"Shake Your Coconuts!"

{Please tell me you've heard of Junior Senior. If not, that's makes me a sad Jes}

You guys. YOU guys. You have to try this. Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has been good to me so far. Several recipes in there have attracted my eye (and stomach). The most recent was Coconut Rice. For reals, I die.

Coconut Rice

adapted from CMV by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, pg.176

1-13.2oz can coconut milk (her recipe calls for Light, but what I had in the cupboard was definitely NOT)

1 1/4 cups water

1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice

large pinch of salt

1 green onion, thinly sliced

(the recipe in CMV called for adding coconut extract and shredded unsweetened coconut flakes. I had the flakes but forgot them. Still tasty.)

Put the coconut milk, water, rice and salt in a medium sauce pan. I was thinking about using my ricecooker (maybe next time). Not sure how that would turn out. Bring mixture to a boil, cover and turn heat to low. Cook for about 35-40 minutes until the rice has sucked up the water. There will be some coco-floaties on the surface of the rice. Stir the rice and add the sliced green onions. Done!

I decided to serve mine with the following:

-a layer of fresh baby spinach

-topped by the coconut rice

-followed by some steamed broccoli, to which I added a touch of sesame oil halfway through steaming

-Spicy Ginger Black Beans (recipe follows)

-Sesame Seeds (not in the picture, added afterwards)

Spicy Ginger Black Beans

my own quick creation when I realized I wanted beans, too

1/2 can cooked black beans

1/2 tsp fresh ginger

healthy squeeze of sriracha

S & P

dash of garlic and onion powders and cumin

1 tsp soy sauce

Lightly mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, 30 seconds or until hot. Stir again.

What a good dinner to top off a long day.

Jes

Bollocks!!!

I had a total brainfart beyond belief and took pics in our Nikon D3000 without the memory card in!

My dinner this evening was a wonderfully flavorful dish of Ginger Noodles with Tofu from Rachel Ray Magazine several months ago. Basically, you cook fettuccine in water that has ginger in it (new concept to me but flavored the noodles beautifully!). While this is going on, you brown cubes of extra-firm tofu in a pan (with oil, of course). After the noodles are cooked, you reserve 2 cups of the cooking water and drain the noodles. Cook some sliced mushrooms in the tofu pan after the tofu is done and removed, mix the cooked mushrooms with the noodles, some sauce (soy, sesame oil, ginger), and a bag of broccoli slaw. Pour the broth over the noodle mixture once put into a bowl and top with tofu. Eat to your heart's content!

This recipe actually turned out to be rather pretty, and I am bummed that I cannot show you a photo of the loveliness. I really appreciate that Rachel Ray provides vegan and vegetarian recipes (even if they are not tagged as such); it makes it very beneficial to seek out new recipes such as this.

Another realization from this recipe: I figured out that I really like the TASTE OF TOFU ITSELF. The recipe called for it to be cooked only with salt and pepper...and I loved it. I know, it's weird since tofu takes on flavors so well, but I really liked the basic flavor. (The Hubs asked if I was preggers LOL!) Anyway, just sayin'...

Hopefully I won't let you all down next time, like a beauty school drop-out or something... :(

Jes