Weekly Tidbits: Cauliflower + Sweet Pepper Casserole

I tossed this together from the ingredient in my fridge.  I had this big plan to make fresh pesto to toss with peas and fettucine tonight, but....I was a couple days late on the basil.  It had gone bad.  So what else was in there?  Cauliflower that needed to be cooked up ASAP.

I had some cream cheese leftover from the Banana Cake earlier this week, so I used that as the base to my gratin, I added a little spice, red pepper (sale!) and breadcrumbs to turn it all casserole-like.  Pop it in the over and delicious!  Here is how it goes.

Cauliflower + Sweet Pepper Casserole

Ingredients: 


1 head of cauliflower, rinsed and sliced
1 red pepper, large diced
1 cup of cream cheese
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp of Joe's Stuff (cajun seasoning)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375.
2. First steam your cauliflower. While the cauliflower is steaming until tender, toss your diced red peppers into a pan with some oil to soften and brown around the edges. Toss together the cauliflower and peppers into a medium-sized baking dish.

3. Next prepare the sauce:  In a small saucepan on low heat, combine cream cheese, broth, and seasonings.  Stir until combined and beginning to bubble at the edges.

4. Pour the cheese cause over the vegetables in the pan, gently turning them with a spatula to coat.  Once combined, dust the top of the casserole with a combination of bread crumbs and shredded Parmesan.
5. Place in the oven and bake until the top is golden and melted.

Weekly Tidbits: Avocado Grilled Cheese

I felt inspired to tackle the classic grilled cheese after reading an article written by Ruth Reichl for Gilt Taste on several small changes you can make to take your grilled cheese from ordinary to extraordinary.  Although I think we all have to admit that it's not physically possible to make a bad grilled cheese.  It's cheese and bread.  Even if you fail to melt the cheese or burn the crust, it's still cheese and bread!  Frankly, I'll eat one in pretty much any condition.

I have loved the classic white bread and Velveeta grilled cheese since childhood.  On a faster and similar note, I used to eat cheese pouches (Hoffman Super Sharp + Pita Bread + 45 sec microwave) for lunches in high school.  Or breakfasts. Or snacks.  Did I mention I love cheese?

As I've grown older, I've experimented with new variations.  Whole grain, seeded, honey and oat breads.  I've combined provolones, cheddars, swiss, monterrey jack and brie.  I've rotated in tomatoes, faux ham, spicy mustards, even peanut butter on occasion.  I've also always known that the key to a melted, golden edged grilled cheese is patience and low heat.

So not everything Ms. Reichl describes in this article is new to me.  But what really turned the tables on me in the article was her suggestion to coat the outside of the sandwich not with butter, but with mayo.  Mayo!  I really hate mayo.  I was raised on Miracle Whip Light and have the same sort of violent opinion on the matter that I reserve for Yankees vs. Red Sox debates (clearly, the Yankees are smarmy, overpaid, juiced up egotists that have never deserved a single World Series win).  So when I gave this savvy suggestion a shot with MW instead - and just as awesome, adding a little tang to the sandwich, while perfectly browning the bread.

Another great suggestion was shredding the cheese as opposed to laying on slices.  Most cheeses aren't overly processed and meant to melt at the drop of a hat like pasteurized cheese product, so by grating the cheese you increase the surface area exposed to the heat and it melts so much faster!  Bravo, Rachel!



Here is a little summary of the new and improved grilled cheese sandwich:

2 slices of Whole Foods 365 Organic Mighty Multigrain Bread
1 tbsp Miracle Whip Light, divided in two parts
3 slices of deli-sliced Havarti (or grate if you buy a hunk)
1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella
1/2 avocado, 1/4" slices lengthwise
Spectrum coconut oil spray

1. Spray your nonstick frying pan with a light layer of coconut oil and heat to medium.  Toss in the slices of avocado and saute, flipping them periodically, until a light gold crisps the edges.  Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Re-spray the pan with a little more coconut oil (or use butter depending on preference and health concerns - although you're eating a grilled cheese sandwich so I assume health isn't your primary focus in constructing a meal) and place on high heat.
3. Slather the miracle whip on one side of each piece of bread, and place one, miracle whip side down, into the pan once it has heated up.  Immediately drop the temperature to low heat.  
4. Sprinkle or lay your cheese onto the first piece of bread, and top with the second, miracle whip side facing upward. The first side will take on the order of 5 minutes or so.  During this time watch some hulu or wash some dishes. 
5. Once the bottom half of the cheese begins to melt, it's ready to flip.  At this stage, the bread shouldn't be golden, merely a little shiny and softer.  Repeat this melting process on the second side, but don't flip again until the bottom side is a golden brown.  This should be faster than the first half.
6. Once you're back to your original side, grab some tongs or use your fingers to peel up the top piece of bread.  Layer your lightly sauteed avocado in the cheese.  Allow the sandwich to cook until the first side browns to match the second.  
7. Remove from heat, cut in half and serve! (I enjoyed mine with some mango salsa!)

