The transition back into the American college student life has been a tough and busy one. I can't call up my closest friends, all who live in the same group of apartments as me, to walk down to Galway's city center to grab lunch and a Bulmer's... hearing awesome live music on the streets as we walk to our favorite pub. REALITY SUCKS, MAN.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Recipe | Vegetarian Chili with Soy Chorizo and Tri-Colored Quinoa
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This is what I had for dinner tonight. No pre-planning, it was just a last minute dinner idea that turned into a god damn masterpiece (Rachel's reactions to it when she got home from work were enough proof) It should yield about 4 servings and it's VERY filling and hearty.
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper (whichever color you prefer, I used red), chopped
1 package of Soy Chorizo
1 cup Quinoa
3 cups water
1 cup Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper soup
1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp Sriracha Hot Sauce
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Start off by heating up a large saucepan or pot with the olive oil to medium heat. Saute the peppers and onions until they soften up. They don't have to be browned or anything, so salt and pepper them and just sweat them out for about 5-7 minutes.
Once the peppers and onions begin to soften up, add the soy chorizo. Make sure you remove the chorizo from the plastic casing within the plastic packaging before you add it to the pan! Also, I don't know if there's any other brand out there that makes soy chorizo besides Trader Joe's. If you can't get a hold of soy chorizo you can just use soy crumbles and season it up like chorizo (google it, guys. I already threw out the packaging).
While the peppers, onions, and soy chorizo are cooking together, you can start cooking the quinoa. Check your packaging, but usually the cooking method for quinoa is 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. So for this recipe, combine 1 cup of the tri-colored quinoa (or whatever quinoa you prefer... cooking methods may vary) with 2 cups of water in a pot and bring it up to a boil. Once the water's boiling, cover the pot and bring it down to a simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender. For more flavor, you can substitute veg stock for the water.
While the quinoa is simmering, add the cup of water, cup of roasted red pepper and tomato soup, black beans, sriracha, cumin, cinnamon, and smoked paprika to the pan. Stir to incorporate all the flavors, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is finished. After the quinoa is done, add it to the pan and stir once again to combine all the flavors.
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper (whichever color you prefer, I used red), chopped
1 package of Soy Chorizo
1 cup Quinoa
3 cups water
1 cup Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper soup
1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp Sriracha Hot Sauce
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Start off by heating up a large saucepan or pot with the olive oil to medium heat. Saute the peppers and onions until they soften up. They don't have to be browned or anything, so salt and pepper them and just sweat them out for about 5-7 minutes.
Once the peppers and onions begin to soften up, add the soy chorizo. Make sure you remove the chorizo from the plastic casing within the plastic packaging before you add it to the pan! Also, I don't know if there's any other brand out there that makes soy chorizo besides Trader Joe's. If you can't get a hold of soy chorizo you can just use soy crumbles and season it up like chorizo (google it, guys. I already threw out the packaging).
While the peppers, onions, and soy chorizo are cooking together, you can start cooking the quinoa. Check your packaging, but usually the cooking method for quinoa is 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. So for this recipe, combine 1 cup of the tri-colored quinoa (or whatever quinoa you prefer... cooking methods may vary) with 2 cups of water in a pot and bring it up to a boil. Once the water's boiling, cover the pot and bring it down to a simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender. For more flavor, you can substitute veg stock for the water.
If you can't get a hold of a decent roasted red pepper and tomato soup, using a can of fire roasted chopped tomatoes would be reeeeeally delicious in this. I was actually planning on using that but I didn't have a can on hand to use. Also, to stretch this recipe you could double or even triple the amount of beans in it, making it a 2 or 3 type bean chili by adding kidney and/ or cannelini beans or your favorite type to the recipe. Also, feel free to add as much or as little hot sauce to the recipe depending on your ability to handle spicy foods.
I'm probably gonna mix some of the leftovers with eggs tomorrow for breakfast.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Recipe | Soy Sausages with Sauteed Onions and Swiss Chard over Thai Coconut Rice
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So yes, I actually measured everything out for this recipe (I know, it's quite shocking) so I could share it with whoever might be interested in trying it out. Here it goes!
This recipe yielded a comfortable 2 servings for my mom and I with some left over rice. You could easily double the recipe to feed more people or just incorporate some other side dishes with it.
