Weekly Eats Ten (3/14 - 3/20)

Snack: Big Cluster Granola

Granola is one of my favorite things to keep on rotation in my kitchen. Why, you might ask? First of all, it's stupidly overpriced to buy it in the grocery store, especially the gluten-free variety. There are also endless variations on granola, so you will never get bored with it. Lastly, it travels wonderfully, and can be served in many different ways. I enjoy it with just a little coconut milk (I don't like to ruin the beautiful crunch) or almond milk in a bowl, but straight from the bag works too. If I skip breakfast before work, I tote this large bag with me to work and eat it there. You could also top a baked sweet potato or apple with some, or sliced apples/bananas with peanut butter plus granola. The possibilities are endless! My point is, this granola is excellent and comes from Smitten Kitchen's book. It uses a lower temperature than most recipes, plus the addition of a slightly frothed egg white adds a simple little light twist to this snack.

Breakfast: Fried Rice with Spinach, Eggs + Sriracha

When I'm out of things in the fridge, I always turn to things like rice and eggs - or both. I'll make a pot of rice in my rice cooker the night before, and then make fried rice the next day. For this easy breakfast, I made a small batch of brown rice and then placed spinach on top to steam through. The next morning I fried the rice and spinach with some soy sauce, plus two beaten eggs. This makes a great, filling breakfast but also a quick lunch/dinner with minimal effort.

DIY Imbibe: Blood Orangecello

Limoncello is one of my favorite things to make during Christmas. It doesn't take too long but it also "steeps" while I can spend time working on other homemade gifts. However, after trying this blood orangecello (which takes much less time), I might be hooked. I have a slight obsession with blood oranges, as I may or may not have mentioned, and to combine them with vodka and sugar to make one of my favorite things, was nothing short of an epiphany. So far, I've had it on its own (which my friends think I'm crazy for doing) but I also mixed it with dry hopped cider, which was amazing. I might post a recipe soon using this in a cocktail so stay tuned!

Dinner: Smoky Tofu Sandwiches

Tofu sandwiches are one of my favorite things ever. I really liked this recipe, but next time I will definitely marinate the tofu for an hour instead of 30 minutes. For the pickled vegetables I used smoky fermented kale kraut, which perfectly complemented the smokiness of the tofu. I also added tomato, which is a must for all tofu sandwiches, and served it with some potato chips. Although there's not much to say about these sandwiches, they were still very very tasty and highly recommended. 

Dinner: Rainbow Rotini Pasta Salad

Usually I like to make something "festive" for St. Patricks Day, but this year I opted for this rainbow pasta salad, which I suppose is still festive (it's a stretch, I know). This recipe comes from Quick Fix Vegan, which is great for exactly what the title is. I loved all of the flavors of this recipe - the bright crunch from the peppers, salty brine from the olives, sweet dried cranberries, fresh parsley, plus a ton of dried herbs that I added. Pasta salads are also great for lunches as they pack/travel well. I can't wait to eat a ton of pasta salad come summertime!

Dinner: 1-pot Red Lentil Chili

It was very cold again this past weekend for the first time in a while, so I changed around my plans to make chili instead of something not as warming. Chili is one of my favorite Sunday meals because I am usually cooking for more than just us, plus it leaves a ton of leftovers to get us through Monday. Dana's recipes lately (but really, always) have been incredible, simple, fast, and tangible. I have quite a few of hers on my back burner right now to make soon. Anyways, this chili was stellar, and will definitely be made again. It's super simple to make, but was a hit with all of the non vegetarians in the household! I'd like to make a batch of this and freeze it for future meals too.

