Pizza December 28, 2009

We went out to brunch this weekend and I enjoyed this delicious pizza…. spinach, goat cheese, caramelized onions, cherry tomato, and figs!

pizza

Beautiful Boulder Creek

Snack December 28, 2009

This has been my snack for the past week…

: )

It may look weird but it’s pretty delicious…. toasted soft roll, grapeseed oil vegenaise, tomato slices sprinkled with salt, raw cheese slices, and bread & butter pickles. YUM

Lobster Rolls, Slaw, Salad Hand Rolls, and Oat Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting! December 25, 2009

Our Christmas Eve and Solstice Celebration dinner was amazing.  My original dessert was going to be carrot cake but somehow I messed up the batter and it turned out to be a huge failure.  The cream cheese frosting was already half made so I figured some nice bran muffins would suffice.  In the end I think I’d prefer the muffins so all ended well.  Oh and everything except the dessert was vegan!

Lobster Rolls, Slaw, Avocado, Salad Hand Rolls, Menage a Trois Wine, and Oat Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting and Pomegranate Seeds

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COLESLAW

I made this early in the mornings so it would have a chance to marinate.

• Shredded Cabbage, I used a cone shaped cabbage.  Don’t know the name of the variety but this is my favorite kind.  More leaf than hard veins!
• Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise
• Bubbies Bread and Butter Pickle Juice
• Salt

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Lobster Tail

LOBSTER ROLLS

• 8 oz. Lobster Tail
• Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise
• Scallion Greens, sliced
• Lemon Juice, ~1 T
• Salt
• Celery, mined
• Soft Rolls or Hot Dog Buns

Steam lobster tail.  (I undercooked it and realized it after I dumped the water out, so I grilled it on the gas burner until I thought it was done… only to find it slightly still undercooked, so lastly I quickly sautéed the meat in some butter.  In the end the grilled and butter flavor were a great!).  Once the lobster was done add the above ingredients and chill.  Slice the soft rolls and lightly toast in a skillet with some butter.  Fill with lobster salad.

About To Be Lobster Salad

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Salad Hand Rolls

I recently received some soy wrappers as a gift from my mom and wanted to make vegetarian hand rolls with them.

• Jicama, matchsticked
• Roasted Sweet Potato
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts
• Shredded Beet Salad
• Raw Radish Slices
• Artichoke Hearts
• Pomegranate Seeds
• Baby Frisee
• Baby Swiss Chard
• Snow Peas with Olive Oil
• Green Beans
• Diced Celery

I made different combinations of the above ingredients only using pomegranate seeds in them all.  I didn’t use a dressing but let the pomegranate juice combine everything together.  My only addition would have been some feta cheese.

Salad Hand Rolls

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OAT MUFFINS

This is a recipe my dad passed along to me.  I’ll post the original and then add the substitutions I made.  I also did 1.5 times the recipe listed to make my muffins a bit bigger.

• 1 C Oat Bran (I used all the oat bran I had which was less than I needed so I coffee grinded some rolled oats for the rest)
• 3/4 C Flour
• 1/3 C Brown Sugar
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1/4 C Oil (I used mashed banana)
• 1 Egg
• 3/4 C Milk (I used plain yogurt)

Mix the dry ingredients; mix egg, milk, and oil together; add to dry ingredients.  Scoop into cupcake holders and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.  Easy enough!  You can also add walnuts, pecans, raisins, dates, blueberries, ect to the batter.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 8 T Butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
• 2 3/4 C Confectioners’ Sugar
• Tiny Pinch of Salt
• 1 t Vanilla

Put the butter and cheese in the bowl of a food processor or electric mixer.  Process until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.  Add the confectioners’ sugar, salt, ad vanilla.  Process until smooth.  Chill until the frosting has a good spreading consistency, about 1 hour.

Dessert

Frittata December 25, 2009

With the leftovers from the previous post, spaghetti squash and sautéed veggies, I made a frittata.  The squash and broccoli were awesome in the eggs!

