A Rouxbe Experience....A lesson in eating your homework.

 

I've taken a break this summer from posting since I've been a busy bee - mainly, eating my homework. I've recently graduated from Rouxbe's online Professional Plant-Based Certification Program, and we've been busy creating food and eating food, creating, and eating....it's been enlightening to say the least, and an amazing experience.

This has everything to do with going back to the basics. Going back to the things you think you know, to learn them in a totally new and inspired way. Chopping. Knife skills. How big is a small dice anyway, and how do you sharpen your knives, hold your guide hand, know when a pan is ready for a sautee. Chemistry, science, art, and total joy.

We've had so much fun with the plant-based recipes, and we've totally indulged this summer: hand made manicotti with tofu ricotta filling and fresh marinara, chocolate genache torte, soups, stews, bean salads, desserts, smoothies, and so much more! 

My favorite part of the course was the intended "mise en place" for each recipe, or rather, the idea of "everything in its right place" before you proceed with the recipe. So many meals have been ruined due to overcooking, leaving the stove for an ingredient, not timing things correctly, and mise en place allows you to have everything in the right place, chopped, measured, ready to go, so that you can ENJOY the process of cooking and be in the present moment. Symbolic, right? 

Here we go. 

Enjoy the gallery of plant-based nutritious cooking, where nothing is missing....except the junk. This is how we loved ourselves up this summer, with beans, grains, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, super foods, and all the lovely indulgences that these create, with whole foods. 

Knife skills!

Mise en place for roasted lemon cauliflower.

Spring asparagus rissotto. 

Mise en place for an arugula quinoa salad.

Coconut chickpea stew.

Penne carbonara (the vegan way)

Thai noodle soup.

Tofu chocolate mousse pie.

Braised seitan au jus with garlic greens.

Handmade manicotti, tofu ricotta, and marinara.

Handmade udon stir fry.

Mushrooms and beans.

Purslane and flower salad.

Chocolate genache pie with cherry/black pepper sorbet.

Mock tuna pate in collard rolls.

Mise en place for tempeh brocoli stir fry.

Polenta and broccoli/tempeh stir fry and heirloom tomatoes.

Cauliflower chimichurri.

Here are some photos of our last Rouxbe Assignment, which was to host an event with little canapés. So much fun enjoying good food and family and friends. 

Sweet pea and jimaca coconut samosas (raw) with lime creme.

Mini samosa burgers with onion and mango chutney.

Healing turmeric tomato soup, sweet potato crackers, borage.

Mini chocolate genache tortes with berry sorbet and coulis.

Fruit kabobs - can't have enough fruit kabobs!

Amazing best friends and family.

Best of late Summer Green Smoothie

If you're like me, you have a plethora of collards in the garden now, getting big and getting ready for a delicious fall. They are wonderful for making wraps (instead of tortillas), chiffonade into salads, massaged into more salads, but still, I find that I run out of ways to use them; so we get creative. Adding them to your smoothies is a super easy way to get 4 or 5 large leaves (and I'm talking a little under a foot long). They are crisp, green, and filled with fiber and nutrition. 

Also, these smoothies are a great way to get in more mint as well. Mint is refreshing, cool, fresh, and bold and mixes really well with summer fruits. So why not? Indulge in a late-summer minty fresh smoothie. 

3-5 large collard leaves, washed, destemmed and torn
1/2 bag of frozen organic strawberries
2 cups loosely packed mint (about 10 sprigs, without stems)
2 frozen bananas, in chunks
water to fill vitamix pitcher 1/2 way

Blend away and enjoy. This also keeps really well, so I make a big pitcher in the morning and drink a large glass, and then save the rest for the afternoon. 

Spring-a-Dilly Asparagus Salad

 

Springtime is all about dill and asparagus for me. Dill and lemon juice taste so fresh together, and as soon as I see asparagus in the markets, I know that the seasons are changing and warming up. I love the combo of honey mustard & lemon combination, and the dill just take it over the top.

Also, a note on chopped salads…many of us use greens for our salads (as do I) but to kick it up a notch, sometimes I just cube and mix various veggies together and that hits the spot in another fun way. This recipe is an example of just that…an explosion of textures and flavors in your mouth. Enjoy!

Combine the following dressing ingredients together in a bowl: 

2 tablespoons honey mustard

3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar or 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or to taste)

pinch of salt and a few pinches crushed black pepper

Mix the dressing ingredients together and taste for seasoning.

In the same dressing bowl, layer in:

½ cup halved cherry tomatoes

¾ cup cubed cucumbers

½ cup cubed red pepper

¾ cup chopped asparagus spears

1 tablespoon dill

Mix everything together and adjust the seasoning to your liking. This serves 2 as a side salad or one large salad for a very hungry person...Enjoy!

