Cilantro Pesto

http://www.sunwarrior.com/news/love-hate-3-best-cilantro-recipes/

Garlic Mayo (with using handblender or Magic Bullet)

I've always tried to make the garlic sauce from the shawarma places with my hand blender, but never got the mayonnaise consistency with just the traditional ingredients. Apparently, you need a special food processor and then you need to add the oil very slowly. BUT I discovered that I could just add some hellman's mayonnaise!

Anyhoo, here is the recipe:

1 Garlic, chopped
Olive oil (not as much as traditional recipe, but just enough to cover the top of the garlic)
Lemon juice (just a bit)
Salt (just a bit)


Put all ingredients into the magic bullet or blend with handblender. When finished, just add mayonnaise until you reach desired texture.

Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Soup (Tastes like campbell's soup but healthier)

This is my new fav...

Ingredients:
*About 6-8 tomatoes (mix some cherry tomatoes), dice
*3 garlic cloves, chopped
*1 bouillon cube of vegetarian broth with  about 3 cups of water
*Add some salt
*Add some oil

-Add diced tomatoes, add oil and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.

-Add garlic and simmer for 2 minutes, or until you can smell them (my strategy since -I have sensitive smell!)
-Add mixed bouillon and water mixture (I mix bouillon in cup with hot water, then I pour in).
-Bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer for about 10 minutes

Add 2 tbsp of marscapone,  mix, cool then blend.

Enjoy!

Homemade Quick Horchata

I had this craving for Horchata and they didn't have any in grocery stores near by (only in Restaurants) so I tried to look for a recipe. There were some good ones online but you had to soak grinded rice for 3 hours minimum ( http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lolas-horchata/ ). I googled some more and discovered that Rice Dream, makes a Horchata drink too (http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/1480/202.php), but sadly, they did not sell then in grocery stores near by...

BUT!!!! I had a Eureka moment and discovered that the same company did make the rice drink, that I would otherwise have to make on my own and soak for 3 hours minimum, so I had the brillant idea of just buying that from the local grocery store and then mixing in the spices :P

Anyhoo,

Here is the recipe:

Rice Dream Original Rice Milk
Cinnamon
Nutmeg (optional)
(the rice milk is already sweet so you don't need to add any sugar-I tried it-not my fav)
Vanilla Extract
Ice cubes

I suggest putting the spices in the bottom of the cup first then mix in the rice milk. It keeps the powder from floating to a minimum.

I have to admit though, this doesn't taste exactly like the one I tasted in the restaurant, but it's not bad for homemade!

Enjoy!!!

Potato Curry

Ingredients:

*about 4-6 potatoes (chopped)

*1 Tbs of madras curry powder

*1 Tbs of flour

*salt

*garlic (chopped, about 2 cloves)

*onion (1 onion, chopped)

* water

*oil (olive oil, coconut oil)

Mix the curry powder, flour, salt, water (about 1 cup-hot is better) in a bowl, set aside

In a frying pan, add the oil, put in the onions until tender, then put in garlic until you can start to see it browning (or smelling it), add some salt,and stir a bit.  

Stir in potatoes and let brown a bit.

Poor in the curry mixture, and let it boil then simmer. Add water accordingly according to what texture you would like the curry.

I like to eat this with dipping bread. You can eat with rice also.  

Enjoy!

Brussel Sprout Mushroom Soup

*1-3 Portobello Mushrooms, chopped

*1 bag of brussel sprouts

*water

*salt / seasoning (vegeta)

*1 bag of cream of mushroom soup mix

Fill in pot and boil...

Blue Cheese Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

Sour Cream
Mayonnaise
Blue cheese
Buttermilk
Fake bacon bits
tabasco sauce
dried onion flakes
Cayenne Pepper
Worchestire sauce
Salt

I didn't measure, I just eyeball the portions and then mix. But a rule of thumb - just a dash of all the seasonings and equal portions for the liquids.

Enjoy!

Blue Cheese Dipping

Ingredients:

1 cup of mayonnaise
1 cup of sour cream
blue cheese crumbled
2 tablespoon of dried parsley
chopped green onion
garlic salt for tasting

Mix. Enjoy!

