Vegan | On the Road to RD

August 15, 2012

Garden Tomato Cucumber Mint Salad

by Stephanie

What do you do when a lovely neighbor comes to your door with a beautiful bowl of tomatoes and cucumbers, freshly-picked-from-the-garden?

You make a salad, of course!

Garden Tomato Cucumber Mint Salad

{vegan}
{gluten-free}

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

5 medium-sized tomatoes
2 small cucumbers
1 tsp chopped fresh mint
juice from 1/4 of a lemon
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Chop tomatoes and cucumbers in to bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl.
Add mint, lemon juice, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar and toss.
Chill for at least half hour before serving and enjoy!

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Such a refreshing addition to your summer dinner plate.

And so easy to make, which I of course love.

Enjoy with a little moozarell on the side.

Go ahead, you know you wanna talk in an Italian accent when you eat this.

Muah! Perfetto!

Posted in Dinner, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Quick 'n Easy, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian | 3 Comments »

Tags: Cucumber, dinner, food, Mint, mint salad, recipe, Salad, Tomato, vegetarian

July 27, 2012

How To :: Quicky Corn

by Stephanie

Teacher: Please raise your hand if you hate shucking corn and picking silk.

Class: [raising hands] Me! Me!

Teacher: Then do I have a tip for you!

_____

{Thank you for appeasing my inner theater geek… ha!}

This cooking tip comes from dear old dad, who read it somewhere or other, and wasn’t quite sure if it would actually work, so we did a science experiment {because I was sure it would work – I microwave sweet potatoes – so I was certain the starch in the corn would cook}, and lo and behold, it worked!

{Please bring that teacher back for a lesson on correcting horrendous run-on sentences.}

So here’s what you do…

Place corn in microwave, husks and all.
Microwave for 5 minutes.
Cut off the larger end of the corn {caution :: this ‘ish is hot}
Squeeze out corn cob and enjoy! Husk and silk free!

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Could that not be easier?

Seriously clean corn.

Teacher: Okay class, for your homework, try this out at your next barbeque for quick, no mess, fresh and juicy side dish.

Have a great weekend!

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And don’t forget! You still have time to enter the contest for a free kitchen scale!

Posted in Dinner, Gluten-Free, How To, Lunch, New Things, Quick 'n Easy, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian | 5 Comments »

Tags: cooking, corn, corn on the cob, food, microwave, microwave corn

June 17, 2012

Homemade Cashew Butter

by Stephanie

Oh yes.

I’ve done it!

I’ve made my very first batch of homemade nut butter.

I hate calling it nut butter.

It doesn’t bother Vegan Vinniee tho…

Nice neck tat.

{Trying my best to keep my commentary pg-rated here.}

But before we go in to the recipe…

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

Have you given your dad a hug yet today?

[I have not, yet. He is still snoozing away.]

Hopefully you figured out what to get him.

And if not, check out yesterday’s Cherry Oatmeal Pancake Cookie idea. A crowd pleaser, for sure.

______

Okay, on to the nuts!

So Dad and I picked up this ginormous container of cashews at Costco, so I could make my favorite post-workout energy bites.

There were a ton left over.

And I thought to myself… “what to do, what to do with all these lovely cashews?” [poet status, man.]

Fancy cashews, at that.

What makes one cashew fancier than another?

The world may never know..

So anyways, {tangent there…} I thought I’d try my hand at creating my very own homemade nut butter! I looked at about a million recipes online, and with the access to my parent’s hand little food processor, I thought, I can do this!

Why not give it a whirl? Literally. {Oh, man, I crack myself up sometimes.}

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Stephanie’s Homemade Cashew Butter

{Vegan, Gluten-Free}

Yield: 1/2 C

Ingredients:

1 C roasted, salted cashews*
1 tsp canola oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

*You can use unsalted too, just add about an 1/8th of a tsp of salt

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a food processor.
Blend, blend, blend until mixture reaches desired consistency.

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HOW SIMPLE!

I mean, seriously, it does not get any easier than this.

Behind the scenes.

Look Ma! No mess!

And the results?

Delicious to say the least.

Lunch is served.

And no, I did not just have cashew butter for lunch, as my sly grin may suggest.

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted in Breakfast, Gluten-Free, Lunch, New Things, Quick 'n Easy, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian | 4 Comments »

Tags: cashew butter, cashews, food, food processor, gluten-free, Nut butter, vegan

June 4, 2012

Asparagus Boats

by Stephanie

And a good morning to ya!

We have a wet and gray day here in Eastern WA – perfect for a little job and gym searching, mixed in with a bit of Cali apartment hunting.

I think it makes it worse that I only have 3 months here in Wenatchee.

“Uh, yes, I can work approximately 80 days, minus weekends and holidays, so make that closer to 50 days, before I have to move to California.”

I’m an employers dream.

The gym thing may be a little easier, that is if I can get a job at a gym. Hello, free membership! Otherwise, I may just take advantage of as many trial memberships I can get my hands on over the course of the summer.

Thrifty college graduate.

My dad would be proud.

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Moving on!

As you all may or may not know, it’s asparagus season!

I l.o.v.e. asparagus.

Almost as much as I love goat cheese.

And in honor of sharing the love, I am going to let you in on a little preparation tip to make it just that much easier to participate in asparagus face stuffing.

Asparagus Boats!

Don’t you hate it when you are grilling up asparagus and you loose one to the cracks of the grill?

Well, no more, my friends! This ingenious contraption [if I do say so myself] will keep every last spear of asparagus safe and sound – primed and ready for you to gobble them down.

So here’s what you do:

Prime your skewers – let these babies soak in water for a half hour or so to ensure minimal burnage of the wood.
Prep (i.e. snap off the woody ends) and marinate your asparagus in the meantime. I chose to keep it super simple with a little Italian dressing.
Using two skewers, create a little raft by piercing the asparagus just below the buttery top and at the ends.

It’s like playing with your food. Acceptable grown-up playing with food.

I wonder if these babies would float…?

Okay. Not acceptable grown-up behavior.

Sometimes I get carried away.

Then all you have to do is throw these babies on a nice, hot grill.

Not-a-one lost!

Pair with yellow squash, zucchini, portobella mushroom caps, and tofu for a delectable, grilled summer dinner.

Enjoy!

Posted in Gluten-Free, Lunch, Quick 'n Easy, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian | 3 Comments »

Tags: Asparagus, Barbeque, dinner, food, Grilling, Summer

March 30, 2012

It’s a Party!

by Stephanie

Well hello baby loves.

Last night we celebrated something awesome… KATIE’S Birthday!

We went to Lento, which was absolutely divine.

Here is a brief description found on their website:

“A truly gourmet experience, everything from the bread on your table to the dessert at the end of your meal is made completely from scratch. Lento features daily menu changes along with an emphasis on locally grown and organic food.“

The food, drinks, and company was amazing.

We, of course, started out with a round of drinks. And to our delight, Thursday nights are buy one cocktail, get the second free!

Greyhound
Grapefruit Vodka, grapefruit juice, grapefruit bitters

Something Wicked…
Kaffir Lime Vodka, coconut rum, carrot, orange, cilantro

Pisco Sour
Pisco, lemon, lime, egg white, bitters

I’ve been on a Pisco Sour kick lately. While this was good, I think I still prefer Good Luck’s.

Next up was a variety of oysters on the half shell.

Katie had to convince both Annie and I to give them a try…

We both worked up the courage to give them a go! I’ll try anything once!

Definitely a success! They were very good!

Our meals arrived shortly after…

Annie: Parsnip and spinach cakes with curried lentils in a carrot ginger sauce (vegan)

Katie: Spicy shrimp coconut soup with rice and cilantro

Stephanie: Cavatelli pasta, wild mushrooms, Red Russian kale, tomato sauce, Pecorino Romano topped with toasted bread crumbs (Obviously, I was not following my low FODMAPs diet last night!)

Oh my goodness. This was to. die. for. The rich flavors, the exquisite combination of textures, ohhhhh… I can’t wait for lunch time leftovers! My mouth is watering.

More oysters!