hearty vegan basil tomato soup with pasta

 I got this idea originally from here. Obviously, I had to find a way to veganize it, though, since I don't eat meat or cheese. Simply omitting those ingredients was a success in my book, but it just didn't feel right calling it "lasagna soup" anymore, since it didn't really remind me of lasagna when I was eating it.

 But it was still yummy :)

Here's what I did:

3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 pint baby portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 Italian pepper, finely chopped
2-3 vine tomatoes, chopped (optional, I just had some to use up)
1 cup of fresh basil, chopped (plus a few extra leaves for garnish, if desired)
2 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes (I used one regular and one fire roasted)
28 oz of water
1-2 Tbsp coconut or safflower oil
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste
2-3 cups dry pasta (I used spirals, which I think work best)

In a medium pot, set water boiling for your pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente.

While pasta water is heating, in a large pot, heat your coconut oil over medium heat. Once hot, add your garlic, onion, mushrooms and Italian pepper and turn the heat up to medium high. Saute, covered, until mushrooms have released their moisture and onions have begun to turn translucent.

Add your fresh tomatoes, basil, crushed tomatoes, water, olive oil and salt & pepper. Once pasta is finished cooking, drain and rinse under cold water and add to the soup pot. Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium low. This will allow the flavors to meld.

Serve hot.

This makes a lot. 6-8 servings, I would say. Unless you're feeding a 6 1/2 foot tall man, in which case it is about four. I have strong feelings about overeating and this soup sparked a huge controversy in my weird world.

So be warned, it is delicious and should not be left unattended.

;)
-A.

vegan burrito with garlic jalapeno sauce

Because it's for a serious health problem this time around, I've been trying to be very strict about my vegan diet (except for eggs). When I slip up I feel very guilty. 

I see it's difficult for people to understand (or even believe) why I need to be so careful, so if I do slip up, it really doesn't help me to convince them and it also introduces things into my body that could complicate my condition. 

But if you don't do it properly, veganism can get dull pretty quick. Especially because I cannot have any of the processed delights that most vegans can treat themselves to, or tofu (although admittedly I've been eating too much of it lately). 

It does get tiring--checking labels, always cooking from scratch. And being tired leads to laziness. Laziness leads to slip ups. I'm pretty proud of myself, though, because I had to be in a room with a bunch of people gorging on pizza (my favorite food) this weekend and I couldn't have any. Sure, I was surly about it, but I held strong, anyway, so whatever.

So, to keep myself on track, I've been trying to diversify my meals by looking up recipes online. I keep up with several vegan food blogs, such as Oh She Glows, Vegan Richa and Vegan Yum Yum (which is no longer updated, but still has good recipes!). 

Sometimes the recipes are a little too complicated for what I feel like doing, or I don't have the right ingredients on hand, or they inspire me to get creative and come up with my own dish. 

For this recipe I used a sauce from Vegan Richa, found here. I made the garlic jalapeno sauce exactly as instructed but instead of having it over pasta (which I also want to try), I decided to have it over some sauteed veggies, beans and rice.

It was really yummy and sort of satisfied the dairy cravings I've been having lately (even if only temporarily). The sauce was creamy and had the flavor of the jalapeno and a little of its heat, but not too much.

Get the sauce recipe here and for the rest you'll need:

1 small orange pepper, sliced
1 small yellow pepper, sliced
1/2 a medium onion, chopped
1 cup of brown rice
1 can black beans, drain and rinsed
1 Tbsp coconut oil (or other oil)
Wraps or tortillas (I used spinach wraps because I could not find flour tortillas at the store that day)
1/4 garlic jalapeno sauce
Optional toppings: salsa, vegan sour cream, vegan cheese shreds, avocado, etc.

Start your rice according to package instructions.

In a pan, melt your coconut oil over medium high heat. When you've brought your oil to temperature, toss in all of your veggies and sauté until they begin to soften and brown.

Add 1/4 cup of the garlic jalapeno sauce, and stir until the sauce is heated and the mixture is well combined.

Warm a tortilla in a clean warm frying pan or in the microwave (10-20 seconds) until soft and malleable. Layer rice, black beans and veggies and fold into a wrap.

Best served hot.

You could add more sauce if you like, or use a different kind of rice, or rice recipe (I bet Spanish rice would be delicious, too!)

I had mine with salsa and it was just wonderful :)

Enjoy!
-A.

spaghetti and veggie sauce

Every Sunday I try to make a big meal that will last for my lunches through most of the week. But sometimes I don't have time or the motivation to cook. Sunday are for relaxing, after all. 

A couple Sundays ago I was short on motivation so I decided to use whatever I had lying around which resulted in this yummy veggie sauce! It made A LOT. So I had plenty for lunch all week.

