Showing posts with label Everyday Vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Everyday Vegetables. Show all posts

1.25.2012

Quick and Easy Fried Rice

I promise the fourth installment of our wedding recap as soon as Dan sends me pictures. In the meantime, I'd love to tell you about a ridiculous easy meal! In fact, it was so easy, I made it this morning, in the time it took Dan to get dressed.

This fried rice recipe calls for very few ingredients, very little chopping and only one pan. Awesome. We chose savoy cabbage as the primary veggie because about 6 slices will chop an entire head of cabbage. We also threw in some carrots because we had them, but you could skip them, or add any other easy-to-prep veggies. (Ideas: bean sprouts, celery, red cabbage)

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15-minute fried rice

oil
sesame seeds (optional, but delicious)
leftover rice (we had about 2 cups)
1 head savoy cabbage
other veggies as desired
your favorite asian condiments (we used soy sauce, sriracha sauce, sweet chili garlic sauce and oyster sauce--use whatever you have, even if it's just soy sauce)
2-3 eggs

1. Heat the oil in your pan until it's super hot and shimmery. (We used a wok.) 1 minute
2. Add the sesame seeds and cook for 2 minutes, or until just turning golden. Meanwhile, stick the rice in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. 2 minutes
3. Add the rice to the pan, stirring once at the beginning and every 2-3 minutes as it browns. Meanwhile, rinse/chop your cabbage and any other veggies you want to use. 5 minutes
4. After the rice is starting to look a bit brown, add the hardest veggies first (e.g. carrots, celery, broccoli), and the remaining veggies after 2 minutes or so. 2 minutes
5. Once all the veggies are added, add condiments and leave on high heat until everything is cooked, stirring as necessary. 3 minutes
6. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Clear a space in the center of your pan and crack the eggs in. Scramble lightly, let firm slightly, then fold into the fried rice/veggie mixture. To finish cooking the egg faster, turn the heat back to high until the egg sets. 2 minutes

Best served hot and fresh from the pan. I undercooked the egg slightly so it could be reheated for lunch. Easy, veggieful, and delicious.
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Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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8.26.2011

For the Love of Vegetables

Do you love vegetables? I do.


I love all sorts of vegetables. Raw vegetables, cooked vegetables. Root vegetables, fruit vegetables. Steamed, baked, fried, grilled and boiled. (Ok, mostly the middle three.)




I've always liked vegetables, but in the past few years, I've really come to love vegetables. How can you love vegetables, too?

First, buy fresh vegetables and never look back. (Ok, maybe in the middle of winter you can look back and buy frozen vegetables, but definitely don't touch the canned stuff! Gross!) Fresh vegetables have more texture, sharper flavor and are more versatile.

Second, learn how to cook your vegetables. This requires copious amounts of taste testing straight from the pan. (You will burn your mouth at least once.) The idea is to try the vegetables as you cook them so you get a feel for what level of done-ness you like most.

Third, never, ever forget the salt. Vegetables tend to be bitter, and salt counteracts bitterness. You don't need a lot.

Fourth, pay attention to how vegetables make you feel. When I eat vegetables, I feel cleaner--like that clean feeling you get right after you've brushed, flossed, shaved, bathed, and pulled all of your stray hairs off of your neck. Eating tons of vegetables eliminated 99% of my stomachaches. Just try it and see.

Finally, if you don't already love vegetables, starting tracking your daily calorie intake. You'll start to love vegetables when you compare the calories in a cup of ice cream (290) and a cup of vegetables (24).

What's your favorite vegetable? Mine is green beans.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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8.22.2011

Chickpea Salad

I mentioned before that I've had some trouble adjusting to eating at home. One of the things I've been struggling with is the abundance of fat in the foods we normally eat.

Most of the fats are good fats, but they are still calorie rich and not particularly filling. At only 135 pounds, I need to consume a lot fewer calories than my parents, and have to work out a lot more to burn the same number.

I've been trying to create that gap by eating lower calorie, lower fat lunches. I came up with this low fat, vegetarian alternative to chicken/egg salad.

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Chickenpea Salad
makes 6-8 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can chickpeas
2-3 cups of mixed vegetables/fruit (I used cucumber, bean sprouts, grapes and corn)
2T mayo (to make vegan, sub with hummus or another 0.5 avocado)
0.25 ripe avocado

Directions:
1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them in a big bowl. Mash them using your hands or a potato masher until they're a bit chunky.
2. Add the avocado and mayo/hummus, mashing everything together.
3. Chop the vegetables and fruit into 1cm pieces, and stir into the salad.
4. Serve on toasted 100% whole grain bread.
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Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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7.09.2011

Intake Adjustment

I've been at home for a few weeks now, which is where Dan and I will be living until we find jobs and a place of our own. For the first week, it was primarily Dan, my mom and I at home cooking, so a lot of the food was similar to what I'd been eating before--very veggie-centric.

