breakfast: coffee; vegetable biscuit from Babycakes (thank you Stacey.. it was delicious!!); blueberries, strawberries, and mandarin orange slices

lunch: leftover sweet potato home fries; beet salad; Tofurkey from Rosalie’s

dinner: leftovers meal… pancakes with maple syrup; Tofurkey; leftover roasted beets; leftover sweet potato home fries; salad with Romaine, vegan cheese, and Goddess dressing

homemade vanilla soy ice cream with 365 brand’s (Whole Foods) vegan chocolate chips

AM snacks: strawberry liquorice; soy latte

brunch at Papacitos: 1/2 Long Island burrito (vegan breakfast burrito with broccoli, tempeh, potato, vegan sour cream and cheese, etc); 1/2 vegan tamales (with soyrizo and excellent eggplant-tahini-chili sauce); vegan bloody mary

snack at some point in the day: 1/3 of an ABC lemon poppyseed cookie

snacks at Rosalie’s house: dumpstered Tofurkey (somehow, in Rosalie’s co-op of 14 people, not a single one liked the 3 or 4 Tofurkeys that they dumpstered, so she insisted that I take them off their hands. Seriously, they had cooked it 5 days prior and it was hardly touched. 14 people! Is tofurkey that bad?); homemade french fries cooked in vegetable oil and dipped in vegan mayonnaise with garlic, salt, and pepper; Brooklyn Brewery beer (a bit of the IPA, Brooklyn lager, and ’55 Pennant ales, all vegan according to Barnivore. The pennant was the favorite)

dinner at Bedouin Tent: freshly made pita with beet salad, lentil+bulghur salad, walnut+chickpea salad, hummus, stuffed grape leaves

drinks on roof with Dan and Adrian: Hevelius Kaper beer (may or may not be vegan); a sip of Olde English (“)

breakfast: oat cereal with soymilk; coffee

lunch: leftover squash soup; pita chips

snack: vegan fruit snacks

at NYU worm meeting: Corona; tortilla chips and salsa; potato chips

dinner: pasta with tomato sauce; praline ice “cream”

breakfast: one piece pecan multigrain toast with Earth Balance and another piece with Tofutti cream cheese; coffee

lunch: sandwich on pecan multigrain bread with Tofutti, asparagus tapenade, egg tofu, and tomato

dinner at Papacitos: vegan seitan asada burrito ($5 from 4-7pm); sangria ($5 from 4-7, may or may not be vegan); Tecate ($2 “)

more bits of praline (they didn’t turn out… never fully hardened. basically buttery sugar with the consistency of cookie dough); piece of toast with asparagus tapenade

breakfast: leftover steel cut oats with banana and soymilk; coffee

lunch: sandwich with homemade pecan multigrain bread, tomato, red onion, and leftover egg tofu; leftover romaine salad with avocado, red onion, tomato, and Annie’s lemon & chive dressing; Mamba

ABC lemon poppyseed cookie (today’s excuse was that it was raining)

dinner: brown rice; stir fry with tofu, red onion, green beans, bok choy, red bell pepper, cashews, ginger, vegetarian oyster sauce, Sriracha, sesame oil, salt and pepper; steamed broccoli

many tastes of praline batter while making pralines (will post recipe tomorrow, since I’m using them to make ice cream)

brunch: soy cappuccino; shredded wheat with brown sugar, banana slices, and soy milk

snacks while watching Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap Box, a documentary about Dr. Bronner (his soap is vegan, biodegradable, organic, fair trade, and not tested on animals. The documentary is pretty interesting.): leftover raw kale salad with extra avocado; popcorn popped in canola oil tossed with Old Bay seasoning, sea salt, nutritional yeast, a bit of Bragg’s, and a bit of melted Earth Balance. Stacey, I’ve finally broken into the huge Old Bay seasoning that you gave me for my birthday a few years ago.

dinner/snacks while watching Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone: Boca burger with leftover tamarind sauce from Thai food I had like a month ago (it seemed like it was still okay…); leftover cous cous and enchiladas; chips and salsa; asparagus spears roasted in olive oil, cayenne, salt and pepper; last bit of orange peel dark chocolate (my parents gave me this chocolate bar for Christmas, which is a long time for me to keep chocolate)

drinks at Rosalie’s birthday party: whiskey with ice+lime+agave; one vodka with Sprite; Budweiser; Sparks (also old… purchased like a year ago. Lots of old food today.)

