Pear Almond 8-Grain Cereal in a Rice Cooker

This has become one of my favorite weekend breakfasts. The 8-Grain cereal has a much nicer texture than oatmeal. It is easy to make and tastes great. You throw everything into the rice cooker and then sit on the couch drinking coffee while you wait.

Hot Cereal:
3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill 8 Grain Hot Cereal
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 1/4 cup water
1 ripe pear, peeled and chopped
2 Tbs slivered almonds

Topping:
2 Tbs light brown sugar (or to taste)
1 Tbs maple syrup (or to taste)

Place all the Hot Cereal ingredients into the rice cooker and cook according to your rice cooker's instructions for "porridge" (I use the porridge setting on my rice cooker).

Vegan Banana Oatmeal Soy Chocolate Chip Muffins

Muffin Ingredients
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1 cup packed light brown sugar
7 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
6 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
3 large mashed bananas
1 cup regular oats
1/2 cup soy milk

Topping:
3 t brown sugar
3 t regular oats
1 t wheat germ

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix topping ingredients. Set aside.

Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix with a whisk to combine. Add walnuts and chocolate chips. Set aside.

Mix flax seeds with water and set aside for about 3 minutes (while you work on getting the rest of the ingredients together).

Combine brown sugar, flax/water mixture, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a mixer on medium speed until well combined.

Combine banana, oats, soy milk. Add to the sugar mixture. Mix with mixer on medium speed, and beat until combined. Make sure to give your dog a piece of banana at this point.

Fold flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined (don't over stir).

Spoon batter into 16-18 paper lined muffin tins. Top with topping mixture. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Move to a wire rack to cool.

Daniela's Cantina - Worst Mexican Ever

A while back the Aegean (a greek restaurant) moved down the road in Framingham to a bigger and better location. I recently noticed that a Mexican restaurant moved into its place: Daniela's Cantina. Mike and I were tired tonight and didn't want to cook dinner so we decided we would drive by and look at the menu and then decide whether it looked good enough to risk going in. I expected it to be a Framingham dive that I would be afraid to go into. We drove up and noticed that they had nice big menus posted outside the door (with a vegetarian section) and when we peeked inside the decor looked ok. We went in. The decor was surprisingly pretty good. But the food was something else.

Bottom line on top: It was the worst Mexican food I have ever had and that is saying a lot. I have had some pretty bad mexican food, but this is the clear winner of the worst mexican food award. We started with Margaritas. I had a regular Margarita. I am pretty sure the ice had specks of dirt frozen into it. I kept holding my glass up to the light but I couldn't determine if this was a reflection or real dirt. Mike had a "Coco Loco" Margarita which had coconut flavor. I took a sip of his and my margarita tasted like coconut for about 3 sips later. Yuck.

The chips and salsa were passable at best and they were pre-made (not made there) which might be why they were passable.

I ordered vegetable enchiladas with rice and refried beans (this was listed in the vegetarian section). Mike had Refried Bean Tacos. The enchiladas were awful. The sauce tasted like plain tomato sauce and the vegetables inside the enchiladas included broccoli. I was surprised by this as I asked what vegetables would be in them and was told peppers, onions, stuff. The rice was clearly made with chicken stock (even though it was served with a vegetarian dish and listed in the vegetarian section of the menu). Mike's tacos were edible. They kept us from going away hungry. They had a ton of bland refried beans, a ton of lettuce.

Give this place wide berth and thank me later for taking that bullet for you. I repeat, do not eat at Daniela's Cantina. The Aztec has better margaritas, better food, and lower prices.

Tofu Marsala

Last night I made Tofu Marsala. The recipe that I used, from Eating Well Magazine, is included below. I used a mushroom stock that I had made earlier in the week instead of vegetable stock. It turned out pretty good. The sauce was very nice and the sun dried tomato paste added an interesting and flavorful depth to the sauce. The texture of the floured and browned tofu was very nice. I served it over fluffy mashed potatoes. One change I would make if I made it again would be to press the tofu first and marinade it in a mixture of marsala, thyme, and stock.

Tofu Cutlets Marsala
Serves: Serves 4

Ingredients:

¼ cup plus 2 tsp cornstarch, divided
2 large shallots, minced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp salt
6 cups sliced cremini or white mushrooms (10 oz.)
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ cup dry Marsala wine
1 14-oz block extra-firm tofu, drained, rinsed and cut crosswise into 8 ½-inch thick slices
1 cup vegetable broth
1 Tbsp tomato paste (sun dried tomato paste is really good in this)
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Total Prep & Cook Time = 40 minutes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Whisk ¼ cup cornstarch, flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Pat tofu with paper towel to remove excess moisture.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge 4 tofu slices in the flour mixture, add them to the pan and cook until crispy and golden, about 3 minutes per side. Place the tofu on a baking sheet and transfer to the oven to keep warm. Repeat with another tablespoon of oil and the remaining tofu, adjusting the heat if necessary to prevent scorching.

4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, shallots and thyme to the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the shallots are slightly soft and beginning to brown, 1-2 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until tender and lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Stir in Marsala and simmer until slightly reduced, about 1 minute.

5. Whisk the remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch with broth and tomato paste in a small bowl. Stir into the mushroom mixture, return to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until thick and glossy, about 4 minutes.

6. To serve, spoon the hot sauce over the tofu.

Recipe from: Eating Well, October/November 2005 issue

Why are Omega 3 fatty acids important and how to get them?

Omega 3s have been shown to have a protective effect on the heart. The Vegetarian Society has a nice article about Omega 3 benefits:

"All three omega 3 fats have been shown to offer numerous physiological benefits, notably their anti-inflamatory properties and their ability to offer cardioprotective effects especially in people with pre-existing cardiovascular problems".

Most vegetarian and vegan diets are low in Omega 3. There are many vegetarian sources of Omega 3: walnuts, flax seeds, flax seed oil, canola oil, walnut oil, soybeans/soy products, wheat germ, and leafy greens. You don't have to take that fish oil tablet! You can also take a microalgea supplement for Omega 3.

An easy way to get flaxseeds into your diet is to put 3-4 tablespoons of whole flax seeds into a coffee grinder and add them to muffins. Flax Seeds must be ground or they will pass through the body undigested and provide no nutritional value. Wheat germ makes a great muffin topping to add even more Omega 3.