Vegan Mofo: Make Something Inspired By a Film

Today, for Mofo, we're supposed to make something inspired by a book or film. And this was kind of a no-brainer for me since I make something inspired by one of my favorite films every single weekend. Ramen!!!! Inspired by the 2008 Brittany Murphy film The Ramen Girl. 

I had this lovely bowl on Saturday morning, in my PJs while watching Lost (yes, I'm just now starting this series, and I'm only on season one, so no spoilers!). It's a ritual that I've been doing every weekend for years — sleep in, get up and feed the critters, make ramen, eat in PJs while watching one episode of an hour-long series. I've enjoyed ramen while watching Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Girls, Newsroom, Downton Abbey, Big Love, etc. And now I'm on Lost.

But back to that film inspiration. If you're not familiar with The Ramen Girl, here's the basic plot: Abby (played by Brittany Murphy, RIP) moves to Japan with her boyfriend because he's working there. But in the first few minutes of the film, they break up. And then she's all alone in a strange country where she doesn't speak the language. So she happens upon a ramen shop, and she comes in and eats noodles. And they make her feel better. Before you know it, she's learning the art of ramen from the chef Maezumi, Karate Kid-style.

Sure, it's a little cheesy. But if you love ramen as much as I do, it's really great to see it glorified in the film. Ramen is essentially treated as a fine art and, perhaps, the key to happiness in this movie. And I believe those things are very true. Nothing makes me feel better than a bowl of noodles.

There's a lot of talk in the film about making a perfect broth. But I'm not that picky. For my homemade ramen, I usually use the flavor packets that come with the soup, but I add a few extras, like garlic powder, sesame oil, or ponzu. Sometimes, I buy the authentic noodle packs from the Vietnamese grocery store. Most of the ones at my local market are made with artificial meat flavors, so they're vegan. Like these artificial chicken and ginger noodles.

But they're still loaded with MSG, which I'm fine with, but sometimes I like to eat healthier. My faves are Koyo (baked ramen) and Lotus Foods (gluten-free ramen).

I don't have a recipe to share, just a basic formula. So here ya go.

Bianca's Guide to Making Ramen
1 package vegan ramen
1/4 package firm tofu
1/2 cup frozen veggies (my faves are corn, peas, carrots, and green beans)
Garlic powder
Soy sauce, tamari, or ponzu
Sriracha or Yellowbird sauce (I put Yellowbird Habanero in mine!)
Sesame oil or chili oil
Black pepper

Put about 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes, and saute in a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and some spices (I love garlic powder!). Saute until browned.

Add the frozen veggies to the boiling water in the saucepan. Allow it to come back to a boil. Add the noodles and boil according to package directions. Turn off heat and add in the tofu and ramen seasoning packet.

Stir in any extra spices — garlic powder, soy sauce, hot sauce, black pepper, sesame or chili oil. And serve with chopsticks and a wide soup spoon! Eat in PJs while watching TV.

Vegan Mofo: Recreate a Restaurant Meal

It's Day 6 of Vegan Mofo, and that means it's time to recreate a restaurant meal. But technically, this post isn't about a meal. It's about a cocktail. But you know, some nights, you drink your dinner. And some days call for a liquid lunch. Thankfully, this cocktail is loaded with healthy veggies, so it totally makes an acceptable dinner.

But before we get to the recipe, here's a little background. I mentioned White Owl Social Club in Portland in yesterday's sandwich round-up. I've had the place on the brain for awhile, as it was truly one of my favorite restaurants in Portland when I was there for Vida Vegan 2 in 2013. Not only did I eat the most amazing vegan fried mac & cheese sandwich there, I also drank the best bloody mary of my life there. It was made with fresh beet and veggie juice!

This drink was so perfect in every way. Salted rim. Fresh veggies. All the right garnishes. I've no idea why it's taken me this long to try making it home. But I was finally inspired to recreate it when Balls Vodka offered to send me a bottle of their vodka to create recipes with. 

First of all, they called it Balls!! That alone is enough to make me like the stuff. But it doesn't hurt that this 80 proof, grain-distilled vodka is distinctly smooth. It's the kind of vodka you can drink on the rocks without making a scrunched-up face with every sip. But of course, it's more fun in a cocktail. So I finally attempted to recreate the White Owl Social Club Bloody Mary.

