All Hail Kale Salad: Swipe!

Swiper, no swiping!

Those of you that have young siblings as I do or children of your own
might catch that reference. If not, I just swiped or knocked off a dish
from everyone's favorite Veggie Grill.

To be honest, I've never even had the darn thing. Yes, everyone raves
about it, blah blah blah-- but I have a hard time bringing myself to
pay $8-10 for a bowl of kale. I don't care how good it is. If I'm going
to go out to eat and drop dollars in the double digits, it better be
something I can't make at home or have never experienced before.

Its Ok if you can't cook and like to eat out because its the only decent
way to get good food, but you have to at least tell me you're trying to duplicate these things.

What is this All Hale Kale stuff? Apparently it is Kale and Quinoa
marinated in a papaya vinegarette, topped with purple cabbage,
walnuts, carrots, and a roasted corn salsa and chic'n/tempeh (opt).

I basically had everything but the papaya, so I subbed out some OJ for
that baby. Voila. Pretty delish. I didn't do the grilled plant protein,
since we were already eating quinoa and quinoa is high in protein.
Although, we did have some assorted baked sweet potato fries on the
side: orange, purple, and white sweet potato!

FYI: although many people do, there is really no need to remove the
stems from kale. Just cut off the very end and roll the whole leaf with
a rolling pin to tenderize. Crush the stem so it is soft and chewable.
Why waste a perfectly good piece of kale?



All Hail Kale Salad for 4

8 stalks of kale, tenderized and shredded finely
2 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup purple cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup raw walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup orange juice
2 tbsp olive oil or a nut oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp agave
juice from one lemon
1/2 tsp grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup fresh corn
1 tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
juice from one lime
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro (opt)

Once the cooked quinoa has cooled, toss it with the kale and add the
dressing. Go ahead and mix the salsa, let it sit to 'age' the flavors.

Once you're ready to chow down arrange the salad on the plate
starting with the marinated kale, salsa, cabbage, carrot then walnuts--
or whatever you like, it's all ending up in the same place anyway!

This is where you go "WHAT? That's it?!" and I smile and laugh manically.

I guess it's the Forth of July... Don't go out and roast dead animals
or burn a forest down with stupid fireworks... please and thankyou.
No, we are not celebrating today. Why? I dunno, should it be a priority?

Plethora of Panini: Delhi or Deli?

Although I find middle eastern and Indian food pretty delicious, I
do have to admit one qualm I have with it. Most of what I have tried
is-- overcooked-- for lack of a better word. I'm sure this is because I
haven't gotten to experience traveling in that region and haven't had
the advantage of befriending an outstanding traditional Indian chef.
Even with books, recipes, and restaurants most of what I've tried/seen
has been really heavily cooked dishes of (mainly) grains and legumes.
Not bad, but I always like to have something very raw and fresh with
my meals.

I know there are a lot of salads or cucumber dishes, but too often they
are submerged in dairy.

Another thing that I've found when using Indian recipes is needing to
really know the spices. That is usually the main draw of this region's
dishes-- the spices! So exotic and exciting, but if over done it gets
a heavy dusty taste. That is really the only way I can describe it.

If you don't agree with any of this, please feel free to call me on it.
I'm just describing my own experiences. When making an Indian
spiced Panini, I wanted the flavors you know and love with an added
freshness. This is into way traditional, just a delicious experiment.

When making Paninis I always try to consider what the sauce is going
to be. Sometimes it is a spread, a cheese (vegan please), or dressing.
It should be something that is still tasty when hot or melted, as you
will be grilling it. All that the sauce does is keeps the entire
sandwich from being super dry and crunchy. You want a hot, flavorful,
moist interior, with a crisp, crunchy crust.

You can do more than one. I used veganaise and mustard with the
balsamic vinegar panini for example. Sometimes the vegetables add
enough moisture on their own, but not always.

For this panini I did two. I had a hummus spread on one side and
vegan yogurt on the other. I added a little salt to the yogurt as
the Whole Soy brand, my brand of choice, is a little sweet sometimes.

For the vegetables I separated them and seasoned them differently, to
add variation and to avoid the over spiced taste that I spoke of earlier.

To the onions, garlic, peppers, and chilis I added some red chili
powder, cayenne, and black and white pepper. I sauteed them until the
onion was soft and tender. I just used water instead of oil whenever
they started to look dry. I added no more than 1/4-1 tsp of each spice.

