Pantry Fried Rice

There are two things I always have on hand, no matter what: eggs (or any type of protein) and short grain brown rice (or any grain). When you take these two things and add vegetables, soy sauce, and other ingredients, you can create a delicious meal in less than 10 minutes! You can change the ingredients based on what you have or your preferences, just make sure you cook the longest cooking vegetables (like carrots + squash) in the pan before the shortest cooking vegetables (like garlic + green onions). You can also easily make this vegan by subbing crumbled tofu or edamame for the eggs!

Pantry Fried Rice

• 2 eggs (for vegan: 1/2 C finely crumbled tofu or 1 C thawed edamame)
• 2 C cold, cooked brown rice (or quinoa, millet, white rice, or jasmine rice)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 2-3 green onions, thinly sliced (or leave it out, if not on hand)
• 1-1.5 C vegetables (I used leftover steamed kale but feel free to use whatever you have and chop it small! See note above about cooking times)
• 1 TBS GF soy sauce
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• splash of rice vinegar
• sriracha for serving
• additional add-ins: fresh herbs like Thai basil or cilantro, toasted sesame seeds, thinly sliced carrots, finely chopped steamed broccoli, finely minced ginger

1. Preheat a skillet on medium heat. Add sesame oil and rice (I also added the kale here now to get it crispy and warm; add your long cooking vegetables now). Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes, until starting to warm and crisp up. 
2. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs together in a small bowl until smooth with a fork (for vegan, just crumble your tofu finely or thaw the edamame). 
3. Now add the garlic and green onions (if using; add other short cooking vegetables). Stir to combine and cook 1-2 minutes, until the green onions and garlic starts to brown lightly. Drizzle in the soy sauce and vinegar, and stir to combine. 
4. If using the eggs, make a well in the center of the rice and add them in. Let cook for about 1 minute or more, until starting to set on the bottom. Stir into the rest of the rice (for vegan, simply stir in the tofu and edamame, until browning).
5. Stir and flip the rice occasionally until the rice and eggs become lighly browned, about 3 minutes or more, until the eggs are cooked to your desired consistency. Serve with plenty of sriracha!

(855) hail mary

Well at least I know now that these two weeks in November will always be slightly crazy. My birthday, then two of my best friends' birthdays, then Thanksgiving, then Black Friday, then exams...you see where this is going. I am still trying to get back to my normal cooking routine, which I did somewhat this week. 

I miss chicken noodle soup. I used to eat the Campbells kind all the time when I was kid. I found a pretty good replacement with kale, carrots, and white miso: chickpea noodle soup. I ate this soup for days with lots of pepper and crackers. 

new job, new shirt. 

cooking with wine: practicing for France.

I've had this recipe from chickpea magazine hanging over my head for a while now. I changed it up a little bit just to make it easier on myself: I used leftover frozen mac+cheese sauce (from here), I used extra mushrooms, and just ended up slicing the squash and roasted it with olive oil, salt, pepper + herbs de provence. If anything just go roast acorn squash with herbs de provence. The lavender in the herb blend plays wonderfully off the squash's sweetness.

Traditional French wine for us Frenchies

Tomatoes, red onions, peppers, mushrooms, kalamata olives, roasted garlic paste, swiss chard, roasted herbed potatoes. Sticks and Stones promised me an amazing GF/V/daiya-free pizza, and I got it.

Kathryn's birthday!

I have never breaded/fried tofu, but this turned out pretty well. I would've liked the tofu to be fried a little more evenly, but it was still really good for being vegan/GF! I used to love orange sesame chicken as a kid. From Vegetarian 'Ventures.

Second night of birthday celebrations. Last night of drinking I need for a while...

Practicing latte skills at Geeksboro with almond milk, which is incredibly hard to froth.

I went crazy on Friday and made the orange tofu, these cookies, and the nuts below within about 2 hours. I think I was trying to ignore my homework since I was so excited to go out. Anyways, these cookies come together in minutes, are healthy, and taste amazing! The honey and ginger work so well together here.

Toasty nuts from Sara's book: walnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, sesame seeds, raw quinoa, herbs de provence, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper.

(825) castles of a bygone age

Hello! It's been an incredibly food-filled week, but also a busy one, so I haven't had much time to catch up on here. You may notice too that all of my recent October post titles are small snippets from horror films. Try to guess what they're from! 