Imbibe: Jenever Cocktail with Pine Cone syrup

That is not a typo - pine cone syrup is a real thing. Most of the time when I go to the Marshall Free House, my favorite bar in town, one of the bartenders will rattle off something they've created recently and suggest that I try it. Luckily I know these bartenders rather well, and certainly do trust them. After listening to an intriguing, yet mysterious, introduction to this drink, I bit my tongue from asking "what's in it?" and just trusted him. He comes back with a glass of golden liquid, topped with basil. I absolutely love the first sip of a new drink. First thing I do, as snobby as it may seem, is to smell, paying attention to any aromas I can note and possibly match in the drink. Then, obviously, you sip, which I try to do slowly. And for me, there's always a little moment of anticipation between smelling and sipping. All I could say after this was "Wow" and then "What is in this?!". Jenever is the main ingredient here, which is a Dutch style (also called Holland gin), that I've been hankering to try for some time now. Plus the pine cone syrup, which that alone is insane but awesome and how have I never heard of that before?! Plus the basil on top, with its aromas released into the drink. This one is hard to describe - smooth, yellow chartreuse and slightly maple-esque. I will definitely be trying this again!

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This is possibly my new favorite cocktail because it tastes like a sweeter version of a Negroni. I've been searching for different ways to use pomegranate molasses and this might be the tastiest way yet! If you've never tried Campari, I highly recommend it, but only if you like slightly bitter, strong alcohols. 

For  Father's Day last weekend, I decided to make dinner for my parents and Mike. I grew up eating lots of Southern food (minus the lard and ham hocks), like collard greens, fried cornbread, BBQ chicken and black-eyed peas. Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry encompasses everything I loved as a child, and more, minus the meat and dairy. If you love Southern/Soul food, I can't recommend this book enough. These are the first recipes I've made from it, but they were so easy and pretty much every recipe does not require "special" ingredients. For this dinner, I made Creole Hoppin'-Jean and Johnny blaze cakes (aka johnny cakes with jalapenos). I think I could eat this meal every single day and never tire of it. The texture of the Johnny blaze cakes were incredible, even though they were a little tedious and took a while to cook (it's totally worth it though).

Whenever I make pie, I always ask myself why I don't make pie more often. For dessert on Father's Day, I made this chilled chocolate pie with an oat-almond crust. I left out the strawberry compote and bought some rice whip instead (mostly because we devoured all of our local strawberries). This is probably the easiest vegan/GF pie I've ever made. The crust held up wonderfully and everything came together smoothly and quickly. My favorite part about this pie? The texture was incredible. Getting the texture right for a vegan pie filling is something I've had trouble with in the past, but this one was creamy, thick, and delicious. 

I made this Tuscan kale + tomato pasta this week, which actually ended up giving us two dinners. The sauce was very "soupy", which I liked in some ways. We omitted the Parmesan rind, which I'm sure would add a lovely flavor to the sauce, so ours turned out slightly bland. If going the vegan route, add some dried Italian herbs/oregano/salt when the sauce is finished and extra fresh thyme and basil leaves for serving. This sauce came together quickly and was very easy to make, but I think I liked it better the second night (see below).

I had a ton of leftover tomato sauce from the Tuscan kale pasta, but did not want to eat pasta again. Two pounds of pasta in two days (for both of us) is not okay with me, as crazy as that sounds. Suddenly I remembered the eggs in tomato sauce that I've been making for weekend breakfasts every now and then, and wondered if I could do the same thing here. Here's the beauty of this recipe: we left the tomato sauce in the pot we cooked it in, with the lid, in the fridge. For dinner, I just put it on the stove to boil, straight from the fridge, lowered the heat to simmer (covered) for 10 minutes. Then I cracked four eggs gently into the tomato sauce and cooked 5-7 minutes until pretty much set, then 2-3 minutes off the heat uncovered. We ate these eggs over buttered toast with extra tomato sauce, fresh thyme and basil. You could also serve this over Italian polenta for an extra delicious dinner!

