I’m a huge proponent of cheap and fast lunches. Especially right now, when we’ve been away and our pantry is the only stocked area of the kitchen. (I currently only have fruit, juice, and a giant jar of pickles in my refrigerator.) Fortunately, I do have plenty of pasta and peanut butter.
This only took me about 10 minutes to make, but apparently the noodles soak up the sauce, making any leftovers very dry. I will just save the sauce and noodles separately next time I make it.
After a full weekend of indulging at Thanksgiving, all I wanted was something light and brothy last night. I have two cans of no-chicken noodle soup around, but miso soup sounded so much more delicious.
Sometimes when I get a stomach ache I like to make a quick version with just vegetable broth and miso, but since I had time, I simmered the kombu to make a vegan dashi stock, which adds more flavor and depth to the soup. I also used some thinly slice nori, since I didn’t have wakame to add to the soup. I prefer wakame, because it unfurls and is softer, so if you can find it, definitely use it. I also added shiitake mushrooms back into the soup after making the stock, but they are completely optional. Button mushrooms would be nice too.
No, that is not a plate full of maggots. That is a plate full of delicious little German dumplings that taste like a mixture of comfort and happiness. At my house, we call them kniffles but they also are known as spaetzle.
Do you ever just wake up in the middle of the night inspired? And then you spend an hour researching your idea to come to absolutely no conclusions? Well, that’s what happened to me last night. I had a sudden craving for my mom’s kniffles. The main ingredient in her kniffles are eggs, but I wondered if I could substitute ground flax seeds. She’s been making them for me since I was kid, using the recipe she learned from her German grandmother. We usually eat them coated in butter with either salt or sugar, but you can also put them in soup or use gravy over top.
Since we make them by hand, the dumplings are misshapen and lumpy, but feel free to use a spaetzle press or press the dough through a colander with the back of a spoon.
Note: In retrospect, I should have made this photo more visually appealing. Forgive me, I was hungry.
A while ago I worked right next to a Noodles and Company-it was less than a two minute walk away. I was such a regular there they had my order memorized-Japanese Pan Noodles with extra sauce and extra extra extra cilantro.
Yes, I really do like cilantro that much. Unfortunately, my local market didn’t have any fresh cilantro today, so I had to do without.
The original recipe calls for udon noodles, which you can find fresh at some Asian markets. I’ve also found some in soup packages at my local grocery store-they look a bit like this. I substituted rice noodles, but if you can find udon noodles, feel free to use them.
If you hadn’t guessed by the name of my blog, I’m a pretty big fan of avocados.
I try to keep 2-3 around at all times, because I never know when an avocado craving is going to hit me. And when it does hit, I like to be prepared. There’s nothing more disappointing than craving a creamy avocado, going to the grocery store and finding nothing but rock hard, days-from-being-ripe avocados.
Prior to going vegan, I LOVED alfredo sauce. It’s something I’ve tried to replicate with vegan ingredients, but so far my success rate is pretty low. Feel free to leave me links below if you have a good alfredo recipe! This recipe mimics the creaminess of alfredo, but with much less saturated fat (if you pay attention to those kinds of things.)
One note: This sauce does not keep well. Serve it immediately, otherwise you’ll end up with a brown, albeit tasty, mess.
I fell in love with sushi years ago. I was lucky enough to be given a rolling mat and the beginning ingredients when I was 16 and I’ve been making it at home ever since. I recently learned how to do an inside out roll and I wanted to share. Things you will need:
I had quite a bit of chili sauce leftover from making Thai summer rolls yesterday, so I wanted a recipe that would use most of it. I found the recipe for the sauce here.
Ingredients:
Directions:
There’s a period of time every week where I get a craving for Thai food. However, most Thai restaurants cook with oyster sauce and fish sauce, which makes trying to order vegan complicated. I realize it’s hard on the wait staff and sometimes they don’t know if the sauces are premixed or added during cooking, so it’s easier to cook it myself. It’s also much cheaper!
I’ve found an Asian grocery store in Springfield that orders all the fresh noodles for the Thai restaurants in the area. However, if I don’t go on Friday, they’re usually already gone. I like to use these for Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) as well. If you can’t find them, extra large rice noodles will work just as well.
A few months ago, we wandered into a dark, artsy bar in New Orleans. We meant to go across the street for a tofu po’ boy, but the music coming from the place drew me in. We sat at a high top table for two and perused the menu for something we could eat. There was an interesting gnocchi dish with a ratatouille sauce topped with feta. After we ate the entire appetizer-sized portion, I realized the gnocchi was probably housemade with eggs, so I decided eventually I would make it at home for assured veganness.
After searching on the internet, I discovered the name of the place was The Three Muses. Their menu seems to change regularly, so the dish we had is no longer on the menu, but I think I did a good job recreating it. Feel free to top with feta, if that’s your thing.
I love the black bean soup from Panera Bread, especially in a bread bowl. However, I don’t like paying for a meal that I can easily replicate at home. I’d estimate the cost of this soup is about $3 and it only takes about 20 minutes to make. It’s great for a cold fall day or a quick lunch after you’ve been out shopping all morning.
Avocados and Ales 