MoFo Road Trip

Vegan MoFo: What would you bring on a vegan road trip?

MONEY

Why money? Because I want Chipotle!

We do not have one where I live and I work at home, so when it's time for a trip - then I'm ready to have some favorites and explore as well!

I don't wanna eat snacks in the car ;)

MoFo Tacos vs Burritos

Vegan MoFo: Tacos vs Burritos. Where do you stand on this important issues?

I vote BURRITOS!! Hands down.

Love making homemade burritos - complete with homemade guacamole and salsa!

I didn't even know this was a controversy :) 

MoFo Spices

Vegan MoFo: Favorite Herb or Spice?

I cannot pick just one!

I think I put garlic, paprika, and salt/pepper on EVERYTHING.

Including this simple meal of tofu and roasted veggies.

I only cook veggies until al dente.

MoFo Lunch on the Go

Vegan MoFo: Lunch on the GO

This is a great, quick lunch!

I work at home, and that makes life so much easier to make healthier choices for lunch.

This is simply tofu with sauteed mushrooms and onions.

Yummy!

MoFo Husband

Vegan MoFo: Honor a human or non-human animal who inspires your veganism

This is my husband, Dylan!

He is the music to our #musicandmascara dream and you can check that out at www.musicandmascara.com

He loves to cook and experiment and makes my life so much easier since we do share the same food interests.

MoFo Late Summer Food

Vegan MoFo: What's your favorite late summer food?

If you've been following me - part of this meal looks familiar, right?

Asian Green Beans and Tofu

Green beans is just a great meal for me to make when I want something hot, but light. Plus - Asian is probably one of my favorite meals.

For this meal, we made a rub for the tofu with Asian spices and my normal Asian green beans :) 

Super yummy and light - and I always want to sit outside when I have this.

MoFo meal with Obama

Vegan MoFo: OMG, Barack Obama is coming over because he knows you make awesome vegan food! What are you going to make?

I'm making my favorite meal - I don't care if it's breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner!

Hands down - LOVE it!

Breakfast potatoes :)

I typically make this with what veggies I have available, but normally this meal includes:

Onion

Banana Pepper

Jalapeno

Habanero

Red Bell Pepper

Seasoned Tofu (Paprika, Salt, Pepper, Cumin)

Mushrooms

Potatoes

Ingredients for taste and season to taste - I like garlic, salt, pepper, paprika.

As you can see here - putting it in a tortilla is yummy as well!

MoFo Cookbook

Vegan MoFo: Tell us about your favorite cookbook!

The Vegan Family Cookbook by Chef Brian P. McCarthy

This is one of my favorites because I really do not like cookbooks. I do not like a lot of steps and like simplicity. Most of the time I 'wing it' and just figure it out as I go. This cookbook is great for me to take a look at and remember simplicity and not over-thinking.

It provides me with new ideas and suggestions when I get 'bored' :)

MoFo Blue?!

Vegan MoFo Day 10: Something blue

Okay, this is weird right? It cannot be just me?! I have no clue what I would have that would be blue so you better believe that I am looking up other MoFo posts today :)

So, I'm just going to theme mine out because this is how my day feels...

You know...when you're feeling blue...and you take a picture of your comfort food...and it looks blue...

Yep - it's chocolate!

Whoever told you being Vegan is healthy - might not know how to cook ;)

JK - but really, Vegan does not equal healthy necessarily. Promise.

MoFo Movie Inspiration

Vegan MoFo Day 7: Make / eat some thing inspired by a book or film

Okay, first of all - I have not even seen this movie, but with good 'ole YouTube clips who needs to?

So, be sure to check out this movie clip to appreciate my decision:

https://youtu.be/6wtfNE4z6a8

My decision to 'hold the chicken' in my wheat toast 'mock chicken' salad sandwich :)

Simply mashed chickpeas (1 can) mixed with a tablespoon of Vegenaise and a tablespoon of dill relish and salt/pepper to taste on toasted wheat bread. Absolutely delicious. 

