Holiday Eats: Grilled Salmon, Vegan Pasta Salad, Deviled Eggs, and Southern Potato Salad
This is what I ate for a (late) Easter dinner - marinaded/grilled salmon, my mom's classic Southern potato salad, her deviled eggs, pasta salad, and roasted romanesco (green cauliflower). I wanted to try a new pasta salad recipe since my mom doesn't like mayo, even if it's vegan mayo, so I used this recipe which uses a silken tofu mayo dressing plus dried dill. I must say, I wasn't really a fan of the silken mayo dressing. I thought it was a little bland overall, but then again I could've tweaked it be otherwise, but discovering my oven is broken kind of distracted me.
Dinner: Favorite Lentil Soup
I'm sure you might be wondering why there are so few posts this week...and it's due to the fact that I was nursing an infected canker sore and had difficulty chewing for most of that time. Luckily this lentil soup did the trick, which I had an easier time eating after a day or so on meds. I loved the combination of different herbs in this recipe. Instead of dried tarragon, I used dried rosemary, ground marjoram, and basil. I will definitely be making this again - especially next time we need a get well soon soup.
Dinner: Classic Sauteed Tofu, Steamed Kale + Slow-Cooker Garlic Chive Mashed Potatoes
As mentioned above, my oven currently does not work, which breaks my heart. Luckily I am moving into a place with new appliances soon (yay!) so I won't have to wait that much longer. I made these mashed potatoes in the slow cooker when I could still barely chew, and they are probably one of the best mashed potato recipes I've had! The potatoes cook for less than three hours in the slow cooker, then you mash with almond milk and serve! They went perfectly with the tofu and kale. We marinated the tofu extra long (over an hour) and then sauteed 5-6 mins/side in some leftover marinade, adding more after flipping, instead of baking it. This might be our new go to "basic" tofu recipe. The flavor was wonderful, especially with a little lemon pepper on top. I'd like to try this with Bragg's Amino Acids next time, which Isa calls for in her recipe that originally comes from this book, but I never have it on hand.
Well I guess I have been really busy because it's been over two weeks since my last post! But things are kind of back to "normal" now, you could say, except it is the end of school. My classes are getting harder, I am certainly more stressed, but I only have a little over 3 weeks left (!!!). I haven't been cooking too much due to being out of town, having a friend visit from NY, and just having too many books to read for class. I also only had to cook for one person for about a week since the boy was away to Puerto Rico for business. So things are back to how they were (kind of) so I should be in the kitchen more now!
This dish has a ridiculous amount of protein: corn-quinoa pasta, kidney beans, tempeh, and nutritional yeast. If I remember correctly, it had well over 35g of protein per serving! The best part is, this dish is incredibly cheap, filling, and quick, like most Happy Herbivore recipes. It's called tempeh chili mac because it greatly resembles regular chili mac. //happy herbivore everyday
Sometimes I just want incredibly good Indian food, but it's next to impossible for me to eat Indian restaurants/or out at all. Even though this is probably not authentic, this curried chickpeas and greens with jasmine rice was amazing! It comes together in less than 30 minutes and leaves you with so much food. I was eating this (happily) for days. There is no better combination than ginger, garlic, garam masala and other Indian spices! //appetite for reduction
I have become a little obsessed with making tofu scrambles for brunch on the weekends. I really need to try out vegan omelettes and benedicts before I get bored with scrambles! This particular scramble, from the PPK, is a blackened tofu scramble with onions, garlic, swiss chard, and tomatoes served with garlicky vegan buttery grits. I really enjoyed the blackened flavor of this scramble and it obviously is a million times better with hotsauce! //the PPK
There is something so incredibly satisfying about baking a cake. The process is slow, relaxing, and quiet. Playing music when I cook or bake is a must. Lately I have been listening to my huge Wes Anderson playlist, the Beach Boys, or Yelle. This cake is now being hailed, by my parents, as the best cake I've ever made (note: they say this after every cake). I made this for Easter, so it needed to be springy and light: so I made the lemon coconut bundt cake from Veganomicon. I was so pleased with the delicate flavors of this cake. Here are the substitutions I used:
-1 C tapioca starch -1 C millet flour -1 C almond flour -3 tsp xanthan gum
The almond flour gives the cake a very soft crumb and the millet flour makes it a little denser. I will definitely be making this again! //Veganomicon
A very unhappy Easter Bunny!
Easter grill dinner on my father's new grill: asparagus, portobello mushrooms, brown sugar-soy sauce salmon + lemon garlic salmon
Sometimes I seriously have to force myself to cook something, even if it takes little effort. I steamed broccoli and seasoned it with nutritional yeast and garlic powder. Then I baked a potato, split it down the middle, stuffed it with Amy's organic canned baked beans, vegan butter, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder. You better believe I ate the entire thing!
I have discovered one of the greatest tofu products ever: Twin Oaks tofu More than Tofu. I used the garlic shiitake one for this recipe, which also has quinoa and amaranth for extra protein! For once 8 ounce block, I believe, there are about 32g of protein. I decided to pan fry it until golden to eat with this amazingly simple stir-fried noodles with broccoli and portobellos. I will definitely be making this again all the time because of how simple it is! I seriously recommend this tofu because it comes pre-seasoned/marinated so all you have to do is fry/bake/grill it! It didn't need any seasoning whatsoever. //Foreals Life
South in your mouth: Cheerwine, lime juice, gin
Blueberry Lemonadka: lemonade, Stoli vodka, blueberries
Well, the weather finally perked up in Greensboro. It may be hot as crap outside, but I still crave soup year round. I made this very easy, simple, yet satisfying soup: tomato-rice soup with navy beans and roasted garlic. I did not roast the garlic, however, because of the onset of laziness. The soup is still delicious though and just what I wanted today. It takes no effort at all. If you do roast the garlic, the only thing you're chopping is an onion. Too easy! //Veganomicon
tulips from Whole Foods for my mom. I'm going to be one of those girls with different flowers every week or so because our floral department is so beautiful.
temporary nametag for work
new favorite gluten-free beer
Rigby is ready for Easter with his bowtie
I can't express how nervous I was about these cupcakes. these are the first sponge cakes I've ever made GF. this was also my first experience beating egg whites to soft peaks, which was extremely nerve-wracking. I put them in the oven with my fingers crossed...and they turned out beautifully! I adapted it from my favorite ming! I used 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/4 C tapioca starch and 3/4 tsp xanthan gum. I used my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe (halved) with fresh coffee to taste.
centerpiece of our meal: roasted chicken with a lemon ginger compound butter and braised fennel. I'm starting to become really turned off to meat but this was pretty damn good. We got it from Claire Robinson's book 5-ingredient fix.
glazed carrots with thyme from Martha Stewart which were delicious but frustrating to make. I used regular carrots cut on an angle because baby carrots are genetically modified (99% sure).
finally, the thing I was looking forward to the most: smitten kitchen's green bean salad with pickled red onions + fried almonds. it was definitely a family pleaser and was fun to make, though there were many steps. it was hard to gauge the salt levels for the pickling liquid. it's very good though, especially with the almonds. I will be making this again! smitten kitchen never lets me down
beets and eggs co mingling in my mason jar.
naturally beet-dyed hard boiled eggs come out of the jar.
beautiful pink eggs get halved and deviled, then topped with parsley. thanks to the year in food! this was another popular dish I made today
the spread + mama's tulips. happy Easter! I need a huge nap from cooking for about 7 hours straight....or a beer.
