Category Archives: Vegetarian

June Strawberries = Vegan Strawberry Shortcake!!!!!!!

Posted on June 13, 2011 | 1 comment

I have always, always loved strawberries.  Like, eat them until you are nearly sick to your stomach love strawberries.  In June I always think, I should really get to a pick-your-own berry farm, but inevitably June becomes September and I have certainly NOT made it to a pick-your-own farm.  June in Michigan brings early berries so today on my way home from Grand Haven, I stopped at a market on Lake Michigan Drive and bought my first summer berries.  Summer early berry season is short, about 3-4 weeks if you are lucky, so get out there! Between this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake and basic inhalation, I managed to polish off 2 pints in about 8 hours.  It’s the best kind of sick you can be.  Berry sick.

When I was a kid, Grandma Helen made the shortcake, and Aunt Mar made the crisps (we will talk crisp, crumble, betty, etc in the fall).  This is the baking powder biscuit recipe I’ve taken from Grandma Helen’s collection and slightly modified to be vegan for all my animal lovin’ friends.

Vegan Baking Powder Biscuits

Sift before measuring.
1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Sift flour with baking powder and salt into medium bowl.
2. Cut shortening into flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 knives (used scissors-fashion), until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
3. Make a well in the center. Pour in 3/4 cup milk all at once. Stir quickly round the bowl with a fork. If mixture seems dry, add a little more milk to form dough just moist enough (but not wet) to leave side of bowl and form ball.
4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface to knead. Gently pick up dough from side away from you; fold over toward you; press out lightly with palm of hand. Give the dough a quarter turn. Repeat ten times.
5. Gently roll out dough, from center, to 3/4 inch thickness.
6. With floured 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter or a juice glass like Grandma Helen did it, cut straight down into dough, being careful not to twist cutter.
7. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Makes 8 (2 1/2 inch) biscuits.

DROP BISCUITS:

When I’m too lazy to roll and cut, I make drop biscuits by using the recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits, but increasing milk to 1 1/4 cup. Do not knead or roll out. Drop dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto lightly greased cookie sheet; bake at 450 F. for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 20.

For the rest of the strawberry shortcake, I took a pint of berries, washed, hulled and sliced them and mixed them in a deep bowl with 1 T sugar and 1 T peach schnapps (don’t judge me – any flavored liquor you like will do here).  Left this mixture on the counter to create magic while I made the biscuits.  Upcycle the remaining 3/4 C or so of the coconut milk into a flat vegan whipped cream by using your hand mixer on high, toss in a 1/2 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp lemon thyme for fun.

To plate, cut a biscuit in half, spoon in strawberries, top with vegan whipping cream and a mint sprig.  Store remaining biscuits in the freezer for peach and nectarine season.  Shortcake isn’t just for berries.

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Posted in Baking, Dessert, Michigan, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

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It Ain’t Easy Being Green, Spring Stir Fry

Posted on June 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sometimes desperation comes in the form of “I don’t want to go to the grocery store or farmer’s market today.”  And so, this modification of a 101cookbooks.com recipe was born…from the stuff I already had in my fridge and herb garden.

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Green, Spring Stir Fry

  • toasted sesame oil
  • 8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into slices thick as a pencil
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • scant 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (peeled)
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 # asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • a couple big pinches of fine-grain sea salt
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • a few handfuls of chopped kale
  • zest and juice of one lemon and one lime
  • 2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
  • 1 small handful fresh mint, slivered
  • 1 small handful fresh basil, slivered

When you are frying, stir-fry, the biggest advantages you can give yourself to combat ending up with a soggy-fry is to have all your ingredients prepped and within arms reach of the stove AND a smoking hot pan ready to dump them in to…sometimes a non-stick wok is not the best for this…but do the best you can with what you have.

Heat a splash of sesame oil in a large pan, or well-seasoned wok over medium high heat. When it is hot, add the tofu, and cook until golden – a few minutes. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.

Add another (generous) splash of oil to the pan and, as soon as it is hot, add the onions, ginger, red pepper flakes, asparagus, and salt. Stir fry for about a minute, then add the garlic, kale and stir-fry for another minute, or until the spinach wilts. Return the tofu to the pan. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and the Hoisin sauce. Cook for another 10-20 seconds, stirring all the while.  Serve immediately.  My favorite way to serve this is over cold Soba noodles.

