked, warm up your tortilla. Add the sauce of your choice, sprinkle in the lettuce and veggies and cheese. Add chickn piece and viola, you have something fast and easy, that you might miss if you're a recent vegetarian. Good drunken munchie food.

Also as an alternative, if you're a former Jack in the Box devotee, I suggest constructing your snack wrap in a pita to mimic their newest little "healthy" choice for the menu.

Vegan "Chicken" Fajitas

2008-10-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Not only am I vegan, I am also gluten intolerant. So cooking for me is always an extra difficult task. Nothing I cook is "fancy" but it all has to be from scratch, and it has to be quick and easy due to my busy schedule. Did I mention it also has to be cheap? I live on an extremely tight budget. Combine that with the fact that I only cook for myself and it gets to be a REAL challenge trying to add some flavor and live off on anything other than plain boring rice. I like to choose a theme for the week. For instance this week is mexican. A bag of corn tortillas can be used for numerous different recipes and leftovers can easily carry over to spice up new recipes the next day. It saves money and diminishes waste. For nothing irritates me more than having to toss out food. With that said, this is one of my favorite recipes.

Ingredients:
1 Package Tempeh (found next to the tofu)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Small Onion
1 Small Green Pepper
1 Package Fajita Seasoning Mix !!Always read the ingredients on the back to ensure it's vegan!!
Corn Tortillas

optional:
Tofutti Sour Cream
Vegan Gourmet Cheese

Slice onions, peppers, and Tempeh into thin strips. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan on medium high. Add onions, peppers, and Tempeh. Heat, stirring frequently until Tempeh is a golden brown. Add one cup of water and immediately mix in fajita mix. Turn heat down to a low to medium heat. Stir frequently until the water has boiled down. Heat up tortillas, fill with fajita mix, add cheese and sour cream if you so desire.

Quick, easy, and tasty! I like to later use the left over fajita filling to top nachos.

-Jen Wa

my baked mac and cheese

2008-10-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

I made this the other night because my boyfriend was craving baked mac and cheese. I did not make it vegan however. This is just a meat free recipe.

I made this early in the day and left it in the oven to keep it warm. I knew we were going out for cocktails later that night so I said "hmm, better make this now" as I generally don't like to handle boiling water when I'm drunk. I'm just sayin...

What you will need:

1-Can of Condensed Cheese Soup

Milk

3 cups of shell shaped macaroni

shredded cheese

crutons. I used ranch flavored.

I used two pans to get this done faster, but if you're trying to save dishes, you can easily prepare this in one pan.

Step 1:

Boil your macaroni. I don't boil mine down to exactly to the softness I would like because they will cook more when you bake the dish. I leave my noodles slightly al dente.

Step 2:
Heat the soup on stove. The can of soup I had asked to me to add a can full of milk as well. I've served condensed soup without the milk before and it's just richer. However I wanted to make sure I had enough cheese, so I used the milk this time around. Also if you want to add cheese to melt in the soup, its pretty tasty. I also added butter and garlic to it. Delicious!

Step 3
Strain the noodles and put them in an oven safe pan or pyrex dish.

Step 4:
Take your desired amount of crutons and crush them down. You can also use bread crumbs, but I like the texture of the crutons better.

Step 5:
Pour about half of the cheese soup into the pan with the noodles. Stir around until your noodles are covered.

Step 6:
Add layer of crutons and shredded cheese to the noodle mixture.

Step 7:
Add more of the cheese soup to the pan, making a layer over the crutons and shredded cheese.

Step 8:
Add more crutons and shredded cheese.

Step 9:
Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Obviously this might change depending on your oven. I cook with gas in pyrex and 400 is perfect.

After 20 minutes, you have a nice cheesy dish, which actually reheats very well. Good comfort food. And since it's all foggy and rainy where I live today, I might be making it again.

Vegan Cheese

2008-09-30T21:00:00.001-07:00

Since Stephanie posted a recipe that uses vegan cheese recently, I had to pipe in with my 2 cents worth. Vegan cheese is difficult to use. Plain and simple. For the most part it's kind of a joke and not worth the hassle. It doesn't really melt, the flavor can be lacking and within a day it dries up in the fridge and becomes even more unmanageable. It's like working with a virgin who finally gives it up (which ends up be quite lackluster since they don't know what they're doing) and then decides to go back to holding off since it's just too much to handle. That is how I view vegan cheese. Sometimes it's a near neccesity though.

