Grilling and Roasting

One nice thing about this time of year is that cooking helps warm the house.We haven't used the heat yet because the grill, oven and dishwasher are warming the house.  Trying to save on the utilities seems a lost cause.  We used a little less electricity and a lot less gas than this time last year, but our bill was $11 higher. The amount is not that much, but it is just the principle of the matter. Anyway, I grilled some eggplant and zucchini to go in the Miso Soup at lunch.  Tommy has been taken antibiotics for an infected tooth and I have been trying to make sure he gets some probiotics every day.  The soup used onion, spinach, carrot and sundried tomatoes with a barley miso.  I add the grilled veggies to mine and grilled a chicken thigh for Tommy to add to his soup.

Miso soup

More eggplant and zucchini at dinner.  I roasted a big batch in olive oil with garlic powder and turmeric.

I used this as a topping for the rice dish at dinner.  I sauteed, broccoli, tofu, tomato, cannelini beans and rice for a nice comfort food dinner. The rice has a purplish color because I added a quarter cup of black rice to the brown rice when I cooked up a big batch the other day.

November starts

one dish meals

As  the temps drop, comfort food moves in. Lately I have been doing a lot of one dish meals. The one above is  a mix of black beans, roasted corns, Japanese yam (white flesh and is sweet), onion, cilantro and avocado. I baked the potato first, then just sauteed everything together in the skillet.

Blueberry smoothie

This was my breakfast this morning. The smoothie is made with rice milk, pomegranate juice,cocoa, spinach, dates, an lots of frozen blueberries.  I am amazed  at what I put in smoothies, but you do not notice the taste of the spinach.

Another new product for me is this herbal coffee.  I do not drink real coffee, it tastes like an aspirin dissolving in my mouth.  My mother could not stand the taste of coffee either, so it might be genetic. The only way I have ever been able to drink was with lots of hot chocolate and berry syrups which left almost no taste of coffee.  This product is made with chicory and cocoa.  It is prepared like coffee, I used a french press. The taste as nice and very chocolaty. I had to add a cube of sugar for each cup, so it is not the zero calorie beverage like tea. It is caffeine free.

Pesto

One of my clean out the refrigerator before grocery day creations was this pesto.  It is made with basil, cilantro, mint, and parsley for the herbs.  Some pine nuts, garlic, and nutritional yeast finish out the recipe.  I hate waste and it always feels good to use the produce up.  I spread this on sandwiches or used is pasta or rice dishes, such as the pasta primavera with tomatoes and asparagus.

Pasta Primavera

Friday Night Musings

Kale apple

Carrot cucumber

I have returned to making some more juices.  The one on the left is a mix of carrot, cucumber, broccoli, lemon and ginger.  I put a little too much ginger in it and it was a bit too spicy.  The one on the right is a mix of kale, apple, cucumber, lemon, beet and ginger.  This is an excellent tasting juice.

Butternut Bisque

Fall is a great time to start making soups again.  This one is a blend of butternut squash, apple, and onion with some nutmeg to spice it up.

Cheesy bread

Making soup and bread has helped to keep the house warm as the temps drop.  No need for the heat yet, it is still 70 degrees in the house even though it is 43 outside. The bread uses a mock cheddar cheese and is spiced with onion and garlic powders. I used the egg substitute of flaxseed, baking powder, potato starch, corn oil and water and flax milk for the milk product.  I used the bread to make a vegan BLT for breakfast today using bacon spiced tempeh.

Chocolate balls

We can't forget dessert.  This is a raw sweet made with dates, cashews, coconut, cocoa powder and tahini.  The ingredients were minced in the food processor and then rolled and chilled.  I think they would have been better with peanut or almond butter in place of the tahini, but otherwise they were a nice sweet.

Sunday Funday

Hickory Syrup

Actually, the Ravens lost so it was not a fun day.  But there is food to write about.  When driving through Virginia last year, we came across this hickory syrup harvested in Virginia.  It is flavored with vanilla and definitely has a hickory taste.  You would not mistake it for maple, yet it has a smokey satisfying sweet taste.  I used it this week on banana pancakes.

Banana Pancakes

The batter was made by mixing oats and almond milk in a blender, then adding banana, flour and baking powder. I topped them with chopped walnuts.

