Smoky Black Bean Bowls (on a budget!)

Posted on June 5, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

Baby’s on a budget! Between all the moving around I’ve done in the last few years, my recent uninsured arm fracture (I am now insured though – as of Saturday, woo!), and the loss of my old station wagon/attainment of a shiny new, gas friendly hatchback, my debts have piled sky high. So I sat down today and used two phone apps to get myself on a budget.

My thoughts immediately turned to food. In the last year I’ve become very reliant on going out and ordering in, instead of cooking. It started when we moved to Fort Lauderdale, with the major kitchen downsize, and had just continued since with all the changes this past year, but it ends now! My new goal is $50 week for groceries. Today we did $58, including beer & cider, at Trader Joe’s. I thought that was a pretty good first effort.

So in order to make this work, I decided to go back to my roots. Being Cuban/Honduran I grew up with lots of legumes and rice for weeknight meals. Trader Joe’s didn’t have dry beans, which I’m determined to start using for the most economical bang for my buck, but they did have plenty of well priced canned beans and other things. Next week we’re going to check out the local co-op to see what they have.

This was just something I whipped up based on a more traditional recipe. I served it over some kale and brown rice (a mix of short grain & basmati) for a hearty grain bowl. We sprinkled nutritional yeast on top, and the kale wilted and cooked perfectly under the hot broth.

Smoky Black Beans

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped

1/2 c. chopped tomato (I used 1/2 can of fire roasted tomatoes w/chiles)

2 16 oz. cans black beans, undrained (I used Trader Joe’s Cuban Style black beans)

1 tbsp. vegan Worcestershire
1 tbsp. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. tamari (or red sodium soy sauce)
+ water to equal 1/2 cup

1 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. vinegar (white or red wine)

Salt & Pepper, as needed
Hot Sauce, to taste, optional (I used a delicious local habanero sauce)

Directions:

1. Heat olive in a medium pot over low-medium heat. (While it’s heating I roughly chop the garlic, green pepper, and onion and then pulse it in the food processor to a finer texture.

2. Add garlic, onion, and pepper to pot. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft.

3. Add the tomatoes, and let them cook for about 10 minutes.

4. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Taste for seasoning. Raise the heat until it bubbles, cover, and drop to low to simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Serve over any greens & cooked grain of your choosing. We sprinkled with nooch, and I would have liked to throw some avocado on there, but it wasn’t quite ready yet. Enjoy!

Over a nice bed of fresh kale.

Kale is perfectly cooked and bright green from the hot broth! Mmm!

We let it sit a minute or two so the kale was perfectly cooked and bright green from the hot broth! Mmm!

Daiya Pizza vs. Tofurky Pizza

Posted on June 2, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

I just haven’t been able to get my Vida Vegan Con post together yet, so instead I give you a quick vegan pizza post. I was planning on getting that post written up yesterday, and was just sitting down to do so, when I got a call from Portland. It was the cab company with whom we had ridden last weekend, and in which Thomas accidentally left his phone. Apparently the phone he had reported stolen & gotten blacklisted was finally turned in, so we actually jumped in the car and drove back down to Portland for the night. But I digress.

When we got back today, we spent most of the afternoon having an impromptu goth dance party (just the two of us) in our apartment while the cats enjoyed the sunshine and looked on.

(Thomas took this picture of Ganon!)

And here’s little miss Midna

Somewhere in there I decided to raid the freezer for pizza, and we decided a pizza show down was in order. In case you were wondering who won in our taste test…

The Tofurky was the clear winner due to the Daiya’s technical difficulties in the crust department. It came cracked in several pieces, so we had to bake it on some foil, and it ended up having a soggy texture. The flavor of the roasted vegetables was pretty delicious though, so I think we may have to have a rematch for fairness. The only thing I don’t like about Tofurky’s pizzas is that they don’t give you enough crust. We do love their pepperoni, though.

