recipe: veggie dog bites

This "no-wheat" diet has me eating some interesting things. I made corn relish a few weeks ago for "Bokkie's Boerritos". I was not impressed with the overall recipe (mango on tortilla just tasted wrong), and the corn relish isn't what I was expecting. However, I made over 1L of it so needed to find a way of eating it. Kyle mentioned that his mom used to eat it on hot dogs, and suddenly I had visions of smog dog vendors in downtown TO with their metal vats of corn relish. And I asked Kyle to buy me veggie dogs. However, no wheat + veggie dog = oops. So I invented this crazy meal one day, and I'm actually really happy with it! It's super quick, filling, and tasty.

Note: The rice crackers stay nice and crunchy despite being microwaved.

Veggie Dog Bites

Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 1 very quick
Ingredients: 2 easy
Source: my crazy imagination

Ingredients:

• 1 veggie dog
• 6 rice crackers
• 1 thin slice of mozzarella cheese
• mustard
• hot sauce
• corn relish

Directions:

1. Cut veggie dog into 3 pieces, then slice those pieces lengthwise. Put one slice one each cracker. 
2. Cut the thin piece of mozza into 6 pieces and put one on each veggie dog slice. 
3. Microwave for ~40 seconds to melt the cheese. 
4. Add a dot of mustard and hot sauce to each cracker, and top with a tsp of corn relish.
5. T

recipe: low-gluten lemon cranberry muffins

I'm trying out a reduced wheat diet. When I stick with it, I feel better - more energy, less lethargy, and a ..uh.. calmer digestive system. Fortunately Bulk Barn has loads of gluten free flours, and my sister (wheat/gluten-intolerant) has already given me some tips. This marks my first real attempt of gluten free baking (I don't count the awful chickpea-flour pancakes I tried a couple weeks ago), and I'm sooo happy with it!!  Actually... I added 1/4 cup of wheat flour, partially as a safety crutch and partially to use up the remaining flour. To make them fully gluten free, you could switch it out for 1/4 cup of your favourite gluten-free flour.

I made mini-muffins because they're the perfect size for snacking.

"Gluten-Free" Lemon Cranberry Muffins

Ease: 2 easy
Time: 4 not very quick
Ingredients: 4 not very easy
Source: I combined these two recipes and improvised a bit where I didn't have certain ingredients: Jules Speaks Lemony Cranberry  Muffins and this Universal Gluten-Free Muffin Mix.

Ingredients:

• 5 Tbsp margarine
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp zest (lemon & orange) 
• 2.5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1/4 cup soy flour
• 1/4 cup white/whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp xantham gum
•  1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• ~ 1 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped (I used the chop attachment on my hand blender)

Directions:

1. Cream sugar and margarine together in a large bowl (I used the wisk attachment for my hand blender).
2. Add eggs, yogurt, vanilla, zest, and lemon juice. Beat well (I still used my hand blender wisk here). 
3. In a (smaller) separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. 
4. Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until well-combined (this goes against my instinct for making muffins, but the dough was thick and gummy and needed lots of mixing to avoid dry pockets of flour). 
5. Fold in chopped cranberries. 
6. Spoon into lightly-greased mini muffin tray and smooth a bit. 
7. Cook at 400 F for 10 minutes, until lightly browned on top. (Closer to 20 minutes for normal sized muffins, I think). 

recipe: taco salad

I've started taking photos of everything I eat.

Bonus benefit of taking photos each day is it's EASY to post recipes now. I just type up what I ate, with a link. Photo was already taken and is already on my my blog. w00t.

Taco Salad

Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 2 quick
Ingredients: 2 easy
Source: Loosely based on Easy Taco Salad from Women Living Well.org, but veggified and substantially healthified

Ingredients: (amounts up to you, depending on your desired ratio and how many people you're feeding)

• veggie ground round (I used Yves)
• packet of taco seasoning (could be homemade but I used a package)
• romaine lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces, washed and dried (salad spinner ftw)
• cilantro, chopped coarsely
• tomatoes, diced
• bell peppers (sweet, green, whatever), diced
• avocado (not pictured, since I didn't have any)
• frozen corn, thawed (not pictured, since I just thought of it)
• lime juice
• hot sauce (optional)
• salsa
• cheddar cheese, grated
• tortilla chips (I used hint of lime Tostitos. The original recipe calls for Doritos), crumbled
• sour cream or yogurt (optional. Not pictured because we didn't have any)
 

Directions:

1. Mix ground round and taco seasoning in a small pot with some water. Let it simmer for a few minutes and then remove from heat and let it cool while you prepare the salad. It's OK if it's liquidy - the liquid will help substitute for dressing.
2. Let each person serve him/herself, to customize it. Below is my style.
3. Sprinkle tomatoes, red bell pepper and cilantro over a bowl of lettuce. (this is where you'd add the avocado and corn if you wanted)
4. Top generously with lime juice and hot sauce. (it's the 'dressing')
5. Add salsa, cheddar, tortilla chips, and faux meat mixture.  (and sour cream/yogurt if using)
6. Mix.
7. Enjoy.
8. Seriously, it was so easy. And really really tasty. I hope this becomes a regular meal in my rotation. 

