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Tag Archives: vegan

Cannellini & Spinach Soup

03 Tuesday May 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Cooking

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

beans, cannellini, cannellini beans, carrots, food, foodie, postaday2011, recipe, soup, spinach, vegan, vegetarian, white kidney beans

Normally this time of year, my grill gets used daily and soup is an after thought of winter. This year, the sunny warm days of April have been sparse… the beginning of May is looking the same. Tonight is my night to grab a bowl of hot soup and curl up on the couch with a blanket, book and Rory (my kitty).

Cannellini & Spinach Soup

Cannellini & Spinach Soup

Ingredients:
3 c. cooked cannellini beans, 1 minced shallot, 1 bag of fresh baby spinach, 1 c. of shredded carrots, extra virgin olive oil, homemade vegetable stock, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
Warm EVOO in bottom of stock pot, brown shallots. Add spinach until wilted, then toss in carrots and beans. Pour enough vegetable stock to cover vegetables and bring to a boil. Salt & pepper to taste.

Hubster’s Variations:
I serve Hubster’s over orzo with very little broth. I add turkey sausage and turkey bacon (crumbled) to Hubster’s. And garnish with freshly grated pecorino romano.

Do you eat soup through the spring? What about summer?

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Potato & Spinach Curry

16 Saturday Apr 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Cooking, Ethnic Food

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

curry dish, dinner, food, foodie, lunch, meal, postaday2011, potato, potato curry, potatoes, recipe, side dish, side dishes, spinach, supper, vegan, vegetarian, vegetarian recipe

There are tons of herbs and spices you can use in any curry. I like to play around with different tastes, so even if the main ingredients are the same, the flavor can be completely different. Hubster loves potatoes, but not spinach; mixed together as a curry though and he loves it. I would eat this dish as a main dish, Hubster prefers it as a side.

Potato & Spinach Curry

Potato & Spinach Curry

Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, 1 bag of fresh baby spinach, olive oil, 3 bay leaves, 1 Tbsp. tomato paste, 1/4 tsp. red chili powder, 1/4 tsp. turmeric, 1/8 tsp. ground ginger, 1/4 tsp. cumin, 1/8 tsp. coriander, 1/8 tsp. ground fennel,  pinch of cardamom, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
Bring water and 2 bay leaves to boil in a medium sauce pan. Peel and cube potatoes, lightly boil in water for about 4 minutes In a frying pan add all herbs and spices (except salt) and dry roast over low heat. Add potato cubes, olive oil and tomato paste and cook until potatoes are Remove from heat and make sure potatoes are well coated. Allow dish rest for a few hours (you can skip this step if you don’t want to wait). Reheat potatoes and toss in spinach leaves until wilted. Serve hot over basmati rice.

What is on your menu tonight?

My History With Hummus

27 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Baking, Cooking

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

appetizer, dips, food, foodie, hummus, humus, postaday201, recipe, reflection, snack, spread, vegan, vegetarian

This versatile food can be the main course or the starter, a dip or a spread. I made a fresh batch of homemade pitas, cut them into wedges to dip in my hummus.

Hummus & Homemade Pita

Hummus & Homemade Pita

Hummus and I? We have a bit of a long history…

My History with Hummus:
Once in elementary school, when I was eating a delicious pita filled with hummus, carrot shreds and alfalfa sprouts the boy across the lunch table sneered at my lunch and told me I had to eat that junk because my family was poor. The first few times I paid no attention to him (as he also picked on the Korean girl, who sometimes sat next to me, eating sushi). The petulant boy continued to badger me during lunch and eventually it began to wear on me (this went on for about 3 years!). I studied his peanut-butter and fluff sandwich on white bread, cut into four equal squares with the edges removed tucked into his brown paper bag. Other times he had potato chips and a candy bar or cookies for his lunch, sans sandwich. Whenever my hummus was on 8 grain bread instead of a pita, I told him it was peanut butter. I talked to my current PREP teacher about it and she suggested he was jealous. How could someone be jealous of food? Besides, what did she know? She was a chef who owned a restaurant and recently became a teacher. Once I was in high school I insisted on not packing hummus any longer, along with the other foods I enjoyed, which weren’t considered “normal” among my peers. It was safer to consume them in the privacy of my home.

The epiphany occurred after my second year of college at a potluck party. A young friend raved about this great new appetizer he had eaten at a boho NYC restaurant, he looked up the recipe online and made it for this party. I was curious what he made and was surprised to find out that he had made hummus. Seriously? To my surprise no one at the party had heard of it before and to my astonishment everyone LOVED IT! It caused me to reflect on the annoying boy from elementary school and it came quite clear that my family was more cultured than his and his family was also a bit pathetic that they weren’t willing to accept new and different things.

Hubster is not exactly in love with hummus, but he’s not a mocker either. Pumpkin loves to dip veggies into it, but doesn’t like it on bread or crackers. While everyone has their own hummus recipe, here’s mine. Once again, I didn’t really measure, these are more of estimates!

Hummus Ingredients:
2 c. garbanzo beans, 2 Tbsp. tahini, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 garlic clove, pinch of cumin, fresh ground sea salt

Hummus Directions:
Combine all ingredients in food processor until creamy.

Serving Suggestions:
When putting together a hummus platter my mother would always create beautiful scenes using paprika, olives, parsley, olive oil, cucumbers, carrots, sesame seeds, pita wedges, etc… I usually keep this in mind with my presentation….

What did you do over the weekend?

Garlic Knots

09 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Baking

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

bread, dinner, dinner rolls, entree, food, foodie, garlic, garlic knots, Italian, postaday2011, recipe, side dishes, vegan, vegetarian

For dinner I made a spinach & cheese lasagna for myself and a traditional one for Hubster. I thought about making garlic bread, but thought garlic knots would be more fun. I couldn’t find the recipe I had book marked to try, so I used my focaccia bread recipe as the base of my garlic knots and improvised from there.

Garlic Knots

Garlic Knots

 

Ingredients:
4 tsp. yeast, 4 c. flour, 4 Tbs. olive oil, 1 3/4 c. warm water, fresh ground sea salt, garlic powder, minced garlic, oregano

Directions:
Mix together yeast, 1/2 c. flour and 1/2 c. water. Cover with a warm moist towel and store in a warm area for 1/2 hour. Mix in remaining, flour, water, and some salt. Knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes. Oil dough and place in a metal bowl, cover with warm moist towel and store in a warm area for about an hour. Preheat oven 400°F. Grease baking tray. Using floured hands roll out dough. Rub top with EVOO and sprinkle on the garlic powder, fresh ground sea salt, and oregano. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 2″ thick strips. Knot and tuck each piece of dough and place on baking tray. Press minced garlic on tops. Bake for about 15 minutes and serve warm.

 

 

 

Spinach, Star Fruit & Pistachio Salad

06 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Cooking

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

bleu cheese, carambola, chicken, chicken salad, cooking for two, entree salad, food, foodie, fruit, lunch for two, pistachio, postaday2011, recipe, red bell pepper, side dishes, spinach, star fruit, vegan, vegetarian

The other night Hubster and I stopped by a grocery store that we don’t normally get to. I was amazed when I spotted a few fresh star fruit, since I haven’t be able to find them in this area since I moved here. I ran over to them and started squeezing them to check their firmness, Hubster looked completely confused and asked what the are. After I replied, the 5-year-old boy in him came out. “They can’t ever taste good if I’ve never seen them in the grocery store before. That’s the ugliest fruit I’ve even seen, they don’t even look good.” I then held up an Ugli fruit for him to view… conversation was derailed.

This day, I did something simplistic and used them in a salad. Two variations, a light vegetarian salad for me and a non-vegetarian entrée salad for him. His final verdict on the fruit? Tastes okay, like a fruit. 🙂 I think star fruit tastes like a light citrusy pear.

Vegetarian & Vegan Version
Spinach, Start Fruit & Pistachio Salad Ingredients:

1 star fruit (sliced), sliced red pepper, pistachios, baby spinach leaves, sesame ginger dressing

Spinach, Star Fruit & Pistachio Salad Directions:
Arrange mixed greens on plate and top with chicken, star fruit, peppers and pistachios. Drizzle with dressing.

Spinach, Star Fruit & Pistachio Side Salad

Spinach, Star Fruit & Pistachio Side Salad

Meat Eaters Entrée Salad Variation
Ingredients:
1 Spinach, Star fruit and Pistachio salad from above, 1 chicken breast, teriyaki sauce, bleu cheese crumbles, raspberry vinaigrette dressing (in place of sesame ginger dressing)

Directions:
Marinate chicken in teriyaki breast and grill. Slice chicken and arrange on salad. Sprinkle with bleu cheese and drizzle with dressing.

Chicken, Spinach, Star Fruit & Pistachio Entrée Salad

Chicken, Spinach, Star Fruit & Pistachio Entrée Salad

I prefer this with sesame ginger dressing, Hubster enjoys his was raspberry vinaigrette, you combo might be different…

What recipe do you make two different variations, for you and your spouse/partner?

Radicchio & Edamame Salad

03 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Cooking, Ethnic Food

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Chinese, Chinese food, Chinese New Year, edamame, food, foodie, postaday2011, radicchio, recipe, salad, side, side dishes, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian

Move over Valentine’s Day, you’re not the only reason we’re dressed in and decorating with red this month. Starting on February 3rd and going through the first full moon of the (Chinese) New Year on the 18th. This was just the kickoff to our Chinese New Year Celebration… I don’t think I can fill my next two weeks with that many Chinese inspired crafts and recipes… but let’s see how far we get.

Radicchio & Edamame Salad

Radicchio & Edamame Salad

Ingredients:
1 head of radicchio, 1 lb. edamame, 2 Tbsp. water, 1 Tbsp. white rice wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp. lemon zest, coarsely ground sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:
Shred radicchio, add to mixing bowl and set aside. Add edamame, water and salt to saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer over medium heat for a few minutes. Remove pan from heat, and allow to cool slightly. Remove beans from pods and add to radicchio. Add vinegar, oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper, gently mix together. Serve hot or chilled.

This was such a delicious salad, nutty and tasty, crunchy and full of texture. Mmm…

How do you celebrate Chinese New Year?

Basmati Pistachio Rice

01 Tuesday Feb 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Cooking, Ethnic Food

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

basmati, easy meal, easy recipe, Indian cooking, Indian cuisine, Indian food, pistachio, postaday2011, quick & easy, recipe, rice, side dishes, vegan, vegetarian

As a side dish I was going to make plain basmati rice and daal. However, when I looked in my pantry there were no lentils. I had to quickly change my plans to create a lightly flavored rice.

Basmati Pistachio Rice

Basmati Pistachio Rice

Ingredients:
2 c. water, 1 c. basmati rice, 1 c. pistachios, 2 bay leaves, 1 small piece of cinnamon stick, 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Bring water, olive oil and bay leaves to boil. Add rice and cinnamon stick, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Fluff rice and stir in pistachios. Serve hot.

Serve as a side dish with curried vegetables.

What quick substitutions have you had to make recently?

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