hot for food

My chef friend Denise Blinn has been wanting me to try her Krispy Kale Tofu recipe for months. She’s not a vegan, but includes this dish and other options as part of her Meals on Heels lunch delivery service. I was supposed to eat a batch that she made herself, but instead she sent me the recipe… and I tried it right away! Of course, I always have these ingredients in my kitchen at any given time so it’s the perfect thing to whip up and make large batches of for easy leftovers. Surprisingly, the kale stays crisp after day one. My only addition to the original recipe is chopped apples.

Krispy Kale Tofu

Ingredients
1 cup short-grain brown rice or basmati
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 lb kale chopped (ribs removed)
1 gala apple, chopped into cubes
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 lb extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/4″ cubes
sea salt

Preheat oven to 350° and place shelves in upper and lower thirds of oven. Prepare Brown Rice. Whisk together olive oil, sesame oil and soy sauce.  Reserve 1/3 of the dressing, then combine remaining with kale, coconut and tofu.  Toss well, then spread in a single layer on 2 sheet pans. Bake until crispy, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to cook evenly on all sides. Remove from oven and toss mixture with remaining dressing and the cooked rice.  Season with salt and serve warm.

This recipe is a winner. I almost ate all of it in one day, which is possible sans rice! If you live in Toronto’s downtown core and either don’t bring your lunch to work, fail to eat a nutritious lunch, or just want a nice change check out Meals on Heels… it’s a steal of a deal!

I swear, I could eat sweet potato and avocado exclusively, for the rest of my life! Well, perhaps that’s a stretch. But I have been eating this winning combo for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past few weeks. I thought I would show off the photos from my last few dates with these amazing ingredients. In most cases, the sweet potatoes have been microwaved until almost cooked through, then chopped and pan fried in a drizzle of olive oil, S&P, cayenne, paprika, cumin, and nutmeg. The possibilities for tasty additions is endless!

Here’s a simple side of potatoes for breakfast – pan fried sweet potato with onions, fresh avocado, salsa, and cilantro

This was a yummy warm lunch salad – pan fried sweet potato, with fresh avocado, green onion, red pepper, and sweet raisins all tossed in a good dose of lime juice. Next time I would add sliced or chopped almonds too!

This is a quick dinner staple. And if you want to be real quick, microwave your sweet potato or yam. Baking just takes SO long! Then slice it open and mash the insides, then top with freshly made guacamole. I always carrot ribbons for extra crunch!

Crispy sweet potato fries make a great dinner starter or mid-day snack. But instead of dipping them in a vegan spicy mayo, I’ve now resorted to my guacamole salsa for dipping.

If you have not incorporated these two ingredients, sweet potatoes and avocado, into your life yet you are truly missing out! Hopefully this gives you some ideas to start eating these vegetables together. If you have your own ideas and recipes for the marriage of sweet potato and avocado, let me know! Oh, and if anyone knows the difference between and sweet potato and a yam, please inform me?!

I’ve professed my love for quinoa before… it’s my fave! This time around I tried black quinoa. I have made the white and red quinoa before and there’s a huge difference in texture between them. I prefer the white, actually. It has a softer, fluffier feel and I find it absorbs the cooking liquid much better and faster. But I thought black quinoa would just look better in this recipe from Vegetarian Times for Gingery Quinoa Salad with Apples, Peas, and Coconut… and it does! But I would make it again with white for purposes of more pleasurable eating. The red and black quinoa’s are much chewier and make my jaw hurt after a few bites!

This is a great recipe and it happened to be one of those rare moments where I don’t modify anything! There’s a nice creaminess to it being cooked in 100% carrot juice and I like the hint of coconut flavor combined with the sweet peas and apples. If you love quinoa, give it a whirl!

I am surprised how many people still don’t know about quinoa! When I mention it aloud, people go… huh? Well, you need to know about it. It is an ancient whole grain, and is considered to be a complete protein. Technically, though it is a seed. But it replaces grains in recipes and cooks the same way. It is AMAZING! It’s cheap, versatile, and completely healthy for you. AND most importantly, it doesn’t hurt my gut! It is my favorite food. I vow to try more interesting recipes using this super ingredient. I even want to try baking with it.

