I went through my bookmarks the other day and saved only two of the 500. The first one was Augustan Burroughs' Flickr with pictures from his Dry era. If you haven't read Dry you definitely should; Burroughs is more famous for Running with Scissors, that memoir made movie about his wacky and tragic childhood. Dry, which was written before but, I think, released after is about his early-mid 20's struggle with alcohol. He even came from New York to go to treatment in Northern Minnesota (I guess there is/was a GLBT rehab clinic up there?) and I like his sense of humor. He's poignant without being mushy; a lot of memoirs go the "in your face/cut you to the quick with emotion" route but Burroughs just seems like a guy you'd get a drink with (well, not anymore, I guess) and chill.
But, to the point, the second bookmark I kept was this recipe that I modified.
THE BEST SAUCE EVER FOR ANYTHING
I got this off AllRecipes and changed it dramatically. The original recipe called for 1/3 CUP butter and I feel much better using just a tablespoon.
1 Tablespoon butter
-Melt this in a sauce pan and then add:
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic (have to go with real garlic on this one, no powders. The kind in the little jar work best for this one so no need to break out the knives)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Splash of vinegar (if you have it, not imperative)
Heat all of this up and then add the secret ingredient.
1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Let it simmer very gently for awhile and then pour over vegetables. It's so good. It tastes vaguely Asian and sweet...it's sweet, savory, amazing. I tried it over rice once and it was good but almost a little too rich. It goes best with broccoli and cashews (the original intention of the recipe) but I've poured it over pasta and salad in a stitch and it's a great sauce all around. You will be addicted for a good month or so.
Note: Feel free to change out the butter for a vegan margarine, too. Vegan margarine, unlike vegan cheese, imitates the real thing pretty well.
29 June 2010
Vegan Broccoli Puffs
WHERE AM I?: In bed. Of course.
WHAT AM I DOING?: Waiting for my tomatoes to come to harvest!
MUSIC: Boyfriend's APB playlist. Man, everyone loves Phoenix so much.
This one is hard to fuck up. I'm going to go ahead and start with a vegan Asian inspired appetizer since I just got back from United Noodle with a happy bag filled with Asian snacks. Nothing is better than a good Roast Flavored Pretz washed down with some Coffee Pucca followed by Green Tea Caramels (good to enjoy!)
VEGAN THAI PASTRY PUFFS!
Dough:
Water
Flour
Yeah. That's it.
Alright, so throw about two cups of flour in a bowl. Add about 1/2 cup cold water and mix it in really well. Keep adding cold water (slowly, you don't want it to get squishy and watery) until you come up with a pretty firm ball of dough.
This is pretty much unleavened bread dough here. Simple and clean. Put this bowl with your dough ball in the fridge with a moist paper towel over the top for about 10 minutes. Or less if you're impatient like me. Roll it out with a drinking glass (because who the hell has a rolling pin? Just hanging around? Almost no one.)
Pro Tip!: If using a drinking glass, a real glass one works best. It also cleans up best. But remember, don't press too hard. I've had glasses shatter under my rolling weight before. A lot of pirogi were ruined in this fashion.
Flour a surface (and your hands) and try and roll the dough out as thin as possible without it tearing when you pick it up. Now the drinking glass comes back in to play! Take your drinking glass (or another one) with a pretty big mouth. You want it to be about 3 inches across. Start cutting out little circles in your dough with the lip! Now you have the pocket part of your Thai pockets.
Filling
Broccoli
Curry powder
Fresh garlic
-If you have it on hand. If not, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder is about equivalent to 1 minced clove of garlic
Mince the broccoli up really small. The florets taste best in this recipe but use what you want. I used about a half a single stalk of broccoli for this whole recipe. Add about two teaspoons curry powder and toss it all in a bowel with 2-3 teaspoons garlic. Add a little bit of water (I find that a dab of water and about two sprays of Pam work best) cover with a moist paper towel, and microwave. Seriously, microwave it for about 3 minutes, mix it up, and keep microwaving until it looks good and soft to you.
Once it's all steamed up pour it out on a dry paper towel and let all the excess water drain off. It shouldn't be really watery, just sort of moist. You want to let it drain and dry out a lot before adding it to the dough.
Now, take spoonfuls of the broccoli and put it in the center of your dough circles. Grab the sides up and pinch them to the top, making a little purse. A tiny dab of water where they all come together tends to help them stick.
Now, line them on a foil covered baking sheet and cook for about 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees. YOUR POCKETS SHOULD BE LIGHTLY BROWN AND TASTY!
The Thai Dipping Sauce
This is where the Thai comes in to the name. I don't even know if broccoli is a Thai food, I just sort of took the name and thought it sounded fancy. Think of it as the poor man's fusion food.
