Tag Archives: Sunny Days in Texas

Sunny Days in Texas: Recipe Roundup

I didn’t get to every recipe I wanted to try in the Sunny Days zine this month because my leg is in a cast and I still can’t walk so I have to scoot around on a walkin scooter. I am still looking forward to trying Vegan Hope‘s Stuffed Peppers and Peach Cobbler, Counter Culture‘s Fried Green Tomatoes with roasted red pepper aioli and her Daikon salad, Sugar-Skull‘s, Chickpea Tuna salad and Cowboy cookies, The Spiral Diner‘s Ranch and Wheatsville‘s Cashew Tamari Dressing, Wes‘ Boudin sausage, hummingbird cupcakes, and pralines, the Blissful Chef’s Magical Raw Tacos (I even bought all the stuff!) and nectarine cobbler smoothie, Ariane‘s Chicken Fried Tofu, any of the drinks, or Two Vegan Boys‘ Yummeos (homeade oreos)

It sure sounds like I missed a lot! Everything I did try was fantastic though! It was an intense month of Texas Eating for sure. Notice that I hardly went for any of the healthy recipes or desserts, it was almost all crazy queso filled delicious main dishes at my house this veganmofo.

Jalapeño Popper DipOatmeal Cream Pies

Nice Ass Greens

Blackened Tempeh Caesar WrapBreakfast Tacos

King Ranch CasseroleJackfruit Brisket Taco

Popcorn Tofu Po’Boy Texas Chili in Frito Pie Mexican Hot DogZucchini MigasI don’t think I could even pick a favorite. We did make the chili twice but that might be because KellyCVegan merely mentioned frito pie on twitter. I do love how easy that recipe is. I kind of want to make the Mexican Hot Dog again just so I can take a better picture, oh and because I loved it and still have some chipotle mayo.

All this deliciousness can be yours too! If you already bought a copy of the zine, thank you so much! I hope you love it and if you blog about it let me know! I would love to hear what other people think. I am still working on getting it for sale in DFW and book people but it is taking a little while. If you want to get it, the black and white versions are going to sell out very soon and after this month I’m not going to make any more. The color versions and the PDF version are welcome to you.

I would love for you to Donate to Team Sunny Day! You could win a copy of the zine, Blissful Bites, everything you need to make some Texas Chili, homemade oatmeal cream pies and pralines, and some Food For Lover’s queso. It’s the best prize package ever and not a lot of people have entered so chances are really good that you could win it all.It has been a good month! I feel so lucky to have such a fantastic vegan community here in Austin and all over the world united by a love of vegan food and animals!
Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

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Sunny Days in Texas: Mexican Hot Dog

Q. When is a taco not a taco?
A. When it’s a Mexican hot dog!This monstrosity of awesomeness was inspired by the one and only Mo’ Betta Vegan and her recipe for a Mexican Hot Dog. In general I’m not a hot dog fan, I think I have too many memories of being icked out by the knowledge of what was in them as an omni that I have trouble with the vegan version. Or it might be that I am not a fan of traditional American condiments like mustard, relish, sauerkraut, or pickles. Thank goodness Mo changed my hot dog eating ways by introducing me to the Mexican Hot Dog.

We made the chipotle mayo first and liked it so much that we are going to put it on everything else the rest of the week. Then the smart dog was topped with Food For Lover’s queso, soyrizo, avocados, salsa, and grilled onion and mustard for Dan. We ate these incredibly messy but so tasty creations while watching community in honor of Mo. Or really just because we hadn’t seen last week’s episode yet. The Buffy background in the hot dog shot is totally in her honor.

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Frito Pie

Frito Pie might be my most favorite dish, we certainly make it enough! I was really looking forward to trying Molly’s award winning recipe because I tried her chili before at the Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off, and it was my favorite. I had never made it before because we usually use a ppk recipe that I also love. Molly’s recipe is so much simpler, quicker, and requires almost entirely pantry staples so I am definitely going to make this a lot more. Oh, and it tasted great and was super cheap. It doesn’t get much better than that!

I served it to a couple friends, including two native Texans and they both really enjoyed it and wanted the recipe. In fact, I sold another zine! I forgot that nonvegans always cover their frito pie in cheese and I didn’t have any vegan cheese. I tried to proselytize topping with nooch and the Texans seemed to enjoy that quite a bit. When I told them that I sometimes carry a nooch shaker to top my frito pie at restaurants they thought that was going a bit to far. Whatever, nooch is the shit and it is packed with B-vitmans.

