Recipe: Sesame Soy Broccolini

Do you ever have days where you get home from work, exhausted, and can barely muster up the strength to pop a meal in the microwave?  Unfortunately, that happens to me quite often.  And as much as I'd love to live on frozen meals, I know that I shouldn't, so I'm constantly on the hunt for quick and easy recipes.  Sesame soy broccolini is one of those recipes. 

Never had broccolini?  In my mind, broccolini is like a cross between asparagus and broccoli.  It doesn't taste like asparagus, though - it's just very "stemy." 

Ingredients:

• Broccolini (I buy it in shrink wrapped packages at Whole Foods)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Garlic - as much as you can handle
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

 

Method:

1. Trim broccolini - similar to how you'd trip asparagus. Cut of the ends and cut each step into manageable/eatable pieces
2. Finely mince garlic.
3. Put broccolini, garlic, oil, and soy sauce into a skillet. Cook on high or medium high heat until slightly wilted. (not too wilted! they cook pretty quickly!)
4. Enjoy!

 

 

Start to finish, you can whip up a batch of broccolini in less than 15 minutes.  It's a quick and tasty addition to almost any meal.

 

What are your favorite quick and easy recipes?

Hands on vegan cooking classes in Cleveland with Foodgazi

Admittedly, I'm not a great cook.  My skills have gotten better with lots of practice, but I'm never going to be a person who can easily whip up a recipe.  I used to stress out about cooking, but I've come to accept that some things I try to cook just aren't going to work out.  (I'm talking about you, vegan pumpkin alfredo) But to try to mitigate my cooking failures, I recently took a Foodgazi vegan cooking class. 

What's that?  You've never heard of Foodgazi? 

To be honest, I hadn't either until the nice ladies at Foodgazi, one of Cleveland's vegan cooking/catering operations, offered up a Groupon (discount coupon) a few months back.  Not that I had the sense to buy a Groupon to take a cooking class on the cheap, but...like any good marketing campaign, just reading about Foodgazi got me interested in taking a class with them.  So I signed up to take an Italian cooking class. 

For a mere $65, you're provided with cooking equipment, ingredients, and witty banter from the front ladies of Foodgazi.  The classes take place in a Cleveland area church, and every aspect of the class is hands on.  The Foodgazi gals guide you through cooking 3 different recipes and then sit down with you to eat the finished products.  In all, it's a 2 hour experience, but I can honestly say I learned some knife skills that I hope to continue using.  So for me, the cost was well worth it.  Heck, I'd even pay more just to support vegan cooking in Cleveland!

Classes take place every few weeks on Thursdays, and the upcoming class schedule can be found on the Foodgazi web site.  (though May 2011!)  'Tis the season for gift giving, and if you're so inclined, you can even buy a gift certificate for Foodgazi cooking classes.

I hope to take another class in the new year to learn even more helpful cooking skills!

Recipe: Easy as pie applesauce

Have you ever made something from scratch and wondered why you've never made it from scratch before?  That was my experience with homemade applesauce.  Packed with flavor and lacking the preservatives that are sometimes found in store bought applesauce, I don't think I can ever eat the stuff in a jar ever again.

Ingredients:

Apples - pick your favorite kind! 

Cinnamon

Agave

Water

Method:

1. Peel and core as many apples as you can handle.  Apples boil down quite a bit, so the more you put in on the front end, the more delicious applesauce you'll end up with!

2. Chop the apples into small-ish pieces and put in a large pot/saucepan.  Cover with water.

3. Bring apples and water to a boil.  Add cinnamon to your liking.  (I can never have too much cinnamon)

4. Continue to boil apples until they are very soft and the majority of the water has burned off.  Add more cinnamon if necessary.  (you might want to give the apple mixture a taste first...)

5. Once apples are soft and the water has boiled off, use a potato masher to get a chunky consistency with the apples.  (if you like a smoother texture, get out your blender!)

6. (optional) Add a half tablespoon or tablespoon of agave.  This is probably only necessary if you're like me and like super sugary applesauce. 

The finished product:

I'm not sure why I always thought it would be so difficult to make applesauce from scratch.  It's really a fairly quick and easy process. 

