Sassy Salmon

On a roll this week with the healthy food (don't worry I'm eating a burger for dinner tonight), I made a fun salmon dish highlighted in this month's Cooking Light.

Salmon with Tomato Peach Salsa

I followed the recipe closely, but added a couple of items that I had around the house.

Everything was quick to pick up and I didn't spend all that much for such a tasty dinner.

What you'll need

• 1 cup chopped peeled peach (I used 2 peaches, 1 nectarine)
• 3/4 cup quartered cherry tomatoes (I used a whole box of grape tomatoes instead)
• 1/4 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion (definitely used more than this)
• 3 tablespoons small fresh mint leaves (I chopped these)
• 3 tablespoons small fresh basil leaves (also chopped this)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced (optional) - did not use this, couldn't find fresh ones
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 4 (6-ounce) wild Alaskan king salmon fillets - My supermarket only offered regular salmon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• Cooking spray - I used a George Foreman grill to cook my salmon, so didn't use this at all!

To start, I sliced my grape tomatoes, which took some time but it was very relaxing.  For some reason chopping veggies relaxes me.  I actually volunteer to do this every week at God's Love We Deliver. 


Anyhoo, here is what it looked like when I was done.

They remind me of jewels, they were so red and perfect.  I could have just eaten this with a little salt and lemon.  SO GOOD!










Next I chopped the peaches, onions and added 2 small plums and half an avocado that was slowly dying in my fridge.

The peaches weren't ripe enough so they were a pain to de-pit, but I managed.

Everything else was a breeze to cut.  I didn't even cry from chopping the onions.  I can cry from looking at a picture of an onion, I'm so sensitive.  :(




Then I chopped the mint and the basil.

They smelled like heaven and although I only used a little bit, I put them in a pretty vintage-looking can and added some water.  Basil grows roots if you place it in water.  It's the only plant I don't manage to kill.

I'll see if the mint does the same thing.  With my luck, it'll be dead by the end of the week.  I suck at caring for plants.

 

Here is the final product after adding the lemon juice, olive oil and honey. 

It was the perfect combination of sweet and tangy.  

I then warmed up the grill, and threw the clean filet on with a little salt and pepper.  After about 5 minutes, it was perfectly cooked.  With a side of baby spinach, this was the perfect summer meal!

Mel and I ate it up and raved about how fresh and tasty it was.  I made too much salsa, so I saved some to eat with chicken or something else later this week.

Perhaps even some tortilla chips?! Yum!


Here's a photo showing the actual salmon.  Mel said the first photo just looked like a giant pile of salsa.

Surprise Soup!

I don't know about you, but since the summer hit, I've been eating unhealthy foods left and right.

It's so easy with someone hosting a BBQ every other day and street fairs offering all sorts of tasty delights.

So on Monday, I forced myself to make a healthy dinner to get some vegetables back into my system.  I definitely needed it and could feel my arteries clogging!

I didn't know what to make though and none of the recipe sites I rely on had anything to offer (I was being picky since I didn't want to make something healthy to begin with).

So after wandering the supermarket like a zombie and staring blankly at the vegetables, I decided to make something up.  Yes, I was going to experiment.  It was a win win since I promised myself that if it came out badly I wouldn't have to eat it. And if it happened to come out tasty, well then I had a healthy meal to eat.

Here is what I started with:

• 1 big box of vegetable stock (no salt added) (I didn't feel like making stock cause I was lazy)
• 2 red large potatoes
• 2 small onions
• 2 nice sized carrots
• 1 lovely bunch of kale
• 1 small can of corn
• 1 large can of cannellini beans (white kidney beans)

That's it.  I was attempting to make a really simple soup out of random items that looked good in the super market.

I started by chopping and sauteing the onions in a large pot.  I cooked them on super low, to ensure they didn't burn.  Plus this gave me time to peel and chop the other veggies.  I peeled and sliced my carrots into "half moons," I peeled and cut the potatoes into small half inch cubes and then shredded the kale.  I did this by combining a number of leaves on top of each other, then rolling them (along the stem) so it makes almost like a sushi roll (this is how I imagined it anyway), then very thinly slicing it.  It's super easy and there was a ton of it, to ensure I was getting a lot of goodness in my soup.

