I’ve been cooking but I haven’t been posting. I finally cleaned out my camera and here’s a quick rundown of recipes I’ve tried recently.

Confetti Rice Salad & Orange-Chipotle Glazed Tofu from June 2008 Vegetarian Times
This recipe took me way longer to prepare than I planned. That’s probably why it was on the “Easy Entertaining” page instead of the “Quick Dinners” page. It was really good though. I don’t love tofu, but this tofu was very spicy and tasty, even my husband had seconds! The confetti rice with the sunflower seeds and avocado was very filling and delicious. We ate it for leftovers for a few days.

Tandoori Eggplant Kebabs from July/August 2008 Vegetarian Times
This recipe was actually quick, mostly because I prepared the marinade and chopped the vegetables the night before. When we got home, all we had to do was grill. I really liked this recipe, we had a little difficulty with our grill but I would make this again. I added chicken kabobs for my carnivore husband. R had chicken/veggie tandoori pita with feta on top, and I had veggie filled pita with mango chutney on top.


Gazpacho with Grilled Plantains from Cooking Light
I’ve made both the gazpacho and plantains before..not sure if I ever posted about them. I made this on a super duper hot August day. Sometimes it is too hot and humid ’round here to eat a hot meal. The gazpacho was good but it almost tasted like a chunky salsa. My husband and I both love the brown sugar grilled plantains, probably because they could be dinner or dessert.

Pasta with Beans and Spinach from Cooking Light’s “Light and Easy Menus”
I can’t find this recipe online anywhere. I love the Cooking Light cookbook that this recipe came from. This book if one of my favorites because the recipes are genuinely quick, they only have a few ingredients so make great weeknight dinners. I got it at Costco for cheap.

I swear these are muffins and not cupcakes! I based these Chocolate Raspberry Muffins on this recipe from Hannah Kaminsky’s Bittersweet blog. I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and I doubled the raspberries since I couldn’t find fresh currants.

Happy Birthday Laura!

My sister-in-law’s throat always itches when she eats Mango Salsa. Now I know why - mangoes and poison ivy are members of the same family! Don’t worry mangoes - I still love you.

I love summer. Even the days that I have to work. I try to enjoy the extra hours of light in the evening. So when I’m picking summer weeknight meals - I’m looking for easy and quick. This recipe for Korean BBQ Marinade is a perfect one. I saw this in the June 1, 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times. They suggested using it to marinade and grill portobellos. If you read this blog, you know I’m not good at improv, so I followed their suggestions to a T, including tossing with chopped scallions and sesame seeds.

Mission Accomplished! Quick, easy, tasty. I served with steamed spinach with red wine vinegar and grilled hearts of palm (inspired by the catering at my cousin, Justin’s graduation party). I’m sure this marinade would work well on other veggies, chicken or steak, too.

It kinda looks like chicken…

The man of the house made these awesome Fiery Fish Tacos with Mango & Avocado Salsa earlier this week. The recipe is out of an old issue of Men’s Health Magazine. The recipe is not posted on their site (bummer), but this similar recipe is posted.

The picture doesn’t do this meal justice. He grilled/blackened the fish on the gas grill with blackening spice. The fish was so so delicious (also served with purple cabbage). Thanks Man!

I could eat curry every night. Seriously, this nerd does not lie. Ask my husband who has a way of subtly recommending that our dinners have more variety. But at least once a week, I get my fix. This week I made a super quick version of Chana Masala from Vegan Express. I served it on 5-minute couscous and broke out a little mango chutney from the fridge. My husband and I both liked this recipe and it was especially nice to have something warm and hearty when the weather is cold and rainy. I am a fan of Vegan Express. I’ve only made 6 or so recipes so far, but they’ve been quick, healthy, weeknight dinners that I’ve liked so much - I cook them over and over again. (Resulting in fewer blog posts but that’s another story).

Oh and this recipe gave me plenty of leftovers for lunches and nights I don’t feel like cooking.

Get on the floor and move your booty, mama. That song just popped into my head when I started thinking about Mother’s Day. On Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom and my BFF (my mother-in-law). I still need to catch up with GB and DR. Once again, I forgot to take pictures, well I took 2, here they are.

Rob and Mom eating brunch at Steph’s House

Steph and I cooked up Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta, a recipe I borrowed from the
Gluten-Free Goddess. I love this recipe. We also made lemon-blueberry pancakes - I think Steph adapted a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.

In case you’re wondering, since my wonderful FIL asked me this question which made me realize that readers of this blog could be confused.. I have not gone vegan ..yet. I’m not sure about Steph. I end up eating a mostly vegan diet because I don’t meat and can’t eat dairy. I still eat fish and eggs. I don’t know the official classification for me in the vegetarian world. I’m sure there is one, but it is probably a long difficult-to-use-in-everyday-conversation kinda word.

To my mom, my MIL, GB, DR - Happy Mother’s Day! (names omitted to protect the innocent)

Summer is on it’s way and it makes me so happy inside I feel like someone is tickling me. I got this idea from ED&V and indulged my craving immediately.
I chose these small hydroponic tomatoes, cut in half, inserted garlic into the tomato juices and roasted with sea salt, pepper, oregano. DELICIOUS and SO EASY! Threw these together hot with pasta, spinach and artichoke hearts. Easy, delish weeknight meal.

Since the first recipe I tried from Vegan Express was a hit, I decided to try 2 more.

