Vegan Beezie's Foodcart!

What the feezie?! Vegan Beezie's getting her euntrapaneur on with a food cart?! Yup yup:) Finally took the leap and made it happen.  After years of fantasizing about my own guerrilla food venture I finally did it, and guess what?  I did it all on the back of my bike! see...

Pretty cool, I know!  And guess what is even cooler?  The venture was a success even with a few setbacks:)  Let me take you through the story of what became my first official day of glory.

So it all began a couple of weeks ago when I finally decided on a product, vegan taquitos. I then started shopping around for items needed for my cart (bike trailer, tables, serving supplies etc...)  Besides the serving supplies my whole cart set up is made up of upcycled items, even the elegent cardboard menu sign.  Then after obsessing over possible spots for my first set-up I decided on a location on Stanford campus near the sarorities.   A risky move? yes, but where the freak else am I going to to set up a guerrilla vegan food cart operation in San Mateo County?  If you gots any ideas i'm all ears.

So I set a date that I would make myself get out there and I did just that.  I spent about 4 hours preparing about 60 taquitos and loading my trailer then I hit the streets.  Just so happened I picked the coldest night of the year!  Ughhhh, what can you do? As my friend Elyse puts it "You got what you got".  So I blasted my Reggae and hit the road.  It took about an hour to get there and guess what?! I went on finals week aka "dead week" where free food is provided in dorms round the clock.  Ughhhh!  I almost turned my sad ass around to mope my way home but I sucked it up and set up my cart in the midst of stanford ghost town.  Then guess what happened? I had customers within seconds:)  The stanford students were warm and welcoming and I can't wait to go back and feed them.  I packed up around 11:30 with 1 taquito left and biked my freezing buns home.  Next time I think I might make some home made chili and jalapeno cornbread... yum!

A special thanks to Arne for the awesome photos.  I met Arne on campus and was nice enough to give me a photo shoot and email me the pics.

What's in the future for Vegan Beezie you ask.  Well... I will be back at Stanford when Spring Semester begins with my bike cart.  I also have plans to sell tamales at the bars in downtown Palo Alto and do special orders for them as well as cupcakes.  I will try to do most of this on the back of my bike but we'll see as things blossom what my humble bike trailer can handle.

Stalk me on my twitter at #beezieskitchen.

Cardamom Sprouted Wheat Pancakes with Sauted Maple Apples

Bomb, healthy, weekend breakfast, enough said.

Cardamom Sprouted Wheat Pancakes

• 1 1/4 Sprouted Wheat flour
  2 tablespoons sugar
  2 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon salt 
  1/2 teaspoon cardomon
  1 tablespoon oil                 1 1/2 cups water

Sauted  Maple Apples

2 cups thinly sliced apples
1 tablespoon vegan butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt

A sprinkling of nuts is optional, I used pecans (yum:)

1.  To begin get all ingredients for the apples ready so when your pancakes are cooking you can just throw everything on and everything will be ready at once.  Once you are prepped, start the pancakes by mixing all of the dry ingredients.  Then add the oil and water to the dry mixture and mix just until blended, don't over mix!  Cook the pancakes on a non-stick griddle on medium-high heat.  Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture on the pan per pancake, cook on one side until bubbles start to form on the top and then flip.

2.  While the pancakes are cooking start the apples.  Begin by heating a medium sauce pan.  Add butter and apples and saute for 3-5 minutes just until apples begin to soften.  Add the remaing ingredients to the apples and cook another 5 minutes just until apples are softened.

3.  Finish cooking all pancakes.  You can pile pancakes in an oven at 225 degrees to keep warm while other pancakes are cooking if you would like.  When all pancakes are done place 2-3 on a plate and top with the apple mixture and nuts.  In my opinion this recipe does not need any added butter or syrup since it is in the apples but it is up to you.  Yum yum!

