Quintessential Quinoa

When on the lookout for an easy, portable lunch meal, you need look no further than quinoa for your starting point. This protein-rich seed is a delicious and healthy way to make a one-bowl meal filling and nourishing. Not to mention, it's a perfect non-spilling meal to carry with you wherever you go.

So, are you looking for a healthy, delicious, easy to make meal that will leave you full and feeling good? Try this one out.

Quintessential Quinoa Bowl
(serves 6)

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked to direction (replace water in directions with chicken or vegetable broth)
three handfuls spinach
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 can unsalted red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red onion, diced
16 oz baby bella mushrooms, diced
16 oz white mushrooms, diced
1 can sweet peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 tablespoon sunflower oil
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare 1 cup quinoa as directed (replacing water in directions with chicken or vegetable broth) in a large pot.

In a large skillet, add sunflower oil, garlic, and onions over medium heat and cook til the onions are translucent and the garlic is beginning to brown. Next add the spinach and cook until wilted. Next add the mushrooms and cook those until softened. Finally, add the peas and kidney beans, stirring to combine all flavors.

When the quinoa is finished, add all vegetables from the skillet to the quinoa pot and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot.

This dish reheats magnificently, so feel free to make a batch at the beginning of the week and ease up your cooking schedule for the next four days. Go on. Have a peace. :)

Crazy Awesome Vegan Mac and Cheese

"What?!", you ask. "Isn't cheese inherently non-vegan?" Yes. Yes, it is. But there are some fabulous substitutes out there (like the ones I use in the recipe below). Now, I have had many vegan mac and cheeses, but none of them have ever included any of these awesome substitutes and I'm not entirely sure why that is.

Note: This is not one of my super quick recipes. It is also rather messy to make. However, clean up is still super fast and it will feed you for a LONG time. :)

Crazy Awesome Vegan Mac and Cheese
(makes a LOT. I mean, enough to feed five people for several days.)

18 cups of water
32 oz elbow macaroni (I use Tinkyada Pasta Joy Brown Rice Elbow Pasta with Bran)
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tbsp honey dijon mustard
3 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 cup onion, diced
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp arrowroot
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups shredded vegan cheese (I use 3/4 cup soy kaas mild cheddar and a .41 lb block of Daiyo cheese), plus more for topping (optional)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 can sweet peas
6 oz extra firm tofu, cut into 1" cubes

This is what your shredded Daiyo and Soy Kaas will look like. See. Nothing to be scared of. :)

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Boil 18 cups of water in a giant pot. Pour 32 oz of pasta in and cook on medium high for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile...

In a big sauce pan, warm olive oil, almond milk, mustard, and flour over medium low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring until there are no lumps.

Add garlic and onions and 1 tbsp arrowroot. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.

Add shredded cheese and stir for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add salt and pepper. Stir some more. I let it sit for a few minutes after this and came back and stirred and then repeated until the consistency was nice and cheesy and goopy (took about 15 minutes including the time I left it to sit while I strained my cooked pasta, etc).

By now, your pasta should be done cooking, so remove it from heat, strain it through a colander, rinse with cold water, and replace in the big pot you cooked it in. Add the peas and tofu and stir to combine well. Pour in the yummy cheese sauce and use a big spoon to really stir it all together.

Next, pour the whole pot full into your big casserole dish and sprinkle with more shredded vegan cheese or breadcrumbs or almond meal or flaxseed meal or... really anything you like. :) Bake in the oven for ~30 minutes. Remove, let cool for about 5-10 minutes, and then serve. Or put in your fridge and serve the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. :)

Go on! Have a peace!

Lemon Alfredo Pasta

Another sunday, another round of Home-cooked Horror nights. This evening, my friends descended on my place to enjoy a tasty, home-cooked vegetarian meal and a viewing of Carrie and The Signal. (If you haven't seen The Signal, by the way, and you like horror movies, I heartily recommend it. It was a laugh-riot, gory masterpiece.) Anywho, dinner.

