FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the 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!

Cake Bakin’

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One would think I’d wait until an ice cream cake was completely frozen to take pictures, but three hours is a long time to sit around thinking about cake!  I can assure you that the piece I had for breakfast this morning was much more pulled together.

I spent a decent amount of time yesterday searching for the perfect cake to test out for FoodFash’s second birthday.  And by perfect, I was looking for something that was the perfect balance of challenging, delicious, and had a less than overwhelming amount of ingredients.

Epicurious simplified my search times a million by putting together a list of thirty top-rated cake recipes.  Talk about easy, ten minutes and thirty mouth watering pictures later I made my decision: Peppermint Ice Cream Candyland Cake.

I opted not to make the candy brittle.  As fun as that looked, I do not have the patience for candy thermometers and sugar art.

As I folded the melted butter and chocolate into the dry ingredients, I wondered why boxed cake happens.  I actually wondered why boxed anything happens as often as it does.  Sure, I understand time constraints on occasion, but I came to the conclusion that boxed anything at the market probably doesn’t save you that much time.

 

Here are some thoughts on this recipe:

1.  I’m more of a brownie girl than a cake girl and this cake was much more brownie-like than cake – win

2.  I’m not a huge ice cream fan, but I do like brownies with ice cream or ice cream with lots of <insert topping> chunks in it – win

3.  Spreading the ice cream with your hands worked much better than using a spoon, which caused fingers so cold they hurt.  This alone would deter me from ice cream cake making in the future – fail

4.  I enjoy making anything that utilizes my KitchenAid mixer and I think cake baking will be more of a regular occurrence now that I’ve had a successful cake baking experience – win

Do you like to bake?  What is your most/least successful baking experience?

And… We’re Back!

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Wow.  The past 48 hours have been nuts!  After the whole server/wordpress/blog hack, and subsequent wipe out, I was one big ball o’ stress.  And to add just a dollop of additional (and unnecessary) stress, I thought now would be the perfect time to give FoodFash a makeover.

The first makeover was a total doozie.  Each time I refreshed the screen, I couldn’t believe how much more I had destroyed what I had already considered a disaster.  Luckily, StudioPress has a return policy, so I was able to return the old theme and swap it out for a more vibrant, more girly, more me theme!

With that all said and done, it was time to peel away from my computer screen and get back into the kitchen.  I bought some pho-like ingredients at the market earlier in the week that needed to be used ASAP.

FoodFash Faux Pho

6 cups of water

2 Not Chick’n Bouillon Cubes

1/4 cup Allegro Hot & Spicy Marinade

2-3 heads of baby bok choy, chopped

3.5 ounces of shitake mushrooms, stemmed and quartered

2 handfulls of bean sprouts

4 ounces of ramen noodles

Bring water, bouillon, and marinade to a boil.  Add the ramen noodles, mushrooms, and bean sprouts and boil for 4 minutes or until ramen is fully cooked.  Remove the pot from heat and add the baby bok choy.  Stir until the leaves are wilted and serve.

I had been searching for pho recipes for quite some time and never found the yummy, simple recipe I had in mind.  The hot and spicy marinade gives the soup a bold flavor and a decent kick, while the bean sprouts add crunch and texture to ordinarily soft noodles.  And I recognize that this recipe isn’t technically pho in any shape or form, but shhhh…. My belly doesn’t know the difference.

Christmas Party Recovery

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Last night was the first company Christmas party I had attended since 2008. The construction industry was full of doom and gloom and I just didn’t have it in me to get all dolled up just to chat about recent and upcoming layoffs.  Kinda killed the Christmas spirit, ya know?

This year was different.  The doom was replaced by hope and chatter of layoffs was replaced by chatter of new babies.  The setup was tasteful, the food was tasty and the cocktails…  Well, the cocktails went down a little too easy.

We even kept the celebration going by heading to Fly Bar afterward!

But continuing the party made for a super sluggish Saturday morning.  Green tea, Earth Balance noodles, and nap.  No bueno.

I woke up from the nap feeling like a new person and craving my favorite breakfast: egg and avocado on a sprouted wheat english muffin.  I changed it up by sprinkling with crushed red pepper.  Yum!

Now off to meet Lex, who just moved back from Texas!!