Roasted Chickpea and Wild Rice Salad with Tahini Dressing

Alright my fancy foodie followers, this ones for you.  It''s a suped up fancy pants salad.  This might actually be the only salad you ever see on my blog because not only do I hate making salads I actually suck at it.  Yup, I, Vegan Beezie, suck at making salads.  I have a really bad habit of throwing everything and the kitchen sink in and it just ends up being weird.  I also think it is just a lot of effing chopping and when you go to eat it it's a lot of effing chewing.  And I don't know about you foolios but I gots a heavy duty appetite.  I'm no fresh juice for breakfast, fruit for lunch, lettuce for dinner kind of vegan.  This recipe is a great recipe to make for non-vegans, it's hip, kind of fancy, healthy and filling.  Here you go...




Chickpea Croutons
1 can rinsed chickpeas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon braggs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Dressing

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4-1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

1 clove garlic

1 inch peice of ginger peeled and minced

splash of braggs

pepper

Salad
2 cups cooked wild rice at room temperature
spinach
tomatoes
cucumber

1.  To start this recipe make sure that your rice is cooking and going to be cooled before you decide to plate.  Wild rice takes about 45 minutes to cook fully.  Next start the chickpea croutons by pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix ingredients on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes.  Yes, you can mix the ingredients directly on the baking sheet, why dirty another dish? The chickpeas should be crunchy but still a little soft on the inside.

2.  While the chickpeas are baking you can make the dressing.  This dressing is bomb and hellsa easy.  Just throw everything into the blender and blend.  Salt and pepper to your liking (I used braggs for the salt in mine).  Taste and make sure the dressing suites your liking.  Start with 1/4 cup water and add more until the dressing is your desired consistency.

3. Once chickpeas are done, rice is cooked and cooled and dressing is prepared you are ready for assemlbling! I put a layer of spinach, topped with wild rice, then chickpeas, tomatoes and cucumbers and drizzled the dressing on top for what is pictured.  I also just mixed the leftovers all together for later and it still looked beautiful:) Enjoy!

Heart Healthy Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Banana Muffins...damn that's a long ass title!

I fucking love to bake.  I have indescribable urges to measure flour, stir in the wets with the drys and of course... lick the bowl.  This is all fine and dandy until the delecitable little warm treats come out of the oven and I want to devour the whole effing batch.  So I bake only when it is for others and I can quickly get rid of the goods.  This being said, I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities to get my fix for mixing the wet with the drys in.  So when my wonderful new boyfriends poor dad ended up in the hospital with heart problems I seized the opportunity and whipped up these heart healthy bad boys.  I used a basic recipe for banana bread I found online and veganized, heart healthified them and added dark chocolate:).  I was super pleased with the results, moist, sweet but not too sweet and a nice nutty texture from the walnuts.   So here is the recipe...

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or any flour you would like) 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 mashed banana (preferrably the super ripe variety)

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 egg substitutes (I used ground flax, 1 tablespoon flax to two parts water and let it set and viola, fucking eggs!)

6 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2.  In a seperate mixing bowl mix the banana, applesauce, egg substitute, olive oil and sugar.

3.  My favorite part... wait for it... mix the wet with the dry.  Don't go getting mix happy either!  You know better!  That shit makes some funky ass tough muffins.  Mix just until combined then add the nuts and dark chocolate.  

4.  Then spoon the mixture into the muffin tins carefully, the little muffin tins fill quickly.  I filled them just to the top.  Bake for about 15 minutes.

Note:  You can bake this in whatever shape you would like but just factor in that different shapes will take different amounts of time (i.e. a loaf pan might take like 50 minutish apposed to 15 minutes for mini muffins).  I don't time my baked treats because I am so at one with my baked goods that I intuitively know when they are done, no joke.  But if you are a normal person that needs to use a timer then I would say for the mini muffins about 15 minutes should do it.  If you need to check with a toothpick please do so, nobody wants raw insides, yucko!

Gluten-fucking-free Crustless Pumpkin Pie

So I took off for a month doing some crazy soul searching and guess what?  I came back the same crazy bitch.  Don't get me wrong it was life changing and I will never look at things the same way... but I am who I am and that just happens to be a crazy bitch.  Wait, I know what you are thinking, "that sucks, what was the point of taking off like that?".  It's actually an amazingly beautiful and transformational thing to be a crazy bitch and fully accept it... to love it... to radically accept yourself... crazy bitch and all.  To learn what it means to trully be in the moment both with yourself and the world around you... its easy when things are going good but the real transformation comes with sitting with the ugly and like I said earlier, radically accepting it.  So, show your inner crazy some love, maybe a little cuddle sesh with your demons or plung into the ugly and swim for a bit and see what you find, you might be suprised what a little acceptance can do.  Ok, enough Buddha talk, now on to what we're all here for, the food!

So I am finally back home and in the kitchen and does it feel fucking amazing.  My first big cooking adventure since I have been back was cooking tamales with my best vegan cooking buddy Emily.  It was epic.  I grew up making tamales... there is just something about spreading the masa in the corn husk just warms my heart:)  Anyways, I got way ahead of myself that day.  We made three kinds, two with homemade sauces.  Yeah, it was a shit load of cooking.  I could write the most beautiful heartfelt book about this glorious day but guess what?  My dumbass didnt document anything, no recipes, no pictures, no nothing... which means no blog for you beezies, sorry:(  But, I did roast a pumpkin on that very same day and had the vision of this beautiful crustless pumpkin pie.  It is actually hella better than regular pumpkin pie and guess what?  Gluten-fucking-free! Yes, so for all you wheat adversed beezies this one is for you:)

Pie Filling

1 3/4 cups or 15 oz can pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 block firm silken tofu

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Topping

3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans and walnuts but you don't have to be as fancy as me)
2 tablespoons gluten free flour of your choice
2 tablespoons vegan butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a blender or food processor and pour into a greased 8 inch pie pan.

2.  For the topping measure everything into a bowl and use the back of a fork to mix the butter in.  It will take a minute if the butter is good and cold.  Then pour over the pie and place in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Healthy Chocolate Pudding

This shit is easy, healthy and super yum.  I have been wanting to experiment more with silken tofu and this recipe was a total success. Silken tofu is packaged tofu that is much creamier and less flavorful than regular tofu.  The idea for this recipe came to me one night as I was ravaging through the cupboards like a dope fiend looking for something chocolaty and sweet.  I stopped and thought about it for a second and it came to me and here it is in all it's glory.  You could probably double or triple the recipe and fill a pie crust up with it.  Yes! Chocolate pie!  Sorry to get so excited, I love pie:)

Healthy Chocolate Pudding

1 package silken tofu
1 1/2 tablespoon chocolate powder
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon melted raw coconut oil
pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a blender until well mixed and place in the refridgerator for a couple of hours until it sets.

Grilled Vegan Pizza

So I had a vision, yes, an effing food vision.  It consisted of grilled pizza, topped with grilled veggies and homemade pesto made with food from my garden thats slathered with creamy cashew cheese.  And guess what?  The vision became reality and it was pure heaven.  My lame uncle Chopper even liked it and he eats lean cuisine for dinner on the regs (yuck!).  The crust was on hit.  The richness from the olive oil coupled with the slight char flavor from the grill really puts this recipe over the edge. I used Jay's Signature Pizza Crust recipe from allrecipe.com which worked great.

Beware: this recipe is not for beginner chefs.  The shit was not easy and at one point we had me, my sister and my pops trying to turn the pizza around on the grill.  Though it was difficult it was a fricken blast.  I had a great time hanging with my fam and grilling pizza.  If your gonna give this recipe a go I highly recommend doing it with a group and getting creative.  I let my sister design the second one which was just as yummy as mine.  The zuchini and basil for the pesto were both from our garden too which made the recipe even more exciting.  Yes, we have a family garden because we are that adorable.  My sister, my dad and I all have different plants in a raised bed my dad built for us.

