Simple Cucumber Salad

      This is another one of "those" recipes that I have been eating since I was little. It's a staple in my household because; a)it takes like no time to make, b)the ingredients are always on hand, c)it's really good. There is actually a container of it in my fridge at all times, just in case the grandma gets hungry and feels the need to eat something. It's not going to fill you up, it's a side dish, not a meal, so it also works well as a snack. It's 3 ingredients, 5 if you include the salt and pepper, which, pssh, I don't. The part that takes the longest is peeling and grating the cucumber. If you don't think that's easy then you should probably just hire a personal chef at this point, no offense. 

Simple Cucumber Salad

serves 4

1 cucumber, peeled and grated

4 Tbsp. vegan sour cream

4 Tbsp. vinegar (I usually use white or apple cider, they seem to work the best.)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix grated cucumber, vegan sour cream, vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. 

      No seriously, that's it. Enjoy!!

Cabbage with Facon and Noodles

      First off, I am a big fan of noodles. I love carbs, (I think I have said this before..), pasta, bread, cookies, cake, potatoes, you name it, I will most likely eat it. I'm Czech, so, I think that has a bit to do with it. Mmmm, dumplings!! This is dish is probably one of my top 10 favorite things to eat of all time. To me it is comfort food, and with the wind howling outside and the lack of sunshine, I'm in need of some comfort. (Spring? Where are you?) It is like 5 ingredients, which makes it really easy to make. You know I love easy! My grandma would make this with bacon, egg noodles and sour cream instead of the coconut bacon, GF shells, and vegan sour cream, so you can go that route if that's what suites you. So without further ado, I give you Cabbage with Facon and Noodles! *coconut bacon is now called facon for all general purposes because that's what my friend Stephanie calls it and she said I can't call it bacon. I will not argue with her, she will probabaly beat me up, just kidding, I hope.*

Cabbage with Facon and Noodles

serves a lot, at least 4, I make a quarter of this recipe and it is a VERY generous portion

1 head cabbage (shredded or diced)

1 medium onion (diced)

1 Cup facon (fake bacon, I use my coconut bacon)

1 lb  gf noodles (I use whatever GF noodles I have on hand, today it was shells)

1 container of vegan sour cream (I have also used vegan, unsweetened yogurt with good results.)

1 Cup water (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles according to directions on the packaging. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, add some olive oil and saute cabbage and onions until wilted and very tender. When cabbage/onion mixture is done, add noodles, facon, and sour cream. *If you do not have enough sour cream you can add water to get to the consistency you want, heck, use veggie broth.  I have never had this problem but I see how it could happen* Salt and pepper, and heat until sauce is constancy you like and everything is heated through. 

Enjoy!

Coconut Bacon, my new obsession

      I have a slight obsession with all things bacon, well let me rephrase that, I *USED* to have an obsession with bacon. This seems to be a very American thing to be obsessed with, as proof from bacon chocolate, bacon doughnuts, bacon candy, bacon scented candles and so on and so forth. I am vegan, so bacon is a no-go, even vegan bacon is a no-go as usually it's made from seitan, which *insert sad face here* is my enemy. So I thought bacon or anything bacon tasting was going to be a relic of my past, and when I smelled it, it would bring back memories of nostalgia and days gone by. *sigh*

      Well, not anymore. Some time last week, someone posted something about coconut bacon and then provided this link. Coconut Bacon-The Vegan Project. I immediately saw it and tried it but meh, it lacked the flavor I was looking for. Two things I noticed, 1) It did taste like bacon but there wasn't enough coating to go around and 2) The flavor didn't seem to stick to the coconut flakes. So I played around with the ratios and I actually don't have tamari in my house because I stopped using soy sauce a long time ago. Instead, I use Bragg's liquid aminos, and it worked out well, well enough that I am posting the recipe to you folks. So here it is Coconut Bacon, YUMMMMMM!!

Coconut Bacon!

I don't know how many it serves, because I eat it by the handful. Sorry, I'm not sorry.

