My first Super Bowl party was during my senior year of high school.  The food that sticks out in my mind was Buffalo wings.  Now, I ate my share of Buffalo wings before I was a vegetarian, but I hated eating meat of the bone, so they were not always a go to food for me.  I must admit, it was the flavor, that buttery spicy sauce that brought me back every time.  As a big fan of blue cheese dressing, the combination of the two made them irresistible!  For the record, I never, ever, ate celery with my wings.  We all know I am a celery hater.

When I became a vegetarian, I found I craved the spicy Buffalo sauce and the creamy blue cheese dressing.  To combat that craving, I started making Buffalo wing tofu salads, drizzled with blue cheese dressing.  I would fry up tofu cubes, toss them with Buffalo wing sauce, and serve it over a bed of greens.  I have since used Quorn cutlets or pieces. It makes things a lot easier and it cuts down on the oil I have to use, because I don’t have to fry the Quorn first, I only have to toss it in the Buffalo wing sauce and cook the mixture down in a pan.

The Buffalo wing tofu salad also works well as a wrap.  It’s very tasty and my husband, who is a meat eater, likes it a lot too.  Buffalo wing tofu is one of my most requested recipes.   I have never put it up on the website and I should sometime.

However, even though I satisfy my cravings for Buffalo wings with my salad, I have always been jealous of the chicken wing dip that is at  a lot of baby showers, bridal showers, and potlucks I have attended.  It looks so good and I have never tasted it.  It never even occurred to me to make a vegetarian version until the past couple of weeks leading up to the Super Bowl when recipes and mentions of this dip kept popping up in my news feed on Facebook.   I came up with my own version, adding some of my favorite things to add a personal touch to the recipe.   My version is really fast and easy to put together.  It’s also made in a crock pot, so it could easily be assembled before a get together and left to cook on low so you can attend to other party prep.  Remember, I have never had this dip, but this is my interpretation of how I think it would taste.

Here’s my vegetarian version of  chicken wing dip:

Vegetarian Chicken Wing Dip

2 packages of Quorn cutlets (8 cutlets)

2 packages of Neufchatel cheese, softened

1 and 1/2 cups of shredded extra sharp cheddar

1/4 cup Gorgonzola crumbles

8 ozs of hot sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)

1 and 1/2 cups of prepared blue cheese dressing

1 tablespoon minced garlic

fresh ground pepper and cayenne pepper, to taste

Start out by cooking the Quorn cutlets (follow the instructions on the box for your preferred method of cooking).  Next, dice the cutlets.   Combine all of the ingredients into a crock pot, minus a half cup of the shredded cheese, and cook on low for two hours.  Check on this from time to time, giving the mixture a good stir to ensure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.

You can serve this right in the crock pot or in a bowl.  Either way, sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top of the dip.

For us tonight, I dished out individual serving in vintage soup crocks with woven wheat crackers.  I put too much in the crocks, because we weren’t able to finish our portions.  It’s a good thing these crocks can be cover up and popped in the oven to warm up later.

As for the Super Bowl, I still don’t understand football, even though I played in my high school’s Powder Puff football game for 4 consecutive years.  I still don’t know why I did that either.  I did enjoy the commercials, I loved to see Madonna dance, and as I wrap this up, there is still 39 seconds on the clock with the Giants in the lead.  We are rooting for the Giants in my house.

Have a safe night friends and keep cooking!

]]> http://thepugnaciousvegetarian.com/2012/02/super-bowl-snacktime/feed/ 0 http://thepugnaciousvegetarian.com/2012/01/brrrrrr/ http://thepugnaciousvegetarian.com/2012/01/brrrrrr/#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:03:56 +0000 Mandy http://thepugnaciousvegetarian.com/?p=533 It’s going to be very cold  in upstate New York this weekend. As always, I am worried about the people and animals who have no shelter or inadequate shelter. This is something that tears my heart apart every year.

All of our cats are rescues. The majority of them are cats that we took in as strays. Watson and Crick were rescued during a very cold snap two years ago. We had been feeding them for months but couldn’t nab them. We caught Crick first, but Watson took a little longer.

