Vegan Quesadillas with Salsa Fresca and Taco Sauce

Quesadillas were one of my fave foods as a kid. It's cheesy and gooey and you can eat it with your hands. I had figured they wouldn't be a part of my life after going vegan. But with the power of Daiya and some creative cooking, I made the best quesadillas I have ever had, all without the icky animal cruelty. 

These were shockingly easy, and when served with some fresh avocado and salsa, makes for a healthy meal. I made two types of quesadillas- bean and bell pepper, and mushroom and onion, both were easy and delicious!

Mushroom and Onion filling-

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 diced onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

Then add half a package of pepperjack daiya.

Bean and Bell Pepper filling

1/2 can beans (I used kidney)

1 bell pepper, diced

1 tbsp adobo seasoning (or 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder)

 1 tsp smoked paprika

Then add the rest of the daiya

For the salsa-

1/2 large cucumber, diced

1 large tomato, diced

Juice from 1 lime

1 medium bell pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

2 tsp hot sauce

fresh cilantro

Taco Sauce-

1 cup soaked cashews

1 small can tomato sauce

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

simply toss it all in a food processor until smooth and creamy.

Rice Cooker Recipe- Basic Brown Rice Pilaf

I love my rice cooker. It's the appliance I use the most, partly because it's just so handy. When I first got it I was a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it's a machine that makes rice and a few other grains. it's not like it was hard to make those before right? The breakthrough for me was realizing how much easier it could make my life. I could make my grains ahead of time and they would stay warm and ready until dinner. I also learned that you can make more than just plain rice or quinoa. Beans, veggies and spices can all be tossed in with the uncooked rice for the perfect base to a meal.
Rice pilaf is a pretty straightforward dish. It's rice cooked in broth and seasoning, so it has more flavor than if it was cooked in water. With a rice cooker you can simply pour in broth with the uncooked rice and let it soak up all the yummy flavor. Here is one of my favorite versions-

Basic Brown Rice Pilaf-
2 cups uncooked brown rice
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp ground black pepper
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme

Take ingredients and pour into rice cooker, then flip the switch. The trick is two have 2 parts liquid to 1 part uncooked rice. How long this recipe takes to cook will depend on your rice cooker and how much rice you are trying to make.

I served mine with mushrooms and lentils, but this side works with a lot of different dishes.

Snapshot- Nerdy Mugs

Bear and I are super nerds. Power nerds. We go to comic shops and have geeky t shirts and have two TVs in the living room so we can play different videogames at the same time. These are our fave coffee mugs, nerdy and cute. Left is a quote from Battlestar Galactica and the right is my Welcome to Nightvale cup.

Vegan Anywhere- 3 Brothers Pizza, Long Island New York

I LOVE 3 BROTHERS PIZZA. There, I said it. If you don't wanna see me go on and on about how awesome this place is, I'm sorry, come back soon for a new topic. But really, everyone needs to know about this place. Vegetarians, vegans, omnivores, gluten free eaters, just go whoever you are!
The best part of this place is the fact they have two menus. one for omnivores and one for vegans/vegetarians. That means everyone can find something that suits them (so long as they like pizza/pasta/burgers/wings/mozzarella sticks/carrot cake/so so so much more). As a vegan, this is a huge deal. It means that vegans can have a place where there are many options for them as for their non vegans friends and family.

Vegan pizza that's good is not easy to come by in most places. For many vegans all that is available is frozen stuff or home made, and while both are good, there's nothing like real pizza or calzones.
Using this review as an excuse to over indulge, Bear and I got a full spread and spent a nice time in the restaurant desperately trying to eat it all.
For a starter we got the mozzarella sticks, which were great. They were warm and the cheese inside was nice and gooey and the sauce it came with had a nice taste.

the seasoning on these was perfect

For our entrees we decided to get a tempeh bacon and seitan cheese burger to share, and a small (12in) pizza with "the works", onions, mushrooms, peppers, faux pepperoni, and faux sausage and a ton of ooey gooey daiya cheese. We only made it through half of the pizza, but it made a great dinner later on at home, it reheated nicely in the toaster oven. Both items were great. The cheeseburger could have used a bit more bacon, but other than that no complaints.

OMG PIZZA

even vegans like bacon cheese burgers now and then

The pizza was great as well. In fact, 3 Brothers has won several awards for it's vegan pizza, and it's easy to see why. There are a ton of pizza options form vegetables to fake meats and they come in different combos or even a build your own option where you can pick everything from the crust to the sauce to what goes on top. I don't eat a lot of faux meat products, but they work well on top of the pizza, and I would even say the vegan pepperoni is better than the real stuff because it's much less greasy.

