Yummy vegetarian collard greens

chop 1/2 large onion, 4 small cloves garlic finely with 1/2 tsp salt. saute until soft in 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil.

add 2 cups veggie stock, spices to taste, 1 1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes

chili powder, cayenne, sprinkle nutmeg, pinch cumin, 2 sprinkles ground white pepper, a bunch of ground black pepper, 2 bay leaves, a bunch of paprika (smoked if u have it)

bring to a simmer

toss in 1 pound (16 oz bag) of chopped collard greens, and toss to coat.

add some random mild vinegar you have laying around (it should be cider vinegar) i used rice vinegar and raspberry red wine vinegar

 put the lid on and simmer for a while (30 minutes+)?

take the lid off and keep simmering until it looks pleasant, stirring ocassionally.

serve over yummy plain rice and with some grilled chicken.

Carrot-Clementine Soup (Or... The Crock Pot Love Affair)

Adventures in no-recipe, no-time, no-ingredients slowcooking, part one: Successful

CARROT-CLEMENTINE SOUP
~10 big carrots, roughly chunked
~1 onion, kinda chopped,
~Thumb-sized chunk of ginger, diced
~Juice of 5-6 smushy clementines
~Nutmeg, cardomom, black pepper, curry powder, salt, more ginger as desired
~Enough broth/water to cover it all
~Throw it in a crock pot on LOW until you forget about... it tomorrow
~Do magic with a blender until smooth and tasty
~Add a dollop of plain (soy) yogurt and a sprinkle of nutmeg
~Cheers! An appliance made you dinner!

 

<3 Tyrannosaurus Lex

Miso-glazed mushroom and greens stir fry

Ingredients

Spiced pressed dry tofu- 1 piece, cut into matchsticks

1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

1 bunch enoki mushrooms (the width of a regular can), separated roughly

some collard greens (I thought the bag said mustard greens when I bought it, and until i opened it.. but oh well, turned out well)

Miso paste (there's no english writing on my box, just a picture of a bowl of miso soup)

sesame seeds, sesame oil

some homemade sriracha (the fresh version of the linked recipe)

ground white pepper, fresh ground black pepper

4 cloves of garlic, 1 very small onion, 

small knob (1"x1") fresh ginger, peeled and chopped finely

1. Chop garlic and onions. heat a large wok/pan on med/hi with about a tblsp of oil in it. Add garlic and onions, stir until they start to turn golden. Add ginger, stir for another minute-ish.

2. Add a handful of collard greens. Realize they're collard greens and add 1/2 cup water to the pan, and cover. Cook for ~5 minutes on med/hi still.

3. Uncover. Add the tofu, mushrooms, and peppers. dissolve some (1 1/2 tsp i think) miso into the remaining water in the pot, along with 1 tsp sriracha. Stir, add the peppers to taste. 

4. Turn the stove up to med/hi/hi (from 7 to 9 on my electric crap stove), and let the water evaporate, stirring occasionally. You want the veggies to be evenly distributed on the bottom of the pan. 

5. When you think the water's all gone, keep the pan on the heat- you want it to feel like the sugars in the miso are about to caramelize. Turn off the heat, leave the pan on the heat while you get a drink, plate... let the miso caramelize just a little.

6. Move stir fry mix to plate, sprinkly liberally with sesame seeds, drizzle very lightly with toasted sesame oil.

I think: it was good, although I wish I had a wok so the tofu would have crisped up a little.

-Giraffe

So this happened: Glazed Carrots

Dino: I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THIS COOKING TECHNIQUE IS CALLED BUT I JUST DID SOMETHING BRILLIANT WITH CARROTS.

 Giraffe: Well what was it, silly?

Dino: 1. Put pan on high and added a tiny bit of olive oil 2. Threw in a ton of 1 cm slices of (unpeeled) carrot.

3. Sauteed for a few minutes until bored.

 4. Added salt, pepper, dried rosemary, dried basil, and crushed red pepper.

5. Sauteed a little bit more.

6. (This was the best part.) Added about a centimeter of water with the heat CRANKED so that everything made happy, sizzly noises.

7. Kept pan on high and uncovered to allow water to rapidly boil away, leaving a really neat, herby, tasty glaze to the carrots.

8. Also, somewhere in there I threw in a handful of raw walnuts and then I topped it off with a spoonful of hummus once cooked.

Giraffe: hi let's be friends who write a cooking blog

Dino: These are the things I dream about.