Vegan Mofo #25- Double Garlic Broccoli & Asparagus 2 Ways

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One of my husband and my favorite places to dine in Burlington is A Single Pebble this amazing family style authentic Chinese Restaurant that has a great number of vegan options.   Our favorite dish, well one of them we have so many, is Double Garlic Broccoli  which is broccoli, garlic, cashews and chili flakes and this delicious soy based sauce.

I was rummaging through my fridge last night trying to decide what to make for dinner based on which produce needed to be used first and I remembered I had bought some broccoli at the Saturday farmers market that I hadn’t used yet. As well I had a huge bunch of Asparagus that was in need of being cooked up,  I decided I would make my version of Double Garlic Broccoli and cook the asparagus 2 ways.

Double Garlic Broccoli

Makes 4 large servings, can easily be cut in half

 Ingredients:

  • 4 Cups broccoli florets
  • 1 Tbl vegetable oil
  • 8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp chili flakes, more or less based on how hot you like things
  • ¼ Cup of  water
  • 2 Tbls soy sauce
  • ½ Cup raw cashews
  • ½ tsp toasted sesame oil

Directions:

  1. Heat the vegetable oil in a walk over high heat.
  2. Add the garlic and chili flakes and let cook for 30 seconds then add the broccoli and toss together.
  3. Turn down the heat to medium-high and add the water, for 4-7 minutes until the broccoli has softened.
  4. Add the soy sauce, cashews and sesame oil.
  5. Serve as a side dish or as a main over brown rice.

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Cheezy Asparagus

Makes 4 small side servings

 Ingredients:

  • 15 spears of asparagus
  • 1 Tbl olive oil
  • 2 Tbl nutritional yeast
  • ½ Tbl goya adobo (if you don’t have this use salt& pepper & a pinch of garlic powder)

 Directions:

  1. 1.Heat oven to 375F. Place the asparagus in a baking dish.
  2. Toss the asparagus with the oil, nutritional yeast and adobo.
  3. Place dish in the oven and bake for 15min
  4. Plate and garnish with chopped scallions.

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Garlicky Asparagus

Makes 4 small side servings

Ingredients:

  • 15 spears of asparagus
  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbl olive oil
  • S+P

 Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375F. Place the asparagus in a baking dish.
  2. Mix together the oil, garlic, S+P and pour over the asparagus
  3. Place dish in the oven and bake for 15min
  4. Plate and garnish with the garlic that has been left at the bottom of the pan.

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Vegan Mofo #24: The Kind Diet- Fried Udon Noodles

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Last night I made the Fried Udon Noodles from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet and they were pretty good – and it made a ton of food.  The recipe says 2 servings so I doubled it so that we would have food for lunch tomorrow however not only did it make enough for for lunch tomorrow it made enough for dinner as well.  The dish was over all good, I was slightly apprehensive of the large amount of paprika but it was surprisingly good.  I felt that the dish again lacked salt same as yesterday – I sound like I just love salt since it’s been my major complaint but I really don’t I like just enough to enhance the dish and this one called for too little.  I also thought it needed a little heat- I would have add some chili flakes or jalapenos to the dish next time.  This time we just added a little hot sauce and it was great. Overall I have been very impressed with The Kind Diet, it is informative, and has had some very good, inspiring recipes.  

I still hope to make the Brown Rice Waffles this week and the Black-eyed Pea Croquettes but we will see.

Also: 19 participants! Can we make it 20??? Only 2 more days to sign up for the Vegan Care Package Swap: http://bit.ly/1qCKhZ

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Vegan Mofo #23: Pacific Natural Foods Giveaway

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Recently Pacific Natural Foods sent me a number of items to review and although I would love to try them all I think that a giveaway is a must.  Pacific Natural Foods carries a number of vegan items which include:

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Creamy Soups

Broths

I currently am in the process of trying the various products out and have currently tired the Almond Milks and Creamy Butternut Squash Soup.  I have really enjoyed both and used the Almond Milk in Peanut Butter, Date and Banana smoothies as well as in granola.  The soup my husband and I had with a sandwich and it was very good – slightly under seasoned for our taste so we added a touch of salt and pepper but it was creamy and delicious otherw

ise.  I will update this more when I have the chance to try the other products.

