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.



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.

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? 

Sharing the knowledge!

This past week, I've had more than one person ask me about how to live a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle and what were some key food components to my everyday routine.

The first thing I always stress is: it's not as hard as it seems. Really! And it's delicious, too! You just have to keep an little arsenal of goods and learn to be creative.

Since I started cooking/eating this way, I've always found breakfast and dinner to be the easiest meals to make. Breakfast is almost always a green monster (specifically the smoothie I featured on Halloween) and then dinner is a hearty, filling meal that usually produces leftovers for Jon's lunch the next day.

I usually plan the week's dinners in advance so there's never really a question of what to make...we have a list of meals and set ingredients that are just begging to be made at the end of the day.

But, lunch is a fickle meal - it can't be too filling and it can't be too sparse. There has to be enough carb component to keep me moving through the afternoon, but it can't be so heavy that it feels like an anvil in my belly.

I've developed some lunch solutions this past year that are waaaay more interesting and flavorful than the typical, proto-type vegetarian salad-lunch...

1. Wraps.
They're fast to make and the possibilities are endless. They're usually composed of:
- 1 Flat Out Wrap (usually the  original light kind, but they have different flavors, too!)
- A spread (e.g., hummus, olive spread, pesto, re-fried beans, tomato paste)
- 1/4 cup of a soft bean (e.g., black beans, great northern beans, kidney beans)
- Lots of veggies (basically everything and anything you can think of here: avocado, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, corn, cucumbers, carrots...whatever fits the "theme" of the wrap)
- Some kind of sauce/dressing for a little flavor (e.g., mustard, hot sauce, salsa)

2. Soup (with something in it). Usually composed of:
 - Well, soup! We always buy (organic) Imagine soup (e.g., red potato, sweet potato, Butternut squash, tomato)
 - 1/4 - 1/2 cup of beans or lentils to give it some substance.
 - Some spices to give it a zing (e.g., Adobo light sodium, garlic, onion, cracked pepper)

3. Grain and veggie bowl. Usually composed of:
 - One kind of hearty grain (e.g., brown rice, quinoa, bulgur, wheatberries)
 - A variety of veggies that taste good warmed up (e.g., edmame, corn, sweet peppers, peas, mushrooms, sauteed spinach)
- Maybe a chopped up bocca burger for a little something more to chew on
- A sauce/dressing of some kind (I almost always give my grain bowls a good dash of hot sauce, but I suppose you could always use salsa, vinaigrette, or tahini sauce)

These have proven to be fast, easy, filling lunch solutions and they've become trusted lunch buddies.

Do you have a favorite go-to lunch to make?