Tag Archives: meal

It Warms the Cockles of Your Heart

29 Oct

Has anyone else heard that phrase before? Does anyone else think the word “cockles” sounds gross? I had a friend in college tell me that about the chili she was eating once, and I was like wwwhhhhaaaatttt? Whatever a cockle is, I don’t want them, and I don’t want to warm them. But then I googled it and don’t worry you guys, it’s legit.

I know I’ve made chili here on the blog before, but I’m totally disowning that chili. I’m not even going to link to it. This stuff is the real deal.

I know what you’re thinking. Liz, that looks like real cheese and sour cream on your chili there. Aren’t you lactose intolerant? Both of those answers is YES. But you guys, when I have real cheese and sour cream in the fridge I can’t just not eat it.

I had these things in the fridge because this chili was for a chili contest I was participating in at work and we wanted to have fancy toppings. We got 4th place, out of 8, but I’m pretty proud. This was vegetarian chili, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to central Indiana, but people don’t take kindly to vegetables here. One man wouldn’t try it because it had “too many vegetables in it” I was like, YOU’RE A 30 YEAR OLD MAN AND YOU’RE AFRAID TO EAT A SPOONFUL OF VEGETABLES?” If I didn’t have to be polite, I would have called him a coward.

Oh well. We did have people come over and say, “I hear you guys have a really good vegetarian chili.” I was like uuummm, no. We have a really good chili. period. Whatevs. There was one vegetarian girl there who kept coming back for more. She was excited.

So much chili you guys!

And thanks to my awesome boss, for not giving me crap about not putting meat in it. She sometimes gives me a hard time, but she’s really respectful of my foodie choices.

bubbling away

I ended up making 2 batches of this stuff. It could feed an army. Everyone also said that it would win the award for most colorful, prettiest, and healthiest. After all, we do eat with our eyes! Also, it had beer in it. What more could you ask for?? I was looking for a darker beer, but my local Krogers had this stuff, and I was like ohmygoshIhavetotrythatit’sglutenfreeyougys! I needed 2 for the chili, and drank the other 4. Out of all the things that are gluten free that I wish would taste like their gluteny counterparts, beer is not the first on the list. But this stuff tasted just like beer.

So since this is 4th place award winning (4th place is an award, after all) chili, I’m assuming you guys want the recipe. I got my inspiration for this from the many “vegetarian chili” recipes my boss printed out while we were supposed to be working. I took things from each one that I liked. I’ll give you the amounts for just one recipe, if you want to feed an army, just double it.

4th Place (but really, way better than that) Chili

3- 15oz cans diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
2 cans pinto beans
7oz can diced green chilis
1-2 chilis in adobo sauce (Sooooo spicy!)
3 cloves garlic
2 onions
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 T olive oil
1 bottle beer
2 cups vegetable stock
1 T chili powder
1 t salt
1 T oregano
1 T cumin

Optional: some grinds of Trader Joes everyday seasoning, and South African seasoning (I like the South African one because it’s smokey!!)

1. Chop the onions, and peppers. (You can use all green peppers if the other ones are crazy expensive, but they do make it so pretty and colorful!) pour the tablespoon of oil into a big ole pot and add the onions and peppers once it’s hot. Let them hang out for about 10 minutes. You don’t want to overcook the onions. Everyone is going to get to know each other in the pot. (Virtual high five if you can tell me what TV show that’s from!!!!) 

2. Chop the garlic, and chiles in adobo sauce, and add them to the pot with the green chiles, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer.

3. Once the mixture is simmering, ad the spices, beer, and veggie stock. Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring every once in a while.

Feel free to add some veggie meat crumbles to the recipe if that’s your thing! You can serve this with sour cream (real or soy) cheese (or cheeze!) green onions, and crushed tortilla chips. It is a little spicy, so if you want it to be less spicy, take out some of the green chilies, chiles in adobo sauce, or chili powder. If you like it super spicy, add more!

Have you ever entered any form of cooking or food contest? 

Also, please tell me someone knows the onion/chili reference I mentioned earlier?!

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Taco Tuesdays

21 Aug

Ok- I’ll admit. I didn’t really eat this on a Tuesday. Well, actually, maybe I did. This meal was made a while ago. BUT it’s definitly one of those meals like I mentioned yesterday, that doesn’t take a lot of time.

