Zzzzzzuppa!

One last chain restaurant to go, and who could forget Olive Garden? There are a million things on the menu that could be easily veganized with cashew ricotta and Daiya, but I saw this soup that already had kale in it, and knew that it would be delicious no matter what.

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana is mostly sausage and potatoes, so I knew I'd have to buy some faux meat. I had no idea I'd be using the WHOLE tube of Gimme Lean. I'd say save this for a somewhat special occasion.



Vegan Zuppa Toscana
8-10 servings

1 lb vegan Italian sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 lg onion, diced
2 tsp crushed garlic
4 strips vegan bacon, diced (optional; I used Smart Bacon and it didn't hold up well. Tempeh maybe)
5 Not-Chicken broth cubes
10 cups water
1 lb peeled, sliced potatoes (about 3 large russets)
1 cup cashew cream (I used Mimicreme but soy creamer would work)
1/2 bunch kale, washed and cut into thin strips

Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and crushed red pepper. Break the sausage apart into bits while it's cooking. When done, dump inot a bowl and set aside.

In the same pot, heat 1 tbsp oil and add onion, bacon, and garlic. Cook on low for about 10-15 minutes until onion is soft. Dissolve the broth cubes in 2 cups hot water, and add to the pot with remaining 8 cups water. Bring to a boil, then add potatoes. Cook for 15 or so minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Remove from heat. Stir in cashew cream, sausage, and kale. Heat through. Serve.

Eatin' Good in the Vegan Hood

The first time I saw the commercial for Applebee's "Stacked, Stuffed, and Topped" menu, I thought the people in it were saying, "I liked being stuffed," "I like being topped," etc. Of course I laughed a lot because I'm 12.


Just watch the first five seconds, because then it gets gross.

One of the items on this menu was the Chicken Parmesan Stack. I decided to make it because I had all the stuff in the house. My apologies to my friend Melissa, for whom I promise to make a Maple Butter Blondie in the near future for letting me use her deep fryer. I was going to make the blondie for MoFo, but I am too many bus rides away from vanilla soy ice cream, and I already had to leave OccupyMN due to a stiff neck and back.



Fairly easy. Make some fettucine alfredo (sauce is easy with some Tofutti cream cheese, roasted garlic, a little salt, basil, pepper, unsweetened soy milk). Deep fry some Gardein chicken scallopine (I made a seasoned batter with flour, soy milk, sage, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper). Melt some Daiya mozzarella on the fried chick'n. Spoon marinara over it. Top (heh) with some more Daiya or parmesan alternative and fresh parsley. Voila. This took me all of 20 minutes. Of course, it'll take me a week to burn it off. Good thing I didn't make a pan of blondies.

The opposite of a heart attack.

Everybody on the intertubes goes on about how delicious the artichoke dip at TGI Friday's is, so I remade that shit long ago (in my pre-vegan years), and called it Heart Attack Dip. It was pretty loaded from what I can recall. I think the whole point was to not be able to stir it once it went in the oven because it was so packed with cheese. I think I heard a lot of hearts breaking when I went vegan, and some of my closer friends realized that I would no longer be making this dip. Well, I do still make this dip, thanks to Daiya and Tofutti!

Not-Heart Attack Dip, and some zebra butts.

Today was a hard day. This comforting dip, some French bread, and the company of a good friend who can share the struggles and joys of being an AR activist were just what I needed. Well, that and smoking a big fat bowl and watching some Arrested Development. You know, if I were into that kind of thing. *whistling*

So, if it's not Heart Attack Dip anymore, what do I call it?

Exhausted.

No, not exhausted from MoFo. Exhausted from working what seemed like a thousand days in a row, with today being the last night, as well as the busiest. I plan to sleep like the dead tonight. I am so grateful to Morning Megan for making this before work today, because there is no way I can face the kitchen right now. I need sleep. But first...

I remember going to Bennigan's twice in my life. Both times, I got the Monte Cristo. I'm a big fan of savory + sweet, so a French toast sandwich with all kinds of salty, meaty, cheesy insides that could be dipped in raspberry jam was just what the doctor ordered. I was nervous to make this, but it turned out better than I'd expected. I was out of Daiya cheddar, so I used Vegan Gourmet jack cheese and Daiya mozz. I also added Vegenaise (of COURSE), smoked Tofurky slices, and some fried up slices from this:



I know. Laugh it up. But this shit is amazing. I was never a big fan of ham when I was a meat eater, but I sure do like this all sliced up and fried with a little smoked paprika. It'll be making an appearance in another theme week; don't you worry. If you live near an Asian market, I recommend picking one up.

The bread I used is from Rudi's, of course. One thing about Rudi's bread is that it never lets me down. It's so hard to find whole wheat bread and buns that are vegan (a lot of them have honey), but almost every kind of bread of Rudi's that I pick out is vegan and delicious. I find them to be a brand I've come to rely on pretty heavily, so I was even more impressed when I asked if I could do a giveaway with some of their products on my blog during MoFo. Using the poker vernacular, they were all in!



So, if you'd like to win a Rudi's prize pack (coupon for a free Rudi's Organic loaf and a super cool sandwich container), go "like" Rudi's on Facebook, and then come back and leave a comment! Also, anonymous comments and guest comments with no contact info won't be in the running. Sorry, but I am way too busy to go tracking people down. I'll be announcing winners for this as well as the Wayfare winner next week. Since I get so few comments, I want to make it more interesting by dragging it out. *wink*

Check out these puppies.

