Zesty Quinoa

 

Dudes! This dish started out as a recipe from Eat Vegan, Get Healthy by Neal Barnard, and I changed it up a bit and it ROCKED. It is so stinking healthy, I could die....of awesome. Paired up with a quarter of an avocado, it became my very favorite quinoa dish ever. I've always "kind-of" liked quinoa, but never loved it. This dish may have changed all that. I cut the recipe in half, so it made 2 servings. It was so incredibly filling, and here I am hours later still feeling pleasantly full. That's some badassery right there.

So, here's the recipe with my changes. The original was meant to be served cold, but I prefer hot. Do what you want, dudes.

Serves 2 as a main dish.

What I used:

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1/3 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 TB dried mint
• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 3 TB fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 TB agave nectar
• 2 TB dijon mustard
• herbamare seasoning and pepper to your tastes
• chopped cilantro to garnish
• avocado to garnish

What I did:

1. Put the water in a small pot over high heat and put the lid on. Once boiling, stir in the quinoa and mint, and cover. Lower heat to medium or medium-low and cook about 10 minutes. 
2. Add the onion, bell pepper, edamame, herbamare and pepper. Stir, and replace the lid. Cook another 5 minutes. 
3. In a small bowl, mix together the lime juice, agave and dijon mustard. Pour it into the quinoa and mix well. Leave the lid off, and cook another 5 minutes or so. 
4. Serve in bowls and garnish with the cilantro and avocado. Boom! You're done. Pig out time.

Veggie Fajitas

Life. It gets pretty busy, sometimes. Mine certainly hasn't been immune. I just celebrated my one-year anniversary at my wonderful job. I just took in a stray puppy. And I decided to re-dedicate myself to sharing my passion for food. I let myself get burnt-out on blogging, but after my two-month hiatus, I have decided to blog when I feel like it...and not force myself. I'm sure you can understand-- sometimes, when we force ourselves to do something, we lose our passion for it. So, I'm going to just blog occasionally, and see how it goes.

So, three days a week, I work until 8pm. That's totally cool with me since I hate waking up early. But, by the time I get home, it's nearly 8:30 and I'm ready for dinner. I never feel like slaving away for an hour making dinner after I've worked all day, so I've been making a TON of fajitas and wraps lately. This was one such meal.

Veggie fajitas are hella easy, dudes. And quick as can be. Have 10 minutes? Then you have time to make fajitas for dinner.

What I used:

• 1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 5-6 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 TB taco seasoning (I make my own blend)
• 1 1/2 tsp coconut oil
• salt and pepper
• juice of 1/2 lime (FRESH! Not bottled)
• fresh cilantro (optional, but very highly recommended)
• homemade guacamole (avocado, tomato, onion, cumin, splash of lime juice)
• 2 large tortillas

What I did:

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Once hot, add bell pepper and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Then add the mushroom, garlic, spices, salt and pepper. Cook until the veggies are all cooked through - about 4 minutes. 
3. Pour the lime juice over the veggies and give it a good stir. Cook about 1 minute more.Your veggies should be cooked through and everything is ready.
4. Top a tortilla with about half of the veggies, some cilantro, and some guacamole and you're ready to roll. 

 Well, dudes, maybe I'll see you again soon. :)

Potato Chickpea Curry with Ginger

 

Potato Chickpea Curry with Ginger. Need I say more? Nope. Just make it already. It's delicious and inspired by a pal's IG feed. So, yeah, nothing to see here. Move  along to the recipe.

Serves 3-4 when accompanied by naan or rice

What I used:

• 3 medium-sized red potatoes
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 TB grapeseed oil
• 1 1/2 tsp Earth Balance
• 4 oz white mushrooms
• 1 medium red onion, sliced into half-moons
• 3/4 tsp ginger paste
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 TB Shan chana chaat powder
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup rice milk just to keep it from drying out.

What I did:

1. To speed up the cooking, (at the suggestion of a friend) I microwaved the potatoes for about 4 minutes, then diced them. This saved SO MUCH TIME. Be careful, they're fucking hot. /disclaimer.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add in the onion and some salt, and cook until softened. Add in the diced potatoes, garlic, Earth Balance, chickpeas, and chana chaat powder. Stir well and often for about 5 minutes, then add in the milk and the shrooms and stir again. Cook another 5 minutes.
3. Add in the ginger paste. Mix well, then check your salt and pepper levels. Adjust and serve that shit up with some naan, or rice, or both.
4. See? Easy peasy. Eat, eat, you're skin and bones.

