Domestipithecus

When Boo and I would get back from our long runs while marathon training, I would cook up a tofu scramble to help feed our depleted bodies. It worked quite well except for the getting home from running anywhere from 10 to 18 miles and having to freaking chop veggies and cook.

One day I decided to get tortillas and make the scramble and assemble breakfast burritos the night before so we could just nuke them. They were fine like that.

Then, when I was having my mother, sister and cousin in the house the morning of the wedding (my family stayed here, his family stayed at his parents’ house) I made them up a week ahead of time and froze them.  That worked even better.

Now, I make a double batch when we are running out (about 3 or 4 left) and put them in the freezer so we always have a quick breakfast (or even a lunch or dinner if we feel like it). This is based on the tofu scramble in How it All Vegan.

I take two blocks of extra firm tofu, not silken, and wrap and press before even starting the fauxsage mix.

For the inside, I make a fauxsage (scroll down to see). I used to chop it up into small bits, but since we got a KitchenAid grinding attachment as a wedding gift, I am able to grind the thing up. This works so much better as it distributes wonderfully throughout the mixture. Much better than the chopped pieces.

This time I made an apple-sage sausage. Basically I used the pumpkin-sage recipe linked above, but used apple sauce instead of pumpkin puree and I upped the sage a little.

Once the sausage was done baking, I put it on a rack to cool and started preparing the veggies. This will vary depending on what we get in our box scheme and what I have already prepared, but frozen.

This time
1 large yellow onion - chopped small but no need for full on dicing
1 large green pepper - this was frozen this time so was already chopped
3 medium red potatoes - diced
4-5 cloves of garlic - crushed (though Boo and I love garlic so I usually throw in even more)
3 small vine tomatoes - chopped
Approx 1Tbsp curry

After I finish the veggies, I grind up the sausage - about two-thirds of it. It should be cool enough by this time. I save the other third for other things like country sausage gravy or pizza topping.

I lightly spray a large (I use this one) pan and put the potatoes in. Once they seem near done, I take them out and set aside.

Then the onions and peppers go in. Cook them for a little bit, you don’t want them all the way done or they will get crazy mushy. Once they seem cooked but still firm, add the crushed garlic. Stir that around for a couple minutes.

Add ground sausage. Cook for a couple minutes.

Add potatoes back in. Cook for a couple minutes.

Take the tofu and crumble it in. Cook for a couple minutes and then sprinkle in curry. I usually just add this from the container so the measurement is a guesstimate. I sprinkle some on, mix and if it looks like it needs more, add some.

Once the curry has been thoroughly mixed with all the ingredients, add in the tomatoes (juice and all). Mix it up and then let it cook a bit. I put the cover on to keep in the moisture, but it’s not necessary.

After that is all done I set the mixture aside and cook the tortillas. I just buy flour ones at the store. I cook them briefly over my gas flame on the stove, just enough to soften and brown in spots. Then I roll. Boo taught me how to do this well - he worked at Del Taco when he was younger.
Place a good amount on the tortilla (ignore the bit of filling I dropped on the counter)

Fold it in half and with a little pressure slide the top towards you, compacting the filling

Fold the sides in slightly diagonally so that the open part is a little slimmer than the bulk of the burrito

Et voila! A nice looking, tightly packed burrito.

I stack ‘em while I make ‘em

Then spread them out to cool before putting into freezer bags to await being eaten!

To cook after freezing
Wrap loosely in a paper towel on a microwave safe plate. Nuke for 1 1/2 minutes. Flip. Nuke for 1 1/2 minutes.

MMMM good eatin’.

Boo and I headed south for a friend’s birthday gathering on Saturday. We took this as an opportunity to go to one of our most favorite veg places to eat. Papillon in El Segundo.

I used to go there at least once a week for lunch when I worked in town. Now that I’m an hour away on the wonderful Los Angeles freeways, I don’t get there as often.

Boo and I had dinner there after he proposed to me. And there we were, 2 years to the day from our first date and only 2 weeks until we tie the knot. We got all sappy and looking into each other’s eyes cheesy. BUT, I was still able to take some photos of our delicious food!

First we had the veggie fried wontons - these are soooo good we could have just orderd a few orders of this!

Then we had the nummy veg Hot and Sour soup.

And our main course was the House Special Tofu. This is our most favorite dish there. We love a lot of stuff but oh my this wins hands down. It was extra hot that night (the dish, not the temperature) and we like it that way. Of course, it was offset by the yummy brown rice.

We were going to split a Halo-halo for dessert but decided against it. Next time

Since we borrowed Veganomicon from Josh’s mom I have been obsessed. I love it. I want to make everything in it, except for that nasty portabella mushroom steak thing. *hurl* I despise mushrooms. They are disgusting and slimy and they taste like moldy dirt. You want to torture me? Make me eat mushrooms with cilantro. I’ll give away any secret I know to avoid putting that bile-rise inducing “food” in my mouth.

I have gotten better with the mushrooms. I can actually eat food that they have come in contact with. I didn’t used to be able to. I remember going to chinese buffet years ago, back when I ate meat, with my co-workers for lunch. I would go to get something from the buffet and I would come back to a mushroom on top of my peking dumpling. I would then have to give it to someone else and go get another for myself. I ended up getting a lot of dumplings for other people that way.

Cilantro I will never, ever be able to eat. That leaves out a LOT of food when you live in SoCal. They put it in EVERYTHING. When I first moved out here, I couldn’t figure out why all the food I had tasted like dirt. Finally, a friend figured out that it was cilantro. I didn’t even know what cilantro was. They don’t use a whole lot of it back in New Hampshire. Here, they use it like salt. *shudder*

Well. That was a rant.

What I had originally started this post for was to put up some pictures of things made from the book mentioned above, my own stuff and other new cookbooks.

Below is my own home fried potatoes with a tofu scramble from How It All Vegan! (minus the mushrooms). Isn’t it cool how the tofu looks like scrambled eggs?

This is my own roasted garlic mashed potatoes (roast 2 heads garlic and mash with 4 largish russet potatoes and some earth balance), corn and vegetarian bangers (sausage) from a mix I bought while in Ireland. I also sliced up and sautéed some elephant garlic to put on top of the potatoes.

This is my easy peasy (though I used corn) vegan shepard’s pie. Easy peasy because I layered the potatoes that were left over from above on top of a can of corn which was on top of onions and Boca Ground Burger that I had fried up. I used regular ketchup on top with onion powder, garlic powder and Italian Seasoning mixed in. This was incredibly yummy and tasted just like I remember from when I was a kid (except my mother, knowing that I hated peas, would use peas. Stupid peas.)

I love how the camera caught the steam rising from both plates.

And last, but certainly not least, Boo had flowers delivered yesterday. They are gorgeous.

I love me my Boo.