Jackfruit "Pulled Pork" Sandwiches

WHOA! So, I'm back from overseas and I have been cooking up a storm, but not updating the foodblog. Trying to resume. Overseas, I was not vegan. I was too busy/isolated/infected with parasites not to eat whatever was put in front of me. I did manage to stay vegetarian. It's good to be back in the world of vegan.

I think our most recent "jackfruit pulled pork" sandwiches are a good recipe to get back with. Memphis Tap Room in Philadelphia had some pretty off the chain vegan jackfruit crabcakes, and I ate a fair amount of jackfruit when I was in Indonesia, but I hadn't thought about it in awhile. WHAT A MISTAKE. It's awesome.

Any Asian Grocer (i.e. H-Mart on Dequindre) will have canned jackfruit. Get the young/green kind in brine (not ripe or in syrup) because the ripe one is sweet.

I used 2 cans for the recipe. Start by prepping the jackfruit. Cut the center bits off leaving only the stringy part (where to cut will be self-evident on each piece). You can puree or finely chop the "waste" so you don't have to throw it away, or you can just throw it away. I threw it away the first time, but will probably try not to waste it next time.

You can veganize any BBQ pulled pork recipe with great ease, but the basics are:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Sautee sliced jackfruit in pan with "dry rub" any combo of mustard seed, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt.

2. Let that cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often to get nice and flavorous. In a separate pan, sautee some red onions-- about half an onion finely chopped will do nicely, and about 5-6 cloves of garlic. Combine that with the dry-rubbed jackfruit and then add the "wet ingredients" that turn it into barbecue. Again, any recipe for pulled-pork barbecue sauce can be easily veganized but the basics are: tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup (or brown sugar), catsup, water and more seasonings to taste.

3. Let that simmer for about 30 minutes. I like my BBQ really vinegary and spicy, but make it how you like it. You can also add some raisins (as long as you don't have to share a room with my husband for the nest 18-24 hours), or a grated apple (granny smith will do nicely). Also, if you want to make a shortcut, you can just dump a bottle of premade bbq sauce over the jackfruit.  Most of them are vegan (just check on honey).

4. Once the flavors have melded, dump everything into a lightly greased pan, spread it out thinly, and bake if for about 20-30 minutes to let it dry up a little. I think this step makes it have a more meatlike consistency.

5. Serve it with pickles and vegan coleslaw if you like that (I don't) on a bun (see next recipe for peasant bread).

IT IS SERIOUSLY GOOD.

Tomato/Basil/Mozzarella Sandwich Summer

This weekend, my awesome friend Jason visited and we made some DELICIOUS caprese-style sandwiches. They were perfect for the stupid-hot weather and we discovered a delicious new fake cheese, daiya brand, at the local-bourgey-chain market near me: Plum Market.

We talked a lot about how important it is to be conscious of what you eat whether it be vegan/cruelty-free/organic/etc, and it really reinforced my convictions as a vegan. Since moving to the middle of nowhere and spending more and more time with my well-intentioned but thoroughly nonvegan family, it's been really challenging to stay enthusiastic about what i "can't" eat.

Being vegan is rad!

Ingredients:
-french or italian bread (we got Livonia small batch local stuff)
-daiya brand fake mozzarella
-a ripe tomato, sliced thin
-0.25 of an avocado per sandwich
-1-2 leaves of fresh basil per sandwich

1. Under the broiler, toast the bread on both sides. While toasting the second side, liberally apply the fake cheese shreds to one side of the sandwich and watch it melt under the broiler... melty but not burnt.

2. Thoroughly wash and pat the basil dry. Tear it up into little tidbits. If you are pulling fresh basil off a plant that you got form Home Depot, always clip it from the top, right above the next row of leaves, that way your mom won't keep yelling at you for killing the basil plant every other week because you kept pulling leaves off haphazardly leaving all stems, sorry Mom.

3. Mash the 0.25 of the avocado and spread it on the other slice of bread.

4. Add tomato slices.

5. Add basil tidbits.

6. Squish it down flat. Cut it in half triangle-ways.

Best Vegan Food in Detroit, according to me

So, I'm originally from Metro Detroit, but haven't lived here in about 7 years. Been having a hard time adjusting to the lack of vegan options/difficulty eating out, so I have rarely strayed from my comfort zone (hot bar at Whole Foods).

