Food, Iced Coffee, and Beer!

I never had Hamburger Helper as a kid, if I did maybe it was once and that was it. I am thinking it had more to do with the size of the box than what was in it. My dad sure could eat a lot and I do not think a box would be a safe bet for a family meal.

Here is my own version - vegan of course! Organic pasta, soyrizo, cashew chipotle cheeze + Daiya cheeze blend, a can of Rotel, cashew milk and a bunch of spices. Really creamy, really good!

I split a Baracuda cupcake from Pushkin's and iced almond milk coffee from around the corner via Temple with Matt.

Because it is iced coffee weather (this time with coconut milk) and one can never have/read/buy/trade too many zines. My coffee even has my name spelled right!!!

Beer: The Super Tramp from Dust Bowl Brewing is now a favorite of mine. It has a slight strawberry taste and is refreshing. Perfect for warm weather and spicy dishes. Bonus it is brewed locally! I was hoping to like the Old Rasputin stout more - because I like stouts plus it had good reviews but it was just okay in my book.

Is the warm temps in your area yet? What are you looking forward to this spring?

[Vegan MOFO] WWGFE Wednesday - Firey Fieri Chili With Polenta Croutons

Guy cooked up a chorizo and polenta lasagna with a cranberry citrus side salad on Guy's Big Bite. I took some of the same ingredients and ideas and took it for a spin.

I made a soyrizo chili topped with polenta croutons and a cranberry, almond with spinach side salad. I added extra heat to the chili using up my farmer's market pepper stash and hot sauce. I kept the polenta croutons plain - so they could be mushjed up and absorb some of the heat and act like corn bread.
The salad is simple: dried cranberries, slivered almonds, spinach with a balsamic vinaigrette I whipped up super fast. The sweetness and tang go well to balance the fire of the chili.

Fiery Fieri Chili With Polenta Croutons 

[chili]

Olive oil for pan

3 (more or less) chili peppers – play around with heat varieties

½ package of soyrizo

2 cans of black beans drained

1 can of Muir Glen Diced Fire Roasted tomatoes (do not drain)

a few dashes of hot pepper sauce

[Croutons]

1 block of polenta cubed, drizzled with a touch of olive oil and baked at 350 for 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a soup pot, add peppers chopped up (remove seeds if you are afraid of heat), cook for a few minutes, add soyrizo, cook for 3 minutes add the rest of the ingredients, stir and cook covered over medium low heat for 30 minutes.

Place a big scoop of chili in a bowl. Top with a few polenta croutons and eat!

[Vegan Mofo] Throwback Thursday - Mexican Food With A Twist: Migas

I grew up and live in taco truck city! Though taco trucks were not a common grab and go meal for our family food from one of the many taquerias on our side of town was. When I went veg in high school grabbing a veggie burrito with rice, whole beans and salsa was my go to. We even had DIY taco and burrito nights at home. My mom or dad would get a bunch of fillings in bowls and have a stack of tortillas ready to go for us to build our own.

In junior high I took home economics. Our teacher taught us to make one meal a week. One of the foods I remember cooking for the first time was a dish with chorizo. We had Italian sausage at home but never we never had chorizo. I cook with soyrizo now - I know plenty of vegans and nonvegans who dig on the stuff, not only is it not full of gross animal bits but it it heart healthy.

I wanted to create a meal for dinner that was comforting, had a throwback element and also something new so I turned to migas!

 

Migas is a toss together meal consisting of scrambled eggs, tortilla bits and what you have on hand. Since obtaining some black sea salt and finished The Fault in our Stars (Hazel made me want to cook a scramble outside of breakfast!) I wanted to create something with a tofu scramble as an element. 

I baked some corn tortillas cut into wedges with a bit of olive oil in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes, turning them in the middle. I seasoned with pink sea salt when I took them out, pretty basic. My tofu scramble was a block of super firm, crumbled and cooked with olive oil, black sea salt, turmeric, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper and pink sea salt.Ten minutes into the game I threw in a 1/2 pack of soyrizo, cooked it for five minutes then a 1/2 bag of cheddar Daiya. I cooked everything till it became all gooey and melty. I thew in a handful of broken tortilla chips, plated it with more chips on the side, salsa and fresh organic avocados. We have a winner here! Comfort food that is simple, rather cheap (Daiya was buy one get one free last week at Sprouts) and you can use up leftovers! You can even swap out the soyrizo for black or pinto beans - making it even more affordable!

Spicy Sweet Potato Chili

I made this simple chili last night. Like everything I try to do, I kept it around $10 and under 30 minutes.  Matt said it was to spicy - I thought it was just right. Mar was happy because I baked a few sweet potato pieces for him when I made the Sriracha drop biscuits (Bisquick mix with rice milk and Sriracha swirled on top)...Yes my cat goes crazy for sweet potatoes!

Spicy Sweet Potato Chili

- 1/2 package of Trader Joe's (or your fave brand) of Soyrizo

- 1 cup of small diced sweet potato chunks

- 2 cans of pinto beans: drained

- 1 can of Rotel (original was used): drained

- 1 teaspoon (or less if you are a spice wimp - shout out to Matt!) of Mexican spice blend

- 3/4 cup of water

- a bit of olive oil

In a large stock pot heat up a splash of olive oil on medium. Add the Soyrizo, breaking it apart. Then add the sweet potatoes, let them cook down and blend together for about 5 minutes. Add your beans, Rotel, spice mix and water. Give it a stir and reduce the heat to a medium low and let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. To see if it is done poke a sweet potato chunk and make sure it is fork tender. Serve how you like it...I just went with simple biscuits because I was in the mood for them!

Taco Time: Soyrizo & Potatoes

I finally got Matt to try Soyrizo! He did not want to (he did not like chorizo growing up), then I made him tacos with it last week, he liked it a lot so they appeared in this weeks menu as well! Simple and cheap, I place a few chopped potatoes in a pan with olive oil, cover and heat on medium-low for 15 minutes till the potatoes are about fork tender. I then add the Soyrizo, stir them and give them another 10 minutes to cook.

I first had chorizo in 7th grade in home economics. It was not a staple in my house or something I saw a lot of so I did not really have lots of experience with it. I do love Soyrizo though, in scrambled tofu, in chili or with fried potatoes! It is tasty! A lot of meat-eaters grab Soyrizo over chorizo, because the health factor and no one wants to eat really crappy-scary processed parts!

When I worked at the mall years ago a taco stand would make me a potato and salsa burrito in the morning. It is something I still love to eat. I grew up with fried potatoes and I cannot eat a baked potato without hot sauce so they just go well together! I am hungry now!!!