Today Miso for Breakfast is giving away a copy of the zine although I still have a few for sale.

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Popcorn Tofu Po’Boy

Have you ever seen such and amazing looking sandwich in your life?

If you’ve got a better one… let’s hang out because I want to try it! The popcorn tofu po’boy from Wheatsville co-op here in Austin Texas is kind of legendary. You can ask just about any deep fried vegan in town what they recommend on a trip to Austin and probably every single one of them will tell you that the nooch-battered tofu on a fresh roll with the veggies of your choice and surrounded by the homemade creamy cashew tamari dressing is about as good as it gets.

With the Sunny Days in Texas zine you don’t have to travel all the way to Austin to try one (though you still should). All you have to do is find a roll and then make the recipes for both the popcorn tofu and the cashew tamari dressing, which are both in the zine and cover with whatever will make you feel good about yourself. The recipes are the actual coveted Wheatsville originals so they are both to make a restaurant quantity of the ingredients. I haven’t perfected either one on my own yet (I have been busy!) but I can tell you that going with your gut works better than trying to do a straight math conversion.

Eat tofu! Help Animals!

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: King Ranch Casserole

This might be the recipe from the zine that I was most excited to try. Who wouldn’t be interested in peppers, mushrooms and seitan drenched in Food For Lover‘s queso sandwiched between layers of fresh corn tortillas and then baked to a tender perfection?

I think another reason that I have been thinking so much about Chris & Crystal’s lovely recipe is because it is in the exact middle of the Sunny Days in Texas zine so every time I print another one-off or staple another pile it is right on top. I see it over and over again, begging to be made. Dan, especially, was really excited to try the recipe because the omni versions of King Ranch casserole he has tried have been pretty lackluster and he was sure a vegan version would be far tastier.

Believe me when I say, that, with the food for lover’s queso, this dish was the most tex-mex vegan creation I can remember trying. Although I am a huge fan of the queso, using two cups of it for the recipe overwhelmed even me with it’s cheesiness and reminded me of my pregan days eating cheese enchiladas with queso on top. The recipe said to use vegan cheese or the queso and next time I think I will use cheese and then just drizzle some queso on top. I also topped it with green onions and used Upton’s plain seitan which worked really well. I hadn’t tried their plain seitan yet and I am glad that I did because it was really tasty, the best store-bought version I have tried. I think if I was making the casserole again for the two of us I would probably go totally inauthentic and add some greens and maybe even some potatoes as well, because I love them baked into casseroles and eating them makes me feel a little healthier. But, if you are looking for the real deal in tex-mex authenticity give this recipe a try. It will amaze you.

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Breakfast Taco Guide

This morning I had a breakfast taco with veggie chorizo and roasted potatoes on a spelt tortilla because I am a lucky mofo. If you live outside of Texas acquiring breakfast tacos may be a little more difficult than stopping at your local whole foods where you can choose from a panoply of vegan ingredients. That is why I have written a guide to making your own tacos at home, and included a revised version in the Sunny Days in Texas zine. People in the rest of the world seem to have some strange notions about what is and isn’t breakfast and why everything should be in a taco. So I am hoping to finally set the record straight. Once an Austinite friend of mine went on a roadtrip to California and got into a fight with his waiter about whether something was a burrito or a taco. You don’t want this to happen to you so read the guide and eat a taco.

If you are reading this blog from outside of Texas, I’m curious, can you get breakfast tacos where you are? Let me know so I can plan my next trip. I know they have them on Maui and in Chicago and then there are the Dutch tacos (that aren’t really tacos) in Portland.

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Blackened Caesar Wrap

This weekend I am really excited to buy my copy of Blissful Bites from Christy Morgan herself! She is going to be in town this weekend doing a autumn themed cooking demo at the Natural Epicurean and there is going to be a book release shindig (or is it a hootenanny?) at Counter Culture on Saturday night. I am especially excited to get the book at the party because Christy is donating 20% of the profits to Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary so it is a win win situation. Also Counter Culture has been running specials from recipes in Blissful Bites all week long and will continue to do so through the weekend. I think it is such a cool idea because you can sample the food from the book without expending any effort whatsoever. I heard from one of my sources that that the specials are really good too.

