Day 1 of the Vegan Month of Food

My name is Regina, and I am a Vegan!! 

Today is the official start to the Vegan Month of Food and I so excited to be a part of it. I am very new to the blog world, but not new to the vegan world! I have been a vegan for over five years and have been a vegan personal chef  for two years . I love that I was able to turn my passion for cooking into my business. I also recently became a Food for Life Instructor for PCRM, and I can't wait to bring the classes to the area very soon!

During this month of blogging I am going to share some of my favorite recipes, favorite vegan ingredients, food truck reviews, nutrition tips and more.

I was going to start the first day with a recipe, but I was busy this weekend creating this fruit basket and fruit train.  This was for a very special boy's first birthday. He is vegan and his mom wanted something all natural! It was such a joy to create. I searched the web for ideas and possible instructions on how to make a fruit train, but only came up with images. So in the next few days I plan on posting step by step instructions on how to make this. 

I hope you will follow me through this journey of 30 days all vegan.  I promise to share some great things with you!

Vegan Nacho Salad- My version of comfort food!

I must admit that Mexican food is my most favorite food on the planet. I think it should be it's own food group! I would have no problem eating it for breakfast lunch and dinner. Often, what I am cooking has a hint of cumin and chili pepper. My tofu scramble always has a little chipotle in it and I love cornbread with jalapeno. I have even gone so far as to make chocolate covered jalapenos. Don't judge, it was really delicious. It wasn't like I was planning on coating them with chocolate, I was making chocolate covered strawberries and had leftover chocolate and didn't want to waste it!!

When some people think of comfort food, they think of Chicken Fried Steak, Mac N Cheese and just good  down home cooking! Now I have been able to veganzie all of that and I love it. But when I am in need of some great comfort or just want to be able to "throw" something together, I opt for my Nacho Salad.

Now lets talk health benefits. You wouldn't think "Comfort Food" as being healthy, but this nacho salad has several ingredients that are very good for you:

• Tomatoes- have lyocopene ,which has cancer fighting effects
• Avocados-good source of fiber, potassium and vitamins C &K
• Black Beans-great source of calcium and fiber
• Nappa Cabbage-is full of vitamin C, a great anti oxidant

So you can enjoy your comfort food and know that you are adding some great nutrients to your meal!

Nacho Salad

(2 Servings)

1 bag organic tortilla chips

2 cups shredded Napa Cabbage or lettuce

2 chopped Roma tomatoes

1 diced avocado

Vegan sour cream

For the queso:

¼ cup nutritional yeast

¼ cup flour (I use rice flour to make it gluten free)

1 can of rotel or 10 oz. of your favorite salsa

1 cup water

Cumin, Chili Powder, Onion Powder

For the nacho topping:

½ cup TVP (optional)

½ cup water

½ can black beans

Salt, Pepper, Beef flavored seasoning

1.       In a small saucepan add the nutritional yeast, flour and whisk together with the water. Add the seasonings to taste. Turn on medium heat and continue to whisk until it starts to thicken. Once thickened, whisk in the rotel or salsa. Stir until heated and set aside.

2.      Place the TVP and the water in a glass bowl and add the seasonings.  Microwave for 1 minute.  This will reconstitute the TVP. It should look like ground beef. Stir in the beans and season to taste.  

3.       Put a layer of chips on an oven safe platter, sprinkle the “beef” mixture on top and coat with queso. Place in 350 degree oven until heated. 

4.       Remove from oven and garnish with lettuce or cabbage, tomato and avocado. Top with vegan sour cream. 

  I like to add black beans and cilantro to the queso to make a great dip!

Perfect Fall Recipe- Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash

Fall is my favorite time of the year for cooking.  I love roasting veggies, making big batches of chili, cornbread and all things pumpkin. I even add pumpkin to my chili. In fact, I have won a Blue Ribbon three years in a row for my chili. That recipe will be posted during the Vegan Month of Food in October.

This Roasted Acorn Sqaush is perfect for any fall evening. I paired mine with roasted asparagus and a very colorful salad. It would also go very well with a French Onion Soup.

Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Kale & Quinoa

Recipe

2 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded

1 small yellow onion, sliced very thin

1 bunch of kale, chop and remove stems

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons olive oil, optional

1 tablespoon earth balance butter

salt and pepper to taste

vegan Parmesan cheese

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 veggie bullion ( I prefer the low sodium Edward & Sons)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Salt and pepper squash halves and place cut side down on the pan and cook for 20-30 minutes. You want the edges to get a nice brown color and the squash to be soft. 
3. Bring  2 cups water, bullion cube and quinoa to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until  liquid is absorbed.
4. Add  olive oil to a large skillet. You can also saute the onion in water if you want to eliminate the oil. Add  onion and cook, stirring until starting to brown. Add garlic and cook stirring for one minute. Add  water, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Stir in chopped kale. Keep stirring as the kale starts to wilt. Cook until  kale is at your desired texture. Stir in  rinsed beans and olives, cook until heated. Remove from heat and stir in  cooked quinoa.
5. Fill each squash half with one cup of the mixture. Sprinkle vegan parmesan cheese on top and broil for  for 1-2 minutes to brown the cheese.

