Lemon Brussels Sprouts and Carrots

Apr 1, 2018 • food

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lb (about 23) fresh Brussels Sprouts (trimmed and halved)
• 2 large carrots (cubed)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• liberal use of crushed pepper corn
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

1. In a large skillet/fry pan, heat olive oil on medium-high. When warm, add Brussels Sprouts, carrots, salt and pepper. Stirring frequently, cook until caramelized (about 8-10 minutes).
2. Add water, while continuing to stir, and cook until water has evaporated (about 2-4 minutes).
3. Place directly into serving bowl and splash with lemon juice.
4. Serve with your main dish!

Inspiration

Looking up recipes for Brussels Sprouts lead me to a Marth Stewart rendition. However, hers did not include carrot.

Closing

This turned out really nicely! Often, Brussels Sprouts have a bit of a bitter flavour, but the carrot sweetened it a little along with the lemon juice helped make it a little tangy. This was an excellent compliment to a meal, even though the manner I took was backwards. I was looking for a main course with this recipe!

I cooked this beside garlic-onion chickpeas and rosemary olive oil roasted mini-potatoes. The flavours of all three was just a fantastic meal and was very fulfilling!

Green Beans and Red Beans with Brown Sugar

Mar 25, 2018 • food

Ingredients

• 1-2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion (chopped)
• 2 cups frozen green beans
• 1 15 oz can red beans (rinsed)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• liberal use of crushed pepper corn

Instructions

1. In a large skillet/fry pan, heat olive oil on medium-high. When warm, sauté onion for about 1 minute.
2. Add green beans and red beans, and continue sautéing for another 3 minutes.
3. Add brown sugar, salt and pepper, continue sautéing for an additional 10-12 minutes (or until beans are all caramelized).
4. Serve directly after.

Closing

This is another one of those meals that work really well in a pinch. There is not much preparation, and it cooks pretty quickly. My first rendition of this recipe was with fresh green beans from a CSA. I prefer the fresh beans, because they are usually crispier. Either way, this has a sweet and zippy bite, depending on how much pepper you add.

Today, I had this with a salad. I felt they complimented each other quite nicely, I wonder what you would try!?

St. Patrick's Day Irish Meal

Mar 18, 2018 • food

Ingredients

• 1 loaf Corned Beef Seitan (prepared separately)
• 1 loaf Soda Bread (prepared separately)
• 6 small-medium potatoes (quartered)
• 4 carrots (into quarters and halved)
• 1/4 green cabbage (peeled and cut in thirds)
• Some salt (if you deem it necessary)

Instructions

1. Prepare Corned Beef Seitan and Soda Bread.
2. In a large pot on high, fill with water, potatoes, carrots and add some salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 20-24 minutes.
3. Within the last 6 minutes add the cabbage, be sure not to over cook.
4. Prepare when vegetables are tender with your corned beef and soda bread.

Inspired by

Original recipe came from the corned beef recipe, but I also added carrots.

Closing

I decided to make an epic of a meal for St. Patrick's Day, because everyone is Irish on that day, right, right!? Anyway, this was a fun meal to prepare, it was something different and a challenge that I can say I did not pass with flying colours, but that's okay! I would definitely like to give the seitan another go and the soda bread as well.

Enjoy St. Patrick's day, even if this post takes place the day after!

Soda Bread

Mar 18, 2018 • food

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup flaxseed
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-1 1/2 cups buttemilk
  • I used milk with lemon juice (1 tablespoon juice per 1 cup milk let sit for 10-15 minutes)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degees fahrenheit.
2. In a bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix briefly.
3. Add 1 cup of buttermilk and start mixing (I used standmixer with breadhook) until is forms to a ball. If you are noticing that it is still too dry, add more buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time.
4. On a floured surface knead briefly and turn to a round loaf and cut an X on it about a half inch in depth.
5. Place on a floured cookie sheet and place into oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown on top.
6. Serve promptly after out of oven.

Inspired by

Majority of this recipe came from, here. Naturally, there were some modifications. :) Also, this was a useful resource for butter milk substitutes.

Closing

Overall, this is a really easy recipe that requires very little prep, aside from the making of a substitute buttermilk (which just fascinates me for some reason). I will, definitely, try my hand at making this again, it tastes really good! Also, I do not make many breads that are not yeast based. So this is another nice perk about it-- no rise time!

"Corned Beef" Seitan

Mar 18, 2018 • food

Ingredients

Seitan

• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt (I would recommend a different beef-like seasoning that does not include the salt!)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup vegetable broth (or beef-like vegan broth)
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (suggest low sodium in future)

Cooking broth

• 3 cups water
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (suggest low sodium in future)
• 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoons seasoning salt (I would recommend a different beef-like seasoning that does not include the salt!)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients for the seitan.
2. Combine all of the wet ingredients for seitan (not the cooking broth), and whisk them together with the dry ingredients. If you have a standmixer, use that. I tried using the bread hook, but it did not work well and turned to a different mixer attachment. Mix for about 5 minutes.
3. While waiting on the mixer, get a start on the Cooking broth by getting a large pot. Mix in all the ingredients and bring to a boil.
4. Separate the seitan dough into two loaves and place in the boiling broth and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for an hour. Occassionally, make sure the seitan is not sticking on the bottom of the pot.
5. If you are serving on the day of cooking, slice up and serve with your meal.
6. If you decide that you would like to marinate the seitan overnight in the fridge with broth you can do that as well.
7. When getting ready to prepare for a meal on the following day, slice up and place in a skillet on medium heat and placing just enough broth to prevent it from sticking to pan. Serve with meal when warmed.

Inspired by

Only a few adjustments, but I tried to keep pretty close to this, one.

Closing

I have never made seitan before, but I had it once in the past but it was store bought and I did not realize that it is relatively easy to prepare. I picked up a lot of new ingredients for the first time to make this, such as Vital Wheat Gluten, Nutritional Yeast, and Blackstrap Molasses. I also milled chickpeas for the first time, I would recommend crushing them first then milling (or you can just buy it pre-milled if you would like!). Generally, seitan is just wheat gluten, but if you add a lagume (in this case chickpea flour) you get yourself a full-protein.

My first rendition of this recipe was quite, quite salty. If I ever attempt to make it again, I will try to change this up so that it is not so salty, and that may have been because I misunderstood the original recipe with the beef seasoning (I used seasoning salt). I also did not have low-sodium soy sauce (they used tamari sauce). In addition, I might use a different recipe for the seitan itself and not cook it in boiling water. Supposedly, if you steam or bake it, it will not turn out quite as spungy.

Overall, it was a neat experience that I am happy to share.