Cheater Chick'n & Cheeze Empanadas: Pockanadas?

The golden, crispy exterior

I hate to call these empanadas. I feel like I'm doing a huge disservice to that which is a true empanada. So, we'll say these are somewhere between a super fancy hot pocket and an empanada. Fancy Pockanada? No? I'll work on it. But I definitely see Hot Pocket stealing that from me. THEN who will have the last laugh?

That being said, these are insanely delicious. Inside, the Daiya cheese and cream sauce melt together to make a phenomenally decadent center. The gardein chicken is strong enough to handle all the cooking, so it retains it's flaky, chicken-like consistency. A little jalapeno makes for a touch of heat. A handful of spinach to make you feel good about it. And the puff pastry outside... well, find me someone who hates puff pastry. We'll talk.

Vegan Breakfast Part 2: Broiled Tofu with Sage Wasabi Cream, Sauteed Spinach, and Lebanese Tabouli

The first part to this series was a banana french toast with candied walnuts. And while I love a sweet breakfast, my favorite has to be the savory. Something about all that syrup first thing in the morning doesn't sit well with me. Unless we're talking about "weekend mornings", which are more around 12 pm. At that point, I could eat anything.

Anyway, Andrew and I have taken on a new aspect to the regiment-- morning yoga. We have 3 Rodney Yee yoga dvds that we cycle through. Well, we mostly cycle through "Power Yoga" and "Strength Building Yoga". It's a pain in the ass to wake up an hour earlier, but it's worth it. I feel so much better after working out in the morning. And yoga really focuses on both mind and body. I'll probably write more about this later, but the point being-- I'm really hungry in the mornings now! It gets my metabolism going I think. Thus, a series about breakfast food.

This is a really good nod to eggs florentine. It doesn't taste much like [[I don't think? I've never had it!]], but it's super delicious. The sauce is warm and creamy with a touch of spice and the Lebanese tabouli adds a fresh finish. Give it a try.


[[Broiled Tofu with Sage Wasabi Cream, Sauteed Spinach, and Lebanese Tabouli ]]

2 Ezekiel English muffins
2 tbs earth balance or other soy butter

1/2 block of tofu cut into 8 triangles
2 tbs soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable broth
3 cloves garlic
some parsley

1 recipe for wasabi cream
plus:
1 tbs vegan sour cream, I use tofutti
1 tbs fresh sage chopped
a dash of cayenne pepper

1 tbs olive oil
1 cup spinach

1/3 cup tabouli - you can buy it at whole foods or make it yourself

-- Turn your broiler on high.
-- Mix together all the ingredients after tofu. Marinade you tofu in this mixture and then place in a glass baking dish.
-- Cook until a little crispy on the outside about 12-15 minutes. Then baste the tofu with a couple tbs of the marinade. Cook for another 5 minutes. Repeat and remove the tofu.

-- Heat the wasabi cream in a sauce pan. If you're using extra that has been refrigerated it may be kind of thick. Whisk in 1/4 cup soy milk.
-- If you're making it from start to finish, just continue with these instructions.
-- When wasabi cream is full heated [[or thickened]], whisk in the sour cream, sage, and cayenne. Remove from heat and set on warmer until ready to use.

-- Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a medium pan. When heated, add the spinach and cook until slightly wilted.

-- Assembly: Top your buttered English muffin halves with the tofu, then spinach, then wasabi sage cream, then sprinkle with tabouli.

Warm Wasabi Cream

I got a new camera last week! I'm pretty excited about it. It's a Nikon D5000, and though I'm not exactly a mad wielder of awesome pictures yet, I can see a huge difference with my food photos already. Which makes me pretty excited about this post. It's the premiere of the D5000.

I've really been plowing through The Conscious Cook. The recipes are a little challenging and often time consuming, but I really enjoy the change. This recipe is Old Bay Tofu Cakes with Horseradish Cream and Summer Vegetables. I made a few alterations, because sometimes it's just a pain in the ass to run out and grab every ingredient. Especially when you've gone to two stores already looking for old bay and you somehow forgot the horseradish.

Can't find Old Bay? It's often in the seafood section.

The recipe called for some shallots and other ingredients with fresh vegetables, bla bla. Instead, I bought a frozen bag of mixed, organic vegetables and cooked them with some thinly sliced yellow onion [[it's what I had on hand]], olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. And because I forgot the horseradish like a dummy, I decided to make a warm wasabi cream. Again, it's what I had on hand. Here's what I did:

[[Warm Wasabi Cream]]

1 heaping tbs earth balance
1 glove garlic
about 2 tbs brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 tsp salt and pepper
2 tbs wasabi

-- Warm the E.B. and the garlic.
-- Add the brown rice flour when the E.B. is completely melted and slightly bubbling. Whisk together and let sit for 20 seconds.
-- Add the soy milk, salt, pepper, and whisk to combine.
-- Allow to thicken on medium heat.
-- When thickened, whisk in wasabi and set on warmer until ready to use.