Recipe: fancy vegetarian shepherd's pie

One benefit of learning French is that I now have more recipes available to me. And man, this recipe is SO GOOD. It's not something I would ordinarily make, but I tried it around this time last year and was impressed. It was way tastier than I expected, but I knew I wanted to make some adjustments for next time. I finally got around to making it, and I'm impressed with my adjustments too.

First, you have to forget that it's shepherd's pie. If you're expecting a ground beef, pea/carrot/corn, and potato dish that's all mushy and homogenous, don't even bother. I grew up loving the M&M Meat shepherd's pie and have been trying to replicate it with ground round or lentils since giving up beef. It doesn't work. This recipe doesn't try to be that kind of shepherd's pie, and it's better for it.

Second, the recipe has a lot of ingredients, ranging from eggplant to oats to nuts to squash to fresh herbs. And it takes forever to make, since there's chopping, baking, slicing, grating, mashing, scraping, and two phases of sautéing. But it's totally worth it. Just make sure you set aside an afternoon.

As for my adjustments. The original recipe calls for pine nuts. Pine nuts are expensive, and I'm cheap, so I decided to substitute walnuts. Close enough. Also, having the middle layer composed of just spaghetti squash (as per the original recipe) was somewhat disappointing. It was very bland, and almost watery. So I figured a different kind of squash (acorn, butternut, or pepper) would work, or maybe sweet potato. I opted for a mixture of spaghetti squash and sweet potato, and it was pretty tasty, although still the blandest of the layers. Suggestions on this point are welcome. So far I've considered adding margarine, but that's probably not the healthiest option... For the cheese layer, I supplemented the old cheddar with marble because I'm selfish and wanted to save some of the old cheddar just for snacking. :)

Some other notes: The recipe makes a lot of food, so I decided to freeze most of it. I baked all of it at the same time and then put some of the dishes in the freezer (after letting it cool a bit, of course). I figured if I'm running the oven for 50 minutes anyway, I might as well bake all of them at the same time. We'll see how it goes when I thaw and reheat one of them in a few weeks. Also, I used a small spaghetti squash, so my middle layer was pretty thin, which you can see in the photos. I was OK with this since it is the blandest layer, but it could probably have been thicker to improve the healthiness of this meal (i.e. increase the ratio of veggies to bread/potato).

Fancy Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
Ease: 2 easy
Time: 5 time consuming
Ingredients: easy
Source: modified from Recettes du Québec

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oat flakes
• 2 cups bread chunks
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (original recipe used pine nuts)
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (original recipe uses fresh thyme)
  
• 1 sweet potato (original recipe didn't have sweet potato)
  
• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 potatoes, thinly sliced (original recipe used Yukon gold; I used baking potatoes)
  
• 2 cups old cheddar cheese, grated (I supplemented with marble)
  
• Salt & pepper to taste
  

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix the oats, bread, and milk. When the milk is absorbed, add the sunflower seeds, nuts, eggs, and herbs. Set aside.
2. Cook the sweet potato in whichever way you like. I chopped mine into large chunks (skin on) and cooked in the microwave for 10 minutes. Peel and mash.
3. Cook the spaghetti squash: Cut the squash in half, clean out the seeds and guts (reserve the seeds to roast like pumpkin seeds!), then cook the squash in a shallow baking dish for 35 minutes at 375 F. Using a fork, remove the flesh into the bowl containing the sweet potato. Add salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. In a large frying pan, melt half of the butter and then sauté the eggplant and onions until cooked. Remove and set aside.
   
5. In the same frying pan, melt the rest of the butter and brown the oat/bread/nut mixture. Add the eggplant mixture back, mix and cook 4 more minutes.
6. In whatever sized baking dish(es) you like, layer: the oat/bread/eggplant mixture, then the squash/sweet potato mixture, then the sliced potatoes, and top with the cheese.




7. Cook in a 350 F oven for 50 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and the cheese is bubbly and a bit browned.
   

Recipe: toaster oven mini zucchini pizzas

This is the time of year for "too much zucchini", so I've been on the search for zucchini recipes. Pinterest has been particularly useful in this search. So far I've tried dill zucchini chips (not good at all), zucchini fries (meh), and zucchini pizzas (finally, a win!), and a vegetable soup (also meh, but I think that was my fault and not the recipe's). I think that I might just not like zucchini all that much... Perhaps I should have opted for baked goods that hide it better...

In any case, I've decided to post my version of the zucchini pizzas, since I seem to have a problem following recipes without modifying them. In this case I had a good excuse: I don't pepperoni, and I don't have a grill!

Toaster Oven Mini Zucchini Pizzas
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 1 very quick
Ingredients: very easy
Source: Kalyn's Kitchen


Ingredients:

• Zucchini, the fatter the better
• Olive oil
  
• Sauce of your choice: alfredo, BBQ, pizza, thai, etc.
• Cheese of your choice: mozza, cheddar, parm, etc.
  
• Veggie toppings of your choice: bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, fresh basil, etc

Directions:

1. Slice zucchini into 3/4" slices. I had a fat zucchini so I did my slices widthwise, but you could also make long and skinny pizzas with lengthwise slices.
   
