I've been a bad blogger...

First I'm going to start of by saying what a bad blogger I have been. For a while I was in a cooking rut, not really making anything worthy of a post here. That was my excuse to not fill this flog with food. But that rut was quite short lived, for lately I have been making some pretty awesome things. I've managed perfect crepes, a roasted veggie and cous cous salad, a spicy tofu soup, pan-fried oatmeal, and many others! Now I am just relying on terrible excuses to not post. Things like "Well I can't take a picture, because my family is here." (They know I have a food blog, but I still get weird looks whenever I choose to photograph food. It brings on too many questions.) Another reason is that my kitchen is upstairs, while by bedroom in the basement. My camera is always kept in my room. And as much as I hate to admit it, most of the time I am too hungry/lazy to take a trip down the stairs to grab my camera. Also there is the procrastionation factor. "I'll post about it later..." and then later never comes. I made a Yule Log for christmas that I still haven't bothered to post about! (But I really don't think I will now...It seems a little too late for that. A mention is all the Yule Log will get.)

I'm ready for all of these pathetic excuses to come to an end. I promise to be a better blogger. I've even signed up for some blogging events, which i'm hoping will motivate me to get more active in this blog. (And maybe get me some visitors so that I don't feel like I'm blogging to myself...)

And now, onto the food.




Today I tried out a tofu salad recipe I found from Everybody Likes Sandwiches. I found it a while ago, and have been meaning to try it. Today finally seemed the right time since the only food I had in my kitchen happened to go in this recipe!


Tofu Salad
(from Everybody Likes Sandwiches)
1/2 cup mayo or soynaise (I used light miracle whip)
1 Tbsp yellow mustard (I used dijion)
1 block of firm tofu, crumbled
1 tsp capers
2 Tbsp chopped pickles
2 Tbsp finely diced onions
juice & zest of 1/2 lemon
pepper
(these next three ingredients were from the original post, but I didn't have them and so I substituted them for the following ingredients. )
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp curry paste (or powder)
1 tsp honey (optional)

2 tsp garlic seasoning
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp dill

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mayo and mustard. Add in the crumbled tofu and combine well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, mixing well after each addition. Let mixture sit for half an hour to let flavours develop. Spread on toasted bread.


I'm really happy with how this salad came out. I can see myself packing this in my lunch quite often from now on.

Light Macaroni Salad

The inspiration for the following recipe came from two sources. The first, being a cooking show on PBS. (A cooking show on PBS? Who'da thunk it?) And the second, from my desire to be the biggest possible sponge on my parents whilst I can, by bringing my lunches to work instead of going to booster juice and spending $10 a day of my own money.

Now more on the PBS show. It was a lazy saturday morning and I was in the basement watching tv. My father came downstairs and stole the remote from me. He flipped channels until landing on PBS, which was airing a cooking show. Since I am obsessed with food, I tolerated this. The hosts were just about to embark on a macaroni salad. And though i've never really liked macaroni salad all that much, the recipe inspired me. Over a week went by and I couldn't get the macaroni salad off my mind. I'm not sure of why that is, but I am glad for my fascination, because this salad came out great.

I think the reason it got to me was that the host added the spices before adding the mayo. She claimed that it was more important to flavor the pasta, then flavor the sauce. It seems like such a simple idea, but I had never seen anything like it before.

So I took that nugget of knowledge with me as I finally embarked on making this salad. Though as I stated, I've never felt that much love for a macaroni salad. This one was different though. I just knew it.

And was I right! This tasted so much lighter and fresher then most macaroni salads. Unlike the traditional macaroni salad, these little noodles were not swimming in mayo, just slightly tossed in it.

So here is my modified recipe of macaroni salad. I adjusted it a bit, adding a few more flavors and a lot more lemon. Hence the name of this recipe. I also used miracle whip instead of mayo. Since I prefer it in my sandwiches, I thought "why not in my salad as well?" I'd also like to point out how ridiculously easy this salad is to make!



Light and Lemony Macaroni Salad

1/2 box of Macaroni, cooked al dente and cooled
2-3 Stalks of Celery, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced plus zest
2 cubes frozen parsley (this was all I had, if you are using fresh then i'd go with a few tablespoons, then adding more to taste if needed.)
1 tsp chili powder
dash of salt and pepper
1/2 cup of miracle whip, or mayonaise.


Cook and drain the macaroni. Rinse with cold water, and transfer to a large bowl. Add chopped celery, onion, garlic, lemon zest, parsley, chili powder, and salt and pepper. Let sit in the fridge for about half an hour. Take the pasta out and toss it with the miracle whip and lemon juice.


I really loved this salad. It was easy, light, and so flavorful. I know it will be one I will fall back on in the future for lunches. My wallet is quite pleased because of this.