After the onions were translucent, I added the stock, brought this to a simmer and then threw in the potatoes and carrots.  After a while I threw in the beans too.  Once the potatoes were cooked, which was about 30 minutes, I took a cup of the veggies and blended it with my hand blender to make a puree, which I then added back to the soup.  I wanted a creamy texture.  I then added a few cups of water to thin it out and added the corn and kale.

I let everything simmer for about 15 minutes, until it was done.  The only spices I added was salt and white pepper.  I was afraid to try the soup since it was way too easy to make... perhaps it wasn't good.

Adam came home hungry and wanted a bowl right away.  So I gave him a bowl and he instantly loved it... so I had a bowl with 2 slices of 7-grain toast. 

And guess what, it was great!!

I really wouldn't change a thing about it and would easily make this again,as it was super easy and fast (for a soup).

I had this for lunch two days in a row now and its still so good.

Here's a close-up of the veggies...

Party On, Dudes!

As I mentioned in my last post, Mel and I were preparing for a fun spring celebration in honor of Mel's recent accomplishments.  Needless to say we went all out, spent a ton of money and cooked up a furious storm.

On Thursday we went to the supermarket and filled up my rickety old grandma shopping cart until the wheels were about to fall off.  On Saturday, we woke up early and went over to McCarren's farmers market for some fresh produce, but had to make a few stops along the way for items not yet in season.

In the end, my kitchen was filled with vegetables, fruit and a ton of groceries - enough for an army!!

Mama Maria arrived at 2pm with the rest of the ingredients to host a wonderful party.  We started cooking right away and made a fabulous team.

The work was split up, I took over entrees while Mel and Mom worked on desserts.

I started by preparing the pulled chicken, which was easy by watching the gorgeous Murray's Chicken I bought, putting it in my crock pot with chopped onion and half of a bottle of Jim Beam BBQ sauce, which was the only one I could find at Key Food w/out corn syrup.


I let it cook on low for 4 - 5 hours, until the meat was super tender and pulled away easily with a fork.  I had to remove the chicken from the pot and drain some of the liquid.  Then added more BBQ sauce.  It came out great!


Next, I worked on the Sweet and Sour Meatballs, which had far more ingredients but was just as easy.

I threw everything into the oldest crock pot in the world (seriously, its older than me I think) and prepared the meatballs. 

My mom helped me roll some of the meatballs while we were browning them up to lock-in their juiciness.


Here's Mama Maria getting her hands dirty, yet she managed to look so cute while doing it!  I love my mom!


The meatballs had diced onions and garlic as well as salt and pepper.  We also rolled them small to ensure everyone at the party had a taste. Once they were browned, we popped them into the crock pot to slow cook for a few hours.

Note: don't stir the meatballs once they start cooking.  You want to let the fat rise to the top, which you then skim off before serving.





Next I worked on the white bean puree with sun-dried tomatoes.  This was a really easy dish to prepare, and the only adjustment I made was using sun-dried tomatoes that weren't out of a jar.  I could only fine dry ones, but they worked just fine for me!

I soaked my dried beans overnight  to ensure they would be ready to cook on Saturday morning.  Make sure you add A LOT of water when you're soaking means over night.  I definitely didn't add enough, so I had to cook my beans a little extra than what was indicated in the recipe, but I had plenty of time to spare before the party started.

I didn't follow the exact recipe in terms of measuring out the ingredients, but I did taste along the way to make sure it was coming out delicious.

I was a bit reserved with the rosemary since I didn't want it to overpower the dish.  It added a lovely flavor that only refined palates at the party picked up on.  Everyone LOVED this dish.




I totally forgot to take photos of the final product, so all I really have to show what it looks like is to the right, which is a pretty crappy photo.

I used a hand blender to puree the mixture, which worked like a charm.  I did not add any salt since the sun-dried tomatoes were already so salty.

It came out SO GOOD!  Everyone raved about this at the party. 




