That Was Vegan?

Confession time: I’m totally copying my blogger-friend Annie right now. She’s been going back and updating some of her photos, which is a fabulous idea.  All food bloggers have those early recipes and pictures that they’re maybe a little bit embarrassed less proud of.

And it’s more than just pride, of course. This recipe for Vegan Creamy Pasta Alfredo with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms is a perfect example. It’s totally delicious, but my pictures from waaaaay back in April, 2012 just didn’t get that across. No one is going to trip over themselves to try a recipe when the picture only looks mediocre, right? The pictures need to draw you in, maybe make you drool a little bit.

I think these ones do that.

You can get this delicious pasta recipe here.

I also wanted to show you my beautiful little plant. I bought her at Lowes, and I can’t remember what the fruit is. It’s a lemon/orange hybrid. Maybe a Rangpur?

Rangpurs are apparently every popular and I’ve seen flavored products popping up all over. Including gin, which is obviously my favorite rangpur-flavored-product EVER.

Anyway, I just thought they were super pretty and wanted to share!

As you’re reading this I’m on my way to the Gunnison National Forest for some serious glamping and hiking! We’re staying in an area that I’ve been wanted to visit for more than a year (The Uncompaghre Wildnerness) and I’m beyond excited. I’ll be back next week with some pictures… have a great weekend!

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HAPPY WEDNESDAY! We’re halfway there, folks. And to make your week a little bit brighter, I have an awesome giveaway for you: Four bottles of delicious salad dressings, marinades, and dipping sauces from Terrapin Ridge Farms!

They were all great, but let’s break them down by just how much I loved them…

Roasted Pineapple Habanero Sauce (vegan, gluten free):  Hands now, this was totes my fave. It was a perfect combo of spicy and sweet, and although they categorize it as a dipping and cooking sauce, I loved it the most as a marinade! I would press a block of tofu and then it sit in this sauce for at least an hour before grilling or baking it. Then I’d drizzle a bit more on top before serving. I bet it would also be delicious as a dipping sauce for raw veggies!

Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette (vegan, gluten free, fat free): I tend to be a little suspicious when something this delicious is fat free (How do they do it? Magic? Unicorn tears?), but of all the flavors I used as salad dressings, I loved this one best. It’s not sweet like a honey mustard, it actually has this crazy bite to it which is perfect for spicing up your salad. When I’m having salad for dinner and I’m not super excited about it, this is the dressing I use to really perk it up.

Toasted Sesame & Ginger Vinaigrette (vegan, gluten free, fat free): Honestly, this guy came from behind and almost took 2nd place! I wasn’t sure I’d like it that much and actually put off opening the bottle, but as soon as I did it went pretty quickly. I was keeping it in the fridge at work for my lunch salads, and as soon as my co-workers caught on, they started using it too. The ginger isn’t overwhelming but you can taste it. It’s a very light dressing, which is perfect when you don’t want a heavy, creamy type.

Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette (vegan, gluten free, fat free): This one scared me a little bit when I first pulled it out of the box, those huge chunks of garlic! This sauce worked wonderfully as a marinade though. So far I’ve only used it on tofu, but would like to try it on tempeh too…

I also really liked how these sauces were marked as vegan, gluten free, etc. It’s nice when companies don’t make us guess, right? And definitely check out their full product line. They have tons of mustards (sweet beet and horseradish!? I need that NOW!), jellies, salsas, and more. They’re not all vegan though, so be careful.

The Giveaway

Enter below to win FOUR bottles of Terrapin Ridge Farms Sauces (Roasted Pineapple Habanero, Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette, Toasted Sesame & Ginger Vinaigrette, and Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette). There are lots of ways to enter… start by leaving a comment letting us know which flavor you think will be your favorite. There are FB and Twitter options too!

The contest is open until Midnight, Sunday 6/22 Mountain Time, to US residents. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Although I was provided free product to review, the opinions are 100% mine!

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First (and more important!) while my fabulous friend Angie (as in Angie Eats Peace) is traipsing her way around Europe, I’m excited to have written a guest post for her, so please go check it out! It’s all about how eating vegan doesn’t need to be complicated or hard. Go on, we’ll wait…

Are you back? Okay good, cuz you’re not gonna want to miss today’s creation: Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza! What’s it got on it?

