My friend's stuffed peppers (not a euphemism)

My friend made stuffed yellow peppers for lunch last week. Don't they look delicious??

Satisying a craving: chipotle breakfast burrito

I was reading Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day last night when a breakfast burrito craving hit me. BAM! It was their Scrambled Burrito recipe that inspired me, but it calls for tempeh, which I can't find without making a major effort--and on a dreary, rainy October day, I didn't feel like straying too far. So I went on a major grocery mission to the store about a 5-minute walk away, and came back with, among other things (many other things), onion and red pepper to supplement the ingredients I already had.

One of the first breakfast burritos I had was in New York, at 'Snice, a veg cafe near my hotel both times I've been to NYC. It had turmeric (making the tofu yellow) and black beans and favoured crumbled tofu. I prefer to cube it (I find it easier than crumbling) and my flavour palate tends toward Mexican-style spices most days. So while I was cooking, I found myself myself reaching for cumin, chili powder and chipotles, knowing I could top it off with some salsa when assembling the the deliciousness. So here's what I made, with the addition of kale to help me get my veggies* for the day. Enjoy!

Chipotle breakfast burrito
Makes 2 to 3 burritos,  depending on how large your shells are and how much stuffing you cram in

a dollop cooking oil 1/2 red pepper
1/2 a medium onion, diced
1 block extra-firm tofu, cubed or crumbled, as you like
1/2 teaspoon dried chipotle peppers, or 1/2 chipotle in adobo sauce
cumin, paprika, and chili powder and black pepper, to taste
a few dashes liquid smoke

1/2 cup cooked kale (about 1.5 to 2 cups chopped raw kale)
dash salt
salsa, to taste
2-3 large tortilla shells

Heat pan, add oil and saute red peppers and onions until translucent. Add spices and stir to combine and heat thoroughly. Add tofu and a few dashes liquid smoke and stir to combine and heat thoruhoughly. Watch out, the tofu is prone to sticking! But I didn't want to add more oil so I kept stirring until the tofu was warm and then turned off the heat. I took a tortilla shell out from the package and laid it over the mixture and the spatula in the pan to steam it--I use sprouted grain tortilla shells so they can be a bit stiff right out of the fridge.You could also microwave them for 30 seconds or heat them in the oven (be careful not to burn them!! I ALWAYS toast my tortillas when I try to heat them in the oven. Just sayin'--learn from my stupid-ass mistakes). I spread the tofu mixture and the kale on a shell, added some salsa, folded it up and toasted in my panini press. If you want a toasty exterior but don't have a press, you could dry-fry it in a pan, again being very careful not to burn it. I thought I would use about half the mixture in today's burrito, but there are a good 2 tortilla's worth left. Like most burritos, you end up with a fair amount of filling on your plate by the time you're done eating, but that's half the fun.

*Does anyone actually eat 7 servings of veggies a day? Tell me if you do, I'll pick your brain for tips.

Your hands were made for making bread

Everyone should make bread. If you haven't made bread yet, do it. It's satisfying in a way that cooking other things isn't. It feels primal, even though agriculture and then grinding grains into flour was probably one of the first hallmarks of civilization. You have to get your hands into it, it involves mysterious processes with yeast, and it magically changes from pale and raw to brown and perfect. And it's perfect as it is--all you need is a smear of Earth Balance or even hummus if you're into wanting actual nutrition with your carbs. You can make into baguette or focaccia or buns or good-old sandwich bread and enjoy it for days. If you've never made bread before it'll be a revelation, and even if it's the hundredth time it's still perfectly magical.

Vegan empanadas FTW!

Vegan empanadas from a food truck in Times Square, NYC. Nom!

Vegan food will save the world

I make vegan food for sharing a lot. We have potlucks at work, and I bring food to bookclub, and last week someone came in to see me at the office and as a thank-you I brought home-made biscotti. Yes, I brought darling little green tea biscotti from vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. As a bribe, I can tell you baked goods are very effective. It's especially great when people don't know it's vegan initially--they pronounce it delicious (of course it's delicious! It's free goodies that someone gave you--hell yeah, that's always delicious!) and then you're like, "It's delicious, and it's vegan. BAM!" Because they are only so many reasons why vegan eating is hard. Animal products are the default, they are subsidized and artificially cheap and get added to everything; and people think vegan food can't be delicious. Once people realize that eating vegan is easier than it used to be, that you should know what's in your food and that adding, for example, a milk ingredient to potato chips is weird and wrong and why the hell would they need to do that anyway?? ...and also how easy and delicious vegan food is, then we're halfway to eliminating animal products. And saving the world, of course.

Gluten-free vegan apple pie for all!

No text tonight, just a picture: gluten-free vegan pie from bookclub last weekend. Delicious food for all!

Old food, new way

Yes, I found it in the veganmofo reader feed: smashed potatoes. I was like, hell yeah, I can eat a potato any day of the week, so if you give me an excuse to eat it because I cooked it in a new way, I'm totally in! And it was really good too--nice and crispy on the edges. So I added some Earth Balance and hot sauce and enjoyed my 5 servings of smashed carbys at once.