Lemon-Garlic Asparagus

Written on February 10, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

As much as I love cooking desserts and brownies, standing over a stove with a pan of olive oil and garlic and other familiar ingredients is just as comforting. The more garlic the better. The flavors reminded me of Spring and Easter, which is where my mind wants to be when the temperature is negative degrees with the wind-chill. I was a little heavy handed with the lemon when I made this so if you’re not in love with the flavor then I’d suggest going with less as more.

Lemon-Garlic Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 bunch of asparagus
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Start by heating heating the oil in a pan with the minced garlic. Let the garlic sauté for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the asparagus into 1-inch long segments.

Add the asparagus to the pan and toss with the garlic and olive oil to coat.

Pour in the lemon juice and continue to cook for 5-7 minutes until the asparagus is tender. If you’re not sure if it’s cooked enough, taste one from time to time.

When it’s ready, sprinkle with salt to finish and serve hot.

I’m not sure what you could serve this with. Or rather, I’m not sure what you couldn’t serve this with. It would be great as a light side dish with some red meat or a perfect flavor pairing with Jenna’s Lemon Brown Sugar chicken and mashed potatoes(OK, I just love mashed potatoes, but who doesn’t?).

18 Comments - Leave a comment!

Maple-Soy Marinated Chicken Breasts

Written on February 9, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

There’s a reason that “tastes like chicken” isn’t usually a compliment: chicken without sauce or seasoning isn’t exciting. I don’t like to spend too much time working on meals(or rather, I don’t have too much time to spend working on meals), so this marinade is perfect for me. It’s 3-ingredients, takes no time to put together, and with a little patience makes the food taste incredible. The smell and flavor reminded me of a teriyaki sauce but with a New England twist. And no one will call your chicken bland ever again.

Maple-Soy Marinated Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 juiced lemon(about 2 tablespoons of juice)
1lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Start by collecting all the marinade ingredients into a thin deep container or a Ziploc bag.

Add in the chicken and let it marinade for at least 3 hours or up to 48 hours(I let mine sit for 24 hours).

Drain the excess marinade from the chicken before cooking.

To roast, preheat an oven to 350 degrees and bake for 60 minutes. Then remove the chicken from the oven and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to rest.

To grill, coat the grill pan with some cooking oil. Cook the breasts for about 6-8 minutes on both sides until the center has cooked through.

I recommend serving this with something like rice or spinach to absorb the juice for the chicken because it adds some unreal flavor. I know I’ll be making this again and again because I always have maple syrup and soy sauce on hand. You could also use this marinade for anything from pork to seitan to tofu.

15 Comments - Leave a comment!

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Written on February 8, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

We all have our expensive habits; mine happens to be food. For me, it’s too easy to get sucked in to buying expensive specialty food like Justin’s chocolate peanut butter, which is amazing if that was ever in question. This time around, I was determined to make my own chocolate peanut butter since I knew it could be made much much cheaper. I used pre-ground peanut butter, but if you want to do this from scratch simply add an extra step at the beginning of grinding the peanuts in a food processor. All in all, the entire jar came in at less than $2, which is some serious savings, and I’ll eat to that.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Ingredients(Makes 16oz):

12oz of peanut butter OR 3 cups of peanuts
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder(preferably dutched)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt(omit if you’re using salted peanut butter)

Like I said, I started with pre-ground peanut butter but if you want to start with peanuts grind them to a smooth consistency. Pour this into a large mixing bowl.

Add in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and salt and mix it thoroughly until you get what looks like a large ball of dough.

Melt down some coconut oil and slowly pour it into the bowl, as well.

Mix the contents of the bowl until the peanut butter is smooth and even.

Store in a 16oz jar at room temperature for up to a month.

To me, this tasted like Reeses Puff cereal, which is never a bad thing. There’s nothing this doesn’t go good on: oatmeal, yogurt, carrots, a spoon—you name it. And with that price, it’s unbeatable. Next time I’m going to try this with almond butter, which I’m sure will work and taste terrific, too.

34 Comments - Leave a comment!

Lunchtime Stir-Fry

Written on February 7, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Lunchtime is a funny time. I usually just want hot food fast, that still tastes good but won’t take too long to cook(because that might interfere with watching Days of Our Lives). I usually opt for leftovers, quick-cooking quinoa, or—a big favorite of mine—a stir-fry. Start to finish, a stir-fry only takes 12-15 minutes to cook, and it usually has a lot of flavor. I make this with frozen veggies which makes the preparation even faster without changing the flavor.

