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Pardon the Dust!

My catering website is under construction.

In the meantime, all you need to know is right here.

I offer vegan catering for events in the greater Los Angeles area.

My services are geared towards appetizer-small bites events, and I specialize in mostly raw dishes, gluten-free dishes and organic-non GMO food.

Plating ranges from $15 - $8 per person, depending on your party size and what you would like on the menu.

Some popular items are:

Spicy kimchi quesadillas
Spring Rolls
Fruit Kabobs
Mini quiches
Mini pecan tarts
Stuffed peppers
Raw tacos
Roasted vegetables and dipping sauce

Ask for any vegan item and I bet I can provide it!

You can contact me at 909-239-0798 or angelamcardlelda@gmail.com

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Did you put away your ice cream maker because summer is over? Well get it back out and put it in the freezer where it belongs! That's more like it. Pumpkin ice cream needs to be made as many times as possible before New Years gets here, when the "holiday season" sadly ends.

You will need:
Ice cream maker **Put the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer right now!! It needs to be in the freezer for 24 hours before you start to make your ice cream.
Blender
To refrigerate all of your ingredients the night before, or at least 8 hours prior to making the ice cream

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cans of coconut cream or full fat coconut milk
1/2 can pumpkin puree (or 8 oz fresh pumpkin, steamed & cooled)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Directions:
Blend all ingredients except for the coconut oil on high speed or puree mode for 20 seconds or until thoroughly blended. Put the blender and its contents in the freezer for 45 minutes so the ice cream base can get nice and cold.

Now, grease the paddle of your ice cream maker with the coconut oil. If you do not grease the paddle, there is a very good chance it will stick when the ice cream maker starts turning and then you won't be able to make ice cream!

After 45minutes have passed, take the ice cream maker bowl and the blender out of the freezer. Turn your machine on BEFORE you begin to pour the ice cream base into the unit. Follow your ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions but it should only take about 20 minutes for your ice cream to freeze.  Eat and enjoy!

Green Bean Casserole

Cooking Soundtrack:  Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home (because almost everyone goes home for the holidays)

Part of the charm of the traditional green bean casserole is that it's made out of only three ingredients! I kept with that tradition in my vegan version of this holiday classic. If you feel the need to make vegan cream of mushroom soup from scratch, be my guest! But I'll be too busy making pies, corn bread dressing, candied yams and mashed potatoes...

Ingredients:

16 ounces frozen green beans or fresh equivalent (or two 16 ounce cans, I won't judge you!)

One 13 oz box of Pacific brand vegan mushroom gravy (Can be found at Whole Foods and sometimes Ralph's)

One half of a standard 6 ounce can of french fried onions (every brand I've seen is vegan, although I cannot claim to have seen a single organic french fried onion) OR use 1 package of Just Pure Foods Crispy Onion Rings to make your casserole gluten-free (available at Whole Foods).

Thaw your green beans in the refrigerator overnight or gently heat them up in a skillet on low heat until all of the ice has melted. Do not put frozen green beans in your casserole. The results will make you sad!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and chop all of your green beans into somewhat bite size pieces if they are not already chopped.

Mix chopped green beans with the Mushroom Gravy (use the entire box of gravy) in your baking dish. Add 3/4 of your crispy onions to the dish and mix them in thoroughly. Sprinkle the last 1/4 of the onions on top. If you are using gluten-free onion strips, give them a

gentle pat to make sure they get a little gravy on them so they don't get too hard.

Cover your dish with foil and pop it in the oven for 35 minutes. That's it! Enjoy!

**This dish doubles very easily if you need two times the amount of green bean casserole.**

Tofu Korma

Indian food is great stuff to veganize at home! Most of it is already vegetarian or very veg friendly and just needs to have coconut milk and Earth Balance substituted for ghee or yogurt. Once you master Indian food you have full license to sit back and smugly update your facebook status with comments about how you've successfully ventured into international cuisine and that you're instagram photos of food are actually... interesting.

