Vegetable Okonomiyaki (Japanese Vegetable Pizza)

To celebrate my mom's birthday, my family and I went to Benii Restaurant, which is a Japanese restaurant located at the Star Building across from St. John's School.  I go there often since I have a weakness for Japanese food and it's close to my work.  My normal order consists of edamame, a side salad, and miso soup, but since it was my mom's birthday, I ordered something different.  It took me awhile to decide what to get since they have many options to choose from, but I finally went with the Vegetable Okonomiyaki, which is the Japanese version of vegetable pizza.
If you've never tried okonomiyaki, it's a thick and delicious grilled pancake that can have pretty much anything mixed with its batter.  I'm not sure what vegetables are in Benii's version of okonomiyaki, but I think there's carrots, mushrooms and scallions.  They're pretty generous with the vegetable servings, but they were also very generous with the Japanese mayonnaise on top of the pizza.  So, although this dish is vegetarian, it's not vegan.  Benii served this dish on a hot plate and each bite of the pizza was nice and warm.  The slices were so thick and huge that I couldn't eat more than 2 slices!  I packed the rest of the pizza and had it for lunch the following day since I'm one of those people who don't mind eating left-overs.

Vegan Black Pepper Steaks

This month was the month of already made meals because most of my time was spent Christmas shopping, baking, and wrapping gifts.  Luckily for me, I was able to find some easy to prep meals over at Simply Food.  One of them was Vegetarian Plus' Vegan Black Pepper Steaks.  Cooking it was super easy since the instructions were on the back of the box.  I just heated the food in a pan on low heat with 2 teaspoons of olive oil.  I really liked how it was just enough for 2 people so that no food was wasted.
The pepper steaks were full of flavor and tasted fantastic.  I could really taste the black pepper on the saucy steaks.  When I used to eat steak, I would have to eat it with a side of soy sauce or finadene, but when I ate these pepper steaks, I didn't need any sauce on the side because the dish itself was saucy enough.  Although the texture isn't the same as real steak, it could still pass as beef.  It was perfect to eat with a bowl of hot rice.  In fact, I think I spent more time prepping the food than actually eating it.  

Breakfast of Champions

My department at work decided to have a breakfast party to celebrate the birthdays of 2 of my co-workers.  I decided to make vegan chocolate chip pancakes because everyone loves pancakes and how can I go wrong with adding some chocolate chips to it?  Luckily for me, I was able to find a pancake mix that was dairy-free.

Cherrybrook Kitchen Original Pancake mix was the only pancake mix that I could find that was vegan.  This brand was created by a woman who had to learn how to make allergen-free food because she's allergic to so many types of food.  I was excited to find this because I wasn't sure if there really was such thing as vegan pancakes, especially since all I saw at first glance were boxes of buttermilk pancake mix.  I'm not sure if Simply Food has this, but I did find this particular brand in Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  For vegan chocolate chips, I used Sunspire vegan carob chips, which I also found at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  I've baked with these chips before, so I know they'd be the perfect compliment to my pancakes.

Making these pancakes made me realize how long it's been since I've actually eaten pancakes at all.  I think the last time I ate them was at Denny's when I ordered the Grand Slam.  I'm so happy to find a healthier alternative to Denny's pancakes.  I actually think these pancakes taste better and are fluffier than Denny's pancakes.  

 In order to make these, just follow the instructions on the back of the box.  I followed the instructions to make 7 pancakes.  After making the batter, I added 1/4 cup of vegan carob chips and slowly stirred it in.  Then, I poured the pancake batter on a hot pan, 1/4 cup at a time.  Honestly, I didn't think these pancakes were actually going to make it to my work's breakfast party since my family was eyeing them while I was cooking.  Luckily, I made a second batch for my family (and myself) to enjoy  and my first batch safely made it to the party.  

