Vegan Veggie Cashew Curry

There's nothing like a warm, slightly spicy curry on a cool fall evening.  The aromatic blend of spices wafting through the house, ensuring that your entire abode reeks of curry for the next 24 hours.  Perfect.  This is by no means an authentic curry, but is instead an americanized, veganized version.  It is a 1-pot curry, not counting the blender for the cashew cream, because I am lazy and don't want to wash a bunch of pots, so it doesn't use some of the fancier cooking techniques that other curries use.  But it also doesn't use any unhealthy cream, or even coconut milk, that a lot of curries use, which means you can eat a lot of it and not feel gross and full of unhealthy creaminess.  This recipe is also very forgiving so that you can just add things, taste, and add more things until you like what you're tasting.  The recipe here gives the basic ingredients, but you should trust your own palate and feel free to change around amounts or ingredients.  Also, this recipe is a great way to use a bunch of different vegetables, so feel free to add or subtract various veggies to your liking.

Serve this over rice, quinoa, or whatever you like.  It is very saucy, so you'll want to eat it with a grain or something.  On a side note, this makes excellent leftovers- the longer you leave it, the more the sauce flavors permeate the veggies and make them even more delicious.

 A few notes on the recipe:

• Curry. All curries are different.  In fact, the definition of "curry" is a blend of spices.  Quite unhelpful, if you ask me.  But the point is that no one curry is the same, so you might have to experiment- the amount of curry you use will depend on how strong the flavor is and how spicy or mild it tastes.  For this recipe I use yellow curry, which is super mild but has that delicious generic curry flavor, plus garam masala, a more strongly flavored and spicier curry.  The end result is a good flavor with just a bit of a kick of spice, but see what curry works best for your palate.

• There are 2 times when you will want to mildly panic, if you're like me.  Do not panic.  The first time is when you add the spices to the pot and they all stick to the bottom.  Do not panic.  Veggie broth will be added, the bottom of the pot will be deglazed, and all will be well with the world.  The second time is when you blend the soy milk/corn starch mixture with the cashew cream.  It will look weird, kind of foamy and wrong and not what you expect, and probably not taste good if you tried it.  Do not panic.  When this mysterious mixture is added to the veggie broth/curry, it will transform into a luxurious, delicious, creamy curry sauce, thanks to the magical thickening powers of corn starch.  You'll just have to trust me.

Start by boiling the heartier vegetables in veggie broth after you've mixed in the spices

Make the weirdly foamy cashew cream sauce.  And trust in the cashew gods to make everything OK.

Add the cashew concoction to the veggies and broth, and stir it all together.....

Ta-da! Creamy curry sauce.  Thanks be to the cashew gods.

Ingredients:

The veggies
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion
2 medium potatoes
3 carrots
1 large zucchini (or 2 small ones)
1 red pepper
1 head broccoli
1/3 head cauliflower
1 can chickpeas (or tofu, drained and pressed)

The spices
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 Tbs yellow curry powder
1 1/2 Tbs garam masala
1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
heaping 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp turmeric
optional 1/4 tsp each of coriander and cumin
3 cups veggie broth

The cream sauce
1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1 cup veggie broth
1/2 cup soymilk
heaping 1 Tbs corn starch

Recipe:

1. Start the cream sauce: Throw the raw cashews and 1 cup veggie broth into a pot.  Boil for 10-20 minutes, or until the cashews have softened.
2. Chop the onion, potatoes, and carrots into bite-sized chunks.  Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and throw in the root veggies. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon.
3. Add in all of The Spices, except for the veggie broth, to the vegetable mixture.  Cook for a few minutes until the spices are fragrant.  
4. Add the veggie broth.  Scrape the wooden spoon along the bottom of the pot to get all of the spices incorporated.  Cover the pot and let cook for about 10 minutes.
5. While the root vegetables are cooking, chop up the other veggies into bite-sized pieces.  After 10 minutes add the broccoli and cauliflower, making sure to stir once in a while.  5 minutes later, add the other vegetables and chickpeas and continue to cook.
6. While all the veggies are cooking, make the cashew sauce.  Take your (now softened) cashews and blend them with the veggie broth you cooked them in until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  In a separate container whisk together the soymilk and corn starch, then blend it in with the cashew cream.  
7. Add the cashew cream mixture to the pot, which now has all of the vegetables in it.  Mix thoroughly to incorporate the cream throughout the whole thing.  Allow to cook for another 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened a bit and the vegetables are cooked all the way through.

Yum.

