Whole Grain Mexican Rice

Yesterday, Anna and I were craving something Mexican-like for lunch. While Anna was at school, I improvised this Mexican rice. It was scary for me, improvising a cooking recipe without Anna! And when I got done, I was afraid that the flavor was too strong and that it would have to be fixed by Anna when she got back from school. However, when she got back from school, Anna tried my rice and she said it was perfectly fine, which is kind of a big deal for me. I have never made a new cooking recipe without Anna before. I'm more of a baker than a cook. ^_^'Anyway, here is the recipe; the measurements are approximate. Don't forget: the most important tools here are your tastebuds! At least, that's what Anna says all the time. ;P

Mexican Fried Rice

Some vegetable/canola oil

½ large red onion, diced

1 or 2 green bell peppers, diced

1 small can of tomato paste (about 6 oz.)

2 ½ to 3 cups of cooked, whole grain brown rice

Garlic Powder

Cumin

Mushroom Powder

Any other seasonings of your choice

1. Heat up a saucepan on high heat.
2. Pour some oil (about 1 tablespoon or so) into the saucepan (keep it on high heat).
3. Add the onions when the oil gets hot.
4. Once the onions start to smell good, add the green bell peppers, and add half of the tomato paste. Stir the mixture around so that it doesn’t burn.
5. Add all the rice to the mixture, and lower the heat to medium heat.
6. Put the rest of the tomato paste into the rice (put some rice into the can to get the last bit, if you know what I mean).
7. Keep mixing, and add dashes of garlic powder, cumin, mushroom powder, and any other seasonings to your taste. I would suggest chili powder.
8. Once you are done seasoning the rice, take the saucepan off the stove and transfer the rice to a rice cooker to keep it warm until you are ready to serve. Be sure that the rice cooker is set on the “keep warm” setting, not the “cook” setting.
9. Serve with a dash of pepper, a couple of scoops of guacamole and refried beans, or whatever you like! ^__^

Hearty Creamy Pasta Recipe!

This pasta recipe is my favorite!! =) I bring it to potlucks and it always wins everyone over, vegans and omnivores alike. It is a modified recipe based off of Lindy Loo's "Creamiest Vegan Mac'n'Cheez EVER". It was originally Anna's idea to add pasta sauce to the recipe to make it a creamy pasta. This dish is pretty decadent, so I wouldn't suggest making it alll the time. But it is a wonderful treat to have once in a while. For a healthier version, I substitute the pasta with whole wheat pasta.

The recipe is very simple.

First, we make Lindy Loo's recipe: http://yeahthatveganshit.blogspot.com/2007/10/creamiest-vegan-mac-n-cheez-ever.html

We follow her instructions exactly, but we don't bake the pasta like she says to, not until after we add our pasta sauce. Anna and I also like to use more nutritional yeast, like 1/8 to 1/4 a cup more. ^__^ The Red Star brand is the kind we use.

Once we are done with making Lindy Loo's recipe, we make a pasta sauce.

Here is what Anna and I usually put in our pasta sauce (the measurements for the vegetables are not exact; we usually just use whatever we have on hand):

The Mai Sisters' Standard Pasta Sauce

[flexible]

1 medium to fairly large onion, diced

Mushrooms (about 1 1/2 cups, chopped)

1 large green bell pepper, diced

Zucchini, diced (one or two medium zucchinis, depending on how much you like them)

Black olives (as many as you like, you know)

3 Tofurkey sausages, Italian flavor, chopped into 1/4" slices

1 standard jar of tomato sauce (about 3 cups, or 25 ounces)

1. Saute the onions with some oil until they are nice and brown and smell nice.

2. Add the rest of the vegetables and tofurkey sausages.

3. When the vegetables are cooked, add the spaghetti sauce; let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

4. Season it according to your tastes; we use onion and garlic powder, oregano, and some salt.

5. Add the pasta sauce to the mac'n'cheez and mix it thoroughly.

This recipe usually fills up two large plates. ;)

Enjoy!

Sushi [Ann]

[Note: I am very displeased about the font and size of this post. It's uneven and I try to change it to be consistent but blogspot just won't let me. I am so bad at these things. haha. Enjoy, anyway.]

