Vegan

Crispy Tofu Rice Bowls with the Best Thai Peanut Sauce

March 17, 2014 by Erica

Crispy Tofu Rice Bowls with the Best Thai Peanut Sauce

I’m about to be one of those people that is way too excited for a Monday.

You know… the ones who are bouncing around at 8 AM and draw a dark look from you because… Monday. Monday morning. Why so cheerful?

Well, thanks for asking. It’s actually because of this peanut sauce. {Insert ear-to-ear grin here.}

Crispy Tofu Rice Bowls with the Best Thai Peanut Sauce

I recently found myself on a quest to master a Thai peanut sauce recipe.

It started, as these things often do for me, with a restaurant dish. Specifically the peanut sauce at our go-to Thai takeout place. I am head over heels in love with that peanut sauce. They serve it as a salad dressing, as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, and as a sauce over steamed vegetables and rice. It is incredible and I bet you I’ve dreamed about it before. It’s not stretching the truth to say that I go there just for the peanut sauce.

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Chocolate Berry Almond Smoothie

March 14, 2014 by Erica

Chocolate Berry Almond Smoothie

I play with food a lot. –> I go to the grocery store a lot. –> I have a lot of awkward encounters with grocery store cashiers.

Let’s talk about the different forms that awkwardness can take at different stores.

Trader Joe’s cashiers are aggressively jolly and overly excited about every item you’re purchasing. They’ve tried it all and loved it! Sometimes I think they are commissioned.

Whole Foods cashiers are trained to engage you in conversation at the expense of your privacy. A simple “how are you?” won’t suffice. “What are you doing after this?” is much more common. <– Clearly I am going home to cook dinner. It is 6 pm and I am at the grocery store. Let’s put 2 and 2 together.

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Vegan Caesar Panzanella

March 10, 2014 by Erica

Vegan Caesar Panzanella

I think we should celebrate springtime today.

To my friends in the Northeast still caught in the polar vortex, I apologize. Here in Utah, the birds are chirping, the crocuses are blooming, and I’m starting to feel like I should be spending time outside instead of huddled in front of the space heater wearing a robe and a hat.

Daylight savings seems to mark the beginning of spring here. It’s pretty lovely, even though I dread “springing forward” past an hour of sleep. I can hardly believe the sun doesn’t set until 7:30 tonight! That’s a guarantee that I won’t be leaving work in the dark. The mornings are a different story… back to running with my uber-dorky headlight on. But even that won’t last for long.

I hope it’s nice and warm and sunny where you are, too. Otherwise you might be getting mad. Because I thought we could celebrate the milder weather with a fresh springtime salad today.

Vegan Caesar Panzanella

I recently made a vegan Caesar dressing for the first time, and well, it pretty much blew Nate and me away. It tastes different from non-vegan Caesar, but in the same way that any homemade dressing will taste different from store-bought. I honestly don’t think you’d know it was vegan (unless you eat a lot of tahini, in which case you might be able to pick out the tahini flavor). I was afraid to tell Nate (tahini hater numero uno) what it’s made of when he asked, but he wasn’t scared off, which is really saying something. He requests it regularly, and I’ve been finding an excuse to eat it on top of everything, from salad to pasta to roasted veggies. I have to say that this panzanella is probably this dressing’s highest and best use, though.

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Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

March 5, 2014 by Erica

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

Thank you for all your sweet comments on Monday’s post. You all sure know how to comfort a girl! Even when that girl is being a self-indulgent whiner. Oops!

I’m going to take my complaining down a notch. As I think we all know, Sunday anxiety is way worse than the actual work week. So next week, feel free to give me a virtual slap if I let out a peep about my busy schedule!

Still, I appreciate Monday’s virtual hugs. You are all way too sweet, and I can’t believe my luck that we get to hang out and talk about food together all the time. Seriously!

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

We are still enjoying the double batch of muhammara I made last weekend, and this has been one of my favorite combinations: a bowl of wheat berries and roasted veggies topped with a big dollop of that rich spread. It’s not exactly earth-shattering (more like fridge-emptying!), but it’s still high on the deliciousness scale.

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Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

March 3, 2014 by Erica

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

As I type this, I’m in the midst of the Sunday blahs.

I’ve eaten too much, our apartment is a mess, I haven’t done any of the work I have to do before tomorrow (despite the fact that I dreamed about it both Friday and Saturday night), and I’m trying to get up the motivation to go to the gym before it closes at 7:00.

Why does the gym close at 7 pm on Sundays?!

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

The more I think about it, the more I conclude I need a clone to stay at home and take care of all the things I want to avoid, like cleaning the sink and revising PowerPoint presentations. That way I can go about doing the important things, like baking cupcakes and getting to the gym on time, without that other stuff hanging over my head and causing unsettling dreams.

Any volunteers?

I guess if the worst things in my life are ~~dirty sinks~~ cleaning and PowerPoint, that’s not so bad, after all.

Forgive my complaining. I’ve been too busy lately, and I can just tell it’s going to be another crazy week. But isn’t that always the case? Luckily, this weekend I made it a priority to cook some delicious food to share with you. So let’s just hop to it, shall we?

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)