DbSaint's Blog

Last night's Vegan Pizza

2010-01-18T11:20:00.003-05:00

For the win, Pizza dough from Publix rolled out and topped with my special tomato sauce, ultra sweet peppers, onions, artichoke hearts gimmie lean vegan sausage and follow your heart cheese. Needless to say after this we were completely stuffed.

Raw vegan green soup and raw vegan zucchini hummus!

2009-12-17T11:58:00.003-05:00

I put these together the other day since I like to eat raw sometimes and I really like how they came out. Surprisingly tasty and so full of healthiness!

What I like to eat for breakfast!

2009-12-17T11:55:00.002-05:00

Ezekiel bread, hummus, thinly sliced red onions, jalapeno's, spinach, watercress, basil and tomatoes.. topped with multi-colored pepper and salt. And a little almond milk to boot!

Vegan spaghetti & "meatballs" + Roasted garlic bread

2009-12-17T11:52:00.002-05:00

One of the most carbo loaded meals ever imaginable :)

More polenta!

2009-12-17T11:50:00.001-05:00

Vegan polenta! As always, post/message if you would like recipes!

Cafe 118, Orlando

2009-11-06T12:52:00.006-05:00

We took a trip to Winter Park to give Cafe 118 a review. The service was very good, the food was superb and the whole dining exeprience combined was top notch. Props to the "cook"! Raw vegan "cooking" is somewhat of a mystery to me, an entire frontier not yet explored!

Here's a shot of my apetizer and dish:

Cafe 118 is highly recommended!

Vegan Potatoe Tofu topped with curry leaves

2009-11-06T12:50:00.003-05:00

Potatoes, Tofu topped with curry leaves :)

Vegan "Picadillo", spanish rice and avocados.

2009-11-06T12:49:00.001-05:00

An old cuban favorite of mine!

Tomato rice again, this time with a side of salad :)

2009-07-18T17:17:00.002-04:00

Since I've gone over all of this before no sense in writing anything more about it. However, I had this picture from the other day, so, here it is!

Pan fried vegan grilled "cheese"!

2009-07-18T17:04:00.003-04:00

Here is one of my favorite, extremely fattening things to eat!

Spread vegenaise on a silce of ezekiel bread
Thin slice some vidalia onions and chop some jalapeno peppers
Place onions and peppers on the vegenaise side, cover with a slice of vegan cheese
Place other piece of bread over, and use some earth balance vegan butter on a pan..
Heat it up until it starts to sizzle, drop the sandwich on the pan, and flip around to butter the outside well..
Lightly salt the sandwich and toast and press well on both sides until browned.. Cut down the middle and serve!

Vegan Arroz con "Huevo" (Tofu)! Rice and Tofu.

2009-07-09T07:15:00.003-04:00

Yes, a cuban favorite in my household growing up. Tho, I don't use eggs for obvious reasons, anyways, this is simple and good at any time including breakfast (especially after a long night!).

Make plain white Basmati rice (I use 1 cup) .. meanwhile:

To cook the tofu (regular 14 oz tofu brick) just drop it in a pan and chop it up with the spatula.. put on medium heat and cook for a while until it starts to dry up, add 1/2 tsp of turmeric, 1/2 tsp of black (!) mustard seeds, 1/2 garlic clove (Can use "hing" here instead of garlic, I usually do in this meal, can usually find it in Asian markets and provides a garlic/onions sort of flavor to food, but not exactly). cook until the tofu is very dry! Nothing like wet splat tofu!

Toss the rice into the pan where the tofu is cooking and toss around for a while until the rice turns yellow and is all mixed well.

Serve!

More vegan Cuban style food. Black beans & rice with potatoes and mojito!

2009-07-09T07:05:00.005-04:00

I don't recall exactly what I put in this meal, since it was like April when I made it but it's simple.

Kirby canned black beans (with added garlic, green olives and lime) Just heat and serve!
White Basmati rice, plain, just cook and serve.
Potatoes, oiled pan, paprika dash of turmeric and salt cook until tender and slightly browned.

Mojito! Simple, just heat olive oil in a pan at medium heat, make sure it's hot! Add a bunch of chopped garlic, chopped cilantro, pinch of salt and squeeze 1/4 lime into it. *IMMEDIATELY* take off the heat and place in a dish/bowl etc. The two things you must do here is, HOT oil first.. then dump everything in there and take it off the heat immediately! Otherwise the garlic will over cook and loose it's flavor.

Serve and garnish with cilantro (Yes, more cilantro!)

Tomato Sauce, from puree (lol!) Hey it works and tastes awesome.

