Hi Folks

A lot of people in Austin have been talking this place up (Food is the New Forty has a great post). The idea of kimchi on a taco is/was/will always be enticing to me.  Thus the photographic explanation of my visit begins.

Today’s location, the corner of 2d and Congress.

ORDER UP!

About 5-10 people were lined up the same time I was. I eavesdropped on conversations while waiting (like I normally do).  It sounded like most people worked in the area and were excited to see a new, brightly colored lunch spot. They were all first-timers like myself.

What I Ordered:

Fresh outta the oil spiced french fries (there was old a creamy/spicy dipping sauce).

2 Tofu tacos with extra extra kimchi.

I was told extra kimchi would only make these tacos better; I went for it.  There are so many flavors going on in these tacos. It’s kind of ridiculous- but in a good way. The sesame seeds taste like they were very recently roasted, very nutty and fresh. Cheese is the only thing I might cut out of this Korean Mexican creation, though it did help reduce the spicy factor of those french fries.  I’d say at 2 bucks for one taco this is a steal.  (shush don’t tell them that)

Only one warning:

Cilantro or kimchi haters beware- this place aint for you! I happen to love both so I’m good.

Chi’lantro BBQ (veg friendly yay)

Teddy

PS- I’m hoping this is place is open during sxsw!

The last week I have been focusing on doing my demo recipe for school.  It’s a bit nerve racking for me.  Each student must create a recipe, demonstrate it in front of a group of peers/people from the community, as well as write a paper explaining the origin of the recipe and why you choose the ingredients you did.  I have begun the recipe portion. I am making a dessert (of course); pie. The recipe is based on my grandma’s pie recipe. She used to make for me in the summers when I would visit upstate NY.

Since I can’t exist on pie alone (believe me, I tried) I’ve been cooking up a storm lately. Before work yesterday I fried up this tofu with basil, onions and sriracha sauce.

Ingredients

1 small block of FIRM tofu (pressed between paper towels/dish towels for 20 mins)

1/2 onion finely diced

2 tablespoons thai basil chopped

1 teaspoon sriracha (or to taste)

1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce if you don’t have shoyu)

After pressing your tofu for 20 minutes, slice it into bite sized pieces. Heat a skillet with about a 1/4 inch of oil in it (we’re frying that tofu folks!). Once your oil has come to temperature carefully add your tofu one piece at a time until the entire pan is covered/full.  Let the tofu fry for 2-5 minutes then flip once golden on one side. Let the 2nd side fry for another 2 minutes or so. Add in your onions, shoyu & sriracha and sautee until the onions are thoroughly cooked.  You may run out of oil- that’s fine, simply add in a 1/4 cup of water and let it cook out of the dish. At the last moment add all your basil in and you’re done!

I had mine for lunch at work with brown rice and some steamed veggies. It reheated well but fresh out of the pan is always best.

K I’m off to the kitchen again (black beans w homemade tortillas today) then it’s time for work.

See you soon!

Busy holiday season?

I’d say so!  I’ve been to a wedding in Brazil, a reception in Austin, CA for a brief layover (aka Christmas) and one of my best friends had a baby LESS THAN a week ago. Exciting times in the life of Teddy, I tell you.

Well, when I returned to 20 degree Austin from 90 degree Brazil the only  thing I could think to make was soup- A LOT of soup. This soup has all the amazing benefits of miso and a mild flavor for those who may not like miso.  I am a fan of miso for it’s non dairy probiotic properties.  My biggest warning when it comes to miso is: DON’T BOIL YOUR MISO… that ruins the helpful probiotics.  A light simmer is fine but a rolling boil and *BOOM* byebye probiotic benefits.

Ingredients

cauliflower (about 2-4 cups chopped)

sweet yellow onion (1 med onion- half moons or finely diced)

white miso (1-2 teaspoons)

salt (1 pinch)

safflower oil (table spoon)

water (to cover ingredients)

Saute onion in oil and salt until translucent.  Add cauliflower and cover the mixture with water. The water should have the cauliflower floating slightly but it should be about even with the veggies. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes; the cauliflower should fall off when you poke it with a fork

Let the soup cool for 5 mins then blend (blender, food processor, hand blender, or food mill) until smooth. If the soup is extremely thick at this point you need to add more water to thin it out and replace onto burner so we can reheat it and add the miso.  Take your 1-2 teaspoons of white miso and mix in a small bowl or cup with a 1/4 cup water until it dissolves.  Add the miso mixture to your blended soup.  Bring to a light boil (simmer!) for another 5 minutes.

Soups on!  I like to top mine off with something green (parsley, green onion, chives…)

Let me know if you get a chance to try it.