So for the rice... it's the easiest thing ever. I made mine in a rice cooker but it's just as easy on the stove top. you'll need:
2 cups Basmati Rice
3 cups water or vegetable stock
1-2 tbsp of Coconut Thai Seasoning (depending on how spicy you want it... I used 2 tbsp and it had a little kick to it)
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
For reference, this is what the coconut thai seasoning that I used looks like. You could probably find something similar to it in the ethnic food section of your local supermarket.
If you're cooking the rice in a rice cooker, it's quite simple. just combine the rice, water or veg stock, and the coconut thai blend in the cooker and turn it on. When it's finished cooking, fluff the rice with a fork and add however much salt and pepper you desire. Add the oil and mix everything together.
If you're cooking the rice on the stovetop, combine the rice, water or veg stock, and the coconut thai blend in a pot and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, put the heat down to simmer and cover the pot. Cook until all the liquids have been absorbed and the rice is tender (usually about 15-20 minutes)
While the rice is cooking, you can work on the soy sausages with sauteed onions and Swiss chard. For this portion of the recipe, you'll need:
1 onion, sliced
2 soy sausages, cut in half, and then cut in half again, length-wise (this should give you 8 pieces total)
5-8 stalks of Swiss chard (depending on how big they are), roughly chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Set a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once the pan is up to temperature, start browning the pieces of soy sausages. You can use any brand, but I recommend either Trader Joe's or the Smart brand of meatless sausages. They just taste the best in my opinion. For this recipe, I used Trader Joe's Italian Style Soy Sausages
Saute the sausages for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
When you're done sauteing the sausages, remove them from the pan and add the onions. Saute the onions for about 5-7 minutes, or until they begin to get some color and soften up. It's important to hold off on salting them so they can caramelize a little bit and develop some nice color.
At this point you're ready to tackle the Swiss chard. If you've never worked with Swiss chard before, it's so painfully easy. All you do it pull the leafy green parts off of the white stalks and chop it up. If you think you've chopped up too much, YOU DIDN'T! Swiss chard is just like spinach and will reeeeeeally wilt down to almost nothing... so your 5-8 stalks of greens turn into about 1/2-1 cup soon after it hits the pan. I used enough to fill up a colander when I washed it (mainly because that's all that was left in the fridge)
Swiss chard doesn't take long to cook at all. Introduce the greens to the pan with the onions and stir around until the greens begin to wilt. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Once the greens begin wilting, add the turmeric, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.
Stir to incorporate all the seasonings, and then throw the sausages back into the pan and combine all the flavors together and finish wilting the Swiss chard.
Serve over the coconut thai seasoned rice or right along side of it and enjoy!
By the way, the green beans in the picture were simply steamed and seasoned with salt and pepper... really nothing special at all, but still delicious.
This recipe yielded a comfortable 2 servings for my mom and I with some left over rice. You could easily double the recipe to feed more people or just incorporate some other side dishes with it.
2 cups Basmati Rice
3 cups water or vegetable stock
1-2 tbsp of Coconut Thai Seasoning (depending on how spicy you want it... I used 2 tbsp and it had a little kick to it)
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
For reference, this is what the coconut thai seasoning that I used looks like. You could probably find something similar to it in the ethnic food section of your local supermarket.
If you're cooking the rice in a rice cooker, it's quite simple. just combine the rice, water or veg stock, and the coconut thai blend in the cooker and turn it on. When it's finished cooking, fluff the rice with a fork and add however much salt and pepper you desire. Add the oil and mix everything together.
If you're cooking the rice on the stovetop, combine the rice, water or veg stock, and the coconut thai blend in a pot and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, put the heat down to simmer and cover the pot. Cook until all the liquids have been absorbed and the rice is tender (usually about 15-20 minutes)
While the rice is cooking, you can work on the soy sausages with sauteed onions and Swiss chard. For this portion of the recipe, you'll need:
1 onion, sliced
2 soy sausages, cut in half, and then cut in half again, length-wise (this should give you 8 pieces total)
5-8 stalks of Swiss chard (depending on how big they are), roughly chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Set a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once the pan is up to temperature, start browning the pieces of soy sausages. You can use any brand, but I recommend either Trader Joe's or the Smart brand of meatless sausages. They just taste the best in my opinion. For this recipe, I used Trader Joe's Italian Style Soy Sausages
Saute the sausages for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
When you're done sauteing the sausages, remove them from the pan and add the onions. Saute the onions for about 5-7 minutes, or until they begin to get some color and soften up. It's important to hold off on salting them so they can caramelize a little bit and develop some nice color.
