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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Coconut Curry Soup

I've made this a few times now. I've altered the original recipe quite a few times, and this is the best one that my family really loves!
 
Somen noodles with shrimp

Here's what I put in it:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 stalk lemon grass, minced
2 tsp red curry paste
1 ½ tsp Oriental curry powder
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
2 cups Not Chick’n broth
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 (13.5 oz) cans coconut milk (A Taste of Thai)
½ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced (shiitake or large Portobello)
¼ cup white/yellow onions, quartered and sliced thinly
½ lb snow peas
3 cups bok Choy
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup green onions (scallions), cut about 1” length

Lime wedges
Salt to taste

Optional Additions:
1 lb. medium shrimp - peeled and divined
2 med Asian eggplants, sliced
2 tomatoes, quartered and cut in half

Serve over:
1 small pkg Asian noodles of your choice (pad Thai, Somen, Ramen, Udon), or 3 cups cooked rice
Depending on what noodles you use, it will taste a little different. All have been delicious!
How I made it:
Blanch greens and peas. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add bok choy and peas to pan; cook for 1 minute. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook as directed. Drain; add noodles to bok choy mixture in bowl.

Microwave mushrooms for 3 minutes on high heat. Drain and set aside. 

Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add white/yellow onions and the first 7 ingredients to pan; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add shrimp, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove shrimp, add mushrooms. Stir in cilantro. 

Distribute noodles, peas, bok choy, any other additions in 4 bowls. Pour mushroom soup mixture over noodles and vegetables in bowls. Garnish with lime wedges.  

Serve warm.

pad Thai noodles with eggplant

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Vegan No Beef Stew

I made a vegan no beef stew. I brought it to a potluck and it disappeared pretty quickly, even though I got there almost an hour late. By the time I had to leave, there was only one bowl left! I think if I had stayed the whole time, there wouldn't have been any left at all. :)
 
Here's what I used, and how I made it.
 
Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 large onion, quartered, then chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
About 1-2 lbs red potatoes, diced
4 med carrots with tops, sliced 1/2" thick
4 stalks celery, sliced 1/2" thick
1 bell pepper, any color, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground mustard
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp salt
3, 8 oz packages of mini Bella mushrooms, quartered
1 oz dried shiitake mushrooms
1 can of tomato sauce
About 1 Tbsp, or more cornstarch (for thickening)
2 cups hot water, divided
2 Not-Chick'n bouillon cubes
2 Tbsp soy sauce, optional
 
Directions:
First you'll need to cut and prepare all the vegetables. Don't throw away the carrot tops. Pluck off all the leaves from the stems and set aside. Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup hot water, once softened, cut into small pieces, place back into water. Disolve the bouillon cubes in 1 cup of hot water and the 1 cup red wine. Set all these aside.
 
In a large pot, sauté onions and garlic slightly, until fragrant. Add potatoes and carrots, sautéing  for about 2-3 mins, add celery and peppers, sauté for about another 2-3 minutes. Add fresh mushrooms, all the spices, except black pepper, sauté for about 3-4 minutes. Once the mushrooms have let out some of their water, add the shiitake mushrooms, including the water it was soaking in, and all the rest of the liquids (tomato sauce too).
 
Lower heat, simmer for about 30-40 minutes. Thicken with cornstarch to desired thickness. Check potatoes, once it can be cut with a spoon, add carrot tops and freshly ground black pepper. Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed.
 
Serve with crusty bread, or over rice.

Ps. I have a secret, I put a handful of crushed toasted Nori in this too, it really ups the umami (savory) flavor!
  
*I love fonts! These are the fonts I used: Cherry Cream Soda, Josefin Sans, Reenie Beanie, and Walter Turncoat.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Vegan Lettuce Wraps (Asian tacos)

I made these last week for the first time. My boyfriend Robert, really loved them, so I had to make them again.
 
Here's what I used:
1 head Romaine lettuce, rinsed and dried (we mostly used large leaves)
1 carrot, thinly julienned
2-3 stalks green onions, sliced on the bias
1/4 package of rice stick noodles
About 1 tsp of chili seasoning, or more if you like it spicy
About 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/2 a package of Gardein beefless ground
1/2 a package of shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
About 1 handful of chopped cashews
 
For the sauce I used:
About 1/8 cup vegan sweet chili sauce
About 1/8 cup vegan pad Thai sauce
About a Tbsp of mirin (rice wine vinegar)
About 1 tsp of Asian red curry paste
 
Here's how I made everything:
Make noodles according to package. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside to cool.
Slice and julienne all vegetables. Set aside.
 
Heat a skillet to medium heat. Brown the beefless ground, add seasonings, cashews, and mushrooms, stir a few times for about 3 minutes. Turn off heat.
 
Mix the sauce with the noodles and then assemble the "tacos," adding the "meat" mixture first and building upwards. Meat, noodley sauce, onions, carrots. Spooning on more sauce as needed.
Eat over a plate cause its messy.
 
Ps. I made these vegan. You don't have to. Also, I make my own seasonings and sauces... a lot of the Asian sauces have fish sauce in it, so remember to check the ingredients.
 
He loves my cooking so much!
*I love fonts! These are the fonts I used: Cherry Cream Soda, Josefin Sans, Reenie Beanie, and Walter Turncoat.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Easy Eggless Shrimp Carbonara

I made this. Here's what I used, and how I made it.
 
Ingredients I used:
1 lb spaghetti noodles
1 lb headless raw shrimp
1 stick unsalted butter, divided (5 & 3 Tbsp)
1/4 cup heavy cream, or as much as needed
1-2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup or more grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
About 1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
Dry thyme leaves
 
Here's what I did:
Make noodles according to package. Drain, set aside to cool.
 
Using medium high heat, heat 5 Tbsp butter in a pot big enough for noodles. Add 1 Tbsp garlic and about 1 tsp salt, sautée slighlty. Add 1\4 cup Parmesan cheese, and about 1/4 cup cream to make a thick, creamy sauce. You want this sauce to be thin enough to coat the noodles, but thick enough that it's not saucy. Season with about 1/4 tsp dry thyme leaves. Turn off heat, set aside.
 
Heat a skillet to medium high heat, melt rest of butter, and cook the shrimp with about a pinch or 2 of thyme, until just turning orange. Remove shrimp, cool slightly, and peel, cutting half of the shrimp into bite sized pieces and leaving the other half whole. Lower heat to about medium, add onions and garlic to the pan, soften (about 4-5 minutes). Move onion garlic mixture to one side of the pan, add the cut and whole shrimp back into the pan, mixing cut up shrimp with the onion mixture and keeping whole shrimp separate, don't overcook, about 1-2 minutes depending on size of shrimp. Remove whole shrimp from pan and set aside. Pour sauce into skillet with cut up shrimp and garlic onion mixture. Heat through.
 
This part goes quickly.
Place drained and cooled noodles into pot that had the sauce cooking in it. Pour sauce mixture over noodles, fresh cracked black pepper, 1/4 cup parmesan, and chopped parsley. Stir, coating all the noodles.
 
Serve immediately with the whole shrimp, divide evenly per serving.
 
*I love fonts! These are the fonts I used: Cherry Cream Soda, Josefin Sans, Reenie Beanie, and Walter Turncoat.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Berroco® Free Pattern | Dagmar

Wow, I've not posted in a whole year... too many things happened...

I'm going to make this as soon as I can find some of this yarn.
Berroco® Free Pattern | Dagmar