I had mine over whole wheat linguine, but any pasta would do, or you could incorporate it into any dish that requires a tomato sauce base.

This recipe is very versatile, but for mine, I used:

1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 zucchini, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 of a large onion, chopped
6 small tomatoes, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, to taste
salt, pepper & Italian seasoning, to taste
water

Place all of your ingredients into a blender and pour in enough water to almost cover your veggies. Blend until you achieve a sauce-like texture.

Pour the mixture into a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Allow sauce to simmer, covered, on low for 20-60 minutes (depending on how big of a rush you're in). This is just to allow the flavors to meld.

Serve hot over pasta.

Enjoy!
-A.

kalamata tomato sauce

 Now here's a recipe I can stand behind.

This I adapted from a recipe I read in "Better Homes & Gardens" about four years ago. I can't link to it, since I don't have it anymore. But also, it's come a long way since then and is probably not much the same anymore, anyway.

At the time I was living in my first ever apartment, above a gun shop on Main Street in Norway. I miss that little apartment. . . . And Maine in general. I'm finding myself very homesick today.

This is my favorite dish, I think, so it's the perfect thing to have while eating my emotions.

What I love most about this recipe is the flavor of the grape tomatoes and the Kalamata olives. It's kind of a fresher, lighter, more flavorful take on regular old spaghetti. 

I also love that it's quick, simple and makes a lot. I made this Thursday night and I'm still eating the delicious leftovers!

Here's what you need to make this: 

2 pints grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 pint baby portobello mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives (whole or sliced)

1/4 cup Kalamata olive juice

5-6 large basil leaves, chopped

2 small yellow onions, finely chopped

1 Italian pepper, finely chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup water

salt & pepper, to taste

1 Tbsp of coconut oil (you could use olive if you want)

1 Tbsp of olive oil

1 lbs pasta (fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti would all be fine)

In a medium-sized sauce pan, heat 1 Tbsp of coconut oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add your garlic, onion and pepper. Stir regularly to avoid burning. Once the onions have softened, add in your mushrooms. 

The mushrooms will begin to release their moisture and your mixture will become slightly more . . .well, moist. At this point, add in your tomatoes, olives, olive juice, water and basil. Stir to combine and allow to simmer on low while you bring to boil a pot of water for, and cook, your pasta. 

If your sauce begins to thicken too much, add a little more water. 

Once pasta is finished cooking, and drained, toss with your sauce, adding a little olive oil to keep pasta from sticking together. serve hot, or cold! It's delicious both ways.

Oh! I almost forgot, I added a can of small white beans to my recipe this time (pictured). That's totally optional. I like to add beans to things because it gives me some protein. 

Enjoy!

-A.

cauliflower mac & cheese: it was 'ok'

I was pretty excited about this recipe at first. It seemed like just the kind of thing that I want to be posting about on here. Things that are clever, delicious and good for non-vegans. 

It LOOKS good, right? 

But it was SO disappointing! :(

It's not that I expected it to taste like cheese. Cauliflower and nutritional yeast hardly a cheese make, but I was hoping it could at least be the friend I turn to when suffering the sad grief of my break up with cheese.

But it wasn't. It was just something else entirely. Not BAD, necessarily, which is why I chose to write about it, but just . . . too strong, I think? Too much cauliflower. Too much nutritional yeast, which I don't really like the smell or flavor of in the first place, but I kind of forgot that part.

My recipe was adapted from this and I'm gonna tell you what I did, and what I would do differently.

What you need:

1 head of cauliflower (just the florets, really)
2 large carrots, chopped and peeled (not in that order)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup water
1/3 olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp honey or dijon mustard
dash of nutmeg
salt, to taste
1 lb. pasta (elbows, or spirals or shells, whatever you like)

In a large pot, boil your cauliflower florets and carrots until mashable with a fork (15-20 minutes).

If you have a large and/or powerful blender or food processor, throw everything in there until smooth and creamy.

If you have a small weak food processor like mine, mash your cauliflower and carrots in a bowl and combine remaining ingredients. Spoon into your processor in batches and blend until smooth and creamy.

I hope you cooked your pasta in the meantime, according to box directions, because now you can mix the whole thing together and serve hot.

Now. If I do this again, which I may, I will make the following amendments to the ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower
2 carrots
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup (or slightly less) nutritional yeast
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt

I've also read that it can be made with potatoes instead of cauliflower which would maybe make it better. That sounds a lot less healthy, but I'll have to try it with that sometime, too.

Anyway, try at your own risk!

