Sunday taco lunch.

On the left, Refried beans and on the right, chipotle lentils. I just cooked some brown lentils up, drained them and then cooked them with onions, peppers, chipotle taco seasoning and tomato paste. Yummy!

All dressed taco topped with lettuce, fresh tomatoes, Daiya cheddar, fresh salsa, Tofutti sour cream and Cholula hot sauce. 

Weekend eating.

Another visit to El Arco Iris in Highland Park.

Potato tacos, no cheese.

Donut Friend!!! Top two are Custard Front Drive. Bottom left Panda Berry and bottom right Nutellavision (this one was not vegan for my husband).

C&O Cucina: penne arrabiatta. Yum.

Homemade dessert: whole wheat pancakes layered with berry compote and coco whip. My sweet tooth is outa control! I am 19 weeks pregnant (surprise!) so I must watch my sugar intake!!!

Thai Style Fried Rice and Baja Fresh tacos.

I made the most delicious thai style fried rice on Tuesday. I kind of winged it and based it loosely off the recipe from Buddha's Table. I stir fried garlic, onions, celery in oil, then added the veggies, cut up Tofurky sausages and then the rice. I then added 2 TB of Maggi seasoning and a TB of mushroom soy sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, white pepper and a squirt of Sriracha. YUMMY with a squirt of lime juice!

This was my dinner at Baja last night. The usual baja veggie tacos with spicy salsa, rice and beans, no cheese!

Healthy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Sweet Treat & Tacos.

I was dying for a sweet treat but I've been so bad lately with all the refined sugar and white flour desserts I've been making. I wanted to try something healthier and I've been inspired by the Happy Pear boys on youtube. They've been making great desserts made out of whole foods. This was my attempt at a dark chocolate peanut butter cake thingy. I was thinking along the lines of a peanut butter cup. It has ground almonds and cashews, natural chunky peanut butter (no sugar added), pureed dates and maple syrup sandwiched between dark chocolate. My filling was a little too wet but I didn't mind after all. I froze the dish for a few hours and it was perfectly sweet and decadent. And it did taste like peanut butter cup!

Went out to get veggie tacos at Baja Fresh tonight. Order the veggie tacos baja style with no cheese!

Tacos!

I made delicious tacos last night. The filling is made with Helen's Kitchen veggie ground with sauteed onions, tomatoes and spices like cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder and chili powder. I pan fried the corn tortillas in oil. Mmm.

Topped with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, fresh salsa and Sriracha Just Mayo! I forgot to squeeze some lime juice on it but they were delicious!

Saturday Taco Lunch, Stir-Fry and Carrot-Nut Muffins.

Had a delicious lunch with my mom and her best friend yesterday. Mom helped make this delicious spread of food. Tacos with sauteed tofu, veggie ground, fresh salsa and guacamole and potato salad. The tomato salad was fresh from Gelson's.

Stir fry using Tofurky sausages flavored with vegetarian stir fry sauce (kinda like oyster sauce) and sweet chili sauce.

Ok, so this was my attempt at making a raw vegan carrot cake with carrots, dates and nuts. All I can say is...FAIL.

So I transformed it into a cooked carrot cake. I just dumped 1 cup of carrot/nut mixture into kittee's vanilla cake recipe (halfing the cake recipe). I saved the rest of the raw cake mixture in the freezer for future use.

Mary McCartney's FOOD, Helen's Kitchen and Amella Caramels!

Tried some new things this week. My birthday was last Tuesday and as a birthday gift to myself, I bought Mary McCartney's book FOOD: Vegetarian Home Cooking. As you know I'm Beatles obsessed and also a fan of Linda McCartney's cookbooks. Mary is the beautiful daughter of Paul and Linda. She is a very talented photographer and judging from this book, she is also a relaxed and non-fussy cook, just like myself. The book has really great recipes (most are vegetarian but you can probably experiment by substituting vegan products for the eggs and cheese) and the photographs taken by Mary are gorgeous. One recipe that caught my eye, was the Saucy Mushrooms and Tomatoes on Toast. A very very simple recipe with big rewards. It was so tasty and made a perfect breakfast on buttered (Earth Balance) whole grain toast.

You see? It's just perfection. The tomatoes are sweet and juicy, the mushrooms are deliciously seasoned with soy sauce, garlic and thyme. The buttered toast brings it all together into one satisfying dish. I will make this again for sure.

Another picture to entice you to buy Mary's book. There is another recipe in it, Hummus, Avocado and Chili Jam sandwich. It sounds soo good. Where can I get chili jam here in Los Angeles?