The most abundant herb in my garden is fennel. I hate licorice candy, but I am a sucker for how fennel smells and tastes. Plus, the big, green fronds are so pretty shooting every which way from the middle of its pot. But what on Earth will I do with all of this fennel? Yes, I can take out the root and eat it, but then I will have to grow fennel all over again. Well I did find one way: potato soup! Fennel fronds are the perfect balance for a creamy, potato-corn soup. I used this recipe with these changes: I omitted the tofu bacon, used 4 fresh corn cobs instead of 1 cup, omitted the nutritional yeast and jalapenos. I also broke my corn cobs in half and added them to the soup while it simmered, then removed them before taking it off the heat to blend it. I think I used about 1/4-1/3 C of torn fennel fronds to stir into the soup. Also, this soup is a cinch to make. There is no sauteing, or oil, and it takes about 30 minutes or less with prep time included. Always a plus!

One thing I am trying to be better about is using leftovers from one dish for a completely different one in the same week. Earlier this week, I made this curry soup with jasmine rice and tofu croutons (not pictured because I have made it before). There was a ton of rice and half a package of tofu leftover. Last night I used both of these to make peanut butter + kale fried rice. I added broiled sesame tofu, Thai basil, sriracha and chopped peanuts. Sadly there are no leftovers because we ate all of it in one sitting. This is definitely going on my "too busy to care" meal rotation during the school year. The ingredients are simple and it takes maybe 10 minutes to pull together. The sesame broiled tofu is something I go back to again and again because of how simple it is. You can find the recipe in this post.

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Hi everyone! So did I mention that I got another recipe testing position? Well I did and it's for one of my favorite bloggers: An Unrefined Vegan. This was my first recipe I made for her, and I can't say much, but it was a delicious, lemony creamy pasta with steamed broccoli! I also wanted to mention that I finally bought a vegetable steamer basket last week. Since taking my nutrition class, I realized how important it is to keep the vitamins and minerals intact in my vegetables so they don't diffuse into the water (which is how you can lose most of them). So I invested in a steamer to try to keep as many vitamins and minerals as I can! I highly recommend getting one if you can.

I spent a few hours at the farmer's market last weekend and had a great time. Mike was out of town so I prepared myself a fancy lady dinner: a big salad with organic romaine, farmer's market cherry tomatoes and a silken-tofu fresh basil dressing. I also roasted some potatoes with fresh rosemary, whole garlic cloves and olive oil (highly recommend trying this!). And of course, one of my favorite cocktails: elderflower lemonade and gin!

I am so happy that I've been keeping up with most of my summer goals this year! I'm lame and make a list every single April/May of things I want to try over the summer. One of them was to make sushi, which I FINALLY did last weekend! An employee at Sur La Table recommended this silicone sushi mat because it doesn't stick to the nori/rice, and she was right! Luckily my friend Sofia has made sushi before, so I let her roll some first. We used this spicy tempeh nori roll recipe from Veganomicon. This recipe is great for first time sushi makers because it's easy, has minimal ingredients, and oh my gosh it's tasty. It almost tastes better than some sushi I've had in Greensboro! We were very pleased with how these turned out!

Sofia and I had a fancy food party last weekend, which consisted of making sushi and my hands down no questions asked favorite zucchini fritters. I have made these once before and there is just no comparison to any I've ever had before. The ingredients are so simple, but the outcome is absolutely incredible. I don't know if it's because of the cast iron skillet or grating the zucchini through a food processor, but these are the tastiest little zucchini fritters in the world! To make them GF, just sub bob's red mill GF all-purpose flour. It's that easy!

I've obviously been on a fresh herb kick lately, so I decided to make these herbacious eggs with cilantro-lime brown rice. These eggs have cumin seeds, turmeric, fresh oregano, coriander, and fresh thyme. As you can imagine, the resulting flavor is craaazy good. I could have eaten four whole eggs this way by myself. The cilantro lime rice is the perfect background for these eggs, and I'm sure adding vegan sour cream/cashew cream on top would make it even tastier. If you're vegan, I'm positive that you could make a tofu scramble or omelette using the same herbs and get the same results!