2. Place the slices on a cooking sheet, and brush the tops with olive oil. Broil in a toaster oven for 8-10 minutes.
   
3. Flip the slices over and top them with the sauce, toppings, and cheese.
4. Broil again for 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese has started to bubble and brown.
5. I suggest eating these with a fork and knife, and carefully... No one likes the hot-cheese & roof-of-mouth combination.

recipe: vegetarian sushi (this time with recipe!)

Kyle had a craving for sushi so we're making it again, just one week after the first time. And it was just as good this time around! I'm actually writing out the full recipe this time, mostly because we finished our package of nori that has the instructions... and I want a permanent record ;)

These instructions are based on what we made tonight.

Vegetarian Sushi
Ease: 4 not very easy (well, it's a bit complicated at first but it gets easy with practice!)
Time: 4 somewhat time consuming (rice preparation, filling preparation, and rolling all take a while)
Ingredients: can be tricky to obtain
Source: general instructions were on the back of our nori package, Yaki Sushi Nori, which be bought from the International Food Market on Wyandotte. Our ideas for the fillings came from previous experience with sushi restaurants.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 a block of tofu
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tsp tempura sauce
• 1/2 tsp hot chili oil
• enough water to cover tofu
• 2 cups sushi rice (we bought ours at International Food Market)
• 2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp cooking sherry (our instructions call for Mirin, Japanese Sweet Rice Wine)
• 1 pc Kombu (dried kelp - we omitted this because we didn't know what it was)
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2.5 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• nori
• 1 avocado
• ~ 1/3 - 1/2 of a cucumber
• 1 carrot
• Special Equipment: sushi rolling mat

Directions:

1. Cut and marinate tofu: Mix together the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, tempura sauce, and chili oil (or whatever sauces you'd prefer to use for your marinade). Cut the tofu into long strips about 1/3" x 1/3" x the longest dimension you can get. Add the tofu to the marinade and then add enough water to bring the marinade up and cover the tofu. Set aside.



2. Cook rice: Rinse rice in cold water several times until water runs clear. Add the measured water, the sherry, and the Kombu (if you're using it) to the rice and let sit for 30 minutes. If you're using Kombu, remove the Kombu before cooking the rice. Next, cook the rice until done (we used an electric rice cooker so just pressed "on" and it was done when it popped up). Once finished, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. Then fluff with wooden spoon.
3. Prepare sushi vinegar: While rice is cooking, mix together the rice wine vinegar, the sugar, and the salt. Warm in the microwave for 20 seconds to help dissolve everything.
4. Prepare fillings: While rice is cooking, prepare the fillings (except the avocado - leave that until last) Tofu: Sauté the tofu in a bit of oil and about half the sauce. Turn down the heat and let the rest of the sauce boil off. Carrot: Using a potato peeler, create long strips of carrot. Avocado and cucumber: Peel & remove seeds from cucumber, then cut into long matchstick-like strips. Cut the avocado the same way.
   
5. Prepare rice: After rice has been fluffed, spread it in a shallow pan and sprinkle the sushi vinegar over the rice. Toss with a wooden spoon so that the vinegar is evenly absorbed. Apparently using a fan at this point helps cool the rice to handling temperature and prevents sticky rice. Now you're ready to roll :)



6. Make maki sushi! Place one sheet of nori on a rolling mat. Moisten fingers and spread rice evenly over bottom 2/3 of nori sheet. I prefer small sushi pieces, so I usually only use about 1/2 cup of rice, which makes a layer about 1/3" thick (but with lots of holes that I can still see the nor through). Make a long indentation across the rice, about 1/3 of the way up the nori (so it splits the rice layer in half - top and bottom). Fill this indent with your ingredients (see below for flavour combos). Lift the mat over and tuck it around the fillings, squeezing a bit to compress the rice. Then continue rolling while releasing the mat as you go. (at this point, Kyle feels the need to give his whole roll a good squeeze. I found that mine worked well enough that I didn't need the extra squeeze. You'll find a technique that works for you).
   
7. Cool them: I put the "sushi logs" in the fridge for at least about 45 minutes, because I prefer them a bit cooled and it makes them easier to cut.
   
8. Cut them: Then, you cut your sushi into pieces of your desired size.
   
9. Serve with soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi. Mmm wasabi.
   

Serving size: This last batch made 10 thin logs of sushi, each log making up to 12 small pieces (like, really small pieces). For example, this photos below shows the sushi made from 4 logs.

recipe: spice cookies

I bought some molasses cookies from Dollarama the other day and was so addicted to them it hurt. They have iron, so that's a plus... but they also have sugar and of course preservatives. I decided to try baking some at home to see if it's possible to make yummy ones. Then I will try to make a healthier version.

I found a recipe off Allrecipes and modified it as per the comments/reviews and tried it out this past Sunday. It's not terribly original on my part since I'm just copying... but they turned out SO WELL that I am posting the recipe anyway. I'm also changing the name because "molasses cookies" just sounds lame.

Spice Cookies
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 3 somewhat quick (all baking takes long!)
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: Inspiration from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup margarine, partially melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger (1/2 tsp + "some more")
• 1 Tbsp white sugar extra

Directions:

1. Mix wet ingredients: Mix margarine, sugar, egg until smooth. Add molasses and stir.
2. Mix dry ingredients: Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.
   
