Burrito Bowls

So I mentioned in a past post that the way that Tony and I handle dinners is to make a list of meals we can eat and then randomly select a meal to make. Tonight, we made burrito bowls. In retrospect, we could just have made burritos because we did have tortillas, but we did them as bowls. We don't play by the rules around here. Also, we have a nasty habit of hanging on to tortillas well past their prime. It's something we're working on.

One thing that I should mention that I may have mentioned before is that when I make meals, I have to make them keeping in mind the fact that Tony is incredibly picky. If there's something I want for a meal, like sour cream for my burrito bowl or guacamole, I have to make the meal in such a way that I can keep those things separate because Tony won't eat them.

This has been a constant theme for us, cooking around the desires of each of us in such a way that we can both have what we want. So our burrito bowls needed, obviously, to be sort of customizable. So I tried to make things a little bit separate. You may have noticed that over the last few days, a lot of our meals have components that are made somewhat separately and combined together in a bowl. This is because I am lazy and it's easier than trying to brainstorm something that will be good for both of us or asking one of us to compromise.

First, I made brown rice in the Instant Pot. I actually ended up making extra so that I can use it for another meal that we're planning later in the week--or weekend, as it were. While the brown rice was cooking, I sauteed some red onion in a bit of grape seed oil. Once they were softened, I added some mushrooms--only about four since the mushrooms that we bought were very large. Once the mushrooms had some decent color, I added garlic and red pepper and cooked them until the peppers were softened, adding salt and pepper to taste.

The onions ended up beautifully caramelized, and the flavors all ended up really wonderful. There's something about sauteed mushrooms and onions that I feel like I'm rediscovering. Sauteed mushrooms were among my favorite things when I was a child. I remember how disappointing it was to me when they were gone. Now, as a vegan, I feel like I'm rediscovering the simplicity and depth of flavor that are present in something like sauteed mushrooms and onions, but as a main focal point rather than as a side dish. It's pretty cool, actually. I was legitimately surprised at how delicious tonight's vegetables were, not because I didn't expect them to be delicious but because I think I've been taking for granted how satisfying these components can be. 

For protein, we cooked some of the black beans that were left from yesterday's meal as well. I added some vegetable stock so they wouldn't dry out in the pan--just a splash--and seasoned them with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt, and pepper. I didn't measure because I never measure seasoning unless I'm following a recipe. I just know what I like, and I tend to know how to get there. I also made some simple guacamole, just avocado, lime juice, and seasonings.

My bowl had rice, beans, vegetables, guacamole, and some tomatoes. I also added some Tofutti sour cream and Cholula hot sauce. It was so good. I can honestly say that I would enthusiastically eat this every day. I mixed everything together, and it was so satisfying. That's the funny thing about me. I make these pretty bowls, I take pictures, I post to Instagram, and then I demolish them and mix them all together to eat them. The pictures of how it looks when I'm actually eating it would be nowhere near as pretty if I showed how it really looks.

Tony's bowl was a little bit different. We had some TVP taco "meat" left, so he had that in his bowl. He also had rice, beans, and veggies. One of the things that perplexes me most about Tony is how dry he often has his food. I'm a fan of sauces and dips and things. Tony dislikes all of those things. He said he doesn't like wet food. So, there you go. Just another one of the ways in which we differ.

I think this is another really easy dinner that we could make regularly. Right now, I'm also trying really hard to find meals that I can either make really quickly or make in advance. Since I'll be returning to school in the fall and my classes will be in the evenings twice a week, there will be nights that I won't have time to make dinner or will have difficulty making dinner. Lunch tomorrow is really the test as to how well this meal will reheat. If it does well, then this might be something that I prep in advance and make for those evenings when we're short on time.

I've made some really good food lately. I've made some very healthy food. Honestly, tonight's meal was probably the most enjoyable meal that I've made all week. It was a last minute decision on what to make that ended up really paying off. 

Vegan Tacos

Confession: sometimes, I get in this experimental phase where I just keep playing with something until I'm over it for a while. For example, when I discovered that Korean beef recipe, I made it over and over again until I was tired of it. Right now, for me that thing is TVP.

