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!

Sweet Chili Tofu on Vermicelli and Spinach

Tofu done right for once!

This recipe all started today when I got home early enough to make some proper dinner. I haven't grocery shopped in a while and I had no intention on going to the store. Tonight was reserved to hang out with myself. Usually it's the result of having too many late nights and grounding myself. This time.. I guess I would call it a punishment for being lazy. Eating vegan for over two years now, I have figured out how to get away with little cooking. Lately I have been living off of various rice dishes (See: formula for an easy wholesome meal) and it has gotten a little boring. So I got hunting around in my kitchen to see what I had available to make something a little different. What did I find? Tofu, Spinach, basil, and lime. This sparked an issue with me that I don't think I have talked about here. I have never been able to cook a piece of tofu and make it as good as a restaurant. Mine is always too soft, too spongy, overdone, underdone, over-marinated.. You name it, I have messed it up with tofu. It always taste good, but just doesn't taste the way it does when I get it in any restaurant.

I have done a little research and it seems the overwhelming response to this question is dry-frying. I saw it a couple of ways and decided to try one that did not seem to require marinating the tofu. I was hungry, and frankly I hate waiting that extra hour and I'm never prepared in advance to do it before work. This can be done in advance or right before using. It only takes a few minutes to prepare too.

Step 1: Heat a non-stick skillet to medium heat

Step 2: Chop your tofu into thin pieces. I cut mine into eights and then I cut the rectangles in half diagonally to make wedges

Slice it thin and do any shape you want. Triangles are easy and look good

Step 3: Put the tofu in the pan. Don't over lap

Who knew that getting restaurant consistency is so easy! Throw it in a pan

Step 4: Press the tofu to let some water out, cook 5 minutes or until golden brown

Step 5: Flip and repeat step 4

From start to finish it takes about 10 minutes to cook. From here, you can store, marinate or use as is. I was amazed because this was the closest I have gotten to restaurant-style tofu. It was really good and the right consistency.

So using this tofu I made a quick meal for myself using some vermicelli noodles I found in my cupboard and some basic ingredients to make a sweet chili sauce. Of course, served with whatever greens you have on hand. I used spinach for this one. This recipe makes 2-3 servings. Easy to half if you just want a meal for one.

Sweet Chili Tofu on Vermicelli and Greens
*Takes about 30 minutes if Tofu isn't done in advance

• One block of tofu, sliced and cooked as above

Sauce:

• Juice of one lime and half of the zest
• 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Mirin or water
• 3 Tbsp sugar or agave (I used brown sugar)
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1 clove of garlic (I didn't use, but threw a pinch of garlic powder)
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup of basil, sliced thin

Noodles and Greens:

• One bunch of spinach (or collards, kale, chard broccoli, etc) Chopped
• Green onion, sliced thin
• 1-2 Tbsp water
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 package of noodles (or cup of rice, quinoa or other grain)
• 1 Tbsp Lime juice and the zest from the other half of the lime used above
• 1 Tbsp Soy sauce

First get water going for the grains and cook and set aside. If you didn't make in advance, dry fry the tofu and set it aside. While the tofu is cooking, prepare the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Once the tofu is done or the sauce is mixed, use the same pan and saute your greens and onion with the water and salt. Once cooked, add the sesame seeds.

Cooking each piece in advance and set it aside before combining it together

Adding the sauce

Remove the greens from the pan and turn the heat up to high. Add the tofu and the sauce and wait until it bubbles (about a minute). Turn of the heat and let it sit on the burner to thicken. While it is cooking down, get plating. Start with the noodles and then top with the greens and finally add the tofu with some of the sauce and serve.

In under 30 minutes and no shopping - Dinner

Homemade Gnocchi and Spinach Pesto

It feels like it has been, so, so long since I have blogged. Really, it has been. It has been a truly busy fall and I am finally back at home. It feels good... and feels not so good all at once. It is definitely nice to be back and see friends and family, but I miss being away. I think I am one of the few people that would prefer to be away 50 weeks a year with 2 weeks at home.

Regardless of my away-sickness (I don't know if that's what you call the opposite of homesick; I am going with it), it was time to get back in my own kitchen and make something... anything. I really missed cooking while I was gone!

With a quiet night at home, I figured it was a good chance to try out some comfort food. For me, pasta is comfort. It's warm, easy, quick and goes with almost anything. However, boiling some pre-made pasta would have made a pretty boring blog post so I stepped it up a notch and had my first attempt at making gnocchi.

Gnocchi is not really a pasta, but more of a potato dumpling, but it plays the part of pasta really well. It is really easy to make and it freezes well, so you can make a big batch and save some for a day you are pressed for time. I think the only things that are tricky about gnocchi is you have to be careful with with the consistency of your dough. Too dry and it can be gummy. Too soft and it can fall apart a bit. Regular gnocchi usually has eggs in it to help bind things together. Most vegan versions use oil for the same effect.