3. Blend dry mix into wet mix.
   
4. Cover and chill at least 1/2 hour (original recipe recommended 1 hour).
5. Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and then roll in sugar (note that I only rolled one side of the balls to reduce sugar). Place cookies ~ 2" apart on ungreased cookie trays.
6. Bake 7 minutes until tops are starting to crack. Watch closely because the longer they cook, the harder they get. 7 minutes yields a soft cookie that stays soft at least one day (speaking from experience)

recipe: chicken brine

My life has been pretty intense since moving to Quebec and starting my PhD, so trying new recipes and blogging about them has been near the bottom of my priority list. That said, things are starting to stabilize and Kyle and I hope to start trying new recipes again, so I'm hoping to make the recipe posting to be a regular thing again!

I know it's strange to see a chicken-related recipe on my blog, since I mostly post vegetarian recipes, but I like to cook roast chicken for Kyle at least once a year because it's his favourite meal since when he was a kid. We usually cook it on holidays when we're not visiting family. Today, it's Easter. I'll be posting my brine recipe, my rub recipe, and my stuffing recipe.

When I first decided to roast a chicken for Kyle, I called upon my sister for help since she is more experienced in the ways of "normal" home-style cooking. She recommended that I brine it. Brine? WTF? Isn't that just salt? Well, I did some research on Allrecipes and sure enough brining is kind of popular. So I tried it and the chicken was really good (this coming from someone who doesn't like meat) so... I can consider myself a brine convert. The brine recipe is pretty flexible since it's just used to soak the chicken and then you discard it. The first one we made had clementine wedges and peel, lemon juice, dried onion, and rosemary. For my second one, I used fresh onion, fresh lemon, dried thyme, and sugar. And this is my third one, and I've mixed it up again.

Lemon-pepper Chicken Brine
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 2 quick (just some chopping)
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: Inspiration from AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced/chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 1 medium/large lemon, sliced thinly
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/t poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp + extra black pepper
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• tea leaves from 1 used teabag (from my morning tea)
• 1/3 cup salt
  
• 15 cups of water (enough to cover the chicken)
  

Directions:

1. Add onion, garlic, lemon, and spices (including tea) to a pot/container that is large enough to hold your chicken.
2. Measure out the salt, take some and rub it onto the chicken. Pour the remaining salt into the pot.
   
3. Rub some coarsely ground black pepper onto the chicken (if you have a pepper grinder).
4. Add the water to the pot and mix everything around to dissolve the salt.
5. Add the chicken to the water carefully.
6. Store the chicken in the fridge for at least 1 hour but not longer than 5-6 hours.
7. Remove the chicken from the brine, discard the brine, rinse the chicken under cold water, and pat dry. For crispier skin, allow the chicken to dry some more by storing in the fridge overnight.
   

recipe: nic & kyle's vegetarian chili

(Originally emailed Apr. 2, 2008)

our recipe!, by LG Weddings

I've added two new people to the list. Julie, from my lab (I've added you in case you find some recipes for your sis or for CR), and Dane who I know from Laurier people (hey, you said you wanted a recipe!). The background info: I (try to) send out a vegetarian recipe every week, seeing as Kyle and I usually try at least 1 or 2 new recipes per week, and I hope that someone out there actually finds something they like.

Today I will share with you my recipe for vegetarian chili. I grew up with my mom's chili recipe: simple, tasty, hearty, but full of meat. And it turns out that it doesn't work well as chili when you just omit the meat. I have tried time and time again to make vegetarian chili and it nearly always ends up tasting "off" and being overly liquidy. So I did some investigative work (including Wikipedia and some recipe sites), plus some trial and error, and finally settled on a vegetarian chili recipe I like. Kyle says it's the best food I make. I don't have a meat substitute in it (I've tried it and I didn't like it), but you could always try that if you wanted. I usually serve this chili with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll chop up some avocado and mix it with lime juice and serve that over top of the chili. I guess green onions would also work as a garnish. We make fresh french crusty bread for dipping.

Some comments from now me (as opposed to me writing in April of 2008). I was searching for this recipe today and I couldn't find it (can't find any recipes in our recipe box since I decided to "re-organize" it. Grr. Then I checked my second go-to spot: my blog! And I realized to my astonishment *gasp* that I haven't posted our chili recipe. As you've already read, Kyle and I developed this recipe together, but the other cool news about it is that we served it at our wedding! The caterer at the Toronto Zoo (Compass Canada) was really great about it and they made our chili for us. How cool is that?

