Taco night

This was really an excuse to make guacamole, the food of the gods.
While at the store I saw this meat analogue taco filling by Fantastic Foods. Now I know this is heresy but I really like their falafel mix. So I decided to try the taco filler.
I'm not too too crazy about fake meats unless they're not trying to taste like meat, so I wasn't insanely in love with it, but it was pretty good. Of course guacamole made it better. It was simple to make really, just add water and heat the stuff in a pot. The tortilla in this picture is kinda crunchy cause it was the first one. The first one is always crappy! Anyway, the tortilla recipe is in my previous post.

Use whatever filing you want. I just put in lettuce, tomato guacamole and light onion.

As for the guacamole, I like it simple.

2 avocados
Juice of 1/2 lime (though honestly I put in more, I love lime)
tomato (I eyeball it)
onion (I only put in light onion, I don't like too many onion chunks. I also slice them very thinly)
Sea salt to taste
Pepper to taste



I say again, stay away from store bought tortillas and make your own! It will transform your tacos from highly mediocre at best all the way to heaven on your plate.

Tortillas

Something you don't get in the more northern regions. And yes, I consider Georgia the North. :P

Real flour tortillas.
Where I am from, they are the freaking lifeblood.

I refuse to buy store brands. They all taste so unbelievably gross to me. No matter how many of them say "authentic" I know it's a lie! If you don't believe me, look at the ingredients. What is up with all that weird crap in there!?!?

I can't help it, the standard was set when I was a baby.
It's one of the things I remember most about my grandmother Mama Go. I remember sitting in my highchair (I have a good memory!) watching her make fresh tortillas and empanadas filled with jelly or pumpkin. I also remember her spreading butter, sugar and brown sugar on a warm flour tortilla, rolling it up and feeding in to me. Yikes, not the greatest thing to feed a kid I guess. Seriously though, ya'll should try that sometime, it's really good. >_>

Ok so here's the deal, people. Don't buy into that store bought crap anymore! Real, delicious tortillas are easy to make. You already have all the ingredients!
Traditional recipes use lard, but seriously, that is gross. Nobody should eat that. Vegetable shortening or canola oil does just fine. Most people are moving away from lard anyway because is more expensive... and gross.

You need:

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup shortening or canola oil
2-3 tablespoons vegan margarine, melted
3/4 cups hot water
Clean hands!

Mix the flour and salt.
Add the oil/shortening and butter and mix. It should be a crumbly mix if you're using shortening.
Next, add the water.

Knead it until mixed, but don't over work it!
Once it's a nice, smooth ball of dough, cover it and let it rest for about an hour. If you are extremely impatient, you can cut this time, but it is better to let it rest!
When the hour of intense waiting is over, roll the dough into 14 or so balls.
Cover them with a moist towel and set them for 10 minutes. You can take this time to prepare your surface and lightly flour it!
Get out your rolling pin, or whatever you plan on using to roll out your dough. Roll them very thin. Maybe like 7-8 inches wide?

Heat your skillet to medium heat.
Heating time will vary, but more or less, heat on each side for 1 min. When you see it bubble, it is time to flip!

Now, I recommend a tortilla warmer. Really. It keeps the tortillas warm and prevents them from hardening up. If you don't have one, use a towel.

There!

There is no excuse for shitty tortillas, people! It's a crime!

Mac and "cheese" and ice cream!

I maintain that mac and cheese looks gross in photos. Or maybe just the way I photograph it. Here is one anyway.

I used this recipe:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=21718.0

However, my favorite is still this one.

Also, It's soooo hot here! We had one day of spring before it was just pummeled by an over enthusiastic summer.
Naturally, ice cream is in order.




This recipe I know by heart!
1 can coconut milk
1 cup soy or almond (or hazelnut, or hemp or......!) milk
2 tablespoons vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup of whatever fresh fruit you want.

In this case, strawberries!
Put it in the blender, then pour it in your ice cream maker.

