Fiesta Rice

Continuing with the tradition of what makes for fast and delicious meals... another Tex-Mex stylee!

This is also quick... probably no more than 20 minutes, start to finish, including cooking the rice.  Not bad!  I love corn, corn+rice even more... and corn+rice+daiya wins overall.  Toss in some peas, spices, some lime juice, some green onions and some pumpkin seeds and we're in business.  Of course, I had to add some of Melissa's fantabulous jalapenos ;-)

FIESTA RICE!
2 large servings

CONTENTS
1/2 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 can corn kernels
1 can diced maters
1 TBS each garlic powder, onion flakes, chili powder, cumin
2 tsp each coriander, dried oregano, dried basil
1 tsp mushroom powder, optional but highly recommended
3-4 green onions, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup daiya mozarella cheese
1/2 cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds
jalapenos to taste
1/4 cup lime juice


FASCIST DIRECTIONS

1. Boil rice in 1 1/4 cup water.  I went for the wok since it's good for stirring.  You could use a large, high-sided pan or a large pot.  Something large...

2. While it cooks, about 10 minutes total, prepare the rest of the ingredients--measure them out, chop the onions...





3. When the rice looks like it has absorbed most of the water, add the rest of the ingredients except the cheese, pumpkin seeds, jalapenos if using and lime juice.

Thank you Melissa!  Still spicy, and still oh-so-delicious!


4. Stir and heat through, about 5 minutes.  Add the lime juice and stir well.

5. To serve, layer 1/4 cup of daiya per person in a bowl.

Top with rice mixture.

Add 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds per serving and top with those delicious jalapenos.

Stitch enjoyed watching the process... She sits like Charlie Chaplin sometimes... so cute!

Burrito Rapido!

Rod wanted a burrito, I didn't want to pay restaurant prices for one... so I made something quick to satisfy the craving before it turned into obsession and we'd be forced to go to Moe's. See how I did that? I learned how to make words into links... Iz so smartz...

BURRITO RAPIDO

2 servings

CONTENTS

2 large tortillas

1/2 cup refried beans

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1/2 small tomato, chopped

1 green onion, chopped

Jalapenos that I guess are optional

1/4 fresh avocado, chopped

6 sun-dried tomato halves, chopped

lime juice to taste

1/4 tsp salt

cumin powder to taste

toothpicks to hold burritos together

Sour cream, optional to serve

FASCIST DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350F. Prepare a pan with two squares of foil.

2. Lay tortillas flat, one per foil square.  Pile on the ingredients except the sour cream.

3. Do your best to roll them up, and use toothpicks to hold them together if necessary.

4. Lightly roll the foil up over each burrito to keep the warmth in.

5. Bake 10 minutes until heated through.  Remove foil and serve with sour cream.

Total success!!

Though who packages 5 tortillas? What an odd way to sell them... Ha, five... odd... hehehe...

Brekkie Cranberry-Almond Oats

We're baaaaaaaaack!

Boston was fun!  What I saw of it, that is... Most of my days were spent inside a room with no windows but plenty of computer-monitor-tanning going on...  At the end of it, I emerged a pale but certified Avid instructor.  Yay!

The last Saturday at the Jamaica Plain Music Festival was awesome, hope to return next year.  Amber was a great hostess throughout the day, showing us where to have coffee and tagging along while we tried to find vegan fare.  We came across an AMAZING place called Fiore's Bakery (they apparently don't have a website of their own, but here's a link to their description on Yelp.com http://www.yelp.com/biz/fiores-bakery-jamaica-plain  Our review was that it was FANTASTIC, and the cupcakes were delicious, the free cookie he offered was great, and the sandwich was to die for!!!!  Total thumbs up!)

So anywho, I've been back and cooking away.  I apologize for the delay in postings but I've been dealing with computer and internet issues, so my recipes and pictures have been stacking up.  Today, I bring you breakfast!  Hey, it's still before noon :)

BREKKIE CRANBERRY-ALMOND OATS

2 servings

I wanted porridge for breakfast, and I wanted flavor... so I pulled various ingredients from the fridge and pantry and came up with this tasty concoction.  Hope you enjoy!

CONTENTS:

1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (Not instant! I had enough of that from the hotel!)

