Vegan Baked Banana Bread Oatmeal

I've had a couple requests for this recipe, so I thought I'd dust off the blog for a minute and post it. I've been pretty in love with baked oatmeals for years, but for some reason I've never posted one of my recipes. Or if I have, it was so long ago, I don't remember it. Anyways, let's talk about the recipe.

This recipe is a descendant in some ways of Thug Kitchen's Quinoa Oatmeal. I like their recipes, but they always tend to leave out one step that breaks the recipe. For this one, it's cooking the oats and quinoa in water instead of the milk. That just gives you bland, flavorless oatmeal. Cook in the milk instead of adding it later. Gah.  The other issue with stovetop oatmeal is you have to stand there and stir it or it sticks to the pan. It's kind of a pain. That's honestly why I like baked oatmeals. It's so very low maintenance. The other key to this recipe is toasting the oats before cooking. Every time I try to skip this step, I dislike the results. I'll frequently do this step the night before and even assemble the whole thing before I go to bed, just so I can be lazier in the morning.


1 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed (optional)
1 tablespoon oil
1 can low fat coconut milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 very rip bananas, smashed
2 tablespoons brown sugar (optional)
chopped walnuts


In a small pan, heat up the oil. Toast the oats in the oil until fragrant. Combine oats, coconut milk, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and bananas. If you are adding quinoa, you may need an extra half cup of water. I think mine is plenty sweet without the extra sugar, but if you want to add some brown sugar, go far it. Combine everything well in a casserole dish with a lid and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Top with walnuts, which can also be toasted.

I'm fuzzy on the exact time in the oven because I usually go back to bed while it's cooking. Hey, mornings are cold and husbands are warm.

My Thanksgiving Menu

Oh man. I've been so bad about posting here lately. I'm the Google Apps for Education coordinator at work this year. If you don't know what that means, just know this. Google is my kung fu. And it is strong. But yeah, doing computer stuff all day means I'm pretty sick of looking at one when I get home. So I haven't been around here as much as I'd like. But I'd be remiss if I didn't make at least one post about the Foodie High Holiday of Thanksgiving.

No knead rolls

Typically, I don't have much to say about cooking for Thanksgiving. I do have some recipes you are welcome to try, but usually I'm enjoying my in laws cooking in far off and distant Texas this time of year. But this year we aren't able to make the trip, so instead I'm cooking at home with my parents and siblings coming over.

It's an interesting mix to cook for. The big potential pitfalls are that my dad and husband are both Type II diabetics. And my youngest sister is a vegetarian. So in a large, argumentative family of picky eaters, those are really the only ones I'm going to attempt to please. So I put together a menu that's... well, not healthy. It is a holiday, after all. But it's heavy on vegetables and low on processed carbs and sugars. No sodium hangovers this year.

I've provided links to recipes when I have it. I'm digging out some of my old stand by, as well as introducing some new favorites.

Appetizers (Because I need you to get out from under my feet)

• Hot Crab Dip and crackers
• Hummus and raw veggies
• Cheese tray from Roswell Provisions

Main Event

• Smoked turkey (Ordering a smoked turkey from Greenberg's is a Liang family tradition that's grown on me. Picture this: A perfectly cooked, flavorful turkey that isn't taking up half your oven for five hours. It being delicious seems almost secondary.)
• Small roasted turkey breast, with butter and herbs tucked under the skin.
• Curry Roasted Acorn Squash (recipe here)

• 

  Curry roasted acorn squash

• Roasted brussel sprouts (done simply with oil, salt and pepper)
• Cauliflower cheese (recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen)
• Slow cooker green beans with bell pepper and tomato (Oddly enough, I've never blogged this staple recipe. I'll have to fix that.)
• Chili Lime sweet potato wedges (Recipe here)
• No Knead rolls (recipe here)
• Salad (I had three heads of lettuce in my CSA this weekend. We are eating salad. Everyone is eating salad. Forever.)

Dessert

• Sour cream pumpkin pudding (recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen)
• Apple crisp (The recipe I posted here several years ago is seriously out of date. I promise you a better one someday.)

