Espaguetis con frijoles y mantequilla

Espaguetis con frijoles y mantequilla, for those of you who do not speak Spanish, is a cold "alfredo" pasta salad I made a little while ago with a friend of mine. Her family is from Honduras, and for the time we were roommates, I'd been eating Honduran omelettes on tortillas for breakfast. (I will touch on the omelet making bit in the future.) My friend and her family have opened me up to a new palate of wonderful Central American flavors, with which I was more than willing to experiment. Even though I made this recipe quite a while ago and may not remember everything, I feel that it is worth sharing. If you cannot find mantequilla, or crema Hondureña, you can use a mixture of sour cream and plain yogurt. I won't eat that because I hate sour cream, but if it makes your life easier, go for it!

Ingredientes:

2 cebollas, en cubitos
6 dientes de ajo, picadas
1/4 bolsa de zanahorias pequeñas, picadas
1 pimento verde, en cubitos
1 tomate, en cubitos
1 lata de frijoles negros, agotado
2 boops de cumino
1-2 grande boops de zumo de limón
Mucho, mucho de Adobo
Mucho, mucho de mantequilla, o crema hondureña en los Estados Unidos
Mucho, mucho de parmesano rallado
1 pizca de cúrcuma
1 caja de espaguetis multigrano
Aciete de oliva, para freír


2 valida onions, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 a bag of baby carrots, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 can of black beans
2 boops of cumin
1-2 big boops of lemon juice
Lots and lots of Adobo
Lots and lots of mantequilla, or crema hondureña as seen on American packaging
Lots and lots of grated parmesan
Dash of Tumeric
1 box of multigrain spaghetti
Olive oil, for frying


Instrucciones:

1. Caramelize the onions on low heat until they are beginning to turn golden brown. Make the spaghetti in the meantime.
2. Add peppers and carrots and turn up the heat to medium. Saute for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add garlic and saute until you smell the garlic cooking.
4. Dump all of the veggies, including the uncooked tomato and drained black beans, into the spaghetti and stir.
5. Add enough mantequilla to cover the pasta with, enough Adobo to make a layer of Adobo on top of the pot, and tons of grated parmesan. Also add a touch of tumeric, the lemon juice, and the cumin. Keep mixing.
6. Taste to see what you need to add and enjoy!

Serves 8

Mine came out quite lemony, which was quite refreshing on that disgustingly humid, hot summer night. Make adjustments to the amounts to your taste. I thought this dish was particularly good to have white wine or really cold iced tea with. :)

Indian Pineapple Green Curry

What happens when you leave me with a room full of ingredients, an empty kitchen, and all the time in the world? More often than not, I would make channa masala, aloo chole, or, when I ate it, chicken tikka masala. Today, my intent was to make a Thai Green Curry with tofu and mixed vegetables. However, since most of the spices I have unpacked right now are commonly used in Indian food, and I'm more used to cooking Indian food, it came out Thai and Indian tasting... If that makes any sense. (At least it isn't Indian-Mexican like one unfortunate experience I had.)

For this recipe, I took loose inspiration from a Green Beef Curry recipe I saw in "Best-Ever Curry Cookbook" by Mridula Baljekar. Nothing major, just how to divide up the coconut milk and how to add the curry paste. Otherwise, I decided to improvise.

Anyway, this came out really well! Here's what went down:

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. thingie of firm Azumaya tofu, drained and cubed
1/2 valida onion, sliced and halved
1/2 green pepper, sliced and halved
2 handfuls of bean sprouts
3 large garlic cloves, sliced thinly
1 14 oz. can of coconut milk
1 can of pineapples, drained with approx. 1/4 cup juice left over
2 handfuls of fresh basil
3 tbsp. green curry paste
1 boop of Kikkoman low-sodium soy sauce
A couple of dashes of garam masala
Approx. 2-3 tbsp curry powder
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Ginger powder, to taste
Canola oil to cover pan liberally
Jasmine rice

Directions:

1. Fry tofu on medium-high heat (watch out for oil splatters) until all sides are brown and crispy.
2. Lower the heat and make sure the pan is not searing. Don't touch it or anything, though. I promise, that's not necessary.
3. Add half the can of coconut milk and bring to a simmering boil.
4. Add green curry paste and stir lots. If you do not stir, the curry paste will apparently stick to the pan. Thank you, curry cookbook. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
5. Add onions and cook until clear. (I promise I will do something with browner, crispier onions in the near future!)
6. Add the rest of the coconut milk slowly, stir, and then add the green peppers and bean sprouts.
7. After about a minute, add the garlic. Keep stirring and then add the pineapples, juice and soy sauce.
8. Cook until it looks good... I mean for about 4-5 minutes! ^^; Then add the spices.
9. Shut the heat and stir in the basil.
10. Enjoy with rice!

Serves 4.

This came out different than I expected... because apparently, I think garam masala can somehow make a dish seem more Thai... -_- But it was fabulous! Next time, I think I'll try following a traditional recipe and THEN tweak it. Otherwise, it will taste like everything else I make. White girl problems.

Ginger Basil Veggie Chick'n

Oh, ginger basil veggie chicken... The reason why I started this blog. The facebook status that got my friends to question my vegetarianism. The "chicken" that I used was actually veggie patch's "chick'n" nuggets and I will forever remember that distinction.