Lunchtime Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

1/2 block extra-firm tofu, cubed
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup steamed broccoli
1-2 handfuls spinach
a pinch of salt

Heat the oil in a pan with the garlic. Let it sauté for a few minutes over low-medium heat to flavor the oil.

Once the garlic starts turning slightly browned, add in the tofu, soy sauce, and salt. Keep stirring the pan as the ingredients cook and the tofu browns.

Once the tofu has browned on all sides, add in the broccoli and spinach and continue to cook until they have absorbed the liquid.

All the flavor and none of the fuss. To steal the words from Ina Garten(and actually mean them), “How easy is that?” My favorite part is the broccoli after it has sucked up all the salty sauce and is tender and juicy when you bite in.

19 Comments - Leave a comment!

Photos From The Weekend

Written on February 6, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

Today is Superbowl Sunday and to be completely honest I’d have no clue if all of my favorite food blogs weren’t posting guacamole and buffalo chicken dip recipes. I don’t regularly follow football and barely enjoy watching the Superbowl if the Patriots are in it. But please, somebody alert me any time a Betty White commercial comes on.

Instead of guacamole or dip, I’d much rather be eating these:

I made a batch of Outrageous Triple Chocolate Brownies for a friend’s belated birthday. Obviously, I had to try one to make sure I wasn’t poisoning anyone, and then I had to move the pan out of site to make sure I didn’t try anymore.

January 30th 032

Last weekend I got new running shoes. Can you tell which pair is the new one and which is the old one? I’ll give you a hint: Their the same brand and the treads should be mirror images of one another except for the color. I really like to get my money’s worth.

Saturday morning I went out for a long run. Holly asked how marathon training was going; right now I’m taking it week-by-week meaning if I can make it through my long run then I haven’t given in yet. This run went really well in the new shoes.

And then I ate a large bowl of Chinese food, which really isn’t the best thing after a long run I’ve learned because you’ll spend the rest of the day burping up soy sauce and garlic. I’m going to need another brownie to freshen my breath.

Superbowl: yay or nay?

21 Comments - Leave a comment!

How To Use StumbleUpon To Gain Traffic

Written on February 5, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

I very well could have titled this post “How To Use StumbleUpon To Find Pictures Of Dogs In Sunglasses”. Don’t worry; I’ll teach you that, too. But I thought bloggers might gravitate towards this title more.

StumbleUpon is one of those “internet fads” like Facebook or Youtube that looks like it’s here to stay. In their own words, “StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites.” It’s free to join, easy to use, and—if you’re a blogger—can reveal your content to readers who might never have heard of you before.

How it works:

Like I said, it’s free to join and create an account. Once you sign up and pick a username, you can find and follow friends using your email address book, Facebook friend list, AIM account, or Twitter following list.

“Stumbling” takes you from one random internet page to another, often one suggested by other users and the people on your friends list. You can specify which categories you’d like to stumble by picking certain channels, like photography, food/cooking, and television.

How to spread your content:

If you have content on the internet you want to share, StumbleUpon can be a great tool to getting it out there. The trick though is that it needs to be submitted to be stumbled by others. By creating your own account, you can submit your content and get it on StumbleUpon for your friends and others to see. Adding a plugin(I suggest Share & Follow) makes this quick and easy and inserts icons in posts for you or anyone else to click and submit the content.

Connecting with StumbleUpon:

You don’t need to have any connections on StumbleUpon, but if you know a lot of people with similar interests it can be a great way to explore the things they love that you might never have heard about. It’s easy to follow anyone; just go to their public profile and click “follow”, whom you can find using online address books like I said. If you have a website, you can install plugins and widgets to advertise your account(again, I suggest Share & Follow).

All about stumbling

When you go into StumbleUpon and start stumbling, you’ll notice a toolbar at the top of the page. To recommend this to friends, click on the “I Like It” button. You can also share it on the web by clicking on any of the social tool icons. To move on, simply click the “Stumble” button which takes you to another random page.

This way you can access the best the web has to offer, like so:

Any other questions? Feel free to friend me on StumbleUpon and I’ll friend back!

