Deep Dish Buffalo "Chicken" Mega Pizza

We had pizza night. I used this basic recipe --> here to make some deep dish pizza!

I had been craving it for a lil while now :)

Cooked up some Gardein Chicken cutlets, cut into little chunks and tossed with hot sauce.

Made some cashew-cheezy sauce (soaked cashews, olive oil, dill weed and water- all blended up), some sliced sweet onion and got out the Mozzerella Daiya

Sliced up some gorgeous tomatoes

I made the dough up using that recipe linked at the beginning of the post, just substituted Earth Balance for the butter. I did use all the dough for one pizza, and it was alot of crust. Maybe next time I'd use a bigger pan or 2/3 of the dough, the crust was very buttery and delicious, so alot of crust really wasn't a huge problem.

I also mixed up a "blue cheese" dressing to layer into the pizza. recipe --> here (I posted this with a 'regular' buffalo chicken pizza). I didn't use quite as much Vegenaise this time around, so it was a thick blue cheese.

Baked the dough for about 15 minutes, then took out of oven, let cool for a couple minutes.
Started layering: blue cheese dressing, buffalo chicken pieces...

..then sliced tomato and onion...

..then cashew cheezy sauce, and sprinkled Daiya over the top..

Then into the oven!!!!!

We let this sit for about 15 minutes before slicing and enjoying :)

Yum!!!

BBQ seitan "ribs"

I've been looking back at my recent posts and I guess I have only been posting total vegan junk-food. I have to say that these posts are certainly not a realistic picture of how we eat in our house. We also eat lots of brown rice, whole grains, beans and vegetables, but you already know that they are vegan (and yummy).

I stayed home from work yesterday (feeling really junky), and when my appetite finally arrived it was while I was watching an episode of "Kitchen Nightmares" about a Soul Food restaurant. It was a rare episode in the fact that the food wasn't disgusting or the kitchen unsanitary. Crazy. Needless to say I started craving some serious Soul Food. I did a bit of research online and find a recipe for vegan BBQ ribs. (Yum!) There are TONS of different recipes online. About a year ago I attempted a recipe I found on vegweb.com. The "ribs" were okay, but it took a lot of work for what were ultimately bread sticks tossed in bbq sauce. I found this recipe with a different technique and lots of positive reviews  and was intrigued. I had almost all the ingredients and it was something new and fun to try. In some of the reviews it appears to be based on a recipe from the New Farm Cookbook. I didn't follow recipe to the letter, but here's what I did.

ingredients:
-2 c. wheat gluten flour
-1/3 c. nooch
-2 Tb smoked paprika
-1/2 Tb sea salt
-2 1/4 c. water
-1/2 c crunchy natural peanut butter
-1 large vidalia onion- minced
-1/4 c. olive oil
-1/2 jar BBQ sauce (or as much as you want)

instructions:
1) Combine gluten, nooch, paprika and salt in a big bowl.

2) Add in water all at once, stir with a wooden spoon quickly until all are combined (might need a little more water). You should have a firm gluten ball. Coat the ball with peanut butter.

3) Heat oil in skillet, add onion and cook until golden brown. Pour all the oil and onion on top of gluten ball. Poke with other end of wooden spoon to force some of the onion and peanut butter into the gluten. Allow to cool.

4) When mixture is cool enough to handle, use hands to mix all together. Try to mix the onion, oil and peanut butter in as much as you can.

5) Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease 2 big glass baking dishes.

6) Pull off big hunks of the mixture with your hands (don't cut with knife), then pull, stretch and twist the gluten into little logs 4 to 5 inches long. (note: I made 8 and thought the smaller ones were the best, so maybe try to make 10). Place into the baking dishes, they will expand some while cooking so make sure to leave some room between.

7) Bake 15 minutes, then flip and bake 15 more. Coat the "ribs" with BBQ sauce and bake 10 more minutes. (40 min total)


These were freakin' AWESOME. Super chewy and "meaty". I served them with corn on the cob and mac and cheese (<-- really yummy vegan mac). The hubby and I both enjoyed our Soul Food dinner, and will definitely be making this again soon!

Cape Cod-induced seafood cravings solved…. Fabulous Beer-Battered Tempeh “Fish” with vegan Tartar sauce

The hubby and myself recently returned from a beautiful long weekend on Cape Cod. We shared a rental house with a whole bunch of family. We did a lot of pre-planning with food for the weekend, did a big grocery shop at home and brought a lot of easy meals to keep us full and happy. The rest of our family's food plan was to pretty much eat out every meal. Well… we’re broke so that’s definitely not an option, and looking online, the vegan options out on the Cape are a bit minimal. When we got onto the Cape, we saw lobster shack after seafood stop after clam shanty, etc.. and really not much else. We ate very well with the food we brought and didn’t go hungry at all. (We made lots of Tabouli and hummus sandwiches for the beach!)

I had done a bunch of online searches before we left, and the only interesting vegan eating-out options I found were in Provincetown, so we did head out there one day to shop and go out to eat for a romantic date. We checked out this restaurant Karoo Kafe in Ptown, it's website boasted it as vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free friendly. By the time we were done looking around in funky shops and enjoying the positive energy of all people in Provincetown, we found the Kafe and were super hungry. Well, the menu is really big and has lots of options, something I am definitely not the used to as a vegan. I went for the "Cape Town Stew" with tofu and the hubby got a Falafel wrap, we shared some deep-fried Pakora's for an appetizer. The service was friendly, food came out of the kitchen really fast and was quite delicious. The atmosphere was upscale fast-food, order at the counter, not really drawn out-romantic-dinner-type of place. We even tried some Cape Cod-brewed beer there. Yum! We are going to remember the name of that restaurant and try to get out there again.

My hubby had some serious seafood cravings while we were on the Cape. It is really the one non-vegan food that “still sounds good.” He didn’t cave to his cravings (his tummy thanked him for good judgment), and on upon our return home, I dug out a recipe we tried about a year ago that I knew would make him happy and satisfy those cravings.

Veg News had a recipe for Beer-Battered Tempeh “Fish” and tartar sauce in the April 2011 issue. I don’t do any sort of frying/deep-frying very often, but this recipe looked so good that I had to try it when I saw it in the issue. When I made it last year, I remember it came out good, but the batter didn’t quite stay on the tempeh and I had made big tempeh chunks... Looking at the recipe again, I hadn't cut the tempeh nearly as small as called for.

The day after we got home from the Cape, my hubby had to go back to work, but I had an extra buffer day off. He was super bummed to be back at work, so... I decided to extend the vacation to dinner that night and made a Fried “Fish”/Cape Cod feast.

I followed the recipe much more closely this time... making two whole packages of tempeh worth of beer battered/fried deliciousness (for only the two of us lol), I also made some tartar sauce, some coleslaw, picked up some Cape Cod Salt and Vinegar potato chips, little soft potato rolls the perfect size for one “fish” tempeh stick and even found some Massachusetts’s brewed beer at the beer distributor (I couldn’t find any brewed on the Cape, boo!). One change I made to the recipe was steaming the tempeh about 2 hours before dinner and letting it marinate in the fridge until it was fry time.  Veg News marinated only briefly before frying. The frying didn’t even make that big of mess! Yay!

When my hubby got home and saw the spread on the table, he was so happy and appreciative. And I was too when I started eating, this recipe came out even better than last time, the beer-batter was right on, the tempeh had a great tangy, flakey, fish-y texture, the tartar sauce was yum yum yum, the rolls were good, and of course  the chips and beer were awesome!!! I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have to show these off... they were too yummy to resist and I enjoyed eating them instead of documenting them. To create this dinner was definitely a bit of work, but I had lots of fun doing it on my last day off.

Disclaimer: I am completely aware this is the essence of a “sometimes food.”

Here are the recipes mostly as printed in Veg News:

for the beer-battered tempeh "fish":
ingredients-
2 packages tempeh, in 1/2 inch slices
1/4 cup malt vinegar
2 Tb agave 
2 tsp Old Bay seasoning

2 c AP flour
1 Tb baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp cayenne powder, divided (I used Indian chili powder)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 bottle organic pale ale (I used 20 oz of Rolling Rock)

