VeganMoFo: Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs October 30, 2009

I had some extra Pepperidge Farm puff pastry in my fridge and decided that it was time to make something quick an easy with it.  I went to my sidekick, Vegan Brunch, and saw a tasty recipe for tempeh sausage pastry puffs and knew I had to try them.  Everything came together perfectly and I had a few of these for dinner the other night.  I loved the flavor of the tempeh sausage.  It was actually one of the best recipes for a quick sausage that I have ever tasted.  The flakiness of the puff pastry was the perfect bed for the sausage and it made them easy to just pick up and eat.  Finger food is my friend

Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs

Source: Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

8 oz tempeh, crumbled

1 package puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm brand is vegan), thawed

For the marinade:

1 cup vegetable broth

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

For everything else:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp fennel seeds, chopped

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

salt, to taste

olive oil for brushing the pastry

Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.  And the tempeh and let marinate for an hour.

When the hour is almost up, preheat a large pan over medium heat.  Saute the red bell pepper and onion in the oil for 7 to 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent.  Add garlic and spices and sate another 3 minutes.  Frain the marinated tempeh and add it to the pan.  Turn the heat up to medium hight and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400°F and start preparing you puff pastries.  Pout a little olive oil into a cup and brush a large baking sheet with olive oil.  Cut each pastry sheet into nine squares and set them on the baking sheet at least an inch apart.  Brush the tops of the pastries with olive oil.  When the tempeh is ready, taste for salt and remove from heat.  Top each pastry right in the middle with a heaping tablespoon of tempeh.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the pastries are nice and puffed.  Serve ASAP.

Tostones August 10, 2009

The first time I was introduced to tostones was 2 years ago.  DrFaulken decided to take me to lunch on my birthday to Kuba Kuba.  I had been hearing about their food and how great it was from Fro for a few years, and I finally got the chance to go.  The tostones were so yummy.  I can’t remember what else I got that afternoon over 2 years ago, but since then I have had their Roasted Pork, Cuban Sandwich, Turkey Press, and Tres Leches Cake.

I always wanted to try my hand at Tostones especially when I saw DrFaulken’s Mom make them back in December.  It was so simple.  Then I saw a recipe for them in Vegan Brunch.   I knew that it would happen soon.  The next time I went to the grocery store,  I finally decided to buy one plantain.  I left it on the counter for a couple of days so that it could ripen a little more, which would also give the plantain a slightly sweeter flavor.

The following is the recipe from Vegan Brunch, however, I changed some of the steps in the recipe to how DrFaulken’s Mom makes hers.

Fried Plantains aka Tostones

Source: Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

2 plantains

Vegetable oil for shallow frying

Salt, to taste, I also like to use garlic salt

Slice the plantains into 1/2 inch slices.  Preheat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat.  add oil to the skillet until it’s 1/4 inch deep.  When the oil is hot, add half the plantains or so; just don’t over-crowd the pan.

Fry plantains for about a minute on each side.  Take them out of the skillet and place on a paper towel.  Taking one slice at a time smash with the side of a knife just to flatten.  Place back into the oil and fry until golden brown, another 1-2 minutes per side.  If you don’t want to use the side of a knife you can use a mallet or anything handy. Transfer to paper towels to drain.  Repeat with remaining plantains.  Sprinkle with salt, if you like.  Serve ASAP.

The Daring Cooks’ Challenge: Gyoza aka Potstickers June 14, 2009

This months Daring Cooks’ Challenge is brought to you by Jen from use real butter.  She chose Gyoza/Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers.  The rules for this challenge were that we had to make our own dough (no store bought wonton wrappers), make a filling, and chose a cooking method.  YAY!!!

I was so excited to make these because I love gyoza or whatever you want to call it and I have never made my own dough for them before.  For the filling I decided to stick with just the plain pork filling and for the cooking method I decided to do two: steaming and pan frying.  The dough was easy to make the only thing I needed to remember was to flour each round so that they don’t stick together.  I had this problem when I would roll/cut out all the rounds and stack them and when I started filling and I was on a roll I would get to the bottom of the stack and the last 5 would be stuck to each other :/ Grrr

Wholly Guacamole February 11, 2009

The other night I was up late and watching the Food Network.

Yeah that probably isn’t good for anyone, but I was doing it.

I saw a new product that was on the market and was completely intrigued.

1) Because I love guacamole

2) I have never found anything in the grocery store that was prepackaged that taste as good as homemade

OH MY GOD!!!

I found the mother load.  I was at a locally owned grocery store and found Wholly Guacamole in the refrigerated section next to the produce.  It was a little pricey, but I had to try it.  I decided to pick up a packet of the Spicy, and it was fantastic.  It tasted like homemade.  I just ventured over to their site and saw that they also have Pico De Gallo Style, which is essentially how I make mine.  I need to get my hands on the Pico De Gallo Style because you know I have to taste test it now

How do I like to eat my guacamole?

• Straight out of the package or bowl
• With tortilla chips
• Wrapped in a fresh flour tortilla with grilled chicken
• On a hamburger
• Anyway because it YUMMY!!!

How do you like to eat your guacamole?

The Daring Bakers’: Vegan Crackers and Dips September 27, 2008

When I saw that this months Daring Bakers’ Challenge was chosen by two of the Alternative Daring Bakers : Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl.  They chose for this months recipe to be Lavash Crackers from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

The Challenge was to make Lavash Crackers and create a dip/spread/salsa/relish to accompany it.  The catch was that all dips/spreads/relishes/salsas must be vegan and gluten free.  So essentially it is Vegan Crackers and Dip.  I was sad for a second that it wasn’t something sweet.  Then I was extremely happy for two reasons: it was vegan, and it was savory.  I have been making so many sweet dishes lately that savory was a nice change.  I was happy that it was vegan not because I am vegan (I am an omni actually) but because if you are a regular reader you know about my Vegan Adventure.

Vegan Adventure #13 September 19, 2008

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Sorry, it isn’t a cupcake

It’s SPANAKOPITA!!!!

Okay, first thing first, back in college I use to always go to a Greek Restaurant with A-Jello every Tuesday and Thursday.  We would sit at the bar and people watch, since it was right on the corner.  We went there so much that after I graduated I went back a year later by myself and the owner still remembered me and asked where A-Jello was.  The owner was hilarious.  The stories he used to tell :sigh:  I miss that place.  I used to always get the Gyro and a Pita Pizza with Cucumber Sauce.  I think A-Jello used to get the Soulvaki with either a Pita Pizza or Fries.  Oh the simple times.