Northwest Tacos and Doing Really Great at VEGAN MOFO

Doing really great at VEGAN MOFO guys!!!!!! Two posts in 5 days means I WIN.

No lie, I've been insanely busy with work and cooking and meal planning and this little thing called training for a marathon. I'm in the thick of it right now and some days I run for like, hours, and it's stupid. Really, don't ever run a marathon.

Tonight was Thursday which means hoards of drunk 20-somethings wandering in and around my home, street, square and alley and really all over the place. But we will pretend Thursday means taco time.

Quick note about Tex Mex: growing up in the American South, I became accustomed to what I knew as Mexican Food - white cheese enchiladas covered in a reddish brown sauce, white cheese dip, watery salsa and free chips, orange rice and pinto beans. Lime margaritas with salt on the rim. On your birthday it's all about the sombrero and lots of fanfare, free fried ice cream and a locally composed Spanish happy birthday sung by half a dozen servers.

It's my go-to hangover food. So of course you can imagine how appalled I was when, as a new resident of Portland, Oregon, I thought I was going to get Mexican food and was met with THIS:

"AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD."

What is this???? Where is the cheese? What's with the fresh herbs? And all the colors?

Over time I opened up to the idea of "real" Mexican food, I guess, and at least it gave me some pretty pretentious fodder in foodie circles. "Yeah, aren't you so mad that Bowling Green doesn't have any authentic Mexican places? Even the ones across the tracks don't serve ceviche." 

I guess I miss it now. Because when taco night rolls around, all I want is crunchy veggies and fresh herbs. Here's what I whipped up for dinner. The red cabbage and sweet taters make it quintessentially PACNW.

Northwest Tacos

corn tortillas
avocado
1 Cup brown rice
1/2 Tbl taco seasoning
1 sweet potato
2 Tbl vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 Cup red cabbage
2 Tbl Braggs amino acid
1 Tbl brown sugar
1 Tbl chili garlic sauce
2 Tbl hot water
1 Cup cold water
a few sprigs of fresh cilantro
1/2 Cup vegan cream
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbl almond milk
1 tsp dill

The first step is to chop and marinate your red cabbage. Of course, this is best done 1-2 hours before Taco Time, but you can fudge it with 45 minutes. That's how long it takes me to find and measure out and mix my taco seasoning anyway, let's be honest.

Slice the red cabbage into thin strips, sort of like the way you are thinking. There is no other way to "slice" red cabbage other than the way that is currently in your mind's eye.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your Braggs, brown sugar and chili garlic sauce. Add that hot water to melt the sugar, then stir in the remaining water. Toss in your cabbage, mix thoroughly and place in the fridge until you're ready to engage Taco Time.

The second step is to prepare your tortillas. For this dish, I created taco bowls using the back of a muffin tin, as seen on basically every life hack blog ever. This works well, provided you only want to make 3 taco bowls, as they tend to overlap and get wonky. No need to use cooking spray here, just fold your tortillas in the crevices, and bake at 400 for about 10-15 minutes, or until crispy golden brown.

Next, get your rice going. I always forget this step, which sucks because it ends up being a 15 minutes mistake. Good thing I am here to remind you!

Next, slice your sweet potatoes in thin strips, like thick french fries. Using a cast iron skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat. As always, it's good to use a test piece with this one. Break off a small piece of sweet potato and toss in the oil to test its heat. Once the piece starts to fry, toss the rest in. Fry until golden brown (about 5-7 minutes). Then lay them to dry on paper towels. Immediately salt and pepper to taste.

Once your taters are finished, discard your oil (I strain and save mine for later use) and dump the rice into that same cast iron. Add your taco seasoning* and stir fry for about 5-7 minutes.

While everything is finishing, crack open your second PBR and whisk together your sour cream topping. This piece is crucial for ultimate Portland-ness, provided you have access to a squirt bottle. These are like a buck and a half and will turn any amateur home cook into a veritable culinary Mick Jagger. People will literally be impressed with your cooking simply because of a $1.65 investment. It's my secret weapon.

Whisk together the sour cream, pepper, almond milk and dill. Toss that into your squirt bottle for maximum squiggly. 

Build it: taco shell, rice, cabbage, taters. Top with sliced avocado. Garnish with fresh cilantro. I served mine with cheesy refried beans and DUH a Pabst. Because.