Have you ever conquered a recipe that you thought would be difficult but ended up being easy as pie?  Or in this case...applesauce!

Cleveland's Newest Food Truck - Traveling Treats

When I was a kid, I lived in a city that outlawed ice cream trucks, so I missed out on childhood exuberance caused by hearing the clanging of an ice cream truck's bell or its olde time music. ("do your ears hang low" is my personal favorite)

But I think I've found the adult equivalent of an ice cream truck - the Cakes Plus Traveling Treat van!

As an east sider - I'd never heard of Cakes Plus, but Diana Dumitru has been making her tasty treats since 1999.  (if not longer, since she had a shop in the old arcade before that)  You might also know her from Ultimate Brownies fame. (Yes, those Ultimate Brownies.  The ones that are to die for!)

Let's get down to the nitty gritty, though.  How does this traveling treats concept work?  Similar to Dim and Den Sum - Cleveland's only other food truck - Cakes Plus has a facebook page that shows upcoming stops, so you can figure out where to go to get some of Cakes Plus' delicious goodies.

Yesterday I located the Traveling Treats-mobile in Mayfield Village.  I literally felt like a kid in a candy store.  There were SO many amazing sounding desserts on the menu - everything from Ultimate Brownies - including vegan Ultimate Brownies - to cupcakes (yes, there were vegan cupcakes, too!) to cheesecake.  I could have ordered one of everything on the menu, but I stuck to a vegan brownie and a carrot cake cupcake.  A lunch of champions, right?

  

So how were my goodies?  Let me just say, the next time the Traveling Treats van comes to my neighborhood, I'm going to need a shopping bag when I make my purchases.  The vegan brownie was one of THE best brownies I've ever eaten - hands down.  And that's counting all the non-vegan brownies I've had in my lifetime. And the carrot cake cupcake...amazingly moist and delicious.  The frosting wasn't too sugary or crunchy or any of the other things I tend to not like about cupcakes.  I could have eaten a dozen.

Clevelanders - I encourage you to check out Cakes Plus' facebook page to find out when this treat-mobile is coming to a neighborhood near you. (or if you're so inclined, you can order some Ultimate Brownies and have them shipped to you! or you can even contact Diana to have a cake or other baked good made for a special occasion)  It's ok to indulge in some gluttony if you're supporting a local business, right?

Fall Flashbacks - My Favorite Vegan Fall Recipes

Have you ever made a recipe that you that was so fantastic that you just wanted to make it again and again and again?  During last year's Vegan MoFo, I discovered a couple "keeper" recipes that I just can't live without, and I thought I'd share them again this year.  (I mean, if tv shows can have reruns, why can't my blog?)


(in no particular order, although the roasted squash is my absolute fave!)


1. Butternut Squash Pasta Bake - Think vegan macaroni and cheese, if cheese were replaced with squash and lite coconut milk.
2. Vegan Roasted Squash - Always a crowd pleaser!  Has a nice unexpected kick!
3. Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillow Cookies - I'm from Ohio, the land of chocolate and peanut butter.  What's not to like about that combo?
4. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - Maybe the most popular food item I've ever made.  No matter how many batches of these suckers I whip up, they're always gone before I know it.  Great for fall parties.
5. Vegan Pumpkin Pie - Just like mom used to make.  Well...not unless your mom's a vegan, but still pretty darn good.

And a bonus recipe (although not vegan but probably could be veganized with a few tweaks- sorry folks) - Pumpkin Pie Martini. 

What are your favorite fall recipes?

Vegan MoFo 2010

It's November!  And do you know what that means?  It's vegan month of food!  Also known as Vegan MoFo!  Hooray!
 
The goal of Vegan MoFo is to increase awareness of veganism and to encourage bloggers around the world to share their knowledge of all things vegan throughout the month of November.  Kind of neat, huh?  I've taken the pledge to blog about veganism this month and hope to share some interesting recipes and useful information. 

Note that I am not a vegan, but I do respect the lifestyle.  I challenge myself to cook vegan food quite often and share its deliciousness with others in my life.  I. myself, was skeptical about vegan cooking and baking for a long time, but once I tried it, I discovered how much I liked it!

Here's to a month of adventures in vegan blogging!