All I can say is...........WOW

Weight Watchers has now officially endorsed Chicken McNuggets as a "healthy meal" in New Zealand, where McDonald's restaurants will begin carrying the Weight Watchers logo on several menu items. This bizarre and inexplicable decision has now made Weight Watchers the laughing stock of the health world where nutrition and weight loss experts normally don't use "McDonald's fast food" and "weight loss" in the same sentence.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028372_Weight_Watchers_McDonalds.html

It's only a matter of time before this happens over here.

Lazy Weekend and Comfort Food

It's been raining here in Southeastern MA since yesterday morning. This weather always makes me want to stay in bed and do nothing, so for most of the weekend, that's what we did. After drinking too much Jack Daniels Friday night the BF and I were very tired come Saturday. We got into bed around 2 pm to watch a movie and pretty much stayed there until 9:00 am this morning. It was amazing, and exactly what we needed. Who wants to get out of bed and do anything when its cold, the rain is pouring and the wind is gusting so hard you're afraid that your 12 pound dog might blow away if you let her out because the wind is so strong? Not me. I try to watch what I eat because I am trying to lose weight, but this weekend that was out the window. For lunch yesterday the bf made us veggie burgers with tater tots covered in vegetarian chili and cheese and for dinner we had FBLT pita pockets (fake bacon, lettuce and tomato). I really wanted to get back on track today and although the hurricane strength winds died down, it was still raining, gloomy and cold. So what did we do? Had a big breakfast of scrambled eggs and home fries, lunch was a bottle of Gatorade and a bag of bugles while we were out running errands and dinner, a massive comfort food meal with Quorn Chick'n Cutlets, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes loaded with Earth Balance and cream cheese, Balsamic Glazed Portobello Mushrooms from Vegan with a Vengeance, steamed broccoli and brussel sprouts. Had I left out the gravy and potatoes, it would have been a very healthy meal, but I needed to be comforted by food today.  When I make meals like that you'd think I was cooking for a small army, but its just the BF and I. I don't know why I always make so much extra, I'm not a big fan of leftovers. Anyways, dinner came out delicious, especially the gravy, just ask the BF, after dinner I looked into the kitchen and saw him drinking gravy from the ladle. I wish I got a picture of that one! I don't really use recipes for the potatoes or gravy  but I will post the general ingredient list, I always add or omit things depending on what I am cooking them with so here ya go:

Mashed Potatoes

4 medium sized red potatoes, skin on, cut in 1/4 inch cubes

Earth Balance - to taste

Cream Cheese - usually just a tablespoon or two to give them some extra creaminess

Light Cream, Soy Milk, or whatever you have on hand, today it was cream - 1/4 cup, more if needed

Garlic, raw or roasted - today I used roasted - this is also to taste, I usually use about 6 cloves because I'm a junkie

Salt & Pepper to taste

Rosemary - about a tablespoon

Put potatoes in pot, cover with water, add lid and bring to boil. 

Remove lid and lightly boil until fork tender, about 15 or so minutes

Drain

Mash lightly, add all ingredients,  mash and mix some more and taste. Adjust anything you need. 

Mushroom Gravy

2 tblspns Earth Balance

1 small onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 cup chopped mushrooms, any kind will do, I usually use baby bellas

3 cups veg broth

3 tablespoons cornstarch shaken into a slurry with a little water

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons nutritional yesast - optional, I don't always use it

Splash of red wine. 

In a small saucepan heat Earth Balance, add onion and saute about 5 minutes or until translucent but not browning. Add garlic, saute a minute or so more.

Lower heat, add mushrooms and cook a few minutes until they start releasing moisture. 

Add veg broth and cornstarch mix. Bring to a boil and cook about 5 minutes

Lower heat to lightly simmer, add soy sauce, nutritional yeast and wine. Cook about a minute more and serve. 

The Balsamic Glazed Portobellos were so simple but so delicious. They literally consisted of just portobello caps sliced, balsamic vinegar, a little salt and a little garlic. I have never been disappointed with any recipes I have tried from Vegan with a Vengeance . Now it's off to the gym to work it all off................

Barbecued Tempeh and Chipotle Glazed Plantains.

One of these nights I will remember to take pictures of the food while and after I cook it......

