Sushi Roll Edamame Salad
You guys! I'm going through some SERIOUS Oprah withdrawals. It's really bad. Last week I had a crazy dream where I was trying to find a pair of sunglasses and all of a sudden I was in Walmart and Oprah (who was wearing FLIP FLOPS!) handed me a pair. I woke up before I could hear her sweet voice. Sigh. THEN yesterday while I was driving to work, I pulled up at a stop light and a shiny black suburban passed by. OMG it was Oprah driving the car. Well...not really. It was a woman that looked just like her.
While figuring out what to type in this paragraph, I did a google search for "Oprah Vegan" because I remembered the show where she went vegan for a week with all of her staffers and LOOK! that post was a year ago! WHAT WHAT?! I think this means we're destined to meet. Or if not, maybe someone who knows her really well could get her drunk on Moscow Mules and have her call my voicemail? All I want her to say is TRACY SHUTTERBEAN in her voice. It would seriously make my decade.
I wonder if Oprah would like this salad? I'm pretty sure she would. Besides the base of romaine lettuce, there's a bit of brown rice, avocado chunks, cucumber, nori shreds, edamame, carrots & sesame seeds. It's hearty yet light! I bet she'd ask for more green onion miso dressing. Of course she'd ask for more dressing! That dressing IS SO DANG GOOD.
Without further adieu...
SUSHI ROLL EDAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME SAAAAAAAALAD FOR EVERYONE!
Did I tell you that Cooper can do the Oprah voice now? It's glorious.
Potato Feta Gyros
I lived as a vegetarian for 2 1/2 years during my college career; it was the dorm food that sealed the deal. For the first year of my vegetarianism, I was more of a cheese-atarian. I lived in Oregon and it was Tillamook EVERYTHING. My roommate and I ate cheese, pizza, french fries, hummus and stir fry like there was no tomorrow. For a college student, it was all about convenience. Having our own fridge with our OWN food (not managed by parents) was really an exciting thing. That's why I gained a Sophomore 15 (I managed to avoid it Freshman year due to the crappy food). I clearly needed help!
A few months ago during the busy holiday season, I had the opportunity to meet cookbook author/cool mom Pam Anderson & catch up with her daughter Maggy at a fabulous dinner for her latest cookbook, Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals: Recipes and Techniques for Part-Time and Full-Time Vegetarians. Let me tell you, these two are as good as it gets! I know that if they lived closer, Maggy & I would be tied at the hip. Both these fine ladies have a tremendous amount of love to give and their passion for food and helping others is downright contagious!
What I love Pam's new cookbook is that it's vegetarian home cooking in an easily digestible format. Pam covers many cooking basics and gives a tremendous amount of tricks & tips for the aspiring vegetarian cook. She's basically teaching you how to cook without a book! Each recipe has Pam's suggestions to change things up a bit. For example, there's a bran muffin section where she shows you the muffin base and then lists add-ins & extras so you can build your own flavor profile. Her suggestions will keep your brain turning with ideas! I love it. Reading through this book is like having a cool mom teach you how to cook and fend for yourself in a vegetarian world. It would have made my college years as a vegetarian a BREEZE!
As a part time Vegetarian, I fell in love with this Potato Feta Gyro recipe. I made it earlier this week and boy was it incredibly satisfying and simple to execute. The mashed potatoes are flavor packed due to the feta & roasted garlic and the cucumber yogurt sauce is straight up ADDICTIVE. If only I had this recipe in college!
Here's the deal!
I have an extra copy of this book that I want to give one to a lucky reader!
Please leave a comment below and you'll be entered to win!
Giveaway ends on Friday January 13th (ooh creepy!).
****CONTEST ENDED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ENTERING!!!!******
Grape Cucumber Pear Juice
I get the feeling that everyone who owns a juicer is juicing this week. Am I right or am I right? I was toying with the idea of doing another 3-day juice cleanse this week, but my head's not there yet. I've got have a whole box of crackers in the pantry and a few coconut lime bars (recipe soon!) to eat through first. I did however, juice til dinner on Saturday and that felt pretty great.
In the 3 Day Cleanse book, they describe this juice as being "very clean tasting." After my eat week, that was all I needed. The grapes are sweet & juicy. The pear & cucumber are both pleasantly mellow and the ginger is a nice kick in the pants. This what I like to call a spa juice. Put some cucumber slices on your eyes, wrap a towel around your head and drink away. Clothing is totally optional.
