Monday, May 31, 2010

weekly food shop

I have had a busy little memorial day. My original plan of working on my tan by the lake was thwarted by the humidity and overcast skies. Instead, I spent the day cleaning, food shopping, and making pesto.

I decided to do all of my food shopping for the week at whole foods. It's a short week, so I don't need as much.

1 container organic strawberries
1 cantaloupe
1 bag fresh herb salad mix
fresh parmigian reggiano cheese
1 box Annie's bunny grahams (contains 6 snack packs)
10 apricots
1 box organic cherry tomatoes
1 3.5 ounce jar capers
1 lemon
1 small piece ginger
1 container organic blueberries

total: $36.36

Sunday, May 30, 2010

spring cleaning, kitchen style

Maybe the idea of spring cleaning has gotten the better of me, or maybe I'm anticipating the fact that I'm going to be moving at the of the summer, but I've started to focus most of my cooking on using up food that I have a lot of already. It started when I finished off my bottle of teriyaki sauce with the marinade I made for my baked tofu (see this past thursday)...

Friday's lunch followed a similar theme. I bought a bottle of pesto at Trader Joe's with no set intention for it several months ago. I came across it earlier this week while looking for baking soda and decided that it's time to use it. I also had an open box of boca burgers with one burger left (and an unopened package of garden burgers to start on). I decided to create what I call an italian burger. It's a boca burger with provolone cheese melted on it and topped with pesto. I ate it on a whole wheat bun, and it was incredible. I also finished off what little remained of an open bag of guiltless gourmet salt-free tortilla chips with an open jar of whole food's salsa.

I cracked out the bottle of pesto again for last night's dinner, using it to top the meager remains of my Dreamfield's penne pasta. My side was grape tomatoes in oil and vinegar. For dessert, I ate the last few cookies in my box of Tagalongs (I'm pretty sure they were stale, though...gross).

When I returned from yoga class this morning, I knew I wanted something different than what I normally have for breakfast on weekends. My normal breakfast on weekends consists of a Thomas' light multigrain english muffin with either promise light spread, peanut butter, neufchatel cheese, or jam (or sometimes a combination of the last two), along with a bowl of Kashi 7 whole grains puffs. Sometimes I'll throw in some fresh fruit, depending on what I've got. On this morning, though, I decided to change things up. Using the egg beaters I bought recently, I made an egg scramble consisting of goat cheese crumbles and the remaining two grape tomatoes. I ate it on a toasted english muffin. I meant to put some pesto on the english muffin, but forgot to. It was pretty good without it, but I'm sure it would've been even better with the pesto. maybe I'll try it tomorrow, even though I'm out of tomatoes now (maybe I'll use some of the mushrooms I have, instead.)

If I have enough basil, i'm going to try round one of making pesto tomorrow. I have a jar of roasted red peppers to get rid of, so I'm going to make red pepper pesto. I'll probably freeze it, since I have the regular pesto from Trader Joe's to finish off, first.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

herb garden update

apart from a close encounter with shriveling leaves on my basil plant (I'm pretty sure all the dry air outside was the cause...I've been leaving my window open more often now so I need to get better about monitoring the soil in the pots), my herbs have been thriving. In fact, I recently repotted my basil plant and started a new seedling in the indoor greenhouse.

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the cilantro plant...it's coming along slowly, but surely. I'm thinking about starting up another cilantro plant so I have enough to make my own salsa by the end of the summer.

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the basil plant before I repotted it. You can see why I had to...

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I'm surprised how well the dill plant is thriving. It hasn't grown a lot lately, but I'm maintaining it so I can use it to season things.

I think if any of these plants fail, I might start growing peppermint at Emma's suggestion.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Some Food Shopping

I went to whole foods yesterday to do some work in a different location besides my office and apartment. Afterwards, I did a little bit of shopping. With no list, I just bought things I knew that I needed to replenish. Of course, I just happened to run out of everything that's a little on the pricey side. Here's the list:

Mother's sodium-free plain rice cakes
40 count box of truvia
Ferrara ground espresso beans
8-pack Jane's popcorn
0.8 pound of bulk allegro colombian coffee
woodstock farms organic peanut butter
lightlife savory chik'n tenders

Total: $40.72

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Making Use of Leftovers, Round Two

I'm working from home today, which means I have a little more leeway in what I want to make for lunch. In preparation for this, I raided my fridge last night to see what I had. It hit me as soon as I saw the leftover baked tofu: marinated tofu! I cubed the brick and marinated it in a mixture of teriyaki sauce and tamari (turns out I had very little teriyaki sauce left, so I made this combination) overnight, along with some sliced baby bella mushrooms. It was so good! Definitely plan on making this one again next time I buy baked tofu, especially the five-spice variety.

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Ingredients:
1 serving five-spice baked tofu
1/4 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce/tamari/soy sauce

Directions:
cube tofu and place in container with mushrooms. Pour sauce over tofu and mushrooms, stir until evenly coated. Marinate overnight.
place tofu, mushrooms, and sauce in greased frying pan. cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until heated through. serve warm.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Vegetarian Tailgating

I went to my first Brewer's game yesterday (side note: they actually won a home game! it's about time!) with several VISTAs and city year folks. We met up an hour before the game started to do some tailgating. Most of my previous tailgating experiences has been with my family, which involves nothing but tossing a football and eating sandwiches from a local deli in the parking lot of Giant's stadium.

Our style for this tailgate was pretty simple: bring whatever you want to grill and don't feel obliged to bring a dish to share. I was tempted to make guacamole to share with everyone, but decided against it since we weren't doing this potluck-style. I did, however, bring several cans of beer to share with everyone in an attempt to make some space in my teeny-tiny fridge.

I took this opportunity to finally try some of the soy deli baked tofu I've seen at whole foods. I bought a package of their five-spice baked tofu, which i threw on the grill and ate on a bun. It was absolutely delicious. I do wish that i brought the whole package and not half of it, because several people were curious about it and im not sure when i'll get around to eating the other half of it. I also brought some grape tomatoes in fat-free ranch dressing and a pear.

The entire package of the soy deli baked tofu totaled at just under $4, which equals roughly $2 per serving.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Making Use of Leftovers

I always prepare my lunch for days that I go to my school the night before, since waking up at 6AM only allows me an hour to get ready for the day before commuting for 35 minutes. I originally planned on defrosting some of my leftover bulgur chili that I froze last week for today's lunch. But when I opened my fridge, I noticed all of the fresh produce I had in there that I did not want to waste. This feeling was brought on by the fact that I recently had to throw out an entire cantaloupe that fell victim to mold.

Using the cherry tomatoes, arugula, and goat cheese I bought for last night's dinner, along with some berries that I bought to mix in with my yogurt that I eat for breakfast at my school, I came up with one hell of a good-looking salad. (I'll post a picture on here when I have it for lunch later). I even threw in some sliced mushrooms that I found in my fridge from last week, too. My dressing of choice is Walden Farm's no-calorie raspberry vinaigrette. My hope is that this combination will result in a sweet-salty salad of perfect proportions.

To me, the trick in creating the perfect salad is making sure that it is the correct size portion-wise. Portion-distortion is a huge problem in our society, and my family and friends are no exception to this. I don't eat out at restaurants as often as I used to, but I've developed a habit of ordering from the appetizer menu instead of the entree menu (not only are the portions smaller, but it's cheaper). The thing is, we don't need to eat more to feel full. In a recent study I saw on the news, people reported feeling full when eating a smaller portion than they were used to. It's all a matter of how our brain perceives what's on our plate.

In making this salad, I used the following measurements:
1 cup arugula leaves
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 tbsp blueberries
1 tbsp goat cheese crumbles
2 medium strawberies

I originally planned on using 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, but I realized that I didn't need that many as I started slicing them.

So I'm curious: how do you like to make use of leftover ingredients?

Monday, May 24, 2010

Recipe: Goat Cheese and Arugula over Penne

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This recipe came to me in perfect timing. The fact that it is served cold makes it the best dish for hot and humid days like today. It took hardly any effort/time to make, too!

