Easy Quinoa and Chickpea Salad

A few nights ago I was craving something fresh, light, with veggies and….simple. We ate a TON over the weekend and by Monday it felt like my arteries were going to explode SO I wanted to take it easy for Monday’s dinner. Also, I’m trying to take advantage of the fact that I’m moving in TEN days (!) and I’ve been trying to use everything in my pantry and fridge. Enter: a can of chickpeas and some quinoa. Perfect! I added in some of my new cilantro, a few spices, chopped cherry tomatoes and voila — an easy quinoa salad, perfect as a side dish or served under a veggie burger, with tofu cubes, etc.

What You Need:

1 cup quinoa

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups water

1 cup canned chickpeas, drained

1 carton of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 clove garlic, minced

juice of one lime

4 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

What You Do:

Add the water and quinoa to a small/medium sauce pan and place over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover the quinoa, and let cook for 15-20 minutes. Check on it once halfway through and give it a good mix to prevent anything from sticking to the bottom.

When the quinoa is done, fluff it with a fork. Add in the rest of the ingredients, finish off with salt and pepper to taste and voila, you’re done! This salad tastes even better the next day…perfect work lunch!

Enjoy!

Blueberry Oat Muffins

Last Saturday I woke up with a very clear mission in my mind: BLUEBERRIES. I wanted to buy tons and tons of fresh blueberries and go crazy in the kitchen with them. And this is exactly what I did.

I marched to the Farmer’s Market at the ungodly early hour of 10 AM (it was a Saturday, people!) and already the market was packed — not to mention STEAMY. I picked up three pints of blueberries and marched right back home. Actually, that’s a lie. I also picked up a new addition to the herb family I’ve got going on in my kitchen: CILANTRO. How some people don’t have the taste for this stuff is beyond me. I just LOVE it!

I came home and set out on first blueberry adventure of  of the day*:  blueberry oat muffins. I’m of the belief that if you’re going to have a mufin for breakfast, shouldn’t it at least be a HEALTHY muffin? This one does the trick. Whole wheat flour, no oil (!), brown sugar, oats, blueberries….these are actually GOOD for you. Plus, they are incredibly easy to make, take about 15 minutes to bake, and are a crowd pleaser for sure. These went fast at the office!

What You Need: (adapted from Happy Herbivore)

1½ cups whole wheat  flour

½ cup rolled oats

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

¼ cup pure maple syrup

1 cup fresh wild blueberries

What You Do:

Preheat oven 350 F. In a bowl, mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add applesauce, sugar, maple syrup, and mix, combining well.  Add in the blueberries and carefully mix. Spoon into lightly greased muffin tins and fill 3/4 of the way (you should be able to fill 12 muffin tins.) Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean!

Enjoy!

* There were more! Will post later.

Basil Avocado Pesto with Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it: this one was NOT my idea! This one belongs to Chloe Coscarelli, at ChefChloe.com. It’s such a simple idea – add avocado to an already amazing thing, PESTO. Darn you Chloe, for thinking of this before I did!

This entire meal took, from start to finish, 15 minutes to make so you’ll have zero excuses for not making this! I tweaked a few things: I replaced pine nuts with walnuts (a cheaper way of making pesto!) and cut down on the olive oil from 1/2 cup to barely a 1/4 cup, but the gist is still the same. This pesto is creamy, garlic-y and, of course, packed with BASIL — compliments of Herbert himself.

What You Need: (Makes about 6 servings)
3/4 bag of whole wheat spaghetti
1 bunch basil leaves…the more the better!
1/2 cup walnuts
2 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup of oil (or a little less)
1/2 tsp salt
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

What You Do:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add pasta, and cook it according to the directions on the box.

2. While the pasta is cooking, process the basil, walnuts, olive oil, avocado, garlic and lemon juice.

3. When the pasta is done cooking, drain it. Toss the pasta with the pesto and add salt and pepper to taste. I went crazy with the fresh ground pepper and added a TON to it. It will also need some salt, so be sure to taste and add before serving. This recipe makes a lot of pasta, so I had it for a few dinners and a few lunches. Perfect!

Enjoy!

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve been slacking in the baking department as of late. I blame this almost entirely on my discovery of banana “ice cream”. I have a few flavors sitting in my fridge that have been calling my name post dinners recently so, brownies, cookies and cakes have fallen to the wayside.