1. Blue Nile (9 mile near Livernois): All-you-can-eat Ethiopian (with a veg option)... it's pretty spendy, but nice.

2. Tokyo Sushi (2 locations that i know of: Squirrel and Walton in Rochester, and next to Noir Leather in downtown Royal Oak). I always get an order of "air conditioner rolls" (asparagus, cucumber, avocado), an inari pocket, and miso. To me, best sushi in town.

3. Mind, Body, Spirit (on Main St in downtown Rochester)... I haven't been here yet, and it's had mixed reviews. Restaurant.com has one of those cheap coupon things, I bought one, but haven't gotten around to going yet.

4. Inn Season Cafe: (4th street, just east of Main Street)... it's good, sorta spendy and always obnoxiously busy. I don't go there a lot, but it's a nice place. Everything is vegetarian, and pretty much everything can be made vegan.

5. Chipotle and Qdoba: i love burritos and hav yet to find a delicious non-chain with vegan options. I guess there is one in Ann Arbor/Ypsi, but I haven't been out there yet.

6. Palm Palace (everywhere, I go to the one on Squirrel and University).... these places have popped up in all the vacant La Shish buildings after they shadily shut down all overnight... nowhere near as tasty as the $16 million dollars of tax evasion that probably funded terrorism, but still delicious because Middle Eastern food is the most delicious. Nothing will ever be as delicious as La Shish.

7. AJ's Music Cafe (on 9 mile in downtown Ferndale)... coffeeshop that has a lot of vegan options. The vegan philly cheesesteak sounds and looks disgusting, but is actually tasty. The mexican tofu wrap thing was meh, but the dudes there are always super nice.

8. Zoup (I go to the one in Somerset mall): finding vegan mall food is so difficult, but Zoup is really delicious. Soup is actually my favorite food. The pea soup is AWESOME. The sourdough bread is vegan (I checked). They mark things as vegetarian or dairy free, but not vegan, but have a binder of all the ingredients behind the counter and are really nice about it.

ok. that's all i feel like writing. I am still in search of a brunch place.

Holy Crap I Just Made The Most Delicious Sandwich Ever

So I don't usually post my "clean out the fridge night" made up stuff because a) it's usually difficult to recreate and, b) they usually take a billion ingredients, but this one was SO GOOD, I wanted to share. I think most people have this stuff lying around... half used packages of tempeh and ground meat, half used onions, cans of breadcrumbs, etc, etc but if you don't... don't bother with this recipe. If you do, enjoy. I've broken it into several parts, so I apologize that the ingredients list is scattered. All I bought for this was the baguette, the mushrooms, and the eggplant.

Meatball/Eggplant Marinara Sandwich
-baguette
-fresh spinach (or whatever lettuce-like thing you have)
-breaded eggplant (see below)
-sauce/protein slop (see below)

Step one, breaded eggplant:

-one eggplant
-plain almond milk (or soy/hemp/whatever)
-bread crumbs
-basil
-oregano
-pepper
-oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the eggplant as thin as you can, and then dunk it in the milk. Season the breadcrumbs with the seasonings, and using small portions at a time, coat each eggplant slice in the breadcrumbs. The bread crumbs won't stick once the plate gets wet, which is why i advise doing the breadcrumbs in small batches. Put them on a cookie sheet greased with some olive oil and cook them at 350 til cripsy and brown. No need to use the entire eggplant. Save a portion of it for later. I used about 3 slices per sandwich (makes 3 sandwiches) and then ate some while I was waiting for everything else to cook, so maybe slice like 12 slices to bread and bake.

While that's baking... make the slop.

-olive oil
-half an onion, chopped
-some sliced portabellas
-half a package of Yves Ground "meat"
-1/2 a package of tempeh (I like the flax one)
-1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce of choice
-chopped garlic (or garlic powder)

Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil, add the mushrooms and sautee a little longer. Then add the tempeh. At this point you might need a bit more oil. Add the spaghetti sauce (about half a jar) and then the ground "meat" and simmer that for a little. Taste it and add more garlic/basil/oregano/pepper/salt as needed. You can add other italian-friendly veggies here like diced tomatoes, green pepper, etc. Whatever you have.

While that's simmering, take a baguette (I use the Whole Foods one sliced into thirds) and make sandwich sized cuts. Then cut it open almost completely (like they do at Subway) leaving one part attached like a hinge. At this point I scoop out most of the bread because I like to be wasteful, but it's up to you. Throw some lettuce (or fresh spinach like I did) on, followed by some eggplant slices, and then pile on the slop.

SHIT THAT'S GOOD.

I didn't think to take a picture until it was halfway devoured and it looks totally gross and unappetizing in the picture, but...

om nom nom nom.