Pan-Fried Noodle Cake with Stir-Fried Bok Choy

We have now discovered the upper limit of my cooking ability: the noodle cake. I'm really trying to stretch my comfort zone and explore new tastes and styles, so after using this book for many years now, tonight was the first time I have made this dish.

And let me say, that the flavors are fabulous. The bok choy flavoring includes hoisin sauce, so how could you go wrong, really?

A breakdown of my challenges:

1. This is my first time cooking with bok choy, and I weighed out the 1 3/4 pounds as the recipe says, but when I started prepping it, I realized that it had large stems but few leaves. Makes me wonder if Whole Foods got in a lousy batch and chopped off the leaves to make it look better? I'll be looking at bok choy in the markets now to see if it normally comes with more leaves. Thankfully, I bought a huge bin of spinach today, so I just threw in a bunch of that.
2. Fresh chinese noodles. Not so easy for me to find the fresh kind, so I went with dried noodles. Tasted fine, but I'm not sure if the measurements were off because of this. Which leads me to point 3...
3. My noodle cake was huge in the pan. So I had to use a serving plate to flip the cake. Sadly, I didn't have another serving plate close at hand, which meant my top plate was smaller. When I flipped the cake, the edges fell off. No surprise there. 
4. I think because I probably had too much noodles in the pan, it was too thick, so it didn't really form a cake per se. More like a large, fluffy, flat-ish brain.

In the end, what we got was an incredibly tasty, low-sodium, Ramen Noodles dinner.  Nothing wrong with that except that we had five bowls, two skillets, and a large pot to clean in addition to cutting board knives and spoons.

I'm giving this dish 2 stars, simply because I could not replicate it. Can you? I will give a $5 Dunkin Donuts card to the first person who can replicate this dish properly with pictures as proof. And, if you do succeed, could you please tell me how you did it?

Fine Print: to play, you have to have a copy of the book or get the recipe from someone else. My fingers are tired.

Granola By Request

I found this granola recipe last year in The Urban Vegan, and not only does it taste delicious, but it also makes your home smell yummy. A friend asked me for the recipe, so I thought I'd share the love.

Some comments on this granola from the book:

"Most store-bought granola is sickeningly sweet. This granola is delicate, nutty, and subtly sweet. If you prefer a more cloying cereal, add the full amount of brown sugar. As a special bonus, while this granola bakes, it infuses your kitchen with a lovely orange-nutty aroma."

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raw, hulled sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pecan, almond, or walnut pieces
1/4 cup dry quinoa
2 T dry amaranth
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
2 T coconut oil
1/3 - 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/4 cup flaked or shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins*
1/2 cup cranberries *
*Or use 1 cup of either

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a medium cookie sheet and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together oats, sunflower seeds, nuts, grains, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a small saucepan, combine coconut oil, brown sugar, agave nectar, and extracts. Heat on low and cook gently until sugar is dissolved. 
4. Remove from heat and pour into bowl with grains. Using a wooden spoon, stir well and make sure all grains are covered with the liquid. Spread onto the cookie sheet and bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Bake for 5 to 7 more minutes. Again, remove from oven and stir. Lower temperature to 350 F and bake for 5 to 15 more minutes, or until golden and crunchy.
5. Remove from oven and stirl in coconut and dried fruit. Let sit at foom temperature for about 8 hours.
6. Transfer to tightly sealed containers. Will keep for a few weeks.

Yields 4 cups.

Winter Squash Risotto

Having made the Pesto Risotto with Tracy Jill, I decided I should try the Winter Squash Risotto as my second Jack Bishop recipe. And I think I hit the jackpot! This recipe is amazing and though it seems labor intensive, it really isn't and it is very very worth it. I also googled different ways to keep left-over risotto for later days and almost all of the forums said not to even try freezing risotto and that even reheating it the next day would ruin the texture of the rice. Jack Bishop encourages people to make Risotto Cakes if there are left-overs. Well, I will have to report back to you on the frozen risotto later (Memily doesn't follow directions well;), but I can tell you for certain that the left-overs I had for lunch today were just as amazing as yesterday. So, Enjoy!

