California Burrito Grande

I was missing the California Burrito Grande from Boca Grande in Cambridge, MA.

I've been sprouting alfalfa (and adzuki beans, fennel, and daikon radish, but more on those later,) and the California Burrito Grande seemed like the perfect showcase for alfalfa sprouts.  I made this for my mom last weekend and she enjoyed it too.  The avocados* came from SoCal Avocados.  I saw an ad on facebook a few months ago and now I get 20 perfect avocados delivered every month.

California Burrito Grande
1 tortilla (officially flour, but corn works, too)
1/4 to 1/2 avocado cut into chunks (or guacamole)
2-4 TBS Salsa or tomatoes
Handfull of Sprouts

Warm the tortilla**, top with avocado, salsa, and sprouts, then wrap up and enjoy.  I like to add jalapeno hot sauce and a little lime juice, too.  You can also add some chipotle or ancho chili powder on the avocado for an extra kick.

Don't add warm beans and rice, though.  Have them on the side if you want them.  At Boca Grande they normally come on a burrito so they would always ask and one time I mistakenly said yes.  It's a totally different burrito and you loose the freshness of the sprouts.  I'm not knocking a good rice & bean burrito, it's just not the same thing.


*Did you know you can freeze avocados?  Just ripen, then split and take out the pit.  Scoop out the entire half and place it in a freezer bag.  Just thaw and mash into guacamole or don't even bother thawing them and add half to a smoothie. Yum.

**Here's how I normally warm a tortilla:  Wet the tortilla under running water and shake off the excess.  It shouldn't be drowning, just dampened.  The idea is to quickly steam it.  Put it in a toaster oven on high heat for about 2 minutes.  Check it and it should be warm and still pliable.  Adjust time or heat to your liking.
Leaving it for too long on too high heat is a definite fire hazard because it will likely puff up and hit the heating elements.  If you're making a whole bunch, you can wrap them in foil and stick in the oven.  Most packages have instructions for warming.  I don't recommend a microwave unless that's all you got, but wet 2 paper towels and put the tortilla between them and nuke for 30-45 seconds.

Black Eyed Pea cutlets

Yeah I've made bean cutlets before, but I've cooked so little blog worthy stuff lately, I had to throw them in again.  So much easier than going the whole boil-or-bake seitan from scratch route.  I use the v-con chickpea cutlets as inspiration, but they're never exactly the same twice.  Key ingredients are beans, wheat gluten, and salt.  Otherwise it's fair game for flavors.  I like black eyed peas because the bean is pretty flavorful on it's own.  I cooked some from dried awhile ago and froze them in 1 1/2 cup portions expressly for this purpose.

Black eyed pea cutlets

1 1/2 cups cooked black eyed peas
3 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 TBS poultry seasoning
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1 tsp savory
1 tsp paprika
1/3 cup broth
3/4 cup panko (bread crumbs/matzoh)
3/4 cup vital wheat gluten

Blend the beans with the soy sauce, olive oil, chopped garlic, seasoning, and broth.  Pour into a medium bowl and add bread crumbs and wheat gluten.  Mix with your hands and knead for a minute or so until it forms a large stringy dough ball.  Break off into pieces slightly larger than a ping-pong ball and flatten with a rolling pin (or wine bottle.)  Heat skillet (cast iron) with 1/4 inch oil.  Fry until golden brown.

Now the possibilities are endless.  Sure you can season these to what you're making, but I've used similar seasoned cutlets in everything from cutlet parmigiana and burritos to sandwiches and sushi rolls.

Right now, I'm just eating them off the cooling rack...yum.    

Updated with cutlet and avocado maki.  I couldn't find the bamboo roller, so here's proof that you can use parchment paper in a pinch.  A clean dishtowel works, too.

Avocado breakfast tortilla?

I don't even know what to call this...avocado rancheros, avocado salsa in a tortilla bowl, experimental avocado breakfast gone right?  Whatever.  It was super delicious.

