Eat This Not That: Lettuce at least try

I'm trying to my watch my diet. So I am starting my own "Eat this not that" cause it's better for you challenge. So I tried the lettuce burger today. It was delicious! Everything I love about a burger with only minimum sacrifice. Like skipping the fudge on brownie ice cream sundae, is it really worth the 40 extra minutes on the elliptical? I think not.

It was my first time trying this at home. I get it all the time at Red Robin. I do it for the fries! I figure 3 baskets of fries is worth 2 slices of bread lol. Anywho, it was so easy. And I didn't miss the bread. I definitely suggest using a large amount of lettuce to keep ingredients in. Other than that...treat like a normal burger.

(Please excuse small Pink dog in pic. He was my sous chef for the day)

My Herb Wall

I finally got my indoor herb garden going. I'm starting with some good basics: Rosemary, Basil, Mint, and Cilantro. This will be trial and error...I'll keep you posted.

Oils and Vinegar

Like most cooks I love new flavor enhancers. While doing my 2nd favorite pastime, shopping. I found a cute little shop in the mall that sells oils and vinegars. Many of the oils and vinegars were infused with different kinds of flavors. Olive oil is easy to infuse if you have a little time and patience. You also need a lot of what you plan on infusing your oil with. And it'll need to be cooked low for 10 mins. Garlic (10 cloves) and lemon (2 lemons) are excellent oil infusing options. They have strong flavors to permeate the oil. And they work well in a lot of recipes.

Since I don't really have the time, I choose to buy my oils and vinegars already infused. Here are the ones I picked up:

Mango vinegar
Fig vinegar
Garlic Olive oil
Lemon Olive oil
Orange Rosemary Vinaigrette

I've already made some veggie lamb with a a mango sauce using my new oils and vinegars. I used the mango and fig vinegar and lemon oil to marinate it. Then baked it off covered. I also used some frozen mango for flavor and texture. Sorry no pics.

Yellow Corn Grits with Veggie Kielbasa and Mixed Peppers

I went into the grocery store for regular grits because I couldn't remember if I had some at home. But I  couldn't find them and the children were getting antsy. So I grabbed the only grits I could find...yellow corn grits. *shrug* there's a first time for everything and I do love a cooking challenge. So here we are. First, let me say this was a good choice for this dish. Next, let me say these are more involved than your average grits. They are not as fine, so they have a grittier texture and a heartier taste. I found a recipe online and tweaked it a bit as I do most of my recipes.

Here it is:
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup of yellow grits
1/3 cup of pepper jack cheese (optional)

Boil broth and 1/2 cream and 1 tablespoon of butter. Once it comes to a boil add grits, reduce to a simmer. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, add the rest of the cream and butter. Mix in cheese.

Meanwhile saute your peppers and onion. Any color take your pick. This week I let my toddler chose because she loves raw peppers. Saute using olive oil, and about a tablespoon of butter (you'll thank me). And salt to taste.

I used the Tofurky Kielbasa sausage. This was a fantastic choice! I used my griddler to grill my kielbasa.

Next assemble and eat!

I'm back! With buttermilk biscuits and fried gluten

It's been a while! But I'm back and ready to share more recipes. So being vegetarian doesn't stop me from having some meat lovers favorites like fried chicken and biscuits dripping with sauce! To make the "chicken" I tried a new gluten recipe. The texture was better the first day. It gets tougher once it sits in the fridge, so bring to room temperature before using. 

Seitan:

1 cup vital wheat gluten

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 McKay chicken seasoning

1 teaspoon onion powder

3/4 cup of vegetable broth or water

Mix dry ingredients and then add liquid. Gluten will immediately start to gelify. Cut "meat" into small patties. They will expand in the oven a bit so be sure to account for that. Bake in vegetable broth for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Make sure you check on the patties occasionally so they won't dry out on you, flip at around 30 min mark.

Breading:

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

Soak seitan in buttermilk for 30 mins or even overnight add some hot sauce for depth of flavor. Dip seitan in flour mixture, egg, and then again in flour mixture. And fry! for delicious crispy goodness. Place on biscuit with sauce of your choice and enjoy. I prefer Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo sauce drizzled with honey.

