Vegetarian Pho

Chris and I both love Pho. I never get the Tofu Pho bowl since I think they use chicken or beef broth for all of the noodle soups. Chris usually gets the Pho with mixed meat. Chris actually took me to Pho the first time and I didn't like it immediately because I wasn't using the optional sauces like Hoisin, Chili Garlic and Sriracha.

In this recipe it calls for flat rice noodles, and I will be using Mung Bean Noodles, you can also use  Rice Vermicelli. Some people really get into the garnishes but Chris just likes the soup with sauce. I will be using fried tofu, cooked napa cabbage and mushrooms.

I used ground anise seed and coriander seeds as that was all I could find. I think it turned out good.Chris didn't want napa cabbage and I forgot the mushrooms....

Greek Pizza

I know, I know, I have already made this before....But it is so good and I was tired of napa cabbage. I needed a break from it, LOL! Napa Cabbage tomorrow, I promise! For the sauce, I did not have Alfredo sauce nor did I have Parmesan cheese, so I made the Bechamel Sauce recipe from Janet Is Hungry omitting the dijon mustard and sauteing one minced clove of garlic with the melted butter before adding the flour. As usual, I will be using my recipe for pizza dough made with 1 cup whole wheat flour and the rest AP. I have taken to using honey instead of the sugar called for but use your favorite (molasses, King Syrup, corn syrup, sugar....) sweetener. If you are in a hurry, feel free to use frozen and thawed pizza dough.

Saag Paneer/Palak Paneer

I have been wanting to try this for years, and I am just now getting around to trying it out. Cheese and spicy spinach in a cream sauce, how can you go wrong? I have read about this and was determined to make it, I was even going to attempt to make my own Paneer (which I have read is simple to do), but Chris and I went into Richmond and to the Indian Grocer and I got not one but two packages of Paneer (by mistake, they were stuck together) so I just hope that both of us like Paneer If you are vegan, use soy creamer or soy sour cream thinned out with soy milk and tofu. I decided to go with this recipe from Show Me The Curry. I also decided to go with sour cream instead of the whipping cream called for to save calories. I am using reduced fat paneer that I got from Laxmi  Palace (Indian Grocer). This seems like an easy enough recipe, we are eating the curry without chapatis or rice.

So how was it? OH my goodness, it is amazing! Now I am glad that I accidentally picked up two packs of Paneer! Spicy, creamy deliciousness! The Paneer was chewy cheesy deliciousness. This recipe was very authentic and tasted like something I would get from an upscale Indian Restaurant. Make sure that you soak the Paneer after you fry it, it makes it softer, and lightly squeeze the water out.

Vegan Stuffed Peppers

This is a solid recipe and it is easy to prepare.They are hearty and filling, my husband who eats beef loves these and asks for them, however I have stopped making them until today. Last night I was up and I made rice for these and my husband just had to know what the rice was for, I wanted it to be a surprise since he loves them but he said that he hates surprises and I had to tell him :P  I guess you just try other recipes and forget about the tried and true ones. Not that I will stop trying new ones because you find new tastes and textures that you love and I don't want to get into a food rut. Sometimes you just have to come back to the favorites, your comfort food. These do not need cheese on top but add it if you like. I have made these with tomato sauce and cumin and cayenne pepper and Dijon mustard. Here is my alternate recipe.


Vegan Stuffed Peppers

2 green bell peppers
1 very small onion or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 pkg. defrosted Boca or Morningstar Burger Crumbles
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 tbsp. oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2/3 cup cooked brown rice
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. mustard or Dijon Mustard
1/4-1/2 tsp. cumin or to taste
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste

Cut your peppers in half and remove seeds. Fill a large wide mouthed skillet with water and par-boil the peppers until they are bright green or dark green as I accidentally did. OOPS. Set aside. Saute your garlic and onions in the oil over medium to medium high heat until softened. Add burger crumbles, tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, cumin and rice. Simmer until the burger crumbles are cooked. Your sauce should be thick. Add the mustard and ketchup. Taste and add more mustard or ketchup to taste.Spoon the mixture evenly into the pepper shells and place in a 9"x9" pan. Cook at 350 degrees until peppers are soft and filling is browned. Enjoy.