breakfast: a little bit of Special K (vegan variety) with soymilk; apricot and mango soy yogurt

lunch: romaine lettuce with Annie’s lemon & chive dressing; leftover cous cous with asparagus and chickpeas

snack: Darrell Lea Soft Eating Mango Liquorice (includes Natural Flavor and Mono- & diglycerides as ingredients. I need to contact them to see if these are from vegan sources. I hope they are, because it was delicious)

I have been eating a lot of candy lately.

dinner: tortilla chips (some store-bought and some homemade by deep-frying corn tortillas in canola oil) with green olive cilantro salsa, spicy tequila salsa, Tofutti vegan sour cream, and refried beans (pinto beans sauteed with garlic, onion, olive oil, cayenne, and red pepper flakes; after sauteing for a few minutes, smash the beans and then keep frying, adding water and/or oil if they start to stick); sweet potato and black bean enchiladas (same recipe as the last time I made it; click on “Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas” on the recipe page); raw kale salad (“Raw Kale Salad” on the recipe page); Tyskie beer (may or may not be vegan); chocolate almond milk. I added more nutritional yeast and Bragg’s to the kale salad this time.

I’ve had the chocolate almond milk several times and haven’t remembered to write it on the blog until this time…

interesting article about wine fining agents:

http://www.salon.com/food/wine/index.html?story=/food/feature/2010/03/09/kolpan_wines_not_vegetarian_ext2010

My mom somehow found this article less than an hour after it was posted. She really likes Salon. Thanks Mom!

breakfast: Cheerios with soymilk; coffee; piece of pecan multigrain toast with Earth Balance

lunch: leftover baba ghanoush with pecan multigrain bread and a carrot

snack: pita chips with baba ghanoush

dinner: baked potato with roasted vegetables (asparagus, red onion, and garlic with sea salt, pepper, olive oil, roasted red pepper), Tofutti sour cream, Twin Oaks vegetarian sausage, sun-dried tomato (reconstituted in boiling water), and Sriracha sauce; sauteed collards with garlic; rest of Yellow Tail shiraz. Stacey and I went to Twin Oaks and it is a pretty awesome place; you should buy their tofu if you see it.

Thank you Marcy for letting us know that Skittles no longer have gelatin.  I ate all three of these bags over about 1 hour, before I had ingested anything besides espresso since waking up.  A great source of Vitamin C!

Stacey has pointed out that not all stores have the new stuff yet. You should make sure that 1) gelatin is not listed as an ingredient, 2) they say “gelatin-free” on the back, and/or 3) rather than a boring rainbow emanating from the “i” in “Skittles” towards the right only, there should be a freaking rainbow explosion exploding from the “i” in both directions. Trails!

breakfast: espresso; Skittles

late lunch: black beans and rice (click for the recipe)

entree

• 1 onion (preferably red), chopped
• about 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• olive oil
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• about 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• about 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 dried red peppers
• Old Bay seasoning to taste
• 2 cups vegetable bouillon
• 1-2 T tomato paste
• 1-2 c rice

Saute the onion, garlic, carrot in olive oil with salt and pepper.

Optional (to avoid mushy onion/garlic in the final product): after the onion, garlic, and any other vegetables are cooked, remove them from the heat and set aside.  Mix them back in once the beans are finished cooking.  I forgot about this so I left them in.

Add the beans, along with the red pepper flakes, cumin, bay leaves, dried red peppers, and Old Bay.  If you removed the sauteed onions and garlic to add at the end, you can add some quartered onion and large chunks of garlic to cook with the beans, which you can then remove before serving.

After sauteing the beans and spices for a few minutes, add the bouillon.  Heat on high until simmering, then reduce heat to a temperature that maintains a simmer.

After at least half the water has evaporated (about 15-20 minutes?), add the tomato paste.  Cook for another 10 minutes or so, until most of the water has evaporated and the tomato paste has spread throughout the beans.

If you removed the sauteed onion/garlic, remove any large onion/garlic that you boiled with the beans, and add the crunchier sauteed garlic and onion back.  If you kept the garlic and onion in, embrace the mushiness.

