Mmmmmmh!

That is the sound I murmured every single bite while eating this dish last night.

While grocery shopping the other day I picked up some fresh, yummy mushrooms. I knew I had a recipe starred in my google reader that incorporated said mushrooms, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty exhausted last night after a long week of stressful work/freelance stuff plus social plans. When I first looked up the recipe in my google reader and saw it would take almost an hour I was less than impressed.

Ordering sushi was sounding mighty tempting.

But then I remembered how much cooking tends to destress and relax me. I’m not really the type of person who can do nothing to relax but I do enjoy doing things like cooking and reading – not too much brainpower required but enough to make me feel semi-productive!

Side note: I got new knives for Christmas and they are ah-ma-zing.

So I set to work.

The rosemary in this recipe took it to a whole ‘nother level. I didn’t have fresh rosemary so I just sprinkled in some from my spice rack and I have to admit that after adding the rosemary you could basically find me with my head in the skillet inhaling. It smelled SO GOOD!

I actually didn’t have risotto rice so I used brown rice in this recipe and it turned out great but a little chewy, I think it would be even better and creamier with Arborio rice.

I ended up taking one step out of the original recipe (the one Angela referenced for hers) and added some Tofutti Cream Cheese to the top at the end – leftover from Vegan Week! Making this dinner completely vegan.

I thought it looked kind of gourmet myself

This dinner was actually SO GOOD, you guys. I seriously made a little noise with every bite. I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out and I can’t wait to make it again!

It was also really nice to spend an evening in the kitchen. It’s been far too long since I last did that and I really do love to cook and try new recipes.

You can find the full recipe I followed here. I followed this recipe exactly other than using brown rice instead of barley or Arborio: Mushroom Risotto with Carmelized Onions

Happy Friday! XO

Question of the day: Cooking/Baking = relaxing or not for you?

Vegan challenge still going strong. 6 days into it!

Although, I did eat a granola bar that “may contain milk products” today. I was starving while working the front desk at the yoga studio! I did choose the “may contain milk products” over the one that actually had milk in the ingredients though. Go me?

Other than that, I’m feeling pretty confident I have had no animal products this week!

Tonight Eric made me the grilled vegetable couscous salad from a few weeks ago as well as some baked tofu with shake n’ bake on it and dipped in plum sauce (my favourite way to eat tofu – it’s like chicken fingers!)

It was delicious. More proof that vegan food can be super yummy! Here’s the recipe I promised forever ago but haven’t yet delivered on.

Grilled Vegetable Couscous Salad

Adapted from the Vegetarian Collection, Canadian Living

• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp basil pesto (we did not use this tonight because a) we didn’t have any and b) the pesto we buy isn’t vegan)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3/4 cup couscous
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• 1 green onion (optional)
• 1 large eggplant (optional)
• 1 large zucchini
• 1 sweet yellow pepper (or any colour really)
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes

Directions:

1. Whisk together vinegar, pesto, oil and pepper

2. In large bowl, combine couscous with boiling water; let stand, covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. Fold in chickpeas and green onion.

3. Cut eggplant and zucchini lengthwise into 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick slices. Grill eggplant, zucchini and pepper, covered, on greased grill over medium-high heat, turning once, until tender – about 10 minutes.

4. Cut eggplant, zucchini and pepper into 2-inch wide pieces. Add grilled vegetables and tomatoes to couscous. Add pesto/oil/vinegar mixture and mix together.

5. Serve and enjoy! Yum!

That’s it. That’s all. Super easy and delicious. I highly recommend this recipe! I’m not going to lie, the pesto really does take this recipe to a whole ‘nother level but it was also totally fine without the pesto tonight.

I also enjoyed my meal with some Yellow Tail wine! I hadn’t confirmed the hearsay myself – but I did see on Twitter that Yellow Tail wine is vegan. Hopefully that was true as I’ve enjoyed a few glasses this week

I’m off to watch a movie with Eric. Tomorrow I have plans to do some freelance work and go to yoga.

If you’re a fellow vegan challenge participant, how’s it going? What’s the best vegan recipe you’ve had this week (or ever)? Non challengers – how’s your weekend going?

It was a busy Sunday in the kitchen for me!

Today was super productive. I woke up on a mission and completely plowed through my to-do list.

• Laundry – Check!
• Write a guest post – Check!
• Grocery shopping – Check!
• Run 3 miles – Check!
• Clean out emails – Check!

I also had the following on my list:

• Make Oh She Glows Hummus
• Make Anne P’s 5-minute bars

This is part of what led me to my full day in the kitchen

Hummus

I had to adapt Angela’s hummus recipe a little bit because I didn’t have any tahini, but after a quick shoutout to Twitter I decided to substitute 1 tbsp sunflower seed butter and 1 tbsp EVOO for the 1/3 cup of tahini that the recipe called for.

It turned out AWESOME. I will never buy hummus from the store again now that I own a food processor!

This was my first time using it so it took both Eric and I to get it set up properly, but I think I have the hang of it now

5-Minute Bars

This is my second time making Anne P’s 5-minute bars and they didn’t disappoint. I love these bars because they are quick to make, and easy to grab quickly when I’m on the go. I like to eat them as snacks before running or yoga!

Crockpot Sunday: Cauliflower-Corn Chowder

I had a HUGE bag of potatoes that I bought about a month ago and some of them were starting to grow little sprouts (looks so gross lol) so I needed to start using them up. I decided a nice yummy soup would be perfect for this cold weather and I set out to make some corn chowder!

Adapted from this recipe.

• 2.5 cups canned corn
• 2.5 cups chopped cauliflower
• 4 cups diced potatoes
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 3 cups boiling water
• 2 cups hot 1% milk
• 2 cups hot unsweetened almond milk
• 3 tablespoons flour mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Eric helped me chop the potatoes and then I combined all of the ingredients but the milk and flour mixture into the crockpot. I let that simmer on high heat for about two hours.

I then heated up the four cups of milk on the stove and add that to the mixture, along with about 1 tablespoon of flour.

Over the next three hours while it simmered, I would periodically stir it up and add 1/2 tbsp or so of flour to get a creamier texture out of it.

Finally, I finished up my day in the kitchen by making the most delicious buns I have ever tasted in my life. Oh She Glows pull-apart dinner rolls.

I can’t recommend this recipe enough. SO good.

Dinner was a bowl of soup with a little shredded cheese on top and one (ok, maybe two ) delicious dinner rolls!

And now I have tons of leftovers of all the above things to get me through the week. And since I’m “that cook” (the one who does dishes AS she cooks) my kitchen is now spotless Pretty perfect Sunday night if you ask me!

It was definitely a good Sunday – I feel very ready for the busy week I have coming up with all this easy-to-grab food in my fridge. This week I start the 30-day yoga challenge so will be going to yoga every day! Post on that coming tomorrow.

How was your weekend?