..And that's a wrap! Recipe 24, Swayze's Crunchy Vegan Chicken

Yesterday was my birthday, and a beautiful day all around.  You might wonder why I chose to do a veganization on my birthday?  Well I don't have an answer to that.  Regardless, allow me to tell you all about it.

It was a bright blue day.. and warm, extremely warm for January.  Considering when I was a kid, my parties used to be canceled by blizzards, this one we had a thunderstorm!  No worries!   I started my day making creole sauce for the crunchy chicken for dinner.  I found the original recipe from Planet Hollywood online and very carefully veganized it minus a couple of ingredients (which were not noticeable at all!  Seems it's really hard to find vegan horseradish, but I don't like horseradish anyway, so it wasn't missed).

So, after that I had a whole day I had to fill.  I didn't want to make the chicken until right up to the time I had to leave for Christy's house.   

Now, remember, Christy was the one we discussed on the previous blog, the story about how she and I were trying to eat Cap'n Crunch chicken while Mickey Mouse and Patrick Swayze (rip) were in the house? 
However, we've met Christy and lil Elena before, so they're not new to us.   Regardless, I had to wait til school and work was over for them, so I ended up spending the afternoon at Frisch's and 'The Candy Bar'.   Whoohah.  I did have fun though.  
I do want to shout out to everyone who made my birthday spectacular starting with Friday and ending out to last night.  My baby mama, my baby, my family, the lady at the spa who put me in a state of bliss I might never be in again, AK, my kids, and of course Christy and Elena!   

So, when it was time, I started making the ol' cap'n crunch chicken, which we've dedicated specifically to Swayze.  And here was the setup!

Once this baybee was done, it didn't take long at all.. this is much like the setup for fried chicken.
The end result was oh-so-delicious. 
I like to remind my victims that most of the time that I'm trying these dishes for the very first time too - and this was one that I was a virgin to til last night.  It was cute, Elena even asked for MORE.   However, we were piggy and ate it all. But Christy did keep the creole sauce.  :)   

So, remember I told you about how we came to eat the original Cap'n Crunch Chicken at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney?  Well, to end my Disney veganizations, I decided that instead of v-logging the veganization,  I would v-log what happened to Christy and I that night.. So, without further ado - you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want it to stop!  

Christy - Starring as herself
Elena - Starring as Sheri
Sheri - Starring as 'crazy Swayze nut'

Our v-log for my last Disney veganization:


Do you love it?  lol.   We had so much fun.
And for dessert?  
  
Take a look at this beauty.   

Whooo loves me?  :)  I love owls (If you don't know this already)  and I have the most lovely Mary Beth King (owner of the fantabulous - Sweet Peace Bakery to thank for this absolutely yummyfied cake goodness!   Is it not one of the cutest things you ever did see?  And Christy wanted to get the whole birthday song and presentation on video, so you not only get our veganization on video tonight, you get the birthday video as well... are you not the most lucky people in the world?  (You'd have been luckier to have had vegan cake with us!)

So here's that video too!


All in all this is another successful veganization.. and the end of our Disney veganization trek.  This is NOT to say we won't revisit Disney again (remember I'm obsessed).   But for now, it's back down to earth (you know how that happens after vacation).

Stay tuned VERY SOON for my next veganization that couples a football game, with a lil taste of Cincinnati.  
Can you guess what we're going to do!?!?!

;)
Have a beautiful February!

Music enjoyed while blogging:
Little House

Current Craving:
More Cake

Current Motivation:
I'm exhausted, I want this written!

Hollywood is a planet.. Recipe 24. My brush with fame.

Sometimes I like to think I'm famous.   After all, was it a friend of mine around Christmastime who said to another.. "Sheri's a celebrity blogger now!" ?  Ah. Hahaha.  I've got a ways to go before I'm a celebrity like say - Hanna Harto or anything.. (gathumpa).  But I'm on my way!

As such, I want to recount with you, my dear readers the brush with fame that my bestie Christy and I had at Planet Hollywood - some year when we were both much younger and stupider...  a brush with fame we had no clue was even coming!   This brush was a super surprise to us (and I'm sure everyone in line knew it too... but us?  Shoot, we were hungry, we had no clue.)

First of all, let me introduce you to our last trek through Disney ground for our veganizations... Downtown Disney.   Specifically, "Planet Hollywood."  Let's see what Disney.com has to say about Planet Hollywood:

"Planet Hollywood satisfies cravings for traditional American lunch and dinner fare in a star-centric restaurant in Downtown Disney West Side. Menu selections include a variety of filling fare that features BBQ sandwiches, New York Strip Steak and spaghetti with pomodoro sauce.