It depends on how much you are making and how strong you want it.
I made enough for two sandwiches: 1/2 onion, 1/2 pepper, 3 cloves
garlic, 1 hot pepper with 1 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and
1/2 tsp of everything else.

Remove your veggies from the pan and get ready to cook the eggplant.
In a tablespoon of oil, quickly roast a tsp or so of cumin seeds. Add 1
tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp coriander, and 1/4 tsp ginger (opt). Cook briefly
and add about half an eggplant cut into 1/4 inch slices. These were
salted and rinsed beforehand to extract the bitterness. Cook each side
in the spices until the edges of the eggplant appear dark and soft.

Assemble the bread with all the ingredients so far... add some fresh
sliced tomatoes and some cilantro and grill! It may seem spicey, but
the coolness of the soygurt and fresh tomatoes balance it all out for
a perfect panini!

Plethora of Panini: Vinegar on the High Street

Last night the paninis took an Italian twist. Usually adding
balsamic vinegar as the main flavor punch has me a bit worried
because it tends to make paninis very soggy. But I found a way to
keep the splashing to a minimum.



First saute the your desired veggies-- I did some peppers, onions,
garlic cloves in some Italian seasonings and light olive oil.
Then separately grilled slices of eggplant that I had salted and
rinsed to remove the bitterness. This is where you add the vinegar.
Dry grilling the eggplant burns up the moisture. Eaten straight
after would be dry and probably a little flavorless.

I put them in the pan with the other veggies and added some salt
and a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, which was quickly
absorbed by the thirsty eggplant.



On the bread I spread some veganaise, spicy mustard, a dash of
garlic salt and fresh shredded basil. I would have loved some pesto
though... Then I added some sliced field roast, fresh tomatoes, and
fresh spinach.

I layered it all together and added another little spoonful of
vinegar on to the field roast, which is absorbent as well.
Then we grilled it with a little bit of olive oil and opened
a bottle of Bordeaux. I know it's french, but who is telling?



Writing this I just realized I forgot to add the black olives...
Oh well, don't tell Monkey-man!

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!

Pumpkin Patch Part Five: Pumpkin Tomato Soup

Whenever it starts getting a little chilly or if I start getting sick,
I insist on tomato soup for dinner. Thankfully I am not ill, but we
have had some crisp autumn evenings as of late.

Tomato soup has to be one of the easiest soups you can just about
make... Actually, now that I think of it-- it IS the easiest soup
you could make.

We'd get tomato soup and saltines as children when we were sick.
I don't know if my Mom made it or bought it, but it made me feel
better. If Dad was home we got miso, which I was not a fan of at the
time. When I got older and my Mom got sick, I made some tomato soup
for her. Except she is so picky I couldn't use garlic or onions and
she wanted it to taste just like traditional canned soup.

Well, I snuck some onions in anyway and managed to skip the heavy
cream with soymilk and she didn't complain. Yet, I found that it
did lose some of the richness it had before. The way to gain that
real creaminess is with cashews!

And adding Pumpkin is such an amazing twist. You get a lovely
orange colour instead of the light redish-pink and a very slight
tinge of squash. I hope you like it!

Pumpkin Tomato Soup

4 cups chopped, skinned tomatoes
1 cup chopped pumpkin, I used cooked but you can start with raw
1 med onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bouillon cube
1/2 tsp sage
1/3-1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions and garlic in a stock pot in a few tbsp of
water or mild oil until the onions appear translucent and the
garlic is fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, bouillon, sage, and pumpkin (if raw only).
Add some water if you are using fresh tomatoes.
Cook covered for about 15-20 minutes on med-low heat, adding water
if it appears to need it. Add the pumpkin and heat through for
about five minutes. Add the cashews, sugar, and seasonings.

Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Blend in small
batches, minding the heat. Move back to the stockpot over the
heat until ready to serve. If the soup appears too thick, you
can thin it out a bit with some veg broth or non-dairy milk.
Make sure the seasoning is adjusted and enjoy!

Monkey-man whipped up some garlicy pumpkin seed crackers, which
we sprinkled on top!




I then heated some soymilk in smallpan, just for a minute or so
and frothed it in my french press. I've got to get the hang of
soup designs with cream...

Taste of Aloha Part Three: Island Burger

Not too often we'll splurge on some faux meet and this time we
decided to go for some garden burgers, but I can't be satisfied
with just a plain garden burger.

So I took a tropical twist it this time.
Layered with some grilled bell peppers, fresh sweet pineapple and
topped with a delicious thousand island dressing it could not be
more satisfying. The pineapple and sauce play perfectly together!