I wanted to ensure vegetarians had plenty to eat at the party, so I also made a roasted vegetable orzo, which I've made before.

It's a pretty easy pasta salad dish in which I roast a plethora of veggies and add it to orzo with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, chopped fresh parsley and salt/pepper to taste.

I used yellow squash, zucchini, red pepper, eggplant, green peppers and cherry tomatoes which were roasted in the oven with just a splash of olive oil and salt/pepper.

This took about 40 minutes, but I was careful to check on them every 10 minutes (after the first 25) to ensure they didn't dry out.

Then I added the veggies to the cooked, drained orzo and added the oil and vinegar little by little to ensure it coated everything well and was tasty.  I made too much and have been eating this for days now, but its a healthy lunch!

Here's what the main meal looked like, which I enjoyed thoroughly!  Everyone ate up the pulled-chicken sliders and most of the meatballs.  Hope everyone enjoyed my food as much as I did making it :)

Besides the dishes noted above, we also served some other appetizers...

Mel bought a ton of cheese from the Bedford Cheese Shop and my dad got some more from Fairway.  I don't eat cheese, but apparently it was very good.

We had tons of fresh veggies from the farmers market and local produce markets in our area.  We also bought a ton of melon, honeydew and cantaloupe, which was on sale (woohoo!).

The bread, which we used for the cheese and the bean dip, was from the farmers market.  It was fantastic bread and I'll be sure to get some more the next time I'm there.

I even got flowers at the farmers market to make the table pretty... which is was thanks to all the lovely guests who also brought flowers to the party. 

The other dish I made, which I don't really have photos of except for this small one at the right, was a Avocado and White Bean Salsa.



It wasn't difficult to make, although avocados cost a fortune these days.  The cheapest I could find in my area was $1.99 per avocado, thank goodness they were perfectly ripe.

It wasn't the best salsa I've had, but I love all the fresh ingredients.  I would have been better off making guacamole, which I rock at. 



Meanwhile, Mel and my mom were working really hard on getting the desserts prepared for the party.  Although there were definitely some breaks taken in between cookies baking in the oven... as you can see here when Mel was "testing" the cheese.

The first thing she got to was preparing her famous vegan peanut butter pie.  Since its a no-bake pie, its important to get it in the freezer as soon as possible so that its not a mushy mess by the time everyone is ready to eat it.


I do believe the pie contains toffutti cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter and cool whip, although I think she used "real whip" which has real dairy or some sort. 

You blend and place in two pie crusts and freeze until its pretty solid.  It's AMAZING and people who try it swear its the greatest vegan treat they've ever had.  Even I was shocked at how good it was. 
f





Mel also made a cake just for fun.  She got a box of vanilla cake with the sprinkles, I think its called "funfetti" but I could be wrong.  She could have easily made one from scratch, but apparently this was easier and funny.  

She did, however, make her own frosting, which was to die for.  It took a lot of effort whipping the frosting to make it fluffy, but it did come out fantastic.




I don't know what goes into the frosting since I was busy making the other food.  I heard a lot of blending going on behind me and noticed plenty of "tasty" to make sure its perfect. 

I have to say, I've never seen frosting so fluffy in all my life.  It was incredible and not too sweet either. 

 

Mel was very careful when placing the frosting in between the two cakes.  She wanted it just right. 











I thought the cakes looked like a giant cookie.  Don't you just want to take a big bite out of it?  It would have been the greatest cookie of them all...

 Here is the finished product, looking amazing!! 

They were so pleased with the way it came out.  I'm fortunate to have one little slice left i my fridge right now, waiting to be eaten.  Is there anything better than left over cake?

Mel also made lemon cookies, which were out of this world good.  I had a few before the party to hold me over.  We ate the ends, to ensure that only the most perfect cookies made it out to the guests. (or at least that was the thinking behind eating so many cookies)

Here's the table set up, and don't the flowers look pretty!  Adam and I enjoyed nibbling at everything throughout the party.  Apparently cooking for 6.5 hours means I burned off over 1,000 calories, so I was entitled to eating all I could eat, which I assure you I most certainly did.

