udon soup

Udon Noodle Soup

So, the cold(ish) spring weather is bringing me down.  Add in the stress of finals week, dust from spring cleaning, and spring allergies, and you have me scrambling for something warm and comforting that will clear my head (both literally and figuratively).  Vegan chicken noodle soup seems so...meh.  Plus I have a ton of bok choi from my CSA to use!  VEGAN UDON NOODLE SOUP TO THE RESCUE!!

Ingredients:
6 oz of Udon Noodles (I used whole wheat)
1/2 brick of tofu (about 8 oz)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups of Shitake Mushrooms (sliced into slivers)
5 Ramps (or green onions, or scallions, or onions)
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp ginger (grated)
5 cups veg broth (we used mock chicken broth)
1 tbsp white vinegar (or rice vinegar)
1/2 lime (+1 slice to garnish)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp chopped cilantro  (+some to garnish, if you're fancy)
Bok choi (or any greens)---as much as you want (in slivers)

1.  Slice tofu into tiny cubes.
2.  Heat up olive oil in a skillet (or wok).  Place the tofu cubes in the skillet and brown them.
3.  Add in mushrooms, ginger, ramps, and garlic.  Saute.
4.  In a large pot, add broth.  Put the contents of the skillet into the pot with the noodles.  Cook noodles in the broth according to package directions.
5.  Add in bok choi.
6.  Once noodles and bok choi are tender, add in vinegar and oil.
7.  Add in chopped cilantro.  Squeeze lime for some of the juice.
8.  Place soup in a bowl.  Garnish with cilantro and lime.
9.  Enjoy and feel better.

vegan pancakes!

"You Shouldn't Feel Guilty Eating These After a Work Out"  Vegan Pancakes

So, Sundays mean one of two things:  brunch or super intense work outs.
Usually I roll out of bed, exhausted from the week, and I decide to take the day off.
Or I wake up ready to take on the tread mill.  This week, both of those things happened...kind of.
I promised my husband vegan pancakes since we got some pure maple syrup in our CSA, but I also killed 650 calories on the treadmill, and after reading recipes for 500 calorie servings, I was torn.

Then it hit me!  I can have my (pan)cake and eat it too!  So, I came up with this kind of healthy pancake recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup nonmilk of your choice (I used vanilla soy)
1/4 cup oats (ground up into a powder)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 banana (smashed)
1 tbsp agave or maple syrup
1 tbsp ground flax meal
1 tsp of vanilla or more maple syrup. depend how you want your pancakes to taste.

Toppings:
Fruit, carob chips, cacoa powder, nuts, whatever you like.   I used strawberries.  Dustin used vegan chocolate chips.

Step one:
Heat a nonstick skillet on medium heat.
Step two:
Mix oats, flour, and flax.
Step three:
Add soymilk and mashed banana.
Step four:
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Step five:
Place 1/8 cup batter into a skillet.
Step six:
Heat until the edges brown.  Flip and cook evenly on both sides.
Step seven:
Eat with someone you love, or at least like enough to share awesome pancakes.  No pressure.

So, how healthy are these?  I have no idea.  I do know that they have whole wheat, oats, no pure sugar, no butter/eggs/milk, no oil, and contain fruit and flax.  Plus, they are super filling.  We made them little to flip easily, and I found myself struggling to eat the last pancake.

ENJOY! :)

CSA!

Hello!

Things have been super busy with bomb threats, finals, internship interviews, husband time.  I haven't done much cooking, but I did want to update with my CSA!  This is a picture of the first share (the second share was similar and not picture-worthy).  It's so nice to have fresh, local, organic produce being sent my way once a week.

I turned some of my veggies into a tofu scramble.  They are super easy and require no recipe--- you basically throw everything into a skillet and cook it up!  I added turmeric which gives it that yellow hue, but also has a lot of great health benefits (http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-health-benefits-of-turmeric.html).  I also added potatoes (because I love them), bok choi, and ramps.  It was simple, but delicious.  I steamed it in a cup of water so I didn't have to throw in oil.

This is a simple, go-to meal for finals month (let's be honest. I have liberal arts classes.  We don't really "do" finals.  We have papers that are due throughout the month.)

Happy eating!  & I apologize for being MIA (not the singer.  I would never apologize for being M.I.A. the musical artist because she's a genius).  Hopefully summer brings more updates!

unpretty meals.

How has it been one week already!?

Things have been crazy around here.  It's almost finals week, I've been spending a ton of time with Dustin, and on top of all of the madness in my life, my university is suffering a string of bomb threats (12 or 13 so far!) which have been disrupting class (3 of my classes).

Anyways, I've been eating out a lot and simple meals...neither of which are worth blogging about.

So, today I decided to make something intricate (but not too hard) for myself (and you wonderful people, too).


BEHOLD!

So what is this anyway?!  Is it a smoothie?  A vegan milkshake?
NEITHER!

This is the beginning to.....

COLD PLUM WILD RICE SALAD

Ingredients:
4 Plums
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar

1 cup wild rice (cooked)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp oil of your choice
1 tbsp agave (or sweetener of your choice)
5 mandarin oranges (1 whole, 4 in slices)

1/2 cup mint (chopped)
3 green onions (chopped)
Walnuts, pecans (optional)

Core and slice up plums (leave on skins) into small pieces.  In a bowl, add lemon juice & sugar.  Toss.
Heat a skillet on medium heat and place the plum mixture into the pan.
Heat plums until mushy.
Remove from pan and place into a blender.  Add oil, vinegar, agave, and juice of the one whole mandarin orange. Pulse until liquid.

In a large bowl, add rice, green onions, orange slices, and mint.  Pour plum sauce mixture over the rice.  Toss together until everything is well coated.

You can also add in some nuts for extra protein.

SERVE CHILLED OR ROOM TEMPERATURE!

   

Do not adjust the color on your monitors!  It IS that pink.  It looks weird but it's is absolutely delicious!