There is a little bit of prep work with chopping up veggies, but my brother who’s home from college for the summer has been hounding me to teach him how to cook (I think it’s to impress the ladies… lol) So he’s been awesome at getting veggies chopped and prepped, and has become an expert at roasting everything from asparagus to zucchini.

So, Here is the easy meal:

I really need to start taking nicer photos. Anyway, this is Taco Tofu, rice, and taco salad. I ended up mixing everything on the plate together. So good. This photo was also pre-dressing. I slathered it in dairy-free sour cream and salsa.

Believe it or not, the tofu only had THREE ingredients in it. Talk about easy.

Taco Tofu
1 block tofu, pressed and sliced into 8 pieces
1 packet taco seasoning
1/3 cup water

Mix the water and the taco seasoning together, and pour into a greased baking dish. (Or a tupperware container, then move to a baking dish)

Let marinate for at least an hour, flipping the tofu over halfway through. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-45 minutes. It’s that easy!

At first I was worried that it would be too salty or too much taco seasoning, because it was so concentrated, but it ended up being just perfect!

For the salad, I put shredded romaine, tomatoes, olives, black beans, and green pepper. I had onion and crushed tortilla chips on the side.

We also had guacamole, which is a must when having Mexican food. My brother is also an ace at making that- of course I had to teach him the important things first! If there are any girls out there who want to be hooked up with an awesome vegetarian cook, let me know and I’ll see what I can do, lol.

What are your favorite go to quick meals? Do you prefer tacos, or taco salads? 

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Back to School

20 Aug

I think I would be more disappointed that school was starting up again if I hadn’t been busting my butt taking 4 classes this summer. To be honest, every time new classes start, I get a little excited. I love school supplies. I almost actually wish I was going to normal school (as opposed to online) So I could buy fun notebooks and folders and such. I’ll probably end up buying some regardless.

I think I saw some One Direction folders at Target that are calling my name. Haha, just kidding. (Would you think I was lame if that was actually true? It might be.)

I have had a few weeks of vacation at least though, so tomorrow I’ll be getting back into the grind of it all. Work, school, Internship, so much to do.

Because the fun starts, and since I’m the one who cooks most of the dinners in my house, I resort to a few quick, simple, but delicious recipes that don’t take much time at all.

One particular favorite of my families is Roasted tomatoes and tofu. Yum!

I serve it over brown or white rice normally, brown for the madre, and white for me. I used to love love love brown rice, but for some reason, when I got slammed with the stomach flu a couple months back, I can’t even look at it without feeling a little queasy. So white rice it is.

To be honest, I don’t have an exact recipe for this marinade, but it’s simple enough.

I call it my “Everything but the Kitchen Sink Marinade” Because I literally throw a bazillion different things in it. Here are some things that have gone into it:

Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Apple Lingonberry Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Everyday Seasoning (From Trader Joes)
Vegetable Broth
Salad dressings (Different vinaigrettes mostly)
Garlic
Paprika
Chili Powder
Lemon Juice
Agave nectar
Brown Sugar
Liquid Smoke
GF Soy Sauce

…..See what I mean about everything but the kitchen sink? The key to it is just tasting as you make it.

So here is what you need for this dish:
1 block of tofu, pressed, and sliced into 8 pieces
1 cup marinade
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup onions or green onions, chopped/sliced- optional

(I normally double this recipe- Hello leftovers!!)

Spray a 9×13 inch pan, and pour the marinade in. Dredge the tofu in it, flipping it over. Add the tomatoes and onions. Let sit for 30 minutes, flip the tofu then flip and let rest another 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, flipping the tofu at least once during cooking. Serve over your favorite grain.

om nom nom!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! I even got my dad to eat some of it. Ok, so he just ate the tomatoes, but that’s good enough for me.

Are you starting school up soon? Are you excited, or do you wish summer could last a little longer?

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FINALLY

27 Jun

Yup. This finally happened. I got to eat at the Whole Foods Salad Bar!!!

The closest Whole Foods to me is about an hour and a half away, but I still manage to make it out there to go shopping at least once a month to every six weeks. I just can’t help myself.