Also, I'm totally rocking a fun tank top from Dalaga, one of the greatest clothing stores ever.  In case you were wondering...



Here's my neighbor and fabulous blogger *Bitchcakes* enjoying some of the food.  She's a vegan, so I had her in mind when I made a few of the items. 

I'm always very careful when cooking for others, since I know what its like going to a party not being able to eat ANYTHING.  It totally sucks. 

So when I cook for a large group, I ask what everyone's dietary preferences are, if anyone has an allergy and ask for recommendations. 

There was plenty for everyone, regardless of their diet.  The only thing I made sure to ask was if anyone had a peanut allergy - and yes, I do have friends with this terrible allergy and have to be careful about what I prepare.  No one at this party had this allergy, which is why we served the peanut butter pie.

The dessert table looking gorgeous.  Those are the lemon cookies on the left.  The pie on the top left side is an apple pie and the crumbly one is a mixed berry pie, both bought at fairway.  We didn't have the time or resources to make our own fruit pies, but Fairway has awesome and cheap pies that you can pretend are your own. 

Cutting the peanut butter pie for everyone.  The mixed berry pie was also a HUGE hit.

My mom also made her famous chocolate mousse for dessert.  She makes it from scratch with dark chocolate.  Everyone was so cute at the party and kept calling this pudding, except its WAY better than pudding and there isn't any milk in it.


Overall the party was a great success!  Everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoyed the food.  I know that's not what makes a party, but that really all I had control over.

Special thanks to *Bitchcakes* for being a great neighbor, fabulous friend and fantastic photographer.

Also, Adam thinks dessert is metal... I guess because it is metal! Woohoo!

Mel looked like she was having a grand ol' time, which is really all that matters to me.

Love you Mel!  I had a great time hosting your party.  Your friends are lovely and I'd totally throw you another party, just not so soon.  I'm tired from cooking! :)

Thank you everyone for making it out.  I hope you had a lovely time.  Thank you again for making Mel's day so special.  Its so reassuring to know Mel has such supportive, amazing friends!


Extra special thank you to Mama Maria for her hard work in making this party a huge success.  She worked throughout the entire party while I was taking breaks and enjoying everything.  I don't know where she found the energy to clean up everything afterwards. 

Now this is a REAL Wonder Woman!

Party Preparation

WOULD YOU TRUST US WITH YOUR FOOD?!?!

I'm going to be hosting a small party on Saturday with Mel, which I couldn't be more excited about!!  I love parties, especially when they have good food. So hosting my own party means I get full control of what's being served.  Plus I get to make things I don't normally cook.

I don't want to go crazy, since the last time I hosted a party, which was my housewarming with Adam, I went a little overboard spending about $350 and there was a ton of wasted food.  
The idea of running out of food is terrible, but I would rather run out than have a ton of leftovers that end up in the garbage. 

We're going to have a bit of a "Picnic" theme since I want to make pulled-chicken sliders, which are SUPER easy and fun to serve.





So here's what I had in mind based on what's healthy, easy to serve and eat and the ingredients are affordable.

