Our Eating Vegan Challenge [Reviewed]

I wanted to follow up with our little vegan challenge we completed last month.  We cut out meat, poultry, dairy, eggs etc for 17 days....and guess what?  It wasn't as bad as I thought.  Do I want to continue eating vegan?  Do I want to make this lifestyle change?  Hell to the NO.

But like I said, not bad at all.  I guess the bottom line is:

{Print via etsy seller drywell}

And so does Ernesto....obviously!
(Im thinking I need this print framed in our kitchen!)

We ended the challenge when our plane landed in San Diego at 10 pm.  One hour later we were at Ernesto's parents eating burritos de machaca  (shredded beef) and there was no looking back.  In fact, we couldn't have eaten a diet further from vegan.

We had both actually lost a few pounds eating vegan for two weeks, but gained them back while eating in San Diego.  No importa!

You may be wondering "What did they eat?"  Geez, I can't remember.  Wish I had written it down. 

Here are a few of things I do remember:

Tofu, mushroom & ginger soup (OMG, Ernesto made this one up and it was delicious!)
Indian Mung Beans  
Indian Eggplant 
Orange Dal (lentils)
Neto's Pinto Bean Soup
Boca Vegan Burgers (these are pretty tasty. we ate them a lot for lunches.  Black bean and veggie flavor)

Overall verdict:  It was not hard and it could be a quite healthy diet.  We had fun with this challenge, but I did miss my normal eating habits. Indian food without yogurt? No sir, I didn't like it.  I will say, it takes some creativity to replace the calcium and iron intake of a non-vegan diet.  Luckily there are so many websites sharing recipes and regular grocery stores carry a variety of vegan foods. 

Anise Almond Biscotti

When I lived in Columbus Ohio, I frequented a little place called Motzarts Bakery and Piano Cafe.  Their biscotti was the best I had ever tasted.  I became obsessed and stopped in every week.  I never even considered trying to bake it myself.

Years later, I copied a recipe out of a cookbook at the book store and although it took me a few years to actually make it, once I did, I proclaimed it the best alternative to Motzart's.   It is unbelievably simple and perfect to serve to guests with coffee.  (I have made them 2x in the last few weeks!)

Give them a try, you won't be disappointed.  You could get creative too and go with different nuts or omit the anise if your not a fan. 

Almond Anise Biscotti 

2 eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup veg. oil

1 Tbsp. lemon zest

2 tsp. crushed anise

1 ¼ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt 

optional:  1 tsp Almond extract 

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup chopped almonds

Heat oven to 350.  Mix eggs, sugar and oil until smooth.   Mix in next 6 ingredients.  Add flour and almonds and mix until a sticky dough forms.  On a floured surface, mix dough with hands and form into a ball.  Cut into two equal pieces.  Form 2 logs no more than one inch thick and place both on a greased cookie sheet. (or put foil down)  Bake 25 minutes and set on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.  Cut on the diagonal into one inch strips.  Lay cut face up and put back in the oven for 4 minutes.  Take out and flip to other side and cook additional 4 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack and store in air tight container.

[I could eat a dozen] Pickled Eggs

Oh wait...I mean I did eat a dozen pickled eggs! 

When I was in Ohio last week, my mom made pickled eggs.  Besides being a delicious, healthy snack, these magenta beauties evoke some nostalgia for my childhood.   

The day after we got home, I bought an extra dozen eggs to pickle for myself.  I called my mom for the recipe;  I couldn't believe how simple it was.  I can see these being a constant in our fridge this summer.

These would be great for that Memorial Day picnic you are attending.

Mom's Pickled Eggs

One dozen hard boiled eggs*

1 16oz can red beets in water

1/4 cup white vinegar

1tbsp sugar

1tsp salt

water to cover eggs

*remember to boil at room temp so they peel easily

Heat vinegar and add sugar until dissolved.  To a large jar, add eggs, can of beets, vinegar and salt.  Add water to cover eggs completely.  Let stand in refrigerator a minimum of 24 hours. 

These eggs only get tastier with time, but I could hardly wait a day before consuming....all of them.
I will be making another batch pronto.  Although these are perfect as-is, I may try adding a habanero  next time.  Some like it HOT!

