Kale + Tofu = 2 of my fave foods!

A variation of kale chips made in to a meal!!

Sesame Tofu with Crispy Kale *vegan*

Tofu:

1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 block regular firm tofu, drained and cubed (I like sunrise or superior foods)
1 tsp canola oil

Kale:

1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 bunch of kale, washed and devained
1 pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Break the kale into bite sized pieces and put on the lined cookie sheet. Coat with oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds and salt. Bake for 10 minutes. While kale is baking, heat oil (canola and sesame) for tofu over medium heat. Add tofu and cook for 3 minutes. Add sesame seeds and cook for another 3 minutes. Keep warm on low heat, stirring occasionally until kale is done. When kale is done, take tofu off heat. Place kale in the bottom of your serving dish and top with tofu.

With a twist...

Yum! Make your favourite grilled cheese, but, add in thinly sliced peeled apples for an added sweetness and crunch. My favourites to add in are granny smith, ambrosia and pink lady. Enjoy!

delicious vegan dinner + my blog's anniversary!

*THIS POST GOT UPLOADED 2 DAYS LATE.

It's been a year! I started this blog on December 7 2011 and today it's been one year! So, here is a delicious {vegan} recipe I made last night to celebrate my blog! {I had almond milk on the side to complete the meal.}

Panko-Tofu Quinoa

Tofu:
1/2 package firm tofu
1 cup panko {Japanese breadcrumbs}
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil

Quinoa:
1 cup water
2 cups quinoa

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the quinoa then bring back to a boil. Cover and cook on med-low heat for 15 minutes. While the
quinoa is cooking, cut the tofu into cubes. Coat the tofu in the soy sauce and drain any extra soy sauce. Heat both oils in a small saucepan over med-high heat. Meanwhile, put the panko on the soy sauce-coated tofu {keep in mind that the panko won't stick intirely to the tofu.} Cook the tofu in the oil {the oil is hot enough when a pinch of panko sizzles in the oil.} 4 at a time. Be sure to cook both sides of tofu. Repeat with remaining tofu. When the quinoa is cooked, put into a serving bowl and top with tofu.

Since I have mentioned quinoa in a lot of my recipes, I'm going to give you the meaning of quinoa.

Quinoa: {KEEN-wa} Quinoa is a seed from Peru often used in vegetarian and vegan cooking. It is a substitute mostly for rice, pasta and couscous.

Comment and tell me if you made this. I'd love to hear it!! Thanks for one successful year of reading my blog!!

Bon Appetite!

xo,

Nailah

A milestone…

I'm sure most of you like poached eggs... Right? Well, today I went back to Chewies (look at the post "Chewies.") for brunch today and I had my first poached egg (also my first benedict) in a southern crab cake benny. It was SUPER good! When I was deciding what to have, my Mama told me, "You won't regret it Nailah, I know you don't really love eggs, but, it's a crab cake benny! You won't regret it." And, she was right! It was so good! And, I know, for me, to love food this much, I have NEVER had a poached egg, I am also a pescatarian and an egg being one of the like, ten proteins that are available, I don't really like them. Still, they aren't my favourite thing, but, now I know that I can have benedicts and poached eggs at brunch now. So, I guess I can call this a milestone (with many more to come.) of a successful chef, The Poached Egg Milestone.

Best Beets.

Any of you wonder how to cook beets? I always have. I just realized that they aren't that hard. Here is a recipe you could do with any kind of beet, I used golden beets.

Roasted Pesto Beets

4 beets
3 tablespoons basil pesto
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil, for greasing the pan
Cooked quinoa, for serving (optional)

In a large pan, cover the beets with one inch of water. Boil the beets with the water, once boiled, lower heat to med-low and cook for 30 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain out the water and cool until you can handle them. Once you can handle the beets, peel them and slice them in to 1/2 inch slices. Toss the beets with salt, pepper and pesto. Grease a baking pan with olive oil. Spread out the beets onto the greased baking pan. Bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes. Serve on top of the cooked quinoa, if desired.

Yum! Saturday Night at Earls.

On Saturday, I went to Earls for my grandpa's birthday. I had such a great, delicious salad! It was a seared albacore tuna sushi salad. The tuna was perfectly seared and tossed in chilli mayo and sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds. A pile of that was on top of: organic greens, roasted nori, brown rice, sushi rice, mango, avocado and tossed with a white miso vinaigrette. Delicious!

Breakfast before school…

A delicious spread on top of toast {l used english muffin} for the quickest out the door breakfast or even snack! It kind of tastes like pumpkin pie filling! {what a treat!}Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter. Happy Wednesday!

Quick and Easy!

Fried Rice... and not just what you think...

Cook {according to rice package} equal parts of quinoa and rice. Pan fry with 1 cup chopped mushrooms, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 scrambled egg and garlic powder. Pack into a ramekin and place on a plate upside down hold for 15 seconds and remove the ramekin to create a rice tower.

currently snacking on…

Vanilla Dream from Ghirardelli... Just what it sounds like, it's vanilla dream!! White chocolate with vanilla beans!! Mmm... So good!

Halloween is just around the corner...

