Thai Green Curry

We make this recipe often enough that I thought I would finally post it! My husband and I both love Thai curry. There is a great vegan restaurant here that makes four different types of Thai curry and they are all fantastic. We rarely eat out, though, so I learned how to make it myself.

1 package pressed tofu
2 14 oz cans coconut milk
4 T. green curry paste
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. lime juice
2-4 Thai chilies, chopped
2 heads broccoli
1 small can chopped pineapple
fresh basil, chopped, to taste
Rice

1. Cook rice.
2. Cut tofu into bite sized cubes. Fry in a pan using just a touch of spray oil.
3. In a large saucepan, combine coconut milk, curry paste, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, and chilies. Bring sauce to a simmer. Add chopped broccoli. Cook for six minutes. Take the saucepan off the burner. Add chopped pineapple. Stir.
4. In a bowl, combine rice, tofu, and sauce. Sprinkle with fresh basil.
5. Eat!

This makes enough for four people. We eat half for dinner and half the following day. We store the rice and tofu in one container and the sauce in a separate container. This way, when I reheat the curry, it retains some of its sauce-ness instead of the curry being a thick glob.

Now that we’ve perfected the green curry recipe, I need to learn how to make red curry!

Thai Green Curry

Now that I’ve cooked this recipe several times, I thought it’d be a good idea to type it out and share it. My husband and I absolutely love green curry. I make this dish once every two weeks or so and it lasts for several meals. It even reheats well if you store the sauce separately from the rice and tofu!

Rice
1 package extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
2 14 oz cans coconut milk
4 T. green curry paste
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. soy sauce
1/4 t. salt, if needed
fresh lime juice, to taste
1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
Favorite vegetables
fresh basil, to taste

Cook rice.
Sauté diced tofu in a frying pan.
While the tofu is cooking, combine coconut milk, green curry paste, brown sugar, soy sauce, and salt in a saucepan. Taste and add salt or a touch more of any of the sauce ingredients, if desired. Add lime juice.
Stir in chopped vegetables and serrano pepper. Simmer until vegetables are cooked (6-8 minutes).
Dish up rice in a bowl. Add tofu and sauce. Sprinkle with fresh basil.

Notes:
I use Japanese white rice, the same type of rice that’s used in sushi.
We like 1 tablespoon of lime juice, sometimes more if the lime isn’t very strong.
My favorite vegetables for green curry are broccoli, onion, bell pepper, and canned pineapple.

私たちは食べましょう! Let’s eat!

Pizza night!

Saturday night is traditionally pizza and a movie night. We’ve been trying various pizza sauce recipes that people were kind enough to leave on my fabric giveaway post. We found the perfect sauce!

Pizza before baking

1 T. olive oil
3/4 cup onion
4-5 garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups tomatoes (from a jar, NOT a can)
3/4 t. oregano
1/8 t. salt

1. Heat up the olive oil in a skillet.
2. Add onion. Cook until almost translucent.
3. Add garlic. Cook until lightly browned.
4. Add tomatoes, oregano, and salt.
5. Simmer until the sauce has thickened.

Baked pizza

Tonight’s pizza has mushrooms, fresh basil, and Daiya “cheese” on top. It was really, really good.

The movie? Not as good. We watched The Day After Tomorrow as my husband hadn’t seen it. In his opinion, and mine, 2012 was much better.

Menu Plan Monday – back in the saddle!

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It has been ages since I’ve written up a menu plan and even longer since I’ve posted one. This week we’re trying three new recipes, all linked below.

Sunday
Brunch – Oat Waffles
Dinner – Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Roasted Mushrooms, Riblets

Monday
Breakfast – Green Smoothies
Lunch – Leftovers
Dinner – Pizza, Broccoli

Tuesday
Breakfast – Green Smoothies
Lunch – Tomato and Avocado Sandwiches, Spanish Yellow Rice
Dinner – Breakfast Burritos

Wednesday
Breakfast – Green Smoothies
Lunch – Salad, Hearty Vegetarian Chili
Dinner – Pasta, Broccoli, and Garlic Bread

Thursday
Breakfast – Green Smoothies
Lunch – Brussels Sprouts and Shiitake Mushroom Soup, Cornbread
Dinner – Sushi, Gyoza, Curry Udon

Friday
Breakfast – Green Smoothies
Lunch – Tomato and Avocado Sandwiches
Dinner – Tamale Pie (Newstart cookbook)

Sabbath
Breakfast – Green Smoothies
Lunch – Leftovers
Dinner – Pizza!

Last night I made roasted mushrooms for the first time. Yum! I wish I had thought to take a picture. I found the recipe on a package of Bella mushrooms. The recipe sounded good so we decided to try it. I couldn’t find the fresh herbs needed, so I used dried. Because I changed the recipe (therefore not violating copyright), I’m going to post it here for anyone else who wants to try them.

Roasted Mushrooms

8 oz package of bella mushrooms, mushrooms cut in half
2 Tbls olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp dried rosemary

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
Mix all ingredients.
Spread on a baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, stirring once after 7.5 minutes.
Enjoy!

