Plethora of Panini: Fajita Panini

I'd like to say that the majority of our meals are planned, but that
would simply not be true. It is part of what I want to focus more of
my energy on this year-- planning ahead. But then life happens.

I was planning on doing a Middle Eastern Panini last night, but
Monkey-man ended up doing a quick fix of a Mexican seasoned panini
instead. Our plans were changed because on the way to the grocer,
we passed a small dog that had been hit and left.

At first I though he was dead because his legs were in the air as
if he was going through rigor mortis, but when we swung around I saw
him shaking. By the time I had him in the car and we had decided to
take him to our vet to see how bad it was he had relaxed and was much
more awake. Not sure if they clipped him or actually ran him over
because there were tire marks across his abdomen.

But now he's upstairs in our bathroom, healing his broken pelvis.
Pretty sweet guy. So if anyone wants a dog! Ha ha, just let me know.
He is not micro-chipped and not fixed (for long...)

Needless to say our dinner was little late, but this is what Monkey-man
magically mixed up for us.



Fajita Panini!

Saute a bell pepper, onion, a bit of jalapenos and a few cloves of
sliced garlic with chili powder, salt, pepper, a little bit of lemon
juice and cumin. Add water as it drys out and then add some olive oil
and half a pack of sliced tofu. Flip to grill both sides.

While that is being cooked, heat up your grill.
On your chosen bread add vegan pepper jack (galaxy rice cheese),
avocados and fresh tomatoes. Add some hot sauce, salsa or bean spread
to make it a little more exciting-- Grill and enjoy!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Two: Twisting the Tostada

When I was a teen the only way I would get to see a decent concert
was to fly to Honolulu from the Big Island. One time when I was on
Oahu to see The Ataris (when they were cool and before the age of
emo) we all hit up California Pizza Kitchen. It was before the
restaurants were really that big, so it was pretty exciting at the
time.

Ok, I'm done dating myself.

When we were there I got a vegetarian tostada pizza that really
kicked butt, but then was struck with the karma of eating cheese
and got a headache. Years down the road I realize that the majority
of my headaches came from eating cheese. Go figure.

Looking back though, it was a good pizza. And I especially liked
it because of how unusual it was. I love going out and trying things
that haven't dawned on me to make at home.

So, during my pizza making adventures I decided to pick my memories
and try to replicate it. First thing to go was their crappy lettuce.
I will never understand what the appeal of iceburg lettuce is to
people. Oh yeah, its cheap.

Next I used pinto beans instead of black and baked it with the
cheese, whereas they just throw it on cold. I used the chedder daiya,
but Follow My Heart pepperjack would be good too.

First you mash about a cup or more of beans with some garlic, 1 tbsp
chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and a dash of cayenne. Roll the prepared
crust out nice and thin and spread the bean mash on top. Sprinkle
with cheese.



If you're using a pizza stone like we have here, make sure you
preheat it in the oven first at 500F and then turn it down to
450F when you actually bake your pizza.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the crust starts to brown nicely.
Before baked, prep your toppings.




Think of what you like on your tostadas... We had lettuce, salsa,
and corn tortillas. Then you're going to top it with some ranch
dressing.

Combine a couple tablespoons of veganaise and mustard, thinned out
with a little bit of non-dairy milk. Add garlic powder, onion powder,
a squirt of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and some italian seasonings.



Slice your pizza and top accordingly. Consensus? Awesome.
CPK, kiss mah butt.

Soja Rancheros~ Vegan Huevos Rancheros

As a child the only type of egg I would eat was hard boiled.
And looking back I think that was only because of the pretty
dyed ones at Easter. So I'd eat egg-salad (if it didn't have
celery in it) or deviled eggs... but probably because I loved
mayo as a kid. But I hate hate hated any other kind of egg.
I 'fondly' remember my Dad trying to get me to eat scrambled
eggs one night and me staunchly refusing.

My Dad was not easy going on picky eaters, so guess what I
had for breakfast... Reheated scrambled eggs. Except this time
my Dad put butter on them. Yes butter. I guess he was trying
to tell me it would taste like pasta with butter. WHAT?

I ate them while sobbing. I remember this happening a couple
times. I also remember my Mom throwing it out after my Dad
went to work. But it didn't last for too long, my Dad got the
message that eggs were not on my menu and just gave me extra
taders instead.

As a teen I suppose I developed a taste for scrambled eggs,
but only really well done- practically burnt. None of that
runny stuff. But I only felt ok eating the eggs from our
chickens. My parents have a bunch of pet chickens that
run all over the property and once in a while we'd get some
eggs. All in my pre-vegan ovo-lacto days...

In that same phase, right when I met Monkey-Man, I suddenly
discovered Huevos Rancheros. It is a mexican dish of fried
egg, tortillas, and salsa. Alot of people say cheese on it
isn't traditional, but every where I had it, it was served
with cheese. Some say to cook the salsa before you put it
on, but honestly. What is better than fresh Salsa?
Also, I've had it with refried beans, which I'd like to try
in layers, but I wanted to get the basics down first.

Recently we got a bunch of Follow My Heart Cheese on sale
at Sprouts (seriously like $3, we stocked up!). So with
the spicey nacho cheese, I knew it was coming.

Now I won't give you the recipe now because I want to
work on adding a gooey yoke to this tofu egg, but an easy
replication is just frying some slabs of tofu in earthbalance
and salt and pepper.


I'm working on it, but I'll be darned if it doesn't taste just
like an egg. This was made by blending and adding some seasonings,
but you'll still have to wait.


Whoa! Monkey-man went a little over the top with the cheese.
All this is piled on his hand made corn tortillas, just Masa,
water and salt.

You do a quick flip with the cheese on top so it melts all over
your 'egg' and tortilla. But don't leave it for more than a few
seconds or it will burn really fast.


Then just top with fresh or cooked salsa and enjoy~