Plant-Based Meals

We've been eating a lot of plant-based meals lately.  One of the easiest ones, and a new favourite, is this satisfying meal of artichoke melts and tahini spinach.

Artichoke Melts

(Makes 4 bun-halves)

• 2 buns, sliced
• 1 can artichokes (14 oz/398 ml), drained
• 1-1.5 T mayo
• 1 T minced onion
• 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp smokey paprika
• 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne 
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated cheese to top them with (to taste)

Chop up the artichokes well (I like to chop them similar to flaked tuna).  Add the mayo, onion, and spices (or whatever you like really).  Top the four bun halves with the mixture, top with cheese, and broil on high 3-5 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.  Watch! 

Tahini Spinach

(Makes 2 portions)

• 1 T tahini
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 large pack of baby spinach (312 g/11 oz)
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Mix the tahini, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar in a small bowl. Put the spinach into a dry, large pot, and stir and let it wilt over medium heat.  It will give off its water.  Keep stirring for 1-3 minutes until all is wilted. Remove from heat and squeeze all liquid out of the spinach. (We use a clean silicon oven mitt to really give it a good squeeze.  You want all liquid drained off, so squeeze it well.) You can let it cool if you need to, then squeeeeeeeze.  Drizzle the drained spinach with sesame oil, and toss it with the tahini sauce. Serve warm or cold.

We have the tahini spinach as a side dish multiple times per week.

On the side with daal and rice:

With a baked potato and beans:

With kimchi potatoes and roasted broccoli:

Other plant-based meals we've been enjoying include tempeh stir fry:

Borscht perogies with saurkraut:

Vegan alfredo pasta:

Tofu and veggie, rice bowls with peanut sauce:

Bean and sweet potato burritos:

So many vegetarian dishes from Caraway:

Panang vegetable curry, with Thai sticky rice:

Falafel pitas with homemade super-green falafels, and alllllll the pickled turnips:

Sushi rolls on the day we were supposed to leave for Japan 😢:

Grilled veggies with halloumi cheese:

Nachos!

And burgers made with smoked portobellos instead of beef patties:

(Note the tahini spinach on the side again.  We're hooked.)

And we even had plant-based dessert recently - mango with sticky rice.

Have you had any good plant-based meals lately?

Do you try to incorporate plant-based meals into your diet?

Cleaning Burnt Sugar etc. from a Pot: What Actually Works

Back in early November, I was making a tangy mustard sauce for pork and completely forgot about it.  I went into another room while the sugar, mustard powder, egg, and vinegar boiled away for about half an hour, until all that was left was what looked like a ruined pot.  We tried everything to get the pot clean, turning to Google for all the answers.

Boiled water, soapy water, baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, scrubbing with a metal scouring pad, and every combination of those, plus a few more tricks I am probably forgetting, and nothing worked.  We thought we'd have to throw the pot away for sure. 

So, then it got to be December, and I was frustrated with the darn pot.  I put some water in it, put a lid on it, and let it sit, figuring I'd worry about it after Christmas, and if I couldn't find a solution, then we'd shop for a new pot in January. 

Well, as luck would have it, the plain old water, sitting for weeks, was exactly the trick!  Nothing fancy - no boiling needed - no scrubbing - just good old water, and patience.

After eventually taking the lid off of the pot, we saw this floating in there:

It lifted right out, and the bottom of the pot was as good as new. 

Water is magic!

Have you ever had to replace a pot or pan because you burned something so badly?

Two New Recipes

Last night we needed a quicker dinner, as we were heading to our nephew's football game for 6:00. 

We made chili verde with sausage and pumpkin, and started by broiling this tray of veggies.

Then everything went into one pot, starting with some onion, then sausage meat, garlic, oregano, cilantro, and chopped pumpkin or squash.  It called for canned hominy too, but we couldn't find any, so we just added a can of corn, and it tasted great.

I thought it needed more liquid, as it wasn't saucy or liquidy enough for chili, in my opinion, so we added a can of beef broth that we had on hand, and about a 1/4 cup of water.

We made this dinner, ate, and were only five minutes late to the game.  I call that a win!  (And the team won too!)

This chili was so good, and it had just the right amount of kick.  I loved the leftovers for lunch today.  We'll add this to our make-again list, and you can find the recipe here if you want to try it out.

Tonight we made another new dish - grilled chicken thighs with ginger scallion noodles, but had mixed feelings about it.  I didn't think it was anything special, although Christopher really enjoyed it.

I thought this dish needed something more.  I added sriracha, but it still wasn't really doing it for me.  Anyway, the recipe is here, and it's an even quicker one.

I used to subscribe to many food and cooking magazines, but now I only have one subscription - Food Network Magazine.  Often, when we are menu planning and can't think of what to make, we turn to this magazine for quick and easy ideas.

(Note: I am not affiliated with them; I just like the magazine).

What's on the menu at your house this week?

Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

Where do you look for new ideas when you're meal planning?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

I've got a great recipe for you!  I recently had some canned pumpkin to use up, so I whipped up a loaf with it, and it turned out so well that I made another loaf a couple days later.

It is easy to make, very moist, and super flavourful. 

For the spice in it I used 1.5 tsp of my homemade gingerbread spice:

It just takes minutes to throw together and is great to have on hand, but you don't have to use this.  The recipe for it is from Food Network (2 T each ground ginger and cinnamon, 2 tsp ground allspice, 1/2 tsp each ground nutmeg and finely ground pepper and 1/4 tsp ground cloves), and they also have numerous different recipes that you can make calling for this spice mixture both here and here.

If you don't want to make the spice mixture, you can just use pumpkin pie spice instead, or 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mixture)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp gingerbread spice (or pumpkin pie spice, or 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Pre heat the oven to 350 F and spray or grease a loaf pan.  Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, carefully stir together the pumpkin, oil, egg, water, and spice.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed; don't over mix.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake 50-60 minutes (test with a wooden skewer/toothpick). 

This is a recipe I'll be making again and again.  I actually don't make a lot of loaves, and didn't really have any stand-by loaf recipes that I swear by ... but now I do!

Do you make loaves?  What is your go-to?  Banana?  Lemon poppy seed?  Chocolate zucchini?  Pumpkin?  

Have you done any baking lately? 

New Eats

A couple weekends ago we made a whole bunch of new recipes.  There was the fresh pasta, beet gnocchi, and cappuccino pavlova, but that was just half of our cooking/baking adventure.

We made a new breakfast casserole:

It starts with a layer of Italian sausage (cooked):

Then cheese:

An egg mixture:

And a layer of frozen hash browns (or tater tots):

Then it goes into the oven, and it wakes up your senses as it cooks:

We each had a slice, and then had breakfast for the start of the work week.

Find the recipe here.

Another new dish we tried was slow cooker Moroccan chicken, and we loved it!  We are huge fans of olives, and the lemon also made this so flavourful.  We served it with brown rice.

The raisins really added something to it; if you make this, I would not recommend eliminating them.  I think the dish needs all the elements.

For dessert I made a batch of chocolate chip Oreo cookies.

I really enjoy desserts with Oreo in them, and these instantly caught my eye.  They were easy, and a perfect recipe.  I'd make them again for sure.

And if that wasn't a delicious enough weekend, we also tried a couple new cheeses and some walnut sausage that we found at the grocery store down the street.

Spring has finally appeared, and it is beautiful!  We walked to dinner at dusk this past Saturday evening to really enjoy the evening weather, and it felt so good to be outside.  I can't wait to spend loads of time outdoors in the coming months.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Did you get outside at all?  Have you cooked/ baked anything new recently?