First Meal in a New Home

So we have moved... And my goodness was it a ridiculous day!

The moving van never showed up at our old place, so we had to move everything in my Friend's Neon. The fact that she managed to fit everything in there seems to defy the laws of quantum physics, as things which should have never fit into a tiny little sedan seemed to alter in size to fit! It was amazing.

However, our new place is awesome, and worth the 6 hours and 15 car trips, because it's super great! (And bright! There's all sorts of light! I'm in heaven!)

So we've been eating mostly french fries and microwave dinners, as they are easy to obtain and cook without making a lot of mess, but I thought that today, we're finally moved in , and I have half unpacked the kitchen, so it was time to cook something. What to make for the first ever meal in our new place?

So I cooked something quick, easy, and delicious.

Easy Quick Teriyaki Rice

Ingredients
1/3 cup Teriyaki Cooking sauce
1 mushroom, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 bunch spinach, chopped
1 tsp oil
1/2 cup cooked Jasmine rice

Directions
Heat the oil in a wok on med-high. Add in the onions and mushrooms, and cook until the onions are a bit transluscent and the mushrooms have released water and browned.
Add in the spinach, and cook for about 30 seconds.
Pour in the teriyaki sauce, and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce is a reduced and nice and thick.
Pour the contents of your wok over your rice.
Eat and Enjoy!

As an added bonus, a little picture tour of our new place! Keep in mind barely anything is unpacked, so it looks like we live in a very messy warehouse.

Quick Lunch- Mac and Cheese +

So when I don't feel like cooking, I have one go to pre-made food that I'm addicted to. It's very fattening, it costs a lot of money, and it tastes DIVINE.

Amy's Rice Pasta and Vegan Cheese microwave dinner. So Good.

But sometimes, I just want it to be a bit... more, I guess? A bit more healthy, a bit more complex, etc.

Luckily, it's easy to do, and doesn't even need a recipe.

Take half an avocado, and half a tomato.

Cut them up. Mix them with the microwaved dinner. Sprinkle on some pepper if you want.

Then you eat it. As Simple as that! :)

4 ingredient open faced sammich

Back before I found out that I couldn't eat wheat anymore, and it was hot out, I used to get overheated. When I was overheated, I didn't want to cook, because, HEY! I'm already hot. So I used to make sandwiches, usually peanut butter, or tomato.

I don't do chicken salad, and I wasn't in the mood for peanut butter, but today it was quite hot, and what I wanted was a nice refreshing sandwich. I know, people generally don't refer to sandwiches as refreshing, but when there's lots of crisp, cold veggies, it sure does feel refreshing! So I threw together this:

Bruschetta and Hummus Sandwich

Ingredients:
1 plain rice cake
1 large Tbsp hummus (I used carmelized onion hummus, it's awesome!)
1 leaf lettuce (I used boston lettuce, not because it's the best or anything, but because it was on sale and I hate iceberg lettuce)
A few tablespoons of prepared bruschetta

Directions:
There's only really one direction. Spread the hummus on the rice cake, top with lettuce, top that with bruschetta, eat and enjoy!

This is also super delicious on toast, toasted bagels, and english muffins. :)

Quick Post- Kludge Waffles

I don't know Exactly what amounts of stuff I put in. All I know is that there were ground GF oats, rice flour, Cornstarch Rice Bran, Ground Flax, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, some xanthan and sprinkles.

And they were good. I need a new waffle iron tho!

When you just throw things together and it forms an edible and delicious recipe, I call those "Kludge Recipes", and to be honest, most of the stuff I make is kludged together like this.

And it tends to be edible.

So go out and play with food, throw random amounts of stuff together to see what happens! It might be something good!

More Sushi... I'm An Addict

I'm addicted to my own sushi.

I know it's probably not the most modest to say that you have an addiction to your own food, but I have to be honest, I make pretty delicious sushi, and I love eating it almost more than anything else I make (With one exception!)

So You might get stuck with various sushi rolls of mine, as I experiment with new flavors. Todays?

Mango Pepper Avocado Roll

Ingredients:
Cooked Sushi Rice
An Avocado
A Mango
Some yellow and green Pepper slices
Black Sesame seeds
 A Sheet of nori

Directions:
Spread the sushi rice over the nori... you know the drill.
Cut up some of the mango into slices, some of the avocado into slices, and the pepper slices. Sprinkle on some black sesame seeds.
Roll er up, and slice.
Using a vegetable peeler, peel a slice of mango, and a slice of avocado to go on top of each roll.
Enjoy your fanciness! 

