So for dinner tonight, I made this quinoa dish. Apparently it's quinoa mania around my apartment! So a few things about this recipe
I bought the squash prechopped from Trader Joe's. I think I let them sit for too long, too.
Also, the step where you add lemon juice and lemon peel - I screwed that up badly. First my peel was big chunks of peel - not very appetizing looking when it came all done. Also, I forgot to add the juice and peel while the quinoa still had liquid; thus, I added it after the quinoa was all cooked. It ended up making the dish kind of mushy. I think I should have toasted the quinoa more, as well.
Also, I only had a few pine nuts and my chives were kinda gross. So basically, my products were lacking. Oh well.
In the end, it was sufficient. I'm not sure the depth of flavor as really there, though. I added a lot of shallots and garlic, too, so I'm shocked that was kind of flat.
Here's something else too consider, there wasn't a lot of texture to this dish. It lacked something crispy even if it had been less mushy.
So on the whole, I give this recipe a meh.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Pineapple Quinoa Cashew Stir Fry
Hello readers!
I got busy and well now, I'm not so vegan. BUT on the upside, I still cook lots of vegan things. So, I think I'm going to keep blogging my recipes.
Anyway, on to my next review. One of my favorite recipes is this quinoa stirfry out of Veganomicon. Here is my modified ingredient list for my version of this
1 cup of quinoa (cooked according to the box with in pineapple juice, water, fresh mint, + a soy sauce packet from an asian restaurant)
1 cup of whole raw cashews
3 tbsp of peanut oil
1 cup of scallions, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves minced
2 serrano pepper, sliced in small rounds
generous piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, sliced thin
2 tbsp fresh mint chopped
10 oz pineapple chunks
4 tbspn soy sauce
3 tbspn vegetable broth
lime wedges
1. In a wok on medium, add peanut oil, scallions + garlic. wait for it to sizzle
2. Add serrano pepper and ginger for 2 minutes
3. Add bell peppers, 3 minutes
4. add basil & mint, 1 minute
5. add quinoa + pineapples
6. mix in a cup - soy sauce + veg broth. then add to stir fry. 10 minutes
make sure you serve the lime over the quinoa - the acid is really important
couple of possible variations -
1. replace a tbsp of soy sauce with mirin - that's in the original recipe but I just didn't have any
2. add chicken - marinate it in pineapple juice, lime juice, soy sauce, and something with a kick - maybe a little cayenne.
modify other ingredients as you wish. I look to add lots of colors to make it more playful. The original recipe called for peas or edamame, but I think anything green would be delicious. Sugar snap peas in particular - yum!
leave comments of what vegetables you add in!
I got busy and well now, I'm not so vegan. BUT on the upside, I still cook lots of vegan things. So, I think I'm going to keep blogging my recipes.
Anyway, on to my next review. One of my favorite recipes is this quinoa stirfry out of Veganomicon. Here is my modified ingredient list for my version of this
1 cup of quinoa (cooked according to the box with in pineapple juice, water, fresh mint, + a soy sauce packet from an asian restaurant)
1 cup of whole raw cashews
3 tbsp of peanut oil
1 cup of scallions, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves minced
2 serrano pepper, sliced in small rounds
generous piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, sliced thin
2 tbsp fresh mint chopped
10 oz pineapple chunks
4 tbspn soy sauce
3 tbspn vegetable broth
lime wedges
1. In a wok on medium, add peanut oil, scallions + garlic. wait for it to sizzle
2. Add serrano pepper and ginger for 2 minutes
3. Add bell peppers, 3 minutes
4. add basil & mint, 1 minute
5. add quinoa + pineapples
6. mix in a cup - soy sauce + veg broth. then add to stir fry. 10 minutes
make sure you serve the lime over the quinoa - the acid is really important
couple of possible variations -
1. replace a tbsp of soy sauce with mirin - that's in the original recipe but I just didn't have any
2. add chicken - marinate it in pineapple juice, lime juice, soy sauce, and something with a kick - maybe a little cayenne.
modify other ingredients as you wish. I look to add lots of colors to make it more playful. The original recipe called for peas or edamame, but I think anything green would be delicious. Sugar snap peas in particular - yum!
leave comments of what vegetables you add in!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Uhoh Spaghettios!
