breaded eggplant

You know what I love? Food gifts. There's almost nothing better than free, delicious things, and recently, I've been quite lucky in receiving tons of edible presents! I got a beautiful eggplant from my boss, Connie, and a truck load of fresh produce and a dozen happy chicken eggs from my parents.

After reading so much about the factory farming atrocities in Eating Animals, I'm having a very hard time eating eggs, unless I know where they come from. My parents happen to know a man in their area raising chickens in proper, humane conditions, and I couldn't be happier about supporting this local farmer, who really cares :)

Anyway, I digress. With all the wonderful, fresh organic food in my house, the first vegetable I had to devour was the eggplant. What can I say? It's my fave. I based my recipe off this one for Vegan Crispy Baked Eggplant from Chez Bettay. Mine definitely didn't come out as beautiful as hers, but for my first try at breading anything, I think it turned out pretty good.

I mostly stuck to the recipe, except I didn't peel my eggplant, used Panko for the bread crumbs, and used a regular oven sans pizza stone, since I don't own one. I baked my eggplant for about 15 minutes on one side, flipped it, and then popped it back in the oven for another 10. When the bread-crumb coating was starting to look golden, I slathered it with warmed pasta sauce, and devoured it with a side of sauteed beet greens.

The soft eggplant was a nice compliment to the crunchy crust, although I definitely should have baked it longer to give the bread-crumbs some serious bite. Also, 1 eggplant made plenty of food for my dinner, and I used the rest to make phenomenal sandwiches the next few days. Baked eggplant + pasta sauce + lettuce & fresh basil on whole wheat toast = to die for.

It was a good first attempt, and I hope the next batch is even better!

chorizo & sweet potato enchiladas

A few weeks ago, I was lurking over at Budget Bytes- one of my favorite blog haunts- and I came across the recipe for chorizo and sweet potato enchiladas. My initial thought was, all that crap? In enchiladas? No way. I think I've gotten too comfortable in my cheese and black bean enchilada rut. I sat on this thought for a week or so, and finally decided to be bold, and to try out this dish on a couple friends for dinner last night.

I stuck to the recipe pretty closely, except I used regular sized whole wheat tortillas for jumbo enchiladas, substituted Old El Paso sauce for Las Palmas, used Anaheim peppers since the store was out of Poblanos, and finally, used vegetarian chorizo instead of the meaty kind! That's right. Those chorizo enchiladas got vegatized!

So I chopped and sauteed everything according to direction, and pulled out a casserole dish. Budget Bytes says to coat the pan with non-stick cooking spray, but if you cover the bottom of the dish with a little enchilada sauce, it works just fine. I rolled the enchiladas, popped them in the oven, and 25 minutes later, I was rewarded with an outrageously delicious meal.

Oh my, doesn't that look amazing? Trust me, they taste even better than they look! I told myself I would only eat 1, but that didn't happen- I ate a few :) The sweet potatoes give this dish a great chewy bite, and the Anaheims + faux chorizo give it just the perfect amount of spiciness! All three of my carnivorous friends said they were damn good too! This is a dish I will definitely make again. And again. And again.

Oh! And if you're looking for a meat-free chorizo, I used Field Roast's Mexican Chipotle Sausage, and I highly recommend it! The texture is dead on - it even comes in a casing- and the flavor is great. Moral of the story is that the vegatized version of the sweet potato and chorizo enchiladas were a huge hit, and I can't wait to make them again! Yum!

tempeh tuna wrap

June? Already? Yikes! With summer kicking into full gear, plans are being made, and time is starting to fly by. Since I last posted, I think I've made maybe 2 or 3 healthy meals at home. Bad Erin. Since I had the Memorial Day holiday off, I finally got the chance to kick back, relax, craft a little, and cook. I've been meaning to try this recipe for quite awhile now, but of course, just couldn't find the time- until today!

The recipe is mock tuna salad, which happens to be printed on the back of the Home-style Organic Five Grain Tempeh from Tofurky. I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, except I replaced mayo with vegenaise♥, and Old Bay seasoning with Paula Dean's house blend, because of course I had Paula Dean in the cupboard, but no Old Bay. Also, at the very end, I added pickle relish, because what's tuna with no relish?

While the tempeh was simmering and I was mixing sauces, I must say I was seriously skeptical. Soy sauce in tuna? Hell no. The tempeh boiled, I stirred everything together, spread it out onto a whole wheat tortilla, and guess what. It was surprisingly delicious!

The texture is much thicker and chunkier than normal tuna, which isn't a problem, and the flavors are actually pretty dead on considering that there's absolutely no fish in there. I also like the fact that the recipe makes a ton of food, and is very filling. I made a hearty, over-stuffed wrap, and still had a bowl full of tuna for leftovers. This was one recipe I anticipated hating, but ended up really enjoying. Once again, impressed with tempeh! :)

greek lentil salad

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is magazine buying- Vogue, Elle, Nylon, you name it, and occasionally I'll break down and buy it. I have a hard time justifying purchasing fashion magazines since it feels frivolous, but I have absolutely no problem picking up the newest addition of Vegetarian Times. Fun articles, new ideas, and always great looking recipes. This month they began a 28 day boot camp with daily de-bunked myths and healthy meals, and let me tell you, I jumped on board immediately!

The recipe for day 1 was Greek lentil salad, and it looked so fresh and tasty, I couldn't help but making it right away. They suggest making it for a take away lunch or light dinner, so I made a full batch in preparation for this week's lunches as work. Look how productive I am eating lunch at my desk.

This was my first time ever cooking lentils, and I'm pretty pleased. I love that they're low in sodium and high in protein, which is just what I need more of in my diet. However, I don't think I properly cooked them all the way through, so the salad came out slightly tough. On that note, I wish there was more sauce- more olive oil or lemon juice or something to sop up that dry crunchiness- but then again, maybe that might be solved by properly cooking the lentils? Oops.

It's a pretty good recipe with a great flavor profile. I like it, but I don't love it. When all this rain passes and I'm ready for a fresh, light meal, I'll definitely try this one out again- and next time, I'll properly cook those lentils too! :)

zucchini pizza boats

Let me start by saying that I'm a total blog stalker. I lurk on tons of blogs, ogle the photos, get all excited about the new posts, but never comment. I know. I'm a creep. One of my favorite haunts is a blog called Budget Bytes. All of the recipes are cost effective, look great, and many of them are vegetarian friendly too!

Last week, I spied this gem of a recipe and had to try it out myself- zucchini pizza boats? Yes please! Her pictures are much prettier, but I still think my zucchini boat looks gooey and amazing!

My one complaint, is that I wish it was more flavorful- however, I 'spose that was my bad :) Instead of following the recipe's measurements, I threw a little of this and that into the zucchini/sauce mixture. Next time, I'll make sure to pay closer attention to the specifications, and add more than just a dash of Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese. Still! A great, easy recipe, that was apparently only $1.32 per serving. I love it! I will definitely continue to try Budget Bytes recipes in the future!

While I'm on the topic, here is a surprising article about vegan foods- peanuts? Yikes! Also, I'm inappropriately excited about these butterbeer cupcakes (omg Harry Potter July 15), and every single one of these sandwiches. Next time I'm hungover, I'll probably attempt that cheesy mac and rib *drooool* Of course, there are many more delightful things that I'm stalking, but that will have to wait for another time. I have another pizza boat to devour!