Vegan Thousand-Island Dressing

1/4 cup vegenaise
1/4 cup ketchup
1 small diced pickle
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp soysauce
1/2 tsp tobasco
1-2 tsp agave
salt and pepper

add all to a tight fitting jar and shake and pour!

Pleasing with Paninis

I really think that if you're cooking to tempt omnis, sandwiches and
paninis are definitely one of the best things you can make. Honestly
everybody likes sandwiches and you can pack in so much flavor with
veggie patties, spreads and marinades that you snag people with the
familiar.



I marinaded a pack of extra firm tofu in this marinade, but
added a 1/3-1/2 cup of red wine.

For bread, I made a single batch of whole wheat focaccia.
While that was baking I briefly sauteed 2 sliced yellow squash,
1 zucchini, and 1 green bell pepper. I caramalized a sliced onion
in the remaining marinade that was left over from the tofu. (I used
most of the remaining marinade to actually cook the tofu in).

Once the focaccia was cooked I cut it into 3x6 pieces. I used
guacamole and veganaise on one half and hummus on the other.
Usually when I make paninis I add a splash of balsamic vinegar
or a good slather of pesto. But these spreads were flavourful
enough to enhance the flavour of the veggies.

When assembling put the smaller stuff on the spread so it sticks
and doesn't fall out when you're grilling the sandwiches. I also
added some raw tomatoes and some moz daiya when stacking on the
squash, onions, peppers and tofu. When grilling the paninis you
need to either be using a press or lay something heavy on top of
them. I use another pan with a heavy mixing bowl set inside of it.
Monkey man says to pull a Martha Stewart and use bricks covered
with foil.

Grill each side on med-hi heat for 3-5 minutes with a bit of
olive oil or earthbalance.

I served mine with some oven-baked garlicy frenchy fries.
I ended up with about 8 paninis and some left over veggies.

Cool Summer Pasta

When it is hot, it takes a lot to get cooking. Sometimes you
don't even want to eat, but you can get all the veggies you
need by keeping it cool. I certainly needed a break from all
the bread I've been baking, but I still wanted my carbs.

I whipped up some simple summer pasta for a warm day that
really hit the spot. You can even shred some raw squash instead
of pasta. I briefly sautéed some zucchini and yellow squash just
enough to get rid of that raw flavor and add a little bit of
moisture. Other than that, all I had to do was cook some spaghetti.

Throwing in some chopped green beans, asparagus or even some
tofu-feta would be a nice touch too.

By adding some red chili you can get a little bit of a sweat
going, which is perfect for a hot day. Getting your body to
sweat will tell your body to cool down. Plus the dish itself is
chilled, so you get the meal to cool your mind too.

Chilled Summer Pasta



1 package of spaghetti or angel hair
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 zucchinis, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1/2 can artichoke hearts
1 1/2 cups garbanzo beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
a few green olives sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
juice from half a lemon
1 tsp salt
Red Chili Flakes to taste
black pepper

Cook the squash and zucchini over medium heat with a few
tablespoons of water for only a couple of minutes. Toss
together everything and chill for about an hour before
cooking (opt).

Pizza Pizzaz Part Six: Chipmunk Pizza

Going through this series we had a list of white pizzas that we wanted
to give a shot. Now I love cashews on pizza (especially with broccoli)
but I wanted to turn up the nuttiness up to eleven.

First I started with adjusting the crust. When adding the flour to my
yeast, sugar, oil, salt, water mix I also tossed in about three tbsps
of flax meal. I like the flecked effect it gives, plus the added
nutritional boost. Monkey-man needs his omega-six!


For the Sauce I mixed up a white wine sauce with a earthbalance roux
base. I thinned it out with soymilk, but any nondairy milk would be
fine. Added some garlic and a dash of nutmeg, just to give it a twist.
Of course salt and pepper and cooked enough to burn off the majority
of the alcohol.



For toppings I went all out, not stopping with cashews. I also threw
on sun flower seeds and toasted Brazil nuts, roasted garlic, diced
tomatoes, and black olives. I considered almonds and peanuts, having
both on hand... but almonds are too sweet and I thought peanuts would
be too overpowering.



Lastly I topped it with a dusting of daiya moz cheese.


Again I baked it at 450F for about 12 minutes until browned.
It was incredibly rich and good with a nice salad or leafy green.

I can think of a few other nuts that might have been good... like
macadamia nuts, walnuts, or pistachios-- go nuts!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Five: Rastafarian Pizza

You don't need dreadlocks or any smoke around da house to enjoy
something rasta, you need to just be jammin this pizza!


