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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Preventing Self-Pity with Peanut Sauce

When I get home in the evenings, I'm usually ridiculously hungry. When I get hungry, I get grumpy. And when I get grumpy, the only thing I want to eat is chocolate.

So usually, I end up eating nothing and just wallow in self-pity about just how hungry I am while reading food blogs and Tastespotting. This generally doesn't alleviate the problem.

Since Dan usually gets home before me, he's been starting dinner so I have no choice but to eat well. However, there are nights when both of us get home late, or he goes to the gym after work and can't start dinner.

We've been using our slow cooker to its max to help out; we start a soup midday and it's ready to go around 7:30 or 8pm--right as I get home. Sometimes I pre-chop ingredients for a quick stirfry, or we have grilled cheese and apple sandwiches for dinner.

Last night, we tried something a little bit different: pasta salad! This isn't just a normal pasta salad, though--it's a peanut sauce soba noodle pasta salad from Smitten Kitchen!

Because the salad is meant to be eaten cold, I made it in the morning, when I was fresh, awake, and full from breakfast--the perfect time to cook.

You can find the recipe here. We used bell peppers, carrots and broccoli (we cooked the broccoli with the noodles), and used edamame instead of tofu. It was absolutely delicious--it was savory from the peanut butter and soy sauce, but tangy from the ginger. The sauce was creamy and coated all of the ingredients, but wasn't overly heavy.

Next time, I would use about 2/3rds the amount of noodle, and maybe a bit more vegetable.

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Vietnamese Spring Rolls

We've made these for dinner a few times. They're relatively quick, and very light on the palette--great for hot summer days, and directly after the holidays.

I don't think they even merit a recipe, they're so easy, but I'll give you one anyways.

This is not how you should fold them.. unless you put in too much filling.

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Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Ingredients
rice wrappers (two per roll)
leftover meat or fried tofu in small pieces
julienned veggies (carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, snow peas, cabbage, lettuce, etc.)
julienned basil
dipping sauce (recipe below)

Directions
1. Prepare all of your ingredients in an assembly line.
2. Fill a bowl with warm water (110-120°F).
3. Soak two rice wrappers together in the water (for structural stability) until they soften. Working quickly, remove the wrappers from the water (they should stick together) and fill the center with about .25 cup of filling (more if you're using a big wrapper, ours were about 6" across)
4. Fold the wrapper on itself like a mini burrito.
5. Dip in the sauce and enjoy.


Dipping sauce

Ingredients (approximately)
3.5t fish sauce
2T lime juice
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
0.5t white sugar
0.5T cock sauce
1t grated ginger

Directions
1. Mix ingredients together in a small bowl.
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Split Pea Soup: Peas Optional

In an effort to declutter, I sold a number of old books to our local used bookstore, Moe's. In addition to making space for the books I'll actually read, they gave me Moe's money to spend in the store.

I spent a long time browsing (as I do in all stores), and eventually ended up in the cookbook section. (Somehow, I always end up there--like father, like daughter.) As I flipped through the various books, mostly from long disproven fad diets, I saw the yellowed spine of a small, unassuming, paperback book.

<Image Source>

I'd heard the name before, but never bothered to delve deeper. When I opened the pages, I was immediately enchanted--the recipes were all about the vegetables. They were simple, varied, fresh, savory, delicious.. I bought it.

Of course, it has taken me months to actually read its contents, and select a trial recipe: split pea soup. Dan and I made this last night and it was marvelous. The soup is thick, hearty, filling, and flavorful. 

Due to Dan's dislike of mustard and vinegar, I had to alter the recipe somewhat. If you do not have such an aversion to mustard, a squirt of Dijon upon servings does wonders to brighten the flavors and tickle your tongue.

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Split Pea Soup

serves 4 when served with bread

based on Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook

Equipment

2 qt. slow cooker (or a big pot and lots of time)

sharp knife

frying pan

stirring utensil

Ingredients

1.5c dry green split peas

3.5c water

1 bay leaf

1t salt

2T oil

0.5 onion, minced

3 stalks celery, minced

1 potato, thinly sliced (2-3mm thick)

2c sliced carrots

2 cloves garlic, minced

0.5c chopped tomatoes

0.25t thyme

0.25c freshly chopped parsley

Dijon mustard, pepper for serving

Directions

1. In the slow cooker, combine the split peas, water, bay leaf and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. (If you don't have a slow cooker, simply simmer this, covered, for 3-4 hours.)

