Warmth

Today, July 14th, is a sad one. Even on this sweltering hot day, I felt very, very cold as I read about the verdict of Trayvon Martin's trial, the unexpected death of Cory Monteith, and the situation over in Texas. I generally shy away from heavy topics like death but I feel that my Sunday thoughts are worth writing about.

I ask for your prayers to the families of young Martin and of talented and sweet Monteith. Even though I didn't even personally know them, I know that losing someone you love sucks the life right out of you. For a few days, even week, denial overtakes you. "I'll see him later. After break is over. Later, later." Memories are all that play in your mind. Regrets. Things you wished you have said or done. You can't focus on anything. I can tell you, from experience, that is a terrible, terrible feeling. And all we can do is send good vibes. So, send them, please.

Like Molly Wizenberg once said, "There's no smooth transition to be made from talking about death to discussing Thai food. Let's wing it."

There's no smooth transition to be made from talking about to death to discussing chili. Let's wing it.

After I sat at my computer, reminiscing about my own experiences facing deaths of loved ones, I got up. I needed warmth.

So, I made a vegan chili. The spice dances on the tip of your tongue after you swallow the beans and corn and tomatoes. The flavors awaken your palate. It's a lovely mess of flavors. I like it a lot.

Sweet carrots

I could talk about decadent hazelnut chocolate cakes I made a week ago, or wax poetry on a delicate strawberry cornmeal loaf, or ramble on about moist and soft pumpkin cookies. I will do all of those things, but not before I talk about these roasted carrots I made for lunch yesterday and today.

Not unlike a well roasted sweet potato fries, after a trip in the oven, these carrots turn sweet and tender. With creamy avocado and a sharp dressing, these carrots are light but very satisfying.

Enjoy your sunny weekend!

Roasted Carrots 

Heavily inspired by Smitten Kitchen

1 lb carrots (5 medium or 4 large)
olive oil
cumin
flaked sea salt, like Maldon
ground pepper

Slice the carrots in half, vertically, and chop them into 2 inch segments. In bowl, toss the carrots with two or three tablespoons of oil and two generous pinches of cumin. On a lined baking sheet, scatter the carrots around. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Bake for 30-45 minutes. Flip the carrots around the 15 minute mark.

To serve: slice a ripe avocado. Create a dressing with lime juice, olive oil, and salt. Place the roasted carrots and sliced avocado on a long platter. Drizzle with dressing and enjoy.

Feelings and a winter salad

With the knife steadily thumping against the cutting board, I chopped the ripe pomegranate into sections. Several seeds spilled out, their juices coloring the wood. I slid them into the palm of my left hand and popped the bright, bursted bits into my mouth. The tang and the sweet played on my taste buds; the seeds wedged themselves into the grooves of my back teeth. I tried to pry them out with the tip of my stained tongue. Nope. They seemed to sink deeper. Nothing more than annoyance, just an annoyance. I'll get over it. The flavor still holds me over, keeps me lifted. An annoyance is nothing. Just nothing. Right? 

~~~

I crave salads sometimes. Crunchy vegetables, juicy fruit, smooth toasted nuts, a light dressing that binds it all together. Granted, my eagerness to shovel salad into my mouth happens after a long session of pilates or a night of binging on tortilla chips and spicy salsa and catching up on The Mindy Project. (I did the latter last night.) 

The best salads are infinitely adaptable, hit all the right flavor and texture notes, and are filling. This salad does just that. It fueled the rest of my slow but productive day. 

~~~ 

Tart Winter Salad
Loosely adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 T. sour cream
2 T. mustard
1 T. grape seed oil
1 T. rice vinegar
pinch of salt
1/2 T. agave nectar

1/2 head of cabbage 

1 Granny Smith apple 

several handfuls of pomegranate seeds 

12 baby carrots 

handful of toasted walnuts 

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. 

