Tag Archives: homemade

Homemade Vegetable Stock Update

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

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I originally shared my guide to making homemade vegetable stock last spring, which walks through some different approaches to ingredients and techniques. There are lots of ways to make stock to your personal liking, so I hope you’re doing it and enjoying it as much as I do!

Now that I’m in the habit of making my own stock, I use a lot more. Within the last month, I went through about 6 quarts in various recipes including balsamic marinated beets, minestrone soup, fennel lentil & sausage, and quinoa.

Sidebar: If you follow the instructions on your bag of quinoa, don’t. They will tell you to use the same ratio of liquid to grain as you would with rice, 2:1. This makes a mushy mess. Try reducing the liquid by a third to a half cup, per cup of grain. I promise you’ll be much happier with the result. I make a pot of quinoa almost every week and use it throughout to sprinkle on salads, or a substitute for rice in Mexican and Asian dishes, or add to breakfast scrambles. Because it’s a little drier this way, it absorbs the flavors of whatever it’s with. And because I make it with stock instead of water, it contributes more complexity to the flavor as well.

What took homemade vegetable stock from an occasional thing to a regular habit for me was freezing vegetable scraps. And I’m not super fancy about it either. I just use big freezer bags. Whenever I’m cooking I get the bag out and add more scraps. They accumulate for a couple weeks and then I make a pot of stock.

As a result, there’s much less waste coming out of our kitchen. If I know something is going to spoil before I can use it – like if we’re leaving town for the weekend – I just add it to the scrap bag. I don’t waste my time with the tiny inner cloves of garlic, throw away the bottom half of every fresh herb bunch, or feel guilty about not using mushroom stems in recipes. All that stuff gets frozen and turned into delicious stock. Then composted.

But the stock itself will spoil so…I freeze that too. Once cooled, I put it in my favorite extra-large ice cube trays, and then transfer the frozen cubes of stock into, you guessed it, another big freezer bag. I always have pre-measured stock ready to use. Super easy, thrifty, and waste conscious.

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Mole Roasted Cauliflower & Sweet Potatoes

04 Friday May 2012

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Mole Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes

Continuing the countdown to Cinco de Mayo, I had Gazpacho on my mind for today. It’s one of my favorite dishes, very refreshing and satisfying, but you really want something paired with it to make a full dinner.

There was a half head of cauliflower in my fridge that needed using, so I went on a recipe hunt and was happy to find this mole cauliflower recipe shared in 2010 by The Kitchen Operas (which was adapted from one shared by Gluten-Free Girl in 2005…so my evolution is at least the third generation). True mole is very labor intensive to make, so I’m excited to have a quick version of that wonderful flavor profile to whip up any night of the week.

Mole Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Ingredients

Ingredients

  • Half head of cauliflower, cut into medium florets
  • 1 medium sweet potato, cut into medium chunks
  • 1 tbsp cacao powder
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • .5 tsp sea salt or garlic salt (I used Libertine’s Dynamic Duo)
  • .25 cups grape seed oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°
  2. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix into the oil
  3. Pour over cauliflower and sweet potato in a large bowl and stir until the vegetables are coated
  4. Spread evenly in a large roasting pan or cooking sheet lined with tin foil
  5. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, flipping at least once, until they are cooked to your liking

Note on the spiciness: I would call the heat level on this “medium-hot” so adjust the red pepper flakes to your preference – although the gazpacho was the perfect balance for this little kick this had.

If you pick up this recipe and move it forward again, please let me know!

Cumin Lime Dressing

01 Tuesday May 2012

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Cumin Lime Dressing Ingredients

This is an easy dressing that pairs especially well with Mexican food…because we’re gearing up for Cinco de Mayo! I’ll have a Fiesta Salad recipe that uses this dressing to share with you tomorrow, but it’s also great on a regular green salad.

Ingredients

  • Juice of 4 to 6 limes
  • 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced finely
  • 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
  • .5 cups light olive oil (I’m using half EVOO and half grape seed oil)
  • 2 tsp cumin powder
  • .5 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • .5 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients and mix/blend well. Adjust any ingredients as necessary to achieve a good balance – start with 4 limes and work up to 6, etc.

You may have noticed that my salt in this photo is a beautiful purple color. That’s because it’s the Trifecta Blend from Libertine and includes Alaea Red Hawaiian Sea Salt, Hiwa Kai Black Hawaiian Sea Salt, and Himalayan Pink Salt. All three have different essential trace minerals which are thought to help with chronic ailments from inflammation to depression. Plus it’s pretty, which is said to be good for your eyes ; )

Vegetarian Taco Pie

06 Friday Apr 2012

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Vegetarian Taco Pie

Since I had a pie crust in the freezer and some vegan taco meat from earlier in the week, I made an Entirely From-Scratch Vegetarian Taco Pie. Homemade salsa, fresh guacamole, even the vegetable stock for the seitan was homemade. Not only could you taste the love, you could hear the mix tape that it made for you playing in the background.

If I don’t have vegan taco meat already made next time, I’ll try substituting refried beans and Spanish rice, which will cut down significantly on the prep time. I might work in some tomatoes, but I digress. What I’m trying to say is, taco pie, I love you, and I’m looking forward to a lifetime together.

Vegetarian Taco Pie Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 1 9” Pie Crust
  • 1.5 cups Vegan Taco Meat (or bean substitute)
  • 1 cup Shredded Cheese (recommend sharp cheddar)
  • 1 Onion, diced
  • 4-6 Garlic Cloves, diced
  • 1 cup Mushrooms, sliced
  • .5 tsp Cumin Powder
  • .5 tsp Paprika
  • .5 tsp Chili Powder
  • 2 tbsp Grape Seed Oil
  • Sour Cream
  • Guacamole
  • Salsa

Vegetarian Taco Pie Layers

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Prep crust in a 9” pie dish. Not a bad idea to pre-bake it for a few minutes, but I didn’t and it was fine.
  3. In a pan, heat the oil over medium and add the powdered spices for a few minutes to season the oil. Then add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Finally, add the mushrooms and sauté for another 5 minutes.
  4. Layer ingredients in the pie crust: taco meat first, then mushroom and onion mix, topped with cheese.
  5. Bake for 30-45 minutes until crust and cheese are golden brown.
  6. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and fresh guacamole (I just mush up an avocado with a couple sprinkles of chili powder and garlic salt).

Vegetarian Taco Pie

Vegan Taco Meat

05 Thursday Apr 2012

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Vegan Taco Meat

In recent weeks, Americans have had a rude awakening about what’s actually in the meat served at fast food restaurants and sold in grocery stores. Pink Slime may be putting the “ew” in news lately, but the real shock is that’s anybody’s surprised. Ground beef and chicken nuggets couldn’t look less like natural pieces of animal, so they are the perfect place to hide the bits that nobody wants to see.

Our widespread cultural approach of willful ignorance about what we put in our bodies is one of many reasons I stopped eating meat. If you want to know exactly what’s in every bite of the protein on your plate, the good news is…you can just make it yourself! And although I wouldn’t categorize this as a “quick and easy” recipe, at least it doesn’t involve an industrial centrifuge.

Seitan is a protein made from wheat that you can season and shape almost any way you want. Here’s a basic seitan recipe, but this week I took it a step further and made my own vegan taco meat. This recipe yields about 4 cups, or eight servings.

Vegan Taco Meat Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1.25 cups Vital Wheat Gluten
  • 3 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  • 1 tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tbsp Cumin Powder
  • 1 tbsp Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp Paprika
  • 1 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
  • .75 cups Water
  • 4 cups Vegetable Stock + 2 cups Water
  • 1 Head Garlic, rinsed
  • 1 Onion, rinsed
  • 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
  • 2 tbsp
  • .25 cups Grape Seed Oil
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. We’ll start by making the seitan dough. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (gluten, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, chili, paprika, oregano), then combine the .75 cups of water and liquid aminos. Pour the water mixture into the gluten mixture and stir immediately, then kneed when stirring becomes difficult. You want to work this dough harder than you would with bread dough to encourage the protein to firm up for a meaty texture. When ingredients are fully incorporated and worked, set aside for at least 15 minutes.
  2. In the meantime, prepare the broth mixture to cook the seitan dough. Combine the 4 cups of vegetable broth and 2 cups of water in a stew pot over medium heat. Cut your garlic bulb in half and pull out several cloves, putting the rest of the bulb into the broth. Mince the cloves you retained. Remove the ends and outer layer of your onion and put those in the broth. Finely dice the onion and save for later. If you have the head of a jalapeno, that can also flavor the broth.
  3. When the broth boils, reduce heat to a simmer. Take your ball of seitan dough and cut chunks of approximately two inches and put them into the broth. Kitchen scissors are really helpful for this. Let them simmer for 45 minutes. They’ll increase significantly in size and float.
  4. Intermission. This is a great time to make some homemade salsa!
  5. Ok, the seitan is done. Remove the chunks with a slotted spoon and use another spoon to press out any excess liquids. Put the cooked seitan and tomato paste into a food processor and pulse until it has taco meat texture.
  6. Last step. In a large pan over medium heat, sauté the seitan, minced garlic, chopped onion and sesame seeds in the grape seed oil for 10-15 minutes. You can boost the flavor with additional seasonings if you want, plus the salt and pepper to taste. Stir occasionally, but do allow it to brown.

Now you have a flavorful taco meat that has great texture to use in burritos, on nachos, in taco salad, etc. Here’s the bonus: this recipe has no cholesterol and it’s lower in fat, calories and sodium than taco meat made from lean ground beef.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

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Homemade Vegetable Stock

I might use 2 to 3 quarts of vegetable stock per month, maybe more in the winter, which isn’t really a lot. But at almost $4 for a quart of the good stuff, that’s over $100 per year. Meanwhile, I’ve been throwing away all my fresh vegetable scraps. I finally realized, it doesn’t add up. Now that I know how to make my own delicious no-sodium vegetable stock, I’m feeling clever four times over: one for the money, two for the waste, three for the salt, and four for the taste!

Vegetable stock is less of a recipe per se and more about knowing the theory and then improvising for the occasion. There’s no consensus on the right way to make stock, every cook finds her own. Here’s what I’ve learned from reading tons of recipes and finally just doing it my way…

The Foundation: The one thing everyone does agree on is that a stock starts with three key aromatic vegetables: onion, celery, and carrot. In French cuisine, this holy trinity is called mirepoix (meer-PWAH) which loosely translates to “some French Duke who hired a really good chef.” You might see leeks instead of, or in addition to, onions. Same with parsnip and carrots. But some version of mirepoix will be the base every time.

Herbs: The two other elements that you’ll find across the board are peppercorns and bay leaves. Also very popular are garlic and parsley. The stems of fresh herbs are perfect for stock. So if you’re using the leaves off a bunch of parsley or cilantro, you’ll be able to use the other half that isn’t leafy here. If you have fresh thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, or basil – toss some into the pot!

Fats: In about a quarter of the recipes I’ve seen, people use butter, olive oil, or both. I don’t use any fats because stock is always an ingredient in something else, and I’d rather measure the fats for the final recipe.

Salt: Just like with fats, I don’t add any sodium because the stock is not the final product. But lots of people do put salt and/or Tamari in their stock. If you do want to try, start with 2 tsp salt per quart of water and adjust to your liking.

Brightness: You’ll see this less frequently, but it’s something I usually do: add some white wine or lemon. It’s easier to overdo the lemon – half of an already squeezed one per 2 quarts is enough. Wine, on the other hand, adds richness as well as brightness – anywhere from a quarter to a full cup is great.

Everything Else: The woody part of asparagus, bok choy butts, broccoli and cauliflower stems, chard or beet greens, sweet potato peelings, fennel stocks, zucchini and summer squash, the top of one red bell pepper without the seeds – all great additions to increase the complexity and balance of flavor. But the two I would be loath to leave out are mushrooms and tomatoes, both for the umami they add, thereby rounding out the flavor experience and reducing the need to over-salt in the final dish.

Cooking Technique: Some folks oven roast the mirepoix and other hearty pieces first, drawing out and deepening flavors. If you do this you will need to use some type of fat. Other people toss everything into a pot of boiling water and walk away. My approach is in the middle: I do cook the onion, garlic, and herbs in white wine for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients and enough water to just cover them, about 2 liters. However you choose to start, we’ll all end with simmering our ingredients for 45 to 60 minutes and then straining out our very own homemade stock!

Storage: Stock will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 3 months. A great idea is to freeze it in ice cube trays, then transfer into a freezer bag so you can easily thaw just the portion you need.

Watch-outs: Always use fresh ingredients, never anything that’s spoiled. Stock will not hide bad ingredients, it will amplify them. Rinse everything well and use organic if you can. Never let anything burn. If you’re making stock for a specific use, consider tailoring your mix of ingredients to complement that recipe (rosemary for Italian dishes, but not Mexican, etc.). On the flip side, consider avoiding flavors that are very distinctive if you’re making a batch for general/TBD use. I’d be careful with peppers – if the top of one mild red bell pepper makes its mark on the flavor profile, I can’t imagine what jalapeno scraps would do.

Tomatillo Chipotle Salsa

20 Monday Feb 2012

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Tomatillo Chipotle Salsa

I almost never buy salsa anymore, not since I got a food processor last year, because fresh homemade salsa is super easy and delicious. Here’s one of our favorite recipes.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • .5 tsp chili powder
  • .5 tsp chipotle powder
  • .5 tsp salt
  • .5 cups onion
  • 3-4 garlic cloves
  • 1-2 tsp fresh jalapeno (optional per your heat preference)
  • 1 cup cilantro
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3-4 tomatillos, papery wrappers removed and rinsed
  • 1-2 tomatoes

Salsa Ingredients

Instructions:

  1. Pulse the spices, salt, onion and garlic until finely chopped (here’s where jalapeno would go in)
  2. Add cilantro and lime juice, pulse several times
  3. Add tomatillos and tomatoes, pulse until they are the texture you prefer
  4. Between each step make sure to scrape the sides of the food processor with a spatula so all the ingredients get incorporated evenly

I like to separate the chunky part and use the juices to season my Spanish rice, etc.

One other note: this is a great way to use the cilantro stems since they are getting finely chopped anyway, so you can use the pretty top leaves for garnish.