Thai Peanut Salad at Sidecar

Slipped into the Sidecar Restaurant for a little lunch.  Their Thai Peanut Salad was very good.

http://www.thesidecarrestaurant.com/

New Year's Soup

Don't wait for the holiday!  This New Year's Soup recipe is from Terry Walters book, "Clean Start."  It is very healthy and tasty.  This book is a winner.  Lots of great recipes.  She also has a great website:  http://terrywalters.net/

New Year's Soup

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
3 carrots, cut into 1/8" rounds (about 2 cups)
3 parsnips, cut into 1/8" rounds (about 1 cup)
1 bunch collard greens, stems removed
3 cups cooked black-eyed peas
2 T. chopped fresh oregano
4 cups vegetable stock
1 T. apple cider vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

In soup pot over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil 3 minutes or until soft.  Add carrots and parsnips and saute 3 minutes.  Chop collard greens into bite-size pieces and add to pot along with black-eyed peas and oregano.  Add vegetable stock, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes.  Stir in apple cider vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and serve

Serves 6

Vegan Convenience Food

I really like this product!  Vegan Black Pepper Steak by Vegetarian Plus is delicious and has a great sauce.  Just microwave for a couple of minutes.  I roasted some veggies to go with the "steak" and had quite a feast.

Here is what the box looked like.

 I got it at my Lassen's store in Ventura in the frozen foods section.  I can't remember how much it cost - probably around $5.  That seems pricey for a little package but it made two meals.

Tofu and Black Bean Sauce

This recipe is from my pre-vegan days.  My husband and I liked it and never knew it was vegan.  It is really delicious and you can make it as spicy as you wish.  Just increase the amount of red chili sauce for more heat.  I fry the tofu in Wondra flour because it is a finer/lighter flour.  This recipe uses the already prepared jars of black bean sauce and red chili sauce in the asian food section of the grocery store.

Tofu and Black Bean Sauce

4 T. vegetable oil
2 T. sesame oil
14 oz. firm tofu
1/2 cup Wondra flour
1 t. Chinese Five Spice
4 T. Black Bean Garlic Sauce
1 T. Red Chili Sauce, hunan is good
5 T. water
12 green onions, sliced into 1/2 inch diagonal pieces

In a large fry pan, heat 2 T. vegetable oil and 1 T. sesame oil. Slice the drained and towel-dried tofu into medium size pieces about 1/4 inch thick.  In a small bowl, combine the flour and chinese five spice.   Coat each piece of tofu in the flour mixture and then add to frying pan.  Cook tofu until golden brown on both sides and then remove from pan.  This is a lot of tofu, so you will need to add more oil and cook in batches.  Once all the tofu is cooked and removed to another dish, add the green onions to the pan and saute for  3-5 minutes.  They should still be fairly firm.  In a cup or bowl, mix black bean garlic sauce, red chili sauce and water.  Pour mixture over green onions, stir, and saute over medium heat for another 3-5 minutes.

Lay the pieces of fried tofu over hot cooked rice and top with the green onion and sauce mixture.  Not much sauce is needed per serving.

New Vegan Find at Costco

Keep it coming Costco!  I love it when mainstream stores start stocking vegan products.  Not everyone likes the big superstores, but millions of people shop there.  So, I'm hoping millions of people will start buying these vegan products.  Some won't even know that is what they are purchasing.  But who cares!  One more vegan product on the shelf means less room for a product containing animal parts.

 

I picked up this edamame salad at Costco the other day.  I put it over a bed of baby spinach.  It was very good and convenient!

Chef Chloe's Vegan Beach Cookies

Yum!!!  This recipe is from Chef Chloe's webpage http://www.chefchloe.com/recipes.html.  Check out her recipe page.  She won Food Network's Cupcake Wars with her vegan goodies.  My guests loved these cookie/bars.  I couldn't find any graham crackers that didn't contain honey, so I bought a vanilla cookie wafer.  I also substituted pecans instead of walnuts because I had some waiting in my cupboard. 

Beach Cookies

½ cup vegan margarine (Earth Balance Buttery Spread)

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (any vegan graham cracker or wafer cookie.)

1 cup canned coconut milk

¼ cup agave or maple syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons arrowroot

1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips

Melt margarine in microwave or over stove and pour into a 9x13" baking pan. Swirl around until the bottom of the pan is completely coated.  Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor until they are fine crumbs.  Sprinkle the crumbs evenly into pan until bottom of the pan is completely coated in crumbs. Pat down lightly with your hands.

In a small bowl, whisk together coconut milk, agave, vanilla, salt, and arrowroot.  Drizzle this mixture evenly over the graham cracker layer.  Sprinkle the shredded coconut into the pan, then layer the optional nuts, then the chocolate chips. With the palm of your hand, gently pat the top of the cookie pan so that the chocolate chips get cemented into the rest of the cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until center looks thick and slightly bubbly with very lightly browned edges.  Let cool then refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight. Cut into even bars.

J's Tapas Has Great Vegan Options

I really enjoyed by my night at J's Tapas.  I went with a group of friends so we were able to order a lot of dishes.  Not pictured is the Baba Gannoush which was fantastic and gone before I got a picture.  I also liked a salad of leafy greens and green olives.  The paella was a regular size portion, not tapas size, so we all had some.  There are other vegan options such as: hummus, tabbouleh and fattouch.  J's Tapas has a really large menu and happy hour specials.  If you want a full dinner, Jonathan's is right next door and owned by the same people.

Here are some of the other vegan dishes we enjoyed:

Lumpia Rolls

Pickled Vegetable Plate

Vegetable Paella

Muhamarr

This last dish did not sound good to me when reading the menu, but it was incredible!  Everyone wanted it and dug in immediately.  It is blended chopped walnuts, bread crumbs, pomegranate molasses, cumin, and red pepper paste.  Really delicious.

The bartender took our orders and, since I was the only vegan in the group, he really made an effort to get it right.  One of the chefs even came out to check on us and answer any questions.  Oh... and they have a great martini menu too!

Here is a link to J's Tapas website: http://www.jonathansatpeiranos.com/jstapas.asp