Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango

So I have a confession. I am obsessed with mango sticky rice. When I went to Thailand for vacation, I honestly ate this dish every single day. I know it’s really not good for me given the amount of sugar that is in it. I always wanted to make it myself so I can use my own “healthier” sugars. For my “healthier” sugars, I used both erythritol and xylitol. I just randomly experimented with the ratio based on how much sugar I had of each, so there’s room to play around with that aspect. (Here’s a link if you want to know more about erythritol vs. xylitol)

One reason why it took me so long to finally make mango sticky rice was that I couldn’t find Thai sticky rice for the longest time! I finally found it at my local Whole Foods in the “weigh your own” ingredients section.

Recipe (adapted from Epicurious)

4 servings

• 1 1/2 cups Thai sticky rice (dry)
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/3 cup erythritol
  • 3 tbs xylitol
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted lightly
• 1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into thin slices
  
• sesame seeds garnish (optional)

1. In a bowl wash rice well in several changes of cold water until water is clear. Soak rice in cold water for at least 1 hour.
2. Cook rice in rice cooker in 1:2 ratio for rice:water.
3. Save 1/3 cup coconut milk and place to the side. While rice is cooking, in a small saucepan bring the remaining amount of coconut milk to a boil with 1/3 cup erythritol and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and remove from heat. Keep mixture warm.
4. Transfer cooked rice to a bowl and stir in coconut-milk mixture. Let rice stand, covered, 30 minutes, or until coconut-milk mixture is absorbed. Rice may be prepared up to this point 2 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature.
5. While rice is standing, in cleaned small pan slowly boil remaining 1/3 cup coconut milk with remaining 3 tablespoons xylitol, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Transfer sauce to a small bowl and chill until cool and thickened slightly.
6. To serve, mold 1/4 cup servings of sticky rice on dessert plates. Drizzle desserts with sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Divide mango slices among plates.

Kale and Beans

This has been my go-to meal lately. It’s a great way to incorporate more kale into my diet and sneak more kale into my husband’s diet! He had no idea it was kale until I told him after he ate the whole thing up! It’s so healthy and easy to make! I serve it over wild blend rice.

Recipe (adapted from FoodNetwork)

Makes 2 servings

Olive oil to grease pan
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Half batch of kale, chopped (without main stem)
sprinkles of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 can cannellini beans
1 cup chicken stock

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pan.
2. Add onion and garlic slices. Saute until tender about 3 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and salt and pepper; stir until fragrant.
3. Add the kale and let saute until it cooks down slightly.
4. Add the beans and the chicken stock.
5. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes.

Mushroom & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Sauce

I was inspired to make my own pasta sauce after recently making my own tomato sauce for the Thanksgiving vegetarian meatloaf. I also recently realized I tried my hands at making my own pasta sauce too here. This one is a another tasty, healthy option.

Recipe

Makes 4 servings

1 tbs olive oil
5 organic tomatoes
1 small sweet onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs basil
6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms
1/2 tsp oregeno
salt, pepper, to taste
dash of cayenne (optional)

1. Boil water in pot. Fill a bowl with cold water.
2. Core out the stems from the tomatoes and slice a shallow “X” in the bottom of each tomato.
3. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water. Cook until you see the skin starting to wrinkle and split, 45 to 60 seconds, then remove and plunge them into the cold water.
4. Strip the tomato skin off and process tomatoes in food processor to your chunky or smooth sauce liking.
5. Add oil to a pot and sauté onions and garlic
6. Stir in the tomatoes, mushrooms, and sun-dried tomatoes, and increase heat to high-medium to bring to a low boil. When the mixture boils, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered, until most of the water cooks off. Watch closely, reducing heat if necessary and stirring often.
7. Serve sauce over bed of whole wheat pasta noodles.

Pumpkin Bread & Muffin

Pumpkin dessert is one of my favorites during the holiday time. In fact, I always look forward to being able to eat pumpkin pie! Here is a recipe for some delicious pumpkin bread and muffin (take your pick!)