I am now obsessed with both making pizza dough from scratch which is actually super duper easy and grilling pizza.  I highly recommend trying both.  Good for me my family is also equally excited about it:)  More pizza creations to come.

Note: You can use whatever toppings you like and store bought pesto or pizza sauce and vegan cheese.

Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

Grilled Vegetables

1 Eggplant cut into circular pieces 1/8 inch thick (to release the moisture from eggplant 30 minutes before cooking very genrously cover with salt and let sit, once 30 minutes is up rinse off eggplant)
1 bell pepper
2 zucchinis sliced 1/8 inch thick length wise
olive oil
salt and pepper

Start up grill making one side a hotter than the other for pizza making. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and generously salt and pepper them.  Place on grill as they fit and watch closely as they begin to cook. Vegetables cooking to fast move to the cooler side and visa versa.  Grill until desired tenderness.


Pesto

2 cups loosely packed basil
1/3 cup of walnut halves
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in your blender or food processor and blend until a nice sauce forms.

Cashew Cheese

1 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until a smooth cream is formed.  If your ghetto ass only has a junky blender than you will have to blend it longer (I have a vitamix and don't have to worry about that, neener neener neener).

Grilling and assembling the pizza:

Before you begin I advise getting a couple of metal spatulas and maybe some tongs, this will help with flipping the pizza.  Also have all your ingredients laid out  next to the grill so there easy to get to.

So when are your ingredients have been prepared you are actually ready to grill your pizza which goes really fast.  So roll out your pizza dough to desired shape and size.  I would recommend making them on the smaller side for easier maneauvering around the grill.  Place pizza dough you are not using aside and cover until you are ready to use it.  Brush grill with olive oil and gently and quickly lay the pizza dough on the hot side of the grill.  Watch it closely to make sure it is cooking evenly and if it is not than turn it so the uncooked parts are on the hotter spots.  Once it is evenly lightly toasted on the bottom and begins to bubble on the top it is ready to flip (2-3 minutes).  Flip it to the less hot side of the grill and quickly load your topping on the pizza for it will cook fast.   Pesto, veggies then cashew cream.  Turn in the same manner that you did for the other half to make sure it is cooked evenly and pull off the grill when lightly browned.  Cut up and serve:)  Repeat with remaining pizza dough.

Me hecka worried about my pizza

Me hecka happy my pizza came out ok

Me hecka happy to serve and devour my pizza

Me just being hecka cute

Vegan French Toast

So... vegan french toast is not exactly the same as french toast but it is super bomb. I promise.  The trick I have found is to let it cook slowly.  I know it is painfully difficult to watch the bread just sit there on the griddle with the syrup and earth balance calling your name from the sidelines but the extra 5 minutes is worth it.  I love all breakfast food but french toast is so just so fucking easy.  This is a total beginner vegan recipe.  And if dipping your bread in almond milk and banana seems weird to you why don't you take a second and think about dipping it in chicken fetus and milk from a fucking cow...  I know, gross.

I highly suggest eating this recipe with fresh fruit, berries if possible. Hellsa good:)

Vegan French Toast

8 slices of bread (preferably french, preferably wheat and preferably stale)
1 cup vegan milk (I used soy because thats what I had open in the fridge)
1 small banana
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon agave
oil (I like to use coconut)
toppings: vegan butter, jam, maple syrup, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, blueberries, almonds, or whatever you can think of.

Blend milk, banana, flour and agave in blender until well mixed and place in a large bowl.  Heat a large pan or griddle to medium low.  Place a teaspoon or so of oil on the pan so the bread does not stick.  Dip each piece of bread in the batter and place in the pan.  Cook each side of the bread for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown and serve:)

Loquat Pie!

