The Basics: Pesto Genovese

Growing up, I always loved helping my mother make pesto. Sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor, stripping intoxicatingly fragrant basil leaves into an enormous bowl stands out as one of my earliest memories. That being said, I have never been a fan of actually eating pesto. Seeing all that beautiful basil drowned in garlic, olive oil, and cheese until you can barely get a whiff of it just breaks my heart. So when I went looking for a pesto recipe, I decided to just bastardize my own, making it heavy on the basil and light on everything else. Cashews are lovely for this because the sweet, creaminess enhances the basil, rather than masking it, and the lemon keeps it nice and light.

Pesto Genovese
makes 2 cups

2 cups fresh basil
3/4 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 cup raw, unsalted walnuts
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 cloves garlic
3/4 cup nutritional yeast

Salt to taste

Food process all ingredients til creamy, adjusting to taste as desired!

This makes a healthy batch, but the olive oil means this is a happy camper in the fridge, and also freezes well. 

Creamy and Zesty Caesar Salad Dressing (Cashew-Free!)

So, here's the deal. I LOVE making foods with soaked cashews; so dreamy and creamy. But I am the WORST at finding recipes the night before, when I need to soak said cashews for 8-12 hours. I am the BEST at finding those recipes when I have less than three hours to dedicate in the kitchen.  My biggest problem has been with caesar dressing. I haven't had a caesar salad in three years because salads are rarely something I plan. So if I need 12 hours to plan ahead in order to whip up some dressing, it just ain't gonna happen.

Enter in the happy little walnut, which lends itself nicely to pestos and dressings after much less soaking time than cashews. After searching for a recipe online, I wound up just whipping this up, and the earthy creaminess balances quite nicely with the lemon, if I do say so.

 Caesar Dressing
1/2 cup raw walnuts, soaked for 15 minutes
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
1/4 cup olive oil (I actually did a blend of half olive and half almond oil, which is my usual M.O. with salad dressings)
2 1/2 tbsp ground flax seeds
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt

Drain the walnuts, and blend all ingredients in a food processor.. Add up to a tbsp of water if you'd like to thin it down a bit.

I'm a fan of mixing spinach and red leaf lettuce for my Caesars, and of COURSE, you need croutons.

Happy eating!

Ginger-Miso Tofu

I'm always on the lookout for a tasty recipe that can be quickly thrown together with ingredients prepped in advance. After a long day, the very last thing I want to do is peel, seed, and chop a ton of veggies.  

This is just one of those recipes- it doesn't sacrifice taste to save on time, and if you do the prep (of which there isn't much) beforehand, you've got a hearty and delicious meal in 20 minutes. Haven't prepped anything in advance? Never fear- still less than an hour start to finish!

Ginger-Miso Tofu with Brown Rice, Spinach, and Carrots

 makes 4 servings

1 cup uncooked brown rice

2 cups vegetable stock

1 14 oz package of firm or extra firm tofu (I'm a fan of extra firm sprouted), sliced 1/2 in. thick

3 cups mixed veg (I used 12 oz spinach and 2 purple carrots, and it was DELISH, but just know that spinach doesn't lend itself to reheating)

Marinade:

1/4 cup white wine (a dry riesling is lovely, though mirin is more traditional)

1/4 cup white or yellow miso paste

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp minced shallots

2 tbsp fresh minced ginger

1/4 tsp salt

Prep work, which can be done in advance:

1. Cook the brown rice in the vegetable stock, and set aside.
2. Boil the carrots until JUST tender and set aside.
3. Whisk together the marinade ingredients until completely blended, place the tofu in a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over it, turning the pieces to coat them completely. Cover and refrigerate at least half an hour (you can also leave it overnight). 

 Mealtime work:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. Place the pieces of tofu on a lined (parchment or silpat) baking sheet, set the  remaining marinade aside, and bake for 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through. They'll be golden brown.
3. After the ten minute mark on the tofu,  heat up the marinade in a large skillet over medium heat. Once sizzling, simmer a minute or two, stirring. Add the brown rice and keep stirring until the rice is hot. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Add the carrots and leave it on low heat, stirring, until the tofu is done. Serve with tofu, and, yum!

Happy eating!

a birthday reboot

I haven't been as active on this blog as I initially planned. After only a couple of months, I felt like after texting, Facebook, and Tumblr (plus the world's shortest stints on Twitter and SnapChat), what more could I possibly want to say to the world? And by "the world," I mostly mean the ether, and the odd duck who stumbles here by accident. I didn't have the time to do as much cooking and baking as I like, let alone photograph the process, process the photographs, and type everything up. So I let it slide, and aside from a bit of disappointment for not following through with myself, I didn't feel much of anything about not posting here anymore.

But something has changed. A lot has happened this year. I've made some important decisions and realizations. I've met some very wonderful and life-changing people. I went to some soulful and "thin" places. I'm starting to have things to say again. I don't have any expectations of any real type of readership, and that's quite alright, I'm just as happy to have this serve as a personal archive.

I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, I find them to be trite and insincere attempts at behaviour we should all attempt to exhibit year round. That, and the gyms become just unbearable.

But I love the idea of birthday goals, of finding areas to improve or exciting ideas to explore. Who cares if you haven't eaten a carb since midnight on December 31st- wouldn't it be more fun to say, "Oh, I've been knitting socks for charity ever since I decided on my 29th birthday to take up a craft," or, "Oh, yeah, 47 was when I found out I love recreational organic chemistry." And even if you don't become a master vintner or published author in one birthday cycle, it ultimately doesn't matter- the point is to celebrate yourself and your existence. You've been here on the earth another year! Isn't that worth starting a project or learning something?

So, instead of a New Year's Resolution to start a blog and post every week for a year (ahem, last year), I'm going to celebrate my 24th year on this planet by dedicating myself to thinking more, and rethinking the quality and quantity of my online presence. I'd rather be woefully out of touch with my Facebook feed and Tumblr dash, and have some nice photos and a recipe or two on here. And I'd also rather sacrifice extremely scheduled and regular, rather bland posts for more intermittent, substantial ones.

Plus, there are a couple specific projects that I'd love to keep track of on here, but more about that later.

Anyway, READER (the online equivalent of "dear diary"), thank you for listening, and I'll be back soon : )

Happy Saturday!