Lemon Alfredo Pasta

(makes ~8 servings)

16 oz whole wheat spaghetti

4 tbsp olive oil

light cream cheese

juice and zest of 2 large lemons

1 bag full frozen peas, steamed

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

salt, to taste

4 shakes garlic powder

1/2 cup water

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain it. 

Warm cream cheese, oil, and 2 tbsp lemon juice in a large saucepan over low heat until all melted. Add 1/2 cup of water (about 2 tbsp at a time) until the consistency is something you like. :) Try to keep it from being too thick. Add peas, pine nuts, lemon zest, garlic powder, and salt. Stir until well-combined. Add pasta to the sauce; stir to coat. 

Bento Box Day 2: Down Home Bento

Day 2 of my bento box experiment. For the history of this experiment, see Bento Box Day 1 and Little Tokyo. Today's bento box was for those without an asian market (see! I read my comments!): one pan soy-fried beef tip steak, brown rice, roasted corn, snow peas, and shiitake mushrooms.

Soy-fried Steak, with roasted corn, snow peas, and shiitake mushrooms
(Makes 3 well balanced and filling servings. Takes ~ 15 minutes.)

1 thin beef tip steak, in 1" slices
sprinkle of salt
sprinkle of pepper
~2 tbsp soy sauce, divided
6 tbsp corn
handful snow peas, sliced
2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

Oil a pan and turn on high heat. Add the steak slices into the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown well on both sides until it gets those tasty little dark brown crispy bits; pour in 1 tbsp soy sauce. Stir to coat.

Remove meat.

Add corn and snow peas to the same pan, stir in with additional .5-1 tbsp soy sauce, over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Last, add the sliced mushrooms in and stir for another minute or so.

Remove. And you're done. Yum yum. :)

Enjoy!

Bento Box Day 1: Shrimp and Salad Bento

So, Day 1 of my bento box experiment went fairly well. As I mentioned previously, I have begun making bento box lunches for my lovely roommate as a culinary experiment.

Monday's box was homemade miso soup with shrimp and tofu shuumai and a carrot sesame salad. [No picture of the soup.] I'll preface this by saying two things. 1) No. I did not make these up (although I did make a few alterations; I couldn't stop myself). The intuitive knowledge of how to make shuumai was not previously in my brain. The recipes for today originated on Just Bento, which is a seriously awesome bento guidance site. 2) Some of these ingredients may look strange, but you'd be surprised where you can find them. I bought mine in Little Tokyo. But after I made my first batch of miso from scratch (and realized it was going to become a staple in my diet because it's ridiculously tasty), I started looking for nearby asian groceries and they're *all over*. And if, by some chance, there isn't one in your area, you can also order most of these directly from Asian Food Grocer.

Shrimp and Tofu Shuumai
(makes 28)

1/2 lb uncooked shrimp, chopped
1 block extra-firm tofu, chopped
1 package shumai skins (You can use wonton skins, too, but the shuumai skins are smaller and thinner)
4 green onions, diced
1 tsp miso paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp mirin
pinch of salt
1 tbsp cornstarch

Note: This is one of those food processor recipes.

Okay. Now that all that's done.

Place tofu, miso paste, soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and cornstarch in the food processor and blend until it's a nice paste. Then add the green onions and shrimp and grind them up.

Now take the package of shuumai. When you open this pack, put it under a bowl to help seal in the moisture. These skins dry out pretty quick.

Place a skin on the palm of your hand. Scoop a spoonful of the blended (and tasty smelling) mix into the center of the skin. Make a circle with your fingers, placing your thumb and forefinger together, and squeeze the filled skin down through the circle. Tap on the bottom to flatten and squeeze gently with your fingers to tighten the dumpling. [If you want a visual for this, go visit Just Bento.] Repeat with all the skins in the pack.

Now take a large, non-stick frying pan. Spray a little oil on and smooth it around. Place the shuumai in the pan and carefully pour in water to half-height of the dumplings. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. DO NOT DO what I did. While my dumplings came out delicious and infinitely edible, they were not as pretty as they could have been because I walked away for a minute and the water boiled over the dumplings.

