mad tasty

food stuff: eating by candlelight

2010-02-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

i'm a little disappointed that i didn't think of this first, but an excellent survey was posted at the kitchn and i thought we could do our own poll here. in honor of valentine's day, how often do you eat dinner by candlelight?

Spiced Almonds Based on the Gramercy Tavern's Mix

2010-02-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

This Spiced Nut mix was adapted from the Gramercy Tavern recipe for mixed nuts, via the blog Gluten-Free Guide. At the Gramercy, this spicy and sweet mix serve as the perfect bar snack, keeping you consistently thirsty for more Manhattans and fooling you into thinking you've eaten more than a handful of nuts for dinner. At home, once the hangover has cleared, we've made them to hand out as Christmas gifts.

In the real recipe, there are a variety of nuts. We just used almonds, and you shouldn't let the high-price of pecans make you spend a fortune on making some yourself. The spice ratios can be altered however you like, but the key to making this mix work is the cumin and cayenne, which give them an almost Indian flavor. The Gluten-Free Guide has the exact measurements, but below is a more casual approach. The key note is to not overdo any one spice so that they all can stand out.

Cook up some simple syrup (2 cups sugar to every cup water) and combine with corn syrup, enough to coat the nuts. You can also use maple syrup or honey if you want to add another flavor. Once the nuts was sugar-coated and sticky, toss them with salt, cinnamon, cumin, cloves, cayenne, and nutmeg. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes, turning the pan every five minutes.

If you've done it right, every bite of the final mix will taste different. Some are very sweet, some boast that comforting cinnamon-clove flavor, and some will knock you out with spiciness. They are an ideal bar snack, but be sure to give them to people with adventurous tastebuds.

Quick Decadence

2010-02-06T06:00:00.002-05:00

So... long time not post. Schools started again and I feel like I have NO as in ZERO time...but a girl still needs to eat right? And why not eat well?

Here is my 8 minute pseudo home-made meal.

Ingredients:

2 Trader Joe Crab Cakes
1 Bag washed spinach
1/2 pint baby tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt Pepper

Get out two saute pans. 1 large and 1 medium.

Get out one small baking tray

Turn on toaster/oven 400 degrees.

Place tomatoes on this sheet. Pour some olive oil over them and add salt and pepper.

Roast for 10 minutes (until they start to pop)

Turn on the fire to medium under both pans.

Add olive oil to both.

Add Crab cakes to the medium and spinach to the large.

Wait a minute...pour yourself some wine.

Stir the spinach. After a few minutes flip the crab cakes.

When the spinach is all wilted.

Put on a plate. Add the tomatoes to the plate. Put the crab cakes on top.

EAT... get back to your excel sheets....

Kitchen Basics: Veggie Stock… Wait! Hear me out.

2010-02-05T20:00:00.008-05:00

  When I was 26, I spake as a 26-year-old, I understood as a 26-year-old, I did 26-year-old things… like buy a drafty condo with oil heat. But, when I became a man, I learnt how to cook.

Luckily, said apartment is on the second floor so a lot of the drafting comes in the form of warm air from the neighbor below. (we totally luck out on this trade: we get heat, she gets footsteps - second floor is the way to go) Yet, being the cheap bastards that we are, and because oil is more expensive than the alternatives, my roommates and I rarely turn on the heat. This makes the apartment's ambient temperature a reliable 50-55º F. While this is perfect for brewing lagers, it is sub-optimal for keeping women around (or individuals of whatever gender you prefer to have naked in your room).

Here is a great way to
   1. get some free heat
   2. make your apartment smell nice (if you like warm earthy aromas that were not designed in New Jersey)
   3. save money on vegetable stock
   a. free flavor!
     b. free vitamins!
     c. use it as a base for soup
     d. use it to make rice instead of water.
     e. tc.
   4. use all the parts of “the buffalo” (by which I of course mean vegetables) which makes jesus and gaia both really happy.

