CTTVCC: Micro-Ritos

Hello Everyone! This recipe is on page 155 of PETA's Vegan College Cookbook. This is a particularly easy recipe. As is often the case, it makes a LOT of food. I'd recommend cutting the recipe in half unless you're making enough for you and a few friends, or unless you just REALLY love burritos. I know it's been a while since I did a Vegan College Cookbook post, so here we go!

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (8-ounce) bag vegan chicken or steak strips
• 1 (16-ounce) jar salsa
• 1 (15-ounce) can black or pinto beans
• 1 (10-ounce) package Mexican-style vegan cheese, grated
• 1 package (10-inch) tortillas
• 1 bag boil-in-bag brown or white rice (optional)

I chose to use Beyond Meat Grilled vegan chicken strips. They're gluten-free too.

I used Target-brand salsa, and Earth Fare brand black beans.

I didn't have any Mexican-style vegan cheese, so I used half a bag of Daiya Cheddar shreds, and half a bag of Daiya Mozzarella Shreds. 

I made my first burrito on a 10-inch tortilla, but the tortillas kept falling apart, and that much burrito was a little bit too much for me to eat. So, I switched to little 6-inch corn tortillas of some obscure brand. I also decided that since the rice was optional anyway, I'd substitute quinoa to make the burritos have a bit more protein. Besides, I had precooked quinoa sitting in my fridge taking up precious space.

Here is what mine looked like:

As the picture makes very obvious, this is horribly ugly. But then again, you wrap it in a tortilla so you don't have to look at it. The physical attractiveness of this food is inversely proportional to the yumminess. (That means it tastes great!) 

So, if you chose to make the recipe differently, or even the same as I did, I'd love to hear how it turned out. Please, leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the recipe!

CTTVCC: Ants on a Blog

This delicious snack is one I've enjoyed since childhood. Eating this again brings back memories of my nana making these for me when I was knee high to a grasshopper. (Pardon the funny expression. I don't really ever use it but it makes me laugh because it makes me think of cute little old ladies in the South.) My nana always cut the celery smaller so that it was more kid-friendly. I used to get these when coming home from dance lessons. Ah. . . Memories.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 stalks celery, cut into sticks
• 1 box raisins
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter

Here's what mine looked like:

The only thing I changed about this recipe was using dried cranberries instead of dried grapes. I mean, I did also use the sugar-free kind, just to be a little healthier, but whatever. For those who may have peanut allergies, or just want to try mixing this up a bit, you could use crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth, or any kind of nut or seed butter that you wanted. My favorite non-peanut butter is sunflower seed butter. Let me tell you, it is amazing. (I have also heard good things about pumpkin seed butter, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. I might end up having to make some myself next fall after carving jack-o-lanterns.) Anyway, this is a super-simple, super-satisfying recipe that's great for snacking on without getting your hands that messy. Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions and Contest

So everyone, there aren't necessarily a ton of things that I've resolved to do this year. I don't want to just have an ever-growing list of things that I'll never do just because I've resolved to do them. I don't really have any health resolutions. I mean, I'm already vegan. What else is there? I guess I could theoretically resolve to stop cheating my gluten-free diet, but I don't really have an ethical problem with gluten, and they make magic pills that can help you digest gluten occasionally.

I have resolved to post more on this blog, especially Vegan College Cookbook reviews, which I guess could be food-related, and thus health-related, but that's really a stretch. But I got a seriously nicer camera for Christmas, so the photo quality on this blog should be improving! YAY! I have also resolved to be more active for the causes and charities I care about, especially animal welfare. But I guess because everyone needs one resolution that they don't mind not keeping, I also resolve to keep my room cleaner. Ha ha ha! Oh, that's a good one. So, that's not an exhaustive list of my resolutions, but too many of them would require context explanations that it's not worth bothering to mention them.

I hope you've made some resolutions that you plan on keeping. Though, as a tip, make them realistic. For example, I would not resolve to be the #1 Pop star in America by the end of the year. First of all, pop isn't even my favorite genre. Like, at all. But that's beside the point. However, I also wouldn't make them so boring or non-specific that they're not motivational, such as resolving to be "a better person" or resolving to smell more flowers. Unless of course, that's your thing. And then, by all means, smell away. I hope you're not allergic to pollen. Basically, make sure it's something that can be accomplished to your satisfaction. If you're really not sure what you want to resolve, but you want to resolve SOMETHING, here's a list of suggestions:

