Leonardo Meatlessburger

I do not intend to be extremely repetitive, but I love sandwiches. And finding fun ways to include sandwiches into my (Ⓥegan) lifestyle, is one of my keys to happiness.

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Dude’s gotta eat…

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And while any dude (or lady) has to eat, they might as well eat happily. While eating happily, they (you) might as well be healthily happily eating. And if you can healthily happily eat, you might as well step it up a notch or two and eat Vegetarian or Vegan to ultimately do an enormous part in saving the planet.

Fight Climate Change

Even scientists say, “eat less meat” when asked how to better the planet.

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I am not one to follow much of what takes place in the movie industry these days, but it’s impossible nowadays to ignore it. When news involves Leonardo DiCaprio, I’ll listen as Leo and I go way back to when I saw Titanic in theater at age 12, I believe. Since then, he’s truly been a favorite actor of mine. Being a true environmental activist is greater than (>) his amazing acting career and is how people with power/fame should go above themselves to try and make a true difference.

12 Celebrities

I’m gonna have to share links to my favorite Leo movies. I have to.

The Basketball Diaries

The Beach

Catch Me If You Can

The Departed

I made a good amount of (ben) Meatlessburger happiness. (The QB for the Pittsburgh Steelers is Ben Roethlisberger:). A brewery that I’ve come across with a few different beers is Half Acre out of Chicago, IL. I did not visit the Brewery (yet), just picked up a few 4-packs. I enjoyed their Pale Ale, their IPA and their Black/Dark Ale. They were all in 16 oz. cans with great decorative properties and the stuff inside is good, as well.

As far as the Meatlessburger goes, I made a gyro-style sandwich, a USA-style sandwich and an experimental chinese-style bunless Meatlessburger. And a LBⓋ (Low Budget Vegan) side… 🙂

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Ⓥzatziki Sauce ingredients:

  • Non-dairy yogurt, plain
  • Lemon, freshly juiced
  • Cucumber, deseeded and diced
  • Cumin powder
  • Garlic, freshly minced
  • SeaSalt/Pepper/BrownSugar
  • Sriracha
  • Onion, diced

Mix. And Enjoy.

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Meatlessburger ingredients:

  • Tofu, extra firmly crumbled (?:)
  • Lightlife ‘sausage’ and ‘beef’, crumbled
  • Daiya Cheddar, block diced cubes
  • Garlic, freshly minced
  • SeaSalt/Pepper/BrownSugar/GarlicP/OnionP
  • Liquid Smoke
  • Parsley, freshly chopped
  • Soy Sauce

Prep. Mix. And enjoy. Add Corn Starch if needed.

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Gyro Meatlessburger ingredients:

  • Ⓥzatziki Sauce

  • Meatlessburger, pan-fried/cast-ironed/baked/grilled
  • Cucumber, slices
  • Tomato, slices (Bushel Boy)
  • Lettuce & Spinach, freshly sliced
  • Bun, gourmet (bigger) and grilled on inside

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USA Meatlessburger ingredients:

  • Meatlessburger, pan-fried/cast-ironed/baked/grilled
  • Daiya, melted/broiled onto Meatlessburger
  • Lettuce
  • Cucumber, slices
  • Tomato, slices (Bushel Boy)
  • Onion, slices
  • Vegenaise, mmmmmm
  • Mustard
  • Mushrooms, sliced and sauteéd

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I will go over the LBV and Chinese-style bunless Meatlessburger at a later time.

Happy Leap Year Day. Is that a thing?

Spaghetti Carbonara

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Most of the time, something truly artery clogging usually murderous involving animals is excuse and motivation for my blog clogging Vegan food ideas. Meat is murder. Cheese and dairy is animal torture. I recently made Vegan Spaghetti Carbonara.

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Yesterday, I enjoyed something called Jesus Toast. I rode through wet and super soft mud/gravel to get to this toast. Only to later realize this Jesus Toast was created by a SIUC Saluki alum. And this Jesus Toast is not your traditional food. Food to me, but a craft beer from Hailstorm Brewing Company out of Tinley Park, IL. The beer is a black rye IPA and very decent. The name is unique and entertaining alone. Made from a Saluki alum is a cherry on top. I also enjoyed an Alabama Hot Tub by Hailstorm.

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Saturday, I rode my heart out along a multi-surfaced Gran Fondo of 100+ KMs. I set a most ascent record with my Garmin Edge 1000 with an ascent of 592 meters aka just short of 2,000 feet. It was an asskicker.

