Peanut Noodles

Noodles + peanut sauce are one of the best things in the world!  I've been making the same recipe for years but saw this one on Veggie Belly the other day so I decided to mix it up.  The best thing about this type of recipe is that I almost always have all the sauce ingredients on hand, and then can add whatever protein and vegetables I have lying around.

I added some tofu (fried first in my nonstick electric skillet), broccoli, and green onions.  It was great - the sauce was thicker and smoother than my usual recipe so I think this is going to be my go-to in the future.

Orlando 2013!

My internet friends have started a tradition of having a big meetup at least once a year.  This year we went to Orlando.  It was a smaller group than previous years, but that ended up being perfect because we rented an awesome house for a fraction of what a hotel would have cost.

The first night we went to Ceviche for tapas, which was amazing.  

The next morning we got up and made pancakes!  The house came "fully equipped" but some of their kitchen items were questionable.  We had a hard time getting going with the pancakes but they ended up turning out great in the end.

We started the day wandering around a little neighborhood checking out some antique stores and getting snacks. MMM SNACKS.

Then we drove to Lake Jesup for our first big adventure, an airboat ride to see alligators!  It was super windy but not too bad once we were actually on the boat in the swampy areas.  We saw tons of babies and a few big alligators, too.  And a turtle.

Afterward we each got to hold an alligator!  She was about three years old and much mushier than you would expect.  I felt a little uncertain about holding her.

Then we drove to the beach for dinner!

The next morning we started off with a delicious mimosa!

And then headed to Universal Islands of Adventure to see Harry Potter World.  Universal was INTENSE.  It took ages to get through the ticket line because they were upselling each customer on all sorts of expensive options and then Harry Potter World was completely packed with people.  Still, it was very well done and you felt like you were walking right down the street in Hogsmeade!  

We got some butterbeer which was 100% as delicious as you would imagine.

And went to Honeydukes!

There are only three rides in Harry Potter World.  We went on two of them (the grown-up rollercoaster and the big castle ride) and both of them were pretty serious rides, definitely aimed at adults.  We noticed more adults than kids in the park, too, maybe because it's during the school year.

After Harry Potter World we went out for dim sum, which I had never done before.  Dim sum is AWESOME.  You order a million different things and they are all like $3 each and every bit of it was delicious.  There is a place here in Raleigh I'm going to make Ben go soon.  

Orlando 2013 was a huge success!  It was a great trip and I am already looking forward to Milwaukee 2014.

Broiled Vegetables in Yogurt Sauce

I finally caved last week and bought How To Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.  I kept going to look at it on Amazon and finally realized "it is NINETEEN DOLLARS" so I went for it.  It is completely enormous and overwhelming and I had a ton of fun reading through it over the course of a couple of days.  This week's dinners are all from the book - I think I could probably cook from this thing for the rest of my life and not get everything made.

The first thing I made was a basic baked mac and cheese, which was a little weird because it turns out my unsweetened soy milk was a little sweetened after all.  Ben liked the weirdness but I was not too much of a fan.

Last night I made his Broiled Eggplant with Peppers & Onions in Yogurt Sauce.  The recipe title pretty much says it all - you broil vegetables in the oven (first eggplant, then peppers & onions, then tomato), season with salt, pepper, and thyme, mix the vegetables up with 2 cups of plain yogurt, then return to the oven for a little more broiling.  It was a little time consuming as you have to watch the oven to make sure everything cooks for the proper amount of time, but it was really basic and simple and surprisingly delicious.

Look at all the peppers! (pre-broil)

And this is the final product, which looked very restauranty if I do say so myself.

I served the vegetables over a rice pilaf with slivered almonds and dried cranberries.

We made crepes!

I've been wanting to make crepes for ages, but it always seemed so intimidating somehow.  I am not very good at pancakes, so maybe that's why.  But I got a crepe pan for Christmas (thanks, mom!) and finally got up the energy on a Sunday morning to give it a try.

I started with a classic, non-vegan recipe, from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I wanted to be sure I could handle the basics before trying vegan versions.

SUPPLIES

Everything I've read says the first crepe never turns out and to throw it away.  This was the first one.  It wasn't pretty but why should you throw away perfectly tasty food?  I ate it.

They definitely did get better after that, though!

"Smile, Ben!"

Yummmmmmmmm

So the verdict is that homemade crepes are easy and super delicious.  Next attempt will be vegan!

Ben says I have to post this picture of him to prove he doesn't look like a cancer patient in real life.

Black-Eye Pea Fritters

In the South you are supposed to have black-eyed peas and collards on New Year's Day, for good luck.  I did my black-eyed peas in fritter form this year, and we also ate it on January 2nd because it turned out that we were too lazy on New Years Day and decided to go out for Mexican food instead of cooking.  So hopefully that will not negate the good luck effect!

This recipe is from Vegan Soul Kitchen, and the fritters are supposed to be deep-fried but I pan-fried them instead.  They were still good!  They were sort of like falafel, except with black-eyed peas.