3 cups oil, for frying (I used peanut)
1/2 cornstarch  

directions-
1) Steam tempeh for 7 minutes. Remove into bowl.
2) Combine malt vinegar, agave and Old Bay seasoning. Pour over tempeh, and stir gently to coat. Allow to marinade in fridge for an hour or two. (my marinade got completely soaked up by the tempeh)
3) Prepare batter: whisk together the flour and seasonings until smooth. Using whisk, slowly stir in beer until a smooth batter forms. Put in fridge for 10 minutes while you prepare frying stuff.
4) Heat up oil (med-high heat) in a large skillet (mine is cast-iron). Set up frying station: marinated tempeh, a bowl with cornstarch, the batter, and something to put the hot/cooked food in (w/ lots of paper towels).
5) Dredge individual tempeh sticks into cornstarch, shake off extra. Then dip into batter, and allow the big globs to drop off. Then into the hot oil!! Only cook a few at a time to keep the oil nice and hot and, prevent splashes and burning yourself, etc... Cook until you see the batter puff up and get a lil browned,  turn over with tongs, 2 minutes or so a side.
6) Drain on paper towels, then eat while they are hot!


for the tar-tar sauce:
ingredients-
1 1/2 c Vegenaise
5 slices of sweet pickle-minced or 2 Tb relish
5 stuff green olives- minced
2 tsp dried onion powder
1 Tb fresh lemon juice
dash of salt
pinch of chili powder

directions-
1) Combine together.
2) Slather all over tempeh "fish."





*Bonus/Exciting News*

So this recipe makes a ton (a TON!) of “fish”, definitely at least enough for 6 or more people. I was a bit puzzled with what to do with leftovers. I did some Google searches for “how to store fried food” “can you freeze fried food”, etc… Basically everything I saw online said that batter fried foods can’t be stored, eat them right away or they are gross. I was NOT going to waste all this yummy “fish”!! So I took the cooled “fish” put it in plastic freezer bags and hoped for the best.

Well, we were hungry for an easy dinner the other night and I took out some of the frozen “fish” and attempted to reheat in an cast-iron skillet, it worked awesome, the batter got crispy, the “fish” was hot and maybe even tastier than the first time. I used my well-seasoned cast-iron, (added no oil, this stuff is fatty enough!) heated it up on medium heat, then simply put the frozen pieces right in, I turned them and cooked on all four sides, until hot and a little browned.  (Take that Google, you don’t know everything!)

re-heated, previously frozen "fish" guys :) sooo yum

i made some food and used my BREADMACHINE!

I basically spent the past week and half sicker than I've ever been. It was a super rough time and I am so so glad to feel like myself again. It's weird to be stuck on the couch and not have the energy or willpower to do any of the things that usually are done in a day.

Now that I am back to feeling like myself, I was super glad to get back in the kitchen. I spent some time organizing the fridge, hitting the health food, grocery stores and restocking my fridge. This is the type of household chore/task that my hubby just isn't his best at... and he's been the one trying to hold our lil house together while I've been sick.

Onto my cooking catch-up,

I bought some Tamarind pulp a while back and I was tempted to make an Indian-style Tamarind sauce, like the kind that comes pretty standard at Indian restaurants with Samosas? Well.. My attempt didn't taste anything like that, but did have a BBQ saucey vibe. I had started with some Tamarind pulp, some toasted cumin seeds, some molasses and some water, then simmered this on the stove until syrupy. I let this concoction bubble away for like 30 minutes, it got thick and saucey... but I really didn't love the direction it was headed on its own.

I decided to use this sauce as a flavor component in a BBQ sauce. I started out the base of the sauce with peppers, onions, garlic, and celery. I sauteed this for a while, then added canned tomatoes, brown sugar, spices, vinegar, etc. I added in my Tamarind mixture and let this all cook together for over an hour. Then I blended it smooth with a stick blender. Came out TANGY TANGY TANGY. Had a lil with a pan-cooked Gardein chicken cutlet, tasty BBQ-y to me.

I made enough to fill three jars!  No exact recipe... but slightly structured by ideas in cookbook BBQ sauce recipes.

I also decided to put together some "Crock Cheez" from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I used the basic recipe (Tofu, nooch, spices, Miso, etc..) I substituted Malt Vinegar for the lemon juice, and I think it gave it a bit of a "Beer-y" vibe. Like most recipes I've tried in this cookbook, it came together really easy, with ingredients I usually have on hand, and tastes like something not home-made. I referred to it as "Beer Cheez" when I packed some in my hubby's lunch.

I really enjoy this recipe, I noticed that overnight it has became really thick and really reminds me of Crock cheese I remember my parents getting in gift baskets when I was a kid.  As you can see, the recipe made quite a bit, I was able to fill up two containers. Although, I'm sure this stuff won't last long once my husband tastes it.

