Everyone appreciates a sweet and delicious treat. Everyone with functioning taste buds, anyway. One of the more common questions I get about being vegan is how I make things without eggs or cows’ milk. In fact, it’s actually very easy. Whether you want to impress your vegan friend or your non-vegan ones, here I’ll discuss the common baking substitutes and post a delicious cupcake recipe!
Milk
You can put almost any other kind of milk in place of cow’s milk. Soy, almond, rice, and hemp milk are all options. I would consider soy milk to be kind of “neutral” in taste when baking. Rice milk is somewhat thinner than the other kinds. I love using almond milk in baking, but if I think there might be someone with a nut allergy I’ll stick to the other kinds.
Butter/Margarine
Earth Balance is the best vegan margarine for your fake buttery needs. It’s non-hydrogenated, too, so it’s kind of better for you! It’s not always easy to find, so another option is Fleischmann’s unsalted margarine. For some reason their unsalted margarine is vegan, but the regular stuff is not.
Eggs
Eggs are kind of tougher than replacing cow’s milk or margarine. In general, your go-to egg substitute is Ener-G Egg Replacer, which can be found in Whole Foods and other health food stores. It’s largely made from potato and tapioca starch, and can be used in pretty much any recipe you have. One egg equals 1.5 teaspoons of Ener-G plus 2 tablespoons of water.
Ground flax seeds are very useful in baking, and you can pretend your cookies are healthy too! The best way to go with these is to buy whole flax seeds and grind them as needed. If you buy ground flax seeds, make sure to put the bag/jar in the freezer when you’re not using them to preserve the nutrients. One egg equals 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds plus 3 tablespoons of water. This website has more info on using flax seeds as an egg substitute.
Silken tofu can be used as well, at a conversion rate of ¼ cup of whipped silken tofu for one egg. Silken tofu is good for puddings and pies, as well as cakes and whatnot you want to be a little thicker and more moist.
Other foods can be used to replace eggs, but the following ones will change the taste of whatever you’re making. Bananas are great to use (especially in recipes that involve chocolate!), as they are good binding agents. Applesauce can also be used in place of eggs, though I would say that this option generally does not help keep everything together as well as the other substitutes. Maple syrup can also be used to an extent, and is my favorite egg replacement when making pancakes.
Finally, as promised, one of my favorite cupcake recipes.
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Combine the first three ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well.
3. Add banana, stirring well to combing. You might have to use your fingers to smush some of the larger chunks of banana.
4. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stirring well with a whisk.
5. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with ½ cup milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture; mix after each addition.
6. Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back easily when touched lightly in the center.
8. Allow to cool, and frost if desired (I highly recommend a peanut butter frosting).
Enjoy!
This is the true story of five All-Stars, picked to cook on an island, work together, and have their lives taped. To find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being total culinary douchebags… you should probably keep reading.
It’s been such a long journey to the finale that we could just mise en plotz! But before we do, it’s time to crown Top Chef’s first ever “Best Chef of All the Chefs Who Proved Not to Be the Best in Other Seasons,” and before we do that, we need a little background on the season that was.
The season started with 18 chefs, but the combination of too much salt and too much crazy quickly whittled the contenders down to the five (it was supposed to be four, but apparently, no one sucked enough to get booted, which was super convenient considering how many episodes were left in the season!) who’d be going on to the finals in the Bahamas:
In this corner, we have the itch you can’t scratch, the rash that refuses to go away, the houseguest that won’t leave, Tiffany “I’m From Beaumont, Bitches” Derry!
In this corner, weighing in at five-foot-awesome with three ounces of pot, we have Antonia Lofaso, Purveyor of Perfect Food, Champion (well, 4th place) of Chi-Town, Tigress of the Toque! (And the toke, too!)
In this corner, hailing all the way from Fraggle Rock, the Selcouth of the South, the Chicken Pot Pie Perfecter, the Spectacle in Spectacles, Carla “Hootie Hoo” Hall!
And in this corner, weighing 145 pounds…more than he did last season, the Robber of Recipes, the Beast from the East, Mike “I’m with stunad” Isabella!
