philly eats

I've finally rediscovered my love for Mi Lah Vegetarian, right off of 16th and Walnut. I went there a month or so ago and had their Vietnamese hoagie. I have a very sensitive palette, and the jalapeno peppers along with the chile oil was a little overpowering for me. Today I was in the mood for something other than my usual wrap, so I stopped over to Mi Lah and got the hoagie, minus the jalapenos and it was delectable. There was still a tinge of heat from the chile oil, but it was perfectly balanced with the heap of shredded carrots and cucumbers. I ordered it to-go, and they packaged it neatly with a side salad that had a beautiful, light citrus vinaigrette that was a perfect way to end the meal.

sunday dinners & salads

my friend tracy recently introduced me to a vegan friend ben! he also loves to cook, and thought it would be a cool idea to have sunday dinners. maybe not every week, but as often as possible! the next one is scheduled for the 4th. I also love dinner parties, and I'm thinking about coming up with some solid meal plans and hosting dinners at my house.

again, I'm trying to get healthier. I've gained over 10 pounds since last year, mostly due to excessive drinking. I've cut back on drinking substantially and now I'm trying to cleanse my body as much as possible! my roommate jackie and I have decided to get creative with salads. believe me, I love a salad when done right, but I honestly almost never eat them at home. I end up going out to eat and paying an arm and a leg for a salad I could've made myself, instead haha.
tonight's creation was pretty good. I might actully make it again sometime. I used what I had on hand.

- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 pink grape fruit
- 1/2 c pecans, chopped
- a couple handfuls of organic dried cherries
- olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- splash of red wine vinegar

wash and rough chop the romaine, place in a large mixing bowl. peel and section the grapefruit, and cut the wedges into chunks. chop the pecans if they're whole. pour in a few tsp of olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, the lemon juice, and cherries. toss everything together and serve!

tip: I bought the cherries from the bulk bin at whole foods, which saved me some money :)

Stuffed Pepper Boats

Stuffed Pepper Boats

I was inspired by a mini-stuffed pepper dish I saw in another blog, but they never post recipes. I think they added seitan to theirs, but I'm not a huge fan of meat subs so I just made a quick bean and rice dish, spooned it into some red bell pepper sections, and voila! I'm going to be moving soon so I've had finger-foods on the brain for the many dinner parties I plan on having ;)

what you need:
3 large bell peppers (any color; red is my fave!)
1 can organic black beans, drained
1 1/2 C organic brown rice
1/4 C panko bread crumbs
1/2 large white onion, diced
2 green onions/scallions (white & green part) for garnish
seasonings: creole (of course), garlic powder, fresh cracked black pepper

I buy frozen organic brown rice from whole foods. it comes in a bag and is fully cooked, you just microwave it for 2 minutes. I can't cook dry rice to save my life, so this is my go-to product!

* preheat oven to 350 degrees *

1. dice onion and saute in 2 tsp of olive oil (in a medium size saucepan). in the meantime, cut the bell peppers into sections that can be filled/piled with mixture.
2. once transluscent, add drained black beans and cooked brown rice. add about 1/4cup of water.
3. add spices, stirring occasionally until hot.
4. grease a cookie sheet and place bell pepper sections skin-side down in the oven (I bought organic olive oil cooking spray, and this is what I used to coat the cookie sheet!). let them roast for about 10 minutes so that they soften.
5. remove peppers from oven, let cool, and stuff with bean and rice mixture. place them back on the cookie sheet, cover in aluminum foil, and bake in the oven for another 5 minutes.
6. in the meantime, toast panko bread crumbs in a non-stick skillet until golden (I also added a few pinches of garlic powder).
7. remove peppers from oven, top with toasted bread crumbs and scallions!

I topped mine with a little organic salsa before I ate them. so so so good!!
another note- I over-seasoned my bean and rice dish and it was a tad too salty for my taste, so I added a packet of Stevia in the Raw and it was all better again :)

not a fan of

when Maoz doesn't label their sauces, and all of them are white, and I accidentally cover my falafel with some mayonnaise sauce. luckily, I realized my mistake before consuming the falafel and they gave me a new one (and I pawned the mayonnaise covered one off to the guy in line next to me, because I didn't want it to go to waste). ughhhhh.

I don't have anything too interesting to report these days, as I've been extremely hard at work and attending summer classes! this is what I've been eating lately:


I've been trying to stick to a diet lately that will hopefully result in the loss of 10 pounds (fingers crossed!) so all last week I brought salads to work for lunch. I tried to keep the salads as healthy as possible, combining a few of my favorite veggies (romaine, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, red bell pepper, and cucumber) as well as a handful of chickpeas, tossed in a little bit of organic roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette.


