Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian’

The Crunch Craving: Granola without Oil

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Posted by Kelly

My boss April is a new mom, trying to keep up with breastfeeding her three-month-old twin boys. When she told me that her lactation specialist told her to eat more almonds and oats, I immediately thought of granola! It is a win win for April who likes oats but not oatmeal and finds that grabbing just yogurt in the morning leaves her hungry for something to actually chew. Speaking of breast milk, did anyone notice it is all over the headlines? First one woman assaults a police officer with her milk, and now a chef in New York City has made cheese from his wife’s breast milk. This morning on LIVE with Regis and Kelly (Andy Richter was guest hosting) they actually ate the cheese!! April has assured me that she will do nothing of the sort. :)

Continuing on, Kristin and I only have one issue with most granola recipes out there, they contain oil. Some recipes over 1/3 cup! In our minds, the best part of granola is the high nutritional content, why would we go and put all that canola oil on it? There had to be a better way. We used some guidelines in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian as a starting point and off we went!

We have been eating this granola all week with fruit and yogurt, and sprinkled on top of our smoothies. We hope you enjoy our delicious, crunchy and oil free granola!

Granola in a mason jar

Crunchy Granola

6 cups of rolled oats

1 1/2 cups almonds

1 1/2 cups walnuts

1/2 cup flax seeds (ground)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup honey

1  tablespoon vanilla

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tablespoon molasses

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a small saucepan over low heat, mash together bananas, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir until combined.

2. Add all remaining ingredients to a large bowl and mix these together. Little by little add your wet mixture to your dry, stirring to combine.

3. Place entire mixture on large jelly roll pan lined with a Sil Pat or parchment paper. Every ten to fifteen minutes, remove from oven and stir the mix. You want to remove the moisture, so constant attention is necessary!

4. After about an hour, your granola should be lightly brown and dry. Remove from oven and stir one last time. Then bring to room temperature before storing in an airtight container.

** We actually meant to add raisins to this, but forgot to mix them in at the end. Now on second thought we think this might be better with some sort of tropical dried fruit added or perhaps a combination of dried fruits like mango, pineapple and bananas.

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Posted in Uncategorized, beef dishes, grilling, vegetables, vietnamese | 1 Comment »

Keep it Simple Stupid: Tomato Paella

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

I’ve always been one of those people that has trouble keeping things simple. For special occasion meals I tend to go overboard, choosing recipes that have 25 hard-to-find ingredients and take several days to prepare. The dishes almost always come out great, but sometimes they feel contrived and I’m left too pooped to enjoy the fruits of my labor. But occasionally, I will run across a recipe like this Tomato Paella and I am reminded that sometimes the best dishes are the ones that take little time and allow a few good ingredients to shine through.

I’ve had this recipe stored away for months, waiting for the moment that I had a few extra homegrown tomatoes to use up. When that day finally came last week, I pulled it out and realized I didn’t have any saffron. I had been meaning to order some from here, but there was no way my tomatoes would last that long. So I skipped it, subbing some tumeric instead, and I didn’t miss it.

The only other change I made to the recipe was that I cut the rice in half, thinking that two cups of rice would be too much for just the two of us. In retrospect, I could have eaten the entire full recipe by myself, but it would have taken weeks for my waistline to forgive me.

Tomato Paella
Adapted from Mark Bittman. This recipe depends on good quality tomatoes, so use the best-tasting tomatoes you can find. I would not try making it with those pink, mealy off-season atrocities from the grocery store.

1 3/4 cups water

1 1/2 pounds good-tasting tomatoes, cored and sliced into thick wedges

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 of a medium onion, diced

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon sweet smoked spanish paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric

1 cup short-grain rice, such as arborio

chopped parsley for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Toss tomato wedges with a pinch of salt and a generous grinding of pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and set aside.

3. Warm 1/8 cup of olive oil in a medium-sized oven-proof skillet. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, paprika, tumeric and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and cook two minutes more. Add the tomato paste and cook a minute more.

4. Add the rice to the skillet and cook, stirring until shiny and slightly toasted, a minute or two. Add the water and bring to a simmer as you arrange the tomato slices on top of the rice and drizzle the tomato juices over the pan.

5. Put the skillet into the preheated oven and bake 15 minutes. The tomato skins should be wrinkled and the rice should be browned and crispy around the edges. If you like crispy rice on the bottom, put the skillet over high heat for a few minutes to allow a crust to form. Garnish with the parsley and serve.