Lentil Tacos

I love tacos.  Unfortunately, vegetarians often don't get to experience the wonderfulness of tacos when eating out at a restaurant because they always ruin the tacos by adding meat.  Silly restaurants.  But really, there are so many awesome vegetarian spins on tacos- black bean, ground soymeat, lentil, etc - that are healthier (and tastier, in my humble opinion) than the original.  A staple meal in my house is lentil tacos, which take the deliciousness of normal tacos and amp it up with some roasted red pepper and sweet potatoes.  Eat it as a taco.  Eat it as a taco salad.  Eat it cold, wrapped in a piece of lettuce, standing in your kitchen because you realized you were hungry and the food you were actually cooking for dinner wasn't ready yet.  Or you can be more civilized than I am.

While the tacos aren't super labor-intensive, they do take a bit of time mostly because you have to give the red pepper and sweet potatoes time to roast in an oven.  And then ideally you want to give the pepper time to cool before taking the skin off, or you'll end up scalding your fingers trying to remove the skin.  I usually end up following the burned finger method because I have no patience for cooling food, but.... do as I say, not as I do?  Let the pepper cool.  I'm just trying to protect you.

I'm now going to ramble on about lentils for a minute.  If you have better things to do than read a lentil rant, please skip this paragraph.  Still reading?  Ok.  There's lots of different types of lentils out there, and often they're also interchangeable with split peas.  Some lentils hold their shape when cooked (like yellow, red, and black), while others get mushy (brown and green). Both have their merits, but for this recipe I prefer "meatier" lentils, aka the non mushy ones.  My favorite is split black lentils, which look black and white, because they have a firmer texture. Mushy tacos just do not sound appealing, though if you're careful to cook the lentils al dente then any kind should be passable. 

Veggies pre-roasting.

Post-roasting.  Also, for anyone who's not sure what a roasted pepper should look like.... ta-da!  It should be blackened in spots with wrinkly skin, and deflated/mushy-ish.  Not the most attractive thing, but deceptively delicious.

Cooking the lentils

Ingredients:

2 medium red peppers

2 sweet potatoes

1 medium onion

1 1/4 cup lentils- black, yellow, red.... See my lentil rant for suggestions. 

3 cups veggie broth

1 packet taco seasoning

Sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Lettuce

Tomato

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.  Coat the red peppers in olive oil, poke a couple holes in them with forks (it's never happened, but I always worry about exploding peppers), and pop them in the oven.  Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, toss them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and pop them in the oven too.  Cook until they're softened and browned- between 30-50 minutes, depending on your oven. Just make sure to poke and turn them once in a while. 
2. Finely chop the onion and throw it in a medium pot over medium heat with some olive oil. Cook until the onions are translucent, then add in the taco seasoning and lentils. Stir for a minute until the seasoning is fragrant, then add in 2 cups of veggie broth. 
3. Turn the heat to medium low so that the lentils are simmering. Cover, stirring once in a while, until the lentils are cooked. Depending on how thirsty the lentils are, you may need to add in more broth during the cooking process. 
4. Don't forget to check on the pepper and sweet potato in the oven! Turn them so all sides get browned. 
5. Prep the other toppings while everything is cooking: chop the tomato, grate the cheese, chop the lettuce. 
6. When the pepper is done, let it cool and then peel the skin and remove the seeds from the inside. Chop it into pieces. 
7. Once everything is done, build your taco/ taco salad/ whatever. You can also put salsa or sour cream on top, but the flavorful roasted veggies do a pretty solid job on their own. 
8. Enjoy! Cold or hot, I always find these tacos delicious and totally craveable. 

Soyrizo Mac n' Sweet Potato

I made this dish with my sister last week when we got Soyrizo (soy Chorizo) and wanted to experiment with it, and have been craving to make it again ever since.  It's a bit complicated- there will definitely be dishes to do after this one- since there's a few different components to it, but I promise it's really delicious.  Make this on one of those days when you're really motivated to cook and in the mood for something awesome.  Oh, and did I mention that it's pretty good for you?

What makes this dish so magical is the combination of ingredients- A sweet potato mac n' cheese topped with caramelized onion soyrizo, roasted red pepper, and coarsely mashed avocado (sounds fancy, huh?).  With that said, however, the sweet potato mac n' cheese was really good on it's own, and could definitely be paired with other things as well.  Get those creative juices flowing!  (Ew. Creative juices sounds gross.  But you know what I mean.)

By the way, the sauce is based off of this recipe but we doubled everything and omitted some stuff.  But just in case you don't trust me and want a different source.  Go there.

Who knew sweet potatoes could be so saucy?