2. Saute the onion, celery, potato and carrots in the oil until the potato and carrot begin to brown slightly. Add the garlic and chopped tomatoes; saute for an additional 5 minutes. (This looked good enough to eat plain!!! I may make this for lunch some day.)

3. Add the vegetable mixture to the slow cooker, along with the thyme. Let cook for an additional 15 minute.

4. Just before serving, add the mustard and parsley. Serve with toasted hunks of bread, in warm bowls.

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The ingredient list is long, but you probably have most of the things on the list already. The process couldn't be simpler.

Each serving has just under 400 calories, with around 20g of protein, and less than 10g of fat. (You could cut the fat by using just 1T of oil.)

If you're a carnivore, chorizo would be good in this, as would the more traditional ham. (Great way to use leftover Christmas ham!!!)

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Butternut Squash

Maybe your knives are sharper than mine, but I think butternut squash is a pain to prep. Most recipes call for peeled, cubed squash, which just counts me out right away.

So when I came across a recipe in the Moosewood cookbook for butternut squash soup with pre-cooked squash, I went for it. (Especially necessary seeing as I'd already cooked the squash just to get it off my counter.)

One of the biggest problems with butternut squash is its overwhelming sweetness. The flavor is too strong to conceal in sweets, and it's too sweet to hide in savory dishes. (We tried a butternut squash chili--it was too sweet to be hearty chili.)

This recipe counters that with the addition of mushrooms and curry powder.

P.S. No blender required!!!

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Butternut Squash Mushroom Soup
serves 4
adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients
3T butter
0.5 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
6-10 medium brown mushrooms, sliced
1T cumin seeds
2T curry powder
1c vegetable stock
1c water
1 butternut squash, pre-cooked to softness and scooped from its skin
salt + pepper

Directions
1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a heavy bottom saucepan. Add the onions and a dash of salt, stirring to coat in butter and cooking until just softening.
2. Add the celery and carrot, stir and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms and cumin seeds, stirring every minute or two, and cooking until the mushrooms are browned and fond is forming on the bottom of the pan
4. Add curry powder, stock and water, scraping the fond off the bottom of the pan. Stir to coat the veggies and mix the curry.
5. Add the butternut squash and stir again. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, periodically mashing the squash against the side of the pan with a spatula (unless you want chunkier soup).
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Vegetarian Sandwiches

Growing up, I thought of a sandwich as meat and bread, occasionally garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles or condiments. (My family didn't do PB&J.) I relied on the sandwich as a lunch staple.

When I gave up meat, my view on sandwiches had to change. It was easy to just replace the meat with tofu, or eat endless grilled cheeses, but I had bigger plans for the humble sandwich.

Some of my favorite veggie sandwiches:
- chickpea salad sandwich
- tomato, pesto, parmesan sandwich
- avocado or hummus + carrot/cucumber/beet/other crunchy veggie matchsticks
- grilled cheese (add tart apple slices to make it 'gourmet')
- sauteed mushrooms with melted (swiss) cheese
- mayo, tomato, cucumber, open-face, on fresh baguette
- nutella and fresh berries (make sure to use nutella on both slices of bread!)
- quesadillas with corn, tomato and bean salsa (I know, not really a sandwich)

What's your go-to sandwich?

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How To: Fake a Grilled Cheese

All my life we've had a griddle for making grilled cheese sandwiches. Today, I was planning to make one for lunch using that very griddle, but all we had was frozen bread. I decided to toast the bread and then griddle the sandwich... but a lot of things went wrong.

First, I couldn't find the cheese planer, so I had to cut thick slices of cheese with a knife. If you have much grilled cheese experience, you'll know that thinner is better.

Second, I discovered that our toaster has a different interpretation of "bagel setting" than my dorm toaster. For most toasters, bagel settings only toast one side of the bread. (This thaws the bread while leaving one side per slice unbrowned and therefore griddle safe.) Ours just toasts it longer on both sides.

Starting a grilled cheese with almost burnt toast and thick slices of cheese is a recipe for disaster, but the microwave saved the day.

To fake your own grilled cheese, thoroughly toast two slices of bread. Layer one slice with ample cheese and microwave for 20-30 seconds, or until the edges start to bubble. Put the second slice of toast on top, flip and microwave an additional 20-30 seconds, or until the cheese is melted.