Sauté the left overs in a buttered skillet until hot.  Remove the veggies, add a bit more butter and the whipped eggs.  Place the veggies in the eggs and top with cheese.  Broil until brown on top and cooked through.  We enjoyed this on a roll with vegenaise and avocado.

Breakfast for Dinner

Veggies, Spaghetti Squash, and Pesto December 22, 2009

I love spaghetti squash!  When you cook it so the ‘noodles’ still have a bit of a crunch they are a great substitute for pasta.  My idea here was to sauté some veggies and make a pesto white wine sauce to serve over the veggies and ‘pasta’.  I used a batch of frozen lemon pesto that I made over the summer.  Everything turned out perfect.

• Spaghetti Squash
• Broccolini
• Watercress
• Carrots
• Tomato
• Lemon Pesto
• Veggie Broth
• White Wine
• Nutritional Yeast Flakes
• S&P

Spaghetti Squash

Step 1: Slice squash lengthwise and bake face down in a 350° oven for 30-45 minutes.  Check after 30 to make sure you don’t overcook it.  Mushy spaghetti is no good!

Ingredients minus nutritional yeast flakes (squash is cooked)

Step 2: Chop and wash all veggies.  Once completed heat some olive oil in a skillet and add the red onion.  After 5 minutes add the broccolini, S&P.

Onion and Broccolini

Step 3: After another 5 minutes add the tomato slices.

Tomato Added

Step 4: Once the tomatoes have reduced add the carrot and watercress.  Add the watercress in small batches mixing between each round so they don’t end up in one large clump.

Carrots and Watercress Added

Step 5: Deglaze the pan with a bit of white wine and season with more S&P if necessary.  Then remove from the skillet.

Veggies Completed

Step 6: Add the pesto to the skillet and heat through.  Then add some vegetable broth and white wine.  I probably used 1/3 cup of each.  Wisk until the sauce starts to boil and taste.  Add nutritional yeast flakes until the desired consistency is reached.

Step 7: Scrape the squash out with a fork forming noodles.  Top the squash with a bit of salt, then the veggies, and lastly with the pesto sauce.

Delicious Dinner

CHIC-A-ROOS December 22, 2009

Every now and then I have the desire to buy some vegetarian not-so-good-for-you fake meat treat.

The overall review is maybe a 7 out of 10.  The ketchup is really what made these a yummy treat.

They say to bake them for 10-12 minutes but when I bit into one they were too mushy on the inside.

I ended up baking them for about 40 minutes which crisped them nicely without burning.

If I was a chicken nugget kind of person, I would attempt to make my own from scratch omitting any soy or textured vegetable protein.

BBQ Tofu Lettuce Wraps and Braised Napa Cabbage December 21, 2009

Yummy in the Tummy is what I have to say about these lettuce wraps!

• Tofu, pressed for 30 minutes and sliced into 1/2″ slices
• BBQ Sauce, I used Annie’s Hot Chipotle (too much hot and not enough smoky)
• Onion, diced
• Raw Carrot, grated
• Raw Beet, grated
• Sprouts
• Raw Sunflower Seeds
• Living Bibb Lettuce
• Buttermilk Ranch

Tofu

Place some BBQ sauce in a casserole dish, layer with tofu, and top with more BBQ sauce.  Bake in a 350° oven for 1 hour, until the BBQ sauce has soaked into the tofu.  *I ended up adding a small amount of honey to the top of the tofu and broiled for the last 10 minutes as it was too spicy for me.

While the tofu is baking prepare the toppings and lettuce.  Sauté/caramelize the chopped onion in a bit of BBQ, grate the carrots and beets, wash lettuce.

Easy enough!!!  These were incredible.  The pumpkin seeds were a great addition along with the sprouts.  We used ranch to top them with, but omit this and the honey for a vegan approach.

Dinner!

I used a recipe I found online for the napa cabbage… link.  Very simple recipe and quite delicious.

Raw Veggies

Wok It!

Squash Patties December 21, 2009

I had a humongous warty squash from our crop share and what better thing to do with it than make squash patties.  I’m pretty sure it’s a hubbard squash.  I also used a small Carnival Squash.

