Blog Post 2- Recipe #1- Did someone say TEX-MEX?

It’s simple to just throw together some noodles in a pot and heat up some pasta sauce and call that dinner.  However, it’s time to get creative and go out on that limb.  It’s time to create a masterpiece. 

Yes, I did it again!  I went and I veganized an amazing recipe that my girl found on Tablespoon.com.  As you will be quick to learn, she loves to give me a good challenge and fortunate for her and I, I love a great challenge.   This, actually, happened to be quite easy.  In my 3 months of moving towards the vegan lifestyle, I have learned a lot on replacements for meat, chicken and dairy.  I’m not going to blow smoke where smoke does not need to go so let me say that the “cheese” for a vegan is somewhat a disappointment for it doesn’t, I feel, taste anything like cheese.  This was one of the most difficult things for me to accept about the lifestyle.  However, your taste buds and your mind combined tend to make you feel and think that you are actually eating the real thing.  (okay, not so much the actual real thing but something similar).  Anyway, the point being… you get used to it. 

Chicken- let’s face it, you aren’t going to be able to get a soy protein to taste exactly like the chicken off a bone or a fryer chicken or a Cornish hen.  That, folks, is just the truth of the matter.  However, with tender loving care, you can come to something similar.  This particular recipe, I used the LIte Life “Chicken Strips” which, again, is a soy protein.  Most of the fake “chicken” that you buy tends to fall apart while soaking or dipping or cooking.  This did not.  I soaked two packages of the “Chicken Strips” in No-Chicken Chicken Broth for just about 32 hours adding different spices throughout the process.  I, then, cut up the “chicken” into little pieces since you really can’t shred fake “Chicken”.

So, I’m sure you are asking yourself why I haven’t told you what I made and, honestly,  I think I just got off on a tangent.  So, last night on our Wednesday date night I made… (wait for it…):

Mini Tex-Mex Chicken and Cheese Pies. 

As you can see by the picture of the actual real chicken recipes, this had to be done for those vegans out there who love a mixture of such. Something that looks that delicious has to be enjoyed by everyone, Vegan or NOT!   Every time that I venture into a new recipe I tend to shock myself at how well it turns out, simply due to not really knowing all there is to know  to make the replacements for egg, meat, chicken, dairy and everything else that is so yummy in a non-vegan lifestyle.  However, being as passionate as I am for the Vegan to enjoy something so tasty that your taste buds dance all night, I will go the extent to veganize a recipe.  If you have enough love for what you are doing and for what you are creating, it will turn out to be a stellar treat and your taste buds will thank you for hours. 

For those of you who are hoping to get actual full copies of my recipes, there will be an actual cookbook that will be published in the future.  However, in my blog, I will give you guidelines on how you can create your own amazing meal and if you see something that strikes your fancy and you just HAVE to make it, message me. 

The recipe called for Bisquick (which is accidentally vegan), cilantro (fresh from my herb garden), 2 eggs, Pepper jack cheese, peppercorn ranch dressing, milk and of course, chicken- preferably the rotisserie chicken.  I’m sure that the actual recipe was astonishing and for right now, I haven’t made the actual real recipe but that will be soon to be enjoyed by some non-vegan friends of mine. 

I  used Bisquick, cilantro, egg replacer, Daiya pepper jack cheese, So delicious Coconut Milk, the Vegan ranch dressing that my Rainbow of Vegan Love made for me and the lite life “chicken”.  The recipe makes 12 cupcake style chicken pies but we found ourselves having to make another batch of the “batter” in order to cover the mixture.

You put a ½ tablespoon of the batter in each cupcake round then you add 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture, which is the chicken, cilantro, pepper jack cheese and the peppercorn ranch dressing on top of the batter.  Once this has been completed you top each with more batter.  Make sure to preheat the oven to 375 and bake for 30 minutes.  We found that you may desire to cook for another 10 minutes or until the top is slightly brown.  Remove from the oven, top with your favorite salsa (I used a Habanero, Chipotle salsa) and top with cilantro for garnishing.  However, if you don’t desire to use salsa they are fantastic all by themselves.  We each had 4.5 “chicken pies”, I shared 1 with the neighbor because she and her children are curious as to my cooking and my roommate polished off 3 of his own.  Looking back, I wish I would’ve made more because this is delicious.

