Copy Cat

I do this all the time.

I go to a restaurant, order a meal, and upon first bite, exclaim: "We could MAKE this!"

I get so excited letting the flavors roll in my mouth, trying to sort out the spices. I examine contents, imagine the method, and make mental notes for later.

A couple recreations include Pearl Street Grill's "Queen City" sandwich: "Portabella mushrooms, caramelized onions, roaster red peppers, provolone, and garlic mayo grilled between wheat berry bread"

My version: Marinated, roasted portabella mushroom cap with sauteed onions and sweet peppers in between toasted wheat berry bread.

That one took a while to make with the mushroom cap and all, but it was worth it.

Another favorite I love to re-create is Merge's "Smothered sweet potato fries" with "spiced lentils, spinach and daiya cheese"

Their fries are crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside. The lentils are curry spiced and the vegan cheese lends the perfect salty touch.

My version: Spiced, baked sweet potato wedges with curried lentils and wilted spinach. Homemade vegan cashew cheese to top.

Cashew cheese?!?!? Why, yes, it is.

And it's delicious.

And it's super easy.

And it's healthier for you then dairy cheese.

This cashew cheese is creamy and chewy at the same time. It has just the right amount of salt and "cheesy" flavor. I always use it atop my version of Merge's smothered sweet potato fries, but it's also an awesome dip for pretzels, a great spread for crackers and crostini, and (while I haven't tried it yet) I bet it would make a killer grilled cheese.

Cashew Cheese

You'll need:

2 cups cashews

1/4 cup water

2 T nutritional yeast

2 t lemon juice

1 t garlic powder

Dash of sea salt

Dash of pepper

To make:

1. Soak cashews for 2 hours

2. Drain cashews and throw in food processor with all other ingredients.

3. Combine until smooth, scraping the sides occasionally.

4. Store in air tight container, in fridge, for up to 5 days.



New Growth: Buffalo Style Part 2

Which of these things is not like the other? Mold. Rats. Homeless people. $20 salmon dinner.

One year ago, the first three items were easily synonymous with Buffalo's historic Lafayette hotel; it was rotting and crumbling in streets. Jon and I would walk past the structure every day on our lunch break and wonder what it used to look like when it was in full operation.

The hotel was built with the intention of being ready in time for the Pan American exposition in 1901, however, it was not completed until 1904. Nonetheless, it bustled with visitors and gained huge recognition.

The Lafayette hotel boasted hot and cold water in all bathrooms, a phone in every room, and in it's heyday, was considered to be one of the finest hotels in the country. There were bars made from oak, a crystal chandelier in the ballroom, and skylights - in the early 20th century, this was a huge deal. The Lafayette hotel oozed luxury and swank.

When Buffalo's industry began to decline and people stopped coming to the city, the Lafayette slowly stopped making money and the owners of the hotel (who did not live in Buffalo) kind of 'tucked the building under the rug' and left it to the elements.

There it sat for years, taking abuse from the weather and vagrants. The brick was left to crumble and the windows were shattered and broken. It wasn't until Rocco Termini (a well-known developer in Buffalo) purchased the hotel and set on a $35 million "rehabilitation project" to restore the building to it's former glory.

Jon and I have watched the local contractors transform the exterior of the hotel over the past year and marveled at their speedy, yet intricate work. We could only imagine the kind of magic they were working inside.

Well, Friday we were strolling past the hotel on lunch when I noticed there were people inside the restaurant portion of the first floor...and they were not contractors...they were regular people...and they were sitting...eating lunch! I was curious, so I dragged Jon across the street and poked my head in the open door. A waiter stood in the entrance and invited us inside.

"I was just curious." I told the waiter.

"Come on in! We're having a soft opening for lunch...it's free." He said to me and Jon. We had just bought lunch from a nearby place and our lunch time was nearly up.

"We have to go back to work." I said with disappointment still straining to sneak a peek at the interior.

"Well, we're having a free dinner tomorrow night." He offered in consolation. I looked at Jon wide-eyed with hope and he agreed it sounded like a cool idea. We made reservations.