Sushi is pretty much my favorite food to make! It’s ridiculously easy as well. People may scoff at the idea of “vegan sushi” and exclaim “What’s sushi without fish? Isn’t that an oxymoron?” or something of the sort. On the contrary, from what I gather, vegan sushi is still perfectly “legit”. =P I was talking to a foreign exchange student from Japan, and we got to talking about sushi. He suggested that I make some for him sometime, and I was like “Oh by the way, it’s vegan sushi, so there’s no fish in it.” And he was like “So what? Sushi is sushi. Doesn’t need to have fish.” You just need rice, nori and some kind of filling. The filling doesn’t necessarily have to be fish.

Regardless of the question of its “legitimacy”, vegan sushi is delicious and loads of fun! I make this for my friends all the time, especially those who are allergic to fish or are grossed out by the thought of raw fish. Call it what you like; this is my kind of sushi. ;)

The ingredients and assembly are simple; as you know, rice and nori are required. Here are some of my favorite fillings:

• Avocados
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Banana peppers(!!)
• Asparagus
• Shitake mushrooms
  • Dried/fresh, steam them and season with soysauce/tamari, cut into slices =)
• Green/red bell peppers
• The former give the sushi a refreshing taste, and the latter gives a sweet flavour.
• Mangos
• Get the light yellow kind that is not quite ripe yet. Think sour.
• Fake “Meat Fluff”
• (My family gets this from Vietnam; it’s from my friend’s trusted company. It is available for purchase online here.)
• Note: if you decide to use this, I recommend cutting your sushi with scissors (it totally works), because the “meat fluff” is a little tough to cut with a knife. It tastes great. ;)
• If you aren’t using meat fluff, you could also put some kind of seasoned tofu in your sushi (don’t just use unseasoned white tofu!)
• Another suggestion: Fake crab.
• Be sure to check the ingredients, because on many occasions, I have found “crab extract” listed in the ingredients of so-called “Fake Crab”. I think fake crab seasoned with lemon juice and salt & black pepper would make an excellent addition to the sushi.
• Roasted sesame seeds
• just sprinkle some on before you roll the sushi
• Spicy Tempeh
• Recipe found here.

I just cut everything into strips and make my own sushi combinations. :)

Condiments: spicy mayo, ponzu, soysauce, gari (pickled ginger), and wasabi.

You can buy most everything at the store, except spicy mayo, which I have a wonderful recipe for.

Ingredients:

• Vegan Mayo
• I use Vegenaise, Follow Your Heart’s brand. It’s the best. ^__^
• Sriracha Hot Sauce
• Garlic powder

Just spoon out a few dollops of vegan mayo, and add the hot sauce and garlic powder according to your tastes. I don't have exact measurements for this because all you really need are your tastebuds.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies! :)

Although you can't see the raisins or chocolate chips in this particular picture, these are the vegan oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies that I made with my engineering group a while back! I also made them with Anna. :) These are quite possibly the best cookies I have ever made ^__^

I decided to try to make oatmeal raisin cookies, because they are Kenny’s favorite. xD

I was debating which oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to use, as I have never made oatmeal raisin cookies before, vegan or otherwise. I came across two that looked promising. I went with a recipe from Vegweb, based on the raving reviews. I am always skeptical of recipes that don’t have substantial reviews.

I made some modifications, because I don’t trust EnerG Egg Replacer at all, haha. Everyone says it makes things crumbly and that you can taste it in your final product. No thanks :/ One of the reviewers said applesauce worked well, so I listened to her advice. Since I omitted the EnerG Egg Replacer and subbed it with applesauce, there was no need to add water or soymilk. On a whim, Hannah and I decided to throw in some chocolate chips, as well. Brian and I topped some of the cookies with pecans. Creativity wins~the cookies were a success—everyone gobbled them up. =D In my opinion, they were a bit too sweet, so next time I may add less sugar. The sweetness is probably because we used Cinnamon Apple Quaker Oatmeal. The cookies probably would have been just right had plain oatmeal/oats been used. But, everybody thought they were the perfect sweetness. Maybe I’m getting old. D: haha. But seriously, I plan to make these for a family gathering sometime, and the adults in my family don’t like super sweet treats.

Oh yeah, the recipe on VegWeb says that it makes 2 dozen, but we went with our instincts and doubled the recipe. We got a little over 2 dozen. Haha. That always happens to me, especially with cookie recipes! I always end up with half of the projected yield given by the recipe. The following measurements are for 2.5 dozen, from my experience. Don’t make the cookies too big, because they are a bit fragile (I think next time I will add tapioca starch to make them more sturdy). These do spread a little, so be sure to space them out. =)

So, here is the recipe for Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies, a modified version of the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies I found on VegWeb (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6459.0)

Be sure to check out the link to the original recipe, and look at the comments. The reviewers have lots of ideas on how to modify this recipe; it seems to be very adaptable.