The big appeal of many of these recipes is that I can do much of the prep work ahead of time. The sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts and acorn squash can be prepped ahead of time and kept in the fridge. The rolls are better if mixed a day or two ahead of time. The desserts can be made the morning of, with the apple crisp just needing to be popped into a warm oven to reheat while we eat dinner. The green beans will cook happily in my giant crockpot and not take up a burner or space in my oven at all. 

Anyways, thats my Thanksgiving plan. What's yours?

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Curry Roasted Acorn Squash

Fall is finally here, which means I no longer have to feel guilty about turning on my oven. I love fall in north Georgia. It's the prettiest time of year and it has all of my favorite foods.

Big Trees Forrest Preserve in Sandy Springs

Look how pretty that is! And it's not hot and sticky outside anymore and all the mosquitoes are gone! This is my favorite time to be outside in nature. 

Thanks to Georgia's long growing season, the best foods are being harvested now. Crisp apples, savory winter squashes, fresh kale... The list goes on and on. 

And oh those winter squashes. Look, I've tried with summer squash. I've had them all, zucchini, yellow crookneck, patty pan. I've tried them grilled, fried, baked, sautéed and more. The only way I've been able to enjoy them is in zucchini bread. And if you have to chop it up really small and hide it inside a cake, you aren't really enjoying that vegetable, are you? 

But winter squash... savory, sweet. Blended into a soup or roasted in the oven. I was ridiculously excited to see the first acorn squash of the season in the Roswell farmer's market last Saturday. I was less excited when the farmer suggested I drench it in butter and brown sugar to eat it. I mean, yeah sure, butter and brown sugar make everything taste better. But there are just some things that just don't need it. 

My version of roasted acorn squash forgoes extra sugar and fats in favor of a hearty dusting of curry powder and drizzle of olive oil.  Curry powder goes amazingly with winter squash. Trust me. You'll like it better than sugar. It's simple enough to have any night of the week, but looks fancy enough to sneak onto the Thanksgiving table. And don't tell the carnivores, but it's actually vegan, so your hippy friends will love you. This is worth waiting for winter squash season. 

Curry Roasted Acorn Squash

2 acorn squash, sliced in half long ways and seeds removed

Extra virgin olive oil

Curry powder

Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Slice your squash, carefully, because those suckers are tough and scoop out the seeds. Brush with olive oil, then sprinkle generously with curry powder and salt. Place on a cookie sheet and roast for about 20-30 minutes, or fork tender. To eat them, fluff up the insides like a baked potato and scoop it out with your fork. Makes a great side dish and fantastic leftovers. 

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Recipe Free Cooking: Easy Vegetarian Curry

This will all be food soon.

People ask me all the time where I get my recipes for the blog. I think some of them think I'm cooking my way through a book, similar to the Julie/Julia project everyone saw in that stupid movie. And while I do frequently consult recipe books and cooking blogs for inspiration, I'm just as likely to walk into the kitchen, quickly scan the fridge and then start making something. I learned how to cook pretty young, so I'm very comfortable in the kitchen. My mom taught me to cook dinner with her, and I saw her modifying and adapting recipes on the fly to suit our family's tastes and so I picked up the idea that a recipe is just a guideline. 

Recipe free cooking makes you so much more flexible and versatile in the kitchen. Once you are familiar with your ingredients and confident in your skills, you will be doing it all the time. Instead of just knowing a few recipes, you know a couple of methods for creating a meal. And that's what makes a good cook. You'll get there with practice. 

There's a couple things that really lend themselves to recipe free, improvisational cooking. Soups, curries, and stir fries are my go to meals when I have a hodge poge of ingredients and desperate need to eat dinner. They all incorporate large amounts of healthy vegetables and are easy to prepare. They are flexible enough to include anything you've got on hand, and rely on easy to store pantry staples, like chicken broth, canned beans and brown rice. 

