So I definitely haven't posted in over a month...which means I've been incredibly busy! Here are some things I cooked last month and I'll have another post up soon!
This tempeh cacciatore was pretty amazing! I don't think I ever ate chicken cacciatore when I wasn't vegetarian, but the flavors here were great! You cook the tempeh in a mixture of red wine, tamari, and Italian herbs along with a ton of vegetables and olives. This recipe can't be found in a cookbook or on a website, so if you would like the recipe, just leave a comment with your e-mail address!
I finally got an ice-cream maker! I can't wait to use it. I think I will do peach ice cream first. Have you ever made ice-cream at home?
New found love: boba tea
Birthday pizza for Mike. I made my absolute favorite: kale, red onion + pistachio with a homemade crust and lots of garlic.
This tofu chili has been on my to-make list for quite a while now. I finally made it and it's incredibly easy, cheap, and delicious! It has a ton of protein from tofu and beans, and extra delicious topped with hot sauce, corn chips and vegan cheese. I highly recommend it and I'm sure it even freezes well! //whole foods market
I made one of my favorite cakes for Mike's birthday: a pina colada cake with pineapple, dark rum and cream of coconut. It's actually pretty simple to make and so delicious! The pineapple rum glaze was amazing. I substituted: 1 C sorghum flour, 1 C tapioca starch, 2 tsp xanthan gum, and earth balance vegan butter sticks. //smitten kitchen
This lovely colorful little salad is full of green onions, mangoes, black beans and red pepper! This would be great as an easy summertime meal or for a picnic/work lunch. The recipe is very straightforward, simple, and takes less than 10 minutes if you have leftover cooked quinoa. There's something really great about eating this salad because of the sweet bites from mangoes! //veganomicon
New bar tools: swizzle spoon, measuring shot glass, and perfect ice cube trays.
Drink pictured: 1.5 shots dark rum over ice topped off with ginger beer and a lime wedge.
I have been craving donuts for quite some time now, so I made these incredible baked banana donuts with a coffee glaze. The process of making these donuts is different, but still easy. You use thawed (previously frozen) mashed banana, vegan sour cream, bourbon, etc. I would like to try the PB glaze next time. I subbed: 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/2 C tapioca starch, 1/4 C almond flour + vegan sour cream. These would be amazing with coffee! //vanilla bean blog
This is now easily one of my favorite pasta dishes: pasta al pomodoro. Using cherry tomatoes, you cook them down until they release their juices along with garlic and Italian herbs. No heavy cream or butter needed; the leftover pasta water will thicken the sauce for you as it boils away. I can't express how easy, filling, and satisfying this pasta was. Alongside gluten-free vegan garlic bread, I was in heaven. //eat this poem
Gin and tonics
Once again, I learned that Daiya's faux cheese wedge makes me incredibly ill. I am just going to have to deal with that one. When I made pizza for Mike's birthday, I used vegan gourmet's mozzarella block which worked just fine and tasted/melted wonderfully! I later made these sinful buffalo tempeh kale grilled vegan mozzarella sandwiches. This would obviously be better if you can have regular cheese, but vegan still did the trick! I served these with oven fries and it was amazing/filling! //vegan yack attack
Well I guess I have been really busy because it's been over two weeks since my last post! But things are kind of back to "normal" now, you could say, except it is the end of school. My classes are getting harder, I am certainly more stressed, but I only have a little over 3 weeks left (!!!). I haven't been cooking too much due to being out of town, having a friend visit from NY, and just having too many books to read for class. I also only had to cook for one person for about a week since the boy was away to Puerto Rico for business. So things are back to how they were (kind of) so I should be in the kitchen more now!
This dish has a ridiculous amount of protein: corn-quinoa pasta, kidney beans, tempeh, and nutritional yeast. If I remember correctly, it had well over 35g of protein per serving! The best part is, this dish is incredibly cheap, filling, and quick, like most Happy Herbivore recipes. It's called tempeh chili mac because it greatly resembles regular chili mac. //happy herbivore everyday
Sometimes I just want incredibly good Indian food, but it's next to impossible for me to eat Indian restaurants/or out at all. Even though this is probably not authentic, this curried chickpeas and greens with jasmine rice was amazing! It comes together in less than 30 minutes and leaves you with so much food. I was eating this (happily) for days. There is no better combination than ginger, garlic, garam masala and other Indian spices! //appetite for reduction
I have become a little obsessed with making tofu scrambles for brunch on the weekends. I really need to try out vegan omelettes and benedicts before I get bored with scrambles! This particular scramble, from the PPK, is a blackened tofu scramble with onions, garlic, swiss chard, and tomatoes served with garlicky vegan buttery grits. I really enjoyed the blackened flavor of this scramble and it obviously is a million times better with hotsauce! //the PPK
There is something so incredibly satisfying about baking a cake. The process is slow, relaxing, and quiet. Playing music when I cook or bake is a must. Lately I have been listening to my huge Wes Anderson playlist, the Beach Boys, or Yelle. This cake is now being hailed, by my parents, as the best cake I've ever made (note: they say this after every cake). I made this for Easter, so it needed to be springy and light: so I made the lemon coconut bundt cake from Veganomicon. I was so pleased with the delicate flavors of this cake. Here are the substitutions I used:
-1 C tapioca starch -1 C millet flour -1 C almond flour -3 tsp xanthan gum
The almond flour gives the cake a very soft crumb and the millet flour makes it a little denser. I will definitely be making this again! //Veganomicon
A very unhappy Easter Bunny!