2009-07-09T06:59:00.003-04:00

I have quite a lengthy set of ingredients that go into this sauce, believe it or not. What we do to save a few dollars on sauce :)

I will post them as soon as I can organize them in a legible fasion!

I have a secret, maybe I'll tell you in my book lol.. (Hummus!)

2009-07-09T06:55:00.003-04:00

Hummus is easy, but messy to make. Tho it can take a long time if you make it from scratch and not canned chick peas!

Here is my finished product, yes we eat this for breakfast every morning, I will show you how in a future blog post :)

Ok so it's been a long time! Spanish Rice (Arroz Cubano) & Tomatoes!

2009-07-09T06:38:00.006-04:00

Here is a dish a friend of mine from Spain calls "Cuban Rice" hehe.. Anyways, it's a rather simple process.

Dice 1/2 tomato, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion, 1 clove of garlic.

Oil a small pot to make rice in, the taller the better usually (seems to cook rice better if the steam has more rice to travel upwards through). I use about 2 tsp olive oil, use however much you like :)

Put the pot on medium heat, when the oil is good an hot, dump the tomatoes, green pepper and onion in there and just cook it until the tomato purees.

At this point toss your garlic in there for about 3 minutes.. and put 1 cup of rice (Basmati is my favorite, not so starchy and sticky). Add about 1/2 tsp of paprika and 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper powder, also feel free to add a little bit of canned yellow corn as well, seems to give a nicer flavor tho I had none in this picture and it still came out well. Stir it around for about 3 minutes..

Dump 2 cups of water in there and simmer until the water is gone. At the very moment there is no water left at the bottom of the pot turn off the heat and cover. Let sit for 5 minutes or so.

Cut fresh basil, scallions and the remaining tomato..

Place finished rice on a plate *ADD SALT* :) Then, add fresh basil, scallions and tomatoes with a pinch of salt and olive oil. This serves 2.

Vegan pancakes, guacamole and thai peanut tofu salad!

2009-02-21T13:04:00.003-05:00

This one, took place during the holdiays. It was a nice brunch! There is way too much to explain here, so post/email if you want some more infos!

Yes, vegan enchiladas!

2009-02-21T12:54:00.004-05:00

This was a spontaneous creation, and it came out so delicious. These consisted of enchilada sauce + marinara sauce, yes it makes a huge difference, just combine your favorite 2! The enchiladas themselves consisted of corn tortillas, refried pinto beans, mushrooms and boca burger crumbles. Nothing special here for the most part, besides the fact that they tasted really good :) For the toppings we just sauted some onions and green peppers with some extra dry vermouth (white cooking wine works too). We topped the whole thing off with follow your heart vegan cheese, some vegan sour cream and baked it for almost an hour. Here is the end result:

Our table setup, some avocados, chopped jalapeno's (we like it hot, always!) and tomatoes in there as well :)

As always, if you want to know specifics - send me an email 0r post here and I'll be sure to get back to ya!

Camera problems!

2008-10-01T10:42:00.000-04:00

Our dig camera has decided that it would no longer like to work with us.. so we're getting another one :) More updates to come soon!

Stuffed Bell Peppers and Corn Salsa

2008-09-11T13:09:00.003-04:00

Sorry for being so busy (I appologize to myself because I hate being busy!) At least here is an update of something i made a few days ago. I will be adding some vegan restaurant reviews as well so stay tuned!

I know the salsa thing is getting old, but we love it - so scroll down and you can see the ingredients :)

I used about 4 servings of Boca burger crumbles and 1 can of black beans. Onions, Garlic, Salt, Parsley and lime.

Stuffed Green Peppers and Corn Salsa

Split pea and navy bean soup + Mushroom and onion quesadillas

2008-08-20T17:58:00.006-04:00

This is one of the easiest to make, cheap, and makes a lot! 1 454gm (that's 1lb) bag of green split peas, 1/2 onion sliced, 1 stalk celery sliced into two longways and then cut into smaller pieces, 1 large tomato cut into about 8 pieces, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 cup of navy beans, 1 tbsp of chopped ginger, 2 tsp hot chili powder, salt to taste. No funny stuff here, just toss it into a large pot and boil with about 4 fingers deep of water over the peas sitting at the bottom. It takes about 1.5 hours to make. Be sure to stir it often towards the end as it will tend to collect and burn at the bottom, it will get bitter, so be careful.

