Necessito Burrito!

Do you remember the commercials with the Taco Bell dog?  I love chihuahuas, so I liked them, even though they did get old.  I do not, however, love Taco Bell, and never really did.  Mexican food is great, but I don't know if Taco Bell really qualifies, and with menu items like "Beefy Cheesy Burritos," I would rather stay as far away as possible, even if they are one of the only fast food places you can get something vegan (special ordered of course).  We travel a good bit, so for us, a much better option for food on the go (when we run out of what we packed) is the new places like Chipotle, Boloco, and Moe's that have been popping up a lot lately.  We have a couple of Moe's (Moe's'?  How do you pluralize that?) around here, and it's also a nice option when we want to go out with our non-vegan friends (and I'm talking about you, Wayne & Loraine).  We generally go for the big burritos, with rice, beans, grilled veggies, salsa & guac.  So I decided to try my hand at making these at home.  I was looking to get the same type of taste, but with a little bit of a better nutrition quotient.  Here is what I came up with:

"Jo's" Burritos


(makes about 3 giant burritos)


3 large tortillas (like 12"+)
1/2 cup non-dairy cheddar cheese
2 cups brown rice, cooked
2 cups spicy black beans, cooked (see note)
2 cups sauteed veggies (such as onions, red peppers, mushrooms, olives)
Guacamole
Salsa


Note:  For my beans, I used a couple of cups of cooked beans (canned would also be fine), simmered until warm with chile powder, salt, pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes to taste.

1.  Grab a GINORMOUS tortilla.

2.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese on each tortilla.

3.  Spoon on 1/3 of rice and 1/3 of beans.

4.  Spoon on 1/3 of veggie mixture.

 5.  Top with guacamole (your own, or store bought, if you are lazy and/or can't find good avocados, like me).

6.  And add some salsa.

7.  Roll up as illustrated below:

8.  Enjoy your huge burrito!  

Feel free to add tofu sour cream and fresh tomatoes and lettuce, if you like as well.  I don't know if that would have fit in ours.  They were about to pop!  But the tortillas were very sturdy, which prevented it from being knife & fork food.

I call them Jo's, because that was one of my nicknames growing up (among others like Gee and Georgie).  Between my mom, my sisters and me, we would come up with all kinds of names to call each other besides our actual names (nice ones, I mean, for the most part anyway!).  Somehow, I was called Jo-ja and then Jojo, and then Jo, which I was happy about because I wanted to be a writer like Jo in Little Women.  I got off really easy with Jo, based on the first syllable of my name, compared to my sister Astra.  I think you can see where I'm going with that!  :)  

A Quick Snack

Just popping in quickly today to post about a tea time snack I made the other day.  John used to be a big fan of the chocolate chip muffin from Dunkin' Donuts, in theory at least.  Generally when he would get one, it wouldn't be as good as he hoped, and instead would be dry and crumbly.  When we started flirting with the idea of veganism, I bought a couple of cookbooks to try out some recipes, and one of them was How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer.  It seemed like the authors were a lot of fun, and the ingredients were pretty much normal, so I felt like it would be achievable.  The first recipe I picked was the Chocolate Chip Bars, which turned out to be the perfect replacement for chocolate chip muffins, and much more dependably delicious than Dunkin' Donuts.

Sorry for the red tint - low light situation going on here and the tablecloth took over.

These make a great little snack with a cup of tea, or a light breakfast on the go.  I make them with part whole wheat pastry flour to try to up the nutritional profile a bit, and I'd like to try replacing the added fat with applesauce or banana.  I do think the recipe should actually be called Chocolate Chip Muffin Cake, because the texture comes out much more cakey than fudgy, which is not what I would have expected with bars.  The recipe isn't available online, so I can't reprint it here, but I do recommend checking out Barnard & Kramer's book (and their follow up The Garden of Vegan), as both contain a lot of easy, tasty recipes that use ingredients you probably already have on hand, and the ladies are chock-full of personality, which makes the books more fun to read.  You may even be able to find these books at your local library, so don't forget to use that as a resource!