Dinner was in the Pan American dining room, and we had complete free range of their menu. Over and over, we marvled this was actually happening: A completely free dinner, whatever we wanted, how much ever we wanted, no strings attached.

We were excited to say the least.

We started with the scallop cakes. They were tasty, but had a tad too much bredding for my liking. The spicy sauce drizzled on top was great, though, and really pulled together the flavors.

For the main course, we both ended up getting the same dish: Alaskan salmon with wild rice pilaf and asparagus.

The portions were delightfully monstorus. The salmon had a smokey BBQ-type sauce on top and it was cooked to prefection - flavorful and juicy without being over-saturated in butter and oil (like salmon dishes so often are).

I wanted to finish my portion, but I knew there was dessert ahead and I should save some room. Boy, was I glad that I did . . .

I got the peanut butter pie (first dessert) and Jon got the Snickerbocker pie (seccond dessert). We devoured both in minutes. . .making sure no chocolate drizzle was left behind.

Afterwards, we settled our bellies by snooping around the hotel exploring the rest of the building.

Obviously, they're still putting the finishing touches on the rest of the building, but it's shaping up nicely.

We even went snooping in the flower shop and the owner gave me a tye-dye rose! I always wanted one, too!

It was a great night, not just because it was all free, but because Jon and I got to experience this historic structure and indulge in our wonder of the city's past.

If you're in the area, I definitely recommend looking up a little history and visiting the newly restored Lafayette Hotel.

Falafel Pie

This week is shaping up to be pretty good . . .and it's only Tuesday! It's restaurant week in Buffalo, Jon and I have reservations at 2 places, The Buffalo Sabres just took the 8th spot in the Eastern conference playoff race, and I won tickets to the Buffalo Niagara Wine festival this weekend!

First, Monday night, Jon and I had our first reservation for restaurant week at Sole restaurant on Elmwood Ave.

It's a Spanish-themed restaurant that just opened a little under 2 years ago. We both got the turmeric roasted vegetable empinada as an appetizer, the shrimp vatapa as the main course, and then Jon got avocado trifle and I got the dessert enchiladas and we split them both for dessert. While it all sounds tasty and fine, we were a tad disappointed. Aside from waiting nearly 40 minutes between courses, the flavors fell a little flat, the portions left one wanting, and the waitress even forgot to bring glasses of water.

Oh well . . .tomorrow we have reservations for AcQua restaurant.

It's supposed to be sunny and this place promises a beautiful view of Lake Erie, so maybe this experience will be a bit more pleasant. I'll let you know how it goes . . .

Another awesome part of my day was winning 2 tickets to the Buffalo Niagara Wine Festival for this Saturday evening! Jon and I have been to this festival since their premiere year and were thrilled to be able to go for free this year. This event features wineries from all over New York State and the tastings are endless. I'll let you know how this goes, too!

But, one cannot live on restaurant food alone - how about a healthy dinner recipe to help keep you on track during the week? With a little help from The Vegan Stoner . . .

Falafel Pie
You'll need:
1 box of Near East falafel mix
1/2 C water
1/2 - 1 C hummus
1 C Fat Free Plain Greek yogurt
1 Roma tomato
1 Cucumber
1/2 c pitted, chopped kalamata olives
1/2 t Lemon juice
1/4 t Garlic powder
1/4 t Onion powder

To make:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix the entire Near East falafel mix with the water. Stir until combined. Press falafel mixture into a greased pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. When falafel 'crust' is done, take out of oven and slather on the hummus.
4. Next, slice the tomato and half the cucumber; arrange evenly on top of the hummus.
5. Add the sliced olives evenly on top of the pie.
6. In a blender, combine the yogurt, the other half of the cucumber (sliced and chopped), lemon juice, garlic, and onion powder. Blend until smooth (this will be liquidy).
7. Slice yourself a portion of the pie and serve in a bowl. Add yogurt sauce on top of your pie.

Does your city offer a restaurant week? Have you ever won tickets to anything?

Dead Stops And Coconut Curry Lentil Stew

A while back, I signed up with Groupon just to see what all the hubbub was about. Groupon is actually a really great concept: you specify the city in which you live and then the site gives you all kinds of discounted deals. There are deals on local dining, traveling, fitness, fashion, etc. as well as deals on national and international travel. 

Since I signed up, Groupon sends me daily emails highlighting their deals . . .I usually skim the email title and then click Delete. I'll let you in on a little secret: I have a hard time spending my money. I've always been a saver and the thing I prefer to spend my money on is travel, however, the other week, one of the Groupon emails made me come to a Dead stop (pun intended). 

Hint:

I was going through my mail from the day, checking off a bunch of spam to delete when I saw "Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra: "Music of the Grateful Dead." I stopped clicking, my heart all a flutter. Jon and I wanted to go to this show when they first announced it, but the seats were just too expensive. We had settled to let this pass to save some cash, but now Groupon was offering a sweet deal - I was all over it.

WooHoo! So, that's where we'll be tomorrow!

Now for another something I did a few weeks ago . . .

Creamy Coconut Curry Lentil Stew

You'll need:

4 cups vegetable broth + 2T reserve

2/3 can of lite coconut milk

1 small-medium butternut squash, peeled, cubed

1.5 cups uncooked green lentils

1/4 sweet onion, finely chopped

1.5 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

1.5 T curry powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

To make:

1. In a large soup pot, satue the onion and garlic using the 2T of broth.

2. Add squash, broth, curry, salt, and pepper. Cover, increase heat, and bring to a boil. Once mixture reaches a boil, reduce to low heat, keep covered, and cook until squash is tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Once squash is tender, mash (carefully!) in pot. Mash thoroughly so the "creamy" texture is achieved.

4. Add the coconut milk and lentils. Mix.

5. Let the pot cook covered on low heat until lentils become tender.

6. Once lentils are tender, stew is done!

This stew is a little sweet, a little spicy, and a lot savory. And, to tell you the truth, it actually tastes better the next day once the flavors have a chance to settle. I recommend making this the day before you actually plan to eat it as your meal.

Roasted Vegetable Vegan Pizza

In my lifetime, I think I've met about 3 people who claimed they did not like pizza. Something about how they didn't like the combo of dough, sauce, and cheese - it was too heavy...I never really understood.

Being half Italian, I feel it's my duty easy to love pizza. It's such a happy marriage of salty, sweet, and savory - I don't know who couldn't love it.

When I started to sway more towards a vegan lifestyle, I was nervous pizza would become an extinct part of my diet. I read about vegan cheeses being rubbery and hard to melt; I tried some vegan cheese melted on top of some loaded sweet potato fries, found it not too bad, but couldn't imagine eating it in copious amounts.

I had to think of a solution - something that would be smooth and creamy, flavorful, and would combine well with a variety of traditional and non-traditional pizza toppings. Out of this, my creamy vegan pizza "cheese" was born!

It's the light green spread seen above.

Creamy Vegan Pizza"cheese"
You'll need:
1 can of Great Northern white beans, drained and rinsed
1 ripe avocado
1.5 T lemon juice
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t adobo light seasoning
a dash or two of season salt
(I imagine you could also put nutritional yeast in this to add some actual cheese flavor...but I haven't gotten to experimenting with that yet)


To make:
1. Put whole can of drained, rinsed beans and avocado meat in a food processor
2. Pulse until contents are well combined and smooth
3. Add the lemon juice and spices. Pulse for about 30 seconds to mix in the spices.
4. Have a taste and add any extra spices to match preference

This spread is so smooth and creamy - it's the perfect healthy, vegan replacement for cheese. It retains its smooth, creamy texture after cooked and doesn't dry out (even on leftovers the next day).

We usually buy a pre-made crust since we get home late and don't have much extra time to make dough from scratch. A good vegan crust is Rustic Crust Ultimate Whole Grain.

 


















Tonight, we wanted to try something new on our pizza - roasted veggies. We made the above pizza spread and put a thick layer on the crust. Then, we rummaged through the crisper and found baby portabella mushrooms, zucchini, and brussel sprouts.

We chopped them up, put them in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, lightly seasoned with Adobo light, Italian seasoning, dried parsley, cracked pepper and a little salt, and tossed to combine. We roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for roughly 25 minutes, turning over vegetables once. 

When they started to smell really good and feel soft when poked with a spatula (a very precise method of testing tenderness, might I add), we took them out of the oven and spread them out over the pizza. For a little juiciness, we sliced some roma tomatoes and layed them out on top of everything a little shake of Italian seasoning on top for good luck and once more in the oven it went; 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

This pizza was a winner. The veggies were soft and bursting with flavor from the roasting. The spread gave the pizza a nice creamy, balanced base.


Overall, this took roughly 45 minutes total to prepare and cook! An easy, delicious, healthy weeknight meal!


Do you make pizza? What's the best/worst/most surprising topping you've used?

Sneaky Greens

Technology can be both a blessing and a curse.

In my case lately, I've been doing a lot of cursing at it - my cell phone is on the fritz and computer is struggling to stay afloat. Between the past few weeks when we had no internet, to now having access but nothing wants to keep a battery charge long enough to receive a text message, it's all quite frustrating.

But we've done it to ourselves, right? Remember when texting first became mainstream?!? Now, it's become most common to ONLY use a phone for TEXTING. Who talks on the phone anymore - HA! (Kidding, of course).

I try not to get too bothered by this lack of technology because this is not who I am, but there's just so many exciting things happening right now, and I have a lot to researching to do!

Exciting thing #1: I'm going to have to get a new phone and new computer. Thanks, tax money.
Exciting thing #2: Jon and I are trying to figure a trip to California in the near future. It will be our first time there.
Exciting thing #3: I signed up for my first 1/2 marathon in May (that's 13.1 miles, baby!) Let the training begin.
Exciting thing #4: The Buffalo Sabres finally won a game in a shoot out (while this really does not impact my life in the grand scheme of things, it makes me happy)

With all these exciting things happening and, all the while having  to work with broken technology, I've been back to basics in my cooking lately.

Using simple ingredients and some fun extras make all the difference to battle a mid-day slump. Also, being sure to get enough vitiamins and minerals is essential in being able to keep moving throughout the day.

I've been kale-ing my little heart out.

Kale is commonly used for garnish in chain restaurants, but it's very well known as a side dish or lunch around this house!

Kale is a great way to help get some iron and protein into a meatless diet. Check out that Vitamin A and C percentage, too! Wowzers!

(This is for 1C kale; raw, cooked, baked, or boiled)

It's versatile, too!

Sweet Sauteed Kale:

A very simple, beginner way to have kale is to saute de-stemmed kale leaves in a tablespoon on olive oil, and then add some raisins and walnuts.

You'll need:
Roughly 3 cups washed, de-stemmed kale leaves
1/4 raisins and or dried cranberries
2 T chopped walnuts
1-2 T olive oil
Dash of salt
To make:
1. Warm olive oil in saute pan
2. Add kale leaves and cover. Stir occasionally.
3. When the kale leaves begin to let out moisture and become soft, add the raisins. Cover and let cook for about 3-5 minutes. The raisins will absorb some of the moisture from the kale and become plump.
4. Add the walnuts and dash of salt (if desired) and let cook for about 2 minutes.

While raw kale is a little bit bitter and tough, when it's cooked, its flavor and texture becomes softer and more enjoyable. The raisins in this dish help bring out sweetness cut any leftover bitterness, and the walnuts add some crunch-factor and extra health benefits, too.

You can also choose to add more veggies to your veggies!

Salty Sauteed Kale

You'll need:

Roughly 3 cups washed, de-stemmed kale leaves

1/2 C sliced baby bella mushrooms

1-2 T olive oil 

1 T Earth balance (to make it vegan) or 1 T butter (to make it vegetarian)

Dash of Adobo light seasoning (or roughly 1 t garlic powder, 1 t onion powder, a few shakes of salt, and a few shakes of pepper)

To make:

1. Warm olive oil in saute pan
2. Add mushrooms and cook until they begin to soften.
2. Add kale leaves and cover. Stir occasionally.
3. When the kale leaves begin to let out moisture and become soft, add the butter. Stir and cover.
4. Last, add the spices, stir and let cook for about 3 minutes.

