Is There Such a Thing as Too Simple for a Food Blog? + BBQ Tofu with Cajun Sweet Potatoes and Kale Chips

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

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When I was making this dish, I had no intentions of turning it into a blog post.   “This isn’t a recipe,” I thought.  “This is just me quickly throwing together some ingredients I have on hand to satisfy my craving for a healthy vegan dinner.”  It took a good number of folks commenting on the photo before things clicked.  Simple.  Healthy.  Requiring limited ingredients.  That’s exactly what people want!

It got me to thinking, “what is too simple to be on a food blog?”  “What constitutes a recipe?”  As a food blogger, it’s easy to get caught up in what seems to be expected of our type these days: delving into uncharted territory with never before seen combinations of ingredients.  Staging the final product with all sorts of special props and photographing it until it gets cold.  And that got me thinking about what my mission is here:  To inspire and entertain (and in some cases, to keep in touch).

Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here, but my guess is that I’m not going to inspire you to go out and do a photo shoot with a batch of muffins.  And that including a list of ingredients that requires you to go to three stores and ask not only “where is?” but often “what is?” is anything but inspiring.  I don’t know about you, but what inspires me is a recipe that looks not just delicious, but also doable without tons of new expensive ingredients and hours in the kitchen.  And this dish is all of those things.  Easy to throw together, cheap to make and a perfect portion for two, this will definitely be a “go-to” in our household.  So I’ve decided to share it, so it can become a “go-to” in yours.

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp agave nectar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp chile powder

Slice sweet potato at desired thickness and put in a large bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and use your hands to mix well.  Spread out on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes, flipping once.

Kale Chips

  • 6 cups kale
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Optional: chili flakes, Parmesan, rosemary

Place kale in a large bowl.  Use way more kale than you think you need, it bakes down a lot.  Add remaining ingredients and use your hands to mix well.  Spread out on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice.

BBQ Tofu

  • 7-8 oz firm tofu, pressed
  • 1/4 cup BBQ sauce

Slice tofu and place on a paper towel.  Fold paper towel over tofu and press hard from all sides until much of the water has been absorbed.  Brush with two tablespoons of BBQ sauce.  Spray frying pan and cook tofu over medium-high heat, flipping and pressing with spatula as needed.  Put tofu in a small bowl and gently toss with remaining two tablespoons BBQ sauce.

Arrange all three on a plate and serve!

Serves 2

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What do you think?

Is there such a thing as “too simple for a food blog?”

What constitutes a recipe? For example, I would argue that this does, but that “puree banana in a blender” is not a “recipe” for banana soft serve.

What inspires you in a recipe?

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Road Race Addictions and Pumpkin Garlic Knots

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

What do road races and pumpkin garlic knots have in common?

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They’re both terribly addicting.

Really, I have a problem.  In the days leading up to every single race, I grumble about how much I’d rather have my money back than run the race.  “Why am I paying [insert outrageous entry fee here] to run 13.1 miles when I did it just last week for free?!  I could have new boots!  Or PLANE TICKETS!”  And it’s true.  I’m pretty sure I could travel abroad for the price I’ve paid to run road races in the past year.  So right before the Nike Women’s Half I told myself “no more.”  At least for a while.  I promised I’d save my money and go visit my brother in South America.  Or buy these beautiful boots that I’ve been totally been coveting.

But then I run the race.  The whole experience – the spectators, the volunteers, the thousands of other runners- is so electrifying.  Before I’m even halfway done, I’m thinking about what race I want to sign up for next.  Every. Single. Time.  By Monday morning, I’m online looking at upcoming races.  Or perusing the Rock ‘n Roll marathon Series Tour Stops and adding races to my g-Calendar, just in case.  And messaging my running buddies about races, not because I want to run the race, just because I think they should know about them in case they do!  And so I myself plant the seeds of peer pressure.

Why am I so addicted to road races?  It’s hard to say.  However, it’s much easier to say why I’m addicted to these garlic knots.  They’re so simple, yet so good: the pumpkin makes them moist and chewy and they’re flavored with some of my very favorite things: olive oil, garlic, rosemary and sea salt.  They were a big hit with my husband, who always bargains to keep a portion of whatever I’m bringing to girl’s night, and they definitely helped us ladies carb-load for the Nike Women’s half marathon!  In fact, Bia liked them so much she brought a handful home to eat for breakfast!