You will need:

2½ pounds winter squash (one medium butternut squash or 2-3 delicatas)
3 T butter (1 T melted)
salt
4 c vegetable stock
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1½ c Arborio rice
¾ c dry white wine
¾ c Parmesan cheese
1 T fresh sage, minced
nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 450.

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and strings, and put them in saucepan. Brush the squash flesh with butter, sprinkle with a bit of salt, and place on the cookie sheet, flesh side up. Bake about 45 minutes, until tender. Set aside to cool, then spoon the flesh into bowl, discard skins, and mash squash until smooth.

Meanwhile, add stock and ½ t salt to the seeds and strings and heat over high heat until it boils. Cover, lower heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Set strainer over bowl and pour the liquid through. Use spoon to squish the strings and get all the liquid out. Measure the liquid back into the saucepan and add water until the total liquid equals 5 cups. Heat to a simmer, cover, and turn off heat.

In the heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 1 T butter with olive oil until butter melts and is no longer foamy. Add onion and sauté until soft, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute.

Stirring constantly: Mix in rice and cook for 1 minute. Add wine and cook about 2 minutes, until absorbed. Add 1 c of broth and cook until absorbed, then add another c, and repeat until rice is soft and creamy with just a bit of hardness right at the center. Add more hot water if needed to get the texture just right. This should take about 25 minutes total.

Remove from heat and stir in mashed squash, Parmesan, sage, and the last T butter. Mix until butter is melted, then add nutmeg and additional salt, if desired. Serve immediately, with Parmesan cheese for sprinkling.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chipotle Chiles and Garlic

Holy heat, Batman! The last time I made this soup, I found it to be beyond my comfortable heat threshold. I thought perhaps that I had added more chipotle chiles than were called for in the recipe, so tonight I made certain that I stuck to the measurements exactly.

Well, it wasn't me. The recipe calls for two teaspoons of minced chiles plus an additional teaspoon of adobo sauce. For me, it's WAY too hot.

The sweetened croutons help to offset the heat, and the flavors are fantastic, but for me, this has just too much heat. Tommie has had a lousy day today, so this will at least cheer him up -- the hotter the better for him.

I'm giving this soup 3 stars. Tommie's going to definitely disagree with me on that -- he's gonna love it. I'm making a note to remind myself to try it with only one teaspoon of the chiles next time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find some more tissues and some water. Ouch!

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew

Unlike my good friend and cooking buddy Mrs. Tracy Jill, I am still a meat eater. But I asked for Jack Bishop's "A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen" for Christmas, because I am interested in bringing more vegetables into my diet. I consider myself a good cook, but without this cookbook my veggie selection was basically limited to broccoli steamed in the microwave and occasionally asparagus. My dinners are much healthier and more nutritious now that I have recipes that are easy to cook, taste delicious and have me asking for seconds of the vegetables, not the bread, pasta or meat. I made this stew last night and loved it! The flavors worked so well together and start to finish it took me less than 30 minutes to make. I definitely had seconds, but I never felt like I had over-eaten. Usually I fall into a post carb and meat dinner coma every night, but this stew gave me energy, woke me up, and made me feel great. I highly recommend it. 5 stars:)

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice

Well, tonight's dinner proves that sometimes cooking ability is important when making a recipe. While A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen is a cookbook of "easy" recipes, I made this dish when I first got the book years ago, and it kinda sucked. But because of my blog I thought I'd give it another try, and I have to say that I found the dish to be highly flavorful. I bet Tommie will agree when he eats it later tonight.

I doubled the amount of Tabasco sauce, but other than that I stuck with the ingredients as listed, which include carrots, celery, fresh oregano, and garlic. It's a simple meal to make, but I must not have seasoned it well enough the first time. Unsure what happened there.

Once again, Dr. Sanjay Gupta would approve of the rainbow of colors. So, for taste, nutritional value, and not a whole lotta chopping to do, I give this dish 4 out of 5 stars. I think I give a lot of dishes that rating. I worry that I'm stacking the curve too much with an exorbitantly high number of 4s and 5s, but it is my favorite cookbook, so one would hope there were a lot of tasty meals in it. So there you have it. 4 stars it is. 