I forgot the salted rim! But that would be a nice touch. I garnished this with some garlic-stuffed olives, but celery, lime, pickles, or even pickled okra would be great too.

You'll need a juicer for this one. It's basically just fresh veggie juice spiked with vodka. You could maybe try blending the veggies in a Vitamix and then straining out the pulp, but that sounds like too much trouble to me. Also, note that the amount of juice you get depends on your juicer and the size of your veggies. I used a big ole tomato, a fat cucumber, and a medium-sized beet, and this made about 16 ounces.

We Got the Beet Bloody Mary

Yields 2 servings

1 medium beet, top cut off

1 large cucumber

1 large tomato

1 large carrot

1 large green bell pepper, seeded

1 hot pepper (like a jalapeno or cayenne pepper), seeded

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 lime, peeled

Splash pickle juice, optional

Hot sauce, to taste

4 ounces Balls Vodka (or any vodka)

Ice

Garnishes (choose any): olives, pickles, celery, or lime slices, salted rim

Juice the beet, tomato, carrot, bell pepper, hot pepper, garlic, and lime. Transfer the juice to a shaker cup. Add the pickle juice, hot sauce, vodka, and ice. Shake and pour over ice. 

Vegan Mofo: Best Sandwiches Ever!

Today's Mofo post is dedicated to the best sandwich ever. Except it's pretty hard for me to pick just one sandwich! So I'm doing a round-up of my favorite sammies.

1) Fried Mac & Cheese Sandwich at White Owl Social Club in Portland, Oregon — Y'all!!!!! I had this at the Vida Vegan Con 2 pre-con meet-and-greet in 2011, and it has forever changed my life. I've still not recreated it at home, but I think it about it, like, every day.

2) Bianca Banh Mi at Midtown Crossing Grill in Memphis — I swear I'm not just including this because it's named after me! I really think this is one of the best sandwiches in Memphis. Crusty bread, marinated tofu, red bean hummus, homemade pickles, and jalapenos.

3) Reuben at Imagine Vegan Cafe in Memphis — Imagine has a great menu of sandwiches, and it's hard for me to narrow down a fave. But right now, I'm really into their reuben. They use a wheat gluten-based vegan salami, kraut, homemade Thousand Island, and a white vegan cheese sauce. It's totally messy, and by the end, you need a fork. But that's okay!

4. Radical Reuben at The Chicago Diner in Chicago — Since we're talking about reubens, you've got to include the grandmama of all reubens, the Radical Reuben. This sandwich is legendary, and there's a good reason for that. It's delicious!! They use a homemade seitan, a melty white cheese, kraut, and Thousand Island. The seitan is so tender and amazing. 

5. Veggie Burger at Fuel Cafe in Memphis — This is hands-down the best veggie burger in Memphis. It's a homemade patty that's hearty and meaty and holds together well. Served with vegan cheese and vegan mayo. They also serve this patty reuben-style during the lunch hour. Basically, every sandwich should be a reuben.

6. Fried Green Tomato & Tofu Sandwich from Cookin' Crunk — I wanted to include something homemade in this list, and this is definitely my favorite sandwich from my cookbook. Crispy, cornmeal-coated fried green tomatoes, marinated & baked tofu, sweet 'n' tangy dijon mayo. YUM!

Vegan Mofo: Weird Food Combo

For Vegan Mofo Day 4, we're supposed to write about a weird food combo we love. I'm actually pretty sure I love lots of weird food combos. But as I was reading through the daily Mofo prompts and came across this one, my mind immediately jumped to peanut butter, Marmite, and chili sauce.

I love this combo on toast! In fact, I had it for breakfast yesterday!

I'd have probably never discovered this combo had it not been for Lisa of Panda with Cookie. We were on a PPK vegan group camping trip called VeganStock in Asheville, North Carolina in 2009. And we were sitting around the campsite chatting about vegan food — as vegans do ALL THE TIME — when the topic of Marmite came up. At that time, I'd already developed a love for this British yeasty spread. But when Lisa said she liked to combine Marmite with peanut butter, it blew my mind.

I had to try it as soon as I got home. And I loved it! But something was missing. It had that creamy, fatty saltiness, but it needed something. Something spicy! So I added sriracha. The result is almost like a Thai peanut satay sauce on toast.

These days, I prefer Yellowbird Jalapeno Sauce over sriracha. It's all-natural and mostly organic, and it contains sneaky veggies, like carrots. I'm also LOVING this Everland Chia Peanut Spread that I found at T.J. Maxx, which means I'll probably never find it again. Oh well.

Vegan Mofo: Quick, Easy & Delicious

On day 3 of Vegan Mofo, we're supposed to write about something "quick, easy, and delicious." I feel like that pretty much sums up my day — toast for breakfast, frozen Amy's noodle bowl for lunch, and leftovers for dinner.

But rather than show you pics of my boring old leftovers, I thought it'd be fun to use this opportunity to do a little product review and use that product in a quick and easy smoothie recipe! Nutiva sent me a jar of their Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil to try.

It's organic, fair trade, and non-gmo. And it's cold-pressed and unrefined. As for the taste, it has a light hint of coconut that's not overpowering. According to the jar, you can add a pinch of salt to reduce the coconut flavor in savory recipes, but I've not tried that. And I'm not sure I'd want to reduce the coconut flavor! It's so good. So rich and creamy.

First, I tried it in Vegan Bulletproof Coffee. Definitely quick, easy, and delicious.

If you're not familiar, bulletproof coffee is kind of a paleo thing. Basically, it's coffee with butter in it. It's supposed to increase energy and performance. When I first heard about it, I must admit that I thought it sounded gross. But as with everything, my mind began to wander into the "I wonder if that could be veganized territory?" Earth Balance in coffee just sounded gross but coconut oil ... hmmm. That could work. 

I googled, and sure enough, it'd already been done. I found this recipe on One Green Planet. You brew some coffee. And then you put the hot coffee in the blender with coconut oil, vanilla, and stevia. I added a little maca powder too. It did keep me full longer after breakfast, likely because of the added fat. And the blended coconut oil made the coffee super-creamy and frothy. I'll definitely be making this again.

Speaking of blenders, I've got a quick, easy, and delicious blender recipe for you now. It actually comes from Nutiva. They sent me the recipe for this Blackberry Citrus Rise 'n' Shine Smoothie in an email. I made it yesterday morning after a little walk/run around the neighborhood, and I want to share it with you. 

This is a super-simple smoothie made with frozen blackberries, fresh orange slices, cashew milk, and coconut oil. I actually reduced the coconut oil in the recipe from two tablespoons to one, and I added a scoop of Vega One protein powder. The coconut oil made for a creamy, thick smoothie with staying power. It kept me full from 8 a.m. breakfast to lunch at noon.

Blackberry Citrus Rise 'n' Shine Smoothie

Adapted from Nutiva

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup blackberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup orange slices, peeled
1 tbsp. Nutiva Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
1 cup plant milk of choice
1 scoop vegan protein powder (natural or vanilla)
4 ice cubes

INSTRUCTIONS:
Gather and measure all ingredients.
Place all ingredients in a blender.
Blend on high until all ingredients have been completely blended together, forming your perfect smoothie consistency.
Pour mixture, and serve immediately.

Vegan Mofo: Recreate a Meal From Your Childhood

It’s the second day of Vegan Mofo, the Vegan Month of Food — the month when bloggers, Instagramers, and the like pledge to blog as much as possible and fill the internet with delicious vegan food. And this year, there are fun daily themes! Today’s theme is “Recreate a Meal From Your Childhood.”

So technically, I didn’t create a meal. I created a dessert. But hey, dessert can be a meal, right? Don’t try to tell me you’ve never had cake for dinner. Just cake. Lots of cake. All by yourself, over the sink so you don't make a mess with the crumbs. I've been there. You've been there. We've all been there. Don't judge.

If you can make a meal out of cake, you can make a meal out of rice krispie treats. When I was a kid, I loved when my mom would make rice krispie treats. I don't remember it being all that often, but when she did, they were awesome. My mom made amazing meals every single day, so I could have recreated any of them. But honestly, I had some Dandies that needed using. So I made Cookies 'n' Cream Rice Krispie Treats with Semi-sweet & White Chocolate Drizzle.

Okay, so my mom didn't make cookies 'n' cream krispie treats. She just made the regular kind with marshmallows, butter, and rice krispies. And those simple treats are fantastic. But y'all don't need a recipe for those! So I figured I'd step it up a bit. Dandies sent me some vegan marshmallows to develop recipes with, so I whipped this up. I used the new cookies 'n' cream Oreos (yes, they're vegan!), but regular old Oreos would work just fine. For the topping, I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and vegan white chocolate chips. I brought these to a non-vegan potluck, and they were a huge hit! Paul loves them too.