Ingredients:
5 1/2 ounces goat cheese
2 cups coarsely chopped arugula, stems included
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces penne pasta

Directions:
1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
2. Crumble goat cheese into a large serving bowl. Add arugula, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper.
3. Drain pasta, and toss with goat cheese mixture.

serves 6

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Recipe: Vegetarian Risotto with Asparagus

This was my first time making risotto, but I was aware that it would be a time-consuming dish to prepare. So I made it before I left for my volunteer work and refrigerated it so I could just reheat it when I got home. It was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture of it before I wolfed it all down! No worries, though, I'll take a picture of it when I eat the leftovers I have sitting in my fridge. The good thing about this recipe is that even though it is time consuming, it is simple. In fact, the only ingredient I didn't have on-hand for this recipe was asparagus, which is easy to find in any grocery store this time of the year.

Ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups water
2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
1 pound fresh asparagus spears, diagonally sliced into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup uncooked Arborio Rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Heat water and broth in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and keep warm. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium heat; add asparagus and cook until tender crisp. Remove asparagus; set aside. In same saucepan, cook onion in remaining 1 tablespoon butter until soft. Add rice and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add wine; stir until absorbed. Increase heat to medium-high; stir in 1 cup water-broth mixture.
Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, until liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding remaining water-broth mixture 1 cup at a time, allowing each cup to be absorbed before adding another. Cook until rice is tender and mixture has a creamy consistency, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Stir in asparagus, cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until mixture is creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

I lightened this recipe by using low sodium vegetable broth and fat-free half and half instead of heavy cream. I also used garlic instead of an onion because I don't like onions.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

weekly food shop

This week I bought everything I needed (with the exception of pudding cups, which I bought at pick 'n save for $3.29) at whole foods. It was a pretty light shopping trip, since I had so much to buy last week and I want to empty out my pantry a little more before I buy more food.
here's what I bought:
goat cheese crumbles
4 ounce bag of arugula
4 d'anjou pears
0.3 lbs asparagus
guiltless gourmet no salt added yellow tortilla chips
1 package of organic grape cherry tomatoes
4 apricots

total: $20.00

Don't yell at me too much for buying apricots. I know it's too early in the season for them to be good, but I couln't help myself.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Potluck Recipe: Maple Peanut Butter Cookies

So those cookies I mentioned yesterday were a success. I couldn't really taste the maple syrup, even though I doubled the amount in the original recipe. Next time, I'm going to cut down the sugar. The recipe I'm posting is the one I followed.
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Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 10 oz package peanut butter chips

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in syrup and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in peanut butter chips.
2. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.

yields 30 large cookies

Thursday, May 20, 2010

New Blog Addition

One part of my VISTA position is working with a non-profit organization in Milwaukee called Parents Plus. We have meetings every friday for the VISTAs and our supervisor at the agency, and once a month these meetings include a potluck. The point of these potlucks is to celebrate all the birthdays for that month, and they are usually themed (the theme is picked out by the person/people who's birthday(s) is being celebrated).

I always make it a point to make something from scratch for these potlucks (usually a dessert) and usually spend way too much time combing the internet for the perfect recipe. I have made the following for our potlucks in the past:
1. lentil quiche (the recipe was posted on here)
2. mexican chocolate cake
3. tiramisu
4. white chocolate chip-cranberry cookies

We've had a couple of potlucks at the school I work with, and I've made the following for those:
1. fruity couscous salad
2. pumpkin gingerbread
3. mint-chocolate chip cookies

Our next potluck is tomorrow, and I will be making peanut butter maple cookies. If the recipe is a success, I'll be posting it on here tomorrow! I'll also share recipes I've made for past potlucks, as well as those I use in the future.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Recipe: Marinated Portobello Mushroom Caps

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This is a great way to cook portobello mushrooms. It's easy, simple, requires very little energy, and uses ingredients that most people have in their kitchen regularly. As you can see in the picture, my preferred way of eating these is over a bed of brown rice. However, I'm sure they would be very tasty on hamburger buns, too. Really, you can't go wrong with this one.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 portobello mushroom caps

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. in a baking dish, combine wine, olive oul, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. place mushroom caps in marinade gill-side up and marinate for 15 minutes.
3. cover baking dish with foil and place in oven. bake for 25 minutes.
4. turn mushrooms, recover with foil and bake for an additional 8 minutes.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Recipe: Vegetarian Chili with Bulgur

I fell in love during a recent trip to my favorite restaurant in Milwaukee, Beans and Barley (their website is www.beansandbarley.com). The object of my affection is their chili. I'm pretty sure what sealed the deal for me was their use of chili to create a meaty texture. After putting recipe requests on two livejournal communities for vegetarians for a similar recipe, I got a response with what looked like something similar. I made a big pot of it last night and was very happy with the result! It's easy to make, though it does take a fair amount of preparation (the hardest part for me was opening the jar of salsa). I did forget to add the onion in until it was too late, but I didn't miss it (I'm not a huge fan of onions, anyway).