I found this recipe linked from a Facebook post of fellow blogger Sweet On Veg. I cooked up a whole box of quinoa for this Quinoa Taco Salad and ate it all myself over the course of a few days.

Credit goes to Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess. She is incredible. Lots of foodies know about this amazing site and I check back often, because she has a lot of gluten-free AND vegan recipes, including a lot of baked goods. Now I’m not 100% G-free, but I am experimenting with it. I think we could all stand to lighten up on the refined sugars, flours, and yeast. Check out Gluten-Free Goddess for some ideas and give this salad a try!

Now that summer has hit, I am less hungry! I know, me, not hungry?! Worst thing ever. So my blogging / cooking has been less frequent and perhaps not as inventive. I want it easy and light. But I’ve got into the habit of making the same things over again… already! I need some more inspiration. Anyone?!

Anyway, this is what’s been cooking in my kitchen over the last week or so. Perfect summer recipes to make for yourself or take to the next summer BBQ/party.

A new take on couscous. Similar to the Orange Scented Couscous of the past but with a few new and different tastes. This Orange-Infused Couscous Salad has been modified from the  Early Summer Ed. of LCBO’s Food & Drink mag. It called for chicken, but of course I did it without. It’s a nice, refreshing summery salad that results in left overs!

Ingredients:
1 cup OJ
1/2 cup veggie stock
1 shallot chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
3-4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 1/4 cup couscous
1 red and orange pepper sliced
2 green onions sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots
1 tbsp OJ
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
6 cups baby arugula
salt & pepper

Saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes (or until fragrant) in the same pot you will want to boil and cook your couscous. Add OJ, stock, and fresh thyme (removed from stem) to the onions and garlic and bring to a boil. Add couscous and remove from heat, cover and set aside for liquid to absorb. This could be made ahead of time and you could complete the rest of the recipe right before serving. Add in peppers, apricots, mint, and green onions. Whisk together a dressing of OJ, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour half over couscous and toss until combined. Reserve remaining dressing to lightly toss the arugula leave in. Arrange arugula on plate first and serve warm couscous on top.

Hot, steamy, cheesy spinach and artichoke dip used to be one of my fave things. Now that I have eliminated cheese, and better yet, don’t even want to eat it, I made a yummy warm butter bean and artichoke dip with home made pita chips instead. It’s sort of like a hummus, but richer in flavor. I think heating it thoroughly in the oven helped with that. I kind of made this up on the spot so the recipe may not be exact. Tasting it as you go is the best way to make it – so it tastes the way you want!

Ingredients:
1 can butter beans (lima beans)
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp paprika
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp white miso paste
4 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

In a food processor combine all ingredients and process. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mix at the end. Baking it at 350 F for approx. 15-20 minutes or until heated through is optional. I also topped it with some homemade vegan parmesan before baking.

Ok, I was a bit premature to dismiss kale the other day. I learned a little bit more about the leafy greens on the internet and I’m loving them. I came across a recipe on Modern Hippie and the secret is sea salt! This Kale Avocado Salad was incredible. Natalia of Glowing Temple who posted the recipe also goes onto say, the more greens she eats the more her body craves them. Well, I’m not there yet, but I will give it a try!

The salad is also good stuffed in a whole wheat pita with other pairings like crispy tofu or homemade falafel (I’ll post that recipe next). Like this, it sort of reminds me of tabouleh. It’s a good way to get more greens, still eat healthy, but not get bored of eating ONLY salad all the time.

I also found a recipe for Kale Soup on The Hot Yam! blog site. Which means I was able to use up all that kale I had in the same cooking session! I was hoping to try Hot Yam for the first time too, but they’ve closed for the semester. This was more like a lentil soup, as the kale wasn’t really the feature ingredient, but it was still tasty and it’s a keeper!