I did the collards my usual way (boil for a long time while cooking other things, then drain and saute with a chopped onion and some garlic, adding soy sauce & liquid smoke to flavor).  And then also made my old standby yellow rice from Viva Vegan.  Delicious!

Tempeh Mafe

I made this last week (or maybe the week before?? I'm getting bad at updating).  Mafe is an African peanut stew typically made with meat, naturally, but in this version the protein is baked tempeh, which really goes well with the peanut flavor.

The recipe is from Vegan Soul Kitchen and I felt like it was a touch fussier than it needed to be - the tempeh  had to be baked in marinade first, but as it was then just dumped into the stew, I think I will probably just steam it a little bit first the next time I make this dish.

What really makes it are the roasted seasoned peanuts ("Spicy Goobers", also from Vegan Soul Kitchen).  We still have a bunch of those in the fridge and they are great for a little snack.

Asian Groceries

I went to Grand Asia Market last weekend in search of wonton wrappers, which for some reason Harris Teeter seems to have quit carrying.  I found them!  And naturally they were practically free.

While I was there, I picked up a full range of sauces that Terry Hope Romero uses in her new cookbook Vegan Eats World.  She has a lot of awesome-looking noodle recipes I've been wanting to try, but you need Thai Thin Soy Sauce or whatever.  I was kind of surprised I was able to find all this stuff!  And again, it was way, way cheap.  I love the ethnic grocery store.

I also picked up various weird tofus.  The tofu section in this place is incredible!

I already used this stuff in a rice dish - it was not spicy at all, but was flavored nicely and really dense and chewy.

Yet to be used:

This one says "halogen taste-flavor dried TOFU" in case you can't read it.  How could I not buy that?

Taco Time: The Conclusion

I never posted the exciting conclusion of Taco Week!  I know you have all been waiting with bated breath.

For the fourth night, I did the Smoky Curls from Vegan Diner as the "meat." I think it was our favorite. Maybe. They were all pretty good nights, so it was hard to say.

For the fifth and final night, we had leftover soy curls and also lentils, so we just did a mashup of those.

I highly recommend Taco Week!  And am also trying to come up with new themed weeks for the future.

Right now the theme is "eat vegetables" for a while.  Like the rest of America, we are in dire need of a post-Christmas detox.

Taco Time! Day Three!

For Day 3 I made this ancho lentil taco filling I've been meaning to get around to for ages.

One awesome thing about Taco Week is that even with having a new taco base every night, they are super quick meals to put together, and this was no exception,  The lentils cooked up really fast and then it only took a few minutes to season them up.

We aren't too big on corn tortillas but I got these fancy kind that were a handmade mixture of corn and wheat flours and we both really liked them a lot.  Good to know for future Taco Weeks! 

Taco Time: Day 2

For the second night of Taco Week I made some delicious portobello mushrooms to serve as the base.  Usually I get annoyed when people try to serve portobellos like they are a legitimate protein substitute, but in this case since we were having a bunch of toppings I figured it would be fine.

I put the mushrooms in the pan and then poured over them some soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and liquid smoke.  They tasted extremely meaty.  Liquid smoke is magic!

I went with small flour tortillas this time.

Yummmmmmm more tacos.

Taco Time!

I think we can all agree that tacos are one of the best foods of all time.  I love them.  We eat them pretty often, but as far as I'm concerned not nearly often enough.  Ben and I started talking about it and decided to have a week of All Tacos, All the Time, each night a little different.  

For the first night of Taco Week I made tofu chicharones from Viva Vegan.  Tofu is crumbled up into little pieces, marinated in liquid smoke, soy sauce, garlic, agave, and red wine vinegar, then fried until crispy.  It was super delicious, salty and smoky.

And here's all the other stuff - avocado, tomato, sour cream, queso blanco, cabbage, radishes.

Tacooooossssss!!  I cannot claim credit for the yellow Mexican rice on the side -we were sent home with delicious leftovers from a Latin feast at a Christmas party on Saturday night.

Day One: Success.  We are feeling pretty excited about this idea.

Lemon-Mustard Tofu & Waffles (not together)

I made this tofu from Vegan Eats World the other day and it was basically the best tofu ever in history.  It is smothered in a lemon-mustard sauce and covered in thinly sliced onion and then baked for a long time.  So, so good.  I also had collards boiling away the entire time, which I then sauteed with some garlic and stuff so they were so soft and velvety.  I never thought in my entire life that I would be excited to eat boiled collards, but there you go.  I made some spicy Ethiopian millet to round it out.

This weekend we made pumpkin waffles in the brand-new fancy waffle maker my mom got me for my birthday!  Our old waffle maker was an extremely old hand-me-down from Ben's parents, and the last few batches of waffles we tried all stuck horribly.  I thought maybe the problem was due to eggless vegan recipes, but no!  Because these pumpkin waffles are vegan and they worked perfectly.

OK so everybody hang onto your hats, because this week is Taco Time in the McClure household.  We are having a new and exciting type of taco every single night!!  Stay tuned!