What's in a name???

I've noticed a lot of vegan recipes are inspired and titled by non-vegan dishes that most of us know and love. Examples;

• "Chicken" Wings: A delicious dish for sure but not chicken of course (not even wings!) but they are made up of a cornucopia of ingredients that include tofu, chickpeas, ground almonds, brown rice and more, then sculpted into a chicken wing shape and coated in a tasty BBQ sauce. 
• Pasta & "Alfredo": Another great dish but not a shred (LOL) of cheese to be seen (thank goodness)!! Also made up of blended chickpeas & cashews. A yummy white sauce over pasta and veggies to be sure but not alfredo.

Please don't get me wrong, I am in no way downing these recipes or any others you may come across. I'm sure they are all delicious, many that I have tried are. And I know that the creators of these recipes are simply trying to help us make the transition from eating meat to not eating meat. Their intentions are good but I find for some it may not be so helpful.

There is a saying in the Bahamas when you are craving or expecting to eat a certain thing you would say, "I had 'my mouth fixed' for chicken wings." (but really more like, "Chile, I had my mout' fix for some wings! What dis is you givin' ma?!") So then when you have your "mouth fixed" for (or expecting to eat) chicken wings and you get something other than chicken it's a little disappointing (even though you already knew you weren't getting chicken). A few others have commented similarly (my boyfriend and another spouse who will remain nameless). I'm sure there is scientific evidence somewhere that our taste buds have memory.

As I've said previously, the vegan dishes that have been suggested to me and the ones I have come across have been absolutely awesome and have introduced me to spices and flavours I've never had before. It's a whole new world of flavour!

If you are a creator of vegan recipes, I doubt this will make you rethink your titles, I'm just making an observation. But PLEASE keep on being inspired by and creating the foods we know and love (if not, I wouldn't have anything to eat!)
Your hard work is appreciated!!!
:)

Recipe Back Up #2

Another go-to recipe for me is my Roasted Veggie Pitas. I didn't find this recipe anywhere, i don't even know if you can call it a "recipe" as it's just some roasted veggies, with cooked brown rice (i like some arugala as well) stuffed into some pita bread halves.

The veggies i usually use are mushrooms, onions (of course), red bell peppers, brussel sprouts quartered (don't turn up your nose, just trust me), and cubes of sweet potato, but feel free to try anything you like. if you use mushrooms, don't chop them too small as they are gonna shrink quite a bit. The marinade is some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic, salt & cracked black pepper, fresh rosemary & thyme chopped, and a dash of Sriracha (the BEST hot sauce in the WORLD) but you can use whatever spices you like really. Just don't drench it in the marinade, add just enough to coat everything
Mix it all together and lay the veggies so they are flat on a baking sheet and bake (450 degrees) until everything is roasted to the taste you like (about 35- 45 mins depending on how small you cut everything up).

















The veggies are slightly sweet because of the balsamic vinegar (turns sweet when roasted) and the sweet potato and then a hint of spiciness with the sriracha hot sauce.
Toast up your pitas so they are warm and stuff ;)

Full & Flavourful!!! Part #2

A good example of surprising good flavour was a recipe I tried from one of my recommended books, "Low-Fat Vegan Entrees". It was the Spicy Cous Cous with Dates. Honestly, the only reason I wanted to give this a try is that I had a HUGE bag of israeli couscous in my cupboard and dates in my fridge. It also had mushrooms, red peppers, and onions, with a couple star anise pods (that I had NEVER used before!). I was sceptical...but it was an awesome dish! It took a few bites to wrap my brain (& taste buds) around the new flavours but it was another winner :)

I had also been trying to find a few ideas for lunch at work and I think this will do nicely.

Full & Flavourful!! Not Boring & Bland Part #1

When people find out that I am trying to become a vegan, I usually get one of the following responses;

• "Oh, I could never do that, I like food too much to limit myself like that."
• "Don't you get tired of eating salad all the time??"

If you are considering becoming a vegan DO NOT buy into this!!! No one loved meat more than myself (hence my blog name-Bacon Loving Vegan). 

Being vegan does NOT mean just having salad and steamed veggies all the time. In fact, after being on an almost 100% plant-based diet for the past few weeks, I (and my boyfriend) am finding that vegan food is so much more flavourful. I am using spices that I never have before and finding that we are really loving the variety it lends to our food. 

Thanks to a friend, I was able to sample just how good this new diet can be before the decision was made to go all in. So if you are considering this lifestyle (even just a little bit), I ask that you please give a new vegan recipe a try. You might be pleasantly surprised, I was.

2nd Chili

Ok, so I know one of my recent posts was about a new chili recipe but I have to tell you about the one I tried tonight because it's better than the pumpkin chili.
I came across this Black bean and Pineapple Chili/Stew (sounds a bit weird right?). But I read over the ingredients and I happened to have everything on the list so I thought I would give it a shot. I wasn't sure the pineapple added in with black beans, diced tomatoes and zucchini would work but the flavours came together really well. it added that little touch of sweetness with the spiciness of the cajun seasonings.
You can add more liquid to make it into a soup, less for chili, even less to make a topping for tacos.

Making Your Menu

A good thing to do to help organise yourself (this is so funny because I am NOT an organised person) so that you keep on track is to compile a menu for the week. This was a tip given to me by a vegan friend and I'm finding it to be a big help.

• Compile the recipes that you want to make or try for that week.
• Familiarise yourself with the recipes and the necessary ingredients.
• Check your refrigerator and pantry to rule out what you have from what you don't.
• Make a shopping list of the things you need.

Doing this has helped me in many ways. When I get home from a long day at work I don't have to try to figure out what I'm going to cook and I may or may not have all the necessary ingredients to make dinner. Also if I know exactly what I'm going to make and have a list of the things I need, I am less likely to pick up things I may not use therefore saving myself some money.

Recipe Back Up

On nights when I don't have the energy to take on a new recipe and gamble on whether it's gonna turn out or not, one of my go to recipes is Chickpea Chipotle Tostadas. It's a lot like tacos but better. The "meat" is a pureed mixture of chickpeas, onion, sweet pepper and flavourful seasonings that is sauteed a bit in veggie stock and then dump it into your food processor and puree til smooth. Fry some corn tortillas in olive oil for some crunch and top with your puree, salsa and salad mix or whatever your favourite toppings are.
We experimented a bit with the crunchy and soft tortillas. Like the Old El Paso commercial says, you don't have to choose, you can have both!! I like to spread the ingredients on the flat, soft tortilla. Break one of the crunchy ones in half and lay it on one side of soft tortilla on top of the filling. Fold the soft tortilla in half like a taco and enjoy. You have the soft tortilla on the outside with the crunch of the corn tortilla on  the inside, along with the tasty ingredients.
Don't forget the Sriracha hot chili sauce!!

Weekend Breakfast Success!!

Today I made Maple Almond French Toast with no eggs or dairy and it tasted awesome! I used the recipe from the 30 Minute Vegan and for the batter you use almond milk, almond butter, flour, flax meal and vanilla extract. The taste tester gave it two thumbs up and commented that if he didn't already know it was vegan he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

woohoo!! one more success to add to my menu :)

Maple Almond French Toast