Ingredients
8 oz Eden Vegetable Alphabet Pasta
2 Trader Joe's Sausage-less Sausage
2 Campbell's condensed tomato soup
boatloads of basil
half of a white onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
EVOO
red pepper flakes
soymilk
I made the pasta. While the pasta drained, I put the EVOO and the onion in the pot to saute the onions. Then I added garlic and red pepper flakes. I was cautious but probably should have added more red pepper flakes. After that I added the tomato soup and basil. Now I basically did this recipe so I could try out my new immersion blender - but I'm not sure that the immersion blender did much! The original recipe suggests using soymilk at this point; I forgot and didn't add it until later. Instead, I added the sausage to the sauce in order to heat it a little, and then readded the pasta. At this point I realized there wasn't nearly enough sauce for all of the pasta, so I added soymilk. It was only a generous splash, but still I think it reduced the flavor down.
This much pasta means I'll be eating this for the week I fear.
It tastes good, but just not as deep of a flavor as I'd like.
Suggestions for next time:
If I had it to do again, I'd go with 4 oz of pasta and/or bigger more traditional pasta. The alphabet pasta grew a LOT
I'd also add a lot more basil. Now, to be clear, when I said a boatload I mean I chopped up probably 4 tbsp of basil. I think even more would awesome.
There was also some heat missing from this recipe. I would eager up the red pepper flakes or
maybe get spicy sausage.
The alphabet pasta would be great for soup, but it was so small that it made the consistency very mushy (squishy perhaps?).
This recipe is a modified version of this recipe
8 oz Eden Vegetable Alphabet Pasta
2 Trader Joe's Sausage-less Sausage
2 Campbell's condensed tomato soup
boatloads of basil
half of a white onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
EVOO
red pepper flakes
soymilk
I made the pasta. While the pasta drained, I put the EVOO and the onion in the pot to saute the onions. Then I added garlic and red pepper flakes. I was cautious but probably should have added more red pepper flakes. After that I added the tomato soup and basil. Now I basically did this recipe so I could try out my new immersion blender - but I'm not sure that the immersion blender did much! The original recipe suggests using soymilk at this point; I forgot and didn't add it until later. Instead, I added the sausage to the sauce in order to heat it a little, and then readded the pasta. At this point I realized there wasn't nearly enough sauce for all of the pasta, so I added soymilk. It was only a generous splash, but still I think it reduced the flavor down.
This much pasta means I'll be eating this for the week I fear.
It tastes good, but just not as deep of a flavor as I'd like.
Suggestions for next time:
If I had it to do again, I'd go with 4 oz of pasta and/or bigger more traditional pasta. The alphabet pasta grew a LOT
I'd also add a lot more basil. Now, to be clear, when I said a boatload I mean I chopped up probably 4 tbsp of basil. I think even more would awesome.
There was also some heat missing from this recipe. I would eager up the red pepper flakes or
maybe get spicy sausage.
The alphabet pasta would be great for soup, but it was so small that it made the consistency very mushy (squishy perhaps?).
This recipe is a modified version of this recipe
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Vegan Month!
I just discovered that this is Vegan month! I feel recharged in my desire to blog recipes daily so I can commemorate the month!
For now, I'll go with posting a link to the LA Times daily recipe for Vegan food.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/vegan-month-of-food/
For now, I'll go with posting a link to the LA Times daily recipe for Vegan food.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/vegan-month-of-food/
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Spicy Sweet Potato wedges
Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes (2 pounds), peeled, cut lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick spears
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
½ tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425ºF. Place oven racks in the upper third and lower third of oven. Lightly oil 2 rimmed baking sheets.2. Combine potato spears, oil, rosemary, cumin, salt, and cayenne in a large bowl; toss well to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on baking sheets.
3. Roast potatoes, rotating pans and tossing potatoes every 10 minutes, until lightly golden and tender, about 30 minutes.
As a warning, I made this a second time but was not very careful about measuring the cumin & cayenne - it ended u p becoming a feat of strength to eat an entire potato wedge! Be very careful with measurements!