1/4 Thai sweet chili sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Mix it up and enjoy! Dip away! They are pretty yummy for being vegan and good to share! No one will even think they're vegan!
WHAT AM I DOING?: Waiting for my tomatoes to come to harvest!
MUSIC: Boyfriend's APB playlist. Man, everyone loves Phoenix so much.
This one is hard to fuck up. I'm going to go ahead and start with a vegan Asian inspired appetizer since I just got back from United Noodle with a happy bag filled with Asian snacks. Nothing is better than a good Roast Flavored Pretz washed down with some Coffee Pucca followed by Green Tea Caramels (good to enjoy!)
VEGAN THAI PASTRY PUFFS!
Dough:
Water
Flour
Yeah. That's it.
Alright, so throw about two cups of flour in a bowl. Add about 1/2 cup cold water and mix it in really well. Keep adding cold water (slowly, you don't want it to get squishy and watery) until you come up with a pretty firm ball of dough.
This is pretty much unleavened bread dough here. Simple and clean. Put this bowl with your dough ball in the fridge with a moist paper towel over the top for about 10 minutes. Or less if you're impatient like me. Roll it out with a drinking glass (because who the hell has a rolling pin? Just hanging around? Almost no one.)
Pro Tip!: If using a drinking glass, a real glass one works best. It also cleans up best. But remember, don't press too hard. I've had glasses shatter under my rolling weight before. A lot of pirogi were ruined in this fashion.
Flour a surface (and your hands) and try and roll the dough out as thin as possible without it tearing when you pick it up. Now the drinking glass comes back in to play! Take your drinking glass (or another one) with a pretty big mouth. You want it to be about 3 inches across. Start cutting out little circles in your dough with the lip! Now you have the pocket part of your Thai pockets.
Filling
Broccoli
Curry powder
Fresh garlic
-If you have it on hand. If not, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder is about equivalent to 1 minced clove of garlic
Mince the broccoli up really small. The florets taste best in this recipe but use what you want. I used about a half a single stalk of broccoli for this whole recipe. Add about two teaspoons curry powder and toss it all in a bowel with 2-3 teaspoons garlic. Add a little bit of water (I find that a dab of water and about two sprays of Pam work best) cover with a moist paper towel, and microwave. Seriously, microwave it for about 3 minutes, mix it up, and keep microwaving until it looks good and soft to you.
Once it's all steamed up pour it out on a dry paper towel and let all the excess water drain off. It shouldn't be really watery, just sort of moist. You want to let it drain and dry out a lot before adding it to the dough.
Now, take spoonfuls of the broccoli and put it in the center of your dough circles. Grab the sides up and pinch them to the top, making a little purse. A tiny dab of water where they all come together tends to help them stick.
Now, line them on a foil covered baking sheet and cook for about 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees. YOUR POCKETS SHOULD BE LIGHTLY BROWN AND TASTY!
The Thai Dipping Sauce
This is where the Thai comes in to the name. I don't even know if broccoli is a Thai food, I just sort of took the name and thought it sounded fancy. Think of it as the poor man's fusion food.
1/4 Thai sweet chili sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Mix it up and enjoy! Dip away! They are pretty yummy for being vegan and good to share! No one will even think they're vegan!
26 June 2010
A Simple Grocery List
DAY: Saturday, the first day of rest
TIME: Too late to still be in bed
SOUNDTRACK: Magical dinging noises from my boyfriend customizing his car on APB
WORD OF THE DAY:
Oblong.
n.
An object or figure, such as a rectangle, with an elongated shape.
Alright, to the point. I've decided to revive this blog as a RECIPE AND FOOD blog for all of you out there who have been following my recipes and getting food advice. I wanted to get all of my recipes together in one place.
The problem I've run in to with vegan, vegetarian, and even good looking recipes is they all call for something no one has. I do not have a cupboard filled with yeast, tumeric, mustard seed, and the tears of an unloved child. These are not things I collect. My cupboard is lucky to have flour in it. There are days I pack a small day-trip bag and go spelunking in the spice cupboard, searching for salt, and come back with nothing but a handful of dried parsley leaves and some mouse turds. But I love to cook. And I'm going to make it easy for you guys to cook delicious meals, too, with the very things in your cupboard! (minus the turds)
So let's start out with a shopping list. Go to the store with $40. Buy these things. Make 2 serving meals for a week. Or make two weeks worth of single serving meals. I'm not one for leftovers, I like to cook fresh every night, but you can definitely put these in a Tupperware and just go at it whenever.
SHOPPING LIST
Objective: Leave the house with $40 and come back with ingredients that you will use
-Two boxes of pasta
I prefer whole wheat since it's a nice way to get the grains without noticing. Whole wheat pasta tends to be a little more al dente and needs a couple minutes longer to cook.