So we have this ginormous loquat tree in front of my house.  Loquat?  "What the fuck is that" you ask... Well... it's like an apricot but smaller and with a thicker skin and not as sweet.  Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "that sounds kinda nasty".  Well, really they are not that great on there own but if you cover them in sugar and wrap them in pastry dough, fucking excellent.  Which is why I made this beautiful pie:)

 This is not a beginner recipe like most of my recipes.  It took three effin hours to make bitches.  The shit took FOR-EV-ER.  Good thing I love everything about pie, I love the way it looks, the way it tastes, I love rolling out the dough and designing the crust and especially the way it smells in the oven, brings a smile to my face just thinking about it:)  Most of the time is spent pitting the loquats, those little bitches are a pain to pit but if you get in the zone it can be spiritual (yup, the "zone" is a spiritual place).  So if you have a ginormous loquat tree like me don't let those little bitches go to waste, make pie!

I know I keep saying I am going to blog more but I mean it this time.  My goal is to try to replace blogging with boys.  For those of you who haven't noticed I have a boy problem and it fucking sucks.  A beautiful girl can only take so many failed attempts before throwing her hands up and saying "Alrighty universe, I guess you get your way again!".  Yes, me and the universe talk and the universe is telling me to focus on myself, do what you love and love will find you.  And blogging my food is a joy I truly love:)  So lucky you, more delicious vegan recipes for free... and I will do my best slowing down and focusing on numero uno.  Thanks for listening and more importantly thanks for following my blog, it means a lot to me.

Here is the pie finally...

Loquat Pie Filling

6 cups of pitted loquats (I cut them in half them lightly squeeze out the pit)
1 cup of water
1 1/2 cups raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Place loquats and water in a medium saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes until fruit begins to soften.  Then add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and cook until sauce thickens.  While loquats are cooking begin making the crust.
Mix


The Crust

2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of vegan butter
1/3 cup of shortening
6-8 tablespoons of ice water

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  flour and salt in a bowl.  Then add the butter and shortening and cut into the flour with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles small pea size pieces of flour and fat.  Add the water until the mixture comes together and knead a couple of times just to get everything to stick together.  Once it sticks together nicely, split it into two and roll them into two circles big enough for your pie pan.  I used a 10 inch pie crust.

2.  When crusts are done being rolled out place one in the bottom of the pie pan and cut the excess dough around the edges.  I use my kitchen sheers for this.  Then add the filling and cover with the top layer.  I made a lattice top and you can do that too if your fancy like me. Otherwise just top with the other crust, cut the extra around the edges and press the dough together.  Crimp the edges to your liking and place in the oven for 45-55 minutes until edges are golden brown.

Bonus Recipe!!!

Wondering what to do with that extra dough?  Make these tasty little appetizers...

Hot Dog Appetizer Thingies

Extra pie dough
veggie hot dog or sausage

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Roll dough out into a circle and cut it like a pizza to form pyramid like shapes. Roll the hot dogs up starting at the larger end of the pyramid up to the pointier end... if that makes sense.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  Serve with mustard or whatever the fuck you want.  Enjoy!!!

Raw Berry Tart

So with all these awesome fruits being in season I am hoping to be making some more fruit centric recipes.  The farmers markets have been on hit lately.  If your not out shopping at them for your fresh produce you should be!  I also just love pies and tarts....yum!  And even better this shit is totally fucking healthy.  No flour, no sugar, just dates, nuts and fruit!  It was eaten within a 24 hour period.  Not just by myself, luckily my occupy buddies came over after a planning meeting and helped me consume it.  It took me less than 20 minutes to prepare with clean-up, I know, hellsa quick.

Big shout out to my big sis for helping with the decorating.  The heart was my idea but she helped with the rest:)  Love you and hate you sis!!!

Here's the recipe...

Raw Berry Tart

Crust

1 1/2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
8 dates pitted
1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  Place all ingredients in a a food processor and mix until it holds together nicely.  Be careful not to over mix or the oils in the nuts will release and make it mushy.