Vegan Sunday Brunch

It's funny to think about it now, since weekend brunches are something I look forward to all week, but the meal I was most puzzled about as a prospective new vegan was breakfast.  I could see myself functioning without bacon or sausage, since I was never a pork enthusiast anyway, but I couldn't for the life of me imagine what I would be starting my day with if it wasn't eggs.  In addition, pretty much any other breakfast staple I liked, such as french toast or pancakes, generally included eggs or dairy among their ingredients.  As it turns out, the many genius vegans who have paved the way for me have found a way to veganize just about any food, so french toast and pancakes are a snap with a few substitutions.  And eggs are not as hard to replace as I thought they would be, thanks to the tofu scramble.  Probably every vegan has their favorite way to prepare this staple, and mine is certainly not revolutionary in any way, but I thought it would be a good thing to share, especially with my non-veg readers who are slightly mystified by tofu, much as I was a little over two years ago.  If I was teaching a class called "Introduction to Tofu," this would be my first assignment.

Georgia's Tofu Scramble:  A Photo Essay

 Scramble Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

3/4 cup sliced mushrooms

1 small tomato, diced

1 block of firm tofu, lightly squeezed to remove water

1 tbsp Earth Balance margarine

Spices of choice:  black salt*, pepper, oregano, turmeric**, garlic powder, chile powder, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast

*Black salt is a natural salt that contains additional minerals that give an eggy taste.  On its own, its taste exactly mimics boiled eggs.  Added to a scramble, it adds saltiness as well as a slight egginess.

**Turmeric is necessary here to naturally add yellow coloring to the tofu.  Its health benefits make it excellent for other reasons as well.

1.  Melt margarine in skillet over medium heat.  Saute onions and peppers until onions begin to turn translucent.

 2.  Add mushrooms and continue to saute, lowering heat slightly if onions are cooking too quickly

(Don't be alarmed if a mushroom accidentally falls into your mouth.)

3.  When mushrooms have started to brown, add tomatoes and stir several times, just to get slightly heated.

4.  Move veggies to one side, and add tofu block to pan.

5.  Break tofu block apart with spoon.  Should be in bite size pieces, but left slightly chunky, mimicking texture of scrambled eggs.

 6.  Add spices in desired quantities to tofu.  (I would recommend a couple pinches of each herb or spice listed above.)  Stir together with veggies and continue to cook over medium/low heat for five minutes, until spices are incorporated and mixture is heated through but not browned.

7.  Serve and enjoy.  Makes about 3 large servings.  Goes perfectly with breakfast potatoes and vegan-buttered toast.

As with my chili recipe, this tofu scramble is very open to substitutions and changes, depending on what you have on hand.  Sometimes I add kalamata olives, minced garlic cloves, or a handful of spinach.  Either way, it's a delicious and filling breakfast, and unlike its scrambled egg counterpart, if you have leftovers, you can refrigerate and eat it later, because it tastes just as good reheated.  It's also cholesterol free and much lower in saturated fat, so your heart will be just as happy as your tummy!

Turning Convenience Food into Comfort Food

So I didn't really intend to go all Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade on you tonight, but that is what I ended up doing for dinner, so here we go.  Truth be told, although I don't have a lot of respect for someone who uses that amount of processed food on her television show, I can see that this is something that a lot of folks probably do need to do in their everyday lives.  I am kid-free (by choice, maybe not permanently), pet-free (because of allergies), and I only have a 40-hour a week office job that I generally leave at the office, and there are still a lot of days when I end up depending on something from a can or a jar, so those of you who have additional challenges have a lot of sympathy from me.  We had a bit of a busy day today, ate a late breakfast, went back to the record store (someone in this house has a problem, and it's obviously catching because I'm getting infected too), went to three different grocery stores plus one liquor store, and once we got home, I had a pile of dishes to do before I could even cook.  So by the time I got started on dinner, it wasn't going to be something super-gourmet.  That's what Sundays are for!  But we did have something delicious and mostly home-cooked that really hit the spot on this snowy night: pasta & salad, dressed up just a little.