Recipe (adapted from AllRecipes)

1 can organic pumpkin puree
4 organic eggs
2.5 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup organic olive oil
2/3 cup water
2 cups erythritol (or xylitol)
1/2 cup organic apple sauce
2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
splash of vanilla
1/2 cup organic raisins
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 7×3 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sweetener until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. For muffins, bake for 40 minutes. For loaf, bake for approximately 70 minutes.

Vegetarian Meatloaf

We made this for Thanksgiving this holiday season and it was delicious. My husband scarfed it all up despite being a usual meat lover. One way that I adapted this recipe is by making fresh tomato sauce rather than buying store-bought can. This was a consciencous  effort due to the BPA that may be associated with them.

Recipe (adapted from AllRecipes):

Makes 8-10 servings

8 vegetarian burger patties, smashed
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbs vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs olive oil
4 slices Ezekiel sprouted grain bread, crumbled
1/3 cup almond milk
2-3 tomatoes
3 potatoes, chopped
Rosemary, salt, pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Boil water in pot. Fill a bowl with cold water.
3. Core out the stems from the tomatoes and slice a shallow “X” in the bottom of each tomato.
4. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water. Cook until you see the skin starting to wrinkle and split, 45 to 60 seconds, then remove and plunge them into the cold water.
5. Strip the tomato skin off and process tomatoes in food processor to your chunky or smooth sauce liking.
6. Simmer the sauce in sauce pan until your liking.
7. In a large bowl combine vegetarian burger patties, onion, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, sage, garlic powder, oil, bread cubes and milk. Transfer to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and form into a loaf. Pour tomato sauce on top.
8. Put some olive oil on potatoes and season with salt, pepper, rosemary. Place potatoes around loaf.
9. Bake for 90 minutes.

Green Pineapple Juice

I love this for some tropical sweetness with the powerful green from kale.

Recipe:

Makes 2 small or 1 large drink

2 bunches celery
4 large kale leaves
1/3 pineapple
2 apples

Vegetable Dumplings

Dumplings are a staple in the Asian culture. My husband and I decided to try our hands at making homemade dumplings for the first time. Our concoction of the vegetable filling tasted quite delicious but one great thing about making homemade dumplings is that you can decide on what vegetables and what proportions you prefer! These are great to make in large batches and freeze the rest for future servings. My husband is already looking forward to our next dumpling making time 🙂 

Since it was our first time making dumplings, we referred to sources to learn how to properly wrap dumplings.

Recipe (adapted from FoodNouveau):

Make ~50 dumplings

Pack of dumpling wrappers
1 handful of flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion
2 celery bunch
1/2 package firm tofu
1/2 cup packed cilantro
4 green onions
1/3 cup carrots
1 handful mushrooms
2 tablespoons hoisin or oyster sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs ginger
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Finely chop all ingredients (best with food processor).
2. Mix all of the chopped vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Preheat a large sauté pan. Add olive oil, and cook ginger and onions until translucent.
4. Add remainder of the vegetables except the chopped cilantro and half of green onions, and cook until the vegetables become soft.
5. Add hoisin sauce and sesame oil.
6. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and green onions.
7. Defrost dumpling wrappers. Spread flour thinly over each wrapper for easier wrapping time.
8. Place one spoonful of filling in center of wrapper and wrap!
9. To cook dumplings, place in pot of boiling water. To freeze dumplings, place in ziplock bags.

 

Tofu & Avocado Korean Bibimbap

I love Korean bibimbap. I became inspired to cook it at home after having a delicious vegetarian bibimbap at my favorite New York vegetarian Korean restaurant, Hangawi. My husband who is the furthest away of a vegetarian that one can be loves the home cooked dish too! We love it so much that this is currently my most frequently cooked meal at home when I have sufficient time to spend in the kitchen.