• Plant a new tree or shrub by the end of the year.
• You can buy a tree already sprouted (as long as you have permission from the powers that be,) or if you're up for a bigger challenge, try starting out all the way from a seed. Avocados are a good choice if you aren't sure what to go with. First of all, you can make yourself some yummy guacamole to get the pit to start out with. Second, the plants themselves are very pretty.
•  Plant a veggie garden.
• The best part about planting your own garden is picking what veggies you want to grow. Then you get really inexpensive, fresh food once it's grown. If you don't really have a yard to plant a garden in, like if you live in a dorm or apartment, or maybe your parents don't want you to dig up their nicely manicured lawn, you can plant window-box gardens, or potted plants. Those are great for smaller plants or herbs. I'd recommend rosemary and basil if you're not sure what to go with, but you want something small.
• Complete 5 Actions per month at Peta2.
• This one is really easy because the people over at PETA have already dome the hard work for you by making posters, collecting email addresses and researching the details, etc. Plus, you earn points by doing all those things and you can get yourself free stuff with the points. Who doesn't love free stuff?
• Go Cruelty-Free!
• Maybe you already only EAT vegan, but you haven't made the switch with cosmetics, clothes, etc. There are so many great brands of cruelty-free products, and many of them are really affordable. 
• Go Vegan!
• If you haven't already done this one, it really has never been easier. There are so many recipes out there thanks to the internet, and veganizing existing recipes is also super-simple with the amazing options that are out there.
• Go Vegetarian!
• If for some reason, you can't go vegan yet, or would prefer to make the switch more gradually, this is a good baby step. Again, it's never been easier!  
• Go Organic!
• This one can be a bit pricey. But it's certainly more healthful than eating junk food. Though I guess they do make organic "junk" food. Eh. Whatever. Aldis and Costco have a surprising amount of organic options, which are inexpensive.
• Convince your Family / Friends to do Meatless Mondays.
• Maybe they won't go 100% vegan or even vegetarian. But there are a lot of doctors and specialists saying that giving up meat at least 1 day a week has a ton of health benefits. This might mean that you have to cook diner once a week, but I'm sure you've got some ideas that you're dying to try, right?
• Try one new vegan recipe per month.
• This could involve a bit of pre-planning, but trying new things can be a lot of fun, and if you have the Vegan College Cookbook, it can be really affordable too. 
• Stay Positive / Be Thankful.
• The holidays are coming to a close, and it's easy to get out of the habit of being thankful for small things in life, and to take the things you have for granted. One thing that I have found helpful is to get a notebook or journal and write down things that I'm thankful for / happy about. For example, a friend of mine recently had been struggling with depression, and I encouraged him to write down 5 things a day to be thankful for. You can write more or less things, and do it as frequently as you'd like. If 5 things a day is too much, you could do 3 things a day, or 5 things twice a week. The important thing is not to quit when you forget a day. Even if you forget a week. If you're ever feeling down or discouraged, read back through the things you've written, and you're likely to feel a lot better. Everyone I've ever gotten to do this has found it extremely helpful.

If you have any other good ideas for general resolutions you'd like to share, please leave a comment! I'd love to hear what you have to say.

So, whatever you've resolved, here is a motivational picture.

This is my cat, C3PO, who I adopted from my local animal shelter. He had already had one leg amputated when I found him, but he gets along without it pretty well, even if he looks kind of ridiculous when he runs. Anyway, the other day, he climbed on top of our giant old TV that was given away, and was acting like he had achieved the most amazing accomplishment possible. It was pretty much adoreable. This was just an excuse to post a picture of my cat.

Alright. So here's the contest part:

First, you must follow this blog by at least one method if you do not already. Next, using the contact form located in the right sidebar, send me your name and email address, and at least 1 activism-related resolution. The winner will be randomly selected by computer, but if your resolution is just "I resolve to be more active" or something like that, then you won't qualify. And trust me. You want to win. Why? Because here's what the winner gets (approximately $25 value):

•  2 stickers from Sevenly, a company which funds a huge variety of humanitarian organizations by selling super-cool shirts and other apparel
• 3 magnets made from Sevenly stickers that are great for lockers or mini-fridges
• 15 magnets made from PETA stickers that are also great for lockers or mini-fridges. 
• 1 customized bracelet made by me. You choose colors and specify size. The bracelet will appear similar to this one in my web store, only it will say "ACTIVIST" instead of a name. 
• The winner will also be featured on this blog with a photo, short biographical description, and their resolution. (The winner will be contacted for the photo and description, as well as the details of the bracelet after being selected. This will act as a conformation method.)

All entries must be received before February 1st 2014. There also must be more than 10 qualifying entries, or the contest will be canceled. If there are a large number of participants, I may add runner-up places with smaller but still awesome prizes. In the event of cancellation, a consolation prize will be available to any participants. I reserve the right to change the rules and awards at any time. I'm sorry if you don't think the prizes are cool. I'm a poor college student, remember?

Happy New Year, Everyone! Good luck! Feel free to comment and tell me what a great idea this is. Tell all your friends about this contest and encourage them to enter as well! Who knows. Maybe they'll share with you if they win.

*************** UPDATE: CONTEST IS CLOSED.

CTTVCC: Hangover Helper

Turn to page 38. Alright everyone. Let me just start off by saying that this is a phenomenal recipe. I may have mentioned before that I have never been a big fan of mayonnaise in the past. However, it made this breakfast sandwich taste super-delicious! In fact, probably because of this very recipe, I am beginning to really like the stuff. Really. I love the way that the taste of the veganaise combines with the flavor of the cheese. It is probably one of my favorite breakfast recipes I've made so far. Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day. In fact, I'd probably be perfectly content to pretty much just eat breakfast food for the rest of ever. I mean, really. I'ts all kinds of delicious.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
• salt, pepper, and onion powder, to taste
• 8 vegan chicken strips, thawed
• 2 slices vegan cheese
• 1 bagel, sliced in half

I used Follow Your Heart Original Veganaise for this recipe. I wanted to get the reduced fat stuff, but I didn't want that to maybe interfere with the flavor the first time I tried this recipe, as diet foods often do. 

I chose Beyond Meat lightly seasoned chicken-free strips because they are gluten-free and vegan. They also have one of the most convincing meat textures I've ever come across in fake meat. 

Any flavor of vegan cheese would probably work fine, and you don't have to get the pre-sliced stuff, but I chose Daiya Cheddar Slices. Admittedly, slices are a bit easier to work with.

I also have yet to find gluten-free, vegan bagels, so I again used English muffins instead. I used Food For Life brown rice English muffins, which are very yummy, just in case you were wondering. Also, one advantage of English muffins over bagels, is that you don't have food falling through the hole in the middle.

Here is what my finished sandwich looked like: 

This was super-yummy, and I will definitely be making this again. It's packed with protein and yummy veganness so I'm sure it would be great for making sure you can kick start your day with energy. It's also not the messiest thing out there, so you can eat it while you're getting ready in the morning. I seriously want another one of these RIGHT NOW. I'm sure you'll be as impressed with them as I was. This is definitely on my go-to recipes list. You know, to be honest, this would make a good power-snack, or lunch or even a light dinner. EAT IT FOR ALL THE MEALS! Enjoy!

CTTVCC: Vegan Mac 'N' Cheez

This recipe can be found on page 187. This is a pretty good recipe, though I admit I wound up making several adjustments to it. I've been searching for the perfect vegan macaroni and cheese recipe, and while I am still hoping to find or some up with one that tastes a little more authentic, this one isn't bad. In my opinion, it ended up tasting a little bit plain, so I'd pair it with some high-flavor sides.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste

I used Ancient Harvest Quinoa macaroni, which is very yellow to begin with. Actually, I think that's where most of the color in the dish was coming from once I'd finished making the whole thing. I love quinoa pastas because they're higher in protein because quinoa is simply packed full of it. It's some of the best gluten-free pasta out there because many brands don't actually hold together very well, and just turn into mush. This, however, has rather good structural integrity.

For soy milk, I used West Soy shelf stable soy milk. By the way, shelf stable alternative milks are simply a must. All too often, I've run out of fake milk when the store isn't open, and then my coffee, tea, cereal, recipes, etc. either don't turn out, or can't be made at all. Save yourself some drama. Keep a few cartons in your sock drawer.

I've finally switched to buying my nutritional yeast in bulk at my local health food stores. I still haven't found the exact sort of container I'd like to keep it in, but it'll probably end up going in a plastic-bag lined sealable canister of some sort.

For the margarine, I used Earth Balance Coconut Buttery Spread. This is some of my favorite butter replacements ever invented. Coconut is so good for you, an it has an extremely delicious taste. The only downside is that it remains rather firm, so you have to let it sit out for a while if you want to be able to really spread it smoothly.

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder were a random assortment of things from my parent's pantry. Like a mentioned at the beginning of this post, I added a few things in. I used red pepper in addition to the black pepper. I ended up having to use way more nutritional yeast because the sauce was too runny. I probably should have added more garlic powder, except for that I didn't want to have garlic breath when I was going to be hanging out with my boyfriend later. 

All in all, this is a decent recipe. It goes really well with veggies like sugar snap peas, corn, or broccoli. It also is delicious with extra-seasoned potato wedges or fries. I will probably try more macaroni recipes before I make this one again, but I can definitely see myself making this again. I suppose smaller kids might like this because younger children tend to prefer more bland foods than foods with a kick. If you did anything to this recipe to alter it, let me know in a comment, and tell me what you thought! I'm really excited to perfect vegan macaroni and cheese. 

CTTVCC: Georgia Peach Cobbler

I apologize in advance for the unexpected, and thus, unannounced hiatus from my blog. There has recently been a series of unfortunate events in my life. . . More like tragedies actually. A girl who used to go to my school was murdered by her boyfriend, one of my cats passed away of old age, (Rest in peace, Arwen.) and my grandmother has been in and out of the hospital. I've been rather busy. But enough sad stories, let's get to talking about yummy food!

This scrumptious, and not-completely-bad-for-you dessert is located on page 295. This is a great comfort food, especially for those times when you have already eaten a whole pan of brownies, and you still need some comforting. This fruity goodness just wants to give your tummy a hug. I don't know about you, but I crave chocolate during the winter, but during the summer, I tend to want fruity desserts. Perhaps that's because subconsciously, I know that summer is the season of fruit, and that's why I want it more then. Anyway, this is something you should try next time you're feeling down. This relatively healthy, light, fruity dessert will make your tummy (and hopefully you,) happier in no time!

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (15 ounce) can peaches with syrup
• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup corn flakes or granola
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

I used generic peaches but I made sure to get the kind that's in light syrup. This recipe would probably still work even if you got peaches "in their own juice" if you want to be extra-healthy. 

I used generic quick oats, cinnamon and brown sugar. Because I love cinnamon, I used a whole teaspoon of it. Cinnamon is great for you though, so I don't care if it's not exactly following the recipe. Speaking of not following the recipe exactly, I kind of went a little crazy with the oatmeal and granola layers, and ended up using twice the amount of the mixture then it called for. Oh well.

Here is my finished cobbler:

As you can see, the fruit to oats ratio is way off. It was still delicious. This is one of the simplest dessert recipes that I've ever made, and it's extremely satisfying. If I hadn't already decided not to remake recipes for myself until I'd gone through that recipe's whole section in the cookbook, I think I would end up making this 50 times before I finished everything else in desserts. I also would totally eat this for breakfast as well because it's got fruit, granola and oatmeal. That makes it breakfast food too, right? Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy this recipe just like I did!