On a related side note, last year I pickled a peck of peppers and they turned out delish.  Neto has some cucumbers and canning jars ready to try another recipe...adding his signature heat to the batch.  I'll  be sure to let you know how they turn out.

New Mexico Green Chilies: Freshly Roasted!

I am so excited about these chiles!  My friend Lucy just got back from visiting her friend in New Mexico last night and as a thank you for the ride to and fro the aeropuerto, she brought me 2 big bags of freshly roasted green chilies. She watched them being roasted earlier that day too !  (Im sure she will be including that in her blog about her trip)

 

We ate one straight from the bag and froze the rest.  They are so delicious and spicy! wow! I can't wait for all the recipes I can try with them.

The first will be Pozole.  And until I get my brother Tim's recipe, I will save them.   I know there are other recipes out there, but I had this once at his house and it was unbelievalbe.  

I wrote him and email the other day about this...Come on Tim....Im waiting and hungry!

March Madness

The NCAA basketball tournaments started today on the west coast at 930am. The ONLY reason I know this is because Ernesto was in a rush this a.m. to get our workout done before all the "madness" started. (crossfit on the beach was awesome by the way) He has 2 or 3 brackets filled out and will be watching closely for the next 3 weeks. Maybe he will win the $1 million on the yahoo bracket pull. whatever.

When I saw my friend Lauren had posted her brackets here (originally from jezebel) I decided I would get in on the fun too!

It was really hard deciding my picks. In the "final four" coffee cake vs. carrot cake and cherry pie vs. apple.

My final cake choice was carrot cake and [since blackberry pie was not in the running] cherry won for pies....and for overall champion! Im a pie girl!

If you aren't into all the hype with the basketball tournaments (or even if you are) leave your cake vs. pie champion in the comments. Im curious.

Afternoon Cocktails and Ceviche

A sunny afternoon of cocktails & ceviche with a view.  Yes, have some.

He said Ceviche...and we said, we'll be right over!

Ernesto's brother-in-law Pepe invited us over to his house for a leisurely afternoon.  He and Veronica live in Bonita in the ultimate party house.  The deck, complete with pool and hot tub, overlooks a golf course and the mountains of course.  

Pepe has been in the restaurant business forever and although he is not a chef at his job, he is a wonderful cook.    He is the king of ceviche! 

 As a mater of fact, Ernesto learned how to make ceviche from Pepe years ago, although he made a couple modifications.  (see  recipe)  I love how Pepe added cucumber and used habanero chiles.  wow! It was spicy.  He made a batch with shrimp and one with fish.  

The drink to the left is a Michelada.  (Beer, clamato juice, black pepper, tabasco, worcheshire sauce, lime, salt).   A perfect complement to ceviche tostadas.  Trust me. so good! 

Sunday Morning Menudo!

Rise and shine!  Nothing like starting off the day with a bowl of cow intestine soup. ...or Menudo, as they call it in Mexico.  You have to admit, it looks damn good!  Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup made with tripe.  It is thought to be a cure for a hangover and is usually served for special occasions or with family.  (I remember eating it at a wedding reception at 3am in Tijuana) 

After trimming the tripe of all its fat, it is cut into chunks,  and set to simmer in a chile based soup overnight.   It must cook for at least 7 hours.   A steaming bowl of the soup is topped with fresh cilantro, onion and a freshly ground chile [de arbol] powder.  You almost forget what you are eating. Special Note:  Ernesto's mom has given me the recipe line by line, and I know you are dying to get your hands on it!  Be patient.  I'm excited to say that development of my food blog is underway, and I'll be introducing it to you soon.  While in San Diego this summer, I have been learning a whole lot of authentic recipes from an extraordinary cook, Ligia Espinoza. (aka: mi suegra) Add this to what Ernesto already knows, and we have ourselves a Mexican smorgasbord.   Stay tuned!                                             

Guacamole de Neto

{picture via Smiles are Free}

Many of you have requested Neto's guacamole receta.  I thought I might as well post it here for easy reference. I have to admit, it is the best I have ever tasted.  I have made it myself 5 million times (at least)!  The key to the this Guacamole (as to any)  is...suprise...the avacados!!