What’s great about this dish is that you can cater it to your liking with the vegetables that you want to use and how much of each vegetable (hence, I only provide rough measurements of certain ingredients)

(Recipe adapted from AllRecipes)

2 servings

• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons tamari
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons xylitol (or erythritol)
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1.5 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 handful chopped green onion (optional)
• Sprinkles of toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 package of firm tofu
• Brown rice
• 2 cups and 3 tablespoons water
• 2 handfuls your choice of mushrooms
• 4 handfuls of spinach
• 1/2 cucumber, small sliced pieces
• 2 handfuls shredded carrots
• 1 avocado, halved and then cubed
• Sesame oil
• 2 handfuls bean sprouts
• 2 eggs
• 2 sheets nori, crumbled
• Kochujang sauce

1. Make the marinade for the tofu. Combine the tamari, xylitol, brown sugar, garlic, green onions in a large bowl; add the cut tofu to the marinade and mix.
2. Cook the rice
3. Combine cucumber and carrots in a  bowl, and season with sea salt and pepper.
4. Preheat wok over medium-high heat with a small amount of sesame oil. Add spinach until it is just wilted. Remove and set aside.
5. Use the wok with small amount of sesame oil and cook the carrots and cucumbers until softened. Remove and set aside.
6. Repeat cooking with the wok with small amount of sesame oil with the bean sprouts and mushrooms separately. Remove and set aside.
7. Add the tofu and marinade to the wok and cook for a few minutes.
8. Season sliced avocado with sea salt.
9. Prepare the bowls by adding rice. Arrange the avocado, cucumbers and carrots, bean sprouts, spinach, mushroom, and tofu mixture over each section of the bowl over the rice.
10. Cook 1 egg at a time for each bowl in an over easy style, then place it in the middle of the bowl.
11. Top the bowl with nori and sesame seeds. Serve with Kochujang sauce as a condiment.

Ginger Tea or Turmeric Elixir — your choice each day!

Ginger tea is incredibly tasty and healthy, and can easily be turned to turmeric elixir if you prefer to get some extra nutrients into your body with the power of turmeric! I’ll show the basic batch that you need, and then depending on your mood from day to day, you can decide how you’d like to drink it, tea or elixir! The batch is large enough to last for 1-2 weeks (depending on how often you drink this).

Turmeric Elixir

BASIC BATCH for Ginger Tea and Turmeric Elixir:
Ginger (amount that would be equivalent to 1 cup shredded)
1 cup honey
(or 1:1 of ginger to honey)

Turmeric Elixir additional ingredients:
1/2 lemon
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
dashes of black pepper

1. Peel ginger, then use food processor to shred the ginger to the finest pieces that you can.
2. Pour the honey and the ginger into a bowl and mix.
3. Keep refrigerated.

Directions:

Ginger Tea
1. Add 2 spoonfuls of the mixture, then fill the cup with water (hot or cold, your choice)

Turmeric elixer:
1. Same step as above
2. Make lemon juice using a citrus squeezer and add to cup
3. Add turmeric
4. Add a dash of black pepper
5. Drink! Intermittently mix the drink to prevent ingredients from settling on the bottom.

You may wonder why I add the black pepper to my elixir since that is not part of a typical turmeric elixir that you find in stores. This is because studies have shown that including black pepper when you eat turmeric increases the turmeric’s bioavailability significantly. So even though it may not add to the taste, it definitely is worth it for the health benefits! I hope you enjoy this as much as I do 🙂

Mesquite Chocolate Chia Seed Muffins

I had a lot of chia seed and mesquite powder laying around which I barely use, so when I found this recipe, I was definitely interested in trying it out. These are tasty, healthy, and gluten-free. I would be down for making these again sometime.

(Recipe from Pure2Raw)

Makes 8-9 muffins

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup mesquite flour ( may use carob, any flour on hand, or more cocoa for a more rich muffin)
1/2 cup cacao
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1/2-3/4 cup coconut milk (or milk of choice)
1 cup xylitol

Directions:
Place all dry ingredients into your bowl. Whisk together.
Add in your eggs, sugar and slowly add in milk
Stir till just combined.
Scoop into your muffin liners and bake in a 350 degree oven. For about 16-18 minutes, till toothpick comes out clean.