Quick Pea Soup

Posted: August 30, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Made this for Khara and I to try one of the days she stayed with me. It was okay, but probably not something I’ll make often, to be honest.

Quick Pea Soup (from 15 min gourmet vegetarian)

2 tablespoons butter
½ cup coarsely chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups vegetable stock
1 (16 oz.) bag frozen peas, thawed
dash of ground white pepper
½ cup milk
dash of nutmeg

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, till tender.
2. Stir in the vegetable stock, peas and white pepper.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.
4. *Transfer the mixture to a blender and process till smooth.
5. Return the mixture to the pan.
6. Add the milk and nutmeg.
7. Stir constantly till the mixture is heated through.
8. Adjust seasoning to taste.

*This recipe would definitely be better if I had blended it. Since I do not yet own a blender I usually have to mash things. This is not really a recipe that is nicely mashable. Definitely use a blender if you have one.

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BBQ tofu & Southwest Pinto Beans

Posted: August 27, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Okay, so…I made these recipes up myself one night as I was fiddling around in the kitchen with some tofu and a bottle of bbq sauce. Sadly, I’ve waited so long to post this that I can’t recall exactly what I put into these things. So I’m going to give this a shot and give you a general idea.

BBQ Tofu

PART 1:
a gallon-sized plastic bag
2-3 pieces of wheat bread
flax seed
dried dill
black pepper
dried oregano
dried basil
red pepper flakes
16. oz block of extra firm tofu

1. Leave the bread out overnight and throughout the next day to harden a bit and make it easier to crumble.
2. Drain the tofu.
3. Combine the spices and flax seed to taste in a gallon sized ziploc bag.
4. Add in the bread, crumbled or ripped into smaller pieces.
5. Seal the bag and shake to mix the breads and spices.
6. Add the tofu and shake to coat it as best as possible.

PART 2:
BBQ sauce
tomato paste
spices to taste

1. Empty the contents of the gallon bag into a skillet with hot oil.
2. Cook tofu and bread mixture for a while, till brown.
3. Add in the BBQ sauce and some tomato paste (I like mine a little sweeter which is why I added this in).
4. Add extra spices to taste.
5. Cook the mixture for 10-15 minutes or till it cooks down and looks more like a sloppy joe mixture.

Dump over slices of wheat bread, add a little grated cheese and enjoy!

Southwest Pinto Beans

1 can pinto beans
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
salt
black pepper
red pepper flakes
bbq sauce
flax seed

1. In the same pan that you just used to make the BBQ Tofu (taking advantage of leftover bbq sauce-y goodness), saute the onions and green peppers till tender.
2. Add pinto beans.
3. Add in spices to taste. Stir and cook 1 minute.
4. Add in flax seed and bbq sauce (about 2 tablespoons or to taste).
5. Cook 5-7 minutes or till everything is bubbling up all nice and gloopy.

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Cauliflower Potato Soup with Nutmeg

Posted: August 27, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

This recipe is from the “La Dolce Vegan” cookbook, which is fast becoming my favorite cookbook for interesting, easy vegan recipes. There’s a link to buy this book on Amazon.com on the Cookbooks tab above. This is a cookbook that I recommend for both vegans, vegetarians and those who like meat as well. After all, we all need our veggies sometimes.

Cauliflower Potato Soup with Nutmeg

1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups vegetable stock
1 medium potato, chopped
2 cups cauliflower cut into bite-sized pieces
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup milk

1. In a soup pot on medium heat, sauté the onions and carrots in oil till the onions are translucent.
2. Add the vegetable stock, potatoes, cauliflower, cumin, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer till the potatoes are cooked.
4. Stir in milk.
5. Take the pot off the heat and with a potato masher, mash the vegetables till the soup is the consistency you prefer.
6. Return pot to heat. Reheat and serve.

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Pasta and Bean Soup

Posted: August 18, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Made this on Thursday night and it was really nice. I’d say from prep to cook time it took less than 30 minutes. From the “Gourmet Vegetarian” book (link on the cookbooks page).

Pasta and Bean Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
black pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup spaghetti, broken into 1-inch lengths

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally till tender.
4. Stir in the remaining ingredients except the pasta.
5. Increase the heat to high.
6. When the liquid begins to boil, stir in the pasta.
7. Reduce the heat to medium.
8. Cover and cook till the pasta is tender.

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Berries with Honeyed Yogurt

Posted: August 18, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

This was the other recipe from the new cookbook that I made for our breakfast (more like brunch, actually) gathering at Mike & Jake/Valerie’s apartment. Super easy and tasty. I know this sounds kind of crazy…but this actually tasted a bit like cheesecake.

Berries with Honeyed Yogurt

8 oz. fresh berries (I used blueberries, strawberries & raspberries)
a strip of unwaxed lemon zest
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
a pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon water
2 3/4 cups vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup honey

1. Put a few of your berries aside to top this dish at the end.
2. Put the remainder of the berries in a saucepan on low heat.
3. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of water.
4. Heat gently for 3 minutes or till the berries begin to soften. When I made this the raspberries started to break down before the other berries were ready. I ended up cooking it a little longer so that it turned into a juicy berry mixture.
5. Let the mixture cool. Or not. I didn’t. I went right ahead with the next step.
6. Spoon the berries into glasses (they’re talking some kind of large shot glass).
7. Add the yogurt and the honey. I did this in steps…I swirled some honey on top of the warm berries, waited a minute, put the yogurt on top of that and then made another more artsy swirl of honey on the top of the yogurt.
8. Top with the berries you saved and serve.

