Sushi? For me?

I have learned something about myself. I am a condiment whore. I think sometimes I eat particular things, simply for the associated condiments. I have 7 types of vinegar, 5 mustards, 9 billion jars of pickled everything, 2 overflowing cabinets of spices and no less then 1 metric ton of every type of vegetable, seed or nut oil known to man. I need you to understand this about me so the rest of this post will make sense. I am *mostly* vegan, I don’t eat fish, and I LOVE SUSHI. Until recently I believed that the fish, nori, rice was what I loved, when actually it is just the wasabi. Trouble with such a dish specific ingredient is that I couldn’t think of much else to do with it apart from making aolis for tofu. I had been sedating my craving with overpriced cucumber and avocado rolls from sushi restaurants but the idea of paying 7 dollars for 3 cents worth of ingredients usually turned my stomach so much that I hardly enjoyed my meal.

Finaly, last week, I broke down and made all of ppk’s delicious vegan sushi.

 

I am not going to re-write all of Isa’s recipies, you can find them here.

We made all of them, but far and away the very best one is the spicy tempeh roll. I was reaaaaaaly hesitant to try this because my fist experience with tempeh was such an epic failure. I should not have been worried. These ladies know what they are doing, and EVERYTHING I have ever made of theirs has been just wonderful.

Katie and her friend came over last Monday, and we had a freaking amazing time making these.

He is very helpful ❤

We made waaaaaaaaaaay too much though. In case you were wondering 5 cups of rice is too much for 4 people. It is almost too much for 6 people lol. Oh, and we had pie. Cause, ya know, every one needs pie.

 

 

I have had sushi three times now. Three sushi days IN ONE WEEK! How amazing is that? Saturday, I just made a ton in the afternoon and we were hobos and had that and soup for the rest of the day.

 

If I had known how easy, tasty and completely satisfying sushi could be with out the fish, I would have skipped the whole pescitarian thing most likely. It might actually be a bad thing how easy this is to make, I defiantly need to try with brown rice because I feel a teensy bit guilty about eating so much white rice.

The rest of this week should be interesting. This is my first Thanksgiving being vegetarian, *mostly vegan* and I am a little nervous. I know no one will make me feel bad, I am actually more concerned with making other people uncomfortable. I know it is all in my head, I am just a lunatic. I am planning on making a dish to bring to each event this week, and having that as my main thing, and letting everyone else eat it as a side dish. O and pies. Super stoked about the pies this year. With as much stuff as I am going to be making, as many pies as I plan on eating, and how long it takes me to make myself sit down and write, I’ll probably be done with my next post some time next year :-). Happy Thanksgiving every one! ❤

Cleaning out the fridge

Freaking crazy day today… As I am sure many of you know, Monday we had an awesome storm that produced many tornadoes, and some of the biggest freaking hail I have ever seen. While I am exceedingly grateful that we were not hit by a tornado, we did have baseballs flying at the side of our house for about fifteen minutes at what seemed like sixty miles an hour. This did not break as much as it could have, it did however, shatter my windshield and dent the crap out of my roof 😦 So now we need a new roof 😦 crumbs 😦 So all day (literally) I have been talking to insurance claims adjusters, the insurance agency, or roofers. All the while crossing my fingers that I am not making huge unfix-able mistakes. Stress! lol  k done pouting!

On a more fun note, my brother, his roommate and his roomies super sweet girlfriend came over for dinner the other night and we had so much fun! I really wish I had taken pictures of that dinner because the desert at least was something I had never tried, but will be making many many many times lol. I got a before picture, but it is not that impressive.

Chocolate tofu pie *yes it is really tofu!*

1 box silken tofu (I used extra firm)

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup strong black coffee

2 tsp vanilla

1 graham pie crust

Melt chocolate over a double boiler ( ie a metal bowl on a pot of simmering water lol, seriously, who has one of those?)

Break tofu up in food processor add the chocolate, coffee and vanilla blend until super smooth.

Pour in to your crust and let set in fridge at least 2 hours. I made a strawberry sauce to put on it as well, but raspberry or peanut butter would be super yummy 🙂

There  was one very big piece of that pie left yesterday and I ate it all lol. So today I am feeling a little repentant from my indulgence yesterday so a light lunch sounded very nice. Plus, if you can tell me something better to eat when it is cool than soup I will call you a liar.

I just used up the last bits of my carrots celery and onion for this guy. I have never made it but I think it turned out pretty yummy :-).

Carrot and ginger soup

2 Tbsp evoo

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

5 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 inch of grated ginger

3 cups ( about) vegetable stock

2 tsp agave

1 tsp orange juice

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

dash of all spice

Sweat out the onions, garlic and celery until soft, add carrots and ginger, sauté about 4 minutes. Add stock and season to taste. When carrots are soft let cool a bit and spin up in blender or with your immersion blender.

My pretty mothers day roses and kale chips!

I wish I knew how often I have made this, and am just now getting around to putting it up here lol. This is my go to dinner because it takes about 10 minutes to make from start to finish, and that is if I am slacking lol. It also makes a ton and costs about 50 cents a plate so….yeah lol

Chickpea Curry

*I like SPICY and strong flavors, no kidding around here this can be very hot so start with less cayenne if you are weary of spice*

2 T evoo

1/2 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 inces of grated ginger

2 cans of chickpeas

1 tsp of each of the following spices

tumeric

coriander

cloves

cinnamon

cayenne

Vegetable stock or water to thin out.

A few handfuls of kale or spinach

Sweat out onions, garlic and ginger. Add spices and a bit of liquid to help soften it up. Add in chickpeas and more liquid if it looks like it needs it. Before serving put in whichever green you want and let wilt a bit in the pot.

I think all I have left in the fridge is some celery, some spinach and a cucumber lol. Hope you all are having a great week! ❤