I think this roll would also work out well with some carrot in the center if you need a bit more crunch to it, and possibly some bamboo shoots, or even different slices of pepper. If you put in a green, red, and yellow pepper slices, you'd have a veritable rainbow of peppery goodness! I just happened to have only a yellow pepper and a green pepper, so here we are. My mango was also pre-cut, so i had to slice it thin with a knife, but it would have looked nicer peeled thinner!

A no-cook meal for a quiet Friday

I've had a bit of a hectic week, as I may have mentioned! However, after needing to do something for my job this morning (which made me get up very early!) I had absolutely nothing to do in the afternoon.

This is awesome. I caught up on my DVR, I took a bath, I read some e-mails, and I decided to be equally lazy with my meal, and made a no-cook lunch, mostly (le gasp!) pre-prepared. This doesn't mean processed, just pre-made. But I also like to feel slightly fancy, as Tom says, Treat yo self!

So here's what I made:

So in the front, we have rice stuffed grape leaves, in olive oil with mint (you can get these in cans, they're incredibly delicious!) As you can see, there is an abundance of pomegranite seeds. The little grocery I go to (I do most of my shopping at a tiny little independently owned grocery store which carries a lot of imported foodstuffs, which I love. They also have GF noodles, which I appreciate!) had a sale on pomegranites, so I took advantage of that like nobody's business. At first I thought to myself, "Pomegranites won't go with this, will they?" But then I said "Ah, who cares, I'm doing it anyway!"

They tasted awesome with it.

In the back we have brown rice crackers topped with black olive and olive oil puree, a slice of fresh tomato, and more pomegranite seeds.

This dish was flavorful, delicious, easy, and so pretty and colorful to look at!

Garlic Soup

Do you like Garlic?

I myself love garlic, probably to an unhealthy degree. Garlic bread is like manna from heaven. Eating guacamole at my house? Prepare for a garlic overload. I live in a garlicky bliss. For about 2 weeks last winter all I ate was pasta sauteed in some olive oil, white wine, and garlic. (I had some fruit and carrot sticks too, I didn't want to get scurvy after all!)

Fast forwards to last week. Matthew and I have been discussing the ideas for food at our wedding (at my mother's insistence) and I suggested that a tasting menu, maybe finger foods or tapas style, just tonnes of it, might be fun. At Matthew's work there is a wonderful woman named Yuri who loves cooking as much as I do, and she overheard him mention that I was thinking of doing a tapas style menu. The next day she sent him home with three cookbooks about fingerfood and tapas. One of them contained a recipe for something called "Garlic Soup."

Now the garlic soup in that book only has 3 ingredients in common with mine- olive oil, Garlic, and white wine. Besides that, I was on my own, as the recipe was NOT vegan in the least.

But I created this, and I think it turned out wonderfully. It's garlicky, flavorful in other ways, and chock full of veggies! (And wine!)

Garlic Soup- Serves 2 as a meal, or 4 as a starter
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup white wine
1 cup flavorful veggie stock
5 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
3 spring onions, white parts sliced thinly, and green stalks sliced thicker and set aside.
1 large carrot, peeled into a bunch of ribbons
1 tsp chili sauce (I use Sriracha) (Optional, but it adds a nice zing)
3 cocktail tomatoes, sliced into thin slices
(Cocktail tomatoes, if you haven't heard of them, are larger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than regular tomatoes- feel free to use either cherry tomatoes, OR smallish (bitesized) tomatoes if your store doesn't have them)

Directions:
In a deep wok or saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add in the white parts of the spring onions and the garlic slices, and sautee for a minute or two, until the edges of the garlic begin to brown and your whole kitchen starts to smell like yummy garlic.   :)
Add in the white wine and stock, and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it down to simmer.
Add in the carrots, and cook on simmering for about 3 minutes.
Add in the tomatoes and green parts of the onions, and the chili sauce (if using.) Cook for about 2 more minutes to cook away the raw onion taste.
Serve, and enjoy the awesome yummy surprise that is Garlic Soup! The whole cooking process takes about 10 minutes in total, and preparing all of the ingredients also takes about 10 minutes, so you could be enjoying a delicious dinner in under half an hour!

Tomato garlic goodness!

Easy Citrus Quinoa

Hi there! Not much story wise today, just a recipe! I had a busy day filled with nothing overly exciting or story worthy, so just a recipe of what I ate for dinner!

Enjoy!

Easy Citrus Quinoa
Ingredients:
3 Cups cooked quinoa
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cucumber, diced
juice and zest from 2 oranges
3 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
Mix together all of the ingredients.
Garnish with cilantro or parsley if desired!

That's it!

Tiffin Lunch #2

So the greatest thing you can EVER pack for lunches are leftovers.