Bear is an awe of this burger

The desserts at 3 Brothers are also great, and the options change all the time. Last time we visited we had an amazing piece of carrot cake, this time we got something called the Raspberry Bomb, a chocolate cake with raspberry mousse and a chocolate shell. It was sweet, but not overly saccharine, and decadent and not as heavy as it seems. However, sharing is a good idea since the entree sizes are pretty generous.

this piece of cake was huuuuge

contemplating cake

Visit the site for hours, directions and both menus

Final Scores-
Food- 5/5
Cost- 4/5
Service- 4.5/5

Vegan Curry Fried Rice

Have a lot of left over cooked rice? not sure what to do with it? Sick of normal friend rice? How about curry? No one gets sick of curry. At least, I never do.

Curry Fried Rice

• 2 cups of cooked rice
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 can peas/chickpeas/1 cup cooked lentils (this will help with leftover legumes too!)
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 cup mushroom slices
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp salt

Optional

• Frozen broccoli or cauliflower
• Green beans
• Bean Sprouts
• Cubed tofu
• Hot Sauce
• Plain coconut yogurt

Add coconut oil to a large frying pan on low heat, once it melts add the veggies and cook on medium heat for 10-15 min until the carrots are tender. Then add leftover rice and spices and stir constantly until rice begins to brown in places.

The best ting about this meal is that you can use any veggies you want, even just a frozen mix will work fine. That mean's it's a great option when you need a quick bite to eat but don't just want a frozen burrito or a bowl of cereal.

Bear Box #2! Chickpea Omelette, Rice and Marinated Tofu

More bento! Bear was in the mood for Asian food for dinner again so I made another bento. I decided to play on some bento classics, white rice with umeboshi (pickled plums), omelettes, and marinated tofu. My version has brown rice, a chickpea omelette and tofu marinated without fish sauce.

Tofu marinade-

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbsp chili sauce  

1 tsp Worcestershire 

Simply mix these together with the tofu and let it sit for at least 30 min. Cubing the tofu lets it soak in easier. Then I fried the tofu and set it on a bed of spinach.

Chickpea omelette-

1 part chickpea flour

1 part water

1 tsp baking powder

This is the basic ingredients for the omelette. However, this would be a bit pain. The great thing here is that chickpea omelettes are very easy to season in different ways so they can be eaten with a lot of different things. For this recipes I added sesame seeds, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then you just cook them like a pancake. 

I then shredded up some carrot and diced some onion and sliced a handful of mushrooms, sauteed them in sesame oil and garlic and then rolled them up inside. 

The rice was pretty simple. Brown rice cooked in the rice cooker, some pieces of nori, a hanful of shelled edamame and an umeboshi with the pit removed. Steam the soy beans and the rice and layer it all neatly into the box and you're done. 

Vegan Anywhere- Tiger Lily Cafe, Port Jefferson New York

Tiger Lily Cafe is located in downtown Port Jefferson, it specializes in sandwiches, salads and coffees and teas. It advertises itself as vegetarian friendly, and at least half of the menu is meat free. The vegan options, sadly, are a bit more limited. There is room to sit down and eat inside, and a bathroom for customers, but the cafe only takes cash payment, so have money before you order (there is an ATM inside).

The shop is pretty easy to find, and has roadside parking. When the street is full there's a paid lot right down the road. When you approach the building the first things you notice are all the signs and stickers, and the music. Tiger Lily plays great music, which makes it a bit more pleasant to hang out in than a place like Starbucks.

In addition to the normal menu items there is also a large selection of made to order juices, smoothies and shakes, many of which are vegan friendly. Next to the register there is also a display case of fresh salads, and other dishes. Those items are listed on the normal menu so be sure to take a look before you order. It's also a great idea to get food to go and make at home.

The back deck is a great place to enjoy meals when the weather is nice. No kids or smoking allowed means you relax, eat, drink and just enjoy the area. I always eat out back when I can, it's too pretty to pass up.

Tiger Lily has good food. Maybe even great food. The vegan options may be limited, but the ones offered are at least substantial. Sesame tofu cutlet wraps, made in house veggie burgers, salads, fresh falafel with tahini, a hummus wrap and a balsamic veggie wrap are all offered for under $10.00. I always want a veggie burger which comes with diced tomato and greens on top while Bear favors the sesame tofu. Those two main dishes plus two iced teas will run you around $24.00, which is a little steep for vegan fare with no sides. But the quality is always amazing and the service is fantastic, plus the atmosphere is amazing (the whole restaurant has a perfect coffee shop vibe with lots of cool art and books). Overall, I can say the price is pretty fair for what you get, which is fresh, quality food. 

Visit the site for hours and a menu.