But recently (about two weeks ago, I’m just now getting around to blogging about it!) I actually got the salad bar, instead of just staring at it longingly as I shopped. I’ll admit, the salad bar at this whole foods wasn’t the best I’ve seen (once again, from afar, longingly) but I was excited none the less.

I pretty much just piled on the veggies, grilled tofu, sweet potato wedges, and a few grain type salads. I was a little nervous because I was afraid about contamination from gluten, but it turned out okie dokie.

I feel like I can die happy now that I’ve eaten at the Whole Foods Salad Bar.

Lastly, I need some help from ya’ll!!

My boss is hosting a meeting with some very important people, and she wants me to whip up some appetizers for it. I’m really excited about it, but I’m not quite sure what to make. She wants a couple healthy options, and a couple treats. I’ve got the sugary goodies down, it’s the healthy options I’m having trouble with. For example, I mentioned hummus, and she gave me a disgusted look. I was like, How can you not like hummus?!?!?! But whaves. I guess I’ll have to find something else. If you’ve got any suggestions, let me know!!

 

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KALE!

5 Apr

You guys. I have discovered the most awesomest thing at the grocery store. I’m sure those of you who don’t live in East-bum-fuck Indiana probably already have this. But my grocery store just started carrying it.

Kale. Pre washed. Pre shredded. Bagged. Kale. Just like the lettuce. I think I scared the man in the produce department with my shriek of excitement. Because now, I will eat Kale so much more often. Because the only bad thing about kale is washing and de-stemming it.

So I took the entire ginormous bag and made a yummy kale salad, with some leftover quinoa and a bunch of veggies that were going to start turning bad if I didn’t eat them up soon.

Isn’t it puuurrty?

Here’s what went into the mix. I didn’t measure anything. Psshh. Who does that?

I put the kale in a bowl. (Thanks captain obvious.) Then I poured in a little olive oil, lemon juice, and balsamic vinaigrette. I massaged the heck out of it. (Don’t worry, I bought it dinner first, haha.) Then I added the following ingredients:

Quinoa
Red, orange, and yellow bell peppers
Cucumber
Red Onion
Cherry Tomatos
Black Grapes
Blackberries

Then, I added a little more balsamic vinaigrette. It was aaammmaazziinnggg. So yummy.

Here are some more shots of it:

With an Amy’s Gluten-free, Dairy-free veggie burger. (One of the BEST burgers I’ve ever had. No joke. One of my biggest fears with going g-free was that I’d never get to eat a veggie burger again.)

Kale salad with some more veggies, and hummus. yum!

Do you like kale? What’s your favorite way to eat it? Can you buy it de-stemmed and bagged? I swear, it changed my life.

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Pizza!

20 Feb

Sometimes, I just get a craving for pizza. I won’t lie, sometimes that craving is for pizza covered in greasy cheese. I won’t like again when I tell you that sometimes I indulge in the greasy cheese pizza.

But most often, I don’t. Sometimes, It’s worth the stomach ache. Most of the time, it’s not.

I can still have my pizza though. Just not covered in cheese. And it’s still amazingly delicious.

Ccccheck it out: (sorry for the crappy photos… cell phones, love ‘em and hate ‘em at the same time)

This pizza was amazing! In all of it’s mushroomy garlicy spinachy goodness.

Want the recipe? Of course you do.

Spinach Mushroom Pizza
One pizza crust of your choice, pre baked. I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza crust. It’s amazing.
12 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced.
3 cups baby spinach
1 can cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup water
2 T oil
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
2 green onions

Puree the beans, water, one clove of garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and onions together until smooth.

Sautee the mushrooms with the other clove of garlic in a little oil for 3-5 minutes, until they start to get soft. Put in a bowl, then sauté the spinach. You could just cook them together, but I’m super OCD and I like placing them on my pizza separately.

Spread the bean puree onto your crust, leaving about an inch around the edges. Spread the the mushrooms, garlic, and spinach on top.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. You really just need to warm it up because the crust is already cooked.

This pizza is definitly one of my favorites. It’s a fun change from the marinara sauce type pizzas, and the beans and spinach are a great source of protein! And I just love things that are super garlicy. I really like garlic. Beware vampires, lol.

On a completely unrelated note, has anyone tried these??

They are soooooooo good. Probably the best candy I’ve ever eaten. Ever. They make butterfingers crisps too, but the crunch ones are so much better. I can’t stop eating them.