For the salad, I just used romaine, shredded carrots, and what passes for a tomato in New England in January.  John likes his salad dry and dressing is expensive, so I tried making my own tahini-lemon dressing.  It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, so I'll post another time after it's been tweaked.  It worked well enough for me tonight though.  Cracked a bottle of Red Truck red wine (they aren't paying me, I just really like their wine, both the taste and the $7 price tag), I cooked a pound of rotini according to package directions, and tossed it with the following sauce.

Georgia's Semi-Homemade Marinara


1/2 large or 1 medium onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms (cremini or white button)
10 meatless meatballs (I used Trader Joe's)
1 jar pre-made pasta sauce of your choice (I used Muir Glen Cabernet Marinara)
1 pound pasta, cooked
Nutritional yeast (optional)

Spray skillet with small amount of oil or use water to saute onion and pepper over medium heat.  In the meantime, place meatballs in large saucepan.  Cover with pasta sauce, then fill empty jar halfway with water.  Place lid on and shake to get remaining sauce off lid and jar.  Pour sauce-water into saucepan, and stir.  Turn heat to medium to bring sauce to a simmer.  Back in the skillet, add mushrooms and saute until onions are translucent and mushrooms have browned and begun to shrink.  Add onion, mushroom, and pepper mixture to sauce and turn heat to low.  Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.  Toss with prepared pasta, and serve with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, if desired.  Makes 6 servings.

Once again, a ton of leftovers, which we will probably eat for lunch tomorrow, or I will take to lunch early next week, since we still have chili from the other night, yay!  All in all, a great day.  I scored a Crowded House 45 single at the record store today.

Those of you who know me well are laughing.  I've been a mega Crowded House fan since I heard "Don't Dream It's Over" in the miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand when it was on TV back in the mid-nineties.  And I probably have 42 copies of "Something So Strong" already on different formats, but this one is a 45 single and it has "I Walk Away" as a B-side!  So it was worth a buck. (Told you I was catching the vinyl bug!)  If you haven't had dessert yet, go make a peanut butter banana smoothie in honor of Elvis's birthday today.

Elvis Smoothie


1 medium banana, frozen
1 tbsp natural peanut butter
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk of your choice)


Combine all ingredients and blend in high-speed blender until completely mixed. Depending on the sweetness of your banana, peanut butter, and non-dairy milk, you may need to sweeten to taste and re-blend.  I recommend stevia or agave nectar.

"Modular" Chili

Tonight for dinner, I made one of my favorite standby dishes for a busy night.  John and I both love chili any time of year, but in the winter, it's extra special because it's such a warming dish, and considering how chilly it was today, we needed it.  The reason I call it "modular" is because you can basically use a variety of ingredients depending on what you have on hand, and it always comes out good. As long as you have some amount of canned tomatoes, cooked beans, and basic chili spices, you are good to go.  Sauteed fresh veggies are also a good addition, as well as TVP or soy crumbles.  Then once you have it cooked, you can serve over baked potatoes, with tortilla chips, or just plain in the bowl, with Tofutti sour cream and vegan cheese, if you like.

My recipe from tonight follows below, but I strongly encourage you to make like a jazz musician and improvise.  I will only give approximations of the spices I used, because I don't really measure.

Three Bean Chili with TVP, Onion & Pepper

5 cups of mixed beans (red kidney, black, and pinto beans prepared from dried, pre-soaked and simmered with kombu*)
2-14 oz. cans of fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup TVP
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 large green bell pepper, diced
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp chile powder
2 pinches oregano
Dash garlic powder
1 tsp salt
Additional salt & pepper to taste


Remove kombu from bean mixture after beans have reached desired softness.  Mix in canned tomatoes and bring back to a simmer.  Mixture should not be soupy, but should not be too chunky either.  Add a cup of water if it seems too dry.  Once a simmer is achieved, add TVP to rehydrate in liquid.  Continue to simmer for 10 minutes.  In the meantime, heat 1/4 cup water over medium heat in a small skillet.  Add diced onion and bell pepper and saute until tender crisp, about 5 minutes.  Add onion and pepper to tomato and bean mixture and incorporate.  Add remaining ingredients and continue to simmer for the remaining 5 minutes.  Serve with Daiya vegan cheese and blue corn tortilla chips.

*Kombu is also known as kelp.  It adds some minerals to the beans and is rumored to aid in their digestibility.  You can buy it in dried packages in health food stores.

Another positive that I haven't mentioned yet is that after both of us had a good-sized bowl for dinner, there is still more than a quart left.  And it tastes better after the flavors have had time to soak in overnight!  I made it on a Thursday, but I highly recommend making this on a weekend so that you can take it to work for lunch a few times throughout the week.  It's an easy way to make sure you have a healthy, filling lunch on hand.  I am the farthest thing from a morning person, so having food that's ready to go out the door with me at 6:30 AM is a huge deal.  Happy eating!

Me & My Cookbooks, plus Red Lentil Artichoke Stew

OK, so I may have a slight vegan cookbook addiction.

This is pretty much all the vegan ones, not counting e-books.

This was definitely a post-vegetarian development.  Before November 2008, I had about 6 cookbooks, and I thought I was overloaded.  Now, I have around 27 vegan only cookbooks, plus 3 vegetarian, plus a few others that are omni but have a large vegan (or veganizable) selection of recipes.  This is also not to mention the myriad of absolutely phenomenal bloggers who are out there putting out great recipes, sometimes daily.  Some of them do have cookbooks out, or coming out (for example, I can guarantee that my next purchase will be The Happy Herbivore Cookbook by Lindsay Nixon of www.happyherbivore.com, due out this month), but some of them don't, and you really need to explore the world of vegan blogging.  I have to admit I have only been a lurker and haven't commented (I am surprisingly internet-shy), but these people are my heroes!

Tonight's recipe is something I originally found in a flyer at Whole Foods about recipes under $40, all of which happened to be vegan.  It also appears in my newest acquisition, The Vegan Table, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.  Although I made quite a few changes, I am not comfortable including the actual recipe (I'd rather err on the side of not stealing), but I did find another adapted recipe on another site that is practically the same, so I will link to it and tell you my changes.  Here is the link:  Red Lentil Artichoke Stew.

The spices in the recipe seemed to give more of a Middle Eastern or Indian flair to the dish, but I decided to go more Italian.  My changes:

• I am not a cumin fan, so instead of several teaspoonsful, I only added a dash.  
• I eliminated the coriander.
• I added about a teaspoon of basil.
• I added a dash of oregano (would have been more, but I ran out.  I am an oregano maniac.)
• For the salt/pepper to taste, I went with no salt (plenty from the tomatoes & artichokes) and added about 1/2 tsp of pepper.  
• I increased the red pepper flakes to 1/2 tsp.

Another quick note is that at the beginning, the onion should be sauteed in a bit of water.  This eliminates any need for oil, which is a great bonus, making this a low fat, high protein, whole food meal.  I served over brown rice, and we had a few glasses of Green Truck white wine, which I would highly recommend.  It's organic and vegan, and John said it's his favorite white wine ever.  Usually my heart belongs to red, but for this meal, the white was a nice match.  I don't know anything about wine pairing though, so don't kill me if I sound like an idiot.

This was SO GOOD.  Like, go make it now, in other words.  The great thing was, most everything was already in my pantry.  I had to go buy a lemon for the juice, but that wasn't a big deal.  We had a nice big portion each, and even with that, we both have enough for lunch tomorrow.

I am headed back to work tomorrow.  (GROSS.)   I have to say, it has been so wonderful to be off at the first of the year, starting things off right and having plenty of time to relax but still be able to devote time to my new project and to myself.

Susty's Cafe

Although we are extremely lucky to have so many options for vegan dining out here in Worcester, I am always looking for something new.  This doesn't mean we don't have our favorites (this means you, Tortilla Sam's), but on days when it's a special occasion, or we just have extra time, we like to venture out further to find something different, and if possible, something completely vegan.  Contrary to popular belief, it's not difficult to find something we can eat and will enjoy at pretty much any restaurant, but it's also nice to be able to pick out anything on the menu without worrying if it is going to upset our stomachs--or our ethics, since John & I are vegan for the animals as much as we are vegan for our health.  I will post more about that soon, since I imagine quite a few people who know me "in real life" are curious as to why I decided to make this lifestyle change almost 2 years ago.

At any rate, my search for a new place to eat my birthday dinner yesterday led us to Northwood, New Hampshire to Susty's Cafe.  The menu at Susty's describes the cafe as 100% vegan and 99% organic.  We were happy to walk in and find it warm and inviting, and one of the people working there came out and welcomed us and invited us to sit anywhere.  It was not busy at all; in fact, we were the only customers there the entire time.  Here's what we ate:

 Nachos with black beans, cheezy sauce, tomato, & avocado

This appetizer was devoured instantly.  John & I both love Mexican, and this was spiced so delicately and perfectly that it was the perfect start to our meal.  

When it came to our entrees, we both were thinking comfort food.  The weather is not as bad as it could be up here, but it is dark out and kind of chilly, so we were all about eating something warm that would stick to our ribs.  John opted for the Roasted Seitan Plate, and I went with the Shepherd's Pie.  I got a side salad with mine, but I accidentally inhaled it before I remembered to take a picture.  The veggies were so fresh and delicious!  According to the woman who seated us, who I am assuming was the owner, the restaurant has a good relationship with a local farmer, so a good portion of the food they serve is local and as fresh as can be.  The salad was simply mixed greens and shredded carrots with a cucumber slice (which I gave away -- I can't stand cucumbers!  I know I'm weird.), and I opted for a lemon-tahini dressing.  I blame the dressing as the reason I forgot to take a picture.  I can't be trusted around tahini!  Here are our entree plates:

 Shepherd's Pie - Seitan chunks, corn, peas, and savory gravy with mashed potato topping

Roasted Seitan Plate - Seitan slices, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots and kale

This was by far the most fantastic seitan I have ever had, and that includes a seitan piccata that John had at Candle 79.  It was very similar in both taste and texture to pot roast.  Susty's offers classes on a variety of different subjects, and this made me wish I could go to the seitan class!  I have never made it myself at home, so I am a little intimidated.  Alas, their classes seem to be on weekdays, unfortunately.  So I will be making homemade seitan someday soon, and whether it's good or bad, I'll blog it!  For those of you unaware of what exactly seitan is, it is also called "wheat meat," and it is a high protein, "meaty" substance made out of wheat gluten.  It makes a good meat stand-in in many dishes, much like tofu.  I will acknowledge that it does sound kind of weird, but it's actually really good, and it has a long culinary history in other cultures.

I couldn't have a birthday meal without dessert, and there were quite a few options, which was another positive, since dessert is usually a big no-no at regular restaurants (since almost anything includes dairy and/or eggs).  I went with apple pie, and John had strawberry cake with strawberry icing.

Not too sweet, not too small, not too big.  Just right!

John was in heaven eating this cake.  He's a strawberry maniac!

In the end, we were extremely satisfied with our visit to this little restaurant.  The people working there were wonderful, the atmosphere was warm and cozy, and the food was top notch.  Portion-wise, it was just enough that we felt full but not stuffed, and we were able to have a variety of food.  The price was a little on the high side, but you are getting what you are paying for, and with the caliber of food we were eating, it was worthwhile.  We didn't have anything to drink beyond the complimentary water, so that could up the price a bit, but for our appetizer, entrees and desserts, the bill was $51 plus tip.  We can certainly eat cheaper at other places, but certainly not this well.  

I would highly recommend Susty's Cafe to anyone, whether vegan or not.  It's the kind of place that feeds your soul as well as it feeds your belly, and this day in age, when it's second nature of so many of us to just run by Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch, eating real food grown and prepared by real people is more important than ever.

See Susty's Cafe website, including their menu and cooking class schedule here:  Susty's Cafe