Now as it turns out, Kyle and I have different methods of making this chili. And... his tends to end up better than mine. So I'll intersperse the Kyle Method below.

our recipe!, by LG Weddings

Nic & Kyle's Vegetarian Chili
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 3 somewhat quick (quick to throw everything in a pot, but long time to let it simmer)
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: my mom, plus inspiration from various places

crockpot chili, by me

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 chili or jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 2 large cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1-2 splashes red wine
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 1 squeezed lemon (or about 2-3 Tbsp of lemon juice)
  
• few grinds/shakes of black pepper

1. Saute garlic, onion and pepper in a bit of oil for a few minutes - until fragrant and onions are soft. But don't brown garlic.
2. In crockpot or slow-cooker, combine remaining ingredients and add onions and garlic.
3. Set crock pot to high until chili starts to boil, then turn heat down.
4. Boil for several hours. Throughout the day, scoop off the liquid that rises to the top and RESERVE. Do this before you stir it because it's easier. (Kyle method: don't scoop off liquid until the very end)
   
5. Before serving, mix some (> 1 Tbsp) cornstarch into the mug of reserved liquid and add gradually back into the chili until the chili is thick.
6. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, lime-y avocado cubes, etc. Also, fresh bread.
7. Yum.

recipe: breakfast rice pudding

pudding

I enjoy hot grain cereals, and I sometimes miss rice pudding. My mom's recipe, however, uses eggs and takes hours to bake. I find it a bit to "eggy", and I don't like the idea of running an oven for 1 hour just for pudding. I've therefore been searching for rice pudding recipes that don't involve the oven, and preferably don't involve eggs either. One day, a bit of inspiration struck me and I figured that I could probably add rice to my cream of wheat and have it be somewhat ricepudding-like. Here's the result. Very simple, and uses up some leftover rice, which is always nice.

I wonder if there's anything I could have done to make this look more appetizing...

Breakfast Rice Pudding
Effort: 1 very easy
Time: 1 very quick
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: me

ingredients

Ingredients:

• ~1 cup soy milk (I prefer Sensational Soy vanilla)
  
• ~1/3-1/2 cup rice
  
• ~2 1/2 Tbsp dry cream of wheat
  
• couple of pinches of cinnamon
  
• maple syrup (optional topping - the soymilk is quite sweet enough)

rice

1. Add soymilk to small pot. Put heat on medium.
   
2. Mix rice into soymilk (if it was cold, break it up first).
   
3. Add dry cream of wheat one tablespoon at a time. Very slowly sprinkle it into the soymilk while stirring constantly. This helps prevent lumps.
   
4. Stir frequently, if not constantly.
   
5. As soon as bubbles start regularly appearing & the pudding looks a bit thicker, turn the burner off but leave the pot on the burner.
   
6. Stir frequently ~2 minutes or until it's as thick as you want. Note that it will still thicken a little bit once you pour it in your bowl.

this one was just for fun - woo, swirly...

recipe: new recipe in the archives + need help with my scales

mexican night, by David Bradley

I've decided to backdate my recipe posts back to when I originally emailed them out. Because these tend to be hidden in the archives, I'll also announce them when I post them.

Today I posted:
Mexican Night

Enjoy.

Also, I'm trying to figure out a scale system for speed and easiness of my recipes, since those are the two most important qualities (other than health and taste) I look for in a recipe.

Right now, I'm thinking:

Ease
1. Very easy
2. Easy
3. Somewhat easy
4. Not very easy
5. Hard

Speed
1. Very quick
2. Quick
3. Somewhat quick
4. Somewhat time-consuming
5. Time-consuming

But I've also used words like "pretty easy" and "pretty quick". Where do they fit in? Does "somewhat" mean more or less quick than just "Quick"?
Help!!!

recipe: one new recipe post in the archives

Good Lovelies, by me

I've decided to backdate my recipe posts back to when I originally emailed them out. Because these tend to be hidden in the archives, I'll also announce them when I post them.

Today I posted:
Green Peas and Mushroom Green Curry

Enjoy.

rainbow cake

it's a frikkin rainbow cake! Photo by Aleta Meadowlark

My mind... it eez blown.

Go to Omnomicon to find out how to make it. It sounds ridiculously easy and I must find an excuse to make it soon.

recipe: two new recipe posts in the archives

red, by me

I've decided to backdate my recipe posts back to when I originally emailed them out. Because these tend to be hidden in the archives, I'll also announce them when I post them.

Today I posted:
Green Peas with Coconut and Cilantro
Sweet & Sour Schmeatballs

Enjoy.

Lazy Naan

In my Hot Chana recipe, I said I'd post a recipe for lazy naan. Well here it is.

Naan, in it's very literal sense, is a flatbread that's been cooked in a tandoor, or clay oven. It's delicious and doughy and stretchy and a little bit toasted on the outside. You basically rip pieces of it off the big piece and then use the bread to grab a bit of food (mainly Indian, for us) and then stuff the whole thing in your mouth. It's a bit messy but that's just the way it goes.

Now we don't own a tandoor, and sometimes we're too lazy to make puri or chickpea pancakes, flatbreads that don't require a tandoor. So instead, we've got a lazy flatbread that we call naan. We buy a bag of pitas (any kind of flatbread will do, basically, but we like those greek style pitas. the nice thick ones. we buy ones that actually are called 'naan'), and cover them in a butter/margarine mixture and then toast them in a frying pan. So easy. The following recipe is for 4 pitas.

