New Year's Eve Dinner

Goodness, this is not a good start to the new year! I meant to post this much earlier, alas.

I made a small dinner for a dear friend and myself.

 

Buckwheat crepes with almond tofu ricotta, mushrooms and spinach, and some potato leek & dill soup as well. And a simple greens salad. Yum yum yum.

 

My friend followed me around with his camera while I cooked, I guess it made me feel less dorky to be taking pictures of our food. Here I am (in part), serving it up.

And for dessert, baklava! I used the recipe from Extraveganza, except I subbed half the walnuts for pistachios and omitted the lemon zest, adding some rosewater instead (did you know that pistachios and rosewater are my favourite?!)

Check out the nutty flaky deliciousness! Mmmm...

And there was also mulled pomegranate juice. No alcohol for us.

Quick Summer Salad

I don't know about you, but during the summer months when it's hot I tend to want to eat mostly vegetables and fruits and nuts and seeds, and not want to cook too much. The reason why I haven't been blogging much lately is because I've been preparing a lot of salads with ingredients from the farmer's market, and they seem too basic to blog about (but no less delicious!).


This is a great summer salad, easy and fast. I imagine it would go great with barbeque'd tofu, veggie dogs or the like (like coleslaw). There's not even much prep-work involved - you can do all the shredding in a food processor.

Beet, Carrot and Cabbage Salad

Salad:
2 cups savoye cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
2 beets, shredded
1/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced

Dressing:
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup olive or flax oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave
½ teaspoon salt
a few turns of the pepper mill

Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Toss, and you’re done!

Cucumber Raita (sort of)

The truth is, I’ve never had raita at a restaurant or anything, so I could be completely wrong. But I got this book called Indian Vegetarian Cooking at Your House (by Sunetra Humbad and Amy Schafer Boger) from the library last week, and I thought that the Cucumber Raita might go well with the rest of the khichdi I made a couple of days ago. So I adapted the recipe in the book, and came up with this:


Cucumber Raita

1 large English cucumber, chopped
1 large handful cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
1 cup soy yogurt
2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
½ teaspoon salt
2 pinches cayenne

Combine the cucumber, tomatoes, cilantro and onion in a large bowl, and set aside. Toast the cumin and sesame seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, stirring constantly so they won’t burn, then let cool. Combine the yogurt, milk, salt and cayenne in a smaller bowl, then add the cumin and sesame seeds, mixing well. Pour the yogurt mixture over the chopped vegetables, and toss together. Done! Makes 4 big servings.

It’s probably not authentic at all, but this salad was good nevertheless – refreshing and spicy at the same time. I enjoyed it with the khichdi and some steamed broccoli.

The Other Night’s Dinner

I’ve recently discovered tofu for two and made their three-pepper tofu for dinner the other night. I breaded and baked the tofu at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, flipping the slices half-way through. Maybe less crispy than if I’d fried the slices, but still yummy. I had it alongside some cucumber, Grated Carrot and Daikon Salad from Vegan Express and brown rice. A very satisfying meal. Just to prove that I eat healthy savoury things too (not just sweets, I swear!).

The next night I made baked paprika yam sticks from Extraveganza to serve with some of the leftover baked tofu, and, inspired by some of the yogurt dipping sauces described in tofu for two, I devised one of my own:

Impromptu Yogurt Chili Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

½ cup soy yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 pinch cayenne
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pinch cane sugar

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Makes about ½ a cup.

Sorry, no photos, but you can imagine it, right?

Spring Salad: Greens + Strawberries + Pecans = Yum!

This is the salad I’ve been enjoying for lunch all week: mixed greens, mixed sprouts, a sliced strawberry or two, a handful of toasted pecans, and a dressing of fresh lemon juice and hempseed oil. Too simple to call a ‘recipe’, but so tasty, I think I could eat it for another week and not be sick of it still. Spring = lots of fresh salads. I love spring!