Pies with Salsa

Pies w/o Salsa

It is important to note, that you should use the spices that you like.  I never follow the spice recipe to a tee and never, usually, follow the recipes to specifications.  However, if you are just starting out on your Vegan cooking journey, I would suggest that you follow your recipes to specification until you are comfortable creating your own

The best parts of Vegan food:

You can actually taste every part of your creation and there isn’t that bloated feeling that is so common after eating an animal based meal.  In this case, we were hungry a few hours later and indulged in Dill Pickle chips by the fire pit.  It was an amazing evening and a great way to wind down from a hectic day at work. 

In this case… SOME LIKE IT VEGAN!

Rating Scale:  1 – 10

This particular recipe gets 10 out of 10 vegetables.

Welcome!

Some Like it Vegan, Some like it NOT!

We all make decisions in our lives for different reason.  To say that I hate meat, chicken, fish, dairy etc… would be to lie to my readers as it would be to lie to myself.  I’m telling you straight up… I started my adventure when I met this girl- that’s right, my life has changed for a girl.  For some reason, the lifestyle is sticking and I’m venturing further into it. 

I guess I should probably start by introducing myself.  Hi, I’m Jenn and I wouldn’t go as far as to say I am a chef but I do know my way around a kitchen.  I’m sure I was blessed with this gift since my grandparents had their own grill while growing up in which they served homemade meals.  When my grandmother passed on, she left all of her children copies of her cookbook and in turn our parents passed it on to us.  I LOVE TO COOK!  That’s all there really is to say about the subject.  I don’t care what it is… I love to cook. 

I dabbled in vegetarianism when I was 18 and fresh out of the hospital and on the road to recovery after fighting anorexia for 2 years.  I figured that this was a way to keep my weight low and to be able to care for the environment and animals.  I belonged to almost every animal rights groups; protested with PETA… so on and so forth.  Unfortunately, with that lifestyle being so new to the community, not many people knew how to do it to make it a healthy way of life.  So, I slowly went back to being a meat eater.  It first started out with Chicken and then Steak and then Pork and just a few short months ago I was eating the entire animal kingdom except for bugs.  Which I hear has outrageous nutrients.  Sorry, blech!  Not my choice. 

Throughout my life thus far, I never really gave a second thought to going back to the vegetarian lifestyle.  I like me a juicy steak on the grill…. And that stuck with me for about a month into our relationship.  Since venturing into my Vegan Lifestyle, I have started a daily practice of Kundalini Yoga and I have lost 20 pounds.  Just from eating right and focusing on the areas that I need to focus. 

Oh yeah…My girl  has her own blog in which EVERYONE should read because she’s funny and her recipes are yummy.  Check it out here!  “Rainbows of Vegan Love!”  Her BFF and family have started into their own vegan adventure and you can check that out here… “The Thierbach VeganAdventure!”  Those are both must reads from my perspective. 

Shortly after the two of us started dating, we were invited to a mutual friends house for a cookout in which they were grilling steak.  I had asked Sheri what they were making for her and she told me that they weren’t making anything for her; that she had to bring her own food because they didn’t know the first thing nor were they willing to learn how to cook for her.  She brought over an amazing vegan crab dip which EVERYONE enjoyed!

On our way home that evening, I voiced how I think if you are going to have a cookout/dinner party and you invite someone over that is Vegan or has a lifestyle change that you should offer them something that they can eat.  You should have SOMETHING to serve them and if you don’t know how then pick up a recipe book or go to the internet.  You shouldn’t make them bring their own food.  At that time, I decided that if we were going to date, that I would learn how to cook for her.  And, well, I did.  Apparently, according to her, I’m darn good at it. 

Now, since I’m not 100% Vegan (I do like my chicken and my meat on very rare occasions) I decided that I was going to create a blog for those of you who may wish to venture into the Vegan lifestyle but were a bit apprehensive and you could see the “Animal Based” meal next to the Vegan version of that meal.  I will have reviews of those meals, as well.

So, sit back, relax and tie those bibs around your neck and get ready to read about some homemade recipes from my kitchen.  Stay tuned because Some like it Vegan and Some like it NOT!