Serve over rice.

late dinner: baba ghanoush (click for the recipe) and homemade multigrain bread (the same recipe that I posted before, see multigrain pecan bread on the recipe page, except I used 4 cups whole wheat flour to 2 cups white flour, plus I used 1/4 c agave nectar instead of 1/4 c sugar)

side

• 1 large eggplant
• 10 small/medium cloves garlic (I’m not that crazy; these are going to be roasted)
• 1/2 c tahini (1/4 c would be fine if you want to make it less expensive)
• juice of 1 juicy lemon
• 2 T sesame seeds
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1.5-2 T olive oil

Insert the garlic cloves in the eggplant.  Do this by cutting into the eggplant skin with a small knife, and then pushing the garlic cloves in.  If using big garlic cloves, cutting them in half will make this easier.

Lightly coat the eggplant and a baking sheet with olive oil.  Bake the eggplant with its garlic babies at 400F for about 30-35 minutes, until it is soft and the skin looks sort of gross and loose.

Let the eggplant cool, or stick it in cold water if you’re in a hurry.  Peel the skin off.  In sections there may be a tough layer beneath the skin; you can try blending this into the baba ghanoush, and if it won’t blend you can remove it later.

Food process the eggplant meat along with the roasted garlic cloves, tahini, lemon, sesame seeds, salt, pepper, and 1 T of olive oil.

Once food processed, transfer to whatever bowl you want to store/serve in, and loosely mix in another 1/2 T olive oil.  It is best to refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.  Optionally, add another 1/2 T olive oil to the top, along with parsley, paprika, etc.

beer at Pacific Standard trivia night

leftover beans & rice and pecan bread & baba ghanoush

brunch: coffee; toasted everything bagel with Tofutti cream cheese and slices of red onion; tofu scramble (click for the recipe); orange slices with orange peel dark chocolate

breakfast
Whenever I make tofu scramble, I am very hungry (it’s usually like noon after sleeping in on a weekend and I’m starving), so I just sort of frantically throw stuff together. When it turns out well, I don’t really know how to replicate it. This one turned out really good, and this is as much as I can remember; I’ll try being more exact the next time I make it.

• 1 pack tofu, towel-dried and cut into tiny tiny cubes
• 1 onion (red is best), chopped however you like (I like them in thin crescents for scramble)
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped however you like (I like them in thin slices for scramble)
• 1 carrot, chopped small
• dash of olive oil
• Earth Balance (maybe up to 1 T; using all olive oil would be okay)
• crushed red pepper
• thyme (I like using whole leaves, crumbled just before adding)
• cumin (I like using cumin seeds, chopped)
• sea salt
• black pepper
• turmeric to taste
• ginger powder to taste
• cayenne to taste
• dill to taste
• Bragg’s liquid aminos (or soy sauce as substitute) to taste
• apple cider vinegar to taste

Saute onion, garlic, and carrot with a bit of olive oil, crushed red pepper, a big pinch thyme, cumin, sea salt, and black pepper.  Only use as much olive oil as you need to saute these, as we’re going to add Earth Balance later.

Once the onion and garlic are cooked or just starting to brown, add the tofu with a bit of Earth Balance (use just enough Earth Balance to keep everything from sticking; just using olive oil would be okay too). If it gets dry later, add more Earth Balance.

After the tofu is added, add enough turmeric so that everything turns slightly yellow; don’t add too much because it will taste weird (probably 1/4 tsp total).  Add a dash of ginger; don’t go crazy with this either.  Add cayenne based on how spicy it has gotten from the red pepper flakes.  Add dill; dill is really good in this, so don’t be too scared of it.  Add Bragg’s… mine has a spray top, but I imagine I added about 2 tsp.  If using soy sauce, don’t add very much (you don’t want to taste soy sauce.. you just want it to round out the flavor).

Once all these are added, let cook for a few minutes on high heat with minimal stirring so that the tofu really browns on a few sides.  Add a splash of vinegar when it’s close to being done, along with more salt, pepper, and/or Earth Balance if it needs it.

at Brouwerij Lane beer store: 4oz samples of a few different kinds of beer (Uinta barley wine, Great Divide Old Ruffian, Jever, Pretty Things Jack d’or). I need to do some more research to see which were vegan.

dinner at Papacitos: vegan burrito (with seitan asada, soy cheese, soy cream cheese, beans, rice, etc). This was totally amazing, and it is just $5 (instead of the normal $8) during “happy hour,” which is every day from 4-7pm.

half a Kasteel Donker Belgian ale (also need to check to see if it’s vegan)