Of Earth and Stars

A little planning/jotting down - I bought a bunch of ingredients to make things, but I'm starting to forget what I wanted to make! Terrible, terrible planning this week.

-Peach Salad w/ Chipotle-Maple Dressing
-Spiced Sweet Potato Hummus
-Baba Ganoush with Roasted Veggies
-Thai Chickpea Almond Curry
-Chocolate Cherry Black Forest Smoothie and Pineapple, Mango, Banana, and Kale Smoothie
-Broccoli Fritters
-Pizza Potato Skins
-This is probably too much work and I'll never actually do it, but these ice cream snickers cakes

Also, I think I may have shared this in the past, but if not, don't be afraid to try these Chipotle Not-Chicken Salad Wraps. The salad comes together very quickly and is good by itself (though I love in the collard leaves, too.) Let me rephrase - it is fucking magical. I am a little addicted to it.

With all that in mind, it seems appropriate to share this awesome post from Shakesville: A Letter about Food and Judgement.

Today was a work-at-home day, which meant I got to sleep in a wee bit before starting in on the daily grind. Sleep is my precioussssssssss. \o/ With the boys at home during the summer, I've been spending more time in the office because here = loud/distracting. I think L. probably cries when I leave for work, but he's usually in one piece by the time I get home, and so are the boys, at least, they are for now.

It was a very stormy day (they started as early as 10:00 a.m.), but I did manage a small 1.5 mile run this evening in between downpours. It may have been a little further than I should have gone, since upon removing my brace I felt the grind kicking in, but in good news, I'm not in any pain. I think I'm going to stick with piddly runs for next week, too. So. Damn. Frustrating. But necessary, because I do not want to ruin my knee.

Anyway, tonight I made pineapple salsa! It is the pretty.( +1 )
Undressed pineapple was on sale this week, so I bought some and decided to make this Grilled Tofu with Pineapple Salsa and Coconut Rice. I made a few changes to the recipe:

• I used Freekeh (tamari-flavored) instead of brown rice, because I did not want to wait 45 minutes (Freekeh cooks in 20-25), and I used a can of full-fat coconut milk + 1 1/4 cups water for cooking it in. It had a little extra liquid in it at the end of the cooking time, but I took the lid off per the recipe and let it "steam" a bit, and it came out perfectly creamy. I did not add any oil.
  
• I only had one jalopeno for the salsa :(. However, I made the most of it by leaving in many of the seeds. I also took the salsa and put in the food processor very briefly to get it the above consistency, trying to leave some texture. It was pretty as it was simply diced, but my younger boys do not like big chunky salsa where the veggies are obvious.
  
• I cut the tofu into 12 triangles and marinated it in advance (about an hour?) in a tamari/lemon juice mixture (3 tbsp each). This is one of my favorite marinades for tofu. I cooked the tofu on my ancient George Foreman grill, and other than a couple of pieces that crumbled a bit (I cut them too thin), it came out beautifully, with nice grill lines and everything. I meant to take a picture, but I was too busy shoving the food down my face.

Overall, it was very nom, and I have just enough leftovers to pack into a tortilla for a nice lunch tomorrow. \o/

And now, Defiance!

♥

Tonight I started out with thoughts of using a book recipe but then wildly diverged, and it came out very well and got good reviews by everyone, so I thought I'd put down what I did here so I can re-do it (L. requested that we have it again).

Ingredients

-splash of veg broth for sautèing
-about 3/4-1 cup diced onion
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-2 cups long grain brown rice
-4 to 5 tsps vindaloo curry seasoning
-2 13.5 ounce cans coconut milk (I used one full-fat and one light b/c that was what I had on hand)
-1 cup veg broth
-Salt to taste (about a 1/2 tsp)
-1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
-1 fresh mango, diced
-about 1/4-1/2 cup sweet mango chutney (I used storebought, although homemade would be good, too)
-pepper and ground cardamom to taste

Steps:
1. Saute the onion and garlic in a splash of veg broth in a large pot until onion is translucent. Add the rice and curry seasoning and stir for a moment or two to mix.

2. Add the coconut milk and 1 cup veg broth, stirring well. Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, then turn to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add the salt prior to turning down the heat.

3. After rice has cooked/thickened, add peas, fresh mango, and mango chutney. Allow the mixture to continue to cook without the lid, if necessary, to further reduce the sauce. Add pepper and cardamom to taste (I was generous with the cardamom).

This is the most hippie recipe I've ever made. It all started when I decided I wanted to include a little more protein in my breakfasts. I don't like to eat heavy foods in the morning, and I need something quick, because I usually wait until the last minute to get up and go running. When I last went shopping, I glanced at the vegan protein powder, and nearly had an aneurysm over the price. But then I found some vanilla-flavored hemp protein powder on sale. Writing those five words together seems apolcalyptic. Still, here I sit. With a giant tub of hemp powder. Which is dark green. I don't know why, but I didn't think about the fact that hemp powder would be deliciously green when I bought it.

Anyway, not to be lazy and simply throw this treat into a smoothie, I searched around the web for protein bar recipes. I came across Angela Liddon's No Bake Protein Bars and thought that this might do the trick. I've added the ingredients/measurements I used here since they vary a little, but I should emphasize that the original protein-bar recipe is Angela's and you should completely support her site because she is AMAZING and does lots of great vegan/dairy-free/gluten-free foods, and has beautiful photos and full instructions on her blog. But if you want to try a quick-n-dirty hemp version of the above, here's my take on it:

Hemp-Oat-Brown Rice Bars

1/2 cup vanilla-flavored hemp protein powder (I used (Manitoba Harvest brand)
1/2 cup brown rice crisp cereal (I used Erewhon's GF Crispy Brown Rice)
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats, ground/blended to smithereens
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/2-1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
a scant 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Quick instructions: Mix together the dry ingredients until everything is dark green. Add the wet ingredients and mix until it forms a thick ball (because this is what it will do). Keep stirring/prodding until everything is well mixed. Press green ball into a shallow pan and flatten with your hands until it's uniformly spread.

Melt the coconut oil and chocolate chips in a double boiler. Once everything melts, drizzle the chocolate over the bars as best you can. Put everything in the freezer and wait a little bit. Cut into bars when solid. (This is best kept in the fridge/freezer).


Photo shows two hemp protein bars drizzled in chocolate. They are disturbingly green in the best of ways.

These came out a little sweet, so you could conceivably cut back on the maple syrup. They do not have a strong hemp-y flavor. I can't wait to have one in the morning before my run.

♥