A couple weeks after that, we went to Vegas. Since I love Thai food, especially curry, I looked for a Thai restaurant on Yelp because there was no vegan food to be found on The Strip (except Chipotle) and I found Archi’s Thai Kitchen. I suggested that my hubby (still craving noodles) order the Pad Kee Mao because the description said ‘wide noodles’ and I ordered the Spicy Fried Rice. When the food came, I was not a happy camper. My Spicy Fried Rice was really good, but his noodles looked sublime and I wanted to jump in his plate and eat them all up! But…I’m a lady so I just admired from across the table. He did offer a sample and I took him up on his offer, yum yum!

All I did was think about those noodles. On the day we were going to leave Vegas we went back to Archi’s and I ordered my own Pad Kee Mao (#6 spiciness on a scale of 1-10…that’s HOT!) plus I ordered one to go. It was soooooo good I felt like I had been stranded in the desert (while I kinda was in the desert) with no food for 18 months. I devoured the entire plate, this rarely happens, I can never clean my plate.

The next weekend we went to our local Thai restaurant, Silk Thai, in Huntington Beach, CA and of course, we both ordered Pad Kee Mao, once again, YUM. Then, I had the bright idea to do a detox and didn’t eat any food for 11 days but I tortured myself by watching The Cooking Channel non-stop. I was talking to my daughter, Danielle, on the phone and I was going on and on about the Drunken Noodles. I told her, “I’m going to find a recipe and make my own!’ I had searched for recipes before that day but I wasn’t feeling any of them. The next morning I woke up and searched for ‘authentic thai recipes’ and found a recipe for Drunken Noodles and I knew (somehow) that this was the one (with some adjustments).

Then, I searched for Thai markets and found Kim Long Market in Long Beach, CA. I read the comments on Yelp and found out that items aren’t always labeled so you may have a hard time finding what you need so I looked at a Thai glossary (and printed it out to take with me to the market) so I would know what to buy. This particular market had fresh rice noodles (they were right in front of the meat counter) and they are not refrigerated. When buying fresh noodles they tell you that you must use them within 1 day and they should not be refrigerated.

I made Drunken Noodles for the first time last night and I was totally amazed that they tasted just as good as those I ate at the restaurant (maybe even better because I added lots and lots of veggies!)

I made them again today for my hubby, daughter Danielle and son-in-law Anthony..BIG HIT!!!

Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/4 cup (1/2 lb) fresh wide noodles
• 1/2 cup baby corn
• 1/2 teaspoon of  white pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon diced small thai chiles
• 1 sliced orange chiles or jalapenos (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/2 cup packed thai basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon black soy (really thick soy sauce)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons golden mountain soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white soy sauce (it’s not really white, its the “thin” soy as in, not thick)
• about 4 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 C broccoli
• 2 C of cremini and portobello mushrooms
• 1 C diced roma tomatoes
• 2 C tofu (optional)

Chop everything before starting. If you are using the tofu, stir fry it now until it is browned and set it aside.

Separate the noodles by peeling them apart one at a time and set aside.

(You can control the spice level. Anthony doesn’t like spicy at all (so I didn’t add any chiles to his) and I LOVE the heat so just control the amount of Thai chiles and orange chiles (I used jalapenos because I couldn’t find the orange ones) and you control the heat.

Heat a wok and add the olive oil. Saute the garlic, chiles and diced onions. When the onions are browned, add the broccoli, baby corn and mushrooms and saute for 3-4 minutes until done. You may need to add some water to the wok to help the veggies cook and not stick. If you do add water, let it cook off before adding the noodles. If using tofu, add it now. Add noodles and tomatoes and cook for 1-2 minutes, you may need to add some water here to stop the noodles from sticking to the pan (don’t add too much water or the noodles will get mushy).

Add all the soy sauces, mix well. Add the basil and vinegar, mix well. When the basil is wilted it’s time to eat!

Enjoy!!!

Anyway, I digress. Since I started eating vegan, my hubby eats vegan at least 6 times a week sometimes 7 (the food is so good, he doesn’t have a reason NOT to!). He has been having these cravings for pasta and mushrooms. Not necessarily together but he just can’t get enough. So I’ve been on a mission to cook as many mushroom and pasta dishes as I can and so far he hasn’t gotten his fill!

