Preview Thanksgiving

It's almost time for Thanksgiving and my family and I are gearing up for the holiday. We are celebrating it twice this year. Our first will be on the actually day of event with a small celebration with my brother-in-law and his family. The second will be on Saturday and that one, we are going all out vegan Thanksgiving for.

Sneak peak menu for Thursday and Saturday: Mrs. Weasley's vegan shepred's pie (yes Harry Potter inspired), Field Roast Harvest roat, cornbread, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and garlic mashed yucca.

Folks, stay tune for upcoming post with pictures and recipes! Plus, I might throw a side comment about football in there. Yours truely will be watching the Lions on Thursday play. It's tradition in my home. Be safe and have a great week everyone!

Spicy Soy Chorizo Chili

Ring the alarm and cue Beyonce. Ladies and Gentlemen, today's post will be my spicy chili recipe that sparked from my hubby's request to make a chili from Trader's Joe's soy chorizo.

As you might have notice, we love spicy food. With that being said, for us, this is a good amount of spice but for others, it might be way to spicy. My suggestion is to modify it your taste and liking. When the Monster gave me this challenge, I gladly accepted it. I started searching online and ran across two recipes that I have loosely based mine from. First one is this great vegan one. My issue with it was, not enough spicy for me and it called for sugar. I don't add sugars in my chili and that's my personal preference. The second one which wasn't vegan but had the spicy I was looking for but not enough. As you can see, this one called for two of the chili peppers from the adobo sauce. Personally, that's for me mild.  One more thing, I like to add a can of beer to my chilis. In my opinion, a can of beer can add such depth of flavor to the chili. I was determine to blend these recipes and make my own kickass chili!

So without further ado, I present you with my recipe that is spicy and flavorful. Please reminder, this is a template that you can modify to your taste and liking.

Spicy Soy Chorizo Chili

• 1 package of Trader Joe's soy chorizo, removed from the casing
• 1 package of baby bellas mushrooms, sliced
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 whole head of garlic, chopped
• 1 red pepper, sliced and chopped
• 1 green pepper, sliced and chopped
• 1 can of chili peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 bag of Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn, you will use half the bag
• 1 can of Foster's lager beer-or your beer of choice
• 2 cans of kidney beans, drained
• 1 28 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 1-3 cups of veggie broth, depends how much you need depending on the size of your beer can
• pinch of salt and pepper, flavored to your taste

First get your pot HOT and slice you baby bella mushrooms. One the pan in hot you will place them in there to saute. Meanwhile, quarter your red onion and garlic and place them into the a food processor to chop. (I like to take the easy way when I have to cut that much up.) Add the onion and garlic to your pot. If they start to stick, add a little water or veggie broth. Next chop your pepper and add that to the pot with half a bag of the frozen roasted corn. Next, work on those chili pepper in adobo sauce. Remove the seeds from each pepper and chop them fine. You will want to add them with their sauce to the pan. Add all remaining ingredients and let it simmer for the next 45-60minutes and enjoy. Serve with chopped onion, cilantro, avocado, and cashew cream or vegan sour cream. Also goes good with a nice cold beer too! Enjoy and modify to your likely. 

Buffalo Avocado Fries

Everyone knows how I love spending my Sundays watching Football. Last Sunday, I needed a crowd hit that vegans and carnivorous would enjoy. Monster told me about this recipe for Buffalo Avocado fries and knew I had to try these out on my brother-in-law's family.

They were spicy and creamy! My only complaint is that the panko breading did come off the "fries" when I coated the "fries" in the wing sauce but otherwise, these were a total crowd hit! Now my 5 year old niece wasn't a huge fan of them, because the claims they are sour, and without the sauce, they are. The avocados are coated in lime juice, to prevent the avocados from browning in the oven. I understood why she didn't like it. Plus, she isn't the hugest fan of them (avocados)  as is. We're working on her love for guacamole...it's a work in progress is all I say.

Overall, I would make these again and highly recommend them for you to try out at your next group sporting event. I'm sorry the only picture I have is where it is almost gone. Let's just say the adults loved it in the group. Until next time, take care my readers. Tomorrow, is Miami Dolphine football in my house and there is a mean pot of chili I am cooking. Stay tuned reader. ~Bunny~

Loving Hut

I am crazy for the Loving Hut and I had to share with you about one of my favorite restaurants. The Loving Hut is a vegan restaurant with locations throughout the world actually.  I cannot get enough of this place. For my birthday weekend, my parents took me out to eat there to celebrate. One of my favorite things to eat there are their soups, but specifically, the Bun Hue Soup.

Bun Hue is a traditional soup from Vietnam that is normally made with beef. Well at the Loving Hut, everything is 100% vegan. This soup was load with yummy tofu and other meat alternatives with, basil, bean sprouts, rice noodles, jalapenos, and lime. It is one spicy fireball of amazing!

What else do they offer, Monster always gets the Pho there and my parents get the Wonton soup. Now other than soups, they have great spring rolls and awesome Pad Thai. They offers curries, sandwiches, and other noodle dishes. It's mostly if not all Asian cuisine. If you have the chance, check them out. My parents are meat eaters and cannot get enough of this place. They swear it is the best Wonton soup they've ate and that's saying something for them. (I know they love the wonton soup from the Chinese restaurant by their house).

For those who are curious, Yes, I did have a nice birthday. It was a very relaxing day, which is what I needed. I am enjoying my last few days at home with my staycation from work. I made brownies, which I forgot to take pictures of. Bad me. I have also done some awesome retail therapy with gifts from my family and friends. Just saying, clothes and Bath and Body Works make me very happy. Until another times readers, take care!

Review of Raphsodic Bakery

Monster and I recently celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary 2 week ago. Over that weekend we were in the Orlando metro because he partook in a mud obstacle course race about an hour away. For our anniversary, we decided to get a small 6" vegan cake to celebrate with my parents. We ordered our cake from Raphsodic Bakery in downtown Orlando. They offer many flavors to pick from and and work with different allergies as well. Here is a link to their tumblr. Monster's favorite is Red Velvet. So I got us a Red Velvet cake with Vanilla cream frosting (yes, yes, 100% vegan).

The cake was great! Very moist and flavorful, but it didn't taste like traditional Red Velvet to me. It taste more like a carrot cake to me. I kept tasting a spice that isn't normal for red velvet...like allspice or cinnamon. It's not that we didn't enjoy the cake, because we did, we wouldn't call it red velvet though. My parents agreed. It tasted great but didn't have the taste of tradition red velvet. It was missing something and I'm not sure what. I did double check my order and it was their red velvet I order. The cake was iced in their vanilla butter cream, which was yummy. It did have a coconut taste to it, which leads me to believe they make it from coconut milk, which I love.

I would order a cake from them again, but I think I would try their chocolate. I highly recommend them as well. If you are looking for a bakery that will work with allergies or just need a dang good vegan cake that won't break the bank like Whole Foods, you have found the right place. I will have more entries throughout the month. Stay tuned to see what I do for Thanksgiving and my birthday. Yours truly will be cooking and baking up a storm this month. Until later my readers. ~Bunny~