It was almost twelve days from catching Crick to spotting Watson again. We had some very cold temps and I was heartbroken and distraught that he didn’t make it. Then I saw him! I was so happy! But then I knew I needed to take drastic measures to get him inside.

On the Sunday I caught him, I had put some wet food out for him and I put it inside our back porch, hoping he would come in to eat. He did and I managed to kick the door shut behind him, scaring us both.

Here’s a photo taken the night I brought him in. I had to keep him on our porch that night until I was able to get him to the vet to get a check up and get neutered. I wrapped him in towels and put a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel next to him. He slept for so long that night.

Here’s a more recent photo of him, almost two years later.

What a difference, eh? He is still my most shy cat, but I can expect to find all eleven pounds of him sleeping on me in the middle of the night. Often he wakes me up because he purrs so loudly, not to mention waking me up with the occasional lick or nibble on my hand, to get me to pet him.

Back to my point.  This weather reminds me of the Watson rescue effort and I am so very glad I took him, and all the other cats I have rescued, in from the cold.  They are so worth it.

As for my plans for this cold weekend, I plan on making some Chex mix, vegan no bake cookies, and hot cocoa with maybe a little bit of Frangelico, hee hee.  Perfect snacks for this cold, blustery weekend.  I might make some French onion soup too because I want to use my new to me soup bowls with handles.  Is there an actual name for those?  I guess I should google that later.

Anyway, what do you like to do to keep warm on days like these?  Fill me in!

Keep warm, friends!

I might not have posted as much as I wanted to but let’s do a review of what I did get up to in 2011:

I was able to give some shout outs to some local businesses that I love:
Just Call Me Cupcake
Fashion Exchange
Liquids and Solids at the Handlebar

I mastered a few dishes that I wanted to master:
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Curried coconut tofu
Vegan cream of mushroom soup

This year also saw us growing our first garden, which included the harvesting of the garlic scapes.

2011 wasn’t my favorite year in my almost 35 years on this planet. I wish I would have blogged more, but sometimes having fun and living life gets in the way of blogging. Also, sometimes depression and lack of inspiration gets in the way of blogging, too. Remember though, even if I am not blogging frequently, I try to update the Pugnacious Vegetarian Facebook page and I encourage you to like my page if you are on Facebook. I love the instant interaction the Facebook page produces.

Now here’s where you come in, dear readers. I know this is a vegetarian cooking blog, but I want to include other things such as my thrift shop finds, craft projects, party planning, decorating ideas, outfit posts, and various other bits and bobs which make me a Pugnacious Vegetarian. I know I have brought this idea up before, but I would really like to at least post once a week in 2012 and I think if I expand my topics, I will be able to try to live up to that goal.

Anyway, you feedback as well as topic suggestions are welcome.

Have a happy New Year, friends and as always, keep cooking. See you in 2012!

When I was a kid, my family would always have snacks and open gifts on Christmas Eve. Some of my favorite childhood memories originate in these Christmas Eve celebrations. Because Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday this year, I decided to have a little get together of my own.

I was so excited to plan the menu and everyone liked all of the food too. Here’s what was served

-Squash and roasted parsnip soup with crusty bread

-Two savory pies, tomato and onion and leek and mushroom, both using my mom’s pie crust recipe

-Homemade baked mac and cheese

-Kale salad with walnuts, cranberries, and Gorgonzola

-Cranberry, orange, and walnut relish

-Local goat cheese rolled in chopped cranberries and pecans and served with crackers and figs

-Two homemade pizzas

-Wassail with brandy

-Eggnog with brandy

-Apple Cider

-Buche De Noel

Here a photo of the Buche De Noel, made by a local baker, The Skinny Baker at TnT Bakeshop:

I also bought the fixings for hot cocoa to be served with or without Frangelico, but no one wanted any, so I didn’t make it.  My friends Kari and Aubrey brought some homemade goodies over as well.

Here’s what it all looked like on the table, minus the wasail and the soup which were in crock pots in the kitchen and the pizzas, which were in the oven at the time this photo was taken.