Shred your cabbage and toss your shreds into the large bowl. Use a mandolin to thinly slice the carrots. Add that into the bowl. Slice your apple into matchsticks. Mix in with pomegranate seeds and toasted walnuts gently and enjoy! 

On fresh blueberries and frozen peas

What I like about summer is the plentitude of f-r-u-i-t. Fruit, especially blueberries, make up for the sticky Popsicle fingers, tender sunburns, and the-sand-in-every-crevice-of-my-jean-shorts. Add blueberries to an already amazing French yogurt cake and you get something truly special. Oozing bits of tang explode in your mouth as you bite into a chunk of this yogurt cake. In love with the texture and the addition of blueberries, I decided to make a cinnamon walnut blueberry yogurt coffee cake.

And it was delicious.

But why am I talking about fresh blueberries when a plate of vibrant plate of spaghetti and pea pesto is in front of you?

I'm getting there.

I dislike frozen blueberries in my cakes. My dislike is probably due to an incident when I dumped thawed, mushy blueberries into a muffin batter. It was not tasty. Nu-uh.
When it is summertime, I like to take advantage of the plentitude of the fresh fruit and produce. Doooooo it.

But not for peas.

I use frozen peas.

Is that weird? I like them more than fresh peas.

I'm usually a fresh fruit/produce fanatic so I feel like a hypocrite every time I lower some peas into a pot of boiling water, drain them, and add them into the food processor. This is a beloved recipe for me. It's simple and a definite crowd pleaser.

You can use frozen peas. I won't tell.


Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

The time I almost ate vegan

Just a few days ago, I ate my first falafel ball from Maoz. It was glorious and I enjoyed every bite of my falafel salad.

I made baked falafel a week ago.



10:00 AM. Nicole looks through the fridge for something to eat. Spots bowl of poorly boiled chickpeas from yesterday.

10:06 AM. Cooks the bland, very hard chickpeas again in salted water for two minutes and lets in rest for fifteen minutes.

10:17 AM. While waiting for the chickpeas, she decides to make a hummus. Looks for a hummus recipe with peanut butter, no tahini.

10:19 AM. Finds a hummus recipe on Serious Eats.

10:21 AM. Rinses the chickpeas in cold water.

10:22 AM. Quick change of heart. Wants something hearty. Decides to taste/make fafael.

10:24 AM. Finds a recipe through The Kitchn. It is from Chow Vegan. She smiles. Vegan = easier clean up.

10:26 AM. Uses food processor to mash chickpeas. Turns out really dry. Adds 3 splashes of the chickpea cooking water. 4. 5. Still dry. Gives it a spin in the food processor again.

10:28 AM. Throws up hands in despair. Takes the chickpeas out of food processor and into a bowl. Dices onions and garlic. Adds it to the mixture.

10:29 AM. Finds all the spices! Uses dried parsley! No cilantro.

10:31 AM. Toasts and burns first batch of coriander seeds.

10:34 AM. Keeps a close eye on the coriander seeds. Fragant and lovely.

10:38 AM. Crushes coriander seeds and add it to the chickpea mixtures.

10:39 AM. Adds lemon juice, olive oil, crushed red pepper, cumin, flour, baking powder.

10:41 AM. Throws out lemon and then quickly regrets not using some zest.

10:42 AM. Adds salt and pepper. Tastes the mixture. Smiles. Uses the food processor again.

10:43 AM. Whirrrrrrlllllll.

10:45 AM. Asks younger brother if he is hungry. "NOOOOO!" Okay. Puts mixture in fridge.

10:47 AM. Waits.

11:10 AM. Writes blog post, eats whole chickpeas, drinks coconut water.

11:56 AM. Brother says he is hungry. She pulls out the bowl from the fridge. Preheats the oven to 375. Places parchment paper on a a cookie sheet. Adds a bit of canola oil and spreads it around.

11:59 AM. Looks for a cookie scoop. No sign of the cookie scoop.