*Soon I'll post my seasoning recipe. I DISlike purchasing seasoning packets from the store, because most of them are full of preservatives and MSG. For what its worth, the only vegan taco seasoning without MSG in Bowling Green is Ortega's seasoning.

This is My Buddha Bowl (and a ramble on vegan running)

This was my last cooked dish before my most recent half-marathon, and I gotta say, it definitely energized me to finish. It's amazing what we can accomplish with plant power when we are not hungover!!

Here's what went into this bowl:

Citrus Black Beans and Rice
Coconut-Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Steamed Kale
Baked Peanut Tofu

#yumtown

The kale and the Brussel Sprouts are pretty self-explanatory, so I won't delve into detail with them here. But let's talk about how this all went down. A lot of people ask me about how to cook certain things sometimes, and I always tell them that most of the time, it's a simple process - you just need to get your timing right. Which gets easier the more you cook! How convenient.

First, preheat your oven to 400. Thankfully, the sprouts and the tofu need about the same time to roast/bake, so no headache needed with your oven. While your oven is preheating, mix the tofu sauce. Here's what you'll need:

1/2 Cup peanut butter (chunky - always chunky in my world!)
2 Tbl Bragg's liquid aminos
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 Cup water
1 Tbl brown sugar

Whisk all ingredients together really well. Then toss with well-pressed, cubed tofu. I used about 1/3 a block with this dish, since I was only serving one.

[crickets]

Throw your tofu in a glass baking dish and prepare your sprouts. I love sprouts because they are super easy and not as terrible tasting as childhood folklore holds. Also they are good for you? Half them (because it's precious) and place face down in a cast iron skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Once your oven is heated, throw those suckers in. About 5 minutes later, take one spoonful of coconut oil and toss it in your cast iron wherever you please. This will seep through the Brussel Sprouts and make them mega-tasty. Now close the oven, you dummy!

The cool part here is that you get to wait another 20 minutes before needing to do anything again. You can do dishes or push-ups or laundry or update your blog (nope) or chase your roommate around the house for a good old fashioned tickle fight or walk to Spencer's for a double espresso. But after the first 20 minutes of roasting, take both dishes out and flip them to let the other sides bake evenly. Then put them in for another 20 minutes. (For English majors, this is a total of FORTY minutes for baking).

After you've gotten from espresso from Spencer's and have flipped your oven babies, start the rice. This stuff is BOMB and I must give a huge shoutout to my boy Justin Philalack (roommate and culinary artist extraordinare) for this inspiration. It's easy peasy, delicious and full of nutrients perfect for kicking ass at a half-marathon in a relentless rainstorm.

Grab these things:

rice (however much suits your fancy)
1 can black beans
1/2 orange peel, minced
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbl Braggs liquid aminos
1 tsp ginger powder, or 2 tsp fresh minced ginger (better. obvi)

Cook the rice first. This should be simple. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the garlic in a dab of olive oil over medium for about 2 minutes. Add the orange peel and stir to incorporate for about 1 minute. Then stir in the rest of the ingredients, and heat on low, stirring occasionally, until the rice is finished. Once it's done, drain the rice and incorporate into the black beans.

Done! Somewhere in there should be the steaming of a good handful of kale. But all it requires is 5 minutes of heating in a pan (with a little bit of water) with a saucepan lid over the kale to keep in the steam. Duuh easy.

This was the longest race as a vegan, and I gotta say, it felt pretty damn good. I know I didn't train well enough, but adrenaline and crowds and Katy Perry and American-flag-guy and goal-setting got me through it. It's unfortunate that we have grown up believing that animal products supply us with bountiful nutrients we can't get anywhere else - that are in fact vital to a physically demanding lifestyle.

Just for example, this meal alone (one serving) contains the following:

Vitamin C -294%. Vitamin C forms important proteins that build tendons, ligaments, blood vessels and skin. It also acts as an enzyme in the breaking down of all your delicious front-porch meals, AND acts as an antioxidant to clean up the mess that all those free radicals make when you break down food. Vitamin C keeps you younger longer and keeps your body functioning with efficiency!

Iron - 71%. Some vegans/vegetarians don't get enough iron in their diet, which is simply because they don't eat enough vegetables. It is found in lots of animal products but is just as abundant in dense vegetables. We need iron to make certain proteins in our body, and also to carry oxygen to blood.

