Odds & Ends Challenge

I might as well put up the entry I submitted for the first cooking challenge I participated in for the group cooking blog I'm in. This one took place mid-September, right before my trip to New York.

The challenge was dubbed the "Odds & Ends Challenge." Rather than having a theme ingredient, the goal of the challenge was to use up ingredients you already had in your fridge, pantry, or freezer. Click the link below to continue reading what I had posted:

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September 8, 2008
This challenge was perfect for me, since I'm leaving town in a few days and needed to use up all the fresh veggies left in my fridge! As I was looking through my pantry to figure out what else I could use up, I found a box of kasha I bought a long time ago that I never got around to trying. . . so I'm also using this to fulfill Des's "try something new" challenge.

I'd never had kasha before, so I had no clue what it tasted like or how to cook it. I had some brussels sprouts, kale, tofu, and red peppers in the fridge that really needed to be eaten, so I figured I could just throw everything together and hope for the best :)

I ended up just steaming the brussels sprouts, turning the kale, peppers, and tofu into a stir fry, and using the kasha as a side dish. It turned out pretty well!

I started off by quartering and steaming the brussels sprouts:

Then I followed the package directions to make the kasha. I boiled two cups of veggie broth (which was also just something sitting in my pantry that needed to be used). While that was going, I beat an egg and coated 1 cup of kasha with it.

Then I cooked the kasha/egg mixture in a dry skillet until it was no longer sticky and the grains separated. By then, the broth was boiling, so I could pour it onto the kasha, cover the skillet, and let it simmer until the liquid was absorbed.

While the kasha was cooking, I chopped up the tofu, and tossed it with some tamari, Bragg's, and liquid smoke:

I sauteed the tofu in a skillet, and steamed the kale. Once the tofu was brown, I took it off the heat, and used the same skillet to stir fry the red peppers. I transferred the steamed kale to the skillet, and added a little tamari and Bragg's to flavor the kale & peppers. Then I added the tofu back to the stir fried veggies.

Once I was done with the kale/pepper/tofu stir fry, the kasha was done, so all I had to do it plate it! Voilà!

Chicago Diner: Healthy Vegan Food

A few weeks ago, I went Halloween costume shopping with two friends. We decided to grab lunch before heading to the costume shop. We went to one of our usual hangouts, the Chicago Diner (3411 N Halsted St). By a stroke of luck, I happened to have my camera with me since I'd planned on taking pictures of us trying on costumes. I was able to get this mini-adventure on film (er, memory stick?), and record what we ate that fateful afternoon. It'll go down in history as the day of the 6 vegan milkshakes!!

Before we even got there, I had a craving for a chocolate chip cookie dough vegan shake, and one of my friends wanted a strawberry one. We weren't sure what we were eating for lunch, but we definitely knew what we were drinking! When we sat down, we ordered our shakes and looked over the menu.

They recently re-did their menu but most of the old favorites are still there. Per usual, I couldn't decide between getting the seitan gyros (my favorite item on the menu) or the Reuben (my second favorite). My two friends decided they wanted to try out some of the new items on the menu, so they ordered the faux chicken nuggets and the sweet potato fries with vegan nacho cheeze as appetizers.

 

We finally decided on our entrees, and I ended up ordering whatever their sandwich special was. I think it was a chik'n panini with various veggies on it (clearly it wasn't that memorable, and unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it). I'm most likely not going to order it again since there are so many other yummy things on the menu that's fantastic that are more memorable.

Once our food came, we realized we hadn't gotten our shakes yet. The waiter apologized, and once they came out, he gave us three extra mini-shakes since we had to wait so long. Unfortunately, they brought me a chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter shake instead of just a plain chocolate chip cookie dough :-( So he let us keep the PB shake and brought mine out once he placed the right order in.

So yeah, after all the confusion cleared up, we ended up with 6 shakes between the 3 of us. In the end, we each had a healthy, nutrition lunch consisting of chik'n nuggets, sweet potato fries with cheeze, sandwiches, and 2 milkshakes each. NIIIIICE.

