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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.
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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. 
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Eventually, after a long long time (especially if you use brown rice), your arroz congri will be ready.  
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Happy vegetarian eating! (I also ate left overs this morning covered in cheese and a fried egg)
 
Let's see what you got....
 
I bought one of those fancy spiralizers that has 6 different blades.  It is pretty awesome.  Last night I made the thinnest setting zucchini noodle and tossed them in a chickpea and red lentil sauce.  I had cooked the lentils before hand and spiralized the zucchini ahead of time, so throwing it all together after the gym only took about 15 minutes.  The sauce is just crushed garlic, tomato paste, salt, bp, rosemary, red savina powder, smoked paprika, nutritional yeast flakes, acquafaba with the chickpeas and lentils. Acquafaba is the water that the chickpeas are cooked in.  In this case i used the water in the can because the chickpeas I buy only have chickpeas, water, and sea salt as ingredients.  Really good, really filling meal.
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It is an off day so just a little bean salad tonight. Red and White kidney beans, red cabbage, yellow bell pepper, grape tomatoes, green peas, scallion, parsley, with a tahini based dressing.  Pro tip, make your salad dressings spicy, it makes salad much more interesting.  I'm a big fan of smoked powders and GIP just restocked me with some smoked serrano, which is great because its not gunna melt your face and adds a nice bit of heat to the food.  
 
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Tried a new "burger" yesterday.  It is a seitan-tofu combo burger by Upton's.  168 cals, 5 g fat, 9 g carbs, and 22 g protein for the macros.  it was $4 for 2 patties which is cheaper than the beyond burgers but a little more than your standard frozen veggie patties.  The flavor wasn't as burgery as it was pork-ish.  Honestly if I'd buy them again and do them up like a McRib.  Not as good as other veggie burgers out there but for the price and the macros I'll keep buying them for a quick after training meal when I didn't prepare something else. 
 
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Here's the nutrition info from the website
Ingredients

Vital wheat gluten, eggplant, water, tofu (water, soybeans, calcium sulfate), sunflower, canola or safflower oil, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt), wheat flour, nutritional yeast, sugar, onion, sea salt, garlic, natural hickory smoke concentrate, whole wheat flour, oregano, black pepper, paprika, parsley, marjoram, apple cider vinegar.



Serving Size: 3.2 oz (91 g)

Servings Per Container: 2

Calories Per Serving: 168

Calories From Fat: 45



Total Fat: 5 g

Trans Fat: 0 g

Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g

Sodium: 365 mg

Carbohydrate: 9 g

Sugar: 1 g

Dietary Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 22 g

Cholesterol: 0 g
 
Have you tried Field Roast burgers?
 
On thing I noticed about veggie burgers is, I like them cooked way longer than the instructions. For beef of course that means they are tough. Bad. But for veg, it gets softer as you cook, so more tender. Good. So what I like is a good sear for a crisp surface, and I like it cooked a good amount amount of time... indirect on the grill works great to soften it up, then the sear.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
Have you tried Field Roast burgers?
I don't think I've seen those around here yet.  The place I grabbed these from is an exaggerated corner store.  They stock a lot of local products and Upton's in just down the way, I don't recall if they have any field roast products in there.  I think I'll have to go to a chain grocer to look for those.
 
A bar just opened up around here that serves a smash-type burger and you can sub in a smashed beyond patty... it is glorious.  
 
My guilty go to lately as been the boca spicy chik'n patties.... 
 
 
mmmm foood. 
 
Another quick after training dinner.  Morningstar chipotle black bean burger that I found in bulk at Sam's club.  They're way bigger patties than the ones in the grocery store.  And since I'm going to get a sports nutrition certification this year Imma be tellin' ya'll about macros when i can for some of my meals.  These burgers are 190 cals, 7 g fat, 22 carbs (8 fiber, 2 sugar), and 17 g protein.  It is pretty perfect for an after workout meal with the carbs and protein in there.   I prettied up my burger with avocado, tomato, romaine, alfalfa and garlic sprouts, and a chipotle aioli on a sesame seed bun.  
 
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Black Bean Taco Salad with a homemade honey chipotle vinaigrette. The tortilla chips are actually made from beans too, they're called Beanitos.  There's cilantro lime rice at the bottom, romaine and spinach, a can of black beans cooked with onion and garlic and seasoned with GIP's smoked serrano powder among other things, sliced tomato and avocado, frontera salsa, pepitas and the dressing.  Definitely a staple meal here, have it almost once a week. It'll fill you up and you can play around with whats in it to make it a little different.  Sometimes I roast bell peppers or poblanos, or add soyrizo, or sweet potatoes. The dressing is killer too.  I use this recipe as a base, but for some reason never have red wine vinegar so I use a combo of balsamic and acv.  
 
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