Yes, I am alive....just not cooking much lately!!!

Happy New Year!!
I have lots of reasons to celebrate, especially the arrival of my new baby boy who made it into 2009 (nice little tax deduction).

I share your sentiments, Anu. I have been cooking a bit but not always taking pictures. I finally made the Curried Butternut Squash and Bean Stew from the Hannaford's Fresh Magazine and it was fabulous. I just used garlic and some olive oil instead of their infused oil. It was really delicious. Of course, I added half a can of coconut milk at the end since I think Butternut Squash just needs that. It tastes MUCH better than it looks!!!!
I also just came across the pumpkin cheesecake that I made for Thanksgiving and never blogged about. It was called Pumpkin Cheesecake Torte from the Vegetarian Times website. I will give it a B+. The raw mix was fabulous and I wish I had just eaten it as is rather than cooking into the pie. Maybe it would make a nice pudding of some sort?

Last night, I made a version of Panera's black bean soup from Recipezaar.com which was quick and easy. Used vegan bouillion cubes obviously.

Bean dip redone and One-Pot bean dish

Happy New Year 2010. I did make a Black-Eyed Peas dish on January 1st for New Year's day - a Southern tradition! But, first, here's two dishes that I made before the holidays. Then, we went away to Yellowstone National Park before Christmas and there was no cooking for a while. Since I have been back, I am trying to cook healthy food again, and limiting the number of desserts. No, it's not a new year resolution - I have stopped making those. They don't seem to really go too far. I know that I can cook healthy meals and that's what I am going to try to do. V also realized that we ate out a LOT this last year - it was not worth it in terms of health or our pocket. So, I'm going to try to cook more food and even freeze some food so we're not reaching for take out when I'm too tired/bored to cook. Again, not a new year resolution, but just something to think about when I cook!!

My boss had a holiday party a few weeks ago and I was making the dip. With all the rich food that's everywhere during the holidays, I decided to make a bean dip - that's slightly healthier. It is based on the recipe that was posted on happyherbivore.com earlier. I think that website is getting a makeover and I can't find the recipe on the website anymore.



It is also similar to this dip for the halloween party. This time, I used 2 cups of white beans with 1 cup of roasted red peppers, 2 cloves of garlic, cilantro and Adobo seasoning - purreed all of this together. Last time, I found the taste of raw garlic overpowering. So, I baked this dip with a layer of salsa and soy cheese for a hot dip that was yummy!!

Years ago, I found a recipe on the back of a Morning Star burger box. It was a quick one-pot meal that appeared to have a lot of nutrition and a quick meal on a week night. The day before we left for our trip, I wanted to get to the gym, but also wanted to cook dinner, so we did not eat out right before our trip. I set this on the stove and went to the gym and V was able to turn it off in time. It was a yummy meal - I used to make this regularly before and have not in a while. It's a great winter meal!!




Ingredients

1 cup Arborio Rice (or any other short grain rice)
1 can (15oz) Black beans
1 cup prepared salsa
2 cups water
1 cup frozen peas (or corn)
Hot sauce (optional), to taste
Cilantro (to garnish)
2 -3 Vegan burgers cooked and cut
Olive oil, 1 T

Heat Oil in a saucepan, add all the ingredients except cilantro and burgers. Cover and cook till the arborio rice is cooked (about 20 minutes). Add cooked burger and cilantro. Enjoy!!

You can play with this basic recipe and add a variety of protiens (tofu, vegan sausage pieces, seitan, different beans), sauces (pesto, vegan cream cheese and silken tofu based cream sauce, marinara), garnishes (lemon juice, sliced almonds, vegan cheese) - use your innovation!!

I am not sure when Em will blog again, but I hope you are taking care of yourself and eating some good food!!

Happy new Year 2010 again!!