        

Baked and Breaded Vegetarian Chicken

As Christmas Day is fast approaching, I've been scrambling to get all my Christmas shopping and errands done.  This means quick meals are a must for me, especially during the weekend.  This morning, we decided to have an early lunch so my boyfriend and I can start crossing off our Christmas to-do list as soon as possible.

I thought it would be the perfect time to break out my can of Worthington's FriChik, which is a fried chicken substitute.  However, instead of frying it, I wanted to bake it.  I decided to bread it too just for kicks.  I found a really easy recipe online to follow for baked breaded chicken and since I was pressed for time, I thought I'd give it a try.  I breaded it with FryStar bread crumbs, which is a brand my sister-in-law always uses when she makes her breaded concoctions.  I'm pretty sure you can buy this at any grocery store that sells Asian products on Guam.

"These are easy to prep" is a complete understatement.  What I did was dip and coat each FriChik in Italian dressing and then covered it with bread crumbs.  I then baked them for 30 minutes on top of foil sprayed lightly with Pam.  As you can see, I only baked 5 pieces because that's all that came in the can I purchased.  This isn't enough for just my boyfriend and I, so I also baked some garlic bread, which I placed right next to the FriChik in the oven.

Our meal turned out just the right portion and taste - not too heavy but enough to last us a couple of hours until our next meal.  The baked and breaded FriChik came out juicy, but not as crunchy as I would have liked it to have been.  When I used to eat fried chicken, I ate it with ketchup, and I was happy to find that the FriChik also paired well with it.  Everything was devoured in 15 minutes tops, and then we were off to brave the crowds.  

Can't Get Enough of Burgers

I grew up wishing everyday I could go McDonalds after-school and order my favorite, a plain double-cheeseburger.  So, it's no surprise that even though I'm older now and (hopefully) wiser about my health, I still want to eat burgers.  Thank goodness there are so many varieties of veggie burgers available for my taste-buds!
This time, I tried out Gardenburger's "The Original" Veggie Burgers, which I bought at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  What I did was add 1 teaspoon of olive oil on a pan and sautéed each side of the burger patty for a couple minutes on medium heat.  I'm not an onion hater, so I also sautéed a slice of onion to add to my burger.  I cooked the onion slice much longer than a couple minutes so its sweet flavor could come out.  I completed the burger masterpiece with Vegenaise (vegan mayonnaise), ketchup, and mustard.  I didn't have any wheat burger buns on me so I just slapped everything between 2 slices of regular wheat bread.  What I ate was a messy, sauce-dripping, delicious burger.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to upload, but this just means I get to make another burger, which, I think, isn't a bad idea at all.        
 

Vegan Nilaga

I've been craving nilaga (literally means "boiled") since I turned vegetarian.  It's a soup dish that my mom makes on days where she needed to cook something quick and easy.  I love this dish because of the vegetables used - potatoes, cabbage, and bok choy.  I just needed to find a good substitute for the cubes of beef my mom normally uses in her dish.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find beef substitutes that weren't in the form of ground beef or burger patties.  The best thing I could find was meatless meatballs.

Nate's Zesty Italian Meatless Meatballs worked pretty well with this recipe.  I ended up boiling the meatballs a little longer than I should so I changed the recipe to shorten the amount of boiling time.  I bought the meatballs over at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket, but I do want to check out Simply Food to see what beef substitutes they have available over there. 

When I was first reading an original beef nilaga recipe, I realized that it called for fish sauce.  I was a little disheartened at first because I was stumped on how to replace fish sauce.  However, several food forums recommended using 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part lime juice as a substitute so I gave that a try for this dish. 

The end results?  Delicious nilaga.  I think I should actually call this dish nilagang meatballs (boiled meatballs) since that's the meat I used.  My family (including my mom!) thought that the dish tasted just like beef nilaga, so I considered this recipe a success.         