Weekly Tidbits: Tomato and Cranberry Bagel

I made an exciting trip to Panera Bread this week, when I had a massive craving for a bagel and cream cheese.  Rather than just one, I ended up grabbing a half dozen of the Cranberry Walnut Bagels along with their new Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese.  Yum.

What I always forget when surrounded by the scent of fresh breads and soups at Panera is that I never eat bagels, let alone at home.  It takes me weeks if not months to eat six of those puppies, so they always end up in the freezer, which seriously dents their freshness.

So in an attempt to have a well portioned lunch, I tossed together half of a toasted bagel, a slathering of the deliciously sweet cranberry orange cream cheese - and what really made, left it fresh and clean were the halved grape tomatoes I popped on top.  Something about the cranberry-orange-tomato combo that sent me straight to heaven.

Highly recommended way to get in a quick, filling lunch!

Weekly Tidbits: Apples and Cheddar

Sausage, sauteed apples, sharp cheddar and an egg over easy

I love to experiment in the kitchen when I get the chance and this past week was no exception.  My recipes aren't always post-worthy in their own right, but really just a smattering of ideas or old favorites.  Nothing ground breaking and well documented.  Or rather, I did photograph them, which is why you're going to get a sample.

One of my favorite flavor combos is apple pie and sharp cheddar cheese.  Nothing goes better with apple pie, not even vanilla bean ice cream, than a nice aged sharp white cheddar.  The salt perfectly offsets the sweet fruit. I've been having cravings since Thanksgiving.  So Sunday morning, I decided that I was going to tackle it.  I was going to have it for breakfast.  That's right.  Pretty ballsy.

But what else goes great with apple? Sausage. That must be why they have those apple-smoked sausages everywhere.  So here are the meal deets:

2 veggie sausage links
1 chopped apple, sauteed to soften and cook down (pan fried)
Cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of salt to taste in the apple sauce
Sliced sharp cheddar
A fried or poached egg on the side

I used the Boca veggie sausage links.  I find that a lot of the vegetarian sausage substitute have almost a metallic flavor to them. It's weird.  I don't know if it's the spices or what, but I find that they really taste best when eaten with other flavors - maple syrup, egg yolk, apple sauce, etc.  On their own it's a bit iffy and I try not to think too hard about what's in them.  I suppose ignorance is bliss whether your sausage is made from soy or meat.

In any case, this is definitely going to be a go-to meal in the future.  If you want a bit of fiber or a more filling meal, I would lay your warm sauteed apples over a nicely softened bed of shredded wheat.  I was planning to do that, but realized that after months of neglecting the shredded wheat in my cabinet, that I'd finally tossed it out last week.  Oops.  So I added in an egg cooked over easy for a little more substance and protein.

I enjoyed this decadent breakfast with mug of coconut macaroon coffee mixed with eggnog.

Weekly Tidbits: Mushroom and Cheese Vegan Breakfast Sandwich

Inspired by a suggestion for a quick and easy vegan breakfast sandwich at Healthy Happy Life, I ventured into the slippery, oily world of vegan cheese.  Let me start by saying that I didn't necessarily go into this with a lot of optimism.  I am a from-the-heart cheese lover, so faced with the oily wet vacuumed packed vegan "cheese" I was highly skeptical.  But the original recipe assured me that the vegan gourmet cheddar was as sharp as it gets - and I love sharp.

Now I didn't go by the book on this.  For one, I cut out the pumpkin butter.  Maybe this was an elemental part of the breakfast sandwich?  I'm not sure.  I just thought  breakfast patty + cheesy mushrooms = bliss.  Not quite.

My breakfast sandwich was made up of the following:

1 Ezekial 4:9 English Muffin
1 thin slice of Gimmie Lean Sausage
5 mushrooms, sliced
2 slices of Vegan Gourmet Cheddar
Earth Balance butter to soften english muffins

The biggest question I was left with was:  How do you make vegan cheese melt?  I don't think any amount of pumpkin butter could have helped me with that one.

 

Well, I didn't figure it out. I tried throw some into the hot frying pan and it sort of soften, but not really melted. Somehow the original sandwich recipes turned out fantastic (at least according to the photos) and I'm wondering if it has something to do with the slow heat of the panini press. I merely had my frying pan and spatula on hand to recreate the press-making conditions. This is going to require some more explanation. If anyone else has experience with melting vegan cheese, please let me know. Perhaps I needed a shredded version?

Or maybe I should just accept a cheeseless lifestyle...
 
In any case, my final product looked like this following:



I still really like the idea of this sandwich, but it needs some major improvements before I start whipping it up on a regular basis.  Hopefully I'll be back with some changes and alternative fixings soon!

Weekly Tidbits: Brown Bagging Lunch as a Vegan

Following yesterday's theme on my brown bagged breakfasts, I thought I'd also share my newest, most favorite vegan lunch go-to!  At this stage, I've eaten this for lunch almost every day for the past three weeks, so it really doesn't get old.  It may, however, get old when I run out of super sweet grape and cherry tomatoes from my garden.  Will store-bought ring in just as delicious?  I'm dubious.

