Posts by admin:
- 3 ripe on the vine tomatoes, cored
- 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes
- 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 of an English cucumber, peeled and seeded
- 4 Tbsp Panko bread crumbs
- 1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 slices rye bread
- 1/2 cup Daiya cheddar crumbles
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Place all ingredients in a blender or Vitamix and blend well until smooth for about 3 minutes.
- Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
- Garnish with organic crunchy onions and chopped parsley (or dried).
- Prepare "cheese" toasts.
- Postition oven rack to second to highest rack from the top. Turn oven to broil.
- On baking sheet , lay out bread and split "cheese" between both slices.
- Sprinkle parsley and salt and place in oven rack.
- Broil until slightly browned and cheese is broiled. Slice in half once toast is somewhat cool.
- Island Brazil Nut Almond
- Tribal Cinnamon Oatmeal
- Volcanic Chocolate Banana
- Tropical Sesame Cranberry
- Wild Pomegranate Pecan
- Native Acai Walnut
- Tiki Blueberry Flax
- Pacific Mango Macadamia
Spanish Gazpacho Soup with Vegan “Cheese” Toast
May 28th, 2010Gazpacho is traditionally enjoyed in Spain in the region of Andalucia. It is primarily consumed cold and is a tomato-based raw vegetable soup.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Today is Day 4 working out twice a day and I am a lovin’ it! I took a break yesterday from going to Zumba and instead volunteered to mow the lawn. We live in a duplex and our neighbors have decided that they would hire someone to mow our huge front and back lawn when it is their turn. Well, the guy they hired is doing a horrible job, the kind where they only mow, 1/2 inch short so that they can be back in 5 days. BOO! Well, there was one rain shower and it was back to being LONG again. Anyway, I decided to give Ryan a break and try my hand at it. I have a friend in New Mexico who LOVES mowing the lawn but I somehow could not believe why.
Several years back, about 6 years I think, I attempted to mow my mom’s yard on a SAturday morning. I got through only half the back and I was about to pass out from the heat. Texas is known for their humidity and extreme heat, but still, it did not take long before I got dehydrated and all. My mom said I should not do THAT anymore.
Come now the future and I decided to risk it. I was going to wear my water pack on my back but decided I would look like too much of a dork since I was not cycling, so I filled a water bottle to keep handy. I start using the jack-up mower that Ryan has and 20 minutes into mowing the back yard, the mower DIES. Boo. Ryan is no where around and I am looking like a foo’ with half-mowed lawn. I venture to neighbor’s homes down the block and I find someone out their home and they gladly allow me to borrow their mower so I can finish my lawn. I offered to pay, but they just told me to fill it up with gas upon return.
It was an HOUR long before I was done and I can’t begin to tell you how soaking wet I was. Michigan has a humidity of its own, but it is not Texas. Thank GOD! I waited and downed my water and prayed that a headache from heat exhaustion would not come upon me. I was proud of myself for surviving my first successful lawn mowing and I thank God!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Question of the day.
Do you listen to your body when it craves something specifically healthy?
I have been craving raw food lately and in the form of tomatoes and soup. Something cool to refresh from the lack of A/C in my home. Ha! A/C unit hopefully to be installed this weekend BTW. Anyway, I have had 3 very ripe on the vine tomatoes staring at me and I knew I had to take a chance at making a cold tomato soup, otherwise known as gazpacho.
I grew up having my very American grandmother prepare this, but not in the way that many recipes explained. I could either taste too much green pepper or too much onion and it was hard to swallow. My preference was never to eat it whether it was my grandma’s recipe or my own, but I broke down. My body shouted for something refreshing and therefore I heeded.
I researched traditional recipes online and in my cookbooks and I finally came to terms with my own version that proved to be SCRUMPTIOUS. Ryan even had 2nd helpings! Yay! He thought the flavor was almost sweet to the taste but perfectly spicy as it went down his throat. Hey, I liked the sound of that! I used red onion to have more sweetness instead of a strong onion flavor. I also used orange bell pepper because green pepper tends to give me indigestion. I really enjoyed that substitution
I decided to make melted “cheese” toast on the side to accompany along with a spinach salad that I will share tomorrow. Daiya vegan cheddar crumbles came to the rescue and made for a delicious melted toast that completed a great summer dinner.
