What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?

I've been really craving burgers since I went vegan, and was really impressed by Burger King's impossible burger. I bought some impossible patties, vegan mayo & cheese, ketchup, veggies, etc, and made some burgers this weekend.

I'm just blown away at how good and meaty these patties are. If you cook them to medium, the middle stays pink. It tastes like a burger, it's juicy like a burger, etc. Going vegan is honestly so easy now with Gardein chicken nuggets that go in the air fryer on lazy days, impossible/beyond meats, JUST Eggs (which cook just like regular eggs are honestly SO good), etc.

If you aren't vegan, consider trying some of these alternatives! Any reduction of your animal consumption is good for the environment, animals, and (potentially) your health.

I needed to cook a bunch of stuff that I had laying around. I had some wheat tortillas, which I don't usually buy but I had got some La Tortilla Factory brand ones on a whim and they'd been sitting for a while. So I prepped some Soy Curls andsteamed potatoes that were about to sprout again. I put them and some jarred salsa in burritos and the end result was amazingly lush. The potatoes turned really creamy and the salsa added some nice acidity and saltiness to it.

As part of my spring roll addiction, I've tried to add tofu but instead of trying fruitlessly to grate it I just cut them into logs and it is a marked improvement; it adds the slightest bit of extra structure, which somehow makes the shredded veg less likely to fall out of the roll when dipping it into my sauce.

I had a proper go a tofu last week, after previously only trying it half heartedly. I even managed to get my partner, who doesn’t really like vegetarian proteins, to enjoy it! Admittedly it was marinated in tofu and pan fried in plenty of oil, but I will count that as a success.

I used a wienerschnitzel inspired recipe to make pan fried chicken strips that was somehow picky eater friendly. I bought thin sliced chicken breast and dry brined for an hour then removed excess moisture. The batter was ground panko, Parmesan and potato starch plus seasonings. For this one I used oregano, onion and garlic powder, celery seeds, smoked paprika and rainbow pepper.

For adding the batter I just used an egg bath then the batter mixture. I didn’t bother to dip in flour before the eggs, it seems the batter in the final product actually sticks to the food better instead of flaking off.

The combination of thin strips and being able to pan fry made this a much easier method than deep frying tenderloins in a wok. No issues with them drying out, and my kids actually ate a bunch of them.

Planning on making pozole this week.

I’ve made some (more) authentic in the past, from rehydrating dried chilis, but this recipe with the canned chilis is basically just as tasty and 5x easier.

I randomly decided to finally make nut parmesan. It’s a simple recipe. Nuts, nooch, a bit of salt, and garlic and onion powders, put through a blender with no particular amounts of any given ingredient. I used some almond slices that I had sitting around for a while.

My god, is it good. I actually like it better than the actual cheese because I can have an ungodly amount of garlic in it.