Nothing reminds me of home like a good goulash. Its Hungarian, its hearty, and absolutely satisfying. It is the definitive comfort food for me. My Grandmother makes the best goulash, hands down. So, when I thought of making a vegan version, I went straight to the master. With a bit of help, this turned out every bit as delicious as the traditional version.

My cousin came over for a movie night, so we cracked a bottle of wine to celebrate the end of another summer semester, and enjoyed a bit of goulash with salad…..vegan style!

The ingredient amounts are very informal. This is one of those recipes that you can just eyeball, mainly to your own taste, but below is a guideline.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1-2 cups soy chik’n or other faux meat of your choice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon flour (thickens it up a bit)
• 1-2 tablespoons red paprika
• 1 onion, chopped
• pinch of sea salt
• noodles of your choice (traditionally egg noodles are used, but I used wheat)

Directions:

• heat the faux meat - I prefer to use a skillet
• heat the oil on medium, and sautee the onions until they are a nice browned color
• add half the water (slowly), bring to a boil momentarily, then reduce the heat to about medium-low to simmer
• add the chik’n, paprika, and sea salt
• let that simmer for about 10 minutes and prepare the noodles in the meantime
• when the noodles are finished, its time to dig in……enjoy!

Last summer when I was at a music festival in Portland, Oregon, I had the pleasure of trying some absinthe (well….it was quite the raging party, so I guess I had my fair share). The theme of the music festival was “A Dark Victorian Dream”, so naturally I bought an absinthe glass and spoon while I was there.

I’ve been meaning to buy some absinthe so I could actually be able to use my glass and spoon, but being that I’m not much of a drinker, I just never got around to buying any until today. I had gift cards, which was probably the only way I could justify spending $60 on a bottle of alcohol.   So I bought a bottle of Le Tourment Vert, which I’m excited to try it, although I’m not sure when that will be….the bottle is so beautiful I’d hate to ruin it by opening it.  It is hand glazed and numbered.

They say Van Gogh was intoxicated with absinthe when he cut his ear off….lets hope I don’t get to that point

Ay Caramba! This is currently my favorite breakfast item. Its fairly quick to make (about 20 minutes) and will definitely satisfy you if you’re hungry. It is surprisingly light, however. This is a variation on my normal tofu scramble, but the difference is enough to warrant its own entry.

This time I used silken tofu instead of extra firm (thought I had some in the fridge but I was wrong). I was apprehensive but it actually turned out great. The key to making this recipe awesome is…..the gravy! My grandmother is a gravy master, and she was nice enough to teach me a while back. Its pretty easy, you just have to be careful when mixing the flour and the hot bouillon water, or else you’ll end up making dumplings instead of gravy (I know from experience).

The Scramble

• 1/3 block silken tofu (full block if you are cooking for more people, or if you have a REALLY big appetite)
• 1/4 onion, diced (again, 1/2 onion for more than one person)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (this is what gives it the yellow color)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or I use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• curry powder, seasoned to taste
• garlic powder, seasoned to taste

Added to this affair is a Tofurky chipotle breakfast link, chopped up and mixed with the scramble, and because I love spicy, I add a few shakes of Tapatio hot sauce and Tabasco. Also, can’t go without the smoky tempeh bacon!

The Gravy

• 1/2 or 1 cube of vegetable bouillon
• 2 cups water
• 3-5 tablespoons flour

Directions

• Start off with 1 cup of water and the bouillon in a pot, and bring to a boil so that the bouillon dissolves; once dissolved, bring the heat down to medium
• Pour 1/2 cup water into a measure cup and add about 2 tablespoons of flour
• Whisk the flour and water until its evenly mixed, and slowly pour into the hot bouillon water, stirring as you do this
• I usually add another tablespoon or two of flour mixed with another 1/2 cup of water at this point, and this is the part where you can decide how thick you want your gravy to be

Let it simmer while you cook your scramble and you are ready for one seriously hearty meal….yee haw!

I am a soup junkie. I’ve never met a soup I didn’t love. So the other night I had a favorite…my beloved German Potato Soup, and still craving soup, last night I made this new onion soup recipe, which I found on the Yogi Tea web site.