2.  Grease a ten inch tart pan and press the crust mixture into the pan evenly.

Cashew Cream Filling

1 1/4 cups cashews
juice and rind of one lemon
1 vanilla bean, seeds only
pinch of salt
water

1. Place cashews, lemon, vanilla bean and salt in a blender.  Pour the water over the nuts just to the top.  Blend until creamy.  If too think add more water.

Assembly

1.  Spread the cashew cream in the tart shell evenly.  Add the fruit on top to your liking.  To get the same presentation I did hull the strawberries and place them around the egde of the tart.  Then make a heart shape with raspberries and fill carefully with blueberries.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

2.  To serve gently move the tart out of the pan and place on a flat surface to cut.  ENJOY!!!

Vegan Rice Pudding

I dedicate this recipe to all the dumb asses who think vegan food is nasty.... actually I dedicate every single one of my recipes to those dumb asses.  Yes, cheese is good.   Yes, bacon is good.  But let's face it, if you actually take the 20 seconds it takes to realize that it is fucking disgusting to consume you might have a change of heart.  Yup, it only takes 20 seconds to go vegan.  Hella easy bitches.  Give it a try!

Anyways, I fucking love rice pudding.  I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and be as happy as a clam.  To be honest... I kinda did eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.  What the fuck?! How am I supposed to have a big ole bowl of rice pudding in the fridge and not eat it all day.  Don't judge bitches. Here ya go...

Vegan Rice Pudding

1 cup aborio rice
1 1/2 cups water
1 can coconut milk
2 1/2 cups almond milk
3/4 sugar (I used raw sugar)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch or so of salt
sliced almonds (optional)

1.  Add the rice and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil then turn heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes until the water is absorbed.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the rice and cook on medium low heat for 30-40 minutes stirring frequently until the mixture thickens to desired consistency.  Let cool and serve with a sprinkling of sliced almonds  and yum!

Tempeh Chorizo and Potato Taquitos

So I have been MIA, fucking sue me.  I have been busy and since I am single these days I have been eating a lot things like sandwiches and hummus for dinner (yup, straight hummus for dinner...boring!).  But as of today I am committing to one post a week so let's see if I can keep to my word.

I wasn't going to blog this but since they were super fricken ridiculously bomb I had to do it.  The idea for this recipe started with my desire to make the tempeh chorizo recipe from The Sexy Vegans new cookbook which is awesome if you don't already have it you should!  So when me and my vegan occupy cooking buddies decided to get together and cook I threw out the idea of doing something with the tempeh recipe.  I can't remember how the rest of the genius of the recipe came to be but it doesn't matter because these shits are so tasty.  It is a bit of a production so if possible it is best to make with a group.  We ate them with cashew sour cream, salsa and avocado.  Each of us ate 3.5 taquitos and felt awesomely sick (just an FYI).  And without further ado here is some deep fried goodness for your fat asses...

Chorizo Tempeh

1 8 oz packet of Tempeh
4 cloves grated garlic
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons chili powder
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 cup of vegetable broth

In a large bowl, combine the tempeh and seasoning.  Mash the tempeh up with a fork.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add tempeh mixture.  Cook until it gets a bit browned 5-7 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook for 1 minute then add the veggie stock.  Cover and simmer for 4-5 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe courtesy of The Sexy Vegan Cookbook

Potato Filling

2 potatoes peeled and boiled
1 tablespoon cumin
2 cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Mash all the ingredients together add salt and pepper to taste.

Taquitos

20 corn tortillas
1 recipe chorizo tempeh
1 recipe potato filling
oil for frying
toothpicks
potato and chorizo filling

1.  Add oil to large skillet till there is about a half inch of oil in the pan and heat to medium high heat.  Heat tortillas in microwave for 30 seconds so they are pliable.  Start an assembly line adding about a tablespoon of potato mixture and tablespoon of tempeh to the tortilla, roll up into a taquito and place a toothpick in the to hold them shut.