Cooking Soundtrack:  Rudra - Asura Mardhini

You will need:
1 frying pan
Non-GMO canola or grape seed oil for sauteing
1 package extra firm tofu, pressed
1/2 yellow or sweet onion, chopped
1 can tomato sauce
1/3 can light coconut milk
scant 1/4 cup earth balance
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
1 cup brocolli florets
1/4 cup green peas
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t turmeric
1 T garam masala
1 T chili powder
1 T lemon juice
dash of sea salt
dash of cayenne pepper
black pepper to taste
(optional) cooked rice to serve with your Korma

*Don't forget to press the water out of your tofu or it will taste watery and bland.*

First of all, don't be intimidated by the length of the ingredients list. Most of it consists of spices and you can throw them all in the skillet in no time. If it gives you peace of mind, just put them all in a small bowl before you start cooking and then throw it all in the skillet later.

Start by chopping your onion into little pieces and saute it in a tablespoon of oil in your frying pan on medium-low heat. While that's cooking, mince your garlic & ginger and toss these into the frying pan, too. When the onion is almost translucent it's time to pour in the tomato sauce and coconut milk. This mixture is going to look a little weird at first but as it cooks it will start to turn reddish brown and resemble a curry. Stir it up! If the tomato coconut mixture starts to pop and splatter at this point, you need to turn down the heat just a tad. 

Now dump in all of your remaining spices and stir them in, doing your best to keep them from sticking to your spatula. If you're using frozen vegetables, toss them in now. If you're using fresh vegetables, wait about 5 minutes so they don't get too mushy. 

Adjust your heat to medium so that your korma gradually starts to pop and boil. Once it reaches this temperature, turn the heat down a little bit so that it doesn't make a mess by splashing korma all over your stovetop. You want just a little bit of bubbling. Toss in your tofu now.
If you are using a rice cooker, now would be a good time to turn it on since your korma will be done in about 18 - 20 minutes.
After another 5 minutes, add your Earth Balance. For some reason, it tastes better if you add the Earth Balance near the end of the cooking process. Stir it in slowly. No need to fuss over it, it will melt eventually. Add your lemon juice a couple minutes before turning off the heat. You'll know it's done when the korma is a nice brownish red color and tastes good!

Serve it over rice.

Photos coming shortly.

**Another great Indian metal band is Bhairav but they don't have an album out yet. I found a video of them on youtube with poor sound quality but you can still tell they totally rock.

Next cooking class: Sunday, June 23rd in Hollywood, CA.

Celery Root Hash

This bizarre-looking root is actually quite delicious! Don't be fooled by its knobby, Harry Potter-ish appearance. It's available in most grocery stores in the muggle world but unless you have real magic powers you are going to have to shred the heck out of it in a food processor. Now get those blades goin' and get this thing cookin!

Soundtrack: Iron Maiden - Flash of the Blade

You will need a chef's knife, paring knife, food processor with a grater, frying pan and vegetable peeler.

Ingredients:

1 large celery root, peeled and grated

½ onion, diced

dash of salt and pepper

1 T sage

2 T olive oil or non-gmo canola oil

1 clove garlic

Don't be scared. You can do this!

Directions:

Start by peeling the whole celery root with a vegetable peeler, and then cut off any remaining knobby parts with a paring knife. Next, use a chef's knife or paring knife to cut the celery root into pieces small enough to be run through your food processor. Set your food processor on the largest grating setting you have and grate all of the celery root.

Next, dice your onion into very small pieces.

Begin sauteing your celery root in about 2 T of oil on medium heat. Add the sage and salt and pepper to taste. Saute for 10 minutes, slowly stirring the celery root in the pan.

Now, add the onion and garlic and turn the heat up to medium high until the celery root begins to brown. Let the celery root brown and darken on one side, then turn it so that the other side can darken. Most of the celery root should be browned after about 10 minutes of cooking.

Serve hot with gravy.

