VEGETARIAN SINGAPORE NOODLES(can be veganized)

The "cocktail)of Lyrica, Tramadol, and Flexeril, along with the cortisone shots, seem to be doing a good job of keeping me relatively painfree, depressionfree, as well as giving me a lot more energy. For the most part I'm betternatured at work, and quite a bit more productive, too. We won't talk about home, ok? LOL! Actually, I did such a good job on my week of "30 Minutes," that things are still in good shape as far as laundry and dishes go, and The Routine takes care of the bedroom and the bathroom. So my little home looks company-ready. My biggest problem now is the stacks of books and magazines I have, lol. And the fact that I don't know where to start reading!! And when can I do a alittle craft project I have in mind? Not to mention getting the craft room itself in order, sigh. I have TOO MANY THINGS TO DO, and not enough time to do them in, sigh. I'm going to try to convince my boss to let me work either 5pm-5am or 4pm-4am. three nights a week(36 hours)and be off Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I sincerely think I'd like that, but, don't know if he'll go for it, or even if I'd reallylike it once I got it, lol.

So, instead of worrying about schedules, etc., let's talk about food, shall we? This Noodle recipe just plain sounded good, as well as fairly easy, and I just happened to have all the ingredients needed. I found it on About.com in the vegetarian pages, posted there by the site's blogger, Jolinda Hackett, who found it in the forum from a poster named Siddhi.

................................................VEGETARIAN SINGAPORE NOODLES..........................................

2Tbs. olive oil

1 each diced green pepper, and red or yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

Chili garlic sauce, to taste(I used about a half tablespoonful, and for me, 'twas plenty, lol.

3 Tbs. curry powder

2-3 Tbs. soy sauce

Egg noodles for four people, already cooked(Vegans: Use eggless noodles, or, rice.)

Saute bell pepper, onion, garlic, and chili garlic sauce in olive oil for a few minutes(in a medium sized pan, over medium heat, it takes about five minutes, and the onions will be a sort of translucent yellowish colour. I know I'm not very specific here, but, um, hey: Neither was Ms. Hackett, ok?), add the cooked noodles and mix well. Add the curry powder and the soy sauce and enjoy your Singapore Noodles.

Like I said, this just plain sounds good, as is, right? Well, you know me, I'm not going to leave a recipe the way it is, or at least, not often, and this wasn't one of those "not often" times, lol. When I cooked the onions, peppers, and garlic, I also added about two good handsful of presliced mushrooms, diced, some roasted red peppers from a jar, diced, some shredded carrots(about two good-sized ones), and a couple stalks of celery. All of this I sauteed with the onions, peppers, and garlic. I added 2 heaping tablespoonsful of curry, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and should've added more of each. Even so, this was really good, I enjoyed it, and ate it twice: The first time over Basmati rice cooked with coconut milk(helps take the fire out of the chili paste...stuff is REALLY hot, believe you me, and the second time, over a baked potato. For this meal, I actually preferred the rice, in spite of my love of potatoes. If you try this, let me know if you like it, ok? Until next time, Happy Eating!!!

Chana Masala(vegan)

The holiday season finally came to an end, and boy howdy, am I ever glad!!! We were so busy at work, and my schedule was so screwed up, I almost lost my mind, and came close to a meltdown a couple times. Managed to hold up, tho, and now I have three days off in a row!!!! I don't have to go back to work until Saturday morning, and I'm definitely grateful, believe me! The best part is that I have NO plans of any kind, and that means that I don't even have to so much as open the door if I choose not to, lol.

Monday morning I had a bone density test, and then a bunch of x-rays taken, mostly my lower back and hips, but a few of my hands. Tuesday I came home from work, and my rheumatologist's nurse was on my answering machine, telling me that the blood work they did last week was fine, and the bone density test came out fine, too. But. As for the results of the x-rays, the doctor wants to discuss those with me on my next appointment, which is the 18th, so, I'm guessing that he's not happy with those results. More will be revealed, lol.

Sometimes when I'm browsing thru recipes, one will jump out at me, looking so good, sounding so easy, and with ingredients that I just happen to have, that I have to try that recipe right then, and this one is one of those. Chana Masala is from India, and I found it on about.com's vegetarian pages. It's basically a chickpea and spinach curry, and I was very happy that I tried it. About.com didn't say how many servings, but I reheated it four times, and got seven servings for myself from it, so let's round it down to six, just to be on the safe side.

Chana Masala

1 can chickpeas in water(garbanzo beans)or 1 1/2 C precooked and 1/2C water

1/2 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

3 Tbs. olive oil

Juice from 1 lemon(about 2 Tbs.)

1/2 tsp. EACH curry powder, coriander powder, cumin, garam masala

1 lg. bunch spinach...or...2 handsful, rinsed

In large skillet, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, 3-5 minutes

Add chickpeas straight from the can, including all the water. "Add spices and lemon juice, cover, and simmer about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding more water if needed, until chickpeas are cooked and soft.

Reduce heat, add spinach, and cover. Allow spinach to wild for 2-4 minutes.

Serve immediatelyl

Note: For heartier Chana Masala, toss in some tofu, cubed, with the chick peas, and serve over rice.

