Posts by admin:
- Kale
- Frozen mixed berries
- Frozen banana
- Chocolate almond milk
- vegan Peaceful Planet Rice protein cocoa-flavored powder
- water
- flaxseed meal
- Black beans
- Whole grain rice
- 1/2 avocado
- red onions
- salsa
- Whole wheat tortilla
Zucchini-Portabella Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
February 23rd, 2010|
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
We had a great Sunday at church this past week after a beautiful sunny weekend. I had signed up for nursery help so I took care of a little boy while his mom taught Sunday School. I always see it is as a challenge when a mother drops her child off and the child just starts crying bloody murder. How long will it take him to stop crying? Will I start crying with him? Ha ha ha, well I do not have children of my own yet, but I think I will continue asking myself these questions WHEN I have kids. Anyway, I coerced the little guy to build a railroad with Lego’s and that was the end of the crying: 5 minutes! Not too bad I’d say. 🙂
After nursery and service, Ryan and I headed home and placed an apron over my Sunday clothes and started the meal. I usually feel like Sundays call for leftovers so I do not have to slave in the kitchen, but I have been taking every opportunity to whip up something quick and healthy. My refrigerator has been looking pretty bare but I was not going to let that scare me. Before I left for church, I took out a red mole sauce I made back in November. Yes, I did say November, but it was perfectly fine after it had defrosted. Believe me! Delicious!
I took some Baby Bella mushrooms and zucchini and diced them a 1/2 inch thick and added them to some sauteed onions and garlic. Since the sauce was already semi-spicy and full of flavor I left the veggies alone. NO regrets after taking a bite because the sauce is savory on its own.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I know that most restaurants serve their enchiladas with flour tortillas but if you want an authentic dish you must use corn tortillas. Corn tortillas are healthier, tastier, and more digestible. I accompanied the enchiladas with a green salad with avocado and lime vinaigrette, which soothed the tongue after taking several bites of this dish. Even though Ryan prefers beef with his enchiladas, he enjoyed them and thanked me for a lovely lunch.
After I picked up around the house, we took a Sunday nap, which meant I did not sleep a wink! I had too much energy so concentrated on doing things around the house before we had to get ready to head out for Ryan’s concert for the First Sunday of Lent. MSU chorale performed Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass at a beautiful cathedral in Downtown Lansing. Every time we drive into Lansing it seems like we are in a complete different city, far away from ours. It just happens that we hardly ever have anything to do in that part of the city so it is nice to find a nice venue for a great concert.
After the concert, several of the chorale members went out to The Tap Room that is owned by Dusty’s Cellar. Anyone remember this name? Yes. I wrote a review describing how the restaurant had only ONE vegetarian option. Well, we happened to go to the pub that this company owns and we had a great dinner!
They had a Garden burger option, so I ordered that with sauteed mushrooms and onions along with some of their yummy fries. I split the fries with a girlfriend and she split her salad with me. Besides it being way too much food, the meal redeemed my bad experience at their finer restaurant. I also tried a beer sampler on tap consisting of 3-8oz beer of my choice. I am not a beer drinker, but since moving to Michigan Ryan and I find that there are many microbreweries around so why not support our local businesses? 🙂 Great excuse!
SO this ends our great weekend. Enjoy this delicious enchilada recipe!
Zucchini-Portabella Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
makes 10 enchiladas (for 2 people)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 zucchini, diced in 1/2 inch cubes
4 baby portabella mushrooms, diced
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups red mole sauce (see recipe)
10 corn tortillas
Pepitas (Pumpkin seeds) or Sunflower seeds
Warm sauce over medium low heat.
Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic and fry for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and zucchini and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
You do not want to overcook these vegetables, so that you will not have a mushy filling.
Warm tortillas in microwave for 40 seconds.
Add one Teaspoon of sauce in one tortilla and 1 1/2 Tablespoon of the veggie filling. Roll the tortilla together and place on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas and filling.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sauce over the 4 to 5 enchiladas and sprinkle with pepitas or sunflowers seeds.
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Mini Chocolate-Mint Frosted Cakes
February 22nd, 2010|
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
This is my 100th post y’all! How exciting that I have been able to get this far! I have never been much of a writer,but blogging has been very therapeutic!
We had a super fun and busy weekend, but at the same time very restful and relaxing. How can those be placed together? Well, for one, we were not traveling and two, we had a Saturday to ourselves. It started with Friday. I knew Ryan had a rehearsal for a Sunday performance, so I after a yummy Mediterranean meal (recipe to posted later), I decided to pick up around the house and make a quick dessert. We had talked about going to see a movie after his rehearsal, so we decided we would go to the 9:50pm showing of Shutter Island. I was skeptical about this movie since the previews made the movie out to be super scary and creepy. Ryan convinced me that it was not. Anyway, I still had time to make a dessert while he was gone.
I had heard that Friday was National Chocolate-Mint Day, so I decided to create a vegan Chocolate-Mint frosting. I am totally not a frosting type of person but I was in the mood for creating something sweet. If you look at my posts I do not have many sweets posted because I try NOT to eat too many. This was a treat and a late Valentine’s dessert. Great excuse right? I used a cake box mix that I received that has all-natural ingredients, called Naturally Nora.
I halved the cake box mix and substituted the milk, oil, and eggs for almond milk, oil, and Ener-G egg replacer. I used 4 of my mini heart-shaped cake pans and baked them away!
Meanwhile I worked on a frosting. Before going vegan 4 months ago, I would make the 7-minute frosting for everything, but since that is egg-based, I knew I needed to come up with something totally different.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I used one of the leftover NibMor vegan/raw chocolate bars I received, mixed in some peppermint extract, agave, powdered sugar, non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, and almond milk to make a quick and delicious frosting! Yet again, I constantly ask God to pull me through a creation that has never happened. I was happy with my frosting success. Once this was done I pulled out the cakes and let them cool before frosting them.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I waited 30 minutes and sat down and worked on jewelry design. I finished a nice necklace and now only need to make earrings and a bracelet. I kept on looking at the time and noticed that Ryan was running late. I feared that we were no longer going to the movie since it seemed the rehearsal ran longer than anticipated. At 9:40pm, Ryan bursts through the door and says ” Are ya ready?” First of all, he SCARED me and second of all I was NOT ready. I mean I was clothed but I need my shoes and a jacket. He proceeded to tell me he had called me several times and had even honked outside to alert me to come out. I heard none of these things! LOL. I think I was distracted by Law and Order:SVU. My phone was the piece of crap though. I am using my husband’s old phone so the calls sometimes do not come in.
Anyway, we went to the movies and waited for it to start. I always like to see what shady characters come in especially when we go to the later hour show. There were a ton of couples that arrived and we were happy to know it was not like the last time when we went to see The Book of Eli, where a whole bunch of punk kids came in and I was the only female in the theater.
Shutter Island was totally not what I expected and it had a delicious twist. I should have known that Martin Scorsese does not write horror flicks, it is so misleading that the previews made it seem otherwise. Oh well. It caters to both groups. We enjoyed the movie and the delicious chocolate cakes when we returned home! Enjoy!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Mini Chocolate-Mint Frosted Cakes
makes 4 mini cakes
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Cake
1/2 box Naturally Nora Yellow Cake Mix w/ bits of color
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer
2 Tbsp water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix Ener-G replacer with water and mix well. In a medium bowl, add cake mix, oil, milk and Ener-G together and hand mix until well blended.
Add cake mix to four greased mini cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until the center is cooked.
Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove from cake pans onto a cookie rack. Cool for another 10-15 minutes.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Frosting
makes 3/4 cup frosting
1 NibMor Original chocolate bar
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 Tbsp agave nectar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp almond milk
2 1/2 Tbsp Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening
Melt the chocolate in a skillet and remove from heat.
In a small bowl add the melted chocolate, powdered sugar, agave, and shortening and mix well. Add the almond milk and using an immersion blender, blend ingredients until smooth. Add peppermint extract and blend again.
Let icing sit for 15 minutes before spreading on mini cakes.
I added a Grand Marnier Strawberry preserves as a filling but that was the not greates mix. It tasted fine but I should have left it out. No biggie I just learn for the next time.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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Edamame Pesto Rotini with Sun-dried Tomatoes
February 18th, 2010This week has flown by like no other! I think I am happy about that, because that means Saturday will be here and I will get to relax with Ryan! We finally have ONE weekend to ourselves, one where we are not traveling, one where we can rest! I am looking forward to perhaps playing raquetball with Ryan and perhaps fitting in a nice brunch on a day that will hopefully will be super sunny. May I be hopeful and prayerful? Of course I can!
Yesterday proved to be another winner of a day. I decided to take on the next level of the Slim in 6 DVD series called Ramp It Up! Instead of 24 minutes of a strenous exercise, I decided to venture into 48 minutes. It was fantabulous! I have found out that I crave less when I have a good workout and then supplement my workout with a great protein smoothie. The fruit and vegetable of choice were:
Indeed this was by far one of my favorite combos! It sustained me until lunch time a little past noon. This protein powder is probably the first powder that has not hurt my tummy as other products. It satisfies and refreshes me after a great work out.
When lunch time came around, I knew it was burrito wednesday for me, so I decided to mix up the following ingredient together:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
The results? A delicious, filling and healthy meal that continued to fill the protein craving. I thank God for being able to use the food I have at home to make sustainable meals without spending wads of money! Who is with me?
After lunch, Ryan came home ready to take a nap to replenish the lack of sleep the previous night. I quickly planned a healthy meal since it was Wednesday and one of Ryan’s rehearsal evenings. I decided that we had not had pasta in a while so I created a recipe on a whim.
Ryan asked me how I know certain flavors will combine. I tell him I imagine the flavors on their own and imagine them being together, hoping that I was right. I love doing that! I guess that is the chemist in me. When I took organic and inorganic chemistry in college, I loved mixing chemicals in lab. It is ingrained in me and perhaps a reason I still love working in pharmaceuticals.
Thus is my inspiration for last night’s meal. Pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, and edamame called out to me and begged to be made into a meal. The results were very delicious. The edamame was pureed with olive oil until they were combined. Once this mixture was mixed into hot pasta, the consistency was ALMOST like parmesan cheese. NO kidding, because Ryan agreed with me. The only thing I did for his meal, was season a chicken breast, and cut it into cubes to be mixed in the pasta dish. This meal took me 30 minutes, y’all! Enjoy this recipe!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Edamame Pesto Rotini with Sun-dried Tomatoes
serves 4
2 1/2 cups dry rotini pasta
4 cups water
2 cups edamame, cooked
1/2 cup olive oil
6 roasted garlic cloves
10 green olives
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried basil, or 3 Tbsp fresh basil
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (not in oil)
1/2 cup green olives, sliced
olive oil for drizzling
Add 4 cups of water to medium pot and boil. Add pasta and cook al dente according to instructions on box.
In a food processor, add cooked edamame, olive oil, garlic cloves,lemon juice, salt, pepper, basil, and green olives and blend well.
Drain water from cooked pasta, add 1 1/2 cups pesto to hot pasta and mix well.
Add sliced olives and sun-dried tomatoes to mixture and serve while hot.
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Cajun cuisine: Vegan Jambalaya
February 18th, 2010|
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I usually never celebrate Mardi Gras but I was inspired to make something cajun. Actually, I had not made anything cajun since moving from Texas. I usually was invited to a friend’s house or sometimes even received some nice leftovers from another fellow cajun friend.
I owe my inspiration to one of my good friends, Brandon I met Brandon in church in a singles group and he would have parties and I would come over and he would teach me how to make a roux for gumbo and even taught me how to make jambalaya. He keeps a notebook with all his recipes and even recipes he won’t share! I tried to make him share his secret recipe for Shrimp Etoufee, but he would not budge.
He also introduced me to Tony Chachere’s seasonings and told me that these seasonings were essential for cajun cooking. I remember giving him a hard time because surely one did not require JUST one container to make a meal. Boy, was I wrong. I have been using Tony’s for several years now and sometimes have to force myself to put it aside so that I experiment with other seasonings.
Everytime I used Tony’s seasonings Ryan would ask “WHAT did you use for this meal? The seasoning is delicious!” I would continue to say, “Tony’s.”
When we moved from Texas to Michigan, our friends, the Priddys, packed us a goodie box of food essentials. This box contained 4 to 5 Tony’s seasonings that I had never even used along with gumbo file’, red beans and rice and many other goodies. I decided that it was time to make something cajun with both my friend’s inspirations.
I looked up several resources to see what a standard Jambalaya contained and then I converted the recipe to make it vegan-friendly. Instead of using chicken, sausage or any other meat, I used 2 Match sausage links leftover from my recent purchase. It is a vegan substitute for sausage that is sage flavored. I also added red beans which made this meal complete.
I started by cooking whole grain rice to make a healthier dish.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Since the rice was going to take 45 minutes to cook, I chopped all my vegetables and prepared a delicious salad.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Once the rice was cooked, I started frying the vegetables in olive oil and then added the sausage. I cooked that for several minutes and then added Tony’s Instant Roux along with some Creole Seasoning. The beans and tomatoes then went in along with the rice. Everything cooked for 10 to 15 minutes.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
What I like about the whole process is that it felt so quick and easy, with great flavor to follow! I thank all my Cajun friends for such great inspirations on this year’s Mardi Gras.
Vegan Jambalaya
serves 4
2 cups whole grain rice
3 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Match sausage links,sliced (1/2 inch thick)
1-14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1-15oz can kidney beans
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp Tony Chachere’s Instant Roux
2 tsp Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 vegan Bouillon cube
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
Place 2 cups of rice, 3 1/2 cups water and salt in a medium pot and cook until water boils. Turn heat down to low and cook for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop carrots, celery, onions and garlic.
In a wok or large pot, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and fry vegetables. Add instant roux, creole seasoning, pepper, tomato paste, water, and bouillon cube and simmer until sauce thickens.
Add sausage and cooked for 5 minutes and then add beans and petite diced tomatoes and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes.
Add 3 cups of cooked rice to mixture and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until sauce has distributed through rice.
Turn heat off and add green onions and parsley before serving.
This dish is not spicy at all, but full of flavor. Feel free to substitute with real sausage and cooked chicken.
Remember to check Eat, Drink, and Be Hopeful blog. She has a Pirate’s Booty Giveaway!
Please also check Brown-Eyed Baker ‘s giveaway! She has a King Arthur Flour Giveaway!
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Pizzey’s Premium Flax Products Review
February 17th, 2010
I have my groove back this week thanks to a more relaxed week! Today made day 2 of a terrific workout and a delicious breakfast that made this day go SO smoothly. I think I have become a creature of habit. Who wouldn’t want a more consistent schedule during the week? I have heard that if you continue a new task for 40 days that it will become a habit. I think I have come to that point. When my schedule wavers and is changed because of traveling or busy weeks, I do not function well. All I can say is that I thank God for weeks like this week.
You know what also made today’s breakfast a plus? Waffles! I know that today was Pancake Day and all but waffles were calling out my name today. I recently received a goodie package from FlaxMatters with items of my choice. I really enjoy flax, but how many ways can you consume flaxseed meal and seeds? Let me show you!
SmoothOmega Milled Flax is flaxseed meal that has been milled very finely and is perfect for smoothies. I usually have a problem with regular flaxseed meal from the store, since it is still somewhat coarse. This product tastes GREAT in smoothies without tasting the coarse meal. I added it to my smoothie this morning!It is also great for adding to your favorite bread recipe or even as an egg replacer, for all the lovely vegans out there!
The same product comes in Singles ready for traveling or on-the-go for a busy week! I can’t wait to try this on my next trip. Remember that a single serving (1/2 Tbsp) contains recommended daily intake of ALA Omega-3. These singles and regular bag of Milled Flax does not require refrigeration due to this company’s superior process as opposed to the regular products out on shelves.
Pizzey’s Premium Pancake and Waffle Mix is what I used today to make for a healthy breakfast! I actually have never made waffles but my husband had a waffle maker that I decided I would use for the first time. I normally do not choose to eat waffles because they have buttermilk or are made with white flour, but when I saw this product I knew I was going to enjoy trying it!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
This mix has whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, milled flaxseed, baking powder, and salt. All that was required of me was to add 1 cup of this delicious mix with 1 cup of milk (which I chose almond milk), 1 egg (Ener-G egg replacer), and 1 Tbsp oil. It was simple and quick and very tasty, even with my substitutions!
My breakfast was made complete by having this delicious product that provided me with the much needed supplement. Go to their website and check their products today! They offer free shipping with orders over $50!
Tropical Green Smoothie
makes 2 cups
4 dinaosaur Kale leaves
1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup blueberries
1 frozen banana
3/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp Pizzey’s Milled Flax
Place ingredients in blender and liquefy until mixed. Enjoy!