This is the salad I served it with.

This was inspired by a recipe in the cookbook "Eating Well Fast and Flavorful Meatless Meals".  

Why I love the Food Truck Scene



It has been just a little over a year since the Food Trucks have become so popular in Ft.Worth. I have always loved them in Austin and was thrilled when vegan trucks and ones with vegan options started showing up here.  At the Fort Worth Food Park you can usually find a truck that is very accommodating to your needs.  The Zombie's Food Truck is the only ALL vegan truck.  Good Karma Kitchen is all vegetarian with some great vegan and gluten free options. I will visit each of those during the Vegan Month of Food and share with you some of my favorite items on the menu.  I only wish Lee's Grilled Cheese would offer vegan cheese! Trust me, I have suggested it, but I don't think that will be an option based on the reaction :(





 I love going out there when the weather is nice and enjoying a vegan pizza from Gepetto's Pizza Truck.   Eliud normally has vegan cheese and vegan meats on hand to create a delicious pizza. My favorite is a pizza loaded with all of the veggies sans cheese.

Now I have become a little bit of a vegan foodie and I have to say this is the most amazing pizza I have ever had! I feel bad for even writing this, because my hubby makes all the vegan breads and pizza dough in our house and his is to die for. But there is just something about the way Eluid (the owner of Gepetto's) makes his crust. It has the perfect combination of crunchy and chewy.The pizza is a great size with its 6 slices. It is enough for one person as a meal or you can share it so you can have room to try another food truck! It is finished with a spritz of olive oil and garlic that makes it so delicious!



Look...Vegan Options

So if you are in the area, you should stop by the FW Food Truck and visit Elluid at Geppetto's pizza and build your own vegan pizza. Tell him Regina sent you! You know I shared with you earlier that I am a Food Truck Groupie (Froupie) so of course he will know who you are talking about :)

I almost forgot to mention that we had some really good tacos at Salsa Limon.  My husband ordered them, so I don't know the name. He told me he ordered tacos made with beans, veggies and no cheese and they said "oh, the veggie option".  I am sure that they get lots of people from the planet vega that order their food and are used to that strange request!!  The portion was very large. Each taco was wrapped in two corn tortillas and I was able to split mine into two tacos.  They had a choice of red or green sauce and we tried both. Beware; the red sauce is the HOTTEST sauce ever, and I LOVE spicy food. The flavor of it is so good and really adds something to the taco's, just use a little and have plenty of beer or water on hand to put out the fire.

I am not sure if I answered the title, "Why I love food trucks".. I guess it just sparks my love for eating outside. I really love the concept,  it is like a really grown up picnic with someone else preparing the food!When we moved into our house a few years ago, our first purchase was a patio set. In Texas there is a small window of time that the weather is nice enought to sit outside and eat.  So if the weather is nice and it is Friday night you might find me at food park enjoying some pizza, tacos or whatever amazing things the Zombie's truck has to offer!

What vegan information would you like?

It is just 11 days away until the Vegan Month of Food starts.  Since I have made the commitment to share "all things vegan" for the entire month of October, I would love to hear what you would like to see.

I have been mapping out my plan now so that it won't seem so overwhelming. Here are few things I was thinking of writing about.

Favorite Vegan things-There are so many different products out there, and unfortunately most are more expensive than the non vegan version. So I will narrow down what I have tried and what I use almost daily.

Vegan Recipes-I am a very visual person and I LOVE to see step by step pictures of recipes.  I guess that just means I will have to do lots of cooking next month!! Should be easy since that is what I do for a living:) It will just require me to remember to stop and take a picture at each step!

Nutrition Tips- Daily I want to include a fun fact about how awesome it is to follow a plant based diet. For instance, did you know that Kale has more Calcium than milk!!!

Food Truck Reviews- The food truck scene is gaining popularity where I live, and I love to visit them as often as I can. In fact my daughter has accused me of being a Food Truck Groupie, she calls it a Froupie!! I can't help it. I love the idea of being able to enjoy yummy vegan food that I didn't cook, not that my cooking isn't good, but when you do it all day sometimes you need a break!! So I guess I will have to put my Froupie shirt on (my husband owns a T shirt printing business, so of course I have one) and go visit my food truck friends. 


I am sure I will think of other things to include. Please share with me the things you would like to read about!


I know this is random, but this is one of my first vegan cakes that I decorated!



Have you heard of Vegan Month of Food ?

The Vegan MoFo(Vegan Month Of Food) is just around the corner. During the month of October, Vegan bloggers will be posting pictures, recipes, tips and much more.

 I enjoy creating vegan recipes that are delicious, easy and look like the non vegan version. Some of my favorite foods to veganize are comfort foods like Chicken Fried Steak, Nachos and Mac N Cheese. So I am going to take on the challenge of posting EVERYDAY in October. Some of the things I will be sharing:

• Recipes with pictures
• Product Reviews
• Food Truck Reviews
• Vegan Baking Tips
• And more

I am also a Nutrition Instructor for PCRM and will be posting information about the health benefits of eating a plant based diet.

Looks Yummy....Just a teaser of some of my creations. Nacho Salad and a vegan version of the Egg McMuffin!