Vegan MoFo ~ Traditional Local Foods

Today's Vegan MoFo Prompt has to do with traditional local foods.  Since I'm originally from the Buffalo, NY, area - which is the birth place of Buffalo Wings - I really wasn't sure what to post for today.  I knew I HAD to post about a local product and favorite FRANKS HOT SAUCE and that is where the beginning of my thought process started with this one.

Sure there are vegan alternatives to look into for vegan Buffalo Wings such as this one...and they aren't bad...considering I'm not much for fake meats.  I have tried this product a time or two and will consume in a pinch.

But I have been making my own versions of Buffalo Sauce with some success!

And a recipe I am very proud of...Vegan Cauliflower Bites...which is a much better version that we can make at home with plant based ingredients!  

So...if I am working on a local traditional dish for the prompt I guess this would be it.  I no longer reside in the Buffalo area but visit as often as I can.  Where I live now there aren't any real traditional dishes for the area to speak of.  I even tried to search Erie, PA because I am fairly close to that city and still don't know what I would consider to be native to Erie as far as foods are concerned (other than Smith's Hot Dogs and NO those aren't vegan).

In other news...I thought I would share a new product with you today.  Check these out!  I just gnawed on them and they didn't last long!  They are from Awesome Foods based out of Bridgeport, PA, and raw and vegan.  I got them from my recent shipment from The Raw Food World and I can't wait to check out more of their products soon!

Dressings, Bamboo, Lip Balm, Marinated Mushrooms & Rice, Chlorella To Relieve Pain, and a Stellar Vegan Buffalo Chickpea Pasta Dish, too!

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a great Christmas - and for those who don't celebrate - I hope you had a nice Thursday!   Ours was nice - we went to DH's Grandmother's House for the extended family gathering on his side Christmas Eve - then went to my parents for about an hour and a half after that.  Christmas Day we went back over to my parents for a few hours and then when to the home to meet with DH's Family.  My Step-Father-In-Law is here for long term/rehab - he had surgery last week but has been in and out of the home and hospital most of this past year.  The weather was very mild for our area.  Christmas Eve it got up to the higher 50s and even reached 60 in some places. 

Last Christmas Eve Night we had high winds which caused some damage in certain spots.  Yesterday for Christmas Day it was cooler but still warmer than usual for Christmas!  I think it was mostly in the mid to upper 30s.  We had NO snow.  I'm okay with that.

Today I thought I would catch up cross posting about some of the things I have been submitting to other sites.  Mostly The Raw Food World.  I took a few screen shots, too!  Above you will see my Peanut Curry Dressing that I made a while back but tweaked for the site.  Check out the updated version of the Peanut Curry Dressing Recipe.  Another thing that I reviewed in greater length was the Bamboo Bowls I got from them a while back.  Not only did I find a vegan alternative for Burt's Bee's Lip Balm - I found one that was RAW, too!  Check out the full length post for Hurraw! Mint Lip Balm.

I'm still REALLY excited about the Vegan Buffalo Chickpea Pasta I did a while back - so be sure to click on the link above for that full recipe!  It was converted from various Chicken Wing Pizza Recipes I saw online.  NOTE - there isn't any Fake Meat in that recipe - just whole and natural foods!

You'll have to check out the testimonial I did for Chlorella - To Relieve Pain, too!  I've very pleased with some of my own personal findings!

And finally - a very simple and flavorful dish - Marinated Mushrooms & Rice!

Vegan Cauliflower Wings with Green Ranch Dressing

I'm really excited about this food post!  I have over 105 LIKES on Instagram for it as well.  I promised I would post the recipe today so here it is!

Vegan Cauliflower Wings with Green Ranch Dressing

I was in the mood for something spicy!  And I had been CRAVING Cauliflower for a few weeks but it was $5 a head here!  Yeah...let me type that again...it's was $5 PER HEAD here!  I've NEVER seen it that high OMG.  So I went to Aldi on Saturday and they had it for $1.99 a head.  It was still more than I wanted to pay but after considering the alternative I grabbed a head of it anyways.  Plus...this ended up being my dinner that night so considering my dinner only cast me $2 that isn't so bad.  Plus I had a little bit of the raw Cauliflower left over afterwards so that's cool.

Here's what I used in this dish:

3/4 Head Cauliflower
1 C Water
2/3 C Garbanzo Bean Flour
2 tea Garlic Powder
1/2 C Frank's Hot Sauce
1 T Earth Balance

I mixed the Water, Flour, and Garlic Powder together to make a "batter" and dunked the Cauliflower into the 'batter' after baking the Cauliflower for about 20 minutes I dunked them into the melted Earth Balance and Hot Sauce and baked for another 15 to 20 minutes or so.  They turned out AWESOME!!!

As you can see there is some green sauce in the middle of the plate in that first photo...here is another picture of that sauce.  It's a Green Ranch Dressing of sorts.  It was pretty tasty!

What I did for that is...