2 C. large unsweetened coconut flakes 

2 Tbsp. liquid smoke (hickory flavor worked out great!)

4 Tbsp. Bragg's liquid aminos

2 Tbsp. water

4 Tbsp. maple syrup (the real stuff, not the fake stuff, it won't taste right otherwise)

       In a large Tupperware container combine all ingredients minus the coconut, put the lid on and shake to mix them together. Then add in the coconut and shake again to coat the coconut. Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes. This helps the coconut absorb the flavor, which is what you want! 

After 30 minutes, preheat oven to 300 degrees and line two pans with parchment (I ran out of parchment yesterday so I didn't use it, but I still highly recommend it.)

     Spread coconut on the two pans, making sure you try to spread them out as evenly as possible so the flakes don't stick together. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, and check on it every 5 minutes or so, you want a light brown color, and the coconut will continue to crisp for a little bit even after you pull it out of the oven. This stuff even smells like bacon!

 Twice baked vegan smashed potatoes with Teese Cheese and Coconut Bacon! Yum!

      So, I got some of the studs I ordered in the mail, and I decided the play around with them and created this. It is FAR from perfect *has a couple of little tears and some of the studs are off centered*, although it is vintage, so the tears are kinda expected. My bad studding is me learning how to work the studs with are more complicated then my usual prong studs. So meh, I might use this as a giveaway or something, I dunno yet. I am not sure if it is vegan, I think it is because if it is real leather it is really thin, and I try not to buy real leather things to stud. Even though it's upcycled, I still prefer the things I buy to be vegan, but I'm not going to hate myself over it. and hope no one else does either. 

Sweet Smelling Dry Shampoo Spray

       Today I decided that I was going to make one of the various things I pin on pinterest so I made some homemade dry hair shampoo. I am in LOVE with it, and it so cheap to make. Plus, I know what's in it, so that makes it gluten-free, vegan (cruelty-free), plus it isn't in a aerosol can, which is why I am posting it up here for you all to try. The only thing I did different was put in a few drops of lavender essential oil, which made it smell great.

Dry Hair Shampoo That is the original recipe, I added in the essential oils, so here is my recipe reflecting that.

Sweet Smelling Dry Shampoo Spray

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

3 Tbsp. alcohol

12 Tbsp. water

3 drops of essential oil of your choice

       Put into a spray bottle (extra points if you reuse an old spray bottle!!) and mix well before each use. Basically, you don't want to drench your hair with it, you just want to make it damp. At this point you can either blow-dry it, or if you are like me, let it air dry. I seriously did not think this stuff was going to work, but it did and it's awesome! Enjoy!

Pizza Party!

I love pizza, pre-vegan GF days you could easily find me putting away a whole frozen pizza by myself on a Friday night. This was yet another thing I had to give up when I was diagnosed with Celiac's. However, I have been lucky enough to find that Aurelio's makes a GF crust and it is really good. I get mine with their spinach, onions and mushrooms, no cheese. Unfortunately, that pizza costs me around $18, for a small, which means I only get it as a treat, or if my momma decides to order one for me when I come over. I then decided that this was totally not acceptable, so I started looking for a gluten-free pizza crust. Most recipes ended up with chewy dough, or dough that was hard to work with and it really was starting to bum me out. That was until I decided to take a couple recipes and just take the parts that did work and add them together, and wala! Instant pizza crust success! I am so happy, I finally can make pizza in my own home and top it with whatever I like. The dough also freezes, so I can make a bunch and then take out a crust whenever I feel like it. AWESOME!!!

So here it is, my pizza crust recipe. 

Gluten-Free and Vegan Pizza Crust

makes 4 individual pizzas or 1 large pizza

1 Tbsp. ground flax seeds

3 Tbsp. hot water

4 tsp. active yeast

2 tsp. sugar

1 1/4 C. warm water (separate 1/2 C. to mix with yeast)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 1/4 C. rice flour

3/4 C. soy flour or sweet sorghum flour

1 C. tapioca starch

1/4 C. potato starch

1/4 C. cornstarch

2 tsp. xantham gum or guar gum

1 tsp. sea salt

In a small bowl mix together flax seeds and hot water, stir to combine and set aside.

