Vegan MOFO Day #8: Andrea's Zombie Fingers

Andrea might not always know how to act or shoot a gun, but she can sure make a mean spring roll.

"They're called zombie fingers." She says.

Spring rolls filled with a mixture of fakin' bacon bitz, avocado, veganaise, yellow pepper, lettuce, and tomato. Perfect for those days when it is just too hot to cook. These make great appetizers for those pre-shooting practices. You want to be in tip top shape to take a walker down, and these will get you there.

Andrea's Zombie Fingers
You'll need:
Spring roll wrappers

• 1 avocado
• 2T bacos or other favorite brand of fake bacon bitz
• 1/4 c. chopped tomato
• 1/2 c. chopped favorite green or lettuce
• 2 T veganaise
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped

Smash avocado and add chopped veggies, bacon bitz, and veganaise. The mixture will look kind of gross, but I assure you it is delicious. Get your spring rolls wrappers ready per package instructions, and spoon two small spoon fulls of the mixture in the middle of every wrapper and roll into tight -(you can see my wrapping abilities are shitty) fingers. For presentation, arrange on a plate or platter in the shape of a hand. Have a nosh and reload.

Hot Dog!

So I was craving vegan hot dog nachos, sue me. This was largely inspired by watching many episodes of Chopped and my love for Btown's local eatery, The Naughty Dog. NOTE: if you click on the link, you will see meat.

I love this place because it is a) cheap and b) THEY OFFER A VEGAN CHILI DOG! How awesome is that? Sure, I could make one at home while listening to The Pod and it probably would taste better, but sometimes I'm just too lazy to make lazy food. So there. I got your no porkroll-no-egg-no-cheese right the eff here, baby.

If you're thinking, ugh--that's just gross! Or perhaps you are curious and worried about calorie content, vegan hot dog nachos won't ruin your caloric day you big ol' weirdo, you. If you are obsessed about that sort of thing, I estimate it is around 600 calories, less if you only have one wiener--(hey now, they list a serving as "1 Wiener" so get your mind out of the gutter.) Here's the breakdown:

• 2 vegan hotdogs @ 50 cal=100
• 1 serving corn chips (that's 6-7 chips, kids)=130
• 1/3 c. vegan chili=120
• 1/4 avocado sliced thin= 70 cal
• diablo sauce= 120

If you don't care about calories, add more chips or whatever. I personally wanted the chili dogs to dominate the dish, not the chips--I just needed some crispy-crispy if you know what I mean.

diablo sauce ingredients:
1T veganaise
1 t nutritional yeast
1/2 t white miso
Frank's red hot to taste

I can see Ted Allen saying, "Chefs you have one minute left!" as I effortlessly plate this amazing little ditty. Secret basket ingredients are vegan hot dogs, corn chips, miso, and nutritional yeast. Of course, I'm thinking chili. Of course I'm thinking nachos. Duh. Scott Conant is secretly jealous but chooses to diss this dish, and Alex G. proposes to me after eating. Yeah, that's how it would go. Screw that 10 grand.

OYMST Day#18: I think I might be able to do this!

No kidding. This month has been a big ol' learning lesson so far. While I am great at cooking and have adopted a greener lifestyle by going vegan, my inclination to eat dessert for breakfast, lunch, and snacks is not exactly the healthiest move for me. So I embarked on a crazy mission to bypass all traditional desserts this month and lean on eating substantial meals that weren't covered in chocolate or frosting.

I'm learning quite a bit about myself, largely that I'm more focused and less crabby when I eat more whole foods and less baked goods. I'm still looking forward to eating a nice big dessert in February, I just won't be having it every day of the week. I've found a new love--fresh fruit! Dates for the win! Bananas make everything better! (Insert Sir Mix-a-Lot here) I like big nuts and I cannot lie-(((giggle)))

I did this for a few reasons: spiritual, I was starting to feel a disconnect when I ate, and that isn't a good thing for me. Physical, I have a family history of diabetes-(on both sides) and even with a vegan diet I should really be careful about that. Financial- I wanted to increase traffic on my blog to raise a few extra bucks for Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, the mega-awesome food bank that helps me and my family out on a regular basis. There's no way that we would eat the variety of foods we eat without their help, period. Every 1,000 US visits=$3, which doesn't seem like much but each $1= 7lbs of food! I average about $7-$9 a month. That's anywhere from 50-60# of food to families in my local community. During MOFO 2011, I was able to raise $10 for them and $10 to the local animal shelter. Jen's Soapbox Moment: NEVER underestimate the power of giving anything to charity, even a few pennies. I know people get caught up in the amount of money to donate and will hold back because they can't make it work, but that's ego talking. Just give what you have. Chances are it will be bigger than the generous wealth of the 1% in our country, because it came from your heart and not from a tax write off.

Okay, enough of the preachy preach, let's talk about that reuben at the top of the page. I like to skip the vegan cheese and put a big ol' slice of avocado on top instead. I also like to make the dressing with vegan mayo+hot sauce+ bbq sauce+pickle relish. Don't screw your nose up at me kids, it's really good!