The tofu cakes were phenomenal. I'm not a huge white pepper fan, so I may leave that out next time, but they were really great. They were a little difficult to patty after sitting in the fridge for a a half hour [[still too runny]], but I made due. They certainly didn't come out as pretty as his, but they still tasted great. Creamy inside, with greasy crispy outside.

Vegan MoFo Day 30: How to Fix a Broken Sauce + Recipe

Above is a really delicious, but REALLY broken, sauce. It's a lemon butter sauce. The base is a little soy milk, reduced, and a little no-chicken broth, reduced. And sometimes, for one reason or another, when you add your fat, everything sort of falls apart. And you get this sort of speckled, animal print looking sauce. It's really frustrating for a vegan because the best way to fix a completely down-right ruined sauce is to use an egg yolk. But for obvious reasons, that won't work.

So, in honor of my failures this week, I thought I'd give you all some tips on how to fix your broken sauces.

1. If you see it start to break, immediately obtain some of your base [[this could be soy milk, broth, whatever you started with]] and whisk some in, about 1-2 tsp., until the sauce comes together again.

2. You can whisk a little flour in when you add your fat [[oil, butter, etc.]]. This way, your sauce is less likely to break since flour is a pretty awesome binding agent.

3. You can also try blending a little tofu, a flax egg, or using an ener-g egg replacer in order to bind the sauce again.

4. To prevent, add you fat slowly and whisk quickly. And don't let it sit on the heat too long.

[[Lemon Butter Sauce]]

1 tbs olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1/4 cup chopped assorted mushrooms
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup no-chicken broth
1/2 cup soy milk
2-3 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 tbs earth balance
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

-- Heat olive oil on medium heat.
-- Add shallots, mushrooms and garlic, when oil is heated. You can test the oil with one piece. If it sizzles, it's ready.
-- Cook vegetables for 3-4 minutes. Allow the garlic to become fragrant and the shallots to become soft and translucent.
-- When ready, add the no-chicken broth. Turn the heat up to medium high. Bring to a simmer.
-- When the broth has reduced in half, add the soy milk and whisk together. Once again, allow the milk to reduce in half at a simmer.
-- Add the lemon juice. Whisk together.
-- Add the 4 tbs of earth balance and whisk quickly. Add the earth balance slowly! If you add it too quickly, it will break. Try one teaspoon at a time. If the sauce begins to break, try any of the methods to salvage the sauce as stated above.
-- Add the parsley and pepper. Serve over any meat substitute, vegetables, pasta, mashed potatoes, rice, etc. Be sure to not let this sauce sit on the heat too long, as that will cause it to break. Prepare it right when everything else is ready. And if you refrigerate it, you're doomed! Dun, dun, DUN! [[like scary music?... ok.]]

Vegan MoFo Day 28: Pinot Noir Sauce

Vegan Month of Food is winding down and it makes me a little sad. It should be vegan YEAR of food. It's nice to have a network of bloggers to read and to have some extra motivation to cook and post about it daily. It will feel so silent when all is done.

Today I went to the dentist for the first time in like two years. I was a little scared. But sure enough, the dentist tells me my teeth are awesome and strangely plaque-free [[even though I switched to fluoride-free toothpaste]]. I'm slightly prone to cavities and I already knew going in there that one was really bugging me, so unfortunately I have to get two filled. The dentist says I need to start using fluoride again, but I wonder-- if I'm so good at taking care of my teeth already, what more can fluoride do for me? Is anyone else on the anti-fluoride train?

Anyway, back to food and not my disgusting oral hygiene. I love sauces. I think they bring a whole meal together and set the tone for the flavors. I make a lot of white wine cream sauces, just because they're velvety and homey feeling, but I think I neglect the darker, red wine sauces. After making a gardein marsala the other day though, I've been turned onto red wine sauces. I used just a really cheap pinot noir this time and added a little flour to make it thicker than the marsala sauce. Topped it with a cornmeal crusted seitan and had some brussels sprouts on the side.


[[Pinot Noir Sauce]]

about 1 tbs olive oil or any oil, after cooking a protein
1 cup thinly sliced red onions
3-4 cloves minced garlic
about 1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 cups cheap pinot noir, or any red wine
1 cup no-chicken broth
2 tbs flour
salt and pepper to taste

-- Cook your protein in the same pan as your sauce. If you have any left over oil, use that to sautee the onions, otherwise add about 1 tbs. Cook with minced garlic.
-- When onions are soft and translucent, add the seasoning through oregano and cook about 30 seconds.
-- Add the red wine. Allow to simmer on medium heat until reduced in half.
-- Add the broth and stir.
-- When broth is incorporated, add the flour and whisk quickly to avoid lumps. Sifting the flour beforehand may help this.
-- Allow to simmer on medium heat until thickened. Add salt and pepper-- be sure to taste. You may want to add more seasoning per your preference.
-- Top on protein, mashed potatoes, vegetables-- anything.