Foods! Omnomnomnom

I'm going to give this to you with relatively little commentary.

Lunch at People's Co-op.  Kale salad, tofu and the best "tuna" salad ever.

Banana Hammock in honor of Chocolate Covered Katie.

Really yummy bean dip I made for my mom for Mother's Day to go along with this:

Carrot Cake.  How cute is that carrot!

One day I was feeling a little like I was getting sick so I used the oranges from my CSA and made blood orange juice.

I had a couple of weeks where I didn't get to eat the apples fast enough and so they got a little soft.  I used them to make muffins.  These turned out remarkably well considering I misread apple cider for apple cider vinegar.  They were a little tart but delicious regardless.

Taco salad.  This is from a while ago but along the lines of what I ate all week.  This one had steamed broccoli, frozen peas and corn, salsa, black beans, lettuce and tortilla chips.  My salads of late have added avocado.

Waffle with strawberries and some maple syrup with a little cocoa powder mixed in.

This was sad face was actually a delicious dinner.  I had some everything bagels in my freezer.  I toasted and then topped with spaghetti sauce and some meatless balls.  Most of the time my boyfriend does not care for my dinners.  This one he was envious of.  Not the toast with lentils though.  That was another great combo.  Toast with earth balance topped with cold lentils that had been cooked with garlic and onions.

Speaking of lentils.  Familiar meal.



And to round off this yumminess, Sipz Vegan Caterpillar Roll.  Teriyaki mushrooms, sweet potato and I think cucumber.

And some imitations.

Mine has meatless balls and bbq sauce in it.

As does my boyfriend's.


Thinking: but that's not sushi...

How about this one??

That's vegan pepperoni.  I say, if it has rice and is wrapped in nori, then it's sushi.

And finally, I leave you with a message presented to me upon entering the farmer's market one weekend.

 





Thanks for listening.

Sipz and Sweet & Sour "Chicken"

One of the few vegetarian restaurants that is extremely vegan friendly in San Diego is a place my boyfriend took me to shortly after I became vegan.  It is called Sipz and they serve Asian style bowls mostly but also make vegetarian sushi.  On our first trip there I was not so impressed as at that time I was really trying towards a more whole food, less fake "meat" way of eating and I didn't really want to go back.  Luckily for me my boyfriend liked the place so much that he talked me into giving them a second shot.  I think the first time I went I got a bowl with mushrooms instead of tofu or "chicken" and it was ok.  The second time we went I had a grilled vegetable salad that was delicious.  I also tried a bit of my boyfriend's sweet and sour "chicken".  At this point I had been a vegan for a number of months and had discovered what seitan was.  This was by far the best seitan I have ever tried.  The texture was unbelievable.  The next time we went we ordered an extra meal to take home with us to eat for leftovers.  I gave my mom a piece to try and she told me that the restaurant had tricked us and really served us chicken.  I explained that it was a vegetarian restaurant and no chicken to be found and she was blown away.  I am so infatuated with the texture of this chicken and am bound and determined to recreate it some day.  Here is my first attempt.

First I made seitan

I attempted two different recipes for seitan; one that was boiled and one that was baked.  They both turned out fabulous but this boiled version was so flavorful all on its own; I think because it was cooked with ginger.

Then I cut the seitan into bite sized pieces and coated them in ener g egg replacer and corn starch.

Then I fried up the pieces in a little oil.  Bonus love points if your boyfriend does the frying and endures the crackling hot oil for you.  <3

Then in my wok I stir fried some carrots, onions and bell peppers.

Meanwhile I made a sauce based on a recipe I don't recall now.  It was not the best sauce and I am now looking to find a better one.

This one consisted of rice vinegar, pineapple juice, ketchup, molasses, brown sugar and soy sauce.

Once the "chicken" was all fried, I added it to the wok along with the sauce and about half a can of pineapple chunks.

All in all it was very decent.  My boyfriend couldn't stop raving about it.  I definitely want to make some tweaks and try again but it's nice to know I have the process down pretty well.

This is the bowl from Sipz.  I don't know how they get such a red color.  Mmmm.  Did I mention that when my boyfriend and I went there on Thursday night we each got orders of this on top of our dinners to take home for leftovers?  Yeah, I really need to perfect this recipe or we might go broke.  Meanwhile, here is what I had for actual dinner when we went.

Caterpillar roll with yams and teriyaki mushrooms.  This thing was soo good and I am going to try to recreate it this week.  I am always surprised at how filling sushi is.  And how cute it can be.  This is one instance where it is perfectly ok to eat food with a face.