Tofu Scramble Tacos(Kacie)

So I was on a hiatus for a while.

I did a whole30, which is super clean eating (no dairy, sugar, gluten, soy, grains, and on and on) but also heavy on the meat. For me, that's eggs and fish. It was good, and I'm glad I did it, but I'm also happy I'm done! 30 days without any treat or loose day is hard. However, I am super proud that I did it. I needed to get off of the sugar roller coaster I was on (kind of), and I did. I'm able to enjoy some Christmas treats with more control and pleasure, which is nice.

It also meant I was super limited on ingredients, so I just didn't cook from the book because it was too hard. Sparkles said early on that she wanted more simplicity from her veggies. After 30 days of total simplicity, I was pumped to cook something with a little pizazz.

It could just be the whole 30 talking (did I mention no beans or corn either?), but I loved these. They were easy and flavorful. Yum. I actually ate four (I was super hungry). George ate a bunch too and my mom took the rest. I got la tortilla corn tortillas, and they were really good. I added some guacamole and a little chipotle pepper sauce. Yum.

Mango Curry (Sparkles)

This is mango curry with dry fried tofu. I had to use green curry paste instead of red. My favorite part is the combo of veggies. 

Tangerines dipped in chocolate ruined by Sparkles

Kacie made these already and I made some for December book club. 

As you can see I kinda gave up half way through on my tangerines  because the chocolate wasn't cooperating, I burnt some chocolate and I was more interested in listening to the book club book which was really great.  So here's a Merry Christmas pic starring Kittane and also Happy Hannukah from Slinkerbelle. Dreidel tonight! 

Spicy pickles carrots and lemony red lentil soup (Kacie)

I was super skeptical of these carrots. 

And then it turned out that they were delicious!  Hot and tangy and crunchy! So good! I would never have made this were it not for our challenge!

I also made the lemony red lentil soup. Mine is not as pretty as it should be because I already had organic sprouted lentils on hand, but they were not red!

 Soup was delicious, and it made a lot, which I like in a soup recipe.

I even are these two together for dinner.

I'm doing a whole30 right now. I'm on day 6. (I put that Greek yogurt on those legumes before the challenge). It's no sugar, grains, dairy, soy, legumes etc. the idea is to try getting rid of all possible inflammatory foods for a month). It means that j am very much not vegan right now! Lots of fish and eggs for me. I've always liked experimenting with food, and I needed to do something different for a little bit. 

I think there are some compliant recipes still left for me to make! Plus, I need to write up my pad Thai blog too!

Veggie Pad Thai with dry-fried tofu (Sparkles)

Did you already make this KD? 

Pretty hilarious recipe and very tasty end result. Do not make all of the noodles unless you need more than 5 servings. Add more broccoli and tofu if you really want to use all of the noodles. 

The sauce with the tomato paste is interesting - I wonder if you could use tamarind paste without fish sauce like a lot of Pad Thai recipes use.  

My favorite instructions from the recipe: 

-“get all the rest of your veggies and herbs on lock"

-“Don’t eat this all at once because that is too much salt for one day. F@$&.”

-“You’ll hear the steam escape from under the tofu as you do this. It sounds like screams, but keep the f@$& on.”

Warm the Fuck Up Minestrone (Kacie)

Yum. Pretty straight forward. I used stars, simmered it longer than the recipe, and put in extra kale. We ate it for days and it was delicious.

Black bean tortas (Sparkles)

These guys are spicy little crunchy tortas and anything on ciabatta bread is pretty delicious. But just like Italian restaurants- if the bread is the best part- then it's really not that great. 

This little guy has potential.  The ratios of ingredients seem a little strange to me. The consistency of the beans and the mayo (above)are way too thin. I would not add broth next time at all  or maybe 1/4 c to the beans. The mayo would be even nicer if it had a thickness to it- maybe add a little cornstarch or way less coconut milk (1 cup?). It makes SO much anyway. It's a little bizarre. It was very filling and with some modifications I think it will become a good recipe. 

Chickpea and smoked almond Sammies (Kacie)

Sparkles post called this the tuna fish of vegan sandwiches, and it is!

I thought it made for a great little sandwich.

I also thought the smoked almonds alone were tasty

Roasted beet and quinoa salad (Sparkles)

I actually loved the kale and the beets together. Then I poured the hot quinoa in and it cooks the kale. To me it wasn't as good after that so I'd let it cool next time or not add the quinoa at all. The beets are very delicious!!! 

I thought this was going to be one Jason would not like since beets do not have a lot of fans. He really liked it though and we had the longest conversation about beets that we've ever had. 👊💬

Vegetable noodle soup with ginger miso broth (kacie)

Sparkles review of this said it was bland, so I made some changes. I used these things (which I consider weeknight cheats)

I used a bunch to ramp up the flavor. I couldn't find miso, so I added extra soy sauce. I also cooked the broth on low for three hours.

As suggested, I topped with sesame oil, siracha, and a dash of lemon juice.