In another small bowl mix yeast, sugar and warm water together, stir to combine and set aside, while you mix together the dry ingredients. The mixture should get nice a bubbly, if it doesn't you have bad yeast or the water was too hot. If this happens just get new yeast and start all over again.

In a large bowl (I use my mix master bowl) combine all dry ingredients, make sure they are thoroughly combined. 

Put the bowl on your mix master and with the dough hook, add the flax seed mix to the dry ingredients. Add olive oil and yeast to dough mixture as well. Dough will start to get crumbly.

Add remaining 3/4 C. of water in 1/4 C. increments to the dough mixture until it starts to come together and forms a dough ball. Let mix master knead dough for about 5 minutes. 

Let the dough raise in a warm place for 1 hour. 

After the hour, preheat the oven to 450. Oil and put cornmeal on the bottom of pizza pan you plan to use. I just bake mine on parchment.

Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment to get the crust. If you like it thin roll it out thin, if you like more of a pan pizza, you can roll it out and then press it into a pan. I divide mine into 4 equal size balls and each one makes an individual size pizza. Let pre-bake in an oven for 5-10 minutes

Then top with whatever kind of sauce and toppings you want, and put back in until cheese is melted, or another 10 minutes or so!

I put marinated spinach, onion, zucchini, and sweet bell peppers on mine and top it with Teese Mozzarella Vegan Cheese. Yummy!!! Also, I love garlic butter crusts, so I add some melted earth balance and garlic powder to the crust with a pastry brush. It really makes the pizza go from yum, to WOW! Enjoy!

Restaurant Review: Urban Vegan

      Today, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. The secret is, Chicago has some of the greatest vegan/vegetarian restaurants ever! So, this year, I have made it my mission to try every single one of them. So today's review is on Urban Vegan.

      First off, we (my friend Delia and I) went there and it kinda looks like a hole in the wall kind of place. DO NOT let that fool you, there is greatness inside! We walked in and were told to seat ourselves. The place is kinda small with only about 6-8 tables in it and you can see directly into the kitchen (which I LOVE). Each table has soy sauce and Bragg's liquid amino's on it and from that point on I knew I was in heaven!

      The menu itself is huge, and here's the thing, it is ALL vegan, every single dish is vegan. So there is no asking to take this out or what's in this. (Well, I still have to ask, because of the celiacs and all.) They have lunch/dinner specials that include salad and spring rolls, and they have gluten-free specials!  Also, you get complimentary miso soup when you sit down, how cool is that? So we got our miso soup first, and it was good and since it's still winter in Chicago, this was very much appreciated! We also got tofu satay as a starter. The tofu satay is very much like chicken satay, or unchicken satay which they also have, but the tofu satay is GF (not sure about the peanut sauce though). This was absolutely amazing, the coconut curry it was dipped in was fantastic and the peanut sauce was to die for! My friend didn't finish all of it and put it to the side to put on her main course it was so good! For our main dishes, I ordered the spicy noodles dinner special with extra broccoli and my friend ordered basil fried rice.  First off, the spring rolls (not GF, I cheated, oh well), were fantastic, they were crispy and crunchy and filled with deliciousness, the dipping sauce they came with was good as well. So those were definitely a hit. The salad that came with mine had, honestly, THE BEST, vegan salad dressing I have ever had in my life. I do not know what's in it, nor do I care. I want a whole bottle (or two) of it to put in my fridge. Maybe I will ask them to do that when I go there next, there's an idea... Either way amazing. So then I start eating my main dish, and you know that point when the food is so good you stop talking?  That's where I was, actually that's where everyone was. There were 3 other tables there aside from us and once people were eating, there was very little talking going on. Now, I don't know about you, but when people are so busy eating that they aren't talking, that means the food has to be down right fantastic, and it was. My food was even hot (temperature wise), and that did not stop me from continuously trying to shovel more of it in my mouth. The spicy noodles (aka drunken noodles), were spicy but not too spicy, had a great vegetable, noodle, to sauce ratio and blew my mind. My friend's basil fried rice was the same, now, the brown rice is really vibrant, so don't let that freak you out, it tastes really good. Also, I don't think they have white rice in the place, so yay! White rice isn't healthy anyway. 

