plums in the icebox

fridge & pantry tostadas (for leftovers & lazy nights)

I know, I know. I haven't blogged here in over two months. There's really no excuse for it, but I will tell you I've been super busy with all kind of work stuff including an uptick in my doula work (two births in April, two in May) and all sorts of changes and shifts on the freelance front. I wish I could promise that I'll be coming back super strong to Plums in the Icebox, with two posts a week filled with beautiful photographs and detailed recipes and witty repartee. The truth of the matter is that, while I still really love cooking and sharing recipes here, the life of an essentially full-time freelancer doesn't provide a lot of time for personal blogging, especially since I'm also trying to work on another poetry manuscript. Writing decent poems takes time, as do pitch emails, follow up emails, writing blog posts, writing articles and basically just writing writing writing writing. I love it and I'm damn lucky to do it, but honestly, I'm still figuring out the balance.

But I hope that doesn't mean you guys will desert me. I mean, you can....if you do, I totally understand. I always remove blogs from my reader if they don't update enough, so if you do, totally understood. No hard feelings. But I promise I'll be getting some kind of food-related content up here more regularly. Anyway! On to the recipe, or semi-recipe. 

I'm a fan of Big Girls Small Kitchen's pantry pasta , which is easy to cook up from whatever you have lying around the house.  I'm always on the hunt for these kinds of meals, formulas that are adaptable, quick and ridiculously simple. And I think I've come up with a new (or at least new in my rotation) dinner dish you can make from odds and ends: Fridge & Pantry Tostadas. 

The idea behind this is that you make it from stuff you have in your fridge and pantry, hench the name. I'm not going to type this out like a regular recipe, but essentially, here's what you need: toasted or broiled corn tortillas, some combination of cooked veggies and meat, then cheese, herbs or other topping/garnish. It's a perfect way to reconfigure leftovers or make use of the last little bit of zucchini, shredded cheese, whatever. 

You want to brush the tortillas with olive oil and then broil for about 5-7 minutes on each side. While they're doing that, sauté up a big mess of whatever you have on hand. When the tortillas are crispy enough to your liking, top them with your veggie mixture, garnish and eat! Seriously, it couldn't be any easier. 

The tostadas pictured are made with leeks, chickpeas, and spinach, cooked with white wine and garlic and topped with feta cheese. Some other combinations I think would be delicious:

Black Bean & Corn: Black beans, corn and Mexican spices cooked together and topped with cilantro and pepper jack cheese.

Bruschetta: Chopped tomato and basil tossed with olive oil, balsamic, and salt and pepper, topped with fresh mozzarella, feta, or parmesan. Add cucumber or onions, too.

White Beans & Dill: White beans, greens, and onions cooked with lemon juice and topped with fresh dill.

Spinach & Gorgonzola: Sautéed spinach with walnuts and dried cranberries, topped with gorgonzola or bleu cheese.

Avocado Chicken: Shredded chicken cooked with cumin and broth, topped with avocado slices and cilantro.

Roasted Garlic: Ok just roast some garlic, smash it on the tortilla and then put anything else on it. Because anything + roasted garlic = good.

Thanksgiving: Mashed potatoes, turkey and leftover Thanksgiving sides atop a tortilla. Why not?

Carrot and Lentil: Shredded carrots cooked with onions, lentils and curry spices.

Salmon with Minty Pea Dip: Spread this minty pea dip on the tortilla and top with salmon cooked with lemon juice, then separated/semi-crushed with a fork. Drizzle with olive oil, top with parmesan. 

The crunchiness of the tortillas makes a good vehicle for leftover soups and stews, too, especially ones that have lost a lot of their liquid while sitting in the fridge (Mine ALWAYS do this. Yours, too?) You can also spread hummus, pesto, Greek yogurt, tapenade or another sauce onto the toasted tortilla to add flavor and make the main ingredients stick a little better. A fried egg would always be a delicious topping, too!