And, in the center of it all, stands the Lord of Liquid Nitrogen, Atlanta’s own Jimmy Neutron, the super-flammable Richard Blais!
From L to R: Tiffany, Richard, Mike, Antonia, and Carla
Of course, only two would remain standing for the finale, and after cooking for Bohemian royalty, rocking out with their conchs out, and cooking last suppers for some lusty chefs, MikeyNeck “Jersey Douche” Isabella and Richard “When did he become such a dick?” Blais emerged victorious. Let the games begin!
Gratuitous Padma Shot
The big challenge is essentially a mini-variation on Restaurant Wars: Cook the four-course meal of your life and put it on the menu of a pretend restaurant with a pretend name even though you’re serving it at a real restaurant with a real name. The two cheftestants immediately get to discussing which of the previously ousted chefs they would take on as sous chefs and writing slanderous comments about them in their Burn Book. After a few games of MASH and doing each other’s hair, they discuss their super secret strategies for the competition, because nothing screams “brilliant competitors” like discussing your plan with your opponent. (Although, to be fair, if they didn’t, Mike would’ve just stolen Blais’s from his notebook anyway.) Mike immediately declares that he would bang choose Jenn Carroll, because despite her crazy blowouts and monumental exit, she’s still hot a great chef. As it turns out, Blais too wants Jenn C, though not necessarily in a sexual way, as well as Angelo, also not necessarily in a sexual way.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who they think is awesome, because they’re forced to choose blind: each previously ousted chef’s amuse bouche is laid out before them, and they are to choose their teammates based on whose bouche amuses them the most. Mike is pretty blatant about simply attempting to pick out which one is Jenn’s (and which one isn’t Marcel’s) but the static generated by Blais’s hair interrupts their BFF connection and Mike ends up with three non-Jenn ladies, in the forms of Tiffani, Jamie, and Carla. (H/T to Psshwhatever for her brilliant and oh-so-telling tweet: “Funny that Mike always denigrates the female chefs and then just picked 3 of them, blind, based only on their food to help him.”) Blais gets a little closer to his original wishlist, successfully selecting Angelo in addition to Spike and Antonia. As Marcel leaves, everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief and toasts his departure with champagne and an impromptu dance party.
Now comes the important part: naming their restaurants. Blais, ever-the-whimsical (as he’ll be the first to tell you in a super serious voice as he comes close to tears and is clearly on the verge of vomiting), selects “Tongue & Cheek” as his restaurant’s name, which is both cute and kinda gross. Mike, in tribute to his youth, names his “Restaurant Iz,” after what we can only assume is his pre-op moniker.
Source: Videogum. Obviously.
On to the menus! Over on Team Iz, Mikey’s Angels’ suggestions are being roundly ignored by Captain Douche, who knows exactly what he wants: chocolate vinaigrette, plus some other stuff. Team Blais, on the other hand, is “ultra-collaborative” from the minute that tank of liquid nitrogen is opened. Blais’s plan is a protein explosion of sorts, to be capped off with a delicious Cap’n Crunch ice cream–wait, what’s that? I’m sorry, we’ve just gotten word from the godawful-decisions portion of Blais’s brain that he’ll be replacing Cap’n Crunch ice cream with foie gras ice cream instead. Fantastic. No chance that’ll turn out disgusting and lead all the judges to vomit on camera. None at all.
Enter Tom, who informs Mike that no one saw him getting into the finale. Like, nobody. His own mother is surprised that he has any skill. Shockingly, he has no such words for Blais, who’s pretty much been the favorite since before the cast was even announced. Now exit Tom, because it’s time for judging!