41 Comments - Leave a comment!

Coconut-Crusted Tempeh

Written on February 4, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Tempeh is one of those foods I never thought I’d be eating just two years ago. Just the thought of fermented soy isn’t exactly appetizing. Thoughts aside, it’s nutritionally great and easy to prepare and eat. You don’t even have to cook it, but this recipe adds some sweet and saltiness to it. The coconut coating reminds me of coconut shrimp. And it couldn’t be easier to make.

Coconut-Crusted Tempeh

Ingredients(For 2 servings):

1 block of tempeh
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons agave nectar
a pinch of salt

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Cube a block of tempeh into bite-sized pieces and combine in a bowl with the coconut, salt, and agave nectar.

Toss the tempeh to coat it in coconut. Next, line a baking pan and lay out the tempeh in a single layer.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the coconut begins to toast.

The flavor is really nutty and a little sweet. The texture doesn’t really change from raw tempeh which is good because it has a “meaty” bite to it. It goes good on its own or with a salad.

And don’t forget today’s the last day to enter the giveaway!

20 Comments - Leave a comment!

Copycat: Blueberry Muffin Larabar Recipe

Written on February 3, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

When I first heard of Larabar’s new flavor I was excited. Slap the word “muffin” onto anything and you’ll grab my attention. You might even get me to watch C-Span if they named a show “Nancy Pelosi Discusses The Debt With Muffins”. The reviews I’ve read of the flavor have been mixed; I haven’t tried them because I don’t think they’re in stores yet. Rather than waiting, I decided to make my own and I have to admit that these are amazing. They taste better than any Larabar I’ve had; maybe because they’re fresher or maybe they just rock. If you need a muffin and don’t want a muffin top, these are a great, healthy, raw alternative.

Blueberry Muffin “Larabars®”

Ingredients(Makes 6 bars):

1 cup(about 20) pitted dates
1 cup almonds
2 tablespoons shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice(or cinnamon)

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processer. Blend for 2-3 minutes until the mixture starts clumping. If your ingredients are dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it starts sticking to itself.

Line a pan with parchment paper and press the mixture in firmly towards one side of the pan. Cut out the bars with a knife and gently tear them apart. Alternatively, you could roll these into balls and eat them that way. Keep in the refrigerator for the best freshness.

Like I said, these tasted amazing. They reminded me of blueberry munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts if anybody knows what I’m talking about. At a time when companies are getting condemned(and rightly so) for using artificial blueberry flavoring without any actual blueberries, this has a refreshingly pure flavor to it. These have created high expectations for the real blueberry muffin Larabars in my mind.

38 Comments - Leave a comment!

What A Meat-Eater Took Away From Oprah’s Vegan Episode

Written on February 2, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

When I heard Tuesday’s episode of Oprah marketed as her “vegan experience”, I have to say as an occasional meat-eater I wasn’t drawn in; certainly it wouldn’t be as good as her camping trip with her “friend”, Gayle(remember that? That was a hoot!). But I was also interested to see what message she would be giving, especially with a panel of Veganist Kathy Freston, Food Activist Michael Pollon(who’s not a vegetarian), and a representative from a factory farm slaughterhouse(also not a vegetarian if you couldn’t draw that out).

Before I say what I agreed with and didn’t agree with of the show, I have to quantify my own diet by saying I’m something of a “flexitarian”. I eat vegan most of the time because that’s how I shop; dairy doesn’t agree with me and the only time I have eggs is in brownies(is this really a shocker?). While I don’t have plans to eat meat anytime soon, I’d never call myself a vegetarian since I’m sure I’ll eat meat at a holiday or in a restaurant soon enough. Also, I’m not fundamentally against it, which is probably the number one reason I’d say all of this comes from a “meat-eater”’s perspective.

Agree

“I don’t think you should be eating meat if you don’t want to see how it’s being produced” –Michael Pollan

This, to me, was the best message from the show. No one ever sees how their food is made anymore; most people have been filtered out of the farming lifestyle over the past few hundred years. Having given a presentation on most of this at the 2010 Healthy Living Summit, I can’t say I was shocked at what was shown in the slaughterhouse.

Eat more veggies and you will be more in touch with your bodily functions than ever before(and you’ll like talking about it): The HARPO staff loved to talk about how much they pooped and farted; and who could blame them? One of the benefits of a plant-based diet is that your body works incredibly well at digesting food and you’ll never have to spend another morning struggling on the toilet. It’s a good life.