Whole Wheat-Sunflower Bread

The last "cooking" I did before I completely exhausted myself was baking a loaf of bread. I have to admit I've been baking quite a few loaves of bread lately. I've been slightly-obsessed with using my "new-to-me" breadmachine.  5 minutes worth of work, a little patience, and then, Ta-Da- Hot Bread!

I inherited a Breadman Ultimate from my Mother-in-Law who no longer wanted hers. I got offered it months before I actually remembered to bring it home with me from her house. I did not know what I was missing! Ever since it has arrived home, it has been getting a lot of use. I've really been quite impressed with the product that it makes, especially in regards to the amount of effort I've put in to making the loaves.

(Before I got sick) I've been making at least 2-3 loaves a week, and we've stopped buying commercially made bread.  This has definitely been saving me cash! (Flour=way cheaper than $4 loaves of artisan bread) I've really indulgently enjoyed the loaves I've made with all-purpose unbleached white flour, but I've also been searching for great tasting-healthier bread. The "French" cycle makes really wonderful, chewy "European" bread, it's hard not to eat the whole loaf.

The loaf I made last night was Whole Wheat-Sunflower, this was an all-whole wheat flour loaf. I have enjoyed the ALL whole wheat loaves, but they are definitely denser and don't offer the same chew factor as the white flour loaves. I am still looking for the perfect recipe that balances the yum-factor with the health-factor.

I have been trying out recipes I've found online, and utilizing the recipes that come with the breadmachine, I think I am going to be working on finding perfect, vegan recipes and posting them in the near future. I've definitely had to search for recipes, as many I've found contain milk powder, eggs, and other non-vegan ingredients. I find this a bit frustrating as the best tasting bread I can find at the grocery store contains the shortest list of ingredients.

I promise I will keep you posted on breadmachine adventures.

Here are some of the resources I've found online, please share with me if you have any good (and healthy) recipes!

"Fat-Free Vegan" forums- Breadmachine Recipes
"Go Dairy Free" forums- Honey 1/2 Whole Wheat Bread Recipe * Delicious
"Veg Source" forums- Bryanna's Breadmachine Recipes w/Starter

vegan sausages- improved!!

homemade sausage w/ sauteed onion and peppers on a hoagie roll, and curried potato salad

I've really enjoyed vegandad's sausages, I've made them several times and enjoyed the satisfying meaty texture. The past couple times I've made them, I decided to start playing around with some additions/omissions.... (I LOVE playing with recipes) and well, the recipe keeps getting better and better! Today I used garbanzo beans instead of the pinto called for in the original recipe, and added in grated onion, the addition of the onion keeps them moister and allows for a much improved texture. I've definitely also upped the spices considerably. With the garbanzo beans coarse-ness, I think we've found that these are  the best sausages yet. Here's what I did:

homemade sausages

1/2 c. garbanzo beans
1/4 c. nutritional yeast
1 c. bean cooking liquid (or veggie broth or water)
2 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb olive oil
2 cloves garlic-crushed
1/4 c onion- grated
1 1/2 tsp fennel seed- crushed
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sage
1 tsp rosemary
1 1/4 c. vital wheat gluten

-turn rice cooker onto "steam" setting, allow to heat up
-crush/mash beans until none are left whole, stir in all liquid ingredients, then add spices, then add vital wheat gluten-- dough should be very moist and spongy
-cut 6 square pieces of aluminum foil
-separate dough into 6 even pieces, form log shapes, then wrap up in foil, twist in edges into seal off
-steam for 35 min
-allow to cool in fridge, then cook in variety of ways (in frying pan, on grill, chopped up in stir fries, etc..)

 Tonight I fried the sausages in some onions and peppers, and ate my hoagie with lots of ketchup. The hubby said mustard is only way to go... we agreed to disagree and stuffed our happy faces :) :)

pizza night!!!

It's been so nice to be cooking again :) Tonight we had a pizza night.. although it was definitely too hot and humid to have the oven on, we braved it and enjoyed some yummy pizza with family. This first pizza was a "german pizza," I got the idea from a recipe on vegweb.com (I love that website!), I followed the recipe pretty closely. I used my regular pizza dough recipe, topped it with some mashed potatoes (yukon gold+vegenaise+salt+pepper), sliced homemade sausages (pretty close to this recipe.. I love these sausages, but have added my own flare, of course), sauerkraut and cheddar daiya cheese.
This is a great idea for a pizza, so hearty and yummy. The hubby LOVED and we'll definitely make it again.

