Welcome to the Punk and Vegetarian Recipes blog. This blog will discuss punk bands and various vegetarian or vegan recipes.
What is punk? Punk is more than music. It's about creativity, community, equality, individuality, politics, questioning, self-expression, and unity. It is a lifestyle not a trend.
Want something sweet, but need to eat more healthy? Well here is a delicious treat that isn't bad for you, and you won't be feeling guilty afterwards! The Black Bean Brownie!
The Veggie Grill is ecstatic that they won "Best American Restaurant" and "Best Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurant" in the LA Times 2012 Reader's Choice Awards. They are giving free iced tea and lemonade! So next time you go enjoy!
Viva La Vegan is an all vegan grocery store, the first in California, located in Rancho Cucamonga. It first opened in November 2010. Now over a year's worth of improvements and expansions, they will celebrate by having a grand re-opening on the June 30 weekend.
Grand RE-OPENING! - Saturday June 30th and Sunday July 1st.
Join us to celebrate the re-opening of the largest Vegan grocery store on Earth! We will be having food samples and product demonstrations from several different vendors. Browse and shop through thousands of all vegan products. This will be an all weekend event so come anytime on Saturday and/or Sunday. Invite all your vegan and non-vegan friends/family - Everyone is welcome!
"Don't let the world
bring you down, its amazing what people can accomplish when they join
together," said Emily DePetro, a creative vegan film student that resides in Fullerton.
Down below is the interview on what inspired her to become a vegan, her favorite recipes and restaurants, and much more!
What inspired you to be a vegan? Were you a vegetarian before?
I had been a vegetarian for over 5 years and everyone always said it
was "so difficult" to be vegan. In August of 2010 I went to the circus
protest at the Honda Center and met a lot of really wonderful people and
also some radical vegans. I ended up going to dinner with the radical
vegans and they kept shoving veganism down my throat; basically
chastising me for being "only" vegetarian while protesting. These are
the type of people that give being vegan a bad name, however, they
planted the seed in my mind. Why had I never tried it before? I decided
to give it a go in the beginning of September 2010 and I haven't looked
back since.
As a vegan, what do you do to maintain a healthy diet and are not deficient in any nutrient?
I
believe I maintain a healthy balanced diet and I haven't had any
physical problems since becoming vegan. It's very easy to get all the
nutrients I need by just eating correctly.
What is the funniest or outrageous comment or response when you tell someone you're a vegan?
I can't think of any funny or
outrageous comments anyone has said to me. Mainly I get saddled with the
protein question. "How do you get your protein?". I'm also very sick
and tired of answering this question.
Are you part of any animal rights organizations? What does the organization do?
I'm involved with a company called APRL, Animal Protection and Rescue League. Check them out on meetup.com
for events going on in Orange County. They raise awareness of animal
cruelty acts that are in stores and restaurants in the OC. The two main
groups they focus on are foie gras and puppy mills. APRL is leading
fighter of foie gras in the U.S and have convinced 100% of the
restaurants they protest to take it off the menu. They also have demos
against Barkworks and educate the public on puppy mills and encourage
consumers to adopt rather than buy from a pet store.
What is your favorite vegan meal?
My favorite meal would have to be a
sandwich I created. It consists of toasted sourdough bread, hummus,
alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, avocado and onions.
What is an amazing restaurant that has swept you off your feet that you would recommend to my readers?
My favorite vegan restaurant is the Vegan Joint in LA. Local places I
enjoy areVeggie Grill, Mother's Restaurant (the new location off
Associated and Imperial in Brea) and Rutabegorz, even though they are
not vegan it's easy to make their recipes vegan.
What is a recipe you would recommend for my readers?
Scrambled Tofu is probably the easiest
and best recipe I make very often. I make Isa Chandra's Scrambled Tofu
recipe from "Vegan with a Vengeance." Since I am a pizza fanatic, I also
recommend making homemade pizza. It takes a very long time but in the
end it's worth every bite.
You're going to Cal State Fullerton in the field of film, video and photography. What is your favorite work that you would like to share?
My favorite television show is Skins,
the UK version. Please do not associate the MTV version with UK Skins.
MTV Skins was the worst thing I've ever seen. I made a fan version of
the opening credits featuring myself and my friends, which is probably
my favorite and the most fun I've had making/editing something.
But then again the music video, "The O.C." by N'Tice, which was intended to be cheesy is probably number two on my list.
What is your main source of inspiration?
I would say photography is a main source of
inspiration for my work. I love aesthetics and making a good image. I'm
not a writer, it was never my forte, but creating or taking a picture of
a great image is one thing that inspires me to keep going. The world is
beautiful and full of wonder and I want to capture it.
What inspired you to go into this field?
I've always been fascinated with
movies and always thought "I could do that". One day I just decided to
go for it and I've been having a great time ever since.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
The only thing I can think
to add is, if you are vegan or vegetarian don't let the general public
bring you down. I've had times where I was so exhausted from hearing the
negative comments from people that I stopped telling people I was
vegan. Which is the wrong thing to do. We are doing something great
here, we care about something so much we live that lifestyle, we want
others to become aware of it and to change as well. Don't let the world
bring you down, its amazing what people can accomplish when they join
together.
I had plenty of tomatoes to go around. I decided to make this delicious meal with the ingredients I had at home. It's simple to make and takes about 20 - 30 minutes to make including preparation time.
Ingredients:
10 Tomatoes
4 ounces of mushrooms
1 to 2 cups of spinach
3 garlic cloves
Onions
1 to 2 cups of bean sprouts
Salt & Pepper for seasoning
1 to 2 cups of Bread crumbs
Olive Oil
Hot Pepper Jack Cheese (Vegans can add Jalapeños or Chili Powder to give it that kick)
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and hollow out the tomatoes, and put the center of the tomatoes in a separate bowl.
