the apeman!: August 2009

Long time no blog post. Well I have been busy with school, work, eating, biking, visiting my dentist Dr. Krentist, my cats ate my computer, my camera broke...... None of these are very good. So I am not going to make an excuse, or pretend I was going to write a post. I have just simply neglected posting anything on here due to pure laziness.

These are some of the things I have made lately. Hope you enjoy!

Potato Zucchini Gratin

BBQ Ribz

The assembled plate with some ranch dip.

Vegan Ranch Dressing/Dip

1 cup vegan mayonnaise, i recommend Vegenaise
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 clove garlic smashed or microplaned or 1 Tbsp garlic powder
3 green onions or 1 tbsp onion powder
splash vinegar
splash of neutral oil
Fresh or dried parsley
Fresh or dried dill
Salt
Black pepper

Whizz all the ingredients up in your blender or food processor. Let the flavors meld together in the fridge for a bit or just eat it right away.

Dinner for four

Potato Crusted Tofu with shaved zucchini salad in an avocado vinagrette

This dish is actually missing a roasted red pepper emulsion that I thought would have really brought the whole thing together. There's always next time. It's essential to use young zucchini so that you can avoid the spongey-watery flesh of the large ones. Also it help keep the zucchini a mouth-friendly size when shaved.

Shaved Zucchini Salad

3 young zucchini, shaved with a vegetable peeler or mandoline

1 avocado
1 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic microplaned or minced
1/6 cup of olive oil
salt
pepper

Whiz together all ingredients in blender, combine with shaved zucchini.

John's Stromboli

Vegan Ground Meat

This mix can be flavored in many ways, but since I was aiming to make a good ole fashioned hamburger I chose the ingredients outlined below.

Vegan Ground Meat

2 cups tvp
2 cup hot veggie beef broth
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tbsp catsup
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
2/3 cup wheat gluten

Mix the hot veggie broth will all the rest of the wet ingredients then soak the tvp in this mixture. Combine all dry ingredients. After tvp is rehydrated and cooled to room temp add the dry ingredients and mix well. Form into burgers patties or meatballs as shown in the picture below. I thought the resemblance to ground beef was quite striking. I love a good vegan cheeseburger and I really nailed it with this one. So good.

uncooked burgers