Udon with Tofu and Baby Bok Choy from Little Chef and I

I found this website Little Chef and I while looking for a recipe including baby bok choy. While you are on her webpage, check out her other recipes. Wonderful recipes and step by step instructions. This recipe inspired me to go to the Tan-A-Supermarket and get ingredients for this recipe and others. I love the Asian Grocer because they have the the best prices on fresh veggies, tofu, spices, condiments....I wish I still lived in the West End of my city so I could shop there more often. I digress. Anyhow, this recipe is delicious, the udon noodles soak up the sauce and are so flavorful and baby bok choy is one of my favorite cabbages. It is also known as snow or Chinese cabbage. The only thing I did different was to use two packs of udon noodles, one package did not seem like enough to me. For such a small amount of ingredients, this recipe packs a wallop in the taste department. Slightly hot.

Steamy goodness......

Feel the love.......

Veg McMuffin

Chris says that he likes these better than any meat laden breakfast sandwich, and he loves the tofu and actually prefers it to eggs on this sandwich. I have been making this for years and you can use your veggie meat of choice. I have made it with "bacon", "ham", "sausage", etc. I think that I like Lightlife's Gimmie Lean Sausage the best. It reminds me of the "back in da day" breakfast sandwiches from take out as its name implies. This sandwich really tastes the best when you have a toasted bagel or English Muffin. However, this morning I have no Gimmie Lean or English Muffins/bagels for that matter (sigh), so I think that I will be trying this with the tempeh bacon recipe that I used for the TLAT's and some Flax Bread, toasted. I usually thinly slice the tofu, and use two thin slices per sandwich. I also sprinkle the tofu slices with a little Nutritional Yeast while it is cooking. While it wasn't as good made the way I like it, it was still mighty tasty and the boy is envious since he is at work and didn't get one ;) And I know you are all jealous of my vintage Beauty and the Beast plate it is on :P

Veg McMuffin

1/2" slice of firm FRESH Tofu (not previously frozen)
1 slice veg*n ham (Yves, LightLife, etc)
1 or 2 slices veg cheddar cheeze
Pan spray
A little margarine or vegetable oil
1 English muffin, sliced and toasted
Salt and pepper

Spray a heavy frying pan with pan spray.
Add a bit of margarine or oil, and heat over medium heat.
Fry Tofu on both sides until lightly browned.
At the same time, fry ham slice.
Top ham slice with cheeze, and let it melt slightly.
Put Tofu on bottom half of muffin.
Top Tofu with ham and cheeze.
Season with salt and pepper.
Put on top half of muffin.
Serve immediately.

On an English Muffin with Gimmie Lean Sausage and a Winnie the Pooh Plate :)

Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies

I originally made these cookies around Christmas, and I made some tonight. I like that it makes a small batch of cookies. I love how soft they are, almost cake-like and how easy they are to make.Your whole kitchen will smell like chocolate-minty goodness. I didn't chill my dough either time I made these cookies, although I should have, the dough is very sticky and I bake mine at 350 degrees F.  I made mine with regular cocoa and they are still heavenly. And by the way, check out the rest of Isabelle's posts. Wonderful recipes, beautiful photographs.

Chocolate-Mint Crinkle Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, pref Dutch-process
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 cup icing sugar

In a large metal mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Using fingers, rub in the butter until evenly distributed throughout. Add eggs and peppermint extract, and stir until a thick dough comes together. Chill dough in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a spoon or a melon baller, scoop out teaspoon-sized balls of dough. Pour the icing sugar into a small mixing bowl and add the dough balls, 2-3 at a time, rolling around to coat evenly with sugar.
Arrange the icing-sugar coated balls 2" apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are just set and have evenly crackled tops.

Tempeh Bacon from scratch.....