So, the Tour of America menu at Denny's is the whole reason behind wanting to do a chain restaurant week for MoFo this year. But then, Denny's rolled out the "Let's Get Cheesy" menu, and I was sure I'd be rolling up my sleeves for a Daiya-stravaganza. Instead, I thought it would be fun to get a bag of Oppenheimer's white chocolate chips and make the Strawberry White Chocolate Pancake Puppies. Except of course, my local purveyor of vegan white chocolate chips was sold out, and it would cost a me an extra $7 to get them shipped. The day I spend $12 on a bag of fucking white chocolate chips is the day I win the friggin' lottery, and in that case, I would order a TON of shit online, and wouldn't care that I'd normally have to grab my ankles for shipping costs.

So, I made do with dark chocolate chips, and a swirl of raspberry preserves.


Here they are, nestled in my ugly cupcake carrier.

I drizzled (okay, doused) these guys in cream cheese icing after cooling off from being deep fried. I had two. My coworkers ate the rest. I am way too hard on myself, and apologized for how "brown" they turned out, but they got awesome reviews. They're very easily made using pancake batter thickened with some cornstarch, and dropped into a deep fryer, which I don't have. My stove is kind of a mess.

Yesterday, Wayfare Foods caught wind of my post about the Chicken Enchilada Soup. The marketing director made it, and they are sending me a coupon to give away to one of my readers! Yeah! If you live in the US, and have a place where you can pick up "We Can't Say It's Cheese" or any other Wayfare product, please leave a comment below. I'll choose one at random, and it's all yours! Just tell me in your comment what you're going to make with it. Thanks!

Not-Chicken Enchilada Soup

I don't think I've ever set foot in a Chili's. I certainly won't now, since Bob Torres wrote about them in Vegan Freak and said that there is absolutely NOTHING on the menu that even comes close to vegan. I haven't spent any time looking at their menu for any signs of a salad, so I cannot confirm nor deny that assertion.

When I searched, "favorite dish at Chili's," this came up a number of times on copycat recipe sites. I figured out the gist of what I needed to do to make it work, and it was very easy: no precise measurements needed. It's all about taste.

Here's a picture of the original soup here (it's the one on the right).

See those tortilla strips on top? Yeah. I couldn't find those fuckers anywhere. I was going to order them online, but the smallest amount I could order was a case of nine bags. I wasn't planning to open a vegan Chili's anytime soon, so I enlisted the help of anyone who'd listen that if they saw these things somewhere, just get them. Don't call me and say, "Hey, I'm in a corner store in Maple Grove, they got 'em!" Just get them. I'll make you soup. No one did. Then, I had Shannon stop at Cub for me to pick up Pillsbury crescent dough, and what did they have in the produce section?



After doing a quick label check, I did a little dance in the natural food aisle.





Not-Chicken Enchilada Soup
Makes 6-8 servings

1/2 diced onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz not-chicken broth
2 cups water (divided)
1/2 cup masa harina
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
few shots of Frank's Red Hot
1 container Wayfare's "We Can't Say It's Cheese" cheddar spread
1/2 cup shredded vegan cheddar (I used Daiya)
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup chopped chick'n (Trader Joe's has a good one called "Chickenless Chicken strips," but you can also use the Morningstar or chop up the Gardein scallopine chick'n)
Vegan sour cream
Pico de gallo
tortilla strips

Cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Stir in the broth, and turn up the heat. As you wait for it to boil, whisk the masa harina into one cup of water. Add that to the pot with the other cup of water. Add salt and spices. Stir in the cheeze. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, stirring until the cheeze is melted and blended in and the masa is cooked (about 10 minutes). Stir in the tomatoes and chick'n. Taste for salt/spice. Serve garnished with pico, vegan sour cream, and tortilla strips.

Happy MoFo! Week One: Chain Restaurants

I don't think a lot of vegans go to chain restaurants, other than maybe PF Chang's. Not so much because they have nothing to offer vegans (and special orders are usually out of the question, as food usually comes in bags so each and every restaurant in the chain tastes the same), but because most of us can whip something up that's pretty amazing for half the cost. However; some of us have things we miss, or things we'd like to try "if only it were vegan." Well, this week, I'm going to try to alleviate a few pangs.

First up, the Crab Stuffed Mushrooms from Red Lobster. I went there a lot as a kid, but when I was around 22, I dated a guy who worked there. The stories he told me pretty much sealed the deal on never eating there again (and quite possibly planted a seed for veganism). But as I looked over the menu, I figured that I could make a reasonable imitation of the mushrooms without too much work, and I wouldn't have to ask what was in them, and I wouldn't have to worry that some sweaty line cook dropped them on the floor. I picked up a bag of "vegetarian codfish balls" at a local Chinese restaurant, and got to work.

I wound up making way too much stuffing. I put it in the freezer so I can make these again for a Halloween party or something. So, if you make these, you're going to need to get a lot of mushrooms. I got some good sized ones.



Vegan Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Makes 25-30 appetizers

30 oz large mushrooms (3 10-oz pkgs), washed and de-stemmed. Chop up half the stems.
1/2 stick margarine
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 tbsp finely chopped celery
2 tbsp finely chopped red pepper
1 1/2 cups oyster crackers, crushed
7 oz package vegan codfish balls, or other vegan seafood item
Ener-G egg replacer and water to equal one egg
1/2 cup or more water
pinch salt
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning (I used the Chesapeake seasoning from Penzey's)
few twists fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheeze (I used Daiya)
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheeze (Daiya again)

Preheat oven to 400°

Cook the veggies and chopped up stems in the margarine over medium-low heat until tender. Set aside to cool. Chop up codfish balls in a food processor. Mix codfish, crushed crackers, cooled veggies, "egg," salt, pepper, spices, and cheddar cheeze. Add water to make for stuffable. Stuff the mushroom caps. You can pile it up on top, too. Place stuffed mushrooms in a baking dish, and sprinkle mozz cheeze all over. Bake for 15 minutes.