I got this recipe for Garlicky Whole Wheat Pasta from the Whole Foods App, you can put in the ingredients you have on hand and it will give you a list of recipes…super cool! But you know me, I made a few upgrades to the recipe. For starters, I added carmelized onions. To caramelize the onions, put 2 tbsp of  vegan butter or olive oil in a large saute pan, add the onions and season with salt and pepper to taste. Over medium high heat, allow the onions to brown. The key to caramelizing onions is to allow the pan to ‘breath’ by making sure the onions don’t cover the bottom of the pan entirely, you just need to create a few ‘pockets’ of space so the pan can breath. This keeps the onions from steaming and allows then to get that awesome caramel color and exquisite flavor! I omitted the cheese on purpose and I forgot the pine nuts (probably because the recipe calls for you to add the nuts with the cheese). I will use the nuts the next time along with Daiya Mozzarella Cheese Shreds ( I didn’t have any on hand). I especially love how you ‘cook’ the spinach in this recipe.

I also made these Marinated Mushrooms for appetizers, but they so good that they were gone before I could take the picture so this is the picture from the Whole Foods website (please forbid yourself from looking at the meat in the background).

Enjoy!

That weekend, we were headed to beautiful San Luis Obispo and there were only 2 places there that I knew serve vegan food so that night my hubby and I went to Big Sky Cafe and guess what is staring me in the face as soon as I opened the menu? Yup, CHILI!!! This one was vegetarian but I just omitted the queso fresco and I had my vegan meal. That chili was even better than the chili at The Veggie Grill. It was so good I had it the next day for lunch and dinner.

On the drive home, I got onto my Whole Foods iPhone app and found a recipe for Vegetarian Chipotle Chili. We stopped at Whole foods on the way home and I picked up all of the ingredients for the chili. I replaced the cheese in the recipe with Daiya Cheddar Cheese shreds and the sour cream with Tofutti Sour Cream to make this a vegan dish. I also used more beans than the recipe called for because you end up with a lot of broth/sauce but not a lot of beans. So I used 2 cans of black beans, 2 cans of kidney beans and 2 cans of white kidney beans (cannellini beans) for a more hearty chili. Now, when you buy chipotle chiles, they usually come in a can with adobo sauce and every time I buy them for a recipe, I end up wasting the leftovers because recipes only call for 1-2 chiles. So what I do is put the contents of the whole can in the food processor (chiles and adobo) and blend the chiles and the adobo together. Then I pour the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze them. Once frozen, I just remove them from the tray and store in the freezer in a ziploc bag. For this recipe, I used 2 chipotle/adobo ice cubes, but remember, I like it HOT! You may want to experiment with the spice level, adding 1/2 cube at a time until you reach your hotness limit.

Enjoy!

Sunday after church, we were talking about dinner as I still hadn’t decided what to cook. Danielle said, “Mom, you should make sushi!” I said,  ”NO, I don’t know anything about making sushi and I don’t want to make a totally busted dinner for Father’s Day.” (BTW, my daughter thinks I know everything and can do everything.) But my hubby heard her say sushi and he was ALL IN! On the drive home, I googled vegan sushi and came up with this link to The Post Punk Kitchen. The PPK was a cooking show that featured Isa Chandra Moskowitz, the author of Veganomicon. So off to the store I went to grab all of the things to make my very own sushi, she gives the full list of ingredients and items you need at The Post Punk Kitchen’s website. I made the Spicy Tempeh version (although it wasn’t spicy at all).

I went to youtube.com found a video that demonstrates how to make the  inside out roll (like the California Roll) and for the regular roll, I just followed the instructions on the back of the nori (seaweed). For the inside out roll, I did two practice rolls. The first one wasn’t bad but there was a portion of the roll that came apart when I cut it. Even though it wasn’t perfect looking, it WAS perfect tasting!!! The regular roll was easier and I only made one practice roll. (We ate all 3 ‘practice rolls’!) Just a note, make sure your knife is super sharp when you get ready to slice the rolls and you may have to clean it a few times in between because the rice is so sticky. (I forgot to serve it with the sliced ginger I purchased but since there were leftovers, I used the ginger for lunch today.)

The recipe for the Green Beans and Mushrooms is from Cooks.com.

Enjoy!

I got these recipes from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. This is a totally awesome vegan/vegetarian cookbook and I recommend it to everyone, vegans, vegetarians and anyone else looking for a change. While this one doesn’t jump off the screen at you, I’m not a professional food stager, but it’s super good. I suggest using lots more onions than are listed in the recipe and also to carmelized them on the stovetop and not in the oven. She also uses a LOT of olive oil which I think is unnecessary. When I made this, I started out following the recipe (because I’m a good girl and I do what I’m told ) but half way through the oven time, I decided to finish the carmelization process in a skillet and drained a lot of the oil off (I won’t used the . To caramelize the onions, put 2 tbsp of  vegan butter or olive oil in a large saute pan, add the onions and season with salt and pepper to taste. Over medium high heat, allow the onions to brown. The key to caramelizing onions is to allow the pan to ‘breath’ by making sure the onions don’t cover the bottom of the pan entirely, you just need to create a few ‘pockets’ of space so the pan can breath. This keeps the onions from steaming and allows then to get that awesome caramel color and exquisite flavor!

