Vegan Mofo VI-Day 28: Rockin' Ramen

I don't eat ramen as often as I used to, but every now and then it sounds good to me. It was really warm out today but I still have some of my cold left so a bowl of yummy hot noodles sounded great but using the gross flavor packet did not. Thank goodness for the internet. I found a much better way to make ramen on ieatfood's blog.

The recipe for "Pork-free Ramen Soup" was easy to follow and I already had most of what I needed. I had some soycurls I'd been sleeping on so I decided to add those instead of tofu. I didn't shred them though because I was in a hurry to eat my soup. This turned out great and smelled amazing while the broth was coming to a boil. I put three times the amount of garlic to try and kill any germs I still have. This doesn't take that much longer than making ramen straight from the packet so it's well worth it. Plus you get at least two huge servings, 3 or 4 smaller ones. I ate a big bowl because I was hungry and it was pretty much my lupper.

Vegan Mofo V Day 17 - Soy What?!

I still don't know what this week is going to be, but for now it looks like an impromptu Vegan Diner week. I did not go to the grocery store yesterday and have not made up my list for today so there you have it. My agar powder came in the mail today so that was a green light to make Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze, which I will probably do tomorrow or later tonight.

I did have time to quickly whip up some Smoky Curls to go with it. I'm hoping to make smoky cheezey omelets, grilled cheezes or both very soon. It will have to be soon because I'm not sure how long the curls are going to survive. I kept tasting as I was cooking to see how they were turning out. I wanted them crispier so I added more oil and let them cook a bit more before adding the agave. Later on,  I "dropped" a few and "had" to eat them. These are the perfect combo of sweet, salty and smoky. I will have to hit up the adventist store again soon and stock up on more soy curls!

My copy of Santuary- Farm Sanctuary's Compassionate Quarterly also arrived the mail today. I find it odd that I almost always end up reading this while I'm eating, but I think it would bother me a lot more if I were eating animals whilst reading about their rescues from horrible conditions. It's great to not be part of the problem, but also reminds me I should be taking a more active role in being part of the solution. One easy way to do this is to adopt a turkey, which I did for the first time last year. I'm not sure who I will be adopting just yet, but so far Raphael has a slight lead. If you want to adopt one (or more), go 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.