-A jar of red sauce
You never need to get a fancy, $5 jar of sauce. Those sauces are for people looking to just microwave the sauce and dump it on their noodles. It tastes nicer than the Prego stuff but we're not just dumping sauce here. The idea is that we're going to use the sauce as an ingredient.
-A jar of basil pesto
This used to be expensive but now there's a Classico brand pesto that doesn't go for more than $2. It's carried almost everywhere, so definitely pick it up.
-Yellow onions
Onions are great in everything. Like garlic, you can use them in stir fry, pasta, on meat, with potatoes, almost anything.
-Red and green peppers
-Fresh broccoli
Don't get the ones in the steamer bag. They smell like ass.
-Mushrooms
Get the whole ones in the cardboard box. Unless you're like Nathan Raths: scared that they will grow fungus in your stomach after ingesting them. Don't be like Nathan.
-Spinach
Spinach is my miracle food. I hate crunchy, leafy greens but spinach is full of great nutrients. So I cut/tear is up in to tiny little pieces and cook it with everything. People always lie to me and say, "lettuce has no flavor!". Lettuce tastes like ass.It's crunchy water and I hate it. I can detect a single shred of lettuce in a pot of stew. Spinach, however, really cooks in and you can totally ignore the taste if you want and still get the health benefits/
-Bread
Again, I like wheat. You can get a loaf of whole wheat bread at Target for 87 cents on the bottom shelf. It's hiding down there. Also, keep your bread in the fridge so it doesn't mold as fast. Out of the fridge it could be fucked by the little green/blue patches in a week. WHO EATS A WHOLE LOAF OF BREAD IN A WEEK? The makers of bread (Wonder, Cottage, and Jesus Christ) should look in to making bread that never goes bad. It might give you cancer but it will be soft and fluffy forever.
-Rice
Get long grain rice. I will share a secret with you: I always fuck up rice. It always comes out crunchy and watery when I make it. But no more! I learned YOU HAVE TO WASH THE RICE. Swirl it around, pour out the water, and repeat about three times. Cooking Mama taught me this.
-Curry/pad thai sauce packets
Get the dry spice packets you add oil/water to. It's much cheaper and it could last you longer.
-Canned artichokes
Don't get fresh ones. They are scary and huge. I do not know what to do with them. Get the little canned hearts for like, a dollar.
-A bottle of your favorite dressing
-Eggs
Unless you're vegan, eggs can be versatile and delicious.
-Extra firm tofu
I was unsure about the firmness of my tofu (that sounds creepy) but I went with extra firm and was really happy I did. The extra firm was still barely solid enough to stir fry with. It held together fine but I can't imagine what the looser ones are like.
-Soy sauce
Just cheap, plain sauce. Low sodium is always a good one.
-Sweet Chili sauce
This might be a little hard to find, but you can get it at any grocery store and every restaurant has it on a back shelf. It's bright red with little red pepper flecks floating in it and probably has a very Asian looking label with a smiling face and some roast duck or dog or something.
So we're at about $35-40 right now. You've got some good basics here and can make a tooon of stuff. Here are some extras that are nice to have around the house, too.
-Brown sugar
Great in oatmeal, great for sauces. A lot of Asian sauces have a sweet component to them and brown sugar can give that really well.
-A sweet dry cereal
I get these cinnamon sugar fiber Cheerio looking things. They're really good to snack on when I want something sweet. This way I avoid the delicious cookies I have to bake at work every day.
-Stir fry noodles
You can get packets of these at Cub. One packet is definitely enough for two people even if it doesn't look that big. It's a little big of a luxury item but if you can afford it, it's a good replacement for rice.
-Vegetable broth
Good to cook in and make sauces/soups with less oil
And there you have it. All nice, healthy ingredients to start your week with. You'll want to cook every night! You just spent about the same amount you would for two or three nice meals out for over a week's worth of delicious meals in. Hooray! Next episode, I'll tell you what to do with all of these things.
TIME: Too late to still be in bed
SOUNDTRACK: Magical dinging noises from my boyfriend customizing his car on APB
WORD OF THE DAY:
Oblong.
n.
An object or figure, such as a rectangle, with an elongated shape.
Alright, to the point. I've decided to revive this blog as a RECIPE AND FOOD blog for all of you out there who have been following my recipes and getting food advice. I wanted to get all of my recipes together in one place.
