Best Vegan Pasta Dish, Ever! Recipe:
12 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: best vegan pasta, dinner, entree, pasta, recipe, tempeh, vegan, vegetarian
So delicious and savoury, even the meat and cheese eaters will barely notice – and I really like cheese. Don’t need cheese to make this dish awesome! No pictures, but the cucumber and fresh tomatoes give it really nice colour, and the savoury taste of the tempeh burgers, sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, and generous amounts of olive oil (but not too much!!!) make it satisfying.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 package rigatoni
5 (or more) sundried tomatoes
1/2 an onion
3+ cloves garlic
1 pack (2 patties) Green Cuisine brand tempeh burgers
20 or so grape tomatoes
1/2 long english cucumber
salt
pepper
olive oil
DIRECTIONS:
- boil pasta according to package directions
- soak sundried tomatoes in hot water. When soft, cut into thin strips.
- cut tempeh burgers into 1/4s and pan fry both sides until golden. Dice.
- dice onion and mince garlic.
- sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. Add sundried tomatoes. Add tempeh.
- Quarter the grape tomatoes and dice the cucumber. Sprinkle salt on tomatoes and let sit for a couple minutes.
- Add a bunch more olive oil to the pan. Toss pasta into mixture. Turn off heat.
- Toss fresh tomatoes, cucumber, salt and pepper with pasta mixture.
- Serve.
Recipes for the Lazy Cook – #002 – Banana Rice
11 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Books, Food, Recipes Tags: banana, books, cooking, food, Going Solo, laziness, recipe, rice, Roald Dahl, soy sauce
1.) Microwave a bowl of leftover rice
2.) Add some soy sauce
3.) Slice in a ripe banana
I discovered the deliciousness of this banana rice combination this hungry morning. I happened to have some leftover japanese rice in the fridge, and intended to quickly carb it up with some dark mushroom soy sauce and call it a breakfast. Then I looked at my fruit tray on top of the microwave and saw a couple of sad looking bananas that were going spotty. Then decided to slice one into my rice, just for kicks.
Actually pretty good. Nice balance of sweet and savoury.
In Roald Dahl’s autobiographical ‘Going Solo’, about his time in the RAF during WWII, he mentions one of the cooks making a rice dish with bananas (plantains), and this has always stuck in the back of my head as sounding fairly delicious, because Roald Dahl said it was delicious. I think I tried making it once as a kid, boiling the bananas with brown rice, and it turned out fairly miserable and I had to throw it away.
Simple, comforting, delicious. Good discovery. 
Days 1-2 of #SFU Rowing Crew Summer Training
10 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Exercise, Food, Recipes, Rowing, Running, Simon Fraser University Tags: 2011, Burnaby Lake, crew, exercise, health, rowing, running, SFU, Simon Fraser University, Steve Hannah, weight loss
Summer is that wonderful semester where all the misery of Fall and Spring rowing (cold, rain, snow, ice, wind, dark) are quickly forgotten, where the Novice and Senior teams join forces, and where everyone gets to row…a lot.
Day 1: May 9
Yesterday we got out at 5:30am for our first row of the summer semester at Burnaby Lake. It was gorgeously non-rainy, relatively warm, and light already! Mika and I went sculling in the 2x. The workout was a steady state technique row. It was only Mika’s 2nd time sculling, so we paddled around for a bit at first, but her technique rapidly improved, and soon, we were rowing all the way down the lake in a relatively straight line! All within an hour of practicing! Good stuff! We even got a couple power tens in there, with increased pressure and rate.
Day 2: May 10
7am: Weights/Core @ SFU Recreation Centre. Rowing is a power based sport, so it is essential to build up those muscles in addition to aerobic fitness. A couple of new exercises added to this semester’s circuit: wood chop and chest press.
Noon: Not scheduled on the training plan, but Alex and I go run the 10km loop around Burnaby Lake. I’m practicing running with my hydration belt and iPhone/earbuds, because I will be wearing them for my marathon in September. Figured out how to wear the belt properly, and it’s staying low on my hips and not riding up anymore. Huzzah! It was cloudy and threatening to rain, so I wore my long sleeve crop under a tech t-shirt, with capris…and then was way too warm. Blah. It’s always such a trick to get that perfect combination of layers for running. Oh. And tried my Vanilla Bean GU carb gel today. Pleasant tasting. Kind of like cupcake batter.
Aches and Pains:
Oh how lovely. Yesterday for some reason my left hip decided to stop functioning age appropriately, so today, I thought an easy run would help loosen it out (usually works). I’m sure you’ve probably guessed from the title to this section that that left hip is still hurting, and wouldn’t you know it, you’re right. Rolled it out a bit on my foam roller and it’s a little bit better.
On the plus side, I got to watch a cooking show while rolling out my hip…all about healthy snacks – roasted carrot dip, white bean dip, flatbread crackers, healthy popcorn toppers – NOM! I will definitely have to try these out sometime. See http://www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes/2011/03/smart-snacks.html for recipes.
Last note for today: GOING TO SEE THE JAMES BLUNT CONCERT TONIGHT! 
Steve and I are both huge fans, so it should be really quite a lot of fun.
Recipes for the Lazy Cook – #001 – Four Ingredient Pasta
12 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Food, House and Home, Peculiarly Awesome, Recipes Tags: cheese, cooking, garlic, laziness, pasta, recipe
1.) Pasta
2.) Shredded Parmesan Cheese
3.) Garlic Powder
4.) Pepper
Boil Pasta. Drain. Top with Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, pepper. Microwave for 30 seconds.
Eating Sustainably – Vegetarian, Local, Organic, Sustainable Seafood, etc.
18 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in Health and Healthy Living, Recipes, Sustainability
“Can Vegetarians Save the World?” on guardian.co.uk : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/16/ghent-belgium-vegetarian-town-environment
To lower my carbon footprint, I will try to eat vegetarian at least once per week. No intention to cut out meat entirely, but I’ll do my part. Will also be trying to incorporate sustainable seafood into my cooking. See the bottom of this post for an interesting conversation I had with a company that produces Kiwi Mussels (a sustainable seafood option).
I’ll keep track on this blog of my progress. This shouldn’t be hard at all, as I find cooking meat the most bothersome part of making a meal. Unfortunately my household will still be eating a lot of meat, as my husband will not be converted. That and he’s on nurse’s orders to eat extra protein for wound healing post-surgery, as well as for keeping his iron levels up. But I often don’t feel the need to eat meat anyway, so this should be easy.
I will rate my cooking creations on a scale of “Disgusting”, “Passable”, “Good”, or “DELICIOUS”. Also will note vegan meals.
Monday May 18th, 2009
Breakfast – Soup Noodles with green onions, ginger, olive oil and parmesan cheese – DELICIOUS
Lunch – Rice with marinated pressed tofu, zucchini and brussel sprouts – DELICIOUS and Vegan
Sustainable Seafood - take a gander at http://www.seachoice.org/ for information on choosing options that help maintain the health of the oceans and not contribute to overfishing/overharvesting, by-catch, and scraping of ocean floors etc etc.
I bought some Pacifica brand frozen kiwi mussels produced in…where else? KiwiLand of course – New Zealand. I was very pleased that it was labled with a “sustainable seafood” logo and all that, but when I got home, I was dismayed to find that the plastic packaging was made from #7 “Other” plastic, which is not easily recyclable, and may find its way into one of our ocean’s landfills – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch . So I sent them an email and received a nice reply from their Americas/Asia sales rep, Matthew Hewitt, stating the following:
“Hi Beverly
Thanks for the contact.
I understand and accept your comments re #7 plastic.
It is a recyclable but not as easily recycled as other plastics.
The issue for us is the fact that we must freeze the plastic for up to 2 years. At this stage we can not get other plastics to do this.
But believe me our plastic supplier is working on that solution.
We are aware of the publics issue with #7 and thus want to change that as soon as we can. We are committed to the environment, our farming and production practices are all geared to zero impact.
The #7 plastic is the last hurdle for us.
But thanks for using our product, I hope you found the quality good and hope you will support us again.
All the best, Matthew Hewitt”
which was really nice of him. So they’re working on it. Good to know. I like it when you write to some big company and they actually send a personal reply from halfway around the world.
Buying Local: really liking Simon Fraser University’s Local Food Project http://sfulocalfood.ca/ . Went to their “Pocket Farmer’s Market” last wednesday – a neat concept – and have purchased my Harvest Box for the month of May.
Buying Organic: well, little bits here and there from Safeway’s Organic selection.
Growing Food: my in-laws are starting a garden at their home in Langley. Very exciting.
Composting: am a fan of NatureMill’s Automatic Indoor Composter. Steep price ($200CDN+) but showed my mom in law the website yesterday, and she’s thinking about it…I don’t have a garden right now, so it wouldn’t be prudent for me to get one of my own. Reduces your household waste by 2/3rds by composting all your organic waste (except bones, citrus and peach pits).
So, those are my thoughts on sustainable eating today. What are your thoughts?
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