"We Are All Sausages" *

Pizza is one of the foods that I eat all the time when I'm out but rarely make at home. I hoard up a few Amy's and Tofurky pizzas for "special times", but that's as close as it usually gets. I don't know why I do it, pizza isn't that tough to make, you can buy sauce and dough at most stores. If you really are hard core, those shouldn't be too hard to do either, unless you are impatient like me, then the sauce might drive you crazy.

To feel like less of a lazy person, I did make my own sausage. Ever since I stopped being scared of seitan, thanks fo Julie Hasson, I have been wanting to make her recipe for Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages. I probably wouldn't have gotten around to it as soon as I did except that I had leftover bell peppers from when I made enchiladas the other day. I wasn't sure what to use them in until I thought of pizza. I love mine to have a ton of bell peppers so from there I decided to add some sausage in as well.

My steamer is not too large so I think next time I will arrange them better so they cook more evenly, but they still turned out great. I was a little off in my portions so I ate the little baby sausage with some mustard while I was putting the rest of the sausages away. I only used one sausage for the pizza so I have 5 or 6 more, which I could probably eat all by myself, but I'm going to offer some to my sister since she might want to make a pizza too. If I am really nice I will just give her half of the the new pizza I make with all the extra ingredients I have. I will go easier with the daiya next time since it got greasier and gooey-er than I intended. It was still really good, but I am notorious for overloading pizzas and need to have a lighter hand.

On a non-food related note, I got the best phone call ever today from my future boss. I am going to start my job on Tuesday. I am beyond excited. I was offered the job two months ago, but there was a lot of behind the scenes paperwork that had to happen between now and then. I am truly thankful to be working again and particularly happy that it's in a field that means so much to me. I'm starting at the bottom, but I'm not worried since I'm a quick climber. 2012 is going to be an amazing year full of changes for the better.

p.s. If you don't know what I'm talking about in the title, click here.

Vegan Mofo V Day 14 - Philly Tease Steak

Here is the soy curl philly I made yesterday. There are two onions, two bell peppers and a ton of mushrooms in there too, you just can't see them buried in the "meat". I wanted to do a tease steak with "whiz" since I have never made them like that at home, but I scrapped it when I didn't think I would like the spread I made very much. We had some daiya so I used that instead. The bread is leftover ciabatta baguette from bahn mi day. Yay for not wasting food!

This was my first time using soy curls. I rehydrated them in vegetable broth, drained them and then marinated them in broth, braggs, garlic and some balsamic vinegar. I had planned on doing a no-beef broth type of thing but forgot to buy any so I winged it. I baked them in the toaster oven for about half an hour before I tried to brown them up in the pan. You really have to get all the liquid out of these curls, I learned that quickly. I ended up taking them out of the pan and giving them a good squeeze. I sauteed the veggies and added the curls back in so they could get browned up. I took a lot longer on this than I probably should have but know that I know how these work, I won't make the same mistakes next time. Next will be the Couricos Tacos from Vegan Brunch or the Smoky Curls from Vegan Diner.

I really enjoyed Sandwich Week and I am glad my family did too. That would be a lot of sammiches for me to eat all by myself. I know I could, but that doesn't mean I should. I think the bahn mi and the tofu fish filet were the biggest winners. I can see them showing up again really soon. The reuben was yummy, but now I want to make the VWAV Tempeh Reuben too. I could eat reubens every day if left to my own devices. The philly wasn't what I thought it would be but it was still good. I want to make one with portobellos and go to sammich heaven.

Nobody Beats the Count*

 I've never had a Monte Cristo Sandwich before, but the one posted on Vegan Happy Hour rekindled my interest in them. I am not usually intimidated by rich or fried foods, but I believe I met my match this time. My first bite was delicous and doughnutty. I couldn't wait for more, that is until I was nearly done with my second quarter of the sandwich. Defeat started to set in and I realized I should have made this when I wasn't the only one around who would eat it. These are definitely for sharing. The recipe makes two sandwiches and I don't think anyone will need more than half, a fourth might be just enough in fact.

I used the "Baked Ham" slices from Lightlife, Oven Roasted slices from Tofurky, and Mozzerella Daiya shreds. I think I would use a different flavor of Tofurky or another brand because these got lost in the rest of the flavors. I also might put more "meat" inside since the bread and breading can be overwhelming. The recipe suggests sliced Daiya but says shredded is doable. I would only recommend shreds if you're really fast and have good hand-eye coordination. By the time I quartered and toothpicked my sandwiches I lost nearly all of my Daiya in the dipping batter-again this could be my own lack of skill, but just saying. I decided to fry the second sandwich in one piece so I wouldn't lose the cheese again. It seemed to come out much better. I'll do it this way from now on, then maybe cut it into strips for sharing. I'm not sure how well the leftovers will work out, but I absolutely could not eat another bite. Hopefully it's toaster-oven-friendly.

*I always think of the movie "Sleepers" when I hear Monte Cristo. Of course you should read The Count of Monte Christo instead of watching movies, but if you can do both, why not.

Vegan Mofo IV Day 4 Cheezy Life

Two weeks ago my sister's fiancé G surprised us with a menu from Cheezy Pizza, a place in Colton that offers vegan pizzas, calzones and cheesy breadsticks loaded with daiya deliciousness. We used to go to Pizza Kiln in Moreno Valley but if I remember correctly, they closed and merged with Pizza Time in Norco. It was supposed to be the same as Pizza Kiln as far as the vegan offerings, but much to our dismay, that never happened. We still could get vegan pies from Zpizza or just make our own, but what we really would miss were the calzones.