My delicious dinner!

      So food wise, I love this place. I'm pretty sure it has become my new favorite, and that place was held by The Chicago Diner before, but since The Chicago Diner's GF menu is kinda lackluster (I try so hard to like it, but their GF menu is like 3 items, and once you have had all 3, you get extremely bored). Also, the location is easy to get to, and though seating is limited, it wasn't a problem when we were there. It has street parking, so it was easy to find parking. The waitstaff was so nice, kept up with water refills, answered questions, really helpful, and it isn't expensive, it's actually very reasonable for the amount of food you get and the quality of the ingredients. So, I suggest you try it. Also this is one of the only places I have seen that has like 5 different choices of mock meats, they have soy chicken, soy pepper steak, seitan, tofu, soy fish, soy shrimp, it kinda blew my mind even though I'm pretty sure everything but the tofu has wheat in it. I'm not sure on that though and will definitely have to ask next time I go there, because let's face it, with food that good, there is no way I'm not going back there!

Also, my friend sent me this goldmine today! Thanks Kelly!

Tofu Scrambler

      Sorry I haven't posted anything this week. It's been pretty busy over here and I didn't have my computer for two whole days. I know I said I would post my vegan pho recipe and I will but I'm not sure where I put that recipe, so bear with me. Instead, I am going to be giving you my favorite vegan meal of all time recipe. This is pretty basic as far as being vegan goes. Before I went vegan I thought I was going to miss scrambled eggs. I actually can eat eggs, I just choose not to. Cheese and Eggs were the two hardest things for me to give up when I went vegan. Eggs to me are a comfort food, when I was sick as a kid my grandma would make me scrambled eggs on toast or egg in a hole. Yum.
      Now, when I went vegan I knew I would have to find something to replace it and sure enough, this did the trick. It's super easy to make, it tastes so yummy and it makes me feel better. I eat a tofu scrambler at least twice a week and whatever I don't eat goes into a container in the fridge. It works out perfectly because I can take the leftovers and make breakfast burritos with them in the mornings. I know the internet is crawling with recipes, and don't get me wrong, most are good (how anyone could screw up a scrambler is beyond me), but this one is mine and you know if I eat it that it has to be good. Also, experiment around, if you don't like tomatoes don't put them in there. You can add chopped garlic and Italian herbs and take out the cumin to make it Italian style. Have fun and play around with it! Anyway, here's the recipe.

Lisa's Tofu Scrambler

serves 4

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 block tofu (crumbled, you can use firm, medium, or soft, just not silken)

1 small onion (diced)

1 C veggies (diced and whatever kind you want, I usually take whatever I have left over in the bin, or have a surplus of, today's was zucchini, carrots and bell peppers)

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. turmeric

2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

2 Tbsp. Bragg's liquid aminos

1 Tbsp. mustard

1 tomato (diced)

Over medium heat put oil in pan and saute tofu, veggies and onion. Let cook until veggies are crisp but not hard. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, it should turn the tofu yellow. Serve and eat.

You can also top it with some vegan cheese (Teese if you please!), fresh herbs, or salsa. MMM soo yummy! Enjoy!

Bliss Bites aka Fruit and Nut Bites

      I wasn't going to post anything else tonight, but I made something so great that I felt the need to share. I am fully obsessed with fruit and nut bars, Kind bars and Larabars are my favorites. Unfortunately, the one thing I don't like is the cost. So I thought I'd look at the ingredients and see if I could maybe make a mock of these and low and behold you can! It's actually really easy! 1 part dried fruit puree to 1 part chopped nuts. I actually took it one step further and added in some flaxseed meal because it's good for you. Yea, just trust me and make these already.

