Vegan Taco in a Bag or the Vegan Walking Taco

Last weekend I went to the infamous Centre Hall Grange Fair. I really can't avoid it since I live in the center of Centre Hall, which is essentially invaded by animals, rickety rides and their dangerous contraptions, craft and tractor vendors, local campers, prize winning vegetables and, of course, fried food booths galore! I know, I am supposedly here to blog about healthy food choices, right? Well sure, but I also think that in moderation street fair food can be just the treat for someone with certain food cravings. Plus, you don't have to look far and there really are plenty of vegan options: fried dough, fried Oreos, fried zucchini, french fries, corn fritters. Recognizing a pattern here? Yep, these are all goodies swimming in grease. But hey, once a year I indulge:)

Last year's delight was the fried Oreo. Oreo cookies (totally vegan!) dipped in batter and fried. The Oreo kind of melts inside the batter so that when you bite into it - it looks like a tiny doughnut - you get an oozy, yummy chocolatey mouthful!

This year I was blown away by one food that I had never seen before: Taco in a Bag. It is the perfect way to eat a taco. Fritos lightly smashed topped with ground meat, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream. You just need a fork! Of course I was not able to eat this delightful walking taco since the vegan version would have basically been lettuce and Fritos, but I have decided to make my own scrumptious version at home! Hurray for street fair inspiration!

Vegan Taco in a Bag or the Vegan Walking Taco

Ingredients:
Small bags of Fritos
1 C tvp or vegetarian refried beans
1/2 C onion diced
1 tsp grapeseed oil
1 pkg vegetarian taco mix
1/4 C h20
2 roma tomatoes diced
1 head romaine lettuce chopped
vegan sour cream (I used tofutti brand)
vegan cheddar (Daiya is fantastic)
salsa (optional)

1. Hydrate the tvp with water while you saute the onion in oil until translucent.

2. Add hydrated tvp (or refried beans), taco mix and h20 to the skillet and cook until absorbed.

3. Lightly smash up the Fritos in the bag, add the beans/tvp, Daiya, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream.

4. Pop in a fork and enjoy!

If there were street food vendors in State College selling a vegan version of this, I would eat it everyday. So I suppose I should be glad that there aren't any:)


Special thanks to Robyn for pointing out the wonder that is the Taco in a Fritos bag!

Hydration for the Hydrophobe

If there is one thing about me that you learn rather quickly on a road trip its that I have an illogical aversion to water. Not all water mind you, just certain water experiences. For instance, I never drink plain water out of a glass made of glass. I have a very strong olifactory reaction that immediately transports my nose memory to a sidewalk directly after a rainstorm, you know where I am going with this, that strong earthwormy fragrance? Uh huh, I can't get past it. And isn't it altogether Hitchcockian the half-steamy warm, half-goosebumpy cool feeling that you get jumping into a shower? Yikes! Plus, have you ever been caught in the rain fully clothed? Well, let me tell you that it is not romantic in the least! Try feeling pretty while you waddle back home in a pair of soaked jeans that weigh two-hundred pounds. Definitely not a Notebook worthy scene!

I know, I know, our bodies are like 90% water, and in some way this means that I am a self-hater, but I really want to like water. I really want to love water. I really need to drink more water. So, today's blog is dedicated to some tips on how to make water desirable to the hydrophobe.

1. Add Fruit to disguise the tastelessness of H20

I am not simply talking about adding a lemon slice to your glass. I mean an all out fruit infusion. Think sangria without alcohol. I've tried many fruits and combinations. I'd even suggest cucumber and mint for a hot summer day. Basically you add a lot of fruit to a pitcher of water and let it sit. Drink and enjoy the subtle flavors!

