Burritos for days!

I love burritos. Who doesn't love burritos? No one, that's who. It slightly pains me, though, when I see/hear/read someone say something along the lines of I decided to make a burrito at home to save money, so I opened a can of beans, microwaved them, added some salsa, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream, and it was cheap, but it didn't taste like the ones I get from a restaurant. Of course it didn't, you didn't do anything to it. Seasonings, people, seasonings!

Last night, in the throes of starvation, I decided that I would make a big batch of burrito filling today. Once done, I just have to portion out the amount I want, heat it, then eat it!

First I soaked some pinto beans.

Then I cooked them. Tough stuff, I know.


Once they were done, I drained them, reserving a little of the cooking liquid. I smashed the beans with a large spoon, too. Heated some oil in the saucepan, added the beans back in, along with the bean water (yum, lol), cumin, and salsa. Simmer a bit, and ta da! Refried beans.

Then I chopped half of a green bell pepper and half of a white onion.

This went into the saucepan to cook with brown rice.

There really is rice in there, I swear to you. See?

Then I made a batch of "queso."

Mmmmmm. Then I boiled some lentils.

While those were cooking, I sauteed the other halves of the bell pepper and onion.

The lentils serve as the "meat" in all this. Soy crumbles would work, too, but lentils are cheap and healthy. I'd like to tell you I make my own taco seasoning mix, but I don't.

Casa Fiesta! When the lentils were done, I added them to the veggies, added the taco mix and water, and about a tablespoon of salsa.

I mixed everything together in a huge bowl, then stood back to admire the beautiful... err...

Well, it tastes good anyway. Finally, it was time to assemble a burrito.

After all the work I'd done I couldn't be bothered to shred some lettuce. A whole leaf worked just fine. And I topped it with some taco sauce. Vegan sour cream would've been a nice addition, but it's kind of expensive. Maybe next time.

I was so hungry, I decided to make two.

Yeah, my burrito rolling skills leave something to be desired. Whatever, I devoured those two in record time. Five minutes later, I realized that eating two burritos was a horrible idea. Delicious, but my god, I thought I was going to explode.

So with all that filling, I'll be making burritos (one at a time) and living off of them for days. Burritos for days!

Bliss.

Thanksgiving 2011

I was planning on posting a slew of photos, but the truth is, I'm just too tired to edit them all, put them in order, write up the descriptions, etc. Luckily, my wonderful mother made a video with pictures of the whole process, so I'm going to be lazy and post it. I give you... An Old-Fashioned Vegan Thanksgiving!


Those rolls almost did me in. Everything had been going so well up until that point. I'd prepared the stock, apple relish, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie the previous day, and I was ahead of schedule. Feeling way too good about myself, I turned some music up obscenely loud (through headphones, I didn't make anyone else suffer) and semi-danced, semi-headbanged along while mixing the dough. Yeah, well, pride goeth before a fall, and all that. I left out the milk and by the time I realized it, it was too late. I had to start over, but ran out of flour. I was 1/2 cup short, give or take. I tore through the cabinets in desperation, found some oatmeal, and threw some of it into the blender. Instant oat flour! So they're actually oat dinner rolls, and they turned out fantastic. Still, dinner was half an hour late because of my mistake. I hate that.


Mmmmmmmmmmm. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. You know, I've been so stressed out about finding a job (no luck yet), and I've been feeling pretty discouraged about everything. Several people we know, or know of, who all seemed to have perfect lives, have had some truly awful things happen to them recently. I mean, horrible stuff. All I have to do is find a measly job, that's all. Things could certainly be worse. So... I'm thankful that things aren't so bad, that we had a wonderful meal, and... I'm extremely thankful that my wonderful aunt and uncle are lending me money so I can buy a ticket for...


Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg!!!!!!!!!!! :D May 14th, baby!!!!

*ahem*

I wanted the dogs to have a Thanksgiving meal, too. I served them their everyday food with pumpkin brown rice, roasted potatoes with nutritional yeast, peas, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, and a cranberry.

Basil knows what's up.
So everyone here is stuffed. Somehow we managed to find room for pumpkin pie and chocolate cake...


And that's it!

You know, for all the effort that went into this post, I could have just stuck with my original idea of posting pics. Hmmm.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Stick that in your noodle and bake it!

Ladies and gentlemen... Mr. Rod Stewart!!!

*applause*

"Have I told you, lasagna, that I love you,"
*woman in audience squeals*
"Have I told you there's no pasta dish above you,
You take so long to prepare,
A real time-consuming nightmare,
But, please my tastebuds, that's what you do."

*standing ovation*

When I went grocery shopping on Friday it was with the intention of buying the ingredients for stuffed shells. However, there was only one brand of pasta shells available and they were over $3, so plans quickly changed over to lasagna. It doesn't really make that much of a difference, as I am passionately in love with any and all Italian baked pasta dishes. Sure, you can prepare light, healthy Italian meals, but... why????? Honestly.

I didn't actually get around to making it until yesterday. First I made the tofu ricotta. If you haven't made it before, I'd recommend using the recipe from Veganomicon. Otherwise, you know what to do. I tend to think making it with extra firm tofu makes it too dry, so I used firm tofu and then added a little unsweetened soy milk to make it creamy. And lots of fresh basil. It makes all the difference.

Then I made the veggies. I sauteed half a sweet onion, garlic, one huge carrot, 8 oz. sliced mushrooms, and one bunch of red chard in EVOO. I happen to feel that red chard is highly superior to spinach, but to each her own. Looking back now, I wish I'd added more garlic and also some broccoli. Next time!

I'd like to tell you that I made my own marinara sauce, I really would. I used to make it all the time, but I no longer knowingly consume anything that comes out of a can, so crushed tomatoes are out. I have yet to find myself in possession of a truckload of roma tomatoes so I can make it from scratch, so jarred sauce it is. I know their ingredients probably met up with a can somewhere along the way, but I do the best I can, alright?! So, I used... oh, god... a jar of Heart Smart Prego sauce and a small jar of Ragu pizza sauce mixed together.

Oh, the shame. X(

I think they taste good together. Please don't tell anyone, though. I'm so embarrassed.

Let me tell you something, whole wheat lasagna noodles are a pain in the ass. They seem to take longer to cook, which is unforgivable. It didn't help that I had to use a shallow pot to cook them in, thereby forcing me to boil just four at a time. By this stage in the game I was asking myself if it was really worth all this trouble. I didn't have an answer. This happens every time I make lasagna, though, so I should know better by now.

So here's how it went down: a little sauce on the bottle of my most beloved Emile Henry lasagna dish (MONEY. WELL. SPENT.), then a layer of hated wheat noodles, tofu ricotta, Daiya mozzarella shreds, veggies, sauce, noodles, ricotta, cheese, veg, sauce, noodles, cheese, torn basil leaves, sauce. *whew* Covered it with foil and shoved it into the oven. 375 F for 30 minutes, then uncovered it and sent it back in for another 10 minutes at 400 F.

And then the wait.

And then...

Hello, lover.
YUM!!!! It turned out really well. Next time I'd like to double the fillings so I can add more layers. I won't forget the broccoli either. Some Gimme Lean sausage too, perhaps.

I'm gonna have to have some more when I'm done posting this. Like... right now.

*runs to kitchen*