Pumpkin Garlic Knots

 
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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 envelope (1 tablespoon) active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 31/2 cups flour (I used wheat)
  • 1 1/2 tsp course kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • Parmesan, rosemary and sea salt (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Pour the warm water into a medium bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes.  Then add your agave nectar, olive oil, and pumpkin and whisk until smooth.
  2. Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl.  With you fist, make an impression in the center and pour in your wet ingredients.IMG_2368
  3. Start pulling everything together with a spatula. When you can no longer mix, use your hands to start kneading the dough. Keep kneading — and adding more flour as necessary — until you have a ball that’s elastic, but not sticky.
  4. Lightly oil another large bowl and put your dough ball inside it, flipping over once to coat both sides lightly with oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise for 1-2 hours.IMG_2370
  5. Once the dough has risen, pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees and put pizza stone in the oven.  You may use a pan too, but a pizza stone works best.  Trust me on this, I made half the batch on a pizza stone and half on a pan and the pizza stone batch cooked much more evenly to a nice golden brown.
  6. To create the garlic knots, rip off sections of dough, about the size of two tablespoons, and roll them into a snake shape.  Then tie that snake in a knot. Set aside and continue with the rest of the dough.IMG_2371
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  7. Once you’ve made all your knots, put them on your stone (or on your pan) and let bake until golden brown on the tops – anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes, depending on how big your knots are.IMG_2379
  8. While you’re waiting, in a large bowl mix together 1/2 cup olive oil with 5 (or more!) cloves of minced garlic, as well as some salt, pepper, and rosemary (dried or fresh). There’s really no right or wrong mixture.IMG_2378
  9. When the knots are done, dump them into the bowl and mix well to coat.  (I didn’t read the instructions properly, and brushed them with the oil mixture.  In hindsight, I think mixing them in a bowl would work much better and ensure that they all get a good coating!)  Sprinkle with Parmesan and additional salt if desired.

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Meet the Juices: How to do Your Very Own DIY Blue Print Cleanse

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

As many of you know, last week I did a three day DIY Blue Print Cleanse, making all of my juices from scratch in my new Breville juicer (read my summaries of day 1, day 2, and day 3 here).  Overall, I really enjoyed the cleanse.  I felt like I was treating my body right with all of the vitamins and minerals in the ridiculous amount of fresh produce I was juicing each day.  I also found that I had a good deal of energy.  I was waking up before my alarm and having good morning workouts.  It made me wonder whether gluten and all the crap in the processed food I eat causes fatigue that I’ve come to accept as the status quo.  I hadn’t weighed myself since the batteries on my scale broke several months ago, but out of curiosity I replaced them right before the cleanse.  I didn’t do this cleanse for weight loss, but because I’m sure some of you are curious, over the three days, I lost five pounds (I’m sure that this was mostly water weight, because I’ve since found it).

The cleanse itself was not that bad physically.  I rarely felt hungry or lethargic as I feared might be the case.  But I did miss the experience of eating.  I missed the pleasure of sitting down to a homemade meal with my husband, or walking up to Barracks Row after work to enjoy a cocktail and some appetizers.  In some ways I think my life revolves too much around the experience of eating, so in that regard this cleanse might have also been good for me.  It refocused me on consumption for nutrients rather than consumption for entertainment.

Moving forward.  Since finishing the cleanse, I have found myself actually craving the juices on a regular basis.  I plan to continue to incorporate them into my regular diet (particularly the green juice and a custom juice I have been making with carrots, apples, lettuce and cucumber).  I also plan to continue to remain aware of what I’m putting in my body.  I don’t think I will ever fully give up bread or meat or cheese or beer, or anything for that matter (except fake sugar… I would like to give up fake sugar).  But when plant-based, whole foods are an equally appealing option, as they so often are, I will make it a point to choose them.   I want processed foods and animal products to become the exception, not the rule.

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Anyways, I have heard from many of you who like the idea of a juice cleanse, but like me don’t want to drop $250 for three days worth of juice, so I wanted to share the recipes so you too can do the Blue Print Cleanse at home.  I found many different recipes around the web to clone the BPC juices and I’ve combined and tweaked them.  What I’m sharing with you is the final product after my three days of trial and error.  Enjoy!