Peace,
-A.

why i'm going vegan again + a little about endometriosis

Hey guys! I know it's been a little bit since my last post, for that I apologize. I have a list of excuses prepared for you: a.) I have to move again, so I spent some time fretting and some time searching for a new place. The latter was a success and my new place is HUGE and SUNNY and I won't have to bring all of my things into my bedroom to photograph (yeah, that Christmas ham was photographed in my bedroom...!). b.) holidays, of course. c.) I took a break from writing my book while I was healing and during the holidays and there was some inertia there getting back into it, but the last few days I've been working on it non-stop and I haven't wanted to interrupt that flow. d.) a general lack of ideas....and also the people who lease our apartment have been doing some invasive renovations that have been pretty disruptive and distracting.

Think about me without a stove or oven for a week and you will understand why I haven't felt like doing anything!

Alright, enough of that. . . . I know this blog is mostly not personal stuff, but since it's my blog I thought I'd talk a little about me and my life right now. Which is going great, by the way, except for basically one thing:

As I mentioned before, I had surgery just before Christmas. The surgery was to remove an ovarian cyst that
has ruptured a few times but never gone away. My doctor suspected it might be endometriosis and it turned out to be just that.

While they removed all of it during the surgery, there is a good chance that it's going to come back. My doctor was pretty insistent that the best and possibly only way to reduce this risk was for me to take birth control. I don't really believe in that. I was on the Pill for four and a half years and they were the worst four and a half years of my entire life. Since being off it I made leaps and bounds: I don't feel sick all of the time anymore and I don't have the severe mood swings or deep depression that I suffered from before.

recipe here

I believe wholeheartedly that you ARE what you EAT and that people are quick to dismiss the healing powers of food. Think about it though: food powers your body. It's what makes us go. Other animals have extremely strict diets because they need very specific things from their food to keep their bodies working properly. The human body has adapted to tolerate a wide range of foods but that doesn't mean all of these foods are beneficial.

That is why I am going vegan again. I'm giving it six months before I meet with my doctor again to determine whether we need to take other measures.

I'm cutting out all foods that contain hormones which primarily includes dairy (the worst offender), meat and soy. (Soy! you might be thinking, How can a vegan live without soy! Trust me though, it's possible and while hard to avoid when eating out, it's not an imperative staple in a vegan diet). This is because endometriosis is aggravated by high levels of estrogen. I'm cutting out sugars because they're inflammatory and I'm cutting out alcohol because it inhibits your liver's ability to filter toxins.

recipe here

Because I have endometriosis, my body is constantly repairing and healing itself. 8.5 million women and girls in America are estimated to suffer from this disease and that might make you think that it's common and therefor not a big deal, but that's simply not true. Any disease is a big deal because it means there's something not right in your body.

Now, I'm not saying there's not something to be said for modern medicine. I think modern medicine is great and it saves countless lives every minute of every day. But I think people have come to rely on drugs to treat their ailments TOO much. It can be so much more simple than that.

Obesity is a disease that illustrates this point perfect. Weight loss drugs are a HUGE industry in our world today which blows my mind because obesity is nearly always caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. So, instead of eating more vegetables and getting your body moving, people choose to put MORE chemicals in to try to shed the weight, but I've seen VERY little evidence that that even really works. The veracity of the claims by these drug manufactures are continually being debunked and then a new drug pops up. It's just crazy.

Anyway, I'm getting off point.

My diet change will mean a change for l'elan jolie, as well, as you may have guessed. I'll no longer be posting hams or chicken soups, but I promise that anything I do post will be delicious and suitable for all of you omnivores out there (my primary taste-tester Tom, is not vegan so he'll tell me if something sucks or not!)

If any of my readers out there are suffering from endometriosis as well, please feel free to get in touch with me! Despite the prevalence of this disease I don't actually know anyone else who has it but I'd love to talk about how it's affected your life and what you have found useful in coping with it. I'm still learning!

Thanks for reading and I PROMISE to have some more on point posts coming up soon! <3

Peace,
-A.

baked ham with honey orange glaze and lemon parsley asparagus

Hi everyone. I hope you are all enjoying the last day of the year doing something you love! Unlike me, who has to work :/ blerg. Oh well, c'est la vie! :D

Here, at last, is my Christmas ham! Just in time for you to make on New Year's Day, if you're into that sort of thing.

Last year on New Year's day I was most likely nursing a hangover. This year I will not be doing that, but I may be tending to the hangovers of others! And not cooking up a fancy meal. There's always next year :)

At any rate! Here is the ham recipe and, BONUS, a roasted asparagus recipe, to boot!

The ham (isn't it cute? we called it our "hamlet" ...I guess that's also kind of sad):

First you need a ham. Even ham steaks would do. The tricky part here is measure for the size ham you have. Basically, you want enough to thickly coat your ham, twice, plus some (just in case).

My ham was 2.67 lbs, and pre-cooked, so I just had to heat it through. Follow the safe cooking directions on your ham's packaging.