The trick is not picking them too ripe, or not ripe enough.  You should  be able to push your thumb into it just barely.  This recipe cubes the avocados (not mashed)  so you won't want them so soft that they can't be cubed. 

You will need:

4 avocados, cubed**

2 large roma tomatoes, seeds removed, chopped

2 jalepenos, chopped  (adjust to desired heat)

1 small red onion, chopped

handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

salt and pepper

combine in bowl and add one good squirt of lime juice. 

**slice in half, take out seed and use knife to score avocado into cubes.  scoop out with spoon. 

Serve with homemade tortilla chips (my obsession lately) 

Cut stack of corn tortillas into quarters.  lay on baking sheet.  spray chips with cooking spray and sprinkle salt.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and  cook for 12 minutes or until golden or crispy.  If you take them out to early they will be chewy=not good.

I know many of you have already had this, but if you try to make it, please let me know how it turns out. 

Fiesta Nacional de Gallo Pinto

Fiesta Nacional de Gallo Pinto. In English that means "national party of beans and rice"

Free beans and rice to the first 10,000 people? There was no way we were going to miss out on that!

But yet, we did. They started serving at 9am and Mr. Crossfit insisted we go to the gym before, so we didnt arrive until 1145 and there was none left! Damn it! We were still able to enjoy some music, dancing, and a man playing the guitar with a chicken on his head, as seen below.

Lizano sauce is "the flavor of the Tico" just like it says in the sign below. It is sauce that made with worsheshire sauce and it added to everything here. Even though I think its quite good, I really took the picture because I love the design of the sign. Pretty right?

There were those people on stilts running all over (what are they called?) I really wanted my pic with this one in his cool blue outfit. He was so tall, he's bending over just to fit in the picture.

Oh! I bought some peacock feathers too. (in case you were wondering what I am holding) They were totally random, but I saw the guy and he had a huge bunch - 3 for $2, I bargained a bit to get 4 for $2. I think they are worth 50 cents each.  

We walked by this house downtown and I had to stop and drool for a minute. How beautiful is this house?

Since we werent one of the first 10000 at the fiesta and didnt get our plate of pinto, we were ready to get home to the leftover chile that Neto made on Saturday night. Hands down THE BEST chile I have ever had. Also it was the spiciest.

He used 3 different kinds of dried chiles (which he ground in the blender) for the base, black and red beans, bell pepper, onion etc. If this tempts you at all, just let me know and Ill get you the recipe.

Before served Ernesto added chopped avacado and a scoop of sour cream. Que rico!

Indian Night (and more recipes)

Indian night has been in the pipelines for a while.  Now that we are settled in our new place, I finally sent out the Evite

A potluck made the most sense, #1 because we are on a budget, and #2 because several of my friends like to cook as well.  The menu was delicious.  I made the main dish, Madras Chicken Curry.  (recipe below) I wish I had taken pictures of the actual food, but all I can share is the pic of me cooking it. 

As a pre-dinner activity, I broke out the Bananagrams. Im telling you, people love it! You must buy it!

We allowed English and Spanish as to not favor anyone.

There were 9 of us, and besides not having enough plates and forks for everyone, our apartment is really great for entertaining.  The kitchen is open to the living room and the little dinning area. 

Notice how full the girls plates are.  You just can't help stuff yourself with Indian food.  After dinner the plan was to watch Slumdog Millionaire, but it never happened.  We sat around laughing instead.  It didn't seem right to watch such a big movie on a small laptop screen anyway.All of the recipes to enjoy a full on Indian meal are below:  

Madras Chicken Curry (my dish)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 stick cinnamon

2 cardamom pods

4 cloves

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 inch piece root ginger, very finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp ground coriander ¾ tsp chilli powder

2 skinless chicken breasts, cubed

1 large chopped tomato 

2 large tomatoes pureed

1 tsp. plain yogurt or sour cream

a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a large heavy pan, add the chopped onion and fry till onion is transclucent.
Turn the heat to medium low, add the cinammon, cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds, stir for 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Then add the turmeric, ground coriander and chilli powder and fry gently for a minute. Add the tomato purée and stir in enough hot water to make a sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Season with salt.
Heat a little oil in a large heavy frying pan and stir-fry the chicken pieces until they turn white.
Add the chicken and chopped tomato, sour cream/yogurt to the sauce and simmer gently until the meat is soft and succulent.   Sprinkle with the coriander and serve with yogurt.

Dal (lentils)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 cups chopped onions

6 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups water 

2 cups dried lentils

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 teaspoons black mustard seeds

2 fresh hot red chile such as jalapeño chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 cup onion and 1 minced garlic clove and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Combine 3 cups water, lentils, remaining  onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, turmeric, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and ginger in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer half of lentil mixture to processor; purée until smooth. Return purée to same saucepan. Mix in sautéed onion mixture. Simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  

**This next recipe is from my friend Varsha.  It's the best Chenna I have ever had.  Steph made it for the potluck and it turned out wonderfully.

Chenna Masala

Ingredients:

2 tins of ready-boiled chickpeas - rinsed in a colander

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 large onion chopped into long thin strips

3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks

garlic, ginger and green-chile

Spices: Turmeric (halidi), Garam Masala, Ground Coriander, Salt

Seeds: Onion seed and Cumin (Jeera) seeds.

Preparation:

In a large pot in which to pour 2 or 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Heat the oil in the pot until hot. Add the onion and cumin seeds and watch them pop and fizzle for around 20 seconds.  Add the chopped onions and fry until they are lightly browned.  Add the pulped ginger, garlic and chillie. Stir fry on medium heat.
Add the tin of chopped tomato and stir-fry for about 5 mins on medium-to-high heat until the oil starts to separate from the onion/tomato mixture - and then add the spices:
2 teaspoons  salt 

2 teaspoons ground coriander 

2 teaspoons  garam masala 

1.5 teaspoons of haldi (turmeric)
Stir it all thoroughly on medium flame.
Add the chunks of potato - stir until well coated in spices. Add around 3 smallish glasses of water into the pot - and put the lid on and bring to boil.  Let it simmer on a very low flame for around 20 mins with the lid on.   This will soften the potato.  Add the drained (already-boiled) chickpeas. Stir it all up - and add another small glass of water to the pot. Bring to a fierce boil and then turn the flame down to simmer for 15 mins.  Add s fresh coriander leaf and simmer  10 mins more. turn off the heat and let it it stand for 15 mins. Serve.

Kate made two scrumptious side dishes.  

Palek Paneer (spinach)  This recipe can be found here. 

Pumpkin Aloo Tarkari   Find this recipe here.

Maureen made the Raita is the key to any indian meal (for me anyway)  Besides being great for digestion, yogurt is so refreshing with the spiciness of Indian food. (the chicken and chenna in this case)

I hope you enjoy these recipes.  Will any of you venture to make them?  Are you interested in hearing more about what we cook?    

4 Healthy, Delicious and Easy Meals

**This post dedicated to my brother Brrrrrian who is looking for some good recipes.

I love Ernesto for so many reasons. One of them is his adventure and talent in the kitchen. (among other places-HA!) He makes my dinner time exciting. It goes like this: Ernesto picks a recipe, we go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients (including a bottle of wine) and enjoy cooking together. This has always been our routine, actually our #1 hobby since we met. One of the best resources for good recipes is Eating Well. This week we have made 3 new recipes from there and they were all good enough to recommend to you. All were ready in under one hour. You trust me right? If you are thinking of what to make for dinner tonight, consider one of these.

Wok-Seared Chicken & Vegetables (Kadhai murghi)
This dish uses turmeric and has a definite Indian flavor.
Beef Tataki
This recipe has a dressing of soy sauce, scallions and ginger that you pour over the meat and vegetables. Ernesto added minced jalapenos to add some heat. (a requirement in every dish we cook)

For this meal we only used a recipe for the roasted potatoes. Ernesto pan seared the top sirloin and topped with blue cheese. The spinach I sauteed with fresh garlic and added salt and pepper.
So simple. So healthy. So delicious. Sunday night's dinner was a favorite of mine. Machaca. Its an easy Mexican dish where meat (usually beef) has been well-cooked, shredded then cooked again in its juices until the desired consistency is achieved. It is often served in tacos or burritos. Ernesto was able to pull this one together sans recipe. (See details below) I whipped up a hot salsa, we were eating in no time. Its the best when you have left overs. Throw it together with scrambled eggs like we did this morning. Delish!