At this point you're ready to tackle the Swiss chard. If you've never worked with Swiss chard before, it's so painfully easy. All you do it pull the leafy green parts off of the white stalks and chop it up. If you think you've chopped up too much, YOU DIDN'T! Swiss chard is just like spinach and will reeeeeeally wilt down to almost nothing... so your 5-8 stalks of greens turn into about 1/2-1 cup soon after it hits the pan. I used enough to fill up a colander when I washed it (mainly because that's all that was left in the fridge)
Swiss chard doesn't take long to cook at all. Introduce the greens to the pan with the onions and stir around until the greens begin to wilt. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Once the greens begin wilting, add the turmeric, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.
Stir to incorporate all the seasonings, and then throw the sausages back into the pan and combine all the flavors together and finish wilting the Swiss chard.
Serve over the coconut thai seasoned rice or right along side of it and enjoy!
By the way, the green beans in the picture were simply steamed and seasoned with salt and pepper... really nothing special at all, but still delicious.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Update | Third time's a charm...
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This is my third attempt at serious blogging. I started this one last winter, but just didn't keep up with it. So I deleted all the posts and I'm starting a new... what better time to do so than at 2am, right?
I wish I blogged while I was studying abroad; it would make the question "How was Ireland?" a lot easier to answer. That being said, there's not really a straight-forward answer to that question. Ireland was amazing, to put it simply. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people and a lot about life in general. I realized I have a deep passion for travelling... along with a slight obsession with Bailey's coffee. I realized what and who is important in my life. I realized that psychology is definitely what I should be studying (thank GOD... or the past 2 and a half years would have been a waste). And I realized that I have an absurd amount of dreams and aspirations for the rest of my life, which is both good and bad. I hope this blog helps me sort out all the crazy ideas I have for myself and lets me get the ball rolling on some of them.
My first task will be to go through all the half-assed recipes I have jotted down all over my computer, and actually getting real measurements for them so I can compile them into a cookbook and eventually publish it. I am a damn good cook and when someone asks me for a recipe of something I've made for them (*cough* Chris *cough*) I want to be able to tell them how to remake it for themselves. I eye-ball EVERYTHING when I'm cooking, which is the fun part, really, but it makes things prone to inconsistency which isn't ideal for an aspiring author of one or several cookbooks (and maybe even my own cafe one day!) My roommate, Rachel, can look forward to lots and lots of good eats for the upcoming days where I'm testing out some of my recipes.
Let's hope I can actually keep up with this blog and the ideas behind it!
I wish I blogged while I was studying abroad; it would make the question "How was Ireland?" a lot easier to answer. That being said, there's not really a straight-forward answer to that question. Ireland was amazing, to put it simply. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people and a lot about life in general. I realized I have a deep passion for travelling... along with a slight obsession with Bailey's coffee. I realized what and who is important in my life. I realized that psychology is definitely what I should be studying (thank GOD... or the past 2 and a half years would have been a waste). And I realized that I have an absurd amount of dreams and aspirations for the rest of my life, which is both good and bad. I hope this blog helps me sort out all the crazy ideas I have for myself and lets me get the ball rolling on some of them.
My first task will be to go through all the half-assed recipes I have jotted down all over my computer, and actually getting real measurements for them so I can compile them into a cookbook and eventually publish it. I am a damn good cook and when someone asks me for a recipe of something I've made for them (*cough* Chris *cough*) I want to be able to tell them how to remake it for themselves. I eye-ball EVERYTHING when I'm cooking, which is the fun part, really, but it makes things prone to inconsistency which isn't ideal for an aspiring author of one or several cookbooks (and maybe even my own cafe one day!) My roommate, Rachel, can look forward to lots and lots of good eats for the upcoming days where I'm testing out some of my recipes.
Let's hope I can actually keep up with this blog and the ideas behind it!
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