KnittingOpera

So, we decided to do an epic eat-athon... Now what? First thing we decided to tackle was lembas, the elven way bread that is purported to fill the stomach of a man with just a small bite. There are a ton of recipes online for this tasty (or very plain, depending on the recipe) traveling staple. Surprisingly, many of the recipes are vegan as well! (There's a misconception that elves are vegan or vegetarian. In the books it talks about them eating meat.) I decided to make three different recipes for the three different times we will be eating lembas during our marathon (one time per movie, as it so happens). The first recipe comes from Vomitingchicken.com (what a name!) This recipe I think would be most in line with an actual recipe for cram. It's also the most simple I've found. To make it vegan, I substituted Earth Balance vegan butter and brown sugar instead of honey. The resulting dough was very sticky and I had trouble rolling it out without it sticking to t...

So, this year we're doing something different for Mardi Gras... We're having a Lord Of The Rings extended edition eat along marathon! That's right! We're eating our way through LOTR!  My mom and I are following the #thereandsnackagain meal plan written out by Nate Crowley (you can read his amazing blog post here)  but we're making it vegan!  I've been combing through the Internet, looking for recipes, and I'm going to share my results here on my blog as well as on my Instagram the day of the event. First thing we found out is that my computer is too advanced to play the DVDs, but our player with the TV still works.  Then we sat down and tried to figure out what I could change to make things vegan. Thankfully, there's a ton of options now for foods like faux meats and faux cheese. There's also a lot of room for interpretations... I can't find any gelatin free gummy worms, for example. So I'm going to use spaghetti to re...

I  made this recipe by mistake as I was experimenting one day. Anytime you make something new, make sure you write it down so you can duplicate it later! Check out my seitan fried chicken.   Ingredients - 1 cup wheat gluten, 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1.5 teaspoons Goya Sazon, 3 tablespoons coconut oil, and 3/4 cups water.  Instructions- whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl before combining with coconut oil. Mix as much as possible and then add the water. You want it to be a stringy and stretchy consistency. You do not want it to be too moist. After you have mixed it, throw it on the stove in one tablespoon of coconut oil on a non-stick pan, stirring constantly for about 10 minutes. You want the pieces to break apart and form little strings between the pieces. If you do not start consistently you will get large Blobs of doughy seitan. It will not be crispy like fried chicken. Don't let it burn, but cook until it is brown on the outside. Serve with s...

Well, I'm back with another recipe, this one full of garlic! Ingredients: •Cooked pasta (enough for about 4-6 people. I used mafaldine) •Baby Spinach (I used about 2 ounces, but 4-6 oz would be better) •10 cloves of garlic, chopped •13.6 oz can of unsweetened coconut milk •2 tbsp olive oil •3-4 tbsp fresh oregano •1/2 tbsp dried basil •pinch of salt •lemon juice to taste (I used about 1 tsp fresh) •garlic powder Directions: 1. Cook pasta and set aside 2. In a pot saute garlic 3. Add coconut milk and stir until fully incorporated 4. Add in oregano, basil, and spinach. Simmer until spinach is cooked 5. Add rest of the sauce ingredients 6. Remove from heat. Add pasta. Serve with your favorite vegan meat substitute. (I used seitan chorizo, but gardein meatless meatballs, Boca crumble, beyond sausage, or TVP would  all be good) 

Aka: almost done and getting a little sick of looking at the same foods all the time Sunday's food! Sunday: my dad bought me spring rolls again, so that's another $5.99 spent from my budget. They were really delicious, and it was good to have some fresh veggies in my life. There was also food at church, but it was gumbo, Caesar salad, cheese cubes, and king cake... So I could only eat rice. It was kinda depressing because I was starving by 1:00. I think because of that I ended up eating way too many crackers (the whole box... Oops). Monday & Tuesday  I ate so much this week... I think I was getting sick of eating the same things over and over again... Tuesday & Wednesday  On Wednesday I stopped at Racetrack And bought myself a giant coke icee and two 50 oz bottles of water... I was nearly falling asleep driving and this was my way of staying awake: sugar, caffeine, and fluids. Wednesday & Thursday & Friday   I tried some new je...

... and the last bit from week two! So my dad bought me veggie rolls at the store Saturday morning and I had to eat them before the avocado went brown... So another $5.99 added to last week. Food from Saturday night and Sunday  On Sunday my awesome friends Elizabeth and George took me to get Starbucks and treated me. It was really sweet that they did that, and I had so much fun hanging out with them in between church and choir practice. I did eat the last of the cheese noodles I had made last week and I froze the rest of the curry because I was getting sick of it. Monday's food Monday was a very long day with lots of running around from appointment to appointment to class to rehearsals. I ate some trail mix as snacks between things and some really yummy meals to keep me going. I added kale to my tomato sauce and some elbow macaroni... Such A great idea! Also, the breaded mushrooms from Dollar Tree? fantastic!!! Tuesday's food Tuesday was another day full of...

This is my favorite local food. Since going vegan I don't eat it a lot, since I can't order it at restaurants because they are full of meat. It's actually really easy to make, and is super tasty. Everyone has their own family recipe, it seems, for red beans. You will find so many people using different ingredients to make them taste amazing. This is just my take on red beans and rice, New Orleans style, without the meat. Enjoy! Variation 1: the easy way Ingredients: 2 cans no salt added red kidney beans, drained 4 stalks celery, chopped 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped 1-2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp onion powder 1 tap kosher salt flakes Directions: Throw everything in the pot except the beans and cook until soft. Add beans and a little water and cook until thoroughly heated. Take a hand blender and puree 1/2 the pot until smooth. Mix together and serve with rice. Variation 2: the long version Ingredients: 1 package ...