Mushroom Tomato Cream Pasta

Tonight was one of those nights where I got home late, and after not having dinner at a decent time was forced to rummage through the kitchen to find something quick and edible. Sometimes, when I am lucky, this kind of night has much more pay-off then pain. As was tonight.

So I got home and tried to figure out what to make for dinner. My sister had already eaten, and my mom opted for left over pizza. My dad decided to wait it out and said he would eat whatever I put in front of him. While I considered serving him dog food just to see what would be come of it, I instead decided to create something. So I set to work.

As always, our pantry was stocked with pasta. Then I totally lucked out when I found half a bag of mushrooms and a zucchini in my fridge. Plus, I even had sauce in there! Once I came upon these staples I had settled with the idea to add the veggies to some pasta with some plain ol' tomato sauce. Nothing too crazy, but it would serve it's purpose.

So I was about halfway through making dinner, when I realized there was much less pasta sauce in the jar then I had anticipated. Hardly enough to cover the pasta. Since my vegetables were near done their sauteing I had to act quick. I scoured our lazy susan for some canned tomatoes, tomato paste, anything sauce like. It was then I found the perfect addition. A can of mushroom soup! It would be the perfect addition to bulk up the sauce!

So that is how this dish came to be. Keep in mind that since this recipe was made on the spot, the measurements may not be exact. But this is the type of dish where it really won't matter. Also keep in mind that the quantities can easily be changed to feed more or less hungry mouths.



Mushroom Tomato Cream Pasta
Yields 2-3 servings.


1/4 box of pasta (I used Smart Spahgetti.)
1/2 can low fat mushroom soup
1/4 cup of water
1/3 cup of tomato pasta sauce (I used Healthy Choice Garlic Lovers)
1-2 cups of mushrooms, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 tbsp of oil
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
parmesan cheese (to garnish, optional)

Start a pot of water boiling for the pasta. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Meanwhile, clean and chop the veggies. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a medium frying pan. Add veggies once pan is hot and coat with freshly ground black pepper. A few teaspoons would be a good place to start. I really love my pepper though, so I added a few generous tablespoons to the veggies. Once the veggies have cooked down, add half the can of mushroom soup, and the water. Mix well so that the consistency is nice and smooth. Once your pasta is done, add the veggies and mushroom sauce, as well as the tomato sauce. Garnish with some parmesan, Mix well to coat, and serve!

This dish came out great. It was hearty and filling and tasted amazing. I know it will be one dinner that I see myself coming back to time and time again. Although next time I think I will add some garlic and maybe some parsley to the veggies.

Homemade Veggie Burger

Lately one of my newest food blog obsessions is Everybody Likes Sandwiches. It's got great recipes and the pictures are so pretty to look at. As I was browsing through some past entries on said flog, I came across this recipe for Walnut Oat Burgers. I've been wanting to try a hand at making my own veggie burgers for a while now, and this recipe seemed like the perfect endeavor.


I'm happy to report that these burgers came out great. They were so so good I don't ever want to see a soy burger again in my life!



They are also much healthier then soy patties. Since a large ammount of the mix is made up of ground walnuts, and walnuts are one of the World's Healthiest Foods, I have no qualms to treating myself to a burger now.


And the recipe seems easy enough to follow too. I only say that it seems easy enough because for whatever reason, I had a few troubles following it this afternoon. I'm not sure why, but I mixed up the bread crumb measurement and I forgot to add milk. The bread crumb situation rectified itself easily enough, I just ended up scooping some out of the rest of the mixture. The lack of milk however, was most likely the reason for the tiniest problem I had with these burgers. As a few of them fell apart. They buckled from the pressure of me trying to flip them on the first go. However, the strong ones survived and they were happily devoured by me and my family members who were brave enough to try them.




The recipe:

Walnut Oat Burgers
(Courtesy of Everybody Likes Sandwiches

burger mixture:
2 cups walnut pieces
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup breadcrumbs
3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup skim milk
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sage*
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

for cooking burgers:
oil to brown patties
3 cups vegetable stock

1. Grind walnuts in blender and combine with the rest of the burger mixture ingredients. Let the mixture rest in refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors meld together.

2. Form the mixture into patties. The entire mixture will make 8-12 burgers depending on the size patty formed. It is recommended to use half of the mixture now, and reserve the rest for use in another recipe or for more burgers later.

3. Brown patties on both sides in a lightly oiled skillet, then pour the stock into the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Serve on buns with all your burger fixings.



*I didn't have any sage on hand so I just used some ramdom herb and garlic seasoning I found in my pantry. They still tasted great.




Now the perfect side to this dish? Home baked taco fries.



They are a tastier and healthier alternative to those gross fries out of a bag from the freezer. Also, they couldn't be easier to make. This recipe is just an approximate guess of what I did, as there is really no need to measure with something like this.

First preheat your oven to 375. Clean and chop 5 medium sized russet potatoes. Slice into small strips, or cut into wedges. Whatever thickness you desire will work. Once all potatoes have been cleaned and chopped, throw into a large bowl. Toss slices with a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, a tiny pinch of salt, and liberal shakes of chili powder and garlic powder. You can also use taco mix, but since there is a lot of added sodium with that I'd reccomend using your own spices.
Once all the pieces are coated, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cook them for about 30-40 mins, or until cooked and crispy.

Tofu Sandwiches

A while ago I saw a recipe for tofu sandwiches posted somewhere on livejournal, I think it might have been VeganCooking but I can't remember.
Anyhoo, after seeing this amazing sounding recipe it was on my mind grapes for about a month. So yesterday on my day off I decided to try out these marinated tofu sandwiches.

They are amazing! The tofu is so firm and flavorful. Both sweet, and spicy. It was such a nice treat from strictly veggie filled sandwiches. (Since I've never been a big fan of soy lunch meats.)


(And Is it just me or does that tofu kind of look like chicken? Oddly enough the texture also reminded me of chicken...)

The tofu is marinated in a combination of soy sauce, garlic, and spices. Then it gets coated in fresh black pepper, fried up, and then coated in sesame seeds. It is simply nothing short of a slice of tofu heaven. Even my tofobic sister enjoyed them!

Tomorrow I think I will try out the left over pieces in a spinach salad. Mmm.

The recipe is as follows:
(I didn't stick to the original since there were a few things I was missing-fresh ginger for one. But I think it still turned out pretty damn good.)

Pepper and Sesame-crusted Tofu Sandwiches
(From VeganCooking?)

Drain and press out any extra water from a block of firm or extra firm tofu.* Thinly slice the entire block and marinate for an hour or longer with the following marinade:


3/4 cup soy sauce
2-3 tsp rougly chopped fresh ginger, or if you don't have any, ground ginger will work just fine.
3-4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chili powder
1-2 tsp green curry paste
2 tsp sesame oil
freshly ground pepper
sesame seeds


Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large container and add tofu slices. Keep in the fridge for a minimum of one hour.

Once the tofu has marinated, heat a pan to medium high with a bit of oil in it. (I used a combination of 1 tsp sesame oil and some veg. oil.) While the pan is heating grind fresh black pepper onto a plate. Remove the tofu from the marinade, blot with a paper towel and cover both sides with the pepper. Do this with all the slices, then fry them in the pan-about 1-2 mins or until they are crispy and brown. In the meantime, cover a new plate with sesame seeds. Once the tofu slices are finished marinating, coat them with the sesame seeds.




To serve these, I toasted 2 slices of whole grain flax bread. On one slice I put some light miracle whip and some cilantro. (All I had was the stuff in the tube, but keep in mind that fresh is obviously preferable!) And on the other slice I slathered some sweet red pepper salsa. I also added some thick slices of cucumbers and some crispy iceberg lettuce. Other good toppings would be bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc.

*In order to press out all the water from the tofu (to gain a firmer texture and stronger taste) my preffered method is as follows:
Place your block of tofu on a plate in between two paper towels. On top of the paper towel, place a large skillet. On top of the skillet, stick a dictionary or any heavy object. Leave it for about an hour or so and most of the water will have drained.

Orzo Salad

This summer I became obsessed with an orzo salad. It had spinach, lots of onions and garlic, feta cheese, and of course, orzo. It's a cold salad to be kept in the fridge, so it can sit and stew in it's own flavors. Like a good cheese, it only gets better with age. Also like (some) cheeses, it stinks. (Well, more like you stink, since there is about 6 cloves of garlic in the thing.) The consumption of garlic is always a battle with me. On the one hand it is tasty, and very good for you. On the other hand it doesn't leave you very fragrantly pleasing.
So to compromise I try to not consume to much garlic when I am around lots of people, like at work. This made me pretty sad since the salad I described above is one I could see myself eating every single day, and a great option to bring for lunch.


But now I have a solution! I was watching Everyday Italian a while back, and on the show Giada made a "Tri-Colore Orzo Salad". (Which translates to three colours.) It was very similar to my beloved (but garlicy) salad I yearned to enjoy on a regular basis, only without the garlic and onions and other things that wouldn't smell too great. I made a mental note to try this new salad out sometime, and that was that.


Then sometime last week as I was trying to scrounge something up for my lunch, I decide see about making this sald. Lucky enough I had orzo so I set to work. The result was wonderful.
I ended up improvising a bit since I didn't have the exact ingredients she used, and because I couldn't be bothered to look up the recipe to find out for sure wether I did or not. (Turns out I was pretty close.)

