Pantry Challenge Day 2 - Potato Rosemary Pizza

Ok...potatoes on pizza...I know its a little weird but just bear with me for a moment. The first time I had a potato pizza was in Cambridge (MA) at Cambridge 1 and I was blown away. I decided to give my own version a try, and it came out great!

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Ingredients:
1 recipe Basic, all purpose dough
1/2 potato
1 cup milk
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp fat-free cream cheese
1 tsp rosemary
several shakes of onion and garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Prepare the dough as directed. Shape into a pizza pie. Preheat the oven to 500.

2. Make the rosemary cream sauce. Put the milk in a saucepan and heat. Just before it boils, add the flour and whisk. Allow to boil for about 10 seconds and whisk constantly for a minute or two. The mixture should have thickened; if it didn't, try adding more flour and let it boil again.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the cream cheese, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Taste for flavor.

4. Place the potatoes in a single layer on the pizza. Spread the cream sauce as evenly as possible over the potatoes and sprinkle with rosemary. Add the cheese on top of that.

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust begins to brown.

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Pantry Challenge Day 1 - Pomegranate tofu with roasted potatoes

These were really nice. The pomegranate molasses added a bit of fruit flavor without the sweetness, so it still felt like a savory dinner dish. I did have to buy the molasses online - I purchased it several months ago for a different recipe.

Baked Tofu

For the marinade:
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp balsamic vinagrette
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tsp thyme
lots of shakes of garlic and onion powder
salt and pepper, to taste

1 block firm or extra firm tofu

1. You'll definitely want to drain your tofu for this. Place the block of tofu on a plate, and put another plate over it. Place a heavy object on that plate. You'll have to discard the tofu juice every once in a while. I let mine drain for an hour.

2. Slice the tofu and put in a bowl with the marinade. Let marinate for at least an hour, but overnight is better.

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2. Preheat the oven to 375. Spray a casserole dish with cooking oil. Bake the tofu for 20 minutes, then flip each piece and bake another 10 minutes. Serve with a little extra marinade.

Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 potato (I think mine was an Idaho...?)
Spice blend (I used the peppercorn salad dressing spice blend from Penzey's, but I think any combo of garlic/onion/salt/pepper with some sage or thyme would have been great.

1. Slice the potato into pieces that are about 1/2 an inch thick and place immediately into cold, salted water.

2. Bring the water to a boil and let it boil for 15 minutes.

3. Spay a cookie sheet with oil. Line the potatoes on the sheet and sprinkle with your spice blend.

4. Roast the potatoes in your preheated oven for 10 minutes. (Yes, I'm aware that it is possible to roast potatoes without boiling them first, but I wanted to use half of this potato for another recipe...check back later this week to see it).

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Peanut-choco-banana protein shake

EJ and I are obsessed with these. I like to make them after a hard workout - when I come back from a long run there is nothing better (and combined with a foot massage from my husband...heaven).

Ingredients:
1 banana
1 cup chocolate ice cream
2 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup milk (add more if the shake is too thick)
1 scoop protein powder (we use Publix brand vanilla)

Blend. Enjoy.

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Not-so-bad-for-you stuffed french toast - Take 2!

This version is actually vegan, and in my opinion it tastes much better. I didn't care for the egginess of the previous recipe, and this version eliminated that.

Ingredients:

1 slice of bread, cut in half
2-3 tbs chickpea flour
1-2 tbsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch ground cloves
a pinch nutmeg
2 tbs vegan cream cheese
2 tbs your favorite jam or preserves (I used pear with honey and ginger)

1. Spread the cream cheese on both sides of the bread, and spread the jam over one of those. Put the bread together like a sandwich.

2. Mix the flour with the milk and spices; whisk. Make sure there are no lumps.

3. Soak the sandwich in the flour mixture.

4. Heat a small skillet (medium heat) and spray with cooking spray. Cook the sandwich on both sides until golden brown.

5. Dust with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. I ate mine with just a little maple syrup. Yum!

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Spinach and red pepper frittata

Frittatas are like a more healthy version of the quiche. To me, most of the deliciousness of the quiche is found in the crust, but when you want to cut some calories and not sacrafice protein, a frittata is the way to go. I've filled mine with red bell peppers and spinach, but you can add anything really.