Why I'm a Vegetarian

I love animals. That's why I'm a vegetarian. Simple as that. About six or seven years ago my love for animals was becoming so overwhelming that I was finding it harder and harder to eat meat. Tommie felt the same way, so we decided to try eating meat-free meals a couple times a week. Over time we realized that we really preferred those meat-free meals.

At the same time, I was extremely ill with recurring digestive problems that years later were determined to be symptoms from a tumor on my pancreas. By the end of the summer of 2005 (I believe it was) we decided to stop eating all meat. I did so with one caveat though. I was so sick, that I couldn't bare the thought of feeling worse, so I decided to become a vegetarian as long as it didn't make me more ill. My exact words were, "I'll switch to being a full-time vegetarian so long as I can do so and still be healthy." (Emphasis now shows the irony of that word, since I was sick as a dog back then.)

Here I am five and a half years later, and I haven't once questioned my decision. As you can see from the food I'm eating from this blog, I'm enjoying a rainbow of delicious foods that are fueling my body to be stronger than I  have ever been in my life. Without medical intervention my immune system is strong enough now to fight the cancer on its own, and I am sure that it is my whole foods, plant-based diet in conjunction with exercise, that is making me so strong.

Most of my friends eat meat. Most Americans eat meat. Many of my friends are overweight and unhealthy, and something like one third of all Americans are the same. I know that I'm not going to change the world, and I'm not going to change the minds of my friends, but here's some food for thought:

If you could eat delicious food that makes you feel and look amazing and can help you reduce many of the medicines you need to take, while at the same time save the lives of helpless animals, wouldn't you want to do this? Would you consider at least trying this?

I'll help if you want to give it a try. Your body, your taste buds, and countless animals will thank you.

Recipe: Curried Red Lentils with Caramelized Onions

While I don't think it's right for me to post a lot of Jack's recipes on the web, I think this recipe is so delicious that it can only help sales of the book, right?

I'm including his Simplest Rice Pilaf recipe as well. If you prefer cardamon to cinnamon, follow the same recipe but replace the cinnamon stick with 6 cardamon pods that have been lightly crushed with the side of a chef's knife. Both ways are delicious to me, but I'm in love with the cinnamon flavor. 

Enjoy!

Curried Red Lentils with Caramelized Onions

2 tablespoons Canola oil
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced gingerroot
2 teaspoons curry powder
3 1/2 cups water
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 cups dried red lentils, rinsed & picked over to remove any stones
Salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Quick Caramelized Onions
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 medium onions (about 1 pound), halved and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar


1. For the lentils: Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the water, coconut milk, lentils, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring once or twice, until the lentils have fallen apart, about 20 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat, and simmer until the lentils thicken a bit (they should be loose but not liquidy), about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and adjust the seasonings, adding salt to taste.

2. For the onions: Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Once the foaming subsides, add the onions, salt, and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften and begin to color slightly, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very tender and nicely browned, about 15 minutes. (If the onions start to burn at any point, reduce the heat.)

3. To serve: Spoon some rice pilaf (recipe below) into individual shallow soup or pasta bowls. Spoon some lentils over the rice, top with a tangle of caramelized onions, and serve.

And so that the dish is complete, here is the Simplest Rice Pilaf recipe:

Simplest Rice Pilaf

1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or canola oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

1. Place the rice in a medium bowl and fill with cold water. Swish the rice around in the water with your fingers. Carefully drain off the water, keeping the rice in the bowl. Repeat the rinsing and draining steps until the water is no longer cloudy, 4 or 5 more times. Set the rice aside.

2. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan, preferably nonstick, over medium heat until foaming. If using, add the cinnamon stick and cook until it begins to unfurl slightly and is aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice smells toasted but has not colored, about 3 minutes. Add the water and salt and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook (without opening the lid), until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and set aside, covered, for 10 minutes to allow the rice to finish cooking. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve.

