Vegan Thai Curry Sauce with Bok Choy

Bok Choy, I was scared to work with you. You seemed so foreign; I did not know what I was getting into. But as it turns out, you’re a pretty easy fella, you cook in minutes, can be sautéed, steamed or even boiled in this delicious Thai curry sauce.

Here’s a recipe I tried last night, which proved a great success and it will be a staple at our home. Sweet and spicy, just what you need to spice up a  Wednesday night… I borrowed it from All Recipes but modified it a little bit by adding carrots and jalapenos, because, well, I just like a little bit of spice! Here’s the ingredients that I have used:

1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk  
1/4 cup soy sauce, divided  
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar  
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder  
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger  
2 teaspoons chile paste  
2 carrots, sliced  
2 bunches green onions  
4 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped  
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced  
4 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped  
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil  
4 cups chopped bok choy  
salt to taste

I used a cast iron pot, since it keeps the heat in so nicely. I mixed the coconut milk, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, brown sugar, curry powder, ginger, and chile paste, brought it to boil and then simmered for about 7 minutes so that the carrots can soften. I added tomatoes, green pepper, mushrooms, and finely chopped green onions. Covered, and cooked 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mixed in basil and bok choy. The basil I used was freeze dried and not fresh, as I couldn’t find any at the store, but it worked just fine! Then I added the remaining soy sauce and cooked for about 7 more minutes. And voila! 

To vegan or not to vegan

Driving an hour to Fargo for some delicious Indian food at the Passage to India can turn out a little time consuming... Maybe we won't have to do this as frequently as we just NAILED an awesome Indian recipe! The only time consuming part of it is chopping the vegetables, otherwise it is pretty straight forward and if you've never tried to cook Indian food before, this is a simple recipe you can tackle. It is a vegan meal, which you can easily make carnivorous by adding some chicken to it!

Indian Coconut Curried Vegetable

1 chopped onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp fresh ginger, 1 seeded green chili, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp curry, 1/2 chopped cauliflower, 1 sliced red bell pepper, 1 cup sliced mushrooms, 1 sliced carrot, 1 sliced zucchini, 1 cup coconut milk, 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste.

Use a food processor to smooth the onion, garlic, ginger and chili. Heat the mixture in a pot, then add the oils and spices. Cook for couple minutes, then add the coconut milk and the veggies. Cover and cook for about 20-30 minutes. Although I like my veggies pretty much dead and mushy on my plate, Jeff likes them a little crispier and I found there was a very fine time line before killing them, so make sure you taste throughout to your liking! Serve over rice. Simple, right?

This recipe was taken from this site and modified just a bit! As I said before, you can sure change this one, if you'd like, by using different vegetables or meats. I would certainly stick to using the cauliflower though, as it provides this meal with volume, texture and doesn't take away from the flavor of the spices.

Cafe Beignet

Beignet
 noun, Southern Louisiana
1. A square doughnut without a hole in a middle.
2. Has a mysterious quality of making people travel across the country just to eat one.
3. Melts in your mouth.

Although both Cafe Beignet and Cafe du Monde are great places offering beignets, I would like to give you advice that you may find helpful in the future - Cafe Beignet offers larger pastries. Case closed. 

 Sitting outside to enjoy our delicious breakfast.

 Alton's cat. (If you watch The Best Thing I Ever Ate, you know what I am talking about).

 Enjoy a cup of bitter chicory coffee with the sweet beignets. The making of the coffee is an old Acadian (settlers from Nova Scotia) custom where a ground up root of chicory was added to the then scarce coffee.

When in the South...

... do as the Southerners do. And we certainly did! We ate bagnets, went to the bayou, shopped at the French Market and ate raw oysters.
Dipped in a mix of a cocktail sauce, hot sauce, lemon juice and just enough horseradish to make you cry, put on a cracker and there you go - a true taste of New Orleans!

 Don't bother waiting in line for Acme Oyster House. The oysters are the same everywhere, silly! We really liked the LaBayou restaurant with the winders wide open right on the Bourbon street.

