Vegetarian Bibimbap

Beep Beep Bop.  "Robot food" is what we called it in college.  I used to go to a tiny lunch place in Pittsburgh to get their Vegetarian Bibimbap.  Mine is pretty good, too.  Loosely follow the directions here.  I added an egg and a tiny bit of Kimchi.  Very healthy and great food for an afternoon being green!  Lisa knows what I mean...

Not too bad, Lindsay...

A little healthy eating never killed anyone...except that one person.  Yes, that person was me.

I've been trying to lose some winter weight lately.  I've got a Caribbean vacation coming up (sadly, not the super cool kind with Raz) and spring clothing is just around the corner.  That, and someone's asshole Wii fit told me I need to lose 10 pounds.   The three C's are strictly off limits:  Candy, cakes and cookies (you know, unless my boss brings in chocolate from her trip to Paris).  Just trying to cut out too many extra carbs and added sugar is really restrictive.  I'm really in need of some method to make eating just vegetables for two meals a day tasty and possible.

Enter this fabulous recipe for Japanese Restaurant-style ginger-carrot dressing.  Not exactly like old Taipei-Tokyo's back in Monroeville, but a great substitute.  Can't be that bad for you, either.

Ugh my camera has the resolution and focus of a potato.

Speaking of slimming down, look at my li'l lady who has been just a tad slimmer since she's been hanging around outside a bit:

Balloon: I'm super sexy!

Shellfish a la Ms. T

Around Christmas time, I went back to visit friends and family in Pittsburgh.  And no visit to the Burgh is complete without a visit with Ms. T.  I got to see her new place, and experience her wonderful cooking.  She made mussels and asparagus in a Tom Kha Gai inspired broth.

I've had the Tom Yum paste in my fridge for months, waiting for mussels and veggies but only tonight have I gotten around to making my own version of Tess's amazing dish.  Prepwork takes a bit of time (cleaning the Mussels can be laborious as they can be covered in barnacles and beards. I was also informed, to my horror, that they were alive upon purchase.  Northwest seafood is fresh.)  However, once the sauce gets going, it takes only 5 minutes for this dish to cook.

Here's what to do:

Stuff (Makes 2-3 Servings):

Garlic

Thom Yum Paste

Coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 lb. Clams (look up basic instructions on cleaning and cooking clams and mussels if you need to!)

1/2 lb. Mussels

1/2 lb. Baby Bok Choi

Rice stick noodles, cooked up.  They only take a few minutes, your package should have instructions.

Directions:

Saute the garlic in some oil at the bottom of a big pot.  Add the thom yum paste just as it gets going and then pour on the coconut milk (mine was powdered so I wanted to add it right away because it was lumpy.)  Bring this to a boil and add both the clams and mussels.  Set your timer for 5 minutes and cover.  

When your timer has about 1:30 left to go, add the cleaned and chopped Bok Choi and cover.  Stir it a few times, but it only takes a few seconds for it to cook.  Overcooking it makes it a little...slimy so resist the urge to add it at the same time as the shellfish.

At 5:00 your mussels and clams should have opened.  Throw away any that haven't.  That's all it takes.

Serve the rice noodles topped with your tasty shellfish stew!

*Note:  You could probably use more lemongrass, but mine fell out of my cart at the store so I didn't have any.  The thom yum paste should have some already so it's fine if you don't want to use it.



Enjoy!

Food from a real cookbook...

The other day I bought a cookbook.  An actual hard-copy cookbook.The Borders' location nearest to us was going out of business and I don't know what came over me...Especially since the recipes can all be found online. For what its worth, if you know a vegetarian (or someone who is trying to eat healthier) who doesn't love using the internet, I'd recommend this cookbook:  Easy Everyday Vegetarian.

The first recipe I chose to cook out of this new book is Tempeh Stir-Fry with yogurt peanut sauce.  It looked and tasted lovely.  I don't cook with soy too often because sometimes it doesn't agree with me in general, but I wanted to try tempeh just this once. I didn't make any alterations to the recipe, but I think that if tempeh is too odd for you or is unavailable, tofu, chicken, peanuts, mushrooms, or shrimp would all be delicious substitutes.

An easy recipe for a healthy 2011.

What is tempeh?  Read about it over at Wikipedia.
Want to make this?  You don't really need a cookbook at all!  Tempeh Stir-Fry