Last week I made Tortilla Casserole. Most ingredients were canned or frozen making it super easy to prepare. I accidentally added more crushed tomatoes which made my casserole a little soupy. I will use the correct amount next time. Despite the extra tomatoes, I loved this dish. It is quick, healthy, warm, and hearty. The corn tortillas softened while baking, making the end result taste a little bit like a tamale (I love tamales). Here’s a picture of the casserole filling and then a slice of the casserole topped with avocado.

Tonight I made Orzo Soup with Roasted Vegetables. This was also super easy to prepare although I accidentally cut my finger chopping vegetables which slowed me down. Today was cold and rainy so we really enjoyed this warm hearty soup.

This one is not from Vegan Express. Just a picture of a lazy Sunday brunch. It was a rainy gloomy Sunday so the husband and I enjoyed brunch and a little relaxation before the next hectic work week.

I tried some new things this week. Wednesday I tried steaming artichokes for the first time. I totally overcooked them but I learned a lot, so I’ll cook them better next time. My mom made these for us as a kid and I’ve always enjoyed them plain or dipped in salad dressing.

Thursday night, R and I both got stuck at work late. Luckily the recipe I picked out was a quick one. I made a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Everybody Likes Sandwiches’, Miso-braised Cod with Soba Salad. R and I made a few changes to the recipe - he made the fish and I made the salad. I think he broiled the fish for a shorter period of time, and I used Somen noodles instead of Soba noodles, and cut down on the olive oil. It was delicious. The warm fish with the cold summery salad went well together. Definitely a repeater.

After visiting Sunflower Vegetarian a few times lately and ordering the Kale and Burdock Deluxe I have not been able to satsify my craving for a meal of purely dark greens-cooked well. If you haven’t been to Sunflower you are missing out. There is a heavy alliance on mock meats which isn’t really my thing, but there are so many options everyone will be satisfied.
Back to my point, kale is so tasty. It has fallen into the category of foods I crave. I simply sauted garlic and onion in a bit of sesame oil until fragrant, steamed kale for just a few minutes and added in some chickpeas and cayenne. Very quick and easy took about 10 minutes.

Kale and my glass of wine. Tempranillo, per recommendation by Rob and Stace, my wine of choice.

Monday I made Polenta with Black Beans and Spinach from Vegan Express. True to its name, it was express - it took me about 20 minutes total to make. We’ve had that tube of polenta in the pantry for a while now, so I was happy to use it and I enjoyed grilling the polenta. I can’t wait until it warms up and we can really grill.

Tuesday R made another quickie, Curried Chickpeas on Brown Rice. I still can’t figure out where I got this recipe from, but I love it. I blogged about it before here.

I tried something a little bit different on Wednesday. I made a creamy white dish, Mushroom & Lentil Stroganoff. This is totally out of the ordinary for me, I like colorful veggies, curries, and tomato sauces. I’ve never really been a fan of cream sauces even ‘back in the day’ when I could eat dairy. I tried this dish because I wanted to test the use of Silken tofu to make a creamy texture. The dish came out really well, even though it looks like tile glue in this picture. My husband said, “how did you get it to be creamy without milk?”. I proved to myself that Silken tofu really does create a creamy texture but I still prefer curries and tomato-based sauces.

Thursday we usually have leftovers but I didn’t go to yoga so I whipped up Hasperats. I saw these one of my favorite blogs, VeganYumYum earlier in the week and I knew I had to try it out. There is a funny story lurking in the name of that recipe. Instead of using store-bought hummus, I decided to make my own. So I used another recipe, Sesame Pumpkin Hummus, from another favorite blog, have cake, will travel!. Since Thursday is leftover night, I wasn’t sure if R would want a grilled veggie/hummus wrap. But after he saw me break out the Foreman - he asked for one. These were so good. I discovered I can use my Foreman as a panini-maker. Imagine the possibilities!! Next time, I am going to try a veggie/pesto panini.

Wednesday night I ended up working late so my handy husband cooked up Navajo Stew (Adaption of Moosewood Recipe) from another favorite blog, Albion Cooks. I don’t know why sweet potatoes and black beans taste good together, but another good use of this combo is posted here. This recipe had the perfect level of spiciness from the adobo sauce - hot enough to get your blood moving and sinuses cleared, but not too hot that you have to drink water after every bite. We had tortillas on hand, so we warmed them up and made ourselves some Navajo Stew burritos. The cook topped his burritos with Mexican cheese and sour cream and I topped mine with black olives. As you can probably tell from the picture, we have a ton of leftovers.

I mentioned previously that some wonderful people gave me GotFruit Monthly Fruit Club gift for Christmas from GotFruit.com. Today I received February’s edition - Cara Cara Oranges. The delivery even comes with a cool fact sheet about each fruit including ripening and storage information. Here’s a little excerpt,
“The Cara Cara originated in Valencia, Venezuela, and is a true navel (not a cross between other fruit.) Unofficially referred to as ‘the pink navel orange,’ this delicious citrus is another variety of the extraordinary navel orange, Cara Cara Navels generally have a rich pink pulp, accompanied with an orange exterior. Its taste is sweet with undertones of sweet-cherry and subtle grapefruit and tangerine, with a low acid profile. It is virtually seedless.”

Did you notice there was one missing from the first picture? I couldn’t resist, so I ate one immediately and they were as promised - delicious!

Thanks to Vegan Yum Yum for this delicious cold-curing Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup. I get a lot of my recipes from awesome food blogs and most of them I read religiously but never post comments or otherwise thank the bloggers. So thank you! I read this a few weeks ago and saved for a rainy/cold day. I made it for the first time last night. It was pretty quick and easy, delicious, hot and hearty, cleared my sinuses, and I have leftovers for the rest of the week.  This is definitely a repeater.