The three levels of Planet Hollywood are densely decorated with movie memorabilia and props from some of Hollywood's hottest films and TV shows. Stargaze at the displays while you dine under the iconic planetarium-like ceiling. Then commemorate your trip to "Hollywood" with custom Planet Hollywood logo merchandise and other movie-themed souvenirs."

Well, ok, that's about right.  :)  Notice, it's not very vegan friendly eh?   That is OKAY.. because we're not really GOING there.. but we're sure going to talk about it!    Let's start from the beginning.

So, Christy and I decided we were hungry.. and at this point we were not ravenous or anything.. uh, HEY LOOK!

It's Mickey!!
Ok, anyway we decided upon Planet Hollywood.. (mind you this was YEARS ago, I was a carnivore).    We were excited.. we knew there'd be a wait.. but 2 hours walking up and standing on stairs.. we had no clue that would be our evening.  We went from mediocre hungry to ravenous.. but we enjoyed a few sights along the way.   All I can say for us is that we must have been just sure we didn't want anything else because for the life of me now, I can't imagine why we stood in line for two hours.. but we did.

I digress.. 2 hours passed and we were seated... we were seated upstairs in a balcony section, overlooking the stage where I spose people perform here and there.   We ordered.. we ordered 'Cap'n Crunch Chicken'.. (which was good by the way, and it's what is going to be veganized).   So we sit, we chat, we get our food.. it's good, we talk about how crazy we were to stand in a line for two hours, we discuss how the puffy vegetable colored things under the chicken taste like air.. and then

wait for it

wait for it

Someone announces Mickey Mouse!
AHOOT!
Not to be overshadowed by the other guy that was there... Mr. Orry Main himself..  Patrick Swayze!

<-- Orry Main!
Ok, so what was funny is that while we were chanting for Mickey, Patrick is getting the brunt of the action - but mind you, we're in primo spotto here.. how we did this is beyond me.. we had no IDEA Swayze was making an appearance.  What was NOT funny was that because we're in primo spotto.. we have the most obnoxious women LAYING over our Cap'n Crunch Chicken, making fools of themselves trying to get Swayze's attention.     I'm sure Christy said some choice things to them.. as I was trying to shoot pics of Mickey mouse.   But seriously folks.. we could have not timed this any better with a better spot had we known.  Aside from Ob and Noxious over our food.. we had a blast and talked about it (still do) years later.  So what a better thing to do than to try and re-create the food from our brush with fame?

So, that's what's going to happen.. Cap'n Crunch Chicken from Planet Hollywood, will be forever engrained to us as "Swayze's Crunchy Vegan Chicken" (RIP Orry)  and who better to victimize this with than the one girl who shared this experience with me?  That's right.. the salad maker extraordinaire and her baby girl.. Christy and Elena!

                                                        But let's do the numbers for this lil gem.

Cap'n Crunch Chicken                                              Swayze's Crunchy Vegan Chicken

Calories 459.8                                                             260

Total Fat 23.0 g                                                            9.8                  

Cholesterol 110.9 mg                                                    0

Sodium 647.9 mg                                                        325

Total Carbohydrate 34.1 g                                             24.1

Dietary Fiber 1.2 g                                                       1.2                       

Protein 28.5 g                                                             12                       

WW Pts 12                                                                  6

Whoot!  Ok, so for this veganization.. not only am I doing it on my birthday.. but I'm going to do something special for you all since I didn't do a V-Log last week.   It's going to be cute, it's going to be funny and after that, and after we devour our 'chicken' and our salad.. we'll be endulging in VEGAN BIRTHDAY CAKE!!  MmMmMmM!  *shakes with excitement*.

So, what'll I do?
I guess you'll have to wait and see!
It'll be out of this world and Oscar worthy, you just wait.. I'm casting some real awesome players!
;)


Til Then!
Keep smiling!


Music Enjoyed while blogging:
Frank Sinatra Radio - on Pandora (I didn't keep up as to what was playing this time!)


Current Motivation:
Creating a comedy


Current Craving:
Vegan Birthday Cake!

"Tastes Like Chicken" - Flaxen Love-itt Pies - Recipe 6, Dinners

Yum.
Saturday Night:
Well, it smells good!  :)  I could have started this with a little better organization - but I was feeling wild and crazy and not organized AT ALL.  So, I didn't.  I made a HUGE mess, but it was ok.  I was exhausted.