I wanted to mix it way up. This is an amazing dish to contrast a deep
natural sweetness with a light brush of spice. Yeah, I know I've already
used beans on another pizza in this series, but I had to go back for
one more version.

This time I used a black bean mix instead of the pintos. And here is
the break down of some basic Jamaican Black Beans...


3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, minced
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1 can black beans
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp red chili flakes
salt and pepper

First cook the onions and garlic over medium heat with a few
tablespoons of water until they appear slightly translucent.
Add the black beans and seasonings and continue to cook for
about 10 minutes, but be sure to keep adding water or more
orange juice if it appears that the beans are drying out.

Preheat the oven at 450F and roll out your prepared crust.

On the crust, spread out the black beans evenly. It is important
to make sure they pretty moist because they will lose a lot of
that moisture during the bake in the oven.

I topped with fresh sliced tomatoes, sliced green and yellow
bell peppers, black olives, and bananas. I originally though pineapple
because I wanted to add something sweet. But pineapple is tricky on
pizzas and can be very over powering. So bananas it was. They were
perfect. Soft, sweet, and yellow! Perfect for my colour scheme!




Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the crust starts to turn
gold. I loved assembling it because it looks like a mandala!
Enjoy with some Marley, or be super naughty and pair it
up with some Sublime...

Pizza Pizzaz Part Four: Strawberry Fields Forever

Cooking is easy with minds closed, boring foods are all you see.
It's getting hard to be different, but it all works out.
It really matters much to me...

Let me take you down cuz we're going to Strawberry Fields.
I promise it's real. Not thing to get weird about.
Strawberry Fields Forever.



It still strawberry season here in California and I've been
hitting up the local vendors every week now. We've been having a
lot of strawberry smoothies and I've been adding them to my
cereal for weeks now. I plan to make some preserves too, but need
to find all my jars. But somewhere along the way I figured, why
not pizza?

Why not indeed. We put all sorts of sweet stuff on our pizzas right?
Well, some of us do. Pears, pineapple... ok thats all that really
comes to mind right now, but we need to try more sweet stuff. I'm
not saying throw gummi bears on your pizza, but more naturally
sweet stuff.



That's where this pizza comes in.
Its topped with a delicious red sauce, kale (although, I'd sub out
chard instead), grilled strawberries, pecans, and tofu feta.
Seriously, that is it.



We used the Tofu Feta from Jo Stepaniak's The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.
It was good. Better baked than raw, but tasted a little too much of
miso when you think about it. I'll try the recipe again without so
much miso, while looking around for better recipes that I can incorporate.



Baked at 450F for about 10-15 minutes we served it topped with
balsamic vinegar-- very important! Come on! Get out there and try
something new for god's sake!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Three: Getting Saucy

I have encountered two spiritual junctures in my life thus far.
The first was when I discovered kitchen witchery and the craft
as a teenager. It strongly affected my creativity, sense of self,
and overall attitude of action.

The second was when I found garlic.
It felt like finding my soul-mate. In my parent's home, garlic is
not allowed. If my Mom smells it she will squirm and squeal and
run to find the huge loud air filter, topped up with tea tree oil.

I remember when I was little and my Mom forced my Dad to agree to
forgo garlic from then on. Since he stopped bringing it home, he
lost the taste for it too. Not entirely. He doesn't hate it, but
its way more powerful tasting.

My first affair with garlic began with the pesto pizza.
The green colour, the penetrating flavour all topped with luscious
tomatoes was too good to be true. Retrospectively, it was way too
much oil to handle. I can't believe how much fat was in those
pizzas I would order at the local joint.

I use a fraction of the oil in my current version of pesto, adding
tomatoes instead. I also use walnuts instead of pine nuts, because
I don't fancy spending $20/lb on them. Nutritional yeast has easily
replaced parmesan hands down-- Way better nutritional value without
the fat and nastiness of cheese.

I still love it topped with a vegan moz cheese and tomatoes. Other
toppings come and go...



I also suggest experimenting with cilantro pesto. Now, I'm not a
huge fan of cilantro and I know it turns alot of people off. Try it
anyway. The cilantro doesn't come through in the same way for some
reason and its dreamy on pizza. Basically, if you haven't experienced
a pesto pizza yet... Do it. Now. Or I'll never forgive you.

Pizza Pizzaz Part One: El Diablo

Today is 'day-one' of my pizza week series!
This is exciting! I've been reading a lot of ideas and suggestions
for special toppings and have will have a hard time cutting it down
to seven. But I'm gonna start off with something really simple.

