Gardein Crispy Chick'n

We hadn't tried the Gardein crispy chick'n yet, and since it used to be one of our favorite Chinese dishes we decided to give it a shot. I modded the recipe a little bit to try to pay homage to a restaurant in Dallas we used to eat at called Cathy's Wok. They had an awesome crispy sesame chicken, so I tried to get as veganly close as possible. I made the chick'n just as the directions on the back called for, but added steamed broccoli into the sauce with the chick'n after it had finished cooking. I also changed the sauce a bit by heating it in a sauce pan and added 2 tablespoons of agave nectar, 2 table spoon of rice vinegar, and some ginger. After the sauce cooked together for a few minutes, I added the chick'n and the broccoli to the sauce, served it up on a bed of rice, and then put some sesame seeds on top. It's been about 8 years since I've had the Cathy's Wok original, but I gotta say I think it's pretty close!

California Burger

Inspired by my trip to LA, I decided to make a California burger for dinner. For the patty, I went the quick route and used a Boca vegan patty which is delicious. If I would have had more time cooking it, I think I would have used a portabella mushroom or the Yves meatless beef burger. I didn't want to use a regular hamburger bun, so I used a french bread that was made without dairy or egg.  Finally, the burger is topped with fresh cut avocado and underneath has a little bit of BBQ sauce. For the side, sweet potato fries seemed like they would go with this awesome burger perfectly.
I love putting avocado on burgers. It makes it almost like having cheeseburger. Avocado's are very healthy and contain 20 vitamins and minerals. They also allow the body to absorb even more nutrients from the other foods eaten with them. So go make some guac or top your burger with a delicious avocado!

RP Tracks Memphis

 RP Tracks in Memphis has amazing BBQ Tofu! It could be my favorite BBQ Tofu I've ever had, so much so that I'm completely addicted to their BBQ tofu nachos. RP Tracks is a very vegan friendly establishment with a menu including buffalo tofu fingers, BBQ tofu sandwich, BBQ tofu burrito, nachos, and a veggie wrap. The restaurant/bar has a great vibe with friendly and helpful wait staff. Make sure you check out RP Tracks and make it a place you frequent often!

www.rptracks.com
3547 Walker Ave
Memphis, TN 38111
901.327.1471

Vegan Substitutes

One of the struggles to cooking for a vegan diet is knowing what you can substitute for recipes that call for non-vegan items. There is a ton of great products out there that are perfect substitutes for these items. Here are some of my favorites:

Animal Product = Plant Based subsitute

Egg = Ener-G Egg Replacer
Honey = Madhava Agave Nectar
Mayonnaise = Miso Mayo
Butter = Earth Balance
Milk = Silk soy milk or Almond Breeze milk
Chocolate Chips = Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Cheese = Daiya for shredded cheese or Vegan Gourmet for a block of cheese
Sour Cream = Tofutti Sour Cream
Cream Cheese = Tofutti Cream Cheese
Grated Parmesan Cheese = Vegan Grated Topping
Grated Cheddar Cheese = Nutrional Yeast
Evaporated Milk = Better Than Milk Soy Powder (made twice as strong as directed on can)
Whip Cream = Soyatoo Soy Whip
Chicken Broth = Imagine Vegetable Broth
Chicken = Gardein tuscan breast for chicken breast & Smart Strips for chicken strips
Sausage = Gimme Lean Sausage
Ground Beef = Yves Meatless Ground
Turkey = Yves Ground Turkey
Deli Meat = Tofurky has a wide range of deli meats from phillystyle steak to roast beef & oven roasted or hickory smoked turkey

Tofu can be used to fit the bill for a good amount of animal based foods as well such as scrambled eggs, cheeses, custard, creams, eggs in recipes, meats, etc.

Propagandhi talks vegan...

Propagandhi is a punk rock band from Canada. They have lyrics in a quite a few of their songs regarding their vegan lifestyle and cruelty to animals. This can be seen is songs like: Meat is Still Murder, Purina Hall of Fame, & Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz). Go get a Propagandhi album today, I highly recommend "Supporting Caste" or "Less Talk, More Rock"

Random Food Photos

I was going through iPhoto and found a few photos of vegan food that I made that have not shared and just figured I'd throw them all up at one time:

Hopkins County Stew

"Sausage" Biscuits

Chocolate dipped strawberries (made by Alicia)

Iced Gingerbread (made by Alicia)

Vegan Chili 

Hummus Pita & Chili

 Portabella Mushroom Steak

Eating while traveling

I was in LA most of this week for business meetings.  Most of the meals were provided, served buffet style, and had meat or dairy in most every dish. The nice thing about LA is when I told any of the wait staff that I was vegan I didn't get the "huh? do what?" look. They were definitely accustomed to having to prepare food for veg people.

One of the nights for dinner, they served what they called a "cauliflower steak." It was absolutely amazing and was served on a bed of lentils and seasoned with curry, paprika, and black & red pepper. It actually looked way better than the steak & chicken dishes others were eating. I love when someone takes pride in cooking all types of food, not just the meat dishes they made for everyone else. The moral of the story is always speak up to the wait staff about being vegan. If they truly want to deliver great service, they will do everything they can to make sure you have a happy dining experience. And you will be proving the need of the establishment to have vegan options and will cause people to put some more thought to what they eat.