still drooling from dinner

And so the smoked paprika obsession continues….

I mean how could it not??  And it’s so pretty with it’s deep red color.  Very festive, don’t you think?  Something about the smoky flavor is just so comforting.  I keep thinking of new ways to use it.  Last night I loaded it onto kale when making kale chips.  Awesome.  It’s been topped on a salad with pepitas, carrots, mixed greens, walnut oil, and balsamic.  Awesome. 

And here we have my latest use.  This also uses nutritional yeast, which a lot of you said that you’re scared to use, or don’t know how to use. Well here is one way to put it to good use.  Over the summer, Angela posted a recipe for vegan parmesan cheese that she found from VegFamily.

It’s a mixture of toasted sesame seeds + nutritional yeast + salt.  You whirl it in the food processor and it turns into a very similar taste + texture to the parmesan cheese you find in those shaky cans.  However, much more nutritious. 

Well this is a spin on the original, and I must say, it is even better!

Smoked Vegan Parmesan “Cheeze”

• 1/2c toasted sesame seeds
• 3T nutritional yeast
• 1/2t fine grain sea salt
• 3/4t smoked paprika
• 1/2t garlic powder
• fresh ground black pepper [about 10 grinds]

1. In a small pan over med-low heat, toast sesame seeds until golden brown.  Watch closely, stirring often, as they will burn quickly!
2. Pour sesame seeds and all other ingredients into a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder.  [I used my mini processor for this]
3. Whirl this away until powdery.  You shouldn’t see many whole seeds.

Today I ate this caked onto fresh cut carrots.  Other ideas?

• kale chips
• cooked veggies, I’m thinking broccoli in particular
• salads for sure
• popcorn!!
• homemade crackers
• buttered toast
• eggs
• veggie sandwiches

The list goes on.  And on.

I ate the whole pile…oh yes I did.  It’s filled with healthy fats, protein + b12!

I stored it in my favorite glass jar.  How cute is this squatty, bulbous Crofter’s jam jar??  I love it.  Definitely a fun gift if you’re putting together a foodie holiday basket for a friend!!

Definitely needs to go on popcorn.  ASAP.

As if my taste buds weren’t dancing enough, it got even better with dinner.  So much so that I’m still drooling from this meal. 

Tempeh is back.  We had a short hiatus because I overdid it a tad, but I’m loving it once again.  This might take the win for my favorite way to use tempeh….ever!

A little back story.  Chris + I used to frequent a restaurant called Vine Street in Denver.  It’s a brewery that operates out of 3 restaurants in Boulder + Denver [they all have different names].  We used to go there about 2-3 times a month.  They have a rockin’ menu that is extremely vegetarian + vegan friendly.  Not to mention a great selection of bears and everything is cheap!  Chris has been hooked on their tempeh reuben for the longest time.  I never ordered it myself, but would always steal a delicious bite or two.  They actually beer bake the tempeh with the brewery beer and it is amazing.  I haven’t been able to replicate their tempeh, but tonight’s recipe is just as delicious. 

Since living in Ft. Collins, we haven’t gotten to Vine Street much at all.  When visiting Mama Pea a few weeks ago, she made a vegan tempeh reuben, for one of the meals I was photographing.  It was outstanding and reminded me that I need to give this a go at home myself!  Look for her vegan version in the Peas & Thank You cookbook this August.  I mmm’d my way through the whole thing! :)

I was never a reuben person though.  I think it was the sauerkraut.  Never been a fan…until the tempeh version.

I assure you, this beats out the original.

I played with the light box for the next 4 photos.  I’m liking them in a different way from daylight photos.  They don’t feel as light + clean, but they give a little edge to the photos.  And I like it.

Tempeh Reuben [serves 2]

tempeh marinade

• 8oz package plain or 5 grain tempeh [West Soy is my favorite brand]
• 4 slices rye bread [or whole wheat]
• 3T tamari
• 1/4c red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 2T olive oil
• 1/4c water
• 1t caraway seeds
• 1t thyme
• 1t onion powder
• 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon
• fresh ground black pepper [about 15 cranks]
• 2 cloves minced garlic

1. Cut 1/8” slices of tempeh with a sharp knife.
2. Steam for ~5min to help absorb flavors when marinating. *This is optional but works really well, especially if you don’t have a lot of time to marinade the tempeh.
3. Whisk together ingredients in a 9x9 baking dish.
4. Place tempeh strips in pan and flip once, so they are coated.
5. Place in the fridge for at least 30min.
6. Flip again and marinade for at least another 30min.
7. Grease a large pan and set to med-high.
8. Once hot, in a single layer, add the tempeh strips + half of the marindade. 
9. Cook for about 5min until lightly browned and flip.
10. Cook another 3-5min until browned.
11. Turn off heat and add to toasted bread.
12. Top with thousand island, cheese, + sauerkraut.

quickie thousand island dressing [adapted from here]

• 4T safflower oil mayo
• 3T sweet pickled relish, drained
• 2T ketchup
• 1/4t onion powder
• fresh ground black pepper
• pinch of salt

1. Whisk together.

I’m not a mayo lover at all, but this was super tasty!