If there is one other soup that gives the German Potato Soup a run for its money, its a good onion soup…..and this one delivers!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 onions, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons minced gingerroot
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• 1 pinch of crushed red chilies
• 3 quarts water
• 1 tablespoon kelp powder
• tamari

Directions

• Heat the oil in a 4-quart pot over a medium-high flame
• Add onions, garlic and ginger, allowing this mixture to soften and lightly brown
• Add the balance of the spices: garlic, pepper, turmeric, caraway seeds and red chilies
• Cook until well done
• Add water and bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes
• Add kelp and tamari to taste

**to this recipe, I added some komis bread (sourdough-rye) from the local German bakery, and some vegan melting cheez (I didn’t heat it enough though, it didnt’ melt haha)

Check out this awesome series of 3 minute videos featuring Moby.  Whether you are a fan of his music or not, its really interesting to see the kitchen of a “celebrity vegan” as well as hear of the challenges of going on tour as a vegan (the last video).

Check it out on Epicurious!

Summer classes have been keeping me busy. Cooking has been limited to tasty but functional meals. Thankfully the summer semester is just about over, and then its a whole month off. I can’t wait!

This past weekend was lots of fun! We had our monthly veggie meetup, this time at the beach. Sounds like fun, but it was really cold and overcast and windy. I LOVE weather like that, but not when I’m wearing shorts and a tank top and looking forward to splashing around in the water! It was a good time though. On my way home, I stopped by 118 degrees for one of their awesome raw chocolate smoothie shakes - chocolate supreme. It didn’t disappoint!

Went over to my aunt and uncle’s house on Sunday for a family dinner. My aunt cooked an AWESOME vegan meal. My aunt, uncle and cousin are omnis, so I was really surprised and touched that they went out of their way to have a really good vegan dinner for the evening. We had wheat pasta tossed with toasted pine nuts, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, broccoli, oil and a few other ingredients. For appetizers we had 2 types of hummus - an olive hummus and an asparagus hummus, as well as an artichoke tepenade. I was really blown away with how good everything was, and to top it off, my aunt made a Spanish raspberry iced tea with tea that they got on their recent vacation in Europe.

While we were waiting for dinner to be ready, I played some Mario Cart with my cousin, on his Wii. That’s a fun game, but its so strange to get my butt kicked by a 9 year old!

Our absolutely delicious dinner! I forgot my camera, so I used my uncle’s, and he ended up taking the photos to a developer, so I had to scan the prints back onto a computer, hence the slightly lower quality of the picture!

I just had a delicious cup of Masala Chai Tea. I’m not used to high-caffeine drinks, so when I have even a bit, I’m bouncing off the walls. I can barely sit still at work this morning. Thankfully, I’m sitting on my yoga ball, so I’m putting my energy to good use.

Ingredients to make the best Chai tea EVAR:

Chai tea (of course)

Silk vanilla soymilk creamer

Generous helping of raw agave nectar

Something to munch on….I’ve got almonds (this is optional!)

My most favorite tea in the whole world:

Jasmine Pearl Green Tea

I drink this pretty much every night. Just the smell of it puts me in a coma, its that good. I put a dab of raw agave in it to enhance the flavor, and that’s all it needs. My family calls me Mr. Tea whenever I make a pot. I pity the foo who’s never tasted this tea!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, and a safe one! I drove out to my friend’s house in Riverside to enjoy the holiday. We were treated to 2 different fireworks shows, all from the comfort of his backyard! Great conversations, great company and great food…..didn’t leave their house till 2 in the morning…..late night for me, I’m usually in bed by 10 pm!

What does this statue have to do with 4th of July? Absolutely nothing, but I love it and had to share it =)

While my friend and his wife are omni, they were very considerate in providing vegan options for me and also for my friend Matt, and so I had a vegan boca chik’n burger (which Matt brought) with hummus, avocado, onions, and corn. Sooooo good! It was getting toward night time, so the pictures of the patties on the grill didn’t turn out very well but I got some good shots of the condiments….and fireworks!

This is just too beautiful and awe-inspiring not to share. Link to the full article: Golden Ray Photos of Amazing Mass Migration

“It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.”

This photo is truly amazing:

Now that I’ve jumped head first into the wonderful world of food processors, my next move is to start juicing and get a blender that isn’t 30 years old!

So….I’m looking at this juicer, which one of my yoga friends says is a great one:

And for a blender, I’m looking at a Cuisinart Smooth Operator blender/smoothie maker. It is 56 oz and 1500 watts of pure pulse power. Fortunately I can get one of these for free from work using my “award points”.

Opinions? Advice? I’m hoping this is a good one!