Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Three: Mediterranean Salad

I found some fresh tomatoes at the farmer's market and had some hearts of palm and artichoke hearts in the cupboard so I decided to make a Mediterranean salad. What is great about this recipe is that you can add whatever you happen to have such as roasted red peppers, olives, garbanzo beans, fresh herbs, etc. This would also be a great topping for a salad.







Mediterranean Salad
2 tomatoes chopped
4 artichoke hearts, halved (use marinated ones or ones in water-whatever you have)
handful of olives (I used kalamata but any kind would be good)
4 hearts of palm, sliced in 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients
variations: add roasted red peppers, beans, fresh basil or parsley

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Two: Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Bread

I love to bake but sometimes I don’t feel like the whole big production of baking like getting out the mixer, all the cleanup, etc. This is the ideal treat for those times. It is very simple to make and requires no mixer and only a little cleanup is necessary. This is wonderful for breakfast with a glass of soymilk or as a dessert with some non-dairy ice cream. If you don’t have any nuts or chocolate chips then it comes out just as well if you leave those out. Sometimes I break up a chocolate bar into chunks and use those when I don't have any chips. You could even use a different type of nut, like pecans.













Banana Nut and Chocolate Chip Bread
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
½ cup oil (I use canola oil)
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ baking soda
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a loaf pan. In a small bowl mash the bananas really well with a fork. Add lemon juice, oil and sugar to the bananas. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just mixed. Fold in nuts and chips. Spoon batter into loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a knife in the center comes out clean.

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day One: Caramelized Green Beans

Although I enjoy preparing elaborate recipes or ones that require that hard to find yet essential ingredient, I usually cook simple, healthy dishes. This month I will share recipes that are quick and easy to prepare and that use ingredients that most of us have in our pantries (my pantry consists of one cupboard but it sounds better when I call it a pantry) or are easily found at the grocery store. Most of these dishes are very budget friendly as well.

To start the series off..caramelized green beans. I love green beans but I prefer them on the more tender side-not a big fan of the cooked green beans that are still crunchy. This recipe couldn't be easier yet produces a great tasting side dish. I used the Trader Joe's yellow and green bean mix that is already washed and trimmed to make this dish even easier.



















Caramelized Green Beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 pounds green beans (ends trimmed)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts or almond slivers/slices

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add green beans, cover, stirring occasionally, until green beans are tender and caramelized (partially browned), about 30-40 minutes. While green beans are cooking toast nuts in an un-oiled pan on the stove until lightly browned or on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Watch closely since it doesn't take much to go from lightly toasted to burned! After green beans are cooked, toss with nuts. Season with salt and pepper.

Sorry no posts...sick kitties

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Both of my cats have been ill. One has recovered from and the other one still has an upper respiratory infection. The orange one, Teddy recovered fairly quickly, in a little over a week. The other one, Pepe, who also has multiple chronic conditions, has been battling high fevers, swollen and infected eyes and a bad cough for over a week now and has required round the clock care. This is them napping in healthier times in gift boxes from the holidays. They would rather sleep in these than their nice kitty beds. Will be back posting soon.

Vegetable Love Contest Winners

On Valentine's Day, Susan of Fat Free Vegan Kitchen announced the winners of her Vegetable Love contest. All the entries were incredible and I look forward to trying them all out! Check out the winners and all the entries. My personal favorite is the spicy semolina with mixed vegetables by Vegan Treats.

Cucumber Water

In the January issue of Martha Stewart Living, Martha writes how she keeps infused mineral water all around to make sure she stays hydrated. She has ones with lemon, lime, orange or cucumber and mint. The last one sounded so interesting to me. Then my mom and sister both attended different catered meals last week that served cucumber water and they loved it. So I gave it a try. It is so refreshing. I sliced up two persian cucumbers for 8 cups of spring water and let it chill. It is such a simple but elegant way to serve water!

Vegan Dining in Los Angeles

My sister's family was visiting this weekend so there was lots of vegan food involved. My sister is a gluten free vegan. My older niece is vegetarian. My brother-in-law and younger niece are omnivores but they happily eat vegan food on occasion! I am a lucky vegan!


I wrote a previous post about M Cafe's new location in Culver City. The first time I ate there it wasn't as good as their other location. I decided to give it another chance. This time was great. I had the Panino Margarita which has tomato, soy mozzarella & basil-almond pesto on focaccia, grilled hot & crisp with kale with a spicy peanut sauce.


On Sunday we ate at Flore in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. It is a tiny vegan restaurant and we had to wait quite a long time for a table but it was well worth it. Everyone loved their food. Here's what we ordered:

Soul Food Special

Macaroni and "cheese", greens, cornbread, vegan margarine and black-eyed peas

This is what I had. It was such good macaroni and cheese and the black-eyed had a pesto like sauce on them-soooo good!

Tacos de Papas (Wheat Free/Gluten Free)

Two potato tacos served on stone ground corn tortillas, topped with lettuce, tomato and cilantro cream. Served with sides of pico de gallo, brown rice and black beans.

Tofu “Egg” Salad Sandwich

Tofu “egg” salad, green leaf lettuce and tomato stacked together on organic sourdough. Served with potato salad.

Avocado & Cheese Sandwich

Sandwich of cashew cheese, green leaf lettuce, sliced tomato, avocado
and sprouts served with eggless mayonnaise on organic sourdough. Served with potato salad.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cupcake. We forgot to photograph the desserts at the restaurant-this is one we brought home. We also had incredible lemon cupcakes and a slice of just okay cheesecake.

It was a great weekend!