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Posted in Dinner, Noodles, Recipes, Stir Fry, Vegetarian

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An Inspired Chocolate Cake

Posted on May 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut ButterCream Frosting

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Adapted from Donna Hay

#author’s note: you will need a small scale to measure some of these items, I converted to US measure where possible.

Cake:

  • 1 C Guinness or any other stout beer
  • 225g butter, chopped into small pieces
  • ¾ C cocoa, sifted
  • 2 eggs at room temp
  • 2/3 C sour cream, light is okay
  • 2 C plain, all-purpose flour sifted
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda, sifted
  • 2 C superfine sugar

Peanut ButterCream Frosting:

  • 1 C confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 C smooth peanut butter
  • 80g butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 C heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325. Place the stout and butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve butter.  Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa.  Set aside.

Whisk together the eggs and sour cream.  Add to the stout mixture with the flour, soda, sugar and whisk to combine.  Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan lined with non stick baking or parchment paper.  Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter frosting, place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 6 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes.  Spread the peanut butter frosting over the cake and then serve.

You can also make these as cupcakes.  Cook for approximately 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

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Faux Chicken BBQ Pizza

Posted on May 19, 2011 | 1 comment

I’m not a huge faux meat fan.  I don’t eat meat because, I don’t want to, not because I want to eat something that tastes like it, but isn’t it.  Did that make sense?  At any rate, there are a few things I do miss about being vegetarian:

1.  Bacon

2.  Chicken Hot Wings

3.  Tuna Steak

4.  Barbecued Turkey

I discovered this product at Whole Foods on my last jaunt to Ann Arbor, and thought I’d give it a try.  That trip was about 5 months ago, so it keeps well in the freezer although I think it was sold in the fresh case, by the lunch meat etc.

Mostly, gardein bbq pulled shreds tasted like, well bbq sauce.  The “meat” didn’t have flavor, in fact, after I ate it, THEN I went back to see what it actually was, you know like any responsible consumer-vital wheat gluten, or Seitan in the veg world, which I can make at home.  All-in-all, not an offensive product.  I think it gave Mr. Wonderful his bbq pork/chicken fix for a little while and it was a quick dinner after a long day.  I love this idea of “pulled pork” or whatever and think next time, I will try my own homemade bbq sauce which is much lower in sugar and “pull” my own Seitan.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

Faux Chicken BBQ Pizza

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat up bbq shreds according to package directions, from frozen it took just 3 minutes on high.

Put naan directly on oven grate for 1-2 minutes until a little crisp.

Add bbq shreds, onion, grated cheese onto the naan then pop back into the oven until cheese is melty and naan is crispy.

Don’t forget your napkin.

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Posted in BBQ, Dinner, Meat Substitutes, Product Review, Vegetarian

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Eat Cake. Press Tofu. Juice Lemons. Make Buttermilk.

Posted on May 16, 2011 | 1 comment

One of my gal pals celebrated a birthday last week and NO ONE made her a cake.  This is basically a crime.  Ina Garten would have been be pissed; hence, I dropped everything and made some Barefoot Contessa cupcakes.  Fear not, while the cupcake recipe DOES start with nearly 2 sticks of butter, for dinner I made Lemony Chickpea Stir-fry which basically cancels out the butter!  Eat up!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature (I never have this on hand, so I “made” buttermilk using 1 cup skim milk and 1 T lemon juice-it really does work)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons brewed coffee
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup good cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Peanut Butter Icing, recipe follows

Chopped salted peanuts, to decorate, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it’s completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frost each cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing and sprinkle with chopped peanuts, if desired.

Peanut Butter Icing:

  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

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I have a lot of friends that hate working with tofu because it’s “too spongy” or too this, or too that…I create extra, extra firm and combat spongy, with a very scientific pressing technique that I have perfected in my kitchen, you can see it in the first few photos post cupcake in the slideshow.  Hint: it involves a cast iron grill pan.  Very complex.

For the record, the birthday girl hated the stir-fry, but learned that she loves chickpeas.  One small victory.  I on the other hand decided this is one my fave Heidi Swanson recipes.  Different strokes.