CTTVCC: Piz-Tato

This recipe is on page 284. Starting out with this recipe, I wasn't sure what to expect. I stopped really liking potatoes a while ago, but now I'm starting to think that's just because I got sick of the way my family always fixed potatoes, which was full of butter and cream cheese, and cheese, basically, just dairy overload, which was also rather bland. This recipe has renewed my faith in potatoes. Not only was it good, it was really delicious, especially since I was expecting not to be impressed. I absolutely loved it. Next time I want vegan, gluten-free pizza, I won't bother whining about finding one of the holy grails of gluten-free, vegan frozen-in-a-box-from-the-grocery-store pizzas because making the gluten-free dough is normally more work than I want to do anyway. I'll just flip to this recipe.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 large baking potato
• 3 tablespoons pizza or tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella-style vegan cheese

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't expecting this to appeal to me very much, so, consequently, I did not get a large baking potato, I got a small potato. Because I got a baby-sized potato, I cut the rest of the ingredients in half. I definitely won't be cutting the recipe in half in the future, because this was so yummy!

I used store brand, garden-style pasta sauce, and Daiya Mozzarella- Style Shreds. Those two ingredients are a match made in heaven. Or perhaps made in America. . . but inspired by Italy! 

Here is my finished potato:

How adorable is that? They're like baby-pizzas!

Yeah, I wasn't sure how to eat them. Do you pick them up and eat them like pizza? Do you cut them into bite-sized pieces? I gave up guessing and mashed it all together. So, now it doesn't look that attractive, but it tasted amazing!

I really loved this recipe. I will definitely be making it again. I with there had been more of it. Oh well. At least I'm more open to the other potato recipes in the cookbook. I know I wouldn't have come up with this recipe on my own. turn a potato into a pizza? How often do people do that? Well I've decided: not often enough. Let me know what you thought by commenting on this post!

CTTVCC: Bunny Butter Spread

Page 77 is where you'll find a little white rabbit who is terribly late for an important date, and decides he needs to snag this snack before rushing off to meet the Queen of Hearts. Okay, not really, but it is where you'll find the recipe for Bunny Butter Spread. This spread makes a delicious snack that I could eat forever. I'm glad this makes a limited amount.

The recipe calls for:

• 1/4 cup grated carrots from the salad bar
• 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon raisins
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

I grated carrots from the produce section of the grocery store, because as school is out, I have no salad bars at my disposal. 

I used Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter. 

Alright. It's confession time. I hate raisins. I tolerate them in my gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread, but I don't go out of my way to put them in food. However, I love craisins (dried cranberries.) I used  Ocean Spray Original Craisins instead of raisins, and you know what? It tasted way better that way. I think the craisins added a much better pop of flavor than boring old raisins ever could. 

Then I used store-brand orange juice. Hurray. Cheap.

Here is my finished spread:

The recipe suggested eating the spread on crackers. I haven't bought any gluten-free, vegan crackers lately, so I ate this with little tortilla rounds. They were perfectly bite-sized, and the slight amount of salt on the chips added a nice flavor to the spread. I will definitely be making this for future parties. If you're going to make this for a party, I suggest doubling or tripling the recipe, or maybe even quadrupling? It's really good, and you'll have to watch it to make sure that the one friend that everyone has who only comes to parties to eat all your food doesn't hog the whole thing. It's such a delicious recipe, I really don't blame the kid for wanting to eat it all. I know I probably could. I hope you all loved this! If you've tried the recipe with raisins and craisins, I'm curious to know which you liked better! Leave me a comment, and tell me about yours!

CTTVCC: Pantry Raid Pasta

This recipe is on page 163. This recipe is phenomenally delicious. It tasted like I had put a bunch of effort into it when really, you just throw it together. This honestly tastes better than some restaurant Italian food I've had, and it's ready so much faster, and costs so much less. Even my non-vegan family members fell in love with this. I foresee making this a lot in the future.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16-ounce) box elbow pasta
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 (8-ounce) bags vegan chicken strips
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Okay, so I didn't use elbow pasta. But isn't that the point of the pantry raid? I had gotten a sampler box of a bunch of random gluten-free foods from Vitacost, and the company had sent a gluten-free penne the month that I bought it. The package was, most appropriately, almost completely in Italian, but lucky for me, there was also a French section, and I was able to figure out that the only ingredient in the pasta was corn. It was all just made of corn. I found it a little hard to believe, but I figured that I wouldn't die from it. After I cooked it, I realized that it probably was entirely made of corn because it lost all structural integrity, and basically shredded itself, so obviously it didn't  have a very effective binding agent. It tasted great though!

I used generic diced tomatoes, but I used ones with Italian seasonings mixed in with the tomatoes. I would definitely recommend using  tomatoes with Italian seasonings because you don't want your pasta to taste bland.

For the faux chicken, I used a mix of Beyond Meat Grilled Strips and Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Strips, just to mix things up a bit. Actually, I just didn't have enough of the lightly seasoned strips to make the recipe, so I opened the other package to augment it.

I tried not to use too much salt, but I was very generous with the pepper. I am a firm believer that pepper helps enhance the flavor. Also, I've heard that eating spicy foods boosts your metabolism. Maybe it'll counteract some of those pasta-carbs. 

Here is my finished dish:

Mmmmmm. That stuff was crazy-good. Can you see all that shredded pasta? Even though it's molecular integrity was compromised, it still tasted amazing! I just can't get over how delicious this was. If I wasn't trying to cook through the whole cookbook, I'd probably stop and just make this over and over for at least a week. It's that good people, it's that good. Let me know how yours turned out, and if you liked it as much as I did by leaving me a comment below. Comments are always welcome!