Cut. Consume. Drool on your own food.

This was completely out of control.  I had a thin layer of cheddar, which should have been swiss, and I forgot to pick up rye bread.  I can’t even imagine how delicious it will be with those 2 additions.  I did add caraway seeds to the marinade so it would have that nice rye bread flavor though!

Totally messy, packed with flavor, and amazing textures.  Loved the contrast of the crunchy toasted bread, soft tempeh, and crunchy sauerkraut. 

Are you curious about the fries?  You should be!! 

Smoked Paprika Fries [serves 2]

• 3 medium yukon gold potatoes
• 1T olive oil
• salt + pepper
• garlic powder
• parsley
• smoked paprika

1. Preheat oven to 400*
2. Slice taters into fry size.
3. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
4. Spread taters on the sheet and coat with oil.
5. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley and paprika.  Load up on that paprika!!
6. Toss to coat and put in the oven for about 35-40min, until golden brown.
7. Stir 1-2 times while cooking, and taste towards the end to see if you need to add more seasoning.

Crunchy, puffy, smoky baked healthy fries!!

As soon as I get back from Cleveland, this is going to be repeated.  Unless of course my mom + dad want to give it a go.  We’ll see. ;)

<3 Ashley

Have you voted for Angela yet??  She made it to the last round of Project Food Blog, and I couldn’t be happier for her!

back in action

Our friends are back in Charlotte and now it’s time to catch up!  I got a lot done today, since I was up at 4am!  I’ve been doing 20-30min of yoga for the past 4 days, each morning, and I’m loving it.  I’m always stiff + tight in the morning and I can’t even explain how much better I feel after a quick 20min.  I am more alert, relaxed, loose and can even breath better!  Other than yoga, I didn’t get in a workout today.  Back to the regular schedule tomorrow.

Breakfast:

Purple slurple time.

Hemp Fruit Smoothie

• ice
• ~1c milk
• 1c blackberries
• 3 strawberries [all I had left]
• 1/2c blueberries
• ~1/6 avocado [makes it so creamy!]
• 1/2 banana
• 3T Living Harvest vanilla spice hemp protein powder
• 1T chia seeds

Topped with:  Love Grown Foods deeelicious granola

So so good.  I’m also now obsessed with drinking out of my plastic straws.  I drink a lot of water, but I drink even more using straws.  Weird!

This smoothie was GIGantic.  This mug is monstrous…not your typical coffee mug size.

FAVorite hemp protein powder.  The flavor is very nutty and mixes well with fruits or anything I’ve ever used with it.  Hemp protein definitely has a distinct earthy/nutty flavor.  What I really love is that this does not use Stevia! Yay!

Then I did a little baking for a blog header photo shoot!

I have a new obsession.  Pickling cucumbers.

I have another new obsession.  Making + eating pickles.  Like it is my job.

These little cuties are local + organic and cost 3 for $1 at the local market.  Sweeeet.  I saw a blog post from the lovely blog, Little Blue Hen, on how to make pickles.  I was pumped.  AND these pickles you can start enjoying in 4-6hrs after you make them!

I went to Whole Foods and bought a bunch of spices in the bulk spice aisle.  This save sooo much money!  I probably bought about 2-3T of each spice.

Coriander.  So cute.

I followed her recipe for one trial, but then did a LOT of experimenting. 

cloves – carroway seeds – allspice berries  - Spices are sort of adorable :)

Baby bags.

I can’t even tell you how easy these were to make.  I save almost all glass jars.  Whether it’s from applesauce, nut butter, brown rice syrup, etc. I save them for things like this.  I brought out all the spices I wanted to use and made about 6 or so variations in about 45min. 

Crunchy deliciousness.