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Posted in budget recipes, main dishes, spanish, vegetarian | 1 Comment »

Unsung hero? Maybe.

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Tyler Florence calls cauliflower “the unsung hero of the vegetable world.” I would have to say the phraseology “unsung hero” is pushing it. I do agree, however, that cauliflower doesn’t get the attention it deserves. You don’t just sit around and wish you had a big steaming bowl of cauliflower to snack on (maybe not unless it’s used as a vehicle for eating liquified cheese). And it’s not always the most appealing choice in the produce isle, especially when it’s surrounded by so many other pretty vegetables that don’t resemble a brain.

When I came home with a head of cauliflower last week, and Shawn declared, “I hate cauliflower,” (surprise surprise) I knew I was going to have to puree that sucker. So it became soup. And you know what? He ate it. He said it tasted sort of like potatoes. He loves potatoes. Maybe the idea of heroic cauliflower isn’t so far-fetched.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into florets
 
1/2 of a large onion, sliced
 
4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dry)
 
1 bay leaf
 
3 Tablespoons butter
 
4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
 
1/3 cup half and half, cream or whole milk
 
salt and pepper to taste (white pepper if you have it)
 
fresh herbs for garnish (optional—I used dill)
 
1. Simmer cauliflower, onion, thyme, bay leaf and stock until the cauliflower is very tender (about 15 minutes).
 
2. Remove the bay leaf and thyme stems. Puree the soup with an immersion blender (or puree it carefully in a regular blender)
 
3. Reduce if necessary to get desired consistency. Add the cream and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to to taste. Garnish with fresh herbs.

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Posted in budget recipes, soup, vegetables, vegetarian | 1 Comment »

(Almost) Painless Vegetarian Tamales

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I made vegetarian tamales. Now if we were talking about your traditional meat-filled tamales I would say, “if you’re ever feeling like you’ve just had it too easy lately and you really want to punish yourself, keep reading because I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it.” These tamales, however, are not “filled” in the way that typical meat tamales are. Instead, the vegetable filling is stirred into the masa. Thus, they are much faster and easier to put together and you could probably knock out a few dozen of them in a couple of hours.

And I know what you’re probably thinking, who cares if they’re easy. Vegetarian tamales? That’s an oxymoron. Tamales are supposed to be soft, greasy, lard-laden little bundles of joy with a meaty surprise inside. This is true. However, I’ve done some research and it appears that the more heart-healthy variety has quite the following. If you don’t believe me, hang in there. The recipe for the venison tamales that I also made over the Thanksgiving holiday—the ones that took all day long and left me twitching in a useless heap on the couch for the remainder of the evening—is coming.

Vegetarian Tamales with Sweet Corn, Carrots, Hatch Green Chiles and Cheese

These tamales are made with a combination of olive oil and butter instead of the more traditional lard. You could use vegetable shortening and they would still be vegetarian, but vegetable shortening is bad for you and it tastes like nothing, so where’s the fun in that? Make sure to season the veggies well and use a flavorful vegetable stock. Offer these with all the fixin’s: salsa, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce, chopped onions, jalapenos and cheese.

Makes about 30 tamales.

6 cups masa harina

2 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon cayenne

4 cups flavorful, room temperature vegetable stock

3 tablespoons pureed chipotle peppers in adobo

1 cup olive oil

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 onion, 1/4 inch dice

2 carrots, 1/4 inch dice

1½ cups corn (fresh off the cob is best, but frozen is fine)

6 hatch green chilies, roasted, peeled and diced

8 oz grated cheese (cheddar, monterrey jack, queso quesadilla or a blend of the three)

1 package corn husks, soaked and rinsed

1. Caramelize the onion in a little oil or butter. Add the carrots and cook for several minutes. Add the chilies and the corn and cook until the mixture is fairly dry with no visible moisture. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the masa harina, seasonings, salt and baking powder. Stir in the stock, chipotle puree and two cups of water.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter on high speed until fluffy. Add the olive oil and continue to beat until combined. With the mixer on medium speed, slowly add large spoonfuls of the masa mixture. Then increase the speed and beat for several minutes until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. To test the readiness of the dough, drop a small spoonful into a glass of water. If it floats, it’s ready. If it doesn’t, keep beating.

4. With the mixer on low speed stir in the vegetables and the cheese.

5. Fill each husk with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the masa. Roll the husk to enclose the filling and secure the ends with strips of corn husk if you like.

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Posted in appetizers, budget recipes, mexican, vegetarian | No Comments »