aw, fork it. just fork it.

this is the fork and knife reuben sammich from vegan american kitchen. i cheated a little because i used store bought seitan. it was a pretty awesome sandwich, truly required the use of a fork and knife, and i'm sure it would have been even better had i made tami's seitan recipe. the part i like best is the unique sauce. i was expecting the traditional thousand island sauce, but this cashew based cream really ties the room together.

something fishy

are you ready kids? aye-aye cap'n. i can't hear you!

(((((whistling)))) who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
who's home was destroyed by the likes of BP?

seriously, there hasn't been a better time to consider giving up seafood. i can't believe that the FDA is trying to report that eating anything out of the spill site is remotely safe. good thing to be vegan right about now, wouldn't you agree?

plus underwater creatures are just cute. cute, i tell you! just look at a flounder or crab and try to disagree with me.

i was inspired by a recipe i saw on the dallas vegan blog about a year or so ago and decided to make my own vegan krab cakes. here's the thing: i've never eaten a crab cake before, so i have no real reference as to what one should taste like. i used one of my employees as a guinea pig and he said they were good. i thought they were too, and amazingly fish like. i was sad for a moment and wished i had written the recipe down, but then i got happy because i realized i remembered most of it, so give these a try and lemme know what you think!
vegan krabby patties

• white beans, about 2 cups worth. (i make my own, then freeze-canned would be fine, just rinse to remove the salt and icky bean water)
• 1 pkg super firm tofu-i used west soy. press the heck out of it
• 1T nori flakes-( i took some nori and put it in my coffee mill. it cleaned out fine)
• 1 or 2 fish peppers, sliced, seeded and super finely chopped
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 salt free lemon pepper seasoning

using a food processor or potato masher, mash together the white beans and tofu until you get a sticky mess. add spices and nori. set aside. shape into patties and roll in a mixture of corn meal, cayenne pepper, and onion salt-(proportions? i just eyeballed it. go easy on the cayenne-no more than a pinch or so. you don't want it to dominate)

you can fry these patties for a few minutes on each side in some canola oil OR take the LF approach and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 for about 10 minutes on each side. photoed above are the krabby patties shaped and baked in muffin tins, then served with a barley, kale, and carrot blend.

it's getting all kinds of chile in this bidnezz!

i realized i should have posted my new mexico chile sauce recipe with this post. shame on me. as aforementioned, i'm struggling with tomatoes in the garden this year, but i have not been lacking in the chile department. i saved random seeds and i've been growing two different kinds of green chiles, and one fish pepper plant. i've also been growing swiss chard-(aka eternal spinach). fun fact: did you know chard is in the beet family? true dat, it just lacks the root vegetable. good thing too, or i wouldn't eat it. i can't stand beets. i know--how could a good vegan not like beets? i just don't. i also don't care for radishes or okra. what does chard have to do with this post? not much of anything, i guess i got sidetracked.
so what do i do with all those chiles? aside from the new mexico chile sauce, i make a mean salsa verde:
close up! totally tricked out baked potato loaded with my husband's cheater chili, salsa verde, cheez sauce, and accompanied with some garden of eatin' blue corn chips.
totally tricked out potatoes from a distance. how pretty.
i took the omlette recipe from american vegan kitchen and filled it with vinnie's cheater chili and topped with cheez sauce, and salsa verde. delicious! i will say, there is a definite learning curve to making vegan omelets. first of all, get it out of your head that this will taste like an omelet. think of this more as a tofu crepe. perhaps i did something wrong and that is why it tasted moister than i would have liked and was harder to cook. the filling probably had something to do with it as well.

vinnie's cheater chili

• jar of commercial spaghetti sauce-make sure it's vegan!
  
• 1 can kroger's organic mixed beans
• 2 t cumin

rinse beans and throw everything in a saucepan.

my mean green salsa verde

• 4 tomatillos-(good sized ones)
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic via garlic press
• 1-2 green chiles, diced
• just a splash of lime juice if you have it, cider vinegar if you don't
• sprinkle of salt
• 1T or so of fresh chopped cilantro