*Celery root is also really good in Cajun food and Thanksgiving dressing/stuffing.

Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie

You've gotta have a blender with really sharp blades in order to get this smoothie right. Other than that, it's a piece of cake. The typical Jamba Juice/chain restaurant smoothie is either full of non-vegan yogurt or has the consistency of a runny frozen fruit soup. This smoothie is actually creamy like a shake and will fill you up without spiking your blood sugar and leaving you starving again in an hour. Avocado is the secret ingredient. It blends in perfectly and you don't actually taste it. Even if you're an avocado hater, you're still gonna like this smoothie.

Cooking Soundtrack: Iron Maiden - Flash of the Blade

Ingredients:

8 oz. fresh strawberries (half of a standard 16 oz. carton)

6 oz. fresh pineapple (about 5 large chunks of cut pineapple)

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (any brand except Pacific)

1 1/2 teaspoons agave nectar

½ avocado

8-10 ice cubes

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together and serve immediately.

I'm putting the spotlight on fruit! Check out the nutrition facts below to find out why you need to eat more raw fruit.

Ingredients Profile:

Strawberry Heath Benefits:

High in Vitamin C and polyphenol antioxidants and phytochemicals, including anthocyanins, ellagitannins, flavonols, terpenoids, and phenolic acids.

Pineapple Health Benefits:

Bromelain is an enzyme found in fresh, raw pineapple that is known to reduce multiple types of inflammation in the body, including swelling and inflammation due to injury and surgery, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and ulcerative colitis. It can be used as an alternative to NSAIDs.

Avocado Health Benefits:

Good source of Vitamin C, Folate, Vitamin K, Potassium, and mono and polyunsaturated fat, contains 18 amino acids - including the 8 essential amino acids used for protein synthesis.

Sources:

Bromelain as a Treatment for Osteoarthritis: a Review of Clinical Studies.

Dietary supplementation with fresh pineapple juice decreases inflammation and colonic neoplasia in IL-10-deficient mice with colitis.

Strawberry and its anthocyanins reduce oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells.

Impact of postharvest methyl jasmonate treatment on the volatile composition and flavonol content of strawberries.

** Additional reading at: altmedicine.about.com and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cheezy Corn Casserole

Let's just get this out of the way: this is an indulgent holiday recipe and it's full of processed food. But it's delicious and I'm sure you'll survive if you only eat it a few times a year. It's still vegan. What's more, your non-vegan holiday guests will not complain that you're serving them weird vegan health food if you serve this at a party. Everyone loves cheezy gooey casseroles and nobody likes a complainer.

Cooking soundtrack: Testament - Disciples of the Watch

You will need:

1 large mixing bowl

1 colander or strainer

1 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish

Aluminum foil

1 Mahatma Yellow rice package, cooked according to directions -OR- an equivalent amount of cooked saffron rice

3/4 tub of Tofutti brand Better than Sour Cream (use the rest on tacos!)

2 cans of organic corn

Dash of Tapatio, Cholula or Tabasco hot sauce

1 package of shredded Daiya Cheddar Cheese

1 T melted Earth Balance

Directions:

Prepare your Mahatma rice and set it to the side to cool off a bit.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and pour the melted Earth Balance into the baking dish. This will grease the pan and give the casserole a nice buttery flavor.

Now, drain your corn and rinse it really well. Tap the colander or strainer you're using really well to drain as much of the water out as possible.

Mix the rice, corn and Daiya Cheddar together in the mixing bowl. Add 3/4 of the tub of Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream and dash of hot sauce last, mixing well. Spread the mixture into the casserole dish, pat it down, and cover it with foil. It's ready to go in the oven! 

Bake it covered for 45 minutes. 

                                                  Oh, yeahhhh! That looks so good!


Disciples of the Watch is a song about the movie Children of the Corn. It was the only metal song I could find that vaguely referenced corn! (Besides that horrible band Korn but let's not go there.)