Day 4: I did not eat!
Day 5: I made Crispy Sweet & Sour Tofu & Wonton Soup, both recipes I got from Vegan Yum Yum, both FANTASTIC! I have had tofu once before. It was tofu tacos that I had helped make when I used to volunteer at local shows, and that was not a fun experience. It was bland and the texture made me want to vom. So I was a little weary to eat big chunks of tofu covered in one of my favorite chinese food sauces, but it was so good! The wonton soup was also delicious, nowhere near as good as the soup from Hong Luck that I have been craving, but delicious nonetheless.
Day 6: I made hash browns for breakfast. A delicious, pan-fried plate of potatoes. I am very picky about hash browns. Although I’ll eat the fluffy hash brown patty from McDonald’s and the soggy pile of shredded potatoes at breakfast restaurants IF I HAVEEEE TO, I prefer the thin crispy, hot sauce covered hash browns that my momma used to make. And these were perfect. Perfection. Beautiful!
For lunch/dinner I had a Veggie Stromboli [it was my own recipe, I will try and write it out later tonight and put it up. But it’s simple, vegan pizza dough, veggies, and homemade tomato sauce! Easy to throw together, customize, bake it at 400% till it’s all cooked, y’know.]
Day 7: Ok y’all. I spent all day Sunday on a boat with my family. There was a lot of snacking going on, not a whole lot of meals. But, I did manage to suppress my urge to cheat and get a turkey hoagie, and opted for the veggie hoagie they had, which was light and delicious but not something I made :(
Day 8: I made pancakes, they did not turn out right, I messed up somewhere. They tasted OK. Not terrible, but they were messed up. They were flat and ugh. I was disappointed and frustrated and let’s just say at the end of the day I buried my woes in a breadless sandwich they offer at KFC. let’s just say that.
Day 9: For lunch I had a Mushroom & Pepper panini. It was delicious, oven roasted the mushrooms and peppers (all different bells.) with some olive oil and some mesquite seasoning. Pressed it between two crusty, airy pieces of ciabatta with some basil and some olive oil. And dipped it in herbed olive oil. It was heaven. I assembled it at work thanks to our brand spankin’ new panini press [soon to go to the owner’s house ;-;]. And for dinner, I had Tofurkey Italian Sausage cut up in little 1/4 inch rounds, heated up in a lightly oiled frying pan, over some pasta. Plain and simple.

I know, no pictures. I know, this is rushed, I missed a lot of meals on the menu, and I’m behind. Work with me people, this is more difficult than I had expected. On the plus side, I started applying to schools again. So yay! This will become more important when I realize how much it will help me at school haha :]

I apologize for not updating yesterday. I was a little bit under the weather, and didn’t get the opportunity to cook, anything. This will probably not be updated until the end of the weekend because of the aforementioned sickness. I feel really bad about that, I’ll do my best to get back on track.

Caleb’s Vegan Chili

INGREDIENTS: 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 zucchini, sliced (diced?) 
1 yellow squash, slice (i dice this too) 
1 red bell pepper, diced 
1 green bell pepper, diced 
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, diced (i use ones you get in a glass cause my mom says fresh jalapenos are dangerous) 
4 cloves garlic, minced (mmmmmmm) 
1 onion, chopped 
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes, with liquid 
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste 
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinse 
1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained 
1 (15 oz) can chili beans in spicy sauce, undrained 
1 tablespoon chili powder 
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste 
 
DIRECTIONS: 
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Stir in zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, and onion.  Cook 5 minutes, just until tender. 
2 Mix tomatoes with liquid, tomato paste, black beans, corn, and chili beans in spicy sauce into the pot.  Season with the spices.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour stirring occasionally.

OH. MY. GOD

I love chili. No, I love all comfort foods. On the PETA 2-week vegan menu they suggest you go and buy boca veggie chili. When my friend Cara saw that on my shopping list she sent me this recipe from Caleb. 

Now I can’t say it’s better than the Boca chili, because I didn’t even bother with that, this seemed like a pretty solid recipe, but it is probably some of the best chili I’ve ever had. It’s hearty, it’s filling, it’s warm, it’s spicy, it is fantastic. 

And of course no chili is complete without cornbread! And thanks to Cara for that recipe too, because that is some fantatsiccccc cornbread, so moist!

heat your oven to 350

2 cups soy milk
2 tsp vinegar

combine the above and let sit. it will curdle and this is okay.

2 cups corn meal
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

combine the above in another bowl and make a well into which pour the milk mix and:

1/3 cup of oil

if you want you can put JALAPENOS and/or pimentos IN IT.  or onion or whatever haha. 
now mix all that shizz up and pour it into a pan and bake it for 25/30 ish mins. 

Cara’s recipes are about as specific as mine, but these instructions are pretty dead on. Obviously I added the jalapenos, very gooood. 

Sorry this is such a lazy, quick update and that I am missing a lot of food this week, it will all be made I swear, but I work full time and don’t get home till 6-7 at night, so mustering up the energy to cook in the morning and after work is difficult. But like I said, it will all be done eventually! 

So I am terrible at sticking to a schedule. I didn’t make the breakfast [pancakes] today, and at this rate I will not be making the Cinnamon Buns tonight. Poor planning on my part, but they will both be made, don’t you fret.

I did manage to combine my lunch with my dinner, since I didn’t have the time or energy to make that this morning.

I am a pasta fiend, so when I was browsing Vegan Yum Yum and saw this recipe for a quick and easy tomato-basil pasta I had to try it. It was quick, it was easy, it tasted so fresh [home-grown tomatoes were used, so good.] I ate two bowls, with a side of toasted ciabatta bread. It was delicious. To add to Lolo’s recipe though, I added a dollop of Tofutti’s ‘Better than Cream Cheese’ in the place of raw cashews. It definitely made it super creamy and reminded me more of a pasta sauce I would make any other day. Very delicious.

Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta 

1 Large, ripe tomato (2 cups roughly chopped, 1 1/2 cups blended) 
1/2 Cup Raw Cashews 
1 Tbs Tomato Paste 
1/4 Cup Water

2 Tbs Olive Oil 
2-4 Cloves Garlic, minced, optional 
6 Ounces (ish) Whole Wheat Spaghetti 
1 tsp Salt (edit: upped from 3/4!) 
2-3 Tbs Wine or Water, optional 
1-2 tsp Freshly Cracked, Coarse Black Pepper 
1 Large Handful Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped 

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. 
Core the tomato, then roughly chop it. Add it to your blender, seeds, skin and all. Add cashews, tomato paste, and water. Blend until very smooth.

Add olive oil to a large sauté  pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden, being careful not to burn. Once water is boiling, add pasta. Pour sauce from the blender into the sauté pan and bring to a simmer. Add salt and let cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If desired add wine/water to thin out the sauce. Taste and season more if necessary. Let simmer until pasta is finished cooking. Once pasta is cooked, drain. Add pasta to the sauté  pan with black pepper and freshly chopped basil leaves. Toss to coat.  

Next to that big bowl of pasta I had Hasperat. Now I went into this thinking Hasperat was some asian veggie wrap but was surprised to learn it was inspired by Star Trek! Exciting, even though after a slew of really nerdy ex’s I’ve vowed to never watch Star Trek, ever. [The two who do like Star Trek are still very good friends of mine, I just am stubborn and won’t even watch the movie.] But anyway…spicy, salty, warm deliciousness. And once again, simple! I love the recipes from Vegan Yum Yum so much, she doesn’t over complicate a thing. Although, I will say I am far from a good wrapper, and the massive amount of sriracha sauce I put on top did not really make for an easy roll. But still, delicious.

Oh and that brown puddle underneath is the hummus I was using to dip the sandwich in to balance out some of that sriracha, poor planning all around today! 

Hasperat

 
2 10″ Wheat Tortillas 
1/2 Cup Hummus (Any flavor, plain or horseradish is nice) 
1 Small Cucumber, sliced very thin (about 1/2 cup) 
1 Carrot, shredded (about 1/3 cup) 
1 1/2 Tbs Tamari (or regular soy sauce) 
1 1/2 Tbs Rice Vinegar 
Black Pepper 
2 Small Handfuls Baby Spinach 
Hot Chili Sauce/Tabasco, optional 

Slice the cucumber very thinly and place in a large bowl. Add carrot,  tamari and rice vinegar and toss. Let marinate 5-10 minutes

Warm your tortillas so they’re pliable.

Spread the tortillas with hummus, 3-4 Tbs each. Arrange the cucumber slices in one layer, slightly overlapping. Add carrot, and sprinkle some fresh pepper over the top. Add a layer of baby spinach.

