Quinoa Salad

Today started as "one of those days". I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed (as I'm unemployed and not in school until January) and then I couldn't figure out what to eat for breakfast. I settled on toast from the loaf of bread in my freezer with almond butter and raspberry jam. It made my fingers sticky.
Then I proceeded to go out to check out some apartments, none of which would work for me. (They were all tiny, dirty, or sketchy. Ugh.) After viewing apt 1 i headed back home to kill a few hours before my next appointment. I was feeling lazy and uninspired so I heated up some frozen sweet potato fries for lunch. While they were tasty, that's really a poor excuse for a lunch in my world. About an hour before I was to set out to check the next two apartments, I got an email from vegetarian times with this recipe for a spinach quinoa salad with cherries and almonds. That title was enough to set my tired, apathetic brain racing, so before I headed out for another few hours I put some quinoa in the rice cooker. (Best invention ever!) Did you know you could cook quinoa in a rice cooker? I didn't until recently and it has caused even more love and appreciation for my rice cooker than I thought possible.
I also whipped up a quick vinaigrette to let the quinoa soak up it's flavors while I was out. Then when I got home, hungry again I just threw in some chopped veggies and cooked kale, and I had a delicious healthy meal in 10 mins!
This salad was soo tasty. Fresh and healthy, but still hearty and comforting (thanks to the cooked kale) which is oh so important at this time of year. My bad day has ended on a such a great note thanks to this salad. More so, in that I just made it up as I went along, and it was delicious and healthy and satisfying.) I love when that happens.
And that, is why I love cooking.




this recipe may look really long and daunting, but it's not. it's really so simple, so give it a try!


Quinoa Salad
(clearly all my creativity was used up in making the salad, so i can't name it.)

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

cook the quinoa according to directions. (Or do it the easy way and use a rice cooker! Just like you'd make rice.)

for the vinaigrette:
2-3 tbsp each: red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar (I found these complimented each other really nicely, if you don't have both use one or the other or white vinegar or whatever you have on hand!)
1 heaping tsp dijion mustard
1 tbsp orange marmalade
5-10 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (enough until it's all thickened)
dash salt and lots of pepper
1/2 tsp mrs.dash (or other seasoning)

whisk the vinegars, marmalade, and mustard together. slowly drizzle in the oil until thickened. add the salt, pepper, and seasonings.

Mix the quinoa and vinaigrette together and let sit. (1/2 an hour or several if you can.)

for the rest of the salad:
1/4 yellow and red bell pepper
1/4 cup dried cherries or cranberries

add the veggies to the quinoa.

1 cup of kale, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
splash of soy sauce, lemon juice


dice the peppers, and chop the kale.
heat up a medium pan with the oil. once heated, add the kale and stir until it starts to wilt. add the soy and lemon juice, and garlic. keep on the heat for about a min, then remove and add to the salad.


1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
to do this just throw the pine nuts in the heated pan until toasted. watch them carefully! these babies burn fast.

Miso Gravy

Today I woke up and was at a loss for breakfast. I had no tofu for a scramble, and no cold soy for cereal. But what I did have, was a black bean burger left from the other day. And I had potatoes. So rather than treat the black bean patty as a burger, I decided to think of it as a sausage. Which would require gravy.

I ended up with my best batch of miso gravy yet! I only tried my hand at making gravy twice before, and it always turned up too thick. But not this time! Not too thick, and full of flavor, it closely resembles the gravy I grew up with at Sunday dinner, made by my english Grandmother. I always preferred the thin, strongly spiced gravy she made to the thick, milky variety my mother would make. But rather than using roast drippings, this one uses miso paste! Now I can have gravy at my holiday dinners, as I never really bothered to make my own before. But with a recipe like this, i'll make sure to include it in my holidays from now on.

(My patty broke in the pan, as I couldn't find my spatula to flip it. So I got little mini 'sausage' pattys)

Miso Gravy
(around two servings)

1 tbsp miso paste (i used red)
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp flour
2-3 tsp boullion base
1/4 cup of hot water (or veg. stock - if using omit the boullion base)
2 tsp mrs.dash
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp paprika

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine and combine with miso paste. Add the flour and stir frequently until mixed together. Slowly add the water (or veg stock) and whisk into the miso mixture. Add the boullion and dissolve. Add the spices and whisk until everything is combined. Simmer for 3-5 mins, or longer if thicker gravy is desired.




I also made home fires with some baby potatoes and a bit of leftover sweet potato. If you haven't heard the secret to home fries yet, that's ok. I didn't know until maybe a year ago.

Home Fries
Heat some olive oil in a pan. (Medium heat) Chop your potatoes and add to the pan. Cover and let sit for about 5 mins (if using sweet potatoes, only 3 mins should do as they cook faster) DO NOT STIR. Just let them sit there or they will not be nice and crispy, and if they are not nice and crispy they will be nowhere near as good. Be patient, grasshopper. After they are nicely crisped and browned on one side, give them a stir and throw in some seasonings (i use mrs.dash and a bit of seasoning salt) and cover and cook a few more mins. Repeat until potatoes are crispy and tender.