I placed an edamame on top of each of my shuumai, for kicks.

And ta da! All done! Next. The vegetable side!


Carrot Sesame Salad
(2 servings)

2 medium carrots
handful snow peas
juice of 1 small lemon
1 generous spoonful soy sauce
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 generous spoonful furikake  (I used the bonito flake and egg mix, but there's many varieties)

Grate carrots. Mix in seasonings. Stir. Serve.

Kitchen Sink Soup

Here's a healthy, hearty, and delicious soup that's easy to make and really hits the spot.

Kitchen Sink Soup
(makes about 5 servings)
1/4 cup diced red onions
1/2 cup green peas
1 carrot, diced
2 small red potatoes, halved, sliced, and cut into bite-sized pieces
14.5 oz diced tomatoes in juice (1 can)
2 stalks celery, halved lengthwise, then sliced
1.5 cup low sodium vegetable stock
1/2 tbsp marjoram
salt and pepper to taste

Pour vegetable stock and tomatoes into the pot. Add marjoram, salt, and pepper. Set stove to medium heat. Add celery and carrots and onions. Stir over heat for 5 minutes. Add potatoes. Stir over heat for 8 minutes. Add peas. Stir over heat for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

See? I told you it was easy. :) The soup is very filling on its own. It keeps really well in the fridge (fed me for a week).

Enjoy!!

Easter Snacks

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you're having a beautiful holiday. This Sunday is a day about rebirth, no matter how you slice it. New life, the balance of day and night and the balance in our lives.

And yet, Easter is also a day full of processed stuff that leaves your body completely UNbalanced. Why?

My parents sent me an Easter basket this year as they do every year - my parents are ridiculously awesome.
This year, they sent me an incredibly soft, snuggly bunny and some delicious sugar free snacks. One of the things they sent that was not sugar free was a yummy, yummy chocolate from 3400 Phinney Chocolate Factory.

Here's my rule about candy - you have to recognize and be able to picture all the ingredients and you have to eat it in moderation, as a treat. This bar is dairy free, gluten free, soy free, and vegan. The ingredients include and are limited to cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, almonds, figs, fennel, and ground vanilla bean.

Now. If you're like me, you've probably hardboiled and dyed a boatload of eggs. But what do you do with all those hardboiled eggs once you're done admiring them? Personally, I love just munching on hardboiled eggs as a snack. But if you want to do something else with them, here's a few ideas:

Deviled Eggs

Avocado Eggs
1 avocado
8 hardboiled eggs, peeled
~1/8th of a small red onion
1/8 cup lemon juice, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the hardboiled eggs in half. Scoop the yolks out into either a bowl or a food processor. Lay out the remaining egg whites on a plate.

Cut your avocado in half, throw away the pit. Again, if you have the food processor, add the avocado to the yolks there. If not, add it to the yolks in the bowl. Mash it all together.

Take 1/8th of a small onion and chop it into tiny, tiny bits. You might not want to use all of the onion, it's up to your personal taste. Add as much as you like to the mashed up avocado and yolk. Now add a tiny bit of fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Sprinkle in the lemon juice - again to taste. Mix it all together.

Scoop the mash up into each of the hardboiled egg whites and serve immediately. :) That's it! It's creamy, delicious, and tastes like guacamole!

Yum yum yum!

Tea Eggs - I made these with Good Earth green tea bags, 2 cups of boiling water, and a 1/2 tbsp of low sodium soy sauce and they were delicious!

Irenic Salad
This is my go-to lunch when I'm short on time. It's filling, delicious, and healthy.
8 leaves romaine lettuce, broken into bite-sized pieces
1 hardboiled egg, sliced in half and then diced into little bits
4 grape tomatoes
2 stalks of celery, sliced in half lengthwise and then into bite sized slices across
1/8 cup edamame or fresh green peas (optional)

For dressings, you'll want to use something that isn't cream based. You won't need it. You can make a simple dressing by drizzling a tiny bit of olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar over the salad. Or you can make my personal favorite dressing.