Chick'n and Tofu Adobo

I am on a mini-mission to vegan-ize (or vegetarian-ize) as much Filipino dishes as I can.  For those of you that are not familiar with Filipino cuisine, a staple ingredient in main course dishes is meat.  In fact, our culture revolves around meat so much that being a non-meat eater can result in shocked and maybe disappointed looks from a Filipino family.  My reason for this mini-mission is an obvious one: I want to eat the food I grew up with.  

So it's only appropriate the first main course dish I try to vegan-ize is the Philippines national dish: adobo.  There are so many ways to cook adobo.  In fact, I think there's as much adobo recipe varieties as there are Filipinos in the world.  I went with what I know tastes best, which is my mom's version.  My mom would normally use chicken or pork for her version of adobo, but I decided to use Quorn's Naked Chick'n Cutlets and Firm Tofu as my meat substitutes.  I purchased both at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  

The last time I used Quorn's Naked Chick'n Cutlets was when I had sautéed them by themselves.  This made them taste a little dry.  However, for this recipe, the cutlets were perfect because they soaked up the adobo sauce so well.  I really think they make really good chicken substitutes for stew/soup recipes.  

The first time I tried making this dish, I had accidentally stirred the vinegar right after I added it into the pot.  The end result received mixed reviews from my family, with some of them liking the vinegar taste of the adobo while the others didn't.  If you grew up with adobo having a vinegar taste, then I recommend stirring the vinegar.  If not, then make sure to let the vinegar simmer and settle for 15 - 20 minutes after adding to the pot.  This is how I prefer to make my adobo.

Greek Pita w/ Vinaigrette Dressing

I needed to go to the Tamuning Post Office yesterday to pick up what I hoped were my new pairs of Badgley Mischka sandals.  Unfortunately, I was a little too excited to pick up my package and thought the Post Office would have been open at 11am.  Instead, they were still closed and I had to wait an agonizing hour before I could hold my lovely little babies.  My boyfriend and I decided to eat lunch some where close by while we waited for the Post Office to open.
We ended up eating at Nuts & Grains, which has a lay-out similar to Simply Food where its both a grocery store and restaurant.  It's located behind Oka Payless at OP Plaza in Tamuning.  I ordered their Greek Pita, which has lettuce, tomato, cucumber, yellow pepper, feta cheese and olives combined together in a whole wheat pita pocket.  It's also served with a side of vinaigrette dressing.  I thought this pita tasted pretty delicious since it had a generous serving of olives and feta cheese.  Even though I was drowning my pita with the dressing, nothing spilled since everything fit nicely in the pita pocket.  I'm so glad they gave me two pitas because one definitely wasn't enough.
    

Thanksgiving 2011 - Gobble it up!

This year, I decided to make a vegetarian/vegan Thanksgiving meal so my boyfriend and I can enjoy the gluttony that is Thanksgiving without having to stray from our vegetarian lifestyle.  I made vegan potato salad, vegetarian turk'y roast, and vegan bibingka (rice cake) for dessert.  It was the first time I made any of these dishes, so I was pretty happy when all of them turned out pretty good.
The potato salad was easy enough to prepare and make.  The night before Thanksgiving, I prepped the potatoes by peeling and cubing them and then placing them in a large bowl with cold water.  After that, I placed the bowl in the refrigerator and left it there overnight.  This removes the starchiness from the potatoes, which is a tip I learned from Alton Brown's show "Good Eats."  I love that show because Alton explains the how and why of cooking.  Definitely helpful for an amateur cook like me.  For the vegan mayonnaise called for in this recipe, I used Original Vegenaise, which is a really great substitute for real mayonnaise.  It has the same texture as the real thing, but it's non-dairy and cholesterol-free.  It also tastes like the real thing, so there's no love lost for mayonnaise.  My boyfriend and I liked the way the potato salad tasted since it was light enough on our stomachs, but my family wasn't too fond of it because they were used to my mom's way of making it, which is thick enough to serve as an actual meal.  It's tough competing with my mom's cooking.  

