October, 2011

Entries from October 2nd, 2011

Acorn Squash stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Polenta

10.30.2011

I’m a bit of a pack rat (<—understatement) and although this is highly frowned on, it does have it’s advantages sometimes. I had piles upon piles of magazines that date back almost ten years and this summer when I moved I decided that I was finally going to get rid of them (er, well…most of them). This was a great cleanser for my clutter agitation but this also meant that I needed to go through every magazine to make sure there wasn’t anything in them I still wanted (I know this is a bit over the top but I was hoping that I hadn’t kept these things around for years for nothing!). Anyways, so the end result was a massive pile of ripped out magazine pages in the form of recipes, DIY projects, and collage images.

So, our usual adventure to the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays ended up in my usual routine (this is the same way I pick out puppies at the animal shelter- minus the furry part for vegetables) of buying the vegetables that were the cutest and most colorful. We picked up two colorful and spotted acorn squash at the Farmer’s Market in hopes of trying out a new recipe and my photographic memory (this is a joke- i have the worst memory ever and it’s a miracle I randomly thought of this) reminded me that there was an acorn recipe in that pile. And that is what lead me to trying out this recipe from an issue of Vegetarian Times that was published in 2003. Although a little outdated, this recipe was fantastic and VT was whipping up amazing polenta stuffing before I even knew what fancy corn grits meant.

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Polenta

2 Acorn squash
15 sun dried tomatoes (preferably the ones not packed in oil!)
1/4 cup of pine nuts (not happy about this- so expensive!)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated (+more to sprinkle on top)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup ground polenta
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the squash in half and scoop out seedy center. Spray the acorn squash with cooking spray and put face down on parchment paper. Roast for about 45 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the filling. Soak the sun dried tomatoes in hot water for about 20 minutes to let them soften up. On a baking dish, toast the pine nuts for about 10 minutes in the oven.

When the tomatoes are softened, cut into little pieces and add to a food processor (blender works as well!) along with the garlic, pine nuts, and parmesan. Start the processor and slowly add in the olive oil to well incorporate it. Blend until it’s a smooth paste.

In a small pot, bring the vegetable broth (add that dash of salt, too!) to a boil and lower to medium heat. Add polenta and let cook for about 20 minutes. Make sure to whisk it frequently and when it pulls away from the pan and has become a thickened grits texture, it’s done! Take it off the heat and add in the pesto that you made in the food processor. Season with salt and pepper.

Finally, fill acorn halves with the mixture and garnish with more parmesan and parsley.

Marvel at how pretty it is. Show your cat. Share with your boyfriend. And be amazed at how yummy fall can taste!

General Tao Tofu

10.28.2011

As I keep mentioning, I’ve got loads of produce I’m still in the process of consuming so here is another dish that I immediately thought of when I saw the mounds of broccoli in my fridge (I’ve made this recipe half a dozen times before and it always turns out oh so yummy).

Growing up, Chinese food was the what we got as take out and although I wasn’t a meat eater for the most of this time span (veggie fried rice and sweet n sour sauce did the job for me), I still always loved the general tao sauce. I’ve tried to get carry out where they would substitute in tofu but it’s not the same; their sauce is built for chicken and somehow the tofu doesn’t absorb it so it ends up super sweet all over the rice and bland on the tofu.

Anyways, this recipe is a perfect way to prepare this (and ends up 1000 times better than if you order take out!). The way that the corn starch (you can use potato starch to make it organic!) coats the tofu helps it to absorb the maximum amount of flavor possible and then you also know exactly what is going into your food (for much less than the price of take out!)

Okay, so whip this up for an easy comfort food dinner that you can enjoy while being lazy in front of the TV or as a pregame dinner with sake bombs!

General Tao Tofu

1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer

4 Tablespoons water

1 pound of extra firm tofu (drained and cut into 1-inch cubes)

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cornstarch

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2/3 cup vegetable stock

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup sugar

Dash of crushed red pepper flakes

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

Steamed Broccoli and cooked rice (For serving)

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg replacer with 3 Tablespoons water. Dip tofu in this mixture until completely coated and then sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cornstarch over the tofu until it’s completely coated.