Step 2: Chop onions, mince garlic, chop mushrooms, and bean sprouts.
Step 3: On a frying pan put olive oil, and start cooking the mushrooms, onions, and bean sprouts.
Step 4: After two to three minutes add the spinach, and the tomato centers in the mix. Add salt, pepper, and garlic to season.
Step 5: After another two to three minutes mix the ingredients with the bread crumbs.
Step 6: Add the mix into the tomatoes. On the top add the shredded hot pepper jack cheese (vegans sprinkle with chili powder or jalapeños. Put the top on and let it be in the oven for ten to twelve minutes.
Step 7: Serve, eat, and enjoy!
Here is an amazing song to listen to by Refused. I'm thrilled that they're touring again. If you're in San Francisco on the 18th of April, go to The Warfield to see an amazing band play. If you happen to be at Coachella, definitely see this band!
My brother, Alfredo, surprised me with this amazing dish on Sunday. It is inspired by the Gobi Aloo, an indian style cauliflower with potatoes. He did not use all the traditional ingredients such as gram masala.
Ingredients
Olive Oil
Onions
2-4 Potatoes
1 head of Cauliflower
2-3 Tomatoes
Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoonThai Mix
Directions:
1.) Heat olive oil over medium heat.
2.) Add onions and let them cook for a bit.
3.) Add potatoes, cauliflower, and then tomatoes.
4.) Season them with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika and thai mix.
5.) Mix it well. Lower the heat to low, and cover the top.
6.) Mix and stir occasionally. Continue to do so, until the cauliflower and potatoes are tender.
Need to eat less starchy food or just want a less starchy version of mashed potatoes? Then this recipe is for you! What makes them great is the similar texture as mashed potatoes!
Simple to make and delicious!
Ingredients:
Head of Cauliflower
2 cloves of garlic
1 - 2 cups of spinach
Pepper
Choice of milk (milk, soy, hemp, almond, or rice)
Directions:
1.) Steam cauliflower until soft enough to pierce with a fork. (Time varies depending on where you steam it, I used a rice cooker which takes a little longer.)
2.) While steaming cauliflower; chop cloves of garlic and when the cauliflower is nearly soft start cooking the spinach.
3.) Once the cauliflower is soft, put it in a pot and start smashing them.
4.) After you're done smashing them, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk (You may add more to make it extra creamy. I'm not a fan of the creamy feel, so I tried to put as little as possible. Just enough for it to mix with the mashed cauliflower and the other ingredients. Remember the choice of milk also changes the flavor, so choose what you would prefer), the cooked spinach, the minced garlic, and a few dashes of pepper.
5.) While the pot is on the stove keep mixing until it looks ready (took 7-12 minutes on medium heat). Then serve!
Serves 3 to 4.
If you like, you can add shredded cheese (daiya cheese for vegans) on top.
Are you craving something sweet? If so, these Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes will do the trick! Read more about it at Kathy Patalsky's Blog. Have fun baking and enjoy!
If you have a hard time figuring out what could replace an egg on certain foods. Well look no more, there's a new vegan "egg" to solve this problem! It's called The Vegg. This product is 100% vegan. Also, with every purchase of The Vegg 10% of it's sales will be donated to Compassion over Killing until 2014. That is amazing!
If you have enjoy solving the egg problem solution, then keep experimenting! I will continue to experiment, since it's always great to find new and interesting ways to make amazing food.
Why do people love to add more salt on food to give it more flavor? There are variety of other ways to give food more flavors such as: various herbs or lemons. I for one love to add lemon on certain foods, when I want to give it an extra kick. I did this with my Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Kale Chips. Lemon Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 - 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
Place trimmed Brussels sprouts, olive oil, kosher
salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and
shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes,
shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when
necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown,
almost black, when done.
Add lemon to give it that extra kick of flavor (I used half a lemon)
I found this to be a delicious snack. I halved most of the brussels sprouts. The taste was great and the mixture of a crispy exterior and soft interior made it enjoyable. The lemons complemented it quite nicely.
Ingredients:
1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the
leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and
thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil
and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.
When done add lemon for that extra flavor (about half a lemon).
I love snacking on these crispy tasty chips! Adding the lemon gave the chips a more delectable and memorable taste. I also took them out a couple minutes earlier causing the chips to have a crispy and soft element. Which I found enjoyable!
Ever just want to munch on something when you are reading, watching TV, listening to music, or simply just have the craving for something? Here is a great recipe with green beans!
Ingredients for Roasted Green Beans:
2 lbsgreen beans 1 -2 tablespoonolive oil (or just enough to lightly coat beans)
1 teaspoonkosher salt (or to taste, may substitute with Mrs. Dash if desired)
1/2teaspoonfresh ground pepper (or to taste, omit if using Mrs. Dash)
Photo by Bonnie G #2
8 easy steps!
1.)Preheat oven to 400°F.
2.)Wash, dry well, and trim green beans.
3.)Put green beans on a jelly roll pan.
4.)Drizzle with olive oil.
5.)Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste (This is if you enjoy it salty - use about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and about 8-10 grinds of the pepper mill). *Mrs. Dash may be substituted for salt and pepper as desired.
6.)Use your hands to be sure all the beans are evenly coated and spread them out into 1 layer.
7.)Roast for 20-25 minutes, turning after 15 minutes, until beans are fairly brown in spots and somewhat shriveled.
