Shabbat Cooking: A Brief Recap

So this past weekend, I did something I haven't done in ages- host a meal at my place. While I always make chicken for my non-plant based friends, everything else that I made was plant-based. I made a cauliflower kugel using a thickened cashew sauce (I think this would be better with broccoli), Isa Chandra's Spinach Noodle Kugel from Veganomicon (was amazing!) and Sweet and Sour Brown Rice Salad from Isa Does It. I couldn't get any photographs because it was Shabbat but the rice salad was also delicious. It has a really nice spicy bite and I loved the crunch that the peanuts offered. You can find the recipe here. As we were six people and I made loads of food, there was a lot of leftovers. So much so that they served me for most of the beginning of this week and I chose to skip a meal plan recipe this week. Also, yesterday we had a fun day with the office, food provided, so nothing was necessary. I did buy spinach and bananas though so that I could start making some green smoothies. This video gave me hope that by adding green smoothies, my hair loss will stop. I'm hoping it will happen. In addition, I did go to the shuk picked up some stuff. Not alot but enough to set me back around 115 shekels. I bought two huge, fragrant and delicious melons, some bananas (that were really pricey but needed to be bought for smoothies!), kale, spinach and acorn squashes so I did have some expenditures this week. Hopefully, this coming week I'll get back to the regular programming and get back to cooking. Have a great rest of the week!

Meal Plan: May17th- May 21st: Bistro Beet Burgers

Spring has finally sprung! The weather is really really beautiful now which means that cooking soups and stews is pretty much out until the fall. Which is fine by me because I'm good and ready for some light and colorful fare. Like these beet burgers from Isa Does It. You can't beat the bright red color of the beets and they're delicious too.This week's supermarket run was a bit on the pricier side, because I did get some needed household things and I stocked up on some sale items. I spent 200 shekels on oats (my fourth box!), rice, quinoa, hand soap, frozen broccoli, dried ginger, curry powder, applesauce and pita breads. That's right--- no salad vegetables on the list. I'm trying to change it up a little bit and I think instead of having salad and sweet potatoes for lunch, I'm going to have sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli instead. I need to get some more green in my diet somehow and I looooooove broccoli.In any case, these beet burgers are really yummy. In fact so yummy that they feature as my first post on Instagram. (Yes, I am new to Instagram and enjoying seeing all the beautiful food out there. You can follow me @chavisamet.)I can't really find real hamburger buns in this country so the ubiquitous pita took its place. As I had just steamed some broccoli I stuck some in there with tahini. I looove tahini. And pita. And broccoli. And  beets. Don't be turned off by the color or by beets if you don't like their earthy flavor. It barely comes through.The only issue I had with the burgers was that they were very crumbly. Like falling apart. Which isn't an issue when you're sticking it into a pita and you can't tell. It was my fault, really. I didn't process the mixture enough. My bad. Next time, I make these, I'll make sure to process them longer so that they hold together. I adopted Isa's technique of forming the patties with a large biscuit/cookie cutter. I baked them also. You can find the recipe here.   

Meal Plan: May 10th- May 14th: Cozy Hummus Bowl

This week I bring to you another bowl. Looking at this picture of my bowl, you're probably thinking, well, doesn't that look blah. Aside for the beige tones (there are lots of greens and sprouts underneath, I promise!) this Cozy Hummus Bowl is anything but blah. Made up of greens, sprouts, brown rice, tofu and Kalamata olive hummus, this bowl is hearty, filling and delicious.

This week, I decided to skip the supermarket and pick up everything I needed at the shuk. In total, I spent about 70 shekels on greens, sprouts, cucumbers, carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets for a different recipe. I already had the tofu on hand (I need to get more) as well as the chickpeas, of which I used half canned and half frozen. I also purchased the olives in advance so that didn't factor into this week's shopping. 

Back to the bowl. Isa is a master of bowls and I really hope to make all of the bowls in the chapter at some point. The peanut curry sauce is a definite repeat. This does have a few elements that need to be made but if you plan ahead you'll be fine. I actually totally forgot about the tofu element but I was still able to get it together by [drastically] shortening the marinade time. The tofu recipe is the basic baked tofu recipe from the proteins chapter and it is good. Gotta make it again with a longer bath time. The rice cooked in the pressure cooker while I whipped up the hummus. With my food processor it came together in a snap. I opted to double the recipe but I used only half the amount of tahini and used water for the rest to cut some calories. Truthfully, to me the olives turned the hummus into the closest thing to tuna fish that I've tasted in months. That's definitely not a bad thing.

To sum up, it's good. Keeps you full for a nice long while. You can find the recipe here . 