Butternut Squash w/Quinoa & Veggies

In October, I participated in the Winter Squash Challenge for the group cooking blog I'm a part of. For your viewing pleasure, I've copied and pasted my entry below:

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October 29, 2008
I ended up making a huge quinoa pilaf with butternut squash, red and green peppers, onions, and seitan sausage. It turned out really well! I'd definitely make it again :)

So I'm a lazy bum and didn't feel like doing anything too complicated, which included cutting up a squash. So I bought about a pound of pre-cut butternut squash, along with a pound of asparagus, one red and one green bell pepper, and some fresh thyme. When I got home I rummaged through my pantry and decided to use some quinoa I had in storage, along with an onion, veggie bullion, and dried rosemary and savory.

I chopped up the onion and peppers, sprayed it with some olive oil spray, and sprinkled the thyme, rosemary, and savory on it. I decided to cook the asparagus separately with some olive oil and garlic. I roasted everything at 425 degrees for about 1/2 hr.

While the veggies were cooking, I re-constituted some veggie bullion into 2 cups of water. I brought the veggie broth to a boil, then stirred in the quinoa. I let it simmer, covered, for 15 minutes over low heat.

The quinoa and the veggies were done around the same time, so I just mixed them together. . . except for the asparagus because I decided I wanted to just eat that separately.

In the end, I decided to throw in two apple-sage seitan sausages for extra protein. And because they taste good :)


This makes four servings. Here's the nutritional information of just the quinoa dish (without asparagus, and before adding the sausage):
250 calories
3 g fat
50 g carbs (4g fiber)
7 g protein

Adding the asparagus & sausage, it becomes:
390 calories
8 g fat
60 g carbs (7g fiber)
22 g protein

Cooking Light Challenge - Part 1!!

I tried out three recipes for a challenge I'm doing for a group cooking blog. The challenge was to test out a recipe from the Cooking Light website or publication. I decided to do 3 recipes instead of just one, since I had a friend helping me out.

I found all three recipes from the Cooking Light Website, but the last one was from Sunset, not Cooking Light, so it won't count in the challenge :( (I'm still reporting about it, though, because it was good!)

Here are all of the original recipes:
Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnut Pesto (Cooking Light, November 2007)
Velvety Squash Soup (Cooking Light, November 2007)
Chocolate Tofu Mousse (Sunset, October 1998)

All three recipes turned out to be a huge success!! My first time cooking parsnips and turnips turned out fairly well AND we made a nice fall/holiday soup AND we even got to have a decadent dessert :) Not only that, but all of the recipes were pretty easy to make, and we finished all three within an hour and a half (including chopping/prep, about an hour in the oven for all the veggies, plating, and clean-up).

So that it's easier to search the recipes later, I'm blogging about each one separately. See the following related posts to read about our adventures in making the Roasted Root Vegetables, the Velvety Squash Soup, and the Chocolate Tofu Mousse.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnut Pesto

I followed this recipe pretty well, except I substituted regular parmesan with vegan parm. This was the first time I've ever cooked parsnips and turnips, and it turned out really well. The pesto was delicious! I'd definitely make the pesto again since it's so easy, and I'd like to try it out on other vegetables (maybe ones I like better than parsnips & turnips).

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Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnut Pesto
Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

VEGETABLES:
3 cups (1-inch-thick) slices carrot (about 1 pound)
3 cups (1-inch-thick) slices parsnip (about 1 pound)
3 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled turnip
3 cups trimmed halved Brussels sprouts (about 1 pound)
2 shallots, peeled and quartered
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

PESTO:
2 cups basil leaves
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano [Vegan Parmesan]
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
4 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, peeled

Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare vegetables, place first 6 ingredients in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat vegetable mixture with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; toss. Bake at 425° for 1 hour or until browned. Transfer vegetable mixture to a large bowl.



To prepare pesto, combine basil leaves and remaining ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth, scraping sides. Spoon basil mixture over vegetable mixture, and toss to coat.