I haven't figured out what this vegetable is actually called, but I refer to it as "chinese cabbage". I buy it from the farmer's market on the corner, and saute it in a little bit of olive oil mixed with a little sesame oil, and lots of fresh chopped garlic. this makes a really quick and easy side dish! (this time I also added a little organic brown rice)





this was another quick and easy, protein-packed meal. I am IN LOVE with trader joe's frozen fire roasted peppers and onions. I usually buy the regular frozen bell peppers (much, much cheaper than fresh and last forever!!), but I discovered these the other day and am hooked!! I sauteed the frozen peppers and onion mixture in a little olive oil, added black beans and cooked organic brown rice, and seasoned it with garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper, and a little creole seasoning (that I add to pretty much everything). I piled this onto an organic spinach tortilla, topped it with another tortilla and baked it for about 5 minutes on 350. the tortilla came out nice and crisp, and I served it with fresh avocado and salsa :)

in OTHER news, I went to the P.O.P.E. the other day with a couple of vegan friends. I'd never had any food there (it's a bar, if you didn't know) so we all ordered the "seitan fingers with fries". while the seitan fingers were edible, they were nothing to rave about. basically, they used store-bought seitain and coated it in what tasted/felt like plain cornmeal, deep fried it, and served it on a bed of super greasy french fries (too greasy, in my opinion). they came with a small side of dipping sauce, which is what allowed them to pass for food. I know this isn't a vegan bar/restaurant but it's dishes like these that give vegan food a bad name :(

eggplant!!

one vegetable I have always found perplexing is eggplant. I tried to cook it once YEARS ago (before I was even vegan!!) and did it totally wrong, and it was inedible, and ever since then I have avoided trying to cook with it. I love the taste of it, and will eat it when I go out, but that's it! anyway, the other night I went to a friend's house for dinner and she made a baked eggplant dish with tomato sauce. we ate it over penne pasta with herbs, and I could not get over how amazing it was! I asked her what the key to cooking eggplant was, and she said that you needed to soak it in salt water for about 20 minutes.
so, today I went to Trader Joe's and bought an eggplant, a jar of marinara sauce, a bag of sliced mushrooms, and some frozen fire roasted peppers and onions.

I sliced the eggplant and let it sit in a bowl of salt water for about half an hour (my slices were really thick). I then preheated the oven to 400 degrees. to assemble the dish, I spread a thin layer of sauce in an 8x8 baking dish, then layered the eggplant (I slightly overlapped the edges to fit them all in the pan), mushrooms, and peppers, then covered everything with the rest of the sauce. I covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked for about 25 minutes.
while the eggplant was in the oven, I boiled a pot of water to make the pasta.

when the pasta was done I drained it and tossed it with a little bit of olive oil and italian seasoning.
basically, this dish is amazing and I can't wait to start experimenting more with eggplant!!

this meal cost less than $5 to make (all ingredients were bought from Trader Joe's), and makes at least 4 servings!

Spinach Pasta

Spinach Pasta

like always, I'm going to try to promise to get back on track with my recipes! I've been a little short on dough lately so I haven't been creating the most unique meals, but this is something I just whipped up.
I was watching "Everyday Italian" with Giada De Laurentiis (whom I normally CANNOT STAND) and she made a dish similar to this. I like watching her show, since a lot of italian foods can easily be made vegan. she used goat cheese and cream cheese for her sauce, and I obviously omitted the goat cheese. also, she used a few cloves of fresh garlic. I, being the terrible chef, did not have any on hand but I did have some freshly made garlic hummus. because I was omitting the goat cheese, I felt that this would also add more substance to the sauce.

what you need:

• fresh organic baby spinach (I used about 1/2 of a family size bag!)


• 1/2 c soy cream cheese (I used the non-hydrogenated tofutti kind)


• 1/4 c garlic hummus


• 2 c organic whole wheat penne pasta (or whatever shape you have on hand)

cook your pasta according to its directions. in the meantime, divide your spinach into two piles. throw one pile into the food processor along with the hummus and cream cheese. roughly chop the other and set aside until the pasta is done.
once the pasta is done, drain and add it back to your pot. pour the sauce mixture (it should be relatively thick... about the consistency of ranch dressing), and mix in the roughly chopped spinach. enjoy!


I'm starting classes again next week, so my goal this weekend is to make a few meals that I can freeze to have throughout the week. so far on the menu is stuffed shells, pierogies (I made some yesterday and have a ton of filling left!), and an asian tofu stir-fry!

Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

(I served these with a side of roasted potato slices seasoned with garlic and montreal steak seasoning!)

