Vegetarian

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Cooking from Chloe’s Kitchen

February 23, 2012 in Food by traveleatlove | 12 comments

Most of my cooking involves throwing in a bit of this and a pinch of that. I rarely follow recipes to the letter, but I do love a good cookbook for inspiration.

Last week I received a review copy of CHLOE’S KITCHEN: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way, and it was truly love at first flip-through. Like the cover, the rest of the book is vibrant, clean, and welcoming, a celebration of really good homemade vegan food. If you know someone who equates eating vegan with eating celery and carrots all day long, this book would be a good way to sway their opinion.

There are all sorts of recipes, from salads to desserts, with some hearty, soul-soothing vegan fare in between. You could easily make any of the recipes in this book for a group of people, whether vegan or not, and the conversation would likely be on the fresh, creative cuisine, not the missing meat or dairy!

With recipes like Falafel Sliders with Avocado Hummus, Garlic Knots, and Baked Sprinkle Donuts, there is no deprivation here, just good eating.

Here’s a photo of my copy. Despite being crazy busy, I stopped everything I was doing to bookmark about 10 recipes in this book. As you can see, I grabbed from my work area to bookmark, so there are post-its, scraps of envelopes, and business cards. I like to reuse, I guess.

The book is very aesthetically pleasing, and many, if not most of the recipes appealed instantly to my palate. I declared to my husband that we would be eating vegan for the next week. He basically said “Meh”, and I remembered that if I just made and served the food, he would eat it, love it, and probably not think about vegan vs. not.

So what did I make?

We started with the Wontons with Apricot Mustard Sauce. I ended up subbing sriracha for mustard, and the mix of that with apricot jam was to-die-for. The filling in the wontons featured cashews, carrots, mushrooms, and ginger, among other things. These made for a delicious and fun weeknight dinner; we chatted and caught up on our days as we filled the wontons.

Over the weekend I also made the Herbed Polenta Cutlets with Marsala Mushroom Ragout. I subbed in a bottle of red wine I had open for the Marsala, and overall we liked the dish. It was rustic and had a meaty, hearty quality from the mushrooms and wine. This is definitely a dish for a cold wintry night.

To get ready for the work week, I also made the Tuscan Bean and Greens Soup over Garlic Toast. I subbed in pinto beans for white beans because that’s all we had in the house. The pink beans gave the soup a weird color, but other than that, it was fantastic, garlicky, full of greens, and great served up over hot, crispy garlic toast.

And last, but so not least, I made the Avocado Pesto Pasta. If you love avocado and pesto, you can probably imagine what this pasta tasted like. To me, it was pure, creamy comfort food. Don’t worry, I did add pasta. I just thought that the tomatoes and avocado pesto looked lovely together.

CHLOE’S KITCHEN offers menu suggestions for various occasions, something I always find helpful. Regardless of how often I cook a multi-course meal, I never know what to make for each course so that there is a natural flow and cohesion. This book is going to be my go-to recipe inspiration for the next few weeks at the very least.

I did receive this review copy for free, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Tags: cookbooks, cooking, Food, recipes, review, vegan, Vegetarian

Parmesan Truffle Quinoa Muffins

January 16, 2012 in Food, recipe, wine by traveleatlove | 8 comments

Just when I think I have exhausted ideas for healthy, delicious meals, Pinterest shows me something new. Thank goodness for Pinterest! (Are you annoyed by my Pinterest love yet?)

I love browsing through Pinterest food pics, seeing something that looks yummy, and then following through to the website the image originates from. That’s how I got the inspiration for the parmesan truffle quinoa muffins I made for dinner one super exhausted evening last week.

The ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons truffle oil

Making this dish is super easy; just mix up all of the ingredients.

Heat the oven to 350, and fill a lightly oiled muffin tin with scoops of the quinoa mixture. I made six large muffins; you could easily also make minis.

I cooked the muffins for about 20 minutes at 350. The tops got browned and crunchy, while the middles stayed warm and soft with a bit of gooey-ness from the cheese. The scent of truffle oil permeated the entire room; the salty, nutty parm complimented them perfectly.

I served these with some spicy homemade marinara sauce, but they would have been great alone. I didn’t expect them to be great, but they were absolutely delicious.

This meal was served up with a Pie de Palo Viognier from Mendoza, Argentina. Viognier has passed all other grapes to become my favorite white. This wine is fresh, with citrus and pineapple notes, a lovely, rich mouth feel, and a balanced acidity that made it a great dinner wine. I wish I had purchased more; it was only $11 at Bin Ends!

Long runs, especially when they feel awful, call for a great glass of wine and a hearty meal. This certainly did the trick.

Have you come across any surprising recipes lately?

Tags: healthy, quinoa, recipe, Vegetarian, Viognier, wine

Delicious, Healthy Dinner in 10 Minutes

January 11, 2012 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 9 comments

I am pretty proud to stay that we have both been doing a really good job of working out 4-5 days a week, eating healthier, and cutting back on the old wine since 2012 started. I know it hasn’t been that long at all, but we feel great, and since we still allow plenty of indulgences (Hello, Old Fashioned’s, grilled cheese, and fries at Eastern Standard), we can keep it up. My health goal is basically not to be kicked down again this winter by the flu while my husband, who drives two hours a day and works for 12-14, is just to move more. However, if I end up a little faster and more toned, I will take it.

As you might have noticed, I have been blogging a little less (five days a week instead of six or seven) and not always about food. I have also felt that by not having to think of blog-worthy meals, I can focus on fast and healthy. If you have any topics that you are interested in reading about, let me know!

This dinner, which I also ended up eating for several lunches, is worth sharing because it was so delicious, quick, and satisfying.

We often order burrito bowls from our beloved South End spot, El Triunfo. They’re basically everything but the actual tortilla, which I rarely like, so they are perfect. In order to save some money, I decided to make our own burrito bowls, also known as salads. Winking smile

My burrito bowl was a pretty easy mix:

Chopped romaine (I so prefer eating salad that is chopped into small pieces)

1 1/2 cups of black beans that had been soaked and slow cooked with chili and garlic powders, canned are also fine

1/2 of a ripe avocado

Homemade salsa

Homemade lime crema – This is why I am blogging about the burrito bowls. It is my new favorite salad topper and veggie dip. I added the juice of a very juicy lime to a cup of Fage Greek yogurt, added a few teaspoons of olive oil to get a more dressing-like consistency, sprinkled in chili powder. . . and wanted to lick the bowl clean!