All You Need Is Love!

Love or hate it, Valentine’s Day can be a really fun excuse to eat lots of dark chocolate and drink lots of champagne...which makes it alright in my book. Yesterday my guy took me up to Santa Barbara for a day of exploration. He had researched some of the best places to get vegan food, so we started the day at a place called Backyard Bowls. They specialize in, you guessed it, breakfast bowls. I got the Island Bowl which consisted of an acai, banana, mango, pineapple juice + coconut juice base, with a strawberry, blueberry, granola and coconut shavings topping (I opted out of the honey). Oh man. It was beyond amazing. The base was super refreshing and fit perfect with the “island” style of the toppings. Definitely something I want to try to recreate at home sometime.

Alchemy Cooler

After that we grabbed some coffee and headed to the beach where we hung out for awhile enjoying the beautiful, albeit breezy, Santa Barbara coast. I guess he had been paying attention to the one, or two..million.. times I’ve mentioned that we don’t go to see art exhibits enough, because after the beach we headed to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. They had a selected history of Southern California art from 1951 through 1969 (60’s art..my fav). They had some pretty great pieces, although Andy Warhol’s ‘guns’ that was printed on my purse was probably my favorite thing in the museum. 

We headed over to a vegan restaurant called Adama after the museum, only to find out they were closed for a special Valentine’s event. Oops. We were pretty bummed until we found the little gem of a cafe next door. Inside a place called the Alchemy Arts Center, they have a cute, mostly raw food, cafe. We decided to get some of the special raw Valentine’s Day sweets they were making and a couple of “Extracts” (fresh juiced fruits and veggies) and hit the road back to LA.

Italian Special at Native Foods

After the drive we were ready for some real food so we decided to do Valentine’s dinner at the vegan restaurant Native Foods in Culver City. I got the special which included a caesar salad, vegetable lasagna, and garlic bread. The salad and lasagna were delicious, but I could have done without their garlic bread. I’m a little picky when it comes to Italian cuisine because the food is never as good as what I remember of my Italian grandma’s kitchen. Gary had the Oklahoma 'Bacon Cheese' Burger with a side of fries. It was love at first sight for him and his burger. Very romantic.

We drove home and ended the night drinking champagne, eating dark chocolate and watching Return of the Jedi..what could be more romantic? ;)

KoKomo Chick'n

This is one of my all-time favorite dinners. The recipe comes from a friend of my mom’s and has been enjoyed in my family since I was very young. To be honest, I never knew what was in this dish until my mom and I started going through some of her recipes last weekend. I thought it was made from magic. My mom would go into the kitchen and about 30 minutes later the smell of heaven would be in the air. Ok, obviously I’m a fan. This recipe originally used chicken, so it was an easy fix for me to use seitan instead. I could serve this dish to a family member who has had it a million times and I bet they wouldn’t even be able to tell that the chicken had been switched for seitan. Hope you love it as much as I do. 

KoKomo Chick’n

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

2 8 oz packages seitan

2 tbsp minced garlic

15 oz can of tomato sauce

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp curry powder

1/2 the tomato sauce can of water

1 cup fresh basil leaves

2 cups long-grain brown rice

Preparation:

• Preheat a deep, non-stick frying pan on medium heat. 
• Add seitan and garlic, cook for 4 minutes.
• Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, curry powder, water and basil. Stir together, cover and let cook 45-60 minutes.
• If you are using long-grain brown rice, which takes about 55 minutes to cook, prepare according to package directions. 
• When Chick’n and rice are both done (approximately 1 hour) scoop a cup of rice onto a plate and serve KoKomo Chick’n over rice. 

*This recipe can be easily doubled for more people or to save leftovers for a quick weekday lunch/dinner*

Mean Mr. Mustard Wrap

Oh wraps, the lazy man’s sandwich. I was particularly starving one day after work when I made this and wanted something super quick and easy. I also wanted it to be really tasty. This wrap totally fit the bill. It has awesome flavor and a spicy kick from the jalapenos.  Not to mention they only take 15 minutes to make.