2/3 cup milk of choice

3 TBS slivered almonds

2 TBS unsweetened shredded coconut

2 tsp almond extract

1 TBS brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 TBS cranberries

FASCIST DIRECTIONS:

1. Lay out all of your ingredients and admire them

2. Prepare oats with milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. 

3. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350F and toast the almonds for 5 minutes on the lowest rack.  When done, remove pan from heat, sprinkle on the coconut and return to oven.  Leave 1 minute and then turn off the oven. Leave in about 2 more minutes, careful not to burn the coconut! 

Your porridge should be thickening up nicely right about now.

4. Add the cranberries, almond extract, brown sugar, and salt and stir well.  Cook about 3 minutes so the cranberries moisten and get plumper... if that's a word... Then add the coconut and almonds, remove from heat and stir.  Allow to cool about 3 minutes before dishing into two bowls.

Since I was serving us both I knew I needed to provide a little more... so I made a little side of pita bread sprinkled with mozarella daiya and some thyme and oregano sprinkled on top.  It was yummy! 

Very yummy indeed!  In total it took about 10 minutes to make this from start to finish. Not too shabby! 

Beantown Round-up!

Well, first apologies for the delay, voracious readers... I couldn't find the USB cable to hook my camera up to upload pictures! Now that I'm incorporating visual aids, I felt like I was cheating you out of good quality photos to enhance the descriptions of what we've consumed thus far.  Today is our last full day and we plan to hang out with her awesomeness, Amber, at the Jamaica Plain Music Festival: http://www.jpmusicfestival.com/ and for all ye facebook enthusiasts, scroll down to check out their 'mixtape'.  It's great!  http://www.facebook.com/jpmusicfest?sk=wall

So anywho, quick round-up of consumption while we're at it... My days might be off a bit but I'll try to recollect as best I can!

Ready, set, go veg!

Ah breakfast!  Most days this is what I'd have... some oats with peanut butter, a ton of fruit, tea, water and more fruit.  Yum!

On Monday we had Rudy's with Amber (previous post); on Tuesday we ordered pizza!  I called around to find vegan-friendly dough and one Italian place replied to my question with "What?" "Does your dough contain any dairy?" "We don't have pizza."  The horror!  But we found this place:

Where they also had this awesome bread side that was just incredible.

Pizza crust with marinara topped with onions, artichoke hearts, peppers, garlic and mushrooms.  It was very tasty indeed!

The following night we had Indian food, which was challenging to order over the phone due to a difference in accents but we got delicious food that was so good I completely forgot to photograph it...  My bad!

For lunch most days by the way I'd hit up the salad bar and get tasty treats such as this:

Spinach base, couscous with cranberries and mango, and sweet chili tofu! YUM!!

Last night we had the best pizza so far! They even had daiya already on the menu making it so easy to order!!

Oh my... soooooooo good!!!

Couldn't stop eating it! A whole jumbo pie ;)

This is where I was all week, by the way:
 

And this is us, promoting our dinner hotspot!


Thanks for your attention!

Rudy's Can't Fail

After a long day of class, I was pretty beat.  Rod has spent a good part of the day hanging out with Amber, a friend, fellow classmate and former coworker from Tallahassee who moved up to Boston last year.  It was so great to see her!  Next time we catch up I'll post a picture of all of us.  For now, enjoy just the ferals...

She took us to a great little place down near where she lives.
Rudy's Cafe (and Tequila Bar)
Address:
248 Holland St., Somerville MA
Menu:
http://www.rudyscafe.com/rudysmenu.html
Verdict:
Not too many veg options, but what we got was very yummy!

I promise tonight we will have something other than mexican... or tex-mex...  We ordered the veggie burrito and just removed the dairy.  The rice and beans are already vegan so that was great since they were very tasty.

For lunch I had a gigantic salad and bowl of fruit from the salad bar at Avid.  It's a really neat place!  Today, probably another large salad and more fruit ;)

And now I'm off to study my gigantic tome for class...  they are teaching us a weighty 450 page book in 5 days!  Here we go!

Two Vegans, Two Cities...ready...set...go veg!

Random rest-area photo along a surprisingly shorter-than-we-thought road trip to Orlando.