The cheftestants are set up at two different restaurants, each one with its own panel of judges. (Don’t worry—they’ll switch when they’re done!) Padma is captain of the blue team, which consists of legendary chefs Lydia Bastianich and Hubert Keller plus another guy who just so happens to be the man behind all the ridiculously unsubtle wine product placement. They begin at Tongue & Cheek and are treated to Blais’s “surf ‘n turf” menu which consists of:
Raw oyster with crème fraiche pearls
Raw hamachi with fried veal sweetbreads, garlic mayonnaise, and pickled celery
Pork belly, black cod cutlet, bone marrow, beets, Brussels sprouts, and kumquat
Beef short ribs with mushrooms, red cabbage marmalade, and celery root horseradish puree
Foie gras ice cream with cornbread and whipped mango
The dining went well, and we saw the judges thoroughly enjoying the food. You know who else saw them enjoying the food? Top Chef’s own Spike “Mata Hari” Mendelssohn, aka Spy-ke, who eavesdropped on the judges comments with all the subtlety of Ke$ha while rocking one of his trademark Carmen Sandiego fedoras. However, his skills as a dick secret agent proved to be extremely useful, as he convinced Richard to fix up his revamped dessert to make it look a little more fit for a fancy feast instead of just looking like Fancy Feast.
At the same time, Tom and his crew—Gail Simmons, Art Smith, and host of the upcoming Top Chef Masters and all-around hot guy Curtis Stone are being served Mike’s Italian-influenced menu (did you know Mike was Italian? In other shocking news, Tiffany’s from Beaumont) of:
Spiced beets with mozzarella truffle and chocolate vinaigrette
Halibut with kumquat marmalade, cauliflower puree, and pancetta crumbs
Glazed pork shoulder with pepperoni sauce(!), roasted cabbage, and turnips
Rosemary caramel custard and pine nuts with citrus, celery, and apple
After catching their breath from multiple foodgasms, the judges took their place at the judgement table that totally hides the fact that they are wearing pajama pants. The judges had high praise for nearly all the food, which is especially meaningful for Mike because it is the first time he has actually pleased a woman. Gail admits to bathing in Mike’s pepperoni sauce because it makes her skin glow and rack huge. Tom can barely contain himself, exclaiming to Richard, “Hachi machi! That was some great hamachi!”
It’s time for the big announcement and friends and family gather around for the results. Noticeably absent was Richard’s wife who was only moments away from giving birth to a fauxhawk. Fortunately, Mike’s wife, who is 69 times more attractive than he should be able to get, could make it because she refuses to spawn with Mike as giving birth to a child who inherits his neck-size is not a risk she is willing to take. Channeling her inner-Seacrest, Padma pauses dramatically before revealing who will win the 200,000 Buitoni raviolis. The winner is… RICHARD BLAIS! Mikey rolls his eyes, Richard tears up, Antonia smiles with a blunt between her lips, Padma and Gail make out, Tom and Tre rub each others bald heads, and Carla runs around in a circle screaming “Beeeeeeeeef Tongue.”
And so, another season of Top Chef comes to an end. Blais can finally emerge from the padded cell where he’s spent the past two-and-a-half years in his rocking chair, contemplating his loss, and Mike and his wife can finally consummate their marriage, much to her chagrin. But, since only Blais leaves the show with a prize, we think it only fair that Mike at least get a musical sendoff, and so, from one New Jersey-ite to another… goodbye, JD. You truly did go down in a blais of glory.
DahlELama and The_Obvious both wanted Richard to win, but, more importantly, wanted Mike to lose. They hope that Carla will one day get her own show, preferably a variety hour featuring humorous skits, whimsical songs, and animal guests. They wish Antonia many happy snacks and choose never to think about Tiffany again.
Earlier this week, we discussed the Duggars on Crasstalk, and their very interesting Tater Tot Casserole recipe was mentioned. Never one to back down from a challenge, I decided to see what made this so special that it was “One of Daddy’s Favorites!” Here is the recipe in its entirety:
DUGGAR’s TATER TOT CASSEROLE
2 lb ground turkey cooked, seasoned, drained
3 2lb bags tater tots
2 cans cream of mushroom
2 cans evaporated milk
2 cans cream of chicken
Brown meat and place in large casserole dish.
Cover with tater tots. Mix soup and milk together.
Pour over top. Bake at 350 for 1 Hour.
(One of Daddy’s Favorites!) Makes two 9” x 13” pans
Tres chic, no? Time to get ingredients. Don’t be fooled by the exotic components, most of these items can be found at your local grocery store. Since I’m not feeding a family of 20, I decided to half the recipe. When I bake, this is a bitch to accomplish, but this recipe is so elegant in it’s simplicity that halving it was a cinch. So, with my ingredients gathered, it was time to begin.