Easter grill dinner on my father's new grill: asparagus, portobello mushrooms, brown sugar-soy sauce salmon + lemon garlic salmon
Sometimes I seriously have to force myself to cook something, even if it takes little effort. I steamed broccoli and seasoned it with nutritional yeast and garlic powder. Then I baked a potato, split it down the middle, stuffed it with Amy's organic canned baked beans, vegan butter, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder. You better believe I ate the entire thing!
I have discovered one of the greatest tofu products ever: Twin Oaks tofu More than Tofu. I used the garlic shiitake one for this recipe, which also has quinoa and amaranth for extra protein! For once 8 ounce block, I believe, there are about 32g of protein. I decided to pan fry it until golden to eat with this amazingly simple stir-fried noodles with broccoli and portobellos. I will definitely be making this again all the time because of how simple it is! I seriously recommend this tofu because it comes pre-seasoned/marinated so all you have to do is fry/bake/grill it! It didn't need any seasoning whatsoever. //Foreals Life
South in your mouth: Cheerwine, lime juice, gin
Blueberry Lemonadka: lemonade, Stoli vodka, blueberries
Well, the weather finally perked up in Greensboro. It may be hot as crap outside, but I still crave soup year round. I made this very easy, simple, yet satisfying soup: tomato-rice soup with navy beans and roasted garlic. I did not roast the garlic, however, because of the onset of laziness. The soup is still delicious though and just what I wanted today. It takes no effort at all. If you do roast the garlic, the only thing you're chopping is an onion. Too easy! //Veganomicon
Well, spring break went by way too quickly (no surprise there!) and there was a lot of food involved, obviously. Thankfully, there are only six more weeks of school after tomorrow, including exam weeks, so that's something to look forward to! Over spring break, I didn't do much homework (big surprise!) but I did do an incredible amount of food prep! I made black beans, chickpeas and brown rice (all in the slow-cooker!) and froze them. For every pound of black beans and chickpeas (est. $2.30 in bulk) I got 6-7 cups of beans. I cooked 2 cups of brown rice (est. $1.40 in bulk) and ended up with amount 6 or so cups. This is a huge money and time saver! I will be doing this from now on. Maybe I'll do a bulk prep post in the near future.
One of my stand by smoothies: almond milk, flaxmeal, agave nectar, kale, pear and spinach.
I was stuck again with an eggplant I needed to use. I decided to make this colorful eggplant puttanesca with capers, bell peppers, olives, tomatoes, and lots of Italian herbs. I served it with vegan buttered polenta and a big glass of red wine! It was definitely a hit. I ate it again with pasta and nutritional yeast and it was delicious! //chickpea magazine
It's always unusual to have someone cook for me these days. I am usually in the kitchen at least every night, but luckily my friend offered to cook dinner for us one night! Pictured here: kale cooked with quinoa and red pepper flakes; arugula avocado salad with a vegan lime tarragon vinaigrette; vegan apple sage sausages. These sausages were absolutely amazing! I would love to have them on hand for breakfast and they are so easy to make! The sausage recipe comes from The Vegan Slow-Cooker Book, which I highly recommend for any vegan (especially students!). //vegan slow-cooker book
Simple yet amazing quinoa black bean burgers with a smoky avocado spread, red onion + oven thyme fries with ketchup. With only three main ingredients in the burgers, they come together in practically no time! I loved the smoky avocado spread too. This is certainly my favorite veggie burger so far (though these were killer too). I also don't understand the concept of buying frozen oven fries. It takes seconds to slice potatoes, toss them with oil and whatever seasonings you want, and bake them. And truth be told...they taste a hell of a lot better and don't have nasty ingredients! //what's cooking good looking
It has been my experience, so far, that I burn curry. The first pot of potato curry I ever made was burnt to hell. I immediately went to the store, put it in a bigger pot, and made a perfect curry. This curry is from a recipe book that uses little to no oil in all recipes, so of course I burnt it a little. Lucky for me, this was the best curry I've had in my entire life. It doesn't ask for much: bok choy, bell pepper, tofu and onions. The flavor is delicate yet powerful enough to make your nose run, in the best way possible. There are also rice noodles involved so, duh, this is the best curry in the world. I will be making this again and again! //appetite for reduction
I didn't mention this above, but I managed to escape to the beach for a few days! It was definitely not long enough and I am already itching to return. I did get this amazing vegan philly tempeh "cheezesteak" on GF bread. I am already looking into recreating it in the near future...
