DIY Scalloped Overalls and Pretzel Dogs!

I've been going a little overall crazy. Ok, I've only thrifted 3 pair. Not too crazy right?! I just remember how much I loved those things when I was a kid and I think they're crazy comfy and cute. But in order to bring them more up to date I decided to scallop the bottoms of one pair. Plus I was feeling crafty and happened upon this tutorial. I searched for a few more and decided I liked the folded up look.

 Then I made these unplanned and suprisingly delicious pretzel dogs. I used the pretzel recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking and wrapped them around a Field Roast hot dog. My guy even helped me roll out the dough and showed me how to fold up a pretzel <3

You could probably use any ole pretzel recipe and wrap those suckers up around meat in tube form (plant based, of course!). We also dipped them in chia cheese sauce but I forgot to take a picture of that yummy stuff cause I was busy drinking it.

   

Don't you just love impromptu days filled with crafting, cats, and baking? 

Chili Infused Soba Noodles (Review)

I adapted this recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks, The Vegan Table. This book is so filled to the brim with awesome I've bookmarked a dozen recipes from it. I should probably just give in and admit to myself I'm gonna cook the whole book. It's supposed to be a book for entertaining, like grown up dinner parties and such. Unfortunately I never get to have dinner parties (I wish! Seriously, dinner party companions with witty conversation and refined taste buds where art thou?!) so the hubs and I party up by eating all the food ourselves :D

He declared the Chili Infused Soba Noodles his new favorite meal and I have to agree this stuff is kind-of mind blowingly delicious. It's one of those things you find yourself eating over the pot wondering how you got there. Don't fight it.

Just give in to the deliciousness.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll be running around drinking tea with friends, vintage shopping, and dancing the night away at the beach. Isn't summer amazing?

 

BBQ Chick'n Naan Pizza

Have you heard of Beyond Meat? It's a plant based chicken that's fooled New York Times food writers and supported by cool omnivores like Bill Gates. Anyhow, it's pretty delicious and it's helped us transition to a plant based diet. We may not like to eat chickens anymore (you know, cause of the dietary cholesterol, steroids, antibiotics, and genetic engineering and animal cruelty) but we still like texture!

This is a pretty basic recipe and it's easy to customize.

I used the naan recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking, which I typically make every other week so I can have fresh flatbread on hand for making naan-wiches, something to dip in soups, and pizza :)

BBQ Chick'n Naan Pizza
2 pieces of Naan
1 package of Beyond Meat strips
your favorite bbq sauce
your favorite pizza toppings (I used red onions and fresh thyme from my herb planter)
Daiya or any other plant based cheese

1. Coat the Beyond Meat in bbq sauce in a saute pan and let it caramelize. Put a small amount of bbq sauce on the naan, top with cheese and other topping. Bake until cheese melts, about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

So Far

In February, I decided to make a radical change to my diet. I've be a yo-yo vegetarian since childhood, and I finally put my foot down and did what would make me happiest- not eating animals. I came to this decision weighing in many factors, health, human and animals morals and ethics, sociopolitical, and economic reasons. 

Of course, I had to be a grown up about it and read a bajillion books as well as talk to my doctor about it. Educating yourself will always provide a firm foundation. All was clear and I jumped right in.

So far, I'm finding it to be pretty flippin' awesome! I'm finding the best encouragement through my childhood best friend (if you're reading this Steffi- I love you!!) who also recently started eating a plant based diet, my extremely supportive (and participatory!) other half, and Instagram friends. Who knew Instagram would be such a great source of support and inspiration? #veganfoodshare is an amazing hashtag!

My love of cooking and food has exploded. I'm starting to buy fresh, local produce weekly. Fast food is slowly slipping away (though there have been time of desperation when I visited Taco Bell). My skin is clearing and I've lost about 10 pounds. I recover from workouts faster. I've discovered new restaurants in my town that serve really great, fresh food. I know I'm making it sound too good to be true, but I really can't think of anything negative to say since I made the switch. It's something I've really wanted my whole life, so I guess that makes it pretty easy.

I really appreciate all my omnivore friends, and thanks to those who have shared recipes (Katherine from of Corgis and Cocktails shared an amazing tofu recipe!) and have given so much kindness. It really is very appreciated.

Back to paper writing and culinary hijinks! Hope everyone has a beautiful Sunday.

Southern Fare and Fried "Chicken"

 

Most days I eat massive amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains/seeds. But sometime, I just want fried chicken. I also really wanted to challenge myself with the recipe because, c'mon vegan fried "chicken"?

Get out of here.

 

But let me tell you something- this stuff is amazing. The crunch from really mimicked real fried chicken and the breading was explosively flavorful. And there's something to be said about the juiciness and texture of this recipe. 



So, so juicy and meaty. The advances in plant based meat are pretty incredible lately. So much so that cool omnivore billionaires like Bill Gates and the co-founders of Twitter are investing in this incredible products. As for the collard greens and mashed potatoes- those came from my brain! Really surprised it still worked after a long day of exams. Thanks brain.