This inconclusive taste test has been brought to you by Ty & Thomas. And to conclude, here’s a picture of us at the White Owl in Portland yesterday…

Cheer Up Green Shake (Raw)

Posted on May 23, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

Hey all!

This will be the last post before we head on down to Portland for Vida Vegan Con 2013 this evening! Just a little green shake I made to cheer myself up after talking with the financial people over at the hospital where I took my uninsured, fractured arm, back in April. :p I’m going to try to put that out of my mind until next week so I can enjoy all the festivities this weekend. Should be quite a lot!

We had been eating all raw since Sunday to cleanse before what will be an incredible amount of vegan food and treats this weekend, but we broke it last night with a trip to our favorite Seattle vegan bar, Highline. I figured I should probably get the tum ready with these yummy steak & black bean nachos they had on special.

Mmm! Those were good. But after feeling a little down and unmotivated after this morning’s conversation, I decided a little chlorophyll might do a body good. That, and I had a craving for a vanilla milkshake! I made a proper green revision of my previous Raw Vegan Milkshakes. Here’s the recipe!

Cheer Up Green Shake (Raw)

2 c. almond milk (raw or store bought)
3 ripe bananas, halved
2+ c. frozen spinach
1/2 c. frozen pineapple chunks
1 tbsp. flax seeds, optional
2 tbsp. raw carob powder, optional
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

2-3 c. of ice, to liking

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender, adding ice a cup at a time, to preference.

Okay, now to go pack, wash my hair and shower. I look forward to seeing so many of you in Portland very, very soon! ~Ty

(I included a current pic of me, so you can spot me and say hi!)

GUNAS – Hostess Bag, A Review

Posted on May 18, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

My focus for 2013 has definitely shifted from vegan cooking to vegan lifestyle integration. The most major cause of this was the move from Florida to Seattle. Since we got rid of most of our earthly possessions to come here, now that I’ve been working for several months, I’ve been able to start shopping for new vegan versions of things that I parted ways with. I’m the type of person who buys really high quality or unique things and keeps things FOREVER, so when I switched to a vegan diet, the rest of my lifestyle items just lingered around. The sheer expense of doing a complete overhaul was absolutely prohibitive, so I figured it would happen slowly over time as things wore out.

In my pursuit of vegan handbags, I’ve been a stickler for fashion and quality. I like shiny and black, with nice heavy hardware, and classic designs. I wasn’t about to give up my high end purses for some cheapie bag that looked terrible and fell apart in a few months. The replacements would have to be knock outs, vegan or not.

And then I found GUNAS… I was immediately fixated on this Hostess bag. Not only was it black and patent, it had a top handle as well as a nice sturdy looking shoulder chain, and the hardware was NOT gold. Plus, it was on sale. I figured it was worth a shot. Though you can’t really tell quality through internet pictures, I was hoping at this price point I’d get the kind of craftsmanship I was looking for.

After a little bit of a wait, my bag came and completely met [and even exceeded] my expectations! Celebrity vegans like Anne Hathaway carry Gunas bags, and now I know why. These limited edition bags are either made by hand in house or in socially responsible factories elsewhere, depending on the materials. They try to be as eco conscious as possible and have won awards for sustainability in fashion.

It has a beautiful red lining with a zippered pocket and 2 pockets of varying sizes for organization.

It even has feet, which is a touch I really appreciate in my patent bags.

The only con is due to the soft structure of the basket portion of the bag. Trying to get the magnetic snap closure to connect on the bag can be a little tricky. The top flap is sturdy patent, and the body gives with pressure, so you just have to let it slide down onto it. There’s a learning curve there, but I think it’s gotten a bit easier with time (I think due to the slight outward squashing, see below). It is nice and secure though, once it’s closed, which initially was a concern of mine since the points of carrying are all on the top patent piece, but it’s been fine.