2. Tea in your belly is sublime

I could drink gallons of peppermint tea without ever knowing that I was really drinking mostly water. Tea is much better than those flavor packs that contain a lot of sugar and preservatives. I use straight up herbal teas that don't caffeinate me or give me too much flavor. Plus, the warm tingly feeling of warm tea in your belly staves off hunger and promotes good digestion! Score on both counts! You could also ice herbal teas for those East Coast heatwaves that we've been having.

3. Almost Natural Street Fair Lemonade

This delicately sweetened drink is for when I just can't bear the thought of drinking a full pint of water. It is a version of street fair lemonade but without the cup of refined sugar. Squeeze the juice of half of a lemon into a glass, add a quarter tsp of Stevia, fill the glass with ice, then water, stir, enjoy.

4. The Not-so-into-Gatorade Coconut Alternative

If you need some fast hydration coconut water is simply the best. It is flavorful and naturally packed with electrolytes. No artificial ingredients here, and it works like a charm to get you feeling steady after an incredibly rigorous two hours of dance aerobics! I actually like it when I am writing, it gives me a boost of energy.

Glowing Green Monster

So, I am in the middle of writing the final draft of my final chapter of my final (ur well my ONLY) dissertation, and what do I do? Well obviously, I catch up on my much neglected blog! Since I haven't had much time to cook, or, well, to take care of anything but writing for that matter, these posts will be filled with fun tips on how I was able to survive, well-hydrated and fed, throughout the hellish, grueling dissertation process. Wait a minute, I am not done, you say? Well, technically no, but get me another green smoothie and watch me cross that PhD finish line.

Speaking of green smoothies, have you been introduced to the Glowing Green Smoothie? Be warned, if you start reading about Kimberly Snyder's beauty tips, you might actually consider going vegan, and if you actually make yourself a Glowing Green Smoothie, you might be tempted to chuck your blender for an ethereal Vitamix. So, unless you have some windfall cash floating around, you might want to hold off on this health adventure.

Ok, to be fair, this enthusiasm might actually be the smoothie talking. I kid you not. I am only on my second batch and I have been literally bouncing with energy. This isn't always a great thing. I need to learn how to handle my smoothie. For instance, yesterday I was so intensely concentrated on writing that I didn't have time to think about preparing food, so I decided to drink smoothie all day long. While this might be good for some, for me it meant a 4 am bedtime. Oh yeah, and for someone getting up at the crack of dawn to start typing, that's crazy! While you correctly assume that my insomnia may be a factor of extreme anxiety brought on by the stressful process of writing, I say to you that such anxiety cannot account for my zip. I was dancing at 3 am. Okay, it was probably both stress and the power of good greens, but I've decided to limit my smoothie downing to am hours anyway, otherwise I risk becoming the Glowing Green Monster (see Lady Gaga for the positive use of this term).

In any case, I heartily recommend it!

Now back to writing...

I Love the Way that Peppers Love Me

Who doesn't love the challenge of hot peppers? They use all of their chemical wiles to thwart being eaten, yet we pluck them from nature, and, if you are like me, daringly cut them up without gloves in hungry anticipation of a tiny inferno in our mouths. Then, once the burning subsides from the palate, that insidious capsaicin makes its way into our eyes and we are blinded by a brief but memorable moment of pain and regret that we were ever so silly as to try and conquer the safeguards of nature without gloves! Well, perhaps you are not so silly as I, but let's face it, peppers tend to make their presence known.

I will never learn to heed the warnings of working with exposed pepper seeds. At this point, it must be that I love the way that peppers love me - pain and all. But, I do not want to play favorites, all peppers - even those benign little sweet ones - are staples of my kitchen and today I've got three recipes that are packed with peppery goodness!

Mixed-Bag Bake: Sweet Peppers, Potatoes, Butternut Squash & Shallots

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash cubed
8 small potatoes halved
2 shallots quartered
6 cloves garlic in skins w/ tops cut
8 small sweet peppers
olive oil
rosemary
salt and pepper

This is a very easy recipe. Throw everything into a baking pan and copiously cover with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add sprigs of rosemary. Bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees or until a fork goes easily through the potatoes and squash. Salt and pepper to taste.