Ok, now I'll tell you what I did, lol. You know I never follow a recipe exactly the way it's written. First of all, I didn't have any garam masala(I've tried to find it at Kroger, and haven't had any luck), so I used a whole teaspoonful of curry powder instead of the half spoonful. For spinach, I used frozen, about two handsful. And instead of tofu cubes, I used three small potatoes, peeled and cut into about 1/2 inch cubes, so that meant that I extended the cooking time, to about 20 minutes, I guess, until the potatoes were done.

This stuff is sooooo good, and while it's cooking, the smell is enough to drive ya crazy, it's so nice. Try it, you'll like it!!! Until next time, Happy Eating!!!

Warm Rotini Ssalad w/Balsamic Vinaigrette(Vegan); BacoBits; Coconut Veggie Curry(vegan)

Today is the fourth day in a row that I've been out of work. This could become a habit, lol. I so enjoy being home, but, the rent must be paid, one needs to buy groceries, pay the utilities, etc., so one goes back to work tomorrow morning. Sigh. The reason that I took Thursday off, is that I'm in a bit of an arthritic/fibro flare-uup:swollen hands and fingers, back aches, ankles hurt, etc., so being home hasn't been as much fun as I would've liked. Sigh again, lol. But, I found out yesterday that my boss has allegedly changed my schedule...yet again...so that I will be off on M-W-F, which is fine by me, because it means that after a horrendous two days over the weekend, I no longer will have to drag in again on Monday mornings. That's good. That's very good! Anyway, I'll find out for sure when I go to work in the AM.

When I bought groceries this past Tuesday, I found a really inexpensive brand of coconut milk, so I splurged and bought four cans. Last night I came up with a way to use one of them, a vegetable coconut curry. Not the most original thing, I realize, as I've seen recipes for something very similar all over the net, but I did this one without a written recipe, and it turned out wonderfully.

JB's Coconut Vegetable Curry
A couple good handsful of frozen cauliflower
A good handful of frozen green peas
About two medium carrots, sliced into very thin "coins"
1 can coconut milk
2 tsp. curry powder, more or less to YOUR taste(two worked fine for me)
To taste: ginger(about 1/4 tsp.), garlic, nutmeg(about 1/4 tsp.), black pepper, cinnmon and sugar(about a tsp. of a mix for making toast)

Put the carrots in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil over high heat. When boiling, turn heat down, and allow to simmer for at least 45 minutes, or until carrots are as tender as YOU want them. Oh...the pan should be covered. When the carrots are just about done, add the frozen cauliflower and green peas, bring back to a boil, and simmer a few minutes, or until the cauliflower and peas are tender. When they're as tender as YOU want them, drain most of the water from the pan, and pour in the whole can of coconut milk, along with all the spices. Keep the pan over medium-low heat until everything is heated thru. Serve over rice(I used a baked potato). Enjoy.

I thought this was wonderful, and it could easily become one of my favorite comfort foods. It's rich, mildly spicy, creamy, and just plain good, lol. It made enough for two people for one meal, but for me, it made enough for two meals, so it's going to be my supper again tonight. Will I make it again? Undoubtedly!!!

This pasta salad comes from the "Vegetarian Times: Low-Fat and Fast" cookbook, published in 1997. It's one of the ones I've checked out of the library. The way I happened to make this salad was that I simply closed my eyes, flipped thru the pages a few times, and then just stopped and opened my eyes: there was the salad, so that was supper one night this past week, lol. I was lucky that time, but then I tried to "blind pick" again, from a couple other cookbooks, and didn't fare so well, as I came up with some that had ingredients that I just plain dislike, or that I didn't have. Anyway, I did the best I could with the salad, even tho there were a few things I didn't have, lol.

Warm Rotini Salad w/Balsamic Vinaigrette
8 pz. uncooked rotini

Vinaigrette: 1/3C chopped basil
3 Tbs. Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Salad: Nonstick cooking spray
2C sliced fresh mushrooms
1 med. yellow bell pepper, seeded, and cut into strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2C halved cherry tomatoes
1/4C(1 oz.)cubed mozzeralla(optional)Vegans can omit entirely, or use a vegan "cheese," such as the Tofutti brand(which I think isn't very good, btw.)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Prepare rotini according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine vinaigrette ingredients. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.
For the salad, spray a medium nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Cook the mushrooms, bell pepper, and garlic, stirring, over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cook, stirring constantly, until heated through.
Drain the rotini. In a large bowl, combine rotini and vegetable mixture. Add vinaigrette and chesse, if using; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Makes six servings.

Well, ok, there's the real recipe, which to me, looks really tasty. But, I had to make some changes: I don't like basil, and I didn't have any mushrooms, yellow bell peppers, or cherry tomatoes. So, uh, what did I have, right? LOL! Ok. Instead of the mushrooms, I diced up half a medium onion and sauteed that with a green bell pepper I just happened to have, as well as...ready for this?...8 frozen Brussels sprouts, and one small carrot, sliced into really thin matchsticks. I had some frozen yellow tomatoes from the bounty that my co-worker had given me earlier this year, so I let two of those thaw. When a frozen tomato thaws, btw, the peels slips off as easily as if you had done the boiling water procedure with it. Anyway. I let the tomatoes sit in a colander while everything else was sauteeing, and then chopped 'em up and put 'em in the pan with the sprouts, onions, carrots, etc. And, when everything was tender enough to suit me, I finished the salad according to the recipe...except that the vinaigrette didn't have basil, it had about 1/6C of dried oregano, and the vinaigrette was wonderful, seriously.