There were a lot of moving parts, but it was such a tasty dinner.

I mixed together the leftover noodles and veggies with sesame oil and rice vinegar and tofu and sent it with George for lunch.

Barley Stuffed Peppers (sparkles)

Oooh. It's so cold. This is a great meal for a cold day. I like edible containers for food.  I think the red ones taste better if you want to eat the pepper. 

Quick Cilantro Lime Slaw (Kacie)

This one is supposed to go with a taco recipe, but I had cabbage I needed to use up and I needed another side for dinner!

It was crazy easy, yummy, and much healthier than normal slaw. I will keep this one on hand for sure.

We also had quinoa and siracha glazed Salmon, which was a yummy recipe from the Skinnytaste cookbook.

Braised Winter Cabbage and potatoes (Sparkles)

Announcement: this takes about two hours so plan ahead, unlike me. I may pass out from hunger before this is done. I know, I know, the authors SAID to read the whole recipe before cooking.  They also say give cabbage a chance and I agree. 

. I'm working on some teachers pay teachers stuff and watching glee on Netflix while Jason works late so I will try to stay distracted while this cooks.  I think I will put thousand island dressing in some of this when it comes out - you could make a vegan one- it has egg yolk in it. 

I  am also dog sitting and these guys are getting along - Mister Slinky and Lilly already ate dinner. Maybe I will eat this tomorrow. I ate some cucumber and shockingly it did not make me feel like I could wait another hour to eat. 

Update: delicious! Great with hot sauce! This is a good one for a winter potluck! 

Tempeh Peanut Noodles with Blanched Kale and Pumpkin Chili (Kacie)

These are not things I made at the same time, I just forgot to blog them!

So the pumpkin chili was good. It was not at ALL what I expected. I was expecting a chili that tasted like a pumpkin spice latte. However, it's just a good and yummy chili! The pumpkin is used more like an honest squash instead of a seasonal treat. It gives the chili a really good texture.

Dont get me wrong. I love the over-the-top seasonal pumpkin bandwagon. I'm shameless. Check out these apple cider cookies and the cheesecake centered pumpkin snickerdoodles. See what I mean? I'll make anything with pumpkin. Plus, I love snickerdoodles the most.

The Tempeh peanut noodles were really tasty! I needed to use up the rest of the kale that I had, plus, you could use any noodles, and I ALWAYS have peanut butter on hand. So, this was a perfect and fairly easy recipe. I would make it again. I have used more tempeh in this project, and I'm down with that! It's yummy.

Maple Oat Banana bread (Sparkles)

Live blog edition: 

11:24 am Sunday 

chopped up the rolled oats

While watching Pain and gain with mark Walhberg 

11:31 mashing about 6 bananas for 2 cups - freckled bananas are the best for baking 

11:45 Jason asks: What in the world are you watching? And all ingredients are mixed up and mess has been made. 

mr. Slinky is always with me just like mittens. 

Time to clean up! 

12:17 

Kitchen clean again and 4 min 20 secs left for the bread/ smells amazing - can I take a four minute shower in the meantime? 

12: 21

Showered and checked on bread - looking beautiful but knife inserted inside came out gooey so I'm covering it and giving it ten more minutes- 

12:36 

Still seems a little undercooked but I'm not sure - 5 more minutes!? 

I did use a lot of bananas 

12:46 still not done! 

Here is my Halloween tree in the meantime-  I have no idea what has happened in Pain and Gain but it's still playing- I should have watched Les Miserables. My creme brûlées are ready to take to mom before her hip surgery for Sunday lunch. We will torch them at her house : 

1:03 done 

Time to cool. Off to Sunday lunch! I will have to try the bread later. 

 

7:37 pm 

Banana bread is very good! It is moist and has a good banana flavor. It is very pretty and I put cinnamon on top with the sugar. I can't really taste the maple part but it's in there. 

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Kacie)

In the book, they said that you probably did something today that deserved a cookie.
I'm pretty sure I did in the past 24 hours, so I made some cookies!

These are yummy. Warm and nutty and chocolately. I ate those three, and I want more. Let's see how long I can hold out. I am the only one here and awake, so no one will know how many I started with.....

On the other hand, I just registered for a race.

I actually raced a 5k kind of impulisvely. It was right down the street, and it benefitted a breastfeeding group, which is cool. I won my age group, and was 4th woman, 5th overall. I was proud of it.

 Plus the boys "raced." It was hilarious, because Quintin just stood there and watched everyone else run off! He TOTALLY didn't get that he was supposed to run too.

So, I signed up for the 4 bridges half marathon in Chattanooga. We will stay at the same Air BnB we did before and loved. I can't wait!

So, maybe I should limit how many more of those cookies I eat. Like one more.

Spiced Chickpea Wraps with Tahini dressing and Creamy Peanut Slaw (Kacie)

So this was actually a really simple dinner. If I were going to make it again, I would run the cabbage through the cuisinart so it was thinner. The dressing was great though. The chickpeas were yummy too. I actually cheated and just used a tahini dressing that I already had, and it was good on the wrap.