Here are the basics:  It’s three days long.  During those three days, you drink six juices a day in the following order:  Green Juice, P.A.M. (Pineapple, Apple, Mint), Green Juice, Spicy Lemonade, C.A.B. (Carrot, Apple, Beet) and Cashew Juice.   There are a couple of things you may drink to supplement your juices: green tea and filtered water.   BluePrintCleanse recommends that you do three days of preparation pre-cleanse, phasing out meat and grains and take five days to phase food back into your normal diet: first fruit, then veggies, then legumes, and finally meat and dairy.  Good luck with that.

First, you’ll need to head to the grocery store.  Here’s a complete grocery list. shopping list

Green Juice: Green juice is a combination of celery, cucumber, kale, romaine, spinach and green apple.  Basically a really leafy salad in liquid form (minus the croutons, feta and ranch dressing).  I actually really grew to love it.  If following the BluePrintCleanse, green juice is the first and third juice you drink each day.

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Green juice

P.A.M.: P.A.M. stands for Pineapple, Apple and Mint, which is exactly what is in this juice.  Aside from your evening nut juice, this is definitely the dessert of your juices.  I also think it would be really fabulous with rum on ice.  If following the BluePrintCleanse, P.A.M. is the second juice you drink each day.

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P.A.M.

Spicy Lemonade: Spicy lemonade is simply juiced lemons with water, a dash of cayenne and a touch of agave nectar.  This one can be a bit difficult to down.  It’s extremely bitter and is similar to drinking straight lemon juice.  I’ve tweaked it a bit already, but if it’s still too bitter, just dilute it with more water.  If following the BluePrintCleanse, this is the fourth juice you drink each day.

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C.A.B.: C.A.B. stands for Carrots, Apples and Beets.  This juice also has ginger and lemon for flavor.  You’re supposed to leave the leaves on the beets, but I found the result nearly unbearable.  The flavor is much better with the leaves removed.  If following the BluePrintCleanse, this is the fifth juice you drink each day.

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C.A.B.

Nut Milk: You can choose what type of nut to use for this juice.  Cashews are used in the BluePrintCleanse, but unsalted cashews are surprisingly difficult to find.  I made it with almonds two of the days, which worked very well.  I actually liked the flavor of the almond milk slightly better than the cashew milk, although cashews to absorb water better.  If following the BluePrintCleanse, this is the last juice you drink each day, your dessert juice so to speak.

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Monday Morning Meet-Up: Cinco de Mayo Celebrations and a Campus Tour

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

I had so much fun on Cinco de Mayo that I almost didn’t get to write this post.  That’s what happens when you fall asleep on the couch at 8:00pm with your shoes on.  So you will have to rely mostly on photos to tell you about my weekend.

Friday night, as you know, we had Holly and Jason over for a vegan Cinco de Mayo feast.

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Saturday, Courtney took me up to Baltimore to check out the campus of Johns Hopkins, where he’s finishing up his first graduate course in Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering.  We had a picnic on the quad, where we simultaneously watched a wedding, a game of touch football and a robotic helicopter experiment.

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Of course I did a little research ahead of time to find an awesome restaurant to pick up a picnic lunch.  I decided on a cute little vegetarian restaurant and juice bar called Liquid Earth that specializes in vegan and raw foods.  We split Vegan Reuben and the Philly Cheese Phake, which seriously might be one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had (and that is saying something!)  I think I’m going to make Courtney start bringing me a Cheese Phake every time he goes to class!

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We didn’t watch the Derby, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have mint juleps.   It’s a tradition, and we both love mint juleps.  So Courtney whipped us up these babies, while I threw together a nice little vegan dinner of BBQ tofu with cajun sweet potato fries and kale chips.

photo 1-3 photo 2-2Then on Sunday, the actual Cinco de Mayo celebrations commenced: a cantina crawl up Capitol Hill.  This is an accidental tradition that started last year.  Courtney and I were touring houses at the time and that particular morning we were touring houses while incredibly hungover.  When we got done, I needed some greasy food, so I texted a couple of friends to see if they wanted to join us.  When we got there, they’d already ordered a pitcher, and so the cantina crawl began.  It was an awesome and very random day, so this year I decided to recreate it.  We only made it to three spots this year before ending up back on our rooftop.