Cauliflower that is swimming in Frank’s Buffalo Sauce
Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese
Follow Your Heart vegan ranch
Fresh basil

What more could you want?

We all know that cauliflower is the new kale (for now, anyway… who knows what will be the new cauliflower by this time next year!?), and we also know that Frank’s buffalo sauce is both vegan and delicious (two things that nearly always go hand-in-hand), so why not put them together. On a pizza. Because if there’s anything we all know, it’s that I’ll put anything on a pizza!

Breakfast? Yes. Korean BBQ? Yes. Tater tots? HELL YES.

And don’t even think about skipping the vegan ranch dressing or the fresh basil. They take the buffalo flavor to a whole new level. Trust me.

Here’s your handy dandy printable.

Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza

2014-06-16 11:01:23

Yields 1

Who wants to eat buffalo wings when you can have buffalo cauliflower... on a pizza!?!?

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Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

15 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

15 min

Ingredients

1. 1 pizza dough, store bought or homemade, rolled out and ready to go
2. 1 head of cauliflower
3. 1 cup Frank's buffalo wing sauce, divided
4. 1 1/2 cups Daiya mozzarella shreds
5. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6. S&P taste
7. 10-12 fresh basil leaves
8. Vegan ranch dressing for drizzling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 425.
2. Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and water saute for just 3-4 minutes. They don't need to be fully cooked, you just want to take the edge off. Drain any water out of the pan, then stir in ~ 3/4 cup of the Franks.
3. Top the pizza dough with the remaining wing sauce, spreading evenly. Add the saucy cauliflower bites, then sprinkle with the cheese and seasonings.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cheese is melty. Top with the basil leaves and drizzle with the dressing right before serving.

By Barb@ThatWasVegan?

That Was Vegan? https://www.thatwasvegan.com/

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I can’t believe how nice and warm the weather has been lately! Because this is Colorado, of course, we’ve had our ups and downs, but overall the weather has been really pleasant. Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

So, in the spirit of warm weather and the quickly approaching first day of summer, I’ve put together a couple of non-traditional grilling ideas for you. And when you get to the bottom, be sure to check out my What to Serve at a Vegan BBQ and 2012’s Labor Day Burger Round-Up posts for a whole mess of other grilling ideas!

Grilled Brussels Sprouts with Whole Grain Mustard

Grilled Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas

Grilled Sriracha Sweet Potatoes

Grilled Caprese Quesadilla

Grilled Buffalo Tofu Spring Rolls

Grilled Beet Salad

Grilled Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

Grilled BBQ Tater Tot Pizza

Now, go check out some great ideas for what to serve at a vegan bbq, and my vegan burger round up!

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Here’s a little food porn advertisement for you to follow me on Instagram:

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These are all recipe creations of mine, and most will appear on the blog eventually, BUT… wouldn’t you like to see these yummy pictures sooner? Follow me!

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Dear Vegan Maple Bacon Sweet Potato Tacos with a Spicy Cream Sauce,

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to think of a shorter, more succinct name for you. It wasn’t because I don’t love you (I do!), and it wasn’t because you weren’t insanely delicious (you were!). It’s just that you have so many wonderful ingredients and I wanted to include them all in your name!

❤, Me

Okay, the sappy love letter portion of this post is over. Can you believe it’s Monday again already? I can’t. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had some crazy weather here in CO (a tornado in the mountains? WTF!?) but I still found time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Saturday we did a crazy mountain bike ride. I looked very cute:

Well, at least I did when this picture was taken, before we started. 4 hours, 15 miles, 2,000 feet of elevation (gained and then lost!) and at least 1,500 calories burned later, I was a hot sweaty mess. Also it was raining so I kind of looked like a cat that just got a bath.

This was the loop we rode:

It was described in our guidebook as “Moderate”, which was a big huge lie. Any ride that gives me the dry heaves is *not* moderate! I didn’t actually shed any tears, but I did fall three times and lost a little bit of skin. I’m pretty sure there was also some internal bleeding but I toughed it out. #plantstrong  Mostly I was pissed that the ride took so long we didn’t have time to stop off at The Bucksnort for a beer!