Mac n' Sweet Potato Ingredients:

1 lb small shell pasta, or other adorably small pasta shape of your choice
2 Tbs Smart Balance
2 Tbs Flour
1/2 cup plain soymilk or soy creamer
1 cup cooked, pureed sweet potato
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, or other sharp cheese
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper
reserved pasta cooking water

Mac n' Sweet Potato Directions:

1. Boil some water and cook the pasta.  If you can't figure out how to do this on your own, then you probably won't make it through the rest of the recipe.  So I won't elaborate on the pasta cooking.
2. Melt the Smart Balance in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add in the flour and whisk, whisk, whisk for about 2 minutes until the flour is cooked.  
3. Add the soymilk and pureed sweet potato.  Keep whisking! We want this to be a smooth sauce, no chunkiness allowed.
4. Add about 5 Tbsp of pasta water, and then whisk in the grated cheese.
5. Add the nutmeg, then salt and pepper to taste.
6. The sauce will still be pretty thick.  If you want it thinner, add in more soymilk or pasta water until it reaches the desired consistency.
7. Combine sauce and pasta (which I'm sure you cooked perfectly).

Thick, creamy sauces are the best.  Especially when covering mini pasta.
Mini things are just better.

Meanwhile.....

I don't want to hear anyone badmouthing my Soyrizo.
Because if you tasted this you would change your mind.

Everything Else Ingredients:

1 Red Pepper

1 Avocado

2 Onions (I used 1 Vidalia onion and 1 normal onion, but whatever you have is fine)

6 oz Soyrizo (or half of the 12 oz package. Since half of 12 is 6.  College win.)

1 Tbs Smart Balance

1 Tbs Olive Oil

Salt and Peper

Everything Else Directions:

1. Roast the pepper- rub some olive oil on it and pop it into an oven at 350 degrees.  Let it roast until it's blackened.  
2. Slice the onion.  
3. Melt 1 Tbs Smart Balance with 1 Tbs Olive Oil in a medium pan over medium heat.
4. Add the onion to the pan, sprinkle on some salt, and stir for about 2 minutes.  Cover and cook for another 5 or so minutes, stirring every once in a while.
5. Turn down the heat to low and let the onions continue to cook for the next 10sih minutes, still stirring and keeping the pan covered.
6. Check your pepper! Turn it over, poke it a bit, maybe sing it a song.  If it's done, take it out and let it cool before peeling off the skin and slicing it into little pieces.  If it's not done, then let it keep roasting.  Duh.
7. Crumble the Soyrizo into the pan with the onions.  Turn the heat up to medium/high and cook until the Soyrizo is browned.  Make sure to stir frequently!  The Soyrizo had a tendency to want to stick to the pan, so just keep it moving and keep scraping the bottom of the pan so nothing gets stuck.  You can add in a little extra olive oil if you need it.
8. Slice and gently mash the avocado- you still want some chunks for a bit of texture.  If it's a really good avocado then just let that flavor shine through, otherwise you can add in some salt/pepper/garlic powder/ whatever to liven it up a bit.  I understand, flavor-lacking avocados do happen sometimes.  
9. Hopefully everything is done at this point.  Put some mac n' sweet potato in a bowl, top with the caramelized onion/ soyrizo mixture, and the top that with some roasted red pepper and the avocado.  Try not to gobble it down too fast and fall into a food coma like I did.

Try it.  You won't be disappointed.

Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

My blog officially has over 1000 hits! *Cue fanfare*  I am completely aware that at least half of the views came from my mom, but I still thought this moment was worth mentioning.

These banana bites are the perfect little treat for hot summer days.  The bananas take on an almost ice-creamy texture, and of course everyone knows that chocolate, peanut butter, and banana are an awesome combination.  They're also a great way to use up bananas which have been neglected for a tad too long.

You can really make these in any quantity.  I'm listing the ingredients as I used them, but of course change the amounts to fit whatever you have on hand.  Also, I chose to drizzle chocolate on top instead of dipping them in chocolate- I think it allows the subtle banana flavor to come through a bit more- but you could also freeze these after topping them with peanut butter, and then dip them in chocolate.

I added powdered sugar to my peanut butter to add some sweetness and make the peanut butter easier to work with.  However if you're one of those rare breeds of people who tries to cut down on sugar, feel free to use just peanut butter on top of the bananas.

Start with some naked banana chunks.

Give those bananas some peanut butter hats!

It doesn't have to be pretty.  Messy chocolate still tastes good.  In fact, I think it tastes better.
Clean chocolate eaters don't know what they're missing.  

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs peanut butter
1 1/2 Tbs powdered sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

"Bonjour.  Do you like my beret?"