For the turkey, I went with Quorn's Turk'y Roast after reading reviews that said it's the best turkey substitute available.  I purchased this at Simply Food a couple of weeks ago when they had a 15% sale off all their groceries and frozen food items.  When you open it, you'll find that it's a small log that should be enough for 2-3 people.  The box has instructions on the side on how to prepare it and I just followed those instructions to the T.  I did have to make my own turkey dry rub which was easy enough to make.  I loved how it only needed to be in the oven for an hour!  I actually made this right before feasting time so that we could eat it when it was nice and hot.  I also added some veggies in there just so the turk'y roast wouldn't feel so lonely.  My boyfriend and I ate majority of the turk'y, but my family did try it as well and we all agreed it tasted like turkey.  It tasted so much like turkey I wished I had made some gravy just to give it more juiciness. 

The vegan bibingka was the real winner for the day.  I took the recipe from Filipino Cooking Abroad by Eleanor Laquian and Irene Sobrevinas.  It's actually my sister's ancient-looking cookbook, but she was nice enough to lend it to me.  The only things I had to substitute in the recipe were the grated cheese, butter, and eggs.  For the cheese and butter, I used Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds and Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread, which I've blogged about before here.  I went with Ener-G Egg Replacer (which I purchased at Simply Food as well) as my egg substitute.  It's made using potato and tapioca starch, and so easy to use because you just mix it with 2 tablespoons of hot water and viola, you made an egg!  It's only used for baking though, so don't use it to make scrambled eggs.       

The bibingka turned out really good and was a hit with the Filipino fam-bam.  In fact, my dad got into a semi-argument with me because he really thought I used real cheese and eggs.  I even showed him the Daiya cheese and Ener-G egg replacer packages, but he still wasn't convinced.  I took this as a compliment.
So Thanksgiving 2011 was a success.  After eating all that food, I surprisingly made my way to bed and proceeded to sleep the afternoon away.

Vegetarian-izing (or Vegan-izing) Filipino Food - Dish #1

When I was growing up, my mom was the one who cooked the food for our family.  On days when she wanted to make something quick and easy, she'd cook giniling (also known as picadillo) using ground beef, potatoes and green peas.  If there was any extra giniling left in the morning, she'd use it to make tortang carne (beef omelette) for breakfast.  This was one of my favorite breakfasts when I was little.
Flash forward to the present, and, as a vegetarian striving to reach vegan status, I wondered if I could re-create Filipino dishes so that they're vegetarian or vegan.  First thing I did was look for a Filipino cookbook, which my sister was happy to lend to me.  It's a super old book titled Filipino Cooking Abroad by Eleanor Laquian and Irene Sobrevinas.  I wasn't even born yet when this book was published! (FYI - It was published in 1977.) It's a wonderful read though because it has great sections on the history of Filipino food and descriptions of food based on region.
So the first Filipino dish I thought I could vegetarian-ize was tortang carne.  I used the tortang carne recipe from the cookbook and substituted the ground beef with Worthington Vegetarian Burger and the eggs using a vegan omelette recipe I found on FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog.  I could have easily made this dish vegan using vegan ground beef, but I wanted to try the Worthington product just to see how it will taste.  Simply Food has a whole section dedicated to Worthington products.

When it comes out of the can, I highly recommend breaking the beef down using a fork.  Once you do this, you'll notice it really looks like ground beef.  Although the can says I can just heat it and serve, I treated it as if it was uncooked ground beef and thus did not change anything in the original recipe.   

After I was done prepping the carne, I put it in the fridge to cool.  While it was cooling, I started working on the egg substitute for the dish.  The vegan omelette recipe called for tahini which I have only heard of in hummus recipes.  I've never actually used this ingredient before.  In fact, my boyfriend and I were at the spices section of Micronesia Mall Pay-Less for what seemed like an eternity looking for some McCormick spice labeled "tahini" because I thought it was some type of grounded spice.  Little did I know it was in the organic section and it's actually a kind of paste!  Every time I cook, I learn something new.  

