A Long, Overdue Vegetarian Delight

With school, life has been way too busy to have free-time, let alone enjoy cooking. However, I did find time once in the past 3 months to try out some new vegetarian recipes. Since I have a tendency to use a recipe more as "guidelines" rather than strictly following the directions I altered the recipe a little.

Veggie Pasta & Veggie-Stuffed Tomato

This dinner was a combination of two recipes:
First was an altered version of the Pasta w/ Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Prosciutto recipe from the Winter 2010 version of America's Test Kitchen. Being vegetarian I completely changed this recipe to only have vegetables such as: zucchini, squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, and spinach.
First I cooked the vegetables in a frying pan with butter, oregano, basil & a splash of white wine to add flavor. And then added this little medley to the pasta.

The second recipe was the Gruyere-filled Beefsteak Tomatoes from the Accidental Vegetarian cookbook. While I changed the other recipe to be extremely simple, the stuffed tomatoes was much more complex. The recipe is as follows:

4 Beefsteak Tomatoes
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
2 zucchini (finely diced)
2 red bell peppers (seeded & finely diced)
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1 3/4 cups freshly grated Gruyere cheese

(1) Skin tomatoes by putting a cross on the bottom, plunging them into boiling water for 30 secs, then into iced water - this will allows the skin to peel off easily. Slice off the tops and put them aside, scoop out the pulp into a bowl, being careful not to break the skin & put to the side.
(2)Put the cream in a heavy-bottom pan, bring slowly to a boil, then cook to reduce the volume in half.
(3)Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a large pan & gently fry the vegetables and garlic for about 5 mins.
(4)Add 2/3 cup of the cheese to the reduced cream & stir it until it melts. Remove from the heat and fold in the fried vegetables.
(5)Divide the filling between the tomatoes and top it off with the remaining cheese, sit the lids of the tomatoes on top and put it on a baking sheet.
(6)Bake the tomatoes for 6-8 minutes - until the cheese melts.

The stuffed tomatoes took a decent amount of prep time before they were fully complete, but they made the perfect side dish - as long as you don't have too many that you're cooking for, since it requires a fully tomato per person.

Hopefully, I'll have a little more free time in the next few months to try some new recipes since I recently got 3 new vegetarian cookbooks... :P

The Life of a Future Homemaker...

I finally took a trip to the grocery store today, after a week of being back in school... I had to take last week to re-settle into my environment... and tonight was the first time I had time to run to Trader's before they closed. So I did a massive shopping trip today, but made sure to get ingredients for some new recipes. Except, the one lesson I learned was to never assume that certain ingredients still remain in your pantry, because I got home tonight planning to make muffins, but woops, no flour. Instead I made enough granola to sink a ship and some trail mix... yes I'm developing some motherly traits early, packing homemade lunches to provide more nutrients in every bite... except I'm just feeding myself instead of a gaggle of children (thankfully... I'm so not ready for kids yet).

Cook Yourself Thin's Homemade Granola

5 cups jumbo rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup runny honey (add more if too dry)
1/4 cup dried cherries (I didn't add them)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
(doubled this to make up for the cherries)
1 cup barley flakes/rye flakes (optional)
1/2 cup flaxseed (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper cut to size. Place the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds & salt onto the baking sheet and place in over for 10 mins. Dip your measuring cup into hot water & remove (empty) and measure out the honey (this is so the honey is able to pour). Run the warm honey over the hot granola and give a good stir to coat evenly. Return pan to the oven for the final 30 minutes. Toss the ingredients halfway through their cooking time in order to cook evenly. Remove from oven and add the dried berries, flaxseed, cinnamon, and barely or rye flakes (if using). Cool well before storing or it will lose it's crunch. (Makes about 15 breakfasts - so this will last me a while)


Then with the leftover ingredients I created my own trail mix...

Cait's Trail Mix

1 1/2 cups peanuts
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (raw/unsalted)
1/3 cup almonds (sliced)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 bag plain m&m's

I was able to split the trail mix up evenly into four separate zip lock baggies to make a perfect snack for school... and it's easy to grab when I'm running late in the morning since it's "pre-packaged."

***Remember to reuse your plastic baggies, especially if the don't get dirty because otherwise it'll generate more waste to pile up in our landfills!***

Look ma... I can cook!

Back in April I couldn't even properly make mac 'n cheese without melting the spatula. But now, all that has changed; I can COOK (and bake). This summer I've taken the time to actually make full meals and put some effort into cooking rather than make a grilled cheese. I'll let you in on a little secret, most of this is vegan food - but I don't usually tell people because it freaks them out. Many people assume vegans can only eat grass and dirt, but you'd be surprised how normal a vegan diet is... pile on the fries, burgers, nuggets, shakes, cookies, cupcakes - just substitute a few ingredients.

Here are some of my creations:

Vegan burger w/ avocado and potato fries...

This was a perfect meal to celebrate the 4th of July, especially after a long day participating in a horseshoes tourney on the beach... A burger and potatoes are always a safe bet for a meal because they're so dang delicious - and it barely takes any effort or time. :)

Quinoa & Veggies
(squash & potatoes)

Quinoa is a gluten-free grain, extremely similar to couscous... It barely takes any time at all to make. And rather than using water to make the quinoa, I used vegetable broth which gave it a little more flavor. As for the vegetables, I did not have a steamer, so I put them in a frying pan with a mix of oil and water and let them cook...

Wheat Pasta and Summer Squash

It's exactly what it sounds like, make some pasta, steam some squash, add some sauce... and Ta-da! You have a wonderful hearty vegetarian/vegan meal. (I made this meal in memory of the greatest vegetable pasta dish I've ever tasted while traveling last summer in Peru... random place to have such delicious pasta, but the world is full of surprises).

Caitlyn's ALMOST Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

This was my first attempt at vegan baking... and I ALMOST succeeded. Surprisingly enough, there are a variety of substitutes that you can use instead of eggs. The one I decided to use for these cookies was soy yogurt, however I accidentally used regular yogurt, so they weren't quite vegan. Then instead of regular butter or margarine you can use the dairy-free kind. And on accident I added a little extra flavor by using Sea Salt instead of regular salt. It was a good addition, but if you do use sea salt instead or regular salt, be sure to put half the amount that is required because Sea Salt has a stronger taste. One critic described these cookies as a "food orgasm." (I'm not making this up)

Banana-Banana Bread Muffins

This is just the boxed banana bread mix from Trader Joe's, except I modified it some, even tho you only need to add 3 ingredients. Instead of eggs I used a banana as the binding force for the bread. Which makes sense because you want a banana taste anyways. And I couldn't find a bread pan, so I just used a mUffin tin and made a dozen personal size banana breads. :)

For a full list of egg substitutes you can check it out at the Post Punk Kitchen:
Egg Substitutes... Check it out!

**For the record, I am only a vegetarian, NOT a vegan. But vegan cooking is a lot easier than you'd guess**

I'm back... with a spark

You would never guess that you could light your cheese grater on fire while attempting to boil water... but it is definitely possible. I was trying to boil water for pasta and I left the room for a few minutes and then I heard a popping sound and thought the water might be boiling, but to my surprise the cheese grater handle was on fire!!! It was on the stove, too close to the flame and caught fire and began to melt against the pot. Luckily I checked on my water when I did, and at least this time the fire was kept small. This was not monumental, but yet another fire story for my house...It looks like my cheese grater grew a tail... haha


On the other hand, I know it's been a couple months since I last posted anything - sorry. My excuses are lame too, basically winter quarter was overwhelming and I got caught up in too much school and work. But now spring has arrived and I'm starting fresh and new.

As a warning to all, I am currently taking a course on Sustainable Business Practices and one of my passions is sustainability. So many posts to follow may follow the theme of sustainability become extremely informative and opinionated - focusing on how humans are destroying our planet and what changes can be made in our daily lives.