CTTVCC: Dirty Chick (Pea) Clean-Up Salad

Turn to page 115, please. This is a really delicious recipe that I know for sure I would not have thought of myself. It's a combination that I wouldn't have come up with, but yet, compliments each other very well. It's savory and sweet; soft and crunchy at the same time. It's a simple recipe that I know I will turn to in times of need, or need for something to pack as a lunch on those days when I don't feel like trusting the cafeteria.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup diced celery
• 1 Red Delicious or Gala apple, cored and diced
• Salt, to taste

I used store brand chickpeas, and fresh celery, and a Gala apple. My favorite kind of apple (right now anyway,) is the Pink Lady apple, which I will use next time I make this salad. It would also be interesting to try using a Granny Smith apple for a more sour taste. Basically, it doesn't matter what kind of apple you use. The kind of apple will, obviously, slightly change the taste of the salad though. I would love to hear what kinds of apples you've used, and how you thought it tasted! Just leave a comment on this blog entry to let me know.

Also, I love celery. All the sources I've come across say that your body burns more calories to digest celery than the celery contains. Essentially, celery is negative calories. Figured I'd throw that out there, just in case you didn't know.

I only used a small pinch of sea salt, because I knew the chickpeas would taste great salted, but I wasn't sure about the apples.

Here is my finished salad:

This salad is really easy and fast to make. It doesn't require any baking, it doesn't really matter if your proportions are slightly off, you can eat as much or as little as you like at a time without wasting, or having half eaten sandwiches or whatever littering your fridge. It's packed with protein and fiber as well as good flavor. It makes a great snack or main course, and every bite is delicious. I hope you love this!

CTTVCC: Black Bean and Corn Salad (Salsa Remix)

Hello to all my charming readers, this recipe is on page 113. This recipe is great. It's versatile as it can be eaten on chips, in a taco or wrap, by itself, on a bed of lettuce, or even upside down. Though, I wouldn't recommend the latter. I really liked the taste of this. I think that the beans and the corn compliment each other so well. While the Black Bean and Corn Salad (Extended Dance Mix) is a delicious zing of flavors, sometimes less is more. I guess it depends on the person, or maybe more specifically, on said person's mood. This is another good recipe for parties, by the way, and I wouldn't plan on having leftovers.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can corn, drained
• 6 tablespoons lime juice (fresh or from a squirt bottle)
• 5 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chives
• 1/2 cup salsa
• salt and pepper to taste

I used Earth Fare brand beans, corn, olive oil, salsa, salt, and pepper. I didn't use lime juice, because I didn't have any, but I had a bunch of lemon juice, and I figured that it's probably close enough in taste. I used Real Lemon brand lemon juice, though, I'm sure fresh lemon juice would taste better. Admittedly, fresh lime juice would taste even better than that, but hey.

By the way, I would recommend using a medium salsa at the mildest. This is the sort of thing that tastes best with a bit of a kick. I only had mild salsa in the fridge, and I didn't want to open another jar, so I just used cayenne pepper instead of black pepper. It did the trick. Of course, it makes it spicier the longer you're eating it, but hey, it helps counteract the law of diminishing return, since each bite has flavor that doesn't just start getting dull after a while. Of course, if you combined cayenne pepper with hot salsa, you might be able to make some cash by selling the drinks at your party, or perhaps use the opportunity to force people into trying your favorite fake milk? Just kidding. Don't do that. It's not a good way to make friends.

Here is the evidence of my food DJ skills:

The olive oil makes this look especially shiny. It's just saying "Eat Me!"

Perhaps this would be a good recipe for trying to determine which brand or tortilla chips actually taste the closest to Mexican restaurants. I mean, a bunch of them claim to, but which ones are telling the truth? This is a great excuse for playing chip-detective. Or if you melt some of your favorite vegan cheese in a taco shell or soft tortilla, this makes a great entree. You can pull this out when you want an unboring snack, especially when you get early-hour-of-the-morning-munchies when you're trying to finish up a project last minute. That sort of situation would be the perfect time for you to use the spiciest combination possible, you know, to wake yourself up. Don't get me wrong, I love my coffee, but sometimes, your body just grows immune to the effects of caffeine. I would definitely try this recipe out, because let me tell you, even if you make it as mild as possible, it's still delicious!

CTTVCC: Ramen Holiday

This recipe is on page 131. This is a simple go-to recipe that is perfect for rainy days. I don't know about you, but when the weather is nasty outside, I always want soup. From tropical storms to snow storms, it's my bad-weather panacea (cure-all.) This is similar to how my mother used to always fix ramen noodles when I was a kid. It adds more volume to the soup, but I am not sure whether she did so because it would give the soup more nutritional value, or because then she wouldn't have to use as many packs of ramen to feed me and my three sisters, plus my parents. Well, that was a nice trip down memory lane. Reminiscing time over now.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 package ramen
• 1 cup frozen mixed Italian veggies

I used McDougall's Pad Thai Noodle Soup, and generic frozen veggies. Unfortunately, all I could find in my freezer was Normandy-style veggies not Italy-style veggies. To be perfectly honest, I prefer French to Italian anyway. The veggie mix had broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and squash. That's some pretty high-class stuff there.

Here's my finished soup:

Well, I really liked this recipe, especially my Normandy-style veggies. And my Pad Thai. I would definitely recommend adding veggies to ramen for the exact two reasons my mother used to use. If you are trying to get by on a small budget, we all know ramen is cheap. But you can stretch your ramen and get some extra nutrients into your meals by adding frozen vegetables, which also tend to be pretty cheap. Now, what would be super-great, would be combining this recipe with the Rent's Due "Cheezy" Ramen, and throwing a little bit of nutritional yeast in there. That would really be perfect. Hope you all enjoy this recipe!