Due to the soft body of the bag it has gotten a little squashed. That’s mostly user error though, I tried putting it into my work backpack, and subsequently stuffing them into my work locker. Maybe not the best idea. (Since then I’ve been changing bags and using a wristlet with just the essentials in there.) I don’t think it’s gotten any worse since, and it closes easier now!

Here’s a pic to give you an idea of the size worn on a 5’4″ person. This was its first trip out 5.5 weeks ago. It was right after my humerus fracture (that was one of the only shirts I could fit over my splint!) and it was really convenient to have a purse with a shoulder strap at that time!

Overall Impression:

I’m thrilled with my bag! They have a lot of variety in the styles they offer, so even hard to please people like me should be able to find something lovely to carry. The only thing that bummed me out a bit was that I found it on VeganCuts a couple of weeks after for $30 cheaper! So awesome for you, if you’re thinking about picking one up! (Here’s the link for all the GUNAS bags on vegan cuts!) And I’ll definitely check on there 1st for future purchases. (Which would probably be this wallet. It’s not the matching wallet, and it’s got gold hardware, but I don’t care. I think it’s ADORABLE!)

Thank you GUNAS! : )

Teese, Tempeh & ‘Ties

Posted on May 7, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

This isn’t one of those recipes that you should bookmark because it’s totally going to blow your mind. Rather, it’s more along the lines of I didn’t want to pay to not cook again, and we could really use a trip to the store. That, and I had this roll of Teese Cheddar sitting on the counter from the last Vegan Cuts box. I also had a box of pasta, a brick of tempeh, and some frozen veggies. I ended up subbing out my 1st instinct of broccoli with chopped spinach.

Here’s what I did:

Teese, Tempeh & ‘Ties

1 package of tempeh, any variety, cubed

1 lb. pasta, your choice (I used Farfalle/Bowties)

1/2 package of frozen chopped spinach

1 8 oz. tube of Teese Cheddar cheese, chopped
(I threw in the last little bit of Daiya Jalepeno Havarti we had in the fridge too!)

1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. tamari
dash of cayenne pepper
fresh ground pepper

1/2 c. reserved pasta cooking water
1/4 c. nutritional yeast

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot of boiling water. Drop in the tempeh. Toss in the pasta, and cook according to pasta directions. Last minute or two, add the frozen spinach. Shut off burner. Drain, reserving a cup of pasta water.

2. Return pasta/tempeh/spinach to pot. (Mash up the tempeh or leave it cubed. I sort of did a little of both.) Add cheese and spices. Return pot to cooling burner and stir everything so that cheese melts. Add half of reserved water and nutritional yeast. Use a little more water if necessary, and taste for seasoning.

Thoughts:

There’s something really magical about making a “free” meal out of things you have hanging around. Especially when it dirties only 1 pot and combines a starch, a protein and some greens. It wasn’t bad at all, and it was pretty filling!

As far as the Teese goes:

It tasted a bit like american cheese or velveeta straight out of the tube. I thought the texture was maybe a little grainy, but it was hard to tell because I put so much other stuff in! If you were a velveeta kid, this is probably some good mac making for you.

Vegan in Denver!

Posted on May 1, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

I’d like to think that I’ve become much more of a minimalist over the years, and that’s why I was able to pack only a backpack’s worth of stuff for 4 days in Denver, but honestly, it has a little more to do with the fractured epicondyle on my left humerus. I really wouldn’t have been able to lift a roller bag into an overhead bin by myself, and I try to avoid checking bags if at all possible. (Especially after my gate checked bag got lost on the way to Vegas in February.) It made for much easier traveling though, and I even got to board the plane earlier, so I’ll probably try to do this for short trips in the future!

(This is a very picture heavy post, as I packed in all of my adventures into this one single post!)

I flew Fronteir Air, whom I’d never flown with before. I had a light dinner consisting of a Mediterranean snack box (similar to Alaska Air’s offering) that turned out to be all vegan. It included bruschetta, hummus, pita chips, seasoned olives, dried cranberries, almonds and cookies. I chose a Colorado brewed Hazed & Infused to sip on while I nibbled for the 2 hour flight.

Here’s Joanna displaying what’s left of their last snowstorm. She’s only been in Denver for a month, so she was excited that I came so we could do some exploring together. She also decided she was going to eat vegan with me the whole trip. She’s done vegan cleanses before and felt great on them, so she’s no stranger to what it’s all about. (Though I warned her that I was on vacation, so it wasn’t going to necessarily be health food on my part!) She’s been trying to avoid dairy, gluten and soy anyway, so I’m trying to encourage her to feel good ALL the time, and make a plant based diet a more permanent change.

Her hubby doesn’t care for Indian food, so she expressed a great desire to eat it, which I was more than happy to accommodate. I’m almost always ready to eat Indian food!! I found Bombay Clay Oven on Happy Cow. They have gluten free and dairy free items marked on the menu, but what I really wanted was my fave… Saag Channa. They had it on their lunch specials, so I asked if they could make it vegan for me. After I assured our waitress that I eat dairy free versions all the time, she went back in the kitchen to inquire. (Turns out she doesn’t eat dairy either, so she was excited to find out that this dish is still delicious sans yogurt.)

Jojo got a spicy Vegetable Medly Kadai, and we ordered some roti bread minus the butter, to go with our little feast. Best part? Even though it looks like a fancy place, with cloth napkins, excellent service and super good food, the whole bill was under 20 bucks!

After this we walked around a bit and I saw Joanna’s new work digs. Then I went and had a fantastic massage with Mallory Asti. It included much needed work on my upper body, full massage, and reflexology and energy work for my injured arm. She has an extra low introductory rate for new clients, so if you’re in the area, I highly recommend you check her out!

Mexican fast food joint Cafe Rio called to us for a quick dinner of bean tacos. Both their pinto & black beans are vegan…

and we loaded them with lots of green yumminess like lettuce, cilantro, guacamole and some pico and hot sauce for good measure. Another meal for under $10 per person.

That night, before bed I was on Happy Cow and found a local (CO & CA) pizza chain, Patxi’s Pizza that made VEGAN DEEP DISH pizza! I was so excited, I could hardly get to sleep. I hadn’t had deep dish pizza in at least 12 years. When Joanna called me on her way home from work, I quickly explained all about it and called in our order so it’d be cooking while we were on our way. (Deep dish takes 35-40 minutes).

We started with a greek salad (no feta!), no dressing. (The waiter said the dressing was vegan “except for the little bit of anchovy”, and Joanna promptly told him that it was not vegan then. Hah!) I splashed it with some of the red wine vinegar he brought to the table. Nothing to write home about here, just wanted to get some fresh veggies in before the pizza.

The pizza was FANTASTIC. I ordered it right off the menu, no adjustments.

Authentic Chicago “Stuffed” Our flagship pie. A deep dish pizza with a layer of crust on the bottom, followed by toppings and cheese, all covered by another thin layer of dough, and topped with our homemade sauce. Also available in whole wheat dough. Prepared and cooked in a deep dish pan. 35-40 minute cook time.

Vegan – Whole wheat crust, fresh spinach, crushed garlic, red onion, Daiya vegan cheese. $20.50 for a 10″

Seriously recommend you try this if you’re near any of their locations in California or Colorado!

Come dinner we had the extreme pleasure of finally (in my case!) meeting Amber of Monk and Mao. She moved to Seattle right before we did, but unfortunately (for me!) they moved back to her hometown of Denver before we ever got to meet up! So yah, totally one of those moments where you meet someone and instantly bond.

We chose Watercourse Foods based on their yummy beers and their vegan nachos. Amber and I settled in with some ale, nachos and seitan buffalo wings…

The lighting was a little tricky, so sorry about the picture quality there! The seitan wings are a huge portion! I didn’t really care too much about the ranch dressing, which I found reminiscent of soy milk, but the wings themselves were really good. Our nachos were delicious, but Amber nailed it when she said it was the “bottom of the bag” nachos. Almost all of our chips were in tiny little pieces, so that at the end I was just eating them with a fork. I’m not really complaining about that though, because it was heavy on the refried beans, and I love me some refried beans, eaten by fork or hand.

Joanna had the THE MAXIMUS BURGER – Homemade pinto bean and quinoa burger served on our kaiser roll and topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion and special sauce, with some steamed kale that I made disappear at the end of our meal. (Yes, I will eat your kale. You don’t have to ask me twice.) I also got to sneak a taste of the burger patty and it was pretty darn good.

The nice thing about Watercourse, as explained to us by the server, is that everything on the menu is vegan unless it says it has a cheese option. And Amber says they’ll usually confirm with you about if you’re sure you want dairy cheese when ordering those. So needless to say, this is one of her frequent haunts.

We all had such a great time! Joanna made a new vegan friend in Denver, and Amber and I chatted until Joanna practically dragged me to the car! Hahaha! Thanks Jenna for remembering that this is where she lived, and providing the catalyst for our meeting. I had totally forgotten that’s where she moved!

I was lucky enough to get some acupuncture from Joanna for my injured arm Saturday morning. She’s a talented little lady if you have any acupuncture/body talk/Reiki needs in Denver. You can find her over at the Om Flow!

Then I hit the leftovers for breakfast. ; ) It was super hot outside by mid day, and even though it was only 67, my weather app said it felt like 77. And that it did. So we did the only logical thing to do… we hit the ice cream shop.

Sweet Action is a regular ice cream shop with vegan options. And man, everyone I talked to loved this place! Seems like they carry at least 2 vegan flavors per day. This particular day they had cinnamon roll & boysenberry swirl. Surprisingly enough, the boysenberry won out in my personal taste test. It was like a yummy, frozen berry cheesecake in a cup! Heavenly!

They also regularly carry pre-packaged ice cream sandwiches, and this day, they had two varieties. They had double chocolate cookies with coffee ice cream, and Joanna got the almond cardamom cookies with vanilla. That sucker was huge! I ate all of mine and made a concerted effort to finish hers until she shut me down. (She literally took it away from me.) I had to admit, I had probably eaten enough sugar anyway. The cookie was nicely spiced, and the vanilla ice cream, well, it was a little vanilla in comparison. I think the chocolate/coffee combo would probably have been tastier. I’m not a huge sweet tooth, but there’s something very satisfying about eating ice cream on a hot day, with the windows open. We walked around a little and I found a cute second hand dress and a pair of vintage looking shades. Then we had to head home to get me ready for the airport.

I felt a bit bad that I didn’t go to healthier vegan places with Jo, and dragged her down a path of vegan junk food with me, but she insisted that it was still superior. It was a great little holistic get away for me too, and I always love a little quality time with my bestie. Thanks Jojo!!

So if there are any places you think I missed out on, please comment below as I’ll probably be out to visit my Denver ladies again. The only other place I was curious about trying was Sputnik, which is attached to a music venue. We passed it on Thursday night, and they had a punk rock show going. They have a small vegan menu in addition to their regular bar food.

Next trip for me is going to be next month, Memorial Day weekend for Vida Vegan Con in Portland (a.k.a. Vegan Mecca) so that should be a whole mess of photos and info and meetups too! Can’t wait!

100% Pure Liquid & Powder Foundations – a review

Posted on April 24, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

I’ve been on the hunt for vegan foundation for some time. I had been using MAC studio fix for years and years, and was scared to try anything different due to my difficult, sensitive, oily skin. When I found that 100% Pure had both liquid and powder foundations, I was so excited that I ordered both in their lightest shade. What I really like is that they’re “the first and only cosmetics colored from antioxidant rich fruit and vegetable pigments.” Since your skin is your largest organ, and absorbs everything you’re putting on it, it stands to reason that you should only put on your skin what you’d be willing to put in your mouth, right? That’s why I switched to making my own coconut oil deodorant, and that’s why I was so happy to find these products. They also both have an SPF 20 built in using titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.

For those of you who care, their lightest shade, Créme, is light enough! (My skin is too light for some lines, altogether.) Probably even a little too light for me according to some, but that’s how I wear my makeup thank you very much, and without blush, because I’m a goth girl at heart.

Powder Foundation

It comes in a metal tin instead of a compact with mirror. Towards the end of the product, the powder did break apart and crumble instead of leaving a little ring of powder, but it stayed pretty well in the container. From the reviews I read on their site, it used to come in a plastic compact that fell apart easily, so I guess this is their second attempt at the packaging. Still, it would be nice to have a compact with a mirror, and with an applicator sponge included.

I applied the powder with a damp sponge applicator from my last MAC compact…

I decided to give you two separate chances to look at how terrible my skin is up close! (Go ahead and click the pictures to zoom in.) If you look carefully, you’ll see not only my Rosacea, but also that my skin was grumbling and breaking out about the new product. I recalled this happening to me when I switched from studio fix liquid to powder foundation years ago, and decided to stick it out, at least until the end of the compact.

After a couple of weeks, my skin settled down and got used to it just as I had suspected. Here’s me later that day in natural light, in my work wig.

(I wear a wig to work because I currently have dark purple hair.)

Liquid Foundation

Now the reason I switched to powder foundation years ago was because my face is so greasy. With the studio fix, I was super oily even before my lunch break. I found the powder kept me matte much longer. However, my skin has gotten a bit dryer due to our move from South Florida to Seattle, so when I ran out of the powder foundation last week, I decided to give the liquid a try. I think with my new dryer skin, the powder was making my skin look too flaky and old.

Here is a picture of me in the liquid foundation (in natural light) after working all day. 13 hours, without blotting once! Definitely a sheen, but not bad at all! So I’m going to continue to wear it and see how my skin fares. It may have to go through the whole adjustment process again, but that’s okay.

It comes complete with a pump already installed so it’s easy to dispense. I used a dry foundation brush to apply it…

And here’s me made up (with a couple of other products I’ll be reviewing for you soon!) in the fading afternoon/evening natural light…

Impression

** EDIT 6/17/13 : ALMOST TO THE END OF THE BOTTLE! It has lasted a good long while. I still break out a little, but so far this is my favorite vegan foundation. I really like the ingredients, the coverage and the fact that it has sunscreen! **

I find the pricing of the liquid to be reasonable at $32 USD for 1.7 oz / 50 g. (MAC studio fix liquid is $26 for 1 oz.) The powder foundation is slightly spendier for how much you get at $26 for 0.316 oz / 9 g. (MAC studio fix powder is $27 for 0 .52 oz/15 g). We’ll see which lasts longer!

I think the liquid gives better coverage than the powder. I’m guessing that’s why I ran out of the powder so quickly, because I needed to apply more layers to get the same coverage. So the powder will probably work better for someone looking for less coverage, applied either damp or dry.

Find all of their products at their website www.100percentpure.com. Most of their offerings are vegan, and you can do a search for only their vegan products at the top. The only exception is “cruelty free honey” in certain products.

More Peas, Thank You’s Tempeh Stroganoff

Posted on April 6, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

I’ve been doing the amazon vine program for several years now, but have kind of been slacking for some time. It’s a program where they give their top reviewers (All of those reviews I wrote about kitchen utensils and cookbooks eventually paid off!) the chance to try products for free, as trade for reviewing them. It’s actually a big part of the reason I went vegan, if you want to know the truth. Some of the first selections I made were Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet and Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows (which btw, was so graphic, I couldn’t even finish, and am still haunted by) back when I was thinking about going vegetarian again. I ended up going vegan instead, and staying vegan as a result!

The offerings are usually very book heavy, but I hadn’t seen a cookbook I was interested in for a long time. When I saw a vegetarian book, I got excited and figured I could veganize the recipes easily, and could use a kick in the butt to get cooking again.

Since I left my giant kitchen a year ago, and moved into smaller apartments in Fort Lauderdale and Seattle, my previous zest for cooking had diminished proportionately with my diminished counter space. Sure it’s not as bad as cooking in that tiny studio in Brooklyn, but it’s less than ideal. Unfortunately, that’s just city life, no matter what city you’re in, or at least it is in my price range!

Now onto the book…

Turns out more peas, thank you is already a vegan cookbook, with no help from me. Sure she does offer the organic, ovo-lacto vegetarian option as well, but they’re written vegan first. I was so excited about my good luck! It also turns out that this book is a sequel to her peas, and thank you volume, and that she writes a blog over at peasandthankyou.com, if you want to check out some of her recipes and writing style.

I started out by reading the entire book back to front (I also read magazines in this fashion) and dog earring all of the things that sounded good, whilst reading out titles to Thomas. Happily, I dog eared most of the book. The recipes sounded good, and were generally not too fussy, which I appreciate these days. I attribute that to her whole mother of two craziness thing that she writes about so often in her intros. I will also say this, I’m so used to anecdotes from the friends that I have that now have kids, that even this was okay. It’s most of the book, but at least it’s usually humorous, and sometimes even a little snarky!

The Tempeh Stroganoff was the first recipe I made, by Thomas’ request…

I chose to chop the onions in the food processor, because for some reason I really can’t stand chopping onions anymore. I end up burning and crying so much that I have to leave the kitchen and flush my eyes out with water repeatedly. (Though I think these bagged onions I bought from WF twice now are especially bad!) That being said, I chose to pulse the tempeh into crumbles in there as well instead of grating it as called for in the recipe. I highly recommend doing both of these things for convenience & as a time saver. Besides that, I followed the recipe exactly.

Results:

Easy, filling, delicious! I had never had Beef Stroganoff before, so I didn’t have much to compare to, but Thomas said it was pretty similar. I thought it was great, and had the pleasure of eating the leftovers for lunch the next day. The depth of flavor she achieved in this fairly simple meal left me excited and motivated to keep on cooking from her book. Expect to see more reviews of her recipes in the coming days.

Foxy Tuna (Vegan Chickpea Tuna)

Posted on April 4, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

So my original attempt at vegan tuna recipe writing [almost to the day, three years ago, in Brooklyn] was named Fauxy Tuna, but more than one person told me they read it “Foxy” in their head, so this time, I’m just gonna let you go right ahead and do that with my blessing.

I was setting out to make us some chickpea tuna tonight, and after consulting several sources, including my own previous tempeh based tuna recipe (which I didn’t feel like fussing with, plus, it is really best if you have carrots with tops!), I just decided to wing a new one. My beef with most tuna recipes is really they just rely heavily on vegan mayo and pickle relish to do all the magic. Nothing against pickle relish and mayo, but I grew up eating tuna sans pickle relish, and with minimal mayo. In high school and college I was a vegetarian. A vegetarian who still ate tuna fish occasionally “for protein”. I was also rather weight conscious, so I used a crazy amount of mustard in lieu of mayo in said tuna. (It was the 90s, and fat was the devil.)

I’ve never been one for sea food, actually. Unless it was tuna fish, or occasionally fish and chips or salmon as an adult, fish sticks or Mrs. Paul’s were the only fish I’d go near as a kid. (Ok, I really liked the tartar sauce that came with them! I take it back. Tartar sauce = Mayo + Pickle relish. Delicious. Fin.)

So let me try to reel it back in. (No pun intended, I swear!) I set out to make this have that salty, briney sort of thing that I find missing from most vegan tuna by adding in some chopped pimento stuffed olives. I think it did the trick, but you let me know what you think.

I’m still getting to know my Seattle Whole Foods better, so when I set out to find kelp powder the last time, all I found was the Bragg’s kelp seasoning. (I’ve since located the actual kelp powder!) So if you’re using regular kelp powder, you may need to adjust the amount. Ok, without further adieu…

Foxy Tuna (Vegan Chickpea Tuna)

2 – cans of chickpeas, well rinsed and drained

2 medium carrots, chopped into large pieces
1 celery stalk with leaves, chopped into large pieces
1/4 medium onion, chopped roughly
6-8 large pimento stuffed spanish olives

1/4 c. vegan mayo (I used red fat Veganaise. The 90s still haunt me.)
1-2 tbsp. mustard (I used 2 of dijon)
2-3 tbsp. kelp seasoning or powder (I used 3 of Bragg’s kelp seasoning)
2 tbsp. pickle relish
fresh ground pepper
1-2 tsp. Tamari, Bragg’s aminos, or red sodium soy sauce, optional
dash of cayenne pepper, optional

Directions:

1. Add carrots, celery, onion and olives to food processor, and pulse until roughly chopped. (Alternatively, finely chop and add to a large bowl.)

2. Add chickpeas to food processor and pulse until crumbly, but be careful not to mash them too much. Dump into a large bowl and add all other ingredients. (Alternatively, mash them in bowl from #1, with a fork.)

3. Mix up everything with a fork. Taste for seasoning.

You can serve this as sandwiches, tuna melts, or scooped on salad greens!

Lentil, Split Pea, Garbanzo Soup

Posted on March 20, 2013 by cameraphonevegan

So I’m posting this for Katy, who asked for the recipe after seeing a picture. These lentil split pea soups have become a staple food in my kitchen, and are never the same twice. (Which explains why there are so many of them in my recipe tab.) It’s a tradition that’s sort of been passed down to me from my mother, who makes a pot of lentils and/or split peas at LEAST once a week. She’s not into cooking anything fussy, and as a nurse, a Cuban, and a person who has always naturally leaned towards a vegetarian diet, she knows how much protein punch she can get from these simple and easy meals. My versions are fairly different from her’s, however, because mine tend to have major Indian and Macrobiotic influences. I often combine several different legumes, and even leftovers if I can get away with it.

In this particular case, we happened to really need to go grocery shopping. Honestly if you open our fridge right now, all you’ll see is the Britta, 2 cans of Dave’s Pale Ale and 2 packages of sprouted tofu.

See?! I’m dead serious, we’re even out of garlic! But we did have onions, celery and potatoes, so that was enough for me to get a good base going. I used dried lentils and split peas, and the dark colored chickpeas were leftovers from the batch that I made from scratch for another recipe and needed using up. I ended up with so much cumin because I went to add a teaspoon and a bunch dumped out, but it totally worked out. The millet paired really well with it. (How to cook millet) Anything with a ~ is an approximation.

Lentil, Split Pea, Garbanzo Soup
4-8 servings

oil for misting pot, or ~1 tsp. (I used EVOO)

2 yellow onions, chopped to liking
1 stalk of celery, chopped to liking
1 large baking potato, chopped to liking

~1/2 tsp. of salt
~1 tsp. of garlic powder
fresh ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper

8 c. filtered water
6 tsp. of concentrated veg broth stuff (you can use broth, or bouillon, or powder too)

1 c. of lentils
1/2 c. of yellow split peas
2 c. of rinsed garbanzos (or 1-2 cans)

2 tbsp. curry powder
~1 tbsp. of cumin

Directions:

1. Mist a large pot bottom with oil of choice, and heat to medium. Add the onions while you chop up the celery and potato, and toss them in as you go. Sprinkle in salt, garlic, and pepper. Keep stirring periodically until the onions get translucent and slightly browned.

2. Add water and deglaze pot bottom by stirring up any pieces that got stuck to the bottom. Add veggie broth stuff, legumes, and remaining spices.

3. Bring up to a boil, cover and drop to simmer for at least an hour. Done!

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Lentil, Split Pea, Garbanzo Soup

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