Now my classic vegetarian lunch combo goes like this:


Faux meat burger or cutlet (Quorn, Morning Star Farms, Boca, Meredith Farms)
+
2 cups of roasted vegetables (zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, spinach)
+
1/2 cup of a grain/fiber (rice, yukon gold potato, couscous, barley)

My greatest discovery last year were Quorn products.  The juicy chick'n cutlets required nothing but a little warm up.  Texturally appealing, not remotely dry, perfect to dress up or have plain.  I would snack on them for kicks.  Excellent source of protein.  The drawback?  They aren't vegan.  They use egg whites as a binder.  Thus they have fled my diet just as quickly as they arrived.  I'm back to the classic veggie burger brands and homemade options like seitin and TVP.  In my sorrow I have rejected the classic lunch combo above for newer, greener pastures.

In comes a newly discovered passion for hummus.  Not just any old hummus, but Sabra and Eat Well Enjoy Well.  Both of these brands have super creamy, moist, flavorful hummus.  Sabra is fairly classic and tops off the hummus with a spoonful of chopped ingredients (peppers, chillis, garlic), while Eat Well Enjoy Well incorporate revolutionary hummus flavors and hummus bases (edamame, white bean, yellow lentil) that also retain that tasty moist, easily spreadable hummus topped with fresh chopped ingredients.  Honestly, I'm a little more in love with EWEW than Sabra, although it's a bit more difficult to get your hands on.

So if I want hummus for lunch, then what's the easiest way to bring it along in my purse?  In a wrap!  And not just any wrap, my favorite buttery soft, richly flavorful, high-protein, omega-ladden Joseph's Lavash bread.  I swear, no one is paying me for these posts.  I just honestly love these brands and will wax poetic when a food product worms its way into my heart.

Thus comes my favorite go-to lunch wrap:

Spicy Hummus Wrap

3-4 Tbsp Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus or EWEW Spicy Yellow Lentil Hummus
1 Joseph's Lavash Square
1/2/-3/4 cup of garden fresh sweet grape or sunburst tomatoes, chopped into quarters
A fistful of fresh spinach leaves
2 slices of faux deli meat

Roll it up, wrap it in aluminum foil and toss it into your bag.

Weekly Tidbits: Quick Breakfasts Turned Vegan

Unfortunately I started this blog the week before I went on a two week business trip/vacation.  So while I indulged in unexpected foods (that I didn't have the forethought to thoroughly document), the blog itself took an immediate break before really getting off the ground.  I am, however, happy to say that I'm back, focused and with a dozen foodie topics to catch up on!

Now, as I mentioned in my last post, I shifted my lacto-ovo vegetarian diet to a full-fledged non-ethically driven vegan diet.  When I say non-ethically, I mean that I'm not bemoaning the manufacturing process of refined sugar (bone char) nor shedding tears of the plight of enslaved honeybees (although I do support and buy my honey from local beekeepers who practice sustainable, organic beekeeping).  And after a full month of eating (almost completely) vegan, I've realized that while I prefer this diet, I'm going to continue to call myself a regular vegetarian who simply predominantly eats vegan.

When you clean up your diet for health reasons, it's the overall healthier trend that has the long term impact.  When I eat out, it isn't always possible or enjoyable to parse down the ingredients of each item on the menu.  So as long as a minute dairy or egg consumption is atypical and relegated to special occasions, I think I'll still live for 200 years.  Just kidding.  105 years.

So what have I been up to day to day?  I almost always make my own meals and rarely eat out.  Over the past few years, I developed a rotation of lunches and breakfasts that were both easy and delicious.

Breakfasts:
Chobani Greek Yogurt Plain + fresh berries + agave nectar
Biochem Whey Vanilla Protein Shake + flaxseed + frozen berries
Lara Bar (on the go convenience!)
Nature's Path Optimum Slim cereal + almonds + flaxseed + fat free milk

Now when I decided to take this crash course in being vegan, I definitely could have stuck to my lunches, but my breakfasts would need a tune up.  And that tune up came in the form of oatmeal - both filling and nutritious with tasty add-ins.

My favorite oatmeals are the Better Oats single-serve packets.  They are made from organic whole grains with a delicious sprinkling of whole flaxseeds.  Now I don't own a microwave, which the packaging seems to demand, but I've found a way around it.  I pop the dry oatmeal into a round tupperware dish with a cover.  I add 3/4 cup of hot water directly into the bowl, and then slap on the cover to let it sit and absorb for 5-10 minutes.  During this time, I finish doing my hair or making my lunch for the day.

I found that of the Better Oats flavors, I prefer the less-sweet versions.  When I picked them up originally, I just wanted a plain instant oatmeal - no preservatives or sugary flavors.  So I typically stick to the Raw Pure and Simple Bare and the Raw Pure and Simple Chai Spice for when I want a little extra flavor (both salty and sweet).  The Oat Revolutions don't appear to be vegan for the most part, but the Abundance Apple and Cinnamon is also delicious without being overly sweet.

Naked oats with raspberries, chopped apples, almond slivers, cinnamon and local sustainable honey.

I add chopped banana, chopped apple, a little cinnamon, sliced almonds or some extra flax into the oatmeal and paired with a disposable spoon, I can chow down on my way to work!

On-the-go oatmeal.