Chik'n Parm Sandwich

I came home for my lunch break the other day and there wasn't much food to eat so I threw some frozen vegan chicken nuggets in the oven. While I was waiting for them to cook, I had a stroke of genius: chicken parm!

I sliced up some ciabatta, spooned on a little marinara sauce and sprinkled a little daiya mozzarella and threw that in the oven for the last few minutes that the nuggets were cooking.

When everything was done I layered on the nuggets and smooshed it all together in one ooey gooey nom worthy sandwich.

After I devoured half of it I thought it would be a great MoFo post, but I didn't take any pics, so I made the same thing for lunch the next day :)

Potato & Vegan Kielbasa

My dad use to make this dish when we were kids and I LOVED it. I haven't had it in years, but was craving it the other day so I decided to make a vegan version.

What you will need:
1 package Tofurky kielbasa, sliced
8 small yellow potatoes (or 2-3 large potatoes)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
3-4 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper and hot sauce to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Slice potatoes into thin discs. Place in a large bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil and garlic. Toss until potatoes are well coated.

2. Add sliced kielbasa, salt & pepper and continue to toss.

3. Thinly coat the bottom of a glass dish with olive oil and spread potato & kielbasa into it. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

4. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes to add a bit of crispiness to the dish.

5. If you like spice, add some hot sauce to the top (I have to do this separately since the husband doesn't like spice). Serve with green, steamed broccoli or a nice salad.

Shojin

Shojin is an amazing vegan & macrobiotic Japanese restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. I've been hearing about it for the past year and a half and finally went for my birthday date with my husband the other night. The restaurant is adorable inside, it feels upscale and romantic with small tables and low lighting.

 

I also love the handpainted art they have hanging up on the walls, gives the place a warm and fuzzy feel.

 

On to the food! I have one word: A-FRICKIN-MAZING! I kind of wanted to just stay there all day and eat everything on the menu, but we had to narrow it down to a few things. We started with the stuffed shiitake mushrooms filled with tofu, miso & shiso and served with a sweet soy sauce. This dish was so pretty and the flavors were perfect. So good.

 

We also ordered the pumpkin croquettes as a second starter. Sweet pumpkin and tofu inside a crispy shell topped with tangy tomato sauce...perfect combination of flavors.

 

We ordered two rolls for the main course: The Dragon Roll (shiitake & avocado on the inside with BBQ seitan & more avo on the outside with sweet soy sauce) and the Mother's Soul Roll (green veggies on the inside, shiitake & fried tofu on top with a miso mayo sauce). Both were so so good. I liked the crunch of the veggies in the Mother's Soul, but I think I liked the flavors on the Dragon Roll a little better, the BBQ was a perfect touch.

Dragon Roll

Mother's Soul

About 2 minutes after these plates arrived.....

My husband told the waiter it was my birthday so they brought out a Nutty Chocolate Cake for me with a candle, gave me a Happy Birthday tiara and took a picture for their Facebook page (they love when people choose their restaurant to celebrate - so sweet).

When they came back with the bill they gave me a little handmade card with our picture in it and a CD of the music they play in the restaurant (loungy covers of top 40 songs - AWESOME!) I was even commenting when we first got there how rad the cover songs were!

This is hands down my new favorite restaurant. The staff seems to really care about their patrons and the food is by far the best I've had in a long time. I can't wait to go back!

Vegan Interrogated: Nikole

Name: Nikole ~ Vegan Sudz Shop
Location: Michigan
Website: http://www.etsy.com/shop/VeganSudzShop

A little about yourself:
Just a happily married mother of none, living in my own little bubble in the woods of Michigan with hubby and my 2 beautiful pups, Bela & Otis. When I'm not busy posting NO HUNTING/TRESPASSING signs around my property to keep out the butthole hunters that wander around, I love kayaking, bicycling, motorcycling, walking/playing with the pups, and on occasion, binge drinking. Ok ok, that's not entirely true, I kid... I kid... its definitely not just occasional.
I love making my soaps and lotions, the creepy bloody ones are always my faves, but I do have a day job that sucks up most of my happy time, I take care of the pensions for the retired police & firefighters of a big city here. And then yet another job helping my ultra-hard-working husband with his business working in the office. So in other words, I sit in front of an F'n computer a lot!

