I had quite a bit of chili sauce leftover from making Thai summer rolls yesterday, so I wanted a recipe that would use most of it. I found the recipe for the sauce here.
Ingredients:
Directions:
There’s a period of time every week where I get a craving for Thai food. However, most Thai restaurants cook with oyster sauce and fish sauce, which makes trying to order vegan complicated. I realize it’s hard on the wait staff and sometimes they don’t know if the sauces are premixed or added during cooking, so it’s easier to cook it myself. It’s also much cheaper!
I’ve found an Asian grocery store in Springfield that orders all the fresh noodles for the Thai restaurants in the area. However, if I don’t go on Friday, they’re usually already gone. I like to use these for Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) as well. If you can’t find them, extra large rice noodles will work just as well.
A few months ago, we wandered into a dark, artsy bar in New Orleans. We meant to go across the street for a tofu po’ boy, but the music coming from the place drew me in. We sat at a high top table for two and perused the menu for something we could eat. There was an interesting gnocchi dish with a ratatouille sauce topped with feta. After we ate the entire appetizer-sized portion, I realized the gnocchi was probably housemade with eggs, so I decided eventually I would make it at home for assured veganness.
After searching on the internet, I discovered the name of the place was The Three Muses. Their menu seems to change regularly, so the dish we had is no longer on the menu, but I think I did a good job recreating it. Feel free to top with feta, if that’s your thing.
I love the black bean soup from Panera Bread, especially in a bread bowl. However, I don’t like paying for a meal that I can easily replicate at home. I’d estimate the cost of this soup is about $3 and it only takes about 20 minutes to make. It’s great for a cold fall day or a quick lunch after you’ve been out shopping all morning.
In honor of World Vegan Day, I’m making my favorite vegan macaroni and cheese. If you liked my previous recipe, pumpkin mac and cheese, then you’ll probably enjoy this recipe. This recipe is more unhealthy, as I use Daiya, but the protein from the tofu and nutrients from the nutritional yeast make me feel a little less bad about it (only a little.)
I adapted this recipe from the Vegan Mac Daddy recipe from Veganomicon. If you don’t own that book, you should. Also, anyone interested in purchasing Christmas presents for me, I’m sure my sister would like her copy back.
About 4 months ago, Ken and I spent 10 days in New Orleans for a vacation/work conference. After the first few days of exploring antique shops and restaurants in the French Quarter and the Warehouse District, I relaxed in our hotel and watched about 8 1/2 consecutive hours of Food network.
Between meeting Ken for lunch and going out for dinner, I watched an old Ina Garten episode that featured a vodka sauce recipe. I wanted to try it as soon as we got home. The original recipe called for cream, which I substituted with Tofutti sour cream. However, if you have a cashew cream or even some leftover pine nut cream from my previous post it would be even better. I’ve also made it without the cream entirely and it’s still extremely delicious.
After a friend was seriously injured in my apartment in Washington, I spent the night in the hospital and went straight to work. The last thing I wanted after my shift was to go back to the place of the accident. I was graciously invited to have dinner with a Vietnamese family and the meal is something I’ve never forgotten.
They served a family-style spring roll meal-there were rice noodles, bean sprouts, chopped herbs, stacks of wrappers, and a table-top stove for cooking meats. After everyone arrived, we sat down and the fun began. Each person would dip their wrapper in a bowl of warm water, swirl, and the top with any of the ingredients-roll them all up in the wrapper and devour. I ate until I couldn’t eat anymore and slept like a baby in the car ride home.
Spring rolls usually involve shrimp or shredded pork in some way, but I think they’re even more delicious without those ingredients. After you get used to soaking the wrappers, this is an easy, delicious, and mostly raw lunch.
Even though I made this 7 hours ago, I can still smell it when I walk in the door. This is a recipe that will make anyone who enters your home ask, “What smells so good?” It’s so simple it barely even needs a recipe and easily veganized.
Story time guys!
When I was young and innocent (read: 18 years old) I ran off to Washington in pursuit of love and an education. I lived outside of Seattle for over a year and had a lot of new and exciting experiences. Riding a city bus for the first time (which became a daily routine), getting my first real job (Thanks Nintendo!), and catching a shark (it was a small shark.)
Some of my best memories from Washington came from tasting new dishes-I ate oysters straight off the beach, had a first date at a pho place when I didn’t even know what the pho-ck it was, tried my first yellow curry, ate soto ayam that I helped prepare with an old Indonesian man and hated it. One of my favorite memories is sitting on a hillside near the Pacific Science Center and eating pad thai during my first music festival. I’d heard of pad thai, of course, and there was a tent serving it there-It was amazing. I ate my own plate and someone’s leftovers. The combination of sweet and sour and cilantro and bean sprouts is something I crave.
All I’ve been wanting today is something spicy. Mouth-numbingly spicy. I want it to burn my lips, my mouth, my stomach. Mapo tofu is the only answer.
This isn’t a perfect recipe. It’s probably not true to the dish (mapo tofu usually had szechuan pepper) nor are the measurements perfect. When I make this I add what feel right. Sometimes I need more sugar. Sometimes I need more black beans. It’s one of those great pms-week dishes because it’s fiery and angry but can be sweet and salty.
Avocados and Ales 