Next, In a large pan fry the tofu by added them to a medium heated pan with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in it. Flip the tofu after about 2 minutes or until it is browned on all sides. When done, put the tofu on a plate lined with paper towel to drain any excess oil.

Mix remaining water and corn starch in a small bowl and set aside

Next, heat skillet over medium-high heat and add in remaining oil. Add ginger and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add vegetable stock, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, and vinegar. Add in the corn starch mixture and stir until well incorporated. Add fried tofu and coat evenly.

Serve warm with rice and steamed broccoli.

Mmmmmmmm.

Crispy Butternut Squash

10.26.2011

So I don’t know how it is where you are at but our Farmer’s Market here in the Midwest has been LOADED the past few Saturdays. And by loaded I mean filled with anything from fall squashes to assortments of leaf greens to root vegetables. This obviously means that I’ve acquired copious amounts of produce out of excitement but then realized that it is now a race to cook them all before they go bad. This goal has lead me to start spinning out side dishes like my job is a DJ (which it’s not- also, bad joke but whatever).

This butternut squash recipe was super simple and quick to prepare. In fact, I prepped the butternut squash on my lunch break so that all I had to do was mix all the other ingredients together and throw them on a cooking sheet while the oven was preheating.

I’d recommend that you take my measurements for this recipe lightly because I’m unsure of how much the butternut squash I used was weighed. The one I used was a perfect amount for a side for two people so I’d recommend getting a huge one if you want to serve more. I’d guesstimate that mine was about the size of your fist (this is assuming that my fists are relatively smaller than most) and a little longer than a fork.

Anyhooo, I served this with Quorn’s Cranberry & Goat Cheese Chik’n Cutlets but that’s because I don’t eat meat and needed a main dish in a hurry so feel free to put any sort of protein main in there!

Crispy Butternut Squash

Adapted from sprouted kitchen

1 butternut squash
dash of ground nutmeg
1/3 cup fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
olive oil
salt/pepper

First prep the butternut squash: peel it and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out center part that has the seeds and then cut into chunks.

Preheat the oven to 400. Next, line a baking sheet with tin foil and grease it. Toss the butternut squash, a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper until well incorporated than spread out in an even layer on the baking sheet.

In another bowl, mix together the thyme, parsley, breadcrumbs, and parmesan. Use your hands to make sure that it’s well incorporated into each other and becomes a sort of breading. Next spread the mixture over the butternut squash.

Cook for about 40 minutes.

Pile on your plate and munch on the crunch!

Salted Caramel Micchiato Popcorn balls

10.23.2011

Think starbuck’s caramel machiatto latte meets light and fluffy fall traditions?

These guys are perfect for the kid in you that has matured past that simple chocolate caramel combination and added the hint of dark espresso that we have become so use to in our daily lives! They are super light because of the fresh popped popcorn but still indulgent enough that you know it’s a fun versatile desert.

It’s an easy and cheap snack that could be perfect for a fall potluck or to serve your roommates for a Halloween treat. Or host a movie night with your roomies and make these instead of the traditional buttered popcorn. Either way, these are an addictivie and quick snack that are sure to be integrated into you’re normal snack routine.

Salted Caramel Macchiato Popcorn Balls

8 cups of prepared popcorn (I used air popped popcorn because I live in Indiana and our economy is centered around corn but feel free to use microwave!)
1 tablespoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon warm water
dash of cinnamon
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
20 caramel squares, unwrapped (10 more for drizzling if you’d like)

Combine the espresso powder and water to form a small paste. Next, add the chocolate chips, cinnamon and caramel. Microwave on high for 1 and a half minutes or until a everything has melted. Stir until mixed.

Combine your mixture with the popcorn and make sure that the mixtures coats all of it. Shape popcorn balls with your hands and place on wax paper for 10 to 15 minutes or until they have hardened.

Watch ‘The Never Ending Story’ and enjoy under the covers on the couch.

