Vegan friendly stuffed peppers!
January 24, 2011 § 1 Comment
Hey all,
I know it’s been awhile… I’ve been settling into my new job, new city, new social life, new dating life…. It’s all very exciting. But I have neglecting my poor little food blog. I assure you, I have been cooking and baking plenty. I bake nearly once a week for my department at work, and they are equally grateful and scornful that I keep bringing in delectable baked goods. They think I’m trying to fatten them up or something. I’ve made chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cheesecake, and even some carrot cake cupcakes last week. Soooooo good. I am really taking advantage of my new, red Kitchen Aide mixer I just got. Love it.
So tonight for dinner, I decided I would try my hand at some stuffed peppers. I didn’t look up any recipe specifically, and when I went to the store, I just bought some ingredients that sounded like they would go great together. I realized as I am cooking it, that it is not only vegetarian friendly, but vegan friendly as well! Here’s a quick breakdown of what I’ve done:
2 red bell peppers, tops cut off, seeds removed
Half a chopped brown onion
6-7 small cloves of garlic, minced
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 can black beans, lightly drained
a handful of cilantro, chopped
3/4 cup vegetable stock, divided
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Monterey jack/mozzarella/ cheese of your choosing (optional)
Preheat oven to 400F.
Prepare your brown rice ahead of time.
In a large skillet, with a little olive oil, cook the onion and garlic, til onion is soft.
Then, add half a cup of vegetable stock, black beans and tomatoes to pan. Add cumin, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne. Cook for 4-5 minutes til tomatoes begin to break down. Pour mixture in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cups cooked rice to mixture. Mix in cilantro.
Cut the tops off of 2-4 red bell peppers. Removed seeds and any excess innards. Fill the peppers with the mixture. Stand up in a baking dish, and pour the remaining 1/4 cup vegetable stock in dish. Put the dish in the oven on the lowest rack possible.
Bake for 40-50 minutes. If adding cheese, add cheese to the top of each pepper in last 10 minutes of baking.
I’m sure adding corn or extra chopped bell pepper would also be a delicious addition!
Voila! Delicious, hearty, vegetarian or vegan friendly dinner!
Enjoy!
Food roadtrip!
December 5, 2010 § 4 Comments
Yesterday, a few friends and I decided to venture north of San Francisco to the beautiful Napa Valley. A close friend of ours who is living abroad now suggested we look up a burger joint called Gott’s Roadside. Their tag line is “Tray Gourmet”.
First of all, the drive was beautiful. It may be a hour and a half out of the city, but the drive is so serene and gorgeous it doesn’t even matter. When we were pulling up to the restaurant there was a huge line to order, so we knew this place was gonna be good. People online have dubbed it as the best burger in Napa Valley.
We got in line, got our menus and looked at what to order. I went with the classic cheeseburger and fries. You can never go wrong with that. My friends Angie and Zach ordered the Ahi Tuna burger with wasabi mayo and coleslaw. And my friend Jak ended up with the Western Bacon Blue ring… bleu cheese, onion ring, BBQ sauce, and cheddar cheese. Needless to say, we were not disappointed.
I’m a burger lover, so this was a real treat for me. If you ever make a trip to Northern California and feel like doing some wine tasting, stop off at Gott’s for a delicious classic roadside meal.
Turkey day!
November 26, 2010 § 1 Comment
Well, it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t do a post on Thanksgiving. It’s probabaly the number one food holiday in America and at my family’s house, it was no exception. This year we met at my sister’s house and all contributed to the holiday meal. My brother-in-law’s mother eats kosher, so we had ourselves a kosher turkey and made a few other kosher friendly side dishes as well. My mom was in charge of the turkey and I made a chocolate bourbon pecan pie as well as some homemade ciabatta, pancetta, mushroom stuffing.
OH, let it be known, I am not, I repeat not a vegetarian anymore, at all. Haha. I just love food too much. I still eat vegetarian as much as I can. But when I crave something, I eat it now. Here are some photos of our family’s feast. My mom’s pumpkin trifle was amaaaazing!
Cooking in S.F.!
November 15, 2010 § Leave a comment
Well, I’m all moved in! I’ve been in S.F. for two weeks now, and I finally have internet! When I moved in, my kitchen was still under construction, but it’s finally done, and I’ve already starting cooking up some new stuff.
Spinach, white bean, and pesto soup.
S.F. sourdough with chddar cheese.
Poached eggs in tomato sauce.
Poached eggs, tomato sauce, basil, on sourdough.
Pasta Alfredo with Brussels sprouts and mushrooms.
Ludo Bites 6.0 @ Max.
October 30, 2010 § 2 Comments
Last night, my friends and I were able to partake in a rare culinary event called Ludo Bites. Chef Ludo Lefebvre opens little “pop-up” restaurants once a year and only serves for a couple weeks. My friend Alberto kept me notified when reservations would open online. And we waited til the clock hit 5 pm, a refreshed for about 40 minutes until Alberto was victorious, and nabbed us a Friday night booking at 9:15. We really didn’t care when we got in, as long as we could eat some of Chef Lefebvre’s food.
The restaurant was packed, and the energy was high and I, shockingly, was the last to arrive. When I sat down, we collectively decided our best strategy was to order one of everything on the menu and share it around the table. We doubled up on a few things that were soupy or just sounded delicious. Most of us ordered the suggested “COQtails” which included a Yuzu tequila martini and Mexican mojito.
Yuzu tequila martini.
Warm baguette, with baratte smoked butter and sardine laughing cow cheese.
Hamachi, Vietnamese style.
Sea urchin roe, frozen milk, balsamic, orange broth.
Marinated mackerel, leche del tiger, baby leeks, verdolagas leaves.
Black trumpet mushroom cappuccino served under warm butternut squash soup.
Barely cooked squid noodle, pad thai, prawn, black radish.
Oriental mussels veloute, heirloom tomatoes, small fries. My favorite.
Poached-roasted foie gras, acacia honey, autumn fruits, dried rose flowers.
Scallop, celery root remoulade, red port, walnuts, passion fruit.
John Dory, potato, herbs, brocollini flowers, green jalapeno nage.
Half chicken, chorizo, poached egg, chanterelles, saffron onion soubise.
Marinated steak, Japanese whiskey, pickled vegetables, amaranth.
Warm carrot cake, coconut thai curry, mango sorbet, kaffir lime oil.
We had a great time. Yes, I broke my vegetarian-ish-ism for a night. But I can safely say, I will happily never eat foie gras again. I had one bite of steak, and I personally thought they went overboard with the whiskey. It just tasted like eating alcohol. The rest fit in nicely with my pescatarian diet. The Oriental mussels were my favorite. The flavor was insane. If you live in LA, and ever get a chance to check out Chef Lefevbvre’s food, I recommend it.
Me and Chef Lefebvre!
I ate this last night.
October 24, 2010 § 2 Comments
The Mozzarella cheesestick sandwich from Denny’s. When we ordered it, the waiter advised us not to get it because it had over 2000 calories in it. It was so good.
Lindsay is a vegetarian?
October 18, 2010 § 5 Comments
Well, it’s heading that way…
I’m not exactly sure what has made me make this change. Typically in the past, I’ve had few ethical problems with eating meat. I’ve seen a cow being slaughtered for meat in person, and I ate a hamburger for lunch after. I truly believe it’s part of the circle of life. A few weeks ago, I had multiple dreams about cooked animals, like a roasted turkey, coming back to life, and desperately trying to stand up and get out of the pan. It was really sad. I had another dream that was even more disturbing involving throwing a helpless animal away in the trash in a food wrapper. I seriously have noooo idea why these sorts of thoughts are riding through my subconscious. But needless to say, in the morning, I felt pretty affected by them. I’ve wondered in the past if I could feel something strong enough to make me a vegetarian. More than anything I’d say I’m doing it for environmental reasons. The production of meat is pretty unsustainable and terrible for the environment. So if I can be one less person participating, maybe it can help a bit.
Since then, I’ve cut out beef and pork. I’ve had turkey and chicken twice in the last week or so, and a little bit of tuna. I think if anything, I’ll become a pescatarian. But besides sushi and the occasional shrimp, I’m not much of a seafood eater anyways.