Ingredients:

(use vegan versions, and try to find organic products)

• 1 cup softened (NOT MELTED) non-dairy margarine (I use Earth Balance)
• 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a little over ½ a cup of applesauce (I used the cinnamon applesauce)
• 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I always use Ghiradelli’s semisweet chocolate chips!)
• 1 ½ cup all-purpose (or whole wheat pastry, etc.) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• about 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal (or plain rolled oats)

Equipment:

• 1 large mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons & measuring cup
• Electric mixer
• Cookie tray ;]

1. Place the margarine in a large mixing bowl and let it soften on the counter. Just leave the kitchen and do something else for ten to fifteen minutes, but don’t forget all about it, as I have done before. You can microwave it for a teeny tiny bit so that it softens faster, but I often find this method to be unreliable…I end up with completely melted margarine, not the desired result.
2. Add the sugar to the bowl. Using the mixer, cream the margarine and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla extract, applesauce, dried fruit, and chocolate chips (if using), to the bowl and mix.
4. In this order, add the following ingredients in and mix after every couple additions (so that the batter doesn’t get too overburdened): flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oatmeal.
5. At this point, the batter should be extremely sticky and thick. If it’s dry, add some soymilk. If it is looking too soupy, add some more flour, but don’t overdo it.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Use your tablespoon to scoop the batter out onto your cookie tray. I used a nonstick one so I didn’t need to oil it. If you’re not using a nonstick pan, you may want to oil it a little bit. Kind of flatten out the scoops.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
9. Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool for at least one minute on the cookie tray. They’ll be too fragile and too hot for you to move.
10. Using a wooden spatula or something of the sort, transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool completely.

Enjoy the cookies with a glass of soymilk and a friend or two. ^__~

The cookies will be soft and chewy. Mind you, they’ll still be a bit delicate, but they seem to get better the following day (that is if they last that long =P)

I smell censorship! MORE CONFUSION![Ann]

In the last post, I said something along the lines of: "I tried to talk about mooncakes, but I guess the system doesn't like me to because it hasn't been showing up. >:[ RUDE. Anyway, I'm going to make mooncakes later today when I get home!"
That part of my post did not show up. I retyped it MULTIPLE times and reposted. It's still gone. hmmph how rude!

Uh! Freedom of speech (that includes blogging, does it not?)!!

It is probably technical difficulties. But seriously, facebook is mean to me, yahoo is mean to me. Why not blogspot..=P
My head hurts.

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Confusion [Ann]

I'm wondering how to add songs to our music playlist thing at the bottom of this page. Agh. So confused. I don't know the password to our playlist. :'(
Mmm, look, chocolate chip cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance! Nomnomnomnom xD

Last week, Anna came to Texas! We had great fun baking (without a certain LAZY someone who would rather see a crappy movie for free than bake with us...har har jk) those chocolate chip cookies and also chocolate thumbprint cookies for the WHS STAND bake sale! (both recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance ;) I made Kenny some special ones! :}
(Please do not delete this post, Anna)

Dear Jerry & Kenia, I will post oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies later on today just for you! :]

[edit: WHAT HAPPENED HERE?! WHERE IS THE SENSE? I HAD TEXT ABOUT MOONCAKES. Please refer to post titled "I smell censorship!"]

>:[ The mooncakes are going to be so beautiful and cultural and all that jazz...yeah. If you don't know what mooncakes are, they look something like the picture at the very top of this post (Yeah I don't know. I tried to move it closer to this paragraph that relates to mooncakes, but it just wont listen to me). Ours will look so much better because my aunt has beautiful intricate flowery designs in her mold. Hm, taken out of context, that phrase sounds kind of gross...or like morbidly fascinating. Ah so exciting! I love Autumn.
Anna's coming again this weekend! YAY!

Posting a blog is complicated for me. My pictures don't match up with what I've typed. I tried to move them. They're stuck! :( LWTC?! Maybe next time I'll just post pictures and no words. A picture is worth a thousand words, anyway.

FOB Fashion frenzy

I'm having a sudden urge to shop, and thank god I have a car now because I'm going shopping today :D