I also made the Spiced Pita Chips from pita bread. This is an easy recipe. Just cut the pita bread into chips, brush with olive oil and season to taste with any of the following spices: Garam Masala; garlic powder, cumin, cayenne and salt; or lemon pepper, garlic powder and salt. I used garlic powder, cumin,cayenne and salt and they were yummy!

Fragrant Lentils with Carmelized Onions

3 large yellow onions

4 C water

1C brown rice

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp gound allspice

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

Bring the water to a boil in  a large pot. Add rice, cinnamon stick, cumin and allspice, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover, add lentils and stir gently (too much stirring can break the rice grains). Cover, bring to a boil again, lower to low heat and cook for 45 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let set covered for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and gently fold in the caramelized onions.

I served this with the lentils. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I LOVE ONIONS/SHALLOTS!!! This is an easy recipe!

Yummy!

Yummy!

Good for the Tummy!!

Baby Bok Choy with Crispy Shallots

1 pound baby bok choy

2 small shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 piece of ginger

1 tbsp mirin or apple juice

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

Slice off the stubby base of the bok choy, place the bok choy in a salad spinner, fill the bowl of the spinner with water and slosh the bok choy around to clean, hen give it a spin in the salad spinner to remove the excess water. Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced shallots, caramelized (follow instructions above) until they are a deep golden brown. Remove from pan. Quickly saute the ginger for 15 seconds, add bok choy and stire to coat with oil and ginger. Stir fry for about 2 minutes  until the green leaves start to wilt. Add mirin and soy sauce, stir briefly and cover. Steam for 2 minutes. Stir and remove from heat. Transfer to serving plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds (I forgot to use them, I was super hungry!!!)

1 package of Yves Meatless Ground Taco Stuffers

Daiya Vegan Cheese

Trader Joe’s Roasted Tomato salsa (or any other ready or home made salsa)

Romaine lettuce

Sliced green onions and cilantro

Corn tortillas

And anything else you like on your tacos. Tofutti Sour Cream would be an awesome addition (hmmmm, definitely next time, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!)

Heat the ground ‘meat’ according to package instructions (I recommend heating on the stove – you may need to add a bit of water – but if you’re in a pinch, put it in a bowl in the microwave). Place each tortilla in a pre-heated skillet, for at least 45 seconds on each side then build your tacos. Layer on the meat, cheese, salsa, lettuce, green onions, cilantro, etc. This whole meal (depending on how many tacos you make) takes less than 20 minutes. When I make this for me, my daughter and my hubby, it takes less than 20 minutes for chopping, warming and building. I’m not a big eater but I can eat 4 of these babies and not really be stuffed. I don’t like to make them so big that all the stuffing falls out, but if you like a big taco, double up on the tortillas, pile it on and enjoy!!!

Please try it out and let me know what you think. Easy peasy!!

They themselves are telling you to “UNTHINK” all throughout their ads because they know that we don’t think so UNTHINKING is quite natural.

KFC thinks that this is a great idea? Really???

After you watch the video let me know what you think? Does it make you hungry? Do you want to run out and buy one? Or maybe eat a salad instead? Post a comment, I really want to know what you think…

The menu was Beefy Bourguingon, Tomorrow’s Tamale Pie, and Chocolate Mousse Divine. Tanya is amazing!! She’s a kind soul and vegan extraordinaire!! As she started to cook each dish, the audience was served samples of the dish being prepared.

First up, Beefy Bourguingon. It was yummy!! Even though I struggle with texture of seitan, the flavor was phenomenal. I told my daughter, ‘This is what I’m cooking for Sunday dinner tomorrow,” and she readily agreed!

Next, Chef Tanya made “Tomorrow’s Tamale Pie” and after tasting this, Danielle and I were sure this HAD to be Sunday’s dinner. It was totally amazing. I made it on Sunday and it was a hit!

I like spicy food, so I added 3 tbsp of the chipotle/adobo juice. If you don’t like spicy food at all, DO NOT puree the peppers and the adobo together, just use the adobo “juice” from the can of peppers. BTW, I forgot to add in the sliced olive…bummer! I’ll remember on the leftovers we are having tonight for dinner.