[Pine nut-less] Pesto

10.19.2011

I’ve always had this vendetta against pine nuts. They are just so darn expensive for no reason! There is noooo way that they could possibly be THAT much more expensive to grow than all other forms of nuts. I mean perhaps there is some very logical reasoning for having to spend 30 dollars on a small bag of pinenuts for dinner but I’m not going to search for that answer. I’m just going to continue to boycott and find alternatives.

I will admit, I loooove pinenuts when it’s on someone else’s tab and I especially like pesto so I decided it was time to get over the hurl of pinenuts for pesto and figure something out. I use a loose interpretation of a recipe off of my all time favorrrrite blog (because it mixes fun cute cartoons and easy vegan recipes soooo adorably) www.veganstoner.com.

I probably would have served this with some garlic naan or garlic bread if I had some but instead I just did a small side salad. Oh and with whole wheat pasta, of course! mmmmm

[Pine nut-less] Pesto

2 cups basil
1 cup cashews
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
salt/pepper
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tomato, chopped (for garnish)
whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Cook the noodles according to package. Let the cashews soak in hot water for about ten minutes (save the water after too!)

In a food processor (or blender!) blend the basil, nutritional yeast, and olive oil. Next, add the cashews, garlic, and a 1/4 cup of the cashew water.

Blend until completely combined and season with salt/pepper.

Enjoy on top of a big ol’ pile of whole wheat pasta!

Cheesy Sun-Dried Tomato Puffs [and Corn Chowder]

10.17.2011

The other night Kelsey and I decided to make some chowder to try to cure the rainy blues. With the cold weather approaching and my insides getting chilled, all I can seem to think about is hot soup and the way the warm broth tickles and soothes your throat as it goes down. I’ve got dozens of soup recipes on the back burner that I’ve had stashed away for cold weather so why not start now?

Okay, so I’m going to be completley honest…the corn chowder didn’t turn out has hopeful as planned. Kelsey and I tried to imitate the summer corn chowder from Panera Bread (RIP choooowdaaa) but it just wasn’t the same. It ended up bland and runny; nothing like expected. We ended up spicing it at the last minute with dried basil and oregano and salt and pepper but stilll….I’m not going to bother you with this disappointing recipe.

However, we made these goat cheese sun dried tomatoes muffins to go with it that were straight up addictive. I recommend making these with some sort of scrumptious soup to try to ensure you won’t just eat the whole batch of these for dinner!

Goat Cheesy Sun-Dried Tomato Puffs

1 cup + 1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 8 oz tube goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and a dash of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Next, whisk in the eggs and milk. Lastly, stir in goat cheese and tomatoes.

Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin tins and sprinkle evenly with the parmesan.

Bake for 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Share with friends [but not too many or they will eat all of them!]

Also, perfect for a fall picnic to bring along with a thermos of soup! Or a festive potluck if you double the recipe!

Nutella Cupcakes

10.13.2011

4 ingredients. That’s it. For these soft, brownie like cupcakes baked to a crispy top and gooey center.

The are probably the easiest baked goods I’ve ever made. It’s so simple yet I was in awe of how good the end product was. If you like chocolate (specifically nutella) than these cupcakes are the prefect thing to whip up in a hurry! I made them WHILE making dinner last night and it wasn’t an extra strain at all.

I will warn you…this recipe only makes 10 and they will go very fast. Living in a house of 5, these cupcakes didn’t last a half an hour.

And as always, the chance of you having hazelnuts just hanging around the house is unlikely (I think) so just pick up the amount you need for this recipe in your bulk section at your local co-op to same on money!

Quick Nutella Cupcakes

1 jar of Nutella (about a cup)
2 large Eggs
10 Tablespoons of flour
1/4 cup crushed hazelnuts (I just put them in a bag and beat them with a spoon!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and fill a cupcake tin with liners (mine only made 10 but you could probably spread them out into 12 to fill the whole tin).

Whisk the nutella and eggs together. Once combined, add the flour and mix until a thick batter is formed.

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full with the batter. Top with hazelnut chunks.

Cook for 15-17 minutes or until the top is cracking and a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes and then walk around and pass out your snack proudly to everyone in your household.

Consume. Enjoy. Etc.

Wheatberry Salad

10.09.2011

Have you ever had wheatberries? If not, you have to try them! They have such a unique texture which is so different from most grains that it’s an experience all in itself. Plus they are loaded with fiber and energy so you can eat this as a main or serve as a side salad with soup or meat substitutes.

I love to make a big batch of this salad on Sundays and eat it for lunch all week long. Here are 5 reasons why you have to make this salad:

so easy to take on the go because it doesn’t have to be refrigerated (though it’s recommended)
super filling
super healthy with loads of fiber and vegetable goodness (plus olive oil to help your body absorb those nutrients!)
relatively cheap to make big batches of
versatile so you can add whatever veggies you have on hand (so feel free to experiment and don’t stick to exact recipe!)

Wheatberry Salad

1 cup wheatberries, cookied
1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped (I had rainbow bell peppers from the farmers market that made it extra colorful)
1/2 cup chopped veggies (I usually use carrots but didnt have any so used cherry tomatoes. Feel free to add scallions, broccoli, spinach, etc)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

Cook wheatberries as directed on the package (usually along the lines of boiling and simmering them on the stove top for an hour).

While they are cooking, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onion and let cook for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Turn heat off and add rest of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and add salt/pepper to taste. Let sit for at least a half an hour (longer is recommended which is why I like making it for the week ahead) so that all the flavors absorb together.

Munch down on your porch. or with your kitty. or something.

Apple Swiss Bread

10.05.2011

Apple recipe # 2. Maybe I should make a whole theme countdown or something. You know…10 days of apple recipes or something. I don’t know. You’re right, that’s lame.

Anyways, so I went apple picking with some friends this weekend and took some pictures (which, of course, I’m gonna post on here! Why not?). It was a beautiful sweatshirt weather day with a blue sky and crispy breezes. The six of us (two of my roomates and three of my guy friends) piled into Wyatt’s car and off we went! To an apple wonderland that was about 25 miles away. If it hadn’t been for this apple oasis, this town would have been a tragic site with even the Goodwill being a disappointment.

But none-the-less the apple orchard was called Apple Acres and they had cidar and apple butter and caramel and apples galore!

Rows and rows of apple trees!

Ella searching for the perfect apple

Billy and Kurdus doin’ their pickin’

All the while…Abby was sleeping in the field next door

All in All…left with a pretty hefty load of goods!

Sooooooo…after a ridicoulsy long picture story, I have a recipe for you! It’s sooooo yummy! For one, it’s homemade bread which can never be bad and for two, it’s like the easiest homemade bread ever. No bread makers. No yeast so no waiting around for an extra hour for it to rise. Just mix the ingredients and stick it in the oven. Done. Eat. Repeat with another batch (not really…but you could because it’s that good).

Oh and eat it with some cream cheese on top because it’s sooooooooo perfect this way. Yup.

Apple Swiss Bread

1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 apples, grated
2/3 cup grated Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the butter and sugar until well combined. Add in the honey and eggs and continue to beat. Once well mixed, fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. When combined well enough to form a sticky dough, fold in the apples and swiss.

Put the dough in a greased bread pan (you know one of those long, deep guys!) and cook for 50 minutes.

Let cool before scarfing down. Enjoy with cream cheese and a drizzle of honey.

Share with your kitties (it has cheese so they’ll have to love them)!

Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cookies

10.04.2011

And here we go. I really really really hope you like apples because I went apple picking this weekend with some friends. Between me and my three roommates, we brought back pounds of apples so the apple recipes will be pouring out over the next few weeks. I took loads of pictures at the orchard on Saturday but I’ll do another post about that in a few days (because we all know I’ll have made more apple goodness things by then anyways) and I wanna talk about where I got this recipe in this post.