Another angle:

Here’s some gratuitous decoration photos:

Pretty psychedelic Christmas tree, no?  You can also see my newest decoration purchase, glittery icicles.  Those will stay up all winter long, along with the white lights and glittery stars.  I mean heck, winter lasts a long time in upstate New York!  Might as well be glittery all winter.

My tiny Christmas tree and a big bowl of fruit.  Oranges and nuts (in a bowl left of this photo) always remind me of Christmases as a kid.  This little tree was my only tree for a long time until my mom gave us the white tree.

My sister bought me these battery powered star lights.  I need to get more rechargeable batteries so I can use these more often, as I plan to keep these up all winter as well.

Here’s our stairway, complete with white fairy lights, glittery silver stars, and a stocking for everyone in the house, including the seven cats:

Now, here’s one of my favorite decorations:

Although it’s kind of hard to see from this photo, this is my bathroom.  I first decorated our bathroom like this for the Christmas in July party we had over the summer.  See, my bathroom are painted a very, very shocking blue.  When you add a string of blue lights and some homemade paper snowflakes strung on fishing line, you get the illusion of snow falling.  Trust me, it’s a lot cooler in person. I plan on keeping this up all winter.  We had someone walk into our house ones and say our house reminded them of an ice castle and I was so struck by that comparison.  I love it!  It’s  true, considering the blue, blue bathroom, the icy blue walls of the living room, and the icy blue furniture.  The perpetually lit white fairy lights and now the addit9on of the new glittery icicles, really add to the ice castle illusion.

Call me crazy, but I love to decorate the bathroom.  The decorating turns out pretty cool for Halloween too.

There you have it, Christmas at our house.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Have a safe and happy holiday season, dear readers.  I will be back tomorrow with a 2011 round up and a question about the blog’s direction for 2012.

Have a great day friends and keep cooking!

This soup is very easy and tasty. I only took a taste, because it’s cooking away in the crock pot at the moment, but trust me, it’s tasty!

World Vegetarian Day Vegetable Soup

4 cups of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small head of red cabbage, sliced into ribbons
1 small green pepper, seeded and chopped
4-5 white potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 can of cannellini beans
1 small can of tomato paste

First, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil, until they are cooked down. When the onions and garlic are cooked, add them and all of the other ingredients to your crock pot and cook on low until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender. If you want to cook this on the stove top, just add all of the ingredients to your soup pot and cook on low for 30 minutes or so, until potatoes and carrots are fork tender.

I think I am going to make some drop biscuits to go along with this soup. I can’t wait to try it.

Have a great day everyone and keep cooking!

Melissa, her husband, and myself all piled into the car to make the trip to Lake Placid. When I first laid eyes on this place I knew I was going to love it. I mean, just look how inviting the place is from the outside.

When you walk in the door, you are greeted with eclectic decor  and a lot of mustaches, including a large one you can pose with, if you would like.  I took it as a good sign that the music coming over the speakers was Devotchka, a favorite of mine.

There is also an ever changing board that details what local products are used. This totally impressed me, because I try to eat local whenever I can and I always appreciate when a restaurant cares enough to do the same. I recognized a few vendors and I will be looking into some of the other sources to use in my home kitchen.

See, I had already done my recon on the menu before we went to the restaurant, so I knew what I was going to eat, but the drink menu proved to be a bit more challenging. I mean, with so many unique cocktails and delicious beers, I had a hard time picking what I wanted to drink. I also knew, I needed to drive later on in the evening, so I needed to be responsible with my choices.

(Note:  Some of the photos are dark, but I didn’t want to be intrusive to my fellow diners by using my flash.)

I was intrigued by the Cilantro Daiquiri and I was almost seduced by the Salad and Gin, but ask any of my friends, I don’t like gin. In the end, I settled on the Balsamic Fizz and I was lucky enough to take a taste of the Smoked Ale and the Creme Brulee Stout.

