Sesame Sriracha Cream Cheese Bacon Scallion Puffs

Because sometimes you just want something that tastes good and takes very little effort. I mean they are called "convenience foods" for a reason, right?

These tasty little bites taste great warm, cold, or at room temperature, which makes them the perfect food to make as an appetizer, bring to a party, or just make up a batch like me and my sister, June, did on my recent visit to Portland.  And since today is her birthday, I thought I would post this in her honor.

Two for Tuesday: Soyrizo!

I do love me some Soyrizo.  And I know it's processed, and I know it's full of fat and salt and all of that stuff that is bad for me, but if I can get my newly vegetarian husband to crave something and actually ask me to buy it, then I know this is some tasty stuff.

I have been squeezing the brown lumpy goodness out of it's fake intestine tube casing for years, even before I was vegan, because let's face it, real chorizo sausage has some pretty gross and scary stuff in it.  And this stuff is really easy to use too.  One of my favorite ways to make it is in a breakfast burrito.   The other is a funky little appetizer I like to make that I call a Meximosa.

Soyrizo and Tofu Scramble Breakfast Burritos
Make up a bunch of these to bring to your next morning tailgate party, like I did with these ones (See original post here).

1 block (1 pound) extra or super firm tofu, drianed and pressed
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black salt, optional
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced white or yellow onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tube (about 6 ounces) of store bought Soyrizo
1/4 cup vegan sour cream
1/2 cup vegan shredded cheese (I used Daiya Pepperjack)
5 to 6 burrito size tortillas

parchment paper, optional
aluminum foil, optional

Into a bowl, crumble tofu. Mix in turmeric, black salt (if using) and paprika. Set aside.
In a frying pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent and fragrant.
Add in Soyrizo and stir. Heat all the way through, stirring constantly.
Add in tofu mixture, and heat all the way through.
Stir in sour cream and cheese. Mix together until melted and well combined.
Remove from heat.
Heat tortillas until soft and pliable. Divide filling amongst the tortillas and roll up.
If eating now, serve while hot. If saving for later, wrap each burrito in a square of parchment and then in a square of aluminum foil, then refrigerate until ready to heat up.



Meximosas
A spin on baked samosas!  These are super easy to make, and awesome to bring to parties or pot lucks.

For the crust:
Simply, a flour salt and water dough (+/- 2 cups ap flour, +/-1 cup water and a pinch of salt), rolled out thin and cut into squares.

For the filling:
1 package of Soyrizo 
1 tub of Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 350.
Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.
Mash together soyrizo and cream cheese in a bowl.
Put a pretty big dollop of filling in each one and pinched them together at the top. 
Bake, for about 20 minutes.
Half way through baking, brush them with olive oil. 

Oh my gosh! It's been a whole week...

...since I've updated my blog! I am so ashamed. Well it was a crazy weekend, but the Children's Benefit for Salem School went off without a hitch. My wonderful Mom came down to help out, and we got lots of wonderful feedback on the food. We served over 300 phyllo cups! People kept coming back for more, and lots of folks were very interested in the fact that all of it was vegan. "How do you make it so good without meat?" "We were told to come get food from this table, 'cause it was the best!" The coolest thing was, we were set up next to a guy who did an entire table of meats and cheeses, and guess what? Almost all of his food was left uneaten at the end of the night...he said I was his nemisis...hee-hee.

SCORE ONE FOR THE VEGAN TEAM!

Here are some pics of the final products:

Me, my Mom and our table:


Little Taco Salads (Soyrizo mixed with Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese topped with Tofutti Sour Supreme and green onions):


Caramelized Onions and walnuts in an agave nectar and balsamic reduction:


Mediterranean Couscous (with olive oil, basil, sundried tomatoes and garlic):


Spanikopita, spinach and tofu feta with lemon juice, nooch and garlic, topped with toasted pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes (this seemed to be the crowd favorite!):


Mushroom Rissotto made with Jasmine rice instaed of arborio:


And our tower of Lemon Gems (from VCTOTW) with lemon cream cheese frosting, topped with lemon zest and a blueberry:


And if you are wondering about the bandanas and horse shoes all over the table...the party had a western theme and we were asked to decorate our table accordingly.

Appetizers Take 3

Way "too vegan" to serve to regular folks. But man, sure was tasty. I guess I'll just go with the phyllo cups and mini lemon cupcakes. Thanks for all of your feedback!

Ginger Soy marinated and grilled Tofu skewers with Thai peanut dipping sauce:

Ginger Soy Marinade:
1/3 cup soysauce or tamari
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 tsp ground ginger

Mix it all up and use as a marinade. Tofu should only marinate for about 30 minutes or it gets too salty.

I just took one block of extra firm tofu, drained and pressed, and sliced it into 6 pieces, and then cut those six peces in half. (See the diagram.) I then marinated the slices for 30 minutes and placed them on the skewers. Then on an indoor grill (a bbq would be fine too) I grilled each side of the skewer for about 1-2 minutes and then flipped it over to the next side. 4 turns total.

Simple Thai Peanut Sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/3 cup chopped green onions
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes

Put it all in the blender and puree until smooth.

Curry Couscous stuffed mushrooms:


Curry Couscous Stuffed Mushrooms:
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup couscous
8 oz mushrooms
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp yellow curry powder
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp garam masala
Sea Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms. Reserve stems, chop and saute in the olive oil in a pan along with the onions and garlic until fragrant, about 7-10 minutes. Bring water to boil. Add couscous, reduce heat and stir until all water is absorbed. Add in the sauteed mixture, curry, garam masala, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Stuff into the hollowed out mushrooms and bake for about 15 minutes. Eat the leftover couscous mixture for dinner!

Appetizers Take 2

I give you "The Phyllo Cup"...You give me...HONEST feedback!

Phyllo cup filled with a garlic, basil and sundried tomato couscous garnished with a baby basil leaf:


Phyllo cup filled with a spinach and tofu feta mixture, topped with sundried tomatoes (pretend there are toasted pin nuts on top too!):


Phyllo cup filled with sweet carmelized onions and walnuts in a balsamic reduction:


Phyllo cup filled with sweet carmelized onions and walnuts in a balsamic reduction garnished with a fresh basil leaf:

Appetizers Take One

I signed on as the only vegetarian/vegan caterer for a children's benefit on October 20th. The event will feature 10 local chefs all serving at least 2 appetizers for 250 guests. That's 500 appetizers folks! So I put my thinking cap on trying to think of the easiest, tastiest and most eye appealing appetizers and I am seriously coming up blank. I have mastered the art of making something taste great, but my presentation has left something to be desired.

Before I turned to the ppk, I tried a few things out myself. But, alas, the ppk'ers have given me such great inspiration, that I think these two may fall of the list and I will try some of their ideas out this week.

What would you make? I wanted to make one sweet and one savory, and for the sweet I was thinking of a mini one bite lemon cupcake with lemon creem cheeze frosting topped with lemon zest and a rasberry...but someone said that cupcakes don't count as appetizers. So now what?

These are two of the ideas I came up with:


This is a mushroom and garlic rissotto atop a garlic, herb and cheeze cracker (I used this recipe, and added garlic and dill.) garnished with a fresh basil leaf.


This is a fire roasted red pepper and garlic creem cheeze sauce on a small bed of alfalpha sprouts atop the same cracker, also garnished with a fresh basil leaf.