I've had some plantains ripening in my fruit basket for a week or so now. My original plans were to make tostones with them while they were still green, but those days had passed.. Now faced with yellow plantains, I had no idea what to do. Luckily i found a recipe online(I forget where so I can't link it) for Chipotle Glazed Plantains. I also had some tempeh sitting in the fridge that I normally reserve for my bi-weekly "clean out the fridge sitr-fry" but to be honest, I am stir-fried out. If I never see another stir-fry I will be the happiest girl in the world. It doesn't take much to make me happy.. The only way I have ever cooked it was cut up in cubes in those stir-fries, so when I found a recipe for Barbecue Tempeh that boiled it, fried it and then cooked it in bbq sauce, I was sold. Normally I would make my own bbq sauce and not have used the one in the recipe, but I was being lazy so I used bottled... Actually, I was being extremely lazy because I had the bf do that while I dealt with the plantains. After he simmered the tempeh it puffed up alot so once the water was drained out it soaked up the bbq sauce very nicely. Served with a side of steamed green beans, this was definitely a dinner that will be made again. The bbq tempeh would be very good in a sandwich or sub roll too, which makes me think of cooking it the same way, but with buffalo sauce would be even better...

Luckily I scribbled down the recipe for the plantains at work while making my shopping list so here it is:

Chipotle Glazed Pantains

2 yellow plantains

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonaise

1 tablespoon chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, pureed (i used like 3, maybe more)

1 talespoon cayenne (I used about 2)

1 tablspoon sugar (i used agave nectar)

black pepper to taste.

1. Peel and wrap plantains in foil and grill until they start to carmelize and are softening but still firm. 

2. While the plantains are grilling, mix together all other ingredients in a small bowl, set aside. 

3. When plantains are done, remove from foil and cut into 1 in thick pieces, return to grill and brush on some of the chipotle mix. Grill a few minutes, flip, brush glaze on other size and continue cooking a few minutes more. 

I don't have propane for my grill, and my oven is broken, but my toaster oven does have a grill setting so I just used that. I didn't find that they came out too "glazy" so I broiled them for a few minutes on each side. Still a little more like a sauce, but still so delicious. This glaze/sauce would be an excellent veggie dip, sandwich spread, use it in place of ketchup for fries, anything really. I made extra and can't wait to make veggie burgers so I can slather it on.

Now that I'm done digesting, it's off to the gym.

Nice Slice

I was in Providence Sunday with the bf heading to see Alice in Wonderland in IMAX and we decided to try out Nice Slice on Thayer street to check out the vegan food they have. Because it had been such a gorgeous day, everyone was out and about so parking was tough. I never knew Thayer St. existed, it is a strip of boutique shops, cafes, restaurants and lots more right in the heart of the Brown University area and RISD. I can't wait to go back when I have more time to do some shopping, and more eating.

Anyways, we had checked out the menu in advance and were planning on trying some of their vegan pizza but when we got there we decided on sandwiches.. The place is pretty small, but they have a really good selection of mock meats, they even have vegan cheese. I got the "Vegan Cheese Steak" sans onions and ranch. It was a little too salty for my liking, which means extremely salty because I put tons of salt on everything, I think it was the fake meat though. Either way, it was still good. The bf got a mock chicken with buffalo sauce and cheese. We like things very hot so there wasn't enough sauce for our liking, but it was still delicious. We will definitely be back to try the vegan pizza.

Frozen Tofu

You'd think that my first post would be about something spicy given the name of this blog....... Think again.


Let me start out by introducing myself. Hello, my name is Liz and I am a vegetarian. I love to cook. I love to eat.
Ok, enough of the formalities, let's talk food.

I cook with tofu semi-regularly but it's always fresh tofu. A few weeks ago, after another failed attempt at recreating fried tofu they way Thai restaurants make it, I decided I would try freezing it to change the texture... Fast forward to a few days ago when I took it out to thaw, with every intention of frying it. The days past and I changed my mind. When I left for work yesterday morning, I had dinner planned, Stuffed Shells with tofu ricotta, something I've made before and the bf and I both love. As they day dragged on I decided I wanted something a little more exciting. I started my daily ritual of creeping on various veg blogs looking for something to catch my eye when I stumbled upon The Vegan Foodie's recipe for Balsamic Glazed Tofu. I was sooooo excited, I couldn't wait to get home and cook.

I went home on my lunch break and got the tofu marinating. And a few short hours later, I was cooking it. It didn't turn out as amazing as I'd hoped, it was still good, just not great. I think the shortcomings in it were my fault though. I was rushing and really, I've never had much luck with cooking tofu other than tofu ricotta and tofu scramble. It came out kind of dry, and crunchy on the ends. What I did like though was how the thawed out tofu is so much more spongy and absorbent than fresh tofu.

The mustard glazed brussell sprouts I made with it did however come out amazing. Because I don't know where I got the recipe, and I modify it every time I will post it:

Mustard Glazed Brussell Sprouts

1 box of frozen or 1 bunch of fresh - brussell sprouts

1 tablespoon - spicy brown mustard

1 tablespoon - agave nectar

1 tablespoon - vinegar, i prefer balsamic or apple cider vinegar.

Mix all wet ingredients in small bowl, set aside.

Steam sprouts until cooked to your liking, remove from heat, add to mustard mix, toss and serve.

I did take photos but will have to post them later.