Cheeseless Bbq chicken pizza.

Last night I thawed out my pizza dough from Trader Joe's and made this delicious pizza. I spread a thin layer of bbq sauce on the dough then cooked up a bag of Gardein bbq chick'n wing and cut it up into pieces, then added red onion, grilled piquillo peppers, garlic and almond miso parmesan sprinkles. After the pizza came out of the oven, I sprinkled fresh chopped cilantro on top. Yum!

Yummy Sandwiches and Chocolate Topped Energy Bars!

I was in the mood for a gigantic sandwich today and I envisioned a turkey, cheese avocado and slaw sandwich. I think I succeeded. I used Tofurky and Daiya products.

The slaw is a combination of kale, cabbage, red onion, carrot with a creamy Vegenaise based dressing with mustard.

BBQ pulled " pork" made with soy tvp chunks. I wanted to use jackfruit but didn't have any. This was great with the kale slaw!

Served on toasted white bread.

These are the usual energy bars I make but this time I had slightly less peanut butter than the recipe called for so the mixture seemed a little drier to me. The remedy for that was to add a layer of dark chocolate on top that I melted with coconut oil. Worked great!

The bottom layer is toasted oats, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds, almonds, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and apricots. This is all mixed with melted peanut butter and agave. I pressed the mixture into a pan and chilled for a couple hours. Then topped it with the melted chocolate and chilled overnight.

BBQ Chicken PIzza

Being a native Californian, I used to love BBQ chicken pizzas in my pre-vegan days. Specifically the one made famous by California Pizza Kitchen. Don't know why I waited so long to try this but it was simple. Trader Joe's pizza dough brushed with a light coat of olive oil and bbq sauce, then Trader Joe's vegan mozzarella, Gardein chicken strips that were sauteed in bbq sauce, red onion, a little drizzle of bbq sauce and some crushed pepper flake. Into the oven to cook and then sprinkled with fresh chopped cilantro when it came out. Was great!

With a big mound of arugula salad on top.

Some Sandwiches.

Leftover Field Roast slices fried with BBQ sauce in a sandwich with coleslaw and hot sauce.

Salad with pickled onions, sweet gherkins, olives.

Grilled cheese using Follow Your Heart cheddar and Tofurky Italian Deli slices.

15 Minute BBQ Beans on Toast.

Here's a good weeknight meal idea. Saute a small chopped onion, 1/2 a chopped green bell pepper and garlic in oil until soft. Then add some cumin, chili powder, salt, a can of white beans (drained and rinsed), 1 cup of tomato sauce, a couple tablespoons of bbq sauce, a teaspoon of sugar, a squirt of mustard and a spoonful of white vinegar and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve on buttered toast. You're welcome!

Grillin' and Chillin'.

Grillin' the usual veggies!

And bbq tofu!

My folks chillin' and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

Grilled peaches.

So delicious.

Finished veggies with mushrooms too.

Sandwich.

Cali Creamin' Vanilla Cream Ale by Mother Earth Brew Co.

I live for weekend grilling!

This kind of thing makes me very happy. Red and yellow peppers, onions, eggplant, mushrooms, snow peas, pasilla peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes...

Grilled bbq tofu and red potatoes.

BBQ tofu sandwich.

And later in the day, relaxing with tea and a vegan donut from Whole Foods in Venice.

Tofu Larb Salad, BBQ Chili Beans

Refreshing thai tofu larb on top of salad greens.
Recipe here. Note: Don't need to "deep fry" tofu, just cook over heat until it is completely dry and all moisture is gone. Use firm tofu, lime juice instead of lemon juice and add some mint leaves.


BBQ Chili in a bun. Just make your favorite chili and add bbq sauce to it!

Soy BBQ Curry

Dang, I can't believe I made this. If you are a West LA local and a veggie who loves indian food, you probably know about Samosa House in Culver City. They make really good veggie indian food that I have had the pleasure to enjoy only a few times. My favorite dish of theirs is what they call "Soy BBQ" which is a curry full of soy chunks swimming in a dark red sweet and spicy bbq/curry sauce. After having it a few times, I was determined to make it. Only thing was I had no real idea what flavors I was tasting. It is sweet with slight curry flavors and a hint of spicy kick. Today I experimented and I think I came pretty darn close. Keep in mind these measurements are very loose as I was adding a little bit of this, a little bit of that as it simmered. You do what suits your palette.