MoFo Restaurant Meal

Vegan MoFo: Re-create a restaurant meal

I cannot be the only one that loves Nachos, right? Sometimes difficult to get as a Vegan, so I regularly make this as a meal and/or snack at home and can cater to what I want at the time.

This image is a true reflection of how I normally make them:

Chips

Black Beans

Chili Powder

Hot Sauce

Fresh Jalapenos

Yep - quick, yummy, and spicy!

MoFo Sandwich

Vegan MoFo Day 5: Best sandwich ever.

I'm gonna pull a southern card on you here ;)

This is the best sandwich EVER!

A mater sammich :)

To all y'all non-southern people, this is a tomato and vegenaise sandwich on wheat.

Bonus benefit - extra sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper.

MoFo Weird Food

Vegan MoFo Day 4: Tell us about a weird food combo that you love

Challenging, for sure. So...I had to just pick.

This meal is falafel balls and spicy pickles. Weird enough in itself, but here's my confession...

I LOVE Spicy Pickles. Not just any of them...the Claussen Hot & Spicy ones in particular. Probably with about any food. I'm not judging.

Now, if you know of a better one, please share. I've tried a lot and it always comes back to these for me.

I think that they are easier to get that Cucumber Kimchee and almost guaranteed to be crunchy (yes, that's a firm requirement) is why I like them so much.

MoFo - Quick, easy and delicious

Vegan MoFo Day 3: Quick, easy and delicious.

Nothing fancy, right? Look out - it's green beans! I know, it's first on your list when you think of delicious, right?

I love the simplicity of this meal. I prefer to use fresh green beans, but since the season is ending I purchased a huge bag of frozen fresh green beans from Costco (nope, I will not be doing it again).

I typically steam the green beans a bit so that they are no longer frozen first. Take a bit of sesame oil and heat in a pan. When hot, toss in baby portabella mushrooms, sliced almonds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, crushed red pepper, and green beans. Saute until a bit tender and everything is hot (typically the almonds and seeds are starting to toast). I do like to throw in fresh spinach at the end to wilt, but I didn't have any today.

Once plated, drizzle a bit of Soy Sauce over...and enjoy!

MoFo Breakfast

 Day 1 of Vegan MoFo 2015: Rise and Shine! It’s MoFo time! Tell us about your breakfast. 

Let's just start this blog off right with the most cliche of Vegan breakfast options. Yep, a smoothie :)

This one is made up of pineapple juice, frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, and frozen mixed berries.

I do not typically use pineapple juice, so this was a bit tart. It was delicious though and hit the spot on a busy day.

I use a Vitamix and keep frozen fruit (as if you could not tell from the ingredient list above) so this is super fast and easy for me to make in a pinch.

HELP: Flamous Organic Original Falafel Chips

Check out the other HELP posts here.

I was hesitant to try these (they came in my March Vegan Cuts box) because I just could not imagine how chips could taste like Falafel.

Well, I was WRONG!

These are actually really good.  They taste like dehydrated Falafel.  Maybe a little 'plain', but not everyone probably likes their Falafel spicy like I do.

Listed Nutrition Facts (for package)

Calories   197 

Fat:          9g     81     39%

Carbs:      27g   108   51%

Protein:    5g      20     10%

(Percentages shown are based on 'actual' calories of 209.)

The ingredient list is READable so that's a plus.

- Organic non-GMO corn

- Organic non-GMO whole beans (chickpeas, fava beans, black beans, pinto beans)

- Organic oils safflower/sunflower

- Organic 13-spice Falafel blend (including turmeric)

- Organic dehydrated vegetables (onion, garlic, spinach, carrot, red bell pepper, tomato, green bell pepper)

- Sea Salt

My conclusion is they are still chips, but do have some protein.  That fat content is still a little high though.

HELP: Restaurant (Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint)

Not the most colorful meal, but it was delicious.