2.  Once the taquitos are rolled start frying (I fucking love frying food!!!).  The oil should be pretty hot, so I would say that the taquitos need about 45 seconds to a minute on each side or cook until lightly browned on both sides.  Place fried taquitos on a plate covered with paper towels to soak all the nasty grease up and repeat until all taquitos are fried.  Serve with accompaniments of your liking and enjoy!

Thanks for the awesome time making taquitos Emilie and James!  Until next feast:)

Homemade Seitan Cheese Steak

Fucking yum.  This was my first try at making homemade seitan and it came out pretty damn good.  I might have left it in the oven for one too many minutes which made it a little extra chewy but otherwise the recipe was good.  I sauted the seitan with onions and bell pepper, slapped it in a bun and slatthered it in a nutritional yeast sauce. 

I am now officially on the hunt for the perfect seitan recipe so if anyone has one they use send it my way:) 

Note:  You don't have to be fancy pants like me and make homemade seitan you can just buy yours at your local grocery store. 

Vegan Cheese Steak

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced seitan
2 bell peppers thinly sliced (I used one green and one red)
1 onion sliced
1 recipe  nutritional cheese sauce or vegan cheese of your liking
4 french bread rolls
veganaise

1.  Heat oil on medium heat in a large pan.  Add bell pepper and onion and saute until they begin to soften.  Add the seitan and cook until heated through.

2.  While the seitan mix is cooking prepare cheese sauce.

3.  Once the seitan and cheese sauce is done assemble sandwiches.  Spread a thin layer of veganaise on roll top with a healthy amount of seitan, top with cheese sauce and ase easy as that your in vegan heaven:)

Butternut Squash Coconut and Ginger Soup

So as you may have noticed I have not been blogging much and there are a few reasons for this.  One, is I was working on an application for grad school... Yup, my ghetto ass is trying to go to grad school.  Also, to keep it real my cooking attempts have been straight flops lately... but not this one...

Soup on a rainy day?... duh!  This shit is the ultimate comfort soup.  It's carby and creamy with just a touch of spice.  This soup is also hecka easy to make, except for peeling and dicing the butternut squash.  I hate doing that shit!  I am the kind of person that passes the pre-chopped veggie section of the produce with disgust, like, how fucking hard is it to cut some zuchinni and bell pepper.  But after hacking away at the huge butternut squash for an hour tonight I might rethink my butternut purchase next time.  Anyways, once you get the butternut squash chopped its a breeze.  

Butternut Squash Coconut and Ginger Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion chopped

1 large shallot minced

2 teaspoons fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 medium sized butternut squash peeled, seeded and diced

6 cups veggie stock

1 can coconut milk

salt and pepper

1.  Heat large stock pan to medium heat.  Add olive oil and onion and saute for 5-6 minutes until onion begin to become translucent.  Add the shallot and cook for a minute.  Then add the ginger and cayenne and cook for 30 seconds or so while continuously stirring.  

2.  Add the butternut squash, veggie stock and coconut milk to the onion mixture and bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for 30 minutes.  Once butternut squash is tender and cooked through blend with a hand blender.  Taste and adjust spices to your liking and it is ready to go.

Simple Quinou Spaghetti

Another meal low in nutritional density to sooth my slowly subsiding hang over.  I ate WAY too much of it and am totally stuffed!  Spaghetti is like the king of comfort food, it's full of carbs, rich sauce and in my version tons of processed soy meat.  I don't even know what kind of soy meat I used because my dad gave it to me to try from Costco, yes, Costco has some kind of mystery soy meat (yeah for Costco!).  It was ok, but I have had better, I like Gimme Lean soy meat personally.  This is a real easy classic recipe for spaghetti and besides the quinou pasta its nothing fancy.  I personally despise  bottled pasta sauce and highly recommend you try making your own, it is super easy and once you get the hang of it you can pretty much do anything to it.  You can start off with my simple version below and then go from there, you can add bell pepper, mushrooms, basil... whatever you like.  Give it a go...

