FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Archives for December 2011

A Quick Run

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Between cookies and ice cream cake and all of the other unnecessary sweets in my house lately, I was in dire need of a run.  I whipped together a quick playlist and hit the pavement.

This was my first run without using the Personal Running Trainer app, which meant my first run without any walking involved.  Now that I’ve built up my endurance, I enjoy running to a physical marker rather than having timed runs.  I ran to what I thought was the halfway point for a 3-mile run, but missed the mark just a tad.  Looks like I need to do a little MapMyRun research before next time!

Concept Thieving

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One of my favorite lunch spots in Tampa is Pane Rustica.  If you haven’t been, think Anthropologie meets Panera.  It has casual counter service (during the day), an eclectic dining atmosphere, and stellar food.  Pane Rustica is a must-do-often lunch spot here in TPA.

One of their more unique menu offerings is an acorn squash stuffed with their chicken salad of the day.  Served with a small yeast roll and topped with fresh fruit, it’s quite simply lunch perfection.

Now that I’ve given credit where credit is due, I totally jacked their idea for this meal.  I split a sweet dumpling squash in two, coated it with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and baked in a 450 degree oven for 35 minutes.  I let it cool in the fridge for 20ish minutes while I made tuna salad with vegenaise, dijon mustard, celery, and shallots.

I stuffed the cooled squash full of tuna salad and admired its prettiness.  Squash bowls are about to be all the rage in my kitchen!

Vegan Lettuce Wraps

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I must have tofu-ed myself out for a bit because it’s been a while!  I browsed through VegTimes for some inspiration and stumbled upon a recipe for spicy tofu lettuce wraps.  Yum.

I stared at the onion for a few minutes, picturing how badly my eyes were going to burn.  I thought of the Pampered Chef chopper buried somewhere in cabinet land and my eyes began to thank me.  I knew this gadget worked well with onions, but it also saved me some time with the ginger and lemongrass as well.

I smooshed the pressed tofu between my fingers like nobody’s business.

And added one handful of shredded carrots and two handfuls of baby spinach after the tofu was cooking and before adding any seasoning.

It’s amazing how just a tad bit of ginger and lemongrass can transform a dish into something wonderful.

In addition to the above modifications, I also used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos in place of soy sauce and opted for two tablespoons of Sriracha.

I was super satisfied with this recipe and think that it will hold up well for leftovers tomorrow.  The water chestnuts and the carrots added a predictably awesome crunch.  The tofu soaked up flavors from each and every ingredient.  And, in my opinion, this would be the perfect dish to serve someone who is wary of tofu.  Thanks VegTimes!

Where Did The Time Go, In Pictures

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Breakfast:  Berry Smoothie

Snack:  Whole Grain Roll with Earth Balance

Lunch:  Village Health Market Salad Bar

Dinner:  Tofu Lettuce Wraps

Dessert:  Melt In Your Mouth Brownie Cookies

Where would you be without your iCal, Outlook calendar, or Google calendar?  Me?  I’d miss every lunch date, doctors appointment, deadline, you name it.  Today, every electronic in my house alerted me that it was time to submit my guest post to Kelapo Coconut.  I couldn’t (still can’t) believe that it’s December 20th already.  Seriously… Where did twenty eleven go??