Pepper Pizza

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust (I make my own, but you can use already made wheat pizza crusts)
1.5 C tomato sauce
2 tsp thyme
1/3 C chopped onions
1 green pepper, chopped
1/3 C banana peppers
Hot pepper oil

1. Quickly saute' the onions and green peppers
2. Spread the tomato sauce on the crust and sprinkle with thyme
3. Scatter the onions, green peppers and banana peppers over the pizza
4. Lightly pour on some hot pepper oil.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until the crust is crisp.

Philly Pepper Sandwich

Ingredients:
1 semi-hot pepper chopped
1 cubanelle chopped
2 small onions chopped
1/3 C mushrooms chopped
1 T olive oil
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 T Vegan Worcestershire Sauce (*usually you can find this in Asian Groceries)
soft sandwich buns

1. Saute' onions, peppers and mushrooms together in olive oil for about 7 min until soft.
2. Add the liquid smoke and Worcestershire sauce and saute' until absorbed.
3. Fill your sandwich bun until it overflows and enjoy!


Mmmmmm peppers! Followed later by Oooouuuuch peppers!

Hot Rice and Beans on Greens

I started out this year as a mean vegan culinary whiz, but then the impossible chaos of life changed all that rather quickly. I suppose that I could have been blogging about what I have been eating, but that would mean that I'd have to admit that I actually ate chickpeas out of a can for dinner! Despite all the snazzy new prepared animal friendly fare, quick 'n easy is still hard for the die hard vegan. So, I will omit the last few months of unsavory, and forgettable eating habits, and highlight some of the few bright spots when I was actually able to fill my belly with yummy vegan sustenance.

This was a quick inspiration one evening that is very similar to the No-One-Likes-the-Vegan-Police Burritos. I wanted something green, and something smokey. I had a bit of a liquid smoke obsession, as you'll notice from my earlier blogs, and this is the tail end of that romance, though I still do enjoy my collard greens faux smoked. Following my typical method of throwing things together and then eating them, this is basically an exploration into the fridge and pantry. It's a hearty, warm and cool kind of taco-salad that goes well with hot sauce.

Hot Rice and Beans on Greens

Ingredients:
1 onion chopped
1 tsp celery salt
1 can kidney beans rinsed
1 cup cooked brown rice or barley
1/2 C tomato sauce
sprinkle of liquid smoke
chopped romaine or other lettuce

1. Saute onion in a bit of olive oil for about five minutes
2. Add the celery salt and saute another minute
3. Add the kidney beans and smash about a third of them
4. Add the rice, sauce cook until warmed through
5. Sprinkle on some liquid smoke
6. Serve on a bed of lettuce

This is an easy recipe that can also be translated into burritos. Next up: Buffalo Tempeh Sandwiches, Mix 'n Match Butternut Squash Bake and Pepper Pot Pizza

Green Bean, Carrot Stir-Fry with Brown Jasmine Rice

I had a dish of green beans once in Beijing coated with tasty bits of pork (or what I thought was pork). I dreamed about this meal as much as I pined away for the lychee tea, and I never thought that I'd try to recreate the crispy beans at home vegan-style, but I was recently overwhelmed by a desire for a mountain of salty, smokey green beans.

I think that green beans are highly underestimated in American cuisine. Growing up my only experience with green beans came by way of a metal can or as an overcooked mush-fest of a casserole covered with funions. It's not that I didn't get fresh vegetables at home, it's just that green beans weren't really on the menu. When I first decided to purchase fresh beans, I was a bit taken aback by the hairy, spindly pods that felt like bony fingers when I scrubbed them. Then there is the prep time; scrubbing, cutting, steaming - they aren't a quick pop in the pot kind of meal. But, there really is nothing like a medley of crisp green beans lightly flavored. Plus they are just so damned gorgeous on the plate! This quick recipe has recently become a weekly treat. Sometimes I forgo the brown rice bed and just eat a heaping plate of veggies.