It's even low carb! (click for original atkins recipe)
Mexican Pasta
This dinner was really an excuse to use up leftovers and yet, somehow, it turned out super delicious! The best part is all of my ingredients were purchased at Trader Joe's which meant this was an incredible cheap meal. Next time, I'll keep track of prices to calculate the cost. But I think it was maybe $15 total and it made 4-6 healthy servings.
Vegetable rotini pasta
half of the soy chorizo
1/4 cup (or so) of plain pasta sauce.
corn tomato-less salsa
fresh cilantro
Basically I made the pasta. While the pasta drained, I put my leftover chorizo in the pasta pot, added the jar of salsa, and some pasta sauce to cover. I added the pasta back and stirred. Then I added chopped cilantro to taste.
The chorizo made this pretty spicy. This recipe might be better if I had used only 1/4th of the chorizo. Definitely a complete meal. If you're not vegan, I bet some queso freco crumbled on top would be great, too.
Vegetable rotini pasta
half of the soy chorizo
1/4 cup (or so) of plain pasta sauce.
corn tomato-less salsa
fresh cilantro
Basically I made the pasta. While the pasta drained, I put my leftover chorizo in the pasta pot, added the jar of salsa, and some pasta sauce to cover. I added the pasta back and stirred. Then I added chopped cilantro to taste.
The chorizo made this pretty spicy. This recipe might be better if I had used only 1/4th of the chorizo. Definitely a complete meal. If you're not vegan, I bet some queso freco crumbled on top would be great, too.
Vegan Corn Chowder
I love getting spark people recipes daily. Most of them aren't things I'd make, but some of them inspire me to modify recipes to make something very tasty.
I modified this original recipe to make it vegan and more interesting!
1 Tbsp EVOO
diced celery
diced onion
diced green & red peppers
10 oz frozen whole kernel corn
1 box of Trader Joe's harvest medley (chopped squash, yams, etc)
1 cup water
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 himalayan sea salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tbsp flour
2 cups soy milk
more fresh parsley to serve
For all the vegetables, I followed the Rachel Ray rule for soups that nothing should be too big to go on a spoon. I like my vegetables a bit coarser, though, so they were big chunks in my soup. Also, I doubled my entire recipe, although not too exactly, but I found this recipe pretty forgiving.
Directions:
1. In my big soup pan, I heated the oil. Then added the celery, onion & peppers to saute for a few minutes.
2. Then I added the corn, harvest medley, water, salt, pepper, and paprika. Once the water boiled, i brought the heat down to medium and let it cook (covered) for 10 minutes.
3. In a glass jar, I mixed the soy milk and flour. (add & shake the ingredients).
4. Add the flour mixture to the soup. Then add the rest of the soy milk.
5. Wait for the soup to boil and then remove.
Serving this with fresh parsley was very important. I think a little more layered heat - perhaps more paprika? maybe a little finely diced jalapeno when I'm sauteing the vegetables? - would add more depth to this soup.
Regardless, it was super hearty for a meal & tasted great for days.
I modified this original recipe to make it vegan and more interesting!
1 Tbsp EVOO
diced celery
diced onion
diced green & red peppers
10 oz frozen whole kernel corn
1 box of Trader Joe's harvest medley (chopped squash, yams, etc)
1 cup water
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 himalayan sea salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tbsp flour
2 cups soy milk
more fresh parsley to serve
For all the vegetables, I followed the Rachel Ray rule for soups that nothing should be too big to go on a spoon. I like my vegetables a bit coarser, though, so they were big chunks in my soup. Also, I doubled my entire recipe, although not too exactly, but I found this recipe pretty forgiving.
Directions:
1. In my big soup pan, I heated the oil. Then added the celery, onion & peppers to saute for a few minutes.
2. Then I added the corn, harvest medley, water, salt, pepper, and paprika. Once the water boiled, i brought the heat down to medium and let it cook (covered) for 10 minutes.
3. In a glass jar, I mixed the soy milk and flour. (add & shake the ingredients).
4. Add the flour mixture to the soup. Then add the rest of the soy milk.
5. Wait for the soup to boil and then remove.
Serving this with fresh parsley was very important. I think a little more layered heat - perhaps more paprika? maybe a little finely diced jalapeno when I'm sauteing the vegetables? - would add more depth to this soup.
Regardless, it was super hearty for a meal & tasted great for days.
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