Swiss cheese, parmasean, portobello mushroom bake

Ingredients:

1 large portobello, chopped

About 2-4 green onion stalks, chopped

About 1 cup of flour

About less than a cup of milk

About 1 cup of chopped swiss cheese 

About 1 cup of parmasean cheese, grated

3 table spoon of butter

1 egg (or 3)

salt 

tiny pinch of nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees celsius

Get a baking dish and greese with a bit of butter

In a separate bowl, melt the butter, then add an egg and milk. Beat together

In bowl, mix flour, green onions, parmasean cheese, mushrooms,  nutmeg, salt. 

Add the two bowls together and mix, just enought to smooth the flour. Then put into pan. Should be a sticky texture.  You can optionally sprinkle parmasean cheese over to make a nice crispy texture at the top. 

Then place into oven and back - about 20 minutes. 

Vegetarian Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 Can of Chickpeas (Or Pinto Beans)

150 Grams of breadcrumbs (I didn't have any so I used cornmeal; basically, use anything that will make it easy to roll mixture into balls or flat mini patties)

4 Potatoes

1-2 tbsp of vegetal seasoning (anything that gives vegetable taste plus salt)

Green onions (how ever much you like) - Chopped

2-3 eggs

1 Large mixing bowl

1 frying pan

Oil

1) Boil the potatoes until they are good enough to mash. To see if they are ready, just stick a fork in and lift potatoe, if it slides quickly, it's good.

2) While the potatoes are boiling, drain chickpeas in a large bowl and mash. Add Vegetal seasoning.

3) Chop green onions and add into bowl.

4) Once potatoes are boiled, add potatoes, eggs to the large bowl mixture and mash until soft.

5) Mix in bread crumbs or corn meal (Note: Corn meal will give it a crunchy taste, bread crumbs not so). 

6) Form into mini balls or patties (your preference)

7). In frying pan, add oil, turn on medium-low heat (I originally had on high, but it burns quickly). Slowly use spoon to transfer the balls onto the pan. You wan to fry on one side until gold brown and then just turn around. I would cover while waiting on each side (this would cook the egg that is in the mixture). 

Oh, and if you burn, don't worry, this recipe is forgiving - just peel off the burnt part and fry gently to resurrect the "meat" ball. 

Enjoy! (and this time I have  picture too !)

Let me know what you think! 

Vegetarian (Shrimp) Siu Mai

This recipe is orginally vegan but it contains shrimp for those who are pescatarians. But you can simply omit the shrimp because it will taste almost the same.

I found this recipe on this website, which explains it really well....

http://chinese.food.com/recipe/vegan-siu-mai-350515

Ingredients:
A)
3 and a half tablespoon of non-hydrogenated margarine
1 tablespoon of grated ginger

B)
2 cups of shredded or chopped seitan
1/2 cup of shitaki mushrooms
1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons of tamari sauce
1table spoon of 5 spice powder
(most ingredients can be found in an asian grocery store if your local one does not carry)

C)
1 cup of grated carrots
2 cups of grated cabbage

1 package of wonton wrapers

1 cup of chopped shrimp (optional) or you can find imitation shrimp.

In a frying pan, put all ingredients A together and fry for 1 min
Then add B, fry for 5 mins
Then add C, fry for 5 min

Make a zero with your index finger and thumb, put wonton wrapper on top, put a spoon full of filling into middle, push down and create a cup with your wonton, press bottom of wonton on plate and shape wonton into a mini cup.

Put in steamer for about 20 minutes, with shrimp a bit longer until cooked.



Enjoy!

Green Onion Pie

I found this recipe on this amazing website called, Petitchef. All you need is

2 cups flour
1 cup boiling water
some seseme oil
1 cup of chopped green onions
salt

The instructions on this website are super easy and well written so I thought I would share this!

http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/scallion-pancakes-i-e-green-onion-pie-fid-535392

Bon appetit!!!

Broccoli and Chedder Soup

I found this in a magazine whose name I forget. Anyhoo here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
-2 garlic cloves
-2 celery stalks
-1 broccoli head
-1 rustic potato
-1 cup of milk
-1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
-shredded chedder cheese

In a sauce pan, add diced garlic, celery, broccoli stalks, potatos (all chopped) with oil and cover for 7 minutes approx.

