Tag Archives: cooking

Chickwheat Cordon Bleu

8 Feb

It’s a blustery winter day here and my oven is begging to be used. It’s actually been in and out of functional use all week, but today it thankfully decided to cooperate. With Valentine’s day quickly approaching, it’s nice to be able to serve something a little more upscale for a nice candlelit meal. We have two kids now, so we won’t be having a candlelit meal, but the thought is nice I guess. We prefer to snuggle in bed and enjoy a pizza and movie together, with maybe a strong drink. We’ve been doing this for years now and it’s still something I look forward to.DSC_0408dit

This recipe requires a bit of preparation ahead of time, but it’s relatively intuitive. Chicken cordon bleu was never something I had prior to going vegan 8 years ago, but I feel like this is a pretty close replication. Please click through the links for my recommendations for alternatives and for prior recipes!

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TTLA Sandwich

4 May

Summer has suddenly descended on the Midwest, which means I basically want to spend zero time in the kitchen with the oven on. My Instant Pot has become my best friend for any cooking I would normally do on my stove top and while I’m still a salad-hating vegan, I’m rediscovering an old fondness for sandwiches.

Conveniently, Lightlife Foods offered me the opportunity to try their tempeh bacon on the newly popular tempeh, tomato, lettuce and avocado sandwich. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you might have noticed we spent the weekend in Indianapolis, where we stopped at Whole Foods for several meals, and some Fakin Bacon Tempeh Strips.

See my spin on the classic #TTLA recipe below! Continue reading

Pulled Phauxrk

6 Feb

Move over jackfruit, there’s a new vegan pulled pork in town and it’s pronounced like fork.

This recipe is bean based, like my previous Chickwheat Shreds and like Blackbeet Beef it calls for cooked mushrooms for flavor. You can either roast or pan fry them, either will cook off the extra liquid and make them more flavorful. Use any white beans you can find navy beans, great Northern beans, it shouldn’t impact the end result.

Kneading in the food processor is what gives it the characteristic shredded texture, so be sure not to skip this step or cut it short. If you don’t have a dough hook, you can use your regular blade to knead. If you don’t have an instant pot, this can also be steamed in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time.

I prefer to weigh the ingredients in this recipe, as I think it yields the most consistent results, but I have included volume measurements for most of the ingredients if you don’t have a kitchen scale.

If you make this recipe, please use the tag #phauxrk on Instagram or public Facebook posts! I’d love to see your creations!!

Many thanks to Somer at Vedged Out and Chloe at Vegan or Not for assisting in the recipe testing!

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Faux King Crab

24 Jan

I could tell a pretty embarrassing story about crab here. I’ll spare you the details and just share this recipe for faux King crab instead. If you say it three times fast, you’ll laugh just as much as you would have at my embarrassing story.

Algal oil is pretty essential for the ocean flavor of this recipe. I don’t really recommend skipping it and it will give you a good DHA boost for the day, but in a pinch you could use a similar amount of kelp powder. It can be found in the Amazon link below or at your local natural food store in the supplement section as vegan DHA or Omega-3. Please see my notes below the recipe regarding tofu/agar.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, I recommend steaming on the stove or in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time. A stove top pressure cooker could also be used.

If you make this recipe, be sure to use the hashtag #fauxkingcrab on Instagram or Facebook, I would love to see your results!

Many, many thanks to Somer McGowan of Vedged Out for assisting in recipe testing for this recipe.

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Big Mac Pizza

21 Feb

Well hello again. Have you missed me?

This has been quite the hiatus. I bet you’re wondering where I was. Well, I was here; still in the Midwest. In case you missed it on my Instagram, last year in October I had a second baby and since that time I’ve been pretty busy.

But I still think about little old Avocados and Ales all the time. Especially when Buzzfeed links to my page. Or Mary’s Test Kitchen makes an amazing video featuring my aquafaba cheese. Seriously, go check the video out, Mary has a way of making everything look easy.

I bet you’re wondering if I would come back with a recipe. It was hard to choose; I’ve been cooking throughout my hiatus but a lot of it is the same old standards. However, I’m constantly looking for something fun to veganize. My friend  MeShell inspired this Big Mac pizza and I’ve made it multiple times since.

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Homemade Sushi

13 Nov Homemade Sushi

I fell in love with sushi years ago. I was lucky enough to be given a rolling mat and the beginning ingredients when I was 16 and I’ve been making it at home ever since. I recently learned how to do an inside out roll and I wanted to share. Things you will need:

  • Rice cooker
  • Rolling mat
  • Saran wrap/cling wrap
  • Nori sheets
  • Short grain white rice
  • Rice vinegar
  • White sugar
  • Avocado, cucumber, green onion, carrots, etc. for filling
  • Sesame seeds
  • Gari(pickled ginger) and wasabi for garnish *you can find these is most large grocery stores

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