So I watched the new muppets during dinner, since George gets home late on Wednesdays. I'm not sure what I think. I think I'll watch it again to see.

Wedding Soup with White Bean Balls and Kale (Kacie)

So the soup base of this is a great basic vegetable soup recipe. In fact, I like it so much, that there is a second batch of the soup on my stove top right now. It's not like I don't know how to make a basic veg soup, but I like this combo a lot.

The bean balls are tasty. They add some heft to the soup. Make sure you store them separately from the soup though, because they will get soggy if you don't, and that's not really fun.

It's a good and comforting soup. I sent a batch to a cyclist friend that was hit by a car. It's like a vegan chicken noodle soup.

Oh, and we also used letters as the small noodles, which are cute!

Carrot and Apple Muffins (Kacie)

These were easy and quick.

I made them into mini muffins to take to art class. All of the munchkins there seemed to enjoy them.

Snack time at baby/toddler art class is serious business.

There were new people (that don't know me really well) there, and they kept asking for the recipe. I felt kind of strange telling them they just HAD to go buy the Thug Kitchen Cookbook....hehehehehe

Ravioliering (Sparkles)

In our second attempt to make the ravioli we had a very hard time. We rolled the dough out thinner because it was too thick last time but they would not stay sealed this time. So here is where not using eggs leads to a problem. Even the few that didn't explode were still quite thick- you still give it a go, it might not bother you and as I've stated we are very particular about Italian food being a certain way. The spinach artichoke filling I whipped up with roasted garlic was delicious. We just topped it with a little garlic, basil and extra virgin olive oil. We had some survivors but we could only add a VERY small amount of filling. 

I didn't take pictures because I was annoyed but here are some left overs. 

That is all I made from the book lately. One negative of this book is that I will search asparagus, brussel sprouts, or green beans in the index and there are 0-1 recipes matching thatingrediant which is a bummer because I just opened three other cookbooks randomly in my kitchen and they all gave me three or more recipes. 

In other news we got a reverse osmosis water filtration system and Jason had a really fun time installing it for 4 hours. I could tell it was fun AND easy like the website said because of all the hollering and trips to Home Depot. I keep telling him how it is the best water I've ever tasted and how I even feel healthier already after 3 glasses. 

Cold Citrus Noodles and Ginger Marinated Tofu (Kacie)

I also had to take a picture of the adorable soba noodle wrappers! How cute is that?

Really yummy dish. The tofu was great. I did the whole process of squeezing out the water, which I had learned from The Grit cookbook, and it always helps. Their marinade and cooking method used WAY less oil than The Grit's double frying method, which I appreciate now that I'm not a college kid anymore. I was a little lazy in cutting the veggies into matchstick size, which made them a little too big, but Wednesdays are my nights that I'm totally solo with the fellas, so big matchsticks were what happened when they started flipping out on me some!

Also, Soba noodles seem to be pretty fragile. I think I would be careful to toss it less next time, because I felt like I broke too many noodles.

Vegan Brinner! Whole Wheat Biscuit, Lentil Gravy, and Greens (Kacie)

This was solid.

The biscuits were good, even if they were flatter than I wanted. The gravy was more of just lentils than it was gravy. The greens were great. They were packed with flavor.

I pretty much love brinner. Probably because I love breakfast. If I could just eat breakfast for all three meals, I would. Breakfast. Brunch. Brinner. Done.

Carrot Cake Cookies (Kacie)

I made these bad boys for baby and toddler art class today. My friend Annie does this, and it is SO much fun. My boys are busy and have so much to do for a great hour each week. Today, they played in multi colored spaghetti, painted on an easel, used markers on plexiglass, worked to get all kinds of stuff out of ice, and played in a sprinkler. It was a great and messy morning!

After play time, they all sat down for snack. I made these cookies, and if toddlers could review food, this would have gotten a great one. They ate every one of them, and sweet Nolan asked if he could have the last one!

There were some requests for the recipe, so here it is! They are kind of like muffin tops instead of cookies, which isn't a bad thing!

1 and 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnoman
1/2 tsp ground ginger (I only had fresh, and it was tasty)
1 cup shredded carrots (that's right kiddos, you totally just had veggies and you didn't even know it! BOOM)
1/2 cup almond milk (I used cashew milk)
1/4 cup olive or grapeseed oil
1/2 cup walnuts (I skipped this today)
1/2 cup raisins optional

Mix dry and mix wet. Add wet to dry and plop on parchment paper in a cookie pan. Bake for 18-22 minutes at 375.

Crispy Milllet and Peanut Butter Buckeyes (Kacie)

I love these.

Like, I can't stop thinking about them. And by thinking about them, I mean eating them.

I also made these for the cookout, and everyone enjoyed them. I love love love the crunchiness.

Seriously, I made them yesterday, and I'm thinking about making them again. Like today...