March 24, 2015 - Cauliflower and Paneer Curry

Reality hit this weekend when I went on a shopping therapy trip and came back totally discouraged as nothing fit. I did just get les mills combat I tried it out yesterday and really liked the workout hopefully it will at least me motivation for me to workout. I made this cauliflower and paneer curry at my parents house so I had a bigger kitchen but had to use what I could find in my parents house. They don't eat too much spice it turned out good but it would have been much better with a chili added in.

first I tried roasting the cauliflower in the toaster oven then I got impatient and put them in the grill pan. I also used the grill pan to sear the panneer. Cut into pieces and place in pan on medium heat until grill mark's appear. 

I couldn't find an onion but I really wish I had one. Blend a few cloves of garlic, a piece of ginger and
an onion. I used my mom's nutribullet.

 add some tomatoes to the mixture

 add some oil to the pot you will be cooking in. Leave on low heat if you are using whole spices add these and let them pop. add the ground spices towards the end. My first batch burned as I was too slow. Use any indian spices you like. Garam masala and tumeric was all I could find in the house. add the mixture you made above to the pan and leave on low medium heat stir frequently so it doesn't burn while you prepare the cauliflower mixture.

My cauliflower had been sitting in my fridge for a bit it didn't have the best flavour so I blended it with a bit of almond milk to try and make a cream like sauce. Substitute the paneer with tofu and you have a vegan dish.

Add cilantro to the mixture, I had to add a bit of water as well this is the nutribullet in action its very powerful. turn the heat on your pot to medium high and add this mixture and stir.
Add the paneer to the pot and let the mixture boil. Then turn the heat off and enjoy.

March 3, 2015 - Rice Coker Dessert Apples

I am still finding it difficult to get into a routine with working out and eating right. I don't really know what to make these days feel free to suggest things you want me to try making.  Beachbody now has workouts available online so I am will likely be trying out some new home workouts hopefully will keep me a little motivated. Today I made dessert apples in the rice cooker. I don't have sugar in my house so I picked up a couple of brown sugar packets when I got my coffee.

Rice Cooker Dessert apples

2 apples peeled and chopped

2 brown sugar packets

1 cup water

pumkin pie spice

Add all ingredients to the rice cooker and let cook

I really enjoyed the texture of the apples they were like candy. 

February 22, 2015 Vegan Chickpea curry

The thyroid and iron medication has been working and people are saying I am losing weight. I have been pretty terrible with the diet and other than walking non existent with the exercise. I couldn't get around the stress at work for the last couple of weeks and very little sleep but I did get some catch up time this weekend. I am hoping this week will be better and I can at least get into a bit of a workout routine and do a little bit better on the diet.

Vegan Chickpea and Rice Curry

I started out by making rice in the rice cooker I added a bit of margarine and some curry spice to the water but I put in too much water (I am not good at rice) so I got a sticky rice but it worked out well as rice balls in the curry.

Rice
1/2 cup rice
2 cups water
1 tsbp margarine
spice - I used bollywood spice
handful cilantro leaves chopped and half a lemon
Put all ingredients in rice cooker except cilantro and lemon.
Let cook while preparing other ingredients

Curry
1 tsbp olive oil
1 can chickpea rinsed and drained
curry spice (I used bollywood spice)
1 tsbp tumeric (I used 2tsbp by accident)
1 tsbp fresh ginger
1/2 large onion
3 tbsp salsa (you can use 1 jalepeno, 1 clove garlic instead)
1 tsbp ketchup
salt
black pepper
sweetner (preferably sugar I didn't have any so I used sugar)
acid (lemon or if you have tamarind sauce that is better)

Cut onion and ginger add salsa and puree (I used the magic  bullet)
Heat a pan and add 1 tsbp margerine or olive oil or desi ghee if you have it
add pureed mixture and let simmer until it comes to a boil stir occassionally
meanwhile add cilantro and lemon

to rice and move rice so its is all bound together like a dough ball
then make small duplimg size pieces from the rice balls
place rice balls in sauce once it boils
let cook for 2 mins
then add chickpeas to the sauce
add cilantro, ketchup and a little water to a blender and puree
add to boiling sauce mixture
add sweetener and other spices to taste.

In mine if i had some sugar to add and I didn't put in way too much tumeric and spice this would be really amazing. Its good but I need to tweak those two things next time. 