Cheezy Pizza is a slight reincarnation of Pizza Kiln. When G went to pick up our food he saw one of the ladies who used to work at Pizza Kiln. It turns out she was the one responsible for bringing in the vegan vendors and therefore, the vegan customers. I don't know the whole backstory of what happened and I really do not care to get into it. All I know is calzones are back and I'm happy to have another semi-local vegan option. Last I heard, the website wasn't completely up to date, so it's probably best to give a call before heading over. Even though we're ordering tonight, I hope the 15% off all Vegan orders on weekends promo is true.

Last time we ordered two calzones,two pizzas, cheesy breadsticks and jalapeño poppers, our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs. Luckily we are huge fans of leftovers and it was all gone by the next night. That night was our first time trying the jalapeño poppers. Since it's a pizza place, I don't know why I thought they would have cheddar daiya, but I did. They did not resemble traditional poppers, but were more like daiya mozzarella-jalapeño calzones, which isn't a bad thing, trust me. I "had" to eat them all since they were too hot for everyone else. The jalapeños got the better of me too, since I've only come to appreciate them in the last few years. I had to take some of them out. Don't tell my grandma, okay?

Photo was borrowed from Cheezy Pizza's FB page since our food isn't here yet.

rosas y 'ritas

Most people know that Cinco de Mayo is not the real Mexican Independence Day (¡16 de Septiembre!), even yo, la más pocha, have known that for years. However it is definitely not the first or last historical/cultural event to be turned into a reason to party. 4 de Julio anyone? Who am I to say no to a party, in any language. That would just be rude.

Porque somos pochas, the only Independence day we normally celebrate is 4th of July. Twilight zone marathon, barbecue, fireworks (still allowed in our city!), beer and cocktails= good times. This year we decided to have a special dinner for Cinco De Mayo for no particularly good reason other than the 5-letter word that has finally made vegan enchiladas possible: d-a-i-y-a. We first made them for my sister's birthday in March and have been waiting for an excuse to do it again.Last time my mom helped me and we were able to fit more enchiladas into a 13" x 9" pan. I forgot that when left to myself I will put so much filling that you can barely roll them. It's great when you are eating them, but not so good when you realize you are going to have to make three pans instead of one. The plus is that they are easier to fit in the fridge now.

For dessert we had "Mucho Margarita Cupcakes" from VCTOTW. I think this is only my 5th attempt of the 75 recipes in the book, slacker! I will definitely try them again since it was one of the quicker cupcakes to make, even with all of the lime squeezing. We have some older pans that still bake great but since they're old they leave marks on the paper liners y no me gusta. About a year ago, I bought a new pan but I think it is too light or something else is wrong with it. These and the "Pineapple Right Side Up" are the only ones I have made in that pan and they stuck to the liners so you only get about half a cupcake when you eat them. I baked three smaller ones in foil heart cups and those turned out fine so I'm thinking its the pan. The cupcakes I did get were still quite delicious and the frosting también. I do need some practice with the sprinkles, maybe next time I will follow directions and roll them in the sugar.

I also made flores de papel crepé. for the ladies That was the one thing I actually got right today. The first one I made was huge so I did next two large and medium sized. The extra large one was definitely my favorite. I love to wear flowers in my hair, especially when they are almost as big as my hair (still not sure if I should chop it before the wedding or leave it fro-tastic). My sister was having a bad day and didn't want to wear hers. My niece had taken hers off and couldn't be bothered to put it back on. Luckily my mom is a good sport and I pinned one on her as soon as she got home.

easy cheesy

I've been receiving Real Simple and Vegetarian Times for about a year now. My friend's daughter had a magazine fundraiser and if some poor sucker bought a certain amount of magazines she would get a "cool" t-shirt. To quote the prince of Soul Glo, "anything for the kids".

Both magazines have tons of great recipes I've yet to try. I have magazine ADD or something. I do a flip, then a read, and by the next time I see it, can't really remember why I bought the darn thing. The most recent issues of each, which are my last, are extra awesome. It almost makes me want to renew but I got two gift subscriptions to other magazines for Christmas (VegNews and Cesar's Way!) and there is no way I can take all that glossy paper. Even though I love getting mail, it's just too much.

Real Simple always has a vegetarian recipe, but this is the first time I have tried one. It is for "cheesy baked pasta with spinach and artichokes". Even though I love to take forever in the kitchen, it is good to have some quick go-to recipes for when I only have 30 minutes or so. I didn't find mezzi rigatoni so I used regular rigatoni. I probably could have cut them after they cooked, but I can just use a smaller pasta next time. I subbed daiya for the mozarella and used about a shot glass of vegan parm. I think that's roughly an ounce. I put everything in a cake pan and thew it in the toaster oven on broil for a little over five minutes. Daiya take a bit longer to melt than dairy and I'm also not so sure the toaster oven "broil" is as hot as the oven broiler.

I definitely wish I had gotten some wine and bread to eat with this. I would double the amount if serving as a main course. My sister and I finished it quite easily, but we have "healthy" appetites.

p.s. The Texas Caviar killed the easter picnic yesterday. It was one of the first dishes to go. My cousins were psyched when I brought it out and asked if it was the one I made last year. It's similar but I like this one better since it doesn't have corn- I'm kind of grossed out by corn lately. I did add about a tbsp of cayenne and cumin to it since it needed some more flavor.

p.p.s. There is only one slice of strawberry pie left, gonna make another one tomorrow.