Vegan Supper and Mom's Zucchini

Sometimes the things I want to know from friends that like to cook are not necessarily recipes they love I want to know the products they love.  I want to know if they found one small item last time they were shopping that they just had to try. 

I want to know how it came out, how the flavor was, and would they buy it again.  Sometimes these things are very important to talk about with family and friends.  It helps you buy the right products that give you the biggest bang for your buck.

I recently found this rice mix locally.  It is glorious.  Full of veggies, low sodium, and plenty of servings in one box I even had some for lunch the next day. 

I also absolutely love this vegan sausage.  Depending on what I put it in my husband doesnt know its not meat.  It is so flavorful and just exquisite. 

I made it alongside my mom's zucchini and squash recipe.  By recipe I mean she grills it up and smothers it with salt and pepper, oregano, and garlic powder.  I dont know why I love it so much.  I think its just one of those things.  Every time I make it reminds of all the good bits of my mom that I love so dearly. 

It made for a quick and clean easy meal on a weeknight.  I love it.  My husband loved it.  What more do I need to say. 

Enjoy !!

Project idea....actually worked!

I love cooking for the creativity and design behind a recipe, but I also love crafts and designing projects for the very same reason.  Re-purposing is where its at! 

When I began blogging again I added "Top Notch Eats and Beats" so I can add craft projects or general projects from time to time to spice up the blog a bit.  

I don't pretend to be the best sewer/crafter in the world, but once in awhile a  project idea comes to mind and it actually works.  It actually works without a pattern and just a general idea in my head.  

I recently ordered some Toms for a wedding I was in a few weeks back and I was so happy with them I wanted to commemorate that wedding and purchase with another item I could make. 

You can see the beautiful Toms a little bit in the picture below with my husband. 

 

So I had the great fabric from a project awhile back and a really wanted a new bag, but didn't want to spend any money.  So made a new bag and smacked that Toms flag right on it.  It worked out beautifully!  Making bags is really the easiest sewing project you can get.  If you can sew a straight line or kind of a straight line you can do it! 

Back with more recipes soon !























Enjoy !!!

All time favorite dessert

My all time favorite dessert is mixed fruit cherries, bananas, peaches, plums, kiwis, nectarines, any type of fruit will do with whipped cream and fresh nutmeg grated on top.  That is it.  As we approach summer ending (sniffle, sniffle) give this a shot.  It is a wonderful summer dessert. 

I love it and you should try it.....that is all !

Enjoy !!!

Pot Sticker Burgers with Spicy Asian Slaw

Adapted from: Iowa Girl Eats

I have found an amazing new food blog.  It's called Iowa Girl Eats.  Every single recipe I have made from this site has been incredible.  

I just recently got a new job.  I started on today so things will steadily get back to normal I promise.  It was tremendously difficult even to check my email during the time I was looking for a new job let alone get on here and do new posts.  This recipe is delicious and fairly low-carb....Get to cooking !

 For the burgers:

• 1 package 99% fat-free ground turkey breast 
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2″ knob fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 cups coleslaw mix

For the Spicy Asian Slaw:

• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more)
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 4 cups coleslaw mix

First mix up the burgers and grill them up in the fry pan, grill, or they can even be broiled in the oven.

 Then mix up the "slaw" ingredients and place it  up.  Add in the burgers and top with sriracha, or hot sauce of your choosing, or none at all!

 

This is a wonderfully quick, delicious, and healthy meal.  Get to cooking! 

Enjoy !!!

Who in the hell needs take-out?

Who the hell needs takeout?  A wonderful question to ask America.  There is certainly wonderful and healthful take out.  Even the best most nutritious take out doesn't beat what you can make at home.  I am really talking about the horrible salt-filled grease ridden take out that you often find in places that you can get an order in less that 7 minutes.  

This type of food is not okay.  It is not okay to rely on this type of food for dinner several times a week.  Sure its okay every once in awhile, but to have it be a mainstay is unacceptable.  It usually comes in the from the type of fast food Asian restaurants, greasy sandwich shops, and places where pre-package pre-prepared foods are found.  

Its difficult in the schedules we keep to move on from this lifestyle.  I present this to you though.  The meal that you find below I had no plan for.  I just had some chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, and rice.  So I cooked the rice, steamed the broccoli, cooked the chicken and mushrooms, and whipped up a quick low-sodium sauce to add in.  It also took my less than 15 minutes to prepare.

It  consisted of the following items:

1. Low-sodium oyster sauce 

2. Low-sodium soy sauce

3. Cornstarch

4. Garlic powder

5. Ground ginger 

6. Salt and pepper 

and that's it !!! 

