Scraps and Snippets ~ Quinoa Thai Salad

Perfect summer meal salad. Yum.

QUINOA THAI SALAD

• Dressing
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium is what I used)
• 1/2 cup  peanut butter
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
• Zest from 2 fresh limes
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2-3 Tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (or to taste)
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp onion powder

• Salad
• 1 cup quinoa cooked in coconut milk (1 cup dry quinoa to 2 cups coconut milk. Bring to boil and simmer covered for 15 minutes.) (Rinse quinoa first unless the package says pre-rinsed.)
• 1 package broccoli or cole slaw or cabbage as preferred. You could also use prepared noodles, too.
• Additional add-ins or sides to toss onto the salad - bean sprouts, spring pea pods, cucumber slices, chopped red, orange or yellow peppers, chopped green onions, dry roasted peanuts, cilantro washed and long stems removed and chopped, toasted unsweetened coconut, hot pepper flakes.

In a food processor, puree the dressing ingredients.

Prepare add-ins and slaw, cabbage or noodles. If making a large salad toss everything together. If doing individual salads just set out the different ingredients in bowls.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Marigold Cheesecake Bars

I suggest making this the full day before to let the flavors marry fully and to make the cake the perfect serving texture. This recipe will serve 12 in bar form or 20 in the cupcake version (I suggest silicone cupcake liners. I’m guessing paper will stand up just fine, too, but I didn’t try that scenario out.)  I’m also suggesting possible add-in’s just for the fun of it.

Marigold Cheesecake

10 Golden Oreos (complete) or Vanilla Jo-Jos

10 Golden Oreos or Jo-Jo outside cookies (for a total of 20 outside cookie disks)  (Scrape the middles into a bowl for the filling).

1 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil

In a food processor whir the 10 whole cookies, twenty cookie shells and 1 TBSP of butter or coconut oil.

Press the mixture into a 8 x 11 pan.

Or to go even easier. Place one cookie shell on the bottom of a cupcake liner. Fill 20 cupcake liners. Scrape the middles into a bowl for the next step. In this scenario you only need 10 total cookies.

Filling:

Move the bowl of the cookie middles to front and center. To them add:

8 ounces cream cheese (I use TJ's Not Cream Cheese)

1 TBSP orange marmalade

Zest and juice from 1/2 an orange (you could also replace this with 2 more TBSP of orange marmalade)

1/4 Cup powdered sugar

Whip with mixer or food processor.

Fold in:

2 Cups whipped coconut cream. (1 can full fat coconut without water) (-- if you don't know how to do this it's simple. Get a can of full fat coconut milk (I love Trader Joe's - put in fridge for at least 2 days if using another brand.) Open and scrape out the solid, leaving the water behind for another purpose (smoothies, Thai cooking) Whip into creaminess with your mixer. Toss in a few TBSP of powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla if you desire. That's it.

Spoon over crust in pan or cookie half in cupcake liner  and refrigerate until set. Several hours or overnight is even better.

Additions and Wows: 

Stir in additional broken cookie bits if desired. Or add craisins, or both.  Switch out the crust for chocolate sandwich cookies and add mini chocolate chips to the filling. Make a drizzle out of melted chocolate chips and marmalade or raspberry seedless jam,  2 TBSP chips melted with 1 TBSP jam/marmalade. Place in a zipper bag and cut the corner off and squeeze over the bars/cupcakes.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Gardein Beefless Slider Review

 I went on and on about how excited I was that Target carried Gardein products a couple weeks ago. Last night was a night that I needed to toss together a quick meal and I had purchased Gardein's Beefless Sliders for just one of those nights. 

I panfried all four sliders in a splash of avocado oil and heated the buns. 

I then topped mine with mustard and organic lettuce. I served these with a side of steamed organic broccoli sprinkled with nutritional yeast and sea salt. Yum. 

Four hours later, after eating two sliders and the broccoli I was still feeling full and satisfied. Definitely a stick to your ribs meal. The serving size is one little burger but that one packs 9 grams of protein and 150 calories. So with two, I had a 400 calorie meal that left me completely satisfied. I don't know that the burgers would "fool" a meaty hamburger fan. However, I was impressed with the texture (that's a biggie for me, I hate a patty that mushes when you bite into it) and Rob liked them as well and said I should definitely buy them again. He goes flexitarian when he chooses so can order whatever he feels like at restaurants....so that's some high praise since they satisfied his meat cravings. Besides the great texture (more like a flatter pre made style patty than a thick burger) a nice charcoaly flavor makes the burgers taste like the real deal to my palate. 

Bottom line? When you need a quick meal that hits the spot and stays with you, this is a great option. I love that the products are GMO free. And even though they are processed most of the ingredients are recognizable and explained. Two thumbs up. And at under $5.00 a box providing two to four meals, it's bargain fast food. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Buffalo Scalloped Potatoes

Buffalo Scalloped Potatoes

5-6 medium potatoes thinly sliced or diced
1/2 onion thinly sliced or diced
1 TBSP Earth Balance
1 tub Vegan cream cheese (8 ounces, I used Trader Joe's)
2 stalks finely diced celery
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried parsley
1 and 1/2 cups of the following liquids...water and red hot/pepper/wing sauce. I uses 1/2 cup Frank's hot sauce and 1/4 cup of habenaro hot pepper sauce and 3/4 cup water. This was a spicy combo. Nicely spicy for heat lovers, too much for weenies. :  ).

Instructions:

Dice or slice the potatoes and onion. Heat the Earth Balance in a skillet and toss in onions and potatoes and brown so they are semi-crunchy and caramelized. 

While the potatoes are browning, preheat oven to 350 and slightly spray 8 x 11 or 10 inch round pan. 

In a medium bowl mix liquids with the cream cheese. Add the spices and mix very well. Add the diced celery and blend. 

When your potatoes and onions are cooked to your preference slide half into the baking pan. Pour half of the buffalo sauce over the potatoes. Add the rest of the potatoes and repeat with rest of the sauce. Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and the sauce is bubbling.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Tempeh Taco Packets...

Had to put my creative cooking hat on. The natives were hungry and I had limited ingredients. 

So Tempeh Taco Packets were born. 

5 to 6 tortillas 
1 pkge tempeh
2 TBSP hot sauce with extra for garnish
2 TBSP lime juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 onion sliced
10 mushrooms sliced
2 sliced peppers (I used half a bag of Trader Joe's melage)
Toppings (if you have them) (or extra ideas for stuffing shells)
Vegan sour cream or unsweetened plain yogurt
chopped lettuce
chopped tomatoes
chopped black olives
chopped green onion
salsa or hot sauce
black or pinto beans

Mix hot sauce, lime, chili powder, garlic powder and cumin together. Slice tempeh and marinate in sauce. 

Heat the onion and peppers in a tiny bit of oil if you have a pan that sticks. When beginning to soften add mushrooms. In another pan fry slices of tempeh until they begin to brown. 

Place tempeh slices (4-6 for each tortilla based on how thick you sliced it) and a 1/6 of the vegetables on each tortilla, in the center. Add any other fillings you might want inside. 

Fold tortilla over filling. Two sides in. Then the other sides folded over that, kind of like wrapping a present. 

Grill the tortillas, flap side down, turn and finish. Add the toppings you want on top. Eat.