Check out the picture. All the things in this picture will combine together to make a delicious vegetarian meal. It's easy. I heat up a little oil in my pan, brown some onion, garlic and ginger if I've got it. No worries if I don't. Then I add a generous spoonful of curry powder. I don't measure. Stir everything around to make a paste, then add the peeled, chopped carrots, cauliflower, mushrooms and kale. Add a big pinch of kosher salt. Stir some more and add a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas, and a can of tomatoes if you've got it. If you don't, no one will die. Add the coconut milk, turn the heat down and let the whole thing simmer on low until the vegetables are tender. Serve over brown rice and enjoy. 

What else can you add? Broccoli is good. So are potatoes or kohlrabi. Any kind of winter green works.  Green beans are probably okay. Just throw something in! If you need meat to be happy, throw some leftover roast chicken or pork in at the end.  Skip the chickpeas if you don't like them, or swap out another bean. Use chicken or vegetable broth instead of the coconut milk. Use tomato sauce instead of the canned tomatoes. Pour it over quinoa instead of rice. Really, I don't care. You won't hurt my feelings any. Make yourself  happy. Improvise. Experiment. Enjoy. 

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Easy Tofu and Broccoli Stir Fry

Chinese New Year started on Friday, and I married into a Chinese family, so of course we are having fun eating our traditional foods like noodles for long life and a whole fish for prosperity. Even if you aren't celebrating Chinese New Year, stir fries are a great way to eat more vegetables. You can stir fry almost any vegetable and lean protein together. I have a beautifully seasoned wok now, but for years I made my stir fries in a regular skillet. As long as you can cook quickly, over high heat, you can make delicious stir fries at home. The great thing about stir fries is that they are endlessly customizable. You can do any combination of veggies and protein. 

The trick to a good stir fry is to cook everything very fast. You need to chop everything in small, even pieces, get your pan extremely hot and just keep it moving. Stir fries are the only thing where I make sure all my vegetables are chopped before I turn on the stove, Usually, I chop as I go. If you try that while stir frying, something will burn. So make it easy on yourself and chop everything first. You can even cook your rice before getting started. It's one less thing to worry about.

For a tough, woody vegetable like broccoli, it needs more than just touching the wok to cook through. I always give it a quick stir fry to brown it, then blanch it very quickly in the wok before cooking anything else. The tofu needs some prep work too. It needs to be pressed and drained before cooking and I like to give it a swirl of soy sauce and sesame oil before cooking.


Tofu and Broccoli Stir Fry

2 crowns brocoli, separated into florets
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small onion, cut into strips
1 block tofu, rinsed, drained and cubed (I like to marinade mine with one tablespoon soy sauce and one teaspoon sesame seed oil. It adds flavor to the tofu and it keeps it from sticking.)
1/2 teaspoon of ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Get your skillet or wok extremely hot. I test mine by flicking drops of water at it. If it sizzles immediately, its good. Give it a good glug of canola oil, or something else that can take the heat and swirl pan to ensure coverage. Add broccoli to pan and move it around to keep it from burning. Add about a quarter cup of water, then cover with a tight fitting lid. Let broccoli cook until bright green and tender, about three minutes. Remove immediately and rinse out wok. Heat it back up, add more oil.

Add carrots and onion, stir it around for about a minute. Add tofu, continue to stir. Add minced garlic and ginger, then add broccoli back to the wok. Stir it again. Combine cornstarch with enough water to make a slurry, plus the leftover soy sauce. Add to wok, stir to make sure vegetables and tofu are covered. Serve immediately.

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Low Carb Cauliflower Puree

Cauliflower puree topped with
 steak & mushrooms

There are two schools of thought on cauliflower puree, the popular, low carb substitute for mashed potatoes. The first is to pretend your cauliflower really is mashed potatoes and drown it with butter and cream. The second is to man up, admit you are eating a vegetable, and prepare your cauliflower simply and lightly with just a little vegetable broth. I've done it both ways and yes, I prefer the second version. Cauliflower has a natural sweetness to it and it doesn't need much embellishment to be delicious. Besides, the idea of cauliflower puree is to eat healthy. It's silly to load it up with lots of saturated fats when you've got something so good for you. It soaks up your gravy or pan sauce just as well without the extras. I don't miss mashed potatoes when I make this at all.

I cook my cauliflower in vegetable broth to add extra flavor. You could use chicken if you prefer, or just plan salted water. I like to do my puree in my food processor, but I think a blender would work too.  I've tried mashing it with a fork, which works okay, but you aren't going to get a really smooth puree. It'll be mashed cauliflower chunks. I usually make this when I know I'll have a gravy or sauce to go with it, so I leave it plain. But if you want to experiment, I think roasted garlic, a handful of grated parmesan cheese or chopped fresh herbs would be amazing.

Cauliflower Puree 

1 head cauliflower, chopped (You can include the stems, along with the flowerettes.)
Enough vegetable broth to cover your cauliflower (About three cups)
Salt to taste


Chop cauliflower into smallish pieces. The smaller the pieces, the faster they will cook and the easier it will be to fit them in your food processor. But don't make yourself crazy over this step. Bring your broth to a simmer and add the cauliflower. Simmer until it's soft enough to break apart with a fork. With a slotted spoon, remove cauliflower and add to food processor. Pulse until it reaches your desired level of smoothness. I like mine with a few chunks still in it. If needed, use the remaining broth to thin out your puree. Sometimes it needs a little extra to get things moving. Serve immediately.  

Next up, I'm going to share how I did that steak with bourbon mushroom pan sauce.

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Four Easy Soup Recipes

Soup is one of my favorite winter time meals. It can be light and healthy, but still fill you up and feel indulgent on a cold day. I usually make a big pot of a vegetable heavy soup at the beginning of the week and take the leftovers to work for lunch along with a piece of fruit or a small salad. I have something like several dozen soup recipes in my rotation. The favorites have been blogged here, but going through my archives I can't believe I've never posted the chicken and rice soup I make when one of us is sick, or the black bean and vegetable soup that uses up all the summer time veggies. Clearly, I need to blog more.

In the meantime, here are four easy soup recipes to tide you over.

You can be super healthy with this vegetarian Tofu and Bok Choy Soup. Not only does it use up the ridiculous amount of bok choy we get in our CSA this time of year, but it's a filling soup with lots of nutrition and very few calories. Perfect for balancing out the holiday excess.

Kale and Sausage Soup is another tasty way to use up winter greens. This soup is really fast and easy to prepare and one of my favorites for leftovers.

Curry Butternut Squash Soup is a delicious and healthier alternative to the traditional cream based version. It's easy to make this one vegetarian by simply swapping the chicken broth for vegetable.

We love a good beef stew here and this one is our favorite version. Beef and Cremini Mushroom stew works equally well in your dutch oven or slow cooker. Its a great cold weather meal alongside a batch of No-Knead Dinner Rolls.

Vegetarian Tofu and Bok Choi Soup

If you are like me, after the excesses of the holidays, you need a nice, light soup to balance all those cookies, pies and turkeys you devoured. While I'm not a vegetarian, I do enjoy having many vegetarian recipes in my repertoire. Not only is it healthy, but it means I never have to worry about what I'm going to feed the many vegetarians and vegans in my life.

This soup is very simple and fast to assemble, but it does require a little pre-planning to drain the tofu properly. See, tofu is basically a big sponge. It'll absorb whatever flavors you want. And like any sponge, it needs to be wringed before it can absorb anything. The easiest way I've learned to do this is to cut my block of tofu into thick slabs, layer them between cleans towels and press between two cutting boards. To really squeeze out the packing water, I pile some heavy cans or pots on top. 30 minutes is enough to get most of the liquid out, but longer is fine.