Vegan Mouse Soy BBQ Curry

2 TB canola oil
1/2 a large onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped eggplant (optional)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp hot curry powder
1-14oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1-6oz can tomato paste
2-3 TB tamarind chutney
2-3 TB BBQ sauce (I used hickory bbq sauce)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups water or more
1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup tvp chunks (use more if you are not using chickpeas or eggplant)
1 TB olive oil


Heat canola oil in a pot and saute onions and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the eggplant and cook until semi tender. Add the spices, tomatoes, tomato paste, chutney, bbq sauce, sugar, salt and water. Stir to break up the tomato paste and bring to a boil.

Add chickpeas and tvp chunks. Stir to make sure tvp chunks are submerged in the sauce so they will expand and soften. Then lower heat to low, cover with lid and let simmer. Every 10 minutes or so, stir. If you need to add more water, go ahead and do so. The tvp chunks should always be submerged in sauce. Also the sauce should be medium consistency and not too thick.

Continue to simmer covered for an hour and adjust spices and salt as you go. At the end, drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil and stir.

Tofu Bean Burgers, BBQ Pinto Beans, Raw Slaw, Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes

Stayin' in for "Carmegeddon" weekend and to prepare for it, I made an array of comforting foods to enjoy.


These tofu-bean burgers are the best. I try not to eat too many frozen veggie burgers so homemade is the way to go. Recipe here. I topped them with grilled onions and a homemade thousand island sauce.


This came to be when I noticed way too many cans of plain pinto beans in my pantry. I flipped through my "366 delicious ways to cook rice, beans and grains" book and saw a recipe for Slow Cooked Spicy Barbecue Pinto Beans. I loosely followed the recipe in which I mixed tomato sauce, brown sugar, chili powder, onions and garlic with the beans and let them slow cook in the oven.


Beautiful 'Raw Slaw' from the "Urban Vegan" cookbook. Since all the other dishes are kind of hearty and rich, I wanted a lighter coleslaw with an oil and vinegar based dressing. This one is perfect.


And dessert is always something I like to have on the weekends. This is the Mexican chocolate cake recipe with shop bought chocolate fudge frosting (I think it's Pillsbury).

Tofurky Pizza and Buffalo-BBQ Tofu

Finally tried the new Tofurky frozen pizza line. This one is the meatless pepperoni (with Daiya cheese). It's not bad at all! I would prefer a little less "meat" but for a frozen pizza, it was pretty tasty.


This is what happened when I craved hot wings over the weekend. I breaded tofu sticks with panko, baked them in the oven until they were crispy, then tossed them in a warm buffalo-bbq sauce which was a combination of Earth Balance margarine, Red Rooster hot sauce and BBQ sauce with a little sugar. Yummy!

BBQ Baked Tofu

Haven't had tofu in a while so I bought some today to make bbq baked tofu. I was going to make a homemade bbq sauce out of Veganomicon but I didn't have most of the ingredients so I used a bottle of Trader Joe's Smoky Kansas City Style BBQ sauce in a pinch. To go with my saucy tofu, I had Brooklyn Deli Pasta Salad (which is a recipe from Veganomicon) and garlicky sauteed zucchini. It was all very delicious indeed.

If you're interested in baking some tofu slices, here's a good recipe. I pretty much followed the baking time instructions but instead of using the marinade, I dipped my tofu slices in bbq sauce and I baked them on a baking sheet instead of a dish. It was very easy and I can see myself making a big batch of this to use for sandwiches.

Ooh look, a salad!

I don't think I've ever featured a salad on my blog before. If I have I can't remember. The idea for this came when my brother stopped by last night. He had just gone to Trader Joe's for food shopping and bought a bunch of pre-made salads, one of which he had for dinner. It was a BBQ chicken salad. It looked pretty tasty (except for the chicken part of course). I'm attracted to any food with bbq sauce in it and I immediately got the idea to make my own version of his BBQ salad.

I made mine with with tofu chunks instead of chicken. I took four 1/2" thick slices of firm tofu and dredged them in some seasonings. Any combination would do. I used a recipe from the Country Life cookbook called "Country Style Seasoning" which has nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed and other stuff in it. I cooked the dredged tofu slices in a hot pan sprayed with oil for 4 minutes per side until they were nice and browned. I then cut them into cubes and tossed them with chopped yellow bell peppers, red onion, corn and thinly chopped zucchini. I dressed them with some vegenaise, bbq sauce, liquid smoke and seasoned it with salt, pepper and a dash of cumin. I let the mixture chill in the fridge for a while before I scooped it onto a bed of butter lettuce and radicchio, red onions, shaved carrots and crushed tortilla chips. Then I drizzled it with some vegan ranch and extra bbq sauce. This was a delicious salad. I can't wait to have it again.