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?

Light Saturday Lunch: Couscous, Bean and Vegetable Salad

I don't think it's a coincidence that two of my favorite ways to spend my free time, cooking and knitting, are both activities I associate with my grandmother.  So, it was nice to bring together these two activities today when I hosted a few friends at my apartment today for lunch and knitting lessons.

For lunch, I prepared a couscous, bean and vegetable salad.  The couscous was Bob's Red Mill Tri-Color Pearl Couscous.  The orange and green colors in the couscous come from tomato and spinach.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, pearled couscous is larger and rounder from regular old couscous.  I happen to prefer pearl couscous, or, as it's sometimes called, Israeli couscous, to the other kind.

I prepared two cups of the couscous according to package directions (1.25 cups of water for each cup of couscous, bring water to boil, add couscous, bring back to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes).  Since the couscous will absorb all the water, it has a tendency to stick to the pan, so stir it occasionally.

When the couscous was done, I transferred it to a bowl and immediately poured in a generous amount of my lemon vinaigrette (the same dressing I put on my salad for Wednesday's pasta and salad dinner).  A tip if you're reusing the vinaigrette & it's been refrigerated - let it come up to room temperature and shake it to help it recombine a bit.  Pouring the vinaigrette on the hot couscous helped the flavors really combine - you could smell the lemony goodness waft through my kitchen.


I then added one can of black beans (rinsed first), two handfuls of carrot shreds and a few generous handfuls of arugula.  I then seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper and let it set out at room temperature until my friends arrives.  Because of the vibrant green and orange of the arugula and carrots, the tri-color couscous didn't pop as much as I thought it might, but it was still good.

I also made some roasted brussels sprouts & shallots that folks could eat on the side.  I think I am on a mission to revive the reputation of the brussels sprout and let people know it can indeed be a tasty vegetable if prepared properly!

For dessert, we had some fresh strawberries provided by my friend Marie, as well as some vegan cookies provided by my friend Elena.  The Andean Dream Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with quinoa.  They're wheat-free, dairy-free, soy-free and made in a tree-nut free facility, so they are great for folks with allergy issues and gluten intolerance, but who are also living a vegan lifestyle.  And, they're tasty!


We also sampled Pamela's Ginger Cookies with Sliced Almonds.  These are also wheat-free, gluten-free, soy-free and non-dairy, but not appropriate for those with nut allergies.  They're chewy, gingery and tasty, which is a welcome treat after my sad discovery that the ginger snaps I've been getting have soy in them.