Lemony Chickpea Stir-Fry

  • Recipe from 101cookbooks.com
  • 2 tablespoon ghee or extra-virgin olive oil
  • fine grain sea salt
  • 1 small onion or a couple shallots, sliced
  • 1 cup cooked chickpeas (canned is fine, if you don’t want to cook up a pot of dried chickpeas)
  • 8 ounces extra-firm tofu
  • 1 cup of chopped kale
  • 2 small zucchini, chopped
  • zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

Heat 1 tablespoon of the ghee/olive oil In a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in a big pinch of salt, the onion, and chickpeas. Saute until the chickpeas are deeply golden and crusty. Stir in the tofu and cook just until the tofu is heated through, just a minute or so. Stir in the kale and cook for one minute more. Remove everything from the skillet onto a large plate and set aside. In the same skillet heat the remaining tablespoon of ghee/olive oil, add the zucchini and saute until it starts to take on a bit of color, two or three minutes. Add the chickpea mixture back to the skillet, and remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, taste, and season with a bit more salt if needed. Turn out onto a platter and serve family style.

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Posted in Baking, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Stir Fry, Vegetarian

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Celebration Sunday!

Posted on May 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

This is a two for one blog post today.  Last minute plans had Mr. Wonderful and I running to Lansing for the weekend to celebrate his kid sister FINALLY (as her father puts it) graduating from MSU, Mother’s Day, Mr. Wonderful’s mother’s birthday, and my new job.  Whew!  Nice to celebrate!

I’m going to air a little dirty laundry, The Wonderful Family is a little bit difficult to pin down in terms of actual PLANS, so late Friday night we decided on brunch at the Wonderful’s Farm (#walterthewonderdog loves it there).  My portion of brunch was relatively painless and I made it ahead.  Goat Cheese & Asparagus Strata and Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast Casserole.  Win-win.

Warning these are not healthy recipes!

PAULA DEEN’S FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE

  • 1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
  • 8 large eggs
  • 2 cups half-and-half
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 2 tablespoons Splenda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Dash salt
  • Praline Topping, recipe follows
  • Maple syrup

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla,cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

PRALINE TOPPING

  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 2 tablespoons light agave nectar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.

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Goat Cheese Asparagus Strata

Adapted from Epicurious.com’s Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Strata

  • 18 slices firm white bread (original recipe calls for English muffin bread crust free, I used French with crust)
  • 1 # asparagus tips, chopped
  • 8 ounces Dancing Goat, goat cheese from Dogwood Farms in Byron Center , crumbled
  • 4 ounces provolone, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onions
  • 6 T thinly sliced fresh basil or 3 T dried
  • 6 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced*
  • 5 large eggs
  • 2 c half and half
  • 1 T Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 T butter, melted

Line bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish completely with 1 layer of bread, cutting some slices to fit. Arrange half of prosciutto evenly over bread. Sprinkle half of goat cheese and half of provolone over. Sprinkle with half of green onions and half of basil. Top with second layer of bread. Layer remaining prosciutto, goat cheese, provolone, green onions, and basil atop bread. Cut remaining bread into 1/4-inch cubes. Sprinkle over top.

Whisk eggs, milk, mustard, and salt in bowl. Season with pepper. Pour egg mixture over strata; press down on bread with spatula. Drizzle melted butter over strata. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover strata and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Bake until center is set, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. Preheat broiler. Place strata under broiler until top is golden, about 30 seconds. Cut into large squares and serve.

*for your meat-eating friends

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Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Make Ahead, Vegetarian

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Macaroni and Love, er, I Mean Cheese

Posted on May 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

Many requests for this recipe.  Lori got it from Martha and made some changes, then I’ve made some changes.  I hope you decide to make it your own too.

Macaroni & Cheese

Adapted from Martha Stewart and Lori Peterson

  • 1 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 ½ C Panko bread crumbs
  • 5 ½ C skim milk
  • ½ C flour (any type)
  • 1 T Braggs Aminos (could also use Soy Sauce)
  • ½ tsp Coleman’s Ground Mustard
  • Pinch of fresh ground Nutmeg
  • Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
  • 6 oz sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 6 oz white Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 8 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded
  • 4 oz smoked Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 4 oz light or ff cream cheese
  • 4 oz Parmesan cheese, shredded
  • 1 pound whole grain pasta, cooked al dente

Heat oven to 375.  Butter a large, deep casserole dish.  If you use a 9 x 13 pan, make sure when you bake it, you put a jelly roll pan with sides under it, the pan will overflow and you can save your oven.

