Which is Your Favorite Recipe? Help Me with My Book Proposal!

Several hundreds of cups of coffee later - I'm still busy writing my cookbook proposal. 

Please take a moment to leave me a comment and let me know which recipe you like best.

Thanks!

Eliza

A Few Weeks Off

I'm currently hard at work on a cookbook proposal and will be taking a few weeks off from "Begging For More." 

All the best to you and thank you for visiting!

Eliza

The Great White Roast

The Great White Roast


From my kitchen laboratory
Inspired by my fabulous friend Monochromatic Mike
[Vegetarian, Vegan]

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Story:
The first week of my freshmen year of college I met an amazing, quirky, geeky guy who ended up becoming a fabulous friend. That first day he was wearing red corduroys, red sneakers, and a plaid red cowboy shirt. The next day he was wearing stone-washed jeans, a teal Metallica tee-shirt, and sky blue loafers – enter Monochromatic Mike. This dish is inspired by Mike’s fun, fashionable, unforgettable monochromatic flare. The only ingredient that isn’t white is the soy sauce (or liquid aminos). Cheating? Not at all! It’s the exception that makes the rule, and besides, Mike always wore contrasting colored underwear (but that’s a story for another time).

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Ingredients:
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tub of extra firm tofu (the kind you find in the refrigerator section in brine)
a handful of peeled garlic cloves
3 small turnips
3 parsnips
a handful of baby potatoes
1 white onion
Steak seasoning
- (Penseys makes an excellent one called Chicago Steak Seasoning – it’s an excellent mix of smokiness and saltiness with just a touch of sweet) you can also substitute sea salt

Version One:
Pan spray (I like the Canola version)
Champagne vinegar
Soy sauce or liquid aminos

Version Two:
Vegetable broth
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Suggested Music: The White Stripes of course!

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The Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  On the stovetop, in a large cast iron pan, heat the coconut oil until it is melted.  Chop the vegetables and tofu and add them to the pan. [Note:  the closer the chopped vegetables are in size, the better the dish will turn out.] Version One: Spray the veggies with the pan spray, sprinkle on some liquid aminos or soy sauce and some champagne vinegar...don't overthink this - a Tblsp or two will do.  Version Two:  follow version one directions excepet with veggie broth.  Next, sprinkle on the spices and carfully turn the veggies so that everyting in the pan is lightly covered with some liquid and some spices. Cook in the oven for apx. 45 minutes. Check every 15 minutes or so and carefully stir...add in some more liquid as needed.  Generally when the tofu is browned on the edges and the veggies are roasted well enough that a fork easily goes through, then the dish is done.

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Whatnot:
I am a big believer in creative challenges. The monochromatic roast is a fun one to play with. I’ve made all red roasts (beets, red onions, red cabbage, red whine vinegar, tomatoes, red peppers) and all green roasts (zucchini, green baby cabbages, green apples, green onions, green peppers, Swiss chard, broccoli, rosemary, and sage) to great success. I encourage you to experiment and enjoy!

Note that you can replace teh
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Accompaniments: White wine (because milk would just be weird)

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Websites:
Penzeys Spices: http://www.penzeys.com/
The White Stripes: http://www.whitestripes.com/

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Quote:
To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
-Shakespeare

Mid-Week Snack - Food for Your Spirit

Lost


by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

The Fix: Steaming Liquid Lemon Healing

The Fix: Steaming Liquid Lemon Healing


Recommended by my very wise Papa

[vegetarian, vegan]

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Story:
My doctor recently told me that I have weak lungs. Ugh. Living in the reclaimed swamp land of Ohio certainly does not help and so I’m sitting here in the late autumn cold dreaming of moving to Hawaii. Although I enjoy this drink on healthy days, when I get sick - curled up on the couch with my cat and wrapped in a warm blanket - this drink a great soothing comfort.

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Ingredients:
juice of ½ of a lemon
a pinch of cayenne
a pinch of cinnamon (my favorite is Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon)
a spoonful of honey or agave nectar
boiling water

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Suggested Music:
When I’m sick I find great comfort in being read to. I recommend popping in a good book on CD. Some of my favorite audio books include Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander.”

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The Instructions:
I am a firm believer in not storing fruits in the refrigerator. Fresh fruit just tastes so much more juicy and tasty at room temperature. That said, step one for making The Fix is to bring your lemon up to room temperature. Next, halve the lemon and use a spoon to dig out as much juice and pulp (unless you’re a pulp hater) as possible then -for good measure – give it one last good squeeze. Next, add the cayenne, cinnamon, and honey or agave nectar. Fill your cup half way with boiling water and stir until all of the honey or agave nectar is dissolved. Top off your mug with more hot water, stir a bit more and then sit back and enjoy!

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Whatnot:
I’ve tried this with lime and it is also very tasty, so if you don’t have lemons but you do have limes, feel free to use the lime instead. Also, if you don’t have any fresh lemons – lemon juice can be substituted.
I think this photograph is what the germs must look like up close...nasty buggers.

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Quote:
Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.
- Picasso

Mid-Week Snack: Food for Your Spirit

Thinking, Tangling Shadows
by Pablo Neruda

Thinking, tangling shadows in the deep solitude.
You are far away too, oh farther than anyone.
Thinking, freeing birds, dissolving images,
burying lamps.

Belfry of fogs, how far away, up there!
Stifling laments, milling shadowy hopes,
taciturn miller, night falls on you face downward, far from the city.

Your presence is foreign, as strange to me as a thing.
I think, I explore great tracts of my life before you.
My life before anyone, my harsh life.
The shout facing the sea, among the rocks,
running free, mad, in the sea-spray.
The sad rage, the shout, the solitude of the sea.
Headlong, violent, stretched towards the sky.

You, woman, what were you there, what ray, what vane
of that immense fan? You were as far as you are now.
Fire in the forest! Burn the blue crosses.
Burn, burn flame up, sparkle in the trees of light.

It collapses, crackling. Fire. Fire.
And my soul dances, seared with curls of fire.
Who calls? What silence peopled with echoes?

Hour of nostalgia, hour of happiness, hour of solitude,
hour that is mine from among them all!
Hunting horn through which the wind passes singing.
Such a passion of weeping tied to my body.
Shaking of all the roots,
Attack of the waves!
My soul wandered, happy, sad, unending.

Thinking, burying lamps in the deep solitude.

Who are you, who are you?

Mid-Week Snack: Food for Your Spirit

Fragment of a Poem by T.S. Eliot

I’ve been freed from the self

that pretends to be someone,
And in becoming no-one,
I begin to live.

It is worthwhile dying,
to find out what life is.