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Spaghetti Carbonara ingredients:

  • Spaghetti, whole wheat & cooked not rinsed
  • Onion, diced
  • Garlic, freshly minced
  • Mushroom, sliced
  • ‘Milk’, rice, soy or cashew non-dairy
  • Egg replacer
  • Pepper, coarse
  • Tempeh, grilled
  • Daiya
  • Nutritional Yeast
  • Parsley, freshly chopped
  • ‘Bacon’, Seitan chopped
  • Bread, everything is truly optional
  • GarlicP/OnionP/SeaSalt/Sugar/Cayenne

Progressive Karate:

  • Saute Onion and Garlic. Boil and season ‘cream’.
  • Cook noodles, leave starch and cool.
  • Add egg replacer, Daiya and Mushrooms.
  • Cook down adding noodles. Serve.

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The grilled Tempeh gives that deadly animal flesh look that so many love. To me, it’s nutritious and delicious.

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There was a Spring tease this weekend in Illinois. It was wonderful and hope is evident. Lube those bike chains. Mentally prepare for Spring cleaning. Baseball is in the air and soon here grilled veggies will be the aroma in your neighborhood.

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Save animals, kill plants.

My Sunday Funday was a Sudday Mudday 🙂

Ⓥaco Salad

I’ve blogged it before and I’ll blog it again. Improv cooking sometimes allows truly great ideas to flourish. And having fun with your food is unreal, interesting and extremely entertaining. Perhaps, not always a success, but worth it most of the time.

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From time to time, I do not wanna go to the grocery store. And that alone (maybe a beer or two, also) is my spontaneous/improvisational motivation. Cook and create with what you have on hand. I have strong belief that in a prior life, I was a Mexican chef. Furthermore, I always non-subconsciously almost hoard Mexican cuisine ingredients. A past life is the only way that I can explain it.

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Hopslam:)

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I’ve had some good beers in the last weeks. I had enjoyed my first ever Hopslam on draft. I’ve had it in bottle before, which is great. The preservation and balance in keg is unbelievable. Hopslam is made out of Bell’s Brewing in Galesburg, MI. It is a DIPA (double india pale ale) made with honey. FIND IT. ENJOY IT.

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Seitan ingredients:

  • Vital Wheat Gluten
  • Corn Meal
  • Rosemary/Cayenne/FennelSeed, crushed together
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Veggie Broth
  • Turmeric/Thyme/SeaSalt/Pepper/GarlicP/OnionP
  • Bay Leaves/Celery/Peppercorn/Fennel/Rosemary, for baking
  • Vegan ‘Cheese’ cloth

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Domino Effect:

  • Mix wet ingredients together and dry ingredients separately before mixing together.
  • Form into a loaf and put into wet ‘cheese’ cloth.
  • Put Seitan loaf into Lasagna pan and put Herbs/Veggies with Broth filling halfway.
  • Bake for two hours, flipping loaf in between.
  • Remove from cloth immediately and put in foil or use.
  • I broiled slightly after out of ‘cheese’ cloth.

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Relish ingredients:

  • Tomato, deseeded and diced
  • Cucumber, deseeded and diced
  • Onion, diced
  • Seitan, diced and slightly charred
  • Radish, diced
  • Garlic, minced
  • Lime, juice
  • Cilantro, chopped
  • SeaSalt/Pepper
  • Oil/BalsamicVinegar/RedWineVinegar/Sriracha

Mix.

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Rice ingredients:

  • Rice, Basmati – browned and cooked
  • Broth
  • Leftovers (mostly beans)
  • SeaSalt/Pepper

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Veggies ingredients:

  • Potato, chopped
  • Celery, sliced
  • Carrot, sliced
  • Onion, diced
  • Seitan, mmmm
  • Corn, browned
  • Cilantro, chopped
  • Daiya, slices for garnish
  • Rice

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Ⓥaco Salad ingredients:

  • Tortilla, baked as taco bowl
  • Lettuce, iceberg – sliced
  • Spinach, sliced
  • Jalapeno, roasted and deseeded/skinned
  • Vegenaise, mmmmm
  • Seitan, chopped
  • Relish, mmmm
  • Mushroom, sliced
  • Cilantro

Build.

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Happy Friday! Spring is approaching!

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Be safe.