Somehow I've never put chia seeds in smoothies, but now I think I always will. It makes the smoothie thick, almost fluffy, and delicious! This is a strawberry ginger smoothie, which is the perfect accessory to a good book!

This is another recipe testing dish: a white bean salad with a creamy Italian dressing! I seriously can't wait for this book to come out! Everything has been so delicious so far.

I had some leftover tempeh from our sushi rolls, so I made some tempeh "bacon" with it. I just cubed the tempeh into small pieces, chopped leftover onion and two cloves of garlic. I sauteed the onion and tempeh in oil, on medium until the tempeh was lightly browned. I then added some soy sauce, liquid smoke and apple cider vinegar until it was absorbed into the tempeh (just enough of each to make it taste like bacon and light on the liquid smoke). Then I added the garlic in the last few minutes of cooking. Served on some GF toast slathered with vegan mayo, it was the perfect breakfast and lunch with a side of Thai pickles!

I bought a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard at the market last weekend for only $2, so instead of using it for my favorite minestrone recipe, I decided to try something new. I made this bowl of quinoa, swiss chard, and roasted sweet potatoes with a tangy miso sauce. This recipe is super easy to make and is great for all seasons! I left out the chickpeas due to laziness and tested another recipe instead, which was lemon-garlic baked tofu. And obviously, everything was drizzled with sriracha! 

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Have you ever tried broccoli slaw? This was the first time I've made/tasted it, and it was amazing. Good thing it keeps well in the fridge for a week because I kept eating it for days. It has the perfect balance of tangy, sweet and toasty. I made mine in a food processor, which cut down on some of the prep time. I served it with baked potatoes and baked BBQ tofu for a well-rounded meal. This tofu recipe was super easy and delicious too!

Lately I've been trying to make recipes that I put in my notebook 3 or more years ago, when I was still living at home. It's a weird feeling for me to make something that I made years ago in my parent's kitchen. I cooked a little when I still lived with them, but I didn't start really experimenting until a couple of years ago when I was on my own. In my own kitchen, I kind of flew off the handles and tried cooking everything. I was completely enamored with it, and still am (obviously). I have faint memories of my mom making this lemony collard green pasta with me, when I still lived with them. I was probably still learning to mince garlic with out slicing my fingers. It blows my mind how far I've come with cooking in just two or so years. Anyways, this pasta recipe is incredible and a cinch to make, so it's perfect for any weeknight dinner! 

I love potato salad, but this is no ordinary kind of potato salad. It's made with blue potatoes (although you can use red), chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, fresh corn, cilantro, and many other delicious ingredients. Although it's pretty spicy, it's refreshing at the same time. This is perfect for any hot summer night and this dish is definitely better if you let it chill in the fridge a couple of hours. It reminds me of the burrito bowls from Chipotle, which sounds weird I guess, but much healthier! Serve over romaine with some beer and you're set! This recipe is originally from Appetite for Reduction.

My latest and greatest downfall (besides buying more cookbooks): sushi with ikura. And yes, I ate all of this. I also FINALLY bought a sushi rolling mat yesterday! Can't wait to use it because I can't keep going out for sushi once a week.

Salads are one of my favorite things to pull together on days where I don't have leftovers. This one is adapted from this fully loaded kale salad and includes: farmer's market tomato and raw kale, carrots, red onion, avocado, hemp seeds, leftover toasted pecans (from the lemony collards pasta), and a delicious maple tahini dressing. I always feel full and energized after eating a big salad, so I'm trying to incorporate them into my lunches lately.

I have a thing for corn chowder. The best thing my mom makes, hands down, is any type of soup. But her corn chowder is something else all together. It's perfect in winter, when it's super cold, or in the summer, when fresh corn is abundant. The best thing about corn chowder is there are a million different variations on it, and you guys know how much I love recipe variations! This one is a summer curried corn & vegetable chowder from Appetite for Reduction. Isa was the first person to hook  me on to adding coconut milk and lime to corn chowder, after making this garden version with fresh basil and chives. The coconut milk and lime adds a completely different flavor profile to a regular corn chowder. This one also has a lot of curry powder and cilantro, so it's bursting with different flavors. You will certainly be seeing different corn chowder recipes on here all summer! 