And I made up for it by lying on the couch yesterday drinking wine and binge-watching Orange Is The New Black. Speaking of which, it really seems like this season is off to a slow start, doesn’t it?

 So, about those Maple Bacon Sweet Potato Tacos with a Spicy Cream Sauce you came here to see…

The sweet potatoes are baked with cumin, maple syrup and a little bit of salt & pepper. The kale is water sauteed with just a touch of the maple syrup, and then the whole thing gets sprinkled with coconut bacon. If that sounds like it’s too sweet, just wait until you taste the spicy cashew cream sauce!

I love the sweet n’ spicy combo. And tacos in general, because I get to eat them with my hands.

I have very simple tastes.

Maple Bacon Sweet Potato Tacos w/ Spicy Cream Sauce

2014-06-09 09:09:39

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Tacos

1. 1 large sweet potato, washed and diced
2. 1 teaspoon cumin
3. S&P to taste
4. 3 tablespoons maple syrup, separated
5. 1 bunch kale, washed, de-stemmed, and torn into bite-sized pieces
6. 6 corn tortillas, taco-sized
7. 1/4 cup coconut bacon

Sauce

1. 1/4 cup cashews, soaked in cool water for 30-60 minutes
2. 1/4 cup nondairy unsweetened milk (I used almond)
3. 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce

Instructions

1. Mix the potatoes with cumin, S&P and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, then spread out on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, flipping once.
2. Water saute the kale. When it's almost done, stir in 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and a pinch of S&P.
3. Add the cashews and about half the nondairy milk to a small blender pulse until smooth. Add the additional milk as needed. Chop the pepper and add to the blender, continuing to pulse. It's okay to have some pepper chunks (if you'd like) but you don't want any cashew chunks! Taste the sauce and add additional milk, peppers and salt as needed.
4. Separate the potato mixture into the 6 corn tortillas and top with the kale. Sprinkle with the coconut bacon and then top with the cream sauce.

Notes

1. This is *not* the time to skimp and use that fake maple syrup. Shell out for the real stuff and you'll be glad you did!

By Barb@ThatWasVegan?

That Was Vegan? https://www.thatwasvegan.com/

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Vegan Sticky-Sweet Glazed Donut Muffins. Yes, they’re a thing.

I made these last month, on a snowy Sunday morning when I was craving something baked. Something that would make the kitchen smell wonderful. They did the trick!

And also, can I just say how weird it feels to talk about snow in the recent past when it hit 92 here in Denver yesterday? The weather has been just lovely lately, sunny and hot. Last weekend we escaped up into the mountains with the RV and the fur-kids where it was simply sunny and warm. This is my favorite time of year, where it’s not too hot yet to do fun outdoor things (like riding some of Summit County’s 55 miles of paved bike trails!), and there’s still snow on all the peaks. Like this!

The run-off is still going strong. We had a lot of snow this past winter AND we’ve had a lot of rain this spring, so the water is insanely high in all the creeks and rivers. We were in Breck on Sunday and they have a pretty funny warning on the edge of the Blue River:

I think warnings that rhyme are more effective, don’t you? 🙂

Enough about the weather, let’s talk about the donut muffins which are absolutely still in season.

The flavors are rich: cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg. And the glaze? Well that is pure donut, my friends!

I actually went with a “single dip” approach, but if you want a thicker glaze then I’d say double-dipping is absolutely allowed, but just this once.

If you’ve been reading TWV? for long, you know that baking is my Achilles heel. I’ll cook all day, and I think I do a pretty good job at it, but when it comes to baking, my game is just off. Not way off… I mean, I’ve never food poisoned anybody (that I know of), and most of the things I make are edible. And of course I’m at a disadvantage living at such a high altitude. But. When I compare myself to my girlfriends Lauren and Jamie, who are both baking goddesses, I just don’t compare.

Maybe that’s something I should work on… Someday 😉

Want more proof that I can actually bake (once in a while)?

Strawberry-Coconut Bundt Cake
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Poke Cake
Strawberry “Brownies”

Sticky-Sweet Glazed Donut Muffins

2014-06-04 08:15:59

Yields 12

Can't decide between a donut and a muffin? Now you don't have to!