Easiest Thing Ever - Veggie Burger

Last night I was browsing This Is Why You're Thin when I came across a picture of black bean veggie burgers. The description just said to mash up brown rice and black beans in order to make them. I've tried a few veggie burger recipes in my time, but I have never seen any that simple. And since I just so happened to have brown rice and cooked black beans hangin' out in my fridge, I set to work on mashing them up so I could have burgers today.
And they are delicious! And did I mention the easiest, simplest, recipe i've ever seen? But even with limited ingredients, these burgers do not compromise on taste. I see them becoming a welcome addition to my menus from now on.
I ate my burger with some homemade sweet potato fries. I sliced up the sweet potato thin as I could manage, sprayed em' with some pam, then put them in the oven at 425 for about 5-10 mins. Tossing once. I also ate them on regular whole grain bread since that's what was in my freezer. I didn't have much for fixin's so I just sauteed some mushrooms and scallions to layer in there.

Black Bean Brown Rice Veggie Burgers
(measurements are just what I had kicking around, it made 3 burgers.)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 scant cup cooked black beans (or canned)
2 tbsp seasonings (i used mrs.dash)
2-3 tbsp dijion mustard



If you have freshly cooked the rice and beans, mash with a fork until combined. Add spices.


If the ingredients have been sitting in the fridge for a while, you may need to pulse them in the food processor or use an immersion blender. (Which is what I did - if you do this, like me, (because I left my food processor in Alberta) be careful, as little grains of rice may go flying everywhere if you don't have a deep enough bowl and something to cover the sides. And you probably don't want to hunt around your kitchen for an hour trying to find all the little grains of rice that went flying like tiny little birds all over your kitchen.)
You are likely also going to need a binder. I found after blending the beans and rice they just weren't sticking, so I grabbed the first thing I saw in my fridge door- some dijon mustard. It worked perfectly, holding the mixture together and adding a nice spicy bite to the burgers.


Allow to sit in the fridge a few hours (or overnight) then fry up for about 3 mins per side.





And am I crazy, or does it almost look like meat? (Except for the full grains of rice, of course.)

Best ever asian noodles

I looove noodles. Pasta in all it's many forms, egg noodles, rice noodles, soba noodles. Whatever shape or colour they are taking on, I am guaranteed to love them. Especially cold, chewy, asian inspired noodles.




So when I saw this recipe for sesame noodles on The Pioneer Woman, I had to try it out. And I am so glad I did! I've always tried making asian sesame noodles at home, but have never been able to reach perfection. Usually I just toss soy sauce, sesame oil and sirracha together. That's not bad, but not great either. Not ultimate. Not i must devour all the noodles in this bowl kind of good. I bought a pack of egg noodles from the dollar store the other day, and made this salad twice over the past 4 days. In doing so I can say with experience that this recipe gets even better after it's been sitting in the fridge for a few hours. And there is no shame in eating leftovers for breakfast.
I also added some finely sliced red pepper, some grated carrot, and sesame seeds to get some nutrients in there. But these delicious sesame soaked noodles are just fine on their own as well.

Poato Vegetable Soup

I just love a good soup. All you have to do is throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot, let it cook and presto! - you have dinner.
Like tonight when I realized just how sad my produce level was. I haven't been working for a while, so  money has been very tight lately. The past few days i've been eating pasta and frozen foods. But today I yearned for something wholesome and homemade. When I realized I was seriously lacking in the produce department, and didn't have enough for a salad or a stir fry, my plans turned to soup. A welcome dinner at this time of the year.

It all started with what vegetables I found laying in my crisper. A green pepper, a zucchini, and some arugula. In my pantry I found some potatoes that were passing their prime, and chopped 'em all up as a base for the soup. I didn't even worry about not having any veg stock on hand, as I keep a jar of Better Than Bouillon in my fridge for such cases. I lucked out with a sole can of fire roasted tomatoes and broad beans in the pantry and with some fridge staples I had a delicious dinner. This soup really embodies the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to cooking. Which is a great approach to take, in my humble opinion. Yet it was different than most soups i've made. It was the lemon juice that really set it apart. Adding a fresh taste while still being a big warm bowl of comfort.



3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, cubed
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
3 small yellow potatoes, cubed
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
2-3 tbsp garam masala, yellow curry powder
1 tbsp mrs.dash, + dried italian herbs

2 1/2 cups of water mixed with 2 tbsp better than bouillon paste
1 small can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can of beans (i used broad beans - any beans would work here -white beans, chickpeas sound good.)
1/4 cup lemon juce
1/4 cup red miso paste
1 tbsp green curry paste
1 tbsp capers, chopped finely
2 bay leaves
2-3 cups of arugula (or any leafy green)

Saute the onion in the olive oil until soft. Add the potatoes and cook for a few mins. Next add the peppers and zucchini until softened. Add the spices and cook for a min.
Add the tomatoes, the water with the boulion (or veg broth), beans, miso paste (make sure it's all dissolved in the liquid), curry paste, capers, and bay leaves. Simmer over medium heat for 45 mins. Remove the bay leaves and stir in the arugula. Serve with crumbled feta, or shredded parmesean cheese.