1) Brown meat and place in a large casserole dish – Simply enough. I decided to take a big risk and add some dill, oregano and bay to the mixture, since I’ve had Midwest cooking before.
2) Cover with tater tots – Being lazy, I just dumped everything in the pan. I’ve seen pictures where the tots are lined up in rows. Sorry folks, but that’s too much for work for this dish.
3) Mix soup and milk together and pour over top – I wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough of the gloopy mess to cover all the tater tots, but I managed to make it work. The middle *was* a bit thicker then the edges, but I hoped it would settle in the oven.
4) Bake at 350 for 1 hour – No prob! I watched TV while the casserole baked. This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven! My roommate commented on the scent (smells good!) when it came out of the oven, but since he’ll eat anything, I didn’t think much of it.
Finally, the taste test! I wanted to pair this with a smooth chateunfeuf D d’Soleil, but I had to settle for Cherry Limeade. Unsurprisingly, this was completely bland (like some of the men I date!). The meat mixed effortlessly with the tater tots until I couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended, held together by the soup/milk mixture. I believe that the Power of God must have been a part of the recipe since not even the dill could inject flavor into this dish. It was truly a recipe for those who need nothing more then the love of God in their lives.
Time – 5 out of 5 Guys. Actually work was 15 minutes, though, you still have to wait an hour for it to bake.
Prep – 4 out of 5 Altons. The prep was pretty damn easy. Mac and cheese is probably harder.
Taste – 1.5 out of 5 Paulas. Utterly boring. Lacked cheese, or salt or pizza.
Overall – 1 out of 5 Julias. Sure it was easy, but it was boring as hell. Completely inoffensive in a forgettable way (until you get a heart attack).
Most cookbooks spend a life of solitude on a dusty shelf only pulled down to have sauces splashed on them for special occasions. The following two cookbooks deserve to be enjoyed in front of a fireplace with a glass of wine just like your torrid romance novels.
As Henry Fielding was to the English novel, so was Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin to the literature of gastronomy. It was Brillat Savarin who first said, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.”
If you’re a serious cook, this unusual volume will be old toque to you. But I’m surprised again and again at how often Brillat-Savarin slips below the radar of so many readers, even some who, like your humble servant, read cookbooks just because!
Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin's Frontispiece and Title Page
His peerless masterpiece (title translated from the original French) was The Physiology of Taste, or Transcendental Meditations on Gastronomy, theoretical work, history and agenda, dedicated to Parisian gastronomy, by a professor, a member of several scholarly literary societies.
Originally published in December 1825, two months before Brillat-Savarin died, it’s a wonderful mix of 19th century French gourmandise, Enlightenment curiosity, and high spirits – this is a man with whom one might dine every day for a year and he’d never run out of food lore and opinion … or aphorisms and wit.
According to Wikipedia, remarkably, The Physiology of Taste
“… has not been out of print since it first appeared, shortly before Brillat-Savarin’s death. Its most notable English translation was done by food writer and critic M. F. K. Fisher, who remarked “I hold myself blessed among translators.” Her translation was first published in 1949.” — (Wikipedia)
There are recipes, though they’re more like vivid descriptions of a dish than precise, detailed directions as we know them. There are stories such as one might have heard over port a few years after Waterloo, expansive and entertaining table talk, part fabliau, part restaurant review, and part philosophy, scientific and spiritual alike.
Let’s consider Chapter VI: On Food In General. After a brief essay on bouillon and boulli, the boiled meat whence bouillon comes, Brillat-Savarin moves on to poultry, with particular fascination for the North American wild turkey; this leads in turn to the tale of a 1794 American turkeyshoot in which he participated. Next he strides in seven-league boots through the categories of game, from thrushes, snipe, partridge, quail, and rabbit, to wild boar and roebuck. Finally he turns to the piscine world and explains why fish is less nourishing than meat but a far more potent aphrodisiac.