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Ingredients:

10 eggs
1/2 cup milk
a large handful fresh spinach, washed
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
a few generous grinds of cracked black pepper
1 tbsp fat-free ranch dressing (my old roommate taught me about this - I put ranch in all my eggs)

Preheat oven to 350

1. Take a large pie plate and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and ranch. Make sure its mixed well, the ranch can put up a fight.
3. Take the veggies and put them in the pie plate - mix them up. Put about 1/2 the cheese in there too.
4. Whisk the other half of the cheese with the eggs.
5. Pour the egg mixture into the pie plate over the veggies.
6. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the eggs.
7. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the frittata is puffed and golden brown, and the center is firm.

Not-so-bad-for-you stuffed french toast

I'm always sorely tempted when I go to an IHOP or Denny's and see the stuffed french toast. I've never gotten it because I imagine its similar to eating an entire funnel cake by yourself, but dang it looks good! (I'm not going to lie, I'm also tempted by the grilled cheese/mozzarella stick sandwich at Denny's...but I digress).

This recipe was pretty tasty - I actually made it for a dessert rather than breakfast. I used low-fat cream cheese and 1 egg white to cut calories. I'm tagging this as vegan because I'm also including a vegan version, though I didn't make the vegan version myself.

Ingredients:
1 slice of bread, cut in half
1 egg white
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch ground cloves
a pinch nutmeg
2 tbs cream cheese (but I bet this would be awesome with brie)
2 tbs your favorite jam or preserves (I used pear with honey and ginger)

From Food pics

1. Spread the jam on one side of the bread, and the cream cheese on the other. Put together like a sandwich.

2. Mix the egg white with the milk and spices; whisk

From Food pics

3. Soak the sandwich in the egg mixture. The egg should coat both sides, and you can press the bread to make it really absorb the eggs.

4. Heat a small skillet (medium heat) and spray with cooking spray. Cook the sandwich on both sides. Here is where had a problem - runny eggs gross m out to the point that I am super paranoid and always overcook eggs. I stopped cooking the french toast at the time when I thought other people would like it and that was when I took my photographs. Then I put it back on the stove and purposefully overcooked it.

5. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy! I added a little more preserves to mine as well.

VEGAN VERSION:
Obviously use vegan cream cheese (or leave the cheese out all together)
For the "egg" mixture, mix 2-3 tbsp chickpea flour with soy milk and add the spices. Cook as above.

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Rice Cake Snack

So this isn't really a recipe...and yet it might be my favorite food on this blog! This is my go-to snack when I need something sweet, salty, and somewhat filling. Yum!

lightly salted rice cake
about 2 tbs peanut butter (i like publix brand reduced fat crunchy)
about 2 tbs chocolate chips

Spread peanut butter on rice cake
Sprinkle with chocolate chips
Enjoy!

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Seitan pockets

These were really easy and fun to make. They also made fabulous leftovers. You can really fill them with anything you want - be creative!

Ingredients:

1 recipe Basic, all-purpose dough
1 package seitan
2-3 tbs soy sauce
a few shakes liquid smoke
2-3 tbs vegetarian-friendly steak sauce (I like the Annie's Worchestershire)
About 1 cup shredded cheese (for these, I prefer a sharp cheddar)

Preheat oven to 450

1. Prepare the dough. On the final rising step, you can prepare the seitan.
2. Cut the seitan into strips and saute in a small amount of oil for about 7 minutes, until slightly browned. (Yes, I know its already brown).
3. Add the sauces and saute a bit more. Taste for flavor.
4. Cut the dough into about 6 pieces of equal size. Flatten each piece so that it is about the thickness of a pizza crust. Shape into a circle if you can. Place about 1/6 of the seitan mixture into the lower-center of the dough and top with cheese. Fold the dough over the filling. Press the sides and corners - you can roll them a bit to make them look pretty. Brush the top of each pocket with milk or egg yolk.
5. Bake about about 450 for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is browned.