Falafel

This afternoon I made falafel with sesame sauce. I picked this dish because my hubby treated me to the Persian Garden Cafe several weeks ago and I ate an amazing falafel. I tried to replicate their dish but it wasn’t the same. I think I’ve discovered I don’t like parsley… I’ll look for another falafel recipe.

I also found a great bread recipe in the Newstart cookbook. When I make bread tomorrow morning, I’m going to try sprinkling sesame seeds on top. Store bought bread has all these different seeds and grains baked into the loaf but I only know how to make plain whole wheat bread. I figured sesame seeds was a good place to start for experimentation.

That is the extent of my recent recipe adventures. I desperately need to test some new vegan recipes. We get very bored with our current eating options and this leads to dairy cravings. Mmmmmm… Pasta salad with ranch dressing and sharp Tillamook cheese.

Tortilla Soup


I love tortilla soup. I browsed several recipe sites and found a recipe I could adapt to our dietary needs (vegan, low sodium, low fat). 

Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
16 oz fresh salsa
64 oz vegetable broth
2 cans black beans
2 cups corn
1 avocado, diced
Fresh cilantro
Blue corn chips, broken up

Directions
1. Sauté the onion, garlic, and bell pepper in a bit of juice from the salsa.
2. In a large pot, add cooked onion, garlic, and bell pepper mixture. Add salsa, vegetable broth, black beans, and corn.
3. Bring soup to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Turn heat down to low and simmer for one hour.
4. Ladle soup into individual bowls and top with avocado, cilantro, and blue corn chips.

This soup stored well overnight.

Recipes – Almond Butter Stir Fry and Ramen

I perfected my ramen recipe! It’s quite simple.

Ingredients
Noodles (we use something similar to soba noodles, as they aren’t deep fried like ramen noodles and thus way lower in fat)
1/2 tomato, diced
1 green onion, sliced
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 T. Sriracha chili sauce (or something similar)

Directions
1. Boil water. Add noodles, tomato, and green onion. Cook for three minutes.
2. While the noodles are cooking, mix soy sauce, lemon juice, and hot sauce in your bowl.
3. Add noodles and boiling water to bowl. Mix. Eat.

We also wanted to try a new stir-fry recipe. We visited Sprouts and picked out all of our fresh veggies. Then I looked around the internet and put together a list of ingredients for a sauce.

Ingredients
1 pint mushrooms
Big handful of fresh green beans
3 bell peppers (we used red and yellow)
Soba noodles

Sauce-
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T. almond butter
Dash crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Directions
1. Add 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the wok. When boiling, add vegetables and cover.
2. Cook soba noodles on the stove according to package directions.
3. In a small pot, mix water, soy sauce, almond butter, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Heat on low until almond butter is melted.
4. When vegetables are cooked, add noodles and sauce to the wok. Stir until heated.
5. Serve and eat. Yum!

Small healthy changes

Every day, I try to find some small way to improve our diet or to get some exercise. Several weeks ago, I found a way to cook onions without frying them. Today, I wanted to see if I could cook mushrooms the same way. I tossed a slice of mushroom into the pan with my onions and cooked like normal. After the onions were cooked, I bit into my mushroom. Success! I think the mushroom tasted as good, if not better, than when I fry them.

Earlier this week, I made pumpkin oatmeal to finish off my first fresh pumpkin. It turned out well, though I need to use less allspice and nutmeg next time. I’m guessing the recipe only needs 1/4 tsp of each.

Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal

3 servings of oatmeal
1/2 c. + 2 T. fresh pumpkin, cooked and blended (because that’s what I had left)
2 T. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. nutmeg

1. Cook oatmeal according to directions.

2. Add pumpkin and spices. Stir.

3. Eat.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

There is no phrase to describe how I’ve felt about my latest kitchen adventures other than “tickled pink.” Over the last two days, every time I step into the kitchen, I have been absolutely tickled pink. I tried something new and it was successful!

We found painted pie pumpkins on clearance the day after Halloween. I bought two. On Wednesday, I decided it was time to see if I could cook a pumpkin correctly.

First I cut my pumpkin in half and scooped out all the seeds. I felt like I was a kid again, playing in the slimy seeds and innards of a pumpkin. Picking out all the seeds by hand was easy. Then I started the more difficult process of scraping out all of the membrane.

I put the pumpkin halves face down in a baking pan and added 1/2 inch of water. Then I baked the pumpkin at 450 degrees for 45 minutes.

Here’s what it looked like after being baked:


After it cooled off a bit, I scraped it out of the shell, which was a very simple matter of peeling off the shell:


I threw the cooked pumpkin in the food processor:


I ran out of time to make pumpkin pie so I refrigerated the pumpkin overnight. Yesterday morning, I started making pie (this is my own recipe).

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients
2 c. pumpkin, cooked and blended
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
12 oz. tofu, drained and blended

Directions
1. Cream the pumpkin and sugar together.

2. Add spices and tofu.

3. Cook at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


Next time I’m going to increase the cinnamon and possibly the nutmeg. The pie turned out really well but tasted like it needed a bit more spice. I just need to learn to make pie crusts and then the whole pie will be homemade!