Simple Spaghetti

2 cans of canned spaghetti sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion chopped
6 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 package soy "meat"
1 package of quinou pasta
salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta, salt liberally.

2.  Heat large saucepan on medium heat and add olive oil.  Once pan is hot add onions and saute for 4-5 minutes until slightly trancluscent and add the garlic.  Cook garlic until just fragrant and add the soy "meat" to the onion mixture as per directions on package.  Once "meat" is cooked add the tomato sauce and Italian seasoning, turn to low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  While sauce is simmering add pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook per directions on package. 

3.  When pasta is done add the sauce to the pasta and top with a little parma or nutritional yeast if you like and your goo to go.

Blueberry Banana Pancakes!

Fried cake for breakfast!  Yes!  Tasty with no nutritional content is exactly what I need this morning.  Of course I added some fruit so I could lie to myself about how healthy my breakfast was today.  Pancakes are the perfect cure for overdosing on Bud Light.  I adapted this recipe from a super easy recipe on vegweb called the Best Tasting Pancakes Ever! Vegan or Otherwise...  And I will attest to that... maybe besides McDonalds... sorry but I gots to keep it real.  I don't know how the fuck Micky D's does it but from what I remember those delicate little puppies are scrumptious.  Anyways the recipe is bomb and with my adaptations a little healthier and maybe even a little more delish.

Disclaimer:  I do not endorse the consumption of any food prepared at a fast food restaurant... especially McDonalds!

Blueberry Banana Pancakes

1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup applesauce or other egg replacement
1 cup almond milk or other milk replacement
2 tablespoons coconut oil or oil of your preference
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar or sweetener of your preference
blueberry
sliced banana

1.  Mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients separately.

2.  Begin heating pan on medium heat.  While pan is heating add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix.  If too thick add milk alternative.

3.  Grease pan with oil of your liking and drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the heated pan.  Cook until it begins to bubble on the top and add the blueberry and banana to the uncooked side of the pancake and let cook for another minute or two until the fruit is set a little ande quickly and carefully flip.  If you have not made pancakes this way before it may take some practice but even if they don't flip perfectly they will still taste good.  Cook pancake until golden brown on each side and repeat until all batter is used.

Finish with toppings of your liking and dig in.  This recipe makes about 5-6 4 inch pancakes.

ENJOY!!

Raw Valentines Strawberry Shortcake

Damn bitches I have been totally missing in action.  Well... as some of you know I have been going through the saddest break-up of my life:(  But  the depression fog is slowly starting to clear and my creativity is slowly starting to come back to me.

My eating has been all over the place where I wont eat all day then I will have seem piece of shit as meal to sooth the pain.  Well I am happy to be eating more normally and even more happy to be back to my blog.  I REALLY love cooking and blogging and feel it is my way of expressing art.... and what better way to express a broken heart than to create food with hearts in it.

Anyways, on to what you are all here for, the food!  The beautiful picture above was taken by my awesome friend Elise who had the pleasure of eating this delectable little dessert.  It is something I just threw together and didn't measure so if you are making your own and something doesn't seem right go with your gut and adjust it.  It is super easy and you can shape the "shortcake" into pretty much any shape you would like. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum....

Raw Strawberry Shortcake

"Shortcake":
4-5 dates pitted
1 cup of walnuts
dash of salt

Cashew Cream:
1/2 cup cashews
2 tablespoons agave
water

2 pints of strawberries sliced
1 tablespoon agave

1. Mix the strawberries and the agave together and set aside.  In a food processor add the dates, walnuts and salt and mix until a course mixture is formed, the mixture should have some texture but still hold together.  To make the cashew cream add cashews and agave to blender and cover just to the top of the cashews with water.  Blend until a smooth creamy consistency is formed.

2. To assemble separate the strawberries into four dishes.  You can either crumble the shortcake on top the strawberries or shape it into whatever you wish.  Then top with cashew cream and it's ready to go.