Tag Archives: recipes

Kale to the chief (of salads)

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In lieu of Meghan’s Green Smoothie Cleanse (going 100% smoothie for three days just didn’t feel right for me this time) I decided to try raw, vegan for three days, along with going to bed early and rising early. [Full disclosure: tomorrow's dinner won't be raw.] I didn’t think that raw would be much of a challenge but I’m surprised at how much I do cook.

Breakfast and lunch are easy because many days I eat raw until dinner anyway and not because I’m trying to eat that way. I drink a smoothie for breakfast (if you look at my Twitter feed to the right you’ll see my “smoothie of the day”) and often a salad for lunch. Salads are the easiest meal to make: Throw a bunch of ingredients into a bowl or container. Toss or shake. Drizzle with vinaigrette, seasoning or dressing of choice, in my case often olive or walnut oil with a squeeze of lemon. (My mom takes nothing but lemon on her salad.)

Even when I don’t bring my own salad I have two salad places within walking distance of work: A Freshii – with whom I have issues but I eat there anyway – and “Sushi and salad”, a place with a salad bar and, you guessed it (I hope), sushi.

Raw vegan chocolate banana pudding topped with a banana slice, a date & pink Himalayan sea salt

Last night’s dinner presented a minor challenge: My friend Tema of Post-Challahism (she promises her first blog post will go up soon) picked up my CSA items on Tuesday and we haven’t been able to coordinate transfer. Because I was waiting on it I hadn’t gone shopping. What to do? See what vegetables I do have and pull out my spiral slicer! After attempting eggplant (FAIL) and cucumber (semi-fail) I sliced a sweet potato and topped the potato and cucumber “noodles” with garlic scape pesto that I’d made earlier in the week. Then there was dessert: Raw chocolate banana pudding. I don’t usually eat dessert but I craved something. It was so rich that I could only eat a couple of spoonfuls (okay, so I licked the remains out of the blender first – well, not directly).

Today’s breakfast was a minor challenge. I was completely out of greens this morning, and I’m trying to go raw this weekend. Trader Joe’s Super Green Drink subbed in a pinch. Though powder, it’s full of great ingredients, all organic. It was added to 1 peach, 1/2 banana, walnuts, cacao nibs and maple syrup. Lunch? I didn’t really have a lunch. I had a couple bites of a Lara bar when I got hungry while waiting to go into an appointment.  When I arrived home a couple hours later I ate some watermelon that I bought at The Healthy Butcher this afternoon.* Tasty and hydrating and tastes like summer.

Curly kale

Image via Wikipedia

Dinner was a little easier to plan: After buying to kinds of kale this morning at the farmer’s market, the decision was made to make kale salad, and soon.  What I made was variation of this recipe.  See kale’s health benefits.

Kale salad

  • 1/4 cup wakame (I had no arame. I don’t know if wakame has a similar nutritional profile as arame but they’re both sea vegetables.
  • A bunch of curly and dinosaur kale. Not an official measure “bunch”, and not the equivalent to the amount that was contained in the twist tie, but a quantity that filled a large colander.
  • Sweet potato and cucumber (see notes above)
  • 2 carrots, spiral sliced
  • 1/2 avocado
  • Hemp seeds sprinkled over top

Dressing (below is basically the recipe I used but adjusted the measurements. See the original recipe for specifics):

  • 2/3 cup olive oil (I used 1/3 cup)
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar (I probably used close to that much because I always forget that it pours fast)
  • 1 T soy sauce (I didn’t measure)
  • 1 T grainy mustard (I didn’t measure this either)
  • 2 cloves garlic (used 1 clove)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro  (I used a few bits that I had left, barely a tablespoon)
  • 1/4 cup green onions
  • salt/black pepper to taste (I only used salt)
  • toasted sesame seeds (I didn’t measure)

I also added

  • 1 garlic scape
  • A small bit (a couple of teaspoons?) of sesame oil
  • a small handful of goji berries

Directions

See the original recipe.

I followed pretty closely. For the dressing I added the mustard last and blended at the blender’s lowest setting. It seemed like a waste of grainy mustard to pulverize it. As for steaming the kale, I gave it a very light steaming. Yes, that’s not raw, and yes I contemplated that, but I have trouble chewing raw kale.  Adding dressing to the wakame actually had a nice effect, and I tossed the salad with my hands as I sometimes do to incorporate the dressing more thoroughly. I like prepping food with my hands. It adds to the sensory experience of cooking. As I tweeted, my kale salad kicked other salads’ butts.

I only made enough for one serving but the ingredients for the next time are pretty much prepped. Kale is washed and torn and wakame soaked. I’m thinking Monday lunch.

*By the way, at the Healthy Butcher, I bought nothing that required butchering. The store is so much more than meat and fish.

Eat well, be well.