A few nights ago, I decided to bring the mixing bowls out for a spin and made Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies. I KNOW, sound amazing, right? THEY WERE. Thin, gooey and PACKED with chocolate they were easy, SO easy to make — took me about 25 minutes start to finish.I brought these into work the next day and they instantly disappeared. I didn’t even get to have one! BOO.

Note: These cookies tasted the best straight out of the oven. SERIOUSLY, the second they came out, I wolfed down three and was literally sick to my stomach for the rest of the night BUT it was worth it because while they were still great the next day, something about straight out of the oven cookies just can’t be beat.

What You Need: (Recipe from Cupcake Punk)

1 c all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c Earth Balance, melted
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 c apple sauce
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
10 oreos, crushed

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl mix together the melted Earth Balance and sugars. Add the vanilla and applesauce, and then combine both mixtures. Add in the crumbled Oreos and mix, breaking up the Oreos but not breaking them up TOO much as you want your cookies to have big chunks of Oreos in them. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips.

Scoop out 1 tbsp of dough, roll into a ball, and place it on a greased baking sheet. Continue until all the batter is gone. Place in the oven and bake for 13 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown. Remove and EAT!

Enjoy!

Easy Spaghetti with Mushrooms

Here’s a quick one for you: spaghetti in no time.

What You Need:

16 oz can of chopped tomatoes (we used fire roasted with green chilli peppers from TJs)

1/3 bag of whole wheat spaghetti

2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced

handful of basil (Herbert, naturally), chopped.

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsps olive oil

salt

pepper

red chilli pepper flakes

What You Do:

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

While it heats up, heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil to the pan and add the minced garlic. Stir it around, careful not to let it burn, and then add the mushrooms. Let these cook for a few minutes, stirring them occasionally.

Once your water is boiling, add the pasta. Cook it according to directions, but figure about 10 minutes.

Back to the skillet! By now the mushrooms should be fully cooked. Pour in all the contents of the can of tomatoes. Add in salt, pepper and chili pepper flakes, to taste. (I usually go crazy with fresh cracked pepper…love that stuff.) Mix everything around and let everything heat through.

Once the noodles are done, drain them and place them in a large serving bowl. Add in the tomato sauce to the pasta, top with chopped basil, sprinkle some more pepper and that’s it! All done.

Enjoy!

Banana + PeanutButter + Chocolate “Ice Cream”

**First, I will preface this post by saying I can’t believe no one told me about this stuff sooner. Where has it been all my life!? This is a major post, and I urge you to MAKE THIS. Make it make it make it. Okay, on to my normal ramblings…**

WORLD! I am back! Apologies for my prolonged absence. I wish I had an original excuse as to why I’ve been MIA for the past week (sailing, bungee jumping, on a safari), but the truth is I haven’t gone to the grocery store in over two weeks and I have NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING, edible in my fridge. This, of course, has meant a lot of eating out, no cooking, and therefore no blogging. BOO!

BUT, I’ll be soon forgiven because I am about to change your lives with this post. Meh, okay, that may have been a sliiight exaggeration — this might not change your lives, exactly, but dessert will be forever changed.

Blame it on the past few really, really hot weeks we’ve been having in NYC, but banana ice cream/soft serve has been popping up all over the blogosphere! Everywhere I look, someone else is blogging about their adventures with frozen bananas and the delicious concoctions they come up with. WELL. Not being one to miss out on the party (especially when this party involves DESSERT), I finally gave this a shot a few nights ago and OH MAH GAWD, guys. This stuff is CRAZY GOOD. It’s SO easy to make, and it’s one of those things that when you make, you will be literally blown away at the flavor AND the texture. This is as close to ice cream as you can possibly get.

I’ve already made a few iterations of this, but here is my absolute favorite version so far. Three simple ingredients: frozen bananas, peanut butter, chocolate chips. Whip it together, and what have you got it? (Bippidy, boppidy boo?) Nope – banana ice cream.

What You Need (2 servings)

2 frozen, over ripe bananas, sliced

2 tbsps unsalted, all natural, peanut butter

handful of vegan chocolate chips

food processor

What You Do:

First, I peel the un frozen bananas and slice them up into chunks (probably 6 per banana), then place them in a zip lock bag and freeze them overnight.