I spent all day Saturday in Indiana at the "Rebel Race" cheering Mooie Kip on.  So, it's okay.  Regardless, I got home so early that I thought - why not?  Let's get this show on the road.
So, it starts.. once again, here I am kneading dough for the crust.  Knead, knead, knead.  Roll, roll, roll.  Cut cut - ok ok you get it.  This is what I got from that below:

The Tops

Yeah I have a big one because this made alot more than the three lil crocks for the Fuqua girls on Monday.  I have - a WHOLE CASSEROLE, ladies and gents.  It's Sunday night's dinner.  ;)

So then, it was onto the pearl onions.  Now, I've never cooked with pearl onions before, and they are a MESS!  A MESS I say (you think I got a picture of my mess, don't you?) HARDLY.  I don't show you my big messes!  If I did, you'd see the bottom of my cheesecake stuck-on oven. ;)  No thankyou.   Anyway, cutting onions, dicing potatoes, cutting celery, garlic - what else, oh FOR HEAVEN SAKE - the meat of this 'meat pie'  the TEMPEH!  Goodness I love tempeh.  I can't explain how much.  Tofu is nothin compared to tempeh.  mMmmM.  Anyway, yes I diced up tempeh.. then started the filling... and got it all to it's creamy, bubbly mixture all ready to pop into their crock

The mixture - not quite bubbly yet

So - after that was done - (you'll notice I was boiling the peas seperatly, because the sister hates them.. see em over there far left?!)  I added the one pie w/o peas, and then mixed those green balls of goodness into my mixture and made the rest of the pies.  They were smelling pretty nice.  Then it was time to put the crusts on top of the things.   This was actually easier than I thought.  I thought my crusts would plop over the top of the bowls but they actually fit very nicely inside of the pots so they were nice and neat.  I put a little 'v' in the one for my sister so that when we cook them on Monday we'll know which one is 'pea-less'.  Lol   And for the record here are the 'raw' pots getting ready to go into the ol' oven. I even left one 'open' for you to see it's innerds!  Yum.. these things are going to taste lovely.

pies ready to bake!

So baking, they started to smell even better.  And hey, look, I made a hidden mickey in the picture to your right!  I'm ready to eat these things.  But I only have til tomorrow to wait to eat the larger casserole.. but I won't report on it til the Fuqua ladies have it after our run on Monday.

Monday:
So, what's the consensus?  Did it 'taste like chicken'  Are the Flaxen Love-itt pies a hit?  I do have to say - of the four people that ate these- I've had nothing but positive comments from everyone.    I do have to say, I think next time I'll roll the topping thinner.  But regardless, the whole refrigerating and re-popping them in the oven worked just perfectly.  :)  I'm happy, the ladies are happy.

So, now I'm sitting here - just waiting for "The Playboy Club".  I'm excited.   2011 autumn shows are actually pretty good.   Gone is the ridiculous hospital and police, private eye dramas of the early 2000's and (hopefully) slowly fading away is the "Let me show you what I can do" reality tv crap.. and "IN" is the 60's.   I really enjoyed 'Pan Am' last night.  These shows remind me alot of "American Dream" and "The Wonder Years"  which I loved!   So, I'm happy.
Since, however, this isn't a tv blog.. I digress...  the food is digested and I sit here with my furkids and my cereal snack, ready to enjoy the rest of my night.

Til next blog post, kids.   Happy eating!


Music Enjoyed while cooking and writing this blog:
Poe - Dolphin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr52ckuomGE

Garbage - The World Is Not Enough - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI7KxEerCYo&feature=fvst

Natalie Imbruglia - Leave Me Alone- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqDlLpPV2PA

Frou Frou - Breathe In - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naLr4q8OYEs

Plan B  - Backside Grind 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCrf0QEd6bs

Lush - For Love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F4aHdMxM0k

Siouxsie and The Banshees - Arabian Knights - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP-ZUbSmkRM

Walt Disney's Lion King - I Just Can't Wait To be King - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXs8OS6EdAE

Massive Attack - Karmacoma - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi76bxT7K6U&ob=av2e

Air - Le Solieil Est Pres De Moi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3RY0-zELU

Gotan Project - Epoca - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbh-jn8V54c

Charles Webster- The Gift Of Freedom - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2i68FV4yUk

Delerium - Silence - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA-je1_Ejq0

Moby - Isolate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrW7N4ojGvU

Current Craving - A pot pie!!


Current Motivation - a muddy heathen.  ;)