Monday, February 11, 2008

The Usual Weekend

I'd like to start this blog by saying we've finally confirmed our studio! We had our consultation at Sanctum Sound and we were sold right away.

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It definitely has a very cozy interior with nice ambiance and atmosphere for getting into the groove. It's gonna cost us an arm and a leg, of course, but hopefully our talents and perseverance will pay off in the end.

Now for the fuel:

Saturdays usually consist of fairly long practices, so I try to have some food ready for Mike and myself since we're the only vegheads of the band. This week I made How it All Vegan's 'S&M Salad'. Hence the name, this salad is supposed to be extremely spicey, mixing in 1 tsp of cayenne or red pepper flakes AND 1 tsp of wasabi. WOW! The salad seemed so yummy but I am not a fan of wasabi in the least. To me, it tastes, smells and burns like rubbing alcohol. So, in the end, I left that out. AND, being that I am a wimp when it comes to hot and spicy things, I halved the red pepper flakes, giving it just the right amount of bite without burning your tongue off.

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So I guess we could call this 'Not Quite S&M Salad'. In the end, it was really good. It had sautéed tofu, butternut squash, onion, mushrooms, carrots, red pepper, cucumber, faux parmesan (toasted sesame seeds, nooch and salt blended up)with rice vinegar. It also called for 'spicy Japanese sprouts' but I had NO idea what they were talking about. Someone on the PPK suggested Kaiware sprouts, but they were nowhere to be found. Not even at an Asian market! In the end, we subbed Kaiware with alfalfa and it turned out just fine. We had ours over a bed of brown rice. It was so delicious, we finished it in the car on the way back from the studio!

Sunday afternoon was a great day, for I got back into cardio exercise! This time I was smart about it and didn't go head-first into something my body wasn't used to (I have a lot of horror stories due to my impatience). Instead of jogging right away, I did a little power walking with Mikey. We're doing our best to be active, strong, healthy and filled with stamina (it's key for those stage shows). Despite the wretched wind and rain, we had our 30 minute walk and felt better for it!

As an energizing reward, I whipped up another HIAV concotion: Ban-ini Smoothie.

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It sounded so good and sweet, containing frozen bananas, soy milk, agave nectar and vanilla extract that I was quite excited about it. Banana smoothies are so similar to vanilla frappes, in my opinion, but a healthier alternative.

The only odd ingredient was the 3 tbsp of Tahini. Mike was especially wary of it. He thought it would ruin the yummy banana/vanilla flavour. Well, not one to turn down a challenge, I threw in the tahini and blended away.

The result? Well, the smoothie was very yummy and sweet with the tahini lending a very peanut-buttery taste. However, there was a downside. The after-taste was a little strange. Not so much so we couldn't finish off the drinks, but I think I'd put less tahini in there next time.

For dinner, I made lentil soup. The ingredients had called for a can of diced tomatoes and of course I ended up accidentally tossing in a can of tom sauce instead. In the end, I decided I wasn't going to waste any of the soup so we ate it with my mistake in there. It actually wasn't so bad. It was very reminiscent of pasta sauce, but that was okay.

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Contains: 1 large onion, 2 stalks celery, 2 medium carrots, green lentils, veggie stalk, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce (accidental), tomato paste, 2 small potatoes, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, chopped spinach & fresh parsely.

Since Mike is all lentiled-out (his mother makes lentil soup for him just about every week), I made black bean burgers as well. This isn't the recipe from V-con. This is actually a recipe my mother had used ever since I first became vegan, five years ago, and I've loved it ever since. Chickpea cutlets? Meh, okay. Seitan cutlets? I've had better. But black bean burgers? Delicious!

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Black beans offer so much more flavour in burger form, plus they are extremely easy to work with. Mashing them and forming them couldn't be easier.

Of course I remember Tropical Vegan requested the recipe a while ago- I have not forgotten you! I've just been everywhere at once, but I finally got to it. :) It's posted at the end of this entry.

Lastly, for work lunch, I made V-Con's 'Prospect Park Potato Salad'.

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I don't care that it's not summer time. Potato salad is amazing! I had to give all the grains a break and go for some root vegetable. Let me tell you- this isn't any typical potato salad. This is simply because of the addition of 1/4 of a cup of dijon mustard! Now, if you know me, you KNOW I am in heaven! Definitely try it out and do bring it to cookouts for your friends and family to try once the warmer weather hits. You won't be disappointed!

Black Bean Burgers:
Serves 2

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1/4 cup diced and sautéed onions
2 slices whole wheat or multigrain bread, finely crumbled
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, black pepper and onion powder (optional)
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 cup bread crumbs or cracker crumbs
In large bowl, mash the drained black beans. Add the sautéed onions, crumbled bread, and spices. Mix thoroughly. Add about 1/4 cup of cracker crumbs (or just enough to be able to form patties from the mixture). Using your hands, form the mixture into 1/2-inch thick patties. For a breaded burger, gently coat each patty with more cracker or bread crumbs.

In a lightly oiled non-stick pan, fry both sides of the patties. Serve with a garnish of lettuce, tomatoes, avocado or any other veggie and condiment of your choice on buns or over a bed of rice.

32 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Haha I love the name 'Not Quite S&M Salad'

And now I really feel like lentil soup, even though it's like 60 degrees here!

Anonymous said...

As always everything was delicious. Even the lentil soup! (I'm still sick of it, I just thought I'd try it since it was a new recipe.)

