I've been pretty busy...

...Getting my essentials and some extra stuff at the supermarket:

Can of hominy, garbanzo flour, vital wheat gluten, spinach, chocolate chips, light brown sugar, lemon extract, almond and soy milk, agar agar flakes, puffins, soy yogurt, plain tempeh, whole wheat hot dog buns and extra-firm tofu.

Celebrating my bestie's 22nd birthday:

tecate-buzzed
(hence the weird smiley faces I drew; I got neat Photoshop skills, huh ?)

Going to the San Diego County Fair:

view from the big wheel...

Testing:

Crappy picture of something really tasty, potato-y and seitan-y.

Bake Me Up LA

I wasn't sure about doing the 2 hour-trip to LA, but, since I couldn't make my own bake sale (I couldn't decide about almost everything, gave up and had the idea of organizing one -with time!-the next year) and the San Diego bake sale will be held on September (I'll be in México City by then), I thought that it would be nice to support one of the nearest vegan bake sales.

If you live in the LA area or want to make a trip like me, you should go !
No, no, no, let me put that right..You HAVE TO go.

No vegan can resist baked vegan goodies !

Indulge ; ) !

Well. I was all excited about this mini-trip, because I've always wanted to eat at an all-vegan restaurant, but my mom and brother are really skeptic and picky.

Some minutes ago, my dad was all like "Yeah, we should go to a vegetarian food place !".

He's not a vegetarian, but he likes to try new veggie stuff.

Once, I made Isa's sausages with garbanzo beans instead of pinto beans since that's what I got in hand; my mom tried them and said they had an unpleasant strong flavor.
My dad really liked them and of course, I loved them : )

I tried to look for some vegan friendly restaurants and didn't succeed; too vegan for my family or not vegan friendly for me.

I really wanted to eat in a veg restaurant, since I can't do that pretty often; there aren't many vegetarian options here in Tijuana and the vegetarian food from natural restaurants isn't tasty enough.

There aren't many vegan products available either; I buy almost everything in San Diego. This is the only "uncommon" stuff I can get in TJ: Organic Firm Tofu, TVP in many forms, vacuum-packed silken tofu, Silk -unsweetened, plain, vanilla and chocolate-, vegan patties, organic edamame and I guess that's all, ha !

There's a super-market about 1 minute from where I live and I swear...most veggies and fruits spoil !

Ooh, and the worst of all, is that I used to drink a lot of this strawberry soy milk thing made by a mexican company that makes juice and soy milk beverages, until I found out my beloved soy milk had Carmin as a natural colorant.
There's another mexican brand that sells strawberry soymilk, but I'm not sure about the colorants.

I'm glad to know that my regimen won't be much of a problem once I'm living in México City, because I made a quick investigation and there are some organic markets and vegetarian restaurants (most of them Vegan Friendly !).

Anyway, I'm tired of complaining, hah.
I need to sleep !

Arroz Rojo

It's my post #13.
Gimme some Social D !
Because Thirteen's my lucky number ; )
Okay, that's all for now.

The red rice, and on the back, a vegan latina tester and some okra-spinach thing I
made with creole seasoning, curry and sesame seeds.

When I was like 14 or so, I used to eat bowls of this red rice.
I just love it : )

Ingredients:

2 cups long grain rice
4 cups water
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tbsp. garlic salt with parsely (or regular salt to taste)

In a pot (high-heat), stir the rice until some white specks appear or until slightly toasted.
Pour in the water carefully; mix in the tomato sauce.
Stir to get everything combined, add the salt and stir again.
When the water reaches a boil, cover with lid and lower heat.
Oh, are those rice grains sneeking trough a thin tomato-y film already : ) ?
Uncover and once you're sure the water evaporated almost completely, turn the heat off.
Let it sit for a while (or until warm enough to eat).

Vegan Brunch

I'm so happy !
I went yesterday to Barnes and Noble with my mom to buy my dad a father's day present and immediately walked towards the vegetarian cookbooks section.
I grabbed a Vegan Brunch copy and when we got home, I made blueberry scones and the smoked almond gravy.

Baby Scones ~!

I've never made scones (or tried, until yesterday) and they turned out great !
They have a biscuit-y consistency and are delicious.

It was hard not to eat all the smoked almond gravy by itself when I finished cooking it; it's pretty tasty too..
I was planning on making some mashed potatoes to go under all that almond goodness, but I have many recipes to test for vegan latina (I totally forgot about it; BAD TESTER !).

A bad picture I took of the book cover

Well, as soon as I can make more recipes from vegan brunch, I'll post my thoughts about them.

Oh ! and I'll be posting a Gorditas recipe soon.
Have a very very nice day !

"Huevo" con chorizo

Steamy/crappy picture of the result

I love soy chorizo...I've been eating it since forever, because my mom (I'm not really sure why) prefered to buy that kind rather than the pork or beef kinds.
The only problem I have with chorizo is that it's way too oily.
I used to dream of soy chorizos that I didn't have to press to get most of the oil out..(not !)
But, we all know that won't happen (ever).
That's why I tried to make my own.It doesn't taste better, but at least isn't extremely oily like the some store-bought kinds.