12:03 PM. Finishes forming falafel balls with a plastic gloved hand. Places the balls on the pan and flattens them into thick patties. 9 on a sheet. 4 are in the fridge. Slides pan into the oven.

12:05 PM. Waits.

12:09 PM. Watches Very Mary Kate. Laughs.

12:18 PM. Flips falafels.

12:20 PM. Decides to make a knock off tzatizki with sour cream because she used all the Greek yogurt for her yogurt cake. Uses 2 scoops of sour cream, garlic, salt, dried dill weed. (Make a garlic paste with the salt. Add to the sour cream. Add dill weed. Add more salt to taste.)

12:33 PM. Take falafels out.

12:35 PM. Make sandwiches out of multigrain bread, tzatizki, and a few falafels.

12:40 PM. Gone. Yum.



Recipe from Chow Vegan.

A week in food

New York weather has been sucking, to say the least. Just a few days ago, the sun was beating down on us. On the hottest day, I decided to go to Upper East Side to do some errands. I came back soaking in sweat. I showered, slipped on a light dress, and made some watermelon lemonade via Smitten Kitchen. It was wickedly delicious. I normally dislike watermelon flavored anything (i.e. candy) but this was pleasantly light and refreshing.



Quinoa is my new best friend. Once washed thoroughly, it really does taste good with anything, including my favorite ginger miso dressing. There are specks of green peas and thin ribbons of carrots in this lovely pilaf (?) / salad (?). Not sure what to categorize this as. Recipe will be up soon.



I was feeling a bit, er, ambitious this day. I made vegan, baked falafel. I was feeling reeeeal good about my health until I dolloped on the tzatzki sauce. Oops. Recipe will also be up soon.



I've been wanting to try Molly's French yogurt cake since I first started reading her blog. Although the ingredients are simple, I never came around to make it. Um, this isn't it either. However, I'm pretty sure Ina based her recipe off of the traditional one that Molly makes. I add even less oil and more Greek yogurt. It came out wonderful. The cake was moist and the (fresh) blueberries added bursts of flavor and color. I stored it in the fridge for a snack the next day. I ate a slice and pleased with how it stood up. It tasted delicious cold as well!



THIS, my friends, was unexplicably amazing. Rich, dark, and intense would be the perfect words to describe this VEGAN CHOCOLATE SORBET. Yes, it's vegan. And yes, it is freakin' delicious. I used a natural cocoa with a bar of 85% Lindt chocolate bar. I dialed back the sugar by a wee bit, a teaspoon or so. I used the breaking-up-ice-crystals method because I'm too lazy to pull out my ice cream maker. (Yes, I know it's a great tool but I have the old one where you have to freeze the bowl. I have NO room in my freezer for a hunk of metal. A thin plastic Tupperware container- I have room for!) But anyway, even after not scraping it for hours, it came out rich and luscious. The texture is a bit weird for me but after a few minutes of melting time, the sorbet is creamy and soft and luscious and ohmygod delicious.



Like summer in your mouth. I just rummaged my fridge and counter tops for ingredients for a light lunch. Steamed stalks of asparagus, avocado slices, red onions slices, cherry tomatoes, frozen bread slice (toasted and rubbed with a clove of garlic), garlic, onion, balsamic vinegar, EVOO. Oh, and a poached egg. I love poached eggs. Have I mentioned this before? If I haven't... I LOVE POACHED EGGS. I use the Danny Ahern method. It is foolproof.



Blueberry banana smoothie + New Yorker. Saaah-weet. A banana, ice cubes, a handful of blueberries, a couple of dollops of Greek yogurt, and a splash of milk all went into my trusty and loveably Magic Bullet. Whirrrrrrrr and bam! Instant breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner. Very healthy too. Awesome.

That's it, folks! My week in, basically, lunches and snacks. I have a few recipes (quinoa with ginger miso dressing, homemade falafel) and rants (Momofuku's cookies) and raves (Babycakes!) to share with y'all soon. So stick around. And until then, visit me at Blocks Mag.