Seafood Pizza

I know that this sounds a little weird but it looks delicious. My friend, Sara went to Morocco and came back talking about Seafood Pizza, and I went looking for recipes. A lot of recipes came up, but when I saw this recipe from Janet is Hungry, I knew I had to try it. White sauce, Parmesan Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Imitation Crab (you can use real crab but I don't eat crab), tomatoes, cilantro, shrimp, onions and  green bell peppers....what's not to like? I love pizzas made with white sauce instead of red sauce/tomato sauce bases. I will be making my own crust for this pizza. I also cut the shrimp down to about 1/4 pound.

Pizza Crust

2 1/2-3 cups bread or AP flour, can use whole wheat for half of flour (for this pizza, I did 1 cup whole wheat and the rest AP)
1 package yeast
1 tsp. sugar OR 1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. salt
1 cup warm water

In a large bowl, place water and yeast. Add sugar and set aside for about 5 minutes, until yeast has bloomed. Add oil and salt, stir. Add 1&1/2 cups flour, stir. Pour dough out onto floured board and knead in enough additional flour to make a soft dough.Do not be alarmed if you don't use all of the flour. Cover with tea towel or bowl, let rise about one hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down, knead and roll out in a greased cookie sheet or pizza pan. Cover with tea towel and let rise for about 30-60 minutes. Proceed with recipe.

Tilapia Fish Curry and new Chai Tea

I was going to get the Pom Fret from Tan-A, but decided to just go with some Tilapia fillets that I already have and Chris loves Tilapia. This recipe looks particularly delicious. I have to admit that making this recipe scares me a little because I am afraid that I will overcook the fish. Otherwise the recipe sounds fairly easy to make and it sounds very flavorful. Chris and I have been wanting to make a fish curry since we saw it on Bizarre Foods, of  all places. I was not impressed with this recipe and I followed it exactly. Chris liked it though.

I found cinnamon sticks in the spice aisle at the local Dollar Tree and if you are lucky, you will have an Indian Grocer nearby. I went to Laxmi Palace, which is on Old Parham Road in the West End of Richmond near the Tropical Smoothie. I found cheap spices like Garam Masala, Cloves, Fenugreek Seeds, etc. I got some Paneer (low-fat too so this means Saag Paneer soon :o)), dried Kokams, they had some popped Sorghum which I saw on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, tons of rice, lots of fresh veggies (a lot of the same vegetables that Tan-A has), ready to eat foods, dal, chick peas, flat breads....If you get the chance to go by there, check it out. The clerks in the store are very polite and helpful. In the same strip mall there is Indian Pastry House with the best samosas I have ever had and a delicious melt in your mouth Irish Cake (they also have other flavors and they can make wedding and birthday cakes). Chris tried the popped Sorghum and he did not like it, but I thought that it tasted like popcorn, but nuttier.

Here is a picture of the Chai Tea I picked up from Laxmi Palace and quite a deal at $3.79 a package.I am making some Chai Tea today and I will let you know how I like this tea. Here is a link to purchase it if you don't have an Indian Grocer near you and you would like to try it. As I have stated before, I love Stash Chai, Bigelow Vanilla Chai and Celestial Seasoning Bengal Spice and Chai and those are usually available at most stores, but use your favorite. Chris and I both liked the tea, it isn't quite as strong as Stash, but still good and definitely the better deal.

Below are pictures of my fraidycat, Kimmie.

Veggie Fajitas and Chocolate Banana Bread

Hi kids, today's recipe is Veggie Fajitas....I know, I know....I don't even need a recipe for this recipe, LOL. This does however give me the chance to break out the cast iron skillet and saute` up some veggies, like tomatoes, onions and peppers. I was going to use some squash/zucchini, but they are out of season and too d*mn expensive and I don't live in Richmond anymore so I can't go to Tan-A and get it GRRR. I can't wait for summer! But I digress.......I may go out to the store and get some cactus, I am undecided. Chris says that he likes cactus so I might go out. A lot of these recipes that I did look at call for Monterey Jack cheese, but I like them without the cheese. You can serve the fajitas with some sour cream and salsa...fresh or bought. I ended up getting zucchini since the store I went to had them on sale and they also had artichokes on sale so I may go back and get some of those for another meal later in the week ;O) Feel free to use whatever veggies you have on hand, for 2 people I used 1&1/2 quartered smallish tomatoes, 1 medium onion (sliced), 1/2 medium sized zucchini (sliced), and 1/2 green bell pepper (sliced). Cook all veggies (except tomatoes) with a bit of oil over medium-medium high heat until veggies soften and during the last bit of cooking add your tomatoes. These were delicious and I will make them again.

I also decided to make some chocolate banana bread since I have two very ripe bananas sitting on the table that neither Chris or I will eat. Our bunnies would love them though, they love really ripe bananas. That is my male Netherland Dwarf, Stitch, above. Isn't he a cutie? This recipe is from Good Food, Good Wine and A Bad Girl's Isabelle Boucher. You should check out her blog, nicely written and lots of beautiful photos and delicious recipes. This recipe is pretty much foolproof, want to make it with less fat or maybe you only have 1/2 stick butter? Use applesauce in place of the remaining butter that you are missing. Making this but you are a vegan? Use margarine instead of the butter and for the eggs use applesauce (1/2 cup). She calls for high quality cocoa, but if you only have regular cocoa it still tastes awesome. I actually use the store brand. Here is the recipe, but don't miss out on her Chai Banana Bread, which is also very delicious. I would be making that but I am saving the rest of the Chai tea bags I have for Dee's (my MIL) birthday cake. I will post that recipe again next month.

                            Banana Bread Batter.....

                         Cooked Banana Bread.........

Chili and Cornbread

BRR! 12" of snow fell on the ground here, and the temperatures are under freezing.  With all of this cold weather, I decided to make a pot of chili, based loosely on this recipe as I will be making it with what we have on hand. I love this recipe for cornbread. It is sweet and delicious. It is unlike any cornbread I have ever had and it is the only recipe I use now. Again, I love to use shortening in this cornbread recipe and cookie recipes but if you like to use butter or margarine, feel free to substitute. I usually use applesauce as the egg replacer in the cornbread but alas I am out  of applesauce so I am using homemade Ener-G egg replacer, which worked awesome in this recipe. I even used some whole wheat flour in the cornbread recipe and it was still tender and so yummy. If you want to make your own Ener-G, click here for that, and a list of other egg replacers from Chef Deb and applications for them. Here is the recipe that I made for the chili, with cheap-o stuff I happened to have and the measurements on the herbs/spices are approximates. This chili is delicious, cheap and filling. I will definitely be making it again and again.

Black Bean and Kidney Bean Chili

1 tbsp. oil 

2 large garlic cloves, pressed

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (14 ounce) can of dark red kidney beans, undrained

1 (14 ounce) can of black beans, undrained

1/2-1 tsp. cumin

1/2-1 tsp. onion powder

1/2-1 tsp. oregano

1/2-1 tsp. paprika

1/2-1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. sage

1 (14 ounce) chopped tomatoes with chilies, undrained

Place the oil in a large stock pot, cook garlic over medium for about 1 minute, add the onions and cook until translucent. Maybe about 3-5 minutes.  Add all other ingredients, along with 2 cans water. Cook about 30-45 minutes over a low simmer. Enjoy.

Lentil Loaf

After seeing a picture of this loaf that Danaskully64 of Veggieboards made, I knew I had to try it out. I made mine from  this recipe (this is the same one she posted) and I decided to make some mushroom gravy to go with it from this recipe and I added some one onion, chopped and sauteed in oil (along with the 'shrooms) to my gravy. I also made Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

The loaf is relatively easy to get out of the pan. I forgot to add basil to mine, and as recommended by Tofu and Sprouts, I cooked my lentils in vegetable broth. I think it is a good, inexpensive recipe that is very easy to make, even during the week. Christopher loved this loaf. I want to make it again with BBQ sauce instead of the tomato sauce, as recommended by Danaskully64 and a lot of the reviewers. I did saute my onion and added a shredded carrot, sauteed to the mix. Definitely try out the mushroom gravy, I think it went well with the Lentil Loaf, and it would be good also on mashed potatoes.


Here is a close up of the Lentil Loaf and Mushroom-Onion Gravy

Here is the plated food

 

Here is the loaf

Gorgonzola, Mushroom and Carmelized Onion Pizza

I based the pizza sauce off of this recipe being that I had no canned tomatoes, I used some tomato sauce (16 ounces) instead and I threw in maybe a teaspoon of sugar and about 1/2 tsp. dried oregano.