Melt the butter, reserve 2 T with Panko breadcrumb in small dish and set aside.

In medium saucepan, heat milk.  Add rest of melted butter from above, and slowly whisk flour into this mixture.  Stir until becomes bubbly and thickens a little.

Remove pan from heat and stir in spices and all cheeses, MINUS the Parmesan.  Stir in cooked pasta, transfer into your prepared dish/pan.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Panko.  Bake until brown and bubbly, approximately 30 minutes.  Cool slightly and serve.

#author’s note:  just about any combination of cheeses will work here.  I love Applewood Smoked Cheddar or Colby Jack in this as well as Havarti, Gorgonzola, etc.  Create your own cheese flavor profile.  Just follow the approximate measures above and do not sub for the cream cheese, you need that one.

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Coconut Red Lentil Stew

Posted on April 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

You will just have to take my word for it sans pictures this time.  This stew is delightful.  Here’s the recipe, go play in the kitchen while I look for my memory card full of delightful food pictures that I have misplaced somewhere…damn.

Coconut Red Lentil Stew

Adapted from 101Cookbooks.com Heidi Swanson

  • 1 cup / 7 oz / 200g yellow split peas
  • 1 cup 7 oz / 200g red split lentils (masoor dal)
  • 7 cups / 1.6 liters water
  • 1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • 4 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 2 tablespoons butter or ghee
  • 8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup / 1.5 oz / 45g golden raisins
  • 1/3 / 80 ml cup tomato paste
  • 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
  • one small handful cilantro, chopped
  • cooked brown rice or farro, for serving (optional)

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse – until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/2 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don’t want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency. The thicker this soup got, the more I liked it.

This stew freezes great.  I took it over to Ben and Janna for emergency freezer meals after the birth of their very lovely Olivia.

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DIY Sushi

Posted on April 25, 2011 | 2 comments

Mr. Wonderful and I are crazy about sushi, you can typically find us at either XO on a Tuesday night (half off), or Tokyo Grill on a Friday night (best selection in town, plus crack ginger dressing for salad).  We are sushi-at-home amateurs, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to do this every now and again.  The end results taste a lot better than they look.

Here is a top secret recipe from the waitress from XO:

Spicy Dynamite Mayo

Japanese mayo differs from regular mayo in that it’s made with rice wine vinegar.  You can just as easily use regular or low fat mayo here but I wouldn’t mess with fat free.  Get serious.  You are basically eating negative cals with sushi, so do it up with a delish sauce.

Mix together the above ingredients.  Serve with rolls, on rolls, inside the rolls…basically you might consider this for a mask at some point too.  It’s pretty delicious.

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Curried Noodle Pot

Posted on April 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Curry on the brain this week I guess.  Monday I wrote about Curried Hash and now, we have the Curried Noodle Pot courtesy of the lovely Heidi Swanson from 101cookbooks.com.  This recipe comes from her cookbook Super Natural Cooking.  Why buy one of her books?  Her photography.  You can thank me later for the copious amounts of food porn present.

Curried Noodle Pot

  • 8 oz whole-grain wide Asian noodles ( I used whole spelt udon)
  • 2 T coconut oil
  • 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1-1/2 tsp red curry paste
  • 12 oz extra firm tofu pressed and cubed
  • 1-14 oz can coconut milk
  • 2 C veggie stock
  • 2 tsp ground tumeric or curry powder
  • 2 T shoyu sauce (or any other type of soy sauce)
  • 1T agave syrup
  • juice of one lime
  • 2/3 C peanuts (optional)
  • 1/3 C slivered shallots
  • 1/3 C chopped fresh cilantro

Cook noodles in plenty of water until just tender.

Start making curry while noodles cook. Heat coconut oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Stir in garlic, onion and curry paste and mash the paste around the bottom of the pan a bit to distribute evenly. Cook until fragrant – just a minute or two.  Add the tofu stir until well coated with curry. Stir in the coconut milk, stock, shoyu and agave, bring to simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in the lime juice and add the noodles.  Turn to coat.