• Pulled-Chicken Sliders
• I'm going to use my crockpot to make this, so I can keep it warm and people can serve themselves.
• Ingredients: 
• Organic chicken breast
• BBQ sauce - going to seek out one w/out corn syrup
• Rolls - hoping the potato rolls are affordable since they're so tasty!
• Cole slaw - which people can place on top or eat on the side
• Bruchette with Sauteed Greens
• This had great review on epicurious and sounded super easy to make. Plus this a healthy dish that vegetarians can enjoy. 
• Ingredients:
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - which I already have!
• Garlic - super cheap
• Greens - either swiss chard, spinach or beet tops.  Going to the farmers market near McCarren Park on Saturday to see what looks best.
• White Bean Puree with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
• Another healthy dish that sounded delicious.  This will take a bit more time since it requires the beans to soak overnight, but it shouldn't be too difficult.  I can also make this 2 days in advance, leaving me more time to work on other dishes Saturday.
• Ingredients: 
• Dried Great Northern Beans - super cheap!
• Onions - already have these.
• Fresh Rosemary - which I can use for other dishes or just for decoration at the party.  
• Oil-packed sun dried tomatoes - this might be expensive, but I'm sure its worth the splurge, as its super tasty!  I can use it on salads or sandwiches if I don't use it all at the party.
• Shallots - another cheap and useful item
• Lemons - always have these in the house, such a useful fruit!
• Fresh Parsley - can use this for salsa or other dishes.
• Pita, or some other starch chip to get the dip in your mouth!
• Avocado and White Bean Salsa
• What is a party without some salsa?!  Plus, tortilla chips are on sale at one of the supermarkets near me.
• Ingredients:
• Small white beans - super easy and cheap to get
• Avocado - which is also on sale, or I wouldn't have bothered with this dish
• Red onion - going to use this for another dish
• Limes - another item that's necessary for any fiesta!
• Extra-virgin olive oil - definitely have this
• Roasted Veggie Orzo
• I've been making a pasta salad for a few years now that I came up with using a variety of recipes.  It's fast, easy, tasty and healthy
• Ingredients:
• Any market fresh veggies such as tomatoes, squash, zucchini, eggplant, onions, carrots, etc.
• Orzo (duh!)
• Lemon juice
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar - something I always have on hand in my kitchen, I prefer white for this recipe
• Spices, whatever I have on hand
• Roasted Kale Chips
• This recipe sounds awesome and super easy to make.  It's also something I've been meaning to make, a healthier alternative to potato chips.
• Ingredients:
• Kale
• Olive Oil
• I know, it's an extensive ingredient's list, not sure how I'll manage ;)
• Meatballs
• Not sure if I'm going to make this or not.  I love meatballs at parties, and they're so easy to eat with toothpicks, but I might now depending on how many red-meat-eaters are attending.  I found this recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs that sounded promising and easy to make. 

I also want to serve a fruit salad or slices of melon, depending on what's available at the farmers market or looks good at the super market.  It would also be nice to have a veggie platter with cherry tomatoes, celery, carrots, peppers and anything else that looks fresh and tasty.

Do you like my moustache?

As for desserts - that's pretty much Mel's department.  We're getting our mom to make her famous chocolate mouse, which is OUT OF THIS WORLD!  OMG you would die if you ate this, I do every time. 

Mel is awesome with desserts.  She makes this ridiculously good vegan peanut butter pie.  Perhaps even a banana pudding pie.  (typing this is making me hungry)

Yes this girl right here --------------------------------------->
She is amazinc and I <3 her

So that sounds like plenty of food for a party, right?  Then I just need to get tasty beverages, disposable plates and cups and lots of paper napkins/towels, cause we all know a mess is bound to happen.

I'm hoping to get more of my shopping done on Saturday at the farmers market.  I'm a fan of fresh, affordable and local foods!  I'll be following up later this week to let you all know how its coming along. 

Beef Tagine with Red Potatoes

I'm a huge fan of Cooking Light.  When I look through my magazine, I get the same feeling as when I shop in a cheap store. That feeling of "oh I can get anything I want and I know it's still okay" comes over me.  Cooking Light has lots of lovely recipes and great articles about healthy eating and the best part is that everything looks and tastes DELICIOUS!  It's pretty much guilt free, don't you love that feeling?


So since last month's issue, I've been eyeing this incredible looking Beef Tagine and tonight is the night, baby!


I had to make one major tweak to the recipe since Adam doesn't like squash.  What can you do, the man doesn't like squash.  So I substituted red potato.


I had almost everything already in my kitchen except the meat, the chicken broth, shallots and garlic.  Overall, this was a fairly inexpensive meal.  I think I spent $14 or less.  Woohoo!


So here's what you'll need:

• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 pound beef shoulder, although I used beef chuck and beef round - it was all I could find
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 shallots, quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup chicken broth, I always use reduced fat, low sodium broth
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained, again I use no salt added variations
• 3 cups root vegetable - I used red potatoes but the recipe calls for butternut squash

The recipe also calls for chopped cilantro to be served at the end but I HATE cilantro.  Apparently one's like or dislike of cilantro is hereditary, so it's technically not my fault.

