easy lunch sandwich times

May 7, 2012
by eatafood
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meals / quick / one-pot / sandwiches

sometimes i forget how good sandwiches are. i’m sure everyone already knows how to make one, but here’s the one i ate today.

Image

SANDWICH

1/4 of a tiny lebanese cucumber, sliced thin

alfalfa sprouts

sauerkraut

4 mushrooms, sliced

1 kale leaf, massaged (think bruised, roll it around, smush, whatever, until its dark green)

1/4 block of smoked tofu, sliced thin

dijon mustard

whole wheat seedy bread

nutritional yeast

salt and pepper

1 big clove garlic

olive oil

First off, dry fry your tofu slices in a pan and sprinkle on nutritional yeast, toss it around until it starts sticking and the tofu is hot. Put aside. In the same pan sauté the mushrooms with garlic, salt and black pepper.

Assemble your sandwich, i use a lot of dijon so it’s spicy but if you don’t have it i would make up the black pepper or use a bit of hot sauce.

* i would add thinly sliced tomato next time.

SIDE BRUSSEL SPROUTS

similar to the other brussel sprout recipe but faster.

End and halve your sprouts. then put them face up on a pan, drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper and nutritional yeast. Broil for 10 minutes (i put them on the 2nd highest rack), until they start to brown.

Squeeze lemon juice over top when they’re done.

work dinner: mushroom barley soup and asparagus, cherry tomato, eggplant grilled cheese sandwiches

May 1, 2012
by eatafood
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meals / mushrooms / sandwiches / soup / soups

crappy pictures today because work is gross and who wants to look at food there. BUT one of my coworkers and i have started trading off making dinner for the other person, and yesterday was round one (my night).

MUSHROOM BARLEY SOUP

olive oil

a big bag of mushrooms, button is fine, crimini are better (big bag= half the size of your head sort of), sliced

half a head of garlic, minced

1 large red onion

4 bay leaves

1 or 2 big pinches of chili flakes

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. pearl barley

1/3 c. nutritional yeast

tons of black pepper

a very big handful of fresh dill, chopped, VERY BIG (why doesn’t dill taste stronger?)

8 cups broth ( i used onion)

2 cups water

Sautee all the mushrooms until they release liquid and brown a bit. Throw in the onion and sautee it a bit. Stir in barley until coated in oil, then add hot broth and water. Bring to a boil. Add bay leaf, garlic, chili flakes, balsamic and then simmer soup until barley is cooked. Add nutritional yeast, dill and black pepper. Eat.

ASPARAGUS, EGGPLANT AND CHERRY TOMATO GRILLED CHEESE

(not pictured because i ate it)

1/2 a bunch of young aspargus

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 stripey thin eggplant, cut in half lengthwise then scored across into diamonds

baby spinach

nice bread

daiya pepperjack cheese (it would be totally fine without also, i was trying to cook for a non-vegan though and wanted to be like HEY LOOK WE HAVE CHEESE TOO, COOL HUH?)

On a sheet pan roast all the veg with a bit of oil, black pepper and salt in a 375 oven. Take out asparagus and tomatoes after 15-20 minutes. The tomatoes should be all shrivelly and darkened. Continue to cook the eggplant for another 20.

Lay your vegetables out on a piece of bread and don’t be skimpy. Top with a good sprinkle of daiya and a small handful of greens. top with another piece and grill. we have a panini press at work so i did that but you could do this like a regular grilled cheese in a pan on the stove too.

Cut the cooked egpplant into strips.

roasted eggplant, mushroom, olive, garlic, okra and arugula pizza

April 25, 2012
by eatafood
comment 1
eggplant / meals / mushrooms / okra

so first of all: OKRA. oh man it is the best. because i love it so much i put it on everything and it surprisingly works kind of all the time. okra pizza sounds weird but try it, because you’ll probably like it.

this is a good low-effort pizza. it takes a while because of the roasting, but it’s not active cooking time, it’s lazy time. i used this roasting time to have a chocolate raspberry smoothie (milkshake?) to whet my appetite.

a big lavash bread (my favourite pizza shortcut)

tomato sauce

kalmata olives, sliced

1/2  a red onion, sliced very thin

baby arugula

2 heads of garlic, unpeeled with the top 1/4 inch cut off

3 smallish long eggplants (i used the stripey kind, sort of halfway between the italian kind and the indian kind)