What’s your favorite kind of candy? Do you ever get in a pizza mood? 

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Faux-Cotta Roll Ups

13 Feb

I like using the word ‘faux’ instead of ‘fake’. It makes things sound so much fancier. I also like pushing words together. Like, instead of ‘fake ricotta cheese’ or ‘tofu ricotta cheese’ I would say, ‘faux-cotta cheese’. An example of this would be in the title of this post.

First of all, these are delicious. Let me show you the money shot right away, because no one should have to wait till the end of this post to see them in all their glory. (Uncooked glory, I did not get a photo of them out of the oven. What can I say, I was hungry.)

Normally, I would think something would be off with a dish like this if it wasn’t covered in a blanket of cheese, but this dish doesn’t even miss it. Not in the slightest. And I know it looks kind of heavy, but it’s really not! It’s relatively light for a pasta dish.

So let’s get straight to the recipe.

Faux-Cotta Roll Ups
1 recipe broccoli faux-cotta cheese filling (below)
8 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1- 16 oz. jar of marinara sauce, or homemade if you prefer

Cook the lasagna noodles as directed on the package. Drain them, then lay them flat on a paper towel and let them dry off just a little. Cut each noodle in half.

Then, you want to place about 2 tablespoons of the faux-cotta filling on the end of each roll, leaving about and inch.

Once you’ve done that with all of the noodles, take about 1/3 of your sauce and pour it into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Place your noodle roll ups in the pan.

Take the remaining sauce and pour it over the noodles, making sure that they’re all decently covered.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour.

Broccoli Faux-Cotta Cheese Filling

6 oz. extra firm tofu
1 cup frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped
1 T nutritonal yeast
1 t salt
1 t italian seasoning
1 T parsley
1/4 t black pepper
1 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Crumble the tofu into a bowl, and mix in the broccoli. Add everything else in, and stir. That was easy enough!

So there you go. This has been my dinner and lunch for the past couple of days. I think if it was socially acceptable to eat pasta for breakfast I would have this for breakfast too.

Aaanndd, If you’re really doubting the faux-cotta cheese, ask my mom about it. When we had these for dinner I told her you couldn’t even tell that this wasn’t real ricotta cheese, and she looked up puzzled and said “This isn’t real ricotta cheese?”

Nope. Because faux-cotta is where it’s at.

What are some of your favorite pasta dishes? Do you have any fun plans for Valentine’s day? 

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One Year Blogaversary

23 Jan

Will all of this gallbladder drama and me being sick so much (Which is pretty odd for me, to be honest) I’ve completely forgotten that my blog is one year old!!

That’s right folks, A Tablespoon of Liz has reached it’s first birthday!

I remember when I first started, I had just a couple of readers and commenters, and now it’s grown so much, I really can’t thank all of you enough!

So, in proper blogaversary fashion, I’m going to share with you some of my favorite recipe posts from the past year.

Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes 
These are really quite marvelous… Banana cupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese frosting… the frosting is really my favorite. It’s really dense and rich, but not overly sweet because I didn’t use as much sugar as normal frosting recipes. (Oh, and they’re vegan!)

 Hazelnut Burgers
These are so good… and so filling! The texture of these is amazing, they’re chewy, it’s like you almost need a knife to cut through the, which is awesome, because there’s not a lot of vegan food you need a steak knife for!

 Magic Vegan Brownies 
These, as I stated in the actual post, are better than the box. I remember being so excited when I finally tasted these, as it’s so hard to make things that taste better than the box mix these days. They’ve got those things down to a science, that’s for sure. But these brownies are rich, and fudgey, and decadent,  you won’t be buying the box mixes anymore!

Peanut Butter Banana Bites
These are the perfect snack. No joke. Just pop one, or eighteen in your mouth, and you’ll be all set. And never forget- there’s always money in the banana stand.

Corn Salsa
This is my aunt’s recipe, and even though she makes it better than I do, it’s still amazing. I love how chunky it is, and it’s got crazy amounts of flavor. with avocados, black beans, corn, lime juice, and everything else, this is the perfect dip. And it’s so colorful!

 Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
This is one of the most popular recipes on my blog, and I have to admit, these little cookies are very near and dear to my heart. They’re just so cute, and scream spring and tea party to me. If there was an award for most adorable cookie, I just can’t help but think that these ones would win. They’re vegan, and they taste just like strawberry shortcake, but you don’t have to bother with making all those different components and whipping up the cream.

So, there you go, a montage of some of my favorite recipes from the past year. Man, I can’t believe it’s been a year already, time really flies.

I really hope that I start feeling better soon (for good!) and that I can catch up on homework and work and everything so I can really focus on blogging. I’ve really come to love it, and it’s terrible, but I think the last time I baked something was right before Christmas. : ( I’ve still got Christmas cookies in the freezer that need to be decorated, so you can see how far behind I am. But I promise soon I’ll be back in action, just wait!

And thank you all once again for reading and leaving comments, it really means the world to me! 

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Thanksgiving Recap

26 Nov

Howdy ya’ll! I hope your Thanksgiving’s were a blast, I know mine was! I’m still soooo full, from having leftovers! (I wrote this post last night…) I had so much fun hanging out with my family, I can’t wait until Christmas!

I didn’t take a lot of great photos… (And of course, I didn’t take any of any humans. Silly me.) but I wanted to share with you all everything I made for my Very Vegan Thanksgiving!

TONS of prep work and chopping where involved…

I made this loaf from Oh She Glows: (BEST loaf ever, it didn’t crumble or anything!)

I made roasted brussels sprouts… pretty easy, just roasted them with a little onion and salt and pepper.

I also made mashed cauliflower, from Appetite for Reduction… ummm, probably better than any cream and butter laded mashed potatoes EVER. Soooo good, I can’t get over it.

And of course, I made stuffing, but I think I’m going to save that recipe for another day. It was pretty simple, but once again, soooo good!

I also made the chickpea gravy from Appetite for Reduction. I can even explain how much flavor this stuff had. Definitly a family favorite. At least between my mom and I.

My plate, before I dumped gravy on everything. And I mean, everything.

For dessert, I made the Apple Cider Cupcake recipe from Vegan cupcakes around the world, but I made it into a cake instead.

It was a little sweet, but really good. It tasted just like apple cider, no joke!!

For having some serious food differences, my family gets along pretty swell, even at the dinner table. I was a little upset though, I made some homemade bread (Does anyone else think that homemade bread is the greatest thing in the world, like me?) And my extended family only ate the loaf of bread that had in the freezer from Walmart. I’m all about eating what you want, but I was a little sad. : ( Homemade bread is so good. Oh well I guess, more for me!!

Whether homemade bread was consumed or not, I had an awesome day! (Or two days I guess, and there’s still more leftovers!!)

Do you eat the same things as  your family on Thanksgiving, or do you make different food? Do you like homemade bread? 

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Snap Pea Cashew Stir Fry

26 Oct

Hey ya’ll! Thank you so so much for your awesome comments on yesterday’s post! I’m so glad you thought my banana bites looked yummy, and I’m glad to see there are other Arrested Development junkies out there!

Today I wanted to share a quick (but delicious!) Recipe with you, that I mentioned a while back. It’s a stir fry. When I make stir fries I normally don’t remember to write down exactly what I put in them, but this time I did. And boy, am I glad I did, because this is probably the best one I’ve ever made!

 

 

Snap Pea Cashew Stir Fry

3/4 block of extra firm tofu
3T soy sauce
1 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/4 t ginger
1/8 t red pepper flakes
1t agave

Take all of these ingredients (except the tofu) and mix them together in a shallow container, or plastic bag. Then, Drain and cube the tofu, and marinate it for an hour to overnight.

Cook the tofu and the marinade in oil until it is brown and chewy.

1/2 cup cashews
1 pound snap peas
1/3 cup vegetable stock
1 T cornstarch

Mix the veggie stock (cold!) with the cornstarch and set aside. Add the cashews and peas to the tofu, and cook until warmed through. (if the peas are frozen, you’ll need to cook them a little longer) Add the cornstarch/stock mixture, and cook for 3 minutes, until it thickens some.

Serve over rice, and dig in!

I love this recipe, it’s so simple, and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Snap peas are one of my favorite veggies, and the cashews add such a lovely crunch to the dish!

Do you make stir fries a lot? What’s your favorite ingredient to use in one? 

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