Vegan and GF carrot cake cupcakes!
One thing I've learned recently is that being tired or slightly broke isn't an excuse I can give myself for eating unhealthy foods. All it takes is one thing: planning ahead! I kid you not. People ask me all the time how I have time to cook all of this food and how I can afford it. I have recently started to take a more minimalist approach to cooking, which is saving me a ton of money. Before we went to the beach, I planned out foods for us to take so we wouldn't be snacking on carbs all day. We did "eat out" a few times, but nothing that wasn't healthy and nothing incredibly extravagant!
Anyways, I planned this meal above to eat the night we got in at 10:30 PM. The drive wasn't bad but we were both exhausted and starving. I cut up romaine into bowls, topped with crushed corn chips, topped with homemade (warmed) black beans, salsa, then a big heap of spicy cilantro hummus. This was so so satisfying after a long drive and very nutritious (and cheap)! I would love to do another post soon about planning ahead + saving money.
Prettttty happy to be at the beach :)
Limoncello Lemon Drop // Salted Karmel Martini
More planning was involved here! Tofu scramble is obviously one of the best things on the planet, so I wanted to make some at the beach. But there are so many spices involved in my favorite recipe...solution: I packed all of the spices in a baggie before we left. That way we only brought: tofu, the spice bag, and other little fixins' for the scramble. This particular recipe was chosen because it's easy and it uses no oil, which means I didn't have to bring any! //happy herbivore
Amazing blackberry/pineapple wine slushie (yes, slushie) that I had at Broadway.
I have really been craving Chipotle lately, but am trying not to eat out too much. I settled on making some burrito bowls at home with this amazing chili-lime rubbed tofu! This recipe is so damn easy and delicious! I could see crumbling it and frying it lightly like chorizo, or leaving it as is in tacos/burrito bowls. //appetite for reduction
The final product of burrito bowl night:
Chili lime rubbed tofu, homemade guacamole (avocado, lime juice, salt, cumin, garlic powder, red onion + red pepper flakes), homemade pico de gallo (tomatoes, lime juice, salt, cilantro + red onion), homemade vegan queso (almond milk, nooch, onion/garlic powder, brown rice flour, salsa, cumin, paprika + chili powder), homemade brown rice + fajita vegetables (green peppers, onions, oil, cumin, salt + chili powder)
It sounds like a lot, and it kinda is, but everything came together easily and quickly!
These past few weeks have been crazy! I have so many food photos to share, but really haven't had the time. I'm finally on spring break, which has done nothing but stressed me out a bit more haha. Thankfully there are only seven more weeks of school left.
I have been wanting to make edamame hummus for such a long time, and after having the Trader Joes brand, I had to remake it. It takes a little longer to puree the edamame beans, but the flavors are perfectly complimented with garlic and coriander. If you're looking for a twist on the usual hummus, this is perfect and has a ton of protein! //oh she glows
Another thing I've been meaning to make for a long time are dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I have a slight problem with the Justin's packaged brand, so I had to remake them. These were cheaper, delicious, and surprisingly easy to make! This recipe used almond butter and dark chocolate, which work perfectly together. The layering of the chocolate and peanut butter gets a little tedious, but it's worth it! //sprouted kitchen
Blood orange, peach and pear sangria.
I have been cooking mostly from Happy Herbivore recipes, just because they're cheap, simple, and nutritious. This vegan alfredo sauce was perfect for a night when I didnt feel like cooking, but wanted something healthy. With 35g of protein per serving, you will definitely feel full after this (especially with protein from brown rice pasta)! It also took 10 minutes to make with cooking the pasta. //happy herbivore
I've been making a lot of salads here lately and this vegan Caesar salad dressing was amazing! I ate it for days with NC sprouts, lettuce, tomato and carrots. Because it's made from silken tofu and nutritional yeast, it also has about 3g protein per tablespoon! //everyday happy herbivore
I made vegan french toast last week for breakfast one weekday morning and it was easy/delicious! I was very surprised at how similar it tasted to regular french toast with out using any eggs! Surprisingly enough, chickpea flour and almond milk with vanilla extract produced the same flavor! //happy herbivore
Perfectly baked thyme oven fries
After finishing off my vegan caesar salad dressing, I made one of my favorites: homemade balsamic vinaigrette from Isa's amazing book. It's so easy to make and has protein from the cashews! I will be making that dressing over and over again. It went great with a salad of sprouts, avocado, cucumber, tomato + romaine. //appetite for reduction
I have been wanting to also make a vegan frittata for quite some time, since there are so many easy recipes for them that don't involve cast iron pans. I made this incredibly easy frittata from Happy Herbivore with old bay, black beans, and red pepper. I doused it in a ton of hot sauce and ate it with some really delicious thyme oven fries! //everyday happy herbivore
Blood orange gin and tonics:
Put ice cubes in the bottom of a glass. Top with a shot of gin (I used Tanqueray). Top with 1/2 C freshly squeezed blood orange juice and tonic water. Stir and enjoy!