CTTVCC: Chick-Un Parm Sammich

Open the Vegan College Cookbook to page 49 for this recipe. This is a delicious, savory recipe that is great for when you want some Italian finger food that is relatively cheap, and you don't mind making a bit of a mess. Or a lot of a mess. I guess that depends on your level of skills.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 vegan chicken patty
• 2 slices whole-wheat bread
• 2 tablespoons marinara sauce
• 1 slice vegan mozzarella cheese

I used Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Strips for the chicken, which, I know, isn't a patty. But It's the only gluten-free, vegan chick'n I've been able to find. They worked fine though. Granted, a patty would have been a bit easier to eat, but still. I'm just waiting for Beyond Meat to come out with some more products that I can eat, and use for making these recipes!

Obviously, with my gluten-free restriction, whole wheat bread is a bit out of the question, so I used Food for Life Rice Millet Bread. If the point of suggesting whole wheat bread was just so people would pick a more wholesome bread than basic white bread, then I'm sure this counts. 

I used generic marinara sauce, but I picked one that was garden vegetable style so it had a bit more flavor than plain tomato sauce. Plus, extra veggies! Extra veggies are a good way to roll.

Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella Cheese was the only vegan mozzarella cheese I had, and it wasn't pre-sliced. So, I used more than one slice of it otherwise it wouldn't have covered all the chick'n. Don't want my fake meat getting scandalous, now do I?

Here is my finished sammich:

If you can't tell, I really like my vegan cheese.

This is a nomalicious recipe that I will definitely be making again. It's perfect for using up little bits of leftover pizza/ pasta sauce. I must say though, don't wear a white shirt while you're eating it. It's a very high-risk sort of thing, putting marinara on a sammich. In fact, wear red. Or something dark. And for the love of vegan food, don't eat this on a first date. I probably wouldn't even eat this with my boyfriend around unless he was preoccupied, and wouldn't see me, or if I made it in a wrap instead. But really, if you won't be humiliated in front of someone you're trying to impress, or you won't be ruining one of your favorite shirts, it is so worth it. 

CTTVCC: Wicked Good Wafflewich

This recipe is found on page 71. Is this dessert or is it breakfast? Who cares? Not me! It's delicious. It was not as messy as it seemed like it was going to be, and it was really tasty. I am not quite sure it could really claim to be good for you, but it's not really bad for you either. This seems like a really good comfort food though. Bad test? Bad day? Bad breakup? I could see myself going through a stack of these.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 vegan waffles, toasted
• Vegan chocolate chips, to taste
• Peanut butter, to taste
• Maple syrup, to taste

I used Van's original gluten-free, (also vegan) waffles. They're pretty good. If I didn't know they were gluten-free and vegan, I wouldn't think they were. 

I used Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips, generic peanut butter, and I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup. I think that the taste of the agave was actually better than it would have been with maple syrup, because it is a light flavor, and allows you to enjoy the chocolate and peanut butter without their flavors being overpowered.

Here is my finished breakfast:

Like I was saying, this recipe is great. It's indulgent, yet it won't forever ruin your figure, I'm sure, you know, with moderation and all that stuff. Whatever. It's definitely got a great flavor and it's so simple! I don't think I would have come up with it on my own. I wouldn't have put peanut butter and syrup (or agave) on the same wafflewich, and I don't think I would have put the chocolate chips on. I would have probably been boring, and used something like, I don't know, jelly. I hope you all enjoy this recipe!

CTTVCC: Pink Princess Pie

This cool, refreshing, summery dessert, found on page 314, is absolutely to die for. The combination of flavors is just phenomenal! It's tangy, yet sweet; soft, yet crunchy; ice cream, yet pie. It has a scrumptious flavor that makes every single bite delicious, yet a single slice was satisfying. I mean, how does this cookbook do that? Most of the time, cooking dessert goes down like this: Cook dessert. Eat entire thing. What's up with this? I mean, is it trying to show you that portion control might actually work? Sneaky, sneaky.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (12-ounce) can pink lemonade concentrate
• 2 1/2 cups soy ice crream
• vegan graham cracker pie crust

I couldn't find pink lemonade concentrate for the life of me. Finally, I just gave up and bought regular, store-brand, lemonade concentrate. When I was mixing all the filling ingredients together, I added two packets of pink raspberry crystal light water-mix-in-powder-stuff to the filling to make it pink. Now, one of the coolest part about this recipe, is that you could mix in whatever flavor of water-mix-in-stuff that you want. You could put fruit punch, grape (which would be awesome, because grape lemonade is delicious,) or whatever your heart desired. You could also use orange juice concentrate instead of lemonade concentrate, or whatever flavor of concentrate that you wanted! I am actually thinking about experimenting with different concentrates in this recipe.

I did use soy ice cream for this recipe, simply because the containers for the soy ice cream at my grocery store are bigger than the containers of coconut ice cream. In my opinion, coconut ice cream tastes closer to regular un-vegan ice cream. By the way you all, I think the recipe means for you to assume vanilla ice cream. Which, yes. Use vanilla ice cream, unless you wanted to experiment with flavors such as chocolate with orange juice concentrate. Would it taste like chocolate oranges that people always buy at Christmas? Hmmm. . . it's a good thing that this recipe is so simple, because I have a feeling that I will be making a lot of it in the future. Anyway, I used So Delicious Creamy Vanilla.

Alright. I was completely unable to find gluten-free, vegan graham cracker pie crust. I couldn't even find gluten-free, vegan graham crackers to make my own pie crust! I ended up using cookies to make my own pie crust. I used a combination of Enjoy Life Sugar Crisp cookies and Dr. Lucy's Cinnamon Thins, but I would have bought the Dr. Lucy's sugar cookies if I'd been able to find them. I also used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks to make the crust. 