Lazy Naan/Flatbread
Effort: very easy
Ingredients: pretty easy

Ingredients:

• 4 flatbreads of some kind
  
• ~1/2 - 1 tbsp margarine or butter (if butter, soften a bit)
  
• sprinkle of tumeric (less than 1/4 tsp)
  
• sprinkle of cumin (less than 1/4 tsp)
  
• sprinkle of garam masala (less than 1/4 tsp)
  
• sprinkle of cayenne pepper (less than /1/4 tsp)
  
• any other spices you think would go well

Directions:

1. Mix the margarine/butter with the spices until nice and uniform and soft
   
2. Spread the mixture on each side of the pitas
   
3. Fry each pita on medium to medium-high heat until slightly toasty and brown on both sides (flipping halfway through).

Mom's Caesar Salad Dressing

(Originally emailed June 2, 2008)

Kyle and I have been in a bit of a recipe rut lately. I've recently started going to the gym (yay step class!) and so we don't have as much time to cook in the evenings. We therefore haven't been all that adventurous with our meal choices. However, I have started taking pictures of some of the recipes I have sent (or plan to send) out, so you can look forward to some photos to go along with my recipes. I also plan on putting these recipes on a blog for easy reference, but I'll still email them all out.

Anyhoo, I love Caesar salad, and the one I love best is my mom's homemade Caesar salad. A few weeks ago I got the recipe from her so I'm sending it out to you. Also, if you're looking for it, there is such a thing as vegetarian worchestershire sauce. It's the store brand at A&P. I think that's Equality brand?

Photo: Caesar salad, mom-style, with simulated bacon bits

Mom's Caesar Salad Dressing
Effort: very easy
Ingredients: easy
Source: my mom

Ingredients:
1/3 c olive oil
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1-2 cloves garlic
couple shakes of salt (add more if tastes flat)
1 (raw) egg
dash lemon juice
couple dashes worchestershire sauce

Blend for 5 minutes in a blender until homogenized and frothy. Pour over bite-size romaine lettuce pieces, and top with loads of Parmesan cheese (I like the Kraft dried stuff here, but fresh stuff could also be a good garnish on top). Mix together and serve. Of course you could always add extra ingredients, like croutons or simulated bacon bits (like photo) or slices of lemon, but I like to keep it simple. Add more or less garlic and lemon juice to your taste. I like serving this with pasta.

After emailing this recipe out, I received a tip: if you're looking for a healthy oil alternative... try grapeseed oil.. I bought some yesterday infused with garlic, and another one infused with lime... its incredible, healthy for you, and has a very high smoke point so it pretty much doesn't burn! great for salads.

Update & Gingery Squash Soup

I hope that everyone's holiday season has been going well!
I haven't been sending out /posting recipes for many reasons:

1. I've been busy and/or lazy with the Holiday Season
   
2. Kyle and I have both had bad colds, resulting in us being less than enthusiastic about cooking and trying new recipes. And when we don't try new recipes, I don't have anything to send out in emails because we rely on the same 15 recipes.
   
3. Normally we shop once a week, but since we don't really like walking for 45 minutes in the cold, we've dropped it down to once every two weeks. This results in us trying fewer new meals and eating more ready-to-eat meals. And then it snowed one week and we were sick so we didn't go shopping for 3 weeks (maybe even 4???)
   
4. Kyle doesn't get home until 6:30, so I end up doing most of the cooking myself (I still only have a part-time job in my old lab, so I make my own hours and come home by 3pm). I don't really enjoy cooking for 1.5 hours on my own, so I'm less likely to try new meals.
   
5. Of the new recipes we have tried, I still feel like they need a few tweaks before I send them out. Some of these recipes include:
   
   • cream of mushroom soup: I combined two different recipes and got to use our brand new food processor (Christmas gift!) and it was OK but not creamy enough and had waaay to much thyme
     
   • mashed russet & sweet potato: I loved this one but Kyle was bored by it. The major problem was that the potatoes took too long to bake - i don't like running the toaster oven for 1 hour just to bake potatoes - and we ended up with chunks in the mash because we got impatient. I'm currently trying to find a way of baking potatoes in a way that takes less time and energy
     
   • gingery butternut squash soup: I'm starting to wonder if maybe I just don't like squash soup all that much because I seem to find problems with just about every soup I make. I'm giving up on this recipe and posting 3 recipes below and you can pick your fave.

Instead of trying new recipes, I've focused my energy elsewhere. I've been trying to photograph every meal we eat, as well as some of the steps in the preparation stage. Also, I've been updating the blog by slowly working through the photos, where I'll add an older recipe to my blog once I have a photo to go with it. No photo for this recipe, but just picture yellow blended soup ;)

Gingery butternut squash soup: Lauren's version

1 onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (pressed)
2 T fresh ginger (minced)

Saute with 1 T olive oil until onion is cooked.

3 granny smith (or similarly tart) apples (peeled and cubed)
1 medium or large butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
2 potatoes or sweet potatoes (cubed)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Add to pot and bring to boil. Simmer until squash and apples are tender. Puree in blender or food processor.
Salt and pepper to taste. Jay likes to add hot sauce to it too.


GINGERY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP: Michelle's version

2 onions (chopped)
2 tbsp fresh ginger (peeled and minced)
In a large soup pot, saute in 1 tablespoon oil until onion is translucent

2 apples (peeled, seeded, chopped)
1 butternut squash (peeled, seeded, cut into cubes- you can substitute 2 cups of cooked winter squash here too!)
4 cups/1L chicken (sub veggie if you want) broth

Add to large soup pot and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer until squash and apples are tender. Puree in blender until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley...and enjoy!!!!