Your toast will stay crispy, your cheese will be melty and there will be one less pan to wash.

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Post-Workout Bars

To help muscles recover after a hard workout, experts recommend consuming calories within 30 minutes of exercise. In particular, they recommend a ratio of 4g of carbs to 1g of protein.

These bars are a little bit high on the fat, thanks to the coconut, but otherwise provide a good ratio of protein to carbs with no funky ingredients. They're a handy, tasty snack to eat with a glass of water post-sweat session.

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Chocolate-Coconut Energy Bars
makes 16 100-calorie bars
adapted from No Meat Athlete


Ingredients:
1.5c black beans (I made these from scratch, feel free to use canned)
0.75c mashed squishy bananas
.25c honey
0.5 lime (zest and juice)
0.25t salt
1.5 oats or other rolled grains
0.75c cocoa powder
0.25c almond meal (or whole wheat flour)
1c shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Combine beans, bananas, honey, lime zest and juice and salt in a food processor until thoroughly combined.
2. Add the oats, cocoa powder and almond meal. Pulse until combined.
3. Add the coconut and pulse a few more times to combine.
4. Spread the mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Optionally, sprinkle the top with extra coconut and press it in lightly.
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes at 350°F. Cool, slice and pack in snack baggies.

Approximate nutrition:
1 bar
103 calories, 20 calories from fat

Total fat: 2.5g
    Saturated: 1g
Total Carbohydrates: 18g
    Dietary fiber: 3.5g
Protein: 3.5g
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10-Minute Dinner

The other day, Dan and I got home at 7:15 starving, with no plans for dinner. So we emptied the fridge and acted fast.

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Quesadillas and Bean Salsa
(serves 2)


Ingredients:
6 corn tortillas
3 oz. shredded cheese
1 can black beans
2 tomatoes
1 can corn (or kernels from one pre-cooked cob that's sitting in the fridge waiting to be made into salsa)
1 lime
1 green onion
1t cumin
cilantro to taste

Directions:
1. Divide the cheese between tortillas and make 6 open-face quesadillas over medium heat. (You'll probably need to do this in batches. Or, you can make 3 normal quesadillas and then peel them open.)
2. While the cheese is melting, drain, rinse and mix the black beans and corn in a large serving bowl. Finely dice the tomatoes and green onion, and add.
3. Add the juice from your lime, sprinkle on the cumin and chopped cilantro, and toss to combine.
4. Serve the quesadillas. Apply salsa liberally. Never apologize for the consequences.
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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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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.

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Protein and the USDA

I don't know if you've seen the new USDA food guidelines, but it's now a plate with the different food groups shown in varying sizes. It's a good start to making a change, but there are a few major flaws.

First, the inclusion of dairy is basically excluding vegans from the recommendation. In addition, a lot of Americans are lactose-intolerant, preventing them from consuming a lot of dairy products. I know it says dairy for simplicity sake, but products like soy milk and almond milk should also be considered a part of the dairy category.

Second, I think there should be a bigger emphasis on whole grains, instead of just grains. I have always liked my pasta white (and probably always will) but I think at least half of those grains should be coming from whole grains, if not more.

Third, the separate protein section of the plate is only helping fuel a common misperception--only certain foods contain protein. Of course, this is true--only certain foods do contain protein. For example, table sugar doesn't contain protein.

The list of foods that do contain protein, though, is much more comprehensive that most people expect. For example, did you know that bread contains protein? In fact, it's the protein in flour that makes bread chewy (which is why you use high protein bread flour instead of low protein cake flour).

But let's do a little thought experiment about bread.

Nutrition Facts for 1 slice of white bread

For the sake of example, let's say you're a woman aged 18-59. According to the chart below, you'd need 2000 calories and 60 grams of protein.

{Image Source}

Also for the sake of example, let's say you ate nothing but white bread. To reach 2000 calories a day, you would need to eat around 30 slices of bread:

30 slices * 66 calories/slice = 1980 calories

How much protein would you get?

30 slices * 2g protein/slice = 60 grams

Broccoli is even better: 3g of protein in 50 calories! (Not to mention fiber, and vitamins.) This isn't perfect--both of these foods would leave you short in fats, which are an important component of a healthy diet. And fats add a lot of calories.

Still, 1500 calories of broccoli would provide more than enough protein for even a typical athlete (90g) and still leave a lot of room for olive oil. (It would also clean you out, with 150g of fiber.)