To serve, heap big piles of noodles into individual bowls and top with a ladle or two of curry. Top with peanut and cilantro and shallots.

Note:  I thought this needed a bit of salt because I used unsalted peanuts for garnish.  From start to finish, this took me less than 20 minutes to make.  Bonus points for quick dinner.

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Clean Out the Fridge Sweet Potato Hash

Posted on April 18, 2011 | 2 comments

I consider it a personal challenge when I have a few stray veggies in the fridge and a container of eggs.  It’s not really a food emergency or worth going to the store unless I am out of half and half for the coffee.  With the eggs, I could make an omelet (how predictable), or I could bust out some spices and a piece of stale naan bread from the freezer and make the following:

Curried Sweet Potato Hash with Egg Over Easy and Grilled Naan

This is a toss it all together recipe, so I didn’t measure.  Do the best you can with what you have on hand.  In these photos:

  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper diced
  • ½ green pepper diced
  • 1 handful edemame from the freezer
  • 1 medium sweet potato diced
  • 1 egg, over easy
  • 1 piece of Naan bread, grilled
  • 1 tsp hot curry powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Dice up the veggies, approximately the same size.  In a sauté pan or whatever is clean frankly, spray a little oil and add the sweet potato dice first, it will take a little longer to cook, when that becomes a bit soft, add all the rest of the veggies.  Cook until just tender.  Sprinkle mixture with curry, pinch of salt and pinch of pepper.  While the hash is cooking, push to once side of the pan and fry the egg over easy.  Over an open flame or in the oven warm up the naan bread.  To assemble.  Naan on the bottom, hash, fried egg.

Feelin’ really crazy?  Butter your naan bread with peanut butter and slice up a banana on top of it before adding the hash and egg…this is called a Tickle.

For lunch this same day, I took the leftover hash, put it in a sauce pan, with a can of coconut milk, a can of water and some additional curry powder.  Soup.  🙂

Crazy for Cumin?  Try this one from Pinch my Salt, one of my fave food blogs.

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Milk Chocolate Banana Peanut Pancakes

Posted on April 15, 2011 | 5 comments

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Alright, this recipe doesn’t need a fancy narrative, it just needs you to take your sweet self into the kitchen and make it now-yes, you can eat breakfast for dinner.

Pancakes

  • 1 1/2 C all purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 tsp baking POWDER
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 1/4 C milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 very ripe banana cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 handful milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 handful peanuts or walnuts (unsalted)
  • 3 T melted butter (optional)
  • 1 T vanilla (optional)

whisk together dry ingredients.

make a well for wet ones, gradually add wet to dry ingredients

poor by 1/4 C onto hot (375 degree) griddle

drop sprinkles of banana, chips and nuts into batter

flip just once after tons of bubbles appear

slather with butter, dust with powdered sugar if you are a diva or syrup like Mr Wonderful does and inhale

with leftover batter, for Walter the Wonderdog, I put just bananas and peanuts in the pancake…Bagels like Walter love pancakes too.

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Want some Kale with your Black Beluga Lentils?

Posted on April 1, 2011 | 6 comments

Perhaps you saw the title of this post and thought, WTF I don’t even know what Black Beluga Lentils ARE let alone why I would want Kale with THEM!  I know, I know, weirdo veggie Adrienne wants us to eat crazy stuff and be kind to things with faces…well, yes, but Kale is a powerful, versatile and sturdy vegetable.  It is often overlooked, mostly because the only interaction you ever have with it is under that crappy obligatory unripe melon slice, next to your steak and baked potato at the steakhouse.  Yep, that’s Kale and it’s delicious.

Kale seems a little dark and mysterious, a little scary, and so is the amount of times this woman says “super” in this Kale video.  Nonetheless, it’s a good primer-when you are done watching, come back for the soup recipe will ya?

Black Beluga Lentil Soup

Adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Lively Lentil Soup at 101cookbooks.com

  • 2 C black beluga lentils (or green French lentils), picked over and rinsed
  • 2 C great northern beans, cooked
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 2 T chipotle en adobo sauce (from the can)
  • 2T cumin
  • 2T smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp pepper, ground
  • 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
  • 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 C water
  • 3 C of a big leafy green (chard, kale, etc), rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

Saffron Yogurt

  • a pinch of saffron (30-40 threads)
  • 1 T boiling water
  • two pinches of salt
  • 1/2 C 2% Greek Yogurt

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into the yogurt. Mix in the salt and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion, carrot, and spices and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped greens, cooked beans, and wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt.