Roll up the wrap, tucking in the ends, and place on a hot grill pan to slightly warm and create pretty grill marks. You can do this in a regular pan if you don’t have a grill pan.

So like I said, got off to a late start this morning but managed to toss together a batch of banana & [vegan] chocolate chip muffins by noon. 

I was a little concerned. No eggs? Meh. No milk in the chocolate? Meh. We shall see. But oh my god. OH. MY. GOD. Was my whole view of vegan baked goods so very very wrong.

I apologize now for the lack of quality photos. LG Camera Phones aren’t the best. But yes, there they are in all their glory. Not the fluffiest looking muffins I’ve ever laid eyes on but my goodness, the aroma that was wafting through my house was… intoxicating. And then I took my first bite and I thought I died and went to heaven. I don’t like mashing my bananas to a paste, so there were chunks of warm bananas and melty chocolate chips. It was perfect. They were perfect. I got so excited for this project when I ate them.

Banana Muffins   

3 ripe bananas

1⁄4 cup oil or melted margarine

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips 

• Mash the bananas (overripe ones make the best

bread). Add the oil or margarine and the sugar.

Mix well.

• Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together and

add to the banana mixture. Mix until the flour is

blended (do not beat). Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

• Pour into muffin pans or a bread pan and bake at

360°F, until a toothpick inserted into a muffin

comes out clean.

Then it was lunch time. I have never had eggplant before, and to be quite honest, I had never cared. I hadn’t even held an eggplant in my hand before my shopping trip Friday night. All I know is that my mother SWEARS by it. Eats it whenever we go out for italian food. She was excited for lunch, more-so than me. But I figured I have to go into this thing with an open mind and I know eggplant is basically a staple in vegan and vegetarian cooking. It’s very versatile, so I’ve heard. Although the sandwich wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, it was good. I thought maybe I had cooked the eggplant wrong because it was mushy, but that’s apparently the right way…not a fan of that. I did eat the entire thing though, so I’m really not complaining. 

• Italian Eggplant Sandwich 
• 1⁄2 cup soy milk
• Egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg
• Salt, to taste
• 1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1⁄4-inch-thick slices
• 1⁄2 cup flour
• 1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
• 4 sub rolls, sliced
• 1⁄2-1 cup marinara sauce 
• • Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• • Combine the soy milk, egg replacer, and salt and
• mix well.
• • Dredge the eggplant in the flour and shake off the
• excess. Submerge in the egg replacer mixture and
• shake off the excess, then coat evenly with the
• bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a lightly
• greased baking sheet.
• • Bake, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until
• crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
• • Place on the sub rolls, top with the marinara sauce,
• and serve immediately

So after that I went out with my sister and was hit kind of hard with the realization that cheese and meat are no longer a part of my diet when we pulled into the McDonald’s drive-thru. ‘Just get a Mocha Frappe’ my sister suggested as I stared at the pictures of delicious food next to us. It was…fine, really. Just a fun side story so you guys can understand that for the first time ever, I wanted to weep at Mickey D’s.

I came home, my dad was nice enough to grill me some corn and throw together a salad to go along with their dinner. After they finished eating I went to the kitchen and got to work. First of all, I love black beans, but I do not love the purpley-black water that you get when you let black beans sit in water for 24 hours. Not the most appetizing thing I’ve ever seen. And then I did what I do very often, I didn’t follow a recipe. Out of laziness. And fear of snakes. 

See this recipe calls for grilling, and while I absolutely love to grill, I do not love that snakes creep around in the dark in my backyard. So I roasted the veggies, and I pan fried the ‘quesa’dilla. Oh yeah, I also cut out the fake cheese in this recipe because, well…I didn’t hear one good thing about Faux-cheese, and I love cheese too much to put myself threw that. But it paid off, roasted mushrooms and peppers on a bean puree? Yes, please.

I chose this picture because I wanted you to see the actual filling. I was under the impression everything I would be eating would be bland, tasteless, and leave me starving but I’ll be damned if this wasn’t one of the most delicious and filling things I have ever tasted. 