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Mushroom Madness

Posted: August 17, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

So after arriving back in Flagstaff a little over a week ago, I received a welcome home present from my friend Brian. It was a new cookbook! Excitement plus! You can find a link to buy this lovely cookbook on the cookbooks page. Anyway, it had this great brunch idea for mushrooms on toast that we decided to try the next day at a breakfast gathering. We got back to Mike’s house only to discover that we had no bread, but it didn’t really matter because the mushrooms were so good by themselves that we ate them up super fast. This is not the most involved or complex recipe, in fact, pretty much anyone could think of it. However I’d never thought to try it yet and it was delicious so here it is.

Mushroom Madness

As many button mushrooms as you think you can eat
butter
salt
pepper

1. Saute the mushrooms in the butter till cooked through, adding salt and pepper to taste as they cook.
2. If you have toast, put them on it. If not, it doesn’t matter, they’re just yummy.

I also made another recipe from that same cookbook for breakfast that day. I’ll be posting that up tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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Stuffed Flank Steak

Posted: August 10, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

One of the culinary achievements of my summer was making this stuffed steak that I saw in one of Karen’s cooking magazines. I offer you here, on this blog, the recipe and all the mistakes that I made so you never have to make them yourselves.

One thing I wish I’d known before this recipe is how to buy meat, specifically that of the steak variety. I went to the butcher’s counter in the local grocery store and told him the kind of steak that I needed and the amount and he gave me two pieces equaling that. What I didn’t think of (which now that I look back on the exchange, I should’ve thought of this right away) is that the recipe calls for a SINGLE piece and that two pieces was probably not the best idea. So that meant that I had to skewer the meat on TWO sides. Since I had to do that, I didn’t feel so confident putting the meat on a grill so I ended up broiling/baking it instead. This wasn’t a bad move, it still tasted great (I didn’t eat it OBVIOUSLY, but Jake and Oran did), it’s just a different way of doing things.

So onward with Le Recipe:

Stuffed Flank Steak

To make the stuffing:
Creole Hash Brown Stuffing:
4 strips thick-sliced bacon, diced
2 cups shredded potatoes (I bought frozen hash browns)
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons Creole or Cajun seasoning (I used the Creole)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup diced Pepper Jack cheese
1 bunch of scallions, trimmed

1. Cook the bacon in a pan over medium heat till crisp. Set bacon aside and return drippings to pan.
2. Add potatoes to the same pan in a single layer. Do not stir.
3. Cook until they brown (about 10 min).
4. Stir once and let them cook another 3 minutes.
5. Add the bell peppers and saute the mixture till the peppers begin to soften.
6. Stir in garlic, Creole seasoning and paprika. Cook 2 minutes.
7. Remove mixture from pan and let it cool to room temperature.
8. Add cheese and stir to combine.*

*In the recipe it didn’t say to add the bacon pieces back into the mixture. However I thought it was kinda criminal NOT to do that. I guess you can do whatever you feel is tasty.

To Prep the Steak & Marinade:
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pound flank steak, trimmed
1 recipe of stuffing (above)
salt and black pepper

1. Combine wine, soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, tomato paste, black pepper and pepper flakes in a large bowl (the recipe says to do this all in a plastic bag, but I didn’t have a bag big enough for this so I used a bowl and it worked just as well).
2. Stir till the ingredients are all dissolved/mixed.
3. Cut the steak open like a book. (Remember, you do this because you’re going to skewer this like a burrito).
4. Marinate the steak in the mixture for at least 30 minutes. (I did mine for 2 hours)

Putting it all together:
1. Spread the stuffing evenly onto 2/3 of the cut side of the meat.
2. Place scallion bunch in the middle of the stuffing layer.
3. Roll steak around the stuffing so the edges just overlap.
4. Weave a skewer through the steak edges to seal the roll.
5. Either grill the little devil (paying careful attention to getting the meat properly cooked on all sides) or broil/bake it at 350 F. I baked mine and poured the extra marinade into the pan to create a little sauce.

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Homemade Ravioli!

Posted: August 9, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

So while I was in Alaska I found a couple of cookbooks in Oran’s house and proceded to look through them for fun new recipes. I actually found a GREAT vegetarian cookbook (I have to leave the office soon so I’ll have to post it in the cookbooks section later) that I will write about a little more tomorrow. It’s so great that I’m actually going to order my own copy once I get a paycheck. Anyway, this book had a really great recipe for making your own ravioli and I decided to give it a whirl. Best idea ever.

P.S. If you don’t have a rolling pin, invest in one for this. I found it hard to get the dough thin enough with a water glass.

Homemade Ravioli
Ravioli Dough:
1 cup plain flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon water

Ravioli Filling:
6 ½ oz. ricotta cheese
½ tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 egg yolk

[
To make dough:
1. Sift the flour into a bowl.
2. Make a well in the center. Add the egg, oil and water.
3. Gradually mix into the flour.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured board.
5. Knead until smooth and elastic.
6. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

While pastry is setting, make the filling.

To make the filling:
1. Combine the ricotta, parsley and egg yolk.
2. Mix well.

Finishing off the Raviolis:
1. Halve the dough; reshape each piece into a smooth ball.
2. Roll out each thinly to a long oblong shape.
3. Place a teaspoonful of filling in mounds at 2 inch intervals in a line on one sheet of dough.
4. Brush between mounds with water.
5. Place the other sheet of dough carefully over top.
6. Press down between filling to seal.
7. Use a knife to cut into squares.

[
To cook:
1. Drop ravioli into a pan of boiling water. Cook 8-10 minutes or till tender.
2. Remove ravioli using a slotted spoon.

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Utilizing your Materials…

Posted: August 6, 2010 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Sometimes, when you’re living in an unfinished house with 2 boys, corkscrews disappear. And sometimes, when you’re living in an unfinished house with 2 boys, you desperately need a drink. And when both of these things happen simultaneously, you must improvise. And here, as you see above, is my version.

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