Tamale Lunch

I love buying frozen tamales from the Tamale Store here in Phoenix. They set up stands at most of the the local farmers markets and sell both hot and frozen tamales. You can also call in an order and you can pick it up at the market or at their store in north Phoenix. The Tamale Store offers a selection of vegan tamales that I love. They are delicious when steamed, but also taste good out of the microwave for a quick lunch (great for work).


Today I had a "Southwest Chipotle" tamale-- spicy chipotle masa, sweet corn, onions, cilantro, and peppers. On the side I sliced up an organic tomato, some fresh guacamole, and Tacupeto chips and salsa. Don't forget the We Can't Say It's Cheese nacho dip!

What's in my fridge??

It's been a whole month since I've updated my blog, so to kick things off and start fresh, I'll do a special post called "What's in my fridge" (an idea I got from my favorite magazine, VegNews.) So here it is!

Some highlights and must-haves that I cannot choose not to live without:

1. Almond milk
2. Sriracha hot sauce
3. Vegenaise
4. Nathan's kosher dill pickles
5. Daiya non-dairy cheese in mozzarella and cheddar
6. Dilly beans purchased at local farmers market (next to them is a container of fresh guacamole I made and Tacupeto salsa)
7. A plethra of dairy alternatives: Earth Balance vegan butter, Silk soy yogurt (with probiotics), Follow Your Heart vegan cream-cheese, Tofutti vegan sour cream, and We Can't Say It's Cheese vegan nacho cheese.
8. Selection of beers including Rogue Hazelnut Brown, Old Chub, and PBR.
9. Blue Sky organic cola
10. Fresh pineapple that I cut up and put in containers last night
11. Mock meats: Smart Deli pepperonis for pizza, Tofurkey Hickory Smoked sandwich slices, and Tofurkey beer brats.
12. Organic tomatoes and strawberries
13. Produce drawer: Rainbow chard, green leaf lettuce, baby bella mushrooms, onions, shallots, red and green peppers, green beans, etc.
14. Mingus was curious and wanted to see what's up.

I love a well-stocked kitchen because it gives me inspiration for meals and prevents me from eating out too much. Lots of great vegan products keep me and my omnivorous boyfriend happy (for about a week until it's time to go shopping again. :)

I also wanted to put extra emphasis on this amazing new product I just bought for the first time: We Can't Say It's Cheese non-dairy cheesy spread.


I had read about this product a couple months ago in VegNews Magazine, but hadn't seen it in the store until now. It's vegan, soy and wheat free, and made with all natural ingredients. I am in love with this creamy, tasty, cheesy stuff! Last night I used it as a dip last night alongside guacamole and salsa.. SO good.

Cool Kelp Noodle Salad

I have had these kelp noodles sitting in my refrigerator, waiting and waiting to be eaten. They were just so mysterious. What will they taste like? What should I make with them? How should I prepare them? Finally, I just had to go for it! After opening the package and tasting a noodle, my first thought was "Mmm, crunchy!" They are a raw food and all you do is rinse them and they're ready to eat.

So I decided to make a cold salad with the kelp noodles and a bunch of veggies. First, I tossed the noodles in a simple garlic-tamari sauce. This kind of noodles doesn't really have much flavor on their own. Along with the veggies, the result was kind of like an Asian-inspired coleslaw and I thought it was delicious.


Ingredients:
Kelp noodles
Shredded savoy cabbage
Roasted beets (see below)
1/2 Diced shallot

Diced carrots

Sauce:
Tamari (soy sauce)
Fresh minced garlic (2 cloves)
Sriracha hot sauce
Red pepper flakes
1 tsp oil

About the beets: Beets might be my new favorite veggie. First of all, you get 2 veggies in one (the greens and the roots) and I love me some braised beet greens! In this recipe, I could have used raw beets, then it would have been a completely raw dish. But, I had already roasted the beets yesterday so I used those. Fresh roasted beets are awesome. Just wrap the whole thing in tin foil and bake on 400 degrees for about an hour. You can just put them directly in the fridge and they will store for a couple days if you don't want to use them right away. You will need to peel the outside skin before eating.

Vegan Shrimp? Interesting...

I must admit that I have mixed feelings about Vegetarian Plus brand Vegan Shrimp. On one hand, its appearance and texture really do bring back fond memories of delicious shrimp that I once enjoyed. On the other, it's lacking in taste and isn't quite as tender as I'd like. My conclusion is that vegan shrimp is more of a fun novelty vegan food, but worth a try if you used to like shrimp like me. (I would like to try mixing it in a food processor to see if i can make something like a krab cake or krab rangoons. We'll see how that goes later.)

For this pasta, we used whole wheat angel hair noodles, diced red pepper, sliced crimini mushrooms, diced onion, fresh garlic, olive oil, and crushed red pepper. I let the shrimp thaw before tossing it in with the other ingredients, then at the end mixed in the noodles and let it all cook together for a minute at the end.

(There is Daiya vegan cheese garlic bread in the background... so good.)

Quick Falafel Pitas

We made some yummy Falafel Pitas the other night. For quick falafels, I just use the box falafel mix that you mix with water. After about 10 minutes you just form little balls and fry them for about 10 minutes in some oil. Stuff the whole-wheat pitas with falafel balls, tomato, lettuce, (yes, i put Vegenaise on mine too...), diced dill pickle and Sriracha hot sauce. Cucumber would be good but I didn't have any. I also made some brown rice and heated up the indian "Bombay Potatoes" and garbanzo beans made by Tasty Bite. It was a quick and tasty dinner.

Brownies and Ice Cream

Vegan baking can be a little tricky sometimes... So this is a fool-proof vegan desert that even I can master! Yes, they come from a box (sorry, Mom), but these brownies turn out great every time.
I use Cherrybrook Kitchen Fudge Brownie Mix. They are amazingly vegan and gluten-free. Top them off with some Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream (cookie dough) and you have a bad-ass desert! It's kind of like Ben&Jerry's "Half-Baked"-- used to be my favorite flavor-- but waaaay better.

Breakfast Tofu Scramble

I used to really love eggs before I became vegan. Now, I make tofu scrambles instead. It has a similar texture to scrambled eggs, and it is so much better for everyone involved.

Ingredients:
Sliced red potatoes
Diced red onion
Minced garlic
Diced red pepper
Minced jalapeno
Extra-firm tofu
Salt and black pepper
Cumin
Cayenne pepper
Smoked paprika

(Other ingredient options include sliced mushrooms, soy-chorizo, cilantro, green pepper, etc. depending on what's in the fridge).

Start with some oil in a skillet (I used a wok with a glass lid) and add the potatoes. Let them cook under med-low heat for a few minutes.

Next, add the onions and garlic, cover, and simmer until the onions are translucent.


Use your hands to crumble the tofu as you add it to the mix. Add peppers and seasoning, mix, and cover to cook for a few more minutes.

When all of the ingredients are cooked/heated thoroughly, turn up the heat and brown a little.
We also toasted olive bread and buttered it with Earth Balance, and I sliced up some heirloom tomatoes on the side. Oh, and washed it down with Chocolate Almond Milk. :)

Hoagie Sandwiches

Who isn't a huge fan of sandwiches? I had to take some pics of this hoagie I made because it was just too good! The hoagie bread is made by Breadsmith (sold at the local farmers markets and Whole Foods). FYI my favorite type of vegan deli slices are Tofurkey Hickory Smoked.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you! The tomatoes were orange. and beautiful! I added green leaf lettuce, Vegenaise (a must), and I think I may have spread a little tofu ricotta on there too, because I made these a couple days after making the manicotti and I had some left over.

Dee-lish!