Vegan kung pao tofu

I just spent $13 on kung pao tofu from the deli in Surdyk's (liquor store). Primarily a cheese shop, it's not the first place you'd look for a vegan delight. It is sooooo yummy. The tofu has a nice chewy texture, there's a decent amount of heat, and peanuts thrown in for a good crunch. We usually just wrap it up in a tortilla.

Vegan camping

I'm trying to write up a Craigslist post to sell our groovy 70's camping van. We love camping, but our dogs are getting too old for it. So bye-bye van.















We always assume that we're the best fed campers in the campground because we take extra care to prepare. Here's a list of what we often bring:

*foil packets of fresh veggies. When we were getting our CSA share, it was a great way to use up random vegetables. My tip is to put a little Earth Balance in the packet, rather than oil. The EB will stay mostly solid in the cooler and reduce the chances of an oily mess.
*tofu jerky. We only made it once or twice, but it was delish!
*take-out salads from the co-op. They have tons of varieties of rice, pasta, or bean-based cold salads.
*frozen chick patties or veggie burgers. Don't forget the little tupperware of vegenaise.

Veg-friendly in the Twin Cities, part 3

See also Part 1(Pizza) and Part 2 (Indian).

Triple Rock Social Club
It’s a bar. It’s a rock n’ roll venue. It’s a vegan mecca. There’s a little too much Wizard Rock for my taste, but the food is amazing. It’s not exclusively vegetarian, but you’ll find vegan versions of all manner of tasty bar food. One time, Jens Lekman ate the last vegan meatloaf, depriving Greg of his favorite dish. I’m a big fan of the Minneapolis po'boy. Other notable vegan gems: sloppy joes, mac n’ cheese, chili cheese fries, and White Russians.


Hard Times Café



















This is a worker-owned vegetarian restaurant. Greg gets a kick out of the fact that it’s located right across the street from the fancy business school. The staff is super surly and it’s a total dump, but it’s the best place to get a tempeh Rueben (not vegan). We ate there last weekend with some meat-eating friends, who were adventurous enough to want to go to a vegetarian restaurant, but not ready to try the raw restaurant yet (more on that in another post later). Greg had a vegan bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich). Other vegan tasties: seitan gyro, breakfast all day, and baked goods.


















the bahn mi

















message for vegans

Cheater chili

There are two things I remember my dad being really good at cooking when I was a kid: tomato sauce and chili. When I grew to adulthood and I wanted to make my own chili, I could never seem to get it right. It never had the right balance of flavors, or even enough flavor -- the broth was just thin tomato water, and no amount of chili powder seemed to make it right.

So I gave up.

Years later, I was walking through the Aldi near our house and something occurred to me as I was passing by the jars of salsa. All the properly balanced flavors I had been unable to achieve on my own were right there in that jar. Salsa would be a perfect base on which to build a chili! I loaded up on beans and went home to experiment. The result was the best chili I've ever made, and it was insanely cheap and simple. I've made it about once a year since then, and it always yields enough for a week or two of lunches. I've dubbed it cheater chili since it certainly feels like I'm cheating, using all these canned or frozen ingredients and not even having to chop an onion!















Cheater chili

1 big jar of salsa, about 24 oz. -- I like a medium heat
1 can of Rotel-type diced tomatoes -- that is, those with diced peppers added
2 cans of chili beans -- undrained because you want all that chili seasoning
1 can of garbanzo beans, drained
1 can of some other kind of beans, for variety, drained
1 little can of diced green chiles
Frozen corn, as much as you like -- I prefer between 8-16 oz.
Fake beef crumbles, such as Smart Ground or Boca

In a big pot, dump the salsa. Set your burner to medium. Quickly, before the pot gets too hot and you scorch the salsa, dump in the tomatoes, beans, and chiles. Swirl a few ounces of water in each jar or can, and add that water to the pot. [This achieves three good things: 1) it gets all the flavor-y bits out of each container, 2) it adds water to the pot, which thins the salsa, and 3) it leaves your cans and jars relatively clean and ready for recycling.] Stir it up and add more water if it's still too thick. Put a lid on the pot and let it come to a very low boil. [I usually set a timer for ten minutes and walk away.] Now add your corn and crumbles and bring it back to a low boil. Cover the pot and lower the heat to simmer for about 15 minutes, until the corn and crumbles are fully thawed and cooked.

Many of these ingredients are optional. If you don't like the idea of fake ground beef or corn in your chili, just leave it out. I haven't tried it yet myself, but this could be really good with some Gardein (fake chicken, available in the U.S. as Morningstar Chik'n Strips) instead of Boca crumbles. At any rate, the beans are the star of the show, and the salsa, Rotel tomatoes, and diced green chiles contribute a nice mellow piquancy.