The glaze:

2 oranges, one zest grated and juiced, one sliced
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp  and 1 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp boiling water
A handful of whole cloves (optional)

See your ham packaging for cooking instructions. Just for reference, mine said to bake for 20-30 minutes per pound, at 350.

Preheat your oven.

Boil your water and measure out two tablespoon, whisk your cornstarch into this, then add your honey, orange juice and zest. Whisk until well combined.

This is optional, but what I did was to poke whole cloves into the the ham in rows, about an inch apart.

I poured half of my glaze over the ham to start, then followed the package instructions, baking for 1 hour and 10 minutes, covered in foil. Then I took it out, poured the rest of the glaze over and baked uncovered for 30 minutes. Then when it was done, I let it rest a bit, and then placed it on the tray on top of some orange slices and drizzled the glaze from the roasting pan over the top.

Now for the ASPARAGUS!

For this you will need:

1 bunch of asparagus
Juice from 1 lemon
2 Tbsp melted butter (or Earth Balance)
2 Tbsp honey
black pepper
flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat your oven to 325 (I used a toaster oven, since my regular oven was full)

Mix together your lemon juice, melted butter and honey.

Place asparagus on a baking sheet, taking care not to overlap any of the spears. Drizzle the mixture over and pepper to taste. Sprinkle parsley over the top. You don't need much, just, like, enough. I don't know. Whatever you think is best. Save some fresh for garnishing.

I guess I had mine in the toaster oven for about 25 minutes. Most recipes I've read for roasted asparagus say 400 degrees for 25 minutes. That probably yields a crispier asparagus than what I ended up with.

But it was still delicious!

I hope you all have a magnificent New Year's Eve and subsequent New Year's Day.

Love,
-A.

healthful scalloped sweet potatoes

As I may have mentioned before, for about eight months earlier this year I was vegan. I got to explore plenty of interesting vegan recipes and alternatives. One of which, these great scalloped potatoes.

Since not being vegan anymore, I've noticed that dairy, in particular, just does not sit well with me (it probably never did, but I had nothing to compare it to). Especially creams and soft cheeses :( For this reason, while I've been recovering I decided to go dairy-free wherever possible, including important dinners.

Interestingly enough, the only thing about our Christmas breakfast and dinner that wasn't vegan was the ham itself.

Our creamy scalloped sweet potatoes were vegan, though!

Here's how I made them:

3 sweet potatoes, sliced thin (or use regular potatoes)
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup Earth Balance, melted
6 Tbsp flour
~2 cups almond milk (or any kind of milk)
salt & pepper to taste
paprika

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Whisk your salt and pepper into the flour.

Mix together your onions and potatoes and create a layer on the bottom of a buttered 9x9" baking pan.

Pour 1/3 of your melted butter over the potatoes and onions and dust with 1/3 of the flour.

Do this two more times, so you have three layers.

Pour your milk over, until it reaches the top of the pan. I didn't measure my milk for this, I just poured.

Dust paprika over the top of the potatoes.

Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until potatoes are soft enough to break apart easily with a fork, or (like I did) bake for 1 hour covered with foil, and finish later, or the next day, baking for 1 1/2 hours, uncovered.

Either way you choose, I recommend placing a baking sheet under your pan. This may seem like a no-brainer but I didn't do this at first and then I had to clean the oven, so . . . yeah.

The photo above shows my potatoes only halfway through the cooking process, which is why the milk/butter/flour mixture looks a little separated and runny. It hadn't quite cooked down yet. But I promise this is a great alternative to the regular, and much more healthful!

Enjoy!
-A.

pumpkin waffles

Of course Christmas breakfast has to be special, even if it's just for two. I thought about making a quiche to go along with these waffles, but doing all the cooking myself was a lot of work and I didn't think we really needed quiche and waffles. I'm glad I didn't make the quiche. I barely have room for our leftovers as it is!

These pumpkin waffles, however, were amazing! Here's how they happened:

1 cup all-purpose white flour
1 cup all-purpose wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 table spoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash of salt
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup almond milk*
1 cup water*
1/4 cup cream cheese*
4 tablespoon Earth Balance vegan margarine, melted
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Heat your waffle iron according to manufacturer directions and coat with vegetable oil.

In a bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Separate your egg whites from your yolks and place in separate bowls.

To your yolks, add the milk, water, cream cheese and margarine and whisk until well combined.

Whip your egg whites with an electric hand mixer, working your way up through the speeds until you are on high. Your egg whites are ready when they will hold a peak.

Add wet ingredients over the flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in egg whites. If you find that the mixture seems to be too thick (it'll be somewhat thicker than other waffle batters I've used), add a little milk.

Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto waffle iron and smooth somewhat into shape, adding more batter if needed.

*You can also use 1 1/2 cups of any kind of milk, to sub here. I used what I did because I did not have enough almond milk :)

Serve warm with lots of syrup and butter!

