Daikon and Broccoli Stir-Fry

When I lived in Japan, I was introduced to all sorts of new food!  One vegetable that I fell in love with was daikon, which is essentially a huge white radish.  In Japan, people often pickle them or put them inside sushi rolls.  Aside from going to the local Japanese restaurant here, I haven't had it since.  I was ecstatic to grow it here during the summer!  We pulled a "daikon" out of our garden about 2 weeks ago, it was way too small.  Yesterday, we pulled another one out...they're starting to get there!

We wanted to use up the medium-sized daikon before our wedding.  We're leaving for our honeymoon for two weeks and are trying to use up all our fresh foods!  I got this recipe from wal*mart.  They have free recipes in the produce section of our wal*mart.  I had to change some items to make it vegetarian.  The end result was soooo good.  We're very pleased with the results.  Definitely can't wait to get more daikon out of garden after our honeymoon.

On this note, this might be my last blog until the first week of August.  Sorry folks, I'm tying the knot!

this is a daikon (a white radish)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp. less-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 daikon, cut into thin strips
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1/4 cup cooked and chopped spinach
• Rice

Method: 

1. In small bowl, stir together broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch and sugar
2. Heat large skilled and add oil, when hot proceed to step 3
3. Add daikon and broccoli; stir-fry in hot oil until crisp-tender
4. Add sauce mixture and garlic and spinach.  Cook and stir until sauce thickens (approximately 10 mins)

Serve over rice!

Chiang Mai Noodles (Khao Soy)

When I visited Thailand nearly 3 years ago, we were introduced to Khao Soy, while visiting the northern city of Thailand called Chiang Mai.  We did a one day tour of a far away temple with a local man.  He brought us to the local markets and insisted we try this.  It was fantastic.  Later during my trip, I participated in a Thai cooking school call Baan Thai.  I bought their cookbook which included the recipe.  It's my first time trying it out and we had some difficulty obtaining the ingredients.  We tried out best, but it didn't taste exactly like the original dish.  We still enjoyed it though.

Ingredients:

• 1.7 ounces of deep-fried egg noodles (I just used the oriental crunchie noodles)
• 3.5 ounces of boiled egg noodles (I just used regular egg noodles for soup, but you should try to find Thai egg noodles)
• 1.7 ounces of tofu, cut into cubes (add more if desired)
• 2 tbsp. cabbage, chopped
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 cups coconut milk (about one can)
• 3 chopped shallots
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce (meat eaters: use 2 tbsp fish sauce)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. indian curry powder
• 1 tbsp. red curry paste

Method:

1. Make egg noodles according to directions on package
2. Mix the red curry paste with the indian curry powder
3. Place a large saucepan or wok over low heat, put the oil, red curry paste/powder and stir constantly until fragrant
4. Add coconut milk and cabbage and turn to medium heat and stir constantly
5. Add soy sauce, sugar and tofu
6. Mix well until is covered and warmed thoroughly

Serving method:

1.  In a bowl, add desired amount of egg noodles.  Add the coconut/tofu mixture on top of it.  It should be kind of soupy.
2. Add the deep-fried egg noodles on top.  
3. Place the shallots on top of this.

Spinach & Artichoke Dip

Well, with all this spinach, naturally, we made one dish that everyone loves!  Spinach and Artichoke dip!  It used a lot of our spinach up, but we have to go back to harvest more soon anyways.  I got this recipe from my sister who got it from a friend.  This is one of the best spinach and artichoke dips I've had.  Next time, I'll be sure to add a little more garlic salt, but otherwise totally good.   Everyone at the dinner party I went to really enjoyed it, too.  Thanks Lisa!

Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup grated romano/parmesan/asiago cheese
• 1/2 cup spinach, boiled down and chopped (you can use frozen spinach, too)
• Shredded Italian Cheese
• 1 can of artichoke hearts
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Basil to taste
• Garlic powder to taste
• Salt and pepper

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Drain and chop artichoke hearts

3. Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, grated cheeses, garlic, basil, salt and pepper in one bowl.

4. Add spinach, artichoke hearts with the cream cheese mixture.  Put in a greased dish.  Sprinkle with the shredded Italian cheese on top.

5.  Bake on 350 for 20 minutes

Serve with tortillas!

Mexican-Style Pasta

I'm really starting to utilize my easy vegetarian dinners cookbook!  After one or two failed recipes out of it, I rarely opened it.  We found another keeper.  As the name of the cookbook suggests, it's simple.  This is almost like a chili sauce over pasta.  It was really good and we plan to use it again.  Feel free to email me for the recipe!

Nutty Spinach Pizza with Two cheeses

This summer, Jon and I are trying to grow vegetables in a community garden plot.  We pay only $25 for the whole year to use this.  The soil and everything is a part of this small fee.  While we just learned from a fellow gardener how to fix our green beans, snow peas, and carrots...our spinach is fully ready to continue harvesting!  Today, we got TONS of spinach and will go back for more tomorrow.   If nothing else grows, at least we got a lot of spinach.

So, with all this spinach, we decided to make a spinach pizza out of the Easy Vegetarian Dinners book.  I know some of my followers enjoyed the last pizza I made.  This one is pretty good, too.  It uses swiss cheese as the base and then you top it with caramelized red onions combined with steamed spinach, garlic and crushed red pepper.  You top that with pine nuts and then colby cheese.  It's so easy!  Feel free to email or message me if this one looks good.

While I'm going to try to continue with my blog as much as possible, I might be not as regular since my wedding is next weekend and followed by a two week honeymoon.  Please be patient and keep reading and I will be back on a regular schedule.  Oh, you can also probably expect a lot of different spinach recipes for the next week!

                                   all of our harvested spinach from today

                                     the pizza which includes swiss cheese, 

                                     colby cheese, pine nuts, crushed red pepper, 

                                     red onion, and our yummy spinach!

                                       served with a spinach salad