When using vegan cheese though, I only use "Vegan Gourmet" this shit actually MELTS! It's the only vegan cheese I've found that does so. It also has a really good flavor. It still dries out and gets nasty if left in the fridge longer than a day though. Which is completely wasteful and annoying as all hell. Recently I had one too many glasses of wine before making dinner and got a bit carried away with my cheese grating and grated too much. Nothing other than my drunken haze compelled me to make this decision, but I ended up freezing said cheese. I knew I wouldn't be using it again for a while, and in the state that I was, sticking it in the freezer seemed like a perfect solution. After all, when you pay as much as you do for vegan cheese, who the hell wants to waste it? Little did I know, it actually was the perfect solution! Freezing it allows it to hold it's moisture and you can just take out a little bit at a time as you need it. It completely eliminates the waste! So now everytime I buy it I cut a few slices out of it, then shred the rest, put it all in a ziplock bag and shove it in the freezer. When I need it, I just take out whatever amount I need, let it sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes and then it's all set use! It's the perfect solution and makes for no waste which saves you money that can be better spent towards booze.

Off to fill up my wine glass!
Jen Wa

PRODUCT REVIEW

2008-09-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

I went grocery shopping the other day and picked up a premade Vegetarian sandwhich from the frozen section. I was shopping at Foods for Less and let's just say their selection is pretty crappy, but I don't always want to make myself a meal. I don't think I should be denied pre-made frozen crap just because I don't eat meat, so any time I see a quick and easy entree I have to try it.

This product is NOT Vegan. It does contain cheese.

I microwaved one of these puppies this morning and really my only complaint is the bread. The bun is pretty dry, small and very easily overcooked. The Chik'n patty though isn't bad. It's pretty flavorful and didn't dry out when I cooked it. I looked for traditional oven directions, since most frozen food is better if you cook it in the oven but is a strictly microwave product.

I don't think this would ever be something I bought on a regular basis, but hey, when the munchies strike and all you have at your disposal is the 24 hour grocery store, this isn't so bad. It's like the vegetarian equivalent of those bad gas station hot dogs and burgers people buy when they're drunk and trying to sober up. Not really that good or good for you, but sometimes needed.

Vegetarian Sloppy Joes? Oh yes, it can happen

2008-09-30T09:38:00.001-07:00

A long time ago before I decided to become a vegetarian/pescetarian, I dated a guy who was a veg for the first year we were together. I wasn't, but that didn't stop me from eating loads of yummy vegetarian things to try them out. One night we were drinking wine in a bar in North Hollywood and he confided in me that he really really missed Sloppy Joes.

Coming from a white trash taste palate myself, I love me some Sloppy Joes. So I ran right out and figured something out for him.

Since I was drunk and it was late we went the instant route, which is what this blog is all about. And we bought two more bottles of wine in the process.

Anyway what you will need to construct these drunken deliciousness is this:

1-Can of Sloppy Joe mix. I used Del Monte when I made these last night. Yes you can make your own sauce if you're that kind of uppity cook, but the point of this recipe is the simplicity with which you can make and eat something while wasted. Check the ingredients on any canned item before buying it to ensure it does not have animal products in it.

1-box of Rice O Roni Spanish Rice. (Or substitute the Spanish rice of your choice. Trust me though, Spanish rice is the way to go, so stop being a rice racsist and get back on board.)

1-14 oz Can of Tomatoes. You can substitute salsa here as well if you need a bigger kick in your Joes. However the chopped tomotaoes give the sandwhich more depth and a better consistancy.

1-package of the hamburger buns of your choice

1-sliced vegan cheese

Preparation:

Step 1- Have a cocktail. Walk around the house drinking and swearing and turn on some music. I like to cook to Tom Waits and Billie Holliday. I know Jen Wa prefers Rancid.

Step 2- Have another cocktail. Put the Spanish rice on the stove and cook it how the freakin' box says to. Don't forget to add the tomatoes. This is going to take about 20 minutes, so you might as well have another cocktail.

Step 3- After the rice has simmered down to the right consistancy you add the sloppy joe mixture. Stir it around and cover the rice with it just like you would if you were making the meaty version.

Step 4- (optional) toast the buns in the oven or toaster. I have a gas oven so I just toast them in there.

Step 5- Take toasted buns out and add your vegan cheese slices.

Step 6- Add the "sloppy joe" mix on to the bun according to how hungry you are. Be careful, these are actually very sloppy. But delicious.

Step 7- Have another cocktail and eat this goodness

I found this Vegan Sloppy Joe mix on the internet you can buy as well. I've never had it so I don't know if it's worth the 7.95 though. I've also never used a subsitute meat product instead of rice. Most faux meats gross me out to be quite honest, but I'm sure if you really wanted to grind up a Boca Burger and soak it in sloppy joe sauce, you could.