Hoping to get back to cooking soon!

Well, it seems like when things get moving in the right direction and I get on a roll with something, life happens.   This past Saturday I sprained both my ankle and foot in Tae Kwon Do class so I've been off of my feet and not cooking.  I'm feeling super antsy and ready to get back to it, though admittedly the hubby is doing a darn good job considering a year ago he about broke down when I asked him to cook some spaghetti and heat a jar of sauce.

Today, my Amazon order arrived and I have 4 new books to work into my rotation.  My focus will be divided between the internet recipes, Veganomicon, Appetite for Destruction, 30 minute Taste of the East, and now Artisan Vegan Cheese, The 30 minute Vegan Taste of Europe, Go Dairy Free, and Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day.  I'm going to try to refrain from buying any more books (but I have about 14 on my wish list) for a bit so I can work through the current ones I have, but if you personally authored a cookbook or recipe you want me to check out let me know and I'll see if I can get to it at some point. It would probably speed things up if you sent me a copy.

I'm hoping to be back to this ASAP- the doctor said I'd probably be a lot better with standing after a week.  Wish me luck!

30 Minute Vegan (Taste of the East) Madras Curry

I was excited to try the Madras Curry recipe from 30 Minute Vegan because it was another recipe that my massage therapist raved about.

Just to be clear....

I am not a professional chef.  I am a stay at home mother who is comfortable following recipes, making certain things from scratch and editing/creating dishes but I am in no way a trained chef of any sort.  I sometimes need to look up information about new ingredients and how to prepare them- and I know when I try something new for the first time I'm not going to cook full speed.   I'm also making some dishes that I've not had before so my judgement of them is based upon simply if I'd want to eat it again- I'm not comparing any one dish to a restaurant version typically and I'll state it if I am.  But mostly it's just- was this good, would I make it again, will I crave it, how much did I have to fight my kids to get them to eat... 

What were we talking about again?

Ah yeah, Madras Curry.  Madras Curry is a dish I've not had anywhere before so I didn't quite know what to expect other then 1) I love curry and 2) the veggies in this dish were all ones I really enjoy 3) it's the favorite dish of my massage therapist.  Making this dish was an experience in itself.  I actually made a good portion of the dish twice- so I had to do all of the prep work twice therefore I stopped timing how long it took me to make it altogether.  

The error of my ways

I made a newbie error- reached for a wooden spoon and none were there so I grabbed a plastic cooking spoon- mixed my stuff together quick and went searching for the wooden spoons again, which my daughter had put in the wrong drawer.  I swear it was maybe 2 minutes but I had left the spoon in the pan (not sure where my head was at) and when I came back it was simmering away in liquid form along with my garlic and ginger etc.  Woops.  Redo.  Who knew those spoons melted so fast, I guess there is a reason I only use them to serve typically.  So chop chop I had to re-prep.

Take 2

This dish right away starts with tossing a bunch of seeds into a pan to toast for two minutes or until the mustard seeds start popping.  I'm going to tell you if you wait until the mustard seeds start popping you've waited too long, you're about to find out what happens when a dish fights back.  There is nothing quite like red hot mustard seeds flying at you with super speed and landing on bare skin and these seeds go very quickly from resting nicely in the pan to flying toward your face with no warning.  My husband thought it was hysterical when I started to shriek and duck and cover, I didn't find it too funny. I lowered the temperature, and threw in the next stage's ingredients and prayed it would stop.  The rest of the cooking experience was thankfully uneventful.

So how about that curry

It was okay.  Just about the only thing I can say about it is that the cooking of the dish was more memorable then the dish itself.  It was more greasy then I expected it to be, and I'm not big on grease. The veggies were good, but I didn't feel like the curry sauce added anything to them other then spice.  My husband liked it and thanked me for dinner but there were no big mmmmmmmm's  and the crave factor at least for me is non existent. With all of the recipes I know I love, and all of the recipes left to try it is unlikely that this dish will be made again.  I plan to ask my massage therapist about it and find out if she did something different- there are a few areas with options.  Did she use sesame oil instead of coconut oil?  Did she alter the cayenne and go with chili powder?  Did she use fresh lime juice or rice vinegar?  Or perhaps, our tastes are just different.  One person's favorite is another person's "meh." 