 

18 healthy breakfast ideas you probably already know about but let me remind you about them, anyway

Honestly, I feel like one thing the world can't get enough of is good breakfasts. Not to mention good breakfast ideas. I mean, right? Yeah, it's the most important meal of the day and all but also I often find it to be the most satifisfying in lots of ways. Like when I have a really awesome breakfast, it sets the tone for my whole day. Like when I sit down to do my work I'm better at it: I type faster, I think quicker. I even feel like a good breakfast has the power to make me be a little nicer and more patient. Even more organized! Weird and probably wisful thinking, but breakfast is powerful, y'all.  

None of these ideas are earth-shatteringly creative or brilliant; I'm not saying I'm a breakfast guru or anything. But here's a bunch of the breakfasts that make me feel great. They're healthy and they might be a welcome addition to your butter-and-toast, bagel-and-cream-cheese, milk-and-cereal-routine.  Some are vegan, some are gluten-free, and all are relatively easy.

Breakfasts In Bowls

1. Chia Seed Pudding: All you need is chia seeds, milk of your choice and then some stuff to top the pudding with. My favorite way to make it is with coconut milk and topped with sliced mangoes. Mix the seeds and milk, leave it in the fridge overnight, and done. 

2. Overnight Oats: The possibilities for this are endless, really, as you can jazz up the overnight oats with yogurt, jam, nut butter, fruit, nuts, seeds...Here's one version (I never make mine in a jar though, because it's just too Pinterest-y).

3. Quinoa as Oatmeal: Here's my recipe for this! I don't eat it often, but when I do, it's good. 

4. Breakfast Kasha: I made one with apple, if you'll remember, but any fruit would be great. 

Eggy Breakfasts

5. Eggs Baked In Tomatoes: Cute, easy and healthy. Here's a recipe.

6. Fried or Poached Egg on a Bed of Greens: Saute or steam greens of your choice and put an egg on it! Eat with toast on the side. 

7. Oatmeal With A Fried Egg: This sounds kind of weird, I know, but try it with salsa and a few avocado slices. 

8. Breakfast Tostada: Char or toast a tortilla and serve it with some sauteed greens, an egg cooked any style, and salsa.

9. Microwave Omelet: I know a lot of people are wary of using a microwave to cook rather than heat things up, but I ate this breakfast all the time in grad school. Recipe here at my old food blog. 

10. Tortilla Egg In The Hole: When I was a kid, I called egg-in-the-hole "the egg thing." Cut a circle out of a tortilla, fry an egg inside and top with salsa.  

Breakfasts with Breads

11. Avocado Toast: Toast some bread, mash up half an avocado, spread it on, sprinkle salt and pepper. Add sliced tomatoes or red pepper flakes if you're feeling crazy.

12. Nut Butter Toast With Banana: Spread your choice of nut butter on toast and top with sliced banana. Ta-da! So easy I can't even believe I typed it out.

13. Morning "Pizza:" Toast spread with ricotta (or farmer's cheese, my new obsession!) and topped with sliced tomatoes, salt, pepper and a little bit of olive oil. 

Baked Breakfasts

14. Baked Oatmeal: Baked oatmeal is so good in winter. I usually make it the night before and eat it for a few days as breakfasts and snacks. I made a pumpkin apple one this fall!

15. Baked Quinoa: This is very similar to baked oatmeal. Here's a recipe that I really like. 

Random Breakfasts

16. Breakfast Wrap: If you're a gluten eater, get yourself a whole-wheat tortilla, spread some nut butter, coconut butter or cream cheese on it and then put in some fruit, granola, nuts, seeds. Roll it up or eat it like a taco. 

17. Smoothies: I mean, duh. SMOOTHIES FOR BREAKFAST. But sometimes I forget about them. Is that just me? My go-to is usually a handful of spinach, almond milk, a banana, and cinnamon. But lately I've been making them with yogurt or kefir, almond butter and sometimes oats and of course, all different fruits. 

18. Tofu Scramble: I ate tofu scrambles a lot during my vegan challenge. It's a good way to get protein without eating eggs, obviously, and can be spruced up with different vegetables, hot sauce, and more.

What are your healthy breakfast ideas that other people probably already know about but that you'd like to share anyway? Please do so in the comments!

roasted butternut squash & plum salad

It should be evident by now that my preferred way to eat veggies (and sometimes fruit) is to roast them. So you're getting more of that with this recipe, which I came up with on the way home from the grocery store after I had bought the plums and the butternut squash (neither of which are really staples on my grocery list, despite the name of this blog).

