I’m in Evol

(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!

election night nachos

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

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.