Curried Red Lentils with Caramelized Onions

Could this be the most delicious recipe in the book? Yes. I believe it is. And, it's very easy to make. However, there's a lot of clean up afterward, which is why I don't make this all that often. My ideal dinner is made in one pot. This one takes two pots and a saute pan. But, seriously, it's fracking delicious.

Let me talk through the layers. Underneath the lentils in the picture lies a bed of rice infused with cinnamon. It's hard not to just chow down on the rice alone. Next, we have the red lentils which are cooked with garlic, fresh ginger, and curry powder. And then finally, on top you have caramelized onions. Yum. Yum. Yum.... Yum.

I don't care about the clean up. This dish falls under the six out of five stars category. The rewards also include getting to nosh on some rice when you put the leftovers in a dish, and for the two of us we'll each get at least one more lunch out of this. Maybe more than that.

Did I say "yum?"

Soba Noodles with Chard and Raisins

Ok. That's a fine looking picture! Dr. Sanjay Gupta would once again be proud -- so many colors! I opted for Rainbow Chard, which is just gorgeous. Each of the stems is a different color. You can see in the picture how some of the pieces are red and some are yellow, for example. One great thing about this recipe is that it calls for the whole chard piece, not just the leaves. You saute the chopped stems and then steam the leaves until they wilt.

We loved this dinner. Like last night's entree, I haven't made this one in years. My blog is motivating me to make a wider variety of recipes. Thanks to ME for that! :)

Though Tommie wanted to give this one a 5, I'm going to go with a 4. The flavors are fabulous -- raisins, chard, pine nuts, olive oil, green olives, garlic, and red pepper flakes combined with soba noodles. I went with wheat and buckwheat noodles, and they tasted great. My only issue with the dish was that the noodles were extremely starchy, which made a mushy sort of texture. I rinsed them after boiling them as directed, but maybe I need to stir them around the next time when I rinse. Something to work on...

Stir-Fried Turnips with Greens

Asian Delight-ful! Despite my LOVE of turnips, this is only the second time I've made this dish, and it has to have been years since I made it the first time. What have I been thinking? This stir-fry is fabulous.

If you have not tried turnips, and if you like Asian flavors, then make this stir-fry your entree (pun not intentional) into Turnip World.

Couple thoughts: Tommie will disagree with me on this, but rather than put 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes in it, I might go with 1/4 the next time. It pushed the envelope in terms of heat for my delicate mouth. The other thing is that I definitely could have added more spinach. It never ceases to amaze me how massive the greens look going in and how small they are once they wilt.

Try this dish. It's really fabulous. We give it 4.5 stars. Delicious. Nutritious. But a lot of prep bowls to clean. Tommie's working on that as I type...

Drunken Pinto Beans with Charred Onions and Chiles

A friend joined me for lunch today, and we decided to eat in. I've been putting off going to the grocery store for a few days, so my cupboards were almost bare, but I had just enough to make this Drunken Pinto Beans dish.

If you don't have much time to spend chopping this is a great dish, with only eight ingredients. The only things you have to chop are onions, hot pepper, and cilantro. Piece of cake.

I'm giving this dish 4 stars. Easy to make. Highly tasty. If you're looking for a simple and hard to mess up (unless your beer is skunked -- sorry about that time Tommie!), this one's worth trying.

Creamy Tomato Soup--The Perfect Head Cold Remedy

So, Guest Blogger Tommie stepping up to the plate (HAH! Get it?) tonight. Tracy and I teamed up to create this lovely, DAIRY-FREE(!) taste sensation. The creaminess comes from leeks, and it is amazingly delicious. We have a number of friends who make this regularly, and we're glad to pay this recipe forward. And tonight, I strapped on the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS apron (a most excellent Christmas gift) and got my soup nazi on.

It's pretty easy to cook this one, except when you have to handle this electrical devise called an "immersion blender." Clearly, I was not checked out on this, and I was, according to Tracy, "white-knuckling." But, don't worry, I hung on for dear life, and nary a wall was splattered.

The soup turned out great, particularly with a couple pieces of toasted wheat bread that Tracy made yesterday. This dish remains, as always, a "5." Even with our colds, it was awesome.