Category: photo

Burgers, salad and new Earth Balance products

Okay, this is going to be a busy post. There’s a lot goin’ on.

A while back I registered on Earth Balance’s community site for a chance to win Earth Balance for a year. I haven’t really participated at all, but they do occasionally post something I find interesting and then I’ll check it out. A couple of weeks ago they sent out an email to members asking if they’d like coupons to try their new coconut based spread. Oh, heck yeah! So this weekend, a nice package arrived:

Ooo, bonus, I get to try the mayo too! The booklet is full of recipes and then has more coupons for $1 and $2 off the coconut spread. So naturally I got my hind end to Whole Foods to pick up these goodies. At my store, the spread was not next to the regular Earth Balance, but it was in the case with tofu, lunch meats, Veganaise, etc.

We’ll get the coconut spread out of the way first. I picked up a half loaf of french bread to serve as delivery system for the spread.

Coconut haters, yes you can taste the coconut. So this is not for you. You know how regular Earth Balance tastes? It’s like that with a hint of coconut behind it. The coconut taste probably disappears in baking. And you know how anything coconut based is extra creamy? Yeah.

Okay, so now I need a way to use the mayo. It’s time to restock the freezer with burgers. Excellent! This is my favorite recipe and I just alter it depending on what I have on hand. This time I used black beans, added cumin, hot sauce and cilantro.

A double recipe makes 8-9 burgers. Plenty to save for quick meals later. They heat up nicely in a George Foreman or you can microwave them.

Now it’s time to try out that mayo. The texture wasn’t quite as firm as I’d like. But it tasted like…mayo. I failed to do a side by side test with Veganaise. But it seems like it will do the trick.

Nope not done yet. Kevin was out of town, so I made something I would like but he would hate, Shaved Fennel Salad.Instead of arugula I used spinach, almonds for the pine nuts and just skipped substituting the fennel. I’ve had this a couple of times as leftovers and the marinated fennel and zucchini is keeping well in the fridge.

Whew, see? A lot going on.

The laziest bowl of food

Saturday afternoon I’d planned on going grocery shopping. But I had a headache and decided to wait until Sunday. Oh, what’s for dinner then? After rooting around in the cabinets a bit, I came up with this concoction. Start with some ready to eat rice and an instasoup.

Let’s see, a vegetable would be good. How about some frozen green beans? Sure! So, a little rice in the bottom of the bowl, some vegan broccoli cheese soup, next and green beans. I did add some nutritional yeast to the soup because I could. Oh, and sprinkled parm on top.

It was actually really good. And made enough that I had some for lunch as well.

Saturday eats and bike ride

How have I lived in Atlanta for 13 years without ever having gone to Ria’s Bluebird? Well, I fixed that Saturday morning. Got there bright and early to mostly beat the crowds and tried the Bionic Breakfast with a side of spicy tofu. It was delicious especially topped with sriracha. The tofu was good, but ended up making it too much food for me. It made me sad to leave some behind but we were headed out for a bike ride afterwards and I didn’t want to carry leftovers.

After eating, just outside, we found this. Looks like something that could be explained by alcohol.

Jared and I headed out on a bike ride. We kept out Memorial towards downtown, then headed North, took Marietta St., cut back across 17th St. and headed to the new section of Piedmont Park. Looks like it is no longer a secret.

It was HOT, so a visit to King of Pops was sounding good. Except he wasn’t on the corner yet. We thought about heading to the Ponce festival, but headed to The Porter instead. They open at 11am on Saturdays. Yay! Apparently beer makes a great recovery drink because I felt awesome the rest of the ride home. I ended up riding a total of about 24 miles. I forgot to set my bike computer and only got a few legs on map my ride. I really wish that app didn’t eat so much of my iPhone’s battery.

Easy weeknight dinner

It’s helpful to have a few meals you like that you can easily make out of non-perishable items that are easy to keep on hand and easy to make. This one is a great example. Whole wheat spaghetti, alfredo sauce, frozen turnip greens with diced turnips, and vegan parmesan on top.

Two favorite condiments

Vegan Parmesan

Let’s face it, a pile of spaghetti in red sauce looks pretty naked without some parmesan on top. I’ve never found the prepared versions you can buy to be exactly right. Parma seems to come closest. But there are tons of recipes out there for making your own. Which is always cheaper. After working my way through them, I’ve settled on a favorite: the recipe in Yellow Rose Recipes. Of course, I’m a tease for telling you that because I couldn’t find the recipe posted online. So maybe you should just try to hunt down a copy of the book if you don’t have it already. It’s a good one!

Gomashio

Gomashio can be so simple but adds magic to a variety of dishes. You can buy vegan versions in markets that have Asian goods, just watch the label for bonito (fish). Sometimes they have all kinds of veggies in them in addition to the sesame seed base. But my favorite is this simple recipe from How It All Vegan. If you’re afraid of seaweed, you can leave it out, but the amount in this recipe is not enough to make it fishy tasting. I sprinkle this with a heavy hand on just about any Asian dish I make. It also takes salads to the next level. Try it!