Granted this may be comprised of mostly left-overs, but let me tell
you that left-overs can make a damn good pizza. That is where I start
this series. I think we all need to open our minds a little and
start experimenting with pizza more. Is anyone else tired of the
plain 'cheese' pizza with basil and tomatoes? Ok, it is pretty good
I grant you, but I want something different. And I rarely make the
same thing twice. I want something out there, something that will
take me by surprise. Something with pizazz, pizza pizazz.

So last night we had tacos and I had made a neo-traditional spicy tvp
taco filling. It then got thrown in with some tomatoes, jalapenos,
fresh spinach, purple onions, all topped with the chedder daiya cheese.



The spice gets pumped from ground chili from our mexican market.
Not the typical chili powder that you get from vons, etc. Plus a
splash of cayenne. If you like, use habeneros instead of jalapenos
or sprinkle the whole thing with some tabasco/hot sauce.



The daiya cooled it down a little, but only so much.
The thin crust compliments the whole dish, without weighing it
down with breadiness. We had to keep it a little mild in the
long run though, 'cause I don't think Monkey-man can take the
heat-- I like my food to make me sweat!

Mushy-roomie-rooms

Not sure if I've ever mentioned my distaste for mushrooms, but...
I have a weird sort of gag reflex with them. I think I like them,
but every time I try to eat them the texture and the taste hit
me in such a weird way that I start to gag like I'm gonna puke.

I hated mushrooms a lot when I was a kid. The smell of them
cooking puts me off so much. My parents used to try and sneak
them to me in food by telling me they were olives, which I would
eat by the bucket full. I can taste mushrooms from a mile away,
there is no hiding them from me!

Yet, since I learned to cook and such it has become kind of the
last stand with foods. I got over a lot of things I thought I
did not like. I still get a little put off by too much cilantro,
onions, or celery. I still don't like baby corn.

The thing is I want to like mushrooms.
So I continue to eat them when I feel like pushing it in order to
get over this. Someday I will. I got over my coconut allergy,
which in turn probably saved my life. Maybe someday mushrooms
will do the same. Now the reflex is no bad, just a little gag.

On the other hand, Monkey-man Loves mushy-roomie-rooms.
So for our outing day to Knotts, I made portobello sandwiches.

Grill for about a half hour with a basting mixture of white
wine, red wine vinegar, italian seasoning, braggs, olive oil,
garlic powder, black pepper, and sea salt. (Keep covered)

I added some slices of zucchini and a little water to keep it
from sticking. Also, make sure to spoon some of the basting
liquid into the cup of the mushroom as well.

After cooking I sliced the mushrooms thinner to even distributed
across the bread. We had made whole-wheat bread with millet the
night before, so it was perfect.

To cut down on the mushroom taste, I usually make hummus. It is
my way of easing in to enjoying the flavor without being overwhelmed.
(Ha ha, I can't believe I'm writing about enjoying food and
gagging in the same post, but really I love portobello burgers!!)
Instead of hummus, I made a spicy black bean spread, added
some veganaise and tomatoes to the sandwiches and we were
ready to go.


We had our lunch break in the parking lot and I shared my
crust with these awesome little guys!

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~

No Posts= High Grades

Yes my friends, I have discovered a relationship with a very high
level of statistical association. Finally squeezed through midterms
and emerged triumphant. Now to just actually start my final projects
and start studying for finals. Ha. I got my midterms returned and
only have three weeks of classes left for the quarter.

I have been cooking quite a bit when I am at home, naturally.
Much of that has been experimental, so no solid recipes unless you
wanna be a tester for the book.

Here are some of the highlights since St. Valentines Day...


Monkey Man's Potato Pierogies



Creamy Fat-Free Basil Pesto


Luscious Vegan Lasagna




Bad lighting, sorry.


Back to making my 'Cutie Quiche', but this time around its all vegan.
At one point I was known for the palooza of quiche I'd make and now
it may happen again.


I love the pie pan that I finally got to use. I actually had not
made any sort of pie since my pie series and my friends had given me
a gorgeous ceramic pie dish that I had not gotten to use yet.

Maybe I'll make them a quiche to say thanks! This one was a whole
wheat crust and stuffed with broccoli and garlic.

All of these were amazing, if I do say so myself and you could taste
absolutely no difference between these and their non-compassionate
counterparts.

I have some great recipes and series coming up soon, so don't fear!