Butternut squash season is on its way out and plum season hasn't even begun, but I still think this is a delicious recipe for spring. Butternut squash gets really sweet when it's roasted, but it's a totally different kind of sweetness than that of the plums; the squash's sweetness is heavy and deeper, and the plums' is light and juicy. I feel like a judge on Chopped or something saying this, but it was a really interesting interplay of flavors. And aren't the colors pretty, too?

I really like to roast the hell out of my butternut squash, so I roasted mine for 20 minutes before I added the plums. You can play with the roasting time, but I think overall, you should roast the squash for a longer time than the plums. You can use regular salad greens for this, but I wanted to use up some of the sturdier greens I had in my fridge, so I used both kale and spinach. 

Roasted Butternut Squash & Plum Salad 

total time: about 30 minutes

total hands on time: less than 10 minutes

serves 2

What you'll need: 

2 1/2 cups of chopped butternut squash

3 plums, sliced

4-5 cups of sturdy raw greens (kale, chard, etc), divided

1-2 tbsps olive or coconut oil (I used coconut)

1/2 cup of cooked quinoa, farro, or kasha, divided

salt and garlic powder to taste

for dressing:

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey or agave nectar

1 tbsp olive oil

pepper to taste

What you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Place chopped buttersquash into a pan, toss with oil and add salt and garlic powder to taste. Mix to coat. Put in the oven.

3. Meanwhile, put greens into a bowl and massage with a few teaspoons of olive oil, using your hands. Let sit until other veggies are finished cooking. 

4. After 20 minutes of the squash roasting, add plums to pan and roast for another 10-12 or so minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Combine dressing ingredients and stir or shake to emulsify. Set aside. 

6. When the fruit and veggies are finished roasting, divide greens, fruit, veggies, and grain between two bowls or plates. Drizzle with dressing.

Notes: If using lettuce or other greens, there's no need to massage the greens with oil and let them sit.

I didn't have any on hand, but this would be delicious topped with feta or goat cheese. I'm also not that great at making salad dressings, but if you had some orange juice (or even cranberry juice?!?!) on hand, I think that would be a delicious addition to this dressing.  

my favorite recipes from 30 days of eating vegan

As promised, here's a quick little post to show you some of the recipes I really loved during my February vegan challenge. All of the recipes get a very firm, very bright, very big Carrie stamp-of-approval, for whatever that's worth to you! (All photos except the lentil soup one are from my Instagram, by the way).

 

Photo via Home Sweet Sarah

I saw this on Sarah's Instagram and knew I wanted to make it, just from the picture. The lentil soup recipe from Home Sweet Sarah isn't technically vegan, but I made it so by swapping beef broth for veggie broth. Easy and freaking good.

 

 

I made this Potato, Pepper and Pinto Hash three times. THREE TIMES. That's huge for me, as I almost never remake the same thing in a short span of time. Once I made it with black beans instead of pinto beans, and it was even better. The best thing is piling on the cilantro at the end. Yum.

 

A shit-ton of hummus went into my body during the month, as I wrote in my recap post, but I didn't expect to like other raw dips so much. I made this one twice and ate it with cucumbers sprinkled with sea salt and chile powder.

 

This happy yellow Thai corn soup was my far one of my favorite vegan dishes I made overall, and it was the very last meat-and-dairy-free dinner I cooked. This recipe originally comes from the Eat, Drink & Be Vegan cookbook, but I found a blog post that reprints it pretty much exactly. I added mushrooms to mine, as you can see above. (And again with the cilantro. I love it.)

 

I have to admit I was a little concerned about going vegan for February and missing out on all the Valentine's candy. This vegan, gluten-free almond blueberry tart is what I made for R and I as a Valentine's Day dessert (which we actually ate the morning after because he had class on the 14th). It was super easy and I was able to use the leftover blueberry juice to flavor my kombucha!

 

my month of eating vegan: how was it?