Final Scores-
Food- 4.5/5
Cost- 3/5
Service- 5/5

Cook Book Review- The Vegan Stoner Cookbook

I am not a stoner. I have friends who are and I have nothing against pot, I just don't smoke because I have wicked asthma and my man gets tested for work. BUT I do love The Vegan Stoner Cookbook.
My grandma, who recently passed away, got me this cookbook for my last birthday. She was very supportive of my going vegan and thought this book was something I would enjoy because it had simple recipes that were a lot of fun and also a bunch of cute illustrations. I like my cookbooks with lots and lots of pictures.
The book is divided into sections, breakfast, lunch, munch, dinner and dessert, with different recipes in each section. It's a small book but each recipe is only a single page so they really make use of the space. The back of the book has a short guide on making basics like vegetable broth, a basic tomato sauce, and "herb oil" which is handy if you want to make edibles instead of smoking or vaping. I haven't tried that one though, so I'm not sure how great it is.
The best thing I can say about this book is that it is super useful on a regular basis. It is very uncomplicated. The recipes don't need a million ingredients, and they don't take a lot of time or effort to make. They're also very easy to customize. I always end up adding own fave fruit or veg or spices, and that is something this book encourages.
Today I am going to be making two great recipes, partly to show how awesome this book is and partially because I am going to go see friends tonight and that's an excuse for me to cook for a bunch of people and I love that.  
This is how The Vegan Stoner presents recipes; in super cute illustration form with a simple list of instructions on the side. Easy and cute!

I love coconut dishes. It's not a flavor you see a lot in western savory cuisine, but it's something I have grown to love. This recipe is amazingly simple and so easy to customize. The recipe is fine as is, I just happen to like more spices in most of my dishes, so I add the following:

Optional Spices-

2 tsp turmeric

1.5 tsp curry powder

2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

.5 tsp fresh grated ginger

Simply follow the normal directions and stir in any or all of these ingredients when you mix the coconut milk and flour.

The second recipe I chose was a dessert, baked banana cake! I don't bake a lot but it's some I really want to do more of. Vegan baking can be difficult but this recipe makes dessert simple.

Once again, I decided to change this recipe a little. I love bananas but I also love a lot of other fruits. So I chose to add some strawberries and raspberries. Strawberries have a great sweetness while the slightly tart raspberries will keep the dish form being too sugary. Again, this recipe is great as is, but the thing I love most about this cookbook is using it as a starting point for some great dishes that are entirely my own.

And here is how mine turned out-

Overall I give The Vegan Stoner Cookbook a 5/5!

Keep up with lots of awesome recipes by going the Vegan Stoner Blog

Bear Box #1! Lime Portobello Caps with Spicy Cabbage and Peppers

Bear works on a boat, and he works long hours. So when it comes o food here's not a lot of options. He can buy some things at work, but the vegan options are limited and he can only do that on his rare day shifts. The rest of the time he has to bring food in. A lot of his coworkers bring in fast food or store frozen meals on board, but it can be expensive and unhealthy, so I started making him food to go. This one was pretty easy. 

Ingredients- 

1/2 Bell Pepper

1 Large tomato

1 Portobello Cap

1 onion

1 Handful Cilantro

1 small can Diced Green Chiles 

2 handfuls Red Cabbage

1 Lime

Hot Sauce, Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper

Start by chopping your cilantro and setting it aside. 

Dice the onion.

Mix the can of chiles with the juice of one lime.

Slice the mushroom cap and toss them with the chilles, lime juice and cilantro, then set it aside for at least fifteen minutes.

Chop your tomato and bell pepper

Sautee the cabbage, pepper and tomato on medium. I added 2tsp of garlic powder, a dash of pepper, a dash of salt and several large shakes of tobasco. Adjust seasoning as you see fit.

Toss the shroom mix into a pan on medium high heat. The onions should become clear and the mushroom tender. Takes about 10-15 minutes.

I served min on a bed of seasoned brown rice. My secret for great rice? I add seasoning while it cooks. This time it was 2 tablespoons of adobo for 2 cups of uncooked rice, stirred right into the water. The great thing about this recipe is it microwaves really well and still tastes great.

Wedding Progress- Invites!

I reached another wedding milestone! Invitations are done and out, and people have begun to e-rsvp already. It's pretty exciting, and a bit worrisome just because I was a bit late getting these done. My grandma passed away after a long battle with cancer so I was too preoccupied to do much wedding planning. 

I drew up this cute little graphic for the invite and then scanned it into the computer and printed it onto different colored cardstock. It's simple, cute and cartoony which is perfect for my casual/nerdy afternoon wedding. I added some small details to try and make it look a bit like a comicbook cover, since Mike and I are such big comic fans.

This is the rsvp card. Nice and simple and it has a space for a song request, which is going to help us create our wedding playlist (we didn't want a traditional DJ or band).