Calories: 128 (30% from fat)
Fat: 4.6g (sat 0.5g,mono 0.3g,poly 1.6g)
Protein: 4.4g
Carbohydrate: 19.9g
Fiber: 5.2g
Cholesterol: 0mg

Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnut Pesto (Cooking Light, November 2007)

Velvety Squash Soup

The Velvety Squash Soup was REALLY GOOD, and I'm definitely going to make it again! I made several substitutions to veganize it, and I noted the changes in bold. It was super easy to make!

I subbed veggie broth (reconstituted from veggie bullion) for the chicken broth and soy creamer for the half and half. It was delicious, but if I do it again, I'd leave out the salt at the end (or maybe use less bullion). I also don't think the creamer helped/hurt it much, so I could probably leave that out as well.

Also, since I'm lazy, in the future I'd probably just cook the squashes in the microwave for 8-10 minutes rather than waiting an hour for them to bake in the oven.

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Velvety Squash Soup
Yield 10 servings (serving size: 1 cup)


1 (3-pound) butternut squash
1 (2-pound) acorn squash
Cooking spray
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
2 teaspoons canola oil
5 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth [3 veggie bullion cubes in 5 cups water]
2/3 cup apple cider
2 tablespoons molasses [blackstrap molasses]
1 teaspoon curry powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2/3 cup half-and-half [soy creamer]
Chopped fresh thyme (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Cut each squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place squash, cut sides down, on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.


Combine onion and oil, tossing to coat. Spread onion mixture onto pan around squash. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until squash and onion are tender. Cool slightly. Scoop out squash pulp from skins; discard skins. [Note: It was actually kind of hard to scoop out some of the squash. It may have been undercooked in the middle, so I probably should have left the squash in the oven for an hour instead of 45 minutes. But like I said above, I'll probably just nuke it next time.]

Place onion and squash pulp in a Dutch oven. Stir in broth and the next 5 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.


Place half of squash mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in half-and-half. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish with thyme, if desired.


Nutritional Information
Calories: 134 (15% from fat)
Fat: 2g (sat 0.7g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.1g)
Protein: 1.9g
Carbohydrate: 28.9g
Fiber: 1.2g
Cholesterol: 0mg

Velvety Squash Soup (Cooking Light, November 2007)

Chocolate Tofu Mousse

The Chocolate Tofu Mousse was to DIE for!!!! I'm will definitely be making this again! The recipe is actually supposed to be a frosting, but it says it can be used as a pudding. However, we subbed in dark chocolate baking bars instead of semisweet chocolate chips (which contains milk), and it turned out really rich. It was definitely more mousse-like than pudding-like, so I'm calling it a mousse.

Next time, I may try adding more tofu or soy milk to thin it out, as well as adding different flavors (almond extract?) or a sweetener. It's such an easy and versatile recipe, there are so many possibilities! Heck, I might even use it to frost a cake ;-)
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Chocolate Tofu Mousse
Yield About 12 servings


1 package (6 oz., 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
[2 8-oz dark chocolate baking bars]
1 box (12.3 oz.) nonrefrigerated extra-firm regular or low-fat tofu
[1 tub (16 oz) refrigerated silken tofu]
2 tablespoons rum, orange- or coffee-flavor liqueur, or water [water]
1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Pour chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in a microwave oven on half power (50%) until chocolate is soft, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.


2. Meanwhile, in a blender combine tofu, water, and vanilla. Whirl until smoothly puréed.


3. Stir chocolate until smooth. Scrape into blender with tofu mixture. Whirl until smoothly puréed. Pour into a bowl and nest in ice water. Stir often until pudding is cold, 10 to 12 minutes.


Nutritional Information
Calories: 120 (74% from fat)
Protein: 3.8g
Fat: 9.8g (sat 5.2)
Carbohydrate: 9.0g
Fiber: 1.7g
Sodium: 3.1mg

Chocolate Tofu Mousse (Sunset, October 1998)