This soup hurts so GOOD!!  It has a little kick to it, but the saffron yogurt is cooling.  To make less spicy, just put in less of the hot stuff up there silly!  I of course added Frank’s Red Hot to this before I served it.

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My new guilty pleasure: Horrocks

Posted on March 30, 2011 | 3 comments

I’m sure this is old new to most of you, because I haven’t shut up about Horrocks for about 3 weeks now since my first visit to the grocer in Kentwood. My best find to date, besides their seed packets that are 40% “basically every day” according to the butcher in line behind me, is the Michigan grown lentils, peas and beans.

Horrocks carries Michigan grown and packaged dried items from Carlson-Arbogast Farm in Howard City (that’s 49329 for those of you keeping track). They even have a video on YouTube under the Michigan Farm Bureau Channel:

So what in the world do you do with dried beans?  Well, you soak them on a Saturday night over night, then get up on Sunday and cook them about 70% done (while you are ironing or doing laundry) drain, dry, cool and freeze in bags to add during the work week to delicious stoups, soups, stews, tacos, casseroles, curries, etc.  They will finish cooking in the pot of whatever delicious finished item you create.  Why do this?  Less sodium, a better quality, whole bean in your dish, AND they are CHEAP!  From one bag of great northern beans, dried, I got 9 ziploc bags of cooked beans (2C per bag) to enjoy.

Now if you will excuse me, I’m off to make a lentil stew with white beans from a local grower, surely by this time, you know who I am referring to.  Eat. More. Dried. Beans.  Save a few bucks, help a local grower, and serve a higher quality product.  Oh, and cross your fingers that Horrocks will hire me part-time this summer to feed my foodie addiction; I applied today.

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Tried and True. Asparagus Stir Fry.

Posted on March 28, 2011 | 1 comment

In an effort to get Spring to hustle up a little, I bought asparagus today from my new fave food store Horrocks on 44th and Breton in Kentwood.  It’s not quite Whole Foods or Trader Joes, but it is a fine substitute.  When I saw asparagus was on sale, I started dreaming of my fave stir fry recipe from Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com.  When I think of stir fry, I think of this recipe. Salty, sweet, crunchy, tart, easy to add ingredients to, a great clean out the fridge starter recipe and very, very pretty, super green.  It just reeks of good for you.  And if you serve it over soba noodles or brown rice, it will net you 2 dinners and 2 lunches.  Enjoy!

Asparagus Stir Fry

  • toasted sesame oil
  • 8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cubed 1/2″
  • 1 cup shelled edamame
  • 1 hand full pea pods
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon freshly chopped ginger (peeled)
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 bunches of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • a couple big pinches of fine-grain sea salt
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 big handful of toasted cashews, chopped up a bit
  • a few handfuls of spinach, or chopped kale, or chopped chard
  • zest and juice of two limes
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 small handful fresh mint, slivered
  • 1 small handful fresh Thai basil, slivered

Have all your ingredients prepped and within arms reach of the stove. Heat a splash of sesame oil in a large pan, or well-seasoned wok over medium high heat. Alternately, you can do this in a dry non-stick pan – one of the few occasions I still use non-stick. When it is hot, add the tofu, and cook until golden – a few minutes. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.

Add another (generous) splash of oil to the pan and, as soon as it is hot, add the onions, ginger, red pepper flakes, asparagus, edamame and salt. Stir fry for about a minute, then add the garlic, cashews, and spinach and stir-fry for another minute, or until the spinach wilts. Return the tofu to the pan. Stir in the lime zest and juice and the hoisin sauce. Cook for another 10-20 seconds, stirring all the while.

Remove from heat and stir in the mint and basil. Taste and add a bit more salt if needed.  I like to serve this over soba noodles or brown rice.

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Lentil. Loaf. Love.

Posted on February 16, 2011 | 4 comments

I have pounds upon pounds of lentils lining the shelves of my kitchen.  No time like the present to cook up a lovely lentil loaf.  I searched high and low for a loaf that didn’t look like meat so much as it did a healthier version, grainy and textured.  Finally, after much loaf searching, I stumbled upon the blog:  eat me, delicious which really is clever and has a ton of really great recipes.  This week I will be cooking from that blog beginning with this loaf.