Then add the chopped broccoli florets with 3 cups of water, cover until boil.

Then blend.

Then add milk, nutmeg and chedder cheese until it melts....oh and the salt.

Enjoy!

Thai Peanut Sate Sauce

Delicious as a dipping sauce, or you can mix it with quinoa, noodles, etc.

Ingredients:

*just nuts peanut butter (no additives- just crushed nuts)

* red pearl onions (more flavor) - about have a bag

* 1 whole garlic

* 1 container of thai red curry paste

chop finely the onions, garlic and fry in a saucer with vegetable oil until brown.

mix in peanut butter (about half a jar)

mix in thai curry paste (more = spicy; you choose)

bring to a boil while stirring, lower heat and simme until oil separates (see photos: Yes I finally took photos!)

Enjoy!!!

Tahini Salad

I was randomly perusing through the grocery aisle today in the ethnic section and came across Tahini (seseme paste). Remembering the tastiness of this scrumptious dressing, I picked it up and bought it. Anyhoo, it has become incorporated into a tasty salad dressing:

*1 cup of tahini
*same amount of water
* 1 tbsp of lemon juice
*salt
*1 crushed garlic
*parsley (dried or chopped)


Stir until smooth (at first it looks clumpy but don't worry, just keep stirring)

pour over your favorite salad veggies (I used chopped cucumbers and tomatoe but I think a good one would be sliced carrots and cabbage)

Enjoy this healthy treat!!!

Bon appetit!!!

Avacado Smoothie

Another recipe from Chatelaine:

Ingredients:

1 pitted avacado chopped
2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
3 tbsp of honey or agave nectar
2 tsp of lime juice

blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Green Onion Ginger Dipping Oil

My parents used to buy chicken and dip it with this dipping oil. I've recently re-created the dipping sauce on my own but you can dip it with bread (sooo tasty)

Ingredients:

chopped ginger

chopped green onion

oil ( use something mild like vegetable oil)

salt

Just put all the ginger and green onion (same portions-you decide how much) and pour oil until it covers the top but not so much that you are making soup or something. Add salt (as much as you like depending on your salt conscienciousnous)

Let it sit (the longer the more flavor)

Then you just dip it with bread like you would with balsamic vinegar and oil.

Tasty but I would say an acquired taste for some.

Bon appetit!

Madras Quinoa Soup

This recipe was from a Chatelaine edition which I adjusted to be vegetarian instead of chicken. We felt so healthy while and after eating this.

Ingredients:

2 tsp of olive oil

1 container of vegetable stock

1 celery (chopped)

1 large carrot or a cup of baby carrots (chopped)

1 cup of frozen lima beans

1 tsp of cumin

1 and a half tsp of curry powder

1 cup of water

1 small red onion

1 small sweet potatoe (sliced)

2 green onion (sliced)

1 tbsp of chopped giner

2 cloves of chopped garlic

On medium heat, stir the carrots, celery and onions until the onions are brown.

Stir the garlic and ginger

Add the cumin and curry powder (stir)

Add the stock, cover and bring to a boil. Once it does, lower the heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes

Add the sweet potatoes and cover and simmer for 10 minutes

Add the lima beans and green onions.

Simmer for about 10 minutes.

In a separate pot, boil the quinoa (1/2 cup of quinoa + 1 cup of water, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for abbout 10-15 minutes-the shell should separate)

Use a fork to fluff the quinoa.

Keep the quinoa and soup separate as the quinoa would soak the soup. When serving, just put the quinoa and pour soup in each bowl.

So tasty and healthy!

Bon appetit and To your health!

Tzatziki

*1 container of yogurt
*1 cucumber (peeled, seeded ,diced)
*1 table spoon of olive oil
*4 table spoons ( or 1/2 lemon) of lemon juice
*salt and pepper to taste
* 1 table spoon of chopped dill (fresh or spice)
*3 peeled garlic clove

Put all in blender and blend. Let sit for an hour for tastiness!

Mmm.

(source: www.allrecipes.com)

Chocolate Avacado Mousse

*1 Avocado
*3 teaspoons of cocoa (cAcao for raw)
*2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
*1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
*1/2 cup water

Blend smooth, indulge, feel guiltless, brag to others. :D