There! You’ve successfully completed the hardest part of this recipe. The rest is easy. Place the frozen bananas into the food processor and process away until you have a crumbly consistency. Next, add in the PB and Chocolate Chips and continue to process — you’ll see everything coming together like magic. You’ll know its done when it looks like the picture below.

If you’re in the mood for something more classic, just use bananas. I promise you will be amazed that this stuff ACTUALLY is like ice cream. This is no lie! You can also get creative and add any of the following:

• Oreos
• Graham Crackers
• Nuts: macadamia, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts
• Strawberries
• Cocoa Powder

The options are limitless. I’ve been making this every other night for the past week…it’s perfect after dinner, especially in my hot, sticky apartment. If I have some leftover (and rarely I do) I put it in tupperware, throw it in the freezer, and eat it the next night.

If you make ONE thing I blog about, please…MAKE IT THIS! Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Note: Sometimes, when I make this on a really hot night and my kitchen is exceptionally sweltering (see: most nights), the ice cream is a little too melty post processing — almost frozen yogurt like. If you’re a fan of more “ice cream” like consistency, put it in tupperware, and let it sit in the freezer for an hour to harden up. If you’re okay with it being softer, dig in!

Kitchen Cleanout: Veggies and Beans

We’re going out of town this weekend – Charleston, SC to be exact. I’m pretty excited. I went last year for the fourth of July and it was, to directly quote some of us as we lounged in the lake, beers in hand: “THE BEST FOURTH OF JULY OF OUR LIVES!” (truth.) So, naturally, I’m ready to relive it.

In honor of leaving for three days, I decided to skip grocery shopping this week (!) and make do with whatever I have in my fridge. There’s a bunch of stuff in there as well as in the pantry that’s been sitting around for too long, so this is the week it’s all going to be eaten.

Tonight was pretty simple: tofu, frozen bell peppers + onion mix, canned latin style black beans, microwaveable brown rice. Fancy? Hells no. Really good anyway? Mmmhm.

I won’t bore you with the details of exactly how we cooked the frozen vegetables (on the stove) or how we “prepared” the beans (in the microwave), but I will say it was a successful meal. We set out a bunch of different sides, mixed them all together, added in a bunch of chopped up cilantro, smothered everything in hot sauce, and voila –  a lazy Monday night dinner.

Healthy Banana Blueberry Breakfast Loaf

It’s Monday morning, I just rolled out of bed, and I have 30 minutes to be dressed and out the door. Going to happen? Meh, we’ll see. First things first, I need to make up for my blogging negligence from this weekend and give you guys a good one…so here it is: a healthy banana bread.

In the past, my banana breads have been known for being incredibly sweet, oily, and filled with chocolate. Not exactly suitable for breakfast (unless you’re 8 years old), they are usually enjoyed as dessert with a scoop of soy vanilla ice cream piled on top. I came across what looked like a healthy alternative: banana/blueberry bread with no oil, made entirely out of whole wheat flour and sweetened with nothing more than agave syrup. At first I was majorly hesitant to try making this stuff. What about the cup of oil? 2 cups of sugar? bag of chocolate chips?! How would this EVER compare?!

This recipe was ridiculously easy. It took me about 10 minutes to mix together in a bowl and then another hour or so to bake. The results were delicious! This is definitely what I would call a “breakfast” banana bread. Sweetened naturally by the bananas and blueberries, you won’t feel like you’re eating a slice of sugar for breakfast (ew!). I recommend eating it slightly warmed up in the microwave. So good!

What You Need (Recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen):

3 large over-ripe bananas
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup vanilla soymilk
1/2 cup  agave nectar
2 cups white whole wheat flour (or regular whole wheat flour)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) blueberries

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with oil.

Mix the soymilk with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and let stand until it curdles.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas well, removing any big lumps. Add the remaining lemon juice, soy milk and agave. In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix well. Add the dry mixture to the banana mixture and mix very well. Fold in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, place in the oven for 55 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out dry), and the end!

You can either let cool completely before slicing, or, if you’re inpatient like me, slice off one of the ends and have a taste.

Enjoy!