2 bags of okra (think 2 big handfuls if you have normal sized hands, 3 if you are me), ends cut off

a cheese (i use daiya, it’s soy/wheat/dairy-free and works really well on pizza. i used 1 bag)

olive oil

salt and pepper

Cut the eggplants down the middle then sliced into the flesh making a criss-cross pattern (not all the way through)

On a big baking sheet, spread out eggplants skin-side down, okra, mushrooms and garlic. If it doesn’t fit in a single layer then use two baking sheets. Lightly toss everything with olive oil, and pour a bit into the open tops of the garlic heads. Let them sit for a second then flip them upside down. Season everything with salt and pepper.

Roast everything at 400 for 30 minutes, flipping the mushrooms and okra halfway through. Remove everything except the eggplant and roast for another 15 minutes.

While you’re waiting, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the heads and into a dish. Cut the okra into 2 or 3 rough pieces. Once the eggplant is done,  i use kitchen scissors to cut it into strips (widthwise). You could just chop it too, and there is no need to take the skin off, it’s tasty and crunchy at this point.

So pizzatime: lay out your lavash or whatever flatbread you want to use, then spread the roasted garlic evenly across it with a knife or a spatula. Folllow with tomato sauce. Distribute okra, mushrooms, eggplant, onion and olives. Sprinkle cheese then grab a few handfuls or arugula to top the pizza. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melty.

btw: i used this garlic roasting opportunity to roast 5 heads of garlic, it’s timely but great to have around so you may as well toss and extra in there to eat later.  you can use it on sandwiches, in pasta sauces or salad dressings, with new potatoes and balsamic vinegar.

soba with cucumber, ginger and seaweed

April 22, 2012
by eatafood
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meals / noodles + pasta / seaweed / soba

1 bundle soba noodles

1/4 of a cucumber, cut into slices then strips

3 large scallions, sliced with white and green parts separated

1 heaping tbsp grated ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

a big pinch of chili flakes or 1 tsp chili paste

1/2 c. broth (miso works well here)

a big handful of greens (i used kale but spinach would be nice), chopped

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp white vinegar

1/2 sheet nori, toasted and cut into strips

Cook your noodles then rinse in cold water and set aside. In a small pan heat a bit of oil and quickly saute white part of the scallions with your ginger until barely cooked (no more than a minute). Add broth and chilis. Cook until broth begins to boil and cook off a tiny bit. Add greens, once they start to lose structure turn off your heat, add sesame oil, vinegar.

Mix cold noodles with cold cucumber and the brothy greens. top with nori and green scallions and sesame seeds (which i was out of)

hangover poutine

April 15, 2012
by eatafood
comments 3
meals / more / mushrooms / potato / snacks / tasty trash

this is not my most gourmet recipe yet but sometimes you need poutine, and this is a tasty (vegan) one.

this makes enough for two enormous poutines or three reasonable ones.

4 medium size potatoes, cut into fry-style strips

olive oil

6 crimini mushrooms, diced

3 large cloves garlic

1/2 c. white flour

2 cups stock (i used mushroom)

1 tsp miso paste

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

lots of black pepper LOTS

daiya mozarella shreds

Cut your potatoes and preheat the oven to 375. Toss with oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread out in a single layer and bake until brown, flipping every once in a while and changing pan positions. If after 30 minutes they aren’t crisping up, turn the temp up to 400 and keep an eye on them for the last 15.

In a sauce pan, sautee mushrooms in a generous amount of oil and a teensy bit of salt until their liquid is released and evaporated. Meanwhile dissolve miso paste in hot broth. Turn the heat down on the mushrooms to medium low and whisk in flour, it should absorb pretty quickly so watch out. Slowly whisk in  the broth, making sure to work out lumps in the flour. It will thicken pretty quickly. Add garlic and nutritional yeast and cook on low until desired thickness. Add vinegar and black pepper. If it gets too thick you can always thin it out with some water.

Once fries are baked, plate them and put a good handful of daiya on top. Then top with hot gravy. Sandwiching the daiya between the two hot things will make it all melty.

DONE.