Sunday, November 29, 2015

My Week In Food

Monday, November 23:  Pot Roast with Steamed Green Beans, Roasted Potatoes and Guacamole on the side (Guac...always!)


Tuesday, November 24:  Plain Slice from PJ's Grill and Pizza in New Brunswick, NJ (on the Rutgers University campus)


Wednesday, November 25:  Our mom's utappam with green and red bell peppers, onion and shredded cabbage. Utappams are a savory pancake, sort of a thicker version of Dosa, for those of you who know what that is! 


Thursday, November 26:  Forgot to take a picture of all the Thanksgiving Day dishes, but here's a picture of my leftovers from a few days later all on top of an Open Faced sandwich.  A slice of toasted whole what bread, with sliced turkey, green bean casserole, and stuffing all piled on top.  Love Turkey Day leftovers!


Friday, November 27:  Our mom's crispy, freshly fried Vadas.  Savory fritters that we dip into tomato or coconut chutney.  Perfect with chai during tea time!

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Thanksgiving Throwback

This Thanksgiving N will be traveling from San Francisco to D.C. and we will be spending Thanksgiving together at our parents place.  While some years our cravings overcome us and the typical turkey dinner just doesn't cut it, so instead we'll go the non-traditional route and come up with a few courses that satisfy our particular cravings.  But, this year we've decided to go the traditional route, but with not quite so many dishes.  We'll be making a roast turkey breast, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole with mushrooms, sweet potatoes and stuffing. Since we're all trying to be a bit healthier we've decided to nix dessert, probably for the best!  

As you all prepare your last minute Thanksgiving dishes, I thought a post with some throwbacks to past Thanksgiving posts would be a nice way to get everyone motivated to head into the kitchen and start cooking this Thanksgiving season.  Take a look at some of what we've tried out in the past:  


2010 - Whole Roast Chicken with an Indian Flair

            Cranberry Pickle
            Country Apple Pie

2011 - How to brine a turkey and why you should do it! 


2012 - Cheesy Red Pepper Jelly Thumbprints

             Brown and Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash
             Thanksgiving Menu

What happened to 2013?? Sorry guys! 


 2014 - N's Green Bean Casserole

             Leftover Turkey?  Make Turkey Enchiladas!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Sunday, November 22, 2015

My Week In Food

Monday, November 16: Fish Curry with Pumpkin
Tuesday, November 17:  Black's Bar + Kitchen's Grapefruit & Avocado Salad with Frisse, Arugula, Red Onion and a Citrus Vinaigrette.  Topped with grilled shrimp.

 Wednesday, November 18:  Our mom's Ras Malai topped with Caramelized Cashew crumbles.

Thursday, November 19:  Homemade Papaya Salad with Chilies, Lime Vinaigrette and Crushed Peanuts on top.

Friday, November 20:  Double Duty Chicken: Malaysian Chicken Rendang and a Chicken + Broccoli Stir Fry

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

#339: Ginger Bok Choy Quinoa with Roasted Carrots

Carrots + Ginger.  Somehow this combination works.  I had it in a soup once, and the flavor combination was perfect.  So, I wanted to take this same flavor base over to an easy quinoa recipe.  

With the cold weather upon us, and maybe sticking around (is anyone else as tired of this hot/cold back and forth we're feeling in DC?!), warm quinoa salads are the best.  You could easily add fish sauce and red pepper flakes to this dish, for a little more flavor, but I think the roasted veggies with a subtle hint of ginger and chilies in this dish works! I recommend serving this with grilled salmon or pork loin, mmmm enjoy! 

Ginger Bok Choy Quinoa with Roasted Carrots

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons grated ginger
5 cups of bok choy
2 celery stalks, split down the middle of each stalk and chop into 1/2 inch pieces

1 medium-large carrot, peeled and cut in half
two green chiles, split down the middle
1 shallot, peeled and cut in half
2 teaspoons olive oil 
2 1/2 cups of raw quinoa (cook it according to the box’s directions)  

Directions:  
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
  2. Place your prepared carrot, chilies and shallot in a foil pouch.  Coat with the olive oil and cover into foil packet.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Take the top foil cover off and cook for 10 more minutes.  (Typically to have it completely softened you would cook for 30 minutes in the packet, but 20 minutes is perfect for having it not too softened, but just right for this dish)
  3. In the meantime, on high heat add your oil and grated ginger.  Let it splutter a bit and then add in the bok toy.  Cook until the leaves get wilted - for 3 minutes.  Add in the chopped celery, cook for 1 minute, just to heat through.  I like to keep things crunchy :) 
  4. Once the chilies, shallot and carrot have cooled.  Chop them up.  The shallots and chilies can be chopped fine, and the carrots can be copped into half inch pieces.  
  5. Mix everything together and salt + pepper to taste, and go for it.  















Sunday, November 8, 2015

My Week In Food


    Monday, November 2: Pumpkin Cornbread

    Wednesday, November 4:  Lamb Gyro 

    Thursday, November 5:  Chicken Curry

    Friday, November 6: Charcuterie Plate at Lupo Verde

Thursday, November 5, 2015

SF Eats: Shizen

Shizen is such a gorgeous restaurant, but I'll warn you it's hard to find, you might just walk right by it.  With no obvious signage, you kind of have to pay attention and have the address on hand.  We had to make a quick call to the restaurant to confirm where it was, we kept walking up and down the blog, passing the restaurant.  In any case it was a cold night, so when we got inside we were more than happy to warm up!


