Your Saturday Morning Report

I'm here to announce PASTALON IS BACK !!!

Good Morning, its Saturday and I am too excited to share with all of you this recipe that gets me pumped for the holidays. But before we dive into all that, I hope everyone is doing swell. I am doing well and workin hard to kick off the end of the year with lots of delicious stuff for all you guys.

1. This is Salem my hunky chonkey boy in his Holiday best layin under the tree like the sweet lil baby he is.

2. A little sneaky peaky of some cranberry orange waffles that you just may see coming up on the socials pretty soon !

3. Okay but bread is everything. My partner and I have been given a starter from another chef friend and now we have become parents to this thing. We were both nervous at first as we thought it was dead but with some TLC we brought Claudette back to her prime ( shout out to Chef Jason from Nami in Lake Nona ).

4. Pastelon - It’s like Puerto Rican Lasagna and everything I look forward to in a comfort dish.

5. Case Kenny - One of my fav authors I follow on Instagram that is always posting perfect quotes filling my feed with motivation. This quote really resonated with me as lately the odds have felt against me but I trust in myself and my passion to lead me.

6. Could this be a Banana Chai Tres Leches ? ….I guess we will have to stay tuned to find out !

Okay last thing before we dive in and hopefully you all are as excited about this announcement as I am. In the beginning of this year one of my goals was to create my first e-book and I wanted it to be simple to help those who want to get more comfortable in the kitchen cooking plant based meals. More specifically, creative plant based meals that are not just using a faux meat products. Now don’t get me wrong - I love me some Gardein orange chicken that can be found in most stores in the freezer isle. Howeva, I learned in my first year going vegan that eating ready made products like that is expensive and adds up pretty quick. I think many would agree with me in sayin the most cost effective way to eat more of a plant-based or vegan diet is do some home cookin ! Another added bonus - your body, skin and hair is gonna love you for it. So in this e-book there is 9 recipes and even a correlating grocery guide as I know how challenging it can be to start grocery shopping when making this transition. Many of the ingredients you may already have at home but this little guide is for sure to help and also bring some excitement into the kitchen ! This e-book will be live on my Substack on December 24th to my paid subscribers as a thank you to all who have supported me since the birth of this newsletter.

If you are an e-book person this is just the beginning ! I may have some plant based travel guides in the works ;)

---

Now, for todays obsession - pastelon! Which is nothing short of magical. Crispy fried plantains layered between a rich and sort of “meaty” tomato sauce, bechamel and lots of vegan mozzarella cheese. For the “meaty’ red sauce I used TVP this time. In past versions I have used veggie crumbles from the store and honestly they both work great so if making your own TVP ground “beef” is outta the question. Don’t worry as this is super flexible and heck you could honestly sub out the faux meat and just do chopped mushrooms. You know I love me a versatile recipe.

The Recipe Round Up

Tofu Katsu & Japanese Inspired Curry

Something about the warm spices of curry on a cold day just warms my soul from the inside out so if you are a curry lover like me or you know a curry lover like me - you are not going to want to miss out on how to make your own spice blend. Toasting the spices, before grinding them and frying them in the roux, develops their flavors and infuses them throughout the entire dish making it so much more flavorful.

I've just been making it in big batches with basmati rice - eating it day after day as it conveniently made for some pretty great meal prep.

Puerto Rican Inspired Pastelon

Imagine lasagna but with crispy fried plantains, layered with a hearty red sauce, bechamel and lots of cheese ( vegan cheese of course )! This dish is perfect for the holidays because it's practically made to be shared. If December and the holidays symbolizes anything it would probably be spending time with loved ones over an amazing meal. Check out the video visual I posted on IG this morning !

delaniemcguire

A post shared by @delaniemcguire

Now for Next Weeks Teaser - Banana Chai Tres Leches

Banana Chai Tres Leches

* Serves approximately 9 * Bake Time - Approx. 2 hours + Time Need To Soak Overnight 

Ingredients - Chai Caramel Sauce

* Makes approx. 2 cups *