One reason why I love summer is that I can go crazy in the kitchen for a few hours with out having to worry about (too much) homework. This is all I can say about these chipotle lentil burgers: they are the best veggie burgers I've ever made or tasted. And besides that, they are incredibly easy to make! I don't know how to explain the flavor of these except it's a deep, smoky one. Top with vegan mayo and maybe add some bread & butter pickles, if desired. I also made these baked onion rings to serve with the burgers. I used GF all purpose flour and GF breadcrumbs (some with GF panko). This was my first time tasting onion rings (ever) and they were magnificent! I could have eaten an entire plate of these. Both of these recipes originally come from Appetite for Reduction.

We haven't even had these banana pepper plants for two weeks and they are growing fast! Earlier this week they were just tiny flowers. I can't wait to pickle these!

One of my other food downfalls are spicy vegan sandwiches with avocado, tomato, and vegan mayo. I adapted this from the buffalo tempeh recipe in Appetite for Reduction. I used tofu instead of tempeh because I accidentally bought tempeh with gluten in it (whoops!). I didn't let the tofu marinate, but I certainly would if you have time. It was still delicious with all the sandwich fixins and sides. I highly recommend adding a few fresh basil leaves to the filling above for an extra tasty summer sandwich!
Update for a third sandwich option: vegan mayo, bread and butter maple bourbon pickles, buffalo tofu & fresh basil. Trust me.

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This is maybe my favorite vegan mac + cheeze recipe that is SO easy and delicious. We added steamed mustard greens for sustenance. This is the second time I've made this recipe.

I had some pretty bad allergies for most of this week, so I whipped up some AMAZING coconut chana saag from Isa Does It. I can honestly say I've never made a bad recipe from her before, and this is possibly the best Indian food I've ever made. The fennel seeds give a nice anise flavor to the dish, and jasmine rice and cilantro are essential for this meal to be complete. It's also fairly easy for a weeknight Indian dish!

I posted my favorite recipe for miso ramen soup this week, that always makes me feel better! I'm convinced the combo of miso, raw garlic and ginger cured me.

My favorite gluten-free beer is finally out! It has a short season of only a couple of months, but it's so good. It's made with strawberries, sorghum and buckwheat honey.

 I was in Raleigh all weekend, so I made some vegan burgers from the Oh She Glows cookbook. I couldn't find the recipe from the book online, but this is the recipe she made before publishing her book and they're pretty similar. They're made from black beans, sunflower seeds, flax, GF breadcrumbs, carrots and more! They're a little time consuming because of the long ingredient list, but they're delicious, healthy and full of flavor! Veggie burgers are great for traveling because all you have to do is heat it up, add toppings, and eat with a side! My friend Piper made us a delicious saute with Farmers market zucchini, onions, bell peppers, carrots and Greek oregano. 

 So Piper made some amazing "braised" red cabbage this weekend with smashed garlic. And being the weirdo I am, I had this for breakfast with some pan-sauteed quinoa and an egg. I made this recipe again as soon as I got home again, so maybe I will post it if any of you are interested! I'm always looking for easy ways to use up leftover red cabbage. 

I was in Raleigh for Piper's bridal shower this weekend, so I made one of my favorite desserts: pink lemonade bars! They are GF/dairy-free but no one could tell :) And they're perfect for the warm weather.

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Things have been crazy around here, hence the lack of recipes, and I haven't been cooking every night. But spring break starts after class tomorrow (!!!) so hopefully I will get back on track with school and cooking!

I've been eyeing this mujaddara for years now. It's quick, easy, and the only thing I had to buy was vegan yogurt. It seems like such a simple dish, but the flavors go together so well. I also love caramelized onions, which is one of the main components of this dish. There are many variations on this dish, but this is the one I made. Highly recommended for a busy night when you just want something simple!