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Muffins

1. 1/4 cup vegan butter
2. 1/4 cup vegetable oil
3. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4. 1/3 cup brown sugar
5. 1/2 cup applesauce
6. 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
7. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8. 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
9. 1 teaspoon cinnamon
10. 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
11. 3/4 teaspoon salt
12. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
13. 2 2/3 cups AP flour
14. 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Glaze

1. 3 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
2. 1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
3. 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
4. 2 tablespoons hot water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425, and line muffin tray with 12 cups.
2. Using a hand mixer on low, combine the vegan butter, oil, sugars and applesauce for 2-3 minutes, until the mix is in little balls. Still on low, add the baking soda and powder, seasonings and vanilla extract.
3. Still on low, alternate adding the milk and flour in thirds, just until combined. Don't over mix.
4. Spoon into muffin cups, making sure to smooth the tops. Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating halfway through. You want the tops to be a very pale golden color. Allow to cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before glazing.
5. For the glaze, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Dip the muffin crowns one by one into the glaze and allow to harden. Dip a second time for a thicker glaze.

By Barb

Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

That Was Vegan? https://www.thatwasvegan.com/

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Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to dine at the newest Lyfe Kitchen as part of their preview event, and it was wonderful! They’re located in Lone Tree at the Park Meadows mall, and are scheduled to open on June 6th.

I plan to go back next month and try a few more dishes, then I’ll put a proper post up as part of my Mile High Vegan Eats, but in the meantime I definitely want to let you all know about this place! If you haven’t heard of them, they’re a chain out of Chicago that focuses on healthy, quality food using locally and sustainable ingredients. Their message is “Eat Good. Feel Good. Do Good.” I love it.

And did I mention they brought in Chef Tal Ronnen to help them design their vegan menu? No surprises here, it’s fabulous!

Let’s get to the food. They had a special tasting menu on Wednesday so everyone got to try an array of dishes, and here were a couple of my favorites:

Edamame Hummus & Veggies: This was a great starter, or could even make a light lunch all on it’s own!

Sweet Corn Chowder: Secret ingredient? Cashew cream. Okay, not a secret at all, but absolutely delicious. Very rich and creamy!

Vegan Art’s Unfried Gardein Chick’n: It’s made with roasted brussels sprouts, butternut squash, dried cranberries, cashew cream and dijon vinaigrette, and it was the best thing I ate all night. The woman sitting next to me said it tasted better than the non-vegan version. As in, the one made with actual chicken! Score!
 

 You can see their full vegan/vegetarian menu here, and their locations here. I can’t wait till they’re fully open so I can try their breakfast!

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Vegan Spaghetti Squash Alfredo (with peas!) is my idea of the perfect dinner on a warm summer evening. Especially when paired with a crisp white wine. I’m always a fan of creamy vegan alfredo sauce, and the squash is just so light and healthy. Have you tried spaghetti squash yet? If not, you’re missing out.

And speaking of summer weather, I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! I got a bit of a sunburn on my shoulders Monday, but I had a blast!

There was tons of hiking, eating out, visiting with friends, and beer.

And more beer…

Oh, and some more beer…

And, of course, some amazing vegan food to go with all that beer…

So can you guess where I was? Fort Collins! Love that college town with all its breweries and, of course, Tasty Harmony which is one of the most fantastic restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. Watch for the upcoming review on my Mile High Vegan Eats page.

Light n' Easy Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

2014-05-27 10:07:31

Serves 2

Get your summertime pasta fix with this lighter version!

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Ingredients

1. 1 spaghetti squash
2. 1 batch Happy Herbivore Alfredo Sauce
3. 1 cup frozen peas
4. S&P

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Cut the squash in half (carefully!), and scrape out the seeds (it's okay if you don't get them all). Bake rind side up for 30 minutes or until the squash is tender.
2. While the squash is baking, prepare the alfredo sauce. Stir the peas into the sauce, then taste and add S&P as needed.
3. Separate and remove the spaghetti strands with a fork, and add them to the sauce. Stir until completely mixed and everything is warmed through, and enjoy!

Notes

1. For the alfredo sauce, I use AP flour and always add some sea salt...

By Barb

That Was Vegan? https://www.thatwasvegan.com/

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