Apres ski

Finally Jeff convinced me to try cross country skiing, which is quite the change for a gal who skied in the Alps every winter during her childhood (and really wants you to know this!). It wasn't too bad. Kinda fun actually.
After our December skiing outing we did not get fresh snow until just recently and since we're so busy house remodeling we actually haven't had a chance to go again.
A friend of mine recommended David's Tea company out of Canada and the name of the tea he liked just sparked the old memories of skiing in the Alps (I am making sure you know this about me), Apres Ski. And I have to tell you, it is amazing. With large pieces of fig (and I love figs!), orange and cinnamon it will warm you up any given cold winter evening at home. And I have to tell you that one of the traditions I miss about living in Europe is the tea drinking, and no, not only the British do it. Any time you're visiting somebody, even for just a few minutes, it is expected that they will welcome you with a cup of tea or coffee and perhaps some cookies. Actually, it's always been a mystery to me how all those people have cookies for the guests in their house, mine just get eaten right away, so please, don't expect this kind of welcome from me. But if you hurry and visit me I might just have a steaming cup of Apres Ski for you.

Not your mama's potato salad

Are you ready for Superbowl? There's nothing like eating some good old potato salad doused in mayo...
Or, if you're anything like me, and if you want something fresher, though not necessarily healthier... you might just like this Giada De Laurentiis' recipe for Red Potato and Tomato Salad available on the Food Network site. A friend of mine made this last summer and it was such a nice, refreshing change from the good old mayo salad, err I mean potato salad.

As you can tell instead of the black olives I used green ones that were stuffed with garlic because that's what I had on hand. It gives the salad a nice, earthy taste to it. And if you're planning to skip the lemon zest - don't. I tried it with and without it and there is a world of difference! So change it up this once and I promise you won't regret it!

Thai me up

 Just look at this deliciousness...
Cold winter days mean rich, comforting foods. It does not always have to be a chicken noodle soup, guys! How about some spicy, easy and super tasty Thai noodles? In search of such recipe I turned to my favorite resource, which lists thousands of recipes from well known sources, such as Southern Living or Sunset Magazines, or my personal favorite, Cooking Light. And may I say, cooking light does not take away from the taste!
The recipe I used can be found here. Although you may notice that it only has 2/5 stars, I assure you that when the right spices are used, it will not be bland! In addition to the listed ingredients, I added some sambal olelek, which is a chili paste and a sriracha sauce, which is a Thai hot sauce made of, again, chili peppers, vinegar and sugar. When I was done sauteing the tofu it was still pretty light in color and soft, but looking back I do wish that I left it in the pan a little longer to create that brown crust on it. All in all, I think this will become a staple on my menu!

PS The clever name of the post is not my creation, unfortunately. It was borrowed from the name of a great restaurant in Jackson Hole, WY where I tried Thai food for the very first time 8 years ago!

Simple salad for a lazy dinner

I am a fan of salads, not the mayonnaise doused potato creations, but the fresh, green, colorful, happy salads. With lox and blueberries.

The best salad dressing I have ever used is the Knorr Salad packets that you mix with olive oil and water. The product is very popular in Europe so I stock up every time that I'm there because it is not offered in the US! fortunately there's always Amazon...

Chi Town

What's a Polish girl to do when she misses her native cuisine? Why, go to the second largest Polish community outside of Warsaw, Poland and get herself some pierogi, of course!
P.S. Note how I spelled "pierogi". There is no "s" at the end. It is because the word "pierogi" already is plural. Now, you learned something new today and you can show how clever you are at your next social gathering.