While the recipe has lots of ingredients in it (but don’t be scared) it’s super simple to cook. I bought dry petite red beans from Whole Foods, sorted 2 cups of beans, added the beans and about 8 cups of water to a pot, bought it to a boil, turned off the heat and then soaked them overnight. Soaking overnight and discarding the soak water before cooking is supposed to help decrease flatulence!!:-)

Don’t forget to buy the Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook by Tanya Petrovna. There are a gazillion wonderful vegan recipes in there. She is also working on a new cookbook that she says will be out later this year.

Danielle made the beautiful veggies on her George Forman Grill. She sliced zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potatoes (half-baked, then sliced) asparagus spears and onions, coated them with olive oil, seasoned with Mrs. Dash, our family favorite, Morton’s Nature’s Seasons and grilled. They were phenomenal!!! Thanks Danielle!!!

Tomorrow’s Tamale Pie

¼ C olive oil

2 chopped onions, chopped into ¼” pieces

3 garlic clove, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, chopped into ¼” pieces

1 tsp salt

3 C cooked red beans

3 C salsa fresca

1 tbsp chipotle juice *

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp coriander

2 C textured vegetable protein **

1 ½ C water

¼ C soy sauce

2 C corn meal

2 C unbleached flour

4 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp sea salt

1 C water

¼ C vegetable oil

¼ C maple syrup

4 oz Mori-Nu firm silken tofu (found in the Asian food section of the dry grocery aisle)

1 small can chopped chiles (green or anaheim)

3 C Daiya Italian and Cheddar cheese (50/50 mixture)***

1 C cilantro leaves

½ C chopped green onions

1 C sliced black olives

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in skillet and sauté onions, garlic, red bell pepper and salt until lightly browned.
3. Add red beans, salsa fresca, chipotle juice, cumin and coriander and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. While bean mixture is simmering, place textured soy protein, water and soy sauce in saucepan and bring to boil then remove from heat and cover.
5. In a bowl mix together the corn meal, flour, baking powder and sea salt.
6. In a blender, place the 1 C of water, vegetable oil, maple syrup and tofu. Puree.
7. Fold ingredients from #6 into corn meal and flour mixture and add small can of chopped chiles.
8. In a casserole dish, spread textured soy protein on bottom and then top with the red bean mixture.
9. Spread cornmeal mixture on top and bake for 20 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and top with cheese and bake another 10-12 minutes.
11. Garnish with cilantro, green onions and black olives.
12. Serve with great friends and a Mexican beer.

*  You can either use the juice from a can of chipotle chiles or you can put the juice and pepper sin a blender and puree, then add a tbsp of the puree.  (I did the latter)

** There are a few brands, Smart Choice and Yves, use the ont that’s Mexican flavored . You can get it at Whole Foods or some grocery stores carry it as well.

*** Daiya is a vegan cheese and it is AMAZING!!! You can get it from Whole Foods.

This was a lovely vegan dinner. Try it and tell me what you think!

• humans are the only species that consume the milk of another species?
• every other species weans their young off of their milk as some point in their lives?

Here is an excerpt from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone:

“Milk is nasty to your body: Our bodies are not meant to drink any milk except our own mother’s milk, and only when we are babies! We don’t drink our own mother’s milk when we are 8, or 15, or 30, so why would our bodies accept another creature’s milk? Did you know that we are the only animals that drink another species’ milk? Pandas don’t drink gorilla milk…dogs don’t drink goat milk…Even cows don’t drink cow’s milk once they’ve grown up – they wean themselves naturally.”

Are we just plain crazy??? Why yes, yes we are….

From Native Cafe: Wellingtons are an elegant display of puff-pastry filled with savory Native Seitan, organic spinach, portabella mushrooms, orange glazed yams, fabulous stuffing, caramelized onions and served with shallot mushroom gravy on the side. Wellingtons come frozen and you bake them – they’re ready in 1 hour. Don’t tell your guest Wellingtons s its vegan – they are in for a pleasant surprise! (Weighs approximately 5 lbs.) and serves 6 hungry Natives.

I also purchased their cookbook, The Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook, written by the co-owner and head chef Tanya Petrovna. Not only are there lots of great recipes, it’s very informative. Because this vegan lifestyle is so new to me, the information contained in this book, and all of the others I’ve recently purchased, is invaluable. I’m learning new ‘vegan’ vocab every day. If you don’t live in So Cal, you can purchase her cookbook by clicking the link above.

I also bought these vegan cupcakes from Native Cafe Cupcakes for my beautiful daughter, Danielle. She is a cupcake fiend! There was way too much frosting on them, but that’s the hook, they look so pretty in the case that you can’t help but buy them. They were actually good after you scrap the majority of the frosting off.

Take care,

Dawn