Step 1:

For a recipe like this, I like to set up everything first.  So prep the potatoes.  I just gave them a good scrub , cut out some of the gnarly eyes and cut them into medium sized cubes.  Everything is easy to prepare.  I even measure out my spices in little glass dishes.  So once you have your chopped garlic and cut shallots and cleaned, dried beef, you're ready for step 2. Yay!

Step 2:

Toss all the spices in a bowl with the beef.  Coat it the beef all nice like... it will look something like this:

Then go wash those filthy hands and warm the oil in a big pot, cause you're ready to cook.
Double yay!

Step 3:
Once the oil is hot, brown the beef and the shallots.  Don't worry about the shallots getting brown.  Just add the shallots in at the same time and give the beef a nice turn around until all of it looks nice and evenly browned.  It is going to smell SO GOOD.  


Then throw in the garlic.  After a few stirs, add the can of tomatoes and the chicken broth.  Bring everything to a boil and then add the potatoes.

I noticed there wasn't enough liquid to cover the potatoes. I put a splash more chicken broth and covered the pot.  Don't worry, there will be plenty of liquid once everything starts to break down.  After about 15 minutes, you'll notice that the potatoes are covered up with the broth now.

I let everything cook down till there was a lot less liquid, which was beginning to thicken after about 30 minutes.  I wanted to make sure the meat was nice and tender, since it's typically a tough cut of meat. I was careful as I stirred to ensure I didn't break too many potatoes as they softened.  It's pretty much impossible, but I don't mind some broken down potatoes, they're tasty any way you serve them.

The recipe calls for 40 minutes of stove top time, but I ended up cooking it far longer.   I'm a patient woman, and would rather have melt in your mouth meat and wait a little longer. After about an hour and 15 minutes, I turned off the stove and let the tagine sit for a few minutes.  

After a taste test, it was ready to be served.  

This is how it looked in the end:

 

Certainly not the most attractive meal, but it was REALLY flavorful. It ended up looking nothing like the picture in the Cooking Light Article, but its the taste that counts, right? I see a ton of potential for this mix of spices.  I never thought to use cinnamon and ginger in a stew, but believe me it was awesome.  Adam and I loved it and there is plenty of left overs to enjoy.  

The one thing I would do differently would be to cook down the meat on its own for a while before adding the potatoes.  I would also add other vegetables like large chunks of carrots, maybe some parsnip.  But that's for next time, and I assure you there will be a next time for this delectable dish. 

My First Dairy-Free Ravioli!

Every day I have the same reaction as I'm finishing up my meal - "Oh crap, I forgot to take photographs for my blog!" Yup, every single day I do this. I'm still getting used to the idea of blogging, but will try much harder next time.


Last night, in return for a gorgeous haircut, I made my sister Mel a ravioli feast. My fabulous neighbor and blogging guru BitchCakes introduced me to the frozen dairy-free ravioli at our local organic supermarket, The Garden, and I couldn't wait to try some.


I tried the Soy Boy Verde Ravioli (Garden Herb and Tofu Filling) and a Vegan Artichoke Ravioli, which I believe is made by Cafferata but I can't exactly remember. I'll find out next time I go to the supermarket. They had a lot of different options and will certainly try them all!


The ravioli were easy enough to cook by just adding to boiling water for 7 to 8 minutes, but I needed a sauce. So I decided to make something up and it came out pretty well.


All I did cook some onions and garlic in a splash of olive oil. After about 5 to 7 minutes, I added chopped plum tomatoes and diced leeks. Just this would have been fine as a lighter sauce, but I wanted something a little heartier. I added some no sodium added tomato paste to thicken the sauce up. Adding a little water here and there to make sure it didn't try out. I threw in some white pepper, salt, a tiny bit of sugar (secret ingredient for any tomato sauce) and some fresh chopped parsley.


Once the sauce was cooked down, I took about a cup of it and blended it with my hand-blender (my new best friend). Adding the puree, which would have been delicious on its own, back to the pan to mix with the chunkier sauce. I like my sauce chunky!

