Vegetarian.
This is hands-down one of my favorite breakfast recipes. You can easily prepare it the night before and just leave the batter in the fridge overnight, which can save you a good 5 to 10 minutes in preparation. The batter will probably keep at least a week.
1 cup cooked rice
2 eggs
1 banana
1/2 cup "milk" (I always use rice or soy milk)
1 TBSP flour
Anything you'd like to add flavor. I'd suggest berries, nuts, and/or honey. I also add chia seeds and flax seeds because they're supposed to be good for runners or something.
Dump it all in a blender, then cook it. You know, the same way you'd cook any other pancake.
I generally cook a couple of sunny-side-up eggs (pasture raised free-range CSA eggs, of course) and a fruit smoothie to go with this. This is a great, healthy, not too heavy breakfast that will keep you full for hours.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Yogurt Veggie Curry
Vegetarian.
I threw this together on a whim a few weeks ago and am really starting to love it, mainly because it's so delicious and fast, and just a little different.
A pile of veggies
Your big adult yogurt
Curry powder
Soy sauce
(I used fish sauce but it's entirely optional)
Saute the veggies in extra virgin olive oil until they're soft.* Take the pan off the heat, and let it cool for a second, then slowly add the yogurt (so as to not curdle it). Add in the curry powder and the soy suace. That's it!
For the amount of time this takes, it's totally worth it. It takes maybe a half hour total.
* I wasn't totally pleased with my veggie curry today just because I definitely undercooked, my veggies, but this is absolutely a personal preference. If you cook it longer all the flavors will melt together and you'll end up with a very nice, soft base for your curry, but if you undercook it you end up with a really nice, crunchy base that allows you to taste all the bare flavors of the food. Your call.
I threw this together on a whim a few weeks ago and am really starting to love it, mainly because it's so delicious and fast, and just a little different.
A pile of veggies
Your big adult yogurt
Curry powder
Soy sauce
(I used fish sauce but it's entirely optional)
Saute the veggies in extra virgin olive oil until they're soft.* Take the pan off the heat, and let it cool for a second, then slowly add the yogurt (so as to not curdle it). Add in the curry powder and the soy suace. That's it!
For the amount of time this takes, it's totally worth it. It takes maybe a half hour total.
* I wasn't totally pleased with my veggie curry today just because I definitely undercooked, my veggies, but this is absolutely a personal preference. If you cook it longer all the flavors will melt together and you'll end up with a very nice, soft base for your curry, but if you undercook it you end up with a really nice, crunchy base that allows you to taste all the bare flavors of the food. Your call.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
It is about time I made veggie burgers...
Vegan.
...so I did yesterday. How convenient! This recipe is about as easy as it can get, too, which is always a huge plus.
About 2 cups of garbanzo beans
Garlic
Carrots
1 cup oatmeal (NOT the instant kind)
1 onion
taco seasoning
soy sauce
fresh jalapenos
all-seasoning
Cook the garbanzo beans (I finally made dried ones, which require 8 hrs. soaking and 2 hrs. cooking, so that takes the longest). In the meantime, heat your oven up to 400 degrees. Dump everything into a blender. Oil up your little pan well, form the mixture into burger-shaped balls, put them in the pan and into the oven. Flip them after 12 minutes, then let them cook another 12, and they should be done!
I also made up a nice fresh basil pesto and tomato sauce to accompany mine. For the pesto:
a bunch of fresh basil
some nuts (I used pecans)
some oil
some garlic
The tomato sauce was pretty much the same thing without the nuts. Both of those just need to be blended for a few seconds until it...you know...looks like pesto/sauce.
This meal packed some serious flavor punch, I'm sure you'll love it! Also try the same recipe with different beans, ie, black beans.
...so I did yesterday. How convenient! This recipe is about as easy as it can get, too, which is always a huge plus.