So next time you think you need to open a can of beans or add a piece of chicken to make sure you get enough protein, think again. There is protein in almost everything we eat, and it add ups fast.

And finally, the biggest problem with this new plate--where's dessert??!?!!!

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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!


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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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Happy Easter: A Lent Recap

Today marks the end of Lent, which is the most important part of Easter for me. Although I'm not religious, I chose to observe Lent this year by giving up meat.

I made the decision somewhat on a whim, but also under the impression that I didn't eat much meat anyways, so it wouldn't be much trouble. Boy, was I wrong!

The hardest part about giving up meat was finding food to eat. Our dining halls are very veg friendly and almost always have a main entree for vegetarians or vegans beyond just the salad bar. Unfortunately, if you don't like that one option, you're out of luck! What I didn't realize before was that those were the days I would end up eating meat. Since I could no longer eat meat when I didn't like the veg entree, I had to get creative.

Fortunately, I quickly learned some good alternatives that kept me going. One of my favorites was a cheese panini. The grilled cheeses here are usually white bread with American cheese, drenched in oil and grilled. Instead, I order a cheddar cheese sandwich on whole grain bread and put it in the panini machine. That plus a salad is perfect for lunch.

I also found my dessert consumption increased significantly. That may have been partly due to an increase in calorie consumption now that we're in season, but I also think it was often the easiest thing to eat. As a result, though, I have often craved savory foods instead of sweet foods over the past few weeks.

Of course, I wasn't perfect. There were one or two nights where I just didn't have the energy to find something without meat. I also didn't go vegetarian, so I could still eat things like marshmallows, or just pick the meat out of a dish that was otherwise made with chicken or beef stock, for example.

To celebrate Easter and the end of Lent, D and I made pork chops for dinner tonight. Even though he didn't give up meat, he's been eating less. Both of us found our 4oz portions of pork to be overwhelmingly large. I also didn't find it particularly satisfying. Sure, it was moist and flavorful, but it wasn't special or that delicious. I would rather have had twice as much roasted broccoli.

Going forward, I expect that I will only eat meat when it is inconvenient to do otherwise. Although I'm sure many vegetarians probably scoff at this lack of commitment, for me it is about cost, convenience and taste, rather than morality or environmental impact. I also hope to find a way to decrease the amount of sweets I eat, too.

I'm sure this will change as Dan and I begin to cook for ourselves this summer and next year. Fortunately, Dan is super patient and understanding, and willing to experiment with not eating meat while I try to figure out what works for me. I'm sure his needs and wants will influence me, but he's been very open to change so far.

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45-Minute Dinner: Roasted Veggies with Pork Loin and Rice Pilaf
serves 2

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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Homemade Yogurt: Why You Should Make It Too!

You probably learned at a young age to put the milk away promptly and in the coldest place in the fridge. So if somebody told you to leave the milk out in 100°F weather and actually eat what you got the next day, I can understand why you'd be squeamish. Especially if they told you they'd added bacteria to said milk.

Of course, if you've ever eaten yogurt, that's exactly what you're doing. To make yogurt, you basically add bacteria to milk and then let it incubate at a bacteria friendly 100-110°F. Gross.

Really, though, there's nothing gross about it! The bacteria you add are no more harmful than the yeast you add to bread or the dust mites that sleep in your pillow. (Less harmful if you have allergies!!) Here's what happens:


At around 110°F, the bacteria you add are in full activity--like tourists on a summer beach. They eat up all of the lactose in the milk, a form of sugar that many people can't digest, and produce lactic acid, the same thing that makes your muscles burn when you work out.

Just like lactic acid makes your muscles uncomfortable, it also makes the yogurt uncomfortable--for other bacteria, that is! The high acidity that makes yogurt a little bit tangy discourages the growth of the bacteria that make us sick. It also makes the milk curdle and form a jelly-like matrix of coagulated protein molecules. (The same thing happens if you add vinegar to milk!)

The first yogurts were made by just leaving milk out someplace where it could "catch" good bacteria (much the same way we catch colds!). These days, most people give the milk a push in the right direction by adding some good bacteria (in the form of already-made yogurt) at the start of incubation.

I've already posted on how to make homemade yogurt, but I thought I'd give you a few added benefits of making homemade yogurt:

1. Vitamin D
Lots of research has been done to show the benefits of vitamin D, particularly in aiding absorption of calcium. Unfortunately, most store-bought yogurts don't have vitamin D! Well, when you make your own yogurt, you choose the milk that goes into it, which means you can choose yogurt with vitamin D (and vitamin A) added.