Tofu and Bok Choi Soup

6 cups vegetable broth (chicken is fine if that's what you have and don't care if you're eating vegetarian)
2 slices raw ginger
1 clove garlic
2 dried chili peppers
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 head bok choi, chopped
1 carrot, shredded or julienned
1 red bell pepper, shredded or julienned
1 block tofu, rinsed and drained, then cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Heat six cups of broth until simmering. Add ginger, garlic, chili peppers and onion.  Let those steep in the broth for about fifteen minutes. Add bok choi, carrots, peppers and tofu and stir until tofu is heated through and vegetables are bright colored. Serve immediately.

Chili Lime Sweet Potatoes

I think I've mentioned my disdain for "traditional" sweet potato recipes, drenched in butter, sugar and marshmallows. Sweet potatoes are naturally flavorful, needing only a little salt and oil and a good roasting in a hot oven to bring them to life. That's not to say that they don't pair well with other flavors, but I'm definitely a "less is more" kinda gal when it comes to this vegetable.

I don't recall where I found this recipe, but it's been part of my repertoire for a couple years now. It's an easy side dish for the holidays, or a nice pairing with a couple pan fried pork chops and turnip greens during the week. Really, the possibilities are endless on this one. You've got the sweetness of the potatoes, the smoky chili powder and a hint of acid from the lime cutting through all of it. It's a lighter take on sweet potatoes, but still full of flavor.

The easiest way I've discovered to prepare this is with the help of a zip top bag. The diced, raw sweet potatoes go in, along with your chili powder, salt and some cooking oil. Squish everything around a bit and pour it out on a cookie sheet to roast. You can even do that step a day before, if you decide to make this for Thanksgiving, and keep the bag in the fridge until you are ready to roast.


Chili Lime Sweet Potatoes

3-4 peeled and diced sweet potatoes, enough to make about three cups
2 tablespoons chili powder (we like the Medium blend from Penzey's, but whatever chili powder you like is fine.)
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
juice of one lime

Peel and dice sweet potatoes. In a zip top bag or large bowl combine with chili powder, salt and cooking oil until potatoes are evenly coated. Spread on a cookie sheet and roast at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soft and the edges are crispy. Remove from oven and squeeze lime juice over the potatoes. Serve.

Easy Spinach Alfredo Pizza

I just finished up the first week of school, (My schedule is different because I work at a private school.) and felt celebratory. What better way to celebrate than to host a small dinner party? Homemade pizza is such an easy way to entertain, especially on a Friday night when you are exhausted from explaining to autistic fourth graders that stalls in the bathroom are one per customer. (Don't even ask. Seriously.) So pizza it is!

Because it's Friday, and going back to work after a summer at home sleeping in exhausts me, I'm taking a shortcut. While I can make a totally rocking pizza crust, I grabbed pre-made dough at Publix. We like the multigrain. It's tasty without being heavy. Most grocery stores have what I call "the pizza station", which will contain pre-made dough, crusts, jarred sauce and other things you can use to build a pizza at home. I also grabbed a bag of spinach and some shredded mozzarella and a wedge of asiago cheese.

 I pulled it as flat as I could to make the base. Can you see the sunflower seeds? That's multi-grain goodness right there.

I sweated some onions and garlic from our CSA in olive oil, then added the entire bag of baby spinach and a big pinch of salt. I turned down the heat and put the lid on to let the spinach cook down. When I make garlic spinach like this as a side dish, I usually use two bags of spinach, because spinach is delicious. The cooked spinach goes on top, with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese.

 
 The whole thing went into a 500 degree oven until the crust was crisp and the cheese was brown and bubbly. Then I added the grated asiago and popped it back in for a few minutes to let that melt. It was ready to serve after I sprinkled on some chopped parsley and savory from our CSA.

We ate it with heirloom tomatoes chopped and dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped savory and lemon verbena, all from our CSA. (Yeah, the CSA thing comes in handy.) Dessert was banana "ice cream" made by freezing over ripe bananas and pureeing them in my food processor until it had the consistency of soft serve. We topped that with nutella. We had a nice bottle of wine and some nice craft beers the staff at Ale Yeah in Roswell helped us pick out.

So what was the verdict? Well, everything but one slice of pizza was eaten. So if you're looking for a fun, casual dinner party after week at work, make a pizza!

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