The tahini banana smoothie was a lot better than I thought it would taste. Pretty much like banana/peanut butter, but with a meh aftertaste.

But yeah, the black bean burgers may be my new favorite. But I still love the others too.

-:>D

Ashasarala said...

Aren't black bean burgers the shizzle? :-D

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

congratulations on confirming your studio!! how exciting!!

wasabi is definitely the type of ingredient that you either love or hate - it's quite powerful and not so forgiving on the taste buds!

mmm, that smoothie looks fabulous!!

I saw your comment on my blog - in my post, there are links to other people's blog posts about those cupcakes, which demonstrate what the "expected outcome" of the cupcakes is supposed to be.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

I don't remember exactly when I went vegan either. I just know it was for Lent. And I'm really not sure when my vegetarian anniversary is-- all I know is that one day I told my grandma I no longer would eat her chicken and rice... she had a fit!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, you have been busy! First, your lentil soup looks delicious. Sometimes mistakes turn out to be delicious. I might just make that mistake myself because it looks super!

I would never think to put tahini in a smoothie, I usually put peanut or almond butter, but it sounds like a very interesting idea!

I think I skipped over V-con's Prospect Park Potato Salad, because I don't remember it, but it looks amazing! I too have always been a fan of potato salad, my mom makes it sans mayonnaise, but I love it nonetheless. =)

Theresa said...

Instead of S&M, the salad is just a little kinky.

Thanks for that recipe, Andy is a burger fiend so I'll have to test them out on him and I'll let you know what he thinks!

And good luck with both being healthy and recording. I'm sure you'll be great at both!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Yay for booking a studio!! Must be an exciting time.

And what wonderful food to fuel you and Mike through rehearsals! I am so so glad you posted that black bean burger recipe! (I was planning on asking if I hadn't seen it!)I was looking at a few last night since I just bought a big load of dried black beans and want to use them for something. Thanks so much :-)

Rural Vegan said...

Congrats on your studio, how exciting!

Thanks for the burger recipe, I could use a new one to try out. I must have missed the potato salad in Vcon too, but I'll go back and look for it. Looks terrific!

Sarah P said...

congrats on the studio! it looks great - which is good, 'cause that way you won't be too miserable on those days you're stuck recording for waaaaaay longer than you want to >_<

speaking of music, LET ME KNOW when you're playing around here?!

Anonymous said...

Wow, those pictures are making me seriously hungry... I had better start cooking before I drool all over the keyboard!

Congrats on the studio too!

Lizzy said...

Ohh, congratulations!! That's great =)

The S&M Salad looks wonderful, I might try that one.

Somehow I am not too fond of Tahini, because it easily overpowers other flavors.

And thanks a lot for posting the Black Bean Burger recipe, I'll definitely make those! I bought black beans a while ago and somehow didn't have any idea how to use them. But hooray, now I do!!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

wow, that studio looks so cozy and conducive to music-making! that's so exciting! and the food... oooh, I don't think I've ever seen a better looking potato salad (1/4 cup of dijon?? I missed that! I MUST make this!).

Jody from VegChic said...

How exciting to be getting some new studio space?

The food looks so good. I'm not sure about tahini and banana smoothies either, but I might give it a try.

That BB burgers look REALLY good. They sound like a good lunch food to make and carry to work. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

bazu said...

congrats on the studio! it must feel like real progress for your band.

and your food- I'm really hungry right now and your gorgeous photos aren't helping at all- I could eat everything you posted!

Denise said...

Congrats on the studio!

I love smoothies that contain banana. It's like it becomes a milkshake as soon as you put some banana in it...

Sarah P said...

heeeeeeey, shaun from in a pickle and a jam and I want to try Grezzo next thursday. Wanna come?!
say yes!
email me: spoulette(at)gmail.com

Ruby Red said...

I've had some odd experiences mixing banana and tahini, and now I can't quite shake the memory of the taste. And part of the taste aversion is that I think the banana was ripe almost to the point of rotten - disgusting, I know! It sounds like a great smoothie, though (but I'd probably sub nut butter for tahini, hehe).

Awesome that Sanctum Sounds seemed to fit your tastes! From the picture it seems like a cool place.

I'm not a black bean burger girl normally, but yours looks really good. And if it's better than a Isa and Terry seitan cutlet recipe, then it must be a heck of a burger.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Thanks so much for clicking on the link. I found out at work that the Pet Rescue website wasn't getting enough traffic and they were considering having to shut it down because they might not get enough advertisers without more traffic... so I of course do not want to see that happen!

Kang Doy's Bloggy Blog Blog Blog said...

Yay for black bean burgers!!! Booo for Sanctum!!!

I wonder how much rice there really is on that plate? ;-)

vko said...

The studio looks really great and I love the name!

Looks like you have been cooking up lots of yummy things- I love me a black bean burger- thanks for the recipe.

Hope you are well! Am finally back to doing a whole lot of blog catch up!

TB said...

Ooh, I have been wanting to make that potato salad for AGES, so glad to finally see it reviewed! It looks amazing. And your black bean burgers! Can you believe that I'm a veg*n of many, many years and yet have never made my own black bean burgers?!? Can't wait to try your recipe, so thanks for posting!

Ashasarala said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jd said...

Yea, this post pretty much spoiled my dinner. I mean, how can I possibly top all of this wonderful looking food?!

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