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A Pinch of This, a Dash of That

Posted on December 3, 2010 by kissmybroccoli

That is how I would describe my cooking method, if you could even call it a method. Usually, I start off with a couple of recipes whirling around in my head from my latest blog reading or a search on good ol’ Google. I start with a bit of structure and the next thing I know, I’m adding more veggies, more sauce, more seasoning!

I used to think my mom was a kitchen magician. She could take a pound of pasta and a can of tomatoes and *POOF* she had a fantastic dinner on the table, no recipe needed. I just thought, “I’ll never be able to do that. You just…you HAVE to follow a recipe!” It wasn’t until recently that I finally realized that it doesn’t take a kitchen magician to create a recipe. You just have to have some tasty ingredients and a bit of imagination…and a bit of taste testing of course! 😉

Inspired by Jessica’s Shredded Sprouts Salad, I got in the fridge today and decided to use the Brussel sprouts I’ve been eyeing for a week and a half. I bought a big bag of sprouts at SAMs just before the holiday, but due to my overabundance of leftovers, I felt guilty for making a new dish until today. It was definitely worth the wait!

Fakin’ it Out Shredded Sprouts:
8 ounces Brussel sprouts, shredded
1 small to medium eggplant, cubed
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 Vidalia onion, diced
1 cup cooked wild rice
3 strips Fakin’ Bacon tempeh

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Cut the ends of sprouts, place in food processor, and pulse until they are just shredded.

Cut ends off a medium size eggplant (mine was about past it’s prime…saved just in time!), peel and dice into cubes.

Place eggplant in a skillet with shredded sprouts, carrots, and onion.

Mix balsamic vinegar, oil, and maple syrup in a bowl and add to skillet. Sautéed veggies in syrup mixture until tender (about 7-8 minutes).

I found this at Whole Foods last month and have been dying for a chance to use it. Love the smoky flavor!

Fakin' it Out Shredded Sprouts

This was so delicious and super filling. The combo of the maple syrup and the smoky “bacon” was just right! Thanks Jessica for the inspiration!

Oh, and breakfast was just too purdy not to post 😉 so I will leave you with this. My “Waffle Mountain” as Allie would say: A Van’s Organic waffle topped with cottage cheese, cinnamon, pom arils, bordered with fresh-cut persimmon wedges. I LOVE persimmons!

Hope everyone has a good rest of the night! There’s some leftover cheesecake that’s calling my name from the fridge!

Posted in Breakfast, Entree | Tagged persimmon, tempeh, waffle mountain | 9 Comments

Yay for Tempeh!

Posted on December 2, 2010 by kissmybroccoli

So as not to bore the death out of you guys with my now “leftover” leftovers ;), I figured I could use this time to post about one of my many kitchen adventures…my first tempeh experience!

Organic Tempeh

Before discovering the blogging community, I had never heard of or seen tempeh. For those of you not familiar with it, tempeh is a meat alternative, but unlike tofu, it has a totally different texture and nutrition list. It is very high in protein and easily digestible given the fermentation process that it undergoes. (source: wikipedia.org)

Bouquet de Broccoli 🙂

Sauce of Choice

I knew I wanted to make an Asian-inspired dish. And what screams Eastern cuisine more than broccoli and stir-fry sauce?? I LOVE broccoli (how can I not with my blog title 😉 ) and I had been dying to use this stir-fry sauce I’d had stashed in the cupboard for months. Turned out, the sauce was a little thicker than I wanted so I thinned it out with some water. Had I not just wanted an excuse to use this sauce, I would’ve just used my low-sodium soy sauce or Bragg’s Aminos.

First, I started things off with sautéing chopped broccoli and onions in sesame oil in a small skillet.

Before

After

Once they had soaked up the oil and cooked nice and tender, I added in the tempeh that I had cut up into cubes.

Mouth Watering!

Then, it was time to plate…on top some leftover spaghetti squash (another first time try a few days prior).

Bon Appetite!

And of course, everything is better with sriracha!

Ohhhh yeah!!

By far, one of the MOST delicious meals I have ever made. I savored every single bite not wanting it to end at all!

Posted in Entree | Tagged broccoli, spaghetti squash, tempeh | 3 Comments

Holy Crepe!

Posted on December 1, 2010 by kissmybroccoli

One thing I love about the weeks that I don’t have to go in until 9:00, is that I have more time in the morning to do important stuff…catch up on my favorite blogs, slowly drink a cup of coffee, and making breakfast dishes that would normally have to wait till the weekend!

I’m still of course working on the leftovers and for some reason this morning when I got out of bed, the first thought that came to mind was crepes. I did a quick Google search and found this basic crepe recipe. I halved the recipe and the only thing I changed was I subbed whole wheat pastry flour in for the all-purpose flour.

I used to think that crepes were really hard to make. I guess I thought since it was French cooking that it should be difficult?? These were super easy! They’re so thin that they cook within minutes!

As soon as the batter hits the pan just swirl your pan around till it goes up the sides a little. I used an 8 inch skillet and like the recipe called for 1/4 cup of batter at a time. Make sure you spray skillet with cooking spray! Once the batter goes up the sides, just sit it back down on the burner and let it cook for 1-2 minutes, then just slip a spatula under there and giver ‘er a flip! Cook on other side for 1-2 minutes and bada bing-bada boom! You now have a crepe!

I took the leftover mashed sweet potatoes from the Turkey Sweet Potato Casserole and thinned out the mixture with some milk in a pot over medium heat (you could save time and just microwave, but mine died while I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner *tear*)

Next, just spoon the sweet potato mixture (or you could always use pumpkin puree) into your crepe and fold or roll as you like and dust with powdered sugar. Then, prepare to bite into a folded up bit of Heaven! Get it?… “Holy Crepe!” 😉