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Your Basic All-purpose dough

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm (not hot) water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra
3 cups flour, plus extra for the counter top

1. Proof your yeast. Dissolve the sugar into the warm water and add the yeast. Stir the yeast until it is just wet, don't over stir. Let it hang out for 5-10 minutes; it should start getting frothy and foamy. If it doesn't, get a new package of yeast because the first one is dead. (To be completely honest, I usually skip this step).

2. Prepare a large bowl for the dough to rise in. Pour about a tbsp olive oil in it and set aside.

3. Assemble the dry ingredients in a large bowl. I only add about 1/2 the flour, because I have made the mistake before of adding way too much flour and that makes your dough very tough. So I add half the flour and add more as i need/knead it.

4. By now the yeast should have proven itself to you. Add the yeast mixture and the oil to the flour and salt and stir. Add flour until you can't stir any more (you won't get very far).

5. Sprinkle some flour onto a very clean and dry counter top. Dump your dough on top of it and any flour that might have gotten stuck in your bowl. Knead it around, it likes to be beaten up. Add more flour if the dough gets sticky. You should be kneading for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is nice and stretchy.

6. Form the dough into a large ball and place in prepared bowl. Swirl it around in the oil a bit so it doesn't stick. Cover with a damp, clean kitchen towel and place in a warm dry place to rise. Go away for about an hour.

7. When you come back, the dough should have doubled in size. Make a fist with your hand and punch that dough right in the face. Go ahead, just do it. You will feel the dough deflate a little; that's ok. Turn the dough out onto the floured counter top again and knead for a couple of minutes.

8. If you are not going to use all the dough, take a knife and cut the dough in half, wrapping one half in saran wrap and freezing. If you are going to use it all, skip that step. Take the dough that will be used and put it back in the rising bowl, cover, and go away for at least 15 minutes, but an hour is better.

9. Now you can prepare whatever you want. After I have made my pizzas, bread dough, hot pockets, whatever, I tend to let the dough rise one more time, just to get that fluffy texture. This isn't totally necessary though.

French Cheese Puffs

These were so easy and very good party pleasers! Make sure to eat them fresh out of the oven, or just re-heat leftovers!

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Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 c flour
2 eggs
1 cup grated Swiss/Gruyere cheese
poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 425 and spray 2 cookie sheets with some oil.

2. Bring 1 cup water to a simmer in a saucepan. Add the butter, pepper and salt, and bring to a boil. When the butter is melted, remove from heat and add the flour. Stir constantly - you'll end up with a thick paste. Return to low heat and stir for another minute or two (this is where I taste it to make sure its salty enough).

3. Remove from heat and beat in 1 egg at a time until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Add the grated cheese and mix well.

4. Drop by the spoonful on the cookie sheet. Top with poppy seeds. Bake 25-30 minutes, until they are brown and slightly crispy.

Try stirring in some finely chopped broccoli and using cheddar cheese for a variation. I've been wanting to try some sweet ones with ricotta and sugar, or brie and apricot.

Thai red curry

I freaking love thai curry. 'Nuf said. Its hard to find a good one in Tallhassee, though Mr. Roboto's is fabulous. I've been working on my own version of the perfect curry, and I'm pretty satisfied with this result. As i work on making it better, I'll update changes. I really wanted to make my own curry paste, but unfortunately, the ingredients cannot be found in Tally.

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(and yes, the wine is necessary)

A few notes about ingredients. Your curry will totally depend on the curry paste you buy. Pictured above is the brand I like, and I get the massaman and the red curry. This particular brand of coconut milk I was NOT happy with. It was really watery. If your coconut milk is watery, omit the vegetable broth that I've included below.