Creamy Curry with Tofu

If you read my last post, you know that my pal, Nicole (of Nicole Eats) is completely kickass and my recent cooking inspiration. She has been on a mission lately to help me find a recipe for tofu that will make me actually LIKE tofu. Okay, okay, I am a sucker for a really good scramble. But, I mean tofu as a dish. So, while we were chatting last night I saw a recipe for curried tofu somewhere. It stuck in my brain, so I decided that I needed to make some tofu today...and make it curried. This is not the recipe I found online...or anywhere. This came from my head, and I'm pretty stoked about that. So, I (of course) texted Nicole today to ask if it would work or be any good. I got her approval, and heated up my cast iron skillet.

Making tofu is all fine and good, but what else was this chickpea to make for dinner? Well, I do have a killer rice cooker, so I started some rice. What else? Well, I dug around in the pantry and fridge and scrounged up some awesome. I made a mellow, creamy curry to go with the tofu (which was fucking awesome, by the way), and chowed down.

For the tofu: 

• 1/4 block of pressed tofu, cut into small cubes (or whatever size gets your motor going)
• 1 TB cornstarch
• 1 TB of your favorite curry powder (I've been gifted some Shan brand and it is AWESOME)
• pinch salt
• 1TB oil for pan-frying

1.  Heat the oil in a skillet until shimmering. I had mine over a medium-high heat.
2. Throw the cornstarch, curry powder, and salt into a bowl and mix well with a fork. 
3. Toss in the tofu and shake it around until all the sides of the tofu are covered in starch and spice.

4. Now, carefully pour the tofu into the skillet and make into a single layer if possible. Stir every few minutes, until the sides are a bit crispy and cooked to your liking. 

For the Curry:

• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
• 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into small dice
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1/4 of a large red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, tiny dice
• 1TB or more of your fave curry powder
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• 1/2 can of LITE coconut milk
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 TB cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water until the starch is dissolved

1. In a skillet with a lid, heat the broth with the curry powder and coriander mixed in. I turned my burner to Med-High for this. 
2. Once it's hot, add in the cauliflower, carrot, onion, tomato and garlic. Cook, covered, stirring every few minutes, until the veg is a bit crisp. I think mine took 8 minutes. 
3. Add in the chickpeas, coconut milk, and cornstarch slurry. Keep the lid off, and stir often so the coconut milk doesn't burn to the skillet. Cook until the sauce has thickened to your preference. Mine took about 6 minutes.

Almost there. Just another minute or 2.

So, there you have it. I officially like ONE tofu. And, I am getting back into my kitchen. Thank you, Nicole! You're my foodie BFF. xoxo meg

Curried Lentil Soup - OMFG!

One of my super-close foodie-vegan-blogger friends, Nicole, posted this recipe recently and I knew with 100% certainty that I had to make it. I knew it was going to blow my mind. I was completely right. This soup is fucking amazing. The recipe is perfect in every single way. The only problem I encountered was that I didn't have any celery because I almost never have it around the house. But, it was still so incredibly wonderful that it just doesn't even matter. Make this shit, dudes. You won't regret it.

Nicole's Curried Lentil Soup

What you need:

• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup dried lentils
• 1 quart vegetable broth or water
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 peeled carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced (which I didn't have, but the soup was mind-blowing anyway)
• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 4 tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp dried chili powder (optional, but I seriously recommend it)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste

What you do:

1. Sautee onion, carrots, celery and garlic in oil for 2 minutes. It should look like this:

2. Add parsley, basil and curry powder and sautee for an additional 2 minutes
   — add chili powder here if you’re using it. Like this:

3. Add broth, salt, lentils and tomatoes and bring to a boil, like so:


4. Reduce to low and simmer until lentils are cooked, about 40 minutes— you may need to add a little extra water/broth (I added about 1 1/4 cups water later in the cooking). Here's what mine looked like when it had cooked down to perfection:

5. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and a dollop of vegan sour cream and enjoy! (I only used cilantro, and it was incredibly tasty). Check it out:

Here's a random delicious photo:

This soup makes carrots happy!

You definitely should check out Nicole's rocking blog and make some of her fantastic food. She's my foodie crush.