I hope you try this recipe, because not only was it quick, it is also VERY healthy! 🙂
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Ingredients
Instructions
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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Supreme Vegan Pizza
May 25th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
What a hot day folks! Did you melt? It felt like 95 here in Michigan. My poor husband was having a hard time with the fact we do not have central air in our duplex. We dealt with it pretty hard last summer but we have some nice friends who are lending us their A/C to out in our bedroom. HOw about that??
We woke up this morning after having slept withall 4 windows open. We had a comfortable night’s rest so I can’t complain. I decided to try something new today when it came to my exercise routine.
Ryan and I have been consistent playing racquetball in the evenings after I am done with work, but this girl needs variety you know? So I told Ryan this last night that I wanted to play rball in the morning so I could go to zumba in the evening. My fear is that I would still be too tired by the end of the evening or really just pushing it. What are my feelings this evening? I felt great! Workout in the morning proved energizing during the day which gave me strength to sweat like nothing else in this zumba workout. I have some girlfriends that are even wanting to go with me some time so I hope that works out too!
This past Friday we had friends of ours come over for pizza. I have been wanting for Ryan to cook so her= knew he had a great opportunity to make his FAMOUS deep dish pizza. Since I went vegan, he has not made it because it is way to much for one person, obviously, so now it has become “company” pizza. Why not have a great excuse to make pizza?
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Ryan has been keeping a spreadsheet of all the ingredients he uses and makes notes when he tweaks the recipe. He even orders special sauce from California that does not contain citric acid. He is all about a perfect pizza. I think Ryan is the greatest. He is so methodical EVEN if he IS the messiest in the kitchen! Ha! Here was his finished product:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
What was I going to prepare for myself? Last time he made this pizza, I made some pasta with marinara for myself, but I was not convinced I could let that happen again. Since I had Daiya vegan cheese and Upton’s Naturals Italian Sausage Seitan, I knew I had to try my hand at making a great vegan pizza. This stuff was delicious!! It was so close to the real stuff and even Ryan was intrigued by this substitute.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I used an already prepared vegan whole wheat crust from Trader Joes with marinara, mushrooms, basil, sausage, and Daiya with parsley added after the pizza was cooked.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
It was probably the closest REAL pizza I had had in a while. I hope you are able to enjoy this recipe as much as I did! Remember to use a pizza stone if you have it!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Supreme Vegan Pizza
makes a 12′ pizza (8 slices)
1 whole wheat crust recipe or Trader Joes prepared dough
3/4 cup marinara or pizza sauce
3/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2/3 cup Upton’s Naturals Italian Sausage-Style Seitan, crumbled
1 cup Daiya vegan mozzarella crumbles
1/8 cup coarse cornmeal
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place pizza stone in oven to heat.
Meanwhile, prepare dough recipe for recipe before starting on pizza and heating oven, but if using a prepared dough, sprinkle a little flour and coat the dough and flatten to make a disc. Sprinkel some cornmeal on clean surface and roll out dough to 12′ diameter.
Place flattened dough on pizza peel. Add marinara first then sprinkle fresh basil and mushrooms evenly on pizza.
Sprinkle the Italian Sausage-style seitan over pizza and cover with Daiya cheese.
Sprinkle cornmeal over hot pizza stone and slide pizza on pizza stone.
Cook for 15 minutes on middle rack. Remove from oven and raise rack to the top. Raise temp to 375 degrees and cook until crust is browned and vegan cheesefully melted and a little browned. (aprox. 10-15 more minutes)
Remove from oven and sprinkle with parsley and enjoy while hot with a glass of wine.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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Peanut Butter Granola Bars and Bora Bora
May 23rd, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I have been in the mood for granola lately. I know it is thought to be an easy way to ingest calories and fat but when one has the luxury of making it at home, then you are able to see what all can go in the recipe.
Ryan had been enjoying the granola bars I had purchasged from Angela at Oh She Glows while we were in Toronto in March. Then I received a nice box of granola bars from Bora Bora Organic Foods back in February. Can you believe that we JUST finished them? Ryan actually liked them and was very specific to the ones he enjoyed. Here are the flavors I received:
Their bars are gluten-free and are all certified organic. I would say they are all vegan but only 2 of the flavors are not vegan. Exotic Coconut Almond and Paradise Walnut Pistachio. While these two bars are certified organic, they’re sweetened with organic honey, instead of vegan agave nectar.
If you are one that does not have time to bake THAT often, these granola bars are very tasty. I saw them at Whole Foods last week so I know they are being stocked there in addition to Kroger, Safeway, The Vitamin Shopped, CVS, and Meijer. That is a lot of stores!
Despite these delicious bars, I decided that it was time to try my hand at making my own granola bars. YES! Ryan had been asking me for some and then I had a friend ask me if I had a recipe.Well, that convinced me to create one PRONTO.
Even though I had a list of ingredients from various granola bars I had had in the past, I wanted to make my unique or at least healthy with fun ingredients. Where I saw that I could agave nectar, I decided to use brown rice syrup. I had read that when use in baking that it would harden when cooled. This was ideal for me since I had only a little over a 1/2 cup of it left. Yikes! I thought I had more but I thought it would work.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
What were the next ingredients going to be? How about something creamy and something fruity? The dried cherries have been on sale lately so I knew I had plenty of that on hand. I keep my raw nuts in the freezer so they won’t go stale. I found raw pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds and then also decided to add hemp seeds to the mixture. How about some Trader Joe’s peanut butter with flaxseeds?
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
How about some oats? Rolled oats joined puffed brown rice and puffed millet for a crunch and for the mixture to come together. It started looking really good!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I then combined the wet ingredients and mixed the dry ingredients with the wet. I made to mix together until everything seemed evenly distributed. I then patted the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I baked it for 15 minutes and then let it cool for10 minutes before cutting. They came out really well!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Peanut Butter Granola Bars
makes 18 bars plus 1 1/2 cups granola
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup puffed brown rice cereal
3/4 cup puffed millet cereal
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 cup dried sweet cherries
3/4 cup brown rice syrup
3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line a medium baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray with coconut non-stick spray.
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients like the oats, millet, brown rice, nuts and seeds, and cherries.
In a small bowl add the peanut butter and the brown rice syrup. Place in microwave for 30 seconds.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well until evenly distributed. Reserve 1 1/2 cups on the side.
Use the rest of the mixed ingredients and place on baking sheet. Pat until evenly distributed.
Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes. Using a knife, cut into 4×2 inche bars.
Cool completely and then wrap individually in seran wrap or store in a plastic container.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Peanut Butter Granola
makes 1 1/2 cups
Spread the rest of the mixture and loosely spread on baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes and remove from oven and cool.
Store in airtight container.
Enjoy!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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Dirty Cuban Portabella Caps
May 21st, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Happy Friday everyone! I am so glad it is the weekend. If you get a chance, visit Made in Kitchen’s Blog to read my interview with them about my blog. I had so much fun answering VERY specific questions. Make sure to visit and make a comment!
Intriguing title eh? I had a hard time trying to come up for a title for this new dish I came up with last night. I grew up learning about ROPA VIEJA which means OLD CLOTHING.
Great name for a dish right? Growing up my mom would make different versions of this dish which consisted of leftover pot roast or meat that could be shredded that was then mixed in with leftovers. This included rice, beans ,veggies, a scrambled egg, you name it.
Yesterday morning I looked at my husband and said, “This is going to be a meatless meal tonight.” He promptly asked what we were having for dinner. Ummmm, did I know yet early in the morning? No. But as I worked, I started thinking about different ideas.
I looked in my fridge and noticed I had some leftover yellow rice and I had some large portabella caps staring at me. I decided it was going to be a dinner all about fusion of flavors al la cubana.
After we played an hour of insane racquetball, (I should be losing pounds, but not, just inches) Ryan claimed he was HUNGRY. After a full day of work and a hard workout I really did not feel like making a huge meal or even a complicated one but I still wanted to make something different.
What was the end result: Dirty Cuban Portabella Caps. It is a black beans and rice mixture with spices to add a hot factor. That is then stuffed or placed on top of large portabella caps that have been lightly doused in salt, pepper, and olive oil.
This is then cooked for 15 minutes on 425F. While that is cooking, I made a grape tomato-avocado salsa and a shredded lettuce and cucumber salad to accompany the caps. SO delicious and so quick.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Protein and carbs making a complete meal with the essential veggies on the side. Hope you like it as much as I did!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Dirty Cuban Portabella Caps
makes 4 caps
1 cup leftover rice
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1/3 cup pimentos
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp jalapeno, diced
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
4 large portabella mushroom caps, washed and patted dry
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium skillet, heat olive over medium heat.
Add beans and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice and the rest of the ingredients and cook for 5-10 minutes.
Take each portabella cap and rub in 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil sprinkle a little salt and pepper.
Divide the rice mixture between the 4 caps.
Cook for 15 minutes. Prepare salsa and salad in the meantime.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Avocado and Grape Tomato Salsa
makes 2 cups
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, slice in half
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion, diced finely
3 Tbsp tomatillo salsa
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
Prepare all the vegetables and place in a medium bowl. Mix well and serve on the side.
Shredded Greens and Cucumber Salad
1 cup romaine, thinly chopped
1 cup spinach, thinly chopped
1/2 cup diced cucumbers
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Place lettuce in a medium bowl. Massage lettuce with olive oil. Add lime juice and spices. Serve and enjoy.
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Lasagna in a Bowl (Lasagna Soup)
May 20th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Sounds a bit like burrito in a bowl from Chipotle right? Not quite the same dish though.
I took a bit of a break from zumba yesterday but I stilled worked out. Do you know you can still burn calories by running errands and cleaning house?? Yes indeed! I felt like I had a low intense workout but it was good. Loading groceries in and out of your car is definitely a workout!
I totally did not feel inspired cleaning house or folding laundry but I did it. You know what inspires me? Listening to techno or dance music. Crazy I know but it gets me going and keeps me going. I worked like a fiend!
What is your inspires YOU to clean house?
At the beginning fo this week I made a simple meal for bof of us at home. One of my favorite cuisines to cook is Italian. I could make pasta all the time, but yet again when I choose to make it during the week, I try to make a healthy version. I made a lasagna soup for the first time. I had leftover noodles from the previous week so I knew I had to use it in an innovative way.
While perusing Whole Foods on Sunday, I met a gentleman who was promoting a new product to me called Upton’s Naturals, even though it has been out since 2006. For a vegan, I am always on the lookout for any sources of protein. If I am not eating meat I am getting my protein through veggies and beans but sometimes I prefer tofu.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Upton’s Natural’s makes seitan products made from vital wheat gluten. The owner was actually cooking some and let me sample their “ground beef seitan that was SO good. Ryan also tried it and thought it was pretty delicious. I quickly picked up two different packages to take home.
What to make with my new product? In comes the Lasagna in a Bowl. I cooked the ground beef version like I would do regular ground beef and it surprisingly looked very much like it.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
This is a quick soup that can be made any busy night of the week. If you are NOT vegan, substitute with regular meat and top with mozzarella cheese. I used a GREAT vegan substitute called Daiya cheese.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
*Lasagna in a Bowl (Lasagna Soup)*
serve 4
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1 cup *Upton’s Naturals* ground beef-style seitan, crumbled
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup carrots, diced
1 cup spinach, chopped (optional)
2 cups diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 bouillon cube
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasonings
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
1 1/4 cups lasagna noodles, cut in 1/2 inch strips in width
1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella crumbles (or regular mozzarella)
Fry seitan (or ground beef) in 1 Tbsp olive oil along with onions and garlic for 7 minutes.
Add carrots and cook for 5 more minutes. Add water, tomatoes, tomato sauce, bouillon cube, and seasonings and bring to a light boil for 10-15 minutes.
The soup should get a little thick. Add the noodles and spinach (if desired) and simmer on medium low heat for another 10-15 minutes.
Serve while hot and top with cheese. Enjoy with a green salad!