1/2 C Cashews (soaked)
1/2 C Coconut Milk
2 T Lemon Juice
2 T Chives
1/2 tea Onion Powder
1/2 tea Garlic Powder
1 tea GoF Perfect Food^® RAW Alkalizer & Detoxifier

My husband tried ONE of them and really liked it and told me to make them for Christmas Eve at his families' gathering...not sure if I will but MIGHT.  He only tried one because he's been shying away from spicier foods with his stomach issues lately.  I LOVED them!  Only down side is...now I have to get more hot sauce!

Participating Post: Make Your Own!  Monday Link-Up, Mix It Up Monday, Master Piece Monday,

Fake Meats, Vegan Casseroles, Awesome Vegan Buffalo Sauce, Smoothies, Apple Adventures

As many of you know...I'm NOT generally a fan of "Fake Meats".  Mostly because I was never a fan of "Real Meats" to begin with.  For me...the transition to Vegetarian was the EASIEST thing I have EVER done.  Many people don't believe me when I say that I never liked "meat" from the start.  But that is another story for a different day.  Another reason I don't usually like meat alternatives is because they are usually too salty for my taste.  I tend to 'eventually' try products from time to time more-so to be social or convenient - for example - while camping.  But I saw this Soyrizo which is Melissa's Brand and it was on sale for a really good price and I had not seen it anywhere else so I thought I would grab it.  I ended up making a few things with it.  

 

First...I made this in my skillet on the stove top.  I combined The Soyrizo (cooked) with some Frozen Kale, Canned Diced Tomatoes, and Onion and Garlic.  

Because I made up all of the Soyrizo at once this made a HUGE amount of this.  So...I used this as my base, really.  I started out eating this as a "side" as-is.  Then I THOUGHT to use it as a 'stuffing' for Acorn/Butternut Squash and I should have (instead I used it in a FAILED attempt in Squash/Apple Soup!)

But THEN...I took what I had left and added just a little bit of Spiral/Elbow Pasta (about a cup) and cooked that up and added it to the mix.  I then baked it in the oven but not before I was done adding a few more things to the top of this Casserole!  I topped it with Vegan Bread Crumbs AND just a very little bit of Daiya Shredded Cheddar.

I have to say...this turned out REALLY REALLY GOOD!  I was quite surprised!  It had a Mexican or Spanish type flavor to it already and then with the additions it made a very hardy meal as well as a nice comfort food!

Speaking of my Soup FAIL here is a photo of it.  It looks harmless enough, doesn't it?  Either Soups with Apple in them are NOT my forte and/or I am just NOT a fan of sweet/fruity soups!  Either or Both could certainly be the case!

This had Onion, Garlic, 1 Apple, 2 Small Butternut Squash(s), a bit of Thyme, Nutmeg, Almond Milk, Black Pepper, etc in it.  I won't bore you with the actual recipe because it won't be something I will do again nor is it something I would suggest! LOL

Because I had to do QUICK foods last week and didn't want to buy a lot of additional produced - not only because I wanted to finish up what I had on hand - but also because we were 'here, there, and every where' - I didn't want it to go to waste if we were not going to be around.

Because I have been making White Rice and Jasmine Rice so much for Hubby I decided to eat it, too!

I found some Sun Dried Tomatoes with Garlic in a glass Jar at one of our discount stores and thought I would give them a whirl.  The flavor is WONDERFUL and so I thought I would try a tablespoon or two mixed in with the white rice.  It complemented it NICELY!

 

 I know, I know...TWO Fake Meats in the same posts!    Well I actually had these a while back.  They are Wegman's Brand and are VEGAN Chicken Nuggets of sorts.  I've now tried them baked as well as in Grapeseed Oil in a skillet (fried).  I think I prefer baked but both ways are fairly good!  They're made of soy protein, spices, wheat gluten, grains, various veggie fibers, wheat flour and rice flour.  It does have canola oil in it but not as bad as some alternative meat products.  They are high is protein and fiber and fairly low in sodium considering the packaged/fake meat thought behind it.

My FAVORITE part of making these was the sauce I made.  And the reason I am posting about them on my blog!  It's my Vegan Version of Buffalo Sauce and I am totally LOVING IT and think it will be my go-to Buffalo Sauce Recipe from now on!

2/3 C Frank's Hot Sauce

2 T Earth Balance

1/4 tea Vegan Worcestershire Sauce (I used Wizards)

1/4 tea Cayenne 

1/4 tea Garlic Powder

Dab of Balsamic (not very much at all maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tea)

AND...FINALLY...a Smoothie Recipe for you!

This is the SWEETEST Smoothie I have EVER tasted.  I prefer them toned down a bit but enjoyed the attempt.  I will know for next time NOT to go as hardcore with everything, I guess!  

I used...

1 C Strawberry Banana Soymilk

1 Scoop Garden of Life's Perfect Food RAW - Apple

2 T Apple Sauce

Ice to taste/consistency 

 

Again...this is SUPER Sweet!  I ended up finishing it and my mind was STILL focused on the dreaded BANANA that was in the Soymilk!  HA!  The Apple was nice but next time I will do it GREENER.  I was thinking about using the Apple Flavor from GoL with some Apple Sauce and Cinnamon and doing some sort of "cookie" in my Dehydrator!  So many thoughts...so little time!