Then my dad arrived.

Right now, there are a lot of special food requests in our family--I'm not eating much meat, my mom isn't eating gluten and Dan has his own food preferences (like not liking vinegar). My dad is doing his best to accommodate those requests, but he's pretty stubborn in his food ways.

A few stalwart features of my dad's cooking:
1. Animal fats (yes, plural--dishes almost all contain multiple kinds)
2. Meat
3. Glutenous carbs

Some recent examples:
- Corn chowder which contained bacon, a half stick of butter and copious amounts of half and half and milk (it would have been all half-and-half if we'd had enough)
- Dinner plans for tonight include 4 8+ oz. steaks for 5 people. If I were eating meat, that would be at least a serving and a half of meat for each person.. since I probably won't have any, that's two+ servings per person
- Several nights ago, dinner consisted of pasta lightly sauced in tomato-pepper (and bacon!) sauce. Total vegetable intake: half a tomato, 1/8th of a pepper. Plus the bowls we used easily held 8oz. of cooked pasta.

Transitioning from food where I could eat massive quantities for only a few calories with foods like roasted broccoli or steamed kale, I'm having a really hard time.

First, I feel awful all the time. It's amazing how terrible I feel from not eating enough vegetables. I'm tired all the time; I feel bloated; I don't have the energy to exercise; my stomach has been bothering me regularly; and I really have little motivation to do much of anything.

Second, I'm having trouble controlling my calories. I've managed to maintain my weight at around 134, only around 2 pounds heavier than I was during the season, but it's been a huge struggle. I've been cutting back on dessert, trying to watch my snacks, eating smaller lunches and just generally having to pay a lot more attention. It's not fun.

I'm hoping to work more vegetables into my lunches. I've been eating a lot of fruit with lunch, but it just doesn't work as well as vegetables to make me feel good. I'm also hoping to get a little bit stricter about eating meat with dinner--it really leaves me feeling kind of icky. Finally, I'm working on decreasing my portions with dinner--it's nice to wake up a little bit hungry in the mornings and that just hasn't been happening recently.

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Tomato salad
serves one

Ingredients
2 ripe summer tomatoes
1 leaf of fresh basil
1T olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions
1. Cut up the tomatoes.
2. Chop up the basil leaf.
3. Toss the tomatoes with basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
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How do you handle eating other people's food? Have you ever stayed at somebody else's house for a long period of time? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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6.29.2011

Veggie Stir Fry

My mom is currently on a low-gluten diet and I'm not eating a lot of meat, which eliminates two of my family's standby meals--pasta and meat+potatoes. We decided to make this delicious veggie stirfry instead.

A few stirfry tips:
- Cut the veggies small--you want them to cook quickly and evenly.
- Put in the hardest vegetables first (like broccoli or carrots) and save the softest veggies for last (like bean sprouts or bok choy). This way they will all be fully cooked.
- Use a really, really hot pan, and stir often. Adding veggies in stages will help keep the pan hot.
- Good seasonings include: ginger, garlic, soy (or tamari to keep it gluten free), sesame oil and sesame seeds. We also used garlic chives for added flavor and vegetable.
- If you want a sauce, add a lot of wilty vegetables (like bok choy) to get extra water and thicken it with cornstarch.

Our stirfry included: green beans, carrots, garlic chives, celery, bok choy, cabbage and bean sprouts.

This are garlic chives. We cut them into 1-2 inch pieces
and added them with the bean sprouts.



Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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6.08.2011

Everyday Veggies: 20 Minute Dinner

Our meal contracts ended at the end of the semester (almost three weeks ago). Because we're on campus training, we are given per diem to pay for our food.

Our budget for this week is $12/day. I know this seems like a lot, but with no cooking equipment, and very few resources (like olive oil, or spices) this is a pretty limited budget. It feels even smaller when you need to eat between 3000 and 4000 calories a day just to maintain weight.

So I've been all about cheap, easy, fast meals. (When it's 95 and you finished practice at 7PM, easy and fast are key ingredients.)

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20-Minute Dinner: Rice and Veggies
serves 2 (generously)

Equipment
stove
big pot
frying pan
knife

Ingredients
1c white rice ($0.50)
a large bunch of kale ($2)
0.5 small head of purple cabbage ($0.50)
pre-chopped mushrooms (or you can chop your own)  ($2)
0.25 medium onion (optional) ($0.08)
olive oil (as much as you can pilfer from the public kitchen)
chili flakes, or whatever other spices you find in the kitchen

Directions
1. Put the rice and 2c of water into a big pot. (Use more rice to stretch this meal even further.) Turn it to high.
2. Remove the stems from the kale. Keeping them separate, chop the cabbage and the onion.
3. When the rice boils, turn it to low and add the kale to the pot. Put the lid on.
4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. When it's hot, add the spices and onions. Cook 2-3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cabbage. Continue cooking until the mushrooms and cabbage are softening, about 5 minutes. (If you like well-cooked mushrooms, add these before the cabbage.)
5. Add the mushrooms/cabbage to the big pot. (The rice should be finished cooking at this point.) Mix everything together and enjoy.
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This would also be good with some romano grated over the top, or with frozen spinach instead of kale. The spinach would be a lot cheaper.

