Vegetarian Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup with beef or chicken broth, noodles, meat, and vegetable add-ins: basil, lime, bean sprouts.

Vegetarian Pho can be made with vegetable broth, rice noodles, a veggie protein (tofu, seitan, etc.) and the same vegetable add-ins.

Mini Vanilla Strawberry Cupcakes

Cupcakes are really taking over. At least that what Groupon is telling me when today's coupon (for cupcakes!) sold out at 6:57am...

A benchmark. And a Kale Tahini Salad.

Happy 100th post! This is a pretty big deal and I feel like it is perfectly timed with something fantastic: a new job! I might be inclined to change the name of this blog now... though I've grown pretty attached the long and painfully bland name that I started with: What I Do When I Don't Have a Job. I'm open to suggestions.

Even thought this seems like an occasion for a fancy post, I have nothing fancy to share. But, recently, I did learn about the benefits of including more raw foods in my diet after watching the documentary Food Matters. To sum it up, let's eat more salads and make our bodies feel better. I'll start today with this salad.

Cilantro Cabbage slaw in Tempeh Tacos

Cabbage is a must in many taco recipes. My most strong association with cabbage and tacos is in fish tacos... But nevermind that, alternatives like tofu, seitan, soy curls and tempeh lend themselves well to the flavors of a taco! A photo:

Peanut Butter Cups, and Vegan!

Reese's peanut butter cups are very delicious to a lot of people. It is hard to find a version without milk products in it. In a moment of brilliance, Bree suggested making our own and not only were they awesome but they made me feel my favorite: really fancy! Check it out:

The above photo is an extreme close-up. The size of these cups are about 1 cubic inch, or, the size of a scantly-filled mini cupcake.

I'll have to try Quick Bread another day.

With a narrow window with which to bake something yesterday, I turned to a Quick Bread to avoid the rising time needed for a yeast dough. With not a lot of ingredients on hand, I took a chance on an experiment with a whole wheat quick bread.

Dutch Oven Bread

I am very excited about a lot of the things I cook. But I'll say it: I was the MOST excited about this loaf!

Hybrid Bagel Dogs

The other day I really wanted to make some bread. I hadn't enough flour for a loaf so I got creative. The end result was a half bread, half bagel, hot dog sandwich! Not too bad.

Learning to Cook in New Spaces

I've recently had a major move out from my apartment of 4.5 years. My new apartment, aside from being in a very exciting location and living with my main squeeze, Bree, is nothing like my old apartment. Here are some photos of the moving-in process:

Valentines Cookie Crafting

We should honor more holidays by decorating cookies. Sugar cookies make a great "canvas" for my artsy self who also wants sugar all the time.

Vegetarian Wontons

I recently had wontons for dinner two nights in a row. I'm not bashful about this dinner repeat, though, because they are just so fast (both to prepare AND cook), adaptable and cheap!

Why aren't you making Kale chips?!

I recently got together with a good friend and made a great meal. But, I think there was one obvious star: Kale chips! Seen below cuddling closely with the onion, mushroom, pasta dish they went with.

Oven cook time is about 5-8 minutes at 400 degrees F until the Kale is crispy to the touch, or crunchy to the bite. Note: I tear the whole Kale leaves into bite-sized pieces before baking.

It recently came to my attention that some people are adding olive oil to the Kale before baking it (or worse, they hate Kale chips altogether! Shame.) and that is fairly unnecessary. All we need to do is evaporate the water present in the vegetable and it will dry out and become crunchy. I usually add a little salt, pepper and nutritional yeast to the kale when I put it in the oven. But you should also try all of your favorite seasonings too!

Kale is great.

Grilled Teriyaki Tofu

Grilled food is really delicious to a lot of people. Just because I eat the diet of all vegetables doesn't mean I shouldn't get to grill my food. The slight char and smokey flavor that comes with the finished product is spot on! During a recent visit to my family (and father who grills everything, all the time) I made this Grilled Teriyaki Tofu.

Kenyan Cilantro Pesto

While visiting my brother in Kenya, we made a delicious meal using cilantro as a pesto base.

Cilantro pesto with Penne

Going away... then coming back.

Alright everybody, it's true: I took a siesta to Africa!

Panorama of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania