Dill Pickle French Fries

Hello everyone! The new recipe I tried this week was the Dill Pickle French Fries from One Green Planet. I halved the recipe and used canola oil (instead of grapeseed) and dried dill (instead of fresh). The fries turned out great and were super tasty, so hooray for another yummy recipe!

Served with roasted broccoli and carrots, and garden cucumber on the side.

Last week's post included a picture of Cringer in the cat tower, so this week, here's Buttons. Instead of keeping watch, she prefers to curl up and hunker down for a nap, so when you pass through the room and hear loud snoring, look to the very top of the cat tower and you'll see her there being a muffin kitty (a variation of loaf kitty).

Peace. :)

Fish Sticks and French Fries

Hello everyone! I hope your MoFo is off to a great start, fueled by all the awesome breakfasts from yesterday! Today's prompt is “Recreate a meal from your childhood.” During Vegan MoFo 2013, I did a “Nostalgia Week,” so a lot of my favorite childhood meals can be found there. Since I've already covered a bunch of the ones I enjoyed, today I decided to recreate one that I hadn't been a fan of, hoping to put a more positive spin on a vegan version of it...

So, do you remember how I loved “Chicken Nugget Wednesday” as a kid? Well, every year, there would come the one day when we'd have fish sticks instead of chicken nuggets... 

image source: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv3rldxfMQ1qdhyvx.png

That day was Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, a day of fasting and no meat (the Catholic Church not considering fish to be “meat” never made sense to me, but oh well). I was always so bummed about not getting to have chicken nuggets, and I really didn't like the taste of fish. Needless to say, eating fish has never been something I've missed as a vegan. 

I have, however, heard good things about the Gardein fishless filets, so I figured this would be the perfect time to try them. I baked the “fish” and the fries in the oven for 10 minutes at 425°F, flipping them midway through, and serving them with carrot slices and grape tomatoes. 

They had a definite fish-like taste and texture to them, but they were much more enjoyable than the fish sticks of my childhood. While they weren't my absolute favorite thing from Gardein (that's still the Mandarian orange crispy chick'n), they were really good, and I'll probably get them again. 

In other MoFo news, I've been so excited to see people blogging about Polish foods! I have a couple planned for this month, but here are the ones I've seen so far by other bloggers: A Spin on Vegan Kapusta and Pierogies - Vegan and Gluten-free. (Let me know if I've missed any; I would love to check them out!)

Tomorrow will be another Veganlist post, so stayed tuned for that!

Here's a pic of (blurry) Leela and (distant) Buttons from a month ago; this was taken at night during their routine of hanging out in the hallway during thunderstorms; it's where they seem to feel safest. 

Peace. :)

Burger, Fries, Veggies, and Spice

Hello on the 11th day of the Vegan Month of Food! Tonight's dinner bounces off from last night's, with the dollar store French fries and veggies making a grand return, accompanied by a third dollar store item, the salt free seasoning, which was used to spice up a bland Boca vegan patty (extra from the picnic). Additional items for the burger included a bread slice “bun” (extra from what was bought for the French toast), Daiya cheddar cheese slice (extra from the picnic) and the staples of ketchup and mustard.

So, here's how I made the burger: I thawed out the Boca patty and the butt-end of the loaf of bread. (I'm sorry, that's what I call the first/last slice of bread... Is there another name for it? OK, I just googled “what is the last slice of bread called” and I'm seeing “heel,” “crust,” and “end slice/piece/crust.” I think I'll stick with calling it a butt-end because I'm so mature & find it humorous! What do you call it, dear readers?) Next I heated the patty in the microwave and lightly toasted the bread. Then I folded/broke the bread in half, cut the patty in half, shook 1/4 teaspoon of the salt free seasoning on the inside of one of the bread halves, atop which I layered a half-patty, a folded piece of Daiya, another half-patty, and the other half of the bread. I heated it in the microwave just long enough to melt the Daiya, then added a bit of ketchup and mustard to the top half-patty. A work of art!

My first bite, I didn't notice the seasoning, but by the second, I noticed it, and it was spicy! This was definitely the best way I've had a Boca vegan burger; the salt free seasoning really does the trick; I'm glad that this was one of my dollar store finds.

Ingredients: Corn meal, oat bran, onion, spices, garlic, carrots, orange peel, tomato, parsley, citric acid, natural lemon oil.

But the burger wasn't the only thing to get spiced up this meal. I figured I needed to do a bit more with the fries this time, but I didn't want to have the salt free seasoning on two things in the same meal, so instead I sprinkled some chili powder, cumin, garlic, pepper, and salt atop the fries before they went in the oven. When I flipped them, I added a second round of spices, and put them back in the oven to finish crisping up. This turned out to be an awesome idea; they were much improved over yesterday's fries, so much so that they really didn't need any ketchup, but I still had a bit anyways.

And finally, the veggies were good, with a welcome plainness to balance out all the spices in the burger & fries. (P.S. The dollar store frozen veggies have now been used up; I ended up getting 4 servings out of the bag, which said it had “about 5” servings. Close enough, I guess.)

Lunch was based off of some leftover brown rice, and I had an extra can of black beans from my cookbook week, so I used the recipe from Tuesday and made a new batch, using up the last of my green pepper. I combined the rice & beans together in a burrito, which was served with tortilla chips and salsa.

Leela and Buttons were apparently a bit grumpy this morning and got into a minor scuffle with each other; I clearly took one minute too long getting downstairs to give them their breakfast and their tempers were short. Goobers. But the rest of the day, they got along well and even collaborated on their next performance piece, which seems to be the polar opposite of their “loaf kitties.”

Peace. :)

French Fries, Veggies, and a Smart Dog

Hello on the 10th day of the Vegan Month of Food! Tonight's dinner features two dollar store food items (French fries and mixed vegetables) as part of my dollar store vegan theme, along with a smart dog (extra from the picnic) on a piece of bread “bun” (extra from what I bought for the French toast), and the staples of ketchup, mustard, and salt.

Super simple meal to put together, and while it wasn't anything too exciting, it was still good for a dinner that came out of the freezer. 

Lunch was leftover black beans from yesterday, with more brown rice from the dollar store.

Buttons and Leela have been their usual funny selves. Leela tried to wake us up early this morning; she focused on Zach first, and when he burrowed under the blankets, Leela turned to me and ended up curling up at my side, purring and purring... Until Buttons tried to jump up onto the bed... In the exact spot where Leela was... and then thought better of it halfway through the jump. 

Leela is still trying to figure out if she wants anything to do with her scratching mat.

And Buttons has been loafin' it up ever since I posted the first “loaf kitties” photos.

Peace. :)

Chicken Nuggets and French Fries

Hello on the 18th day of the Vegan Month of Food! Today as part of Nostalgia Week, I tried the Health is Wealth Vegan Chicken-Free Nuggets for the first time and really enjoyed them.

Chicken Nuggets and French Fries

This is probably the simplest of my Nostalgia Week meals to prepare: Just lay out some vegan "chicken" nuggets and fries on a baking tray, put in the oven at 425° F for 15 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Serve with corn and baby carrots, as well as ketchup for dipping.

Growing up, "Chicken Nugget Wednesday" was great because it featured one of my favorite foods, but it was even better because it was the one night a week that my sister and I had the privilege of not having to sit at the table for dinner. Instead, we were allowed to eat in the den and watch TV or a movie, while our mom and dad stayed at the kitchen table to eat together. It was simple but fun, definitely a nice memory from when I was younger.

I used to put the ketchup on top of the nuggets instead of dunking them.

Here's Mystery being a "helper" when Zach was setting up our TV trays.

Peace. :)

Sloppy Joes

Hello on the 19th day of the Vegan Month of Food!  Quick post tonight about the awesomely delicious sloppy joes that I made yesterday.

Sloppy Joes

 
Ingredients:
--Fantastic Foods Sloppy Joe mix
--1 3/4 cup water
--1 T olive oil
--3 oz. spaghetti sauce (package calls for tomato paste, but I didn't have any on hand)
--2 slices Ezekiel bread (didn't have buns, but I really wanted those sloppy joes, so I was willing to improvise, and one of the slices was the end slice, so that's close enough to a bun, right?)

Prepare the sloppy joes by bringing the water to a boil, then adding the mix, oil, and sauce.  Lower heat and let simmer until liquid is absorbed.  Serve on toasted Ezekiel bread, with french fries and a salad, and enjoy the delicious messiness that is a sloppy joe.

I loved this sloppy joe; combined with the fries and salad, it was a great meal, and I didn't notice the amount of spiciness until I was about halfway done.  (The first time I made this mix, it had seemed overly spicy to me from just the first bite.)  All in all, it was a nice dinner, and there was plenty of leftover sloppy joe mix that I will use in other recipes.

Of course, a photo of Mr. Boogie to bring tonight's post to its close...

Peace.  :)