This pizza is topped with basil, red onion, garlic, tomato slices and daiya mozzerella. Pretty yummy, but not as good as the german guy :)

vegan sausage and pepper spaghetti

For tonight's dinner, I decided to use up some leftovers from yesterday's party, I had made a double batch of vegandad's sausages, there were three links leftover.. just enough for some pasta :)

I made a chunky tomato sauce with the chopped spicy sausage, leftover veggies (grilled peppers, eggplant and one lone mushroom), a box of chopped tomatoes, some onion, garlic, agave and spices.

I stirred the sauce into some whole wheat spaghetti, added some starchy cooking water to coat the pasta, and spinkled on top some Rawmesan (found that stuff up at a health food store in Saratoga, super yummy!). Delicious dinner :) I really liked how the sausages worked in the sauce, chewy and spicy, reminded me of eating out at a Italian restaurant. I'll make this again!

family party time!

I hosted my first ever family party this weekend. I was quite nervous about cooking up a vegan feast, for my non-vegan/gigantic family. I put a lot of work into a family friendly menu and the whole party went off without a hitch.

Vegweb.com is such an amazing resource and I found some great recipes on there for the party. As usual when there are too many people around, I forget to take pictures of food... but I do think I documented the dishes that came out the best :) I've made vegandad's sausages before, and they do NOT disappoint. They got gobbled up, along with lots of other goodies, that I made and were contributed :)

On the menu:
-Potato angels (pictured below).. these came out so yummy and the "deviled egg" job amazingly. The whole platter was cleared within minutes
-Red cabbage asian coleslaw.. I made this with cabbage, carrots, slivered almonds, ramen noodles and a sesame dressing
-Marinated chickpea and artichoke salad
-Spicy sausages
-Grilled veggies (eggplant, red, orange and yellow peppers, and porcini mushrooms)
-Pineapple Upside-down Cake (super easy recipe, SUPER delicious cake, i highly recommend!)
-homebrewed iced tea

Buffalo "Chicken" Dip

Sorry for lack of blogging lately, December always gets so nutty and busy, and truthfully, I was a lil burnt out from Vegan MOFO, but I'm feeling inspired to share my food again, so here goes...

Today we were invited to a New Year's Day party at the hubby's Dad's house. I wanted to share a snacky..

I have never actually eaten Buffalo Chicken dip, but I've seen it brought to many parties, and it sounds like the type of food I'd like, you know.. creamy, spicy, salty. So I decided to attempt to make my own vegan version. Made with processed food, for sure, so not healthy at all.... but I wasn't really going for healthy anyways.

ingredients:
Gardein Frozen Buffalo Wings
Vegenaise
Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
Frank's Red Hot
powdered garlic
powdered onion
Chipotle Parma (vegan parmesan cheese)

-I prepared the buffalo wings, on the stove top, as suggested on the package. I ended up using about 1 and 1/2 packages of wings, as that's what I had in my freezer. Once the wings were all cooked, I added one of the sauce packets that comes with the wings to the pan, then coated the wings. I then put them in the food processor, and pulsed several times, until the "chicken" was shredded.
-I combined the shredded "chicken" with 1 tub of Tofutti, ~1/2 cup of vegenaise, a couple dashes of hot sauce, with garlic, onion and Parma sprinkled in.
-I put this in a baking dish, topped with a lil Parma, and warmed it up in the oven til hot.

So, this was amazing, maybe nothing like other versions of Buffalo Chicken dip, but yum yum yum!

Vegan MOFO day 12 - Down-home cookin', y'all!

My wife Peggy is something else, if you didn't already know. She makes a one-time vegan nay-sayer say "DAY-UM! THAT WAS SCRUMPTIOUS!" That's right, I say scrumptious. Tonight's dish: down-home cookin' a la Peggy. BBQ "chicken", cole slaw, and baked sweet potatoes.

-"Chicken": Gardein 7-grain nuggets tossed in bbq sauce and baked at 400F for 17 minutes

-Sweet potatoes: baked for about an hour, also at 400F (Convenient, no?) and topped with a little EB and cinnamon

-Cole slaw: food processor-sliced cabbage with red onion, then some Vegenaise, apple-cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit o' sugar.

I usually blog right after eating, to get the mood just right. And the mood is: stuffed and happy. Happy Friday!