Look at what I saw at Save On today. It's a version of 'Coffee Crisp' for Halloween called 'Coffin Crisp' as the makers of Coffee Crisp {Nestlè} say, "same great taste, just for Halloween"

Avocados... My favorite "fruit"

If any of you don't know, on Sept. 21, I went to the Jason Mraz concert, Tour is a four letter word {thanks to Uncle Pierre who those tickets were from for my 9th birthday in May}. Some of you MIGHT not know who that is... Maybe you're wondering what this has to do with food, well, I'll get to that. ;) Anyways, Jason Mraz is my ALL time favourite singer/songwriter. He is a raw vegan and owns an avocado farm in San Diego. If any of you go to San Diego, there is a restaurant called Chipotle right by the farm and Mraz sells his avocados to them and they use them in their guacamole! Here is his website if you want to check it out, and I will post pics of the concert at the end of this post. www.jasonmraz.com


Avocado Mousse/CHOCOMOLE (by Jason Mraz)

1. Mash up 4 ripened avocados until they are like a mousse or a pudding texture
2. Add 1 - 2 cups of {really small}
chopped dates (2 scoops of pitted dates from the bulk section of grocery store)
3. Mix in 1 cup cocoa powder
4. Add 1 tbsp. vanilla
5. Put a few long pours of agave nectar to sweeten to liking

currently snacking on…

Mmmmm..... The simplest dessert panini you have EVER heard of. I'm not talking ANYthing fancy like, caramel chocolate spread or hazelnut-pecan butter... It's all things that you have {or if you don't, you should}.

BEST dessert panini

Butter or Margerine
Almond or Peanut Butter {see Nailah's Note}
Nutella {chocolate-hazelnut spread}
4 slices of multigrain bread

Spread butter on all slices of bread. On the other side of 2 slices, spread the nutella. On the other 2 slices put either of the nut butters. Put a nutella slice against a nut butter slice, do the same with the other 2 slices. Toast on a panini grill for 3 minutes.

Nailah's Note
If you or your child is allergic to nuts, replace the peanut butter and nutella with sunflower seed butter and biscoff spread.

Butter Pecan Cake.

Yes, it has been a long time since my last blog post. Maybe it's just back to school.. {probably.} You have been waiting right? So, here it is!

2 days ago I made a quick dessert in my favorite giant donut shaped cake pans I got for Christmas. {Thanks, Auntie Lin.} The cake is just a butter pecan cake. The frosting...? That's what makes it special.

Butter Pecan Cake with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Butter Pecan or Lemon Cake, batter prepared {see Nailah's Note}
1 can cream cheese frosting
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries {thawed, if frozen}

Bake the cake as directed in a bundt pan. {If you don't have one, just use a regular square pan} Let cool for 20 minutes, in the mean time, make the frosting. Put the can of frosting in a bowl. Mash 1/2 cup blueberries in a separate bowl. {reserve the other ones whole for topping the cake} After you mash the blueberries, mix them into the frosting. Frost the cakes, if you have 2 cakes to put together, put frosting in between to “glue” them together. Frost the outside of the cake. When you are done frosting, top with the leftover blueberries. Then, you're done!

currently snacking on...

Delicious, but super easy, 6-8 minute dish.

Shrimp Tostadas

2 tostada shells
1/2 cup frozen shrimp, thawed and shelled
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons chopped dried basil
1/4 cup chopped romaine leaves
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup Mexican blend cheeses

Sauté shrimp, cumin, basil and onion for 5 minutes. Microwave tostada shells for 20 seconds and evenly separate romaine between the 2 tostadas. Split the shrimp mix evenly among the tostadas. Top with each with 1/4 cup of cheese.
Serves 1 as a main course and 2 as a snack.

currently snacking on...

Mmmm... A bagel sandwich. A thin bagel, Morning Star Farms® Veggie Bacon Strips cooked until crispy, creamy pieces of havarti and a sprinkle of fresh chives. Pile it all on to the bagel and cook on medium heat until crispy and cheese is melted.

Mini Donuts!

As we were walking through Steveston going to get ice cream earlier, the smell of mini donuts caught me. Outpost Mini Donut Company is fairly new, for about a year it has been sitting at #110-12240 2nd Ave, Steveston, right beside Mary's ice cream, where the old Candy Aisle was. The flavours we had were: Coconut Paradise, Blueberry, Maple, Vanilla Bean and Lemonade. Maybe you're thinking what I first thought when I heard lemonade glazed mini donuts, really?? Lemonade glaze on a donut?? But, surprisingly it was my favourite out of all of them! Slightly sour with a little finish of white and yellow sprinkles. Oh, I forgot to say, besides being really delicious, the place itself was really nice! The owner was an interior designer before she opened Outpost Mini Donut Company. Check more out at www.outpostmdc.com

Culinary School with Chef Nailah.

Last Sunday, I gave my first cooking lesson! Blondies with my friend Mathew's sister, Genevieve. Layered with Skor bits & milk chocolate chips.

Blondies

Pre-heat your over to 350 degrees Farenheit

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled
1 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 egg
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 Tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup skor bits (perferrably Chipits)

In a mixing bowl cream together (by hand, don't use a mixer) butter and
sugar until they are combined.

Add in the egg, vanilla and salt. Stir this until the mixture is smooth and
creamy.

Slowly add in the flour (1/3 at a time) and mix as you add in the flour.
You want to mix only until everything is just combined.

The mix will be a stiff mix, much like a cookie dough.

Press this into an 8X8 baking pan, and top with the chocolate chips & skor bits.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until your tooth pick comes clean.

Let cool on a baking rack completely before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

currently snacking on…

Candy.. Yes!! I'm going to talk to you
about candy. These are my favorites right now, at least. Dessert Bites from Allan's. They come in flavours of Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie & Strawberry Shortcake. The ones I am eating are the Strawberry Shortcakes. They are just like a chewy strawberry gummi coated in a thick layer of white chocolate. (they remind me of my white chocolate strawberries on my "currently snacking on..." post yesterday, August 16.)