When making food for myself, the simpler the better. Here’s a few recent meals…

This was an easy salad I put together of shredded purple cabbage, garbanzo beans, red grapes, fake bacon bits and Bragg’s vinaigrette dressing. Good stuff I tell ya.

This was two firsts in one. My first time making the ‘Vegetarian Nature’s Burger’ by Fantastic Foods and my first time using my new cast iron grill. The veggie burger mix comes in a box and you just add boiling water, then cook ‘em up. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon that everyone is raving about, but I don’t have the book yet (it’s on the way!) and this was the closest thing I had going on in my pantry that would satisfy the craving in the meantime.

Once I concocted the mixture I could tell it didn’t smell all that flavorful, so I added in some chopped fresh garlic and ginger as well as about a tablespoon of the FYH ‘Unforgettable Balsamic BBQ Sauce’. The grill worked out really nice and the burgers were quite good for something out of a box as well, though I’m glad I added the embellishments as without them they would have tasted quite plain.

This was a quick saute of broccolini, bell pepper, shitake mushroom and baked tofu in a little bit of fresh garlic and ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili flakes and a dash of nutritional yeast and gamasio to seal the deal.

…and it went without a hitch thanks to the fine ladies of Spork Foods. Their specially prepared vegan menu included:

Truffle Scented Thyme and Mushroom Gravy
Sage Whipped Mashed Potatoes
Sourdough Stuffing with Caramelized Onions, Apples and Pecans
Juicy Herbed Vegan “Turkey”
(the asparagus in the photo was made by my aunt)

Everything was very tasty. The faux-turkey was moist and flavorful and had a very meaty texture to it. I don’t actually know what it was made of but I assume it was some sort of seitan/gluten concoction.

Here’s how it was lovingly packaged for me beforehand, and I even get to keep the cute bento-like tupperware. Score!

This was the yummy dessert, ‘Maple and Cinnamon Apple Turnover with a Coconut Whipped Topping’. It had just started to burn as I was heating it but I got it out just in time (the dark parts look darker in the photo than they really were). It was delicious and the coconut topping was fantastic as well.

See my previous post for more info on Spork Foods…

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a vegan cooking class led by Jenny Goldberg of Spork Foods. I’ve never taken a cooking class before so this was a whole new exciting adventure for me. The theme of the class was food ideas for yummy stuff you could bring to a holiday potluck.

I’m not gonna divulge any recipes, but everything was really easy to prepare and the results were all delicious. Everything was pretty simple, yet Jenny’s recipes all had their own little special something that made each dish a winner. The menu consisted of:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Herbed Biscuits with Agave Lime Butter
Roasted Seasonal Vegetables
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Asian Coleslaw
Maple Tamari Almonds

Here’s Jenny, our hostess with the mostest… isn’t she adorable?

Cookies and biscuits cooling on the rack.

Other than this cookie, I can’t think of a more exciting way to get peanut butter, chocolate and oatmeal in my mouth all at once.

Herby, biscuity goodness. The agave lime butter (not shown) was good enough to lick right out of the bowl. No, I didn’t… but had I, it would have been totally understandable.

Preparation of the roasted veggies.

The very tasty finished product.

Jenny in living motion! The garbanzo’s are on their way to becoming hummus.

Still life with (to die for ) hummus.

Jenny has her way with the purple cabbage. And the cabbage liked it.

The lovely salad plated in a cabbage leaf.

Maple Tamari Almonds. We enjoyed these sprinkled on top of our salads.

What a nice day learning to make good food with some groovy ladies. If you’re in the L.A. area you should check out Jenny and her sister’s Spork Foods, “a gourmet vegan food company which offers delicious, innovative cuisine emphasizing organic, local, and seasonal ingredients”. They offer cooking classes, meal delivery, and catering. They’ll also set up booths at art shows and parties.

And on that note, I just picked up my Thanksgiving meal from these ladies which I’ll be enjoying tomorrow while the rest of my family eats poor, dead birds. I’ll let you know how it was after the holiday. May all of yours be equally yummy!

Today I got to enjoy a fun mini-meet-up with two other Los Angeles area vegan food bloggers Vegyogini and Your Vegan Mom (with Her Vegan Son). We chose Pure Luck for our lunch, whose close proximity to Scoops across the street made it a no-brainer.

I had the cold noodle salad, a delightful rice noodle dish with fresh spinach, basil, sprouts, grilled tofu and peanuts. It was similar to pad thai but without the usual tamarind flavor. It had it’s own unique and delicious dressing, and unfortunately I’m not remembering what was in it right now (I’ll get back to you on that). It also came with these yummy, chewy, doughy things that you can see over on the right side of the plate, they tasted like eggroll skins. I mixed everything up with the chili sauce and fresh squeezed lime and it was awesome. It’s nice that there’s a diet friendly option on their menu (which you’ll see quickly becomes irrelevant when followed by the next two paragraphs).

Over yonder at Scoops, I tried Strawberry & Jasmine and the Spiced Pumpkin. The strawberry was excellent, not too sweet or tart with a nice flowery hint of jasmine. The texture was like buttery smooth ice cream, just right. The pumpkin was pretty good too, but I can’t say that I loved it. The spice was a bit much and the texture was kinda grainy. The strawberry would have passed as real dairy ice cream with no problem, the pumpkin not so much.