I went with Joyva Sesame Tahini because it looked like it had a decent amount of tahini that would last me a long time. When you open it up, make sure to stir it well before using.  Making the vegan egg mixture was quite easy and by the time I was done, the giniling was already done cooling.  I poured the vegan egg mixture in with the giniling, stirred, turned on my stove, and started cooking.

  

I recommend making the torta the size of your spatula so that it's easier for you to flip when the bottom side is nice and brown.  Because the original recipe called for large sized tortas (I'm assuming they had big spatulas), I'm not sure how many servings my method makes.  I do know that you can always store the left over giniling-egg mixture in the fridge until you're ready to cook more tortas, which was is what I did.

When my family tried them, they thought it tasted pretty good.  In fact, my dad couldn't even believe I didn't use eggs as an ingredient.  I recommend eating tortang carne with a scoop of hot rice and a side of ketchup, just like how my momma taught me.         

  

I Say "Nay" to Coconut Milk-Based Ice Cream

Living on Guam means you've come to expect hot and humid weather daily, but I think Sunday is the hottest day of the week.  It's normally so hot, I swear you can fry a vegan egg on the pavement.  Thus, this is the day my hunger for ice cream really spikes up.  I decided to stroll around Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket to find a vegan ice cream I haven't tried yet.
I wanted to try Purely Decadent's Coconut Milk-Based Cookie Dough ice cream because I wanted to see if lightening can strike twice in the same spot, since the first ice cream I tried from this brand tasted pretty delicious.  Unfortunately, it didn't happen.  Although the ice cream texture was more creamy with this particular flavor, I didn't like how you can really taste the coconut milk.  I guess I was expecting more of a mild vanilla flavor ice cream with the cookie dough and chocolate chips taking the spotlight, but it turned out the other way around with the coconut milk taking the wheel.  If you're fond of the taste of coconut milk, then this ice cream would be perfect for you.  In my case, let's just say I'm glad I have a boyfriend whose love for ice cream goes beyond normal levels and is willing to eat any type of ice cream.            
 

Vegan Orange Chicken

Two weeks ago, Simply Food had a one-day sale where all groceries and frozen items were 15% off.  Vegetarian Plus Vegan Orange Chicken is one of those items that caught my eye in their freezer section since it's vegan Chinese food and my boyfriend hasn't eaten Chinese food for a long time.  We decided to split it for dinner last week.
Cooking it was quite easy.  I defrosted it for 10 minutes and then  I cooked it using a wok (If I'm going to eat healthy Chinese food, the least I could do is use Chinese cooking methods.) and 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium heat.  I followed the instructions to the T and so it was ready to eat in 6 minutes.  

The serving was OK for 2 people to share if the 2 of you had some snacks prior to dinner (this would be my boyfriend and I) or if both of you are on a diet.  However, for all other scenarios, splitting it would be a bad idea.  I like my food as saucy as possible, so I appreciated the "chicken" being completely covered in orange sauce.  What I didn't like was that the sauce had too much of an orange flavor.  I've eaten orange chicken at Chinese restaurants before, and they cooked it in a way so that you just tasted hints of orange zest.

The texture of the chicken was pretty amazing though.  When you cut through it, it looked as though you were tearing apart a real chicken piece.  It may seem a little chewy for others, but my boyfriend and I agreed it was pretty darn close to chicken.  I plan on purchasing more chicken-alternative products from Vegetarian Plus, but I don't think I'll be purchasing this particular dish again because of the overpowering orange flavor.

Nothing Wacky About This Cake

My co-worker passed along to me a recipe for a vegan chocolate cake with the oddest name: Wacky Cake.  After I made it though and tasted it, I really think it's wrongfully named because there's nothing wacky or odd about it.  When I pulled it out of the oven, it smelled so good I couldn't wait to try it.  I know I should have let the cake cooled longer, but my usual impatient self wanted a slice of it immediately, as you can probably tell from the picture above.  The cake was super moist and fluffy and my family enjoyed it immensely even though it had no frosting.