2. Along those lines, you know everything that goes into your yogurt.
A lot of yogurts contain thickeners, like cornstarch or gelatin (watch out vegetarians!), artificial sweeteners and a lot of sugar. You may be okay eating those things, you may not. Personally, many artificial sweeteners give me stomaches and severe bloating so I avoid them. I'd also rather eat a yogurt that was thickened naturally from its wealth of good bacteria, rather than yogurt thickened with gelatin.

I messed up.

So you remember how I gave up meat for lent? Well, I've been doing pretty well, sticking to my on-Sundays-only policy.

Except this week I got to the dining hall after a long, hard practice. I'd already noshed on carrots and hummus in my room (because I didn't think I could make it the 30 yards to the dining hall without nourishment), but I was still starving.

All they had was eggplant and zucchini. Ok, it was ALL they had, but the options were:
salad with a weird raspberry dressing
pasta with really terrible marinara sauce
eggplant+tomato towers (I really don't like eggplant at all)
zucchini (I HATE zucchini)
zucchini (yes, that's right, they had two zucchini dishes)
chicken
beef stir fry
rice

I just didn't have the energy to be creative, so I decided to grab some rice and pick the veggies out of the beef stir fry. The veggies looked delightfully oily, crisp, fresh, nutritious and delicious. The beef just looked oily.

But then I just didn't have the energy to pick around the minuscule pieces of beef.. so I decided I'd just pick around them at the table.

But then I started picking them out and realized just how monstrous a task that was.. so I decided to just eat them. They weren't very good, or very satisfying.. I just didn't have the energy to avoid them.

The whole thing was fairly representative of my experience so far. I haven't missed meat much at all, but eating has become just enough more difficult that it can be frustrating. It's especially difficult in a dining hall, where not eating meat eliminates a large number of options. It's trying to have to pass up delicious vegetables because they've been mixed with meat, or to not eat a salad because they've added bacon or chicken.

Do you have any dietary restrictions? How do you deal with them when others are cooking for you?
Let me know by leavin a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com. 


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Savory Oatmeal

Every time I make this, I get weird looks in the dining hall.

"Is that cheese in your oatmeal?" my companions ask me with wrinkled noses. "Gross!"

Yes, people, that is CHEESE in my oatmeal, delicious, gooey, savory cheese. And if you've never tried it, you're missing out big time!

Not eating meat, dining hall brunch options can be fairly limited. Donuts aren't exactly a great post-practice fuel and buffet style scrambled "eggs" got old about 2 years ago. Plus, I like to get at least one of my 10 daily servings of vegetables (yes, I normally eat ten, not five) before dinner time.

Here's the solution:
1. Pile spinach high in a bowl (I'm talking as much as you can possibly fit) and microwave it for a minute and a half. If there's no microwave, use a little bit less spinach and the oatmeal will be hot enough to get it mostly cooked.
2. Put a big scoop of oatmeal on top of the spinach. Microwave for another 60 seconds if you like your food mouth-burning hot like I do.
3. Add cheese, pumpkins seeds, and whatever else looks good from the salad bar. (If you're a meat eater, bacons bits are particularly delicious!!!)
4. Stir thoroughly and chow down (carefully--it's hot!!!)

Don't eat in the dining halls? Make it at home with your slow cooker!

On becoming an athlete...

I've been spending much of the last week reading a lot of other blogs, especially those of vegetarian athletes, trying to get a sense of how I need to adjust my nutrition to make up for the lack of meat. Since I didn't eat much meat before, I really haven't been doing much differently.

Reading, though, I realized that a lot the bloggers out there didn't start doing anything athletic until well after their college years. I found it fascinating to read about how they just picked up running, wishing that I could pretend to be so self-motivated.

I am a very different story. At the tender age of five, I picked up my first sport--martial arts. I wouldn't consider it a particularly aerobic sport, and I had no idea what it meant to be in shape, but I could certainly do more push-ups than any other elementary school kid you've ever met.

This is me in middle school. Embarrassing.

I continued martial arts through middle school and the beginnings of high school. Looking back now, I wouldn't consider myself at all athletic when I entered high school. I couldn't run more than a half mile without stopping. I was strong, but not fit.