I really loved doing this challenge. It seems like I just started it, in a way...I can't believe I'm done! I started on February 5th and finished on March 5th. Here are some scattered thoughts on my month of eating vegan (If you want to read something more linear, I wrote a similar post to this one on Blisstree). 

So. How did I feel different? Well, the thing about having a lot of energy? Yes, that's true. I am a HUGE napper (like, I nap most days. Those of you who work in offices probably hate me, but one of the luxuries of working from home is that you can actually nap if you want to/need to. So I do. ANYWAY.) During this challenge, I napped considerably less than usual. I also felt more clear-minded overall, similar to the way that I did when I tried eating paleo. It was really awesome, one of the biggest benefits I can see for going vegan long-term. 

I had high hopes that eliminating meat and dairy would help my digestive system, but alas, that was kind of no dice. Maybe it was the mass quantities of beans I ate, but the yuckiness going on in there was about the same as it has been, if not slightly worse. I wasn't necessarily trying to lose weight (although I am newly kind of on a fitness kick! Let's hope it keeps going!), but I did end up losing about 5 pounds overall. It wasn't at all dramatic or sudden and my weight went up and down over the course of the month. From watching all the documentaries of Netflix, I kind of thought that my belly would get flatter in just a few days, but that was decidedly not the case; maybe the body transformation is more intense if you're someone who's been eating a ton of meat and potatoes to begin with? I don't know. I did find that I ate less than I usually would have, but I also found that I was satiated with less food, I guess because of the higher amounts of fiber I was eating. 

R and I did end up eating out a few times (Thai, vegan nachos, french fries and these amazing sambusas made with lentils and jalapeno) but otherwise, I cooked every single meal I ate. No soups from a can. No frozen meals. Nothing like that. This was both a cool aspect of the challenge and also an annoying one. Some days I just wanted to eat whatever, not be super particular and creative. There were a few nights I was too lazy to cook a real dinner or lunch and I'd just have a smoothie or chips and hummus (especially if R was at class). But most days, I felt really exhilarated by figuring out how to cook yet another tasty vegan meal. I relied a lot on the internet for recipes and made a pretty good vegan Pinterest board, if you're interested in looking at it.

When I went grocery shopping for foods I'd eat after I stopped eating vegan, I ended up feeling kind of gulty. I'm writing this on the night of the last day of the challenge (although I'm posting it about five days later), so I can eat ANYTHING I WANT TOMORROW and honestly, I feel kind of weird about it. Like, I want cheese, YES I WANT CHEESE. But I don't really want to eat meat. I don't know. I feel weird! I don't know how exactly to describe other than there's a part of me that wants to stay vegan. Updated: I didn't eat anything non-vegan until 8 pm the day after my challenge ended. I've also continued to eat at least one vegan meal a day since then. Do I have vegan Stockholm syndrome?!?!

I don't think I will commit fully to a vegan diet, but I think I might try to commit to a few vegan days a week, or at least a few vegan meals a week. Or maybe I'll piggyback off of Mark Bittman's "vegan until dinner" thing. A vegan diet just feels so healthful, so good. It felt so much less limiting than I thought it would; on the contrary it felt like a new framework that forced me to get even more creative. It challenged me to cook in a different way, to see the parameters of my meals in a way I'm not used to. And after about a week or two, it actually became easy, at least to do at home or in another supportive environment. I might give veganism another go as a little detox, too, to eat a plant-based diet for a few days after a vacation or a period of laziness or something like that. 

Check back in a few days for ANOTHER vegan post, this one all about the recipes I liked the most. Since I've already written about 600 words here, I thought another post was in order. 

My Vegan Challenge By The Numbers

# of salads eaten: 1

amount of quinoa cooked: 0

# of soups made: 6

# of hummuses made: 3

cans of chickpeas consumed: 12

 

roasted vegetables with peanut sauce

I haven't written too much about how my month-long vegan eating challenge is going, but I've really enjoyed it so far. Will I stay vegan? No. But that doesn't mean it hasn't been a worthwhile experiment. I have about six days left and I have lots more I want to say about it, but I'm planning on writing a longer post once the whole month is over. Right now, I need to share a recipe for one of the best things I've made while eating vegan. THIS IS SO GOOD, YOU GUYS.