Split pea and navy bean soup

Mushroom and onion quesadilla

I used about 3 cups uncooked white mushrooms and 1/2 onion sliced, 2 slices of vegan cheese slices (these add 2 gms of fat each - totally worth it!), 1 clove garlic, 2 tsp red wine vinegar, salt to taste. Prep is easy here, just sautee mushrooms a while until they reduce and all the water has disappeared. Add onions, garlic, redwine vinegar and salt and cook until onions soften a little - about 2 minutes. When that is done just put the mix onto a tortilla, cover with vegan cheese and put another tortilla over it. I put this in the microwave for 30 seconds to help the vegan cheese melt and immediately after, drop it onto a pan to toast it. Once the quesadilla is well toasted on boths sides. It's ready to slice and serve.

Mushroom and onion quesadilla

"Con gris" with sweet plantains & some corn salsa salad

2008-08-19T20:10:00.006-04:00

Tonight it was time to get back to our "roots". Atleast to those roots we can remember as a result of the spanish inquisition. Here is a typical Cuban style black beans and rice plate. It is made together, instead of seperate. Fry some onions, roasted red pepppers/2 cloves of garlic in a tiny bit of olive oil & a couple TBSP of red wine vinegar so that the onions don't burn. Once the onion are a bit soft it's time to add the black beans (canned and prepared cuban style, I use El Ebro black beans). let those warm up and add a half cup of your favorite beer, I used some stout, because I like it! Then pop in a few cups of rice, I used what 1 cup of rice uncooked produced. Add some salt and let the rice simmer and absorb all the liquid. Once it's done, it will be slightly wet but shoudn't be too soggy. Top with some fresh onions chopped into tiny pieces.

The Corn salsa salad is a simple task. Just add a can of corn, an equal size can of black olives, 4 scallions sliced up, about 1/2 of a roasted red pepper, 1 habanero pepper (can you see a pattern here? yes, we like it hot) 2 celery stalks sliced longways and then sliced accross into pieces, red wine vinegar to taste ( I use about 1 TBSP) , 1 TBSP vegenaise, salt and as if it wasn't hot enough already, I added some crystal hot sauce as well, this puts the finishing touch on it for me!

The sweet plantains I used from a frozen box of goya plantains, yes I take shortcuts whenever possible but I already spend too much time in the kitchen, and they are really good!

Finally, no Cuban style meal is complete without the addition of a lime on the side! Know that, embrace it and remember it forever!

PS, ignore my run on sentences :)

"Con gris" with sweet plantains & some corn salsa salad.

Tofurkey pesto melt (Not low fat!)

2008-08-19T16:25:00.003-04:00

Today a small break in the usual for lunch, a non low fat meal. As per Julissa's request, I made her a tofurkey melt with home made cilantro pesto, cuban style bread (no lard ofcourse!) and 'vegan slices' vegan cheese. The pesto contains cilantro, toasted walnuts, red wine vinegar, salt, nutritional yeast, garlic and olive oil.

Cilantro, walnut pesto!

Tofurkey pesto melt.

It's vegan pizza, tomato salad and Imperial stout time!

2008-08-18T18:35:00.006-04:00

There would be no enjoyment in life... if it wasn't for some feel good food, like pizza! Just so happens, this pizza has zero added fat. And the tomato salad has no added fat either, essentially making this meal, very low fat. This pizza, easy to make as it is, just prepare the crust and top it off with your favorite marinara sauce (I use Barilla brand marinara, it is OH SO GOOD!). Cut the top off of a large tomato and squeeze the seeds and slimy matter out, slice and place on top of the sauce. Slice a clove of garlic into very thin slices and strategically place on the pizza. I used a hot green chili pepper also because I like to feel the heat! Slice into long strips and place on pizza. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast in order to soak up the excess water and give a nice cheesy flavor to the pizza. Add salt and bake until the crust is toasted real nice. After you take it out, just top with cilantro (most use basil, but cilantro is awesome as well). And the pizza is done!

Zesty marinara thin crust pizza with tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and nutritional yeast.

Life without tomatoes? Can you imagine? Wow, this one's easy - just 1/4 up a tomato and slice into pieces. The rest is celery sliced up! Top with salt, Alessi dipping spices and red wine vinegar.

Tomato salad with redwine vinegar & cilantro.

Here is our table, yes we sit on the floor like Japanese people. Now that our choice of dinner table is out of the way, here is what our dinner looked like tonight. Yes, that is stout beer in the picture - Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout: Quite possibly the worlds greatest beer, in my humble opinion ofcourse. And what would pizza be without beer?!

Cheers!