Portobello-and-Red Pepper ‘Quesadillas’
1 cup white, black, or pinto beans
1 1-inch piece kombu
1 minced garlic clove, or 1⁄2 tsp. garlic powder
1⁄2 tsp. chili or chipotle powder
1⁄2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• Pick over and rinse the beans and place in a bowl
with the kombu. Add enough water to cover by
about 2 inches. Set aside to soak for 6 to 8 hours
(or overnight).
• Drain, reserving the kombu, and transfer the beans
to a soup pot. Add 6 cups of water and bring to a
boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer,
uncovered, for 40 to 50 minutes, until just tender.
Drain and set aside, reserving about 1 cup of the
cooking liquid.
• Transfer the beans to a food processor or blender.
Add the garlic, chili powder, sea salt, lime juice, cilantro,  
and a bit of the cooking liquid and pulse until smooth.  
Taste and adjust the seasonings. The
purée can be made up to 3 days in advance and
kept in the refrigerator.
For the Mushroom-and-Pepper Filling:
2 Tbsp. EVOO
Sea salt, to taste
I used Chipotle Seasoning, to taste.
2 large portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and thinly
sliced
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the olive oil,
salt, and chipotle seasoning. Add the mushrooms and the
pepper and toss to coat. Place in a roasting pan and cook for 10-15 minutes.
To Assemble:
2 12-inch flour tortillas
Bean Puree
Vegetables 
• Fill each tortilla with some of the bean purée and
some of the mushroom-and-pepper filling. Coat a frying pan
with olive oil and let sit on medium-high heat. My tip for less
oily ‘quesa’dillas is to make sure the oil coats the pan and
after it’s heated, pour the oil into a cup or the sink so just
the coating is in the pan. Cook for 5 minutes or less on each side.

So that was day 1. I was pleasantly surprised! Excited for day two. Also, seeing as this is the very first update, feel free to give me some feedback in my ask box. I would love to know what changes y’all would make or how you would lay it out differently! 

Hey guys, today is day 1 of my Vegan challenge.
I got off to a late start today, it’s already noon and I just finished eating breakfast! Just to let you know there will be one big update at the end of the day with the recipes, pictures, and my commentary on the whole thing. Instead of several little updates that will drive y’all crazy.

As far as breakfast goes though, YUM! This might be easier than I thought! 

This is something I’ve been asked a few times now. Honestly? I stumbled upon the vegan menu. Thinking about it later on, I can do vegetarian pretty well. I love vegetables, I don’t really eat a lot of meat, and as long as I have my heavy cream, butter and cheese I can turn anything into a delicious meal. Going vegan takes a lot more. It takes more commitment, more of a challenge. For example, the grocery shopping would have been a lot more simple if it wasn’t vegan. I picked up so many items that were in the so close to being vegan and then you look at the ingredients and you see egg products, or a hint a cheese, or maybe something like milk, maybe some butter. 

Would it have been a lot easier to be able to shrug that off and just throw it in my cart, oh my GOD yes. I even reconsidered the whole vegan thing about the second store in. Part of this whole project is beyond food. It’s beyond new recipes and new tastes and having fun doing something I like to do. Part of this is to prove to me I can set out to accomplish something and actually follow through with it, and I want to push myself to the edge and then just jump right off. 

So that is why I decided to stick with vegan, because I can do it. It might be a little more difficult but it’s not impossible.

The Shopping Trip [from hell]

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of going grocery shopping in my town. Maybe it’s because I live in the South, or maybe it’s because Vegan foods are just difficult to come by everywhere, but it took me 3 different stores to get everything I needed. Not even, there were 3-4 items I did NOT find and now get to figure out if I can order them off the internet or stop by the Whole Foods that is 15 minutes from my work [and an hour and 15 minutes from my home]. 

Monday:

• Banana Muffins
• Italian Eggplant Sandwich
• Portobello-and-Red Pepper Quesadillas

Tuesday:

• Pancakes
• Hasperat
• Tomato-Basil Cream Pasta

Wednesday:

• Cinnamon Buns
• Vegan Chili
• Crispy Sweet & Sour Tofu

Thursday:

• Fresh Fruit & Cereal
• Vegetable Stromboli
• Wonton Soup

Friday:

• Hashbrowns
• Avocado Wasabi Salad
• Mac & ‘Cheeze’

Saturday:

• Cheesy Muffin
• ‘B’LT Salad
• Vegetable Tempura

Sunday:

• Crumb Cake
• Tofurky [Italian Sausages, because that is all I can find] and Chive Mashed Potatoes