Peace!
-A.

creamy beef and black bean burrito filling

So I know this isn't a very holiday-esque dish, but I made this for dinner on Christmas Eve. It was just going to be Tom and I, and since the special Christmassy food was coming the next day, I wanted to make something different.

For this I used:

1 tomato, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 can black beans
< 1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon beef base
3 Tbsp cream cheese
taco seasoning & cayenne pepper, to taste

Heat a little bit of oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Add all of your veggies and cover, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have begun to soften and have released their juices.

Stir in your beef base (I used just under a tablespoon).

Stir in your cream cheese until well combined. Season as you wish, with taco seasoning, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper or chili powder.

Serve hot wrapped in a tortilla and/or over rice!

We had ours without rice, in tortillas. They were a satisfying break from the usual holiday fare.

Of course, not to let you down, I will be posting what holiday fare I did make shortly! :)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!
-A.

peppermint bark snickerdoodles

 Last month some of the gals at work did a very thoughtful and generous thing for me. I've had some stuff going on this fall and they were a big help. I wanted to thank them a long time ago, but I just hadn't had the time. This last weekend I found myself with a bit of free time so I decided to make some peppermint bark snickerdoodles.

They were delicious, if I do say so myself. But unfortunately I only ended up with half a batch because the other half got burnt.

This is the recipe that I adapted mine from, but I had to make some changes because I didn't have cream of tartar. It's a great recipe, but it also resulted in my horribly burnt cookies. The bottoms were black and they turned into rocks. Here's my version:

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint flavor

Preheat oven to 375. Line your cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set this aside. In a larger bowl, mix together sugar and butter until well combined, using an electric hand mixer. Add eggs, vanilla and peppermint until well combined. Slowly add dry ingredients. You can use your handmixer at first, but I found that after a fashion, using my hands worked better. Kneed your dough until all ingredients are well combined.

Roll pieces of dough into 1/2" - 1" balls and place evenly and well spaced on parchment paper. Flatten into 1/4" thick patties using a small jar or glass.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, move to cooling rack.

For the icing:

Using an electric hand mixer beat together 1 egg white and 1 cup confectioner's sugar, at first on low until combined, then for a few minutes on high. If you like, add in 1/8 tsp peppermint flavor or vanilla extract. (Note: the latter may result in a more yellow icing.)

Once cookies have cooled completely, dip them flat into the icing, then flat into crushed peppermint candies. I used candy canes, which I crushed up. My guess is, for a full batch, you would need about 4 regular sized candy canes, or maybe half a small bag of peppermint candies.

The end!

Peace,
-A.

peppermint hot cocoa

I love peppermint this time of year. Peppermint everything. Peppermint lip balm. Peppermint bark. Peppermint soap. Peppermint hot cocoa. . . .

So this weekend I decided to make some! Cocoa, that is. If you're really not so good in the kitchen, you could definitely make this with some Swiss Miss and peppermint flavor, but if you like to get crafty, you can make it like I did.

For this I used:

2-3 cups almond milk (or any kind of milk)
2 Tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder (you can use any kind, but I swear, Dutch makes the difference)
1 1/2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
1/8 tsp salt (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/8 tsp peppermint flavor (more, to taste, but this is the absolute min you can put in and still taste it)
1 Tbsp sugar (optional, I didn't use sugar in mine)

Heat your milk in a sauce pan slowly over medium low heat (be especially slow and careful if using dairy!).

When milk is hot, stir in chocolate chips until fully melted and combined.

Whisk in cocoa powder and salt, vanilla, and sugar, if using.

Whisk in peppermint flavor.

This makes for a very rich cocoa! The measurements, as I'm sure you've come to realize is my M.O., are approximate. If you want to omit the chocolate chips, go ahead! If you do, you should definitely use sugar and maybe a little more cocoa powder.

I also wanted to mention that I will be on another hiatus for the rest of this week. Lots of Christmas prep and some personal things coming up so I decided it might be best to take a little vacation from the blog. I will be back next week, I believe!

In the meantime, enjoy your own holiday prep, if you're prepping, and if not, just enjoy your week, all the same :)

Peace,
-A.

balsamic roasted veggies

I've been lucky so far since I  moved to New York that I haven't had to spend any important holidays alone. Last year, I spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her family, and I got to fly home for Christmas. I even had Valentine's day covered!

This year I was able to go all the way home for Thanksgiving, which was really exciting for me because it's my favorite holiday!

The only downer was that I wasn't able to help cook, as it ended up being an eleven-hour journey this time so I got home just in time to eat. 

Next year I'm hoping to be able to coordinate more time off so I can be integral in the cooking process. I'm starting to think early about what I might like to make. My family agrees that we need some more color on our table, so I was thinking balsamic roasted brussels sprouts, maybe?

