Vegan MoFo #4 Vegan Sushi

Welcome to Vegan MoFo day 4! When I fist signed up my goal was to just start posting again. But I've noticed a common thread my past 3 posts have had. They all have been easy dishes to use (or use up) things already in my fridge and pantry. So I'm making that my theme for this month - Easy Dishes Made From Refrigerator and Pantry Staples.  
 
My husband is a big fan of sushi, but we don't eat it very often. One package of nori lasts a long time, so we always seem to have some in the pantry. Rice, vinegar, bell peppers, carrots and sesame seeds are also staples in our house.

As for being simple, the first time I made sushi rolls it took me forever. But the more I've made them the easier it's gotten. There are some great videos on youtube if you'd like a visual on how to roll them.

For these rolls, I cooked the rice in a rice maker. While the rice was cooking I sliced up a green and a red bell pepper and a carrot. This gave me way more slices than I would need for the sushi rolls. The bell peppers will be used in another dish. The carrots I just munched on.

When the rice was done I tossed it with a little bit of vinegar then I got to rolln'. I made 2 rolls, one with the rice on the inside and one with rice on the outside with sesame seeds.
The sesame seed rolls were harder to cut so I left them bigger.

James was pleasantly surprised to come home for dinner and find these waiting for him. Now if we only could get the dog to do the dished we both would be happy :)
 
Happy Eating!


"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein   


 
 

Vegan MoFo Day 3 Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Today's dish is another quick throw together like yesterdays salad.

In the fridge I had 3/4 of a pint of cherry tomatoes that had to be used up soon. I decided to make a quick black bean and corn salsa.

Take 1 can of black beans and 1 can of corn rinse and drain. Throw them into a bowl. Dice tomatoes and add them to the bowl. I still had a couple of scallions left in the fridge so I diced them up along with a small onion and added the to the bowl as well. Next was a couple of garlic cloves (minced) and a handful of fresh cilantro (chopped).  For seasoning I added salt, pepper and some fresh lime juice.

This isn't very spicy so if you'd like some spice I would add a dash of cayenne pepper or dice up a jalapeno.   

To serve it I spooned it over cubed avocado.

 
Happy Eating!!


"An empty belly is the best cook." - Estonian Proverb

Vegan MoFo Day 2 - Wild Rice and Spinach Salad

 

 Happy Vegan MoFo day 2! I'm having fun checking out what everybody is doing for Vegan MoFo. In a few days I will share some of my favorite posts from other blogs. It's amazing how creative people are! It's getting me excited to get in my own kitchen!

 Today's recipe uses the leftover wild rice I had from yesterdays soup. It's a very quick and easy Wild Rice and Spinach Salad. My favorite thing about this salad is the the sweet crunch the bell peppers give it.

Like most of my cooking there isn't really a recipe for it. I kinda just look in my fridge and throw things together.

For this salad I started with a generous helping of fresh spinach, tossed in my left over wild rice and then chopped up 1 red and 1 orange bell pepper and a few scallions I also had leftover from the soup. Next I took a can of corn and a can of white beans, rinsed and drained them, and threw them in with everything else.

For the dressing I made a simple vinegrette. Take the juice from 1 lemon add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 garlic clove, salt, and pepper. Drizzle it over the salad and toss. Or if your lazy like me, I put the lid on the bowl and shake it :)

 

Happy Eating!


"Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat 2,000 of something." - Mitch Hedberg

Vegan MoFo 2014!

I have been very lazy this year.

 After the new year I had all these grand plans for everything I was going to accomplish including spending lots of time in the kitchen making yummy food. All the while taking photos and sharing them on this blog. Then, of course, things got busy. I did make plenty of food but I just never took the time to photograph my meals.

For the past couple of weeks I've been thinking about getting back into the groove of keeping up with my blog. I've missed blogging and I have found it's a great way to keep myself accountable, especially since I'm still working on losing weight. As I was thinking about all of this I was looking through some of my favorite blogs. I saw that Vegan MoFo was starting again, I always thought it looked like something fun to do, so I signed up. It will give me a great reason to really dive in and make some great food....and actually photograph it!

 
So for my first day of Vegan MoFo I made a Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup.

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegan butter
1 onion (diced)
4 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 cup flour
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 vegetable bullion cube
1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used almond)
3 cups cooked wild rice
1 1/2 cups brown rice (left over from last nights dinner)
2 celery stalks (diced)
1 package of button mushrooms (I quartered mine)
1 tsp garlic powder 
1-2 TBSP dried parsley
3-4 scallions (diced)
salt and pepper to taste


Directions
(Remember to cook the wild rice ahead of time according to package directions)

In a stock pot melt the vegan butter, add onion and saute until they are translucent.
Add garlic, cook for another min.
Add flour to make a rue, cook for about 2 min.
Whisk in vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil turn heat to low. Whisk often.
When the broth has thickened add water, vegetable bullion and non-dairy milk. Bring the soup back up to a boil then turn heat down to medium.
Add both rices, celery, mushrooms and scallions. Cook 15 min.
Last add garlic powder, dried parsley and salt and pepper. 

Enjoy!    

Print Recipe





I slip from workaholic to bum real easy.  ~Matthew Broderick


 

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season! I did! James and I had a house full of guests for almost 2 weeks. There were lots of laughs, games, presents and of course food.

With all the fun these are the only two photos I remembered to take. My tree and my homemade cupcakes (from scratch *patting myself on the back*).

I'm still working on the recipe for the cupcakes. Everyone loved them but I know they can be better.

I got the sprinkles at Bed, Bath and Beyond. They were too cute to pass up!


2013 was a good year. James and I bought our first home, we celebrated 5 years of marriage, I traveled quite a bit, and we had a lot of fun moments.

I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be even better!!


“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.” - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

A little Honesty

I have to be honest with you. I have gained weight again. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I have been on this roller coaster for a long time now and I want off! It seems I do really well for a period of time, I start feeling great physically and mentally, then I let something get to me and I get totally off track. I gain all the weight back. Weight that I worked really hard to get off. And what really gets me upset is that I gain back in weeks what took months for me to get off. But I guess there is a silver lining, I don't gain back more weight than I've lost.
 

So I'm back at the starting line.

 This is an up hill battle but it's one I'm determined conquer.  My sweet husband reminded me the other night that it's never too late to start again. Armed with his belief in me I will start again and maybe when I do succeed, these trials will make the final victory even sweeter. 



 “Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” - Helen Keller

     

Roasted Veggies and Bean Bake

Lately I've been trying to balance my plate at meals by selecting a grain, a vegetable, and a bean dish.

While this plate isn't much to look at, it turned out to be very satisfying and tasty. 

For the grain dish I made brown rice and quinoa. 

The bean dish was an onion and white bean bake.

And for the roasted veggies I did asparagus, onion, zuchinni, green bell pepper, and fennel. In the past I have shied away from fennel. I'm not a fan of licorice flavor and I was afraid that it would ruin whatever dish I threw it in. But, because I've been making it a habit to try news foods when I saw it at the grocery store I thought "Hey, why not." 

I grabbed the smallest bulb and headed home. 

My idea was to add it to roasted veggies and if I ended up not liking it I could just eat around it. 

While the veggies were in the oven I started to get nervous....the house was starting to smell like licorice!

The timer went off and I pulled the pan out of the oven and glanced at the fennel dubiously.

I let the veggies cool a bit and I snuck a taste of the fennel. To my surprise I really liked it! There wasn't the overpowering flavor of licorice, like I had expected. It had just the slightest hint of it and, it was closer to an onion than I had expected. Now I'm excited to cook with it again and I'm already thinking of dishes I want to try with it!!!


"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney