Balls.

Here's a quick and easy one, and people who've never eaten vegan before will think you slaved over a stove for hours. It's really simple. All you need are meatless meatballs (I've seen them in the freezer at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and every co-op in the Twin Cities. I'm using Trader Joe's balls tonight), a small French bread roll or hoagie bun, some leftover marinara sauce, and some Daiya mozzarella cheese. Voila, vegan meatball hero.

Why did I opt for the quickest recipe ever tonight? I have to be up and back at work at 6:45am, and I love sleeping.

Slice open the hoagie roll. Brush with vegan margarine and crushed garlic. Toast lightly. Meanwhile, bake a few meatless balls according to the instructions on the bag. Heat up your sauce. Arrange some balls on the bread, slather with sauce, top with cheese. Broil the sandwich open faced for about two minutes, or until the cheese melts, but before you burn the bread (like I did).

Assemble your sandwich, get a bunch of napkins, and shove it in your facehole.

Mystery Box Day 2: Edamame Burgers

Today's challenge: Three of these four for Monday: celery, sunflower seeds, scallions, edamame.

These turned out DELICIOUS. 

Edamame Burgers with Sunflower Aioli
makes 4 large patties

2 cups frozen edamame, thawed 
1/4 cup hummus
1 tsp dried dill
dash salt
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
About 1 slice of bread's worth of crumbs
1 heaping tbsp golden flaxseed meal

Put all of this in the food processor, and combine until somewhat smooth. Stir in:
4 scallions, thinly sliced

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron pan. Fry the patties, about 2-3 minutes each side, until golden brown. Move to paper towels, so they don't get so oily.

Aioli:
1 cup vegan mayo
zest of 1 small lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
dash salt
3 tbsp raw sunflower seeds
olive oil (maybe 2 tbsp)

Blend until totally smooth, adding a stream of olive oil until it reaches the perfect consistency. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Put whatever you want on your burger: tomato, onion, sprouts. Slather with aioli. Grub. 

Cheezy Apple Roll-ups

This is a recipe that you'd find in one of those housewife magazines. I have friends that feel they need to confess because they occasionally buy Real Simple. Seriously? I'll see your Real Simple, and raise you a Taste of Home, Southern Living, and Woman's goddamn Day. I love those things. Maybe it's the Minnesotan in me that was fascinated with Grandma's baking off the back of the box, but those rags are great for fun ideas. This is a good one for kids, a football appetizer, or to have on the side with a bowl of one of the soups I made this month.

This reminds me of apple pie with a slice of cheese on it, which is SO GOOD. 



Cheezy Apple Roll-ups
makes 8

1 tube Pillsbury Crescent dough (it's vegan!)
1/4 recipe sharp cheddar from Artisan Vegan Cheese, before it's firmed up, or 3/4 cup Daiya cheddar shreds, or whatever vegan cheddar cheese you like
1 apple, cored and finely diced
1 tbsp margarine
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a heavy saucepan, heat the margarine. Sprinkle the diced apple with cinnamon, and cook over medium heat until golden. Set aside.
Roll out the Crescent dough, and separate. Spread cheeze on each triangle, and dot with apple bits. Roll up from the wide end, as shown.




This picture blows, but you get the idea.

 Bake on a cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for a few minutes, and serve.

Garlicky Oil-Free Pesto

One thing that sucks about having a job is that during Vegan MoFo, I don't really get second chances to make things. This is why I fail a lot. This dish was not a fail, but will definitely improve when I make it again and again. I think I just puréed it too long, and I need to tweak the seasoning. Don't get me wrong; it's delicious. I just think that I could have done better, but it was hard with all the running to the TV during the debates.

Pesto is traditionally very olive oily. Even when I looked up "lowfat" or "fat free" pesto, I got recipes with SOME oil in it. Well, not this one. It's similar to the recipe over on Oh She Glows, but I left out the lemon (which would have really helped!), and used three cloves of garlic. So, it's waaay garlicky, but I like it like that. I have the night off.



Garlicky Oil-Free Pesto
makes about 1 1/2 cups

3 cloves garlic, chopped 
3/4 can of white beans (I used cannelini), drained and rinsed
1/4 avocado, chopped   
3 oz. fresh basil, stems removed (reserve some for garnish)
handful baby spinach
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
juice of half a lemon
pinch salt
water
fresh ground pepper to taste

In a food processor, purée garlic, beans, and avocado until smooth. Add basil, spinach, walnuts, nooch, lemon, and salt. Turn on the processor and blend, scraping the sides, for 5 second intervals. Start dribbling water into the machine until it reaches a spreadable consistency (I think I used about 1/3 cup, total). Season with pepper, toss with hot pasta or use as a sandwich spread.



 
 

Point taken.

The only smart thing I did today was prepare the filling for these empanadas before leaving for work. Otherwise, I'd still be in the kitchen, and this blog entry would be late. I'd also be STARVING, because I spent my entire lunch break on the phone with T-Mobile, crying over the latest piece of shit phone they've sent me. This time, the phone won't charge. I was lucky enough to find my old flip phone and charger so I can at least talk and text until my new piece of shit arrives tomorrow. I think the woman I spoke with at tech support told me three times that I'll have to cough up $55 if the phone is actually damaged; as in, I broke it. I know, I know. I hate this shit. I want Credo to get some decent droids (or iPhones), and then I'm dropping this Motorola Charm piece of junk off the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.