I am a total skeptic when it comes to making this..I love the Lightlife Fakin' Bacon...Crunchy, smoky goodness perfect for the BLT I have been craving, which is pretty special since I make Celine's Pumpkin Bread special for it and I realized that I had forgotten both my tofu and the before mentioned Fakin'Bacon at the store, however I *did* have plain tempeh at the house. This recipe looks good......I added maybe a tablespoon of maple syrup to this recipe. I didn't let the fact that I did not have Ancho chili powder stop me, I just used regular chili powder. I did not get 20 slices, maybe about 14-15 but all very thin, and I marinated it overnight. I actually marinated for about 2 days actually and instead of baking the bacon, I fried mine in a little olive oil. The boy loves it, it tastes close to Lightlife Fakin' Bacon.... The sandwich is Fakin' Bacon, mayonnaise, lettuce of choice, thinly sliced avocado and  thinly sliced tomato. TLAT's as we call them around here.

The "bacon" marinating...

The sammich o' goodness...

Watercress Salad

I picked up some watercress on a whim over the weekend from the Asian grocer (more posts to come from that visit) and came home and found
this wonderful recipe to use some of it on. I say "some" because you get a ton of it. It comes in a small "butcher pack" and it looks like a very small amount but it was enough to fill up my Pho noodle bowl. My earliest memories of watercress was eating some wild out of my grandma's yard. It has a peppery bite to it, spicy and a little heat not unlike horseradish. This salad has romaine, watercress, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese. The dressing uses Gorgonzola cheese, fresh basil, olive oil, basalmic vinegar....It is supposed to be a clone recipe from California Pizza Kitchen, however I have never been to one. This is one of the best salads I have ever had, and I think that the only thing that would make it better is to have some thinly sliced Granny Smith apple or dried cranberries added to it.

California Pizza Kitchen Romaine-Watercress Salad W/ Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette

Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette

* 8 large fresh basil leaves
* 6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1/4 lb gorgonzola, crumbled
* 3/4 cup olive oil, mild flavored

Romaine-Watercress Salad

* 1 head romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped
* 1 bunch watercress, cleaned and cut bite-size
* 8 ounces gorgonzola, crumbled
* 2 cups walnuts, shelled halves

In a blender, process basil, gorgonzola and vinegar. Then, on a slower speed, blend in oil briefly. Set aside in refrigerator to chill. Later, in a large mixing bowl, combine the greens. Add dressing and toss to coat all leaves. Transfer the dressed greens to several chilled serving plates. Top each with equal amounts of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and walnuts.

Banana Cranberry Cereal Muffins

Are your taste buds salivating yet? I found
Cereal Muffins and decided to make these as I have some bananas to use up. Cinnamon, brown sugar, cranberries, Cheerios, bananas....These smell so good cooking, and they were so soft, the cranberries complement the banana-cinnamon flavor. Great for grab and go mornings. As stated in the recipe use whatever cereal you have on hand. I think that these would be also good made as Pumpkin-Cranberry (Pumpkin replacing the banana), Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip, Banana-Chocolate Chip or Apple-Raisin(applesauce instead of the banana).

Here are some bonus pix of my male bunny, Stitch. He is a Netherland Dwarf and his color is otter.

Spinach-Feta Fatayer

I used this recipe Spinach Fatayer and I made mine with a half of a (large) bag of frozen chopped spinach, 1.5 small chopped onion, sauteed on medium low until soft, then cook the spinach in with this, add salt and pepper and I threw in about 1/2 tbsp. of sumac and I also doubled the recipe. After I let this cool I added maybe 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (or you can leave it out). You can make them small like the recipe states or make them larger. They were really good, I will try them with a different dough recipe next time and maybe some vinegar instead of the lemon juice, but overall the filling is great. They are really good, but not like the ones I am used to buying at the Mediterranean Deli, the dough is more like pastry dough in this recipe, stay tuned as I try out different recipes :)

Ingredients:

• For the Dough:
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• For the Spinach Filling:
• 1/2 pound fresh spinach, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon ground sumac

Preparation:

In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Add oil and begin to knead dough. Once oil is absorbed, add warm water. Knead into an elastic dough.

Shape dough into 2 inch diameter balls. Cover and set aside.

Preheat over to 425 degrees.

Wash spinach and soak spinach in salted water while you chop vegetables. Rinse spinach and dry thoroughly with paper towel.

Combine and toss filling ingredients.

Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each ball of dough. Cover filling with dough and form into triangular shape.

Bake for 10-15 on greased baking sheet, until golden brown.

Allow to cool 5 minutes and serve immediately.