Smoothielicious

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My morning smoothie, after a workout:

  • The last of the watermelon that I got at my CSA two weeks ago (picked up another yesterday)
  • 1/2 a freestone peach from the farmer’s market (mostly free, unlike the previous ones that weren’t really)
  • 1 small yellow plum
  • A handful of purple grapes that I got at the CSA yesterday (I chose mostly the ones that got smushed on the way home and leaked into my canvas bag). Antioxidant goodness!
  • A couple of cherry (?) tomatoes that I got at a farmer’s market or the CSA weeks ago.

Nice, creamy, healthy goodness. As usual I made too much, enough for two. The remainder will be reblended with cocoa nibs and chia seeds (also see Top 10 Benefits of Chia Seeds) which I forgot I had.

I like my smoothies: Nutritious and hydrating. I also take supplements (vitamin B, Omega 3-6-9, multivitamin).

smoothie(Beside the blender is the watermelon that I picked up from my CSA yesterday.)

Rockin' Recession Recipes: Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg

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Photo credit: Dishing Up Delights
Image via Dishing Up Delights

In the fall I printed a recipe for Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg from the Kitchn. The post was titled “Dinner for One”. I recently discovered it in my huge-ass recipe binder and decided that, like the lentil curry I recently made, it’s the perfect recipe for the recession/economic crisis.

I made a version of it for dinner on Sunday with ramen that I’d picked up at an Asian grocery store. Not the raman that comes with flavour packets, just the noodles – although I’d have tossed out the flavour packet if it had come with one. I omitted the green onion because I didn’t have any and it didn’t seem worth buying just for this.

fresh ramen noodle (:ja:ラーメンの生麺)
Image via Wikipedia

I made it for the second time yesterday morning before work because I needed to make something quickly to take to work for lunch and the tiny piece of salmon from the previous evening’s dinner wasn’t going to be enough. In this instance I omitted the egg and used bottled ginger and garlic, rinsed the noodles to cool them off and tossed them with the sauce in the pan before storing them in a container for lunch. I sprinkled on some seaweed Gomasio because I like sesame a lot.

Yesterday I eyeballed the measurements, accidentally using too many red pepper flakes. I added more oil and soy sauce after tossing the sauce with the noodles because I hadn’t measured the noodles, just used two “bricks”.

I forgot to take the salmon to work yesterday but I did today and think that it will be good on the leftover noodles from yesterday’s lunch.

This weekend I’m going to have to make lunches for the week. I wasn’t so good at that this week and have eaten lunch out twice already (my unexpected adoration for Lettuce Eatery, a place that makes what I can make myself for less money, will have to get its own post).

Speaking of posts, I think that “recession food” could be a new feature here. We all need to save money in these times and I don’t know if I’ll be employed come April.

The original recipe follows:

Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg

(Serves one)

1 cup soba noodles – about 1.5 ounces dry
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 green onion, sliced into thin rounds
1 egg
Extra green onion for garnish
Extra salt

Bring a pot of water to boil and add the soba noodles and a tablespoon of salt. Cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to serving dish.

Meanwhile, in a small pan over medium heat and add the sesame oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes, and sauté until fragrant, about thirty seconds. Remove from heat and stir in the soy sauce. Pour this sauce over the noodles, add the green onion, and toss until the noodles are evenly coated.

Set the same small pan you just used back over medium-high heat. Crack an egg into the pan, being careful not to break the yolk. When the whites have set, use a spatula to gently but swiftly flip the egg over. Cook for a minute or two until the whites are completely cooked but the yolk is still liquid.

Slide the egg on top of the noodles, garnish with green onion if you’re feeling fancy, and eat immediately!

*Link for photo credit. Also at Photograzing.

Back to cooking

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I haven’t been posting frequently recently and have been bad at documenting my kitchen adventures, which is one of the reasons I began this blog. Back to it.

Yesterday I made vegan, gluten free, chocolate chip cookies from the Veganomicon cookbook:


Here’s the recipe, from pg 237, followed by footnotes from my “testing kitchen”:

Wheat-Free Chocolate cookies

Makes 18 cookies
TIME: 45 minutes

1 ¾ cups oat flour1
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon  ground flaxseeds
¼ cup soy milk2
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375F

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flaxseeds and soy milk. Add the brown and granulated sugars and stir, add the oil and vanilla, and whisk vigorously until all ingredients are emulsified3 (about a minute).

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry; fold in chocolate chips.

Drop the batter by the tablespoon onto an ungreased baking sheet, leaving 1½ inches of space between the cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes 4.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes:

1I used 1 cup of a gluten-free flour mix because I bought a container on sale once and hadn’t used it yet, and 3/4 cup pulverized oats.

2I used coconut milk because I had some leftover. The alternative was to open a container of almond milk.

3In reality, a small mixing bowl is too small. It was hard not to splash while whisking.

4I found that 10-12 wasn’t enough. The first cookie that I lifted off left a chunk on the baking sheet and the cookie was still a bit raw. I put the first batch in for another few minutes and when I did my second batch (4 cookies or so) I set the timer for 15 minutes.

Unlike most cookie dough, this cookie dough tastes bad raw. Flaxseeds and Canola oil are bland and taste funny. Cooked, however, they are yummy.