Kale Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
6 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 red potatoes, diced into ½-inch cubes
1 cup green lentils
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried sage
3 cups kale, chopped
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery, and saute for an additional 10 minutes. Add all ingredients except for kale, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chopped kale, salt, and pepper. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

You don’t make friends with salad… but you should really try to! Especially being vegan. But you know, I don’t like vegetables just because I’ve gone vegan. It’s a love / hate relationship. I do, and always have, eaten a lot of salad… mostly because I have to. But the key to any great salad is to have lots of stuff in it and always add fruit. Then it’s like you’re not eating your vegetables, because you can taste sweetness! I am such a sugar fiend. I typically always use spinach because it’s more nutritious than lettuce, but this time I forced myself to try kale. I’ve eaten kale only once, when I made Hot Pockets containing mushroom, kale and roasted red pepper. Rule #1, don’t try to eat kale raw. It is disgusting, bitter, and too chewy. Does anyone out there eat it raw? I thought I could, but I ended up having to steam it quickly and blanch it to make it more palatable.

With my steamed and chopped kale I tossed in avocado, tomato, green onion, cilantro, strawberries, and apple, and lightly dressed it in olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. It’s simple and nutritious delicious. Meaning, delicious for something so nutritious. I now have a ton of kale in the fridge that I have to force myself to eat. I might try kale chips, but it seems like a lot of work to dehydrate them. If you have any other suggestions please share them with me!

This is a fave of mine to make. Inspired by a recipe I saw on Good Eats with Alton Brown. It was an episode dedicated to the soy bean. I’ve modified and added some ingredients to the original recipe. If you’ve never had edamame before this is a healthy and easy way to try it out. Packed with protein, omega-3′s, and JUST read that it can have a laxative effective… true!

In a baking dish or on a cookie tray, roast at 350 F for 10-15 minutes or until it’s cooked through, frozen & shelled edamame, frozen or fresh corn, tossed in Olive Oil, green onion, and S&P. Add in halved grape tomatoes, basil, and a dash of red wine or balsamic vinegar. Today I decided to add in diced cucumber, celery, and fresh parsley I had in the fridge. You could also add cilantro if you like that flavor.

I love making soups. I love not following a recipe, heating stuff up, adding spices and stock, and seeing what becomes of it. Best of all, I have yet to screw up that method of making soup. I had left over pumpkin puree from xmas cookie baking, a spare sweet potato, lots of carrots, and fresh oranges from Florida picked right off a tree (by me! ‘ll tell you later). So I made an orange soup. I added in organic veggie stock, spanish onion, shallots, thyme, cumin, nutmeg, and a bay leaf.

I was quite proud of this dinner too because I made it on Dec 27th after all the commotion of family, xmas, and parties, having not gone to a grocery store in a while, and used only the left overs and things I already had lying around in the cupboard. The Red Quinoa Medley has red quinoa boiled in half water, half veggie stock, frozen corn and edmame, red pepper, shredded carrot, green onion, dried cranberries, and chopped walnuts. I tossed it in a light dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, and garlic.

Just wanted to share this…

Vancouver Slop asked me about my Top Slop – favourite restaurants in Vancouver – check it out here

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for The Foundation to open up here in Toronto. Unfortunately they don’t have a website but this is the Vancouver location at 2301 Main Street.

I’ve been craving their vegetarian fair for months since I moved from Vancouver. So much so that I had to try and mimic my faves at home. I just attempted my version of “A Tight Spin”, their Spinach Salad.  It’s pretty darn close, it’s just missing their signature Mango Vinaigrette. Although I’m fairly certain that if I just add some fresh mango puree to this White Wine Vinaigrette that I whipped up, it would be nearly spot on to what I get at Foundation.

The Foundation’s “A Tight Spin” Salad

Baby Spinach
Toasted, Chopped Walnuts
Crumbled Goat Cheese
Slices of RIPE Pear
Salad Dressing:
1/3 Olive Oil, 2/3 White Wine Vinegar, 1 TSP Dijon Mustard, 1 TSP Honey, salt & pepper

This basic salad dressing with a touch of honey had the right amount of sweetness to taste like the dressing The Foundation uses. Next time I’m going to puree some ripe mango and add a TBSP or 2 of that to this mix. It’s pretty easy, but the combo of fruit, nut and cheese, with the texture of spinach at its base is SO addictive!!