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Ingredients:
1 tbsp Pure Canola Oil
2 cups Onions
1 medium Green bell Pepper
1 medium Red Bell Pepper
3 Garlic Clove
2 cups Mushrooms-sliced
19 oz Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
19 oz Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Bulgur Wheat
28 oz Crushed Tomatoes
1 cup Salsa
1/2 cup Tap Water
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Dried Basil
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tbsp Cocoa
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

Directions:
Heat oil in a large pot. Saute onions, pepper and garlic for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté 5 minutes longer. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 25 to 30 minutes.

I ate this last night with shredded cheese, and it was incredible. I brought some for lunch today, along with tortilla chips.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Weekly Food Shop

I spent a little more than I usually do this week, but I didn't buy a lot of food last week in anticipation of being out of town over the weekend. I cleaned out my fridge before I left and couldn't believe how much food I had in there well past the expiration dates. I need to get better about that.

This week I did all my food shopping at Metro Market.

1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can of Bush kidney beans
1 can of Goya chickpeas
Splenda Mocha flavored sweetener
Alterra organic sumatra coffee
4 D'anjou pears
2 cantaloupes
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 white onion
1 16 ounce package sliced onions
2 portobello mushroom caps
1 package of organic strawberries
1 package of organic blueberries
Dannon Light and Fit yogurt (package of strawberry and vanilla 4 ounce yogurts)
Kemp's fat-free half and half

total: $45.86

the other reason why I spent more than usual is that I'm starting to buy specific food organic. My friend recently emailed me with a link to the Dirty Dozen, which is a list of food you should buy organic (along with the reasons why). On the list included coffee and berries, which I purchase/consume on a regular basis. Thus, I am now buying the organic versions of these products (note: bell peppers are on the list, too, but I could not find them organic at metro market and didn't have the time to check whole foods).

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Apologies

First, I'd like to apologize for the delay in guest blogs. The hotel did not have free wireless, so I have been disconnected from my computer until today. The posts are up and backlogged to the appropriate dates!

Also, the post that was supposed to be up today was not written in time...sorry to disappoint you, folks! The good news is that I'll be back in Milwaukee tomorrow morning, so things will be back to normal!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Guest Post from Willie and Henrietta

Well, when cooking on a budget we generally turn to soup. Soups have long been the BFF of country food. It seems every great cuisine has food which was invented by an industrious farmer’s wife looking to get as much use out of her ingredients as possible. Being the grandchildren of farmer’s we feel this type of cooking is in our bones!
A wonderful soup which is both inexpensive and healthy is Minestrone.
What we love about this soup is that you can really throw in any number of vegetables you have on hand or get on super sale. So please take this recipe as a guide not as map.
We had on hand cabbage (which truth be told really should be a mainstay in this soup for two reasons- it’s so inexpensive and it’s packed with vitamins.), onions, zucchini, and red pepper.
Here was our list of ingredients:
14 oz Canned Tomatoes
1/3 c. Whole Wheat Pasta
2 cans Cannellini Beans (you can use Great Northern Beans if you can’t find Cannellini and you can always used dry we were taking a short cut)
1 tbsp. Chicken Bouillon add more to taste after you’ve cooked- it gets really salty fast!
6 c. Water
½ head cabbage shredded
2 Zucchini chopped
3 cloves Garlic
1 Red Pepper Chopped
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp. Italian Seasoning
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
1. Heat 2 tbsp. Olive Oil in pan and add onions. Throw a little salt in there to sweat the onions. After a couple of minutes add the garlic. Once onions become translucent add shredded cabbage and pepper.
2. When the vegetables have started to cook down. Chop half of the tomatoes and sauté them with the rest of the vegetable. Continue to cook until vegetables have cooked down to half their volume.
3. Add 2 c. of water, bouillon, seasonings, pepper, and tomato liquid (reserve the rest of the tomatoes for now)
4. If you have a food processor, blender, or immersion blender, coarsely pulse puree the soup mixture. We still want to see some of the vegetables.
5. To the puree add: beans, rest of the tomatoes, and Zucchini. Cook until zucchini is soft. Add cooked pasta. Season to taste.
6. If you have it serve with a little Parmesan cheese on top and a slice of garlic bread.
The fun part of simple cooking is that really anything goes: you could sauté onion with bacon for more fat and flavor. You could throw in carrots and celery or add chicken. Whatever your fancy!
We hope you enjoy this as much as we enjoyed coming up with it! In the words of our great inspiration Julia Child --Bon Appetit!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Guest Post from The Empty Kitchen

