Vegan Football Sunday: Potato Skins, "Wings," and Guacamole

The Eagles were televised yet again, so I thought it would be fun to have a few friends over to watch the game.  I decided to do a number of vegan friendly and football friendly finger foods for the occasion: "wings," loaded potato skins and guacamole.

The wing recipe is from the October 2011 Vegetarian Times.   I used Upton's Naturals original seitan, Cholula hot sauce, Whole Foods maple syrup, Original Vegenaise and the smoked paprika we had handy in the spice cabinet.  The wings needed to marinate for two hours before being breaded and cooked, so I did that step first and then popped them in the fridge.

Next, I started the prep for the potato skins.  My husband had picked up a five pound bag of medium potatoes for me earlier in the week, so I baked those in the oven for 45 minutes at 425, and sent them on a wire rack to cool.

While the potatoes were cooking, I made tempeh bacon crumbles.  The October 2012 Vegetarian Times had a recipe for Warm German Potato Salad that included directions for the "bacon" crumbles, so I decided to try those for my skins.  The recipe's not online yet, but it includes tempeh, low-sodium soy sauce (I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos), blackstrap molasses, ketchup or tomato paste, and liquid smoke.  I ended up using both ketchup and tomato paste to get the crumbles to a more "bacony" color, and also cooked them in the pan a bit longer than the recipe called for to get them to crisp up more.  There is a TON of "bacon" left over, so I'll likely sneak it into recipes throughout the week.

To finish the potato skins, I used this CHOW recipe as a guideline, but veganized the ingredients. Instead of butter, I used Earth Balance, and I stuffed the potatoes with the vegan bacon crumbles and daiya cheddar cheese, then topped them with freshly chopped chives.  The potato skins were definitely the hit of the party - my non-vegan friends couldn't believe they were vegan, and especially that I didn't use real cheese.  When I explained what daiya was, my friend Greg joked that I have "gone to the dark side."

To make the guac, I used four ripe avocados,three roma tomatoes (diced), two serrano peppers (seeds removed, minced), half a red onion (minced), four cloves of garlic (minced), the juice from one fresh lime, fresh cilantro (chopped), sea salt and freshly ground black pepper,  I set out the guac with some Garden of Eatin' Multigrain Blue Corn Chips for my friends to eat while I finished the skins and wings.  I also had a tray with carrots, celery and hummus.

After the potato skins were out, I finished up the wings, using whole wheat panko for the breading.  The breading really didn't stick as well as I would have liked, but they had a nice golden exterior.

 

For dessert, thanks to my friend Carol, we had Football Shaped Oreos.  Did you know Oreos are vegan?  (My friend Valerie describes them as "accidentally vegan.")  That's yet another example of an everyday food that non-vegans eat that's vegan friendly.  I'd put them in the same category of pasta with marinara sauce, PB & J, rice and beans and the guac I made today.

Are you a vegan football fan?  How do you veganize your favorite football snacks?

A Few Random Notes and Some Versatile Bloggers

Slightly self-indulgent of me to go ahead and post this pic of my snack, since I just tweeted it.  But, I was thrilled with how well it photographed and even happier with how it tasted, so I thought it might be fun to share it with folks who aren't on Twitter (Hi, Mom!).  The foodage in question diced avocado with yellow and red pear tomatoes.  The chips in the back are Stacy's Multigrain Pita Chips. Pita Chips are a terrific alternative if you're looking for something snacky that's not fried, and the fact that these are multigrain makes them even healthier.  They're also vegan and don't have any soy ingredients.

Avocado has been helping me as I wean myself off my cheese addiction (read or watch Forks Over Knives for more on Caesin) and I love snacking on it.

Anyhow, in the theme of little things that make me happy, I'm going to take a slight departure from talking about all vegetarian food, all the time to give a shout out to my friend and fellow blogger, Lisa Calandriello.  Lisa and I went to college together and "found" each other at DC's Yoga on the Mall last year.  Since then, we've bonded over yoga, practicing together at Tranquil Space.  In addition to being an awesome yoga teacher giving amazing assists - her Eagle assist completely changed my ability to be in that pose - Lisa has a terrific website and blog that you should check out.

Given all of these terrific things about Lisa, I was so flattered that she chose to mention this little blog project as part of her contribution to the Versatile Blogger Awards.


