Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir Fry

Haaaappy Birthday Russell! This dish, again from Veganomicon, was my lame excuse for a gift for one of my best friend's birthday. In my defense I made a delicious asian salad and peanut butter brownies as well! 

Quinoa is the grain of the gods and a vegan dream. Not only is it a perfect protein, containing all 8 essential amino acids, but it is delicious and can be used in place of rice, cous cous or almost any other grain. It has a super nutty flavor, but you have to make double sure you soak it first or it will be very bitter. You can either soak it in a strainer in a bowl full of warm water for about 20 minutes, or you can just rinse it really well a few times through if you are short for time and ready to cook. But it's worth the soaking. 

Okay, so after you finish soaking the quinoa put it in a pan with 1 1/2 cups of pineapple juice,  1 1/2 cups of water and a few splashes of soy sauce. Bring it all to a boil, stir it a few times and then reduce it to a simmer for about 12-14 minutes. Make sure once it is done that you fluff it with a fork instead of stirring it because you don't want to squish the grains. Pop it in the fridge (or freezer if you are me and have no time) and let it cool. 

Then chop up all of your ingredients while you LIGHTLY toast your cashews. Please don't burn one side of them like I did because it makes everything a lot less pretty. Then add your oil, scallions, garlic and after another minute chili flakes and ginger. After another 2 minutes add your bell peppers (I just used the assorted baby bell peppers from trader joes to add color and different flavors) and edamame. Stir fry it all up for a couple more minutes and then add your spices, pineapple, quinoa, soy sauce and veggie stock and stir it all up. Then just let it stir fry for another 10-ish minutes and you are good to go! We mixed in some siracha sauce to spice it all up and then dug in! 

This dish is SO good and really delicious. I was surprised because I had been wanting to make it for a while and I'm go glad I did. Despite the number of steps it was actually really easy so you should make it! Do it! Go.

Slightly Modified Veganomicon Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir Fry Recipe:

(If you do it my way you can easily serve 5-6 and that's with Russell eating for 3)

1 1/2 cups Quinoa

1 1/2 Pineapple juice

1 1/2 Cold Water

About a teaspoon of soy sauce

6 oz rawww cashews

peanut oil to keep everything mixed up

3 scallions

6 multi-colored baby bell peppers or one huuuge bell pepper, whatever color

3-4 cups fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tbls dried red pepper flakes

about an inch of ginger, minced and peeled

edamame (I just used frozen, thawed) and I used the whole bag :)

a whole lot of fresh basil (like almost a cup), chiffonaded 

3-4 tbls chopped mint

1/4 cup each of soy sauce and vegetable stock to add in

Happy Cooking and Woof Woof!

Chickpea Noodle Soup with Shiitakes and Baby Bok Choy

This Chickpea noodle soup is quite possibly more delicious than its chickeny counterpart. It is another beautiful veganomicon comfort food with an asian twist. The shiitakes and baby bok choy are additions of my own that I think complement the earthiness of the miso paste and soba noodles sooo well. Plus they are both in season so you can get them at your local farmers market for cheap! The original recipe called for cremini mushrooms, but I personally think shiitakes are better. In everything. Perhaps I am just really biased toward shiitakes but I think they really are good in everything. Except cookies...maybe.... 
Hokay. So first you want to start by sautéing your carrots in the garlic and onions. After a few minutes add the mushrooms and cook those up for a lil' bit. I added my herbs right after I added my mushrooms, streaming in oil to make sure everything got nice and evenly cooked. When the veggies are almost done throw the boy choy in and then deglaze the pot with some soy sauce. 

I used water and "better than chicken" bouillon cubes for my base (but you add the miso paste at the end so if you just use water that's cool). So, after you add your water/stock/bouillon base put your chickpeas/garbanzo (SAME THING) in. I just got canned ones but if you want to get raw ones and soak and prep them that is entirely up to you. Let your soup come to a boil and then break the noodles in half/thirds/sixteenths and throw them in the pot. After that you just kinda gotta wait until everything is all cooked together, add your miso paste and you are ready to eat. YES. Delicious AND easy. And healthy! And vegan! What else could you ask for? :)

Okay, here is my ever so slightly modified recipe:

Olive oil

1 big can of chickpeas

1 Onion, finely chopped

How ever many carrots you want

lots of garlic (I used two big cloves), minced

2 cups shiitake mushrooms

2 heads of baby bok shoy

thyme/oregano/rosemary/pepper/whatever spices appeal to you

Approx 1/2 cup red (or whatever kind you have) miso paste

6ish cups water/broth

6 oz (quarter sized roll) soba noodles

Das ist alles! Guten Essen!

At the Top of the Mountain

Wyatt would like to inform you that he boycotts all small dog stereotypes. He is as sturdy and as tough as any dog who has ever trotted on four legs. Or even three. 

We went hiking today. It was glorious.

He was a happy puppy. He loves to hike more than children love Christmas. He made at LEAST three new friends, and wooed many a mountain woman. 

At the top with dad :)

I wish I had Wyatt's grace and agility. I have a rolled ankle and a bruise on my butt, but I must have forgotten my grace.

Oh four legs...why oh why did we have to evolve to bipedalism? Damn you homoerectus ancestor. 

Pan Fried Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms and Kale

Kale is one of those ingredients that is pretty easy to work with, flavorful and highly under used. It is SO good. I mean really. And the only thing better than plain kale is kale, tofu AND shiitakes! Together! In a single meal! I'm going to let you in on a little secret and tell you that I actually know almost nothing about mushrooms. I never liked them growing up and it wasn't until I became vegan that I really began to appreciate their earthy flavors and texture. Now I LOVE them. They are so versatile and really add that "meatiness"(for lack of better term) to all kinds of dishes. Anyway, enough about mushrooms.

