Closing in on the end of the year -- reflection time!

I've definitely kicked it up a notch or 5 at work.  I'm enjoying it, but I am not getting time to blog.  I have 4 blogs and posts are down on all of them, but it's okay.  Here I take a moment to reflect on the cooking and working out of this year.

We love "eggs." In addition to our quiche, youngest daughter, Tia, "invented" scrambled eggs.  Tofu mixed with spices (garlic, chili powder, tumeric, curry) and the black salt.  Super yum. 

I'm looking to perfect a veggie muffin this break.  I made one in the past, but I can't find the recipe that I used.  I'll keep digging. There's a chance it's on this blog here, but if not, I'll find another one/try to remember what I did. 

Over break, I'll post a link to our new favorite "turkey" dinner.  Perfect for lunch meat too.  

Made this soup last night for some friends.  I haven't made it for a while.  It's still good!  I did make the PB kind and the cashew cream kind.  It involves more pans, but at least all tummies are happy. 

Oh, I find this little list super helpful for dinner ideas.  Sometimes little lists are a big help!

Working out report (because it's the end of the year): Lots of tap! Okay on the Body Pump 1-2x every week.  Not enough Pilates.  Okay on the Hip Hop/Zumba (very aerobic) (1x a week).  Okay on the stretching.  Next year my goals include more of everything.  I'd like to do 2x a week body pump.  I am going to MAKE MYSELF do Pilates 15-20 minutes 2-3x a week.  My back is so much happier when I do.  Fifteen minutes is nothing. I just need to DO IT.  Hip Hop... If I can't do it more than 1x a week, I guess it'll be okay.  I think I can make it happen to do 2x a week by summer.  I fear I'm going to try to figure out how to stop time to make it all happen. 

Other goals: youngest daughter and I have some Pokemon goals, I want to get funding for a new bit of work.  I'll add here if I think of more.

Thanksgiving Grocery List and Tips

This post is so not sexy, but it will help me next year.  I'm all about planning (sometimes).  This year was rough... I have been working so much and haven't had time to think about cooking / food at all.  I'll relay the events of our Thanksgiving later.  I didn't even get a single picture!  It was fun to hang with the fam!  So glad my niece could come!

Store List
5 tubs of tofu
3 baguettes for stuffing (buy a couple of days before and let get stale)
celery a BIG bunch--you'll use it in the stuffing b/c you always want more than you get
Cheesecloth

Make sure you have:
Onion Powder
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
A little thyme
Don't use sage in the turkey or dressing--we learned that Nick likes everything if there's no sage in it.

Asparagus (added 2023)

Cucumbers (think about green salad)

Brussels sprouts 3 bags

Portobello Mushrooms -- we got 8 this year (oh, Nick doesn't like these)
Carrots for carrot salad
Potatoes (8)

Gluten Free Baguette (for my niece)
Quinoa
Vegan cheese and olives -- great appetizer (Maybe Kira will do a post about vegan cheese in the future)

Planning notes
Do the turkey first (press tofu, let drip in the colander overnight (with cheesecloth), but NEW way to make the "turkey" now)
Turkey in the oven 1.5 hours?
Cut up the baguettes for dressing first thing in the morning or even the night before
onion, celery, apple, cranberries, broth (little balsamic, little maple syrup) dressing on stove 20 minutes, can prep anytime--even day before. In oven  45 minutes?
Cut up the Brussel Sprouts -- in the oven 40 - 60 minutes
Prep the potatoes and boil 20-30 minutes -- mix 10? 
Portobello prep and in oven 20-30 minutes?

Make Carrot Salad ahead of time (day before?)
Pumpkins cook a day ahead of time 2 is a good amount (should make 4 pies)--OH!  I made pumpkin pie from PUMPKINS!  Not Cans!  Super easy and Yummy!  I will post about that!

New recipe in November

Where has this year gone???

I'm getting more writing done at work, but not here.  I guess I only have so much writing in me at any given point.

I found this recipe and I knew I needed to modify it! It sounded so yummy, but I always substitute some other non-dairy milk for coconut milk, usually cashew milk and indeed, that's what I did here.  I also changed out the lentils for garbanzo beans. I used frozen veggies because I didn't have fresh and didn't feel like a store run. And I didn't have the kind of curry that she had so I googled to see what all went into it and improvised. 

I mostly measured my spices... Or at least I did at first.  If I added more, I'm not sure how much so I put a range on those spices that I increased as I was cooking.

Oh She Glows called this a Butternut and Cauliflower Curry. That's a pretty good description.  We'll stick with that.  It's a winner!  New dinner!

Super easy dinner.  I threw everything into the pot and cooked it for 45-ish minutes. 
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups water, 1/2 cup cashews, blended into cashew milk
1 can (28-ounces) diced tomatoes, with juices
1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 -2 carrots 
1 bag frozen butternut squash
1 can (29-ounces) garbanzo beans
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 -2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/4-1/2 teaspoon coriander
1-3 teaspoons chili powder
juice of 1/2 lemon

2 cups frozen broccoli (put in after everything cooks for 15 -20 minutes) -- this could be kale if you prefer.

Look, a bad picture.  I'll get a better one at some point.  Serve with sourdough bread, rice, quinoa, or just eat!

Tomatoes

 

Fresh from the garden, a whole mess of beautiful tomatoes.  I cut them up and sauteed with fresh basil, oregano, garlic, and a splash of balsamic.  It's the same salad I do cold but now I'm sauteing.  Nothing like fresh tomatoes! I made this earlier in the week and am making it again ('cause our tomatoes are prolific!) Good on bread or pasta. You can also take juice out as it's cooking for a very lazy version of tomato soup.  I didn't measure anything, but I am guessing a tablespoon or so of olive oil and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar?  Maybe?

Lots of fresh basil -- 10-ish leaves? I have a very happy basil plant that needs to be cut back regularly.  If you don't cut it back, it goes to seed.

Garlic -- I used dried, maybe 1 teaspoon?

Oregano -- also dried and I used probably 1 tablespoon?  (I'm a big fan of oregano!)

I cooked it for an hour or two?  It cooked down a lot! 

 

 

I also made roasted zucchini and popped about 4 tomatoes in the oven.  I was curious about that versus pan cooking.

(I'm thinking about trying to make some sort of roasted zucchini and tomato sauce in the food processor for pasta... I'll let you know what happens.)

I also made watermelon (we grew it), basil, (also home grown) and lime (also grown at home with love) granita.  I love it.  The husband, and the younger two daughters don't like it. I think daughter #1 will.  I will let you know.

Super fun cooking day!

We invented eggs...

Not really... but black salt with tofu is amazing.  (You blend the tofu with black salt and you think you have eggs!)  This quiche recipe is a new favorite of ours.

Crust:
•1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoons water, mixed together
•1 cup whole almonds, ground into flour
•1 cup rolled oats ground into flour
•1 teaspoon dried parsley
•1 teaspoon dried oregano
•1/2 tsp kosher salt
•1 tbsp olive oil
•1-2.5 tbsp water, as needed  (I needed a lot more the first time I made this.  The second time I didn't. I don't know why.)

(double for two crusts read  below)

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a round 10-inch  pan.

Mix flax and water mixture in a small bowl and set aside

In a large bowl, stir together the almond meal, oat flour, parsley, oregano, and salt.

Add in the flax mixture and oil.

Mix until mostly combined, adding the remaining water until the dough about the consistency of cookie dough. The dough should stick together when you press it between your fingers.

Crumble the dough evenly over the base of the tart pan (or pie dish). Starting from the center of the pan, press the mixture evenly, working your way out from the center and up the sides of the pan. Poke a few fork holes in the dough so air can escape.

Bake the crust at 350F for 13-16 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm to touch. Set aside to cool while you finish preparing the filling.
 
For the quiche
 
Saute:
An onion
Broccoli
Kale
in a little olive oil
(we do a lot of this and just have leftovers)

Blend: (this is doubled already)
•2-3 boxes of tofu
Use Mori-Nu Silken Tofu which has a little liquid, but not much — no need to drain or press needed for the recipe--it just works.