Mean Mr. Mustard Wrap

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat wrap

4 Gardein 7-grain crispy chick’n tenders
1 cup mixed baby greens

6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 jalapeno, cut into slices, then quartered

2 tbsp spicy dijon mustard

Preparation: 

• Heat toaster oven to 400 degrees. 
• Place chick’n tenders in the oven and bake for 15 minutes (If you don’t have a toaster oven cook on the stove or in a regular oven and follow directions on the package). 
• Lay a bed of the mixed baby greens on the wrap. 
• Place cherry tomatoes and jalapenos on top of the greens. 
• When the chick’n is done cut each tender into 3 even pieces, add the chicken to the wrap. 
• Top with desired amount of the spicy dijon mustard. 
• Roll the tortilla tightly and enjoy.

Easy As 1,2,3 Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich

Growing up, we had a few old stand-by’s when it came to sandwiches around my house. There was the classic pb + j and the grilled cheese, but one of my all-time favorites was my mom’s grilled peanut butter + cheese sandwiches. It brings back funny memories of my childhood like remembering how my mom would ALWAYS burn one side of the sandwich and then serve it to us burnt side down in attempt to hide the evidence. Of course, we always flipped it over to expose the cover up. Now you might be thinking, peanut butter and cheese... “yuck!!” which is the reaction I typically get when mentioning this sandwich. But I promise you it is deeeelicious and I have made a believer out of every skeptic who has tried it. It’s a quick sandwich to make and was a no-brainer to make vegan from it’s original version.

Easy As 1,2,3 Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich
Serves 1

Everything you need.

Ingredients:

2 slices whole wheat bread

1 slice of your favorite vegan cheese (I like using cheddar)

Peanut Butter, I like chunky but smooth works too

Earth Balance vegan butter spread

Optional:

2 thick slices of tomato 

1/2 avocado 

Preparation:

Try to get the bread to a golden brown.

• Preheat a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. 
• Generously spread Earth Balance butter on one side of each slice of bread. 
• Spread a thick layer of peanut butter on the opposite side of one of the bread slices. Lay the vegan cheese on top of the peanut butter. (If you are adding avocado or tomato add them on top of the cheese) close sandwich and put on skillet. 
• Wait about two minutes (keep an eye on it because they cook quick) and then flip to the other side. 
• Flip sandwich back to other side and cook until evenly golden and crisp-about 3 minutes per side. (I always flip mine on each side twice so it’s evenly browned and to make sure I don’t burn either side) 
• Cut in half and serve.

Good Day Sunshine Scramble

I love making scrambles. Mostly because they’re easy- and let’s be honest, who wants to spend their Saturday morning slaving away in the kitchen? Not me. I want to make my breakfast and get to the beach. The nice thing about breakfast scrambles is that you really can add anything to them. I use the following basic outline of a recipe and add or take away depending on what I have in my fridge at the time. So feel free to add your own favorites or take away anything you don’t like. This scramble also tastes amazing as a breakfast burrito in a whole wheat tortilla or served over thick whole wheat toast. Save the left overs and reheat for a snack or a quick work-day breakfast.

Good Day Sunshine Scramble

For this scramble I also added some zucchini.

Serves 4

(great reheated for a quick breakfast)

Ingredients:

1 package (14-16 oz) extra firm tofu

1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 medium jalapeno, diced

1 Tomato, sliced into rounds

A few fresh basil leaves

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp sea salt

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 avocado, cut into chunks 

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Drain tofu, use your hands and crumble into a breadcrumb-like consistency, set aside.
• Heat a large non-stick skillet on medium temperature. Add 2 tablespoons of water to the skillet when heated.
• Throw in the onion, bell peppers and jalapeno and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the peppers are tender.
• Add the tomatoes, basil leaves, tofu, nutritional yeast and spices. Mix all ingredients together. 
• Stir often, cook another 5-7 minutes or until tofu has a yellowish color to it. 
• Scoop scramble onto plate or in bowl and top with avocado. Additional salt and pepper to taste if you’d like. Serve Immediately.