There may or may not be an actual trick for making a flour tortilla puff up and get just the right amount of crispy, but my toaster oven sure knew what to do this morning.  I was just trying to heat up the tortilla, but when the toaster dinged, I found a perfectly puffy round tortilla.  Probably a fire hazard now that I think about it, so if you do try this at home, use proper caution.  I punched out a hole in the top and filled with warmed salsa and avocado.  Served with a side of chipotle mayo of course.  This would have been just as tasty with a flat tortilla, but it wouldn't have looked as cool.

I got a whole bunch of avocados from so-cal avocados , so expect them to be a more regular feature.  Mostly I just eat them with a little soy sauce or salt and lemon or balsamic vinegar.   

If you're playing Friends trivia, it's Joey's favorite food...

Sandwiches!

Everything tastes better toasted.

Pepperoni Pizza Toasty

2 slices of bread
3-4 slices of Vegan cheese
2 slices Vegan turkey
8 slices Vegan pepperoni 
Vegenaise
Tomato sauce

I know you don't really need a recipe for a sandwich, right?  I used the Cuisinart Griddler panini press to make it toasty.  I have the original version of this gadget, and it's quite multi functional for a small apartment.  

Spread the vegenaise on the bread, spread tomato sauce over that.  Add a layer of cheese, turkey, pepperoni and cheese (so you have cheese net to the bread on both pieces.)  Then place on preheated griddle and toast to toasty perfection.  Put at an angle, then shift 90 degrees to get cool hash marks. Sometimes I spray with non-stick canola spray and sometimes I don't, it really comes out the same.

Yum...

Doomsday Prepper or Miss Minimalist? and some Rye Bread...

So I'm cleaning out a closet trying to balance being a Doomsday Prepper  and a Minimalist.  I've clearly been watching too much Nat Geo and reading too many feng shui e-books...   

Doomsday Prepper Minimalist food supply:  Dried beans; check.  Rice; check.  Water; enough for a few days and stuff that will hopefully purify the Hudson River; check.  Lots of things to flavor the beans & rice; check.  Yeah, I guess I can live off that for awhile if the *bleep* hits the fan.  The ninja wants weapons.  I'll take care of the food.  I don't plan on eating squirrel.

Next step is to redo the Vegan Unplugged pantry supply box.  My brilliant idea to keep it fresh is to donate the whole thing for the holiday food drive (complete with a can opener and a copy of Vegan Unplugged) and then replenish annually.  Good thing we didn't get a blizzard this year, since I've been without the supply box for 2 months.  I had lots of fun with this during hurricane Irene last August even though we didn't even lose power.    

Now onto the rye bread.  A bread machine embodies the opposite of a both a doomsday prepper and minimalist, but I do love this darn thing.  I've had it for at least 12 years, and lost the manual ages ago, but I just found it online (yay!) and was inspired to make the rye bread with rye flour from King Arthur Flour that has been languishing in the pantry.      

Nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning...toasts nicely.   

Ghost Peppers & Gardein Soft Tacos

My cousin sent me some ghost peppers fresh from his plants in LA.  This fiery monster's official name is Bhut Jolokia and it is touted to be the world's hottest pepper.

I sauteed up a small one with the Gardein, and although it has a nice smooth pungent spicy smoky flavor, I ate a whole one in the burrito without even breaking a sweat.  Good blend of heat with flavor, but I don't think it's the hottest pepper I've had.  I did take out the seeds and spines, which probably helped.

Gardein cutlets, avocado, tomato, ghost pepper, Daiya cheddar and, Vegan Gourmet sour cream.

Think it's a Superbowl snack?  Heck no.  I'm watching Gosford Park, then Downton Abbey on PBS.

Gardein Crispy Tenders

If you're on Facebook you can hardly miss someone posting the the photos of the mysterious pink mechanically separated meat. If you want all the fun without all the grossness, check out Gardein's Crispy tenders.  It's been awhile since I've had an actual McNugget, but these make a pretty good substitute.  Mmm bbq sauce...