Part of the award is telling your readers seven random things about yourself, and thus, you are treated to some non-food related things about me.

1.  I love to knit.   My grandmother taught me when I was six.  My first "project" was a cream colored swatch that was a disaster, but I've steadily improved.  You'll most often find me knitting little toy animals to give as new baby presents or hats to donate to the DCJCC December 25 Day of Service (mark your calendars, DC folks!), but I also occasionally will tackle something more complicated.

2.  When I was in high school, I wanted to be a film critic.  I still love movies and will happily go to a movie theater by myself if I can't find someone who is willing to sit through three hours of black and white German cinema or Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Jenn, you were a sport for seeing that one with me!).

3.  I last drove a car on an actual road, in traffic in 1996.  But, now that I live outside of DC, I'm learning to drive again.  I am consoling myself with the fact that I will no longer need to cajole my husband into driving me to Whole Foods whenever I run out of Earth Balance or Daiya.

4.  I have a Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential, which is a professional designation for association management staff.  Even before I qualified for the exam, I needed five years of work experience and 100 hours of professional education credits.  And then I had to learn a lot of random things like environmental scanning, Russian table service, balance sheets, retention rate calculation and answer questions about them on a multiple choice exam.  But, I did it!

5.  Whenever I go on vacation, I try to involve some sort of boat.  When I went to Greece, I took a cruise to Aegina, Poros and Hydra.  When I went to Costa Rica, I went white water rafting (and got thrown out of the raft!).  I was happy as a clam in Chicago doing the architecture tour on the river.  A vacation isn't a vacation for me unless I get to do something on a boat.

6.  When I was in high school, I was very active in our drama club, which was called Theater Workshop.  I couldn't dance and sing at the same time, so I did props and set decoration for all the musicals.  But, I did act in our children's theater productions.  I was always cast as the villain.

7.  Even though I hate to bring this up, I'm running out of interesting things to say, so I'll add this out there.  I was on Jeopardy! in 2000 (the episode aired in March 2001).  I didn't get a single answer wrong, but I had issues with the buzzer.  I ended up coming in second place and I won a Caribbean cruise.  So, I got to go on a boat!  For vacation!  For free!

Another part of the award is to give a shout out to some other blogs you read, so, in addition to reading Lisa's blog, I encourage you to check out:

Skydiving for Pearls: My high school friend Abby has a terrific blog about her life as an opera singer and actress in NYC.  It's terrific to get to follow Abby's life.  She's an extraordinarily talented performer, and she openly shares all aspects of her professional life and how it shapes her world.

Hip Tranquil Chick:  Kimberly Wilson is more of an "accomplished blogger extraordinare" than an "up and coming blogger,"  but I adore Kimberly, who I got to know through attending classes at her yoga studio, Tranquil Space.  Every time I get my Hip Tranquil Chick email alert, I know something I'm going to read is going to make me smile.

Resourceful Mommy:  While I'm not a Mommy myself, I enjoy reading this blog by my college friend, Amy.  Amy is also very accomplished in the blog world, and that's an understatement.  She's a terrific writer and has some amazing insights on family and daily living.

Fruit-Tastic Dinner

It was 98 today in DC.  Outside, I don't mind the heat so much.  But, after watching three trains pass me by in an overcrowded Metro station and half an hour in a metro car where the air was barely blowing, I felt more than a bit wilted, and the last thing I wanted was a hot heavy meal.

This is where my fruit-tastic dinner came in.  Fruit makes a great component to a summertime meal.  Not only do you have a lot of variety to choose from, but the high water content and the vitamin content help me feel replenished after a hot day.  Also, if you eat it raw, it's just prep and serve, no waiting for the oven to heat up (or make your apartment stifling).

Tonight in addition to some not heated leftover couscous and a Quorn patty*, I enjoyed some fresh raspberries and green grapes, as well as a little salad of ripe avocado, cherry tomatoes, lime juice and salt and pepper.  It filled me up, but also helped me cool down on such a hot day.

Most people think of oranges when it comes to Vitamin C, but raspberries are also a good source of C, with 47% of the RDA.  And while some people are scared off by the fat and calorie content of the avocado, this fruit means you're getting fiber, potassium and the healthy fats that help your body absorb nutrients.

*Yes, I know . . . it was only a few days ago I was promising to back away from the fake meat.  After today's lousy commute, I thought I'd cut myself some slack.