Pesto Tofu Stir Fry with Quinoa

I have been feeling a little stale with my cooking these days. I have no new ideas, no inspiration and we have been doing more than our regular share of take out and quickly rustled up meals. In keeping with the low cooking interest, my refrigerator is bare and has very few vegetables. After a spring/summer/fall with fresh vegetables from my CSA and farmer' market, I don't want to get vegetables that were grown many thousands of miles away and off-season. But, I also can't think of many recipes using butternut squash (or cut it up regularly). Maybe that's just an excuse.
Along the lines of being stale, I stared at an empty refrigerator a few days ago, except for some spinach. I also wanted to make something with quinoa. I have 3 boxes of quinoa and need more recipes using this grain. Luckily, I remembered that 100 cookbooks had a fun stir-fry recipe and some corn in the freezer (from the summer). I also had a jar of sun-dried tomatoes and it was time to try the recipe. Her photo was also much better than mine.






But, the taste was not-so-ordinary. We both really enjoyed the stir-fry. I added some red chilli flakes too - because I need more spice to the recipe. As I was cooking it, I was not sure about the meal, but it was very yummy!!!

Em, I hope you are doing well :)

Welcome JTD!!

Welcome to JT!! Em had her baby boy on Dec 3rd. He is healthy and appears to be happy and Em is occasionally on Facebook, so I take that as a good sign. I assume that she will not be as regular posting her recipes. I am not sure what she is 'cooking' these days, so I'm going to keep trying to fill the void (and it will be a void).

In spite of the quiet for the past week (or more), I have been cooking. Just recycling old recipes and forgetting to take photographs.

Here are somethings that I made in the last week and verdicts (without photos or detailed recipes because of the lack of photos!).

--Peanut Butter pancakes - I created and re-created this recipe from a bunch that I saw. I will try it again and post it. This did not have as much peanut flavor as I would have liked. But, I'll tweak it and try to post it another time.

-- Date nut slices - based on this recipe. I think I may not have waited long enough for it to thicken. So my slices were nowhere as pretty as the ones in the original post and were too mushy. I still have some left in the fridge - V does not like nuts in any of his foods and won't have too much of it anyway.

-- Stir Fry - based loosely on this recipe, but with broccoli, tofu, seitan, cashews and peanut sauce and soy sauce stir fried in oil with some garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Quick and easy to make and very enjoyable. I found a Peanut Sauce at Target (Archer Farms brand) that I really like. So, we're having a variety of stir fries that feature this Peanut sauce with variations.

-- Thai Curry - modified from this recipe, thai curry is a staple at our home. I make it when I need a quick dinner - it's a great one-dish meal. I added some squash and root vegetables this time for a change and some of the peanut sauce mentioned before!

-- Vegan chilli (made in a slow cooker) - I will try make it again in the next couple of days and post a recipe!!


Good night and have fun with JT, Em!

Thanksgiving Desserts

Before going to work this morning, I was busy baking. We are going to friends' for Thanksgiving tomorrow and I wanted to bring a cake with us. Our friends just brought home their little girl from Haiti last week and will probably not be able to make a big dessert. Tomorrow, I'll work on the vegetarian/vegan side dishes for dinner. I am also trying to make some food that they can heat and eat for the next few days. Em, if you lived closer, I would do this for you too :)
Also, my brother and his family are getting ready to make a big move in their lives with their 2 month old son and 2 cats... first to New Jersey and then to India. Lucky for us, on their way to NJ (from MN), they are stopping at our home and spending a little time with us. To help them with the move, I want to do what I can do best - cook food and freeze it for them.
Two good reasons to bake!

First, cake. Our hosts said that pumpkin is not their favorite taste and I am not to comfortable with pies - I am not sure why. So, I decided to look for a cake recipe. I really had to search a LOT to find something that I liked. And then I found - Cherry Chocolate Cake.