Vitamin B-6 - 40%. Protein is essential to building muscle mass to prepare for a race, but it is nothing without a good dose of B-6, which is crucial in breaking down those proteins. It also produces antibodies that fight diseases and keep your immune system strong.

Magnesium - 42%. One silly obscure mineral that is actually involved in more than 300 biochemical functions in your body. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong. It also helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure, and is involved with metabolism and protein synthesis. Woah!

Vitamin A - 133%. Helps maintain healthy skin, teeth, skeletal and soft tissues, mucus membranes, etc. This stuff helps keep us healthy when we are putting our physical bodies under great stress.

Calcium - 53%. Clearly very important for keeping your bones strong! It also helps the messaging system between the nerves and muscles and brain efficient.

Protein - 39 grams. Any vegan gets this question all the time - "But where do you get your protein??????" It can get frustrating talking with people who refuse to believe that you are in fact getting enough nutrition to be a runner, cyclist, casual waterpark volleyballer, etc. on a plant-based diet. I don't want to hop up on a conspiracy-theorist soap box or anything, but there truly is a LOT of nutritional propaganda put out there by the meat industry. They want us to believe that a) we need more protein than we do and b) that we can only obtain said massive amounts of protein through animal products.Check out the Vegetarian Resource Guide for a more detailed breakdown on the nutrients at play here.

Potassium - 831 mg. Potassium is important. The end.

Vitamin K - 600%. What???? That's like, 6 times more than what is recommended by our socialist president Barack Hussein Obama???! Check it out - kale is super high in Vitamin K, which is good for your blood and good for your bones. It helps prevent calcification in your arteries AND is good for your liver.

Fiber - 87%. Besides the obvious benefit of keeping you "regular," which is a HUGE advantage to a fiber-rich diet (vegans are the quickest poopers), it also can reduce your risk for breast cancer.


Now that I am finished with the half-marathon, I am now training for my FIRST FULL in October! It's terrifying and exciting and I can't wait to share how it's going. If you are a vegan athlete, holler and me and share your favorite pre-race recipes!

Roasted Parsnips with Candied Pepitas in Spicy Tahini Sauce

I had no idea what this was going to be, but I was so, so satisfied with what came out.

(thatswhatshesaid?)

Sorry. Anyway. I've had these parsnips hanging around like a newly divorced uncle for too long, so I knew I had to dress them up for a night on the town to meet some new friends. This was a rather silly endeavor, as these look rather fancy but the whole meal took less than a half-hour to prepare. Easy peasy! Uncle Bob's got a date, ladies!

First, roast your parsnips - this will take the longest time. Preheat your oven to 350 and melt about 2T of coconut oil. Slice the parsnips and toss in a small bowl with the coconut oil to completely coat them. Then place these in a roasting pan and throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Next, prepare your rice. I used forbidden rice here, which has an marginally exotic taste and add color to any dish. I love forbidden rice, and it has just as much fiber as brown rice. ALSO IT'S BLACK. Mildly interesting, yes? So go ahead and boil that, covered, with 2 parts water to 1 part rice.

Now's a good time to mention - after the first ten minutes of roasting your parsnips, remove them from the oven, given them a good toss (wink), and stick them back in the oven for another ten minutes. Now let's get to the sauce. Here's what you'll need:

2 T tahini
1/4 C water
1 tsp miso paste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 T Braggs liquid aminos
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T garlic chili sauce

This is a pretty easily-constructed sauce - over medium-low heat, add each ingredient one at a time, mixing each one until fully combined. Once fully mixed, keep on a simmer until the rest of your meal is ready.

If your parsnips, rice and sauce are ready, go ahead and prepare your pepitas. In a shallow bowl, mix a handful of pepitas (now is maybe a good time to mention that pepitas are just another name for pumpkin seeds - glad we had this discussion) with a couple of drops of pure maple syrup - just enough to fully coat each seed. Pour them into a roasting tin an broil for about 3 or 4 minutes.

This should absolutely be the last step, as the pepitas will stay in whatever the hell place you shape them too, once cooled. So plate your sauce, rice, and parsnips before removing the pepitas from the oven. Spoon them directly from the pan to the dish, where they will (soon, I promise) cool into a precious little pumpkin seed pile. How sweet.

Someone give me a treat for all the awful puns and innuendos today?