Every time you bust out your web browser and open to the Mad Tasty section, save the vegetable ends in a bag in the freezer: Below I present quite possibly the ugliest picture ever posted on a food blog, in spite of my efforts to make it look like a cornucopia. Look closely (if img fidelity permits) and you’ll see
   1. carrot butts and greens
   2. three batches of cilantro we didn’t get through before they wilted beyond appetizing
   3. a large portion of celery with a similar fate
   4. a number of pieces of pepper (go ahead and leave the stem on)
   5. carrot peels
   6. ends of red and yellow onions
   7. stems of chard
   8. stems of kale
   9. something borrowed
   10. something blue

Your stock will taste a little different every time because its not a set recipe. Don't worry, it will be usable in all the same ways. You may want to remember what's in there or taste it and see what you think it will be best with. Lately, I've tended to have a lot of cilantro in the broth, so last time, instead of the chicken soup I usually make, I went with a vietnamese-style pork and beef soup. If you find you've got a lot of carrots and your broth is pretty sweet, you may want to try using it to make rice for a green curry, or maybe use it in a turnip soup. I think most people end up with a lot of aromatics and lean toward basic chicken soup, but you never know what your freezer is gonna throw at you!

I digress, in the above picture is also, a pair of garlic heads that I pulled off the top of the refrigerator. They are getting dry and will not be used. I peel these (crush method!), but you may not need to – oh that reminds me, I also take off the skin of the onion, but save that tough outer layer that you never use in your salad or stir fry.

This is a great time to clean out the fridge. You are about to boil the ƒμ¢ℵ out of this stuff so don’t worry if its wilty or if part of it looks a little slimy (I mean do your best to remove the slime). Look! I found some spinach that I bought like 5 days ago:

As indicated, put it all in a stock pot or the largest pot you have and fill it up with water. (Before I got this stock pot, I would occasionally use two side-by-side pots) Use hot water to save time boiling.

Now, make yourself a martini and start assembling your blog post.

You have a few hours. Some people only boil for 1 hour, I like to generously overshoot an hour (because I love martinis and macs). At least one friend of mine boils her stock for closer to four hours which seems a little extravagant to me.

Once you see good color and can taste that vegetable flavor, add salt and pepper to taste in the last 20 min. Strain the deader-than-dead vegetables out of your stock and put them in the COMPOST HEAP! Whoa, did we just get three uses out of these fruits of the earth? I think so!

Pat yourself on the back, but don’t forget, viri is not the plural of virus, but of man.

So in my estimation, 32 oz veggie stock costs like $3.50 and were making close to 2 gallons, and if it costs (very rough estimate) $1000 to heat an apartment of this size for the winter, that’s 10 bucks a day. So this whole process saves you $15 – $25, which is kinda worth it.

madtasty twenty minute meal

2010-02-05T08:13:00.000-05:00

So, I've been having far too many Rachel Ray evenings lately, where I can barely bring myself to cook. This meal is for me a step up from "my version" of the quick fix that Alana made. The key is relying on exceptionally tasty (probably very high sodium, I'm afraid to look at the back of the box) rice-in-a-box:

For accents and some protein, I'm all about the crisp green goodness of shoots. In this case, pea shoots:

Since everything I make turns into a curry regardless of whatever I'd hoped to make at the start, this time I actually made on on purpose. Have a look at some of our curry recipes to learn how. I focused on cauliflower, carrots, white beans and corn in this one.

The rice takes an exact twenty minutes to simmer, which gives you just enough time to chop vegetables, throw on a medium high heat and get to currying. And I can't get over how great the pea shoots look when you're plating things. They look good even if you just use one or two for garnish. And they last forever in the fridge.

But there you go. Twenty-five minutes from start to finish. Rachel Ray can go climb a tree.

Workin it out with Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2010-02-04T00:00:00.005-05:00

One of the best books I bought on my last trip to America was about 1001 Cupcakes, cookies, and delightful treats. And the best thing about it was that there are pictures for each and every recipe. So, naturally I had to copy one and revise it for me. These cookies are soft, with a little bit of crunch on the outside, and are really just delectable. Oh and let me mention that they are semi-healthy too!