Green Bean, Carrot Stir Fry with Brown Jasmine Rice

Ingredients:
Marinade
1/4 c vegetable broth
1 T soy sauce
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T liquid smoke
1 T maple syrup
1 clove crushed garlic

Stir Fry
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
1 lb fresh green beans, scrubbed with ends cut
1/2 C baby carrots
1 orange pepper (optional)

• Add all the marinade ingredients together and let sit
• Cut and prep all the vegetables
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet
• Add marinade and all veggies together
• Saute' all vegetables for about 10 minutes until onions are browned, peppers soft and beans and carrots softened (they should be crisp not mushy!)
• Serve on top of cooked brown jasmine rice

The key for me in this recipe is the crispy, over-cooked onions. They soak up the marinade and particularly the liquid smoke, and give the vegetables that salty goodness that I love.

So good!

No-one-likes-the-Vegan-Police Burritos

Yes, I have been avoiding you. I have been in a food slump. For the past three months vegan cuisine has been...well, kinda difficult. There, I said it. Vegan Police come get me.* It all seemed so easy a year ago in Rome when I was forced, without a properly equipped kitchen or an adequate budget, to invent recipes as I went along with ingredients that I just happened to have on hand.** So easy, in fact, that I decided to start blogging about it!

So why did I find myself a mere few months ago unable to throw two things together to concoct anything resembling a meal without a serious cookbook consultation? What happened to my relationship with food? All of a sudden vegan food didn't seem so cool anymore. I couldn't remember the last time it made me smile. Things just weren't as exciting as they used to be. Night after night it was just bitterness and disappointment. I just didn't know what to do..... It was time to take a break. First I tried an even stricter diet that didn't work, then I went a little crazy in Spain with some cheese. Nothing seemed to help.

Finally, I got my groove back. I reacquainted myself with delicious food in Italy. Deep red ripe tomatoes lightly bathed in olive oil and a touch of aged balsamic vinegar, fresh crusty bread dipped in vegetable minestra, lightly sauteed green beans slightly salted, and limone gelato. One week back in the boot reset my love of vegetables! It didn't hurt that someone else was doing the cooking either as I was able to remember that cooking is only a prelude to the reward of eating.


So, that revelation with the help of a new job, new city, new kitchen and a once again poorly stocked pantry, have reset my creative juices -- which are basically various flavors of olive oil! Enjoy this fabulous new recipe from a born-again veggie lover!


NO-ONE-LIKES-THE-VEGAN-POLICE BURRITOS or
SMOKEY CHICKPEA RICE AND ONION BURRITOS


This recipe is a total invention. I pulled leftovers from the last few days and threw a bit of everything into the frying pan. I have yet to restock my spice rack from the move, so the flavors are accidental, but pretty wickedly tasty!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion chopped
1 T olive oil
two shakes of liquid smoke
1 tsp red chili olive oil
1/2 tsp celery salt
3 T tomato sauce
1 C cooked chickpeas partly smashed down with a fork
3/4 C cooked brown rice
2-3 T water
1 T chopped parsley

1. Saute onion in olive oil in a medium frying pan until translucent
2. Add the liquid smoke, hot olive oil, celery salt and cook for about a minute and add tomato sauce
3. Add chickpeas and rice and stir to combine. Add water and stir. Cook until the sauce thickens.
4. Remove from heat add the chopped parsley and place in a soft burrito shell
5. Add salt and pepper as needed

The chili olive oil gives this dish a really beautiful orange hue and some spice, and the celery salt and liquid smoke combo really makes this dish "meaty" in flavor. Don't forget the parsley to add some much needed green to the dish. Buon appetito!!!

* see Scott Pilgrim vs the World
** to be completely fair, all ingredients in Italy are better, fresher, prettier, tastier...need I go on?