Teddy

whole wheat crackers with sea salt

Happy holidays folks!

Has anyone ever been to the PA  Amish country and tried any of their cheeses or spreads? Well, my office was lucky enough to receive a HUGE basket of goodies from there. Let me tell you, if you can try any of their goods, please DO.  We’ve yet to open a cheese, mustard or fudge that we haven’t LOVED.  The first day we opened the basket I ran to the store and got us a bunch of french bread to eat it with.

Then I started to feel a lil more ambitious.  I’ve never made crackers before but we were in a time of NEED so I sucked it up and decided to give it a try- buying crackers and bread for 14 people gets expensive.   I turned to my trusty friend the internet to help me find an easy, non-intimidating recipe.  Anyone ever read the 101 cookbooks blog?  She’s got a fantastic database of healthy recipes! Any how, this is based on her Olive Oil Cracker Recipe.  I changed the flours and seasonings but used her recipe as a sort of base guide.

My ingredients are as follows:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat graham flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/2 tablespoons dried Italian Herbs

1 tablespoon large grain sea salt (for sprinkling on top of your crackers before they bake)

1 cup warm water (you may need a 1/4 cup more than this because of the wheat graham)

1/3 cup olive oil

The recipe called for a pasta machine and the use of a mixer.  I did it all by hand and it was quite easy so I’d say it isn’t worth dirtying all those extra dishes.

Mix the flours with the salts.

Then add in the olive oil and stir with a fork or your fingers until the dough forms pea-sized balls.

Add the water- a cup- and work until your mixture forms a dough the dough should not be too sticky or wet (have about a 1/4 of a cup on the side in case you should need more)

I formed my dough into 8 round balls so it would be easier to roll out with a rolling pin.

Let the dough rest for about 20 mins while my oven heated to 375 degrees.

Roll one of your dough balls out as thin as you can get it. Tip: I like to roll the dough on parchment paper then move the parchment straight unto a baking sheet and into the oven.

Poke the dough with a fork so you won’t get any bubbles then sprinkle with sea salt and into the oven

Bake for 7-8 minutes

Flip your dough then cook another 3 mins

I cooked in batches (two of the dough balls at a time)

Let your crackers fully cool on a cooling rack before trying to break them up or eating them (they get more crisp if they cool off)

Bring into work (or keep for yourself) and enjoy. I wish I could tell you how long they keep for but since I brought them into work, they lasted me less than 24 hours!  I’m honestly wondering why I’d ever purchase crackers again because these were so easy.

Hope you have the time to make them!

Teddy

This year, Thanksgiving was extra special for me because it was my favorite holiday AND my actual birthday. Since I planned on going out with friends on Wednesday night, I decided to do as much cooking as possible beforehand. It was a good thing I did too.  I ended up staying out far too late and felt useless for most of Thanksgiving.

Luckily, I had 2 separate Thanksgivings; one with my family (thurs) and one with my vegan friends (fri).

My menu (for all the dishes of the 2 thanksgivings):

1) kabocha soup- made day before and reheated on stove

2) pumpkin muffins- made morning of thanksgiving

3) jalapeño cornbread dressing with tempeh- cornbread was made several days in advance. the day of I just needed to warm everything up in the oven.

4) maple glazed sweet potatoes with pecans-  2nd thanksgiving done day of

5) pumpkin bread- 2nd thanksgiving done day of

6) raw coconut date bites- 2nd thanksgiving done day of (easiest dish BY FAR)

The kabocha soup was the best liked by my family.  Not sure they were in love with my jalapeño cornbread dressing with tempeh but I liked it.  There was definitely room for improvement. I wasn’t on point with my camera this year and only got a few pics.

Pumpkin muffins can easily be made in advance but I like them warm so I got up early to make sure we had them ready.

My 2nd thanksgiving had a crowd of people to distract me from taking pictures (that’s a good thing for me though). I’m so happy I got to take a week off to visit my friends and family in CA.  It had been too long and my last trip was so rushed.

See all you guys soon

Teddy

A coworker and friend of mine loves any and everything pumpkin related. Last week was her birthday and she turned the young age of…. PFF I’m not telling you how old she is! Ladies don’t tell that sort of thing. However, I will let you know that I prepared a batch of  mini pumpkin cupcakes for her big day.  I don’t like to brag but the feedback I got from these was phenomenal.  Comments ranged from “Good god! I want a whole cake of this” to “wow- these are good… I just ate 4 of them”

I suppose you want photographic proof that I actually made cupcakes that good eh?

What?! You want the recipe too?  ok, ok.