Ingredients: (Makes 30 cookies, give or take)

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups plain oats
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
(optional) Add 1/2 cup of chopped raisins

Procedure:

Get out your baking sheet and grease it with butter or pam.
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
In a bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat it together until it is light and pretty fluffy.
Add the egg, water, and vanilla. Mix it together until it is smooth.
Mix the oats, flour, salt, and baking soda together in another bowl.
Gradually mix the oat mixture into the creamy mixture. Combining with each new addition.
Once the mixture has all been added together, begin lumping spoonfuls on the baking sheet. (Add your raisins now if you'd like)
Bake the cookies for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.

I definitely have a sweet tooth...but it's no good to make something so yummy, and not share, so I brought these to some friends to enjoy. Of course, eat them in moderation, but definitely eat them!

Apple Pear Crisp

2010-02-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

This year, for Christmas, I got, not one, but two apple peeler/corers. I don't mind peeling my ingredients by hand, but this is quite the invention. It peels, cores, and spiral slices anything you stick in it with just a few turns of a crank.

So I decided to finally try it out and make a apple pear crisp. It came out delicious and took half the time that it normally would have.

Filling

3 Bosch Pears peeled, cored, and sliced
3 Granny Smith Apples peeled, cored, and sliced
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsps all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsps lemon juice
2 Tbsps and 2 teaspoons water

Crumble

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup quick cooking oats
2/3 cup butter, softened

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium size bowl, toss apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice, and water.
Spread evenly into a 8x8 inch pan.
In another bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, oats, and butter.
Spoon mixture evenly over apples.
Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes.
Let cool for 20 minutes and serve.

Steel-cut Oats

2010-02-02T08:00:00.002-05:00

Oatmeal is one aspect of childhood I seem to have missed out on. It’s a texture thing, because I also hated cereal with milk in it (still do), bananas (still do), yogurt (now I’m kinda “meh”), and any kind of cooked egg (I’m totally over that, thankfully). It's taken me twenty years to work though my fear of “soupy,” gluey foods, foods that might drip down your chin in a sticky panache of different consistencies, and I still haven't made much progress.

Somewhere in my brain I knew that it was possible to make oatmeal—or steel-cut oats, or rolled oats, or quick oats (note to self: learn the differences)—from scratch, but I've mostly believed that the life of oatmeal ended at individual Quaker Oats packets. Aside from backpacking, when one is willfully desperate, I wanted to keep those things away from me.

I recently reread Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking—which is just such an awesome cookbook, everyone should own it—and came to her recipe for Steel-cut Oats. Feeling brave, I decided to gave it a try. I’m happy to report that steel-cut oats have revolutionized breakfast for me. I have reason go get out of bed. This oatmeal is deliciously chewy, will fill your kitchen with the handsome aroma of a slow-cooked grain, and is super-dooper easy.

Homemade Steel-cut Oats

4 servings

The genius of Swanson’s recipe is that you make a large batch at once, and then just reheat it in the morning. Still, I halve the recipe because I’d rather just make it twice in a week than have it sit in the fridge for seven days.

To do this you’ll need 3 cups water, 3/4 cup steel-cut oats, and a big pinch of salt. There are two cooking methods:

1) Boil water, stir in oatmeal and salt, and cook over low heat until it’s reached desired consistency.

2) Pour boiling water over oatmeal and salt, stir, cover the pot, let sit overnight. Reheat in the morning.

I’ve tried both methods, and they both work, though for the latter method I had to finish cooking the oatmeal in the morning—it was still a little too “soupy” for my tastes.

The other genius thing about her recipe is that she offers seven different toppings—one for each day of the week! I’m still stuck on #1: toasted walnuts plus a drizzle of pomogranate molasses (I also add a pinch of brown sugar, which is no-no in Swansonland because it’s highly processed, but: baby steps). If you’re new to pomogranate molasses (reduced pomogranate syrup, a staple of some Middle Eastern cuisines) and you try it on oatmeal, you might find yourself wanting to add it to everything you eat. It's tart jolt is impossible to hide, and a little goes a long way.