Directions:

1. Cut the bananas into bite-sized chunks.  Don't use the very ends- you want both sides to be flat.  I recommend eating the banana-chunk-rejects.  Place the bananas on a wax paper-lined baking sheet.
2. Mix 1/4 cup peanut butter with the powdered sugar.  It should form a kind of soft dough.
3. Make the dough into little disks and place them on top of the bananas.  Like little banana berets.
4. Melt the chocolate with the remaining 1 Tbs peanut butter.  I use the microwave method, but do whatever makes you happy.
5. Drizzle or dip the bananas with the chocolate mixture.
6. Place in the freezer on the tray until frozen, then you can transfer them to a tupperware to store them.

Easy and delicious.  Two of my favorite qualities in food.

Better-for-you Stovetop Gratin

I love potatoes au gratin.  Well, really I love anything that has lots of gooey cheese covering it.  However the traditional gratin is full of cheese and cream which, while delicious, is quite unhealthy and feels really heavy when you eat it.  This gratin recipe uses mostly veggie broth, onion, and garlic for flavor in place of the cream and some of the cheese, which makes it better for you (still can't call this one health food).  Also, it's all done in a pan, so there's none of this oven nonsense.  You know, how like when it's hot and then you turn on the oven and it makes the whole kitchen hot and then you don't even want to eat whatever just came out of said oven.  None of that here.

Start with onion, potato, and garlic in a large pan.

Pour veggie broth over all of it. 

Once the potatoes have cooked a bit, add in the zucchini.

Mix in the cheese and let the sauce thicken a little. 

Note that this recipe makes one, maybe two, servings- depending on how hungry you are.  It's easy enough to double, so if you want to make it for more people, do that.  Thanks for understanding.

Ingredients:
1 medium potato
1 small onion
1 smallish/mediumish zucchini (I like green, but use whatever floats your boat)
1 cup veggie broth
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated (reduced fat) cheddar cheese, or other sharp cheese
Olive oil

Mmm.  Savory, cheesy deliciousness.

Directions:

1. Thinly slice the potato, onion, and zucchini.
2. Drizzle some olive oil into a large pan over medium heat.  Add in the onion, potato, and garlic, then cover in veggie broth.  Make sure all the veggies are at least mostly submerged in the broth. 
3. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes, until the potatoes are getting tender.
4. Add in the zucchini, mixing them into the potato/onion mixture.  Re-cover and cook for another few minutes, until the zucchini are tender and almost translucent. 
5. Remove the cover  and continue cooking and stirring the veggies.  When almost all of the broth has cooked off, with maybe 3 or 4 tablespoons of liquid left in the pan (just eyeball it), sprinkle in the grated cheese.  Note: this will look weird, and possibly a little gross, at first.  Just keep mixing it in.  Life will get better.
6. Continue to mix in the cheese until it has combined with the broth.  Cook until the sauce thickens to your desired consistency.
7. That's it!  Enjoy your not-as-guilty-gratin!

Moroccan Carrot Dip

When I was younger, my family used to go to this Moroccan restaurant.  They had really delicious food and every once in a while belly dancers would come out, and since I was a little kid they would always try to get me to dance with them.  Needless to say, belly dancing is not my thing.  Moroccan food is a different story.  One of the dishes we used to get was a bunch of different dips with pita bread, and one of those dips was this scrumptious carrot dip.  I've always wanted to try and re-create that dish, and today I finally did.  And man, is it good.  Not to mention that my house smells awesome from cooking it.

I found the recipe on A Thought for Food blog, and besides cutting the recipe in half I only made a few minor changes.

Pre-dip

Ingredients:

• 6 carrots, peeled and chopped into smallish pieces
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• scant 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• smidgen (or more if you're into it) chili powder
• 1/2 Tbs vinegar
• Parsley 

Cooking!

Directions:

1. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat.  Add in chopped carrots and a sprinkle of salt.
2. Cook for about 5 minutes until the carrots begin to soften.
3. Add in garlic, cumin, ginger, coriander, cinnamon, and chili powder.  Stir for about 30 seconds then add in the water, turn heat to low and cover.
4. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until carrots are soft and mashable.
5. When the carrots are cooked, remove from the heat and mash- leave a few carrot chunks for texture.  Add in the vinegar and about 1/2 Tbs olive oil.  Taste and adjust spices as necessary- don't be afraid of the bold flavor!
6. Put in a bowl and garnish with chopped parsley.  Bonus points if it's fresh!  If you have the willpower, let it cool before eating.
7. Serve with any kind of pita bread or chip.  I ate mine with Trader Joe's Black Bean and Quinoa Tortilla Chips.

So good.

Ta da! You're done.  Simple and delicious.  Of course if you're making this for a group, follow the original recipe instead of my halved version.  The carrots will cook down and make less than you originally think. Enjoy!