I whipped this up for lunch last Sunday on a whim, wanting something different than the bean-heavy meals I'd been eating for the last few weeks. I usually like peanut sauce, but I'm not terribly good at making Asian food myself (or at least Asian food that I actually want to eat. There are so many tasteless Thai curries in my past, ew), so I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful this was. It's also ridiculously easy to make and is endlessly customizable, too—I really want to try it with different vegetables and maybe even sub the peanut butter I used for cashew or almond butter. 

I used carrots, shredded brussels sprouts, cabbage (duh) and green onions for this, but I think any combination of Asian-y vegetables would be good. Broccoli, peppers, bok choy, onions, mushrooms and more could all work in this recipe.

Roasted Vegetables with Peanut Sauce

sauce recipe adapted from the Eat, Drink and Be Vegan cookbook

makes about 1 cup of sauce

total time: 30 minutes

total hands on time: less than 5 minutes

What you'll need:

5-6 cups total of vegetables (see above for the kinds I used)

a few glugs of the oil of your choice (I used a combination of sesame and coconut oil)

salt to taste

for the sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 tbsps Bragg's Liquid Aminos or soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame or vegetable oil

2 tbsps lime juice

1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsps honey, brown sugar, or agave nectar

2-4 tbsps water or unflavored non-dairy milk (to make it more liquidy)

pinch of salt

What you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Toss veggies in oil (I used a combination of sesame oil and coconut oil), sprinkle with salt, and roast for 20-30 minutes in a large pan. After 10 or 15 minutes, stir to make sure they're cooking evenly. Mine were done at about 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile,in a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and blend until it reaches a consistency kind of like a thick alfredo sauce. It should be easily pourable, but not runny. Add as much additional liquid as you'd like. 

4. Once the veggies are done, pour the sauce over them and enjoy!

The peanut sauce keeps for about a week in the fridge and has a lot of other uses: you can try it as a dip for fresh veggies, chicken satay, fried tofu, or spring rolls; as a sauce for a stir fry; or as a sauce for tofu, fish, or meat. I bet you could even blend it with some tofu or edamame and turn it into a thicker dip to serve with Asian crackers and snap peas.  I'm sure I'll be making this recipe again soon, maybe with a chicken breast on the side. 

apple cinnamon breakfast kasha

This is actually a breakfast I was eating before I started eating vegan, but it's something I've relied on a lot during my vegan eating challenge.

Since it's still cold as balls around here (and I need some warming up when I get in from my dog's morning walk), I've been really into eating warm breakfasts. I love oatmeal and I also like quinoa as oatmeal, but I'm also always trying to expand my eating horizons. Enter kasha, often called buckwheat. I'd heard about it when I first went gluten-free, but I hadn't ever really tried to incorporate it into my diet, other than eating the Kashi cereal once in a while. It's super healthy, though—filling, full of fiber, and pretty close to being a complete protein. It has a very distinct, very earthy flavor. I like it, but kasha can be strong for the morning, much stronger than the flavors of oatmeal or quinoa. That's why I like to mix it with applesauce, it adds a bit of sweetness (plus another fruit serving!)

This is the quick, easy way I've been eating kasha for breakfast in the mornings. The recipe says it takes 20 minutes, but if you cook up a pot of kasha and keep it in the fridge, you can have this breakfast ready in 3 minutes flat. 

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Kasha

serves 1

total time: 20 minutes

total hands on time: 3 minutes

What you'll need:

1 cup of dry buckwheat kasha

1/4-1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup milk of your choice (I used almond, but soy, coconut or even regular milk would be fine)

1 apple, diced

sprinkle of cinnamon

squirt of lemon juice

What you'll do:

1. Prepare the kasha according to these directions. Like with quinoa, you use a 2:1 ratio of kasha to water. You will likely have some leftover.

2. Once the kasha almost finished (about 20 minutes), chop the apple, squirt on some lemon juice, sprinke on some cinnamon, and microwave it on high for about 1 minute 45 seconds, or until just slightly cooked.

3.When the kasha is done, portion out the amount you want to eat (it will have cooked up in size quite a bit) and place it in a bowl. Stir in the applesauce until it is totally mixed in with the kasha. Add in a bit of the milk of your choice here, too.

