Monday, September 16, 2013

VeganMofo Day 16: Vegan fast food


This is Day 16 of Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts, and this post is about vegan fast food. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

Unless you live in a vegan Mecca like Los Angeles, New York City or Portland, having access to vegan fast food might only be a dream. Of course these days, with the popularity of vegan food and people overall wanting to be healthier, you never know where a vegan fast food joint may pop up. I recently heard that there is a Veggie Grill coming to Boulder, CO, about 45 minutes from us, and that would be awesome.

The type of vegan fast food that I am writing about, however, is vegan fast food in your own kitchen. For people who have just become vegan, and for some of us who have been vegan for years, veganism is such much easier if we become comfortable in our own kitchen. The more comfortable we are in the kitchen the better we are going to eat and probably the healthier too!

My standard go to for quick vegan food is beans and rice. In a skillet I take a can of black beans, add cooked brown rice (you can even use the instant brown rice, and some salt and pepper. I like cayenne pepper so I add a pinch of that. When the beans and rice are hot, I add fresh kale, spinach or Swiss chard. Done.

With leftovers, grab some tortillas and make burritos for later in the week.

Mike's version of fast food is his Chik'n and Dumplings. These are delicious and one day soon I will have recipe. I love coming home on a chilly day to the smell of his Chick'n and Dumplings. He basically throws into a pot mixed veggies, water and bouillon and tops it off with Bisquick dumplings. You can add Beyond Meat strips or not, depending on your taste. I remember bringing these to a non-vegan potluck with over a hundred people and a woman from Texas came over to Mike to tell him that his dumplings were perfect!

 This as leftovers makes a great lunch.

I have gotten to the point where I can whip out a great Tofu Scramble in under ten minutes. I've posted my recipe here and it works great for a quick, healthy breakfast and also for breakfast burritos for later in the week.

On the not so healthy side, grilled cheese sandwiches are awesome. Bread and Daiya cheese and you are good to go. I use soy butter to make them but you could use oil or nothing at all with the right skillet. Add some delish soup and boom, another quick meal.

We try (or I should say that Mike tries!) to make a great, delicious sit-down dinner every night, it just doesn't work out all of the time. Having quick options and a few things in the fridge for a last minute dinner will make life so much easier for you!

Salud!

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

VeganMofo Day 15: I love Mexican food!


 My love for Mexican food is today's subject for my post for Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

If you are a regular reader of The Gay Vegans blog, then you already know that I love Mexican food and that my favorite place for amazing vegan Mexican food in Denver is Tarascos.

Mmmmm. I am salivating just thinking about it. When I first became vegan there were very few Mexican restaurants that made any of their re-fried beans without lard. It's a lot easier these days. My experience is also that if a place has lard in their re-fried beans, they might offer whole beans as an option.

The wonderful thing about living in Denver, and probably many other places, is that as vegans we really don't have to settle for just a plain bean or bean and rice burrito. Thank goodness.

My favorite meal at Tarascos is the enchiladas espinacas, spinach enchiladas. So delicious. Add in fresh-made guacamole and an agua fresca made with fresh fruits (and maybe fresh veggies) and you are good to go.

Sopa Tarasca is also one of my favorites, just a simple bean soup with flavors that will drive your taste buds crazy!

It's easy to not remember that Mexico is as diverse as the US, probably more so. This means the food options just go on and on. What I have listed are just some of my favorites, dishes I eat all of the time. I would love to hear about your favorite vegan Mexican dishes!

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

VeganMofo Day 14: Meet other vegan bloggers

 
I decided last week that Saturday topics for Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts, are for introducing you to other vegan bloggers. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

Veganism is well represented by bloggers and I think because of vegan bloggers veganism is so much more accessible.

Ever since day one of The Gay Vegans I have tried to promote other vegan blogs, whether the blogs are mainly about food, activism or nutrition. Need a dinner recipe, check out a vegan blog. Worried about B12, there's a vegan blog for that too!

At Vida Vegan Con I fell in love with Mauro and Lydia, two of the fours bloggers for From A to Vegan blog: http://fromatovegan.com/ They are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet and their blog rocks it with all types of information. I have become a regular visitor to their blog and every time I spend some time there I fell like I learn so much (or want to go somewhere!). From travel reviews, tor restaurant and product reviews to just basic information on veganism, they certainly cover it all.Mauro and Lydia recently went to the huge Vegetarian Food Festival in Toronto and I can't wait to hear all about it.

Speaking of the sweetest people and people that I simply love and adore, another blog I frequent is from my friend Katie Medlock, Vegan Noms: http://vegannoms.blogspot.com/ Katie covers recipes for delish vegan desserts, smoothies, main dishes and more, and sometimes she connects the recipe with a TV show, which I think is pretty cool. Under her "recipes" tab Katie has all of the recipes categorized so you can easily find a breakfast dish, pasta dish or dessert. How easy! Need a recipe for a great vegan dish for a party you're headed to, check out Vegan Noms. You will love Katie.

I sense a theme here of people that I totally love so Ryan Patey is a perfect fit here. I am so grateful that I know Ryan and that I get to call him friend. Ryan's blog is also home to his online vegan magazine, T.O.F.U.: http://www.ilovetofu.ca/ To me Ryan is a vegan superstar and his blog and magazine bring a huge variety of topics to our vegan culture, from recipes to articles about vegan communities to articles about body issues amongst us. I have been buying T.O.F.U. magazine for a couple of years and have loved each issue. Check out Ryan's blog and you'll be the first to know when the next edition comes out.

I hope you take time to check out these blogs and get as much out of them as I do!

Thanks for reading!

Friday, September 13, 2013

VeganMofo Day 13: Review of Immaculate Baking Company's products


Reviewing Immaculate Baking Company's baked goods is the topic of my post for Day 13 of Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

Mike and I were shopping one day with our friends Spencer and Amy one day and Spencer tossed a tube of cinnamon rolls into his cart. I was thinking that they could not possibly be vegan, and he told me that of course they were.

You all know that Mike makes the best cinnamon rolls ever. I have posted his recipe twice. Nothing honestly beats them.

These come close.

There are many times that I would love a cinnamon roll but Mike doesn't have time to make them from scratch.  Enter Immaculate Baking Company's pre-made, all ready to be baked in your oven cinnamon rolls!

They only take about 18 minutes to bakes, you dab on the frosting that comes with the package, and you have five super-delish vegan cinnamon rolls.

Try not eating all of them at the same time!

Immaculate Baking Company also makes different flavors of scones, and we have tried the blueberry scones. They are delish as well and the package makes eight.

They also make cookies and pie crust. We have yet to try those (or see those in our markets).

When you don't have the time to make delicious breakfast creations, turn to these. You will not be disappointed!

Thank you for reading!