Cashew Chili

I was craving some good spicy chili, and searched until I found this one, changed it a little, and fell in love with it. I brought it to work and my carniverous coworkers devoured it, score one for animal well being and better health!

Anyway I've had a few requests for it, so here you go. Posted especially for you Nick

1 T olive oil
3 or 4 cloves of minced garlic
1 stalk celery
1 bunch green Onions
1 red pepper
2 cans of Rotel tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes if you have them, and some chopped green chilis)
1-2 cans kidney beans rinsed and drained
2 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce (I used the mexican seasoned kind)
1 t black pepper
1 t minced basil
1 t minced oregano
½-1 T cayenne pepper
¼ t cumin
1-2 T rice vinegar
½-1 c cashews (raw or unsalted) chopped into small pieces

Directions
Chop the celery, onions, and red pepper, then sauté them in olive oil until tender.
Add tomatoes and beans, tomato sauce and all the spices. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until you're happy with the amount of liquid. Add vinegar and cashews.
Taste and adjust seasonings.

If its too hot for your tastes add another can of tomato sauce, especially good served in a breadbowl, and as a warning it will get hotter the longer its sits. If you have any left for the next day, check the heat level and add tomato sauce if needed.

Lovely rain and yummy couscous

Well I didn't find the perfect waffle recipe just yet. I will just have to suffer though more waffle making next weekend...such a hardship!

In the meantime, I found an awesome couscous and black bean salad that is GREAT for lunch through the week!

I veganized it, and I pass it on to whoever wants it. The orginal recipe can be found here.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Couscous-Salad/Detail.aspx#nutri-box

INGREDIENTS
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth (low sodium preferably)
1 small can of diced green chilis
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (or rice vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 green onions, chopped (or half a spanish onion)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
1 package shelled edamame

DIRECTIONS
Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a 2 quart or larger sauce pan and stir in the couscous. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, edamae, corn and beans and toss to coat.
Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Its an easy recipe to adapt to whatever you have on hand, and whatever vegetable is your current favorite. If you're like me, it changes all the time. Right now mine is red peppers.

Waffles!

A fellow blogger mentioned waffles the other day and I have not been able to shake the craving for these delicious things! So my goal for the weekend is to find the best vegan waffle recipe, and post it here. I also have a German friend I trade vegan recipes with. We are both relatively 'new' vegans, and it's nice to struggle through all the confusion with someone even if she is half a world away.



But for now, here is a picture of my favorite Waffle!

This is a bit disturbing

I don't usually get political. I'll save that for people who are a bit more informed and eloquent than me. But, this was brought to my attention from another blog, and I think the more people see it the better. If you are a voter in America please keep this in the back of your mind. Especially my vegan friends.



http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/09/08/sarah_palin_wolves/?source=newsletter

fall weather = chili

Well Michigan is slowly cooling down. The leaves are starting to change, football is on in the background, and the nights are getting longer. I love fall. I love to bake. I love to bake in the fall! And yeah I am a dork. Deal.

I have a loaf of vegan banana bread cooling on the oven, and I made vegan chili in the slow cooker all day.

The chili is my own creation, and the bread I ganked off this wonderful library we call the internet.

Here is the banana bread recipe. I haven't tasted it yet, if its bad I'll edit the post heh. Oh and here is the link, they have an actual video to go with it

http://www.chooseveg.com/banana-bread.asp

Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS
2 ripe bananas
2 tablespoons oil
½ cups sweeteer (I used maple syrup like suggested, but you could use 1/4 blue agave syrup to count down on calories)
½ cup applesauce
2 cups flour (whole wheat or white)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
METHOD
Preheat oven to 375.
In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until very mushy, then add the oil, applesauce, sweetener and stir together.
In a separate large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and soda.
Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix together gently until "just mixed".
Spoon in to a lightly oiled loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Test with a knife to see if done

And the Chili?

28 ounce can of tomato sauce (salt free)

1 each 15 ouncecan of dark red kidney beans, light red kidney beans, black beans

half a spanish onion diced

3 cloves of garlic, diced

one jalapeno diced including the seeds, cos thats the heat ya know?

1/4 tsp (or a healthy shake) of pumpkin pie spice...seriously

1 tablespoon of liquid smoke

throw it all in the slow cooker, turn it on high for about 6 hours

Even my 'I hate beans' son liked it.

My friend Jeni from Missouri sent me the yummiest cookies! oatmeal, zucchini, cranberries...oh they were good! She made them especially for me, it was her first foray into vegan cookies, and if I can pry the recipe from her I'll post it here!

Disappointment breeds baking

Well I'm not able to make it to a concert I had hoped for this weekend so I will do what every other normal vegan punk rocker does...Cookies!

I'm in search for recipes to try this weekend and I will post the fruits of my labors if I find some. If anyone at all would like to link me to a recipe you have tried please do!

Also, I tend to make too many cookies (is there such a thing?) and of course I limit myself to two cookies so I have plenty to share.

I can't promise the cookies will be healthy, but I can promise they will be cruelty free.

Evil Proctor and Gamble!

I'm the type of person to read labels...always. Food companies like to sneak in nonvegan ingredients in the oddest of foods. Take these seemingly innocent cracker sticks. I was happily enjoying them, in fact they boast 90 calories per package, and I decided to splurge and buy some for myself. I had been working out alot, had increased my cardio and I thought why not treat myself? I have a weakness for salty foods, and the fat and calories were not bad on these yummy snacks. Now like I said I am a label reader, and of course I did read the label before buying, but I admit to half heartedly paying attention. They're chips, why would I think there would be murder involved?

I had eaten 4 packages over the course of a week and brought the fifth to work for a snack as I drove...stopped for a light, bored I read the package...SARDINES

WTF?

I look again

Yep, that says SARDINES! And it was not even in the ingredient panel! It was listed below it!

Now why in the hell would they need fish in a potato chip?

I was physically sick. I had to pull over. I was horrified.

overreacting? Maybe, but I will NEVER buy Pringles again, and as soon as I got home I sent them a blistering letter of complaint, and I hope whoever reads my blog will be aware of this as well.