Pan-frying tofu is surprisingly difficult in my opinion. It's all fall-apart-like and gets super watery if you don't press it out first. Luckily, I have an amazing boyfriend who loves to press tofu for me while I'm at work, and a plethora of vegan blogs (like this one!) that give me both the inspiration and the basic instructions for cooking complicated things like tofu. You want to start pressing the tofu before you do anything else so that it is nice and ready to marinate before you even think about starting to cook. Be warned: If you don't press the tofu first you are going to have (a) a watery dish or (b) a needlessly long cooking period.  So, wrap your tofu with paper towels and then cover it with a dish towel and place it under something super heavy (like a cast iron pan). Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and then it will be ready to plop right in the marinade!

For the marinade I basically just combined a bunch of things I had sitting around with some fresh ginger that was on the "half off" shelf at the local health food store across the street.

My marinade looked like this (roughly...I don't measure...do it to taste!):

2 cups soy sauce

1/2 cup water

3-4 tbs rice vinegar

3 tbs peanut oil (plus more for frying when you are ready)

2-3 tsp sriracha (hot chili) sauce

2 tbs agave nectar (or other sweetener)

1 tbs lime juice

2 tbs peanut butter (extra chunky!)

fresh ginger (grated) to taste

whatever else you have lying around that you think will taste good

So, after you let the pressed tofu soak up all those delicious, freshly whisked marinade flavors for about 20 minutes, put a couple tablespoons or peanut (or other) oil in a pan and start frying it. After mine browned up a little I added some of the marinade to the pan to cook the flavors in. Let the tofu sit for at least 5 minutes on each side until it is almost (but not) burned. While you are doing this, throw your rice noodles in some boiling water for about 6 minutes and sauté your shiitakes in another small pan. When the tofu is done, take it out and put it on a paper bag or paper towel to let it cool (which will firm it up a bit). Put some more of the marinade in  your pan and throw the noodles, mushrooms and kale in the pan and cook over medium heat until the kale is wilted. Feel free to add oil and or soy sauce as you see fit. 

Your tofu should now be firmed up a little bit, so you are ready to put it over your kale/mushroom noodle concoction and serve it with mojitos! Mojitos actually go with pretty much anything, but the go ESPECIALLY well with this. So do it. Make mojitos. You won't regret it. If you are in AA make virgin mojitos. Or heck, you can just drink lime juice. But make sure to put some mint in it (you can borrow some mint from me, I have more than I know what to do with in my garden). 

Bah da dum! In case you didn't catch it all, here are all of the ingredients you will need to get BEFORE you start making this (except for the marinade ingredients which are listed above).

Serves about 4 (or 3 if you are myself, my boyfriend and my best friend)

2 stalks (is that what they are called? heads perhaps) of kale, sliced like you slice kale

1 package of EXTRA firm tofu, pressed

1 package-ish rice noodles

a bunch of shiitakes

peanut oil for frying

soy sauce because it is yummy

That's it my friends. Also don't forget to add any extra marinade to the top of your completed dish after it is done because it is seww guuuhd.

Creamy Pea Pesto Rotini with Sautéed Zucchini and Spicy Chard

This creamy pasta is a actually a Rachel Ray and What the Hell does a Pink Haired Girl Eat inspired dish with my own random twists. I must have been craving green because this dish is just overflowing with green goodness. Between the spinach rotini, the pea pesto, the chard and the zucchini, this could quite possibly be the poster child for the "go green" movement. But creamier. And more Chardy.

I started with a whole bunch of spinach rotini that I bought in bulk at Market of Choice (not measured), and cooked it until a little al dente. For the pesto, I blended up a bunch of basil, a bunch of thyme, and just a pinch of mint (all from my garden) with a bag of defrosted frozen peas, salt, nutritional yeast, olive oil, and some pine nuts. Then I sautéed som

e zucchini and whipped up a half batch of cashew ricotta, courtesy Veganomicon. 

After the zucchini was done sautéing, I added the cooked pasta, pesto, and ricotta all into the pan and mixed them all together. Voila! Vegany green goodness. 

But in case you didn't get enough green from the pesto and you want some more vitamin A, cook up some delicious local chard to go along with  your pasta. I like chard wilted together, stems and all, because I think the contrasting texture of the firmer stems and wilted leaves is just fabulous. To each her own, but I just throw some oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, and just a touch of brown sugar in the bottom of the pan and cook it all over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, just until the flavors of everything really start to come out. Then I toss all of the chard in (cut up and separated as you please) with about a cup of water and a half cup of soy sauce and let it all cook down for a about 5-10 minutes. 

If you start the chard at about the same time as the zucchini is just finishing

 up, everything should be done at about the same time. My dad is the master of food timing, and while I try my darndest to keep everything together, I usually can't quite get it right :)

Pea Pesto

1 bag frozen peas, thawed

2 large bunches basil

2 big sprigs of thyme

7-8 leaves of mint

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon oil

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup pine nuts

Cashew Ricotta (half batch!)

1/4 cup raw cashew pieces

1/8 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove fresh garlic

1/2 lb firm tofu, drained and crumbled

(I left out the dried basil and salt because there is already plenty in the pesto)

Chard

1 bunch Swiss or Rainbow Chard

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tsp dried red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp brown sugar (plus more to taste)

1 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce

There we go! Our first vegan meal together. Wasn't that easy? And good? Yummm.