Vegan MOFO day 7- Buffalo Chik Pizza and Falafel

So, we celebrated with friends last night and ate MORE junk food! Alot of our recent posts have not been the healthiest food.... we've been eating what we call "fat kid food"... haha.... I promise we're not terrible people!!! But, for real, there were like NO vegetables in this dinner.

This was a falafel appetizer, made by Al-Baraki and purchased at Honest Weight Co-op, we toasted them in the oven for a couple minutes. They were super delicious!

We also decided to make some pizza, this is our best pizza recipe, it's super greasy and so amazingly yummy. Oh, and I made whole-wheat pizza crust, so that kinda makes up for the all the grease and lack of veggies, right?


Here's what we did (we made two pizzas):

For the pizza dough:
ingredients:
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 1/3 c. very hot water (run the tap for a minute to get it as hot as possible)
3 c. white whole wheat flour
1 T vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp salt
olive oil

-combine the yeast, sugar and hot water in a bowl, stir to combine, the let sit to activate for 5-10 minutes, until its all foamy
-in a food processor, combine the flour, wheat gluten and salt, turn on and combine
-when the yeast mixture is ready, turn processor on, and pour in the yeast mixture, let the processor run until a dough has formed, it'll turn into a ball, that will start to run around the side of the machine (you'll know)
-take dough out of the machine and knead for 5-7 minutes
-put a lil olive oil in a big bowl, put the dough in the bowl, and turn over until its all coated with the olive oil, cover dough with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hr.
-punch dough down, knead a lil, return to bowl, cover, let rise another 1/2 hr.
-divide into two pizza, or you could make one really big one i guess, roll out and make your pizza!

We topped our pizza with homemade "blue cheese" dressing, vegan cheese (we used FYH monterey jack & daiya cheddar), sliced red onion and buffalo chicken. For the chicken: we used "chicken" nuggets, cut them up into pieces, tossed them with Frank's red hot, then cooked on stove top until warmed through.

blue cheese dressing: (this makes way more than you need for the pizza)
1 c. vegenaise
1/2 tsp tahini
1 squeeze fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
dash garlic powder
1/4 block firm tofu crumbled- to make it chunky

After assembling the pizzas, they cooked in the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes, until all the cheese was melted. They were super greasy, and totally yummy. One of our very non-vegan guests remarked that it was better than regular buffalo chicken pizza! yay!

corn on the cob, roasted fingerling potatoes and chicken-ish nuggets

This time of year is great for vegetables. People give me zucchini at work, my parents give me tons of tomatoes, neighbors give me cucumbers, its awesome! Every sunday, the hubby and I make a trip down the Greenmarket in downtown Schenectady, right now the market is bursting with delicious produce. Last weekend, we discovered a stand that sold these amazing fingerling potatoes, each bin was potatoes of a different color: pink, red, white, yellow, purple and purple speckly ones. We got some of each. For this dinner, I roasted the potatoes in the toaster oven. I really love my toaster oven this time of year, mine has a convection feature, so it cooks, roasts and toasts perfectly, and doesn't make the kitchen all hot. For the potatoes, I tossed them with a lil olive oil, salt and pepper. Roasted at 425 for around 30mins.. You can't really tell that they are all different colors in my pic. As they roasted, the intensity of the colors faded. Even though, we lost some of the color that made me buy them they sure were delicious! Creamy and almost sweet. The purple ones did stay bright purple on the inside. yum-my! I've learned that bright colored food are the healthiest. So I'm going to pretend these potatoes were super healthy too :)

The corn on the cob was also from the market, I simply boiled it on the stovetop. My dad always said to boil corn for 7 mins in salty water. So thats what I do :) I have to say my favorite cooking method for corn on the cob is the grill, but when the grills not on, boiling works fine. All the corn I've had this summer has been super yummy. Corn must like humid and hot NY summers.

We had chicken nuggets for dinner too. They were Gardein brand, they came with some hot sauce, as they were supposed to be "wings." We weren't really in a wing-mood, so we just pan-fried and tossed with fresh chopped parsley and some lemon juice. I have to say they were pretty yummy, chewy and chickeny without being too chickeny.

I'm not really the biggest fake-meat fan, it freaks me out a lil because its so damn processed. These nuggets were our second "Gardein" purchase. A couple months ago we bought the Tuscan chicken cutlets (from the refrigerated section of Hannaford).... those were super gross. These chicken wings came in the freezer case, I thought they had a way better texture than the refrigerated chicken. I probably won't be buying Gardein again anytime soon regardless..