Clockwise from the top: Smoked Ale,Creme Brulee Stout, Balsamic Fizz

Here’s another shot of my Balsamic Fizz. Yes that is pepper sprinkled on top. Yum!:

When it came time to order, I loved that the menus were clipboards!  I also really liked that the water was poured from reused glass milk bottles.  I am not a big fan of plastic.

Apparently, they offer a different poutine every day and on this day they had a butternut squash poutine.  I am salivating a little as I write this, remembering how delicious it was.  I didn’t finish mine (the serving is generous), so I brought the rest home which made an amazing late night snack.

As for the rest of my meal, I knew that I was going to get some of selections off the sides menu, but I was debating on getting the parsnip soup, which was topped with apple and delicata  squash bruschetta and pickled ginger.  Melissa got that and let me take a bite.  I LOVE PARSNIPS! and I plan on getting this the next time I go.

Off the sides menu, I chose the   I wish I would have ordered the maple baked beans off the small menu, because I think it might be different.  Oh well, there is always next time.

(Clockwise from top:  maple baked beans, fried Brussels sprouts, and spicy pickles.)

I do need to point out though, that the Brussels sprouts are not vegetarian.  I asked the server before hand and was told they were.  Unfortunately, I found out anchovies are a part of the recipe after I inhaled my portion.  I am not angry, just sad that I won’t be able to eat these delicious fried Brussels sprouts again.  They were my favorite thing I ordered/tasted.  However, if you aren’t vegetarian or vegan, I recommend ordering the sprouts, maybe even two portions.  Yes, they are that good.  The next time I go, I am going to ask if I can get them without the anchovies in the mix.  Who knows!  It doesn’t hurt to ask.

We were asked if we wanted dessert, but honestly, I was too full to eat any.  Had I picked one, I would have had a hard time picking one, because they all sounded great.

I highly recommend you make Liquids and Solids at the Handlebar a dining destination.  It’s not that far from Plattsburgh and it is well worth it when you get there.  I already plan on coming back with my husband in November, when we celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

Liquids and Solids at the Handlebar is amazing. You have to go there if you love good food and drinks and you like to be surprised by new and exciting flavor combinations, not to mention, it’s not that hard on the wallet either.

Have a great day friends and keep cooking!

I bought some mushrooms at the grocery store on Saturday, with the full intent to make some sort of cream of mushroom soup, but I didn’t know how I would make it creamy. I had some plain almond milk that I could mix in, but would it really give it the desired creaminess?

Last night it hit me. To make the cream of mushroom soup creamy, I should add unsweetened coconut milk! Unsweetened coconut milk is a pantry staple for me (It should be for you, too! It’s yummy and versatile!).

Don’t be fooled by the photo! There are plenty of mushrooms in this soup although in the photo it appears they are hiding.

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 small red onion, diced
1 tablespoon vegan margarine (or butter if you don’t want to make this vegan)
A splash of olive oil
4 cups of chopped mushrooms
1 tablespoon of minced garlic or six cloves of garlic
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons of flour
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms in the margarine and add the splash of olive oil. Cover and cook on low until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are a nutty brown. (Mushroom notes: I sliced some, diced some, and chopped some to give a the soup some different textures. I also used button, oyster, crimini, and shiitake mushrooms. Locals, Hannafords has a mixed package of mushrooms containing all of these mushrooms, except the button mushrooms, which I purchased separately.)

When the onions, garlic, and mushrooms have cooked down, add the vegetable broth, cover, and cook on low for about 35-40 minutes.

After the 35-40 minutes have passed, stir in the can of unsweetened coconut milk and the flour and add salt and pepper to taste. I used a whisk to make sure the flour wasn’t lumpy. I also was light on the salt and heavy on the fresh ground pepper. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered. Keep an eye on this, stirring from time to time because you don’t want this to scorch.

Because I like things spicy, I also added some crushed red peppers to my serving.

I hope you enjoy this soup. I love it and I think it will be something I make often. It’s so good!

Have a great night everyone and keep cooking!

I kinda just made this up as I went along, but since I was asked for the recipe, I will try to replicate it here.