Ingredients:
(these measurements are not at all exact - you'll have to do frequent tastings to get it to the way you like it. If you want it hotter, add some crushed red chillies).
1/2 a can red curry paste
1/2 a can massaman curry paste
1 can coconut milk (careful, make sure its good quality. If you buy lite milk, it might be watery and you might want a little more).
i tbsp brown sugar
about 1/4 soy sauce
about 1/4 cup vegetable broth (not necessary with lite or watery coconut milk)
1-2 tbsp minced ginger
1-2 tbsp lemongrass (this and the ginger are available as a paste in the produce section of the grocery store - they are so much easier!)
1/4 cup basil (Thai basil if you can find it)
1/2 white onion, sliced
a variety of sliced veggies. I used zucchini, squash, broccoli and bamboo shoots.
1 block firm or extra firm tofu, drained

1. Prepare your tofu. If I'm lazy I'll just cut it up after it drains and add it to the curry raw at the end. You could also deep fry it or saute it in a pan until it browns. Set aside until the dish is finished.

2. Prepare the curry sauce. Take a little of each curry paste and dissolve it in about 1/2 a can coconut milk, the veg broth, and a few squirts of soy sauce. Add the sugar and mix well. Taste it and see what it needs. It probably needs more curry paste.

3. Chop up the basil and add about half of it to the curry. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and taste it. Add more if needed, but reserve some for a garnish. Add the onion and simmer for another 5 minutes.

4. Add all the vegetables and simmer for a few minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the tofu.

5. Serve over basmati rice.

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Black Truffle Mac n Cheese

So anything with truffle oil is automatically amazing, right? I don't even like mushrooms! This recipe calls for a few different kinds of cheese, but feel free to change it up if you don't like something. I subbed the american cheese for a cheese I found at Earth Fare, a truffle-infused creamy goat cheese, which was amazing. If I could have changed anything, I would have added more blue cheese, but if you don't like blue cheese, leave it out all together! I also couldn't find shaved black truffle in tallahassee, but I bet if you live in a real city you can find it. I fixed it by adding a little more truffle oil, and the truffle flavor in the goat cheese helped.

From Food pics

Ingredients:

1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz dry macaroni
2 oz american cheese
2 oz cheddar cheese
2 oz swiss cheese
2 oz blue cheese
2 tbsp Worchesterchire sauce
2 tbsp hot sauce
1 tsp thyme
Black truffle, shaved, to taste
salt and pepper
bread crumbs
black truffle oil, to tasste

1. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk constantly (LOW heat) for about 5 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk and cream, continue to whisk. Bring to a low simmer. The recipe said to simmer (while whisking constantly) for 30 minutes or until the sauce became thick, but that happened for me after about 10 minutes.


2. While this is happening, cook your pasta till its al dente.

3. Once the sauce is thick, turn heat to its lowest setting and stir in the cheese, sauces, truffle shavings, salt, pepper, and thyme. Taste it to see if you like it. I added more salt, pepper, and thyme than the recipe called for. Stir until all the cheese is melted.

4. By this time your pasta should be done. Strain and drizzle with about 1 tbsp truffle oil.

5. Add the macaroni to the cheese sauce and stir to evenly coat. Divide the dish into individual serving dishes, top with bread crumbs and more thyme, and broil until the tops are golden brown. Drizzle with truffle oil, and serve!

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Seitan Pot Pie

I adapted this recipe from my friend April, who adapted it from the Veganomicon. This particular recipe isn't vegan because I used butter and a store bought pie crust, but it would be super easy to make vegan, so that's why I'm tagging this as vegan. I'm not really a fan of "all american" meals, but this is really filling and hearty, and wonderful on a cold night.

Ingredients:
(I suggest getting the veggies cut and the broth ready before you begin, you'll be stirring so much you won't have time to prepare them later. Don't forget to let your pie crust thaw, too!))
1. Pre-made pie crust (you can use just the top, or the top and the bottom) (puff pastry works well too!)
2. About a quarter of a recipe seitan, cut into chunks, or more as you like it (I would say I used about 3 cups of seitan all together)
3. 1/2 a white onion, diced
4. 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
5. 2 celery sticks, sliced
6. one potato, diced
7. 3/4 cup frozen peas (or corn, if you prefer)
8. 3/4 cup cut-up broccoli florets (make them pretty small)
9. 2/3 cup + 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
10. salt, pepper, thyme, to taste
11. 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
12. 3 tbs butter (or vegan margarine!)

