Enjoy it Natalie

Sunday was another day at work but it was topped off with another hike in Sweetwater Creek with my new hiking buddy, Rebecca. It was really great weather and amazing to get outside after a long weekend in the neon lights.

Monday was another day of house showing, which I really enjoy. Then it was off to the job for a night of playoff chatter with the co-workers. I think I watch more television this time of the year then any other, love the playoffs!

A few weeks ago, I spoke with my friend Natalie, who has been trying many of my recipes with her family. She had a request, anything with mushrooms. I love mushrooms so who am I to deny a friend their request? Enjoy it Natalie!


Roasted Mushrooms and Brussel Sprouts

1/3 of a large sweet onion (sliced)
2 large portobello mushroom caps
4 large shiitake mushrooms
5 large crimini mushrooms
5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1/2 pound of brussel sprouts
1/2 cup of woodear mushrooms
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of black pepper
1 tablespoon of fresh basil (chopped)
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon of hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of liquid smoke


Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Take each mushroom and cut it into different types of pieces, some slices, some cubed, etc. In a 13x9 baking dish, pour in the olive oil, oinions and garlic and place pan in the oven for 5 minutes until the oil in hot but not smoking. Cut the stems off the brussel sprouts and slice them in half. Once the oil is hot, add the mushrooms, brussel sprouts, salt and pepper and return to the oven. Allow to roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, much of the oil will have been cooked off by this point. Stir and add the remaining ingredients. Return to the oven for another 8 minutes and serve hot.



This was a nice savory dish and very earthy. The mushrooms each displayed their distinct flavors and were nicely complimented by the crunch if the brussel sprouts. This was the first time I had ever cooked with woodear mushrooms and they were fantastic!

Lemons!

As always, it was two long days at work. Saturday was a great day off. I had picked up some lemons recently and Ashley was over for lunch and we opted to make some lemon-aid. I am not a fan of the labor but I love fresh homemade lemon-aid! With the remaining pulp and peels, I made a nice sauce for some steamed vegetables for a nice lunch.


Steamed Vegetables in a Lemon Sauce

1 cup of carrots
1 cup of broccoli
1/2 cup of peas
1/2 cup of corn
1 tablespoon of lemon pulp
1 tablespoon of water
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Steam the broccoli, carrots (cut into matchsticks), peas and corn in a steamer until broccoli is a bright green. The carrots should require about 5 more minutes of steam time than the other vegetables. Set aside and cover.

Heat a pan to low / med heat. Add the lemon pulp and stir, slowing adding in the water. Vegetable broth can be used here but the flavor of the sauce is delicate do use a very subtle broth. Add the pepper and salt and stir well. Add the lemon zest and stir again. Reduce heat, do not get a "frying" heat. Much of the water will evaporate, drizzle the oil over the sauce and mix in. Add the vegetable and stir to coat.



After lunch, Ashley darted off to work and I headed out to the Vegan Bake Sale. Sadly, by the time I arrived most of the goodies were gone. I picked up a few things and chatted with some friends before heading around Marietta to go thrifting. I found some great plates and even a bad ass mug.


The real thrifting treasures were some dinning room chairs that were dirt cheap and in great condition. I grabbed 3, all different styles. I could not fit any more in my little car so I stopped there. Now I just need a good dinning room table. I actually feel like I am making a home.

Hiking and a good day

It has been a long but good day. In the morning I got up early and went for a hike at Sweetwater Creek. I had not been since November, when I moved into the house. As it turns out, it was not as far as I had remembered and well within driving distance for my shotty old car. Sadly, when my new hiking buddy, Rebecca, and I arrived we were promptly told that the "red" path was closed. I have always gone along the "red" path and occasionally the "blue" but never have I stepped foot on the "white" trail. To dull the sudden blow to the excitement of the red path, we were told that Wednesdays are free. It was a nice touch but not what we wanted.

Off to the "white" path. As we got into the woods, we saw several signs warning us of rattlesnakes. Yikes! Foolishly, shortly after reading and joking about the signs, I darted off the beaten path to an old building foundation. Looking around I quickly spotted a huge snake skin and we left to get back on the path.

Eventually, after Rebecca fell into the water, we snuck our way onto the "red" path and got a good several hours of hiking in. I can not wait to get back to Sweetwater! I love that place.


I was home shortly after 1pm and assembled my leaf blower and cleaned off my drive and walk way. Then Ashley and I went out to eat and even stopped to get a piece of cake at a great bakery that is right down the street from me. Then we went back to the house and relaxed for a bit. More basketball tonight!

GUTter CHECK!