How To: Tofu

Recently, a few of my friends have posed the question to me: “What do I do with tofu…?” While the answer to this might be obvious to those of us that have been vegetarian for a while, to others it’s a mystery, and rightfully so! I mean, it comes in a box, it’s mushy, water leaks from it, it doesn’t smell or taste like anything, and I’m supposed to be eating this stuff!? Uhhh…right.  So I wanted to dedicate a post to this exact question in the hopes that tofu making/eating will be easier to some of you!

There are really only four steps to enjoying tofu:

1. Drain

2. Flavor

3. Cook

4. Eat

1. Drain:

The most important step in cooking with tofu is draining it. All this means is removing most of the water from the brick of tofu. There are a few ways you can do this. There’s the fancy shmancy way using the Tofu X Press (I don’t own one, and can’t personally attest to how it works), or the good ‘ole “press it with something heavy and use a ton of paper towels” way, which is what I normally do.

Once you’ve removed the tofu from it’s packaging, place it on a plate, cover it with a paper towel, place another plate on the paper towel, and top it all off with something heavy: a book, a huge jar of pickles, a brick if you happen to have one lying around…you get the point. Let the “tower of tofu” sit for about 15 minutes or longer — you’ll see the water oozing out of the tofu. Good!

At this point, most of the water should be removed. But when cutting the tofu up into either slabs or cubes (more on that later) I usually use a few paper towels to soak up some of the extra water from the tofu.

2. Flavor:

Next, it’s time to cut the tofu up. There are a few ways you can do this: either cut it into slabs (one tofu brick usually cuts into 5 or 6 slabs) cubes, or triangles. I usually go with cubes if I’m going to be cooking them on a stove top or slabs if I’m going to use a grill. Regardless, once you have the tofu cut, it’s time to dress it up!

My go-to tofu marinade is soy sauce, pepper, diced garlic, sesame seeds and red chili pepper flakes. I combine the ingredients in a tupperware container, add the tofu cubes, and let them sit for at least an hour (the best thing to do is let it sit overnight, but who thinks that far ahead anyway?!)

3. Cook:

Once you have the tofu flavored, it’s time to cook it. I usually spray a skillet with olive oil spray, put it over medium heat and stir fry the tofu cubes. Once they’re brown on all sides, you’re done!

Another option, if you’ve cut/marinated the tofu in “slab” form, is grilling it. I whip out my tiny George Foreman grill that’s perfect for this exact purpose. Easy peezy.

4. Eat:

At this point you have your perfect little tofu cubes/slabs and you’re wondering what to do with them. Pair them with a few veggie sides, brown rice, noodles, put the cubes in a salad…there’s nothing you can’t add them to.

If all of this sounded a little overwhelming just remember the four easy steps: Drain, Flavor, Cook, Eat. You don’t have to follow the steps exactly as they are above –you can add/improvise the marinade, bake the tofu instead of grilling, etc.

And now I’ll leave you with some inspiration for the next time you get the tofu itch:

The Basics:

Grilled Teriyaki Tofu

Easy Baked Tofu

Grilled Tofu and Soba Noodles

A Little Fancier:

Basil Grilled Tofu

My Tofu Scramble

Note: All photos (Tofu Scramble excluded) are not mine. Tofu Marinade photo is from (never)homemaker,

Dinner of Champions: Babycakes

So okay, tonight was laziness at its finest. I had a work event tonight on the LES that went longer than I had expected. When I finally left, it was late, and although I had consumed a fair share of the passed snacks (veggie spring rolls for me!), I hadn’t eaten dinner. Even weirder than me missing a meal (that NEVER happens), is that I wasn’t even all that hungry! Strange indeed.  I walked out of the event to hail a cab (thanks, work!) and suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. What’s right around the corner?! Babycakes. Huh-freaking-zah.

On any normal day, I probably wouldn’t stop by the bakery….it’s far from where I live and quite out of the way from my normal every day activities, but I figured tonight since I was close, I might as well stop in. I grabbed two cupcakes: a vanilla spelt and a vanilla gluten free (for no other reason than to see what the difference was between the two, side by side). On the cab ride home, I wolfed one of them down and called it evens: there, that was dinner.

Note: I NEVER DO THIS! I’m uber good about having several balanced meals throughout the day, fruits and veggies galore, but it was so close, I was so tired, and I was so not hungry for leftovers…it would have been downright disrespectful to the Vegan gods above for me to pass this up. I came home, finished the crumbs with a glass of vanilla soymilk, and now I’m pooped.

Bed time!