(I like to add a splash of soy milk just for consistency too.....)


Not as Gingery Acorn Squash Soup: Nic's version
(I had tried making the above versions but had a disaster where I let it cook all night and it tasted grooooosss. So I was kind of wary to try it again. Instead, I used their recipes as a base and used up some things that were in my fridge, like a really old granny smith apple, a half going bad sweet potato, and some shriveled ginger. Sounds good, eh? Hehe... I found that the ginger taste of the soup was really mild, which may relate to the fact that the ginger was no longer fresh. I also found this soup very starchy and thick, which may relate to the potatoes and maybe also to the type of squash. Adding water helped if I found it too thick, and I actually liked it - until my 4th day in a row of eating it!)

• 1 onion (chopped)
  
• 1 tbsp oil
  
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger (peeled and minced)
  
• 1 apple (peeled, seeded, chopped)
  
• 1 acorn squash (peeled, seeded, cut into chunks)
  
• 1 russet potato
  
• 1 half medium sweet potato
  
• 4 cups veggie broth

1. Saute onion and ginger in oil until onion is translucent
   
2. Add apple, squash, potatoes and broth and bring to boil. Simmer until veggies are tender
   
3. Let cool a bit and blend in a blender or food processor.

*** Energy saving tip: When I know that something has to simmer for a while, I usually turn the burner off a few minutes before I want it to be done. The burner usually stays hot for a couple of minutes so the soup will stay boiling/simmering for that time. Plus with a soup as large as this, it really retains its own heat so it will continue to cook a bit long after you turn off the heat. Plus, you have to let it cool before you can blend it anyways, so you might as well turn off the burner as soon as possible. ***

Sesame Tofu

(Originally emailed March 19, 2008.)

I stumbled across this recipe online and Kyle and I loved it when we first had it. It was a little overpoweringly sweet, so we've reduced the amount of honey in it. Also, serving it over more rice helps cut the sweetness. It's very quick and simple, which I like. It's also pretty healthy if you serve with broccoli and brown rice. Tip: If you're serving it with rice (and I suggest you do), make sure to start the rice just before or right after you start pressing the tofu, or your tofu and sauce will be done and your rice won't (this is especially true with brown rice)!

Photo: Sesame Tofu with broccoli and brown rice
Sesame Tofu
Effort: very easy and pretty quick too!
Ingredients: Easy
Source: Jewish Vegan and Whole Foods Market

Serve with steamed bok choy or broccoli, sautéed watercress or eggplant, and brown rice.
Note: this is the original recipe. Try it out and then decide how to tweak it for yourself (e.g. we use less honey)

• 14 ounces / 1 block extra-firm tofu
  
• 1/4 cup cornstarch or flour for dusting
  canola or corn oil for frying
  
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds, lightly toasted
  
• 3 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1/2" pieces \
  
  Sauce
  
• 1/3 cup honey (we reduced it to about 3 tbsp)
  
• 3 tablespoons tamari
  
• 3 tablespoons finely minced ginger
  
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil (not toasted)
  
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  
• 2 cloves finely minced garlic
  
• 1–2 teaspoons red chili flakes

1. Wrap tofu with paper towels and place on a cutting board. Put another cutting board or heavy plate on top to press out liquid about 20 minutes.
   
2. Stir together sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer sauce while you cook tofu.
   
3. Dry drained tofu with paper towels and cube. Dust very lightly with corn starch or flour.
   
4. Heat <1cm>
5. Serve with remaining sauce for dipping or to drizzle over vegetables.
   

Hot Chana and Puri

I'm playing around with blog formatting, especially since I'm turning emails into blogs. If you have any comments on preferred formats, please let me know

(originally emailed April 30, 2008)

Photo: Hot Chana with Moghlai Spinach, basmati rice, and storebought 'naan'

I thought that I might not send out a recipe this week because I haven't been particularly inspired lately. But then I ate dinner tonight, and it was delicious, so you're hearing about it.

Kyle and I bought a vegetarian indian cookbook a while ago but we've been intimidated by it because the recipes are written in a funny format. Once we started cooking from it, however, we found out that it's actually quite easy and the food is good. We picked a meal called "hot chana" (Chickpeas with very hot spices), because we both love ordering chana masala from indian food restaurants. However, we were supposed to make it last week and I just kept putting it off because we also decided to make a flatbread and for some reason I thought it would be a lot of effort. Well we had to make it today because it's the last meal on our "weekly schedule" of meals, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did it take less than 1hr to prepare (including 1/2 hour sit time for the flatbread), but it was also delicious and tasted like actual Indian food (always exciting). And because I made use of one of my 2 new cilantro tricks, I'm going to share those with you too. I find that one bunch of cilantro is too much to use up before it goes rotten, so I've tried to find things to do with it to avoid wasting. (tricks to follow in a different post)

We had this meal with a Puri (fried, puffed whole wheat flat bread), which was a new one for us. I started cooking chickpea flour pancakes with our Indian meals, but chickpeas with chickpea flour pancakes? It's a bit much.