  

I'm working my way through trying all the Gardein varieties.  I've found them frequently at regular grocery stores, but you can find them at Whole Foods as well.  There are some varieties in the fridge section and some in the freezer.  Also may randomly appear in the fresh fruit and veggie section.

Westchester Vegan Eat-Up at Haven in Pleasantville

Awesome blogger JL Goes Vegan hosted our local Veg*an Eat-Up meet-up event at Haven in Pleasantville, NY.  Vegan friendly American cuisine focusing on fresh, organic, market driven foods.  There are several vegan dishes on the menu at all times so between the Ninja and I we ordered them all.

First up was butternut squash soup  

Then a nice mixed greens salad (I confess this photo is JL's)

Crispy chickpea fries with a spiced black cherry cream.  This sauce was delicious.

Chef made cauliflower broccoli squash ravioli just for our vegan group.  The Ninja really enjoyed this and didn't really miss the non-vegan item he wanted to order...

 I had the soba noodles with white bean meatballs.

Dessert was a super delish dairy free chocolate cake with raspberry sauce.  Yum!

JL got a pic of the whole group.

Totally fun night meeting new people and eating awesome vegan food.

Cheers!

New Year's Rancheros

Resolutions schmesolutions.  Blog worthy or no, I'm bringing in 2012 with an old classic.  Scramble rancheros.  Tortillas, a little salsa, a little tofu, and voila breakfast of campeones.  Fresh salsa makes it super awesome, and I just wouldn't be me if there wasn't a little chipotle vegenaise on the side.

Happy New Year's ya'll.

 

Super easy meaty weeknight ziti

Sometimes I wonder why anyone bothers writing pasta recipes since it's so easy just to throw stuff in that you've got in the cupboard, freezer, and fridge.  Here's an easy weeknight pasta recipe anyway.

Beefy 'shroomy ziti - serves one with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow

1/4 bag/box pasta or whatever you've got open in the cabinet 

1 totally freezer burned vegan veggie burger

Hand full of frozen mushrooms covered in frost that you saved from the summer farmer's market/CSA

Any remaining wine from wine glass from the day before when you fell asleep watching TV

Sprinkle italian herbs/garlic

2-3 big dashes of Tobasco

Any remaining Ragu or similarly jarred spaghetti sauce you find near the back of the fridge

Cook pasta.  Saute everything else together in pan and add pasta when done, then let cook another 5 minutes to absorb the sauce. 

Seriously and I wonder why I neglect the blog.  Clearly I need to cook more interesting stuff.  Me thinks it's time to make some vegan cupcakes...look out!

Mofo 15 - Sexy Vegetables! - Daikon Radish

I picked up this well hung daikon radish at the Farmer's Market in Lewes this morning. 

Daikon food porn...

The daikon was quite a bargain at $3.  It took up half the back seat.  I'll make something Japanese with it tomorrow.

The Lewes Farmer's Market.  Nestled in the wooded grounds of the Historical Society in downtown.

Now I'm headed to my High School reunion like Zach & Miri and Romy & Michele with a little Grosse Point Blank.

Candle Cafe at home (or work) Seitan Piccata!

I was grabbing a few vegan Kashi frozen meals for the office when I spied a familiar logo at the bottom of the Whole Foods freezer.  Can this be?  It's Candle Cafe's seitan piccata in frozen form!

I made it for lunch today.  I don't have a microwave at home, but they're pretty darn handy at work.  Five minutes later, I enjoyed my haute cuisine at my desk.

Sure it's no substitute for the lovely ambiance of Candle Cafe or Candle 79, but as far as freezer food goes this was DELICIOUS!  At only 210 calories, this is some serious lean cuisine.  I think they're usually about $6, but they were 2 for $9 with $1 off each coupon, so I got a super deal going on here.  

Mofo 3 - OMG the awesome juicer is the funnest invention ever!!