Here is my finished pie:

The crust got a little bit crispy as you can see. Oops! It still tasted great. When you accidentally burn sugar, it just tastes like caramel.

Don't you just wish I could hand you a bite of this through your screen? Mmmmmmmmm. So yummy.

This recipe is now gong to be one of my "go-to" recipes. It's so delicious and easy (especially if you don't have to make your own crust.) You absolutely have to store it in the freezer though. My dad moved the last slice of mine into the refrigerator, and it turned into a puddle and disintegrated the crust. So sad. Really. It was very sad. Rest in peace, piece of pink princess pie. (Try saying that 5 times, fast.) This stuff is great. I will definitely make it again, for any excuse I can come up with. Got your tonsils taken out? Here. I'll bring over one of these pies, and I'll eat most of it for you. How does that sound? Great!

CTTVCC: No-Yolk Mayo

The recipe I am reviewing today is on page 145. I am sad to report that this recipe didn't turn out very well. It is the first to do so, but I was hoping to use it in the recipes that call for mayonnaise, that way I could free two birds with one meal. (That's my favorite of the non-speciesist version of "kill two birds with one stone." Find more witty aphorisms here.) Unfortunately, like I said, it didn't exactly mayonnaiseify. I was just left with a fake-milky-soup that smelled much better than, but similar to mayonnaise. I'm not the hugest fan of mayonnaise, like at all, but I was willing to use it when the cookbook said to, which is why I was hoping to reuse this recipe in other recipes, so that I wouldn't have to buy mayonnaise, since I wouldn't really use it except for when the cookbook actually called for it.

The recipe calls for:

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Paprika
• Yellow mustard
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Here is my finished mess:

You can't tell amazingly well from this picture, but that's super-liquidy. If you look really closely, you can see little oil beads, and maybe even some of the spices, but I doubt you'll really be able to see anything but the oil, and the soy milk, obviously. Oh and the blender. You can probably see the blender. (Hint: the fail-mayo is inside the blender.)

I suppose that since the recipe didn't work, there isn't much point in recommending certain brands or products to use. I did try this twice though, because the first time, I used flax milk and olive oil, hoping to cut down on calories and unneeded fats. When I got to adding the oil though, it didn't thicken. So, I tried it again, with soy milk and vegetable oil, and it still didn't work. All it did was give me double the amount of fake-milk-soup. I tried adding corn starch, egg replacers, and more oil to try and thicken it, but it didn't even seem to change consistencies at all. It kind of makes me sad, because I really hate wasting food. But oh well. I went out and bought vegan mayo in defeat. If you had any success with this recipe, please tell me what you did and how to make mine work! I will love you forever if you do!

CTTVCC: Brainy Bac'n Cheese Toast

This yummy recipe can be found on 37. This is listed as a breakfast recipe. However, It didn't really taste breakfast-y to me. In fact, I ate it for lunch. It was very good though. It had a good savory taste and I liked it a lot, even though I am not that big a fan of tomatoes. It has a great combination of flavors that makes each bite taste just as delicious as the bite before it. It would take a lot of these sandwiches to start noticing the law of diminishing return. (Thank you, economics class.) 

The recipe calls for:

• 2 slices bread, toasted
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 tablespoons vegan bacon bits
• 2 slices vegan cheddar cheese

I used Food for Life Gluten-Free Brown Rice Bread, which I then proceeded to toast. The nice thing about rice bread is that is is very moist and soft, so when you toast it, it gets lightly crisped on the outside, and it's still soft on the inside. Perfection.

I used a combination of cherry tomatoes and yellow grape tomatoes just to be more colorful and fun. You know, give it variety and all that good stuff. Retrospectively, I wish I had made a little checkerboard pattern, just to be extra fun and cutesies. Oh well. I also think that maybe this recipe would be better (at least with gluten-free bread, which tends to be smaller,) with 6 halved cherry tomatoes rather than 8. When I was eating it, it seemed that one of the tomatoes was always falling out.

I used Frontier Bac'uns for the vegan bacon bits. They were pretty good. They had a nice crunch to them, which was pretty good. Squishy-bacony-fat always disgusted me. Ugh. Even just thinking about it. I must say though, I would recommend cutting the bacon bits in half. Not literally cutting each bit in half of course, but only using 2 tablespoons. I think that 4 tablespoons was just too much of a good thing. I couldn't get them all to stay in the sandwich, and at times, the bits were a bit overpowering. The nice thing about these things are that they're also already gluten-free. 

My 3-legged cat, C3PO, certainly thought they smelled legit though. Isn't he just a cutie-pie? Not that you can really tell that well in this picture. . .

I used Daiya Cheddar Style Slices for the fake cheese. I had split the bac'n bits between the two slices of bread, and then I melted the cheese slices over the bits in an attempt to keep the bits on the bread. 

Here is my finished sandwich:

Doesn't that just look scrumptious though? Just looking at these pictures makes me want to make another one of these sandwiches. Though, maybe I'll make it a wrap instead of a sandwich. On a 10" tortilla, you probably wouldn't need to cut down any of the ingredients, plus you wouldn't have to worry about having facon and tomatoes abandoning you whenever you took a bite. This is a great recipe though, and it's highly satisfying. I hope you all love it!