Whole wheat crust, tomato-basil sauce, mushrooms, black olives, and tofu...and sprinkled with red pepper...yummy!

HELP: Clif Bar Crunchy Peanut Butter

Clif Bar: Crunchy Peanut Butter

I'm not going to post much about this, since it is seriously close to the review I did on the Clif Bar: Chocolate Chip.

Listed Nutrition Facts

Calories:     240

Fat:             6g     54      21%

Carbs:        40g    160    62%

Protein:       11g    44     17%

(Percentages shown are based on 'actual' calories of 258.

I don't know that I would describe this one as 'crunchy', but I guess some of the peanuts in it give you an occasional crunch.

It's good, pretty balanced, and filling though.

HELP: Mott's Medleys Peach Apple

Mott's Medleys Peach Apple Applesauce

Post in HELP series, click here for info

Listed Nutrition Facts

Calories:     60

Fat:             0          0     0%

Carbs:         14g     56    100%

Protein        0          0     0%

(Percentages shown are based on 'actual' calories of 56)

100% carbs?!  Atkins lovers would die!

It's fruit!

Ingredients

- Apples

- Water

- Carrot Juice Concentrate

- Clarified Carrot Juice Concentrate

- Cucumber Juice Concentrate

- Natural Flavors

- Green Bell Pepper Juice Concentrate

- Fruit and Vegetable Juice Concentrates (for color)

- Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

- Lemon Juice Concentrate

Short, sweet, and READable ;)

Oh, and it's super yummy!

HELP: Clif Bar Chocolate Chip



Clif Bar: Chocolate Chip

Post in HELP series, click here for info.

Listed Nutrition Facts

Calories:          230

Fat:                  4.5g     40.5     16%

Carbs:              43g      172      68%    

Protein:            10g      40        16%

(Percentages shown are based on ‘actual’ calories of 252.5) 

Based on ratio of 50-30-20, this bar is pretty balanced.  Perhaps a little high in carbohydrates, but it IS called an energy bar.

Ingredients

· Organic Brown Rice Syrup

· ClifPro

   o Soy Rice Crisps

     § Soy Protein Isolate

     § Rice Flour

     § Barley Malt Extract

   o Organic Roasted Soybeans

   o Organic Soy Flour

· Organic Oats

· Organic Toasted Oats

   o Organic Oats

   o Organic Dried Cane Syrup

   o Ascorbic Acid

   o Natural Vitamin E (Antioxidant)

· Chocolate Chips

   o Dried Cane Syrup

   o Unsweetened Chocolate

   o Cocoa Butter

   o Soy Lecithin

   o Vanilla Extract

· Organic Cane Syrup

· ClifCrunch

   o Organic Oat Fiber

   o Apple Fiber

   o Inulin (Chicory Extract)

   o Organic Milled Flaxseed

   o Psyllium

· Organic Date Paste

· Organic Soy Butter

   o Organic Roasted Soybeans

   o Organic Soybean Oil

   o Salt

· Organic Sunflower Oil

· Molasses Powder

· Sea Salt

· Natural Flavors

· Cinnamon 

Now, that is way more ingredients than I would normally recommend, but you can actually READ them all, and KNOW what they are.

So, it’s relatively balanced and has a decent ingredient list (for a processed food), and it tastes good.  There’s the real reason, it tastes good.

Hi, my name is Leslie, and I have texture issues so I am going to try to describe it for you.

It’s very similar to a chewy granola bar, minus the crumbly part.  It’s pretty gooey (for lack of a better word) and stays together.  This makes it a perfect on-the-go choice if you don’t want crumbs all over you (or the car).

Remember, the flavor is Chocolate Chip, and it is pretty sweet.

So, the conclusion for me is:

·                     It’s Vegan

·                     I like it

·                     It’s a great ‘convenience’ food that’s relatively healthy

Have you tried this particular energy bar before?  What did you think?