Then he pauses to recount the story of a crustacean-mad colleague with whom he shared a dinner: both men consumed three dozen raw oysters apiece, at which point Brillat-Savarin called a halt while his dining companion feasted on, consuming no fewer than thirty-two dozen oysters before the two tucked into the main course. All of which leads to the following marvelous Philosophical Reflection:
“Fish, by which I indicate all species of it considered as a whole, is for a philosopher an endless source of meditation and of astonishment.
“The varied forms of these strange creatures, the senses which they lack and the restrictions of those they possess, their different means of existence, the influence upon this of the places in which they must live and breathe and move about: all these things extend the world of our ideas and the limitless modifications which spring from matter, from movement, from life itself.
“As for myself, I feel something like a real respect for fish, which comes from my profound persuasion that they are plainly antediluvian creature; for the great Flood, which drowned our grand-uncles toward the eighteenth century of the creation of the world, was for the fishes no more nor less than a period of joy, conquest, and festivity.”
The Physiology of Taste abounds in such passages, as well as stories, scientific speculation, ecclesiastical and military history, not to mention a thorough primer on dangerously stimulating foods like the highly erotic truffle, and coffee, widely regarded as the crystal meth of its day. Brillat-Savarin explains why apothecaries prescribed and concocted various mixtures of chocolate as medications, and offers expert advice on how to hang, age, and stuff a pheasant with a pair of woodcock to make a gamy but unforgettable hunters’ meal. Not merely a book about food, this surprising, wide-ranging work is a treatise on late 18th- and early 19th century European life and world view, gathering into its capacious apron everything from natural philosophy to Napoleon’s various appetites to a vignette of a pretty demoiselle gourmande feasting at a groaning board; it’s a truly delicious book, fascinating, irresistible, and shot through with the profoundest pleasure at nature’s bounty. Even if it doesn’t seduce you into full-blown foodie-hood it will give you a new understanding of why the people who are passionate about food and cooking are the way they are.
At a list price of $625 (but knocked down at Amazon.com to a frugal $460 and change) the new cookbook from former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myrhvold is described by Tim Zagat as “The most important book in the culinary arts since Escoffier.”
Even to describe Modernist Cuisine as a “book,” while true, is nevertheless rather misleading, something like comparing the US Army Official History of World War II with Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead. Myrhvold and his co-authors spent a substantial Microsoft-generated fortune to create a no-expenses-spared Cooking Lab where a staff of 20 have created entirely new and astonishing flavors and extraordinary textures using equipment more suited to a chem lab than to a kitchen: autoclaves, water baths, homogenizers, vacuum chambers and even centrifuges, to work postmillennial magic on scary-sounding ingredients like hydrocolloids, gels, emulsifiers, enzymes, and foams.
Futurist Food is Now
The package itself is military-industrial in scale: six oversized volumes totaling 2,400 pages and weighing 50 pounds, illustrated with thousands of photographs and diagrams. The authors, scientists all as well as accomplished chefs in their own rights, have followed the path blazed by such pioneers of ‘molecular gastronomy’ as the Adrìa brothers at the Catalonian restaurant elBulli, named five times since 2000 as the best in the world, or Heston Blumenthal, who has led the Fat Duck, 25 miles from London, to its own 2005 Best Restaurant title.
The exotic gizmos and the bizarre though wonderfully tasty foodstuffs they produce tend to get the lion’s share of the food-critical attention (and not a little skepticism from much of the high-end gourmet world) but Myrhvold, Young, and Bilet haven’t limited themselves to cool futurist cuisine; their ambition is nothing less than to provide an encyclopedic reference to cooking in all its myriad aspects. There’s an entire chapter devoted to water, and your trusty old wok gets the same respect and attention as the latest in sous-vide technology. If you’re not so sure about splots and splashes of Day-Glo sauce deployed with a casual yet utterly calculated flick over a frothy confection that might have started out as a scoop of bone marrow, you should know that one reviewer declared the Modernist Cuisine‘s version of Mac’n’Cheese the best ever created. The book examines and explains everything: you’ll get all the usual methods (and some all-but-unheard-of techniques too) but you’ll also get detailed explanations not only what will come out of any given beaker, Klein bottle, or cast-iron kettle but also what is happening at every stage of the cooking process, whether a time-honored roast or a day-after-tomorrow centrifuged smoothie.