So what it delivered is a nutritious hearty meal that had little to no salt in and was delicious and equally memorable. 

Enjoy !!!

Tales from the office desk

I have discovered  really HUGE powerful secret to success in eating lots of fruits and veggies for snacks at my desk at work.  Cutting everything up and making it nice and easy to eat up!  I don't know what it is, but i have begun cutting up everything like I am 6 or 86 not sure.  I also arrange it like I have made my own fruit plate, or line of walnuts, or perfectly chopped avocado so it not only looks delicious, but is easy to eat up.  It's working I am eating delicious wonderful fruits/veg instead of nothing basically.  It's a good trick give it a whirl...I give you tales from the office desk..

Enjoy !!!

Cooking partner

Last night I was chopping a red pepper and a strip fell on the ground and Marty instantly snatched it up.  I am always pretty leery about giving him any "people food" because he is so tiny and often cant handle big bits of anything.  So I tracked him down as he was cowering under a chair knowing that he shouldn't have it.  I kept telling him, "Drop it Marty."  Slowly as the pepper was sticking out of his mouth he lowered his head so slowly and dropped it on the ground.  This makes me very happy.  Mainly, because I (we) took special attention and time to train our dog.  Now I have a wonderfully obedient sweet dog that will listen to me if he really does eat something that could be very harmful.  That time  I wait  (we) took to train him properly could save his little life someday.  That alone is the beautiful part of pet ownership. 

This has got to be the best picture I have ever taken of my dog.  I just had to share.  I love having him in the kitchen on this lounge chair while I'm cooking.  I can't really explain it, but it is very important to me.  I think no matter where we live and no matter how long Ray and I have him I will always have a special, comfortable, wonderful place in my kitchen for him that he loves.  


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What's wrong with America...

This is what is wrong with America.  This is so wrong.  We should not be putting cookies in coffee!!! It's digusting.  It makes me enranged because children will see this and silly parents will purchase it just to keep their children happy.  Try an apple!

This is why there is an obesity problem and we are the fattest country in the whole world!  I apologize in advance for the rant.

 

Best !!!

European awesomeness

If I had one thing to do in my life where I wouldn't need or worry about money I would move to some European city and have a trail mix bar.  I would sit on the side of the road, in a busy shopping district, or where ever customers were and sell my goods.  I would craft certain gifts for sale and educate customers on all the beautiful things that can be put in a proper trail mix. 

This was one of my favorite stops on our trip to London.  We just stumbled upon it.  Those are often the coolest things when traveling don't you think? Those things when you look at your partner or travel mate and say, "Oh wow look at that!  Let's stop!" 






















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Great vegan / gluten free burger recipe

 Adapted from: I Believe I Can Fry

Summer is officially here and to begin it this is a wonderful alternative to grilling burgers this summer.  It is a well balanced, lightly spiced, hearty burger.   It is also gluten free, dairy free, and meat free.  

I ended up broiling them in the oven to get them crispy all over.  To serve them I used the deli flats that are very common right now.  I also made a dairy free mayo with cilantro and lime in it to spread on the buns.  Recipe below

Combine the following ingredients in a large bowl 

1. 15 oz can of black beans, mush them up with a large fork 
2. 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chiles. 
3.  2 cloves of diced garlic. 
4. 1 tsp of onion powder 
5. 2 scallions, sliced thin 
6. 1 cup of shredded carrots, I also diced them up in a small food processor. 
7. 1 cup of cilantro, chopped finely
8. 2 cups of oats, pulse these a few times in the food processor too.

For the cilantro lime mayo 
1. 2-3 tbs of Trader Joes dairy free/eggless mayo 
2. 2 tbs of dried cilantro
3. juice of one lime

Mix up with your hands and make flattened out patties just like you would hamburgers. 

Bake in the oven at 400 until brown and crisp all over.   I think it took me about 20 minutes and I flipped them halfway through. 

Best 

1,095 days of wedded bliss

I have found being married to be pretty easy.  Tell that to someone who has been married for 30-40 years and they may have a different story.  I knew from the get go that we were two very independent people that just happened to be in a relationship then to be married a few years later.  The independence and empowerment I have from being in a solid and wonderful relationship is what I cherish most.  I dont feel guilty for saying that either because I know that he feels the same and we are both more than okay with it! Along with that we always celebrate the very special days such as anniversaries, valentines day, and sometimes birthday's with just a very special meal at home.  The gift we try to give each other during those times is to just spend quality time together.  


On this year's anniversary meal the menu was delicious and well worth the time spent! 