Having to feed yourself, or a family, when you’re on a very tight budget is hard work. It’s exhausting trying to think of meals that are inexpensive, tasty and can stretch for more than one sitting. It’s also important to keep some variety so boredom doesn’t set it (think of the cacophony that is the whining sounds of “spaghetti again?”) For me, I’ve found that the best way to eat a varied diet on a limited budget is encompassed in one word—soup.
I don’t care what season it is. I will eat soup whether it’s 4° or 84°. There are endless possibilities for soup. It can be vegetarian, vegan, meat based, hot or cold. They can have lots of vegetables or no vegetables. They can be cream based or broth based. The list goes on and on. Almost every Sunday, you will find me in my kitchen making at least one pot of soup (I typically don’t eat sandwiches so soup serves as my lunch most days).
One of my favorites soups is a broth based black bean soup. I found it on All Recipes years ago when my husband and I had a $30 a week grocery budget. I have been making it ever since. It’s a simple soup that can be made for approximately $5-7, depending on sales and where you shop.
A few comments about the ingredients and cost: if you have a fully stocked pantry and spices on hand, this recipe is even less expensive. For instance, I always have cumin, chili powder, jarred garlic and vegetable oil on hand; as such, the cost of those ingredients in this recipe is nominal. I buy the large “Bugs Bunny” carrots ($2.99 for 5 lbs) so the cost of the 2 carrots is also nominal. I also prefer to buy vegetable bouillon cubes for the broth ($1.59 for 6 cubes or 12 cups of broth); I find that for the cost, the bouillon cubes stretch my money a lot farther. So, to make this soup I had to buy: 1 box vegetable bouillon cubes, 2 cans black beans, 1 can tomatoes, 1 onion and 1 package of corn which came to a grand total of $4.87 or $.61 per serving. That’s not a bad deal.













Black Bean Soup (adapted from a recipe found on All Recipes)
Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I use a big heaping spoonful of jarred minced garlic)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 can corn (can substitute with one package frozen corn)
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I use vegetable bouillon cubes)
• 2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can stewed tomatoes (I use a can of diced tomatoes)





Directions:


1. Heat the oil in a medium-large pot.
2. Add the onion, carrots and garlic. Sauté until onion is soft, approximately 5-7 minutes.
3. Stir in the cumin, chili powder. Cook for 1 minute. Then add corn, pepper, broth and 1 can black beans. Bring to a boil.
4. Puree remaining can of black beans and tomatoes in a food processor (note: I have never done this. I usually combine the beans and tomatoes in a bowl and mash with a fork. ) Add to the rest of the soup.
5. Lower heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Makes approximately 8 cups.


This is a really versatile soup. You can make it as describe or you can make it your own. You can add peppers or celery to the soup or you can top it with some shredded cheese or sour cream (or both!). You can even add some leftover chicken. I usually have it with a roll or tortilla strips.

Anyone with a small grocery budget will tell you that finding satisfying, nutritious and healthy meals is close to impossible. So I recommend soup. It’ll keep you full, it’ll keep you in budget and it’ll give you a lot of food. That’s a combination that definitely tastes good!

You can find more of Jana’s recipes, kitchen disaster stories and thoughts on food at her blog, The Empty Kitchen.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Guest Post Lineup

Ok folks, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Well, at least I've been waiting for this moment...

The lineup for my guest bloggers is all set!

On Friday, May 14th, I will be featuring a soup recipe from Jana at

On Saturday, May 15th, we're keeping with the theme of soup (maybe the dreary Wisconsin weather is affecting everyone's choice in recipes) with a recipe from fellow bloggers Willie and Henrietta.

And just to mix things up a little bit, a friend of mine from college will be writing about being vegan in Europe on Sunday, May 16th.

I'll be back on the 17th feeling jetlagged and ready to go with the week's grocery list! But don't worry, I'm going to keep food politics on my mind while I've got other people writing for this blog. I just bought a copy of The Omnivore's Dilemna to keep me entertained while flying and lounging poolside.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Question

As I've mentioned recently, I'm going on a short vacation this weekend. My departing flights have me in transit between 7:00 AM and 2:30 PM. Because I have reservations about the food available at airports (overpriced and generally unhealthy...sbarro's anyone?), I am planning on bringing food with me from home. I don't fly as often as I did when I was in college, so I'm unsure of what the regulations are for bringing food through security. Can anyone tell me if I will be able to bring the following in my carry-on through security:
an apple
a small plastic baggie of granola
a peanut butter sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap
a small plastic baggie filled with popcorn

I don't know how I'm going to deal with not having my water bottle with me all weekend (I have one of those heavy insulated water bottles that they will never allow on board). hopefully i won't ingest too much BPA-related toxins from refilling a plastic water bottle all weekend.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Recipe: Braised Seitan in Mushroom and Red Wine Sauce

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I kind of failed at this recipe. More specifically, the seitan fell apart when I tried to cut in cutlets (lesson learned: cut it crosswise, not lengthwise), and I got impatient while waiting for the sauce to thicken out. Despite this, it was delicious. I didn't have enough red wine, so I improvised by adding tomato juice. It was still good, but next time I make this I hope I have enough wine. I also omitted the parsley, only because I forgot to put it on before I ate it.

ingredients:
1 8-oz. pkg. seitan, drained and halved into 2 thin cutlets
1 Tbs. unbleached flour
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped parsley

directions:
1. Coat seitan pieces in flour. Heat oil in large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add seitan, and cook 1 to 2 minutes on each side, pressing pieces down to brown evenly. Remove seitan from skillet, and keep warm.
2. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to skillet. Sauté 7 to 10 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned. Whisk together red wine, mustard, and thyme in measuring cup. Add to mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper, if desired; and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Whisk together cornstarch and vegetable broth in same measuring cup, then add to mushroom mixture. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes, or until thickened, stirring constantly. Place seitan cutlets on plates, top with mushroom sauce, and sprinkle with parsley.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Recipe: Grilled Portobella Mushroom Burger

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I decided to make this recipe for two reasons: 1) I wanted to put a bottle of merlot that I opened two weeks ago to good use (I figure it's been open too long to be any good to drink now), and 2) I wanted to use the new griddle cover I bought at Target for my stovetop. The result: yummy! I got impatient and only marinated one mushroom for an hour and a half instead of 2 hours, but I allowed the other mushroom to marinate overnight. I'll report if there's any difference tonight.

Ingredients:
6 portobella mushroom caps, stems removed and gills scraped out
2 cups red wine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 black peppercorns
2 sprigs fresh thyme
6 whole wheat hamburger buns (I recommend toasting them)
mayonnaise, onion, tomato, and arugula for garnishing (all optional)

Directions:
1. Poke holes all over mushrooms, making sure not to break them. Place in large glass baking dish.

2. Combine wine, garlic, peppercorns, and thyme in small saucepan, and season with salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 5 minutes. Pour wine mixture over mushroom caps, and stir to coat. Cover, and marinate 2 hours.

3. Preheat grill or broiler. Remove mushrooms from marinade, and discard liquid. Grill mushrooms 5 minutes on each side, or until browned and juicy. Serve on buns with burger fixings.

serves 6

I garnished mine with some mixed baby greens and fat free mayonnaise last night. Tonight, I may add in a pepperoncini pepper to add a little kick to it, because it was very sweet.