I realize that some vegans -- especially those who are vegan primarily for health reasons -- may be horrified by my recipe, since many of these ingredients are laden with preservatives and additives, and it doesn't necessarily use any local or organic ingredients. Those things are important to me too -- that's why it's called cheater chili!

Vegan Thanksgiving

We're planning our holiday schedules right now -- what days to take time off from work, which families to visit when, etc. -- and that's got me thinking about Thanksgiving meals.

This year, my (vegan) sister will be visiting the week after the holiday, so Kelly and I will be alone for the day (and the meal) itself. My guess is that it'll be a celebration roast kind of day, since it seems silly to go to really great lengths for just the two of us. Then when Valerie arrives a few days later, we'll do something special.

Last year was a really unusual experience. We were due in Estes Park, Colorado for the wedding of some friends, and Thanksgiving Day was the only available time to make the fourteen-hour drive. We ordered meals-to-go from the co-op and heated them in the microwave of a truck stop in Nebraska. The food was very good and the experience quite memorable!

For one of our first Thanksgivings together, we actually bought the Tofurky kit and did not care for it at all. (It's rubbery, and it has a creepy, crackly "skin".) Usually when we cook for Thanksgiving, we're trying to basically replicate the comfortable ritual of our childhoods, so we tend to stick to celebration roasts, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pie.

Part of that ritual that we can still share with our non-veg friends is thankful recognition of the good things in our lives. For me, this includes the acknowledgement that we live in a time and a place in which we have the luxury of making ethical decisions about our food. For most of humanity and for most of history, life has been a struggle for survival in which eating other creatures might be the only alternative to starvation. Fortunately, I don't have to choose between my life or the turkey's. As I see it, the fact that I don't need to eat other beings to survive is the best reason not to do it.

Veg friendly in the Twin Cities, part 2

I previously posted about some fun pizza restaurants in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I can't remember the very first time I had Indian food, but I think it might have been only within the past 8 years, since I've been in Minneapolis. I used to live in Orlando, FL and with the large international population there, I'm sure there must be plenty of Indian restaurants. Perhaps I just didn't have any friends who liked to eat it. It's weird because I totally love it and they use a lot of the same spices my mom used to cook with when I was a kid.

We are lucky to have 2 fantastic vegetarian Indian restaurants. We used to have three, but one started serving meat, then closed soon thereafter... coincidence??

Both restaurants are in Columbia Heights, a small suburb. Nala Pak is home to the amazing Gobi Manchurian dish. It's basically battered and fried balls of cauliflower in a tangy, tomato-ginger sauce. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! The other spot is called The Vegetarian. The owner is really nice and always gives us jalebi, a vegan dessert. Their website describes jalebi as a golden sweet pretzel, but it's more like a hollow tube of sweet, thin, crispiness. Don't be turned off by the neon orange color! They also have my favorite tandoori naan (vegan).

Last weekend we tried a not-vegetarian Indian place near our house, Raja's Mahal. Their lunch buffet had several vegan options. The baigan bartha was fantastic! And I don't even like eggplant, but this was full of sweet, carmel-y onions. Greg really liked the dish called "mixed vegetables." Sounds boring but it was full of typical spices and flavors. Their pakora was pretty good, too.

Tamales de Abuela

It's too much effort to try and actually form a tamale and steam it, so in our household, we just eat our tamales in mush/mound form. My mom says that's called Tamales en Casuela (in a pot). They're just as yummy.

Sometime before I moved to Minneapolis, maybe around 2000, I was at my Abuela's house and tape recorded her instructions on how to make tamales. I must've known part of the recipe because I say things like, "How much tomato sauce?" etc. I think the funniest thing on the tape is when Abuela says, "Now stir this constantly for an hour and a half." And I say, "What?! Constantly?" And she says, "Yes, or else it will stick." Well I think maybe she never made them in a non-stick pan, because I don't have much trouble with that.

Abuela died in 2004, so I'm really glad I have this cute little recording, even if the quality is terrible.


Tamales in Casuela
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. olive oil
4 ears corn, kernels removed from cob
1/4 c. soy milk (or regular)
3/4 c. corn meal
1/2 c. tomato sauce
1 t. salt
10 - 15 whole green olives, pitted, with pimentos

In a large, non-stick pan, make a sofrito by sauteing the onion, pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until lightly brown. Puree the corn kernels and milk in a blender or food processor. Reduce the heat on the sofrito and add the corn/milk mixture, corn meal, tomato sauce, salt and olives. Mix well. Cook on low for 45 - 90 minutes, stirring frequently. It will be done when the corn meal is done (the same way rice is done). You can add more milk if it gets gummy or dry. Serve with hot sauce!