FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Fresh Carrot Salad

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The first recipe that caught my attention as I was browsing through EveryDay Feasts was the Fresh Carrot Salad.  This recipe screamed simple and fresh, which define a good summer recipe in my mind.

Fresh Carrot Salad

1 TBSP White Wine Vinegar

1 TSP Dijon Mustard

1/2 TSP Salt

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

2 LBS Carrots, Grated

1/2 Cup Slivered Almonds, Toasted

Combine the vinegar, mustard and salt in a small bowl and whisk until blended.  Whisk in the olive oil and set aside.  Combine the vinaigrette with the carrots in a large bowl and toss to mix well.  Spoon into a serving dish.  Sprinkle with almonds when ready to serve.

I made a couple tiny modifications in the interest of time, calorie reduction, and my one person household.  The most notable changes were using the only available bag of shredded carrots ( 10 oz rather than 16 oz) and reducing the olive oil by 1/4 cup.

After sampling a small portion, I shook the remaining salad in a ziploc and let it marinate as I packed it in a picnic basket to bring with me to Rock The Park.

This was my first experience with a carrot and almond combo and I was very impressed!  I would have never thought that carrots and almonds would compliment each other so well.  This recipe was also ideal for a picnic dish because it tasted even better after sitting and all of the ingredients were outdoor temperature friendly.

I passed the salad around as a side and then plopped the rest on a whole wheat pita with homemade hummus and cucumbers as my main course.  The addition of the carrot salad was a game changer and I highly recommend adding this burst of color to your favorite summer sandwich!

A Spicy Exploration

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And so it is… my Sriracha exploration continues.  Tonight’s concoction?  Sriracha hummus.

I made two batches just in case the spicetastic version was a complete fail.

A failure wasn’t in the cards tonight, cause Sriracha hummus is the jam.

I used almost the entire container of the orange-colored hummus on my sandwich and then added shredded carrots, baby cukes (sliced lengthwise), and sprouts.

A super fresh wrap with a  hint of spice = the perfect post-Bayshore dinner!

Pop Yum Pop

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Here it is!  My favorite childhood snack: popcorn and nutritional yeast.  I might have been the only kid in town that didn’t care for movie popcorn.  And you better believe I was the only kid in town that requested yeast on the regular.

My mom had an ancient air popper, or so I thought.  It turns out that poppers haven’t changed much over the last twenty years.

Well… Except for the fact that the like-model popper that I bought spewed out scorching hot kernels and gave me awkward popcorn burns.  Not cool.

So I bought the carnie-like popper pictured above and, since then, popcorn making has been a lot less painful.

All you have to do to recreate this snack is pop some kernels and sprinkle with melted Earth Balance, salt, and nutritional yeast, in that order.  And!  Since nutritional yeast has 18 amino acids, 15 minerals, and is a super duper source of B-complex vitamins, there’s nothing guiltful about this guilty pleasure.

Patience Pants Pizza

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Pictured above is the magical tofu press I’ve spoken so highly about over the past few weeks.  It’s convenient, compact, and saves a boat load of wasted paper towels.  No more water soaked cookbooks, spills in the fridge, or partially pressed tofu.

I. Am. In. Love.

The only downside of pressed tofu is the foresight required as it takes a few hours to get it right.  It’s easiest for me to stick it in the fridge overnight.

I sliced the pressed block in half, rubbed with olive oil, and then sprinkled with garlic salt.

Then I put it in a 450 degree oven for 45ish minutes.

After it was crispy on the outside, I topped with chopped spinach, marinara, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and mozzarella Daiya.  I baked for another 10 minutes, until the Daiya was melted.

This dish reminded me of a cross between pizza and eggplant parmesan, a combination that I eagerly embraced.