Raw Chocolate Berry Mousse

Is there anything better than chocolate mousse? I’d say yes ~ chocolate covered strawberries is a nice runner up. This recipe combines both of these tastes for an over-the top experience.

Due to the good fats, stevia, and low-sugar berries, this is also a nice low-glycemic, filling dessert (one might say, you may even try it for breakfast!)

1 cup fresh or defrosted strawberries (defrosted ones blend better)

1 dropper liquid stevia (or to taste)

2 heaping tablespoons raw cacao

½ avocado

Blend ingredients well until smooth.  Scoop out the contents in a bowl and mix in ¼ to ½ cup chopped strawberries (defrosted or fresh), and stir well. Garnish with shredded coconut.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup (raw)

One of my favorite soups in the world used to be cream of tomato soup or cream of red pepper soup, except that I wans’t as big of a fan of the cream, additives, and stabilizers/faux ingredients found in packaged boxes of soup. I realized that what I loved the most was the deep dark rich flavor of tomatoes or peppers, and seeked to make my own version of the soup.  This comes as close as I can remember to that delicious rich flavor. 

In a Vitamix, blend together:

½ red pepper, chopped

1 cup cucumber, chopped

¼ cup sweet onion, chopped

1 tomato, halved

½ avocado

½ cup sun dried tomatoes (no oil or sulfites)

salt, to taste

When everything is smooth (or more chunky, per your taste), add in ½ cup of fresh basil and pulse to incorporate (but not blend completely in the soup). Garnish with more avocado and shredded basil and enjoy!

Top 5 reasons for Pantry Raids

Organizing has always been "my thing" in many departments - clothes shelves, shoes, wrapping supplies, the never ending organizing of the attic (how does it get messy? I think we have attic elves), and most of all, the kitchen. One of my favorite things to do on a rainy or snowy day is clean out the pantry...there are so many reasons to do this, but one of the most important is that you realize how much you have and how much you don't need! Here are some before and after pics from a friend's pantry raid: 

Before raid, where everything's on the floor....here comes the fun part!

After the raid - baking stuff up top, kitchen wraps and plates, next shelf, healthy grains and beans middle, healthy treats, eye level, pastas and sauces 2nd to bottom, and cans on the bottom. You can't see it but two other shelves on the right are also organized, with wine, cooking books, oils, emergency supplies, and overstock.
The whole thing took about 2 hours tops. 

1. SAVE MONEY: I used to be one of those people that had 5 jars of marinara, or 4 containers of opened honey, or three opened boxes of crackers. I hate to say it, but the only reason this was the case was since I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I HAD so then I bought more of it! 

2. KITCHEN DETOX: Organizing your pantry is like detox for your kitchen. You end being more productive and creative since you see which ingredients go together, and things will be clean and tidy (and therefore, meal planning will be clean and easy).

3. BETTER FOR YOUR TUMMY: Yes, you can use beans after 3 or 4 years, but believe me, you won't want to. They don't cook as well, they don't soften up, and they'll kill your digestive track with gas and bloating. Just don't do it. Replenish often, and keep things fresh. 

4. YOU'LL EAT HEALTHIER: The other thing is that it clutters your mind and allows you (almost encourages you) to be super healthy. If you design the healthy foods to be at eye level, put the nasty baking stuff all the way at the top, and compartmentalize, then you'll only reach for the healthy stuff and forget about the nasty stuff! Believe me, it's helped even me, a health coach, to eat better. 

5. IT SAVES YOU TIME: Keep your teas together, your grains together, your fruits together...this saves you time. If you are looking for your favorite nite nite tea at 9:00 pm and you can't find it, then you've gotten yourself in a tizzy. Your blood pressure goes up, which is the precise reason you wanted to relax before bedtime, and there you have it. Also, we all have surprise guests. In 20 minutes you can put something together since it's easy to locate, easy to see, and easy to grab. 

BONUS: it is pretty on the eyes. It looks amazing! Beautiful even. Ok, I might have gone too far, but no, I do consider it beautiful to look at. And I always say, an organized home is an organized head, so you can get to the good stuff...living, working, having fun, being efficient, and enjoying every moment of it. And yes, a clean pantry can do that - only because a messy pantry keeps you away from that kind of clarity.

On that note, I have a secret to share. I've been cleaning pantries out for my friends and clients, and have kept it to myself. It's now time to come clean - I LOVE doing this stuff! So if any of you are interested in a pantry raid, give me a shout - they're $99 each and I promise you, you will LOVE it!

732.741.1219 
AndreeaFegan@gmail.com