I’m not surprised at the awesomeness because I got to try a Blissful Bites recipe myself last night. Christy donated three recipes to the Sunny Days in Texas cook zine, which I happen to have a copy of. Last night I decided to try the Blackened Tempeh Caesar Wrap. After finishing up I immediately put the leftovers away so that Dan wouldn’t come in and finish of my delicious lunch for the next day. Lucky for me, he only looks at the pictures on my blog so he will never know, Ha! The wrap was pretty easy for me, you marinate the tempeh for an hour and then bake it for almost an hour and finish off with avocado, carrot, and lettuce. I loved the wrap and I will make it again for sure. I especially enjoyed the tempeh which came out crispy and well flavored. I think it would even be good to someone that hadn’t found a recipe yet that they liked for tempeh. Next time I will add more toppings and put it in a bigger wrap like you are supposed to, I usually only have taco sized tortillas normally and that’s what I used last night. I’m excited to try the magical raw tacos next, hopefully they will make me magically like to eat healthier food!

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Nice Ass Greens

This is probably the most used recipe in my arsenal because it is simple, versatile, and dare I say, healthy. The Sunny Days zine isn’t just things like jalapeno popper dip and Oatmeal Cream Pies, you know. I like to have dark leafy greens whenever I can get my act together and this method is great because it works with any edible green you end up with. Since I first made it in 2008 I have probably used the basic method about a hundred times, changing the types of greens and vinegar and usually omitting raisins because I don’t always have them on hand.

I love serving the greens with grits because the garlic and oil gets all saucy and mixes in and flavors the whole dish. It works especially well with southern style meals or Italian. And, when you cook down greens like this you can eat a lot more of them and maybe absorb all those vital nutrients. I love adding in vegan sausage to make the greens a full meal. Usually it ends up on the sweet end of the spectrum because we use Texas Sweet Onions and white balsamic vinegar but it can go the other direction too with yellow onions and red wine vinegar. You can even add olives instead of the raisins if you want a more savory salty dish, especially if you really like olives added to every single thing you make.

Since putting the recipe in the zine though I do want to clarify something. The recipe is “nice ass greens” as in “my word, these leafy green vegetables taste delightful” not that you will develop a nice ass just by eating them. That you can only get from your mamma or maybe doing lots of squats and lunges.
Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Jalapeño Popper Dip

For Veganmofo this year my theme was to cook every recipe in the Sunny Days in Texas benefit zine but it turns out that I am going to have to slightly alter my plan. Instead of cooking every recipe I am going to try and eat every recipe. And this time it isn’t just because I am hungry AND lazy but because I have a stupid injury that makes both standing and walking very painful. Who knew standing and walking were so important anyway? Not me! I would have thought laying around all summer watching Star Trek on Netflix missing a ton of work sounded like paradise…. until I tried it. First of all, Voyager kind of sucks and not being able to cook for yourself or shop without riding one of those electronic scooters makes life super depressing. Things are getting better though now, Deep Space Nine and the Wonder Years were both added to streaming this week and I can get around a little bit better so I do plan to do some cooking.

The first recipe I want to tell you about that I tried in the zine comes from Kristen Blackmore who blogs over at the noochy noodle and has a lovely shop with her knitted vegan clothing line (I really really want this hat). When I first read about the Jalapeño Popper Dip I was so excited because it sounded like the laziest way ever to get your jalapeño popper cravings satisfied since, as far as I know, there isn’t a vegan frozen version on the market. It turned out my friend Hannah was maybe even more excited to try the recipe (or at least less of a slacker) because she was the very first person to buy the zine. She immediately wanted to try the dip for a party. By the time I got there, what you see on the plate in the picture was all that remained and only because Hannah had stashed it away for me, I had to take the picture fast! People gobbled it up and then started asking me for more and I pulled the zines to show them how they could make it themselves like I had planned it that way.

If you have enjoyed poppers in the past I promise you would love this recipe. The creamy cashew based filling is just delectable with the hot jalapeños and then the bread crumbs on the top created the satisfying crunchy contrast that I desire in all food. Plus, the recipe was inspired by a trip to Sonic and the Veganomicon which is pretty much a description of my approach to food.