Ok, so I royally changed the recipe, but believe it or not, it was really good. Oh, yeah, I did have some vegan mozzeralla, so I used a couple slices of that, plus I threw in some vegetarian smoked provolone. Goat cheese would've been absolutely fantastic in this, but I didn't have any. The salad fed me for a couple days, but after the second day, I didn't want any more, I got tired of it. I don't know if I'll make it again or not, but I think I will, hopefully with goat cheese and fresh tomatoes. I'm also wondering if a different type of dressing would be as good as the Balsamic vinaigrette was?

Now, about those BacoBits! I just happened to see them at Kroger the other day, didn't have them on my list, and wasn't looking for them. A container of the BettyCrocker brand just jumped off the shelf into my grocery cart, lol, so I had no choice but to buy it and take it home. As near as I can tell, they are vegan, which means that everyone can use them. The only meal I've made with them so far was a "breakfast for dinner" type of thing: Fried 'taters with onions and BacoBits, and then some eggs cracked over the top of the 'taters, a cover put on the skillet, and the eggs allowed to cook and set, sort of a cross between over light, poached, and sunny side up, lol. Good? OHHELLYEAH! Very good, and I ate every single bite of it, too. I think that the Bits would be good in an omelette...in scrambled eggs...in turnip/collard/mustard greens, or even in green beans. I am really pleased that I brought them home and tried them.

One more thing and I'll go quietly away and let you get on with your day. I've added another website to "JB'S Favorites," on the top lefthand of the page. The site is another one that has the recipe ingredient search function, i.e., put in the ingredients, hit search, and it brings up recipes using those ingredients. That's how I happened to make the veggie curry last night: I entered chickpeas and coconut milk, and it brought up a chickpea coconut milk curry. I didn't especially like the looks of that, but thought that coconut and curry would be good, so figured out the rest of it from stuff I had here already. Anyway, the site is www.foodieview.com
Give it a try.

Until next time, Happy Eating!!!

Seriously Easy/Quick Dinner Ideas; My new cookbooks!!!

I am thrilled to pieces, because as of yesterday, I have three of the four cookbooks I wanted the most: "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian," by Mark Bittnam; "Veganomicon," by Isa Chandra Muskowitz and Terry Hope Romero; and "The NEW Vegetarian Epicure," by Anna Thomas. The only one I'm still missing is on backorder at Barnes & Noble's online site, "Vegan With A Vengeance," by Isa Chandra Muskowitz. So now, of course, I can't wait to go grocery shopping this week, as I've already found some recipes I want to try.

The ideas I'm posting here came from a Woman's Day magazine. I've only tried one of them, the garlic couscous one, but the others sound pretty darned good, easy, and quick. One of the hardest things about being a vegetarian is that it's not usually a quick process to fix something to eat...or at least, it's not for me. Some of the cookbooks I've read have had a section for what they call "fast food," but the time involved is usually about 45 minutes. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't call 45 minutes all that fast. As far as I'm concerned, fast means 30 minutes or less. That's just my opinion, yours may differ, it's fine by me!

None of these are actual recipes, they are literally ideas, and you'll have to figure out the seasoning amounts for yourself and your family. Basically everything will be "to taste." So, here we go:

Prepare garlic couscous as the box directs. Saute in olive oil onion, red bell pepper, shredded carrot, raisins, and cumin until onion is soft. Mix and fluff w/couscous. I used 1/2tsp. of cumin, and added 1/2tsp. of cinnamon and a whole TBS. of powdered ginger. It was fantastic...and yes, actually fast. Seems like it took less than 20 minutes to get it all together, including dicing the onion and shredding the carrot.

Next one: Mix tofu w/hoisin sauce, scallions, and ground ginger. Heat in a skillet. Can add minced garlic, red bell pepper, and shredded carrots. Haven't tried this one yet, but it does sound good.

Another one: Simmer diced zucchini, chopped onions and canned diced tomatoes w/herbs until zucchini is tender. Serve over hot rice, with goat cheese crumbled on top. Sounds good to me, haven't tried it yet.

One more: Saute sliced apples and onions in oil until tender. Stir in sauerkraut until hot. Pour over grilled tofu slices, seasoned w/sage, salt, and pepper. Spread brown mustard on bread, and make sammiches. Sorta kinda like a Rueben, and I think I'd like it if I ever actually tried it...which I will, some day.

Last one: Saute sliced bell peppers and onions in oil until tender, stir in unsweetened coconut milk, frozen peas, curry powder or paste, and salt. Boil, then simmer until slightly thickened. Serve over rice, noodles, or potatoes.

So, there ya have it, and until next time, Happy Eating.