And to top all that off, our fabulous Vegan Mom brought us some delicious homemade almond-apricot-chocolate cakey thingies. These wonderful little treats were so good! The cake part tasted like amazingly soft marzipan… then top that off in your mind with sweet apricot filling, more almondy goodness… then chocolate and nuts. Wow. It’s a good thing I only had two because I probably could have eaten 20.

This was one of the most satisfying meals I’ve ever made and the coolest thing about it is that the extent of my cooking simply involved cutting a few things and opening a bottle.

So the tempeh that got left out of the previous post made it’s way into this one (I used flax tempeh). First I steamed it for about 10 minutes. I cut up some green beans and portobello mushrooms then along with the tempeh coated everything in Follow Your Heart’s “Unforgettable Balsamic Barbecue Sauce“. I covered with foil, let cook for 15 minutes, removed the foil, stirred and let cook uncovered for another 15 minutes.

This sauce is the bomb… seriously finger lickin’ good. The balsamic vinegar takes the BBQ flavor to a whole new level, it’s slightly spicy too (I think there are mild and spicy versions). The tempeh and veggies came out cooked perfectly, with the tempeh getting just slightly crispy around the edges. It was served with quinoa which I cooked along with some fresh crushed garlic, dried onion flakes, dried sage and fresh parsley.

Pick the sauce up if you can find it near you or order it directly from Follow Your Heart. You can thank me later.

Look! I cooked! I’m reigning in my indulgences for a while and attempting to cook and eat in more often. I’ve got plenty of backlogged restaurant meals to still share with you though so hopefully you won’t get too bored while I get rid of a few extra pounds that crept on outta nowhere (she says, directly above a post about fried gluten in sweet sauce).

So this here is a roasted vegetable dish I made using all organic veggies from the farmers market. I used broccoli, fennel, sweet potato, yam and a couple of those cute little red carrots as seen over on the left of the picture. I mixed up some olive oil, lemon juice, agave nectar, curry powder, coriander, black pepper and sambal. The ingredients were coated in this mix then roasted at 425 for about 40 minutes. I had planned all along to add tempeh into this as well, but realized only after it was all cooked and out of the oven that I’d forgotten to add it. Duh! I still wanted the dish to have more protein in it but was too hungry and impatient to prepare the tempeh seperately, so I quickly improvised by mixing in a can of white beans. Served sprinkled with nutritional yeast it was quite tasty.

I finally got a chance to visit Vegetable Delight in Granada Hills and it was as great as I’d expected it to be.

This was the Lemon Veggie Chicken, a true winner in the “oh damn, this is SO good” department. The fake chicken is made of fresh mushrooms, soy bean flour and gluten. It’s got some sort of breaded outer layer, is fried to a degree of perfect crispiness, then coated in a thick, sweet and tangy lemon sauce. Served on a bed of cabbage and with brown rice. Really very delicious.

Vegetable Delight uses only natural ingredients and their chef hand makes everything.The menu is all vegan and ginormous. I’m talking 18 appetizers, 5 salads, 13 soups, 78 main courses, 20 rice & noodle dishes, and many other specialties like casseroles and sizzling plates. I am slightly in awe. Next time I’ll try something a little healthier and non-fried.

I’ve shown you a previous version of the “Vegan Feast” I had at HealthyCA before… grilled tofu trio (teriyaki, tomato and ginger olive oil) on a bed of red and white cabbage.

You get two sides with it so this time around I got the quinoa (the greatest tabouli style quinoa in all the land) and the coconut curried vegetables. It’s vegan love on a plate I tell you.

I always leave here full, satisfied and grateful that this awesome little oasis of healthy, delicious food exists in my neighborhood. I also like that they’re usually playing some good old school bands like The Who, The Clash, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, Motorhead, etc… What more could I ask for? Ok, I could ask for them to be open on weekends too, but I’m trying not to push it.

This was lunch at Native Foods in Westwood about a month ago. I wish I had a better photo of it for you because it was mighty tasty.

From the menu: “Portobello & Sausage Burger: Big grilled beauties with seitan sausage, pommodoro, caramelized onions, pesto and sweet roasted garlic clove garnish.”

On the side is yummy Thai cole slaw. The sandwich was great… very garlicky and the sausage tasted authentically Italian. Kind of a messy meal, it was easier to eat with a knife & fork than as a “handheld”.

Native Foods rules. When I was last there they were expanding to occupy the much larger space next door, which is great because their existing space was much too small. How lucky the UCLA students are… if I was going to school or working near this place I’d have to muster great restraint to not eat there every day.

I took myself on date to Fatty’s & Co. in Eagle Rock having heard it’s an awesome vegetarian cafe. Good news… it’s true!

I started with their soup of the day, a bean and vegetable soup which was basically a minestrone without noodles, topped with pesto. Very tasty.

My main dish was the Potato Skin Tacos: “Organic potato skins made crisp and filled with fresh edamame, mango, carrots, onions, celery and ground veggie crumbles saute in our south of the border spices. Served with a golden-brown potato-red bell pepper cake with creamy cilantro sauce, Martin’s mildly spicy tomatillo salsa and radish sprouts”.

As you can see the presentation was stunning, and the taste was equally delightful. The taco filling was really good, a meaty texture and good taco flavor but still retaining the crispness and freshness of the vegetables it consisted of. The potato-bell pepper cake was also great, perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and yummy on the inside. The sauce and both salsas brought it all together and made this dish not only delicious but also fun to eat.

And what would a date with oneself be without not having to share dessert with anyone? This was the apple pie with vegan vanilla ice cream. Awesome. And all mine.