Vegetarian Tamales

Dough:
I use masa flour and then make the masa using vegetable broth and vegetable oil. Lard would be traditonal, vegtable shortening would be a close approximation but I am not into the hydrogenation too much, so...

Filling:
TVP, refried beans, salsa verde, corn, spices, chipotles in adobo, cilantro onions and garlic. Sometimes TVP sometimes tofu, but the addition of refried beans this time will now be the standard. I mix that all up and throw it in the tamale pot. I use cheese. You don't have to, but if you don't use more salsa in the filling to keep it moist.

I started using the tamale recipe from the New Farm Vegetarian cook book and its a good starting point for you veg*n tamales. The book is also good all around, even though it was published some time ago.

Camp Meal

On a recent camping trip this was dinner. 'Fancy' ramen (rice) noodle pre-packaged soup and homemade vegan sausage. Just boil some water and eat. MMMM.... kerosene.

Keep it pert.

Um, so I was tempted to only post about my vegan cooking here, with the hope that masses will flock to my amazing food related posts and feel obliged to stay. Most of the blogs out there about vegetarian cooking that I visit are straight up vegan. Sadly, I am not. Given the 10 page views I get a week, I feel like vegetarians are auto-included with vegans and then no one is left out. Welp, thats silly. I like cooking and cook stuff. Us veg*ns are, of course, no strangers to changing things up a bit when it comes to recipes. Not that I actually post recipes (not yet).

Food related post:
I like coffee, but that much caffeine makes me crazy. Solution: decaf. Also, to speak of consumerism and helping the GDP. This purchase might make you like decaf too. I really enjoy this french press and really really like the thermal glasses included with it. No filters and maximum flavor. However, given no filter to trap them, this coffee does keep some more of its flavorful oils (= added fat content) if that sort of things concerns you.

Banana Oatmeal Pistachio Raisin Cranberry Scone

Yup, some people like to make their scones into wedges and make the really pretty and stuff. Not me. I like to portion amount into approximately equal sized globs. I found these to be quite tasty full of whole grains (oats and whole wheat) and vegan.

Gluten Delivered for Cheap - Make Your Own Seitan

If you, like me, enjoy seitan but don't enjoy it price or availability at your local market you'll inevitably want to make it yourself. Then after spending time sifting through all of the seitan recipes you've collected, you'll know that you are going to need some vital wheat gluten. Roadblock: This wheat protein can be expensive and hard to find too. Solution: semi-bulk purchase from the internet. I've purchased the gluten for about $3.50 lb (5.5 lbs at a time w/ a subscription) with free shipping here. It's the best deal on gluten I could find and my local stores don't carry it.

Vegan Sauerkraut Split Pea Soup and Vegan Hummus Sausage

I thought sauerkraut and split pea soup sounded great. I made it. Apparently, other people do too. Mine had split peas, sauerkraut, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. I also made some seitan sausages that I made with hummus and some other stuff. I used the cooking method suggested by Vegan Dad. I have a poor quality pic. But this soup was and sausage was really tasty. I also made some rosemary wheat/rye bread.

Holiday Seitan Roast with Homemade Stuffing

I made a seitan roast with homemade cranberry, bread, pecan and apple stuffing. I steamed and baked the seitan adapted from a method by Vegan Dad. It turned out quite well, but I need to work on getting the stuffing centered.