Our awesome friends hooked us up with a super comfy couch and a sweet romp around Orlando to many vegan joints that blew our minds!  Who knew???  Can't wait to try out more!  Since I can't really cook during our adventures in Massachusetts, I decided to make this week about the different things we have come across that we have been able to indulge in!  It's all about us, dammitt!

First Indulgence:

Homemade tea, some funky kefir, spicy capsacin beverage... and filtered water ;)  I guess I was more dehydrated from the road than I thought because I didn't have to relieve my tiny bladder every five minutes.

Second Indulgence: Lunch at Infusion Tea!

It was raining so I couldn't get in front of the sign but this will do.

Address: 

1600 Edgewater Dr. Orlando FL 32804

Menu:

http://www.infusionorlando.com/menus.html 

Verdict:

AMAZING!!!

Upon parking, we were greeted by this fella...

 Hop up to look over the fence and s/he's got a friend!

 And friend has a creepy eye peeking out... 

 Shudder... but very cool nonetheless.  

What we ate:

 Pesto Panini, Rod had the Root Beer and I tried the Mate (mah-tay) soda which rocked!  I was hesitant because I don't like sodas but I had already paid for it when I realized it was a carbonated beverage... But it was really good!  Didn't taste like mate at all, but I think that's a good thing.

 Yummmmm...  It was EXCELLENT!

 Michelle had the Bruschetta (not vegan, though we think probably nix the Parmesan and it probably is)

 Joel had the same panini!

Then we went to a PHENOMENAL cupcakery...

Third Indulgence:

Raphsodic Bakery (it was still raining so no outside sign, sorry)

Address:

710 Mills Avenue, Orlando FL 32803

Menu:

You just have to have one of everything, really.  You do.

Verdict:

See menu description.

Too delicious... don't believe us? Ask the dishes.

 Michelle and Joel had what I believe was a raspberry jam or some other berry jam based cupcake and a red velvet cupcake...

 Rod and I had a mocha and blueberry maple.

Rod went back for a second cupcake... got the same one ;)  He fears change....

After making an appearance at a gathering at Alchemy that was really neat, we moseyed onto dinner.

Fourth Indulgence: Ethos Vegan Kitchen 

 Address:

1235 North Orange Ave., Orlando FL 32804

Menu:

http://www.ethosvegankitchen.com/menu.html

Verdict:

Humada-humada-humada....Yum!

 Of course, with pizza on the menu, who could resist?

Not Rod!

We got a marinara-based pie with sausage, mushrooms and artichoke hearts.  SCORE!  Can't pass on a place that offers vegan sausage [TWSS]

Michelle and Joel shared some mac and cheese... 

 and a half & half pizza... half pesto and half marinara based... 

There were tomatoes, roasted red peppers and some other red topping that I don't recall but it was really purdy!

Rod and I also shared an appetizer that we wolfed down and I forgot to photograph...it was a trio with mango salsa, olive tapenade and a hummus, served with blue tortilla chips, sourdough bread and carrot/celery sticks.  Totally awesome!

And now meet who ate and had fun in Orlando on Saturday! 

Michelle and I watched 'The Nameless' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222368/ while Joel taught Rod this funky new music program that is really cool!!  THANK YOU JOEL!!!!  THANK YOU MICHELLE!!!  YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4am wake-up alarm to get us to park our car for the week by the airport and then off to Massachusetts!

As far as Boston at this point in time, we had Starbucks for breakfast (could NOT find a local cafe that was open!  And we really tried, so many cool sounding places and they were all closed :(   ).  Then we had a really nice and filling late lunch at:

Border Cafe

Address:

128 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington MA 

Menu:

http://www.bordercafe.com

Very nice, and our server, Jillian, totally hooked us up with Vegan fare--the flour tortillas are made with milk, which we never would have known so she was intuitive and came back to ask if our request for no cheese and no sour cream was a vegan thing.  Thanks!!

Rod rocked the fajitas

I had a salad--which might look meek but nay, tis a mighty salad.  You cannot see the mountain of black beans upon which this lighter fare sits.  DELICIOUS!

Can't wait to see what else we can find!

And for some fun, here's a game I like to call juxtapositions (look closely):

hehehe... humorist book organizer...

And we bought Cannibal Killers ;)