The Pantry Pocket

vegan chili + avocado + tofutti “sour cream”

This recipe is ridiculously tasty and easy! (it makes a huuuuuge amount, so you’ll have leftovers!) You’ll need:

3 cans of beans (I used garbanzo, kidney, and black beans)

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

3 cans of crushed tomatoes

4 carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 jalepeno pepper

4 cloves garlic

1 cup TVP

dried basil, oregano, and chili powder. Smoked paprika is really nice in this too, albeit not required.

sautee the onion, peppers, carrot and celery on medium high heat for about ten minutes. Then, add in all the tomatoes. Add 1 tsp basil and oregano and 1 tablespoon of chili powder. Add some salt and pepper. Drain and rinse the beans (ALWAYS do this, it tastes so much better!) and add to pot. Add in the TVP. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes-1 hour. (the longer the better!)

vegan sloppy joes!

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 1/2 cups of TVP (textured vegetable protein)

1 26 oz can of Hunt’s Manwich sauce (it’s vegan!)

sautee the onion and pepper until soft, then add the sauce an TVP. I added a couple of tablespoons of extra water to make sure the TVP would get pretty soft. After about 10 minutes I served it over some toasty buns with pickles and hot sauce. Delish!

Vegan Nachos and Quesadillas

Spoiling myself tonight. Tortilla strips topped with Daiya mozzarella and cheddar, tvp, red and green peppers, garlic, jalapeños, “sour cream,” peach-pineapple salsa, fresh cilantro and green onions and a side of quesadillas topped with sriracha.

Plantain chili. I threw this together the other day and it definitely has an interesting taste. I’ve never tried to cook my own plantains but I’ve had them a few times. It’s pretty good. I think next time I try to use them I’ll let them ripen a little more.

vegan tvp (textured vegetable protein) chili with avocado on top!

Fajita style TVP burritos with portobello mushrooms, green pepper, jalapeno, onion, cilantro, vegan queso and sour cream with a side of nachos garnished with sweet and spicy corn salsa.

I haven’t made any kind of Mexican dishes in quite a while so I figured I’d give it a shot. This was incredible.

I started out by slicing a package of portobello mushrooms, an onion, a green pepper, a jalapeno and started sauteing them with some canola oil and then added a package of fajita seasoning. I prepped two cups of TVP and used another package of fajita seasoning then mixed the TVP with the veggies.

While that was going on, I started making the vegan queso recipe. It doesn’t exactly look like cheese but it does taste amazing and creamy. The salsa was store bought but was a nice touch to what was going on with my awesome meal.

BBQ TVP on Toasted Sourdough with a side of Vegan Baked Garlicy Mac And “Cheese”

Finally finished all of the leftovers from the food I cooked last week so I wanted to make something new tonight. I started by making the recipe for the the mac and cheese. I added some minced garlic and used garlic salt instead of just regular. It came out a little runny and after reading the reviews on the recipe page I probably should have omitted the water. While it was baking, I started to make my own BBQ TVP mix:

• 7/8 cup: water
• 1 cup: TVP
• 1/2 cup: BBQ sauce (I used a sweet and spicy one)
• 3 tablespoon: ketchup
• 2 tablespoon: mustard

Boil the water. Put the TVP in a bowl then pour the boiling water over it, mix and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. Once it rehydrates, add the rest of the ingredients and mix and you’ll have some awesome tasting BBQ TVP.

After I took the pasta out of the oven, I put the bread in for about 4 minutes just to get the bread nice and toasty. I did add a little extra BBQ sauce on the sandwich and had some spicy, sweet pickles on the side. Overall, it was amazing and I’ll be making something like this again soon!

Tofu Sandwich from Drifters in East Nashville.

Seasoned fried tofu served on a toasted wheat bun with an olive oil spread complimented with special seasoned french fries.

This is my first time at Drifters. They have a vegetarian menu and lots of different flavors of hot sauce. It’s really flavorful and I can’t wait to come back. They’re also open late, even to 3 am on the weekends. So if you’re looking for late night food or a cool place to go after a show this is an awesome option.