For this experimental recipe I used a bunch of different veggies. Here's how I did it (as always, measurements are approximate):

2 cups brussels sprouts, quartered
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
4 garlic cloves
1 yellow onion (I cut my onion in half, sliced up each half and pulled it apart. I don't know what thats called)
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 375.

Place all your cut veggies in a large mixing bowl, pour over the vinegar and oil, use a spoon (or, as I did, your hands), to turn the veggies until evenly coated. Turn your coated veggies out into a roasting pan.

Roast for 20 minutes, then stir up your veggies, turning them over, and roast another 15 minutes, or until all veggies are beginning to brown. I think I got impatient here and turned my oven up to 425 for the second leg. It worked out fine but I can't recommend that method. It feels wrong.

These were really delicious (and healthy!). I'm not sure if I loved the brussels sprouts quite enough to incorporate into our most important dinner of the year, but they're definitely a great side for standard meals. I've seen some recipes that include herbs and Dijon mustard in their balsamic roasted veggies, maybe I'll have to explore that more in the future. I'll let you know how that turns out!

-A.

fry fail

Here's a really good example of why "winging it" is not always the best way to cook. This past weekend I tried to make some baked carrot and sweet potato fries. I'm not sure where I went wrong, but they started getting a little blackened before they came anywhere near being crispy fries.

I set my oven to 425 degrees. I cut up the sweet potatoes and carrots very thinly, as uniformly as possible. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper (we don't have non-stick baking sheets, though maybe I should pick some up?). I drizzled with a little olive oil. I baked for like 40 minutes, turning them over a couple times.

Here is a really great simple recipe for baked sweet potato fries that I probably should've looked up before attempting (though, in my defense, it seems tough to screw this up). I have more sweet potatoes so I will definitely be attempting this again.

It seems my biggest error was an over crowded pan. I'm super impatient so I didn't want to do two batches. Also, the recipe I linked says to cover the fries evenly with oil, which I did not do, and heat to 450 degrees, and not to use parchment paper because it will burn. Which it did.

So there you have it. Sometimes I'm wrong. But at least I admit when I am! :) You can trust me!

The not-fries were still yummy, though. They just turned out to be like, roasted carrots and sweet potatoes (imagine!). I've been having them for lunch at work, along with the chickpeas I made. Pretty satisfying.

Peace & love,
-A.

sauteed chickpeas

Last February I decided to go vegan. I did pretty well for about six months and then the whole thing imploded. I'd like to go back to being vegan at some point. I didn't realize how good I was feeling until I started eating dairy again. Some people report almost instantly feeling better on a vegan diet. It was more gradual and subtle for me. And it can be tough, especially if you're the only vegan you know.

Personally, I had a lot of great support from the people around me. Even the folks at work started ordering vegan pizzas for us (there are a few vegans in my office) at pizza parties (we get one once a month!).

One of the things I always found really exciting about veganism was discovering new recipes. One of the things I realized I'd been missing my whole life is sauteed chickpeas. They are SO good! And really easy, too!

For my chickpeas, I took a 15oz can and drained and rinsed the beans in a colander. Then I spread them out on a baking sheet and put in the oven while I was pre-heating it for something else (that story is for later this week...). I stirred them around a couple times to make sure they were getting dried out (you could also dry them with paper towels, or a clean towel. I don't like to waste paper towels and I'm afraid of fuzz, so I use the oven).

Then I tossed them in some olive oil, salt, pepper and cayenne (seasonings to taste, oil enough to cover evenly). In a pan I heated a little more olive oil over medium high heat and threw in the beans, stirring regularly until they started to brown.

They are truly delicious. They'd be great with some garlic, too. Anything, really. I've done them a few different ways, but I like that they're good plain, too.

-A.

hearty vegetable chili ... from scratch!

This morning it snowed for the first time this year! While the first snow is always pretty and exciting, and pretty exciting, it means winter is coming and winter is a long, long time in the Northeast.

But, there's chili. What would winter be without it? It's darn near perfect. It's hearty. It's spicy (if you want). It's warm. It's versatile. It's delicious.

I take the same approach to making chili that I do for everything else. I wing it. Always. Chili is easy to do that with.

Here's what I put in this chili:

1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red peppers, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped (optional, to taste)
1 small white potato, chopped (optional)
1 portobello mushroom, chopped (optional)
5 smallish vine-rippened tomatoes, chopped (could sub 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes)
1 15oz can dark red kidney beans
1 15oz can black beans
2-4 Tbsp chili powder
1 good shake cayenne (optional, to taste)
1/4-1/2 Tbsp dried cilantro (optional, or you could use fresh)
2-3 good shakes of smokey chipotle Tabasco (optional)
1 small drizzle of agave (because I thought it might be getting to spicy, this is definitely optional)
1 cup beef broth (made from water and Better Than Bouillon beef base, optional ... if not for this, this chili would've been vegan. You could use a vegetable broth or just go with some plain old free water)

I also threw in some celery because I had it to use up. You could add any color pepper. I've put corn in there before. You could use different beans. Ground beef, ground turkey, bison, moose. TVP. Rice. Basically, as long as you have beans of some kind, peppers, onion, garlic, and tomato, you can throw in chili powder and have chili. The rest is up to you. I've also put in cocoa powder in, in the past. I'm not sure if it really had a big affect, but it's an idea to play with.