4. Top with diced apples and enjoy.

When I make this, I usually make enough kasha for a few days' breakfasts and just microwave it with the applesauce and the milk. It's easy to modify this to include what you have on hand; today, I ate mine with blueberries and bananas. Dried fruit and granola would be good to add, too. 

my new food obsessions: cabbage and dates

 

left: roasted cabbage; middle: shrimp with beans, tomatoes and cabbage; right: sauteed cabbage and kale with a fried egg on top and MORE roasted cabbage on the side

I haven't yet told you guys about my new fruit and veggie obsessions: cabbage and dates.

The cabbage thing happened a few months ago. I had about half a cabbage left over from a veggie soup I'd made. It's not something I'd usually buy, as I always associated it with sauerkraut and coleslaw (both of which I deathly hate). But I do like it in soups, so I had some on hand. I tweeted a question out about what to do with it, and the lovely Holly of Holly Would If She Could recommended just slicing, chopping and then sauteing it in butter until browned. So I did, and I loved it. LOVED IT. I seriously had no idea cabbage could be so tasty, especially when prepared in such a simple way.

Then, my food blogging friend Marissa over at The Boot posted a recipe for roasted cabbage rounds. She's also new to cabbage and she raved about how delicious the roasted cabbage was, so of course I had to try it and of course, it was out-of-this-world good. Sweet and flavorful in a way I never imagined that crunchy tasteless cabbage could be. The last week of January, I think I ate cabbage like five times: roasted, sauteed, cooked with kale, over rice, with eggs (see above). I ate roasted cabbage again for dinner the other nigh....only roasted cabbage, nothing else. Basically, I'm obsessed.

 

Look at the way the light is hitting these dates. Don't they look like dates straight from God?

My fellow Blisstree writer Elizabeth recently posted about dates and I was intrigued. I've had them before, of course, but usually chopped and mixed into quick breads or things like that. Since I'm always always always looking for new snacks, I bought a container of whole Medjool dates at my local health food store. And whoa. Who knew they were so good?!

Dates are my new 3-pm-slump snack. I have a ridiculous sweet tooth and eating them definitely fills the same urge as eating a cookie or a candy bar, but they're so much healthier. And weirdly filling, too: just one or two of them as a snack makes me feel like I've eaten something significant, which usually doesn't happen with other fruits. I also like to eat a few of them when I eat peanut butter on crackers or a handful of almonds or something like that, too. Protein + sweet dates = perfection in snack form.

In summation: eat more dates. Cook more cabbage. You just might be as surprised as I was. 

Do you have any suggestions of other ways I could cook and eat dates or cabbage? It seems like it would be weird to eat them together in a dish, but since I'm so besotted, I can't say I wouldn't try it...

super spicy vegan kale & chickpea soup (for a cold)

I've been sick for the last few days: not exactly the best way to start off eating vegan. All I wanted was some comforting chicken soup, but instead I googled around for vegan soups and found this recipe. I thought it looked like just the thing to clear up my clogged nostrils and WHOA was I right. The spice of the peppers, combined with the garlic and the ginger, totally got the job done (bonus: garlic and ginger can both help boost immunity).

I modified the recipe to my own liking: I added more carrots, more broth, and more garlic as well as kale. I also cooked it on the stove rather than in the slow cooker. Even so, this is still THE soup to eat if you're a vegan and you enjoy spicy food and you have a cold. It's the spiciest soup I've ever eaten in my life, and I say that in a good way. If you want to make it and you don't like things quite so spicy, only use a few of the chile peppers, or omit them altogether.

Right now, I'm eating this ridiculously spicy soup again for lunch, except this time over rice. It's not quite as spicy as it was last night, but it's still got more than a bit of a kick to it. I really like this soup and I'll definitely make it again; I love how it's kind of equal parts Asian and equal parts Mexican. 

