Spicy Pineapple Cashew Rice

I am now on day three of having no budget for groceries. I have to say I am really luck that I seem to hoard non-perishable food. I have lots of dried herbs and lots of canned and frozen vegetables. It is truly saving my life this week.

I made this recipe sort of loosely based on chicken and rice. It was something that I lived on while when I was traveling in Thailand. At the time, I was a little scared of spicy food and a little scared of anything that I didn't know. Chicken and Cashew was this one dish that was everywhere. On every menu at restaurants and sometimes on food carts and stands. It had a little spice, but nothing crazy. It was filling and most of all, tasted really good. I decided to veganize this... but my version is very, very loosely based on this Thai version. What you get in Thailand is usually very simple. I am not sure how they are cooking the rice, but it seems flavours. Mine, however, is a pretty much a dump of all sorts of stuff I had in my fridge with a base of rice and cashew... anyways, both are good, but this version has not meat making it even better.

Spicy Pineapple Cashew Rice
*Serves 2-3, about 30 minutes to cook if rice is pre-made.

Ingredients:

Many Ingredients not pictured. I sort of built
this as I cooked.

• 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice
• 1 can of pineapple, drain and reserve the juice
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 of a package of firm tofu, pressed and diced
• 1 Tbsp oil (I used canola)
• 1/2 cup of toasted cashews
• 1/2 cup of frozen (or fresh, I don't have any) spinach, chopped
• 1/4 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp toasted coconut

First, drain the pineapple and reserve the liquid in a bowl. Add to it the soy sauce and the tofu and let it marinate for at least 20 minutes, but can go as long as a couple hours if you want.

Prepping for marinade - Very important when dealing with tofu.
Marinated is always better

If you have this meal planned out, do this the day before. It can
soak for up to 8 hours.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the tofu to the skillet and cook for about 5-6 min a side or until it is golden brown. Add the cashews and the pineapple and cook another 5 minutes or so. Now add all the other ingredients (except the reserve liquid and the green onion). Stir fry this for at least 5-6 minutes or until everything is well heated through. If things are sticking, add some of the reserve liquid, about a table spoon at a time. I ended up used 3-4 table spoons. if you like a little crunch, turn the heat up for a couple minutes and stir fry on high to crisp up the rice.

Building the dish.. I started with tofu

Added my other base ingredients

Then really, I just kept adding until this is what I had!
One pot/one bowl meal.

Now when this is done or close to done, toast some coconut. Get your unsweetened shredded coconut and add it to a dry pan on low-medium heat. Toast for about 3-4 minutes. Watch it really closely and remove from heat as soon as it browns. Add it to the rice bowl with the green onion prior to serving.

The final result - Sweet, spicy, filling. Good.

For a dish that is essentially a basic grain and left over and frozen foods.. I cannot believe how good this tasted. It was nice to start this week of being on a zero budget with something good. It made me feel like I might actually be able to pull this off. The toughest part for me is that I have no fresh fruit for snacks and I have no popcorn... I have been relying on these for snack foods and without them, cravings have gone from strong to intense.

Just four more days to get through.... Not going to be easy!

Cherry Pineapple Pie

Healthy? Well, I certainly think there are worse things out there!

I know I keep saying that I am going to make healthier food choices, but I have been craving cherry pie for ages now. Today I decided that not only would I fulfill my craving, but i would jazz it up with another favourite fruit.. Pineapple!

Making a pie can be as simple as purchasing a pre-made pie crust and dumping canned filling into it to making everything from scratch. I have provided the from scratch version here.

Now even though this is a pie recipe, it definitely has some nutritional benefits. First - Pineapple. It is full of Bromelain which is supposed to help with digestion, breaking down proteins. Also full of vitamin C, manganese and B1, Pineapple is great for your immune system and over all health. Want to know if your pineapple is ripe without cutting it? Pull on one of the leaves and if it comes out easily, it's ripe. If it doesn't, just leave it out for a day or two.

Cherries - well to start, they are beginning to be recognized as a super fruit. They are full of antioxidant and also contain other important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries) vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate. Cherries also contain melatonin, which has been found to help regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns, aid with jet lag, prevent memory loss and delay the aging process.

So even though this is a sugary somewhat fattening snack. Everything in moderation and there are lots of benefits!

Cherry-Pineapple Pie
The crust:

• 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup of shortening
• 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water + 3 Tbsp if needed

Combine all the dry ingredients together and cut in the shortening in 3-4 batches. Once the mixture is pebbly, combine the vinegar and water and add it in in 3 batches. Add extra water by the Tbsp until the mixture forms a dough. Chill in the fridge for one hour and then cut it in half. Roll out each half to 12" circles for the bottom and top of the pie.

Or... Buy pre-made vegan pie crust (be careful of ingredients, most pre-made contains lard

The Filling

• 5 to 6 cups fresh pitted cherries, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice or water
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch / Kuzu / arrowroot

First prep your cherries by pitting them. Combine the cherries with remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. Cool and then pour into pie.

Or buy a large can of cherry pie filling!

Next, assemble the pie. First roll out the bottom crust on a piece of wax paper. Use the paper to transfer it to your pie plate. Next chop up a fresh pineapple to about 1/2 - 1" cubes (or use canned. You can use the juice from the canned pineapple to make the cherry filling). Put a handful of the chopped pineapple in the pie plate, add the cherry pie filling and then add more pineapple. Cut a small hole in the centre of the top pie crust and then place on top of the pit. Press along the edges to seal and cut of any leftover dough.

Preheat the over to 450 F. Bake the pie for 10 min and then lower the heat to 350 and cook for 40 - 50 minutes. Keep an eye on it. My crust started browning early, so to stop it from burning I put a loose piece of foil on top.

Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

See? Pie can be made in minutes if you're using the pre0made items, but a little bit of extra work and you can make a tasty pie from scratch.