I don't remember what day it was, but my husband and I were in the mood for tacos and we went to the local Vons to shop for ingredients. I used to love Morningstar Farms crumbles to make "taco meat" but alas it is no longer vegan. I came across this product by Helen's Kitchen that I was very willing to try.

They turned out fabulous. Very easy to make with no fuss, just like I like it! Recipe at the bottom of this post.

Went shopping at Whole Foods today and found these delicious morsels of fun. Vegan dark chocolate caramels! With gray sea salt! I love sweet and salty combinations. I bought two and they are all for meeee!

Kim's Quick Soft Tacos

1 TB olive oil
1 package Helen's Kitchen veggie ground
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper
4 soft taco size flour tortillas
Garnish: shredded lettuce chopped onion chopped cilantro freshly prepared salsa

Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan on medium high heat. Add the whole package of the veggie ground. It is fairly moist, so stir it around for a few minutes to dry it out a little. Add the spices and season with salt and pepper. Continue to stir for about 5-6 minutes until heated through. Take off of the heat and set the mixture aside. Heat flour tortillas individually over an open burner on your stove for a few seconds on each side to soften and warm them. You may also toast them in a dry pan over heat. Divide mixture onto the flour tortillas and garnish with shredded lettuce, onion, cilantro and fresh salsa.

Check these out. I collect vintage cookbooks and I just got this cool shipment of vintage cooking pamphlets from the 50's and 60's. I want to veganize some of them one day. Will definitely blog about that when it happens.

Lentil Tacos and Lentil Chilaquiles Casserole.

I made a really good lentil taco filling the other night to which I added chopped veggie sausage and textured vegetable protein. Came out delicious. Here's a good lentil taco recipe.

I had so much lentil filling leftover that I decided to make this chilaquiles casserole. I added scrambled tofu to the filling as well.

Yummy!

Taco Night.

This is what happened when I was desperately hungry while staring at the food in my pantry. Grabbed a can each of black beans, diced tomatoes and a bottle of Tapatio. Combined those ingredients with tofu and potatoes and they made the perfect taco filling.

Recipe Black Bean, Potato and Tofu Taco Filling

2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 block of firm tofu, cubed
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
2 large potatoes cooked in the microwave until soft, cubed
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Saute onion, garlic in olive oil. Add tofu and cook for a few minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until heated through. Season with salt, pepper and more spices if you prefer.

Potato Tacos.

Delicious potato tacos all fried and lovely.

Boiled Raisin Cake, Greek Pastitsio, Potato Tacos

I was looking up depression-era recipes and found this awesome boiled raisin cake recipe. During the depression, things like eggs and milk were scarce so homemakers would come up with easy desserts that didn't require any of those things. And in doing so, they made desserts that are inherently vegan, yay!


I loved this cake. It was moist yet still sturdy enough to spread Earth Balance buttery spread all over it. You'll find the recipe here.


Opened up "The Olive and The Caper" cookbook again which is becoming my favorite cookbook. I made the vegetarian pastitsio which is a layered pasta casserole with a layer of tomato sauce, cheese and vegetables in the middle and a saltsa besamel (white sauce) on top. I used Daiya vegan cheese and plain soymilk for the white sauce.


I took this pic right after it came out of the oven. I didn't let it sit for 15 minutes like I was supposed to so when I went to cut out a piece, it collapsed in my plate.


A while later, I served some to my father and this was his plate. Look at that cheesy crust on top that the white sauce made. Yummy!


My husband was going to his buddy's house for football and requested these mini potato tacos. I said "sure" and an hour later, these were ready to go!

Potato Tacos and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

My co-worker Cynthia passed down a recipe for potato tacos that her mom makes. I was very eager to try it. It's very simple. You just boil some potatoes until tender, mash them and add finely chopped onions. Season with salt. This is your filling. I wanted my onion cooked so I sauteed them before I added them to the mashed potato mixture. Fill corn tortillas with the potato mixture and pan fry in oil on both sides until crispy and browned.


She also gave me instructions for simple roasted tomatillo salsa. Take about 8 tomatillos, husked and cleaned. Cut them in half, along with 1/2 an onion, a couple of serrano or jalapeno peppers and a few cloves of garlic. Roast everything on a grill pan over medium high heat that has been lined with foil. Char on both sides and then cover/wrap everything with the foil while they cook over heat. Once the tomatillos are charred and soft, place everything in a blender and pulse to desired consistency. Thin with water if needed. Season with salt and pepper.


Mid bite. I also put some tomato salsa and guacamole in them. YUMMY.

Chickpea Tacos

Tonight's dinner was a quick chickpea filling made with one can of chickpeas sauteed with onions, garlic, taco spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano, paprika, onion/garlic powder) and then mashed. They were yummy on soft corn tortillas with chopped tomato, onions, salsa roja and guacamole.

Refried Bean Tacos with Chipotle Corn Salsa

Made a big pot of refried beans today from scratch. They are unbelievable! I don't like to buy refried beans in a can anymore. I used the beans to make tacos with corn tortillas, Daiya vegan cheese and a chipotle corn salsa. I also added a spicy habanero hot sauce that set my mouth on fire!

Chipotle Corn Salsa

1 14oz. can golden corn (no sugar added), drained or use frozen thawed corn
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder
1/8 tsp. cayenne
juice of a small lime
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley or cilantro (I used dried parsley because that's all I had)

Mix all together and chill until ready to use.

Beans on Toast, TVP Tacos and Refried Beans

Leftover Heinz beans from last night made an excellent breakfast on toast spread with Earth Balance and sprinkled with black pepper. And I didn't forget the tea.



I couldn't wait to make refried beans from scratch again and this time with black beans. The easiest way for me to do it is to put the dry beans (1 lb. plus 8 cups water) into the crockpot the night before and let them cook. This morning all I had to do was reserve about a cup or so of the cooking liquid, drain the beans and heat them with sauteed onions, garlic, liquid smoke, the bean liquid, olive oil and salt/pepper while mashing with a potato masher. Seriously perfect beans. I also made red chile sauce with the dried guajillo, new mexico and arbol chiles. For the tacos, I used textured vegetable protein. The tvp meat was sauteed with olive oil, onions, garlic and taco seasoning.

EDIT: Still cooking from my pantry!
Pantry staples used: dried black beans, dried chiles, tvp, liquid smoke, olive oil, spices, Heinz Beans, white bread
Other items: onions, garlic, lettuce, tomato
Items purchased: taco shells, Earth Balance

Cooking out of the pantry: Portobello Tacos, Refried Beans and Rice

Check out my lunch today. It was superb! Portobello tacos, rice and beans. I wanted to make refried beans from scratch weeks ago but never got around to it because I had other things in mind. This weekend seemed just right for it. The bag of pinto beans in my pantry was calling my name as well as another item from my pantry that I forgot to add to my list: a bag of dried New Mexico chiles. I have a book called "The Power of Ancient Foods" and there is a recipe for red chile sauce that I planned to make along with the refried beans. I cooked my pinto beans in the crockpot overnight so they'd be ready this morning. (My crockpot has a new name: "The Bean Machine". I don't use it for anything else anymore.) So anyway back to the beans, I sauteed some onions and garlic in olive oil, added the cooked and drained beans, mashed them up and let them simmer with salt, pepper, about a cup of the bean cooking liquid and a touch of liquid smoke. I don't think I can enjoy canned refried beans ever again! The beans were stellar, just like in a restaurant. The rice was wonderful as well. Fresh guacamole and lime wedges made it all complete.


I've never had mushroom tacos before and I'm glad I tried this. They were so meaty and juicy. The red chile sauce was really nice.

Portobello tacos recipe here.
Mexican rice recipe here.
This short video shows pretty much how I made the red chile sauce.

Pantry staples used:
dry pinto beans
dried new mexico chiles
rice
tomato sauce
corn tortillas
herbs/spices: cumin, oregano, cayenne

Items from fridge etc:
onions
garlic
cilantro

Items I needed to purchase: 2 portobello mushrooms and avocado

Taco Night!

Three over-stuffed white corn taco shells filled with refried beans, soy "ground beef"*, lettuce, guacamole, salsa and a white sauce made from Vegenaise (vegan mayonnaise) mixed with lime juice and chili powder. Super yummy.

*Just wanted to note that I used Morningstar Farms Grillers Crumbles for these tacos. The package that I used was one before the company reformulated their recipe in January. Every package of this product that was made since January will now contain milk and egg which makes the product no longer vegan. This is upsetting. I will most likely switch to another brand or make my own soy ground from TVP granules from here on out.

Black Bean Moroccan Veggie Tacos?

Dinner tonight was really tasty! I cooked up some chopped onions, added a can of black beans and leftover Moroccan veggie stew from the weekend (which consisted of the last bits of sweet potato, carrot, black olives, zucchini and chickpeas), mashed them all together while adding taco seasoning and La Victoria medium taco sauce. I stuffed them into crunchy taco shells, added lettuce, cilantro, tomato, fresh salsa and went to town. The sweetness from the stew added a little something something to the black beans. Yum. I'll probably never get the chance to have this again so I enjoyed three hearty tacos.