About 2 cups of garbanzo beans
Garlic
Carrots
1 cup oatmeal (NOT the instant kind)
1 onion
taco seasoning
soy sauce
fresh jalapenos
all-seasoning
Cook the garbanzo beans (I finally made dried ones, which require 8 hrs. soaking and 2 hrs. cooking, so that takes the longest). In the meantime, heat your oven up to 400 degrees. Dump everything into a blender. Oil up your little pan well, form the mixture into burger-shaped balls, put them in the pan and into the oven. Flip them after 12 minutes, then let them cook another 12, and they should be done!
I also made up a nice fresh basil pesto and tomato sauce to accompany mine. For the pesto:
a bunch of fresh basil
some nuts (I used pecans)
some oil
some garlic
The tomato sauce was pretty much the same thing without the nuts. Both of those just need to be blended for a few seconds until it...you know...looks like pesto/sauce.
This meal packed some serious flavor punch, I'm sure you'll love it! Also try the same recipe with different beans, ie, black beans.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
And then I made cornbread!
Vegetarian.
I was making something else and decided "hey, wouldn't it be cool to make cornbread?" The answer was yes, yes it would. So I did.
I pulled the recipe out of my Alton Brown Super Signed Super Awesome Good Eats Book. It uses a cast iron skillet, which is bonus points because I always want an excuse to use my cast iron skillet.
2 cups corn meal
1 cup yogurt (again, the real adult kind, not the fruity shit)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons canola oil
Before you get going, heat your oven to 425 degrees and pop in your cast iron skillet. That baby needs to be nice and warm. Mix everything together, then pull out the cast iron and make sure the bottom is well-oiled. Then put your batter into the cast iron, evening it all out, and pop it back in the oven for about 20 minutes. Believe me, the smell alone is its own reward. Best served with butter and honey if you're into that.
The food accompanying it is a bunch of baked veggies...cover them with olive oil and salt, pop them into the oven for about 20-30 minutes on 350, and enjoy!
I was making something else and decided "hey, wouldn't it be cool to make cornbread?" The answer was yes, yes it would. So I did.
I pulled the recipe out of my Alton Brown Super Signed Super Awesome Good Eats Book. It uses a cast iron skillet, which is bonus points because I always want an excuse to use my cast iron skillet.
2 cups corn meal
1 cup yogurt (again, the real adult kind, not the fruity shit)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons canola oil
Before you get going, heat your oven to 425 degrees and pop in your cast iron skillet. That baby needs to be nice and warm. Mix everything together, then pull out the cast iron and make sure the bottom is well-oiled. Then put your batter into the cast iron, evening it all out, and pop it back in the oven for about 20 minutes. Believe me, the smell alone is its own reward. Best served with butter and honey if you're into that.
The food accompanying it is a bunch of baked veggies...cover them with olive oil and salt, pop them into the oven for about 20-30 minutes on 350, and enjoy!
Baba Ganoush and Beet Hummus
Vegan.
We ended up with a lot of rather large beets, as well as a ton of eggplant, in the CSA box so I figured it would be a good time to make some baba ganoush (eggplant hummus) and beet hummus because I don't cook either veggie enough, and hummus is easy and tasty, and I have a lot of garlic and tahini.
The other nice thing about hummus is it's effing easy. The basic template is cook your base until it's nice and soft, toss it in the blender with garlic, oil, and tahini, and blend it until smooth. Easy money. The only thing that takes time is the actual cooking, which varies depending on what you choose your base to be (for example, the beets took WAY longer to cook than canned garbanzo beans or eggplant).
To cook your beets, cut them up into relatively small squares and toss them into a pot of water, on medium. Let them sit in their bath until they taste done (not crunchy, very sweet, not necessarily soft).
To cook your eggplant, cut them in half, then cover both sides with oil and a very simple seasoning mix (salt, pepper, etc). Place them flesh side down on a pan and put them in your oven, set to broil, until the skin is dark and the flesh is very soft.
The completed beet hummus. Looks like cake icing!
You can eat them straight out of the blender, but they always taste better after sitting in the fridge overnight, when the flavors have a chance to mingle. A great-tasting way to use up hard-to-cook veggies!
We ended up with a lot of rather large beets, as well as a ton of eggplant, in the CSA box so I figured it would be a good time to make some baba ganoush (eggplant hummus) and beet hummus because I don't cook either veggie enough, and hummus is easy and tasty, and I have a lot of garlic and tahini.
The other nice thing about hummus is it's effing easy. The basic template is cook your base until it's nice and soft, toss it in the blender with garlic, oil, and tahini, and blend it until smooth. Easy money. The only thing that takes time is the actual cooking, which varies depending on what you choose your base to be (for example, the beets took WAY longer to cook than canned garbanzo beans or eggplant).
To cook your beets, cut them up into relatively small squares and toss them into a pot of water, on medium. Let them sit in their bath until they taste done (not crunchy, very sweet, not necessarily soft).
To cook your eggplant, cut them in half, then cover both sides with oil and a very simple seasoning mix (salt, pepper, etc). Place them flesh side down on a pan and put them in your oven, set to broil, until the skin is dark and the flesh is very soft.
The completed beet hummus. Looks like cake icing!
You can eat them straight out of the blender, but they always taste better after sitting in the fridge overnight, when the flavors have a chance to mingle. A great-tasting way to use up hard-to-cook veggies!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Eating Animals, and Why Vegetarianism Matters
I recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and was pleasantly surprised by how uncomfortable it made me, which inspired a new dedication to eating as vegan/humane as possible. He makes a convincing case for vegetarianism and veganism not just from the position of not wanting to be a cause of suffering, but in terms of how such choices impact all parts of our lives, including environmental and economical.
The case made for the amount of pollution factory farms cause is undeniable, and especially frightening is his discussion of how the antibiotics fed to these animals just to barely keep them alive are producing a new crop of superbugs, which has be coming into sharp focus given the multitude of food-based virus and bacteria outbreaks the world has been dealing with lately. Besides the obvious and immediate health threats, he also drives home the fact that the monopolization of our food system has driven nearly all small family farms and their support systems (independent butchers and so on) out of business, concentrating the dangers.
I was most pleased with how he was unflinching in his (successful, in my case) attempt to force the reader to understand the kind of profound suffering animals experience when living in these conditions, and the horror of their last moments of life. Dismissing vegetarians and vegans as liberal softies becomes increasing difficult when having to look into the face of what "manly meat" really means. Anyone who reads these passages without having a visceral, disgusted reaction is not human.
Stemming from this discussion, to my own discomfort, I was forced to turn a microscope to my own hypocrisy when it came to a vegan diet. I eat primarily veggies and grains, but dismissed veganism as extreme and ridiculous. I mean, cows like to be milked, and chickens just lay eggs naturally, right? I guess that depends on whether or not they're being force fed antibiotics and not allowed to move all day. Yikes.
A good portion of the book also deals with some of the few independent family farms still left, which was certainly inspiring, but the question of animal suffering still hung heavy throughout the entire book.
Overall, I would highly recommend the book. Of course, there were some stones unturned, but either way it's an excellent primer for anyone on the fence about vegetarianism/veganism, and an excellent reminder to current veggies that they really can make a difference.
The case made for the amount of pollution factory farms cause is undeniable, and especially frightening is his discussion of how the antibiotics fed to these animals just to barely keep them alive are producing a new crop of superbugs, which has be coming into sharp focus given the multitude of food-based virus and bacteria outbreaks the world has been dealing with lately. Besides the obvious and immediate health threats, he also drives home the fact that the monopolization of our food system has driven nearly all small family farms and their support systems (independent butchers and so on) out of business, concentrating the dangers.
I was most pleased with how he was unflinching in his (successful, in my case) attempt to force the reader to understand the kind of profound suffering animals experience when living in these conditions, and the horror of their last moments of life. Dismissing vegetarians and vegans as liberal softies becomes increasing difficult when having to look into the face of what "manly meat" really means. Anyone who reads these passages without having a visceral, disgusted reaction is not human.