Healthier Broccoli and Spinach Stuffed Shells

A few years ago, I made a chocolate cake that I had found on a blog which used chickpeas in place of the flour and other stuff that goes into cake.  The blog promised that it was a guiltless chocolate cake, that I wouldn't even be able to taste the secret ingredient.  Imagine that, absolutely divine chocolate cake and it would be healthy too? Amazing.  Well, let me tell you, I was hopeful and made that cake.  And you know what it tasted like?  It tasted like I had combined chickpeas and cocoa and was proudly calling it cake, while really it tasted like chickpeas and cocoa.  An awkward combination, to say the least.
Now the reason I rant about this "cake" (I can put it in quotations, now that you know the end of the story, so you can see it for the impostor that it is) is because I need everyone to know that I am fully aware that healthy things do not always taste as good as the originals, no matter how much they try.  Ahem, "cake".  With that said, though, I want to share the broccoli and spinach stuffed shells I made the other night.  I'm not calling them health food but I can definitely say that they're healthier than the normal version, and taste really good too- and not in that "oh hey I'm a chickpea but I totally blend into a cake.....NOT" kind of way.

Because of some of the variations from normal shells, this version is also a lot lighter so you don't feel gross and overloaded in that why-did-I-just-eat-10-pounds-of-cheese way that only Italian, or possibly French, food can do to you.  Besides loading the shells with lots of delicious greenery, the biggest change is that I sub out half of the ricotta for tofu.  But I promise, it has the exact same texture as the ricotta, especially when in the shells, and you know what?  You could serve this to most people and they would have no idea they were eating tofu.  Mwahaha.  This recipe is really similar to the lasagna I posted about a while ago, but in a more portable form.  Not that anyone has ever considered stuffed shells a portable, on-the-go food.  Whatever.

Ingredients:

• Large shell pasta
• Tomato sauce- make your own, or cheat and use a good jarred version.  Something basil-y and garlic-y is always a bonus.
• Part skim mozzarella- either one block or one package of pre-shredded cheese.  Freshly shredded is better, but I won't judge if you get the pre-shredded kind.  This stuff happens sometimes.
• 2/3 block firm tofu
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 package frozen spinach (or a bunch of fresh works too, obviously)
• 1 medium onion
• Small container (maybe 16 oz?) part skim ricotta cheese.  I don't recommend the non-fat kind, I think it's a bit flavorless.
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• Olive oil
• Seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, basil
• Shaved parmesan (optional)

This is a terrible blurry picture.  But see how they're cooking!

Directions:

1. If you're making homemade sauce, start that first so the flavors have time to meld.
2. Press the block of tofu for about 20 minutes. 
3. Chop the onion and broccoli into small pieces.  
4. Heat a little olive oil in a pan.  Add in the onion and sauté for about 2 minutes, then throw in the broccoli, spinach, minced garlic, and a decent sprinkling of salt.  Stir and then cover so the veggies can steam, but stir every few minutes.  Once the veggies are cooked through (but not overcooked!) remove the pan from the heat to let it cool a bit.
5. While the veggies are cooking, cook the shells just until they're al dente.  You want them al dente so they hold their shape when being stuffed- plus they'll cook a bit more in the oven later.  When they're cooked and drained, toss them with a bit of olive oil so they don't stick together.
6. Crumble your now-pressed tofu into a large bowl.  Combine with the ricotta and about half of the shredded mozzarella.  
7. Add the partially cooled veggies to the cheese mixture.  The veggies don't have to be totally cold, but you don't want them steaming hot because they'll melt the cheese and make it all goopy.
8. Add in seasoning to your liking.  Here's the trick- don't be skimpy with the seasoning!  It's easy to make shells too bland.  Lots of oregano, basil, garlic, and salt (without being overpowering, of course) are what really gives these shells a pop of flavor.  Yes, that's contradictory, but hopefully you see what I'm getting at.

   

   Cooked shells, saucy and cheesy.  Good
   traits in a personality AND in flavoring

9. Time to prep the shells!  You can either make one big pan or a few smaller pans.  I prefer to make a few smaller pans and then only cook one at a time when I want it, so it's fresher.  But maybe you're cooking for a big group.  Make the choice that's best for you.
10. Put some tomato sauce in the bottom of your pan.  Grab a shell and stuff it with the veggie/cheese mixture, then put it in the pan.  Continue this until the shells are crowded into the pan- you don't want a lot of extra space.
11. Cover the shells with tomato sauce.  It doesn't have to heavily covered in sauce, but make sure that there's no bare pasta showing- if you bake that it dries out and gets gross.  Sauce is the nice blanket that keeps everything moist.
12. Sprinkle mozzarella on top of the now-sauce-covered shells.  Sprinkle on some parmesan too, if you're into that.  If you want to get really fancy, sprinkle some basil on top too.
13. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the shells are heated through and the cheese is all melty.  The sauce will be bubbling around the sides.