Bards will sing about my heroics for ages. Children will tell inspired stories about my bravery. That may be a slight exaggeration but I was super heroic and brave! Despite a crippling fear of heights and ladders, I ventured to the roof to clean my gutters. It was disgusting but a nessecity of home ownership. Once I got up there, I started to panic but eventually settled down enough to get the job done. Ashley came up and got one side done too.

After the gutters cleaning, Ashley and I made some lunch. She has been making what she calls chicadillas. It is like a chic pea quesdilla with spinach and peppers. It was really great. My addition was some fried potato. I have been on a monster potato kick recently. I can not get enough.


Fried Potato with Cumin Seeds
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
3 med potatoes (cubed)
2 cups of water
2/3 cup of vegan margarine
2 tablespoons of vegan sour cream
1 tablespoon of cumin seeds1 tablespoon of onion (chopped)
2 teaspoons of paprika
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of turmeric


In a pot, bring the water to a boil and add the potato. Boil the potatoes until slightly al dente'. Removed from heat, strain and set aside.

In a saute pan, heat the vegan margarine on med heat until melted. Once the margarine has melted, add the onion, cumin seeds, and garlic and allow to fry for 3-5 minutes or until the garlic is aromatic. Then add the potato and fry for 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, and paprika. Gently stir the frying potatoes every few minutes until they get a nice golden hue. Once they are starting to brown, add the sour cream and stir in well. The sour cream will melt and mix in. Serve hot.

Late night dinner

Due to my crazy work schedule, I tend to eat at strange hours on occasion. Saturday, dinner came around 10:30pm but was well worth the wait. I made a seitan "chicken " cutlet with a gravy and a cream of asparagus soup. I love asparagus, it is such a great spring food and has been making appearances in many of my dishes. It was cold and rainy and it was the perfect soup day.

Cream of Asparagus Soup was very smooth and subtle but flavorful, light but filling. This is another recipe that uses some cashew cream. You could substitute it but it may taste slightly less creamy without it. Cashew cream is one of the best ingredients I have stumbled upon in the last year. It is extremely versatile and add much character.


Cream of Asparagus Soup

15 med pieces of asparagus
1 medium peeled potato (cubed)2 cups of water
1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons of onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon of cashew cream
1 tablespoon of vegan margarine
1 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of salt

In a pot, bring the water to a boil on med-high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the cubed potato, cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Strain and rinse.

Cut about 5 or 6 tips off of the asparagus and set aside for garnish. In a pot, bring the margarine to med-low heat and add the onions and remaining asparagus. Allow to fry in margarine until the onions are translucent. Remove from heat.

In a blender, add the vegetable broth, cashew cream, potatoes and asparagus mixture and puree. Puree until smooth and return to the pot. Add the salt and pepper and heat until hot. This will burn easily, keep the heat low and stir often. Not not let simmer. Top with set aside asparagus tips and serve.

Two long days.

Yesterday, I was making some lunch before work and thought it would be smart to make something extra to take with me. I seem to get hungry at some point during a 12 hour shift. I was going to whip up some creamy mashed potatoes to have with lunch and take to work for dinner. As I was boiling the potatoes, I realized that I did not have any soymilk. On a whim, I decided to throw together some country comforting potato salad. It was great, easy and very much like my nana used to make. Summer comfort foods are great, it was perfect.

Country Potato Salad

3 med red potatoes (cubed)
2 1/2 cups of water
1 cup of vegan mayonnaise1/2 cup of peas
1 tablespoon of onions (chopped)
2 teaspoon of paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dill
1 teaspoon of celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt


In a pot, bring the water to a boil on med - heat. Once the water is boiling, add the potatoes and allow to boil for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender but still slightly firm. If you over cook the potatoes they will turn to much when you try to assemble the salad. Once the potatoes are done, strain and chill until they are not longer even warm.
In a large bowl, combine all other ingredients other than the peas and mix well. Once The potatoes are cool, gently mix them into the vegan mayonnaise mixture until the potatoes are coated. Then gently mix in the peas until coated. Serve cold.


After a long night at work I came home to see Tato had come for the weekend and Ashley surprised me with some black and white cookies! Then I went right to sleep. A long two days at work ended nicely.

Food re-cap

Another long work day today, after a 15 hour day yesterday. Yuck. I can not wait until I can start working for myself and have more control over my time. In a few hours today i got the lawn mowed and worked on destroying some of the ivy in the back yard. The garden is coming together well and I have been using a lot of the herbs in recent dishes. I have no new recipes to share today but I do have some food pictures that I have forgotten to share.