Anyway, the empanadas turned out great. Thanks in part to this handy little gadget that I got for $1 about ten years ago, but finally used today:



As for the filling, I think the traditional Spanish recipe calls for beef, hard boiled eggs, and raisins. Oh, and sofrito, of course. I used Trader Joe's soy chorizo, potatoes, and dried cherries. I made a simple tomato sauce with minced onion, garlic, green pepper, white wine, and paprika. Instead of making dough, I used puff pastry. Baked at 400° until golden brown (about 15 minutes), and I had time to blog!

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*

Calm before the storm

The first week of MoFo is usually a hodgepodge for me, and I get right into themes on the second week. Tonight, I decided to make myself some leftover soup, and a grilled Daiya sandwich.



I like to mix dried rosemary into some Earth Balance and spread that on the outside before grilling. Try it. It's addicting.

So, I went grocery shopping today. I forgot my piece of shit camera, and took cell phone pictures, but they're all too small and bad. I really want a new camera. Something with a great macro setting for food photos. Not incredibly expensive. Good optical zoom. Post recommendations in the comments!

But, one picture I will share is this one.



Oh, hells yes.



Goodnight, MoFoers! Magazine week starts tomorrow.

No more Ms. Nice Vegan

I will freely admit that I can be a real bitch. But, I am usually pretty cool about doing favors. I don't usually have issues switching shifts with people, or staying to close, or coming in early, and that's pretty rare for my store. Today, I came in early to relieve my sick boss. He left, and then I noticed that no other managers were coming in for five hours. I thought, well, if I get a break, I'll just eat some peanut butter filled pretzels, and I'll be okay. At that point, all I'd eaten was a Hall's.

After hours of doing nothing but helping customers, vendors, following shoplifters, and filling in Christmas candy, I finally called Pizza Lucé and ordered: "A mock muffeleta, no cheese, with rinotta, and the vegan peanut butter bar." I then specified again, "Vegan," and "no animal products." Yeah. I got a muffeleta and the vegan peanut butter bar. There was no cheese on the sandwich. Just oh, about half a pig.

Long story short, um, shorter...it took another half hour for them to make it right. I was still bummed because I knew that sandwich was going to waste and it was just more death for nothing.

My food (vegan; I checked) showed up, and I finally ate around 7:30pm, about seven hours after my breakfast of one lozenge.





If anyone from Pizza Lucé is reading this? You guys totally owe me a free sandwich.

And next time I get a text to come in early? I'm deleting that shit and going back to bed.

The Jucy Lucy

The whole story of the most famous burger in town can be found here. I knew that the bar that invented it is disputed, but I was always told it was Matt's Bar, right by my old high school. I didn't try the damn thing until I had out of town guests (this was pre-veg, of course), and all I remember is that the entire first layer of my tongue and the roof of my mouth were burned off by the molten cheese inside the burger.

Well, since vegan cheese typically doesn't melt at all, I felt safe. I even dusted off the ol' George Foreman for this. It's easy. Gimme Lean hamburger made into two patties. One slab of Teese cheddar in the middle. Pinch it all around to seal in the cheeze, and throw it on the grill. Really fast and easy.



And, I was right. No molten cheeze. Just hot and yummy. And all the fixins.

Break's over.

Isa is back to posting recipes for us to test, and it's time for me to get up off my lazy arse and get in the kitchen. Since VeganMoFo is coming up in October, I really should start working out my skills. That means more cooking and more blogging.

She posted a slew of stuff, but this is what I had all the ingredients and patience for this evening.



Open Faced Portobello Reuben with Thousand Island White Bean Spread.

I wish diets were always this delicious.

Back to the kitchen.

Okay, my guy won the presidency, I'm healthy, I have time. It's time to get back to being creative.

I was thinking about burgers. When I ate meat, I was pretty good at making them. Fairly easy; some meat, onion, garlic, a little bit of breadcrumb, some steak sauce, and there you go. So why have I been so intimidated about making my own veggie ones? I used to buy the Boca ones a lot, but they started to taste a leeetle too much like mystery meat to me, and I wanted to come up with something that was hearty and delicious, but still quite obviously vegan. I'm all for my vegan cheesecakes, ice cream, scrambles, and sour cream tasting just like the animal product counterpart, but as far as meat is concerned, the less it tastes like the real thing, the better. 'Cept for sausage-y things, because it's all spices to begin with, anyway.

Don't you hate it when you come up with a great idea, only to find out it's been done? Every time I do this, I try to make it just a little different, so it can be uniquely mine. I found a million recipes for sweet potato lentil burgers on the interwebs, and they all resembled each other. Quinoa, cumin, blah blah. I made mine to be a little more substantial. They remind me of a falafel, but with a softer and sweeter taste.




Sambhar Garnet Yam Lentil Burgers
makes 12 big patties

1 cup rinsed brown lentils
1 chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 huge or 2 medium garnet yams, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 cup broth
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
2/3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 tbsp tamarind concentrate
2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp sambhar powder

Preheat oven to 375°

In a large pot, bring two cups of water to a boil. Do not salt; it makes the lentils hard. Add lentils. Bring back to a boil, then turn to low and simmer. Add onion. Simmer lentils for 20-40 minutes (it depends on how old your lentils are, so just keep checking). Meanwhile, steam your yams and carrot. Mash, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in a little broth, then add the gluten. Mix well until it toughens up a little; adding broth if you need to. When lentils are cooked, drain off any liquid, and add to the yam mixture. Mix, mix, mix. Stir in oats, tamarind, curry, and sambhar. Mix. Let it cool, and then form into patties. The stuff should be kind of sticky, so keep the water running. Put patties on a baking sheet coated with canola spray. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip, bake another 15. They should be golden brown. Serve in pitas with a yogurt-cilantro sauce.