Sure it's a little messy, but it's so freakin' fun!  I almost feel bad for the vegetables as I smash them to their doom.  If you have the means and want to make your own juice, definitely spring for the uber fancy model.  It's easy to clean you can make a whole lot before it needs to be cleaned out.  You don't even have to cut the vegetables up that much.

Left is super green with kale, spinach, celery, apple, parsley, lemon.  Middle is carrot, apple pear.  Right is all beet.  I'll probably mix them together, but they're so pretty alone!  

Vegan MoFo day 2 - Juicer inspired by the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead"

The vegan month of food blogging has arrived!  This is my 4th year participating and I've got a few things going on.

First off I bought a juicer yesterday.  I haven't gotten the thing out of the box yet, but I'm getting ready to give it a whirl.  Just because I like to go all out on my gadgets, it's the super awesome one.  The good ones range from $100-$500.    

Here's the why and I'll follow up with the how it's going and what I'm making.

A.  I don't fit into my pants.  I got a new job with an awesome driving commute.  The downside is that I don't walk anymore as part of my commute.  I also miss the awesome fruit carts outside my downtown office where I would get fresh fruit and vegetable juices everyday.    

B.  My husband (a.k.a. the ninja) has been watching what seems like every streaming video documentary on Netflix.  On his own he stumbled on the man-movie Sick, Fat, and Nearly Dead and decided he wanted to add more nutrients to his diet.  Knowing he's not going to power down several plates of vegetables each day he figures he'd be more likely drink the vegetables.  The ninja still insists he's not going to be vegan and doesn't want to look like Moby (sorry Moby) but after watching Joe Cross (the guy in the movie) and Phil (and the trucker guy he meets) get healthy, the ninja is motivated to make some healthy lifestyle changes.  He doesn't need to or want to actually lose weight, he just wants to get more nutrition.  

Sick, Fat, and Nearly Dead - I'm watching it on streaming netflix now.

  
Yesterday I headed into the city to get my hair cut and stopped at a juice cart in Union Square for some veggie juices.  If you're in NYC, definitely look for the fruit carts.  You can get veggie juices, smoothies, and fruit bowls for less than $5.  It's the best bargain in town.  I was running a few errands, so I ended up going back two more times before heading home.  I was surprised that after only having 3 large vegetable juices, by 4pm I wasn't totally starving.  I had a snack, then brought the ninja to Andy's Pure Food in Rye.

We had a Green Monster and an Iron Maiden.  He didn't like the Iron Maiden, I think because it had cilantro in it.  I thought was good.  He liked the first few sips of the Green Monster, but then thought it had too much cucumber and tasted like pickles.  He drank about half.  He wants to make his own blend to find something he likes.  I think he's just got more taste bud adjusting to do than me, so we'll experiment.

Now off to Chef Central to pick out a juicer.  Everyone seems to recommend the Breville juicers which come in a range of prices.  After deliberating we went for the more power, easier to clean, and more metal parts option of the top of the line model.  It's pricey, but I use my accounting skills to amortize the costs.  If I use it everyday for just over a year, that's only $1 per day.  Then it's free for the rest of it's existence!  And I won't need to buy new pants.

I picked up my CSA veggies this morning, and I've got really fresh beets, kale, apples, peppers, and carrots.  So I'm off to experiment!

Stay tuned...        

Sweet Treat Chocolate Truffles - Vegan Unplugged

You didn't think they'd forget dessert in the apocalypse didya?  Vegan Unplugged has 9 easy peasy desserts to cheer up your palate in any emergency.  These yummy truffles are ready in a flash and are full of chocolatey peanutty goodness.  I ended up rolling them in coconut for no other reason than I found a package of coconut when I went digging for the chocolate chips.  These ingredients need to go in the 5 day meal box!

These confections benefit from some light refrigeration, but if that's not available I assure you they are super yummy at summer room temperature (says an anonymous party who slurped a few down before waiting for them to chill!)