Confetti Cornbread

2010-02-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

This year, we were charged with making Christmas dinner for the family. Since we were responsible for every course (ham, whiskey/apricot marmalade glaze, beans Anglais) and tweaking them for the family's dietary restrictions (no olive oil, no garlic), we decided to make this super easy and colorful cornbread as our requisite carb. This recipe is more dense and moist than many of its crumbly cornbread counterparts, but we're cool with that. It's great for a Super Bowl party or barbecue.

Confetti Cornbread (clipped by Bake's mom from Parade magazine)

1 c flour
1 c cornmeal
3 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 c milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 c finely diced mixed peppers (red, green, and orange are recommended for color, and feel free to add in some jalepeno for more of a kick)

This tiny specimen was, somehow, the only whisk in Bake's parents kitchen.

Preheat oven to 400 and butter an 8- or 9-inch square pan.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Separately, whisk milk, butter, and egg together. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and gently stir until the batter is evenly moistened. Add the peppers and stir to combine.

Bake for 25 min or until a cake tester (cornbread tester?) comes out dry. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

food stuff: cleaning hot pans

2010-02-01T10:40:00.001-05:00

the kitchn has a great post answering a reader's excellent question on how does one clean a hot pan? i have DEFINITELY been burned before so this was helpful for me. what are your burn stories?

pre-thanks: moroccan couscous and chard salad

2010-01-29T02:58:00.002-05:00

So this is another dish that I made for our Pre-Thanks dinner back in November. I made it to contrast with the other salad that I always make, because I wasn't sure if there'd be enough food for the vegetarians to eat. There ended up being way too much of everything, but this was a tasty enough experiment that I'm glad I made it anyway. The portions for this were huge, so feel free to adjust/halve/whatever.

Ingredients:

2 cups of Moroccan couscous
1 bunch of rainbow chard (which had I think maybe 12 stalks)
6 baby cucumbers
1 can of chickpeas
one handful of fresh cilantro
peanut oil
lemon juice
salt/pepper/garlic to taste

This ended up being a "warm" salad because of the prep involved. The Moroccan couscous needs to be cooked a little more like pasta than regular couscous, albeit for a very short time frame. So boil water, drop the couscous in, lower temperature to medium and simmer for maybe ten minutes. Just keep trying it to see when its done.

While the couscous is doing its thing, you should be chopping chopping chopping. The cucumbers don't turn into slices on their own. If you haven't ever cooked with chard, its is quite beautiful:

(lovely chard photo borrowed from my bay area garden)

Okay get ready for a mini-chard tutorial:

You're going to steam the chard. First though, you separate the stalks from the leaves because the stalks take longer to steam and you don't want to leaves to be mushy. So, position your fingers along the stalks just before where the leaves start, and you'll want to use basically a sliding motion to strip the leaves off. It won't be a clear tear every time, but keep at it. The stems obviously at some points are sort of insubstantial and blend into the leave, the main thing is to separate them based on how long they'll need to cook, so if they look skinny and tender, don't worry if they're with the leaves. Put the leaves to one side and the stems to the other. You'll then want to cut the stems into maybe two to three inch pieces and rip leaves into, say, baby spinach leaf-size pieces (trying to cut them after steaming is hilarious but not very effective).

What, you don't know how to steam stuff? Sigh. Get the pot with the couscous. But the couscous into the bowl with the chopped cucumbers, fill the pot back up with an inch or two of water. Put the stove on high. The water should boil up right quick especially if you use the eye that the couscous had been on before. On top of the pot, put a metal strainer, like this or this. Putting stuff in the strainer should mean that they are suspended over the boiling water but are not in it. You can put a pot lid
on top of the strainer to hold the steam in more.