Now for the variations!  Edited from Little Blue Hen’s Delicious Overnight Pickles

6 Spice Pickles

• 12oz pickling cucumbers
• 8 sprigs fresh dill
• 1T coriander seeds
• 1T black peppercorns [whole]
• 1/2T mustard seed
• 1T caraway seed
• 1T allspice berries
• 4 crushed cloves
• 4 garlic cloves, halved
• 1T kosher salt
• 3/4c distilled white vinegar
• water to cover

1. In a 1qt glass jar add a few sprigs of dill to the bottom of the jar.
2. Slice cucumbers however you want.
3. Add in cucumbers and the rest of dill in between.
4. In a bowl mix the salt + vinegar.
5. Add all of the spices and garlic on top of the pickles.
6. Pour in salt/vin mixture and add water to cover.
7. Refrigerate 4-6 hours and then eat!

They were definitely already spiced up after 4-6hrs but were even better the next few days! 

All of the pickles have the same directions, unless otherwise specified.  I didn’t use the full 12oz of cucumbers in each jar, because some jars were smaller than 1qt.  However, not a problem, just decrease all of the measurements a bit.

They’re all approximated anyway.  It’s hard to mess these up!

Simply Pickled

• 12oz pickling cucumbers
• 8 sprigs fresh dill
• 1T coriander seeds
• 1/2T mustard seed
• 1T black peppercorns [whole]
• 4 garlic cloves, halved
• 1T kosher salt
• 3/4c distilled white vinegar
• water to cover

Red Hot Pickles

• 12oz pickling cucumbers
• 6 sprigs fresh dill
• ~5 grinds black pepper
• 1t red pepper flakes
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2T sugar [I used sucanat]
• 1T kosher salt
• 3/4c distilled white vinegar
• water to cover

*When mixing the vinegar/salt solution, also add in the sugar and stir to dissolve.

Lemon Basil Pickles

• 12oz pickling cucumbers
• 1/2c, loose packed, chopped fresh basil
• 10 grinds black pepper
• 1 crumbled dried bay leaf
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3T lemon juice
• 1t lemon zest
• 1T kosher salt
• 3/4c distilled white vinegar
• water to cover

*Mix lemon juice with vinegar mixture.

Sweet Garlic Pickles

• 12oz pickling cucumbers
• 8 sprigs dill
• 10 grinds black pepper
• 1 crumbled dried bay leaf
• 1/2T mustard seed
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1T kosher salt
• 3/4c unfiltered apple cider vinegar
• water to cover

Variety Review:

6 Spice Pickles – You could definitely detect a slight hint of cloves + allspice but it balanced well with the other spices.  This was FULL of flavor.  

Simply Pickled – These was the recipe from Little blue Hen with 1 or 2 changes.  They were delicious.  Probably my 2nd favorite.  Awesome flavor. 

Red Hot Pickles – Whoa.  Just when you think the spice is mild, it starts to build + build + build.  If you like heat these are for you!

Lemon Basil Pickles – I would have never thought to add basil when making pickles, but I had some in the fridge.  Wow, what a good combo!  I loved how different these were.  They were very fresh + summery but still had a distinct pickled flavor.  It’s neck + neck between these + “simply pickled” for my favorite.  There was a hint of sourness from the lemon that I also liked. 

Sweet Garlic Pickles – I wanted to try using apple cider vinegar in one batch to see what happened.  It definitely worked and gave a little sweet/sour flavor to the pickles.  I really liked these as well.  Crushing the garlic really helps the flavor come through.

Making all of these varieties was SO SO much fun and it was even better because Kelsey was here to help me make batches 3-5!  We kept thinking of more + more things to try.  I definitely want to try a variety spiced with rosemary next!

The great thing about these pickles are that they are super easy + quick to make.  I like that you don’t have to wait weeks for them to finish “cooking.”  However, you will need to eat these 1-2 weeks max.  Everyone was skeptical before trying them, including myself.  They have been tested and approved and obsessed about by myself, Chris, Eric, Kelsey and Kurtz. 

I like using the pickling cucumbers because the seeds are smaller than typical cuc’s and they are extra crunchy!  Can you sense my excitement about these??  We even took them on in our cooler Monday when we went exploring around in the mountains.  I’m pretty sure we went through 6 jars of pickles in 4 days, with 4 people.

YUM.

---

A few more tidbits…

Since Chris started work today, and we only have 1 car, and he has a 1hr commute, I will be getting everywhere by foot or bike during the week!  I’m actually pretty excited about this.  I rarely use the car during the day anyway but now I’ll be biking to the store as well!

First experience!  It’s not far at all and no major streets.  Not a problem!  However, it’s hard for me to walk away from the grocery store with 1 backpack of goods!

I actually packed quite a lot in there.  WF had a few really good sales that were ending.  The 2lb brick of cheese will last a really long time and was $3 off.  I LOVE Organic Valley cheese.  Gotta jump on the sales!  The spelt pasta was on sale and I’ve been wanting to try it.  The Rudi’s bread + Ezekiel muffins were also on sale. Score!

