Garlic Fries, Spinach and Wings

I purchased some Trader Joe's "Garlic Fries" and finally decided that last night was as good as any to bake them up. I enjoyed the crispy texture of the fries yet found them to be extremely salty. I love salt but there was just too much of it.
Also, I didn't realize that the fries had hydrogenated oils in them- YUCK.
I'll be making garlic fries from scratch next time.
The spinach I sautéed turned out well. I simply washed it and threw it into a non-stick pan with garlic.
The third item pictured is Morning Star's Buffalo Chick'n Wings. I wasn't extremely impressed or disappointed. They didn't stand out in this meal.
Richard LOVES the fries but I think he may have to go without on this one.

Any suggestions on how to make garlic fries from scratch?

Talk with you soon!

Teddy

Peanut Butter Jelly

Welp, I know it's sad but it's all I had time for.
Just enjoy the Peanut Butter Jelly Time!!

Yep... Monday

Good luck!

Teddy
PS back with real food later

Family Veg Night

This week was a GREAT family veg night.
On the menu: fried tofu in an orange, ginger sauce. First off, my favorite way to eat most things is fried. I know, I know it's bad for me- I can't help it.
The tofu without the sauce was wonderful; then add the orange ginger goodness John whipped up and you have a meal fit for scarfing.

What would I ever do without family veg night?


Teddy

Pizza night

Veggie Pizza from Trader Joes

Tonight I'm trying a new product form Trader Joes. It's not vegan but I'm excited none the less.


It's got roasted garlic, tomatoes, red onion, basil and a bunch of other veggies

I'm thinking about have a "pizza party night". Just make a batch of vegan dough, pile on the toppings and watch a movie or two :)

What are your favorite pizza toppings or sauces? I want to try something new!


Teddy

Quinoa Recipe

As promised, here's the recipe for my quinoa/pistachio salad

Ingredients

2 cups quinoa
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries or other)
1 lemon zested and juiced
salt

I make my quinoa in a rice maker and I combine with the zest of one lemon.
Once the quinoa is cooked, I add the lemon juice as well as the nuts/fruit. Sprinkle generously with salt and combine well. Feel free to eat up!

It's incredibly simple, I hope you enjoy.


Teddy

Family Veg Night

This week we had fresh angel hair pasta with homemade pesto and fried eggplant. I haven't had pesto in months and it was just as delicious as I remembered.



Thank you Mom and John for the great food every week!

I'll be posting the quinoa recipe tonight!


TGIF guys; have a great friday.


Teddy

Quinoa Pistachio Salad

A few weeks ago, John made a family veg night dinner that Richard and I both LOVED. This is my attempt to recreate it. The list of ingredients is short: Quinoa, lemon, pistachios, and dried cranberries (well, salt and pepper too). It wasn't quite the same as John's but still a sweet and savory treat.

I'll post my "recipe" if you'd like (I have no real recipe written down).

Teddy

Candy

I LOVE the Target dollar bins!
I was at Target the other day and they had heart lollipop molds out for Valentines Day. You bet your last dollar I got a mold and I'll be using it before V-day.
I've only experimented with candy making a couple of times (mostly with chocolate). I'm a novice.

Does anyone have any tips on candy making?


Teddy

Banana Berry Muffins

We woke up this morning to 50 degree weather and that's just plain COLD here.
It took no time to decide that I wanted to turn on the oven for breakfast. A warm oven means warm MUFFINS!





I opened up La Dolce Vegan and started to plot my muffin adventure. Page 274 has banana blueberry muffins. I never stick to a recipe because I never have all the ingredients required. I tinkered around and came up with my own version.





They turned out wonderful, warm and moist (and the oven heated the house up!)
Today's going to be a quiet day in. Hope you all enjoy your weekend! I need to get back to my couch before Richard eats all my muffins :)


Teddy

Family Veg Night

Last night Richard and I ventured over to my parents house for our weekly Family Veg Night. On the menu tonight was:

Fried Plantains




Spinach and olive lasagna.

Honestly, I've never been a big fan of lasagna but I really like John's. It's odd but I'm going to say I like his because he doesn't use any Ricotta cheese (:P). Thanks for making it the way I like it John!

Teddy

Black Beans

I've been continuing my exploration of cooking dried beans. Thanks for the bean advice guys!
This time it was black beans. Black beans are already one of my favorites canned. Black beans and fresh cracked pepper is heaven to me.
I'll be having this black bean and zucchini salad with some rice for lunch today. It's simple, but I'm looking forward to it.

See you soon

Teddy

Veggie Grill restaurant

A new veg place opened recently in Irvine and I've been itching to try it for some months now. Veggie Grill is right next to UCI and has a young, contemporary atmosphere. The prices were reasonable for the portion size but still a little high for what I'm used to (about $10 per person).



The menu list is short but it entirely vegan. Veggie Grill, basically, is a burger joint for those who refrain from consuming meat. There are comfort foods like chicken burgers and sweet potato fries.





Richard chose the soup of the day (tortilla soup). The soup had some spice to it but just enough to warm the palate, perfect for the cool winter weather.


Richard also feasted on a portobello sausage burger with coleslaw. They used what they call "wheat meat" as the sausage and a whole roasted portobello mushroom. The meal got 2 thumbs up from Richard.


The serving size was enormous.


I was thrilled to try their sweet potato fries and a chicken sandwich. The fries were amazing and came with a ranch chipotle dipping sauce. Without the sauce the fries were good but with it, WOW. I'll definitely be taking my friend Cara here. She'll love the mock chicken.

Next on my list of items to sample there are the buffalo chicken wings.

Teddy

Pinto Beans

I hate to admit it but I've never made any sort of bean from scratch before. I just use canned because it's faster and easier. Last night I decided to change that.

First off, I wasn't certain of how to cook them. I ended up throwing a cup of beans into a pot with 2 cups of water, some oil and a handful of spices. I let them boil for 2 hours and added more water a couple of times. Not to toot my own horn but DANG these beans are good!
Burritos for lunch for all!! :)

Teddy

Icecream Cake

To celebrate the new year Richard and I ate an icecream cake that my grandma gave us for Christmas. This is the Black Forrest flavor (cherry icecream with chocolate base, chocolate drizzled on top and whipped cream). A delish way to start 2007.


Thanks grandma!! It was great.

Teddy


How was your new year?