So, normally, I would never ever ever used ready-to-eat-as-soon-as-you-nuke-it sort of things in my recipes, but I was inspired by a very special burrito. This burrito was not gingery or basily, mind you, but it did have chick'n nuggets and barbeque sauce in it. For anyone who has ever been to Albany, you know that I'm talking about the burrito from Bomber's Burrito Bar. Simply marvelous! So, I thought I'd give the nuggets a shot in a stir fry.

It came out pretty yummy. I really liked certain aspects, while others I need to tweak. I'll save my criticism for the end. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

5 Vegetable Patch chick'n nuggets, halved
1/2 valida onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, sliced and halved
10 baby carrots, sliced
2 medium handfuls of bean sprouts
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 handful of fresh basil leaves
ground ginger, to taste
approx. 1-2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup World Classic's stir fry sauce
1 boop of Kikkoman low sodium soy sauce
1 boop lemon juice
olive oil, for frying
1 cup of jasmine rice (Prepare as stated on package. Hopefully you know this.)

Directions

1. Cook onions on medium heat until clear-ish.
2. Throw in chick'n and green pepper; cook for two minutes.
3. Add carrots and cook for two minutes, stirring regularly.
4. Now add bean sprouts and garlic.
5. When you begin to smell the garlic cooking, add cumin, lemon juice, ground ginger, and then stir fry sauce shortly afterwards. I also added the basil here, which was a mistake. Instead, add basil shortly before turning the heat off or after it's off and stir it around. Stir consistently because the sugars in the stir fry sauce will burn.
5. Honey, if your rice isn't done by now, throw in the dish towel already.
6. Enjoy!

Serves 2.

Things I liked about this dish:

1. It was spicy
2. The chick'n went surprisingly well with the Asian flavors
3. I love bean sprouts with a burning passion

How it could be better:

1. Too much ginger
2. I don't know if it was the premade sauce, but something in it was off. I need to make my own sauces from now on.
3. The basil went too wilty and I couldn't taste it, as mentioned above

I ate every last bit of it, but I recognize how I could have improved. Let me know if you've tried this before and can share some tips on veggie stir fries!

Pasta with meatless balls

Yes, that does take its name from Rent's "La Vie Boheme." No, it doesn't taste the same if you close your eyes. That's probably because when I did, I stabbed my nostril with my tomatoey fork. If, however, you have better coordination than I do, I'd still recommend you look at what you're eating because it is marvelous! I'm not sure if I was more excited at how amazing it came out or at how I made something with a funny name, but let me tell you, this sentence is as stringy as the experience was exciting. Down to business. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

Meatless balls-

1 pkg. Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style
1_1/2 slices Arnold's multigrain or 12 grain or whatever bread (the purple one)
2 boops of Goya Adobo All Purpose Seasoning
1 boop of ketchup
1 little boop of lemon juice
5 cloves (or probably more) of garlic, minced
Grated parmesan cheese until your heart's content
Olive oil (to cover pan)

Sauce-

1 green pepper
1 Valida onion
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small pkg presliced mushrooms
1 jar of chunky Ragu tomato sauce with onions and garlic
Olive oil (to cover pan)

Pasta-

1/2 pkg Ronzoni whole grain spaghetti

Directions:

1. Dice onions, green peppers in hearty chunks, mince all garlic
2. Soften the onions on medium heat. When they are clear-ish, throw in the green peppers and add mushrooms after a couple of minutes. When the mushrooms are cooked down, add garlic. Stir regularly, but do other stuff in between. Use olive oil as needed- if there is too little, veggies will burn. When you start to smell the garlic, put the sauce and veggies into a large pot and keep on low heat.
3. Empty contents of Beef style TVP into a mixing bowl with all other ingredients. Just make sure you rip up the bread into bitty pieces first. Mix with hands and form 1" balls. Roll the balls in grated parmesan. Place balls, separated, in a heated frying pan with olive oil, medium heat. Cook until crispy and yummy looking. Make sure all sides are cooked and do not burn. Place individually into pot of sauce with veggies already in. Cover. Let simmer for 15ish minutes.
4. I hope you've made the pasta by now.
5. Put everything together and enjoy!

Serves 4, or 1 with 3 leftover plates.

Please note: Boops are not exact measurements. They are tilting the bottle of whatever for a second into whatever mixture you're mixing it in. If more explanation is needed, I will happily, and narcissistically, post a video of what I mean.

Introduction

Hi! My name is Lacey and I'm a vegetarian. It's only been a couple of months, but I've always enjoyed vegetarian cooking even when I ate meat. For me, not eating meat hasn't limited my options, but has provided me with a challenge to use different, healthier ingredients than usual, and to be more creative in the kitchen. Although this is not the reason why I have changed my lifestyle, it is from a culinary perspective, which is the purpose of this blog.

Some recipes I make are absolutely delicious, while others are lacking. Most recipes, I believe, can be tweaked to taste better. If you, as a reader, have made and tweaked with a recipe I have published, please feel free to comment!

Because I believe trial and error is crucial in cooking, as well as many other aspects of life, I'm going to post my successes and failures. I'll note what was good and what could have been done better.

Also, just because this is a vegetarian cooking blog, it doesn't mean that you can't comment if you eat meat or just want to share a good recipe that involves meat. This goes for vegans too. If you can share how to make a recipe vegan, I'd love to hear from you!