Almond, Cranberry Coconut Bliss Bites!

Bliss Bites!

makes about 20 melon ball sized bites

1/2 C dried fruit (I used a mixture of dried cranberries and dried apricots)

1/2 C nuts (I used almonds)

2-3 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. Flaxseed meal or you can use ground Chia seeds or even whole Chia seeds for more crunch!

Optional- Unsweetened coconut, finely chopped nuts, or flaked chocolate to roll bites in.

      In a food processor, chop nuts until roughly chopped, not mealy, but I'd say small pieces. If there are some big pieces in there that is perfectly OK. Put nuts into another bowl and set aside. Next put dried fruit into the food processor and pulse, once it starts sticking together you might need to add the water in by the tablespoon. This will give you a chunky paste. Add fruit paste to chopped nuts, add in the flaxseed meal and mix well. Refrigerate mixture for a half hour. Then take out and start rolling into balls, or if you are like me and kinda a perfectionist when it comes to food you can use a melon baller to get a great size. At this point you can leave them, but if you plan to take them anywhere or leave them in your purse (like I do) they can kinda get nasty if you just leave them in a bag. I roll mine in coconut, more nuts (this is more like a nut-meal), or chocolate.

     Just try not to eat like all of them in one sitting. They are healthy but come on, if you eat the whole batch it's really not that healthy. ...But if no-one is there to see it, did you really eat the whole batch?

Oh, and dude thought he would help me type up this up and by help I mean giving the computer the stink-eye. He's such a helper!

Saturday Product Review

      Today, I am going to be telling you about two excellent GF/Vegan products. I am not sponsored or paid to endorse anything so if I tell you it's good, you should probably try it. First up is the The Road's End Organics, GF/Vegan Mac&Chreese. First off, I don't eat a lot of foods that come in a cardboard box aside from cereal, and even that can be challenging. Second off, this stuff is AWESOME! It's a convenience food, that tastes excellent. To find a GF/Vegan convenience food is hard, to find one that doesn't taste like it should go back in the box and then into the garbage, is a whole other story. I will be the first one to tell you that most vegan cheese substitutes stink. There are probably like 2 brands of vegan cheese that I will eat, this is coming from a non-picky eater too! Anyways, this stuff doesn't taste chalky, it tastes creamy, and how they do it without having nuts in there is beyond me.  The texture, the flavor, everything about it is great. It really fills in the Kraft Mac&Cheese void that I have had since being GF/Vegan. I actually have a couple boxes on hand for those "lazy vegan" days. The noodles also cook really well, which is a huge plus, if you know gluten-free noodles, then you know most brands stink!  The company also offers various other products besides this, they have non-GF mac&chreese, GF/Vegan bouillons, gravy mixes, etc. Just go take a look, you won't regret it!

      Speaking of gluten-free noodles, I hate crunchy gluten-free noodles don't you? Tinkyada Pasta says right on the bag that they have a "good consistent texture" and that they're "not mushy", but would it live up to the packaging and not turn up either a crunchy or mushy mess? I am so happy to say YES!!!! These are the by far the BEST GF/Vegan noodles I have found! It's not just the elbows, either, I have tried the shells, the penne, the linguine, and not one thing has let me down. I actually can't wait to try their lasagna noodles because I miss lasagna and had yet to find a GF/Vegan version. Honestly, this stuff is fool-proof too. There are two other brands of pasta that I will buy, if I can't find the Tinkyada brand, and even with those I have had to figure out the trick to getting them just right.  I can even say I let these over-cook a little and they still weren't mushy. It's also norm-aprrover (people who aren't gluten-intolerant/celiacs), and that right there speaks volumes! So go out and buy a bag, or two, and never have to complain about an over/under cooked noodle again!
PS-The elbows and shells are what I use in my GF/Vegan Mac and "Cheese" recipe. Only the best for my Mac and "Cheese"!