Ask [Google] and you shall receive.

First, sorry for the lack of posts last week. I've been quite busy with jury duty. What with the 10 am start, the hourly breaks, two hours for lunch and the crazy long days till 5 pm, there's just been no time. Jury duty is quite taxing. It doesn't leave much room for anything else in my life.

But anyway, I have a lot to catch up on. I take all these pictures of yummy food I make or eat then never blog about any of it. People look through the photos on my phone and think I'm some food-obsessed lunatic (which really, I am).

Last weekend after brunch I was most upset that Nutella wasn't vegan and I asked if anyone knew of a vegan friendly recipe. Well, I did something better than asking my friends. I asked Google. 

And of course, I found a super scrumptious vegan Nutella, or Not-ella if you prefer, recipe. Here's how I made it. (Sorry the recipe's not exact. I have a thing against measuring cups. I like to pretend I'm Martha and can just throw ingredients around and magically concoct a dish.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups roasted hazelnuts (You can use raw hazelnuts if you feel the need to go through the hassle or roasting them yourself. I like to use my time wisely, so I went with roasted.)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp vanilla extract

First, you should smoosh up all your hazelnuts in a food processor. Probably about 3 minutes. You want them to have an ultra fine consistency. Then add in all your other ingredients and continue to process, scraping down the sides occasionally until it is well mixed. You may need to add slightly more oil to get the right consistency for you. But really, once you do that, you're done! Ta-da! So easy. You can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month before it will start to go off. (Go off, go bad, same difference. Blame the huz if you don't like that expression. His foreigner speak has rubbed off on me.)

It was super yummy on my bagel in the morning. And no, I do not need any commentary on how I'm not supposed to be eating bagels. Thanks.

Soooo, what else do I have to tell you about? Vacation?

The huz and I plus Chip-a-roo went to a lake house with friends for Memorial Day weekend. We had our own mini-couples retreat. (I mean mini-retreat, not mini-couples, although some of my friends are quite short.)

The first morning there, everyone had pancakes. Unfortunately, the mix had eggs and milk in it so I couldn't have any. So while the others were cooking, the huz and I took a trip to Walmart to pick up some stuff I could actually eat. (And as a side note, never go to a Walmart in the middle of nowhere America. I've never been so scared in my life. Much scarier than vegan-eating vampires.)

I just got some Bisquick batter which is easily used to make vegan happy pancakes. I made myself a batch when we got back. However, everyone was done eating by that point, so it was a bit sad.

The next morning I decided to solve the problem by making everyone my vegan happy pancakes. Here's how: Just follow the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box for pancakes, but where it calls for two eggs, use one banana and instead of regular milk, use soy milk. It's super delish! Especially if you use vanilla soy milk.

In many recipes that call for eggs, especially baking recipes, you can easily replace the egg with a smooshy banana. This is another great use for icky spotty bananas that my banana-racist self refuses to eat. Basically, one banana = two eggs. For those of you who suck at math, that means half a banana = one egg. 

So anyway, I made a huge batch of vegan happy pancakes and everyone loved them! I think I had them quite convinced that vegan food was not so bad, and maybe even quite scrumptious. 

And then they ate my vegan happy pancakes with a side of bacon.

Oh well. To each their own. At least they all realized that vegan food does not equal nasty food as many are inclined to think. I think that's still a point for vegan. I do have to thank my friends though. They were all super nice and concerned about what I could and couldn't eat. They even bought me special dark chocolate that was dairy-free for smores. (Although my smores still lacked marhmallows. Couldn't expect Walmart to carry vegan friendly marshmallows, now could we? Or maybe they were sold back by the shotguns and fishing licenses and I just missed them.)

Overall, vacation was wondefulicious. (Wonderful because I got to frolic in the sun with friends and delicious because we spent the long weekend stuffing our faces around the clock. What else do you do on vacation?). I  also got a tan so that the random Russian lady who sits next to me on the jury can stop asking me if I ever go in the sunshine. I may be Finnish, but I'm seriously not that pale. Hopefully this will shut her up for the rest of the trial.

I have still never blogged about my uber delicious pizza that I've made twice now! And the tofu mozzarella sticks! But, I'll get to it one day. I like to keep my readers in suspense. 

I'm loving it. (No, not McDonalds)

What am I loving, you ask? I'm loving the fact that you can throw tofu in almost any recipe that calls for sautéed chicken and it'll be delicious! (However, as a side note, you can technically not 'be loving' anything. 'To Love' is a stative verb and therefore cannot be used in progressive tenses. Either you're in love, or you aren't. So McDonalds is not only making us fat, they're teaching us bad grammar as well. F you again, McDonalds.)

But anyway, I made a quick and easy recipe I used to make all the time with chicken tonight, but instead I threw in some soy goodness, aka tofu. It was delish.

Here's the recipe:

1 package extra firm (yesss please) tofu
1/2 jar orange marmalade
1/2 jar hot (because I do like it hot. If you're a wet blanket, go for mild.) salsa
2 tblsp olive oil
3 cloves fresh garlic
crushed red pepper flakes
6 servings brown rice

So first I always start the rice since it usually takes about 20 minutes to cook. Follow the directions on the back of your box. You can also use white rice if brown rice doesn't float your boat. But since you're reading a vegan blog I'm assuming you actually care about your body, so use brown.

After getting the rice started, drain and cube the tofu. After that, heat your oil in a pan and add in the fresh garlic and cubed tofu. Sauté them together for two or three minutes then add the marmalade, salsa and crushed red pepper flakes to taste. Let it all simmer together for about 8-10 minutes. Serve over rice.

And there is your quick and easy version of Sweet and Spicy Tofu. Super yum.

Here's a little photojournalism to help you on your way.

Sautéing the tofu with the oil and garlic.

Adding in the salsa and marmalade.

Finished product.

Now I'm obviously not a food photgrapher so don't let my photos scare you off. I promise it's super delish.

For our second course tonight, we had a chicken.

It was scrumptious if I say so myself.

And for dessert I made some banana whip! Sooo good! Just freeze some bananas, cut them into pieces and blend them in a food processor. They come out having an ice cream-y consistency. You can then put whatever toppings you desire on top. I did granola tonight. I think it would be absolutely dreamy with some carob chips!

Banana whip is perfect for those of you like me who refuse to eat bananas once they get spots on them. I only like my bananas under ripe and greeeeeen. What can I say, I'm a banana racist.