My sister and I decided to share some sushi and hot delicious ramen.  Now, one thing I should mention about Shizen is that everything is vegan.  This was my first time trying vegan sushi and vegan ramen and it certainly did not disappoint.  Admittedly I was skeptical at first, excepting a cucumber roll and avocado roll and that be it, but I was in for a surprise.


We ordered The Candlestick and Open Invitation.  The Candlestick of course came to the table with a small flame in the rightside of the plate - totally awesome.  You're told to let the flame die out on its own.  The roll itself contains spicy bean curd, avocado, tapioca, cucumber, and seaweed pearls.  So delicious!  Open Invitation was the start of the show though.  Sweet potatoes in a sushi roll - incredible idea.  The sweetness was absolutely fantastic.  The restaurant also had a roll with roasted eggplant, we ended up getting that later (sorry, no picture), and it was also incredible.  I love the idea of roasted veggies inside of a sushi roll.  Anyway, Open Invitation had a tempura sweet potato (umm fried tempura, yes please), spiced burdock, shredded tofu, tapioca, and renkon chips (lotus root chips).   The lotus root chips on top looked so cool - the lacy form the chips take is just beautiful, and the added crunch to the roll gives it a great and complex texture.  




Then we went for the Spicy Garlic Miso Ramen.  It was so good.  Hot and delicious broth with pieces of tofu and bamboo slices floating around.  And, a huge deep fried tempura mushroom.  The flavor and creaminess of the broth was phenomenal.  I definitely did not miss the meat in any of this!  The noodles absorbed the delicious flavorings in the broth.  Fabulous and you can request Gluten Free, people.   Not that that really matters to me either way, but still, helpful for some of you to know I'm sure.  In any case, go. to. Shizen. now.  

Rating:  A

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

#338: Roasted Cauliflower, Garbanzos and Chicken Salad

Everyone has officially been converted to 'vegetable roasting.'  It is everywhere.  I'm not exaggerating, it really is!  All over Pinterest and most food blogger pages are roasted vegetables, which are then used in some form or the other...as a side dish, on eggs benedict, mixed with quinoa, on the infamous avocado toast, and a whole other slew of recipes.  But, trust me, I'm not complaining, and in fact, I'm hopping on that roasted vegetable bandwagon.  And, I'll be real, it isn't just because the vegetables get this amazing flavor when they're blasted with this intense oven heat, no, it's also just plain simple to make.  Plus, you can throw any sort of flavors you want on them and get your fix on anything from Mexican to Thai to Indian fod.  This roasted veggie salad goes the Indian route and throws in a bit of boiled chicken, which I then roasted for a quick 5 minutes just to get all the yummy spices rubbed all over the vegetables and beans onto the chicken, but you really could just use the boiled chicken as is.  It's perfectly juicy!  Sidenote, I've never boiled chicken before, but this month I've done it twice and I gotta say it is so simple, healthy AND makes the chicken so freakin juicy.  A great way to cook chicken!  

Roasted Cauliflower, Garbanzos and Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 or 1 teaspoon of cayenne, depending on the level of heat you like
1/2 tsp salt + pepper
2 tablespoons coconut oil 
lemon juice (fresh cilantro too, if you have some)
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

For the Dressing:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1 13 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon salt 
  1. Boil chicken breasts in water:  Place chicken in a saucepan large enough to hold the chicken pieces.  Add water to cover the chicken.  Bring to boiling on medium-high heat; reduce the heat.  Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is no longer pink.  I used skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, and it took about 15-20 minutes.  Drain the chicken and cut into 1 inch cubes. 
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  In a large mixing bowl, toss cauliflower, chickpeas with spices and olive oil.  Lay in single layer on foil lined baking sheet and roast about 25-30 minutes, cauliflower should be softened. Sprinkle with lemon juice (and cilantro if you have it).  Set aside.  
  3. Add the cubed chicken to the cauliflower/chickpea mixture in the oven, about 5 minutes before the cauliflower/chickpeas are done.  Toss them throughly with the cauliflower/chickpea, so the chicken can pick up some of the spices.  
  4. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small below.  Set aside. 
  5. Prepare the Salad:  Baby spinach on the base of the salad.  Top with roasted chickpeas and cauliflower and chicken.  
  6. Drizzle dressing over the salad and sprinkle with sliced almonds or green onions.  




Sunday, November 1, 2015

My Week in Food

Monday, October 26:  Meatless Monday with some Paneer Curry and Stir Fried Green Beans.


Tuesday, October 27:  Bowling date night at Lucky Strike.  Shared some Asian Wings and Sausage & Peppers Flat Bread


Wednesday, October 28:  Wrap for lunch with roasted turkey, pepper jack cheese, slices of red delicious apples, avocado and a smear of hummus.  Good stuff! 


Thursday, October 29: Hash browns with a touch of marinara, egg over easy, cheese and turkey sausages. 


Friday, October 30:  Waiting on our pizza and had to have a quick snack, so made a bowl of homemade plain yogurt topped with fresh strawberries and a cookie/tea biscuit-y treat.  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! As we enjoy Halloween, you should probably stock up on the candy that Influencer determined was the favorite candy in your state this year! 

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