Pictured here next to the lentil burger and tomatoes.

If you've never tried kale as a main component of your cooking, it's time to give it a try. If anything, it's a good excuse to get a lot of vitamin C and fight off any winter colds!






Do you use kale often? You have a favorite dish to make using kale? 

Trottin', down to Buffalo . . .

Silly me, I never updated you on the status of my Buffalo Turkey Trot decision...well, I signed up and I'm running the 8K (5 miles) this upcoming Thanksgiving morning! Woo!

It'll be my very first race, and I am so excited. I've been training in the gym for the past few weeks, going from 3 miles, to 4 miles, to 5 miles, to 5.5 miles (just to push it a little). 

In those past few weeks, I've learned a lot about running: how important it is to stretch pre and post run, how not to think about running while you're running, how you might feel soreness in parts of your legs and back you never knew existed (until you stretch, that is), how a good playlist on your iPod is key when running 5 miles on a treadmill...

I don't think it'll be boring to run this race, though. There are a lot of creative people at these Turkey Trots . . . check out this trotter:

 Needless to say, with all this training, planning for the Thanksgiving holiday, and working in a job when overtime is as common as sneezing, it's left me in a scramble to get dinner on the table lickety-split. Luckily, I have a few tricks up my sleeve!

When I first decided to eat primarily vegan, I didn't want to miss out of ultra savory sauces - like Alfredo. Hey, I am half Italian, after all!
After some snooping around on the internet, I managed to piece together a wonderful vegan Alfredo recipe. It's super thick, creamy, "cheesy", and (most importantly) it's so easy to make.
So, without further ado. . . 

Ultra Creamy Vegan Tomato Alfredo Sauce  
You'll need:
1/4 cup Nutritional yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbs vegan butter (Earth Balance)
1/4 cup tomato paste

To make:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a sauce pan
2. Add water and mix with fork/whisk until smooth
3. Turn heat on stove top to medium-high heat and add vegan butter and tomato paste
4. Stir very frequently (almost consistently), making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot.
5. Alfredo sauce will thicken as it heats. Heat and stir until sauce reaches typical Alfredo texture.
6. Pour on top of pasta, barley, rice...whatever your pleasure!

 What are your favorite go-to, lickety-splt meals?

You're spicy sweet, and you're my dinner!

I can't help but to think of this song whenever we make this dish for dinner...




Except, this dinner is not dirty and sweet - it's spicy and sweet!

This is a go-to meal when we put in a long day at work, a solid hour or so at the gym, finally come home around 8 p.m. and just want to make an easy dinner and relax.

We recently just discovered the wonderful world of curry this past winter and haven't turned back.  We curry up a good handful of our food, including our popcorn, but that's another recipe for another day. . .

Spicy Sweet Curry Bowl

You'll need:

1 box Near East Mediterranean curry couscous 

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large sweet potato, cubed

1 can chickpeas

1 t curry (we use Simply Organic curry powder)

1 t garam masala (this could be optional)

1/2 t cumin power

1 3/4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup golden raisins (I used regular raisins for the photo, but golden are WAY better)

To make: 

1. Follow box directions to make the 5-minute couscous. Place aside.

2. In a medium pot (or deep pan), heat olive oil. 

3. Add onion and cook for 10 minutes, until beginning to soften. 

4. Add sweet potato cubes and cook for another 10 minutes. 

5. Add chickpeas and spices, stirring to allow the spices to blend and sink in. 

6. Add broth, bring to a boil, then reduce and cover.  Cook for 20-30 minutes, until liquid has been absorbed and sweet potatoes are soft. 

7. Add raisins and cover for 5 more minutes.

8.  Scoop couscous into bowl, ladle curry dish on top.

The result is a flavorful (*ahem* spicy sweet), filling dinner that's ready in no time! 

 Do you like curry? When did you first try it?