Buttermilk Biscuits:

2 cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

7 tablespoons butter (frozen for 5 to 10 mins)

1 cup of buttermilk

1 tablespoon butter, melted (optional)

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter. This is done easily in the food processor, pulse until but gritty. Gradually add buttermilk, until mixture starts to form a ball. Don't overmix. Flour counter or cupboard and roll out dough. I usually use a glass dipped in flour to cut out my biscuits cause I'm fancy like that lol. But you can be creative and use a cookie cutter if that suits you. Bake at 350 degrees for 13 mins or until golden brown. For even more decadence brush with butter after removing from the oven.

Meal recreations - BBQ Salmon

Going out to eat is one of my favorite pastimes. But it's not always practical. So I took up another hobby in conjunction with my current hobby. Learning to cook my favorite restaurant meals. One of the top ones was (they took it off the menu), The Cheesecake factory's bbq salmon with mashed potatoes, corn succotash, and fried onions on top. Yummy!!

For the mashed potatoes, I use red potatoes (6 small ones) with the skin on. Boil them, drain, mash, add 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2 cup of milk, salt/pepper to taste.

BBQ'd salmon, I broil mine for 3 mins on both sides covered in barbecue sauce, after I sear it on both sides lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the corn succotash, I decided to just use frozen mixed veggies. Boil until just cooked, so veggies are still slightly firm. Salt and pepper to taste.

Then I assemble, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, salmon (little extra bbq sauce), and fried onions on the top. So simple and much cheaper.

Christmas Benefit

Every year our church has a Christmas benefit concert. This year we raised money to aide in the fight against Ebola. This is my second year catering this event. It's always so much fun to do because I can do anything. The main problem usually is lack of help. So many people travel for the holidays, so it's hard to get enough volunteers. So I end up doing foods that are both convenient, delicious and fun.

Twice baked potatoes (originally I wanted them to be potato skins, almost the same thing, less prep. In my opinion a lot easiest construction-wise, but they still turned out delious.)These are super simple to make, but take a while because of the baking. First, bake your potatoes at about 450 degrees for 45 mins, longer for bigger potatoes. Next, scoop at the insides into a bowl, leave a little potato inside for structure purposes. Once you have all the insides scooped out, add all your favorite things. For me this means cheese, chives, sour cream, and baco-bits , and seasoned salt to taste. Scoop the mixture back into the potatoes and bake again until cheese melts. Serve and enjoy. And remember skins are edible too, so enjoy the whole potato.

Next, veggie turkey rollups. These are super easy. All you need is a tortilla or sandwich wrap, veg. turkey, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and a condiment of choice. I used mustard, but hummus, mayo or even vegenaise would have also gone nicely. Roll up and slice.

This is perhaps my most versatile dish. And it uses the most basic ingredient, Grand's biscuits. These biscuits are no longer just for breakfast, as they're commercials now show. This year I rolled them out and stuffed them with cheese and topped them with a herb butter mixture for a garlic bread taste. Last year I used them to wrap a meatball and cheese in then topped them with marinara sauce. Divine! Three simple steps: stuff, bake and serve. You hardly break a sweat.

If it ain't broke don'w fix it Caesar salad. Need I say more.

I never have a party without fruit. Whether it's in my water or straight up, it's a must have at all my affairs. But even fruit sometimes can stand a little jazzing up. But not too much as to distort there're flavor. First, try to always choose things that are in season when dealing with fruit. This ensures that you get the best and ripest fruit. I went with strawberries (I gave them a light dusting of sugar, very light, to bring out their juices), blueberries, and kiwi. I added basil for a nice palate cleanser on the end. Mint would have worked also. Herbs make fruit pop, and bring out otherwise muted flavors. I use this trick in water also, basil and strawberry water, lemon and mint, the combinations are endless. Toss and voile! 

A southern classic, Banana pudding. So simple, yet so often badly done. This delectable dessert calls for 4 ingredients: vanilla pudding, Vanilla wafers, whipped cream and bananas. I seen it made with condensed milk…not a fan, it's very soupy. Ick! Use these 4 ingredients, have them in abundance, layer and served. Preferably after being chilled for a few hours to soften the cookies. You want them soft but not completely moist, at least the first go round.

Lastly, not pictured, was my mint lemonade. I made a quick simple syrup, equal parts sugar and water, tossed in a hand full of mint and boiled for about 20 mins. Once it cooled I added it to a lemonade mix with more water and served. In a smaller setting fresh lemonade would have been a lovely touch, but with over 200 mouths to feed, the mix it was.

More than the the food we raised over $12,000 at the benefit concert at aide in the fight against Ebola. And that made it all worth it!