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Baby Bok Choy with Ume Plum Vinegar and Gomasio
April 24th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
The week has gone by so fast has it not?? I am happy to have the weekend and I am sure there are some that feel the same way! Ryan and I have stayed busy preparing for the upcoming Tulip Time festivities in Holland. We are beginning to have more days driving to Holland and rehearsing our musical numbers with our small groups and our whole ensemble. What are we performing?
Well, Holland Chorale usually puts on a show for Tulip Time that is completely different stylistically and musically. It focuses more on Broadway and show tunes to 60’s and popular tunes. Another different thing is all the choreography. It is very organized and people get really gung hoe about it, but the downside of this is not being in the comfort of your own home. No offense to all the folks to allow is to stay in their homes but there is something about preparing your own foods and waking up in your own bed and not hurrying to some rehearsal. YES, I know. It is all a part of being a musician and I love it, but sometimes it gets to you. We are coming to the point where the end of the season is at its closing point so summer will be here to give us a break.
Spring has been here to add to the cheery mood! I enjoyed taking pictures of beautiful tulips. Which one is your favorite?
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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 |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Sigh….Spring is beautiful is it not? My grandmother and sister are flying in in a few weeks to see these beautiful flowers and Festival. I am so excited! It is nice when friends and family come in for a visit. I try to convince people to come and visit this beautiful state! It is gorgeous during this time and even in the summer!
So enough of the weather, how about some food? I am up late blogging to prevent my going to sleep on a semi-full tummy of yummy goodies. We had a wine and cheese fundraising event tonight where I happened to be singing. It was funny how people approached me and said how sorry they felt that I could not eat the cheese at this event. I was not sorry, since I know what happens to me when I had cheese….ha ha ha. I did enjoy, though, the lovely wines that were offered from local wineries. I think I settles on a blended white wine that was delicious. I usually like to stick to blended reds more than whites but this was lovely. I am sorry I do not have pictures, but the set up was nice. I had some wine but not much since I had to sing, even though it was one number.
I sang “If I Love You” from Carousel. I think I was very warmed because 1.) I had a voice lesson earlier and 2.)the wine helped a bit (wink wink). After I sang my piece I tasted some more wines but not to much since I hardly had had anything to eat except my tofu scramble from the morning, and apple and a LARA bar. NOT good, I know. Needless to say, we did go out to dinner after the fundraiser to a nice Italian restaurant we had YET to try called Pereddie’s. What a funny name, eh?
They make all their food from scratch, from their pasta down to their pizza. I ordered a portabella mushroom with a Greek dinner salad without any feta. Their salad was huge and VERY delicious. It had capers, 2 kinds of olives, artichokes, pickled peppers, pepperocini peppers and lots of lettuce. I barely ate half my salad but scarfed the mushroom. I am starting to have more fun ordering from menus at restaurants.
On another note, this week I tried a new way of eating bok choy. While meandering through my favorite Asian market, I decided to buy 2 pounds of their baby bokchoy. I started to brainstorm on the different ways I could use these little babys but I had one recipe in mind. The Kind Life suggested a nice recipe using Ume Plum vinegar with Gomasio, which is toasted black sesame seeds, then grounded in sea salt.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
This is such a EASY recipe and can go with any dish you make. Eden Foods makes the Ume Plum vinegar using umeboshi plums and pickling them with sea salt and shiso(beefsteak)leaves.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
It is a salty vinegar so you can use it in dressings or sprinkle it over steamed veggies, like I did in this recipe.
Ryan tasted this vegetable for the first time and really enjoyed this recipe. He told me he thought it was VERY gourmet for such a simple recipe. You too can make it in your own home. You can use baby bok choy, medium bokchoy or chop some regular sized bok choy and enjoy the recipe the same way. I think I am going to stick to the baby bok choy since they are SO cute! Enjoy this quick recipe!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Baby Bok Choy with Ume Plum Vinegar and Gomasio
serves 2
8 to 10 baby bok choy, washed
2 tsp Ume Plum Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Gomasio
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil (or sesame oil)(optional)Wash your baby bok choy and set aside. Add water to a medium pot and place in a steamer basket in the pot. Boil the water until steaming.
Add bok choy to steamer and steam for 3 to 5 minutes or before getting too limp. remove bok choy with tongs and place on a plate. Drizzle the vinegar, and olive oil and sprinkle with the gomasio*How to make Gomasio
makes 1/4 cup
4 Tbsp black sesame seeds
1 Tbsp sea salt
Toast salt in a cast iron skillet or non-stick on medium heat until the salt turns a little light brown color. Remove from heat and add to a mortal. Grind salt to a powder.
Toast seeds in a dry skillet until they just begin to color. Use medium-low heat and shake the skillet often. Watch toasting closely. Remove from heat after 5 to 7 minutes and pound fine with a mortar and pestle. When crushed, add salt and pound again.
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BBQ Tempeh Tacos, Red Kale Salad with Sweet Mustard Dressing and Weightloss progress
April 21st, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
What a beautiful Tuesday! How was everyones day and was it sunny like it was here? Sigh…It is wonderful to see how some days are perfect spring days and others are like summery days. Even the tulips have already started blooming and people are fearing that they will not be in perfect bloom for Tulip Time next month. Yikes! We can’t have that happen since I have family coming to visit us next month. I am leaving it in God’s hands for sure!
I mentioned to some people that I started journaling everything I eat in addition to counting calories. Last week I mentioned that I have learned that one can still gain weight while following a vegan lifestyle, go figure, so upon my husband’s suggestion we both started counting calories and journaling what we ate.
I started last Monday and today I clocked in at losing 10 pounds in 8 days. How did I do it? I calculated my daily calorie intake for my height and current weight and then focused on eating more whole foods and fruits and vegetables. I also worked out a bunch and pretty hit a calorie deficit that allowed me to feel energetic. In addition to this I fasted for 2 days with herbal detox teas and water to boost my metabolism. How could I do this?
I have not gone through a detox in years and I was only given the strength through God’s grace to do it especially the weekend of the bake sale. It actually was not a huge issue. After 2 days, I was convincing myself to try doing it for 5 more days but decided against it until another weekend. Before these 8 days, I had never counted calories, but I realized that I had been missing out all these years. It has also helped with portion control! Yes, portion control. These two upcoming dishes are two lunches I enjoyed this past week.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
BBQ Tempeh Tacos
makes 4 tacos (400 calories total)
4 tortillas
4 ounces tempeh, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp BBQ sauce
1/2 cup spinach leaves
1/2 cup daikon, julienned
Heat olive oil in non-stick pan. Add tempeh, onions, and garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add BBQ sauce and cook for 5 more minutes.
Warm tortillas and divide tempeh mixture between them. Top them with spinach and daikon. Enjoy!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Red Kale Salad with Sweet Mustard Dressing
adapted from The Blissful Chef
435 calories for 2 servings
serves 2
2 cups kale, washed and chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/2 avocado, cubed
1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
2 Tbsp onions, diced
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
Sweet Mustard Miso Dressing
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp miso
1 Tbsp stoneground mustard
1 Tbsp brown rice syrup
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp filtered water
Black pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
In a medium bowl, add chopped red kale, cucumbers, avocado, tomatoes, onions, and sunflower seeds.
For dressing:
In a small bowl, add all ingredients and blend well. Add half the dressing to the salad, or more for a creamier salad.
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Two ways to enjoy Pad Thai
April 20th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Two posts ago I talked about a great way to limit carbs from your diet, but this post is totally not about NOT having carbs. I really enjoy eating rice noodles and along with that I like adding LOTS of veggies to 1 to 2 cups of cooked noodles. It looks like tons of food but in reality you are eating a greater proportion of vegetables to noodles.
Before going vegan, I really like going to different Thai restaurants in order to find the best Pad Thai. Well, unfortunately, this dish contains fish sauce and is NOT vegan. Luckily since buying Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, I have been able to enjoy Pad Thai in my own home. Everytime I would go to restaurants I would order the dish with tofu and tons of veggies. Somehow, tons of veggies never came out just right.
This is why I decided to work on two different versions of Pad Thai.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Tofu Pad Thai with Snow Peas and Broccoli
serves 4
1 13-ounce extra firm Mori-Nu Tofu, pressed
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup mirin
3 Tbsp ketchup
3 Tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
1-1/2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp Thai chili sauce (I used Sriracha)
1-1/2 cups snow peas
2 cups broccoli florets
1-1/2 cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp crushed peanuts
2 1/2 cups cooked rice noodles
Soak noodles in warm water for 20-30 minutes. Cube pressed tofu in 1 inch pieces.
Heat a non-stick pan with 1 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil on medium heat. Add tofu and fry for 20 minutes.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
In a medium wok, add remainging sesame oil. Saute’ snow peas, mushrooms, and broccoli for 10 minutes. Drain noodles and add to the wok. Continue cooking for 5 minutes.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
In a small bowl, mix sauce ingredients: agave nectar, mirin, ketchup, tamari (or soy sauce), lime juice, Thai chili sauce. Add the sauce to the noodles and veggies. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes on medium heat, until the noodles and sauce start to to absorb.
Serve immediately and add peanuts on top.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Pad Thai with crumbled Tofu
serves 2
6.5 ounce soft tofu, crumbled
2 Tbsp sesame oil
4 asparagus stalks, diced
4 small carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 cup baby bella mushrooms,sliced
1/2 cup Thai basil, chopped,
2 Tbsp peanuts
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup mirin
3 Tbsp ketchup
3 Tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
1-1/2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp Thai chili sauce (I used Sriracha)
Heat oil in wok over medium heat. Crumble soft tofu and add to hot wok. Fry as if an egg. Mix sauce ingredients: agave nectar, mirin, ketchup, tamari (or soy sauce), lime juice, Thai chili sauce in a small bowl. Add to tofu.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Add vegetables and cook for 10 minutes. Add noodles and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until noodles ahve absorbed some sauce. Add Thai basil and serve with crushed peanuts.
Enjoy this delicious meal options during your week!
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1st Annual Food Blogger Bake Sale
April 19th, 2010
This weekend I was involved with a bake sale to raise funds to end childhood hunger. The Food Bloggers Bake Sale was a part of the Great American Bake Sale, an event put on every year by Share Our Strength to raise money to support their efforts. So on Saturday, April 17th, bakes from all over the US prepared wonderful goodies to raise money for a wonderful cause. It felt great knowing that many people were doing the same thing on the same day as we were.
Megan @ What Megan’s Making, organized the whole event, from locating a place to hold our bake sale, to calling places to donate items for the event. She happened to share with me that she had never organized such an event before but I encouraged her since things went so smoothly. Originally we were going to have the bake sale outside th Kava Coffee Shop, but it turned out to be very chilly despite some sunshine. The owner was kind enough to let us move the table inside and continue our sale.
Our bake sale started at 10am and ended at 2pm. We were glad to know that it was the coffee shop’s busier Saturdays they had had in a while because of our sale. We had generous donations from customers especially when they could see the table of goodies we had.
Megan had family help her out making some goodies, like monster sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles and she made many more treats that made for a great spread! She made Chocolate Globs, Monster Cookies, Cinnamon Roll Cookies, and Oatmeal Brown Bread.
3/4 cup sugar
5 Tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 banana, mashed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup SO Delicious coconut milk
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl, mix well. Add banana, stirring well to combine. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup and level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with 1/2 cup coconut milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.
Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups or 24 mini cupcake cups (opt: lined with paper liners). Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes spring back easily when touched lightly in the center. Allow to cool, and frost if desired.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
my creation
1/3 cup Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp Coconut Milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an immersion blender, blend the ingredients until there are no clumps. Frost cooled cupcakes.
Nearly 1 in 4 children in America struggle with hunger, and Share Our Strength is fighting to change that. Please consider donating to Share Our Strength to help end hunger. Visit http://gabs.strength.org/.
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Guiltless “Pasta” with Sausage Marinara
April 16th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Working out sure does burn a lot of calories and knowing what to eat after a workout is so important, from what I am reading. It always seems to be a challenge to not give in to my thoughts when my cravings come along. As I go by my pantry, around dinner time, I hear pasta calling out my name frequently. “Hello! I feel lonely in here as you do. Indulge!” Ha ha ha. I know. There is nothing wrong with indulging some days of the week. I am talking about having it ALL the time. This is what has been calling me this week.
In order to satisfy my carb craving this week, I made a delicious alternative to satiate the pasta craving. I had heard of the alternative from many people but I was dubious. WHat are these alternatives? Well there is always spaghetti squash and then there is zucchini. HOW can zucchini become a pasta alternative. SAY WHAT? I know. My husband dislikes squash and prefers not to eat it or touch it. Yet again a texture issue, but I respect it.
A while back I explained how a mandoline was simply useless to me when trying to julienne vegetables. On the other hand, I was able to find a dandy tool for only 3 bucks at Marshalls! Woohoo. My favorite store too. Even if you find it a little more expensive, invest in it! I use it everyday and it is so handy.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I grated 2 zucchini for 2 cups worth of “noodles”and also shredded about 1/2 cup of daikon radish. You probably have seen me post several recipes using daikon, but daikon is like jicama, but with a spicier bite to it. It is a detoxifier, a great dgiestive and super healthy containing Vitamin C.
Let me tell you, if the Asian food stores if FULLY stocked with something, they know something that we American consumers do not. Believe me. Alicia Silverstone incorporates daikon in her recipes, including a weightloss remedy! Beware though, it is a VERY smelly veggie. Ryan cringes every time I use it because if it is cooked it smells bad, but not so much if you eat it raw. Raw is the best way.
I combined the daikon and the zucchini shreds and massaged them in 1 Tbsp olive oil and added a bit of umeboshi vinegar to salt the veggies. I then quickly cooked so Field Roast Apple Sage Sausage that is completely vegan and added some marinara and some kalamata olived. DELICIOUS PEOPLE. This dish is simple, quick, filling and only 377 calories. Please try this recipe and try to cut back on your carbs!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Guiltless “Pasta” with Sausage Marinara
serves 1
2 zucchini (1 large and 1 small), shredd in a spiralizer
1/2 cup daikon, shredded
2 tsp umeboshi vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp Italian seasonings (or 1 Tbsp fresh basil)
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced
3/4 cup Newmans Own Sockarooni sauce
1 Field Roast sausage link, sliced
Shred your veggies and place in small bowl. Add vinegar and oil and massage for 3 minutes. Add seasonings and let sit for 5 minutes.
Mix in kalamata olives and toss.
Heat 1/2 Tbsp olive oil in skillet and heat the sausage for 5 to 7 minutes (This sausage does not need to be overcooked, just heated). Add marinara and toss with sausage. Add sausage sauce over veggie noodles. Enjoy!!
