BLT Sandwich Ring by Carrie Weston

How cool is this ring?? It is the BLT sandwich ring by Carrie Weston. $295

I'll take mine double-stacked sans the meat!

I love sandwiches

I used to love the turkey cranberry sandwiches from Paradise Bakery. The sandwich reminded me of thanksgiving. I have created a vegan version that tastes pretty awesome:
Whole wheat sandwich thins
Tofurky cranberry and stuffing deli slices (works well with vegan gardenburgers, too)
Romaine lettuce
Cucumber (I like cucumber instead of tomato)
Vegenaise
Fresh and Easy cranberry orange relish

I like to pair the sandwich with a dill pickle and a sliced honey crisp apple.

How I survived 3 busy months being vegan...the catch-up post!

It's been a busy 3 months since I last blogged. How hard is it to take 10 minutes a day to post about the day? Well, harder than it sounds. Time flies by when you are busy. I have been taking back my time and working on taking better care of myself. I've been eating healthy meals, but have slacked on making my own meals from scratch.

I survived busy nights by eating a lot of the following:

Eatwell vegetarian chili from Fresh And Easy with a little Diaya cheddar Cheese

Vegan tacos. I tell everyone I know that it is the year of the vegan taco. Yums!

Gardein 7 grain crispy tender sandwiches with balsamic drizzle (1/2 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/2 tbsp raw sugar), fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes on a bun or ciabatta bread. 

Blood orange sorbet from La Piccola Cucina

Parfait with warm apples, soy yogurt, pumpkin and cranberry granola, apple-cooked quinoa (cooked with apple juice instead of water), topped with soy whipped cream

I've discovered many new restaurants in my quest for continued veganism. My favorite find over the last 3 months has been La Piccola Cucina. Their roasted eggplant sandwich, ratatouille and blood orange sorbet are what dreams are made of. Andy, the owner, is awesome. You need to go here, vegan or not. It is located in the Coronado Historic district in a cute house. Address is 2241 N. 7th Street Phoenix, AZ 85006. I gave it 5 stars on yelp. I'm serious.
I've found yummy vegan dishes at RnR, Picazzo's, Culinary Dropout and Eddie's House, all in Scottsdale.
At RnR, vegans can rejoice in a old town Scottsdale restaurant with options for vegans. Their veggie burger is to die for (I asked and was told there were no eggs or dairy in the burger), their fries are super tasty and their veggie tacos are unique with a jicama "tortilla". I really liked their apple gorgonzola salad minus the cheese, with prickly pear vinaigrette.
At Picazzo's, vegan cheese isn't even on the menu ANYWHERE. So strange, as they have a whole section of the menu with vegetarian options! Luckily, I asked if they had a vegan cheese option and they did! I ordered the Margharita pizza with medium crust and vegan cheese. I wanted to eat it for days.

At Culinary Dropout, The waitress did not know of anything vegan on their menu. I asked for a custom salad with romaine lettuce, apples, pistachios and ginger vinaigrette. I wish they had more vegan options on their menu. It's so cute there.
I was so worried about eating at Eddie's House, after looking at the online menu. Luckily, we contacted them in advance to ensure they would be able to accommodate me. They made me a special vegan pesto dip and an entree with a salad, grilled vegetables and hummus with pita chips. I can't wait to go back. My meal was amazing!

I look forward to sharing more of my vegan finds in the near future.

Vegan philly seitan sandwiches and sweet potato fries

Can you tell that I am obsessed with my mandoline? I am finding recipes that call for sliced stuff. My normal sweet potato fries are more like steak fries, but this time, they were just like the ones you get at Delux or Stax (except baked, not fried)!

My grandma got me a vegan cookbook for my birthday called You Won't Believe It's Not Vegan. And, let me tell you, I can't believe it! Tonight we made philly seitan sandwiches from the book. Next time around, I think I'll swap the nutro cheese for Teese Cheese...then it will be WOW! The sweet potato fries are my old stand-by recipe, but I decided to sprinkle some oregano into the mix for a new taste.

Sweet Potato Fries
1 sweet potato (sliced into straight fries)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
oregano, salt and pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees
2. Toss the fries in the oil with the oregano, salt and pepper
3. Line up on a non-stick cookie sheet
4.  Bake for 15 minutes, then flip the fries
5. Bake the 2nd side for 10 minutes and watch closely to ensure they don't burn

Nutro Cheese (for topping on the philly seitan sandwich):
Yield 1 pint
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch cayenne
1/4 tsp dry mustard
3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 tbsp tamari
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Warm the oil in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, turmeric, cayenne and mustard until smooth, then whisk in the soy milk.

2. Add the water and tamari and let cook for 5-8 minutes, whisking constantly. Add the nutritional yeast and let cook, whisking, for another 5 minutes or until the mixture is thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Will keep for 4-5 days refrigerated.

Carmelized onions
1 large yellow onion (thinly-sliced)
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt

1. Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and salt and cook, stirring often, until they begin to carmelize and turn golden brown, 10-15 minutes.

Philly Seitan Sandwich
4 pieces of an italian baguette or 4 pieces of thick loaf bread
2 cups thinly-sliced seitan
1/8 cup tamari
1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1. pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment

2. Warm the bread in the oven for a minute or two

3. Toss the sliced seitan with the tamari and olive oil. Spread out on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until golden

4. Mix the seitan and carmelized onions together and spread out on the bread

5. Smother with nutro cheese and serve

We took some funny pictures of ourselves tonight, we were both wearing green:

My yellow nails and yellow straw...

We are now watching the remake of Grey Gardens. OMG. The original was jaw-dropping. This one is amazing, too.