Super Spicy Vegan Kale & Chickpea Soup

adapted from West Of Persia

serves 4-6

total time: 1 hourish

total hands on time: 15-20 min

What you'll need:

32-48 oz of vegetable broth 

5-7 garlic cloves, peeled

1 can chiles in adobo sauce

1 small chunk of fresh ginger, peeled or chopped (1 or 2 tbsps)

1/2 an onion, cut into chunks

3-4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into coins

1-2 tbsps olive oil 

1 can of chickpeas, drained

about 3 cups of fresh kale, torn into bite size pieces

cilantro to your taste (as a garnish)

What you'll do:

1. Put 32 oz of broth, plus the garlic, chiles (with sauce), onion, and ginger into a blend and blend until smooth.

2. Chop carrots. Then, in a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium. 

3. Saute the carrots in the olive oil for a few minutes, no more than 2 to 4.

4. Then, add the broth mixture and turn heat up to high. You may want to add a bit more veggie broth (I added about 12 more ounces) or even some water to distribute the spiciness a bit.

5. Add chickpeas and bring mixture to a boil.

6. Once it's boiling, turn down the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until carrots are tender.

7. Stir in kale and cook until kale is wilted.

8. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

If you're not vegan, feel free to use chicken broth or even add shredded chicken to the recipe. Prepare for your sinuses to be opened, regardless!

vegan in february!

So, I'm going vegan for February.

Orrrrrr for most of February. I'm waiting until after this Sunday's Super Bowl to actually start eating vegan because the Ravens are playing, which means I'll be in Baltimore around bad food. Which means it'll just be easier not to have to eat vegan amongst all the wings and pizza and nachos that come along with football watching. Because although I don't like football, I do like football junk food. 

But back to veganism, starting Monday, February 4th and ending, I guess, March 4th. There are a few reasons why I want to try out a vegan diet. I've watched Forks Over Knives and Food Matters and Vegucated (holla, Netflix Instant) and I want to give a serious plant-based diet a try. Mark Bittman, one of my food heros, thinks it's a good idea and it just seems like the good evidence towards a vegan diet is mounting all the time. There are many, many reported health benefits and I have to admit I'm curious. Will I lose weight? Will I feel amazing? Will my digestive issues clear up? I want to know how my body will react.

I like meat, although I don't eat a lot (that's mainly because I don't like most of it, to be honest. Basically, I like chicken, turkey, bacon and burgers. That's it for me on the meat scale). I'm still curious to see how I'll do without it, especially as I order chicken dishes pretty frequently when eating out. Dairy, I eat like it's going out of style. Yogurt for breakfast, cheese on everything, chocolate after dinner every night, butter on my GF waffles and in baked goods and in sautes. But I think I rely too much on cheese as a flavorer (flavorizer? Or maybe it's just flavor?) in my cooking, so it will be good for me to learn to make a soup or a pasta dish that doesn't taste five times better with Parmesan on top.

I actually don't drink regular milk (I've transitioned into using mostly almond or coconut milk), so that won't be a problem. Baking without dairy and eggs hasn't been hard for me in the past, so I imagine chia seeds and applesauce will get some additional play this month. I should also mention that I am going to continue to eat honey during the month, just because I'm not going vegan for moral or ethical reasons. Some vegans do eat honey, anyway, although it's a source of controversy. 

Another reason why I want to try out a vegan diet is because although I eat pretty healthfully now, I'm kind of in an eating rut. I rely on the same kinds of foods and the same kinds of recipes to get me through the week--tea and yogurt or toast for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, pasta or quinoa or chicken tacos for dinner. I'm hoping that changing the parameters of what I can eat will make me look at food and eating in a different way. And obviously, it will be a fun cooking challenge, too! I'm always inspired by the vegan food blogs I read and I'm excited to make some good vegan recipes.

I might try this website's 30 Day Vegan Challenge, where you get all kinds of emailed tips and recipes. It seems kinda gimmicky and I'm pretty sure I could get by without it but hey, it's only $20. I have this awesome cookbook, too, which I'm excited about utilizing.

But I need more recipes and more resources! Do you have any good recipes? Any tips? Suggestions for an initial grocery list? Ideas on what I can eat for breakfast every morning without eggs or dairy? If so, let me know in the comments or email me at plumsintheiceboxblog@gmail.com. 

I'll of course be blogging along with the challenge, so look for an update (and hopefully some recipe posts!) very soon.