Funky Squash

• Squash
• Cumin Seeds
• Coriander
• Onion, chopped
• S&P
• Paprika
• Egg
• Almond Meal
• Pepita Seeds
• Light Crackers, I used garlic and herb water crackers
• Salt
• Safflower Oil

Carnival and Hubbard Squash

1. Bake the squash at 350° until tender.  Food process cooked squash meat until smooth like baby food.

2. Heat a small amount of oil and add the cumin seeds.  Once seeds start to pop add some coriander and chopped onion; cook until translucent.

3. In a large bowl mix the food processed squash and onion mixture.  Season with S&P and anything else necessary.  The squash needed a bit of sweetening so I added ~2 T agave nectar.

Cumin Seeds

Squash Meat

4.  Once the squash is seasoned to your liking add an egg and some almond meal.  I use almond meal as my thickener since it’s healthy and has a neutral taste.  I used at least a cup.  You want the squash to stick together when forming the patties so make it thick.

Crust

5. Next make the crust by food processing pepita seeds, crackers, and salt.

Frying Away

6. Heat up some safflower oil, using just enough oil to coat the skillet.  Once the oil is hot make a small ball with the squash and roll it in the crust.  Smoosh them into small patties once placed in the skillet.  Cook these on medium low heat so the egg cooks while the crust browns.  Add a small amount of oil to the pan once the patties are flipped so the other side browns nicely.  Also add oil before each new batch.  I made at least 60 of these so it took awhile.  Let the cooked patties cool on cooling racks so they don’t become soggy.  I eat these plain but dip them in ranch or ketchup for a nice compliment!

Squash Patties

Nice nugget shape and texture!

Mediterranean Sampler December 21, 2009

Another lazy but amazing dinner.  We bought some fresh made pita, baba ganoush, and hummus from Arabesque, a local small cafe.  Along with that we added a nice assortment of foods to enjoy with the pita..

: )

• Pita
• Baba Ganoush
• Hummus
• Bubbie’s Bread and Butter Pickles
• Smoked Clams
• Canned Beets, courtesy of Brian
• Pear
• Ricotta Salata
• Maple Smoked Cheddar

Caribbean Black Bean Soup with Fried Green Bananas December 21, 2009

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I recently received a pressure cooker as a gift and have been loving the ability to cook beans quickly!  It truly is amazing.

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Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 head of garlic
• 1-2 T olive oil, plus extra for drizzling garlic cloves
• 8 oz dried Black Valentine beans, cooked (reserve broth)
• Cinnamon Stick
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped, optional
• zest of 1 lime
• 2 T fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1 t dried Mexican oregano
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1 15-oz can fire roasted tomatoes
• 2-3 cups stock
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

• lime
• sour cream
• avocado

Some Ingredients

1. Cook beans, I added a cinnamon stick to the pressure cooker
2. Roast Garlic
3. In the meantime, heat a large, heavy soup pot on medium high heat.  Add the oil and heat.  Add the onions, carrots, sweet potato, celery and jalapeno, if using.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.  Add half the lime zest, mix well, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt to encourage caramelization.  Add a bit of water to the pot if the veggies start to scorch, mine did not.  Once carmelized (~20 min), add the ginger, cumin, oregano and chili powder and stir briefly.
4. Add the beans with their broth and cinnamon stick, the can of tomatoes, the stock, the roasted garlic, and the rest of the lime zest to the pot.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and let simmer for 20 minutes, to allow the flavors to blend and soup to thicken.

Cooked Beans

Sauteing Veggies

All Ingredients Added

Ready to Serve

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Fried Green Bananas

These literally tasted like french fries!  We were going to make plantains but the stores were out and this was a wonderful substitution.

• Green Bananas
• High Heat Oil, I used safflower
• Salt

1. Peel the bananas, not an easy task, and cut into ‘fries’.
2. Heat oil in a skillet and fry until golden brown.
3. Sprinkle with salt

Green Bananas

Frying Away