1. Saute the seitan in a little bit of oil for about 8-10 minutes, or until browned. Set aside.

2. In a large saucepot, make your roux. Melt the butter and add the flour, stirring constantly until it browns.

3. Add the onions, stirring pretty constantly. Careful, they'll stick to the bottom, and you don't want that to happen.

4. Stir in the potatoes, carrots and celery; stir for about 8 minutes.

5. Pour in 2/3 c of the veg broth. Stir enough to get the browned bits of roux off the bottom of the pot. Add the frozen peas.

6. Add about half the remaining broth (about 3/4 of a cup). Add your salt, pepper, and thyme to taste. Bring to a simmer.

7. Add the rest of the broth, and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce has reduced to a gravy-like consistency.

8. At this time, prepare your pie crust. Grease a large pie plate or cast-iron pot. Roll out the bottom of the pie crust until it is about an inch (n each side) larger than your pie plate. Carefully lift the pie crust into the plate and make sure its snug in there.

9. Spoon the seitan mixture into the pie crust. Roll out the top of the crust and carefully place it over the seitan mixture.

10. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork and brush the top with soy milk or egg. Make a few slits in the top for steam to escape, and bake for 45 minutes at 375. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before serving - its hot!

From Food pics

From Food pics

Seitan Wings

EJ and I recently spent time in Denver, where we saw a lot of friends and family. Some of our dear, dear friends brought us to this AMAZING vegetarian restaurant called Watercourse. It was SO. GOOD. One of the appetizers we ordered were seitan wings, which EJ and I fell in love with. Of course when I came home, I tried to re-create them, and I was very pleased with the outcome.

I'm putting 2 versions here; the baked version is clearly healthier, but the fried version tastes better.

Ingredients (Fried):
Seitan
1/4 cup soy milk
2 tbs garbanzo flour (but I would bet that any flour would work well)
Panko bread crumbs
Veg oil, for frying.

1. Mix the milk and flour together with a fork until all lumps are gone.
2. Cover each piece of seitan with the flour mixture, and then toss in bread crumbs.
3. Heat oil in skillet. Fry each piece of seitan ~5 minutes on each side, or until brown and crispy.

Baked.
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a cookie sheet with oil, and bake the seitan about 15-20 minutes on each side, until brown and crispy.

Serve with your favorite sauce (buffalo, teriyaki, barbecue...EJ and I ate it with some peanut sauce).

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Seitan from scratch

Seitan is this uber healthy food made from what gluten flour. The main ingredients here are wheat gluten flour and water; everything else is for flavoring, so feel free to change it up. I found this recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance. Its a little time consuming, but its so worth it.

Ingredients:
2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tbs all-purpose flour
1 c cold vegetable broth
1/2 soy sauce
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloved garlic, minced super fine, or grated

Broth:
12 cups cold water or cold veg broth
1/2 cup soy sauce

1. In a large bowl, mix vital wheat gluten, yeast, and flour. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (not the broth).

2. Pour the wet into the dry and mix. Knead (i do this inside the bowl) for about 5 minutes. The dough should be spongy and elastic.

3. In the meantime, prepare a pretty large saucepot with the broth. Keep the broth cold though, this is important for the texture of the seitan.

4. Isa suggests rolling the seitan into a log about 10 inches long and cutting it into about 6 pieces of equal size. I felt like these would be HUGE pieces, so mine were a lot smaller. I made several logs about 4 inches long with about the width of four fingers. The smaller the pieces, the more spongy and soft the pieces will be is what I gathered.

5. Place the seitan pieces in the broth and bring the broth to a boil, partially covering the pot.

6. When the broth is boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for an hour (covered), turning the seitan periodically.

7. Turn the heat off and let the broth/seitan cool for 30 minutes. This helps the seitan become firm.

8. If you're not using the seitan right away, cut into chunks and store in the broth in a sealed container for a few days.