Cucumber Infused Vodka
It's INFUSION TIME! Have you made the Strawberry Infused Vodka yet? If you haven't, you should! For those of you who've made some, isn't it crazy good? Don't you feel proud of yourself for making your own jazzed up vodka? It's kind of addictive, no? So here's the latest addition to my booze repertoire--Cucumber Infused Vodka! I have no doubt that you're gonna want to get in on this action.
Cucumber Infused Vodka is delicate, slightly sweet, and uber-refreshing. It's like fancy spa water gone wild! The best part is that it's SOO dang easy to make. All you have to do is peel & cut 1 English cucumber, put it in a jar of vodka and wait for 3 days. Amazing, right? I should also note that cucumbers don't soak up as much booze like the strawberries in the Strawberry Infused Vodka, so the vodka yield is HIGH. Winning!
So, what to do with this vodka? Drink it ICE cold on it's own; it's really fantastic by itself. Since I generally like to mix booze with other stuff, I added some to a cold glass of watermelon juice with a twist of lime and it was KILLER. I think I'd like to try it with pineapple juice, sparkly water & mint. Oh dear...I'm salivating now.
Continue reading→
Grapefruit Cucumber Gin Spritzers
TWO cocktails in a ROW?! What's going on with you, Tracy? Honestly, it's a classic case of denial. I'm still coming back to reality and holding onto EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT of what I experienced last week. I want to write up the last part from my retreat but I feel too raw about it. Is that weird? I think maybe that's why I'm holding off on scanning my Polaroids. It's kinda like how my friend has refused to watch the last episode of Freaks & Geeks because she doesn't want it to end. That's where I am right now. So to ignore it, I had a few cocktails with my magic making neighbor today. She always has something cool going on in her house and when I walked in today I yelled "OMG! I forgot how your house is totally a stylist's wet dream!" Yes I said that. I say stuff like that all the time. It's totally true, though! You should see what she has on her back porch.
I tinkered with this drink today and nailed it! I took the idea of the grapefruit soda in the Jen & Tonics from the Joy Retreat and used some leftover cucumbers from the Boozy Cucumber Coolers to make this libation. The cucumber brings out the herbal quality of the gin and the grapefruit soda adds a nice sweet & bitter tang- much like tonic water... This drink and the Boozy Cucumber Coolers are duking it out to be THE drink of SUMMER 2011 on my street. We shall see who will win the battle of deliciousness! Care to weigh in?
Continue reading→
Boozy Cucumber Coolers
I wanted to tell you more about the Joy Retreat but I'm kinda BUZZED right now. One more sip of this Boozy Cucumber Cooler and I'm gonna turn into a sappy drunk on you. Must temper that! Anyways...I've been SOO excited for Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day Cookbook to come out; it's been sitting in my Amazon pre-order cart for MONTHS. When I came home from my trip, GUESS WHAT WAS WAITING AT MY DOORSTEP??!! As if my creative spirit wasn't already triggered!
I had a brief moment to look through the cookbook last night and CUCUMBER COOLERS went straight on my TO-DO list for today. It was right next to pay doctor bill over the phone & reschedule hair appointment. Of course I had to be naughty and add gin to the original recipe. It was a rough day at work...what can I say?? I also didn't have honey so I added agave syrup. Wait. I did have honey but it was all chunky & crystallized and I didn't feel like melting it. I dove for the agave out of ease (gin is my truth serum). I'm kind of obsessed with this drink...and the cookbook (I have soo many recipes marked to try!) This cocktail is like a spa drink gone WILD. Cucumber is balanced with a dash of salt & a spike of lime... rounded out with my good buddy, GIN. I could get in trouble with these. Serious trouble. I'd better stay away from Twitter tonight!
Continue reading→
Spinach Celery Cucumber Juice
That's right. Juice is back on my radar. I'm eating & drinking everything GREEN.
Just look at my last post and you'll see why.
Continue reading→
Shrimp Cucumber Mango Salad
I predict that 5 months from now, in the dead of winter, I'll totally be jonesing for this salad. It's zesty, crunchy, sweet & spicy!!! All of my favorite things! It's summer in a cup; which is how I served it tonight! No need to turn on the oven/stove/grill. This recipe requires nothing but a fridge, a cutting board, a knife & a few bowls to execute. The best part is that it's super duper low in calories & has like no fat whatsoever. You know what this means? I get to go hog wild for dessert tonight!
I'm gonna go do that now...Peace out.
Continue reading→