•1 tablespoon olive oil
•1-2 teaspoons onion powder
•1-2 large garlic cloves
•1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
•1 teaspoon dried oregano
•3/4-1 teaspoon black salt
•Black pepper, to taste
•Red pepper flakes, to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon for us)

We double the crust part of the recipe, and make two crusts for 2 quiches; in 1, we put the veggies and in the other we just put in the tofu mix with daiya cheese.  Add about 1/2 of the tofu blend to the "cheese" quiche add in the "cheese" and stir.    Put sauteed veggies on the bottom of one of the quiche crusts and then pour the blended tofu over (stir slightly so that the veggies are covered with the tofu blend--add more veggies if necessary and more tofu blend until full).  There should be plenty of tofu mix for two quiches. 


The pie crust is from one of my favorite recipe blogs, Oh She Glows and the filling is based on that recipe.

Lame blog post

Wow... it's been a while.  I do have new recipes, but no time to blog.

We made an awesome quiche this summer and LOVELY lemon zucchini bread.  A basil plant is giving us lots of pesto. We're getting beautiful tomatoes (and zucchini, but no pictures yet). 

 

I know we made other stuff, but I can't think now.  I just mostly came over to drop this link to a store with vegan leather.  We haven't bought from it yet so I can't tell you if we like it or not.  More soon.

The ultimate chocolate chip baked oatmeal

For Brett.

(or at least it's ultimate until the next time I play around with the recipe)

1/2 - 3/4 cup almond butter or other nut butter  (I never actually measure.  I just put some in and it looks like about that amount.  It could be more, but it's not less.)

1/2 - 3/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup almond flour
1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup whole oats
1/4 cup flax meal
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips (add as last ingredient)

optional: 1 mashed up banana (if you like baked banana -- even one banana will really add a banana flavor--one daughter said it tasted good while warm and then not as good.)
up to 1/4 cup of flax milk (or other non-dairy milk if it seems dry) to mix the batter -- you may need this if you leave out the banana use the lesser amount of nut butter. Note, you don't want the batter too runny 'cause it will take longer to bake. If the batter seems too wet, add in some whole oats.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients. I strongly recommend using a mixer for this recipe!
Add the optional ingredients.

Don't forget the chocolate chips!

Line a 8x8 pan with a silpat or parchment paper and pour / spoon the batter in.  Bake for 25-45 minutes -- depending on how much liquid was in the batter. 

Let cool for a few minutes and then enjoy! (Or cool for a while and cut into bars.  If you do this you may want to cook for a little longer like 35 minutes.)

A day in the kitchen

It's been really busy around here.  This year started with a big thing in February and some extra things at work each month. I've barely gotten to cook. Very sad.

Today, I made this ... I forgot to take a picture ... Next time!  And there will be a next time!  We all loved it. 

I did manage to get a picture of my lemon muffins this time.

 

They came out even better.  I've updated my recipe at the link above.

 

Sometime soon I'll need to tell you about our "chicken" noodle soup.  Yes, it's vegan. 

Oh!  I also made this yummy fudge delicious-ness.

Hopefully future apricots!

This little bee is going above and beyond — and upside down — to help make our apricots.

Someday, I'll get a post done.  

Dark chocolate molasses cookies

I've been wanting to make these cookies or a slightly lightened version of these bars for a while now. I totally planned to make them over the holiday break -- it went zooming by. Alas.  I finally got these made.  I made the first recipe because I forgot about the second.  Now the two recipes are documented in this post together and with pictures!  I hope to make them again soon.

Thanks Natalie for helping!

 

On another note, Nick and I went back to our bodypump class after 3 weeks off.  YOWCH is all I can say.  I love doing cardio and dance, but I don't enjoy weights.  I hope to get to that class 2x a week.  I need to do more weights.  Natalie is old enough (on Tuesday) to go with me to the gym and do the class.  Maybe she'll help me achieve my 2x a week goal.  I can see it happening over summer, but not sure it will happen before then.