For dinner 

• A fresh garden salad 
• Fairly self explanatory.  But you should try fresh fennel on top!
• Creamy wine chicken.  
• I am not sure what this is really called, but I sort of made it up on the fly.  It is wonderfully simple and I believe that is the major reason why it was so amazing.  Any dish that has less that 3 ingredients cant be beat!
• Take as many chicken breasts as you need and flatten them a little to ensure they will cook evenly. 
• Salt and pepper both sides. 
• Sear them on both sides in a frypan so they get all brown and golden.
• Place a cover on top and a put about 1/2 cup of white wine.  Let the wine cook off and steam the chicken through the rest of the way until its fully cooked. Then place it on a cutting board and cut into chunks. 
• Then return to the pan and add about 1/2 cup or more of white wine.  Let that cook a little then add in about a 1/2 cup of light cream.  Then the sauce simmer down a little and it will thicken up.  Once the sauce is thickened up its ready to serve!

• Spring hash 
•  a bunch of fingerling potatoes, a bunch of asparagus, a small pack of pancetta, one onion chopped, 4-5 cloves of garlic minced, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil.  
• Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Then desert is another story.  This is the fanciest thing I have ever made.  Put it this way anything that has you scraping the inside of a vanilla bean, whipping up a custard, and flambeing apples with brandy is well worth the time!  It is apple and spice bread pudding. 

• Brioche buns from trader joes worked beautifully for this.  Rip it into chunks and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until it gets all toasty and brown. 
• Heat 4 tbs of butter in a fry pan.  Add in 2 large granny smith apples chopped along with 2/3 cup sugar.  Also add in about 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp of cinnamon. 
• Let the apples cook down and get nice and brown and syrupy.  Then add in 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup of brandy. 
• Now comes the fun part light that pan on fire!  Well, be safe and just gently tilt the pan and light the brandy up so it cooks off.  Don't worry it will go out in a few seconds.
• Then beat 4 eggs, 3 cups of milk, the scrapings or innards of one vanilla bean, and 1/2 cup of sugar.
• Throw everything into a large bowl and let it sit for about 5-7 minutes. 
• Then pour into a large baking dish and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. 
• Enjoy! 

Enjoy the sweet moments in life and know that there is no reason to buy unnecessary junk when being with each other is the most important thing. 

Best !

Over the last year a lot has happened.  I have moved from Maine back to Rhode Island and through that and many more transitions it has been difficult to update and process new posts under this outlet.  I have realized during the last year how much I do miss doing it.  I also miss being able to direct family and friends to recipes on my blog when they ask about a lunch or dinner I am obsessively raving about.  So I am going to try, try, and try again to make the time and process new posts over time.  But over the last year I have made lots of strides especially in new cooking endeavors. 

I learned how to make sushi somewhat properly. 

My husband and I traveled to London for 2 1/2 weeks.  We have both always wanted to go and we made it work.  I have always loved that about traveling.  There are so many ways to save on travel.  It really just doesn't need to be as expensive as people make it out to be. We rented an apartment and bought groceries to cook at home.  That alone saved a tremendous amount of money for us.  The digs weren't anything spectacular, but they suited us just fine. 

We also got to enjoy some delicious treats at the world famous Harrods !

For it being our first time that either of us had traveled to Europe we had pretty wild experience and won't forget a moment of it.  

We capped off our trip with a delicious bench picnic in Hyde Park.  It was an amazing way to have a final send off in the bright slightly cloudy daylight hours of central London.

I wanted desperately to buy french macaroons at Harrods for our bench picnic.  Little did I know that I would be spending  15 British pounds on them which is about a little under $30.00.  It was a splurge for sure, but looking back on it I don't regret it for a single second.  With flavors like dark chocolate cherry and pistachio salted caramel how can you say no?

It was a one in a million trip for us that I am happy to share a little snippet of it for you all. 

 The other somewhat major event was that my brother had a baby (well my sister in law actually did the baby having) but nevertheless I now how a beautiful wonderful nephew.  I am finally an auntie! 

As you can see I am pretty proud of it !!! 

Today is also our wedding anniversary.  We have officially been married three solid years.  And as my husband said today via facebook, "I have been married to my wife for three years today.  That's 1,095 days of sharing laughter, laughter that I get paid for....she is going to owe me so much money."  Anyone that knows what Ray does for a living will completely understand this statement and how important and beautiful it is to me.  see....Ray Harrington Comedy 


So even though a year has passed I am going to get working on some new recipes, tutorials, and general daily, weekly, and monthly news as we move through life in a productive and caring manner. 


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