Lentils & rice + Juicy Tomatoes & Avocado

2008-08-16T14:21:00.003-04:00

The Tomatoes and Avocado, Just cut up some Tomatoes and avocados and squeeze some lime juice over them. Salt to taste. I also added some "Alessi Dipping Spices (this is like mixed italian spices).

Juicy Tomatoes & Avocado

Lentils, yes - loads of protein and fiber and they keep you nice and full. To make the flavor for the lentils in a seperate pan just just fry up 1/4 onion, 1 habanero pepper (VERY HOT), bunch of cilantro, fresh squeezed lime, 1 clove garlic fried in 1/4 tsp olive oil. Just fry it up a little bit until the onions soften and take careful steps to avoid overcooking the garlic (brown garlic = bitter). The lentils, just boil them for 25 min and then drain the water. Put back into the pot and mix with the rest, adding salt.

Lentils & Basmati Rice

So all in all, you'll have a little fat from the avocados (atleast it is the good fat, right?) and a trivial amount from cooking up the flavoring for the lentils.

Morning Stout!

2008-08-16T11:44:00.005-04:00

It's always a good morning when there is morning stout.

I have decided to coin the term Morning Stout - which describes a properly made Cuban style espresso coffee. Yes, it looks like a mini stout beer! Not only can you be a beer snob - now you can also be a coffee snob! Join the long grey line of coffee snobery, try this stuff :)

Properly made cuban coffee.
If you are interested in learning how to make this, by all means leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

Santa Fe Lunch Mexican Style

2008-08-15T14:49:00.004-04:00

Ok, basically this meal was great. I am really happy how this one came out - and Julissa was in culinary heaven (ok enough tooting my own horn, but damn, this was good).

Soft Taco/burrito - whatever you want to call it :)
Fat free tortillas (yes fat free - most regular ones have hydrogenated oils in them, death by tortillas!), Boca burger vegan crumbles, Black beans (Cuban style, ie: not the ones in just water! canned, drain sauce into a cup and rinse the beans, beans will be used in the santa fe salad - sauce used in the Boca crumbles). Onions, Tomatoes, salt, lime juice. Basically take all that and cook it up in a deep pan (minus the tortillas ofcourse). And you have yourself a delicious omni-sub (I can hear Dino cringing already, and he's all the way in new york!).

Santa fe salad
Black beans(canned from above), Corn (canned), Black olives(canned),Celery stick, 1/4 onion sliced thin, lime juice, 1 habanero pepper( it comes out REAL HOT, so if you don't have a good tolernace to heat, use something else, like a sweet pepper!), Cilantro, 1 TBSP Vegenaise (adds 9g of fat to the whole salad which is about 6 servings as a side, still very low fat), pinch of turmeric, pinch of salt. Just mix it all and refrigerate until you are ready to eat.

Oh yea, and avocados!

Santa Fe Lunch

Yesterday's Brunch

2008-08-15T14:40:00.003-04:00

More low fat food, and low calorie too, only 250 calories max on that plate in the picture and ohhh so filling! (Feeling satisfied is really nice) - these are some cheesy (sorta) potatoes.

Basically, 1/8 tsp olive oil, quartered red potatoes, onions, chili peppers, nutritional yeast, salt, 1 clove garlic, black pepper, rosemary.

Sorta Cheesy Potatoes (for lack of a better name)

Low Carb/Low Fat Protein lunch!

2008-08-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

Weight control food(and tasty too)!

That's right, vegan low carb food, and this actually turned out pretty well - just ask Julissa who mac'd out on this plate after the documenting was done.

1/2 tofu block + 1/2 Tofurkey sausage, 1 small onion, 1 Chili pepper, salt, nutritional yeast, jerk seasoning, 1/8th tsp olive oil.

A Heaping protein brick to satisfy the hunger pangs!

A blog, of the food variety.

2008-08-13T14:41:00.000-04:00

Vegan food, it's a way of life.

If there is ever any questions you may have about any of this food, feel free to contact me! I'll gladly give whatever pointers or suggestions that are humanly possible!

Here is what I whipped up on Tuesday evening: My version of Channa Masala + rice. Ingredients where Chick peas (canned, yuck but wow I'm not waiting 2 hours for dry ones to cook, I'm HUNGRY!), 1 Tomato, 1 Medium sized onion, 3 small potatoes (chopped), 1 hot chili pepper, a squirt of soymilk, 1 clove garlic, Salt, Cinnamon (beware, just a tiny bit), Garam Masala, Turmeric, cilantro and Cumin powder. I used about 1/4 tsp of olive oil to fry up everything before adding water, other than that - no added fat whatsoever.

Channa Masala + Basmati rice