Neto's Machaca
1/2 pound beef roast or top sirloin
1 large tomato
2 med onion
several cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Boil meat with several cloves garlic and one onion until tender. Take out to cool. Shred meat.
Blacken several whole jalapenos in a pan -then chop. Add chopped tomato and onion to pan. Saute for several minutes until saucy. Add shredded beef.
Warm tortillas in a pan and wrap machaca.
So. Damn. Good.

Caminata a La Cruz de Alajuelita

Rigo is one of my favorite ticos. He is a taxi driver and more. He has a great relationship with Habitat and works tirelessly to uphold his great reputation. He has definitley earned my trust, and I am convinced that he knows everything about Costa Rica. He took me to the airport last Thursday to pick up Ernesto and he told us about an organized hike on Sunday. Caminata a la Cruz de Alajuelita. ie: The Cross. This cross can be viewed atop of a mountain from all over San Jose. You can barely see it here right at the tippy top of the mountain. We had been planning to climb it, but wanted to get a bigger group to go. It is known for robbers/muggers on the trail. Plus there is not much infor publisized in travel books or on the web about where it starts, how long it takes, etc.

Kate picked us up at 730am and we drove to the little town of Alajuelita (If your taking a bus its to El Llano) about 30 minutes from San Jose. We knew we were meeting in front of a big church, but we did not know that it was the 75th year anniversary for the hike. We felt pretty safe knowing that there were hundreds of people climbing it. We started up the road promptly at 830am.After about 1/2 hour we turned off the road onto a trail. We took several photos on the way up because the view was just amazing. San Jose spreads far and wide.

The la Cruz de Alajuelita is about 2036 meters high (6679 feet), and took us roughly 4 hours of hiking round trip. Since we were in such a large group, the pace was set for us (a bit slow) you can see the line of people here.About one hour into the hike, we reached this cross, but only stopped for a photo, this was not the Cruz, not the highest peak. There was actually an eerie story of a family that was hiking up to the cross and was murdered at this point. This happened a long time ago, but was still a deterrent from going on the hike alone. When Ernesto and I reached the top, we were in a cloud. It would've been chilly, if we hadn't been sweating. Kate got to the top shortly after us and by that time the sky had cleared and the sun was blazing. We got a clear shot of the cross then.We ended up waiting for the laggers at the top for about 1.5 hours. That was fine though, we still got a great workout and the weather was so beautiful, we just found a spot in the grass between shit patties and took a nice cat nap in the sun.

I was happy when our guide told us we would descend by a different route than we came. It was weird being up so high, if the clouds were over you, it was chilly and dark.
The next minute it felt like the Sound of Music. We were walking across the mountain tops, to my left was the cityand to my right were breathtaking green mountains, and farm land! I took a pickture of this tree, becuase I thought it was so cool. The whole thing is covered with spanish moss and Bormelaids. During the whole hike, every two steps these plants were just laying there. I had to keep telling myself, "Don't pick those up Cindy, you dont have a garden Cindy" It worked to a certain extent. I couldnt resist a few, and look how beautiful they are.Friday night, we had our first "dinner party" with Lauren and Maureen.  Maureen brought brought a bottle of wine and  a houswarming gift of 4 wine glasses. Good thing - its no fun to drink wine out of coffe mugs.

Lauren brought her desire to cook, and she whipped up some delish fish fillets in the oven.and a mango, papaya, chile, and onion salsa to go one top! Que rico!Ernesto brought 4 of my Polish pottery plates from storage, so that made the table setting feel a bit more decorative. (the plates that came in the apt are...lets just say...not my style)Life has been different the last few days. Neto is here, we are moved in our new place, we have a birdie. Life is good!