Meats alone get more than 250 pages of comprehensive coverage, and over 300 more present recipes created by many of the world’s most accomplished chefs. And while some of the more recherché machines and elaborately futuristic processed creations are sure to daunt all but the truly stout of heart, this encyclopedic reference to the culinary arts and sciences is a book that gets about as close as it’s possible to get to being all things to all cooks.
We began this week’s reading with one of the earliest literary endeavors that could in some way be described as a cookbook — written by a bon vivant who was also, by the lights of his age, a scientist. It seems, then, entirely fitting to close with the admiring words of David Chang (of Momofuku fame ) who described Modernist Cuisine as “the cookbook to end all cookbooks.”
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes. It’s super easy and makes a great gift, but it’s perfectly O.K. not to share the results with anyone. I always make these during the Holidays as a gift for some of my company’s top clients, and the one feedback I consistently receive is that they are gone within minutes. I believe the two keys to this recipe (and most other cookie recipes) is to chill the dough while you are preheating the oven (about 20 minutes) to prevent cookie spread (nobody likes a thin cookie), and using a teaspoon (instead of a tablespoon) to shape the cookies in order to create a bite-sized treat.
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Total prep time: About 30 minutes
Total cook time: 8 to 9 minutes per batch
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature [you can use salted butter if that’s all you’ve got, and feel free to use the microwave to soften the butter]
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour [you can substitute self-rising flour here, just omit the salt and baking powder]
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
4 ounces semi-sweet morsels [just over 1/2 cup]
4 ounces white morsels [just over 1/2 cup]
Directions
Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add the oats, white morsels, and semi-sweet morsels and stir until well combined. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place teaspoon-sized spoonfuls a few inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, until the tops of the cookies turn light golden and the edges just start to brown. Let cookies cool on the sheet for about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting.
Store leftover cookies (how do you have any left?!) in an airtight container. They will keep for about 5 days, and can also be frozen for up to 3 months. I like to put my leftover cookies in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften the chocolate before I dig into them again.
Share any suggestions and substitutions, or pimp your favorite recipe in the comments!
Hi, my name is GtCosita, and I love P.F. Chang’s Chang’s Spicy Chicken. I am not ashamed to put this love out there for everyone to see. You would think that as someone who loves food, I’d be all about trying new things. You would be correct, except for the fact that money is tight and Orlando, FL is not exactly a Mecca of diversity when it comes to restaurants. A few years ago, one of the servers at Chang’s let me in on a little secret: order the honey chicken, ask for a side of Chang’s spicy sauce, and mix. I’ve been hooked on that combo ever since. Last night I felt like making my own, and found two recipes that I merged into the following deliciousness:
Spicy Honey Chicken (2 servings)
Total prep time: About 20 minutes
Total cooking time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Two medium chicken breasts cut into nuggets (or any size you prefer)
1/3 cup cornstarch in a medium bowl
2 garlic cloves – minced
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
2 tablespoons chopped onion (if you have green onions feel free to substitute)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce (more or less depending on your spice preference)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (you can substitute apple cider vinegar or white vinegar)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed in 1 tablespoon of water
Vegetable oil for frying
Prep
Heat up oil in a wok or skillet under medium heat. I use enough oil to almost cover the chicken without completely submerging it. While the oil is heating up, combine the soy sauce, chili sauce, honey, vinegar, salt, and the 1/2 cup of water in a bowl. Stir and set aside.
Don’t be afraid to try the sauce and adjust the spice to your liking (if you use your finger to try the sauce, you may want to wash that finger after you’ve put it in your mouth). Add the chicken pieces (a few at a time) to the bowl with the cornstarch and “bread” the pieces with a light coating.
Once the oil is hot (you can test dunk one piece of chicken – if it starts bubbling, you’re ready to go), fry the chicken pieces (turning once) until the chicken is cooked through (about 3 minutes per side for nugget-sized pieces). Take the chicken out and place on a plate with paper towels to drain. Carefully, remove some oil from your wok or skillet (you can put the excess oil in a ceramic bowl to cool), leaving about 1/2 an inch of oil.
