Spinach/tomato/olive rotini with ... sauce (and a warning)

Although I've been off dairy for a couple of years, occasionally I do crave something cheesey. Today it was mac and cheese - I wanted it, I needed it, I had to have it. Hello, internet.

I read several vegan recipes, and they had one ingredient in common: nutritional yeast. I'd never tried it before, but it was typically described as "nutty", "cheesey", and "good on popcorn" (??). And it really is quite nutritious - chock full of vitamin B goodness. I was game. Bring it on.

Luckily I read the fine print on the base recipe before starting to make it: "If you are used to nutritional yeast sauces AND you like Road’s End Chreese, then this might be the recipe for you." Hmm, neither of those applied to me - rave reviews aside, what were the odds that I would find it delicious? I needed a back-up plan.... or rather some back-up ingredients. Something to alter this from yummy "mac and cheese" to "generic pasta dish".

Good thing I did, because the underlying sauce on its own tastes kind of like ass...

Greens and grains salad

This is a slight mod to an earlier recipe - I needed to add some protein while still keeping it vegan. It turned out to be quite tasty and (bonus!) it keeps well in the fridge.

Quick black bean burritos

This recipe is really basic. It's barely post-worthy, but after such a long hiatus I was tempted to post my recipe for opening a Clif bar. (I tear the wrapper just so...) My fridge and pantry were completely bare after living a few days as a shut-in, so I didn't have many options for lunch. When I got home from the grocery store I was absolutely starving, and although it was hot out I was suddenly craving a burrito. And I wanted it five minutes ago. Black bean flakes to the rescue!

Vegetarian "chili" (but not really)

This recipe seems more like a stew than a chili, but it sounded very healthy. And it turned out to be fairly tasty - not exactly a ringing endorsement, but give it a try.

Stir-fried winter melon

If I was taking bets last weekend I would have bet against the winter melon. I don't know what the shelf life of a slice of dong qua is, but that poor thing had crisper death written all over it. I've never (knowingly) eaten it before, and didn't have a clue what I'd do with it. But that didn't stop me from stuffing a huge chunk in my basket. (Does it ever?)

Lotus root braised in sake

I still had some lotus root left after using it last weekend but I had no idea what to do with it. As usual, I turned to Google for assistance.

This recipe sounded simple yet tasty. Although I was missing a couple of ingredients, I decided to just omit/substitute rather than going to the market for just a few items. Once again I'm trying to use up what I have on hand. (Translation: I'm too lazy to put on my big girl pants and head outside.)

Herbed taro root cakes

I've never cooked with taro root before, so I had no idea what to do with this particular purchase. After perusing several recipes it appears that the possibilities are endless: soups, stir-fries, chips, you name it. But since I already had two stir-fried dishes on the menu, and I was planning to make a simple miso soup (with the dumplings that I'd tucked away in the freezer), I was looking for something a bit different. I found inspiration in an old Graham Kerr recipe. After changing a few of the ingredients, this simple little finger food is the result.

Lotus root with green onions

When I was in Edmonton last week B took me to a few markets in Chinatown and introduced me to an exotic assortment of produce and products. I was so inspired by the dishes that he described that I decided to head out to a couple Asian markets here in Calgary to pick up some interesting ingredients for the week.

Although I didn't end up buying the huge sheets of bean curd or the enormous banana leaves (yet :-), I did pick up one item that I'd always been curious about: lotus root. It was a good choice. This dish is really tasty, and the lightly cooked lotus root has some great texture. I would definitely make this again!

Tuscan white bean and basil soup

Today was definitely a soup day. Why? Well, while picking up groceries today I actually saw a few snowflakes. Whaaa... snowflakes?? A week ago it was in the 20s, and now it's time for snow??? Nooo! Too soon!!!

But since this is Calgary it's not entirely unexpected. So in the spirit of the recent return to seasonal temperatures, I decided to make a few soup-y/stew-y dishes. I made a pot of Trinchado, adding some sweet red peppers along with the hot ones - this is such an amazing time for peppers! But I also made a pot of this bean soup.

Green pipian

I've had this recipe bookmarked for a while, and I was thrilled to find locally grown tomatillos at the farmers market yesterday. (The Hutterites have an amazing selection of produce at the market!) These tomatillos have a great flavour, tart and citrusy.

This was also a good opportunity to take my fancy new food processor for a test drive (thanks again, mom and dad - it is fantastic!!) I also used it to make another batch of jalapeno pesto, this time with raw pepitas instead of almonds. The fresh BC jalapenos were a lot hotter than the supermarket ones that I'd previously used. Proceed with caution.

Refrigerator pickles

I miss mom's pickles. You guys know the ones -- crunchy, perfectly seasoned, with a wonderful garlic/dill flavour. Only a limited quantity were made each year, and their scarcity made them taste even more delicious. I can remember helping to make them in Ardrossan, the kitchen sink full of ice cold water and floating cukes, scrubbing until my little fingers cramped up. Good times.

These are not those pickles.

But hey, they're pickles, dead simple to make, and your hands won't freeze making them. They taste pretty good and it's a nice way to preserve some of the wonderful cukes from the farmers market. So grab a few jars and get pickling :-).

Wild rice and chickpea salad

I decided to try and recreate a salad from the cafe of a local health food store. It didn't turn out exactly the same, but it still tastes pretty good. This makes a nice light salad for lunch.

Middle eastern salad

After a trip to the farmer's market today my fridge is well stocked with fruit and veggies. Yay! I also picked up some ingredients at the little Greek grocery store, including an interesting looking tomato vinegar which I'm keen to try.

But that's for another day. My main goal today was to make three salads, two of which I'm posting. The third was M's excellent recipe for Mediterranean Barley Salad, which I'll try with grilled prawns or chicken or maybe something else.

Bulgor and chickpea salad

I hit the Crossroads farmers' market yesterday to pick up some fresh veggies, and the nice selection of fresh herbs inspired me to make this salad last night. It's still too early in the season to attract a broad selection of vendors to the market, but in this weather I could almost imagine the throngs of shoppers outside, vying for the crunchiest cucumbers and tackiest tchotchkes. Ah, summer in Calgary.

Linguine with Creole mushroom sauce

This dish is an odd combination of two different recipes: an online no-cream recipe for wild mushroom pasta sauce and Emeril Lagasse's very flavorful (and fattening) recipe for wild mushrooms, tasso, and angel hair pasta from his New New Orleans Cooking cookbook. The result was flavourful (due to the huge amount of spices) but it lacked a certain mouth feel. Perhaps topping it with some grated Parmesan cheese would help with that. After trying this, though, I don't think that I'd try the original no-cream version; the sauce on its own was not very tasty.