Another reason why I loved it was because it was so cheap and easy to make.  I didn't need to buy any special ingredients or break out my stand mixer at all.  I'll gladly make anything that doesn't require me to wash many dishes or run around the island looking for ingredients I'll probably be only using once.

The next time I make this, I'm going to add cherries or strawberries before putting it in the oven and half-way through the baking time.  I think it'll make the cake look so pretty and taste even better too.  Yummy!

Sneaking Dinner into the Movies

My boyfriend surprised me with tickets to an 8pm showing of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and since we couldn't eat any of the food sold at the theatre, I decided to sneak in our dinner.  I thought it would be a great time to make burgers since they're easy to make and small enough to fit in my bag.  

I used Morning Star Farms Mushroom Lover's Burger as my burger patties, which are made with button and portabella mushrooms, onion, and red pepper.  They taste fantastic and apparently are so good it won a ChefsBest award.  Because they're already full of flavor, I decided to pair it with Daiya Mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar cheese.  I really like how the cheese melts easily and tastes just like mozzarella cheese.  So far, I've only tried two of Daiya's products, but both have won good reviews from me.  I think the burgers would have been even better with swiss cheese, but I can't seem to find a place on Guam that sells vegan swiss cheese.  I purchased both patties and cheese at Simply Food.    

For the bread and condiments, I used Oroweat Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns, Original Vegenaise, and kale instead of lettuce.  I was able to purchase both of these at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less, but I know Simply Food also sells Vegenaise.  Vegenaise is the vegan version of mayonnaise, and tastes no different from its unhealthy counterpart.  I've made sandwiches using this spread and no one notices anything different.  I am curious to know how it holds up when used in actual cooking.  I used kale instead of lettuce because it has so much more nutrients and provides a better crunch to the burger.  Click on the link to read about its great health benefits.

So how did the complete burger taste?  My boyfriend and I thought they tasted delicious!  I actually ate my burger on the way to the movies because I couldn't resist any longer.    

Soy Chorizo - Black Bean Tofu Bowl

Thanks to Pika's Cafe, I'll never again miss King's chorizo fried rice.  They've created this delicious dish by placing cooked soy chorizo, tofu, and black beans over a bed of hot rice and topping it all with a spicy puréed salsa.  They also serve it with a side of finadene, if you request it.  My ritual is to mix everything together and then commence to eating everything until there are no survivors.  This is actually one of my favorite vegetarian dishes available on Guam and I actually go to Pika's at least once a week to order it.  I would have taken more pictures of it, but honestly, I just couldn't deny my stomach any longer.

NOTE: I don't think Pika's Cafe has a website or Facebook page yet, so if you're wondering where they're located, they are at 881 North Marine Corps Drive Ste 114 in Tamuning.  The Guam-version directions are: They are located at the Star Building right across from St. John's School.

Vegan Fajitas

Before my attempt to be a vegan, I loved going to Margaritas and ordering the cheesiest appetizer and the cheesiest main course I could find.  Normally, there would be nothing left for a to-go box.  Now that I'm trying to cut dairy, I can still make my trips to Margaritas and still enjoy a really good meal thanks to the vegetarian and vegan items on their menu.

When I went there for lunch a couple of days ago, I wanted to try their vegan fajitas.  Instead of meat, you'll get sautéed  broccoli, red onions, and bell peppers with 4 freshly grilled flour tortillas.  The sautéed vegetables alone were so flavorful and thoroughly cooked.  I appreciated them cooking the red onions long enough to remove its raw taste.    

