Archive for the ‘Vegetarian’ Category

I Pita the Fool

Posted by Candace on Thursday, June 11th, 2009

I’ll admit it, I’m a fan of Mr. T.  I used to watch the A-Team as a kid… anyone else?  Hmmm… I think I just showed my age.  For a short time used I even used the “Mr. T” voice on my GPS.  However, I got tired of him calling me a fool if I missed a turn. Its all fun and games until you really start to feel like one!  lol!

Anyway, I had some free time last week and decided I was in the mood the bake.  After thumbing through my cookbooks,  came across this recipe for pita bread.  Since I had all of the ingredients on hand, pita it was!  This was my first time making it, and I even impressed myself.  Who know pitas were so easy to make and yet SO complicated looking!  It really is fascinating how you can put a thin,  flat piece of dough on a hot surface and it will balloon and turn into a beautiful pita.  The best part is the dough is good in the fridge for up to a week.  This means you can have fresh pita at your whimsy… Now THAT is good stuff, my friends!
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June 11th, 2009 by Candace / Filed under Bakery, Vegetarian / 23 Critiques

Making Curds and Whey

Posted by Candace on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

I’ve always been a lover of cheese… every kind of cheese.  From the stinky stuff in French restaurants to the most mild mozzarella.  I found this recipe recently to make cheese at home and knew I had to try it.  I didn’t even know you could make cheese at home with such simple ingredients.  All you need for this recipe is buttermilk, milk and salt, no chemicals, rennet or anything else.  I used organic whole milk, but you can also make it with 1% or 2%.  So easy and amazingly delicious.  To fancy it up, I browned the cheese in a dry non-stick pan and it made a perfect appetizer.  It is also just as yummy eaten plain.

The recipe said salt was an optional item , but I think it is really necessary.  I only added a generous pinch of fleur de sel and it was extremely bland before brining.  It was fine after brining, but the exterior is definitely saltier than the interior when you brine.  The texture is similar to Queso Blanco.  It has a nice bite and mild flavor.  Next time I’m going to experiment with some smoked sea salt and maybe even herbs.  It was so easy, I see myself making fresh cheese at home on a regular basis.

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April 23rd, 2009 by Candace / Filed under Vegetarian / 9 Critiques

Waste Not Want Not

Posted by Candace on Thursday, March 5th, 2009

What do you do when you find some sad looking, rubbery broccoli in the depths of your refrigerator?  Me… I make soup.  We’ve been eating out often lately due to our hectic schedule and I’ve been neglecting my crisper drawer in my fridge.  Digging through, I found broccoli, zucchini, a little fresh basil and a few red peppers on the cusp of being inedible.   So dinner was cream of broccoli and zucchini with roasted red pepper garnish.  Contrary to popular belief, cream of broccoli need not be fat laden with tons of cheese.  I finished the soup off with a little bit of half and half, but it was not really necessary.  Too bad the parsley was well beyond salvage, because it would have made a nice fresh garnish… you can’t win ‘em all!

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March 5th, 2009 by Candace / Filed under Soup, Vegetarian / 18 Critiques

Grilled Pear Salad

Posted by Candace on Monday, February 2nd, 2009

As with most of you out there, one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to eat healthy and lose a pound or two (or three, or four…etc.)  Since I’m not a big fan of exercise, I choose to watch what I eat instead. I can get Stephan to eat salad, but he prefers a piece of steak on top of a few lettuce leaves.  That’s my idea of a yummy salad, but not necessarily a healthy one!  To increase the yummy factor and decrease the fat factor, this salad is packed with flavor from grilled pears, blue cheese and candied pecans.  Grilling pears brings out the sweetness and caramelizes the outside.  What’s not to like?
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February 2nd, 2009 by Candace / Filed under Salad, Vegetarian / 16 Critiques

Happy New Year Y’all!

Posted by Candace on Thursday, January 1st, 2009

Don’t worry, I haven’t become Paula Deen… but I do have a confession.  Deep down inside, beneath my half Japanese exterior hides… a country girl.  I grew up a military brat (Dad was a US Marine) in the great southern town of Tallahassee, Florida.  If you’ve never been there, Tallahassee is much more like Georgia or Alabama than Florida.  Strangely, I live much further south (in Ft Lauderdale) now, but it is much more “Northern” down here.  Weird.

Anyway, black eyed peas are a very traditional Southern fare for New Years Day.  Ingesting the little black and white beans are supposed to bring you good luck.  Some say that the beans resemble coins and this is why they bring you wealth in the new year.  Although I don’t think they look even remotely like coins, I still feel the need to eat them on New Years Day, with homemade Southern Cornbread.  Don’t want to mess with the Southern traditions!

After all of the heavy holiday feasting, I’ve done a bit of a healthy twist on the beans and made it into a cold bean salad. I wrote the recipe with canned black eyed peas, but I prefer to use dried black eyed peas that are soaked and cooked with a ham bone, which is what I did here.
Hope everyone out there has a Happy and Healthy New Year!
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January 1st, 2009 by Candace / Filed under Dinner, Vegetarian / 10 Critiques
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