Nutrition Facts Madras Curry   6 Servings Amount Per Serving   Calories 118.2   Total Fat 6.8 g       Saturated Fat 4.3 g       Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g       Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g   Cholesterol 0.0 mg   Sodium 442.3 mg   Potassium 409.9 mg   Total Carbohydrate 13.1 g       Dietary Fiber 3.4 g       Sugars 4.0 g   Protein 2.6 g   Vitamin A 117.2 %   Vitamin B-12 0.0 %   Vitamin B-6 9.7 %   Vitamin C 93.8 %   Vitamin D 8.3 %   Vitamin E 18.9 %   Calcium 22.1 %   Copper 4.6 %   Folate 5.9 %   Iron 9.1 %   Magnesium 8.2 %   Manganese 12.9 %   Niacin 4.3 %   Pantothenic Acid     1.8 %   Phosphorus     6.6 %   Riboflavin 4.6 %   Selenium 4.4 %   Thiamin 5.2 %   Zinc 2.7 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

If you want an easy YUM...

A simple crowd pleaser

One of the biggest issues for me with becoming vegan was handling those nights where you just don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen.  I needed some easy go-to meals.  A secondary problem for me was having something I could make big batches of for large crowds that wrinkled their nose at my tofu and veggie eating ways.  This dish covers both issues.  

I found this dish at All Recipes, which had during my omni days been my go to place for new recipes to try.  All recipes has such a huge user base that it is quite easy to tell what recipes are more likely to be a keeper.  You can search based upon ingredients, dish types etc or just type in a familiar name of a dish and you'll get tons of results.  Sort those results by rating and you'll find a high potential dish.  When you see a recipe has 4/5 stars and has 1100 + ratings it's pretty safe to assume if you like it's components you'll like the dish. 

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

Yum!  Most of the flavor for this dish will come from the salsa you choose- so choose wisely, do not choose an extremely watery salsa.  The choice of salsa also determines the amount of heat- so if you have kids choose accordingly.  You can divide this soup into two batches if you don't mind the extra dishes to create two different heats or just kick up your bowl with some cayenne hot sauce.  For our family a mix between medium and mild works best and our soup topper is Better Than Sour Cream, not actual sour cream.  Using the "sour cream" does really add to the flavor so I wouldn't skip it unless you really don't like it. I normally throw all of the ingredients into a pot, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer about an hour.  I think the flavors merge more this way.  When I'm ready, I take my immersion blender to it and smooth it out- if you do not currently own an immersion blender buy one- it is worth the 20 bucks.  If you don't own one you're stuck waiting for the soup to cool down enough to stick small batches in your blender.

I serve this soup with another recipe I found on the web.  Trust me - you need bread to dip into this soup to fully enjoy it! Check out the Vegan Challah Bread Recipe for my favorite pairing!

I use Simple Truth Organic Vegetable Broth, Simple Truth Organic Black Beans and Pace Medium Chunky Salsa (unless I get up to whole foods).  The Following Nutrition is for the soup alone with the ingredients I just stated.  Nutrition does not include the Better Then Sour Cream I top it with....

Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		238.8
Total Fat		0.0 g
	Saturated Fat	0.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		905.0 mg
Potassium		0.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		42.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	10.8 g
	Sugars	6.1 g
Protein		13.3 g

Vitamin A	2.0 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	0.0 %
Vitamin C	6.0 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	0.0 %
Calcium	9.0 %
Copper	0.0 %
Folate	0.0 %
Iron	19.5 %
Magnesium	0.0 %
Manganese	0.0 %
Niacin	0.0 %
Pantothenic Acid	0.0 %
Phosphorus	0.0 %
Riboflavin	0.0 %
Selenium	0.0 %
Thiamin	0.0 %
Zinc	0.0 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.