Leftovers tend to taste fine the next day, and by bringing them to school/work you prevent forgetting about them in the recesses of your fridge and finding fuzzy mystery used-to-be-food in a container. Never cool.

When I was little, my dad used to make leftover sandwiches for me from time to time. Whatever he'd made the night before he'd slap between two layers of bread and call  it a sandwich. Some were more successful than others. (Mac and cheese sandwich the other kids are jealous, baked bean sandwich and you get made fun of!) While this is fun occasionally, I tend to avoid sandwiches because you get caught in the PB&J trap when you're a vegan. Once in a while it's yummy, but every day, not that great!

Without further ado:

Tiffin Lunch #2- Leftover Salt and Pepper Spicy Dinner!

Layer 1

Layer one is brown rice with peas, mixed with some tamari and sesame oil, and topped with sriracha sauce. If it was for me, I would forgo the sriracha and sprinkle on a few red pepper flakes, but Matthew loves his spice!

Layer 2

Matthew's favorite apple slices again, but instead of cinnamon, a little bowl of mixed up peanut butter and vegan hazelnut/chocolate spread. (Basically vegan nutella) Nom nom! 

Layer 3

Layer 3 is my most complex this lunch. Divided with some plastic sushi grass, on one side we have coleslaw mix topped with the following dressing, a recipe by my good friend Dani:

Dani's Thai Style Dressing

Ingredients:

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp agave nectar

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a jar with a lid. Shake to mix. Top salad with it. 

On the other half is salt and pepper tofu and eggplant, which is easy to make, and SO DELICIOUS. 

Salt and Pepper Tofu and Eggplant

Ingredients:

1/2 block medium firm tofu, pressed and cut into squares

1/2 medium eggplant, cut into squares

2-4 tbsp cornstarch

Salt, Pepper, and Red pepper flakes to taste, but be generous

Oil, for deep frying. 

Directions:

Mix the cornstarch and spices into a large freezer bag. Dump the tofu and eggplant into the bag, and shake to coat with all the goodness. Set aside for now. 

Heat up oil in a pan on medium high. (Stick the handle of a wooden spoon into it to test. If bubbles form, the oil is ready!)

Fry the tofu and eggplant in batches for about 1 minute, until they turn brown and crispy on the outside. 

Drain on paper towel, and enjoy!

This made enough for 2 people to have for one night, and the amount you see for Matthew's lunch the next day. 

Happy Eating!

Tiffin Lunch #1

So I have been told by a friend trying to go vegan that her biggest difficulty is coming up with what to pack for lunch.
While her old lunches would have been sandwiches of meats and cheeses, becoming vegan (and gluten free) means adapting to different styles of packed lunches. (Especially if you want to also move away from processed foods!) So every monday and wednesday this month, I will be showcasing what I pack Matthew for lunches (as I am rarely out of the house at lunchtimes except for tuesdays, when I am a teaching assistant for a class in the afternoons. Otherwise, I am out before or after lunch, but tend to be here when my lunch is being eaten.

I pack Matthew lunches in a Tiffin, which is a 3 layered lunch box with a frame that snaps together to hold all of the layers together. It is made out of metal, and I got it in Chinatown in Montreal. However, you can buy them in a variety of materials and sizes online! Also, you can use bento boxes, or really any re-usable container for your lunches. I find the 3 layer tiffin to be useful as I tend to structure his lunch into 3 parts- vegetable, fruit, and a carb (to keep his energy a goin!) Since it is made out of metal, he has a little bowl he packs with it in order to microwave anything he wants heated up as well! :)

Without Further Ado:

Tiffin Lunch # 1

Layer 1:

on the bottom layer, I cut up apples, and dipped them in some lemon water (to slow browning) and then sprinkled them in cinnamon! 

Layer 2:

Layer 2 consisted of steamed corn on the cob and steamed carrots. I cut up the corn on the cop into little rings so it would fit. I also added a bit of vegan margarine, as well as freshly ground salt and pepper, to add a bit more flavor!

Layer 3:B

For the final layer, I put noodles, leftover marinara sauce, and frozen peas. Since this was for Matthew, and he isn't on a gluten restriction like I am, I tend to use Ramen noodles in his lunch, because A: He likes them, and B: They cook really quickly. I never use the sauce packets though, I put my own sauces (because they taste better!) He tells me it tastes very good with marinara! I added some freshly ground salt and pepper as well. 

And that's that!

Total prep time: Cutting the apples: 1 minute

Chopping and steaming the vegetables in the microwave: 3 minutes

Cooking the noodles and saucing them: 7 minutes

Total Time: 11 minutes. 

Make it right before you go to bed, and stick it in the fridge, and you're good to go for the next day!