February 9, 2015 - rice, potatoes and veggie meat

This week I found out my iron levels were really low which explains a lot of the symtomps I have been having such as shortness of breath, tiredness, etc. I just thought it was from the stress and bad diet. I also learned that shakeology really does work on the lowering cholestoral side as the last time I had taken a test which was pre drinking shakeology my cholestoral was high I was pretty amazed that it is normal now after eating terribly the last few months and putting on those 15 pounds. It has to be shakeology that is one thing I haven't given up I still drink it almost every day. I have also started thyroid medication this week. Its only been a few days but I do feel better already I feel like I have more energy my stomach doesn't hurt. Hopefully things will continue to get better I have to get mind set back into doing T25 I am still working on getting my body to agree to what my mind tells it should do. This week i bought a rice cooker it was $10 and my mom cooks everything in the rice cooker, boiled eggs, pasta, lentils so I thought it was worth a try. My parents grew up in africa and this is a traditional dish from there that has rice, meat, potatoes and spices. It is usually dry they call it uckney (not sure how to spell it) and I usually just call it uckney it was never one of my favorite dishes dry rice isn't for me but with my own spin on it, its very good.

Vegetarian uckney

1 tsbp olive oil
1 small onion diced
2 medium potatoes small diced (I used organic german butter potatoes)
a piece of ginger sliced
spices (I use bollywood spice) and pepper
1 cup rice
2 cups water
half a bag of veggie tips
some pasta sauce (optional) - I was using up an opened jar
it's not bacon (optional)

Heat the rice cooker to warm because it won't let you put it on cook and add the onion to it. Let that saute while you dice the potatoe and slice the ginger. When you are ready add to the pot and flip to cook. Stir occasionally until the veggies are 80% cooked. Add rice to the pot and 1.5 cups water, and pasta sauce if using. Stir and cover. Stir pot occassionally while cooking. If you notice it getting dry or sticking to the bottom add more water. I had to add more water until the potatoes were cooked. While its cooking cook veggie meat according to package direction mine just saute in a pan for a few minutes.
When potatoes and rice are cooked add the veggie tips and enjoy.

February 2, 2015 - Paneer Dishes

I weighed myself today ahhhh I have put on almost 15 pounds in the last few months. I knew my pants were getting tighter and my belly bigger its really all in the belly but I really didn't know it was that much. I have been cooking a little more but still not the greatest and I have done a 10 minute workout a few times during the week still nowhere near my goal of really getting right back into a program and doing a workout everyday. I really need to focus more on eating right, exercising, and getting more sleep. Sleep and stress are the biggest contributing factors to my weight gain right now I know getting more exercise and scheduling my sleep would really help.
Paneer (its a type of cheese it is used a lot in indian cooking because its high protein it is also as with all cheese high in fat for vegan versions use tofu. It was on sale so I bought a block.
The first dish I used half a block and got 3 servings out of it the left overs I will get into a story of that later
Paneer with mushrooms and onions
saute half an onion in a pan
add mushrooms
add some spices (I use bollywood spice mix)
add fresh ginger (1 tbsp sliced) and garlic (2 cloves sliced)
remove the vegetables from the pan
Mix 2 tbsps of chickpea flour  and spices (salt, pepper, chili) with water in a bowl
coat the paneer with the flour mixture
place in the hot pan and cook until coating is crispy
I had leftover flour mixture so I tried to make a pancake out of it it was okay but not that good

I kept seeing these cauliflower buffalo wings recipe for super bowl sunday they looked really good. I had bought a too large cauliflower a while ago and already had the cut up cauliflower in my freezer. I also went to an expo a few weeks ago and bought gluten free flour I don't really know why as I don't really make anything so thought I might as well try using it here. The recipe said to mix the flour and water together. Coat the cauliflower and bake for 20 minutes. (note it did say any flour will work even gluten free but the idea was to use fresh cauliflower and I think regular flour is better)

 I got to this point tried one and it was disgusting. I had already made the hot sauce mixture pour hot sauce in a bowl and a little bit of oil and mix I added a little honey. Then you are supposed to base it for  another 5 mins. At this point I wasn't going to be eating this. I will try this again one day with regular flour and fresh cauliflower I think it will be really good. Then I decided to use the same recipe with my remaining paneer and chickpea flour.

I didn't get a pic with the hot sauce on it but I liked the coated paneer. I actually have never tried buffalo wings in my life my friend who is the complete opposite of me loves them which likely means I wouldn't like them. The hot sauce on the paneer was okay but not the greatest. I will use this cooking method for pakoras in the future though maybe a little chutney on the side will work. 

january 25, 2015 vegetarian meat and potatoes

Well this week I did manage to do at least a ten minute workout up until friday I either did 10 minute trainor or rockin' body (a little longer more fun). The weekend my workout was more in day to day things cleaning my parents place which includes a lot of going up and down stairs and lifting boxes today was a walk for groceries but I may still do a workout. I really haven't time to make any real meals but I have been craving perogies for a awhile I made this for breakfast/lunch today (so heavy I only had dinner after) today be prepared there are a lot of processed ingredients in it its not my usual from scratch recipes Sometimes you need some help.