The first thing I did in the Polish Town is purchasing a real pickle and eating it right in front of the store. And I didn't even get weird looks.
Next we had lunch at the Red Apple Buffet, or Czerwone Jabluszko (I encourage you to try to pronounce those words. And good luck). I took some photos of our plates for you so that next time you visit you will know a bit about Polish cuisine. The mysterious meat in the middle is liver. One of two things in the world proclaimed by Jeff as uneatable.
This was my favorite plate. Clockwise from the left I present a crepe, bigos (cabbage and sausage hunter stew, a typical Christmas dish), sausage hidden behind a corn salad, potato pancake, apple fritter.
Well, OK, this was my favorite plate, too. All of them were, actually. From the left we have pierogi (I am proud of you remembering that there is no "s" at the end. Good job), some meat sauce, meat dumpling, corn salad again, bean salad (Polish people love their salads), and a sauteed spinach dish.
You may wonder why the pierogi look like a shapeless mass. This is what homemade pierogi look like. I bet you only had them frozen from the store and you didn't know that. Look at the things you learn from me!
The Museum of Science and Industry was pretty interesting due to their many displays, anything from the Dr Seuss room to the Smart Home exhibit full of gadgets and other ways to live green and healthy!
We watched the chicks hatch. I didn't know standing around and looking at an egg for 30 minutes could lure so many people in. There was literally no place to squeeze in and pushing away little children was not a good idea as their protective parents were right behind them. Finally, I found a good spot after a little girl fainted from lack of oxygen created by the large crowd. Just kidding, just kidding!
Jeffrey surer enjoyed the Farm Tech display. He wants to be a farmer now.
The Shedd Aquarium was my favorite. I mean, look at the friends I made.
After all the excitement we decided that deep dish pizza would be a wonderful way to replenish all the calories we lost while walking to the Cheesecake Factory every night for their dessert. Here I am pretending I ate the whole dish. In reality I could only eat one piece of this huuuuuge pizza.

Favorite things about Switzerland

The unbelievable green grassThe desserts

The noise the cows make with their cowbells
The farmer's market every day
The nespresso machine in every home
The traditional Swiss apple tart
The cheese trays
The tiny desserts served with fresh figs
The views
The espresso
And pretty much everything else.

Everything pumpkin

I didn't grow up with pumpkins. They are not very popular in Eastern Europe, I think nothing could take place of the ever reigning potato. Pumpkin pies, soups, pumpkin patch and calling your significant other a "punkin' " - those pleasant traditions were not very difficult for me to adapt and I would truly miss them if I ever lived in Europe again!
When looking for easy yet impressive recipes on Pinterest, my new and already favorite website, I had many to pick from, yet I choose recipes that incorporated already pre-made Betty Crocker cake mix, in fact one of them WAS a Betty Crocker recipe. I know, I know... does that count as homemade then? Well, I will argue that we all need some extra help in the kitchen sometimes and as long as it was not purchased in the store, I am very happy with what I got! So here are the 2 tasty pumpkin recipes that you just MUST try!

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes (from Betty Crocker Website)

• 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake mix - the recipe posted online asks for yellow cake, you can really choose any flavor, I picked vanilla
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Mix all ingredients and bake cupcakes 19-24 minutes at 350.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
• 1 lb powdered sugar

Warm up cream cheese and butter so that it's easy to add and mix in the powdered sugar. It's that easy! You can really make this simple frosting into any flavor you want by adding some flavoring, looking back I wish I added some orange zest, but the cupcakes were delicious regardless.
Now, if you toast some finally chopped pecans with sugar, they could serve as a pretty garnish on your cupcakes!

Pumpkin Layer Dessert

This one is found on Pinterest as well, and it comes from another blogger, so I will let you just go to her blog for the recipe, just click HERE! The recipe is easy and very delicious and I will be making it for Thanksgiving in lieu of a pumpkin pie.

Falling

Summer is over and that means I will have to hibernate and wait another 10 months for my faves:

Strawberries from the farmers' market
Feeding Jackson ribs on the deck
Fish fry
Making pickled pike...
... and jams
Cherries
Flying kites

Give me some chawda

I love all things seafood and being surrounded by the views in beautiful Victoria, BC somehow intensifies the flavors!

If you lack ranch you can always dip the deep fried oysters IN the chowder!After the lunch it is time to walk around this beautiful city.

I've never seen more flowers anywhere else!