As y'all may know, I'm working on a retro vegan cookbook right now. And turns out rice krispie treats have quite a history. It's believed that they were invented in 1939 by Malitta Jensen and Mildred Day at the Kellogg Company home economics department as a fund-raiser for the Camp Fire Girls, the first secular, multicultural organization for girls. How cool is that? So I'm definitely including this recipe in my cookbook! Oh, and Oreos debuted in 1912, so those home-ec ladies totally could have snuck some into their rice krispie treats.

Well, without further ado, here's the recipe! This one's for you, Mama Crunk! Thanks for keeping me fed all these years.

Cookies 'n' Cream Rice Krispie Treats

Yields 12 treats

3 Tbsp. vegan margarine

1 10-ounce bag Dandies vegan marshmallows (about 3 1/2 cups if using the minis)

6 cups rice crispy cereal

10 Oreos, roughly chopped

1/2 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup vegan white chocolate chips

1/4 cup almond milk, divided

Spray a 9x13-inch casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt the margarine in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until they melt, about 8 to 10 minutes. Vegan marshmallows melt a little weird, just keep stirring. They won't liquify. They'll stay in a melty blob, and that's okay. Just make sure the marshmallows are melted down and have lost their shape. Stir the entire time! Turn off heat.

Add the cereal one cup at a time, stirring to incorporate each time. As you add more cereal, it will be harder to incorporate. But put some arm work into it. Make it a workout! 

Once the cereal is all mixed in, add the crushed Oreos and stir to incorporate. 

Press the cereal into the casserole dish, spreading to all the corners and sides of the pan. Press down to make it even all the way around. Set aside.

In a double boiler, add the semi-sweet chips and 2 Tbsp. of the almond milk. Melt the chips slowly, stirring often. When they're melted, allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a pastry bag or a ziploc bag. If using a ziploc, trim the end with scissors and drizzle over the treats.

In a double boiler, add the white chocolate chips and 2 Tbsp. of the almond milk. Melt the chips slowly, stirring often. When they're melted, allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a pastry bag or a ziploc bag. If using a ziploc, trim the end with scissors and drizzle over the treats. Not all vegan white chocolate is created equal. Some melts better than others. I've had great luck with Vegan Sweets chips. They melt a little clumpy, and the color changes from white to off-white, but that's okay. When it dries, it will be white again. 

Cut treats into 12 equal-sized pieces. Eat!

Vegan Mofo: Rise & Shine!

It's the first day (or I guess it's night now) of Vegan Mofo 2015! Vegan Mofo stands for "vegan month of food." The month changes a bit from year to year, but this time, it's in September. Vegan bloggers, Instagrammers, tweeters, and other social media users will be attempting to break the internet with daily posts of mouth-watering vegan food porn. And this year, there are themes for every day. Most years, I stick with my five-day-a-week blog schedule during Mofo, but this month, I'm blogging EVERY SINGLE DAY. And I'm going to do my best to follow all the recommended daily themes. So please stop by often!

So let's get started. The first Mofo theme is "Rise & Shine: Tell Us About Your Breakfast." So, without further ado, here's what I ate for breakfast today — Grilled Tex-Mex Tofu Migas from the new issue of VegNews.

The recipe is by The Sexy Vegan Brian Patton. And they're so good! First, you grill up some veggies — tomato, peppers, scallions. I used my indoor grill. And then you scramble those with tofu, and because this is migas, you toss in a some chopped corn tortilla bits. Melt a little vegan cheddar. Scoop into a corn tortilla. Add some avocado, and, if you're me, you add Yellowbird Jalapeno Sauce. I enjoyed these with a side of sweet summer watermelon with pink salt. 

After Vida Vegan Con in Austin back in May, I noticed that most of my blogger friends couldn't stop eating tacos when they got home. So many posts were about tacos! But as much as I love tacos, I needed a break from them for awhile. But I'm back on tacos now, big-time. 

While we're here, can we just talk about how great it is that VegNews is back?! I got my new Food Issue in the mail last week, and it was such an awesome surprise! And now Colleen Holland is running the mag, so you know it's going to be great again. You can find this breakfast taco recipe and more in the new issue!