Fiery Tofu and Coconut Curry Soup

I celebrated my two year veganversary recently with this Fiery Tofu and Coconut Curry Soup over jasmine rice. While the flavor was delicious, I didn't find it particularly "fiery" prior to adding Sriracha sauce, but the color was! The lime juice really made the flavor pop.

For local readers, a commenter let me know that Scape in the CWE offers a three course raw vegan meal, recommending the lasagna. Thank you for the tip! I'm always happy to share news of local vegan options.

Red Chile Vegan Chicken and Rice with Black Beans

I love cookbooks but hardly ever buy non-vegan ones. One exception is Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. This book is full of gorgeous photographs and includes helpful information on common ingredients in Mexican cooking. Recipe categories include dressings, salads, salsas, tacos, and soups, just to name a few. Recipes that aren't vegetarian or vegan often include a vegetarian "riff". Even without these riffs, many recipes are amenable to adaptation by subbing vegan ingredients. For example, I easily veganized the Red Chile Chicken and Rice with Black Beans by using chicken-style seitan and vegetable broth. Ground ancho chile powder coats the seitan, rice, and beans for a super flavorful dish with a little heat. My rice turned out a tad crunchy, so I'll try an additional half cup of vegetable broth next time. The original recipe has been posted online here.

Banh Mi with Lemongrass Tofu

A local foodie magazine recently did a spread on Banh Mi sandwiches from area restaurants. The featured sandwiches were stuffed with pork, lamb, chicken, fried egg, and head cheese (a term I could not have imagined ever typing on this blog). What? No Banh Mi Chay (vegetarian)? An oversight perhaps, but I'm starting to wonder after the magazine's blog recently mentioned "the war on vegetarianism". We're at war? Vegans stockpile tofu, people, not weapons of mass destruction. But if the folks with a boner for bacon think we're at war, I guess vegetarians and vegans are doing something right.

I basically followed this recipe from the Kitchn, using vegan ingredients. A baguette slathered in cilantro-soy sauce-mayo is stuffed with lemongrass tofu slices, pickled carrots and daikon radish, fresh jalapeno, and cilantro. I added sliced Roma tomatoes and Sriracha sauce. The sandwich is juicy, sweet, tangy, and spicy. Delicious! This recipe for a vegan version with seitan sounds delicious as well.

Vegan Beef Stew, Sriracha's Spicy Sister, Sambal Oelek, and Pi

This week we are eating VegCooking's Vegan Beef Stew. I made a few minor changes, using faux beef broth, mushrooms rather than green beans, and decreased the cooking time. The flavor is rich and hearty. If you prefer not to use seitan, beans would substitute nicely.

Friends recently gave us a bottle of Sambal Oelek chili sauce from Huy Fong of Sriracha fame. They warned us it is addictive and we've been putting it on practically everything. John even suggested a new snack. Smear a tortilla with some peanut butter and sambal oelek, heat for a few seconds in the microwave, roll up, and eat.

Finally, I gotta give more vegan love to Pi Pizzeria, which just keeps getting better with every visit. (Even the Obamas can't resist!) We had dinner at the bar of the new CWE location, starting with cocktails. Then on to a house salad sprinkled with Daiya shredded cheese, followed by a thin crust pizza with Daiya, Match sausage, kalamata olives, roasted garlic, and sun dried tomatoes. I don't know whether we can top this combination of ingredients, but I'm up for the research!

Slow Cooker Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

Happy New Year everyone! We've been trying to stay warm with this creamy, chunky stew from The Kitchn. Load up your slow cooker with vegetables, spices, and broth, and let that baby cook for a few hours while you catch up on Vegansaurus (I can't stop playing that pit bull vs. roomba-driving kitty video) and the latest Underdog to Wonderdog episode (who doesn't want to be part of the Doggie Wonder Team?!). Top off the stew with a little coconut milk, a lot of baby spinach, and spoon over jasmine rice for a bowl of yum.

Hope your holidays have been relaxing and fun. Some of my fun has come from playing with pit bulls at the Humane Society of Missouri such as Emma and Hershey. Emma is a happy, happy puppy who does that cute butt-scoot run when she gets really excited about her walks. Then she'll stop and give you a quizzical look that is so smart.

Hershey is a gorgeous girl who started out shy but is getting to know us and feeling a little more comfortable in the shelter. She now greets us enthusiastically and seems more confident. Both can be adopted at the HSMO.

We recently returned from celebrating our anniversary in the Sunshine State with Scout and Ruby. They thought sunning by the water in December was pretty nice.

Now we're back in STL to ridiculously cold weather, but one of the best ways to combat post-holiday, post-vacation blues is to make more plans to look forward to. Thanks to tips from Lex about vegan eats in St. Louis, we have reservations at Niche to celebrate another special occasion in a few weeks. While the menu does not appear vegan-friendly, I hope the chef will accommodate us. Lex also pointed out that Rooster offers a vegan crepe. "Vegan" is actually on the menu! Has anyone tried it? I can't wait to check it out. Vegans on the internet are the best - thank you Lex!

Whew, that's a long post for this sporadic blogger. Time to get back to studying iPhoto. Please bear with me and my hinky photos. Learning something new prevents dementia, right? Or contributes to potty mouth. Hope y'all have a great week.