I blend it really well because I am a picky eater and don't like mushy chunks, no matter how small, and I also don't like seeds. As long as there aren't any chunks though, I can deal with the seeds.
The best strawberry ice cream I have ever had. Fresh tasting and no gross chunks! Yaaay.

It takes a lot to get ‘em right...

I neglect blogs! It's a fact of life!

I've been posting on my art blog alot more. The truth is, I sometimes take pictures of the stuff I make with the intentions of posting them, but I never do! Aaaugh! I'll be better.

Attention all who pine for Kraft macaroni and cheese

So we've all searched to the ends of the internet for that perfect vegan macaroni and cheese recipe that tastes exactly like that mac and cheese in a box that we so guiltily, yet wholeheartedly loved, and NOTHING has come close. Sure we've found some wonderful recipes that we like making anyway, but not that specific Krafty taste we were looking for.

My local grocery, Brighter Day, just started carrying Teese vegan cheese in mozzarella flavor, nacho cheese flavor, and cheddar.

Ok so I bought the mozzarella flavor when I was in Chicago when it first came out and wasn't too too impressed with it, and found I really preferred my pizza without any sort of cheese-like topping. Plus I wasn't too crazy about how it clumped up. So when I saw it at my grocery store I thought "Ehh..." BUT! I decided to give the cheddar one a shot.
Fuck, you guys, it tastes like Kraft macaroni and cheese. If you're one of those like me who want that flavor without the nasty stuff, I recommend you check it out. I'm pretty sure you can get it at Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe online, and maybe Vegan Essentials if your local store doesn't carry it.

That said, I have actually found a vegan mac and cheese recipe that I love. Sure it doesn't taste like Kraft, but it does taste motherfucking delicious. Here it is:
The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese in the Entire World... Seriously.
Try it! I made it for the third time tonight. No pictures because mac and cheese looks gross in pics. We all know what it looks like, roundaboutly, anyway.

Banana-strawberry muffins!

It all started one fateful night. My roommate and I were hungry for one thing, and one thing only... Muffins.

"But Tabitha, how can we make muffins without milk or eggs?"

Oh, dear Callie, let me count the ways!
Bananas? Yes.
Soymilk? Yes.

Excellent.

A week and a half later, we've made them three times already. We've made a pledge to always keep bananas and fresh fruit in stock for late night muffin making.

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 c. sweetener of choice (we like using brown sugar)
1/4 c. canola oil
3/4 c. soy or rice or whatever you've got non-dairy milk, sour (add 1 tsp vinegar)
2 bananas, overripe
1 1/3 c. fresh strawberries

Preheat 350, mix all ingredients, then bake those fuckers. On my old oven it took about 35 min, but on this one, it takes about 45. Probs should get an oven thermometer.

So many updates.

Ok, so first of all, I never posted the pictures of those cupcakes I made in that last post, so there they are. Green tea cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Next, my boyfriend and I went to Atlanta, GA to see Tom Waits! Tom was absolutely amazing. We took advantage of this trip to check out all the vegan places. Number 1 on the stop was Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe. Our main reason was that we wanted to get some Teese and Cheezly to try... Ok well MY main motivation was the vegan cinnamon rolls by Dulce Vegan. Dan's was Teese and Cheezly.

They are super nice at Cosmo's. It is a really cute place! We spent a while just looking through all the goods. It's good to be able to shop for food and not have to read the labels.  We ate at some great veg*n restaurants too. Harmony, The Green Sprout and Soul Vegetarian were great. I wish we had places like that where I live.

So, back to Teese. And the cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were so good! I have to hold myself back from buying, like, 20 from their online shop.

They were out of Cheezly, but they had Teese. Sooo, we made a pizza.

Teese was ok. It melted well and didn't taste horrible, so I would call it an acceptable cheese substitute. This was also our first attempt at making a pizza. We were worried it wasn't going to turn out right because we had issues with the dough at the beginning, but it turned out delicious.