For dinner tonight we had a skillet meal of shallots, red bell pepper, jalapeno, roasted corn, broccoli, arugula and toasted cashews. A simple sauce of sherry and soy sauce was added and I sprinkled nutritional yeast on top.  Yesterday, we did a 6 mile walk on the BWI Loop.  Afterwards, we stopped on my favorite vegan restaurant - The Great Sage in Clarksville.

Black Bean Quesadilla

I started with a serving of a Black Bean Quesadilla with salsa on a soft corn tortilla. Tommy started with a Tomato and White Bean Soup.  We then split a Quinoa and Green Chili burger that we devoured so quickly, I forgot to take a picture.

Soup

For dessert I had a Chocolate Mousse Tart with granche and pomegranate seeds.  Yeah, this was good.

Chocolate Mousse Tart

Stuff I have been eating

Limpa bread

I have been a bad blogger.  There have been no posts since August.  Oops.  Here are some of the things I have been cooking.  The bread shown about is called Limpa and it is a type of rye bread made with molasses and rye flour.  Even though the sweetener was added, the taste was not sweet.  The loaf bread was sliced for breakfast or with meals.  The rolls were for sandwiches.

Mushroom burger

One of the sandwiches I made was a Portabello Mushroom Burger.  The mushrooms were steamed in a mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar which gave it a sweet and tart taste.  Roasted golden beets and romaine lettuce rounded out the sandwich.

Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John is a traditional New Years Day dish in the South.  The black eyed peas are supposed to bring you good luck during the year. My version is made with sauteed onion and garlic, bacon spiced tempeh, celery, canned black eyed peas, cooked brown rice, thyme and parsley.  It has been a great lunch dish with just over 300 calories per serving.

 Tonight's dinner was a Ginger Not Chicken with Broccoli and Bulgar Wheat.  Some ginger was sauteed in peanut oil, then I added broccoli and roasted corn. The mock chicken was added next with some salt, pepper and mint.  The Bulgar was cooked in my veggie broth and added at the end.  This was a 352 calorie meal with 29 g. protein.  The mock chicken is a brand called Beyond Meat and is by far the best I have tasted.  People who are used to eating the tasteless chicken from regular grocery stores can't tell the difference.  

Hump day food

Breakfast started out with  a fresh fruit salad made from a peach, a pear, a banana, a Mexican papaya and some trail mix sprinkled on the top.  The Mexican papayas are very large (about the size of spaghetti squash) and not as sweet.  I like using them because  the small ones from Hawaii are grown from GMO seeds.

My mid day snack was a mix of mung beans, bulgar wheat, and broccoli sprouts with a little bit of pesto.

Lunch was quick and simple because I needed to eat it on the walk to my hairdresser.  I chopped a collard green leaf and mixed it with some hummus and stuffed it in a bell pepper.  Easy to eat while walking.

Before going to the gym I ate a ruby red grapefruit.  The ones from Whole Foods are sweet and juicy.  Post gym I had some brown rice with sauteed veggies and the coconut curry sauce.

It is really good, I promise

Before bed I had a green smoothie made with almond milk, cherry juice, banana, chocolate protein powder and spirulina.  Spirulina is a bacteria that is a complete protein containing all the essential amino acids.  It comes in a really large container and you only use a teaspoon at a time.

Eating healthy

Immersion blender

Tommy is in Maine this week and I making this a uber healthy eating week.  Since I made large batches of a lot of foodstuffs, some of my meals get repetitive.  I had the quinoa, veggie, avocado burrito and salad with seeds and nuts again for lunch.  I also had the Carrot Ginger Soup again at dinner.  The photo above is of an immersion blender.  That is the best tool in the kitchen for making creamy soups.  Instead transferring the soup from pot to blender to storage container, you just immerse it in the pot and everything is blended into a creamy soup.  This is the second one I have owned, I wore the motor out on the first one I had.  This one has a more powerful motor. I also blend yogurt and frozen fruit with it to make a soft serve ice cream like dessert.

Fruit smoothie

Breakfast was a smoothie made in the regular blender.  This is a fruit version made with a peach, pear, banana, almond milk, chocolate protein powder, chia seeds, and the last of my Mango Ginger Jam.

To accompany the soup at dinner I made a salad with tempeh. This is a great bacon substitute.  It has the same seasonings and is sliced in strips like bacon.  It can be microwaved or broiled to the desired crispness.  The salad included spring mix, the mixed veggies, and the dill dressing.

During the morning I had a energy bar for a snack.  This one was nut based and was surprisingly good.  The chocolate one from this brand was really bad.