The problem I've run in to with vegan, vegetarian, and even good looking recipes is they all call for something no one has. I do not have a cupboard filled with yeast, tumeric, mustard seed, and the tears of an unloved child. These are not things I collect. My cupboard is lucky to have flour in it. There are days I pack a small day-trip bag and go spelunking in the spice cupboard, searching for salt, and come back with nothing but a handful of dried parsley leaves and some mouse turds. But I love to cook. And I'm going to make it easy for you guys to cook delicious meals, too, with the very things in your cupboard! (minus the turds)
So let's start out with a shopping list. Go to the store with $40. Buy these things. Make 2 serving meals for a week. Or make two weeks worth of single serving meals. I'm not one for leftovers, I like to cook fresh every night, but you can definitely put these in a Tupperware and just go at it whenever.
SHOPPING LIST
Objective: Leave the house with $40 and come back with ingredients that you will use
-Two boxes of pasta
I prefer whole wheat since it's a nice way to get the grains without noticing. Whole wheat pasta tends to be a little more al dente and needs a couple minutes longer to cook.
-A jar of red sauce
You never need to get a fancy, $5 jar of sauce. Those sauces are for people looking to just microwave the sauce and dump it on their noodles. It tastes nicer than the Prego stuff but we're not just dumping sauce here. The idea is that we're going to use the sauce as an ingredient.
-A jar of basil pesto
This used to be expensive but now there's a Classico brand pesto that doesn't go for more than $2. It's carried almost everywhere, so definitely pick it up.
-Yellow onions
Onions are great in everything. Like garlic, you can use them in stir fry, pasta, on meat, with potatoes, almost anything.
-Red and green peppers
-Fresh broccoli
Don't get the ones in the steamer bag. They smell like ass.
-Mushrooms
Get the whole ones in the cardboard box. Unless you're like Nathan Raths: scared that they will grow fungus in your stomach after ingesting them. Don't be like Nathan.
-Spinach
Spinach is my miracle food. I hate crunchy, leafy greens but spinach is full of great nutrients. So I cut/tear is up in to tiny little pieces and cook it with everything. People always lie to me and say, "lettuce has no flavor!". Lettuce tastes like ass.It's crunchy water and I hate it. I can detect a single shred of lettuce in a pot of stew. Spinach, however, really cooks in and you can totally ignore the taste if you want and still get the health benefits/
-Bread
Again, I like wheat. You can get a loaf of whole wheat bread at Target for 87 cents on the bottom shelf. It's hiding down there. Also, keep your bread in the fridge so it doesn't mold as fast. Out of the fridge it could be fucked by the little green/blue patches in a week. WHO EATS A WHOLE LOAF OF BREAD IN A WEEK? The makers of bread (Wonder, Cottage, and Jesus Christ) should look in to making bread that never goes bad. It might give you cancer but it will be soft and fluffy forever.
-Rice
Get long grain rice. I will share a secret with you: I always fuck up rice. It always comes out crunchy and watery when I make it. But no more! I learned YOU HAVE TO WASH THE RICE. Swirl it around, pour out the water, and repeat about three times. Cooking Mama taught me this.
-Curry/pad thai sauce packets
Get the dry spice packets you add oil/water to. It's much cheaper and it could last you longer.
-Canned artichokes
Don't get fresh ones. They are scary and huge. I do not know what to do with them. Get the little canned hearts for like, a dollar.
-A bottle of your favorite dressing
-Eggs
Unless you're vegan, eggs can be versatile and delicious.
-Extra firm tofu
I was unsure about the firmness of my tofu (that sounds creepy) but I went with extra firm and was really happy I did. The extra firm was still barely solid enough to stir fry with. It held together fine but I can't imagine what the looser ones are like.
-Soy sauce
Just cheap, plain sauce. Low sodium is always a good one.
-Sweet Chili sauce
This might be a little hard to find, but you can get it at any grocery store and every restaurant has it on a back shelf. It's bright red with little red pepper flecks floating in it and probably has a very Asian looking label with a smiling face and some roast duck or dog or something.
So we're at about $35-40 right now. You've got some good basics here and can make a tooon of stuff. Here are some extras that are nice to have around the house, too.
-Brown sugar
Great in oatmeal, great for sauces. A lot of Asian sauces have a sweet component to them and brown sugar can give that really well.
-A sweet dry cereal
I get these cinnamon sugar fiber Cheerio looking things. They're really good to snack on when I want something sweet. This way I avoid the delicious cookies I have to bake at work every day.
-Stir fry noodles
You can get packets of these at Cub. One packet is definitely enough for two people even if it doesn't look that big. It's a little big of a luxury item but if you can afford it, it's a good replacement for rice.
-Vegetable broth
Good to cook in and make sauces/soups with less oil
And there you have it. All nice, healthy ingredients to start your week with. You'll want to cook every night! You just spent about the same amount you would for two or three nice meals out for over a week's worth of delicious meals in. Hooray! Next episode, I'll tell you what to do with all of these things.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)