Vegan and Gluten-Free Cheap Eats

If you need a yummy recipe for something sweet or savory, Mare's blog, Meet Me in the Kitchen, is the place to go. Blogs like Mare's make you wish there was an instant 'feed me!' option located under 'file' right beneath 'print'. You know what I mean. I think foodie heaven is something like that.

Anyway, I knew I had to make these Chickpea Fritters when I spotted them on her blog. YUM! The fritters are so appealing because they're made from affordable and healthy ingredients. A can of chickpeas for just $0.89 and a pinch of some spices that are already in your pantry, and you've got a delicious vegan snack or light meal!

Now, I happen to be like many of you food bloggers out there; I'm always 'tweaking around in the kitchen. I don't even remember the last time I actually followed a recipe to the letter. So I present my modified version... oh yeah, and it's gluten-free too :).

Original recipe here

For the chickpea fritters:
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, strained
pinch of saffron threads (like 1/8 tsp)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch of all-spice
tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
pinch of cumin
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped & sauteed in olive oil

GF flour blend that coats the fritters:
1 TBSP white rice flour
1 TBSP corn meal
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp basil
1/8 tsp paprika

For the yogurt sauce:
about 4 tablespoons greek yogurt
3/4 tsp honey
pinch of salt
about 2 tsp finely chopped fresh cilantro

Start off by sauteing the garlic in a little bit of olive oil (and strain those chickpeas!).
Once it's slightly golden, you'll throw it in the food processor with the ingredients from the first list.
Next, you'll combine all the ingredients for the flour mix in a small bowl.
Start forming the chickpeas into flat patties, mine were a bit thick, and cover them with flour on each side.
Lightly fry them in some olive oil until they're crispy on both sides.
For the yogurt sauce, just mix everything together in a bowl.
See how fast that was!

Now onto our second recipe of the day... QUINOA! I just love saying that, it's such a fun word. Sounds like it should be the name of my future pet (my last guinea pig's name was Mochi, I like naming my pets after food these days). Quinoa is a super-food, pretty much, a grain that deserves more attention. But I must warn you, first-time quinoa eaters, the secret to make a delicious quinoa dish is this: rinse, rinse and rinse again (because you want to get rid of those bitter saponins)!


If there's one food you certainly should not judge by its appearance, it's quinoa. Poor not-so-pretty quinoa. Let me tell you, beneath the little celery leaf, the crushed almonds and finely grated carrots, you'll find a funky-colored but very scrumptious grain that's packed full of protein and other good stuff.

Sweet Potato Veggie Quinoa
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp savory
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 parsnip, peeled and sliced into 3/4 in. long by 1/4 inch wide pieces
(more salt and rosemary for parsnips, and 1 TBSP honey)
about 3/4 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/2 cup baked and mashed sweet potato pureed with 1/4 cup apple juice

Start by arranging the cut parsnips on a cookie sheet.
Lightly drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and finish them off with a light drizzle of honey and a few shakes of rosemary.
Raise oven temp to about 400 and bake until they start to brown (20 minutes in an oven that's not preheated). You can put them in before the oven is preheated, just make sure they bake til they're just a little brown on the corners.

For the quinoa:
Rinse the quinoa very well.
Next, add the olive oil to a medium stainless steel pot with the garlic, begin to lightly saute then add the quinoa and continue sauteing and stirring for about 2-3 minutes; add the rosemary and savory.
Now add the water and salt, cover and cook until only about 1/2 cup water is left.
Puree baked sweet potato with apple juice until smooth.
When 1/2 cup of the water is left, add the pureed sweet potato and apple juice.
Continue stirring while cooking quinoa on high with lid removed until all the liquid evaporates.
When the quinoa is no longer watery, mix frozen peas and carrots and the baked parsnips and cook on low for 5 more minutes, until veggies are thawed.

Have an awesome Labor Day Weekend. Need a smile? Click here to check out a cute picture from one of my favorite blogs!

Vegetarian Mandarin Orange Lo Mein

This Chicken Lo Mein recipe from Allrecipes.com sounded tasty and had good reviews, but I didn't like how much sugar it contained and I also wanted to make a completely vegetarian dish...so I changed it up by about 95% :).

The results? A fresh and healthy lo mein dish that's light but loaded with veggies; I served it with a sweet and spicy chili sauce that provides a good kick. The chili sauce does contain sugar, but the lo mein (made with fettuccine rice noodles) is sweetened with the juice from a small can of mandarin oranges (I used the ones from Whole Foods that are stored in pear juice). I also tossed in a few almonds and tofu for protein.

So the blog got another make-over! When I was in kindergarten, I used to change my clothes about 3-4 times a day, just because I got tired of wearing the same thing all day :P. I thought that habit died off before first grade, but it's returned! Now it applies to blog templates :).

Very Tasty Caribbean Stew and Jerk Tilapia

One of the best parts about cooking is that you can take a handful of random ingredients that are actually good for you, cook them with a few interesting spices and sauces, then you end up with something colorful, tasty, and healthy. Last week at work, my friend brought in a bowl of wonderful stew, it was from a recipe that her father initially introduced her to. She gave me some to try so that I'd know how to describe it on the Key Ingredient blog. Right after the first spoonful, I was convinced that this was a stew I definitely needed to make, asap!

This hearty meal was inspired by Moosewood's Caribbean Stew. The recipe is delicious as is, my friend Heather just added a few more veggies - I pretty much did the same. In my opinion, the more veggies, the better! This is a vegetarian stew that's filling as is, but it can also be served with rice or jerk tofu. I loved the idea of the jerk tofu, but I recently purchased some fish that needed a marinade; I thought the spicy/sweetness of the jerk would complement the tilapia quite well, and it did.

Because I wanted a baked and breaded fish, I mixed a few tablespoons of breadcrumbs with a tablespoon of melted butter and created a topping for the fish that also included some of the marinade. The end result was a flavorful meal without the fishy flavor, but I think next time, to preserve the light flavor of the fish, I'll just marinade then bake the tilapia in the jerk sauce. Though I only added half the amount of chili in both recipes, it was still spicy enough to be considered tasty.

If you want to give your taste buds a wake-up call, the stew and jerk recipes will do the trick. As for the stew, its spiciness wanes against the sweet potato's natural honey-like taste and the kale's deep earthy flavor. What's more, together, the cilantro and lemon add an herby freshness while the onions give the already rich broth an even fuller flavor. This stew is mouth-watering, to say the least, and your body will definitely thank you for eating such a healthy meal! The jerk sauce/marinade has a sweet and spicy flavor that even smells great, thanks to the freshly grated ginger that's like heaven for the olfactory glands. If you can't already tell, I'm a huge fan of this soupy stew. If it were a musician, I'd definitely make it a point to get its autograph.

The Jerk recipe will make enough marinade for about 3-4 small fish, I marinated the fish for about 2.5 hours before popping them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 425. Jose and I decided to take our fish and stew outside and make a picnic out of our dinner; the weather was beautiful and the meal was the perfect end to a fun-filled day spent at Wimberly and in the kitchen baking. (This month I'm baking 60 different batches of cookies for a little project I was assigned at work. My last day is the 23rd of April, so I'll be busy baking for the next few weeks! I can just see the Doughboy planning an invasion in the name of sweets, just like last time!)

Speaking of the little guy, look who I saw tagged and behind bars at Wimberley Market Days early this Saturday morning! It's a very old Doughboy, an antique! But I decided I couldn't deal with anymore tricks, so I had to leave him there for someone else to adopt!