whole grain yum
one of my new year’s resolutions is to bake every loaf that is in the bread bible. at one loaf a week it’ll take me a little over a year to accomplish this goal. the first section of the bread bible is british bread and the first bread is a cob. traditionally a hearty wholemeal peasant bread it gets it name of cob from its round shape, aka cob means head. so far one loaf down oh some many more loaves to go.
hit me with that dip!
i had the sudden realization that i hadn’t made much mexican of late, decision made let’s do nachos. note do not make nachos when you are SUPER HUNGRY. your plate turns into this giant mound of chips, beans, avocado, tomaotes, salsa, cheeses. the disappointing factor about the nachos was how the bottom chips became pure sog of beans and cheese. i won’t lie about my solution to the problem, it was to then go get the bag of tortilla chips and scoop up that soggie mess. while the nachos were yummy that blob of a mess they turned into was a real disappoint. i however was not ready to give up. a few days later i took the nacho ingredients i had leftover and created a layered bean dip. now that is the way to go…..dip, no sog of a mess but a well balance of all the fine mexican ingredients into one yummy bite after the other on crisp salty tortilla chips.
i’ll admit it i love ramen noodles. in fact i buy them in bulk at sam’s club, when you do the math it comes out 16 cents a package…..hot damn! most the time i cook up what i refer to as “fancy ramen” stir-frying vegetables to toss in. of late i’ve been concocting my own asian inspired sauces and throwing out that packet of flavor that’s jam-packed full of sodium. my favorite sauce so far is peanut sauces. i could eat peanut butter every day. on this meatless monday i made up a ginger-peanut sauce to toss into the ramen noodles. to add a little spice i heated up some morning-star spicy buffalo vegetarian nuggets. its simple its cheap and it satisfies my cravings for the far east.
RECIPE: GINGER-PEANUT SAUCE
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp ginger
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
*in a small saucepan cook peanut butter, olive oil and soy sauce over low to medium heat. you are wanting to just slightly melt the peanut butter, cooking on too hot a temp will fry it into a disastrous paste. once the peanut butter as melted and forms a smooth creamy sauce add in the ginger and garlic powder. the sauce goes great over ramen or as a dipping sauce for crispy tofu! if you are wanted to spice it up add in 2 tsp crushed red pepper, for extra spicy 2 tsp of sarachia as well.
dairy free cheesie yumminess
needless to say both steph and i love making and devouring something we refer to as the “nest of pasta” inspired by a dish at Zio’s italian restaurant. plan and simple its a bowl of pasta topped with ravioli yum yum and more yum. this time i added a twist i decided to bake it. my nest of pasta started with a bed of fettucine noodles then i added some pre-made mushroom ravioli i topped it with a jarred vegan red pepper alfredo sauce and some dairy-free smoked provolone cheese baked it in the oven and i was in pasta bliss!
There are 2 dishes I love to order when I go for Thai food, pineapple fried rice and drunkin noodles. Today at 2pm I formulated my plan for meatless Monday dinner….starving, craving tofu, and feeling cooked-out from the holidays I wanted yummy food put in front of me. The plan….drunkin noodles with tofu from Thai Express. Thai Express is far down some of the best Thai food in Springfield. It’s reasonable priced, apparently getting delivery soon, and though there is nothing fancy about the decor, the guy behind the counter is the sweetest person ever. My new plan is to try one of their specials next time, become adventurous and maybe I’ll find a new favorite!
add it to the list….i’ve been a food judge now. brentwood library called me up a week ago to see if i’d like to participate in their teen food competition that is based around the book series of the hunger games and of course i had to accept. the kids were broken into teams. to earn extra ingredients they had to answer trivia questions from the books, with a microwave and a wide selection of ingredients they rushed the tables to grab what they needed to create wonderful treats for the judges to try.
selection of ingredients for round 1
teams hard at work
the first round were appetizers. all the teams created pizzas with tortillas, cheese, and a variety of toppings and sauces. the winner of the round was team 3 with their bit size slices topped with mini pepperoni and banana peppers.
the winning app
the second and final round was dessert. all contestants were required to decorate a small sponge cake. the winner created a chocolate-banana cake. i was most impressed with their idea of taking coco powder mix and adding it to cool whip to get a chocolate whipped cream. the second runner-up created an elaborate chocolate volcano out of cool whip and chocolate chips.
ingredients for round 2
dessert time
the kids were great and so serious about their cooking as well as their indepth knowledge of the hunger games series. my guess is there are some future food bloggers in that group!
lift your jar to the sky
yes it’s that time of year again, when i go and buy whiskey in massive amounts and then add strange and exotic ingredients to it. the jars sit around my house for a month and then the festival begins. friends are invited over, tiny cups are handed out and the sipping begins. on the list this year were 14 hand-crafted concoctions from BBQ flavor to strawberry shortcake. while sipping, the crew devised a plan to mark the lids of the whiskies that they really liked, at the end of the night we’d see which whiskey gained the most marks and next year i’ll infuse it again as a gold metal winner. the winner you might ask? french toast! as one tester declared as she added some french toast whiskey to a mug of coffee……”i feel like i’m drinking breakfast!”
the master list of infused whiskies from 2013
mole
french toast
orange
orange-chocolate
strawberry short cake
mint-lime
BBQ
caramel
honey pie
vanilla-cinnamon
snikerdoodle
pecan pie
sweet basil
gingerbread
paul knows
sometimes you just need a little comfort on your plate and for me that has always been a jar of paul newman’s spaghetti sauce with a big heaping amount of pasta. to make it extra creamy and cheese i added a bunch of tofutti dairy-free ricotta cheese. what can i say? yum…mmmmm…..nom……sweet heavenly bliss!
Every Halloween week I always bake up a batch of soul cakes. Soul cakes are a medieval tradition, where you leave the scone like treats out for the souls to feed them, keep them happy and leave your home alone. This year I changed them up a bit I created vegan pumpkin soul cakes…yum um! To make the halloween treats even better I paired the cakes with a mug of warm spiced cider. Happy Halloween!!!
RECIPE: Spiced Apple Cider
Makes one mug full
11/2 cups apple cider
3 fingers of spiced rum
1 cinnamon stick
1 slice of orange
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan, bring to a simmer, allow to simmer for 3 minutes, pour into mug experience fall bliss
a bowl full of fall
i received a present of an acorn squash and a butternut squash (yay for all the little farmers i know!) how to turn them into a yummy dinner was the next question. with the cooler weather approaching, fire building and mugs of spiced apple cider happening, a curried squash seemed to fit the bill. to make the squash a bit easier to handle i decided to roast them. once they were soft enough to cut up i tossed them in to a red curry sauce that had lentils, carrots, potatoes and onions. lets just say it tasted like fall!
RECIPE: HOW TO ROAST SQUASH
squash it!
roasting squash is simply and easy. to cut an acorn or butternut squash in half cut off the stem ends, stand it on the flattened side, and gently rock your knife back and forth. once the squashes are cut in half, lightly brush on olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. roast the squash for 1 hour at 350. the squash should be so tender that you can scoop them out of their pealing. eat as is or toss them into a soup, pasta, or salad!
Hearty Eaters 