Still, $5 for two very generous servings was a great deal. (More rice would have made it an even cheaper meal, albeit less nutritious, by stretching it to three servings. Unfortunately, it was the last of my rice.)

The meal was capped off with raspberry sorbet from the The Bent Spoon and chocolate-hazelnut fudge sauce, courtesy of the public refrigerator. (Everybody has left for the summer--these were clearly abandoned by their previous owners.) Free dessert! YAY!


Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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5.09.2011

Fast Food can be Good Food

"I don't like waiting in line to get my food," one of my dining companions explained to the group, as he complained about the uninspired food quality in the dining hall. Others picked at their poorly dressed salads and shoddily constructed wrap sandwiches.

Meanwhile, I sat there, quietly contemplating my sliced strawberries and banana, covered in honey, granola, yogurt and flaxseeds. This was the third course in an otherwise delicious meal, all procured from that same dining hall.

Why was my food so much better? so much different? Because I care. I care enough to ask for pesto on my salad, to get mushrooms and edamame from the salad bar to put into my fried rice, and to slice my own strawberries so I can have fruit in my parfait.

I don't mind waiting in line for 2 minutes if it means the difference between fresh, hot food and eating pasta that's been sitting in a steamer for an hour. I don't mind going every so slightly out of my way to make my own salad dressing if it means I know everything that goes into it.

It doesn't take a lot of time to make good, healthy food—just a good dose of care and simplicity. Dinner can be roasted broccoli and a piece of good bread. (Bonus points if you grate some parmesan on the broccoli as it comes out of the oven.) A salad can be lettuce and dressing. Breakfast? A banana with peanut butter.

I'm not perfect. There are days when I just don't feel like caring. Yesterday, I ate cake for breakfast. But most of the time, I do most things right. And in the end, I gave the rest of the cake away.

Once a week, make a 5-ingredient dinner. Not a 5-ingredient dish--a whole meal. Salt. Pepper. Oil. Vegetable. Starch.

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Simple Salad

Ingredients
1 lemon
2t mustard
4T olive oil

spring mix
cherry tomatoes

{or arugula and avocado}

Directions
1. Juice the lemon into a bowl. Whisk in the mustard, then the oil.
2. Toss the {washed} lettuce and tomatoes with the dressing.
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Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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4.22.2011

Everyday Vegetables

Since both D and I have finished our senior theses, we have a lot more time on our hands and have been cooking dinner more often. This was our simple creation for dinner last night.

This would be a great dish to serve on a Meatless Monday. Add a can of chickpeas to the roasted veggies along with the bell peppers if you're concerned about getting enough protein.

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45-Minute Dinner: Cauliflower, Green Beans and Rice
serves 3-4

Equipment:
Baking sheet
Pot
Stove
Knife
Cutting board
Tongs

Ingredients:
1.5c brown rice, uncooked
1 head cauliflower
0.5 lb green beans
0.5 red bell pepper
1 can garbanzo beans (optional)
2 cloves garlic
2t garam masala (optional)
olive oil
salt, pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. In your pot, put the 1.5c of brown rice along with 4c of cold tap water. Turn the heat to high. When it boils, turn the heat back down to as low as possible, and set a timer for 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, clean and chop your veggies. Toss the cauliflower with olive oil and the garam masala on the baking tray. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. At 20 minutes left in the rice cooking, put the cauliflower in the oven. Toss every 5 minutes to prevent burning and to let any steam escape from the oven.
5. At 10 minutes left in the rice timer, add the green beans and garlic to the cauliflower, tossing to mix. Turn the broiler on and place the veggies back under the broiler.
6. At 5 minutes left on the timer, toss the bell pepper and garbanzo beans with the veggies and return to the broiler.
7. When the timer is done, remove the rice from the stovetop. Check your veggies. If they are golden brown in places, they're done. Otherwise, toss them again and throw them back in for 5 minutes. (The rice will stay hot, I promise.)
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Note: If you have a separate broiler compartment or your broiler takes a while to heat up, you may want to preheat it. Mine heats in about 30 seconds and can't be used at the same time as the oven, so I just changed it over when the veggies went back in the oven at step 5.

Do you participate in Meatless Mondays? Leave a comment or email me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com. 


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