Tonight’s dinner:

In a nod to “Top Chef”, I call this one of my “Quickfire Challenges: Leftovers edition”:

This recipe goes against standard recipe-writing procedure but I don’t think it needs to be written “properly”.

Asian wilted beet greens

SERVES 1 (two, if the portions are small.)
TIME: 10 minutes (I didn’t time it.)

Beet greens
olive oil (optional)
White kidney beans (aka Cannellini  beans)
Sesame oil
Rice vinegar
Soy sauce or tamari
½ teaspoon Miso
Sesame Seeds

1. Tear a bunch of beet greens (saved from beets that I used last week in salad).

2. Throw in a pot. There is no need for oil, although you can use some olive oil.

3. Let wilt. This will happen within 5 minutes.

4. Add beans (I used canned, and they were leftover from a can I opened for a quinoa salad that I made last week).

5. Optional: Transfer to a small pot if you’d like. I did because the greens wilted down so much and the it was no longer covering the entire bottom of the pot.

6. Drizzle in some sesame oil, rice vinegar (a couple of teaspoons?) and soy sauce.

7. In a small bowl, mix a half tablespoon of miso with a half ladle of water (I used more water and had to drain some out) until smooth. Add to pot.

8. Stir everything to combine.

9. Optional: Toast sesame seeds.

10. Plate the greens and sprinkle with sesame seeds.


[The pot in the first photo is my biggest pot and it was full of greens.]

With that, I used up a bag of beet greens and finished the can of beans. Two things are gone from my fridge now. The dish would benefit from a sprinkle of chili flakes. It would be good without the miso. Garlic and ginger would go well in it.

New meals from leftovers, links, word association

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Food notes:

-On the weekend I threw together leftover brown rice with leftover roasted veggies and feta, and mixed it with the last of my basil-mint pesto sauce. It was quite tasty. Glad the veggies are gone. They probably lasted longer than they were meant to.

-Last night I made salmon with ginger sauce and wilted spinach (based on a ginger salmon with swiss chard recipe) and took it to work today on a mound of quinoa.

-Earlier I made a mac ‘n’ cheese with some of the cheese I have leftover from last weekend. The cheeses aren’t labeled. I know that one is an oka but the other two are thus mystery cheeses. They got melted over spelt pasta with white wine and cream. It then went into the oven for a short time covered in breadcrumbs (made from leftover bread ends some time ago) and before eating a drizzle of Sriracha (“Rooster Sauce”) to give it some kick. This is my type of Mac ‘n’ cheese. Sometimes I don’t even grate the cheese, instead cutting it into small pieces. I don’t do roux. It seems like an unnecessary extra step.

I still have all this cheese left, as well as leftover chili that is days away from compost and possibly past the time I should have sent it that way. It was really tasty but every time I look at it I pass on it. It’s not fuzzy and it doesn’t smell off yet but the clock is ticking. Yes, this is my judging criteria for food in the fridge. “Does this smell funny to you?” To my knowledge I’ve never poisoned myself. (Update: I tossed it. When I found it in the freezer recently I didn’t realize that it was an older batch, one that was good but not as good as the most recent version.)

-Saturday’s synagogue meal was amazing. The falafel table (build your own – “BYOF”?) was brilliant, and included roasted eggplant, eggplant spread, shredded beets and more. BRILLIANT.  There was a salad that appeared to be caesar but wasn’t, smothered in a creamy, citrus vinaigrette that was the right proportion of sweet and citrus. Not too sweet, not too astringent. The usual – and enjoyed – bagels with lox were spread out on another table. There was pizza, which is always a nice touch for kids and adults alike despite being unnecessary and cold with clinging cheese. Sometimes I enjoy even cold, uninspired pizza. It’s there a simile about pizza? Or am I thinking of a euphemism?

The dessert table included an assortment of colourfully sprinkles cookies, and what I think are referred to as “chocolate buffaloes”. They sort of look like giant rugalach, pastries that are rolled like a croissant but not shaped as such. “Tasty chocolate pastries” is a good enough label for me.

Links:

10 Surprising Foods That Contain Trans Fat

Top ten vending machine snacks in the U.S.

Probiotic bacteria may help in weight loss. Go probiotics!

In the National Post this past weekend, Amy Rosen talked spargel. Say that word, “spargel”. Isn’t it fun to say? “Spargle”. “Robin Spargles”. “Sandcastles in the sand.”…. (tangent edited out – trust me, you didn’t need to read it.)

From Toronto Life: A Lot of Dough – What gourmet bread can tell us about the state of the economy. I actually like the headline more than the article but I noticed a couple of years ago that whereas when I was a kid, free bread came to restaurant tables all the time, it doesn’t anymore. Upon making the observation I thought that it was a reflection on the types of restaurants I was going to, rather than a changing trend.

From the recipe bookmarks:

Zucchini and Asparagus Strata

Easy Ricotta Gnocchi – Sad that I don’t have enough counter space to make the dough.

Italian-inspired brownie, gluten-free

Not my best post, but there you go.