Fried Avocado Tacos

I asked everyone what they wanted to make vegan. Well, here's one that I thought was perfect for a Friday night! A bottle of wine, chips and salsa and fried avocado tacos with mango purée and tomato foam. Too good for words!

Fried Avocado

Panko bread crumbs

2 large, ripe avocados

Salt and pepper, to taste

Oil

In a small bowl, mix Panko with salt and pepper. Place about 2 T of oil in a pan and turn to medium heat. Cut the avocado in half and take out the pit. Cut again into 4's. Peel off skin like you would a cut orange. Place the avocado into the breading and lightly push panko into avocado so it sticks. Put coated avocado into the pan and fry until golden brown on each side.

Mango Purée

1 large, ripe mango

1 inch, fresh ginger 

1 T garlic powder

Place all ingredients into a blender and purée!

Tomato Foam

2 large tomatoes

1/2 red onions, diced

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 T oil

1 T thyme

Place all ingredients into mixer and blend. When foam starts to form, stop mixing. Not everything will be blended. It's better that way.

And there you have it! I added black beans and pea shoots to my taco along with a couple pieces of fried onion with the extra panko. It tasted amazing! I hope y'all enjoy as much as I did. 

*check out my roasted cauliflower and chickpea tacos for homemade tortilla recipe!

Good Morning!

Nothing like coffee in the morning from the Peekskill Coffee House. 

Hope everyone has a great day :)

Oven Baked Potato Chips

                         

Hey! Guess what! Potatoes are vegan! Just in case you were wondering. Wanna know what else is vegan? Potato chips! Yes, that's right. But not just any type of chip. I'm talking about homemade, better for you, chips. Here's how!

Oven Baked Potato Chips

3 russet potatoes (I used 8)

3 T olive or canola oil

Salt, to taste  

Slice potatoes as thin as possible. I did this by hand, but if you have a device for more even slices, use that. Place potato slices in a bowl of cold water and let sit for about 30 min.

                                  

Pre heat oven to 375'. Lay out a piece of parchment on a baking sheet. Drain water and leave potatoes in bowl. Drizzle oil and sprinkle salt over slices and mix together. Place potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet. 

                                      

Bake chips for about 20 minutes or until they're golden brown. Remember that they will be darker than a regular bagged chip. Play around with the time until you get desired texture.

   

Spinach Salad

Keeping it simple tonight, folks. Spinach salad with all the fixins! What's the best thing to do with all the randomness in your fridge and pantry? A salad. That's it. 

For this one, I threw spinach, green olives, almond slices, chopped roasted red peppers, frozen corn that I heated for a minute on the stove, carrots, shredded cabbage, white beans, cherry tomatoes and avacado in a large bowl. 

For the dressing I just whisked together some olive oil, hemp seeds, oregano, salt and pepper and nutritional yeast in a small bowl and drizzled that on top of the salad.

The greatest part about making salads is that you can add whatever you want. It's a great way to use up what you have so you can go buy more ;)

Chocolate Cream Pie

Everyone loves pie, but taking the time to make it isn't always loved. Here's my quick "i can make it vegan" chocolate cream pie! The pie crust and whip cream are both store bought. Those i'll post recipes for at a later date but since I was limited with time, a tasty spelt crust and soy whip did just fine!

Chocolate Cream Filling

3 T dark chocolate cocoa powder

3 T cornstarch

1 t vanilla

1/2 C sugar 

Handful of semi sweet dark chocolate chips 

2 C almond milk, unsweetened 

In a double boiler, you can just use a pot if you don't have one, mix dry ingredients. I've turned the stove on already to get the water boiling. Mix in almond milk and stir until you have a thick consistency. About 10 minutes. Once thick, remove from heat and add in chocolate chips and vanilla and mix until chips dissolve. Pour into pie crust let it cool until room temp. Cover with plastic wrap or oversized Tupperware container and put in the fridge. I let it chill over night but a couple hours or so will do. Once completely chilled you can add the whip cream. Or, just cut and add whip cream to individual slices. 

Happy Birthday!!

It's my husband's birthday and to celebrate I made a vegan chocolate cream pie!  So good and so easy! Stay tuned for the recipe tonight :) 

Homemade Vegan Hotdogs

I totally made vegan hot dogs! I'm so impressed with myself :) This was my first go at it and they were pretty delicious! My husband and I quit the fake me officially in January. The only thing we eat is tofu, seitan and tempeh and we don't eat either of those often. We started to cut back on the fake burgers, chicken, etc. over the years. Really only eating them when we were in the mood for junk food or if we were having a BBQ. Since quiting all the mock meats, we've never felt better! However, that doesn't mean that I don't miss grilling a good burger or a couple hot dogs with some Daiya Cheese, especially while being outside on a beautiful day. So, I'm very happy to say that we can still enjoy a classic cook out, but healthier. 

Vegan Hot Dogs

1/4 t tumeric

1/4 t curry 

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t cumin 

1/4 t paprika

1/4 t pepper

1 t celery salt

1.5 t salt

2 t whole grain mustard

1/2 t smoke flavor

2 T soy sauce

2 T vegetable oil 

1 t arrow root

1/3 C almond meal

1 C vital wheat gluten

1 package firm tofu

1 red onion, chopped into medium size pieces 

Place everything but almond meal, VWG and arrow root into a deep bowl. Use hand mixer and blend everything together. I left chunks of onion but you can also use a food processor and blend everything until smooth, if you prefer.

Next, add dry ingredients and mix with spoon.

Stir until light, fluffy dough forms.

Cut little rectangles of parchment about the size of your hand. I made about 17 hot dogs with this mix but depending on the size you want, you'll need more or less paper. Do the same with foil.

Scoop about a tablespoon of dough into your hand and roll into ball. Then start rolling that into a log. Then place on parchment.

Roll the parchment around the dough then do the same with the foil, like you would with corn on the cob.

Now, fill a pot with a little water and place your steam tray on the top. Put about 7 or 8 hot dogs in steamer and set timer for 55 minutes. 

When timer goes off, remove from heat. Unwrap, and they should look much darker than they started off. They'll be firm at this point also, so you could grill them or just eat right away. 

Hope this was helpful to all you vegans who don't want to eat those nasty store bought veggie dogs. Or for all of you who want to try something new. Let me know what you think!