The Spicy Meatless Thread... (ya I went there)

I know going into this that this thread is going to get meat bombed... but there's gotta be at least a couple other people on this forum that have herbivore tendencies.  Lately almost everything I have been cooking has been meat-free unless its for the dogs.  I've been toying with recipes and finding ways to get the flavors of dishes that usually have animal muscle as the main feature.  Hopefully some of y'all do the same from time to time and we can swap and share some spicy veggie recipes. I've held off on making this thread for a while because I know the ridicule that will inevitably come, but I guess its better to clog my own thread with my hippy food rather than all the other cooking threads. 
 
So here goes, last night per request I made some arroz congri and tostones.  
 
For the rice and beans, I chop up a green and red bell pepper, 2 onions and about 4-5 cloves of garlic. Cook up that in the pot before adding the rice and beans and sufficient water.  Season it up, and pretty much just leave it on the stove for a while.  I don't have any fresh pods yet so I seasoned my batch up with some smoked naga powder for good measure.  The tostones start by cooking them a bit on each side before pulling them from the pan.

 
After the tostones are cooked and pulled from the pan you gotta squish em dip em in cold water and throw em back in the pan, for the second round of frying. When you pull them out you can season them with whatever you want, I like to make a garlicky spicy sauce concoction to dip them in.  Also, make yourself a guava-lime rum drink for good measure. 

 
Eventually, after a long long time (especially if you use brown rice), your arroz congri will be ready.  

 
 
Happy vegetarian eating! (I also ate left overs this morning covered in cheese and a fried egg)
 
Let's see what you got....

 

[BigB]

well, this was vegetarian (if you are lacto/ovo vege) till I sprinkled some of benton's bacon (best bacon in the world) on it. Huevos rancheros with my red sauce, broiled cheddar and my red devil salt made with smoked wickedmike's trini mystery. The egg wasn't over cooked, it was a little bit over poached i'd say

 

[BigB]

ok, I woke up at noon today and the first thing that came to my mind was sausage gravy and biscuits. Made rosemary biscuits from scratch which were perfect and vegetarian sausage gravy. Overall, pretty good. 

and yea, sorry my picture quality sucks. I have a pantech phone, haven't entered this whole smart phone realm yet lol

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Sounds good bro, did you use seitan?

 

[BigB]

I don't know what it's made of but it's ground vegetarian breakfast sausage package that comes in a tube, can't remember the name. 

My girlfriend isn't happy with me yet again, I made it too spicy lol 
Ok, this is dinner. Had to make 2 separate dishes, one for my gf and one for me so I wouldn't be castrated lol. Fettuccine alfredo with smoked brown 7 pot powder, the depth of flavor is so unique and interesting, it's like caribbean italian. 

 

[BigB]

vegetarian broccoli and tofu pad thai with djinn's spicy powder. I cooked an egg into mine

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I see broccoli is the above pic, not that one. I may see one piece... just right of center?

 

[BigB]

there wasn't that much broccoli left int he bag so the vegetarian took most of it lol

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I love pad thai.
 
It's great mealtess but the best meat is beef. Goes so well with the peanuts, eggs, and tamarind. 

 

[BigB]

shrimp is a good addition too, if it's not crappy shrimp that is

 

[oldsalty]

well, this was vegetarian (if you are lacto/ovo vege) till I sprinkled some of benton's bacon (best bacon in the world) on it. Huevos rancheros with my red sauce, broiled cheddar and my red devil salt made with smoked wickedmike's trini mystery. The egg wasn't over cooked, it was a little bit over poached i'd say

Bacon is my favorite thing on vegetarian meals hehehe just kidding! Everything looks tasty BigB!

 

[grantmichaels]

food looks great, trying to figure out the chemistry duck in the bkgd ...

 

[BigB]

hah, i'd say it's more of a heron but yea. that was me when i got bored

 

[grantmichaels]

we can compromise on pelican ...

 

[oldsalty]

I'm going pelican!

 

[Rawkstah]

I think I'd been craving biscuits n gravy since BigB's post.  I usually despise sausage, mostly because they are loaded with little gritty pieces of fat.  With the faux sausages I don't have to worry about that.  I think I used the same "sausage" as BigB, it was Gimme Lean vegan sausage.  First order of business was making the biscuits.  Measure out a cup of buttermilk, (if you don't have any just add a ts or two of lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk, stir it up and let it sit), put that buttermilk in the freezer!  The colder the ingredients the better! Then 2 cups of flour, 4 ts baking powder, a little under a 1/2 ts of baking soda, and then about a half stick of butter (sometimes I use coconut oil in place of butter, but the melting point lower so it isn't a great sub in for something like this).  Mix the dry ingredients, and then work the butter in with your hands. After that pull the milk from the freezer and either slowly work it in with the dry ingredients or I like to do the well method like when making pasta.  Fold the dough over a couple times and cut your biscuits. They at least double in height when cooking.  I cooked them at 450 for about 22 min, but my oven seems to always need longer than most.  I also pulled them with about 2 min left and buttered the tops. 
 
While the biscuits were baking, I made the gravy. I used the whole tube of Gimme Lean. I brown and break up the "meat", then fill the pan I'm cooking in a little over halfway with milk when the time comes, a quarter cup of flour or so, salt, fresh ground black pepper, and smoked red habanero powder from Knepper's Peppers.  Oh also a pinch of ground sage and thyme. Its something my great grandmother always did when cooking with breakfast sausage, so it's become something I do too now.  Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer.  It will thicken more as it cools.  
 
I ate mine with a fried egg between the biscuits and the gravy. something about the gooey yolk and the gravy.  omnomnomnom. 
 
my sous chef pushing out the dough for me.  

 
I used a mason jar lid as a cutter...

 
before the boil

 
finished biscuits

 
gravy taken off the heat, waiting to cool a little

 
nomnomnomnom

 
 
I've already got plans for a biscuits n gravy spin off... but ya'll will have to wait till I make it to find out what it is!

 

[Essegi]

Liked. Then ulinked for "I usually despise sausage, mostly because they are loaded with little gritty pieces of fat." Then liked again since that looks really good!

 

[spysee]

Looks good! I've tried 1 brand of veggie sausage and didn't like it, but the bacon I tried was alright. I'll keep a look-out for different types of veg sausage though, would like to try this. I think the bacon will work until I find decent sausage.

 

[Rawkstah]

Looks good! I've tried 1 brand of veggie sausage and didn't like it, but the bacon I tried was alright. I'll keep a look-out for different types of veg sausage though, would like to try this. I think the bacon will work until I find decent sausage.

The sausage brand was Gimme Lean.  What brand of bacon do you like? I haven't found a faux bacon that I like so if I get a bacon craving I just eat bacon. I haven't found store bought veggie sausage links other than breakfast sausages that I enjoy really, so I've taken up making my own. 

 

[BigB]

look at all this commotion i started

 

[spysee]

The sausage brand was Gimme Lean.  What brand of bacon do you like? I haven't found a faux bacon that I like so if I get a bacon craving I just eat bacon. I haven't found store bought veggie sausage links other than breakfast sausages that I enjoy really, so I've taken up making my own.

 
Well, its a bit of a stretch to say "like", its more like "tastes vaguely like bacon, and has no bad after taste." It's the "MorningStar" brand.