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A Vegan Cinco de Mayo Celebration

Posted on May 5, 2013 by

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  I hope you’re celebrating with delicious Mexican food and a nice cold beverage.  I know I will be!  Today, I’m planning to savor some greasy Mexican food and imbibe far more margaritas than the Surgeon General would see fit, but we actually got the celebration started on Friday with a healthy vegan feast with our good friends Holly and Jason.  I absolutely love how colorful this whole meal was.  When it comes to food, I feel like color is a good indicator of both flavor and nutrition.

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Holly and I met when I responded to a Craigslist ad for an open room in the summer of 2010. We quickly bonded over many things, one of which was our shared love of cooking healthy and delicious meals from scratch.  We collaborated on many a feast during my days in the Pink Palace, and in the nearly two years since I moved out, we have continued to do so on a fairly regular basis.  This time around, Holly brought her amazing homemade chips to go with my edamame guacamole.

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Perhaps my favorite quote of the night (although there were many good ones!) was when Courtney laid eyes on our collaborative work (above): “Jason, you know, you and I have a lot in common. *Eats a chip with guac.* For instance, we both have some pretty incredible women.”  Anyone who has ever denied that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach isn’t very familiar with men.

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None of us are vegan by any means (or even vegetarian for that matter), but as I recently shared, I’ve been more and more drawn to a plant-based diet and the challenge of creating delicious vegan alternatives.  So when I came across the lentil-cauliflower taco “meat” (the only thing it has in common with Taco Bell is that “meat” is in quotations!), I decided to give it a try.  I personally thought that it could use a little more flavor, but my dinner mates seemed to disagree (or at least they were too polite to agree with me!)   It may also be that I just didn’t care for the corn tortillas, because the “meat” was delicious on one of Holly’s homemade chips.  Regardless, you may want to mess with the spicing to meet your personal tastes.

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In addition to salsa, guac and the usual toppings (see above), I served the tacos with a vegan sour cream.  The recipe I chose was cashew based, and very simple.  Honestly, I’ve never been a big fan of sour cream, so I’m not the best judge of its authenticity, but to me it tasted an awful lot like cashew paste.  That said, I thought it was a quite enjoyable addition.

Lentil-Caulflower Taco “Meat”

From Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dry lentils
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 large head cauliflower
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Rinse and drain your lentils and place in a medium-sized saucepan with 3 cups of water, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and a little salt, if desired. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook until just tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the cauliflower “rice” by removing the leaves and large stems from the cauliflower.  Grate the cauliflower in a food processor or using a hand grater.  If using a food processor, cut the cauliflower into quarters and then cut or break each quarter into pieces. Process one quarter at a time, careful not to over-process.
  3. Once the cauliflower is grated, heat olive oil in a wok or very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it begins to brown.  Increase heat to high and add the cauliflower and garlic and saute, stirring so that it browns evenly.  Add chili powder and continue cooking until the cauliflower is tender.  Reduce heat to medium-low.
  4. Drain the lentils well and add them to the skillet. Add the remaining the remaining seasonings. Cook on medium until heated through and flavors are combined, careful not burn the bottom.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
  5. To serve, place about 1/3 cup of filling in a small corn tortilla and garnish with lettuce, tomatoes, and any other fillings you like.

Yield: 6-8 servings        Serving size: 3 tacos   

Vegan Sour Cream

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Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 5 Tbsp water

Pulse all ingredients except water in a food processor or high-speed blender, adding one tablespoon of water at a time until the desired consistency is reached.  You make need to pause and scrape to center several times.

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Thai Coconut Lentil Curry

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

Do you ever try on a bunch of different outfits – trying to decide between a blouse or a tank, boots or pumps, whether to accessorize with bangles or a statement necklace – only to find that what really looks best is jeans and a fitted grey tee?  This recipe is a lot like that.  There are a lot of recipes out there that are much more complex; made with all sorts of fancy ingredients and expensive spices and containing more steps than pages in the phone book.  This one, on the other hand, is outrageously simple, made from just a handful of ingredients that I usually have on hand.  But man, does it pack one sexy flavor punch.  Serve it with a stack of my favorite homemade naan (also super simple!), and you really just can’t go wrong.