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So now for the giveaway: There will be one chance to win  Nut or Grain Beverage- you will have a choice between Almond or Oat milk, an Ice Tea, and a coupon for 1 Free Pacific Natural Foods item.  There will also be 2 additional chances to win a coupon for 1 Free Pacific Natural Foods item.

To enter:

  1. Leave a comment – let me know if you would prefer Almond or Oat milk

Extra chances (if you already do any of these let me know):

  1. Twitter about this giveaway @cookveganlover (leave me a comment)  
  2. Follow me on Twitter (leave a comment)
  3. Blog about this giveaway (leave a comment)
  4. Become a fan on Facebook (leave a comment)

So lets see up to 5 entries and 3 chances to win……so start entering!

A winner will be announced Monday November 2, 2009.

If this is your first time commenting on my blog I have to approve it so don’t worry if it doesn’t show up right away!

 

 

Vegan Mofo #22: The Kind Diet

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Last night I decided to try another one of Alicia Silverstone’s recipes from The Kind Diet- Adzuki Beans and Squash, I served it with garliky collards.  This was the first time I had ever cooked with adzuki beans and hubbard squash (it calls for kobacha but I couldn’t find any at the co-op so I chose a different one).  The dish was great and something new for my husband and I, however for my taste and my husbands it lacked a little salt so I added about a teaspoon of Braggs to both of our dishes. Also neither of us loved the kombu, however I have to say for 3 new things all in one dish it was pretty good and it will take time to adapt and try new things.

 Toinght I am going to try  the Fried Udon Noodles so look out for pictures and my thoughts on the dish.

Don’t forget only 3 more days to sign up to participate in the Vegan Care Package Swap

 

Check out this giveaway on Dinner at Christinas!

Vegan Mofo #21: What We've Been Eating

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Thursday I made some delicious Spaghetti Squash with  Sauce and Gimme Lean Sausage Balls:

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I roasted the spaghetti squash in the oven for 40 min at  350F

The sauce was made from a large diced red pepper, garlic, crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper, dried basil and dried thyme. 

 

For Friday night dinner we had a Mexican Plate: Brown rice, Refried black beans with almond cheese, Corn and Red Pepper Salsa, Mexican tofu and Sour Supreme.   To make the Mexican Tofu was made with vegetable stock, chipotle chili powder, dried cumin, goya adobo, and paprika. 

 

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Saturday night dinner I didn’t get to photograph but it was Sausage and Cheese  WafflePanini from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Life.  This sandwich was amazing- we had it on Vans 97% Fat Free Waffles, with Tofutti mozza slices, arugula, vegan sausages, sundried tomatoes and a veganaise and apricot jam mix. So delicious! 

 

This evening I decided to try two more of Alicia Silverstone’s recipes- the Mushroom, Leek and Pea Risotto and the Caesar Dressing- both of which were great.  The dressing was amazing although not as much of a “Caesar” as other recipes I have tired but regardless it was amazingly delicious.  

 

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Vegan Mofo #20: The List

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This is a cheater post- I found this on http://dandily.net/blog/ and decided to waste some time and fill it out.

Rules:
1) Copy this list into your blog or social networking site profile, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out or italicize any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment on this post linking to your results.