So put the stems in first, maybe 5 minutes before the leaves. All in all, this should take 15 minutes tops, and that's really only if it takes you awhile to get the water boiling. So now you dump in the chickpeas, chop the cilantro and drop that in, season with peanut oil & lemon & salt/pepper.

(... et voila!)

easiest homemade carrot soup

2010-01-28T01:23:00.000-05:00

Carrots: good in so many ways. Good for eyes, even better for your skin. Super low calorie but dense and full of flavors. When columnists list superfoods, I'm always shocked why this isn't one of them. I could likely write all of my posts about the ways I use carrots, but I'll start here with something i think most of you would like. Extra easy, cheap, healthy and filling. All the taste comes from roasting.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 white onion, 1 clove garlic, 4 large carrots, all roughly chopped
- 1/2 tsp each curry, nutmeg and dried parsley; pinch of salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup of low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 tbl butter
- dollop of low fat sour cream and dried parsley

Directions: preheat oven to 450F.

In baking pan, pour 1/4 c of broth, vegetables, spices and butter. Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 30 min. Pour into blender, while hot, with remaining vegetable broth and puree until smooth. Top with sour cream. Makes 2 servings.

Adding parsnips is a great way to add spice.

Crock Pot Challenge: Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

2010-01-27T06:15:00.000-05:00

This is a slightly modified recipe from a coworker. It is my favorite crock pot recipe so far - although I am a newbie when it comes to the slow cooker. This is ridiculously easy to put together and tastes great in the end. Reheats well for leftovers!

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
2 lbs chicken breast (original recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken thighs - either would be fine)
2 (16-oz) jars of your favorite salsa
1 (15-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (11-oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 T chopped fresh cilantro

In 3.5 - 5 quart slow cooker, layer contents of 1 jar of salsa, chicken, corn, then 2nd jar of salsa. Cover. Cook on low for 7 hours. Stir in beans and cook for additional 30 mins to 1 hour. Enjoy alone or with rice, cous cous, pasta, etc!

Original recipe suggests browning chicken before you add it to the crock pot. I have not tried that step and it still tastes great! The picture does not do it justice :)

1976 Leek Soup

2010-01-26T09:00:00.001-05:00

My grandmother used to make this amazing potato leek soup. No one could perfect it quite like she could, so imaging my surprise when as an adult I learned that its a recipe cribbed from a thirty year old issue of Bon Appetit (Oct. 1976 to be exact). That explains all the butter and heavy cream in it. I once tried to make it a little healthier, using vegetable broth and 1% milk, and it just didn't work. This is a soup that needs to have no conscience.

Ingredients:

1/2 cups minced leeks (include green stems)
1/2 cup minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
4 tbsp butter
1 qt "rich" chicken broth
1 1/2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup heavy cream (if you're feeling really guilty, you could get by with whole milk. A hint at the end of the recipe suggests substituting a large can of evaporated milk, so that could work too)
salt and white pepper

Saute leeks, onions, and garlic in butter until transparent. Add chicken broth and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes).

Puree in blender or food processor. (An immersion blender would be super helpful here, as this fills up my entire blender and inevitably makes a mess. The recipe also suggests using a "food mill", which apparently is something that existed in the 70s.) Add cream and salt & pepper to taste. If it's too thick, add more broth or cream (because, of course, you have a lot lying around in your fridge.)

Garnish with chopped green onion and serve with toast (rye is good with this). Serve during a snowstorm, or anytime you need some excellent comfort food.

Stuffed Collard Greens

2010-01-25T10:08:00.000-05:00

Stuffed Collard Greens

Ingredients:

20-26 whole collard green leaves cleaned and thick part of stalk removed
1 can of your favorite beans
1 8oz package of goat cheese
1 cup mozzarella or jack cheese
1 large or 2 small diced shallots
2 cups chopped peppers
2 cups mashed cauliflower
2-4 Tbs fresh chopped parsley or cilantro or basil
1 tsp chili powder
salt
pepper
1 28oz can seasoned crushed tomatoes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350deg
Boil water in a large stock pot and add collard greens. Turn heat off and let sit for 7-10 minutes.
Carefully remove collards from water and lay out grouping them small medium large.
In hot skillet cook the peppers, shallots, and cauliflower (if not already cooked) until they start to go limp
Combine peppers, shallots, cauliflower, fresh herb, cheese, and chili powder in a bowl and mix until goat cheese has dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste remembering that it can be added later.
Lay out a large/Medium collard green and scoop a golf ball sized amount of the mixture into the center. Wrap the outside of the collard green over the mixture. Wrap that stuffed collard with a small/medium leaf making sure that the major seam from your first wrap is covered by the new leaf.
Place in a medium sized baking dish.
Repeat until you are out of stuffing or greens.
Salt and pepper the top of the greens and cover with crushed tomatoes
Cover with foil and baked for 15 minutes
Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes
Remove from over and let sit for a bit
Enjoy!

Commentary:
I came up with this recipe/idea on my own. I was in the market thinking about how I really wanted a stuffed shell but didn't want the pasta part and bam....it hit me! Why don't I stuff it in a collard green? The first go round was a bit of a mess! Not enough collards, too much mix, salty, but non the less tasty! I have tried making them a bunch now and this recipe is pretty much the base for a great tasting stuffed collard green. I find that keeping it simple on the inside makes it easier to pair with side dishes. It also helps those people cooking for vegetarians b/c you can always make a wonderful meat dish to serve along with the greens. I hope y'all enjoy!

Simple Stir Fry

2010-01-24T18:05:00.006-05:00

Stir fry is the quickest thing to cook when you're hungry with little culinary imagination + a load of wilty vegetables on the cusp of death in the back of the fridge, chopped and thrown in, and sauteed lightly for the same length of time it takes to cook the accompaniment grain or noodles, and Bob's your uncle. The secret really comes in the sauce you finish it with. The dish can also be made with meat for the carnivorous consumers (chicken goes best), or for the vegetarians add grilled tofu.

Use any and all of the following, but start by fat slicing onions into quarters or eighths, sautee lightly with small nub of peeled and grated ginger, chopped garlic (2-4 cloves) and a tsp. of crushed mustard seeds, in olive oil and dollop of sesame seed oil.

Thinly-sliced carrots & turnips & courgettes & beans (string/green/snow) bell pepper(s) (red and yellow, for taste and flavor), broccoli/beets/eggplant (cut into small-ish chunks), asparagus (chopped), and anything else you've got, prepared for chopstick consumption.

Cook about 10-15 mins. I usually start low/medium heat and turn up the temp. after 10 mins. adding 1-2 cups bok choy &/o spinach &/o kale to cook for about another 5-10 mins. Water chestnuts or bean sprouts add a nice crunch, you can add alongside the leafy greens. Turn off pan & set aside to cool.

Sauce:
1/4 - 1/3 cup soy sauce (I use a wheat-free tamari sauce - I'm not normally one to plug products but San Jay makes a good low-sodium version).
Fat tblsp. peanut butter (preferably crunchy)
1 small clove finely chopped garlic
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. honey
Fresh chopped ginger (prepared as above)
Dash of pepper

Mix together all the above using a fork. Turn on high heat the veg in the pan. Add the sauce and a palm-full of nuts/seeds (pine or sesame give the nicest flavor, but almonds or peanuts work too), sautee for about 3-5 mins., still on high, until all the veg are coated and the pan begins to dry and stick.

Enjoy in combination with rice noodles, rice itself boiled fried or steamed, or quinoa.

Tempeh Masala with Coconut Rice

2010-01-23T01:00:00.006-05:00

Indian cuisine may be my favorite type of food. Ever. While I haven't yet mastered making complex Indian sauces from scratch, I did find an excellent tool to enjoy delicious Indian food at home anytime. Jyoti Indian Cuisine does come in a can, but don't let that deter you. All of their varieties are delicious; every single one I have tried has been great. Here I used their basic Masala sauce and added sauteed vegetables and marinated tempeh cubes. When paired with mildly sweet coconut rice, this is a fabulous and healthy meal.