Place the wok/skillet back on the burner (still at medium heat), add the onions, garlic, and ginger and cook for about two minutes. Add the sauce and stir for a few more minutes. Once the sauce starts boiling, add the cornstarch/water mixture, and stir for about two minutes. Once the sauce thickens, add the fried chicken back and stir to coat and heat through, about 1 minute. Serve with sticky white or brown rice.
Last month, while pondering what I wanted to do differently in 2011, I thought about what I put in my mouth.
For about seven years (age 14-21), I was a vegetarian. Back then, there weren’t nearly as many ready-to-eat or veg-friendly ingredients carried in regular grocery stores. Now, even Wal-Mart has organic and veg-friendly options.
Needless to say, I fell off the veg wagon and was OK with that for many years. Then, in 2010, after putting on some unwanted weight, I started working out with a trainer. I still didn’t change what I was eating, but knew that would need to change sooner than later.
While identifying what I wanted to change in 2011, I wrote down that I wanted to institute vegan Mondays and Wednesdays each week to force myself to really think about what I’m putting in my mouth and to start preparing healthier meals for myself.
Since January 2, 2011, I have been eating a plant-based diet and I feel great. Seriously. I’m a life-long insomniac, but have been sleeping really well lately. Also, I find myself waking up and wanting to get out of bed. My body feels energized. Usually, I felt sluggish around 2PM or 3PM while sitting at my desk. Last week, I breezed through that time with ease.
I’m now in my second week and feel like I could do this for much longer than 21 days.
Of course, it helps that I love to cook and throw stuff together in the kitchen. It also helps that I live in a city where there are tons of vegan-friendly restaurants in addition to the options available in the grocery store.
Because of my access to veg-friendly options, I consider myself quite lucky to be able to even do this. I know not everyone in this country has easy access to quality, fresh vegetables, which is something that needs to change.
Being on a plant-based diet has made me realize how important it is to keep track of what’s going in my body if I want it to continue working properly without slowing down.
Vegan Lasagna
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed (or a bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed well and chopped)
1 Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into small chunks
4-5 Fresh basil leaves or 2 tablespoons of dried basil
1 container of firm tofu
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
About 2 jars of marinara sauce (or use your own)
1 cup of vegetable broth
About 12 dry (uncooked) whole-wheat lasagna noodles
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place the cut butternut squash in a large pan or stock pot. Pour in enough water to cover the squash. Put on medium-high heat and cover. Cook until the squash is tender. Remove from heat and drain.
In a food processor, add the cooked squash, garlic cloves, and tofu. Purée the ingredients. While the processor is in purée mode, slowly add in 3/4 cup of the vegetable broth. When all ingredients are mixed, turn off the processor.
In a large sauté pan, add 1/4 cup of vegetable broth and the spinach. If using fresh spinach, sauté until it’s wilted. If using frozen, sauté until it’s warm. Remove from heat and add in the marinara sauce. Mix together.
Coat the bottom of a 9″×13″ pan with the marinara/spinach mixture, then add a layer of lasagna noodles, overlapping noodles slightly. Then, spread on a heaping amount of the butternut squash-tofu mixture to cover the noodles. Then, add on another layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat this process again. The final layer should be the marinara/spinach mixture. Sprinkle nutritional yeast all over the top.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Stick a knife through the center of the lasagna to make sure the noodles are completely cooked. Let cool for about 15 minutes, uncovered, before serving.
After spending the last 6 years of my adult life using the Farberware my parents got for their wedding as my cookware I finally decided to by my own pots and pans. Morale at the Firm has been pretty low this year (we had layoffs last year and it wasn’t handled well) so they decided to throw money at us this Christmas to make us happy again. I decided spending some of that money on beautiful French copper pots & pans would ease the pain.
I was right. Good lord I love this cookware. Mauviel – hand made in France by the same family for 130 years – a brilliant copper sheen glowing in my cupboards.
I would probably have sex with it if that were physically possible.
Stay tuned for a regular cooking post featuring the best my kitchen has to offer!
