This is another recipe from Appetite for Reduction and it’s really, really yummy. Because I like to work against myself, I fattened it up a little by using regular tortilla chips instead of baked and adding a lil’ Daiya to my bowl. I think it would still be good the skinny way but you’ll never hear me turn down an opportunity to sneak in some (vegan) cheese.
1 tsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, sliced thinly
2 jalapenos, seeded and sliced thinly
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped into 1/2 in. pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
24 oz whole tomatoes
24 oz vegetable broth
4 oz baked tortilla chips (~2 cups)
1 tbs ground cumin
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice from 1 lime
Directions
Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium-high heat
Saute the onions, jalapenos and green pepper in the oil until the onions are translucent, about 5 min. use a little nonstick cooking spray or broth, if needed, to keep it from burning
Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and saute for another minute
Break up the tomatoes with your fingers and add them to the pot, including the juice
Fill the tomato can with broth and add it in
Mix in the cumin
Crush 2 oz of the chips into crumbs and add to the pot
Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to simmer, add the beans, corn and cilantro and simmer for 5 min.
Add lime juice, ladle soup into bowls
Crumble remaining chips over the top (sprinkle on some Daiya cheddar if you like!), garnish with cilantro and serve
This was what we had for dinner last night and it was goooood.
This recipe marks the first time I’ve actually made something I pulled from Pinterest. The original wasn’t vegan, but as you know, Gardein makes that process laughably easy.
Also worth noting: the original recipe calls for ciabatta rolls. I couldn’t find any, so I went with classic French bread, which was very good, but I think this would be even better on ciabatta – especially since the Gardein Chick’n breasts are thinner than a typical chicken breast.
Vegan Bruschetta Chick’n Sandwich Recipe inspired by Picky Palate
Ingredients
4 pieces Gardein Chick’n Scallopini
Pinch of salt
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 fresh basil leaves, stacked, rolled and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
I missed this “top 10″ list of famous vegans LA Weekly put together a while back. The list includes everyone from Lisa Simpson to Bill Clinton and Steve-O (quite the variety!). Click here to see the entire lineup.
Just like everyone else, I’m guilty of paying way more attention to the lives of celebrities than I should. Whether we like to admit it or not, they have significant influence on our lives and culture as a whole. Even though it’s fun and interesting to read about who’s who among vegan celebs, I’m careful to take it with a grain of salt not only because the lifestyles (and eating habits) of the rich and famous tend to evolve with the latest trends but also because, as LA Weekly has done with the inclusion of Bill Clinton here, “vegan” tends to be used pretty loosely by the media.
Technically, my favorite ex-President isn’t vegan – and not just because he still eats fish here and there. President Clinton’s avoidance of animal products only applies to his diet. And as ya’ll know, being vegan is about more than food.
All that said though, there’s no harm in reading up about celebs with vegan habits. Just be careful not to toot the vegan horn too loud the next time a new movie star declares themselves a convert. You don’t want to look like a dope when she’s caught downing a milkshake by TMZ a few weeks later.
Sorry about the unannounced hiatus. Things got busy, yadda yadda, etc.
Anywho, I’m back and I come bearing many yummy new recipes. I got a new cookbook for Christmas, Appetite for Reduction, and I’ve been quietly pounding away at it over the past few weeks. AFR is from the fabulous Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of the fantastic PPK blog and many wildly popular vegan cookbooks, including the holy grail: Veganomicon.
As you can probably deduce from the title, AFR focuses on lean, healthy and quick vegan cooking. I’ve made several drool-worthy things from it so far, including this salad. The original recipe calls for 4 cups of bean sprouts. However, I am not a fan of sprouts, as I think they taste of dirt. I replaced them with sliced mushrooms. Mushrooms lend a similarly “earthy” flavor sans hint of funky potting soil. Feel free to do it your own way.
8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
4 cups sliced mushrooms (or bean sprouts, if you insist)
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 recipe Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing (recipe below)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro
Lime wedges as garnish
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, toss lettuce, mushrooms, red onion and carrot
Add dressing and toss to coat
Distribute salad among four bowls, garnish with roasted peanuts and cilantro and serve with lime wedges
Dressing Ingredients
1/4 cup roasted peanuts*
2 tbs chopped shallot
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup water
2 tbs agave nectar
2 tbs shoyu/soy sauce
1 tsp Sriracha
*Note: The next time I make this I will definitely replace half the peanuts with 2 tbs of natural peanut butter (in the first step, below). This dressing is awesome, but it doesn’t have anything in it to make it adhere to the salad. I think peanut butter would accomplish that quite nicely without adding too much extra calories and fat.
Dressing Directions
Pulse 2 tbs of the peanuts (peanut butter!) and the shallot in a food processor, just to chop everything up well
Add the lime juice, water, agave, shoyu and sriracha and blend until very smooth
Add remaining 2 tbs of peanuts and pulse for a bit, just to chop them up small
On the heels of the “Shit Girls Say” videos, all kinds of similarly themed content has since shown up online. Vegan, 100% soy candle entrepreneur, Ari Solomon, recently jumped on the bandwagon with a few videos of his own, appropriately titled: “Shit Vegans Say” and they are two kindsa funny!
I think my favorite thing is that he’s wearing various PETA t-shirts throughout the videos but there are some seriously hilarious lines in there too, several of which have passed through my lips over the last year or two. I refuse to identify those I have and haven’t said, but I will say that if I see you doing something super-animal unfriendly in public (like wearing fur, for example), it is highly likely that I’ve called you an unpleasant name…
Round these parts, it’s a perfect day for soup.