Chorizo

Ingredients:
1/2 cup TVP
Water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tbsp. vegetable oil1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. guajillo chile powder
Onion salt/salt to taste

Pour hot water over the TVP and let it absorb all the water. If there's some water left, drain the tvp.
In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and the oil until almost emulsified.
Add the other ingredients and mix well.
With a spoon, pour small amounts of the marinade over the tvp until all the granules are covered.
Put the chorizo in a foil sheet and roll to form a sausage (you know how to make seitan sausages right ? it's the same procedure, only the mix is crumbly rather than elastic).
Put the roll in the fridge and leave it there for a day and a half.

Okay..I didn't like the flavor (I went all crazy with the paprika, so it has a sweet hint).But..I had to give it a chance, at least for this other recipe... Chorizo Tofu Scramble !

Chorizo-Tofu scramble

Ingredients:

1/3 chorizo "sausage"
1/3 block firm tofu
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. nutritional yeast

Put a skillet in medium heat; add the tofu and mash it.
Mix in the salt and the nooch.
Add the chorizo; mix. Serve with some tabasco sauce and corn tortillas or a bread slice ; )

Ensalada de Coditos

I know this isn't mexican, but I remember eating this salad as a child at family parties and other kind of gatherings. I used to pick out most of the ham bits before eating it (I was never a red meat person, haha -_-).

Ingredients:

Handful Elbow shaped pasta
1 tbsp. vegenaise
1 tsp. yellow mustard
1/4 tsp. crushed chipotles or chipotle adobo sauce
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. garlic salt w/ parsley (or just plain garlic salt)
Crushed red pepper (optional)
1/2 or 1 stalk celery (diced)

Cook the pasta in enough water with a dash of salt until the pasta is al dente (about 6 minutes).
When the pasta is cooked, strain and wash with cold water.

Now, for the dressing, mix everything (except for the celery) until well combined and then throw in the diced celery. Mix in the pasta and chill until ready to eat.

It tastes just as I remember, only, better ; ) !
Feel free to double or triple the recipe, since it only yields 1 to 2 servings.



: )

Pineapple-Quince Jam ; )

2 weeks ago, I went to Valle de Guadalupe (Valle de Guadalupe is a wine region here in Baja California, near the city of Ensenada [or in Ensenada. I'm not pretty sure]) with some friends to celebrate another friend's birthday.
I'm not a wine-drinker, so I thought I wouldn't enjoy the trip as much as the others, but I was SO WRONG !

After having lunch, we headed to the most popular vineyard of the region, hah.
The place is kinda cool; there's a road is between the vineyards : ) and at the end of it, a store with tables on the outside.
The store is great...There are a lot of things to sample like cheeses and wine, but the best stuff to sample are their organic jams !
Here's a list of the flavors I remember:
Jalapeño
Grape
Quince
Pumpkin
Coconut-Pineapple

And the others that I didn't sample because they ran out of bread slices:
Wine
Habanero
Chili
Orange Tomato-Chiltepin Chili (WTF?)
Chipotle
Mint
Quince-Pineapple

I got the pineapple-quince without tasting it (since I did sampled the quince and coconut-pineapple jams, thought that it HAD to taste as good as those).
Fortunately, I was right.
It tastes great; not too sweet, and the consistency is a little chunky (pineapple chunks...ohh yeah...).

It's a pretty vegan friendly place; the vegetarian pizza they offer is cheeseless and I guess and hope for vegan wine lovers, that the only non-vegan wine is the honeywine.
They also have a wide variety of oils (olive, rice, peanut, sesame, chili-sesame, garlic olive, chili olive...), some vegan soaps, wheat-seaweed chicharrones (woohoo !), olives and other stuff that I know you wouldn't be interested in (mostly cheese products).

I hope that if you live near the Baja or plan to visit it, you have the oportunity to go to that vineyard (L.A. Cetto).

Mehh, I know that I can count my readers with the fingers of one of my hands and still have like 2 or 3 fingers left hahha : ( but still, I'll post another recipe soon ; ) !

And now, some babbling in spanish:

Un saludo a Annie (Vegan en México [Monterrey]) que ya llegó a su post #100 ; ) !

Esa fue una noticia buena, pero desgraciadamente, también hay una mala; internaron a su abuelita, así que les pido a los religiosos que anden rondando por ahí, que pidan porque se mejore y a los ateos, pues que mínimo le dejen un mensajito de apoyo en su blog, jeje.

No sé ustedes, pero yo me la he pasado de visita en visita a hospitales y clínicas por casos de 4 parientes distintos (mi abuelo, mi abuela y mis papás) y es bastante pesado y desgastante y siempre viene bien aunque sea un poquito de apoyo, por parte de otros familiares y de los amigos. Por eso le mando un abrazo virtualesco y espero que dicha situación mejore y que sea pronto ; ) !

See ya..