For a side side, I sauteed some spinach in olive oil to make sure I was getting enough rich greens in my diet. I was feeling naughty, since this meal on its own was so healthy, that I made garlic bread too. I know, I'm terrible. I just sauteed minced garlic in Smart Balance (I almost never have real butter in my kitchen), soaked up a little on some thinly sliced Italian bread and toasted in the oven. It came out delicious and it wasn't all that greasy since it was just a little bit of Smart Balance on each.


This entire meal probably took me 45 minutes from start to finish. Super easy - anyone can do it!!!


Below are the left overs I'm currently eating for lunch. The green ravioli are the Soy Boy Verde Ravioli and the GIANT one in the middle is the artichoke. I think the Soy Boy ones taste better, just so ya know. But I can't wait to try all the other flavors of dairy-free ravioli!

Thanks Bitchcakes for noticing these in the supermarket.



I will try much harder in the future to photograph while cooking and the final produce. My leftovers above don't do the food justice. They had to travel through 3 borough to get to this plate on 2 different trains. Needless to say they had a rough journey, but they sure did taste good.

Bulgur Risotto with Shrimp

I felt like cooking something quick but healthy, so I did a little research on one of my favorite food sites, epicurious, and discovered that you could actually make a risotto with wheat bulgur!

Bulgur is a recent discovery of mine and I'm still figuring out some interesting ways to prepare it. Over the summer I tried a great recipe with nectarines, pistachios and dill with a balsamic vinaigrette, which was awesome but not really a winter dish since its served chilled.

I love risotto but most recipes call for dairy and cheese - not okay in my book (or my belly). If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm allergic to dairy. Yes, that's allergic not lactose intolerant. I

break out in hives if I have too much dairy and cheese actually makes my throat close-up. My mother is deathly allergic to cheese in even the smallest quantities, so I'm assuming she passed on this lovely allergy on to me. But it doesn't bother me - I grew up without eating cheese and miss it very little. I really only like mozzarella and will once in a while have a slice of pizza and suffer the consequences (which are well worth the deliciousness that is pizza!)

Back to the bulgur!

So the recipe is pretty simple and it came out great.

All you need is:

• Shrimp (I used raw, frozen with the shells still on)
• 1 cup of wheat bulgur
• 1 lime, juiced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups of corn (I used frozen since it was easier)
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon of salt

Step 1:

Get some water boiling in a tea kettle or an easy to pour sauce pan. You will want about 3 cups that are nice and hot to cook your bulgur.

Saute the minced garlic in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about a minute or two, do not let it brown.

Step 2:

Add the wheat bulgur, the salt and mix it around for a minute or two. You want the bulgur to soak up all the delicious garlic infused oil. Then add about a cup of the pipping hot water that you boiled ahead of time. Aren't you glad you did that... now your bulgur will be at a boil. Let this simmer for a few minutes, add another cup so that it's soupy. Your bulgur will eventually soak up all the water, expand and become creamy once you cook everything.

Step 3:

After waiting about 10 minutes, put your shrimp in and give it a nice stir. Regardless if your shrimp are thawed or not, just wait till they start to turn pink, then throw your veggies in. Shrimp cook up super fast, so pay attention. I think shrimp with the skins on make for a tastier dish, which is why I didn't peel them before hand.

Step 4:

Once the shrimp start turning pink, throw in the corn, pepper, lime juice and pepper flakes. Give everything a good stir. Add some more water if things are getting a bit dry. Bulgur eats up a lot of water and there's always evaporation. I probably added about 3 cups in total over the course of cooking.

Once everything is nice and cooked, which took about 5 - 7 minutes on the lowest heat setting on my stove, its ready to serve! Wasn't that easy and fast!!

The dish was really tasty and it wasn't that difficult to eat even though you need to peel the shrimp. I was surprised by how much flavor it packed even though it was only a little olive oil, lime, some veggies and shrimp. It also came out a little creamy after everything cooked down. I'm definitely making this again and will try it with different veggies!

Remember wheat bulgur has more protein and fiber than white rice, so eat up!