But yes, I have been cooking up a little storm here for some reason, I guess because I was on fall break, but things will be back to "normal" next week. 

As some of you may have noticed, I have been doing a lot of Asian/ethnic cooking here lately. I really love the complexity of the flavors, the quick process of cooking the meals, and that it usually involves pantry staples I have already invested in (rice vinegar, GF soy sauce, sriracha, toasted sesame oil). These items can sometimes be pricey, but they will last you for a long time and really make the meal. I have been wanting to make pho, and this is the closest I've gotten so far: ginger noodles with kale + shirataki. It was so easy, delicious, filling, and nutritious! Kale in an asian soup with shiitake mushrooms and shirataki noodles? Amazing.

My mom finding huge Egg-Man's collard greens at Deep Roots. 

Doing some decorating here for fall: cinnamon broom

I do have one huge accomplishment to speak of: I finally made GF pizza crust from scratch. It always seemed so daunting to me, but after I did it I was like "That's it? Really?". I think it was just a matter of finding the right recipe, which I definitely did. I've been going to Karina's website since I became GF, and this pizza crust recipe was amazing. I did change it a bit to use 2 C tapioca starch, 1 C millet, and 1 C sorghum. This is the closest thing I've ever had to real pizza crust.

Now what is all of that stuff on top? I like to make untraditional pizzas whenever possible, especially ones with out a traditional tomato sauce. This is definitely a new favorite and would be amazing once it starts to get colder: layers of BBQ sauce, tempeh cooked in BBQ sauce, kale, sweet potato, corn, and vegan jack cheese on top from Vegetarian Ventures. I suggest you go make that right now.

Sometimes dinner needs to be simple...and needs to involve a lot of wine and a good read.

Pumpkin rosemary hummus. Recipe from Ashley coming soon!

So I had my first little party this past Thursday to carve pumpkins, get together and of course to eat amazing food. Ashley and I provided most of the grub, mine being these little quinoa falafels. I made a double batch just to be sure to accommodate everyone and there weren't as many leftovers as I thought! The yogurt/tahini/lemon sauce that pairs with it was lovely as well. These little falafels are easy to put together and can be made up to a day in advance and fried when ready. I used freshly cooked chickpeas (!!!) which made a huge difference! 

The drunk gluten-free pumpkin.

We are silly but we have awesome pumpkins.

I did two pumpkin seed varieties: spicy curry + black tea butter 

Ashley also brought pumpkin pie, which was totally vegan and amazing! I made a pumpkin pie last year with coconut milk and eggs (very custardy) but I was surprised at how much more custardy this was! She used this recipe and her mother's GF/vegan pie-crust recipe. I think this will be the pie I made for thanksgiving, and maybe a vegan pecan pie too!

(665) asian omelette for one

Asian Omelette (serves one hungry, too busy and slightly broke girl)
-4 free-range, farm-raised eggs
-gluten-free soy sauce
-3-4 green onions, light green and white parts chopped (save dark green for garnish!)
-earth balance vegan butter
-salt & pepper
optional add ins: cooked broccoli chunks, bite sized pieces of bell pepper, toasted sesame seeds for garnish, toasted sesame oil for light drizzling
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Break eggs into a bowl. Break the yolks up but don't beat the eggs. Stir in green onions and any other vegetables to be used. Stir in salt and pepper. Drop butter in a skillet over highish heat until butter has coated the bottom of the pan and is bubbling/sizzling nicely.


-Pour in the eggs and watch carefully. Try not to leave the stove to eat cooked polenta that you have resting on the counter (which I certainly didn't do). Wait until the eggs look like the edges are cooked, then with your left hand, grab the handle and tilt the pan slightly towards you. Push the eggs up with a spatula, moving the eggs up and away from you, and letting the uncooked eggs slide down. 


-Put the pan back on the heat for 30 seconds or so, until the eggs cook some more but be careful not to burn them. Once everything is almost done. Fold the omelette over in half and turn off the heat. To ensure even cooking, and to get a few lovely brown marks, I pressed down on mine with a spatula so I didn't get any raw egg. After it seems firm and cooked, remove to a plate. Drizzle with soy sauce while still hot and any other oil/sesame seeds if desired. 


-Eat with buttery, salty polenta grits, perhaps even with bacon (mango-glazed bacon, if I was in my own world), or a big green kale salad. Just go eat it and be happy you didn't spend half of your check on it. Also lovely with a cold beer