Vegetarian - Meat and Potatoes (frozen perogies and vegetarian meat balls are used in this dish)

Ingredients
half a vidalia onion
olive oil
4 perogies
4 small vegetarian meatballs (I used president's choice)
1 tsp it's not bacon (made from cocounut)
1 tsp dill cream cheese

heat pan while slicing onions
add 1 tsp olive oil to pan leave on med heat
Caramlize onions stir occassionaly until onions look brown
meanwhile place 4 perogies in microwave for 1 min and 30 sec the texture is better
when onions are cooked and the perogies until crispy
cook meatballs according to package directions (1 min in the micowave for mine)
Place onions, perogies, and meatballs on a plate
add cream cheese and I can't believe its not bacon

January 17, 2014 - Roasted Chickpea Humous

Today I rediscovered the 10 minute trainor program I totally forgot I had this program. I did 10 minute cardio and it was a great workout today. I think I can actually motivate myself to commit to doing one 10 minute workout a day. I didn't get any other workouts in this week and my eating was okay not great I did make a few more of my lunches and ate at home more than in the last month but still ate out quite a bit. Today the cooking was done by relatives so I haven't made anything. Here is last week's humous recipe.

Roasted Chickpea Humous

See last week's recipe for Roasted chickpeas
I only had half a cup remaining so they went in the magic bullet
1 tsbp of tahini (this is sitting in my fridge - its sesame paste)
a handful of cilantro
I wish i had a lemon but I didn't add a little bit of water to cut down on the amount of oil needed
no seasoning as the roasted chickpeas are already seasoned
olive oil enough to make it creamy - my boss gave me some really expensive greek olive oil for christmas so I used this. Try and use a high quality olive oil for raw dishes as it really changes the flavour of a dish use the cheap stuff for cooking I used a little less while i was blending and added some on the top after it was done.
In the end with the cilantro it looked like a dip to me I was thinking of adding some avacado and making it a dip but the avocado I had wasn't ripe.

January 11, 2015 - Yam and chickpea patties - great for meatless monday

I have to admit I didn't get a single workout in this week and although I have been eating slightly better this week than the past month there is major room for improvement but let me tackle one thing at a time. My commitment for this month is to get one blog post out a week that means I need to make something at least once a week I am still as busy as before so al the recipes will be fast and things i want to eat. My hope is to start cooking more to save both on budget and calories. Today I went grocery shopping and found a lot of things that I wanted were not available I think this is what happens when you go shopping on a sunday evening but this is the only time I had. I didn't end up with the ingredients i wanted so this is a what I can get recipe. I saw some organic yams (or sweet potato) they are really the same thing aren't they? I think these are yams and some really fresh organic cilantro and cilantro and chickpeas go well together. I knew I wanted to make something that would motivate me to eat my lunch tomorrow instead of eating out. I couldn't find tortillas I usually make wraps for lunch however I got some really good sourdough bread. So I decided to make a yam and chickpea patty that could go in the sandwich. I peeled and boiled the yams first. Then I just wanted to throw everything together in the magic bullet but I figured it was too small so did the yams first. Then the chickpea, spice and cilantro. I forgot the onion and I was thinking about adding some chickpea flour but didn't I knew I would be putting it in a sandwich so I didn't need a binder but if I was more likely to eat it as a patty then I would have added a binder maybe some chickpea flour or an egg. Here's the result and recipe

This makes 4 patties
Peel and Boil 2 small yams let cool
cut into pieces

Mash my preferred method is the magic bullet
Empty magic bullet into container
Add half a can of chickpeas, a handful of fresh cilantro and spices (I used bollywood spice, salt, and pepper) and olive oil (this can be omitted) to magic bullet
Empty on top of yams

At this point I was thinking of just baking this off and calling it vegan shepards pie but maybe next time
Mix ingredients together
Wet hands and shape into patties with hands its easy just roll into a ball shape and flatten

I wasn't worried about the size but for those that do you can place the right amount into a mug then flatten with the bottom of the mug that's too much work for me.
These will be pan fried place some oil in the pan and when the oil is hot
put the patties on the pan I find the flat pans work the best with patties it gets the heat to them quicker

I love how the yams caramelize wish I didn't forget the onions they

caramelize too flip after a few minutes when the first side is browned
This recipe if using preboiled yams takes about 10 minutes to make
And for a bonus I really want to make homous but I don't like using non heated canned chickpeas
so I roasted the chickpeas they make a good snack too
dry washed chickpeas place on baking sheet add spices to taste and some olive oil
bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes until crisp. I didn't bake mine all the way as I will be making roasted chickpea humous tomorrow maybe only 20 minutes this is before they go in the oven.

Humous recipe will come.