So I don’t know if you have ever been to Bloomington, Indiana but there is this non-profit bookstore called ‘Boxcar Books’ that is the mecca of independent writing (Boxcar Books) and a great place to browse when looking for some inspiration. It’s an old house transformed into rooms of independently published books and magazines and articles and zines and it’s sooooo good.

Anyways, it was 65 and sunny yesterday (woah, I thought it was October?) so we went on a nice walk downtown after dinner and ended up browsing at Boxcar. You may or may not have known this but I am a consumerist at it’s finest; I like to consider myself a vintage expert but most would consider my Goodwill and garage sale splurges as a sign of hoarding. Anyways, I found a few jewels last night and one was this adorable little European zine about Vegan cooking (go figure). This zine is called ‘The Cake Scoffer’ and it’s tag line is ‘Cheap n Easy Vegan cooking’. The thing that really sold me on this was that all the recipes have hand drawn animals making these baked goods which is just too adorable to pass up (I’ll add a picture of the zine later so you can get a better grasp of what I am talking about).

Anyways, as I mentioned this is a EUROPEAN zine soooooo the measurements are in ounces instead of cups! Oh coooool! What a nice small challenge for a super simple recipe! Okay, so I kept the recipe in ounces and I promise it’s not as hard as you’d think (if nothing else then just use liquid measuring cups for everything since they always have ounces on them anywayyys).

Also, these cookies were called scones in the zine but honestly they are too soft for me to bring myself to call them this. Feel free to eat them for breakfast or with your coffee to pretend like they are scones. I made mine triangles (kinda) since I thought they’d be scone like but you can just make them into yummy circle cookies

Cinnamon Apple Cookies

5 oz of all purpose flour
5 oz of whole wheat flour
1 oz of soy milk powder
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 oz of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4 oz of Earth Balance
1 tart apple, grated (but not peeled! Get rid of the core though. yuck!)
1/4 cup of cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (Ronny refers to this as gas mark 7, weirdo European).

Combine the flours, soymilk powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut in the Earth Balance (honestly just use your hands because it’ll get the job done so much faster…in fact, get a volunteer that wants to eat the end product to do the dirty work by sticking their hands in it). Next, mix the grated apple and slowly add a splash of water into the mixture until it forms a ball and all sticks together.

Roll into 12 seperate balls and put on a greased baking sheet.

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with sugar.

Share with your hand helper.

Blueberry Grunts

10.02.2011

SOOOO I just want to start out by reminding you that yesterday was World Vegertarian Day and I hope that you stayed clear of the meat for at least that one day! I made a really really scrumptous eggplant and zucchini lasagna that will be making a guest apparence on the blog very very soon. But until then….

I’ve been starting to feel sad as the berry season has come to an end and started to wish I took more advantage of it while it was around. Blueberries were on sale this week for a very not sale price but I caved knowing that the prices will only be growing as the winter approaches.

These blueberry grunts were the perfect closer to my berry cooking for the season. As we’ve talked about previously, I’m a huge fan of dough and dumplings so making a sweet version that floats in sugary blueberry goodness is just heaven for me. The dough helps tone down the sweetness and creates a perfect compliment to the juicy berriness.

And on a final note, anything that turns out bright purple after being cooked is a superstar in my book.

Blueberry Grunts

(Altered from VeganYumYum)

3 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 cup water
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons Earth Balance
3/4 cup Almond Milk (NOT FLAVORED, PLEASE!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat skillet over medium-high heat and add in blueberries, sugar, water, lime juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Boil berries for 10 minutes or until mixture has thickened.

While heating, make the dough. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut in the Earth Balance and then add the milk to form a sticky dough. If dry, add a bit more milk but don’t over combine or the dough will be tough!

Transfer the blueberry mixture to casserole dish (or a few tiny ones if you have them- that’d be really cute!) and drop the dough on top of the mixture as heaping round balls.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy hot with yummy yummy vegan coconut based ice cream (or real french vanilla ice cream if you aren’t vegan)

Share with your blueberry loving kitty (or just give her the ice cream since you know that’s what she wants anyways)!