Ginger Lemon Soother for my tired voice

My life has gone zero to sixty in how much I use my voice to talk to people (on the six days on, one day off schedule). As a result I am losing my voice. I have a sore throat and lately I've been coughing at night because my throat is itchy. What a terrible and uncomfortable situation!

After some internet searching I found a delicious recipe with only a few ingredients. Lemons. Ginger. Water. Honey (or I have also used Agave).

I used about 2 inches of ginger peeled, then cut into thin rounds and put into about 4 cups of water heated to a boil. Then I let that simmer for 15-20 minutes. The result is full of ginger spice! I put the ginger tea into a glass jar (with a lid!) with a juice of one lemon and sweetener to taste.

With all my talking and sometimes LOUD direction giving to unwieldy children on bikes (for my job) this gives my throat a little relief. I like it warm OR cold!

omg, Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

So simple. Sweet and salty with a kick from raw ginger.

~3 tbsp Soy Sauce*
~1 tbps White wine vinegar*
1 tsp sugar
a splash of red wine
freshly grated ginger and garlic to taste
*very approximate; as with most of my cooking, I didn't pay attention to how much of anything I added. If it doesn't taste awesome, just play around with it!

Poured over thinly sliced tempeh and marinated for a couple minutes. Then cooked up in a pan until crispy.

Kale. Onion. Cucumber (briefly marinated in white wine vinegar). Teriyaki tempeh. (The focaccia was a regrettable addition and I didn't finish it.)

Potato Tacos are all the rage

 Lately I've been noticing a fun addition to the alternative-to-meat options at my favorite food places: Potatoes!At taco stands I have been sticking to soyrizo because a) I like it and b) it is something that I don't think I can make yet. But I wanted to give potatoes a fighting chance and they are easy for me to make.

Sage Rosemary Focaccia

 I have tried my hand at making many breads. Over the course of my year making various breads I have learned that I prefer to make free form loaves as opposed to bread pan, sandwich-sized loaves. I like the variation in the final product.

I also love breads to dip in sauces, oils and herbs. It was just yesterday when I realized that Focaccia might be perfect for this. A quick internet search revealed that toppings for Focaccia are only limited by imagination. I like this a lot! But I will start simple with two herbs: sage and rosemary.

I love roasted Cauliflower.

Cauliflower is a vegetable that is (or was) largely overlooked in my diet. My memory of cauliflower is from relish trays at family gatherings where I dip it into ranch alongside carrots, radishes and broccoli florets. It never occurred to me to use it in any other way until recently. Maybe that is because the all-white coloring of this veggie betrays its nutritional value. Cauliflower, in fact, is not devoid of nutrients! It is a nice source of protein as well as a champion of Vitamin C and other daily essentials. Who knew?

Because I am an aspiring Fancy Person, I tried to slice the cauliflower in a cross-section to show its nice "branches". I got about two good pieces in and the rest became popcorn-sized bites. Oh well. My favorite seasoning to date is olive oil, salt and pepper, and lots of nutritional yeast. (un)Fortunately for you, I am not including the one ugly photo of this meal that I took right before my camera ran out of batteries.

Roasting cauliflower takes 10-15 minutes and it is a great addition to a meal. Continuing with my cheating theme for busy days, I added cauliflower to sauteed kale, long grain brown rice and a prepackaged chana masala.

Chili con... seitan!

It's no secret that I'm a copycat. So, when a friend of mine mentioned that she was going to use her crock pot to cook something delicious I was like, "Ooh, yeah! I want that too."

I love chili from a crock pot. But I thought after making a couple of chilis with just beans and veggies it's time to step it up. So, I stepped it up with a seitan sausage experiment.

Cooking in Advance

It feels really good to eat homemade food. For me, this extends all the way to bringing a lunch to work instead of buying one (In fact, right now it is really exciting for me to even get to say the words "bring a lunch to work"!). Homemade lunches are harder to pull off with a busy schedule and I can easily to fall into a routine of PB&J sandwiches.

I try to plan ahead so that I can provide myself with delicious, healthful meals that don't take my whole morning to prepare. This week I decided to roast some bell peppers with onion. I love them in my sandwiches and had a great time eating them in pasta, too.

Mini Bagels!

Here is a quick look at some mini everything bagels I made. Really adorable. They are more laborious than bread to make, but the end result is so pleasing. And I love anything in miniature.

 For anyone thinking about getting into the homemade bagel scene, what are you waiting for?! You can have something this cute in your kitchen too!