Nutrition? Well, gnocchi is potatoes and flour mainly, so I don't know how nutritious I can make them sound. They are a treat, when you are looking for something warm and filling. They aren't really a diet food. They are also really filling, so remember, a little goes a long way. However, they do have some nutritional benefits. Potatoes are a decent source of  vitamin C, vitamin B6, copper, potassium, manganese, and fibre. They also have lots of phytonutrients. All of these are good things. I think the main reason why people think potatoes are not good for is that we usually eat them as french fries and potato chips. The potato is not the problem here, it is how we are cooking it.

But, back to gnocchi. Now that I proven that potatoes are kind of good for you. Let's add lots of flour to them and make them into dinner! To make this a bit healthier and keep the comfort food vibe, I made a spinach pesto to go with my gnocchi. I took the recipe for regular pest (basil, pine nuts, garlic, oil) and switched out the main flavours for spinach and walnuts. It is a lot cheaper and to be honest, I thought it was just as good as basil pesto. Feel free to add other herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, spice.. whatever. I kept it simple.


Gnocchi with Spinach Pesto
*takes about 20 min, serves 3-4


Gnocchi:

• 2 large potatoes, baked and skinned
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (or other herbs if you have some)
• salt and pepper
• approx 1 1/2 cups of flour

Pesto:

• 1 cup of fresh spinach, lightly packed
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

If you have potatoes already bakes, this will take no time at all. If not, Bake your potatoes for about 45 min at 400 F. Let them cool completely, about 30 minutes for this. Skin the potatoes and put them in a big bowl. Add the oil, herbs and salt and pepper. Mash the mixture well. It is ok for a few lumps, but they should be pretty mashed. Now, add the flour a little bit at a time. Mix it together until it starts to get the consistency of dough. You can take the dough and put it on your cutting board and add the remaining flour and kneed it until it isn't too wet, but also isn't too dry.

Mashing the potatoes... once you add the flour it will start to look like dough

Two minutes later... dough!

Now separate the dough into four pieces. Roll them out on a floured cutting board until they are about 1" ropes. Cut the ropes into 3/4 - 1" pieces. Now take the pieces, one-by-one in your hand and roll them on the back of a fork so they get little grooves in them.

Make the ropes about 1" in diameter

When you are done you should have a whole bunch of little gnocchi's. Freeze them or cook right away

Now, get your pot of water on the stove and prepare to make your pesto. Get your food processor out and add in everything except for the oil. Process everything so it is almost a paste. Now add the oil slowly and process to the consistency that you want. I like my pesto thick, so add more oil if yours is too thick. This should take just a few minutes.

Love pesto. Through it in the food processor and sauce is made.

I like my pesto thick, but add more oil if you prefer it to be more, saucy

Once your water is boiling, add the gnocchi. It will only take a couple minutes to cook. Wait for the gnocchi to start to float. When it floats, it's done. Remove it with a slotted spoon, dish it with the pesto on top and toss.

gooood

I dare you to tell me this was difficult.

The Formula for an Easy Wholesome Meal

They days are counting down fast until I leave again. This time, I am gone for three weeks. I am trying my best to just use what I have and save my money for traveling. So tonight for dinner, I decided to make a rice dish. Something that not just vegans, but I think all people should know is the formula to an easy, one-pot meal. Since I am vegan, mine is based around the grain.

The formula is very simple, take a grain that you have on hand (rice, barley, couscous, quinoa, etc). Then pair it with a protein (Beans, lentils, seeds, etc), add in a few herbs and spices (cumin and corriander is one I go to a lot, but you could do basil, italian seasoning and pretty much anything you are feeling). Here is the basic formula:

Easy Dinner = 1 cup cooked grain + one can/cup of beans + 1 can of tomatoes + 1 cup cooked greens + 1-2 tbsp herbs

This obviously is the basic recipe, so go ahead and play with it. You really can't screw it up. I normal try to use fresh veggies when I can, but I didn't have any, so I used frozen spinach and it made this recipe wholesome and tasty.

Here is my actual recipe of what I made:

Dirty Vegan Rice
Served 4 ish, takes about 45 mins if cooking rice from scratch, 10 minutes if you have cooked rice

• 1 cup of rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained
• 1 can of dice tomoatoes, not drained
• 1 package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp corriander
• salt and pepper
• Green onion, chopped

Add the rice and water to a big pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for about 35 minutes. While its cooking drain the chickpeas and the spinach. When the rice is ready add the remaining ingredients and cook until heated through.

Start with a pot of rice, or some other grain. Start adding the beans and tomatoes

Add your greens and spices..

Stir and heat through and Serve! Or eat it out of the pot, why waste a dish..

Serve with green onions and toasted seeds as a garnish.

Add some green onion and sunflower seeds as a garnish.