I'm also really proud of staying true to the "tri-colore" theme of the salad, by finding three colours to put in it:




The recipe will be a rough idea of what I put in my salad, since I never keep track of exact measurements when cooking. I also made enough for my lunch as well as my parents who always have difficulty cooking for themselves after work. Keep in mind these measurements can easily be changed to suit how many mouths you intend on feeding. (This recipe fed about 4.)



What you will need:
2 1/2 cups orzo, cooked al dente
1/2 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup baby arugula
1/2 cup of crasisns
1/4 cup of light feta cheese
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, plus 3 tbsp
3 tbsp or juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon*
salt and pepper to taste

*I didn't have any lemon zest in this batch, since I still don't have zester, and I am completely hopeless to somehow accomplish another way to zest it up. (How do I even live like this?!) I'd highly recommend adding some though, because I imagine it is wonderful.


What to do:
Cook the orzo to package directions. Toss with 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, and let cool. Meanwhile juice&zest the lemon, rip apart (or chop) the arugula and the spinach, and dice (or crumble) the feta cheese.
Toss the orzo with the rest of the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, spinach, arugula, crasins, and feta. Add a pinch of salt and a generous grind or two of fresh black pepper. Chill and serve.





As I mentioned earlier in this post, this is the type of salad that gets better the longer it sits in the fridge.
Some other ideas to add to this would be some chopped peppers, green onions, and if you're brave, (or alone) a glove of garlic or two. (I mean one or two cloves wouldn't be that bad, right?) Next time I will try it.

Lovely Lentils

After being a vegetarian for nearly five years, I had never had lentils until a few months ago. I had always thought about it, and I really did want to try lentils, but I was always too afraid to go for it. Eventually I did get around to consuming lentils when I found them in a canned lentil soup, which magically appeared in my pantry one day.
I quite enjoyed the soup, and made a vow to try and partake of more lentils in my diet. Until recently though, I had never found much reason to try them. Then I found this lentil chili recipe and it inspired me. I tired it out and was in love.

So ever since falling in love with lentils from that recipe, I have decided to try out more recipes with lentils.
Then as fate would have it, I recently caught an episode of Good Eats devoted entirely to lentils! I made a vow to try out at least one of the recipes.

As a part of my crusade to find healthy baked items, I decided to go for the Lentil Cookies. Now, when I first heard dear Alton utter lentils and cookies in the same sentence, I thought he was crazy. As much as I love him I could just not get behind this idea. Even after seeing him make them and devour them I still wasn't sold. Then, and I'm not sure when or why- but sometime this past week I found myself ready and willing to give them a try.



They certainly are very appealing health wise. The recipe calls for whole wheat flour, dried fruit, oats, and (obviously) lentils. I also decided to personally up the nutrition in these babies by replacing the sugar with Splenda and adding some flax.

For my dried fruit I decided to use my two favorites, craisins, and dried apricots. They ended up being quite the pair.



The only issue I have with these is that I'm not sure what to call them. On the one hand they are sweet like cookies, and they kind of remind me of an oatmeal cookie, so calling it a cookie makes sense.
On the other hand, they came out shaped like little biscuits, and are quite round and dense. Not like the traditional cookie.

Also telling people I made lentil cookies usually results in them looking at me like I am crazy and shaking their head in disgust.

They also kind of remind me of these "cookies" that always pop up during christmas time. They're about the size of a quarter but very thick, kind of the same idea as these lentil cookies. They've got jam in the middle and walnuts all around the dough part. They are dry and bland and I've always found them useless. In my humble opinion, these lentil cookies are a million times better then the dry jam cookies of Christmas past, present, and future.


But in the end it doesn't really matter what they are called, what matters is that they are delicious, and that everyone should try them! (No matter how skeptical you may be.)

Lentil "Cookies"
(Courtesy of God Alton Brown)

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice**
I cup sugar***
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups lentil puree, recipe follows
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dried fruit
1 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
2 tbsp ground flax seed

*I am just realizing now that I did not use pastry flour, but regular whole wheat flour. They still turned out though.
**I didn't have any allspice, so I substituted this for ground cloves.
***As I mentioned above, I replaced the sugar with Splenda.


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice (or cloves).

In the bowl of a stand-mixer with a whisk attachment, cream together the sugar and butter on medium speed. Add the egg and mix until just incorporated. Add the vanilla and lentil puree and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and blend on low speed until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the oats, dried fruit, coconut and ground flax seed.

Form the dough into balls about 2 teaspoons in size and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper, leaving about 1-inch of room in between. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 195 degrees F is reached on an instant-read thermometer.

Lentil Puree:
4 ounces lentils, approximately 2/3 cup, picked over and rinsed
2 cups water
In a small pot over medium heat, combine the lentils and the water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Remove from the heat and puree. If using immediately, let cool. The puree may be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups lentil puree