Irenic Dressing
This dressing is easy to make and very tasty.  
1/4 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried basil
4 leaves fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
black pepper to taste

Take the olive oil and put it into a small skillet, heat it over medium high and throw the garlic into it until it browns and smells delicious, about 1-2 minutes. Pour the olive oil and garlic into a blender or food processor, then add all the other ingredients. Blend it all together. You can triple or quadruple this recipe and save the remainder in your fridge to use for the next couple days. :)

I hope you all enjoy this beautiful day! Happy Easter; have a peace.

Guilt-Free T.C.

Due to the fact that I expect to be rather busy for the next few days, I decided to make a casserole to tide me through the coming week. And then I realized, hey! I haven't showed you guys any of my wicked fun casserole dishes. So you, my friends, are in for a treat. This dish makes about 8-10 servings. It's delicious, wholesome, guilt-free, and utterly satisfying. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed inventing it. :)

Guilt-Free Tuna Casserole
(Serves 8-10)

1/4 cup breadcrumbs
8 oz vegetable rotini pasta (this pasta is made from compressed veggies and is super delicious)
olive oil cooking spray
3 stalks celery, halved lengthwise and diced
1 head cauliflower
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp almond meal
1 Tbsp flax seed meal
1 cup low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1/2 cup water
2 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and diced
~14.8 oz canned tuna - unsalted, packed in water, drained
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
~1 Tbsp dried dill (make sure it's finely minced)
~1 Tbsp low-fat Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a stockpot filled with water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.

Dice a head of cauliflower into 1-2 inch florets, including as much of the stalk as you can manage without adding the green parts. Set these out over a parchment paper covered cookie sheet, spray gently with olive oil cooking spray and dust lightly with milled sea salt (or kosher). Put this in the oven to bake, should take between 30-40 minutes, until just beginning to brown on the edges.

Meanwhile, heat a large stockpot (the bigger the better, within reason) over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Mist with olive oil cooking spray and add celery and onion. Saute for 2 minutes or until onions become translucent.

In a small bowl (I used a tea cup), combine the almond and flax seed meals.

Add chicken broth, water, and the mix of almond meal and flax seed meal; whisk briskly until it begins to go frothy. [This, by the way, is my cheat to making a healthy roux (or thickener). I think you can also use this to make homemade "cream" sauces, though - considering I just made it up - I have not yet tested this.] Reduce heat to medium. Stir in drained pasta, carrots, tuna, and peas. Add dill. Remove from heat.

By now, your cauliflower should be done roasting. Take it out and load the entire head's worth of little roasted pieces into a food processor. (If you don't have a food processor, you can use a food mill, a potato ricer (these are so awesome!), or at the most rudimentary a potato masher.) Puree the cauliflower until it's well mushed (yes, that's my technical term); add the minced garlic and puree again. Now dump the contents of your food processor into the bowl full of tuna stew. Stir until well combined. It should take on a thick, glutinous consistency.

Pour tuna-pasta-cauliflower mixture into a 11.5 x 15 inch casserole dish (preferably glass). Sprinkle with 1/4 cup breadcrumbs and a light dusting of Parmesan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until browned on top. Remove and serve hot.

For storage, cover tightly with saran wrap (or put it into a casserole container with a sealing lid like I do) and put it in the fridge. It will keep for about 5 days. If you want it to last for 7 or 8, cut a portion off, seal it, and put it in the freezer, leaving the rest in the fridge. 

Note: This recipe might seem a little low on salt, if you're used to cooking and eating with it. As you may have noticed, I barely use any when I cook, so my tongue isn't super sensitive to it when it's missing. To me, this dish is perfect in its garlicky, mushy, delicious comfort foody way. I'd say taste test before you transfer it to your baking dish, just to make sure you'll be happy. And if you must add more salt, be sparing with it. The less you use, the more you'll get used to not using it, and then you'll eventually find that you don't miss it at all. :)