Stemming from this discussion, to my own discomfort, I was forced to turn a microscope to my own hypocrisy when it came to a vegan diet. I eat primarily veggies and grains, but dismissed veganism as extreme and ridiculous. I mean, cows like to be milked, and chickens just lay eggs naturally, right? I guess that depends on whether or not they're being force fed antibiotics and not allowed to move all day. Yikes.
A good portion of the book also deals with some of the few independent family farms still left, which was certainly inspiring, but the question of animal suffering still hung heavy throughout the entire book.
Overall, I would highly recommend the book. Of course, there were some stones unturned, but either way it's an excellent primer for anyone on the fence about vegetarianism/veganism, and an excellent reminder to current veggies that they really can make a difference.
Taco Fight Club: Round 1
Vegetarian
In response to terrible breakfast tacos from an unnamed source, my workmate and I formed TACO FIGHT CLUB, in which we take turns bringing in breakfast tacos once a week. For my first round I made the mistake of making two different tacos (thus depriving myself of a good idea for the next week, but oh well) and put together a papas, bean, and cheese, as well as an egg, bean, and cheese.
Papas are essentially "Mexican mashed potatoes", which is to say mashed potatoes. With...like...chilies in it I guess, I don't know. Unfortunately I got exactly 0 pictures of both tacos, so just use your wild imaginations.
* Potatoes
* Yogurt (like, real live adult yogurt, none of that Dannon shit)
* Cheese (get a nice, tangy, strong cheese)
* Garbanzo beans
For the other taco, you just need
* Egg
* Garbanzo beans
* Cheese (same stuff as the other taco, why not?)
* TORTILLAS!
Quarter the potatoes and toss them into some hot water until soft. In the meantime toss the garbanzo beans onto the stove and heat them up until soft as well. And also, if you have the room/hands, crack your eggs Once your potatoes are done, drain them and mash the hell out of them. You'll want to add some butter and the yogurt while mashing. Once the beans are soft mash them up too. Put the potatoes, cheese, beans on one tortilla and the eggs, beans, cheese on the other, garnish with some salsa if you desire and dig in!
These simple tacos are fantastic for a light, tasty breakfast or lunch; though you'll want to make the mashed potatoes ahead of time if you have them for breakfast, everything can be quickly made the morning of and slapped together in no time. For lunch, either assemble all the tacos in the morning and wrap in aluminum foil, then just pop in the toaster oven, or bring everything individually to warm up in a microwave.
In response to terrible breakfast tacos from an unnamed source, my workmate and I formed TACO FIGHT CLUB, in which we take turns bringing in breakfast tacos once a week. For my first round I made the mistake of making two different tacos (thus depriving myself of a good idea for the next week, but oh well) and put together a papas, bean, and cheese, as well as an egg, bean, and cheese.
Papas are essentially "Mexican mashed potatoes", which is to say mashed potatoes. With...like...chilies in it I guess, I don't know. Unfortunately I got exactly 0 pictures of both tacos, so just use your wild imaginations.
* Potatoes
* Yogurt (like, real live adult yogurt, none of that Dannon shit)
* Cheese (get a nice, tangy, strong cheese)
* Garbanzo beans
For the other taco, you just need
* Egg
* Garbanzo beans
* Cheese (same stuff as the other taco, why not?)
* TORTILLAS!
Quarter the potatoes and toss them into some hot water until soft. In the meantime toss the garbanzo beans onto the stove and heat them up until soft as well. And also, if you have the room/hands, crack your eggs Once your potatoes are done, drain them and mash the hell out of them. You'll want to add some butter and the yogurt while mashing. Once the beans are soft mash them up too. Put the potatoes, cheese, beans on one tortilla and the eggs, beans, cheese on the other, garnish with some salsa if you desire and dig in!
These simple tacos are fantastic for a light, tasty breakfast or lunch; though you'll want to make the mashed potatoes ahead of time if you have them for breakfast, everything can be quickly made the morning of and slapped together in no time. For lunch, either assemble all the tacos in the morning and wrap in aluminum foil, then just pop in the toaster oven, or bring everything individually to warm up in a microwave.
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