I’ve been a fan of Robin Asbell’s cookbooks for years, so when her latest one, Sweet & Easy Vegan, came out, I immediately wanted it. How lucky for me that she sent me one so that I could blog about it! And, in addition to that, I got to be part of my second Virtual Vegan Potluck. My third will be next week, so keep your eyes peeled for that—it will not be just a vegan dish, but a paleo dish as well! Continue reading
Tag Archives: coconut milk
Vegan Cupcakes and a Vegan Cookbook Giveaway!
21 OctRed Thai Curry for Fish or Veggies
4 Mar
Sorry this is a bit late today. We had some trouble with the car that was unanticipated. I think it’s my fault. Luckily it seems that The Husband still loves me—for now, until the mechanic checks the car tomorrow and finds I’ve killed the transmission.
But, back to the food. That’s the important thing, right? So, a week or so ago, we had some rain here in Laguna Beach. Not unseasonal, by any means, but we’ve had so little this year thanks to a La Niña weather system. I’ve lived through an El Niño, and at this point I think I prefer the latter to the former–a little too much rain is always good for California, even if a few movie stars’ houses fall off the Malibu coast. Continue reading
Once-a-Year Treat: Multi-Grain Blueberry Pancakes
19 Feb
It’s a little painful to type today. My new juicer and I got into a small altercation yesterday morning. There was a beet and a piece of apple jammed in it, and although I had turned the machine off, I didn’t wait for it to completely stop before—you know what I’m going to say here, don’t you—I stuck my hand in.
Yes, dear reader, the juicer won. Luckily I didn’t stick my hand in too far, so the situation didn’t turn into a scene from one of those Hostel films (I’m only assuming, I’d never watch one of those films. Okay, maybe if you paid me a million dollars. Maybe.). But one of my fingers got slightly mangled, and I now have a healthy respect for the juicer. It does, indeed, have the upper hand. Well, only when it’s plugged into the wall, and I have control over that. (Cue evil laugh.)
But the wound is not the reason I decided to treat The Husband and I to blueberry pancakes this morning. It’s all Food & Wine magazine‘s fault—this month’s cover has a stack of pancakes smack on the front, dripping with berries and syrup. It’s had me craving pancakes all week. And, I felt since we had eaten raw food all week and I ran five miles this morning, we deserved it. Continue reading
Ahh…Curry!
27 AugSo, when I lived in London, I missed Mexican food so much. When I first moved over there, you couldn’t even buy tortillas, and the only salsa you could buy was El Paso in a jar. Which, let’s face it, is NOT salsa.
Mmmm...curry. It just makes life worth living.
Now that I’m back in California, I miss what London does so well: Indian curry. I had the best place near me in Battersea that I used to order from all the time. All the time. How often? Let’s just say I received a Christmas card from them…
There’s an Indian restaurant a half a block from my house. I never go there because it is not authentic. The weird thing is that the owners also own Nina’s Anglo-Indian Grocery in El Toro, where the food is quite good. Weird. I think this one is trying to appeal to the American palate too much. But never mind.
The Husband loves it when I start toasting up the spices and making curry. He loves anything with a ton of garlic in it, like me, so curry always works for us. It can be a little labor intensive with all the prep and chopping, but once you’ve done that, it goes pretty quick.
You can use plain rice with this, but I’ll also include a recipe for a simple rice and a pilau rice. If you need any of the spices listed here, head to Nina’s or another ethnic grocery, where they’ll be much cheaper than buying the little jars at the store.
I’m starting you all off with a mild curry—for those of you who like it hot, throw more chili in there. And for those who don’t like spice, don’t omit the chilis I have here. Really, there will be no burning of the mouth. I promise.
For the vegetarians/vegans out there, just omit the chicken and add more mushrooms and maybe throw in some chickpeas. Some eggplant would be nice too. Continue reading
Pancakes for Dinner
19 Jul
You're jealous of my child-sized stove. Go on, admit it.
I personally wasn’t convinced last night that I should blog about these Thai pancakes, as I didn’t think they were that hot, but The Husband must have been in some sort of psychedelic coconut love-drug haze last night. He loved them. Had seconds, even.
He did admit that the sauce on the stir fry was a little on the salty side—I blame myself for not tasting the oyster sauce before I put it in. It would have been perfect with just a splash of soy sauce, but I got a little twirled up because I remembered we had the oyster sauce in the fridge. To make this fully vegetarian, don’t use the oyster sauce. There’s tricks to replace the egg in the pancakes to make it vegan, but you can comment and ask if you want more info and I’ll happily give it.
So, here’s the recipes with a few notes on what I’ll do next time—because according to TH, there WILL be a next time. Continue reading
Sunday Afternoon Snack
17 Jul
Nothing like tacos on a Sunday afternoon...
So, The Husband mentioned again today that we should start a blog (and by “we” he meant “me”) about the food we put together so often, from the place in the house we like to call the “one-butt kitchen”.
Sometimes we can fit in there together, if what I’m doing isn’t too complicated, and The Husband can squeeze in the corner to make some drinks. Which is why I’m going to be adding some of his frankly amazing creations with alcohol and whatever else happens to be in the fridge or fruit bowl.
Today, since we’ve been on a Trader Joe’s cleanse for a week (one more to go), we looked for something we could snack on that would fall in the “no red meat, no dairy, no wheat” category. The Husband suggested we use the leftover shrimp from last night’s dinner, some mango salsa from Whole Foods and some corn tortillas that had been loitering with intent in the meat drawer since my birthday weekend two weeks past. Add a little fresh avocado and Melinda’s Extra Hot Sauce*, and we were good to go.
Sadly, we couldn’t have a beer or a margarita with this snack, as we usually would, but it was delicious nonetheless!
If I had made the salsa, I would have put a little more kick in there, so I think I’ll add a very loose recipe for everything below. Continue reading
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