What made you decide to go vegan?
Finally my actions caught up with what my brain had known for years, and knew what I was contributing to by eating animal products. I love them and don't want to see them hurt in any way, shape or form, but here I am eating my favorite ice cream, which *bla bla bla... insert horrible story of the dairy industry*. I realized that I was an a**hole hypocrite and it was time to cut it out already.

Favorite restaurant & why
Seeing as I don't really have any veggie ones close around - I'd have to say any one of them that don't completely jack up my order by still leaving cheese sprinkled all over it or melted inside of it after I specifically said WITHOUT CHEESE. I love a waitress that understands that by the time I say "no cheese and you keep your sour cream to yourself (please)" that I'm not into dairy, and lets the cook know without me having to be that bitchy vegan who reports my vegany status out loud for the entire restaurant to not give a crap about and just roll their eyes.
Oh wait update - middle eastern food, totally forgot about them, yeah, I can get a lot of good sh*t there!

Dumbest question someone asked you about being vegan.
I  know there have been TONS over the past 14 years of veginess, but this one stands out, it was more of a dumb statement - someone once asked me about being vegan and he stated that he too was vegetarian, and only ate ham and chicken...what do you even respond to that with? It was not worth my effort, breath and sanity to school this person on the fact that not eating red meat does not equal a vegetarian and the fact that he eerily reminds me of Jeffrey Dahmer helped me to just let it go. Enjoy your ham dude. Idiot.

Favorite organization/cause & why
I love love love the Detroit Dog Rescue!!! They have helped so many of the homeless, neglected and abused dogs in this area and are focused on having a no-kill facility in Detroit, as opposed to the 90% of them that are euthanized now. Between the declining city and the amount of people still believing that dog fighting is cool, we need these guys more than ever!

Do you have any advice for people toying with the idea of becoming a vegan?
Can't hurt to try it, right?
I know I could probably give a more involved answer here, but if they're already thinking about it, what are you waiting for? You obviously are interested in it because its better for your health and the well being of countless numbers of animals. At this point, why would you NOT at least try it?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. I don't normally like to make a huge deal of it, but for some reason this year a lot of little celebrations are happening. I guess that is the result of my widening social circle :)

On Sunday I invited my family and some close friends to spend the day with me at The Gentle Barn, an amazing farm animal sanctuary in Santa Clarita, CA. We spent a couple hours hanging out with cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, etc. And finished the afternoon with some delicious vegan cupcakes that my cousin Jana made, check out her awesome cakes at Jana's Fun Cakes!

My cousin & I with Buttercup, the sweetest cow ever!

 

Me and the llama...he's got his eye on me!

 

This is Portia, she was genetically engineering to be a fat Thanksgiving turkey,
and now she can't even hold her own weight :(
 

 

This poor pot belly is blind because his previous owner did not know how to properly
feed him, he had zero protein in his diet.

Husband, cousins, friends and me!

AWESOME vegan cupcakes, I think the best vegan frosting I have ever had!

It was so much fun spending time with my family, friends and all the animals! I couldn't ask for a better way to spend the day!

On Monday the husband and I drove out to Temecula where my mom and dad live and had an awesome Mexican fiesta with family complete with vegan tacos, homemade Mexican brown rice and margaritas! It was nice to have the immediate family all together, doesn't happen often.

I could eat Mexican food everyday.

 

Vegan chocolate cake with spider & pumpkin sprinkles!

SO good.

Mom, dad and brothers.

Husband and brothers

 

Tonight I think the husband and I are going out for a nice vegan meal (post on that later in the week) and then Friday will be another dinner with friends and karaoke! Super busy week, but it's worth it!

Vegan Grilled Cheese w/Tomato & Avocado

I love grilled cheese sandwiches. Before going vegan, grilled cheese with tomato soup was my husband and I's staple meal throughout the winter. I would crave them from In N Out Burger (it's been almost 20 years since I've consumed red meat, so it's all I would order there). I always told myself that cheese would be the biggest factor for me not to be vegan. Luckily, I got over that and discovered the wonderful world of vegan cheese. I really don't miss the nasty, casein filled crap I used to consume on a regular basis.

I whipped up these delicious sandwiches the other night and they were awesome. The bread is crispy and the avocado is warm and creamy - heaven. These would go great with a big bowl of tomato soup in the winter or homemade gazpacho in the summer.

What you will need:
Bread of choice, I went with sourdough
Vegan butter (Earth Balance is my favorite)
Daiya Mozzarella cheese shreds (or your favorite brand)
1 ripe tomato, diced
1/2 avocado, sliced thin or diced
Garlic salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat a large skillet (use one that has a lid) over medium high heat.

2. Butter 1 side of two pieces of bread. On the non-buttered layer the Daiya, tomatoes and avocado then sprinkle with spices. Place the second piece of bread butter side up on top and place in hot skillet.

3. Keep your eye on it, and flip over when you have your desired doneness of the bread.

4. Put the top on the skillet while the second side cooks. This helps the Daiya get all melty and wonderful. Again, watch for your desired doneness.

5. Remove from skillet, slice and dig in.

 

 

Grilled Polenta & Greens

This meal is quick and delicious. Perfect for those nights where you don't have a lot of time to make a fancy dish.

What you will need:
6 cups fresh greens (kale, spinach, collard, mustard - whatever you have)
1/4 cup vegetable stock
1 tube of polenta
2 tbsp olive oil
garlic powder, sea salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Slice polenta into 3/4" rounds and sprinkle both sides with garlic powder and pepper. Place flat into skillet. Cook for 5-10 minutes depending on how crispy you want it. Flip each disc to cook other side.

2. Heat vegetable stock in a large wok. Once stock is bubbling, add fresh greens a dash of sea salt & pepper. Toss continuously until green have cooked down.

3. Pile greens onto plate and place 3-4 slices on polenta on top.

Vegan in San Francisco

Last weekend I went to visit my best friend in San Francisco. It was great to go back to my old stomping ground and spend some quality time with the woman who has been my friend since the first day we met back in 4th grade at the bus stop.

We had a blast with happy hours, wine tasting, and watching the entire first season of Girls, but in honor of Vegan MoFo I wanted to highlight some of the food I had over the weekend.

On Friday I worked in my company's SF office and one of the assistants was nice enough to walk over to the Ferry Building with me to get a vegan donut from Pebbles Donuts. I opted for the salted caramel and it was delicious! I wish I had taken a picture of it but I forgot. You can check out their donut porn on their website though.

That night after work we went to Off the Grid at Fort Mason which is basically a food truck extravaganza with live music. I know food trucks are necessarily known for being super vegan friendly, but I was SO happy to find a stand that offered a fried tofu vegan taco. I got two of those and they were like heaven in my mouth. I scarfed one down so fast before I realized I should take a picture, so here is the second one before I devoured it as well.

Fried tofu, cabbage & pure awesomeness

The next day we went wine tasting in Healdsburg. We stopped at Agave restaurant before hitting the wineries and I was able to get veggies fajitas free of dairy and it was ok, kinda of bland and not the best thing I had ever eaten, but at least I had a full stomach before embarking on lots of wine!

That night, back in the city, we went to one of my all time favorite restaurants: Gracias Madre. I have missed this restaurant so much since leaving the Bay Area, so I was grateful I could convince the omnis to go.

Cue angels singing...

There were four of us and we decided to order a few different dishes and eat them family style. We started with the Gorditas: potato masa cakes covered with salsa verde, avocado and cashew cream. Once again we torn into these before I had a chance to take a pic, but I was able to make everyone pause for a moment before they were all gone.

Try not to lick your screen.

For our other entrees we got a huge plate of sauteed kale with pumpkin seeds. Still the best kale I have ever had.

All hail kale

The second dish we ordered was the Enchiladas con Mole. I had never had mole before and holy cow, I have been missing out. It's spicy, rich and full of pure win. These are served open faced with the most amazing mushrooms I have ever had and cashew cheese. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about it!

I MAY have started on the beans before taking this pic...

And lastly we ordered the Platillo de Legumbres which is rice, beans and two sides of your choice. We went for mushrooms and fried plantains. 

So much goodness on one plate

All the food was beyond amazing, I was so sad to leave. I have heard a rumor though that there will be a Gracias Madre in L.A. within the next year. I can't even put into words how happy that would make me!

Overall I had so much fun in SF with my bestie (I really do hate that word) and it was fun subjecting her to some amazing vegan food!