Tofu Scramble

Every vegetarian or vegan out there has, or will at some point, come up with their formidable tofu scramble recipe. It took a couple years, okay almost 6 years- for me to discover mine. I started playing around with tofu scrambles about a year and a half ago. I'd throw some chunks of pressed tofu in a pan, dry it out, then toss in some vegetables, add a drizzle of soy sauce and call it a day.
And I wonder why I never really loved a scramble until recently....


Since I was a self taught vegetarian cook, and was afraid tofu for the first few years of being veg (I confess, the first 3 years of me being a vegetarian, my diet consisted of canned tomato soup and pasta.) I didn't fully realize what tofu scramble could really be until I tried some prepared by skillled, experienced vegetarian cooks at my favorite restaurant in my new city- The Naam. It was there I ordered a tofu scramble,  to compare with my own and see if I was doing it right. I learned that day what a tofu scramble could be. Soft, flavorful bits of tofu laced with an array vegetables and even tomatoes- something I never thought to add to my own.


After experimenting for almost a year off and on, this past July I discovered my ultimate tofu scramble. But since everyones tastes are different, I can only say how much I find it to be the best tofu scramble ever. Although my meat eating roommate who is afraid of tofu does enjoy it as well. So that has to mean something.




(I know this photo is hideous, but I live in a basement apartment with no windows! And I have no good photo worthy light source.)

Erin's Tasty Tofu Scramble

1/4 block of extra firm tofu, cubed

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

curry powder to taste (i use about 3 tbsp)

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1/2 bell pepper

1/2 small zucchini

5 large mushrooms

salt and pepper

seasoning to taste (i use Mrs. Dash)

small handful of grape tomatoes

Heat some olive oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the onions and soften. Next, add the garlic and tofu. Using a wooden spoon/paddle break up the tofu as it cooks. You want the tofu to cook out, and get the liquid out. Once that is done (about 5 mins) add the curry powder, heat for 1 min, then add the vegetable broth to de-glaze the pan in two additions. Once the broth is absorbed, remove the tofu from the pan and let sit.

Next drizzle some oil and throw in the pepper, zucchini and mushrooms with some salt, pepper, and mrs. dash. When they are cooked, add the tofu back in the pan and let the heat and flavors meld together. (Now would also be a good time to add some chopped spinach or kale, if you have it.) Add the grape tomatoes at the very end, so they are just warm but still uncooked.

I like to sprinkle mine with some good ol' kraft parmesean, but to make this vegan some nutritional yeast would do well here.

Tacos!

I could go on about how I really suck at this blogging thing because I can't stick with anything, and make excuses about being too busy and moving twice and living in a dungeon with no light,  but why bother? I doubt anyone actually reads this except for me. So I will post this for me so I don't forget how make these tacos, because they are delicious.



This vegetarian taco recipe was taught to me by a friend of mine from mexico, who is not vegetarian but would eat these growing up.
Though i've never really been compelled to eat meat, after eating these tacos I don't see why anyone else would be!

Carrot Tacos
(Thanks Karina!)

You will need: (for the tacos)
corn toritllas
3-4 carrots, shredded
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup of cheese, shredded
lots of butter
salt



Heat some butter in a pot and soften the onion until translucent. In the meantime, grate the carrots. When the onions are translucent, add the carrots and some more butter, and salt. Saute until soft, around 5 mins or so. Next add the cheese and let melt. Heat the tortillas in the microwave until soft and pliable. (30 secs-1 min)
Get a medium saucepan and heat a few tbsp of oil over medium high heat. Take the carrot mixture, and put about 2 tbsp inside a corn tortilla. Roll tightly and repeat.
You can cook about 5 tacos at a time with a medium/large pan. Get a pair of tongs and flip them over while cooking to evenly brown the tacos.

For the spicy guacamole:

4 small avocados, pitted and halved

4 tomatillos

1 jalapeno pepper

1 garlic clove

3-4 tbsp cilantro

salt to taste

lemon juice

Peel and rinse the tomatillos. Put them in a pot with the jalapeno pepper and just cover with water. Boil until the tomatillos are slightly brown on the bottom, about 5-10 mins or so.

Throw rest of the ingredients together and blend in a blender or with an imersion blender. (That's what I used.) Add salt and lemon juice to taste.

Top the tacos with shredded lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and spicy guacamole. It makes for easier eating if you open up the tacos a bit to let the toppings fall in. Make sure you have lots of napkins.