Chocolate Mint Cake with White Chocolate Chips

Kiwi Strawberry Pie Crumble with Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream
Lentils with Chicken Scallopini, Asparagus, Potato Salad, and White Eggplant with a Mushroom Cream Sauce

Going to look at some more houses tomorrow morning. Then the rest of the day is off. No plans yet but I would like to get some more yard work done. We will see!

Big days

It was an busy and good day. I got up early to rush across town to get a special key for showing houses. After paying more fees, I rushed back to my side of town with my new toy which allows me access to nearly any foreclosure home in the state. After a few quick phone calls, I was showing houses. We looked at 5 houses that were all pretty decent. I really enjoy looking at houses. I hope that I make replace my jobby job with something I enjoy really soon.

When I got home, Ashley came over and we had lunch. A few days ago she tried to make her first vegan burger. She made it with chic peas and breaded it with the breading used in my Tofu Chicken Fingers recipe. She save one for me and I ate it for lunch. It was really good and made my mind race about some spin off recipes. I can not wait!


Then we headed out to a little hike. Just for a couple of hours but it was a good time and I got my first mini hike in of the season, albeit late. There were a throng of bugs but we had a fun time regardless. I climbed into a tree and we saw some cool things including a dragonfly (my mum loves them!).
Then it was home in time to make dinner before she needed to leave. I was lacking in good proteins to use until I saw a package of tempeh in the back of the fridge. I was on it! It is a rarely used but very much appreciated protein in my house and Ashley had never tried it. In fact, not only had she never tried tempeh but, she dislikes coconut and lime but has confidence in my flavors and went along with the meal. She enjoyed it more then I did when it was finished.


Tempeh in a Lime and Coconut Sauce

12 oz of tempeh (cubed)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 green thai chili peppers (chopped)
1/2 of an onion (chopped)
1/2 of a green pepper
1 cup of coconut milk
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of green onions (chopped)
1 teaspoon of cilantro (chopped)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of corn starch

In a saute pan, heat 1/2 of the oil on med-low heat. Saute the garlic, chili peppers, and onion until onion has a golden hue. Once the onion is done, add the coconut milk and water then mix well. Turn heat down to low and add the sugar, salt, corn starch, and lime juice and let simmer for 5 minutes.

In a frying pan, heat the remaining oil on med-high. Once the oil is hot, add the tempeh and allow to try for about 5 minutes or until the sides are beginning to brown. Add the green pepper (sliced) and stir to allow the opposite side of the tempeh to fry. Continue to flip and allow to fry until the green pepper is beginning to soften. Pour the coconut lime sauce into the tempeh, add the cilantro and stir well. Serve over coconut rice topped with some chopped green onion.

It is playoff basketball

It is playoff basketball. I had some exciting food plans for my Tuesday evening however, they got canceled and on the fly I opted to spend the evening watching basketball. No matter how unbelievable it may in fact be, I do have a few male friends. My friend Maurice and I are constantly talking about basketball and I called to see if he would like to watch the game together. He was into it and we made a plan. We took the game playoff watching to the next level and decided to head downtown and watch the game live! My first playoff game! We had a lot of fun and Maurice ate some weird fried shrimp at the arena (that I thought was sketchy) and paid the price.

Crawford cutting into the lane
Hawks setting up the offence
Johnson block

Horford block
Horford Dunk
Rookie of the Year candidate showing skills

Strangely, as we pulled up to the arena, with my eagle eyes, I spotted some Christians holding signs. I have no idea why they thought that being outside of a basketball game was a solid venue for getting out their doomsday message but I took full advantage. They were slightly creepy but more then happy to take a picture with me.

I promise, more posts about food very soon.

Basketball weekend!

The basketball playoffs began on Saturday night. As I have sited before, I began getting back into the game during my younger brothers and sisters high school basketball careers. My bother was exceptional and my sister became the 2nd highest scorer ever in her high school. I played many sports as a kid, mainly forced by a step father who never fulfilled his athletic dreams. Once I was given the option to play or not, I quickly balked at the idea and walked away. Something about basketball has always stuck with me and allowed me to become close with my family several years ago. Now, I am deep into the professional basketball game.

I rearranged my work schedule this weekend in order to catch more games. I saw 6 of the 8 and was fairly pleased with the results (despite the Lakers winning). Televised sporting events like this always draw up ideas of greasy comfort foods. Yum!

Homemade French Fries

Burrito
Sundae

I am currently still looking into some fun options for my vacation that at this point has been pushed back until the middle of June. Monday will be a day willed with errands to officially get my Real Estate licensee and my MLS codes. With Tue and Wed off I hope to get a lot of great things done, play a bit of catch up after a basketball weekend.