I used my regular pizza dough that I always use when making a pizza

3 cups all purpose white flour OR 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups AP white flour
1 Pkg. yeast either fast rise or regular
1 cup warm water (110 degrees or warm to touch)
1 tbsp. applesauce OR 1 tbsp. olive oil (I always use the oil, it works just as well with the applesauce though)
1 tsp. sugar OR 1 tbsp. corn syrup OR 1 tbsp. golden syrup
1 tsp. salt

Place water, salt, sweetener of choice and yeast in large bowl. It will proof in about 5 minutes.
Add oil.
Add 2 cups flour and mix.
Add the rest of the flour, mix and turn onto floured board, adding additional flour if necessary.
Knead 5-10 minutes.
Cover with bowl, let rise at least 30 minutes to one hour or until doubled in bulk. It will hold an indention of your thumb if doubled in bulk.
Punch dough down, and roll out in oiled pizza pan.
Cover for about 30 minutes with clean tea towel or you can skip this step however the crust will be very thin.

Cut up 2 medium onions into very thin slices. Saute in a pot over medium heat about 15-20 minutes in about 2 tbsp. oil until fragrant and slightly brown. Set aside.

Place tomato sauce (however much you like) on rolled out pizza that has risen covered, for 30 minutes. Top with 1 pkg. (or 2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese (I used 2%), your caramelized onions, about 1/4-1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese, and maybe 4 ounces sliced mushrooms. Bake at 425 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes until cheese is slightly brown and bubbly and bottom crust is golden brown. Enjoy. I think this is the best pizza I have ever had.

Pre-baked Pizza

 Baked Pizza, if you can wait 5-10 minutes it will cut better.

Roasted Vegetable Night

I love, love, love to make these....Crispy Potatoes with Rosemary, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Maple Glazed Carrots and Onions...Simple comfort food on a cold winter night to warm me up. I recently discovered that I didn't hate Brussels Sprouts as much as I once thought, they are almost "nutty" tasting made this way and we always have Brussels Sprouts in the freezer. I think that I was scared away by these tiny cabbages because my mom used to just boil them up and expect me to eat them and they are disgusting like that.  I used to think they were  little stinky cabbages of doom.This is probably what I looked like :

Surprisingly I loved "fried cabbage". Go figure. I guess that is the southern coming out in me. I guess I have a more adult palette now because instead of eating the roasted potatoes with Ketchup, I like to eat my roasted potatoes with Sriracha..

LOL. I call it Asian Ketchup ;)


Roasted Carrots and Onions with Maple Syrup

1/2 medium-large onion cut into slivers
1/2 pound-1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into very small chunks
2-3 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2-1 tsp. onion powder or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/4-1/2 tsp. garlic powder (or to taste)
1/2-1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1/2-1 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Toss all ingredients to coat, cook in a square baking dish.
Bake about 30-45 minutes or until tender and onions are starting to char, stirring frequently.

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

2-4 large potatoes (I use Russet, but use your faves) scrubbed and chopped in large chunks
rosemary (dried) to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
Toss all ingredients on a  large baking sheet to coat with your hands. Cook at 400-425 degrees F, for about 30-45 minutes. Flip once to brown on both sides.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

1 frozen package (individually frozen) Brussels Sprouts (12-16 ounces) or 1 pound fresh cleaned
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
Toss all ingredients to coat, and cook at 400 degrees F until outside leaves are slightly charred (about 30-45 minutes). I usually cook mine in a square metal baking dish. Fresh is definitely better.

Ginger Schezwan Stir Fry

You know when you are outrageously hungry, and you don't know what to eat, haven't planned a meal and are not sure what you have in the kitchen and you throw together a meal with the things that you have and it turns out wonderful? This is one of those times :) I looked in the freezer and a few weeks ago, I had visited the Asian grocer and they had VeriSoy Vegetarian Ginger Chicken, and looked and saw some broccoli, onions, a half container of mushrooms, onion and carrots and decided to make a stir fry. I cheated on this one, all I really did was cook up the veggies and brown rice ( made from the boil on the stove, but hey it was brown rice!) and I used a package of Schezwan Hot and Spicy stir fry sauce from Kroger, just follow the instructions on the sauce packet. Wow this is the most amazing stir fry I have ever made or had.