I can’t say that this will last. To be honest, I’m craving red meat like a mad woman. I tend to get anemic when I don’t get enough iron, so I’ve felt a bit fatigued in the last week. But I’m going to start more consistently taking my multi-vitamin. I guess I want to make sure above all that I’m still eating healthy. I’ve known a few vegetarians who might as well be called “cheesatarians”. I have already seen this week how easy it is to end up eating cheese pizza, fried food, pasta, and quesadillas all the time.
I’m going to make an effort to eat as healthy and well rounded as I can. And if something I really want to try comes up some day, maybe I’ll eat it, maybe I won’t. I’m not gonna call myself a vegetarian by any means. No labels. I’m gonna see where each day takes me and go with my gut…
DineLA: 3 courses of goodness.
October 13, 2010 § 4 Comments
For the past two weeks, there has been a citywide dining event in Los Angeles called DineLA, where participating restaurants have offered 3 course meals for fairly discounted prices. My friends and I have been trying to take advantage as much as we can and use it as an excuse to try some new restaurants. We have hit up 4 places so far, and they have all been pretty great.
First up was Fraiche in Culver City. I’d say my appetizer of roasted red peppers with burrata cheese and balsamic was the best part, as well as my friends’ choice of butterscotch pot de creme for dessert. At the end of dessert, Weird Al Yankovich walked into the restaurant. I love LA.
Next up was K-ZO, also in Culver City. When we arrived, since we made a reservation, we got seated in this little beaded off section which was sort of neat. I ordered the kobe beef bento box and my friend Alberto ordered the udon noodle soup. I liked this place a bit more than the first one.
Third place we went was Il Fornaio in Manhattan Beach. There are a few of these all over Southern California and even Vegas I think? It’s fairly decent Italian food, and our waiter was sort of funny…. So it was pretty good. Dessert wins out for best course here.
Our final stop (so far) has been Akasha in Culver City. This was our first dinner out. Oh man, this place was so awesome. The wine was good, the food was awesome, and the ambiance and live jazz music was the cherry on top. We all had a great dinner, and pretty much passed our food around the table the whole time. I’m so glad my friends love to eat!
Finding that perfect olive.
October 7, 2010 § 7 Comments
My dad is a picky eater. I used to be a picky eater. I realized the other day when I cooked dinner for my family, and my dad ate and enjoyed it, it made me happier than most things in this world. I LOVE when people try new things. I love when people step outside their comfort zones and open their minds to new experiences or tastes. I get such a thrill form hearing people say, “Oh, that actually was really good”. In fact, my favorite people to be around are ones that I know will be up for anything; try anything, eat anything, do anything.
I used to be as bad a picky eater as any. Anything strange or unusual was automatically considered gross to me. I pretty much lived off of grilled cheese, hamburgers, ice cream, and french fries. Then, I actually tried new things. I tried mayonnaise, then sushi and clams, then venison, broccoli, kimchi, tofu, truffles, lamb, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, poached eggs, pickled anything, kangaroo, seaweed, tuna tartar, caviar, paua, and anything else I was offered (someone offered me a chicken heart, and yes, I tried it).
Imagine life knowing exactly what you were going to eat, see, or do everyday. There would be no surprises or new experiences, and I just personally don’t see the point. What makes my life so interesting right now is knowing that I don’t know what tomorrow holds. I’m ready to be shocked by a new flavor I’ve never had before. I’m ready to be upset I waited so long to taste something (Truffles!! Holy moly!). I’m ready for something new.
Lemme just give you some advice from someone who was formerly afraid of change or anything new for that matter. Life was really dull before and it was entirely predictable. My world has opened up in more ways than I could have imagined by just opening up my mind. Try something new, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to have it again. It’s that simple. I’ve tried olives about 20 times now, and I still just don’t love them. In theory I should, according to my tastes in other foods. But I just don’t. And that’s ok. But, I’m not gonna stop trying different ones, in case I finally find that perfect olive someday. I wouldn’t want to miss out. 🙂
Fooditude 
