Category Archives: Vegetarian

May22

Recipe 61: Broccoli & Spinach Cheese Quiche

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A quiche is essentially an egg pie with a flaky pastry crust. Adding in cheese and sauteed vegetables makes it a nice meal and the tastiest leftovers. Quiche freeze easy, so this recipe is actually makes 2 full quiche, so halve-it if you only want one…

Some recipe notes before we proceed:

  • The veggies are sauteed before use to ensure that the liquid that they naturally release is already mostly cooked off. If you don’t cook your veg before adding it to the quiche, it can result in a runny filling and extended baking time.
  • Store-bought crust can be substituted in for this recipe, but I prefer the flakiness and nutritional content of a home-made one.

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May21

Recipe 60: Perfect Cinnamon Rolls

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I have this long-standing rule in my home that if I want something that is unhealthy, I can have it, but I have to make it myself. Often, the most unhealthy things tend to take the longest to make. So if my desire for a treat overwhelms my laziness to make it, then I make the concession of allowing myself to enjoy the fruits of my labor, hehe. This desire was for a giant, gooey cinnamon roll that rivals that of Cinnabon.

The results were perfect.

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Aug12

Recipe 58: Sexy Homemade Salsa Verde!

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Some recipes are rather laborious, and then there are some that consist of literally boiling a bunch of vegetables for 5 minutes and then flinging them into a blender. This is the latter kind.

I love me a good salsa verde, and with the simplicity of this recipe as well as the vibrant flavor, I’m a believer. The only way I’d suggest making this better is to roast the peppers a little before popping into the blender, but hey, it’s still good as it is. :)

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Aug12

Recipe 57: Wild Blackberry & St. Germaine Jam

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Ladies & gents, making jam is much easier than it appears. And lets be honest, those store-bough jars can’t hold a candle to pure, fresh, and designer jams you make yourself. This is one of my first attempts, and it was a raging success!

Fragrant, tangy, and with just enough sweetness, this jam recipe can’t be beat. Since we picked them wild near our place in the bay area, we didn’t need to add as much sugar as they were pretty sweet enough!

The addition of St. Germaine elderflower liqueur brings out the natural floral quality of this jam, and the lemon zest balances out the sweetness by kicking up the tangy notes leaving a bright and fragrant mixture. You can find St. Germaine at most grocery/beverage stores. (It’s a very pretty bottle, too! hehe)

Onto the recipe. ^_^

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Jun5

Recipe 56: Blossoming Onion w/ Dipping Sauce

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This is a short-but-sweet kind of post.

I love those amazing deep-fried blooming/blossoming onion appetizers that they have at steak houses. They consist of a sweet onion (we used a small vidalia), that’s cut so that the slices form petals. This is then breaded and deep friend to form a beautiful flower that is made up of little pieces of battered and fried onion. Paired with a horseradish & mayo dipping sauce, it’s positively heavenly.

I had a craving, so after a cursory internet search, I came upon this recipe here:

Blooming Onion and Dipping Sauce

And while I followed the recipe (I doubled the breading mixture, per comments), I felt that a little photo-tour would help with those like me who were attempting this deliciousness for the first time.

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Apr13

Recipe 54: Homemade Mozzarella

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I’m back! Thank to everyone for being so patient. I decided to take a little hiatus as I was transitioning to a new work schedule as well as beginning training for an upcoming 12k race.

Lets get to the goods: Homemade Mozzarella. It only takes a half-hour and is an easy “instant gratification” recipe. While it’s always easier to just go to the store and pick up a ball of this cheese, there’s something very satisfying in making your own, not to mention the obvious health benefits of making something so fresh.

This recipe is thanks in large part to this site. Please take a moment to visit that site and check out the notes/tips. They’re great and will help very much in this recipe.

I’ve augmented it to adjust for the preparation, and substituted lemon juice for citric acid, as not only could I not find any at the store, but felt that it was a lot more flavorful that way.

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Jan8

49: Simple Chocolate Chip Scones (that will make you the popular one). ;)

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This recipe is simple. It’s a “pile everything into a bowl” type of recipe, minus the initial “blending” of the cold butter into the dry ingredients (much like a pie crust). The trick is adding just enough buttermilk until the dough just starts to pull together. I used my stand mixer with the dough hook attachment to bust it out.

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Jan2

48: Greek Burgers w/ Homemade Pita Bread & Tzatziki Sauce

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Of all the bread recipes I’ve ever made, Pita Bread has the be the easiest. Sure, you have to roll it out, let is rest for 5 minutes, and then flop it onto a cake-rack (I used a clean BBQ’s rack). This recipe makes 5, 6-7″ pita and you only use half of one for each burger. We’re making hummus next so we can wipe the rest out. You can freeze them, but they’re usually last about a week in the fridge.

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Jan1

47: Baked Kale Chips, or, “Holy crap I just ate 2 bunches of kale and LIKED it!”

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Ahh, Kale. It’s such a love-hate relationship. I’ve always been romanced into making a kale salad by virtue of it’s sheer beefy-ness when it came to how healthy and fiber-rich it is…only to be disappointed halfway through because it’s just too bitter for me.

Then this recipe came along. It magically transforms shreds of kale into thin, crispy, and tasty pieces of healthy goodness. The flavor is similar to roasted pumpkin seeds. Don’t be surprised if you end up mowing through a whole bunch. I know we destroyed 2 whole bunches in less than 10 minutes.

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Nov27

Recipe 43: Sweet Potato Bread

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Sweet potato bread is basically an excuse to eat pound cake. It’s dense and rich, but has a whole lot of sweet potato in it, so you don’t feel as bad about eating half a loaf. Much like banana bread, this recipe relies on a nice slow cooking time which results in a sweet crust and a dense crumb. Dusted with powdered sugar or just straight-up, this is a keeper.

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