On top of the cooked vegetables, the dish comes with lettuce, guacamole, salsa, black olives, and jalapeños.  I also ordered a side of beans which I placed in my fajitas, along with everything else I mentioned here.  Needless to say, my fajitas were fat and stuffed, but they were so worth it.  I don't think it's necessary to order the side of beans in order for the dish to taste good, but I was hungrier than usual that day.  I'm definitely going to be ordering this dish again.    

Sometimes Missing the Turn is a Good Thing

While on the road at night, my boyfriend and I had agreed to eat dinner before heading to Kmart.  I, however, was craving a veggie pizza while my boyfriend was singing more to the tune of Subway.  Since I was more inclined to eat an affordable dinner, I agreed to go with his suggestion.  

We must have been having a very deep discussion (probably about food) while driving because he completely missed the turn to go to Subway.  I then suggested we go to Kmart and take our chances with Little Caesars because they might have veggie pizzas available.  Although he agreed, I think we were both thinking how unlikely that would be.  

So, imagine our surprise when we saw this delicious looking warm sub sandwich comprising of olives, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, tomato sauce and (as if that wasn't already tasty enough) covered in cheese?  It was the perfect combination of our cravings!  I highly recommend ordering a side of tomato sauce to dip the sandwich in.  It just makes the sandwich even warmer and saucier.

Although this sandwich was vegetarian, I'm pretty sure it wasn't healthy because of all the cheese and bread.  I do think it's a great thing to eat if a junk-food-for-dinner craving hits and if it's eaten only once in a while.

Sweets on a Sunday Afternoon

I spent my Sunday afternoon the same way most Filipinos were: by watching the boxing fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.  I knew that the fight was going to be the last one shown, and so I spent my time waiting by eating some gelato.
This time, I chose Organic Nectars Cashewtopia Gelato, which I bought at Simply Food, and decided to try it because its packaging was plainer than the first vegan ice cream I tried.  I feel it's only fair to try foods that aren't in pretty packages because it just might be holding the best tasting food.  You'll never know unless you try.
In this particular case, I did discover one of the best vanilla gelatos I've ever tasted.  I can't believe it was that good!  It even has the same creamy texture as non-vegan ice cream, so I think this one beats the first vegan ice cream I tried.This gelato is organic, vegan, low-glycemic, and non dairy kosher.  I love how it meets eating restrictions from around the world.

To wash the ice cream down, I drank a juice that's literally called Green Juice by Reboot Your Life.  It was refreshing and tasted great thanks to the pairing of apples and ginger for sweetness.  With this particular juice, I used collard greens for the first time and learned that it didn't degrade the flavor of the juice at all.  I plan on rotating it with kale and swiss chard whenever I can.    

Veggie Mini Burgers

Every time I go Ruby Tuesday, I always order their veggie mini burgers, minus the butter on the bread and the barbecue sauce.  I have to admit, the burgers are mighty cute-looking, and who can pass up such a deal when you learn it also comes with the salad bar?  I used to order this with a side of fries, but since I gave up fried foods back in October, I requested to have a side of steamed broccoli.  There were no regrets.
The mini burger's patty is a mixture of rice, black beans, and vegetables and is placed on top of swiss cheese, crunchy lettuce, and a fat slice of pickle and tomato.  This burger is pretty juicy thanks to the tomatoes and eating can get quite messy since the patty can fall apart.  Personally, I categorize messy burgers under the "Delicious" category, so I always enjoy these veggie burgers with a side of extra napkins.

Little Cakes for a Big Birthday

For my boyfriend's birthday, I decided to surprise him with orange chocolate vegan cupcakes, which I found the recipe for on Vegetarian Times website.  I've made many cupcakes before, but this was the first time I was going to make a vegan version.  I was pretty surprised to see that avocado was the replacement for eggs and butter was a no-show in the recipe.  What really made me decide to try this recipe was that the glaze was made using soft tofu, which I would have never figured out by myself.     