Lovely Lentil Loaf
Makes 4-6 servings

  • 3/4 cup dry red split lentils rinsed well (until no longer cloudy), cooked in 1 3/4 cups of veggie broth or water until just tender, not mushy
  • 1 cup oats-not quick cooking (or leftover rice, millet or bulgur) I went for Bob’s Red Mill brand, it was on sale at Meijer tonight.
  • 1 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (tomato sauce or salsa-I used Tastefully Simple’s Bayou Bourbon Sauce)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/3 cup chopped scallions
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce or Tamari
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour mixture into a loaf pan or casserole dish, lined with foil and lightly oiled.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

As you can see with this formula the possibilities of add ins, etc are basically endless.

Your final product will be a firm, yet not heavy loaf that tastes delicious over smashed sweet potatoes…just sayin’.

Now get out there and love on some lentils!  This is Walter The Wonderdog approved.

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Red Thai Tofu with Sesame Rice Noodles

Posted on February 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love it when I can grab a bunch of stuff out of my fridge and create a great recipe.  Turns out Isa Chandra Moskowicz and I obviously share an icebox.  I got into Isa’s cookbooks only recently as I am not Vegan, only Vegan-ish.  I’m considered Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, so it was just a bit ago that I discovered that her TV show Post Punk Kitchen is now available on Google Video.  As a side note, I’m happy to say that this Oprah mainstream stuff did not inspire me to go Veg or Vegan for that matter and I don’t rely on a personal chef to cook my meals for me.  Hell, if I have a personal chef, of course I’d be Vegan!!!!!  I’d also have a personal trainer, a car service, a magical camera to make me look skinny from all angles, the list goes on, and on.  However, I don’t live on Fantasy Island and I certainly do not have humpback whales to give each of you just for reading this blog, nor do I plan to build a school in Africa or buy a TV channel.  Sorry guys, I can see me slipping from your good graces one-by-one.  I want to be able to thank Oprah for the Vegan push, but I feel like she probably just bought the Teese Vegan Cheese Company (yeah, they are in Chicago) and wants to increase sales or something.  I know.  Glass half full as usual.

At any rate, back to Isa, goddess of Vegan cooking.  Here is what I most recently made as inspired by her highness:  Red Thai Tofu from her newest and greatest Appetite for Reduction.

Red Thai Tofu with Sesame Rice Noodles

I used Tamari in place of soy sauce in this recipe to make it Gluten Free

  • 1 block extra-firm tofu, pressed and cut into triangle pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thinly
  • 1/2 C sliced shallots (which is a TON of those little buggers)
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Tbs fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 1/2 Tbs Thai red curry paste
  • 1/2 C warm water
  • 2 Tbs Tamari (or soy sauce)
  • 1 Tbs light agave nectar (or maple syrup, or honey would be fine too)
  • 15 leaves fresh Thai basil
  • 1/4 C roasted salted cashews, chopped

Preheat a cast iron grill pan (or any heavy non-stick skillet) over medium heat.  Add the tofu and cook for about 10 minutes, careful not to burn, just brown both sides.  Take care while flipping the tofu in cast iron not to tear it, use a thin spatula, metal works better than plastic here.  About half way through, drizzle with 2 tsp of the tamari and turn to coat.

Remove tofu, set aside and saute’ the red pepper, shallots, garlic, and ginger in the oil that is left, careful not to burn the garlic.  Cook until translucent.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the curry past, water, tamari, and agave.  Add tofu back to pan with the curry mix and cook for another 5 minutes or until the sauce is thick.  Add Thai basil, toss one last time and serve.

Okay, so when I was looking at this finished dish, it needed a bed of something.  Serve this on greens, or any grain you like, it goes well with everything.  I grabbed some leftover stick rice noodles, cooked them in hot water per the package instructions, then drained them and tossed with 2 tsp of roasted sesame oil-this made a delish bed for the tofu.

Lastly, there were two other things I was going to toss on top of this delicious mess, fresh bean sprouts and a bit of chopped red onion, but I of course forgot them as I was so excited to eat 🙂

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