They had a ton of spices 1/2 off [or more] as well.  These cost $2-2.50.

Sometimes I make a completely random dinner.  And sometimes it is delicious. 

Tonight it was delicious.

• Kale Chips
• oven roasated potatoes with onion and seasonings [s/p/garlic powder/parsley]
• black beans heated in a pot with organic valley pepperjack cheese

I had more of everything.

 

Gooooodnight!  It’s 11:45pm.  I haven’t been to bed before midnight it a verrrrry long time! Weeeeeee :)

Ashley

mish mosh

The winner of the Lundberg couscous was lucky number 73!  Congrats!

Kat, from Bubblegum Gym Kat, had this kitchen disaster story to share:

“HA I tried to make rice pudding in a crock pot..yeah it burnt to the whole pot and all the rice was hard..gross!!!”

Thanks for everyone who entered!! I’ll be having another fun giveaway soon :)

Also, thanks to everyone who voiced their opinion on your favorite banana split photo, from my last post.  Dummy me, forgot that I had to crop the photo into a square, to submit to Foodbuzz.  Does anyone hate that part of submitting their photos to sites like Foodgawker, Tastespotting + Foodbuzz?  You have to take the photo with a “square” composition in mind.  I always forget to do this!

Most of the photos had SOME issue when I cropped them into a square.  A few of the photos also had a pretty poor depth of field.  Everyone loved photo #2 but the depth of field was pretty bad.  It should have had the banana in focus more.  Anyway, I tried about 10 different options and this one was the best.  I wasn’t 100% happy with how it ended up looking.  Sort of like a pile of mush.  Maybe a chocolate drizzle would have helped, or more solid banana soft serve?  Ahhh, whatever…it tasted delicious and that’s all that matters ;)

Here is the square that I submitted! 

Things were crazy busy again today!

Big salad with 30sec homemade dressing! 

hemp oil + apple cider vinegar + balsamic vin + s/p

yogurt + cottage cheese + nectarine + granola

YUM.  There was also quite a bit of baked goods taste testing going on :)

mmmmm

I know I keep teasing you with muffin photos.  I promise the recipe is coming!!  I perfected these vegan jewels today and almost squealed in excitement.  I’ll also have a non-vegan version that will be posted on Teri’s blog in the near future!

The reason I was baking again, was for a blog header design photo-shoot. 

After a busy day and cleaning the kitchen about 5 times, I headed out for a bike ride….in 93* heat.  Eeek.

• 10 laps around Wash Park = 23 miles

I came back and went on a short barefoot run too!  It was about 200yds.  Then I took the dogs for a walk and then I wanted to pass out!  I did about 15min of yoga, on my own and then foam rolled my legs.  Just lovely.

For dinner I was thinking something easy + cold.  Cereal + smoothie? 

And then…

Another 45min in the kitchen, lol.  I’m not sure what is wrong with me.  I was hoping it turned out because this was the ultimate throw it together meal and I was moving around the kitchen like a zombie.

Well wouldn’t ya know….it worked!

First thoughts – make millet

Second thought – use up a zucchini + finish the fava beans

What actually happened?

I started browning the minced garlic to cook with the millet.  Then I saw a lemon.  Then I thought, dill.  Then I thought, I must make a sauce with lemon + dill.  Luckily, I hadn’t added the millet yet.  In went the lemon juice, olive oil + dill.  Next?  Salt + pepper.  Then, a few splashes of white wine.  This was totally on a whim + ended up being so light and fresh.  There are so many dishes this sauce could be used on like: potatoes, fish, pasta, veggies, etc.

Then….I know, so much excitement, you can hardly stand it!

I steamed the fava beans and then saw a potato that wanted to be cooked.  I chopped it up into tiny pieces and cooked until almost done.  I shredded a medium sized zucchini and cooked that with the tater for about 5min and added the fava beans.

And the final product.  A pile of delicious millet and a pile of zucchini/potato/fava sauté with a delicious, summery lemon dill garlic white whine sauce.

Oh man.  This was better than cereal :)

Lemon Dill Garlic White Wine Sauce 

• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• juice from 1 lemon
• 2T olive oil
• 1.5t dried dill
• ~2-3T dry white wine
• s+p      

1. Heat the oil over med-low.
2. Saute the garlic, until lightly browned.
3. Add the dill + s/p.
4. Combine and let cook for 2-3min.
5. Add the wine [I just splashed it on in!] and cook another 2-3min.

Dunzo!

And I’m also DUNZO.

Night!

~Ashley