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I got a breadmaker for Christmas (thanks Mama Gulick!). This weekend, she showed me how easy it is to make bread in a breadmaker using this mix. The result was wonderful! A light, airy not dense or mouth-scraping GF bread! I will definitely be making more bread soon. It's hard to eat Udi's bread after having fresh GF bread!

Some delicious cranberry cider I bought for the ice storm on Monday.

I'm definitely putting this in my easy weeknight meal rotation! I used this easy ginger shallot broccoli recipe, cooked brown rice and this spicy tofu recipe for an easy dinner. I doubled the tofu sauce, which I poured over the tofu after pan-frying so that it would glaze it better. The result was an amazingly easy Asian dinner! If you're interested in me doing a post of easy weeknight meals, please leave a comment below!

I've had this blood orange olive oil cake for YEARS now, and I finally made it! It was one of the first recipes I converted to GF when I first started baking. The result was a tender, orange-flecked cake with a great crust. I think the blood orange compote on top would make it even better, but I only had three blood oranges. For conversions, I used: scant 1/2 C vegan unsweetened yogurt, 1 C millet flour, 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/4 C tapioca starch and 1 tsp xanthan gum. 

Confession: I have never had a real Reuben before. But like many things, I have now had the vegan version! We used GF bread, sauerkraut, this tempeh recipe, and this Russian dressing recipe. This made a very easy and delicious sandwich! Also, it's likely that you have most of these things on hand to make them all the time (which is great)! We served ours with homemade Cajun fries

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Hell week is almost over! I can almost taste it! It's hard to believe that spring break is in a week, which I am so excited for...except I will be studying the entire time. But, it does allow for baking time! Here's what we've been eating lately:

Remember that gigantic butternut squash I chopped last week? Well here's the last way we finished it off: with a smoky butternut pasta sauce with steamed collards. This sauce is easy enough for a weeknight, but decadent enough to feel special. I love the liquid smoke/smoked paprika with the sweet squash and collards. I'll definitely be making this again!

Okay, maybe it's just me, but when I see "weird" food combinations in recipes, I have to try it. Like, immediately. When Sara posted this recipe with pomegrante, mint, orange, chili powder, and millet, it went on my "to make ASAP" list. Although it seems like a lengthy recipe because of the odd ingredients, it actually isn't at all! The flavors were perfect together and created a really nice sweet/cooling/spicy flavor profile. 

Simplicity in its purest form is the vegan bowl: a grain with vegetables, protein, and some sort of sauce. I could live solely on bowl dinners. I heard a rumor that Sara's next cookbook is ALL bowl recipes, which is crazy awesome. Anyways, this roasted broccoli bowl was great for a busy weeknight. I love that you roast all the vegetables and chickpeas on one tray. The sauce didn't really thin that well, but it was still delicious and made a great wholesome meal!

I'm not sure how it's taken me so long to make carrot soup. I have so many different variations saved, but I settled on this super simple one from Deb (aka head food goddess of the Internet) with some Middle-Eastern spices, swirled with a tahini dollop (which I have been eating a lot of recently) and topped with my own creation: gluten-free za'atar croutons. The flavors are warm, comforting, and delicious. Za'atar has become one of my favorite spices lately. For the croutons, heat a pan on medium, add a TBS or so of butter/olive oil, then about 2 heaping cups of cubed/torn GF bread, a generous pinch of za'atar and a tiny pinch of salt. Then stir occasionally, toasting the bread, until all sides are lightly browned. Then devour!

Sometimes not having anything to eat for lunch is a challenge I like to take on. Today's lunch consisted of things I need to get out of the fridge (as it always does): GF bread spread with homemade roasted garlic mayo, homemade roasted red pepper spread (from the broccoli bowls), caramelized red onions, eggs over easy and hot sauce. Maybe not the healthiest lunch, but it was damn tasty and filling!