I used this recipe almost completely. We have not eaten any of the cake yet, but I tasted some while it was baking - I used a rectangular pan, but a round cake pan would have probably been better, so it took a much longer time to bake, requiring many tastes :) I liked the taste, but would have liked more chocolate in the cake. Melting chocolate chips meant that some of the chocolate remained stuck in the skillet, so I should have used more chocolate chips or cocoa powder. I think pouring some chocolate syrup on top will be good!!


The next baking activity was an old recipe that I had forgotten. A few years ago, I made this Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips regularly! And just like many other meals, it went to the back of my mind and never got made again. As I was browsing for recipe ideas for muffins/bread to bake, I re-discovered this recipe from an old faithful blog - One Hot Stove.
I modified by using Soy Yogurt, Soy Milk and Egg Replacer to make the recipe Vegan. One bite and it reminded me why we loved the recipe and I made it so often. I doubled the recipe to make a loaf and 12 muffins too. I think I may have to bake another loaf soon. Only half a day has gone by and we already have eaten half the bread!!



I hope you all have a very very happy Thanksgiving and have LOTS to be thankful for. Of all the holidays in India and here, I find this one to be most meaningful and special. It will be a quiet Thanksgiving for us (a friend just called and said they would be coming to visit), but I am thankful for everything that life has given me and will take some time tomorrow to treasure it all.
Em, I hope you have a great thanksgiving too - and you get to enjoy the first day of your time off and the little one lets you rest a bit!

Curried Butternut Squash and Bean Stew

Em sent me this recipe during the week and it looked so appetizing, I made it. The photo does not do the dish any justice. I got a another tutorial about how to take photos so they are in-focus. Maybe next time, it'll be better!! In short, the stew was delicious. V had it for 2-3 meals and enjoyed them.

We made our monthly trip to Trader Joe's and found peeled and cubed butternut squash - the hardest part of B.Nut Squash for me is peeling and cutting it. Score!!
Surprisingly, this recipe came from the Hannaford's website. This is a grocery store in the North East, like Krogers, Meijer in the mid-west.
The flavors of the recipe were really good and it is here.

Modifications that I made
1. No Cannelini beans, so I used garbanzo beans instead - it's what I had at home!
2. Added vegan sausages, cubed.
3. Added a touch of agave nectar for a sweet taste.
4. Added roasted peanuts just before eating.

Yummy!! Enjoy!! I'm thinking of making it again for the Thanksgiving meal!!

Waffle Duel; Squash soup with coconut milk

My husband woke up wanting waffles this morning so he made his favorite waffles from this Easy, Basic Waffles in the Morning recipe. He just uses 1/4 cup of oil instead of any applesauce so they are crunchy on the outside. I assume with the applesauce they would be softer. They really are quick and yummy. The recipe makes just enough for the three of us in our 4 waffle iron.
I, on the other hand, wanted to make some Pumpkin Waffles so I looked up a recipe that I have used before on the thePPK.com. It seems to have a lot of ingredients but it isn't too difficult. I am not sure if the 2TB soy yogurt are really necessary but I added them anyway and then ate the rest of the yogurt.
In the end, my family had completed their breakfast while I was still mixing my pumpkin waffles but I had a nice, quiet breakfast on my own and it was delicious. This recipe made 10-12 waffles so I should have halved it but I read that they freeze well so I guess I have several breakfasts waiting for me in the freezer now!

Ok, I was not so impressed with my last try at butternut squash soup so I thought I would try again since I still have several large squashes hanging out in my kitchen. I used this Squash Soup as the basis for my version and I have already made it twice since I loved it so much. Here is my version:

Squash Soup with coconut milk
-Saute 2 cloves of garlic along with one chopped onion until soft.
-Add shakes of curry powder, garam masala, black pepper, turmeric, salt and ginger.
-Add cubed butternut squash and delicata squash and cooked until soft (20 minutes plus)
-Add2 cups veggie broth until heated
-Whizz it up with immersion blender
-Add 1/2 can of lite coconut milk and warmed

I love this flavor combination and if you have other recipes that have squash, curry and coconut milk let me know!