My recipe is based on this:

Vegan Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

Changes I made:

1) I used a mixture of maple syrup and white sugar- no brown sugar at all.

2) I added some freshly ground cloves

3) I used whole wheat flour instead of white

4) I cut the sugar in the frosting in HALF (4 cups is WAY too much sugar)

5) I used about half the amount of butter called for in the frosting as well.

Add steps 1-5 to the linked recipe and BAM- fall in a cupcake of happiness.

Make them. People will thank you.

Teddy

Ps- If you want to make these soy free (Molly ahem ahem) just top them with the cashew cream recipe.

I MET ALTON BROWN!!!

I can not BEGIN to tell you how excited I was to be invited to this event. A HUGE thank you to WholeFoods for hosting! Since high school, I’ve been watching Good Eats with my family.  I have more dvds than I’d like to admit and a couple of his other books as well.

Picture time:

What a nice welcome! Loving the cover of the book.  They’re my favorite episodes as well.

I was SO nervous at this point.  Yes, I brought some dvds with me. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Here’s how the convo went.

Me: “Hi nice to meet you Alton.  You’re awesome but you probably already knew that.”

Alton: “Aw, I don’t think so but it’s nice to hear someone say it! I’m a big dork really”

Brief argument about the difference between nerds, dorks and geeks takes place and I giggle, become even MORE star struck and take this picture.

Posing for the camera. Can you see that? His arm is totally around me… LOL I kid, I kid (but it IS people).  Wondering what the signatures on the books said?

“Cook smart”

Onto the nervous eating now:

Good Eats CAKE! Chocolate, of course.

Cheese filled tarts with caramelized onions on top.

Mushroom filled filo purses

A variety of chips- taro, sweet potato, etc.

Group shot with fellow bloggers and our freshly signed books- the cover folds out into a poster.

I’ve started tho thumb through the book and all the extra tid-bits of information and pictures that didn’t make it into the shows are fantastic!

Time to lay my still star stuck head to bed.  See you soon.

Teddy

Horchata

What’s my twist on Horchata you ask?

Since I’d never made it before I did a little research online and found quite a few recipes for horchata that didn’t require you to COOK your rice. They instructed to simply place the rice in a blender and make it into a powder.  NOPE.  That’s not working for me.  I cooked my brown rice in an excessive amount of liquid, a ratio of 8 to 1 I believe. Only then would I agree to blend it and strained it.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve had horchata that is grainy and plain gross.  I am convinced that cooking the rice in this manner prevents that. Is that all?  Is THAT the twist?  Pff- oh there’s more….

Coconut milk.

You know it’s one of my secret weapons in the kitchen. I couldn’t hold back from using a lil here either.  To summarize:

1) Cook your rice people!

2) Sneak in a lil bit of coconut for extra fatty/flavor goodness

Now, an official recipe is not yet formed but here are my “measurements” from this trial round

1/2 cup sweet brown rice

4 cups water

1/2 can coconut milk

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup agave (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a pot and let simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours.  Turn off and allow to cool. Once the mixture has cooled down remove cinnamon stick and blend well and strain through a very fine strainer or cheesecloth.

In the fall I like to drink this warm. It’s like a soothing cinnamon milk drink .  You can also serve ice cold in summer. Good all year round!

Teddy

I assure you all I’m still cooking, everyday! Last weekend was particularly excited for me because a friend from school asked me to help out with a get-together she was cooking for.

Would you like to see pictures of what we made?  Pff OF COURSE you would (why do I even ask?)!

[View with PicLens]

 

We had black bean toasties, brownies and bliss balls. The whole crowd loved the spread and thanked us many many times. Looks like my first involvement in the catering world was a great success, no?

I’m still thinking that personal chef is more my style. I’m definitely open to anything at this point though. Hopefully I’ll get my foot in the personal chef door soon

See you later
Teddy

I have bought jicama several times and ended up not knowing WHAT the heck to do with it.  I’ll usually end up adding it to a salad or slicing it into strips and eating it with some homemade hummus.

A few weeks ago I went to a tasting at Gumbos. The dish that stood head and shoulders over every other contained spicy jicama slaw.  I’ve been dreaming of ways to replicate it and vegan-ize it since then.

Success!  Ingredients include:

Jicama, Tahini, Sriracha, Green Onion, Cilantro (optional) and LIME (quite a bit)

Of course, no measurements this time but the ingredients were the toughest part to figure out for me. I challenge you to throw them together and see how they work.  This went well with my black bean, sweet potato, and avocado tacos.

I also made some surprisingly good  horchata as well.  More on that recipe to come.

Have a great week!

Teddy