1. Molasses – blackstrapp is my favorite
2. Cactus/Nopales – my mom brought me home cactus jerky from AZ
3. Scrambled Tofu –  I eat this all the time
4. Grilled Portobella Caps  – Of course we love mushrooms- they are a staple at our place
5. Fresh Ground Horseradish
6. Sweet Potato Biscuits –  yes yummmm
7. Arepas – Not yet
8. Vegan Coleslaw –  I love to make it l
9. Ginger Carrot Soup – One of my favorite soups
10. Fiddlehead Ferns – Yum I love them with oil, garlic, salt and pepper yummmm
11. Roasted Elephant Garlic – Yum.
12. Umeboshi – Nope. but actually on my list to buy this week
13. Almond Butter Toast – what is almond butter toast?
14. Aloe Vera – Love aloe juice
15. H and H Bagel NYC
16. Slow Roasted Butternut Squash
17. White truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Freshly ground wasabi
20. Coconut Milk Ice Cream – coconut bliss is the best
21. Heirloom tomatoes – I love them 
22. Orchard-fresh pressed apple cider
23. Organic California Mango – I have no idea- have had mango though!
24. Quinoa
25. Papaya Smoothie
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet or Habañero pepper
27. Goji Berry Tea
28. Fennel – 
29. Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies-
30. Radishes and Vegan Buttery Spread –
31. Starfruit
32. Oven fresh Sourdough bread –
33. Sangria made with premium fruit and juices – i don’t know about premium fruit and juice as I drank a lot of sangria when i lived in spain
34. Sauerkraut –
35. Acai Smoothie
36. Blue Foot Mushrooms – Mushrooms with feet? Cool.
37. Vegan Cupcake from Babycakes NYC –
38. Sweet Potatoes and Tempeh combo –
39. Falafel
40. Spelt Crust Pizza – i used spelt english muffins as pizza crust the other day
41. Salt and Pepper Oyster Mushrooms –
42. Jicama Slaw
43. Pumpkin Edamame Ginger Dumplings
44. Hemp Milk –
45. Rose Champagne
46. Fuyu (aka persimmons)
47. Raw Avocado-Coconut Soup – raw avocado but not with coconut
48. Tofu Pesto Sandwich
49. Apple-Lemon-Ginger-Cayenne fresh-pressed juice- yummmmm
50. Grilled Seitan –
51. Prickly pear
52. Fresh Pressed Almond Milk
53. Concord Grapes off the vine –
54. Ramps – oil, garlic, salt and pepper yum.
55. Coconut Water fresh from a young coconut
56. Organic Arugula –
57. Vidalia Onion
58. Sampler of organic produce from Diamond Organics –
59. Honeycrisp Apple – soooo good
60. Poi
61. Vegan Campfire-toasted S’mores
62. Grape seed Oil
63. Farm fresh-picked Peach –
64. Freshly-made pita bread with freshly-made hummus – Of course!
65. Chestnut Snack Packs –
66. Fresh Guava
67. Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
68. Raw Mallomar from One Lucky Duck, NYC
69. Fried plantains
70. Mache
71. Golden Beets –
72. Barrel-Fresh Pickles –
73. Liquid Smoke – vegan tofu jerky!
74. Meyer Lemon 
75. Veggie Paella
76. Vegan Lasagna
77. Kombucha
78. Homemade Soy Milk –
79. Lapsang souchong –
80. Lychee Bellini
81. Tempeh Bacon – i make it all the time
82. Sprouted Grain Bread
83. Lemon Pepper Tempeh
84. Vanilla Bean
85. Watercress
86. Carrot you pulled out of the ground yourself –
87. Vegan In-Season Fruit Pie- birthday “cake”
88. Flowers –
89. Corn Chowder
90. High Quality Vegan Raw Chocolate
91. Yellow fuzz-free Kiwi
92. White Flesh Grapefruit –
93. Harissa – .
94. Coconut Oil- great product
95. Jackfruit
96. Homemade Risotto –
97. Spirulina
98. Seedless ‘Pixie’ Tangerine
99. Gourmet Sorbet
100. Fresh Plucked English Peas

Review: Kaia Foods

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I have a new favorite snacks, from Kaia Foods, did I mention that they are raw as well? Kaia also makes great raw buckwheat granola which my husband just ate right up I hardly got any of the Dates & Spices one.  Then again who am I to complain I barely gave him a chance to try the Curry Sprouted Sunflower seeds.  

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Kaia Foods (Kaia means body and earth) is an amazing company who produces great tasting raw granola and sprouted sunflower seeds.  Here is a little bit about Kaia from their website (really they describe themselves best): “kaia foods was founded with the belief that our health is best supported by eating an abundance of minimally processed whole foods. We sprout, mix and dehydrate our organic foods at low temperatures so that they remain ‘raw.’ No baking, frying, bleaching, or weird processing steps!”

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To find out more visit their site and check out the variety of granola and sunflower seeds you can purchase. Oh and did I mention that 1% of all their sales goes to fight world hunger? So you feed you can feed your body and help others be fed as well.