When I made these I made a couple small pans of the shells with tomato sauce etc, and then froze individual non-sauced shells.  I could have frozen the whole shebang with tomato sauce and cheese on top but didn't feel like tying up a pan in the freezer, so instead I put them in tupperware- at a later time I can take them out, blob some sauce on, and ta-da! Fresh (kinda) shells!

Naked shells, ready to be frozen.

These shells have gotten good reviews from everyone I've made them for- and no one can taste the tofu! But you'll just have to trust me and make them yourself.

Caramelized Onion and Roasted Garlic Hummus

This recipe was inspired by Wegman's Caramelized Onion Hummus, which I absolutely love, so I decided to try making it from scratch.  What could be bad?  Combining two of my favorite ingredients, hummus and caramelized onions, could only yield good things.  Not only did it turn out delicious- a creamy, garlic-y, savory hummus with a mild sweetness from caramelized onions- but it was also fairly easy to make and I'm sure will be a very forgiving recipe.  

One important thing I learned, however, is that there is no way to take a picture of hummus and make it look appealing.  Let's be real.  It's a bunch of chickpeas and other stuff all mushed together in a food processor.  I'm not saying it's not delicious, and it has a great personality, but it's not much to look at.

A blob only a mama chickpea could love.

However, if you can get past the non-photogenic qualities of hummus, I highly recommend it.

Ingredients:

Note- Everything here is approximate.  No measuring tools of any kind were used, or harmed, in the making of this hummus.  So take all measurements with a grain of salt (pun intended) and add whatever amount feels right to you.

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 medium onion
• olive oil
• Smart Balance
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• Turmeric
• Garlic powder

Hummus: the hats of choice for baby carrots everywhere

Directions:

1. Cut the onion into thin slices.  Heat a pan on medium-low.  Add about 1 1/2 Tbs each of olive oil and Smart Balance.  Melt in the pan with the 2 tsp brown sugar, and a pinch of salt.  Add in the onions and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and cook for about another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and lightly browned.  Note: Don't rush the onions! The longer and slower they cook, the more deliciously caramelized they'll get.
2. After throwing the onions in the pan, combine the peeled garlic with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and wrap in a foil pouch.  Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes- or just take them out of the oven when the onions are done.
3. While the onions and garlic are doin their thing, drain the can of chickpeas and puree in a food processor.  Add in a decent drizzle of olive oil, some salt, pepper, turmeric, and garlic powder, and keep pureeing.  The mixture will be a bit thick but don't worry, we'll fix that when we add the onions and garlic that are so diligently cooking at this time.  
4. Once the onions and garlic are done, let them briefly cool and then dump them into the food processor.   Let the food processor do it's job, mixing and blending, until everything is incorporated and you have a creamy, delicious (if not aesthetically-challenged) mixture.  Taste and add whatever you think is necessary.  Make sure you add enough salt to really bring out the flavor of the onions.
5. Eat right then with your favorite hummus dippers, or if you can wait (I didn't, but I have no willpower when it comes to hummus) put it in the fridge and let it cool down before eating.  Enjoy!

You're probably tired of pictures of hummus.  So here's something cuter. She also likes hummus.

Quinoa Pizza Bites

Quinoa is one of my favorite foods.  It cooks like and can be used in place of rice, but is much more healthful and protein-packed.  Fun fact: quinoa is actually in the same family as beets and tumbleweeds (according to the super-factual Wikipedia), even though many people assume it's a grain.  The ethical eater in me has been questioning quinoa consumption, however.  I read an article talking about how quinoa has been eaten by the Andean people, found in Peru and surrounding areas, for many years.  As quinoa becomes more popular in the US and other first world countries, the market value has risen dramatically and made this staple food much less accessible to the Peruvians and others.  Look it up.  Be informed.  But I digress.

Back to focusing on the uses of this healthy, if not morally ambiguous, grain impostor.  It makes one heck of a faux pizza bite.  I found the original recipe here and then tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa 
• Veggie broth or veggie bullion 
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/2 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
• 1/8 cup (or a handful?) parmesan cheese
• 1 heaping teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 heaping tablespoon whole wheat flour (not in the original recipe, but I added it as a binder)
• (optional) sprinkling of ground flax seed.  Who can turn down an Omega-3 boost?