Meal Plan: April 19th- April 23rd- Curried Peanut Sauce Bowl with Tofu

This week's recipe comes from the Bowls chapter of Isa Does It. To me, bowls are consummate comfort food but are still a little bit intimidating to me because they have a bunch of components that have to be made. I am not the person who likes to make a million things for one meal. I chose to begin my foray into this chapter with the Curried Peanut Sauce Bowl. And oh me oh my what a good pick that was. I love me some tofu and I love me some rice but put this curried peanut sauce over the top and I am right in heaven. I could eat this sauce with a spoon and if I didn't need it for the rest of the week, that's exactly what I'd do! I gotta figure out what else I can smother this stuff on. Isa, you done good!         So this week, I didn't spend any money at the grocery store. I've been eating leftovers of the tamale shepherd's pie for lunch and I pretty much bought everything I needed for this in previous trips. (I've been trying to be thriftier than usual because I just booked a ticket to fly to the states in August and I gotta save every shekel! As it is, this month is stacking up to be pretty expensive!)                                                                               The original recipe called for kale but I stopped by my local vegetable store on the way home on the day I made this and they were all out so no kale here. It definitely could use some color but maybe I'll add that the next time I make this. I used a natural peanut butter to make this (no JIF or Skippy here!) and I dry fried the tofu and the garlic and ginger for the sauce-n o damage done to either. I also found that two tbsp of tamari wasn't enough for me. I think I may have added an extra tbsp and a half or so to get that perfectly umami flavor.

Meal Plan: March 15th- March 19th: Red Thai Tofu and (Bhutanese) Pineapple Rice

Happy election day! Here in Israel, election day is a national holiday, meaning a day off from work! It's already coming to an end but I can say that I got a lot of Pesach cleaning done and my room is looking a lot tidier and less dusty. Trying to focus on getting as minimalist as possible and getting rid of things that I don't need, have any use for, or have simply expired. I'm making progress but it's not always easy!

In any case, this week, I put the second package of tofu to use in the recipe for Red Thai Tofu. (Tofu, being from soy is not allowed to be consumed by Ashkenazi Jews on Pesach which is approaching faster than I can say chametz! Gotta get a move on the rest that I have laying around!) I made the Bhutanese Pineapple Rice, which was pretty good, to go along with it. 

This week I spent 71 shekels. (Btw, I am already five pounds into my ten pounds of oats! Yikes!) I picked up red onion, frozen cauliflower (for next week's dinner), potatoes, pepper, cucumber, corn, fresh ginger, canned pineapple for the rice, and garlic. 

Isa's tofu recipes are a bit labor intensive, for me at least. Lots of chopping, for both the tofu and the rice and then all of the tofu needs to be browned before the sauce gets made. The component of this dish that makes this a Thai dish is the red curry paste. It adds a little spice to the tofu. Honestly, I really like tofu in any form so it can't really be bad to me, but this dish didn't wow me as much as the previous tofu recipe I made. I would be much more inclined to make the soy-hoisin tofu again if I would be asked. Therefore, I won't include the recipe here. won'That said, there wont be leftovers of this in my fridge by the end of the week- no tofu goes to waste here. I'm really curious to try the Apple-Miso tofu.

Shabbat Cooking Part 2: Unfried Fried Rice

Isa suggested that the Hoisin Mustard Tofu be served with her Unfried Fried Rice. Who am I to object? I should mention, that I loooove fried rice so that was a no-brainer. Turns out it was the perfect accompaniment to the tofu. I had leftovers for Shabbat lunch and they just hit. the. spot.  I'm going to take a break from tofu this week before trying another recipe.

I started by cooking the rice in the Instant Pot and then used the saute function to finish it off. I love the ease of using the same pot for one recipe and really like getting use out of the IP. I opted to add frozen peas to the recipe as that's what I had on hand. Pesach is coming and I gotta use things up! I made a double recipe of the rice.

Meal Plan: Jan 25th-Jan 29th- Part 1- Baked Spanish Rice

This week's meal plan included two recipes. I saw someone review this recipe for Baked Spanish Rice and when I saw that it was in the Thug Kitchen cookbook, I decided to make it to accompany the dish I had been meaning to make for a while.- the Beer and Lime Roasted Cauliflower Tacos. I figured I'd leave out the tortillas in the recipe and serve it over a more healthful brown rice.

First things first- my grocery bill for the week was 64 shekels. I bought peppers, tomatoes (finally found some decent ones!) cucumbers, a bag of frozen cauliflower, carrots, avocado, a can of beer (for the roasted cauliflower), a new set of containers, and a bottle of soft drink (for my Shabbaton this weekend). Not bad at all!

Back to the baked rice.

I'm pretty familiar with baking rice- I learned the technique from Alton Brown ages ago, and it's pretty convenient. The Thug Kitchen recipe calls for blending up a sauce in the blender, heating it with some broth on the stove and then pouring it over the rice. You cover the rice, bake and then add some peas and corn and lime juice when it's done. I like to get things done in advance so I decided to make this Saturday night.

I gotta say, this recipe was quite underwhelming. I didn't find it to have much flavor aside for the peas and corn. It made a good base for the cauliflower, but I could have just as well saved myself some dishwashing by just making plain rice. Not terrible, just pretty bland. Adding the lime juice does help, but I got very little tomato flavor here.

You can find the recipe here.

Let me know if you disagreed, or how you changed up this recipe.