Thai Coconut Lentil Curry

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks 

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  • 1 cup dry green lentils*
  • 1 cup dry red lentils*
  • 7 cups water
  • 1 medium carrot, diced
  • 2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1/3 cup golden raisins
  • 1/3 cup tomato paste
  • 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoons fine grain sea salt (or to taste)

*I’m sure 2 cups of either type of lentils would work just fine, I just happened to have both on hand.

  1. Give the lentils a good rinse and place them in a large soup pot or dutch oven.  Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger.  Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until soft.
  2. In the meantime, heat olive oil in a medium skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the remaining ginger and raisins.  Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.
  3. Add the curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt.  Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture will thicken up the longer you cook it.  If you more of a soup, you can add a bit of water and cook it for less time.  If you want a thicker curry consistency (which I prefer), cook it a bit longer careful not to let the bottom burn.
  4. Serve over rice or with a side of homemade naan.

Serves 6

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Drink Up! The Third (and Final!) Day of My DIY BluePrintCleanse

Posted on May 3, 2013 by

Day three was by far the hungriest day of my cleanse.  This came as a surprise, as most of the juice cleanse reviews I’ve read have said that each day gets easier.  Well, not for me.  I woke up hungry.  I had a few chugs of Green Juice, which powered me through an awesome spin class.  I even made myself to abs class, which happens almost never.  I regularly power through 45 minute spin classes that leave me looking like I just stepped out of a bath tub, but for whatever reason, I just can’t get myself to stay for fifteen minutes of ab work!

Bye Bye Coffee, Hello Green Tea

Bye Bye Coffee, Hello Green Tea

The morning went uneventfully.  Around 12:30, some colleagues invited me to join them for lunch.  Although my lunch was sitting comfortably in a mason jar in the fridge, it looked beautiful out so I decided to join them for a stroll.  This seemed like a great idea until said stroll lead us to We the Pizza.  A.K.A. the worst possible place to be during a juice cleanse.

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Oh Buffalo Chicken Pizza, how I adore thee.  Your creamy blue cheese topping.    Your tender boneless buffalo chicken wings.  Your chewy doughy crust (oh how much I miss chewing!)  All drizzled with a flavorful hot sauce.  But I’ll have to pass in favor of Green Juice.  It’s not you, it’s me.

I escaped the temptation and made it safely back to my faithful Green Juice.  Which just as an aside, really is pretty good.  In fact everyone I’ve forced allowed to taste it has been pleasantly surprised.  Even Josh, who sends me bacon-related videos  almost daily, said it wasn’t all that bad.  Anyways, the afternoon went well until about 4:30, when I was all of a sudden starving.  

Luckily, I made a few tweaks (only the beets, no leaves; five carrots instead of two; less ginger) and the C.A.B. turned out much better this time.  I actually enjoyed it.  One thing to know about the C.A.B. (and any juice containing beets): don’t forget that you drank beet juice and call 911 when you see your pee.  Or your poop, although you may not be seeing a whole lot of that while juicing.

Courtney brought home unsalted cashews last night, so I also made cashew milk instead of almond milk this time around.  The cashews absorb much more water than the almonds, and therefore leave a lot less “pulp” behind.  While both are good, I think I slightly prefer the flavor of the almond juice.  I froze my cashew juice for a special treat!

I also made two extra juices!  While my juice cleanse is officially over, I’ve kind of grown to like my juice!  So I made myself a couple for today: a Green Juice and a custom juice: pineapple, green apple, cucumber, lettuce and carrot (YUM!)

Final Thoughts on Day 3: While I’m excited to go back to chewing my food (crunch, crunch, crunch!), I’m definitely going to continue to utilize my juicer!  I’m excited to play around with new juice cocktails.  I’ll post my overall thoughts on the cleanse, as well as my perfected recipes for all of the juices next week, so  stay tuned!

Day 2 of my DIY BluePrintCleanse
Day 1 of my DIY BluePrintCleanse
For background on what I’m doing and why.

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