Ingredients:

Tempeh Masala:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small-medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves minced garlic (1 tablespoon)
1 package lemon flavored tempeh-tations (unmarinated tempeh would work as well)
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (about 15-20 tomatoes)
1 cup frozen chopped kale (or spinach)
1 can Jyoti Masala sauce

Coconut rice:

1 cup brown rice
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup water

To begin this meal, bring brown rice, coconut milk, and water to boil in a sauce pan. Once boiling, cover and turn heat down to the lowest setting possible. Allow the rice to steam this way while you prepare the masala dish, about 40 minutes.

In a saute pan, heat the oil on low and add the onion. Allow to cook on low for about five minutes before adding the garlic to the pan. Stir and continue to cook on low for another five minutes. Veggies should now just be slightly translucent and soft. Turn heat up to medium-high and add the tempeh. Brown on both sides, about three minutes each side. Add mushrooms, tomatoes and kale to the pan. Stir and allow everything in the pan to cook on medium high for another five minutes, stirring occasionally. If the kale is still frozen when added to the pan, it will melt and add enough liquid to prevent anything from burning in the pan. Add masala sauce to the pan, stir and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and allow the mixture to simmer until everything is heated through and the sauce has reduced slightly, about 5-10 minutes.

Check on rice, it should be just done at this point. When finished it will be tender enough to eat but still slightly nutty with a thick sauciness coating the grains. Serve in a bowl half filled with rice and half filled with the tempeh masala. The spice and tang of the masala mixture will pair well will the mild sweetness of the rice. Enjoy!

Stuffed Chicken Hotpot

2010-01-22T09:59:00.006-05:00

This is so simple and quick on a cold night after work!

Ingredients:

Chicken Breasts
Tomatoes
Mozzerella
Baby Spinach
Potatoes
Salt, Pepper and Rosemary
Olive Oil

1. Peel some potatoes and chop them in half.
2. Cut the Chicken breasts in half, and stuff with sliced mozzerella, slices of tomato and pieces of spinach.
3. Coat an oven dish in soe olive oil, and place the stuffed chicken breasts in a row. Place the potatoes in the dish around the chicken.
4. Pour a little more oil over the potatoes and season the dish with salt, pepper and rosemary.
5. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 45 mins.

Workout Queen's Yummy Granola Bars

2010-01-20T22:40:00.005-05:00

Ever needed to grab a snack and go? Or on your way to the gym and need a healthy snack to rev you up? Grab one of these granola bars! With the help of a friend, we snagged this recipe and made it work for us. They are chewy and yummy. Try them out.

Ingredients:

baking tin
2 cups oat
3/4 cup wheat flour
4 tsp butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup flaxseed
1 cup crushed nuts
1 cup raisins (optional)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In the baking tin, mix the flour, oats, nuts, and seeds. Then put them into the oven to toast.
Meanwhile, grab a sauce pot, and mix the butter, honey, vanilla and cinnamon. Heat it on the stove till it has all dissolved.
Once the oats are toasty, take them out of the oven and add the yummy heated mixture of sugar. Mix well. (Add raisins now, if you'd like.)
It will turn into a goop that you can lay into a tray or pan. Flatten it out and let it cool.
Cut them into bars, squares or just pick at them.
ENJOY!

This can be eaten just as is, or accompanied by yogurt or soymilk as a cereal. It really is delicious and can be kept in aluminum foil for quite a while.

Italian Baked Chicken Conchiglioni

2010-01-20T07:45:00.005-05:00

Pasta is great. Pasta baked with chicken and cheese is even better. Add some spinach and you have all four food groups accounted for and a tasty meal!

Ingredients

3 cups conchiglioni pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts, sliced into cubes
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (9 ounce) jar of marinara sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
Drain pasta and place in a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat.
Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta.
Add the tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, spinach, salt, and pepper.
Stir to combine.
Place the mixture in a buttered 9" x 13" baking dish.
In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese.
Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture.
Dot the top with small bits of butter.
Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Photo shoot

2010-01-19T11:06:00.013-05:00

Apologies that this is a bit of a write-off of a blog post, but I was cooking for 72 hours and then yesterday was up at 4:30 AM to do a photo shoot for the Veggie Burger Cookbook (this is the first—maybe second?—of many shameless plugs). The thought of writing out a recipe is nauseating, so I thought I'd be better off sharing some of the photos from yesterday. Christina Heaston is the mastermind behind the lens. You know, towards the end of the shoot I'd look at the plates I'd put together and think, oh, man, I'm getting tired and it's starting to show, and then I'd look at her photo and—how's she do that? Do you understand photography? It's something that will forever stupefy me.

Some condiments:

My basic hamburger bun, here with different seed toppings:

Black-olive roasted potato salad (recipe here—and see what a good photo can do? it can make you hungry):

Baked cauliflower burger, with pickled red onion:

Spinach-chickpea burger (recipe here, ditto above):

Tofu burger with beet greens and sesame glaze:

"Pub grub" burger:

Thai carrot burger (recipe here):

And the baked falafel burger (another improved photo!):

food stuff: the ultimate shelf life guide

2010-01-18T11:06:00.000-05:00

ever wondering how long things last? here is a fabulous guide on how long to keep things. hat tip: re-nest

grilled zucchini spears

2010-01-16T00:12:00.001-05:00

So this is a quick and easy post. Zucchini spears are pretty fantasty (ha, a typo, but one that I sort of like; I'll leave it there). Also, fantastic. In any case, slice your zucchini in half long-ways twice, so each spear is one quarter of a squash. You can use summer squash for this as well, but they aren't shaped as uniformly as zucchini so its mostly a visual thing.

Then you should come up with a marinade. Kristy and myself were in someone else's kitchen, so what we came up with was basically salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar & catalina salad dressing. Marinade in a big ziploc bag for an hour or two (we sucked the air out of the bag for a semi-vacuum seal, that may help), and then throw on the grill until you get a nice set of grill marks per the photos and you're good to go. I ate mine with a veggie burger and the others had theirs with grilled chicken.

Lost: The Best Sweet Potato Ravioli Ever

2010-01-14T06:49:00.003-05:00

(ed note: i was inspired by denise's post, thus the photo. stolen from here)

I'm not the biggest fan of the Food Network - too much repetition, basics, commercials and just terrible cooks. But there are a few things that I love and one of them is: the last 10 minutes of Iron Chef. You know, those 10 minutes where they present their full meal and describe the technique and ingredients within each dish.

Sunday night, Mario Batali created a dish that has left me salivating for the last two days. In fact, I even dreamt of its creamy texture, just warmed yolk and delicate sauce last night. The trouble is, the recipe is no where to be found.

From what i could see live on the show , Mario peeled and cooked down some sweet potato, added in cream, goat cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper and placed it inside of a homemade ravioli pasta. He made a little indent and placed a perfectly fresh raw egg yolk in the center, then boiled it as usual. He shaved a few white truffles and a bit of brown butter over the top. When you cut into the center of the ravioli, the egg yolk is still runny and creates a nice sauce.

I am determined to try this until its perfect. any tips are welcomed.

Baking for One

2010-01-13T07:24:00.000-05:00

I enjoy baking, and eating what I bake, but sometimes one recipe lasts too long for me to consume, and I hate to waste tasty treats! A fun tip is to make your batter and freeze half for later. For instance, I wanted to make carrot cake the other night, but knew I wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing in a reasonable amount of time , so I made the batter for a full cake, baked half of it in a 9x9 pan, and froze the other half. Now when I am ready for the next time, I'll have the batter ready to drop in the pan. It will only take an extra few minutes or so to bake.
Try this with cupcakes! Pour the batter in the cupcake pan, freeze the pan with the batter, then pop out the frozen batter cupcakes. Wrap and freeze... then break out when necessary!