Spring break is only one week away! I am really excited to have a week to not have to worry about classes, even though I will sadly have to read a lot over break. I also have a trip to the beach planned which is exciting! Needless to say, I'm ready for this week to fly by already.
I've been on a huge Saturday/Sunday brunch kick lately. I made this very delicious mexican tofu scramble with added frittata starter that I got from William-Sonoma with fire-roasted corn, onions + peppers. It was amazing and full of protein! I feel like I've been making tofu scramble pretty often here lately, but it's always easy to pull together. //happy herbivore
Everyone knows that I loooove potatoes. These paprika rosemary roasted potatoes are my absolute favorite now. Especially slathered in ketchup. //vegan brunch
I don't feel like I've made soup in a long time. This chickpea rice soup with kale was absolutely perfect. It also includes a cashew cream, which pulls everything together and adds protein. The onions are thinly sliced which caramelize lightly and are a great contrast to just regular chopped onions (may not seem like a big deal but its great). I would seriously consider making this. //post-punk kitchen
I've been trying to cook every night this week, even when I am tired and don't feel up to it. I am really trying to pull myself away from relying on processed foods unless it's an emergency. This arroz amarillo was easy to pull together. I decided to add black beans, green peas, kale...and a lot of hot sauce, obviously! //happy herbivore
I also don't feel like I've made hummus in a while, and since I've been trying to eat healthier snacks, this was an obvious choice. This particular hummus is flavored like buffalo wings, which I obviously can't eat haha. It perfectly mimics the flavors and ends up being healthier (and vegan!) This may be my new favorite hummus //butter me up brooklyn!
This night was a big deal for me. I got to meet: one of my my biggest food idols, the first food blogger I ever read, and someone I really look up to. Deb of smitten kitchen manages to cook elegant food that is easy, affordable, and written out so well that anyone can make it. She also manages to make the most complicated looking things sound easy. I have cooked the most recipes from her blog than anyone elses because of this reason, and also because of the wide array of recipes she posts. It's easy to make her recipes gluten and dairy free, even though almost none of her recipes naturally are. So this is the first big celebrity I've met, I mean, she's on the NY times best-seller list and any foodie has heard of her. Deb is incredibly down to earth, a great speaker, and very humbled. She asked if I liked cooking or baking better, and of course admitting to both, adding that I do all of her recipes gluten and dairy free. She was very intrigued to know what flours I use, what difficulties I find with baking GF, etc. It was so awesome! And I'm obviously blushing in this photo.
We went to fiction kitchen in Raleigh this past weekend. This restaurant is an all vegan, mostly local food. I got an amazing spicy peanut smothered tempeh with broccoli and brown rice. This dessert pictured above is a gluten-free vegan chocolate truffle pie with a salted caramel crust. I was in disbelief that it was gluten-free and vegan! It was so decadent. I can't wait to go back to this place and I definitely recommend it! They also have vegan chicken and waffles, and plenty of gluten free options!
I was generously given a gigantic eggplant this weekend, which is something I never cook. Eggplant doesn't always agree with my stomach, but I am always eager to cook with new things. This also involved my grill pan, which I finally got to use! This is essentially grilled strips of eggplant, stuffed with a Italian basil tofu ricotta, then topped with cabarnet marinara sauce on top. It was so easy and delicious! If you love eggplant and Italian food, you should definitely make this! //the passionate parsley
A better picture of the leftover eggplant rolatini over vegan buttered + red pepper flake polenta.
I seriously debated even cooking tonight. But I had basil, tomatoes, and tofu ricotta nagging me in the fridge and I had to force myself to make something. Despite my apathy, I ended up making something absolutely delicious and protein packed. I have been trying to eat less carbs with every meal, just for the sake of being healthy, so I chose this over pasta. First you slow cook tomatoes in garlic, oil, and bay leaf. Then add eggs with vegan butter and seasonings. I then stirred in leftover tofu ricotta; so this has a ton of protein! //in pursuit of more