At any rate, I sauteed the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat until the onion had become transparent (stir regularly, leave the lid on). Then I added the peppers, mushroom and potato. I let that basically heat through, stirring occasionally (lid on), while I chopped the tomatoes. I added the tomatoes and let this whole mixture sit over high heat (lid off), stirring regularly until the vegetables released all their juices and reduced their size by about 1/3 (when your pot is 1/3 less full than when you started, in other words). Then I threw in my beans, spices/seasonings and the broth mixture and cooked over high heat, lid on, but cocked to the side, allowing steam out, until the potatoes were soft (if you can stick a fork in 'em, they're done).

That's all. That's chili for you.

Feel free to share your special chili renditions in the comments!

Peace & love,
-A.

the peppermint bark ordeal

 I know, I know. . . it's still a little early for candy canes. But I was at the drug store the other night and they already have their Christmas merch out! And peppermint bark squares at the counter!

I love peppermint bark. I can't remember the first time I had it but it was fairly recent in the grand scheme of things. I really should've been eating it long before. It's amazing.

Last year we got all the stuff to make peppermint bark but never did. Those chocolate and white chocolate chips disappeared, of course. The parchment paper got used up, too, but I still had the peppermint flavor, so I decided to get it in early, just to make sure I get to it at all. It's really easy to make, though I did make a couple of silly mistakes, I'll share with you my process and my recommendations. Do as I say, not as I do!

As you can see, the white chocolate of my peppermint bark is in the inside, rather than on top like I meant for it to be. That is because I do not know how to melt white chocolate, apparently. We'll get to that....

What you need for this is:

Most of 1 bag of chocolate chips
Most of 1 bag of white chocolate chips
Candycanes or peppermints, crushed (you can do this with something solid and a Ziplock bag, or do what I did and break them into little pieces, put them in a bowl and then pulverize with a glass jar. It's a little messy, but fun, and you save a plastic bag!)
Peppermint flavor (optional)
Parchment paper on a baking tray

I melted my chocolate chips in the microwave on high for 1 minute, stirred and kept putting them back for 20-30 second intervals until thoroughly melted. Then I added a few drops of peppermint flavor (more or less depending on your preference, or you can omit altogether for a more subtle peppermint bark).

I spread the melted chocolate out on the parchment paper and allowed to cool. Well, I was in a hurry (as per usual) so I stuck it in the freezer for about 10 or 15 minutes. This was silly because the chocolate didn't really set up in that time, it just got cold so it appeared to be set, but melted as soon as I tried to spread the white chocolate on... I recommend putting it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.

I then set to melting my white chocolate in the microwave, as well. As I began, Tom said, "Aren't white chocolate chips really hard to melt?" I said, "I don't know, I've never heard that." But, as it turned out, he was right. They started to melt, at first, but then ceased melting and became just a kind of solid-ish mush. I tried to spread this on the chocolate but the chocolate melted and it started to mix. I put it under the broiler a bit to see if it would melt more (Tom's idea, thank goodness he was there to keep me from flying into a panic about my weirdening bark), but it didn't really help. So I ended up just flattening it out, best I could, and put the dark chocolate over the top.

While still melted, I sprinkled the crushed peppermint over the top and pressed in gently with the back of a spoon. I let this harden in the freezer over night, though it probably would've done just as well in the fridge (I just didn't have room).

I've melted white chocolate before in a makeshift double boiler (with a glass bowl and a pot of water) and that worked fine, so I highly recommend doing that. Here are some really straight forward directions for that.

Anyway, it turned out really yummy (Tom-Approved) and prettier than I'd expected, which is what really matters, anyway, right?

Peace & love,
-A.

foolproof french onion soup ... from scratch!

It's soup season folks! And isn't the best kind of soup one you can bake in the oven with bread and cheese? Last night I decided to make a French onion soup because, swiss! And French bread!

