Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

When people find out that you like tofu they often express their distaste or poor experience with the product. It's not something most people are familiar with or taught how to utilize - at least not in the western hemisphere. I am fortunate enough to have very nearby a chinese takeout place that makes delicious tofu in several varieties. There's deep fried tofu (or as they refer to it, bean curd) with mixed vegetables in garlic sauce. It's hot and spicy and awesome. Deep frying the tofu really alters the texture and brings it to a place where 90% of average american would truly enjoy. Not only that, it imparts it with a deep and rich flavor of oil, soy sauce and spices. They also offer szechaun style bean curd too. This is not deep fried, but rather traditional wok stir fried, but in my opinion just as delicious. It does keep  that classic tofu texture most people associate with the product. Pillowy soft. But this restaraunt is smart. They cut it up much smaller, so it

I believe I may have just invented the next big food thing. Buffalo chick pea. That's right. They're awesome little pebbles of deep fried, spicy goodness. They're really easy to make. And a delicious snack you won't be able to stop scarfing down. Don't blame me if you gain weight. It'll totally be worth it anyway. These are not low fat. But they are spicy goodness in little funny shaped balls. Ingredients 1 can garbanzo beans (aka chick peas) 2 tbls hot sauce 1/2 tsp white vinegar 1 tbl peanut butter 1 packet soy sauce toasted panko breadcrumsb salt, pepper and paprika to taste Grab yourself a can of chick pea. Rinse and drain. In a bowl combine hot sauce, white vinegar, peanut butter, soy sauce, salt, pepper and paprika. Get some oil hot in a deep skillet. Drop in chick peas and fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil and toss in sauce mixture. Let cool and rest in sauce. Store that way. Serve directly from sauce and sp

Here's a really great vegetarian sandwich that you probably won't find elsewhere. Toasted onion bagel. Spread low fat cream cheese on both sides. Add black beans. Roasted garlic slices. Roasted red pepper strips. Romaine lettuce. It's really good. I promise. Another interesting meal I created recently combined cajun garlic butter rice and canned vegetarian chili. I just made the rice as the package indicated adding some mustard greens to it. Then heated the chili with a little bit of cumin seed. Then I filled the bottom of a bowl 3/4 with the rice and 1/4 with the chili. Keeping them separate inside the bowl. So that I could combine them as desired while eating. Yet one more good one is cheddar broccoli rice mix with potatoes. I made my finely diced potatoes in a pan. They are really geat. Setting them aside in a heat safe storage container. I topped them with fresh cracked garlic pepper seasoning. I prepared the cheddar broccoli rice according to the package. Ad

Have you ever used the McCormick garlic and pepper seasoning grinder. I love garlic so i really like this one. Add to it that there's also fresh cracked salt and pepper in there and you've got a winning trio. If you eat eggs you've got to try it in scrambled eggs. Don't add any other salt or pepper. Just a few grinds of this stuff. Obviously this isn't vegan, but it's certainly vegetarian if you're okay with egg. I paired my garlic pepper scrambled eggs with some fresh pancakes and maple syrup. It was really good. I love getting the syrup on my eggs. The combo of the pepper, garlic, maple syrup and some margarine was totally awesome. The pancake were pretty good too. It's funny cuz so many people love garlic so much, but they seldom think to add it to their eggs and I don't know why. Eggs take well to so many additions. Garlic being no exception. Sage in eggs is also really nice if you have it. Or for something more filling without the pancak

When people think of sandwiches they usually think of meat and cheese or some combination thereof. But the sandwich is one of the most versatile culinary constructions every conceived. It's not limited by such simple concepts and you shouldn't be either. A really easy and delicious sandwich I enjoy is made with hummus. A thick layer of this delicious paste on either side of a seasme seed roll. Add to that crisp fresh red bell pepper and slice white onion. Yum. Add a slice of cheese if you're so inclined. The hormel vegetarian chili sandwich is another great one that you might not have considered. Simply cook some white rice according to the package directions. Then add a can of the veg chili and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Remove from pot and let cool. It makes an awesome sandwich on its own. An even better one with some lettuce. Embrace cream cheese if you're so inclined. It's not just for bagels and lox. Spread some on a roll and add some black beans and gar

Sometime after making spaghetti I have sauce leftover. Sometimes I'll just make spaghetti again within a week or two. But there are other great uses for jarred tomato sauce you may not have thought of. One really nice use is on a sandwich. Spread sauce on both sides fo a roll or toast. Layer with beans of your choice. Sprinke with nutritional yeast or grated cheese. Top with onion, olives and lettuce or any combo thereof. Another great way to use leftover jar tomato sauce is on roasted potatoes. If you have a big batch of roasted potatoes and you're looking for something other than plain potatoes this will hit the spot. Add your roasted potatoes to a bowl. Top with some beans of your choice. Spon on a few ounces of the tomato sauce. Sprinke with yeast. Some roasted vegetables if you have some. Broccoli or pepper or anything really. Something crunchy and bright. Enjoy. Dunno if it's just me, but frozen tomato sauce is one of the most bland foods I've ever had the