We should be more aware of what’s in our food: At one point, one of Oprah’s staffers took all the food with animal products out of her refrigerator. What was left was basically mustard and ketchup, and she had no idea that’s how she was eating. Another staffer admittedly ate “horrible” before going vegan, and lost 11 pounds just by eating nutritious food. If you actually know what’s in your food, vegan or not, you’re more likely to make a healthier and informed decision.

We should support our farmers(and hint: you don’t do this by buying from large industries): This is something that Michael Pollan said which sort of got swept under the rug immediately after, but it’s a good point. Farming is a career, and a dying one at that. If you don’t support your local farmer(for meat or for vegetables) then they’re at risk of going out of business, and there are many many reasons why our food production shouldn’t be in the hands of a few big companies.

Disagree

The idea that veganism exists at Whole Foods only: Whenever they went shopping or showed groceries in this episode, it was from Whole Foods. You don’t have to shop at Whole Foods to get vegan groceries; most grocery stores have tons of vegan options to choose from. And the farmers’ market is an excellent place to get vegetables in season. Since Whole Foods has the nickname “Whole Paycheck”, I’m afraid this could give the wrong impression that vegan = costly.

You won’t shed pounds like you’re on The Biggest Loser simply because you don’t eat animal products: Oprah staffers lost a combined total of 444 pounds in a week on a vegan diet. Woh! Who knew cutting out animal products can help you lose weight? Well, I don’t agree that it can, at least not that alone. What’s more likely is that these people weren’t eating healthy food to begin with(one of them was a self-proclaimed “fast food addict”). I think it’s entirely possible to live healthy on a diet including meat.

“Fake food” is the answer: There was a lot of product placement in this. It was like Friends, American Idol, and The Truman Show combined. And most of it wasn’t from the United States Sweet Potato Board or Broccoli Farmers Of America but rather Kashi, Earth Balance, Daiya, and every sort of fake meat imaginable. The problem this creates is twofold: there’s no appeal in going vegan if all the food you’re going to eat is compared to non-vegan alternatives; and a lot of these are overly-processed, which in turn is probably more harmful to your body than meat itself if you base your diet around them.

Conclusion

I could wrap up this entire post into one 7-worded statement:

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants

What? That’s taken? Shoot. Well then I’ve got nothing original. Oh wait, yes I do:

Love the ingredients, not the food

That’s the tagline I gave this blog when I made it 3 months ago. It’s on all my business cards, so you know it’s legit. It means know what you’re eating, preferably by cooking your own real food with real ingredients. And it’s only 6 words, so technically I’m more succinct and better than Pollan. Where’s my book deal?

Did you watch the show? What were your opinions on it or any of this?

75 Comments - Leave a comment!

Better-Than-Boxed Brownies and a CSN Store Giveaway

Written on February 1, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert, Giveaway

Today is the first day of February, the time to (hopefully) start enjoying the outside more by cleaning off the swing set, taking out bicycles, and ignoring that little thing called Valentine’s Day. What better way to celebrate a new month than with brownies?

When I ran yearbook bake sales in high school, the one food that went without exception were brownies made from a box. People just like them. Once you get to a certain level of cooking/baking, serving a box mix feels like a stab through the heart. Instead, we make recipes that rival boxed brownies. These are just as sugary and fudgy as the ones you get from a Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker mix. They’re also the same that I used in my grasshopper brownies but the recipe is good enough that it needs its own post. I mean, don’t they just look that good?

Better-Than-Boxed Brownies

Ingredients(Makes 16 2’-inch brownies):

1 1/4 cup flour(I used gluten-free all-purpose flour)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4oz(1/2 cup) semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup water
1 egg

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Melt the chocolate and mixing it with the cooking oil. Next mix in the water, sugar, extract, salt, and cocoa powder. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until just combined.

Grease an 8×8 baking pan and pour in the batter. Cook for 25 minutes until the center is just cooked. Wait until they have cooled to cut.

Giveaway

The people at CSN Stores have offered one US/Canadian reader a $35 gift certificate to any of their online stores. There are 3 simple ways to enter; please leave a separate comment for each one.

1. What’s your favorite childhood dessert? or what dessert are you looking forward to eating this month?

2. Follow me on Twitter(or just say if you already do)

3. Like me on Facebook(or just say if you already do)

This giveaway ended February 5th

166 Comments - Leave a comment!