EDIT: while marinating the mushroom cap overnight did not effect the flavor overall, I definitely recommend adding a pepperoncini pepper as garnish. It gave it the something that it was missing last night.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

weekly food shop

when I walked into Metro Market today to do my food shopping, I was astounded by the amount of men in the store. Usually I see more women and families on sundays. And then I remembered that today is Mother's Day. So to all the men doing their food shopping today to cook dinner for their families, I salute you.

this week's shopping list is pretty light. I didn't need a whole lot, since not only did I want to use some things I've already got that are in danger of going bad soon, but I'm also going on vacation from friday through monday. So really, I just needed enough food to last through thursday.

earlier last week, I bought the following at pick 'n save:
raspberry vinaigrette dressing
Jello sugar free cinnamon roll pudding
total: $7.40

here's what I bought today at Metro Market:
Tumaro's low-carb multigrain tortillas
Thomas' 100 calorie whole grain english muffins
McCormick whole black peppercorns
1 cucumber
1 beefsteak tomato
1 bunch curly parsley
sliced mushrooms
2 portobello mushroom caps
organic thyme
dannon light&fit 6 pack yogurt
total: $19.70

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Americorps Week

Today marks the start of Americorps week. The theme for this year is community gardening, so I am hosting a potluck at growing power tomorrow.

Because I have an excessive amount of gorgonzola cheese in my fridge from that pasta recipe, I'm making a salad based of a recipe I found on allrecipes. The recipe on the website calls for mixed greens, dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, and a dressing that is a mixture of raspberry vinaigrette, white vinegar, and olive oil. I am changing this up a bit. I am using dried bing cherries instead of dried cranberries, because they aren't sweetened with added sugar. I am also candying my own walnuts. It's pretty simple, actually. It's one part walnuts to half part sugar combined in a frying pan and stirred constantly over medium heat until the sugar starts to caramelize, then you put in on a baking sheet to cool. I am using one cup walnuts and a half cup of sugar. I am also just going to bring a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette with me to the potluck instead of doing their mixture. It's just easier that way.

I spent a total of $16 at whole foods on the ingredients I didn't already have for this (walnuts, cherries, and mixed greens). This salad makes 8 servings. pretty good deal in my book.

Friday, May 7, 2010

My Recent Discovery

I am in love.

Before you get excited, I should tell you what exactly it is I am in love with...the Riverwest Co-op and Cafe, located in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood (named after the fact that it's the west side of the Milwaukee River), which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the east side (where I live).

I went there for the first time on thursday and couldn't believe how long it took me to find this place. Everything was reasonably priced and they had an amazing selection of products for sale. And they accept EBT. I made sure to call in advance to make sure they take it after I got turned away at the middle eastern food store.

Here's what I ended up buying:
1 8oz package of seitan
1 bottle of vegan worcestire sauce (I've been looking for this everywhere)
1 packet of instant sesame marinade
1 bottle of barbecue sauce
1 package of dried basil

my total: $16.82

I think if I bought all of this at whole foods, they would've charged closer to $25.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Recipe: Sugar Snap Peas Pasta

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I've tried making my own cream-based pasta sauce from scratch in the past and have had little success. It always comes out too runny. But this sauce was perfect! In fact, I caught myself licking the sauce off the bowl (it was that good). The sauce will look thicker than it should when you first combine the cheese with the cream, but the butter will melt when tossed with the sugar snap peas, so it will thin out the sauce to a perfect texture when you combine them.

ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package dry penne pasta
3/4 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
2 tablespoons butter
salt and ground black pepper to taste

directions:
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the pasta, and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, cover pot, and set aside.
2. Stir the cream cheese, Gorgonzola cheese, and cream together in a bowl until smooth. Set aside.
3. Bring another large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the sugar snap peas, and cook until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain. Toss peas with butter. Stir cream cheese mixture into peas, and toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately over cooked pasta.

serves four

how i lightened this recipe/made it a little healthier:
1. I used whole wheat penne instead of the regular kind
2. I used neufchatel cheese insead of cream cheese (neufchatel has less saturated fat than cream cheese)
3. I used fat-free half & half instead of heavy cream (it did not effect the sauce texture-wise)
4. I used promise light spread instead of butter

Definitely my new favorite pasta recipe.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Recipe: Coconut Lime Rice

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One bite of this rice and you'll feel like you're on vacation on a tropical island. The rice really captures the flavor from the blend of vegetable broth and coconut milk that you boil the rice in instead of water. The lime juice adds a nice little twist to it, too. Be careful about how high you have the heat on while simmering the rice, because I burned mine a little bit.

ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup vegetable broth
salt, to taste
1 lime, zested and juiced
ground black pepper, to taste

directions:
Heat coconut oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir rice and coconut flakes for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the lime juice, then add the coconut milk, chicken broth, salt and lime zest. Bring to a low boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and season with pepper.

I made this recipe a little healthier by doing the following:
1. using Promise light spread instead of regular butter
2. using light coconut milk instead of regular coconut milk
3. using low sodium vegetable broth

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Once More (with feeling!), weekly food shop

As I explained to Erik recently, when I get into a project, I really get into it. So much, in fact, that I forget certain things, like planning something for wednesday night's dinner and friday's lunch. Thinking on my feet, I turned to my version of the bible-allrecipes.com. I love this website for so many reasons, including the fact that you can search for recipes by title or ingredients. Because I have an abundance of leftover sugar snap peas from my tofu recipe, I put that in the search engine, and just like that I had a plethora of veggie-friendly recipes to choose from. I chose a simple pasta recipe with a cheese sauce (partially because the title was in French). I had some time before my tae kwando class started, so I took a walk to whole foods to pick up the necessary ingredients, along with some vegetable broth for tonight's dinner (I've been using bouillon cubes, but it just isn't doing it for me). Here's the list and total:

Imagine Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
Whole Foods brand organic gorgonzola crumbles
365 (whole food's brand) neufchatel cheese

total: $9.37

the original recipe calls for cream cheese, but I am using neufchatel cheese instead. Why? It has less saturated fat than cream cheese naturally, so I'd rather use that than overly processed fat-free cream cheese.

in other news, I am still looking for one more guest blogger for the time that I'm on vacation! email me at glasssa@earlham.edu as soon as possible if you're interested!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Recipe: Sesame Maple Roasted Tofu

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This was my first time making this recipe, which I found on the Kashi website (go figure!). It turned out pretty good, but I think in the future I'd like to give the tofu time to marinate in the sauce.

ingredients:
1 14-ounce block extra-firm water-packed tofu, rinsed, patted dry and cut into 1-inch
cubes
1 medium red onion, sliced
1 tsp canola oil
2 tsps toasted sesame oil
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce or tamari
2 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp cider vinegar
3 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Toss tofu, onion, canola oil, sesame oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Spread on a large baking sheet and roast until the tofu is lightly golden on top and the onions are browning in spots, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Whisk tahini, soy sauce or tamari, maple syrup and vinegar in a small dish until combined. Remove the tofu from the oven, add snap peas and drizzle with the maple sauce; stir to combine. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Return to the oven and continue roasting until the peas are crisp-tender, 8 to 12 minutes more.

serves 4

I ate this with japanese noodles, but it would probably be good with rice, too.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

weekly food shop, continued

so this afternoon I wanted to get a head start on dinner before heading out to volunteer, but I realized I was missing some key ingredients for the recipe (sesame maple tofu-recipe to come soon!). I ended up going to pick 'n save on my way home from volunteering. here's what I bought:
sesame oil
sugar free maple syrup
1 lime

total: $8.59

I also went to the pick 'n save near my place after yoga to get my frozen veggies, and they were having a sale on my favorite kind! It was 4 for $10, so I decided I should stock up. I wish I had a bigger freezer...

Saturday, May 1, 2010

weekly food shop

So this is not a complete list of everything that has been purchased for this week, only because Erik bought me a can of coconut milk and a bottle of coconut oil while we were at whole foods earlier. here's what I bought at metro market:

1 red onion
silken lite firm tofu
chinese snow peas (aka sugar snap peas)
strawberries
blueberries

total: $13.78

I still need to get some frozen veggies at pick 'n save, but it's going to be a pretty cheap week for me. I've got a lot of stuff in my pantry that I should use, plus I still have a sweet potato burrito in my freezer that should be eaten sooner rather than later.

just a reminder: I'm still looking for guest bloggers! email me at glasssa@earlham.edu if you're interested!