The hot chana meal + flatbreads was a good amount for 2 people, but we've already figured we're going to be hungry in a couple hours. It would have been nice to round it off with some sort of green veggie, and maybe a potato dish if we were feeling particularly ambitious. In the future I will probably share a spinach recipe (David showed us this one - it's GOOD), and a potato recipe from this veg indian cookbook.

Photo: Hot Channa with the lazy version of naan (recipe to be posted at a later date)

Hot Chana (chickpeas with spices)

Effort: easy

Ingredients: semi-easy. It calls for black mustard seeds which I can't find anywhere. And hing, which I also can't find. But I just use normal mustard seeds (bulk barn), and omit hing.

Cookbook: Indian vegetarian cooking in your home

1 Tbsp veg oil

1 tsp cumin seed/mustard seed/sesame see mix

1/4 cup onion, chopped

3 Indian bay leaves (I used regular bay leaves)

2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (or 2 cilantro cubes, as I used)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp salt

1/2-1 tsp hot red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/8 cup veg broth

1. Put onion, bay leaves, cilantro and garlic in a bowl.

2. Put cumin, coriander, salt, red pepper, tumeric and garam masala in another bowl

3. Rinse chickpeas

4. Heat oil, cumin/mustard/sesamee seed mixture in a pan until seeds pop.

5. Add onion bowl and cook until onions transparent.

6. Add spice bowl, followed by chickpeas and veg broth.

7. Mix (simmer if desired), and serve.

The chana recipe recommended serving with puri (below), although rice and/or other breads could work. I tend to eat this along dish with another Indian meal, such as Shahi Paneer, Moghlai Spinach, or Potatoes.

Puri (whole wheat flat bread)

Effort: easy

Ingredients: easy if you're willing to substitute

cookbook: Indian Vegetarian Cooking at your house

1 cup (Indian) whole wheat flour (I used regular whole wheat flour and it was OK)

1/4 TBSP veg oil

dash salt

optional: dashes of cumin powder, coriander powder, hot pepper, tumeric

1/4 + a little bit extra warm water

1. Mix flour, oil and salt into a bowl. Slowly add water, just enough to form a firm dough, and knead until smooth. Cover and let rest at least 1/2 hour.

2. Knead dough briefly. Divide into small golf-ball sized balls. Roll out into 6" rounds on an oiled board. Heat veg oil in wok or frying pan. Add a little salt to oil to keep it from smoking.

3. Fry one puri at a time, holding them under oil on first side until they puff. Turn and fry until light brown, and drain on paper towels.

Picante Pasta

This is my first email that I also post to the blog simultaneously. Go me!

I think eventually I'll phase out of emails and just go to blogs... However there are ways of getting notified of new blog posts so you don't have to remember to check it all the time. Either way, there will be dual posts for now. The blog will be the only place I post photos, though. Although I'd like to point out yet again that taking photos of food is REALLY REALLY HARD.

I can't remember if I've told this story but I'll tell it now anyways, at the risk of repeating myself. I'm a big fan of Freecycling (Freecycle.org - where you give away stuff you don't want anymore and you get stuff for free), both to get rid of stuff I don't want and to get stuff that I do want. A few months ago, I grabbed hundreds of recipe cards off some woman who must have been collecting them for years (literally... there were some very 50's style recipes going on there). I sorted through them and grabbed anything that sounded remotely interesting (weeding out all of the meat recipes), and I still ended up with well over 100 recipes. A lot of them are dessert recipes (which means I'll probably never make them), but some of them were salads and a few were pastas or other veggie-based entrees. Today's recipe is one of those. It's from a series of recipes called Grandma's Kitchen, and it's actually called "Linguine with Picante Sauce" but I've just been calling it Picante Pasta and there's no reason that it has to be linguine, so whatever. The recipe sounds a bit weird because it involves black beans + pasta, but I was very happy with the end result. Topping it with mozza cheese made it extra yum, too. I've modified the directions slightly because I don't agree with the order they were written in.
As always, I suggest chopping all of the veggies up first so that the actually cooking part isn't stressful.

Picante Pasta
Effort: very easy
Ingredients: very easy
Source: Grandma's kitchen card (modified from)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz linguine (I broke my linguine noodles in half because I"m a slob and can't handle full-length linguine without making a mess of myself)
  
• 1 med onion, coarsely chopped
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 1 tbsp veg oil
  
• 2 1/2 cups canned stewed tomatoes (we used diced)
  
• 1/4 cup picante sauce (we used plain ol' salsa)
  
• 1 tsp chili powder
  
• 1 tsp ground cumin
  
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  
• 4 oz finely shredded Colby Jack cheese blend (we used mozzarella because that's what we had on hand)
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

1. Heat veg oil in large skillet over med-hi heat until hot. Add onion and garlic and mix well. Saute until onion is tender.
   
2. Add undrained tomatoes, picante sauce (salsa), black beans, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and mix well. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and cover.
   
3. Simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes; remove cover. Increase heat to med-high. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is the desired consistency, about 5 min.
   
4. Meanwhile (around step 2 or 3), cook pasta using package directions; drain. Rinse quickly and cover to keep warm.
   
5. Serve sauce over pasta (either one large platter or individual plates/bowls), sprinkle with cheese and cilantro.