Brown Rice Breakfast

Before I make it to the office every morning, I ALWAYS eat a big ole' breakfast. Whether it's pancakes, scrambled tofu, steel cut oats, or cheezy grits, I make sure I get plenty of fuel to get me through the morning. One of my long-time favorite day-starters is a variation on Bernard's Brown Rice Breakfast from The Garden of Vegan:

It's just crumbled tofu and brown rice, seasoned with a little soy sauce or Bragg's, served atop sprouted grain toast and drizzled with flax seed oil and organic ketchup. It sounds weird, I know. But it's so darn good. I love the way the flax oil lightly soaks into the bread and melds with the ketchup. And I love that it's a protein/whole grain-packed breakfast to start the day off right.

I always make a big batch of the tofu-rice mixture and heat up a little each morning to serve over two slices of toast. This morning, I ate my Brown Rice Breakfast with a cup of iced green tea and a glass of fresh-squeezed orange-grapefruit juice. Yum!

Homemade Ravioli

I've had my eye on the White Bean Ravioli with Caramelized Onion Sauce from The Complete Vegan Kitchen for months now. I finally made it on Monday night:

What was the holdup, you ask? I had the hardest time finding vegan-safe wonton wrappers. Every package I picked up contained eggs, but I finally located egg-free wrappers at an Asian grocery store. They came frozen, so I bought them a few months ago. But I forgot they were in my freezer until recently. Now I'm attempting a bit of a freezer purge because I've reached the point of overflowing.

Though the picture looks a little funky, these were so tasty. I filled the wonton wrappers with a white bean paste made with garlic, onion, and herbs. They were boiled and served with a tasty sauce of caramelized onions, white wine, balsamic vinegar, and toasted walnuts. I felt pretty fancy eating these!

BSAT Sammich

Sorry for the long absence. Even though my dad loaned me a computer, I can't get online with it right now. Its not recognizing my modem, so I'm going to have to spend some time on the phone with my Internet service provider ... blah! I hate that.

In the meantime, I'm posting a quick entry from my work computer. I made some of the Tempeh Bacon from my cookbook over the weekend, the same stuff the testers have been making lately. I had big plans of trying a Vegan Elvis Sandwich, a variation on an omni sandwich with peanut butter, banana, and bacon. Yep, bacon. Sounds kinda gross, but I had to try it.

The verdict? Gross as it sounds. Luckily, I had plenty of bacon left for this tasty BSAT Sammich (a.k.a. Bacon, Spinach, Avocado, and Tomato):

This really hit the spot with these plain Baked Kettle Chips. If ya'll haven't tried these chips, I highly recommend them. They're baked, not fried. But unlike Baked Lay's, these actually taste like regular fried chips. Yet a serving of 20 chips is only 3 grams a fat.

Happy Inauguration Day! I woke this morning and it was SNOWING!!! That never happens in Memphis. It's a beautiful day — awesome new president, snow ... it doesn't get much better!

It's a Wrap

First, I wanna thank all of ya'll for your kind words and support about my stupid burglary situation. It really sucks, but your comments made me feel better.

Before all that crap happened, I made some awesome Breakfast Veggie, Fruit, & Nut Wraps:

I had extra Tofutti cream cheese lying around, and I wanted to eat in some way other than smeared on a bagel. So I did a little Google search for cream cheese ideas and stumbled on a recipe for kid's healthy breakfast wraps. I don't remember where I found it, and I really didn't use the recipe — just the idea — so I can't link to it. But the wraps were touted as a way to get kids to eat their fruits and veggies for breakfast.

I'd planned on using up some extra Food for Life Brown Rice tortillas, but discovered they were kinda moldy. Ick! So I made my own whole wheat tortillas using Jessy's recipe on HappyVeganFace. These were awesome and super easy to make. And it felt good knowing that I made my own tortillas.

The insides are stuffed with Tofutti cream cheese, shredded carrot, organic raisins, dried apples, and raw walnuts. These made me feel all healthy for the beginning of my day. And I think they'd also make a great pre-workout snack in the afternoon.

I Got Robbed ... Again

So the bastards that broke into my house this past November have struck again. This time, they took off with my precious iMac and my printer.

They smashed my back window, leaving a huge hole for my six kitties to escape through. But luckily, I came home and all my fuzzies were in the house. So I'm very thankful for that.

But still ... they took my freakin' computer! The cops came but couldn't find any finger prints. They didn't find any last time either, so we assume they're using gloves. And the cops (and I) are almost 99.9 percent sure the culprits are my crackhead next-door neighbors. But with no real evidence, there's not much that can be done.

Fortunately, after the November incident, I got renter's insurance. So I should be able to replace my computer. But it still sucks. Bad.

My awesome friends Michelle and Wes came over as soon as I discovered the break-in. And my super-duper awesome parents drove in (they live an hour away from Memphis) immediately. My dad brought one of his extra computers for me to use while I wait for a new one. So I'll still be blogging while I wait! Yea!

Skinny Bitchin'

I love Skinny Bitch. Love the book (it changed my nasty high-frustose loving, white flour-eating ways). Love the cookbook. Love the workout videos. I'm pretty sure Rory, Kim, and I would be fast friends if we ever hung out.

I've been doing the Skinny Bitch Boot Camp workout video at least once a week (to supplement my gym schedule), and that got me in the mood to pull out Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. After flipping through a few times, I settled on Steamed Veggies and Tofu with Brown Rice:

So simple - just a plate of steamed cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and carrots with Soy Boy smoked tofu and brown rice, topped tahini sauce and pine nuts. So delicious. Not that I couldn't have dreamed this dish up on my own, but sometimes it's nice to let someone else tell you what to put in your dish. I probably wouldn't have thought to top this with a tahini sauce (a mix of tahini, sesame oil, and soy sauce), but it was perfect. Oh, and I added a little sriracha at the table to kick things up a notch.

Testers: The new recipes are up on the test site. I forgot to remind people yesterday.

Dirty South Supper

This meal was mostly inspired by Jessy over at happyveganface, who always makes the yummiest-looking from-scratch everything! It all started with her post a few months back about Katie's Tempeh Hot Wings from Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk. I'm a huge vegan hot wing fan, and I had to give these a try:

Hot damn! These are so amazing. I have my own Seitan Hot Wangs recipe that'll be going in my cookbook, but I like these tempeh wings even better. They're coated in a flour batter and then dipped in panko bread crumbs, which give these babies that extra edge. The hot sauce is spicy sweet combo accented by agave nectar. Totally finger-lickin' good.

On the side, I tried Jessy's standard to-go veggie — Steamed Broccoli with Pine Nuts:

Love the pine nuts! I'd never tried them on a steamed veggie, but Jessy does it all the time, and I keep making a mental note to give it a whirl. They add an extra crunch and a subtle flavor boost (and probably some extra nutrients).

On the other side, I created this Dirty (South) Rice for my cookbook:

I love dirty rice, but I'm a sucker for traditional Spanish rice. So I combined the two flavors into one. Call it Dirty South fusion cuisine or something. I dunno. But I'm definitely happy with this recipe, so it's a keeper.