Having the ability to grow your own tropical fruits is one of the best things about living on Guam.  Unfortunately, my family's avocado trees were bare and so I had to buy avocados at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  If I had my way, I would have just plucked an avocado from our tree since they taste exceptionally better and are much larger than what's available at the grocery store.
The part that somewhat stumped me in the recipe was the instruction to purée the avocados in a blender until smooth.  For a small-time cook like me, I needed to know "How smooth was smooth?"  I just took a guess at it and luckily, the cupcakes turned out great.
The glaze frosting actually turned out better than I expected.  In fact, I think it's the best frosting I ever made in my short frosting making history.  It stayed on the cupcake like it's supposed to and tasted fantastic.  When I was shopping for the glaze ingredients, I couldn't find any vegan chocolate chips.  Instead, the best thing I could find was Dagoba Organic Chocolate Dark Chocolate Chocodrops, which I found at Simply Food.  By definition, dark chocolate has less milk than regular milk chocolate, and this one had a 73% cacao content.  Dagoba is also known as a certified Fair Trade chocolate company, so you can rest assure the chocolate wasn't made using slave labor.  

When I finished baking the cupcakes and dipping its tops in the glaze, I couldn't resist trying them and ended up eating 2 cupcakes.  Thank goodness I baked 24!  When I finally surprised my boyfriend with the cupcakes and told him what the ingredients were, he said he couldn't imagine those were ingredients because the cupcakes still tasted and looked like sweet non-vegan cupcakes.  I took this as an extremely positive review and will be looking for ways to make other types of cupcakes.  I picture red velvet vegan cupcakes in the near future...  

    

Linguine Alfredo Using Tofu

I had some left over soft tofu in my refrigerator and was stumped on what dishes I could make with it that weren't soups or desserts.  A visit to Google and several clicks later, I discovered lots of main course recipes that called for soft tofu.  I settled on linguine alfredo because the recipe was easy to follow and I was curious to know how this dish would taste.  I thought, as I take baby steps towards veganism, I would have to say goodbye to white sauce pastas since they contain dairy.  I hope this recipe proves me wrong.  

I've never tried whole wheat pasta before and chose Jovial Foods Einkorn pasta because it had the most vitamins and minerals than the other options available at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  (Plus, saying "Einkorn" out loud sounded really cool.)  It tasted great, but one con about it is that it dries up and hardens after 4-5 hours.  I recommend using only what you plan on consuming immediately.        

I think the dish turned out good but needed a little bit more saltiness.  I plan on adding some soy bacon in this dish the next time I make it.  Other than that, I'm pretty satisfied with this recipe and am glad to know that I don't have to quit white sauce just because I'm trying to be vegan.

How I satisfied my fried rice craving

Fried rice is really a wonderful dish but is definitely a no-no in my health book.  I realized there must be some way to satisfy my craving without compromising my new lifestyle.  I brainstormed a bit and hoped couscous would do the trick.  

I love couscous.  It's so versatile, very easy to make, and a box can last me a couple of dishes.  With this dish, I decided to cook couscous with carrots, mushrooms, and beans.  I normally buy Near East couscous, but replaced it this time with Fantastic World Foods Organic Whole Wheat Couscous, which I found at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket.  I'm happy to report it tastes the same as the Near East version.    

I took this opportunity to also try Quorn's Naked Chick'n Cutlet and fry it for a little bit using Pam cooking spray.

It turned out a little dry, but I'm guessing it's due to the frying.  Next time, I'm going to grill it or microwave it (both acceptable cooking methods) and see if it makes it juicier.  The texture was awesome though.  Cutting through it was like cutting through a real chicken breast.  In fact, my boyfriend couldn't believe it wasn't made using real chicken.

As I hoped, chick'n and couscous with carrots, mushrooms, and beans successfully quelled my fried rice craving.  If my taste buds decide to picket together and demand fried rice again, I'll be repeating this dish but with a different mix of vegetables.  You know, just to keep things interesting.