First, you should know we've discovered that now all three of us have pink eye. The baby got it again after she finished her antibiotics, which means that all of the things we thought that we had disinfected will need to go round two on their Lysol bath. And, of course, Tony and I both got it, even despite the rigorous hand-washing and disinfecting (probably because the baby is going through this face-grabbing and face-slapping stage).

So begins the eye drops and hyper-vigilance. I have to say, this is not easy for me. I'm a pretty chill mom. I'll probably never be the kind of mom that totes along the hand sanitizer and freaks out about germs, but now I suddenly have to be. Just the very notion of it seems over-whelming and annoying to me. I feel tired already just thinking about the extra laundry and cleaning I'll be doing for the next week or so.

It should come as no surprise, then, that I wanted to keep dinner tonight easy, which is why we opted for tacos. I mean, what's easier than tacos? We discovered with the nachos that TVP actually functions really well as a taco meat replacement, so we decided to just go back to that for tonight. I know, it seems repetitive and not at all inventive of me. There's going to be more interesting stuff on the horizon, guys. I promise. For now, let's just talk about taco TVP.

Last time, I mentioned that I thought that the TVP would be much better if I'd actually used a taco seasoning packet with it, so tonight that's what I actually did. We used Bob's Red Mill TVP, and I rehydrated it with water and a few drops of liquid smoke. Our taco seasoning was actually in a big shaker that we bought at Costco, so I basically just used three tablespoons of it and 3/4 cup of water. I put the taco seasoning and water in the skillet, added the TVP, and heated it up until there wasn't a bunch of extra water hanging around and the seasoning looked evenly distributed. I wouldn't say it took much longer than it usually takes for meat to absorb taco seasoning.

Taco TVP "meat."

In my opinion, it's more the accouterments that make the tacos. We did the usual lettuce, tomato, red onion. I also mashed up half of an avocado with some lime juice (I just used the bottled stuff in the fridge because my limes always go bad on me before I can use them) for my tacos. We bought some Tofutti sour cream to try, and I can report that it tastes surprisingly like sour cream. I was kind of impressed with it. I will say, however, that the warmer it gets, the less it tastes like sour cream, so it's really best to have it cold. We also had taco sauce; we use Ortega mild because it is vegan and we like the flavor the best.

There are two things that I missed about tonight's tacos versus our usual non-vegan tacos. First, I should have taken the time to cut up some black olives like I normally would. I definitely missed their flavor. I thought about it, but I was too lazy what with the pink eye and all. Second, I really did miss the cheese. We bought some vegan cheese to try, but we bought the block stuff (because I refuse to pay more money for shreds when I can shred it myself at home for free) and again with the lazy.

The red onions are hiding under the lettuce.

A word on vegan cheese: so far, I've had three experiences with vegan cheese. The vegan cheese on Whole Foods vegan pizza is tasty, but it does not taste of cheese per se, nor does it have the texture of cheese. I also made the mistake of buying a cheap vegan cheese just to try some vegan cheese, and I can honestly report that vegan cheese is not something to cheap out on. The results will be lackluster if you get the cheap stuff and you will be afraid to try again. The third result was much better. I tried some Follow Your Heart provolone today actually. It was pretty good. It smelled exactly like cheese and had the texture down. It tasted like cheese, but like a mediocre quality cheese, which is pretty good for something that doesn't contain any dairy whatsoever. Someone had to science the shit out of that stuff to get even a mediocre result. I have bought some other brands to try, but I'm trying to go sort of one at a time on them. I'll report more on my experiences with vegan cheese as they come up.

One thing that Tony and I both found surprising about these tacos is how quickly they got us full. Actually, that's something we've been surprised about since going vegan in general. We both get full more quickly and end up eating less food in the long run. On a normal non-vegan taco night, I'd usually eat three tacos. Tonight, I only ate two and felt full and satisfied. The good thing about that was it enabled me to make a taco salad for lunch with the leftover toppings and TVP. My easy dinner transformed itself into an equally easy lunch, which will enable me to get a little more sleep in the morning tomorrow.

I have about one more meal worth of TVP left in my pantry. I'm going to make it my goal to use that TVP in a way that doesn't revolve around tacos or nachos or something like that. I'm going to try to think outside of the taco-type box that I seem to have put the TVP in in my brain and focus on doing something different. What that will be remains to be seen at this point, but I swear I'm going to try to make it a fresh, new thing! Like I said, I'll try to be more interesting.