First, I mixed up my curry powder because I didn’t think I had any. Using my mortar and pestle, I ground black peppercorns, whole cloves, turmeric, cinnamon, poppy seeds, cardamom pods, and a garlic powder. After all of this, I realized I had some curry powder, so I threw some in the mortar and pestle. A warning: make sure the cloves are either well ground or you pick them out. I ended up biting into a few whole cloves when I ate this. Also, after grinding the spice mixture, fish out the cardamom pods as well. You don’t want to choke on one of these. Naturally, if you only have curry powder, you can use that. I didn’t really want to mix my own, but I am often the victim of an overflowing spice cabinet.

I heated some light olive oil and a little hot chili oil in my wok. As that was heating, in a separate bowl, I tossed some drained and cubed tofu in corn starch. This was my first time doing so, and I think it turned out well. It makes the tofu a little crispy.

When the oil was hot enough, I threw the tofu in the wok and let cook for a bit. I then added some chopped green onions and minced garlic to the wok.

After the tofu was nice and crispy and the garlic and onion was cooked down, I lowered the heat and stirred in a whole can of coconut milk, adding the spice mixture, a splash of lime juice, a little more garlic powder, and some sambel olek, because I like things spicy. A dash or two of hot sauce is good too.

I didn’t serve this over rice, but you could. Also, I had a few florets of cooked broccoli hanging out in the fridge that I just threw into my bowl. The next time I make this, broccoli and maybe some carrots. Red peppers would be nice too, as would just about any veggie you would like to add, except celery, because we all know how I feel about celery.

Have a great day everyone and keep cooking!

It dawned on me to use the lettuce as the base of pesto!  This is a wonderful way to make pesto when you don’t have an abundance of basil  plants or to make this in the winter, when fresh basil can be scarce.

Lettuce Pesto

A few handfuls of mixed lettuce, torn in to pieces

10 fresh basil leaves, torn

½ cup of olive oil

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon minced garlic or 3 cloves of garlic

Two tablespoons slivered almonds

1 teaspoon of dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Recipe yields approximately 1 and ¼ cups of pesto.

Variations

This is my favorite part, because I hate to make anything the same way twice. This would taste great with grated romano or asaigo cheeses. You could add fresh oregano and parsley. I used dried because my plants aren’t really that big. I think using spinach would be a nice addition, if not the sole leafy green you use. Feel free to use your wilted salad greens, too!  I used slivered almonds because that is what I had. I am sure you could use pine nuts or walnuts as well.  Have fun with it!

In case you were curious, I served the pesto on some sourdough Italian bread from local business, The Bakery at Conroy’s Organics.

Have a great day friends!  As always, keep cooking!

Apparently, bolting makes the leaves bitter.  My husband and father noticed the bitterness, but I haven’t.  To me, it tastes like arugula, which I love, even though it is bitter.

Because we have so much lettuce and I always feel guilty buying bottled salad dressing (unless it’s Annie’s Green Goddess or blue cheese dressing), I decided to whip up something while I was in my typical morning-running late-tizzy.

Mustard be in a Tizzy Dressing

-Store brand Dijon mustard (I use Hannaford brand.)
- Badia Complete Seasoning
-Rice vinegar (I use Nakano Natural flavor.)

It should be noted, I threw this together and I didn’t measure anything. What I usually do is squirt some mustard in a small bowl and gradually add the vinegar until the mustard is thinned out to a consistency I like. I then add a few dashes of the Complete Seasoning. Also, if you have a sensitivity to or are anti MSG, be aware the Complete Seasoning contains MSG.

Now, I love salads, but what else can I do with this much lettuce? I can make a lettuce soup, which apparently makes good use of bolted lettuce. I have looked up a few recipes and I plan on knocking together something this week. I have also been blending the lettuces and the Swiss chard into my Green Smoothies. I also have a ton of raw broccoli left over from a party, so that has been going into my smoothies as well.

Besides these ideas, while writing this, I came up with a great idea to use up some of the plentiful lettuce…but I am not sure it will work, so keep your eyes peeled and if it works, I will blog about it.

Have a great day everyone, and keep cooking!