Directions:

1. Cook the quinoa in about 1 cup of veggie broth (or 1 cup water with a bullion cube) until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Once the quinoa is cooked, let it cool (so it doesn't cook the egg with its heat when you add it to the mixture).  While the quinoa is cooling, pre-heat the oven to 350.
4. Mix the cooled quinoa with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Oil mini (or regular) muffin tins.  I filled the mini ones all the way and the regular size ones halfway.
6. Cook for 15- 20 minutes.
7. Serve warm with marinara sauce.

Super easy, and really delicious!  Also a great way to use up the inevitable left over quinoa that frequents my refrigerator.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Biscotti is one of those things that's pretty easy to make and yet always impresses people.  Biscotti has gotten this stigma of being all fancy, but let's be real- it's just a hard cookie.  Come on people, loosen up.  Eat this by itself as a guiltless sweet treat (woooo no butter or oil in it!), or dunk it in hot chocolate, or coffee, if you're into that, or chocolate soymilk, if you're like me.  Because I know lots of people out there that heat up their chocolate soymilk in the microwave and then add in stuff like cocoa powder, vanilla extract, almond extract, and cinnamon.  Right?  Never mind.

I don't know the original source of the recipe, but I got it a few years ago from my Mom and it's been one of my favorite go-to recipes ever since.  The biscotti also freeze well, so if you somehow manage to not eat them all as soon as they come out of the oven, you can freeze them and save them for later.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
 2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 3/4 cup flour
4 oz chocolate chips
3/4 cup slivered almonds

Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar for about 3 min until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
4. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
5. Mix in almonds and chocolate chips.
4. Line a baking pan with a silicon mat or parchment paper.  Dump the dough onto the baking pan and form it into a thick, rectangular log- about 12" by 3.5" (but you don't need to actually measure it. Trust me).  If the batter is sticky, wet your hands to shape the log and smooth over the top.
5. Bake for 25 min, then remove from oven.  As soon as it can be touched, cut slices about 1" thick.  Turn the slices onto their sides (I always burn my fingers at this point- don't be like me!) and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
6. After the 10 minutes, remove the biscotti from the over and flip them over to the other side (part 2 of finger-burning for me).  Bake until browned, or about for another 10 minutes.  Once cooled, they will be very crunchy.

Oops.  Sorry for the blurry picture.

Make these! You won't regret it.

Chocolate-Espresso Snowcap Cookies

It has been so cold out these past few days.  We're talking finger-numbingly, nose-runningly cold, to the point where I have avoided leaving the house unless absolutely necessary.  To add insult to injury, it snowed today.  In situations like these, I find it very helpful to bake- I end up with something sweet to eat while loping around the house in about 3 sweatshirts, and I get warmth from the oven.  Win-win situation.

Taking inspiration from the snow, I made snowcap cookies.  These chocolately, melt-in-your-mouth cookies get their name from the fact they are rolled in powdered sugar and end up looking like they have snow on them after they are baked.  Luckily, unlike snow, they are warm and comforting, making them a fitting treat for a snowy day.  Plus it's Friday, and everyone should be able to have cookies on Friday.

Pre-baking.  It's like snow in your oven!

These cookies are pretty easy to make and end up looking cool without too much effort.  They aren't too sweet but have a deep chocolate flavor, thanks to the addition of the espresso.  By the way, I know it's pronounced eSSSpresso, but I still pronounce it eXpresso.  It sounds too pompous the other way- judge me as you will.  Speaking of judging me, the original recipe is from the Martha Stewart website- you can find it here.  That is all.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons instant espresso
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or Smartbalance
2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
4 ounces melted semi-sweet chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate if you're more into that kinda thing
1 tablespoon milk or soy milk
Confectioner's sugar, for coating

Directions:

1. Beat together the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg.
2. Melt the chocolate.  Once it's melted, let it cool for a bit (not to the point of re-hardening, of course) before adding it to the mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso, baking powder, and salt.
4. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
5. Add in the milk until just combined.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and pop it in the freezer for about 45 min.  Don't skip this step!  The dough is beautifully light and fluffy, but soft- it needs to be frozen to hold its shape later on.  Geez, just go play in the snow or drink some hot chocolate or something.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  While the oven is pre-heating, put some powdered sugar in a bowl and line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.
8.  Take the dough out of the freezer.  Roll the dough into balls, coat them thoroughly with powdered sugar (roll them twice if necessary), and put them onto the baking sheet.  Make sure they have space to expand!  Take note: do this all quickly.  If the dough starts getting soft and impossible to roll, pop it back in the freezer for a bit.  Coating your hands in powdered sugar will also temporarily help the dough not stick to your hands.
9. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies have spread and the sugar coating has cracked.  When you take them out of the oven they will still be very soft, but they'll harden up a bit when they cool.  This means you have to let them sit for a little before taking them off the pan or, if you have no self control like me, it just means you will be eating a fresh-out-of-the-oven but very broken cookie.

Post-baking, when they were still too hot and crumbly to move so I definitely didn't eat them yet.  On a completely unrelated note, please don't look at the piece of cookie in the upper left corner and wonder what happened to the other half.  Because I definitely didn't break off a piece and eat it, and then eat the other half as soon as I took the picture.  Nope, I wouldn't do that.

Two last mini-rants about these cookies.  First, I just realized that I forgot to add the baking powder.  Oops.  I thought they looked a little flat.  Don't be like me.  They still taste good, but they'll be a little puffier if you actually add in all the necessary ingredients.  Second, I made these cookies with a friend a while back, and added caramels to the center as we rolled the cookie dough balls.  The cookies ended up in various states of disarray, oozing caramel in sometimes appetizing and sometimes not-so-appetizing ways, but they did taste really good.  If you just want delicious cookies and you're not worried about aesthetics I would say try the caramel thing, but if you're bringing these cookies somewhere and want them to look nice, well, don't say I didn't warn you.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Tofu

I have a bad habit of neglecting blogs.  Deepest apologies.  This post is dedicated to a friend who was requesting all recipes having to do with tofu- and when it comes to cooking with tofu, how could I refuse anyone?  So, I present you with... (cue trumpet fanfare.  No fanfare? Way to ruin all my fun) peanut butter tofu! Ta da!

I got the recipe from this awesome new blog I've started reading called Quiche a Week.  It's all vegetarian and uses stuff like tofu and flax, my faves.  I simplified this recipe a bit when I made it, partially due to time, partially due to lack of a few ingredients, and partially due to, let's face it, laziness.  Anyway, if you want the original, complete with delicious pictures and witty foodie comments, check it out here.  If you want the abridged version with a possibility of some random tangents, then by all means keep reading.

I would like to point out that this high-quality picture was taken with my iPhone.  This obviously makes me cool and tech-savvy.  And not at all the kind of person who has to google how to get pictures onto her computer from her fancy new iPhone because she has no idea how technology works.  Not at all. 

In its original state on the blog where I found this, the tofu was paired with a balsamic reduction and thrown in a homemade wrap with tomato and lettuce.  In my version the tofu was put in a (not homemade, but I promise to do better in the future) wrap with tomato but no lettuce, because I didn't have any, with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar on top because I didn't feel like taking the time to make a reduction.  I was also warned that my whole house would smell of balsamic vinegar for days, which I'm guessing would not be appreciated by myself or the other inhabitants of the house.


Ingredients:
1 block of firm tofu
3 tablespoons peanut butter (creamy or chunky, whatever floats yer boat)
1 to 2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 clove of garlic, minced/crushed
Note: The original recipe also called for 1/2 tsp minced ginger and 1 tsp garlic chili sauce.  If you have those things in your house, go ahead and add them in.  I didn't.

Directions:
1. Drain your tofu and press it for about 20 minutes.  The drier it is, the firmer and more willing to take on other flavors it will be.  For those who don't know how to press tofu: Plunk the block of tofu on a plate.  Cover it with another plate.  Rest a decently heavy object, like a large cookbook, on top of the tofu.  Wait for the magic to happen.
2. After your tofu has been pressed and dried, cut it into bite sized chunks.  Toss the tofu with about 1 tablespoon of corn starch- this will help it get a little crust as it cooks.
3. Spray a pan with cooking oil and let it heat up over a medium heat.  Add the tofu and (thanks to the original blog post for this tofu-cooking-tip) don't touch it for about 5 minutes.  Not constantly stirring it around will help it get nice and brown and chewy, in a good way of course.  After the 5 minutes you can stir the pieces, but let it keep cooking until it's decently brown and delicious looking.  Oh wait.  Is plain tofu not supposed to look delicious?  I think I need to get out more.
4. While the tofu is cooking, whisk together all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.  Realize you don't have ginger or chili sauce.  Take a moment to grieve.  Realize the sauce is delish anyway.  One note- the sauce seemed thick when I first whisked it together, but when I added in the hot tofu it melted the peanut butter a bit and made it more saucy.  Sigh. Oil-based sauces, what a devious companion you make.
5. Guess I already gave away the surprise ending, but once the tofu is delicious and brown, add it into the bowl with the sauce and mix it up! Make sure you really toss the tofu around so the sauce covers all of it.
6. Eat it right then and there, or pop it in the fridge for a bit to really let it marinate.
7. Put the tofu in a wrap with some lettuce and tomato and drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar on top.  Or just eat it straight.  Or make it into lettuce wraps.  I won't judge.

  Oh peanut butter tofu, you saucy minx.