Make No Bones About It We're Vegan
I didn't feel the first earthquake today. Me and crazy boy were on a walk when a jeweler came out of his store and told us there was a jolt. We weren't home 20 minutes from dinner out at Herbivore in Berkeley when our building shook like a roller coaster. We both had shwarma wraps and salads at Herbivore. I had seitan. Larry had the un-chicken. The wraps were good, nothing we couldn't duplicate at home, but what if it was a real earthquake? What if that seitan shwarma wrap was my last vegan supper this time around? I'd be pissed. It's pretty sad that some people can only down jello before they go. I know jello isn't vegan, but really who wants even the jello vegan stand-in kanten or agar agar as their last meal. Sure kanten can be pretty and colorful but a last meal it does not make!
Time Magazine did a photo essay a while back, where famous chefs gave a brief description of what they would like their last meal to be. They were photographed with part of the meal the meal they would choose. I was appalled to see how gamey and cruel their favorite meals were. One chef was pictured with a rifle. One was pictured with a pig. Incredibly sad.
There is an entire website dedicated to death row inmates' last meals. Vending machine sodas, and corn chips are often included in their requests. One inmate requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I didn't expect any of these inmates to be vegans, but I didn't expect the chefs to be so non chalant about their choices either.
What would I choose when there are so many kind choices? I know! I'd like the- hell I'd like the vegan Caesar salad to start, please. Hell, Caesar. Gee, I hope this meal never ends ;) Hmmm. I'll have to think about the rest of this last meal. This is definitely food for thought.
Isn't this just the perfect icebreaker for your next Halloween party? What would you choose for your last meal?
Today I will be using some abbreviations. I'm gonna be just like those youngins when they text or txt. Nobody really spells things out anymore. U no wut I mean. Thos days r ova. Yep no more alphabet, no more alphabet soup even, now it's text/txt soup. So guess what? I just had to go back to using full sentences because I've been doing them for a while. It's just too hard to text a blog. Anyway.
Watch out for the abbrevs though. Today's Day 6 of E2. If you read my previous post like a good little vegan blog reader you would know that E2 is shorthand Luke for Engine 2 Diet/Plan. Out with diet, in with plan. So from now on..."we kul peeps?" It's the E2 Plan, NOT Diet.
The plan is all vegan of course, no sugar (not even organic), no white stuff and no saturated oils.
So guess what else? No not that.
MOFO is coming MOFO is coming. If you are a text geek this acronym would most likely stand for something else. At least my sources tell me that it would. But in the vegan world MOFO is Vegan Month of Food. Bloggers from all over the world write a blog a day, (or as many as they want for the month), about vegan food. I had such a blast participating last year. I went to sign up for MOFO today, but I couldn't figure out ( please read the following as an expletive!) what my MOFO RSS Feed is. I must figure this out, because I already know one of the dishes I'm going to make for (not the expletive)MOFO. I'll tell you after I give you this E2 salad dressing.
The dressing is a variation of Rip Esselstyn's, (he's the fireman who wrote the E2 book), dressing. We were surprised how good this is since we both are olive oil lovers.
2 T nooch
1 T low sodium soy
1 T 364 Dijon mustard (no alcohol in it)
1.5 T orange juice
1 T agave
2 T balsamic vinegar
about 1/4 C water or more or less to make as thick or thin as you desire
Whisk all ingredients together. Add water and whisk again. Enjoy the dressing on salad, or as a dip with raw veggies or even drizzle on a taco.The salad below is a simple, delicious and nothing fancy combo of rinsed black beans, chopped carrots, and salsa on Romaine lettuce served with a warmed corn tortilla.
I'm going to make Abbreviation Soup for MOFO. C U soon. xo
P.S. My spell check just went crazy with the above post and was so angry it decided to highlight the word "just".
Wipe away those tears my little vegan. There will be no more undressed salads. No more pining for tasty Caesar salads. Now you can save those itty bitty spiny fish and bypass those baby ingredients found in Worchestire sauce. Let's all hail vegan caesar. The Vegenaise stands in for the egg. Serve it to your carnie (meaty) friends and they'll be very surprised. Might even get a convert, who knows.
All Hail Breaks Loose with Vegan Caesar
1 head or bag of Romaine
1 tsp lemon
11/2 tsp mustard
1/8- 1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C Vegenaise
2 T capers
2 T nooch
1/2 tsp hickory smoke
sea salt to taste
choppped tomato and croutons optional
Whisk lemon, mustard, hickory smoke, vegenaise and olive oil in large salad bowl. Add romaine. Toss. Add nooch, tomato, sea salt and capers. Toss again! You can adjust ingredients to taste. It's great served with crusty bread or we served it with an amazing pot pie (I'll post that soon).