The vegan fried chicken recipes is from Vegan Cooking for Carnivores. There is a great video with the author making the recipe here. (I didn't have eggroll wrappers so I didn't have the "skin" but it was still amazing!)

Mashed Potatoes
3 medium to large potatoes of your choosing
1 tbs Earth Balance vegan butter
1/4 cup of garlic chives
1/8 cup of almond milk
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil potatoes until soft enough to easily puncutre with a steak knife. For me that was about 14 minutes.
2. Put potatoes and the remaining ingredients in a stand mix and mix on medium for 3 minutes.

Collard Greens
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 tbs of tabasco
2 tsp of liquid smoke
1.5 lb of collard greens

1. Bring the vegetable broth, Tabasco and liquid smoke to a boil. Add the collard greens and slow the boil to simmer. Simmer for an hour to an hour and half and serve hot!

Cardigan: Thrifted, Dress: Older- Hot Topic (maybe), Tights: Target, Clogs: Lotta from Stockholm

Let me know if anyone tries this recipe! My little sous chef didn't try any (she's super picky, only loves ice cream and dry kibble) but she did provide an approving sniff.

Eggplant Sandwich w/ dipping sauce

This is vegan comfort food at its finest. Fried eggplant, refried beans, avacodo with dipping sauce. This had my husband repeatedly asking "No animals?!". Nope. Just delicious. I found it very difficult to find vegan bread in my normal grocery store, and while I would normally make it I happened upon some in my local Fresh Market so I snagged this Italian loaf there.




 

Any 30 Rock fans out there? I really wanted to make a dipping sauce in homage to the episode with Liz Lemon and her teamster sub :) I perfer dipping sauces as they don't cause the bread to be soggy and well, let's face it, it's plain fun to dip. Unless it's a meatball sub.Then I want and obscene amount of sauce dripping off the thing.
Anyway check out my cool unicorn shoes!

Dress: Cotton On (Old), Tights/Necklace: Target, Apron: Vintage store, Shoes: c/o The Bradleys giveaway on This Enchanted Pixie (originally from Urban Outfitters)

 

 

Eggplant Sandwich with Dipping Sauce
Source: my brain

1 loaf of Cuban or Italian bread
1 regular sized eggplant
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 cup of non dairy milk
1 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs (I just used salt, pepper, and cayenne, but feel free to get creative!)
Enough canola oil for frying
1 can of low sodium vegetarian refried beans
1 avacodo
1 can of low sodium of enchilada sauce (or use homemade)

1. Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds and sprinkle both sides with salt. Set aside for one hour (this will make the eggplant less bitter)

2. Take each eggplant round and dip in a bowl of non dairy milk, then dredge in breadcrumbs. 

3. Fry each piece of breaded eggplant for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. You could also bake, which would be way healthier and what I'll be doing next time!

4. Assemble sandwich! I used the refried beans like mayo and lined each piece of the bread with it. Then stack eggplant and avacado. I pressed the sandwich on my foreman grill, you could also use a panini press or press in a oiled saute pan.

5. Serve with heated enchilada sauce on the side. Enjoy!

 Let me know if you try this recipe out, with or without modifications. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

S'mores Cupcakes

I don't think I've ever made S'mores over a campfire. Over a backyard grill maybe, but never the idyllic marshmallow on a stick. Nevertheless, I love s'mores! So when I came across a recipe for s'mores cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World I was smitten. I didn't have everything to make them, so I made a few substitutions but I've heard only great things from herbivores and omnivores alike. I thought they were a little dense but still delicious. I posted a picture one of these cupcakes on Instagram and my account blew up with likes in about 60 seconds <3 So I thought I'd share!

 Don't worry Kagomei didn't get any! She's just nosy approving the process.

Outfit Details Dress, jewelry thrifted. Shirt: Old Navy

 


S'mores Cupcakes (modified from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World)

3⁄4 C. Brown Sugar
1⁄2 C. Canola Oil
2 T. Maple Syrup (original recipe called for Molasses)
 1⁄4 C. Soy Yogurt (I didn't use any yogurt)
1 1⁄4 C. Almond milk (original recipe called for Molasses)
1 t. Vanilla Extract
1 C. All-Purpose Flour
1 t. Baking Powder
1⁄2 t. Baking Soda
1⁄2 t. Cinnamon, ground
1⁄4 t. Salt
1⁄2 C. Graham Cracker Crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350¾. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. Mix brown sugar, oil, molasses, yogurt, soymilk and vanilla in a large bowl.

3. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a separate bowl and mix. Add graham cracker crumbs and mix it up.

4. Add dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, mixing well after each addition.

5. Fill cupcake liners full. Bake for 17 minutes (recipe called for 22-25), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Let cool completely before decorating.

I frosted with vegan buttercream and garnished with a pieces of graham cracker, graham cracker crumbs, and shaved dark chocolate. Enjoy!