CTTVCC: Cuke-Chick Salad

This salad recipe is listed on page 101. This is another simple, delicious recipe, but this one is particularly refreshing. It's low in fat, so it doesn't weigh you down or make you feel uncomfortably full. It's very flavorful because you can taste the individual ingredients' flavors. This is the type of food I would want to eat at a meal right after a workout, or on a school day when I've put off all the homework for my afternoon classes, and am then trying to rush through it during my lunch break, while still attempting to make good grades.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 cucumbers, sliced
• 1/2 (15 ounce) can chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 cup distilled vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

I used cucumbers, chickpeas, onion powder, salt, and pepper from Earth Fare. I chopped the cucumber slices in half  so that they were little crescents that were closer to bite sized because the cucumber was a bit chubby.

I only had balsamic vinegar, which was Newman's Own Organics. I figure that it probably didn't alter the taste too much. I mixed the onion powder, salt, and pepper into the vinegar before pouring it on the chickpeas and cucumbers, that way it would have all mixed evenly to that I didn't have all of the onion powder on one half and all the salt and pepper on the other half and get seasoning whiplash. Or all of the seasonings could have ended up on one half and then the other half would have just been super-boring. (Really though, I could just eat the cucumbers and chickpeas plain. I think chickpeas have a very nice flavor even just on their own.)

Here is my (mostly uneaten) salad:

It's kind of hard to see the vinegar, but trust me, it's there on the bottom.

Like I was saying, this is an easy crisp salad that could be used as an appetizer or snack, or it could be paired with some sort of light soup, such as a tomato or bean soup. When I make this again, I will cut down the vinegar a tiny bit, because I don't really like having the puddle of liquid at the bottom of my salad. I always feel like I'm wasting food when I have such puddles because I'm not going to drink the vinegar or something. That sounds very undelicious. As it is, I just used the leftovers as the dressing on another salad, but the downside to that is that then there's an extra thing taking up space in the refrigerator until I use it. This is very yummy though, and perfectly uncomplicated, just like I wish all my interactions with other humans would be. Maybe they should have named it "I think my boyfriend still has feelings for his ex" salad, or "my BFF is being a diva" salad, or "I think my BFF has a crush on my boyfriend" salad, or "I think my guy-friend wants to BE my boyfriend" salad, or "one of my groups of friends hates my other group of friends" salad, or, hey, even "my friends all hate my boyfriend" salad. (Guys, replace 'boyfriend' with 'girlfriend'.) Whatever. Enjoy!

CTTVCC: Saffi's Chick Salad

This recipe is available on page 114. I admit, that I had my doubts about this recipe. I wasn't sure it would taste good with the olive oil. It did taste pretty good, however, next time I will probably use slightly less olive oil, that way it has the moisture without the slight greasiness.

The recipe calls for:

• 1/2 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1 tablespoon chives
• 1 long English cucumber, peeled and finely chopped 
• 4 tablespoons dried parsley 
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

I used Earth Fare chickpeas, chives, cucumber, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I forgot to get parsley, and when I checked my house, we didn't have any. Too bad I wasn't visiting my out-of-town family though, I could have gotten some fresh from their garden. 

I used ReaLemon lemon juice. I would have preferred to use fresh juice, but I don't have fresh lemons and I do have lemon juice already. 

Here is my finished concoction:

This stuff was pretty good, and it kept fairly well. I ate it for lunch, but I made it the night before. It had a bit of a different taste than when it was fresh, (I sampled it as soon as I made it of course,) probably because the cucumber wasn't crisp anymore, but it didn't brown because of the lemon juice. If I was going to make it in advance though, I would probably make it the morning that I wanted to eat it for lunch though, instead of the night before. I definitely would recommend it though. It's very filling, and pretty tasty. I hope you all liked it as much as I did.

CTTVCC: Crumb Bum Breakfast Cobbler

This recipe is on page 33. This is another breakfast recipe that could double as dessert. It would probably be one of the healthier desserts you could pick too. Okay, I don't know about that, but it would probably be better for you than downing a tub of vegan chocolate ice cream. This recipe could easily become one of my comfort foods. I mean warm fruity goodness is much more comforting than anything cold, in my opinion anyway.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can pear halves, drained and sliced
• 1/3 cup orange juice (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat granola cereal

I don't know how many cans of peaches my family has. I don't even remember a time when there weren't an army of canned peaches in the pantry. I just pulled out some generic peaches, and we also had a few cans of pears. Both were in no-sugar-added juice instead of heavy syrup. I never have been a big fan of heavy syrup. I admit I cheated a little bit with the pears though. I didn't use pear halves, I used sliced pears. I ended up dicing both the peaches and the pears though, but you don't have to.

I am declaring the orange juice definitely not optional. It helped cut a bit of the sweetness so it didn't just taste like I was eating fruit-shaped sugar. I heard once that drinking orange juice in the morning before a test/quiz will help you remember things you've studied better. I try to keep orange juice well-stocked during the school year.

I used Peace Cereal French Vanilla granola again. It enhanced the flavor as well in my opinion, since it's a non-fruit flavor, and therefore doesn't clash.

Here is my finished cobbler:

Okay, the first piece fell apart ingloriously, but the second piece stayed pretty much in tact. Until I ate it of course!

Not only was this cobbler delicious, but it made my kitchen radiate the delicious smell of peach and orange. With a hint of French vanilla because of the granola. (The pears don't really have a strong smell.) I made the entire recipe instead of only half or something, but part of me wishes I hadn't. The only thing that kept me from devouring the entire breakfast cobbler was the fact that I promised I'd save some for my mother. (It might be easier to save some on rushed school mornings though.) I hope you enjoy this breakfast brain-food dessert!