I always just assumed this soup was was really hard or complicated to make, but happily, neither of those things are true! So even if you're not so comfortable in the kitchen, I have a non-recipe here for you that is super easy. For my soup I used:

3 medium to large yellow onions
2 medium red onions (you could do all red or all yellow, it doesn't matter)
Half a stick of butter (you can do salted or unsalted, it doesn't matter, you can add salt later if you want)
Approximately 1 Tbsp (more or less, to taste) of Better than Bouillon beef base
Approximately 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinaigrette (optional)
A few small shakes of ground thyme (optional)
Water
1 baguette (or crusty French bread, or Italian bread, or any bread, really!)
Swiss cheese, sliced (or shredded, or Gruyere which is even more delicious, but kind of expensive)

I chopped all of the onions like this (the first method). I melted my butter in a big pot over medium heat and threw in all of my onions. I put in the balsamic vinaigrette and thyme (your onions will create a really wonderful flavor on their own, you don't really have to add these things if you don't want to, or don't have them on hand). I cooked the onions over medium heat, stirring every five minutes or so until they became very reduced and began getting browned, for about 30 minutes. I wanted to cook them for longer, but I felt a little rushed. If you're not in a hurry, definitely cook for longer (45-60 minutes is best), just be sure to keep stirring so they don't burn, and reduce heat as needed.

I filled my pot with water about 3/4 to 2/3 full and stirred in my beef base. I tested the broth after the base had dissolved and it didn't taste strong enough so I added a little more. It's best to start with less than you think you'll need. You can always add but you cannot subtract.

I let this simmer for about twenty minutes. Again, I'd like to have let it go longer, but by now I was hungry and still feeling rushed. You can let yours go as long as you can stand it. 30 minutes is best.

Anyway, when it was done enough I ladled some into an oven-safe bowl. I sliced the bread on a bias and put two pieces on top. On that, I laid two slices of swiss cheese (one would suffice, I happen to be a glutton). I warmed the broiler on my oven, and put the bowl of soup on a baking sheet. I put it under the broiler for a few minutes. You really ought to WATCH it while it's under the broiler. I cannot tell you how many times I've burnt things this way. You can see in the picture, that even though I was watching this, it still got a little over-toasted.

When the cheese starts to bubble and brown a bit, it's done!

This soup was really good! The first part, with the onions, is a little time consuming, granted, but it's well worth it and it's so easy! You could add so much to this, too. Worcestershire sauce is a common ingredient, as is wine, chicken broth, different herbs. Look up a few recipes online and see what sounds good to you!

simple chicken noodle soup ... from scratch!

I am by no means an expert at cooking. Everything I make is an experiment. I learned what I do know about cooking from observing my parents. I don’t like to use recipes because I find it cumbersome.  It just doesn’t work for me.

I’d like to share my rather wacky cooking techniques with you, because I think that some people may be intimidated by the thought of cooking if they feel there are a lot of mistakes to be made. I don’t believe that. My food may not win any prizes and sometimes I add too much cayenne, but it’s always edible :)

Anyway. Last night I thought I was catching what’s going around work so I decided to make a chicken noodle soup. It came out great! So I thought I’d share it with you.

[Approximate] Ingredients:

White onion, 1 large, chopped

Garlic, 2-3 cloves, chopped

Carrot, 1 large, chopped

Celery, 2-3 large stalks (or 4-5 small ones), chopped

Chicken tenders, 1 package, (sorry! I didn’t note the weight. Trust yourself to eyeball it! J ), cut up into small bits

Better than Bouillon chicken base, a little less than 1Tbsp

Salt, pepper, dried rosemary, ground ginger, to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

Egg noodles, a little less than a 12oz package

Water

Olive oil

In a large pot, add enough olive oil to thinly coat the bottom and heat over medium.

Add your onions and garlic. Bring the heat up a little. Sauté, covered, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent.

Add the carrots and celery. Cook a bit longer.

Add your chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked through. (Just a note, I use chicken tenders because they are cheap. Then I stand over the kitchen sink and cut out the freaky bits—like tendons—and cut the chicken into small pieces. The size doesn’t matter, whatever you want!)

Add your seasonings. If you are not familiar with how strong your seasonings are, you can wait to do this step until your water is added.

Add your egg noodles. I would guess that I used about 10oz of a 12oz bag.

Fill your pot the rest of the way with water. Eyeball the liquid-to-solid ratio until it looks like soup to you.

If you’ve not yet added your seasonings, do so now. That way you can taste test as you go. Add much less than you think you’ll need, so you don’t over season.

Cover and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat (and don’t forget it on the stove and let it boil over like I did). Once simmering, reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer until the noodles and carrots are cooked through. I think mine took about ten minutes or so. Maybe fifteen. You can stir as often as you want and check for softness.

Et voilà! You have soup. It’s a lot easier than it seems sometimes. I love to cook and experiment with different flavor combinations. If it tastes good to you then it’s a success! My soup definitely was. 

Please share your noodle soup experiences in the comments!

Peace & Love

-A.

P.S. I apologize for the questionable photography. I am temporarily confined to my iPhone camera. Also, the lighting in my kitchen is very poor.... Better photos for future posts! Promise :)