I was watching the show Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee the other day and I was inspired by a dish she made. she was making party snacks, and for one of them she made her version of a Mexican pizza. she used beef and other ingredients, toasted them lightly in a skillet, and then baked them.
I wasn't sure if these were technically quesadillas because they're mostly filled with beans, but wikipedia confirms that they are quesadillas.

This recipe makes 2 pizzas/quesadillas. If you're serving them with side dishes, these could easily feed 3 people.

What you need:

• 4 8-inch flour or corn tortillas


• 1 can refried beans


• 2 slices vegan cheddar cheese (I use Tofutti brand*, which IMO is the best!)


• 1/2 cup salsa


• mild banana pepper rings


garnish:

• 1 avocado, sliced


• vegan sour cream


• salsa


• hummus (yes, I LOVE hummus with Mexican food!)

preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. heat the refried beans and salsa in a small sauce pan.
2. in the meantime, slice/tear your cheese slices and melt a little butter in a skillet over low-medium heat.
3. once the beans are heated, spread a generous amount onto a tortilla. top with cheese and banana pepper rings, and then top with a plain tortilla. carefully transfer to the skillet, and cook on each side until golden.
4. repeat process with second quesadilla. place both onto a cookie sheet, and bake for an additional 10 minutes so that everything inside gets nice and melted.

cool for about 10 minutes, then cut into triangles with a pizza cutter. garnish with salsa, avocado, and hummus, and enjoy!

* if you live in Philadelphia, Tofutti brand slices can be found at the Natural Food Market on 20th and Walnut. it took me the LONGEST time to find these. Whole Foods, TJ's, Acme, Superfresh, and Shoprite DO NOT carry them.

vegan enchiladas

these came out surprisingly amazing, despite the gross picture (but how do you make an enchilada look good anyway?!). this was the second time I'd tried making enchiladas- the first time I followed a recipe online, and this time I used what I had learned as a starting point but doctored these up to my liking.

tip: I'm a fan of making quick and healthy vegan meals. the first time I made vegan enchiladas, I made my own enchilada sauce as per the recipe I was using. however, this time around I found that buying a bottle of enchilada sauce not only was a lot easier, but probably cheaper.

what you need:

• 1 pound extra-firm or firm tofu


• 1 jar salsa


• 1 jar enchilada sauce


• 1 cup water


• 3 tbsp water mixed with 1 tbsp cornstarch


• tortillas (corn or flour)


• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast


• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream + a little extra


• 2 tsp cumin


• 2 tsp garlic powder

* preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. thoroughly drain the tofu and crumble very fine in a mixing bowl.
2. add the salsa, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cumin, vegan sour cream, nutritional yeast, and a bit of salt and pepper. combine well.
3. in a separate bowl, add the enchilada sauce and water. after thoroughly mixing the cornstarch and water, add that to the enchilada sauce (this is to stretch the enchilada sauce). add 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp garlic powder. mix well.
4. in a non-stick baking dish, spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce.
5. place a tortilla on a plate. scoop tofu mixture down the middle of the tortilla, top with a dollop of sour cream, and roll up like a crepe. set in pan, and continue doing this until your pan is full of enchilada rolls.
6. thorougly cover the enchiladas with the rest of the sauce (you want to make sure you coat all of the enchiladas to prevent drying out/burning).
7. cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30-45 minutes.

super easy fried tofu

I have to admit, I am not the best at cooking tofu. there really are only a handful of tofu dishes that I think I'm good at making (meaning, I can stomach them). I love tofu, it's just that I can never seem to get it right!
I just went to the "multicultural" shop on the corner. that place is insane. they sell everything from tofu to chinese fruits and vegetables to tortillas and other spanish staples, to curries and every type of rice noodle you can think of! anyway, I grabbed ingredients for my next few meals (enchiladas, coconut curry, and fried tofu).

here's the first of my tofu dishes!!

what you need:

• cornstarch


• garlic power


• salt


• pepper


• frying oil of your choice (I use canola, but vegetable or grape seed would be good too)


• frying pan or deep fryer

all of the measurements are approximate. you really can't mess this up! I probably used about 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 1 tsp garlic powder and a few shakes of salt and pepper.

1. mix cornstarch and spices in a bowl.
2. heat oil in a pan or in a deep fryer. I used a pan, and filled it about 1/2 an inch full.
3. while oil is heating up, press/drain the tofu and cut into desired shapes.
4. coat tofu pieces in cornstarch mixture, being sure to get all sides. when oil is hot enough, carefully place tofu into oil and fry until golden brown (flipping occasionally).

you need to have some kind of dipping/coating sauce. I was going to make sweet and sour, but the corner shop didn't have rice vinegar so I just used some of my trader joe's soyaki sauce and it was divine :)