Recipes Worth Making
These sheet pan fajitas come together quickly with little mess, which makes them great for a busy weeknight. The soy curls are rehydrated and then mixed together with peppers, onions, and spices. Everything is thrown onto one sheet pan and bakes for about 25 minutes. Baking the soy curls after rehydrating them gives them a nice chewy texture, similar to chicken. The lime juice drizzle after baking is a must! I served the fajita mix on corn tortillas with guacamole, red salsa, cilantro, and pumpkin seeds (for added crunch). I used the leftover fajita mix to make burrito bowls for lunch the next day. Delicious!
Miso Tofu and Tempeh Forbidden Rice Bowls
I made forbidden rice for the first time and decided to use it as a base for rice bowls. I didn’t follow a specific recipe but was inspired by this rice bowl recipe roundup from Love and Lemons. I used both tempeh and tofu for added texture. To give them a little flavor, I soaked the tempeh in a tamari-based marinade and the tofu in a miso marinade. I thought the flavor of the miso tofu was a bit overpowering when eaten by itself, but it was great when paired with the other ingredients in this bowl. I added sauteed snap peas, red peppers, and carrots, then topped with sauerkraut and a peanut dressing. If you make this recipe, don’t skip the sauerkraut. It really takes this rice bowl to the next level. So good!
This lentil soup is definitely one I’ll be making again, with a few modifications to help add more texture. Next time I make it, I’ll cut the carrots into larger chunks so they aren’t as soft by the end of cook time. I might add some celery. I’ll also add beans, such as garbanzo beans, or more lentils to give the soup more substance. The first time I made it, I served the leftover soup over quinoa and threw in a spoonful of hummus (also very tasty). Overall, a really good base recipe!
I’ve highlighted this recipe in a previous post, but it’s one of my most used recipes so I’m mentioning it again. I prefer this hummus over any store-bought version I’ve bought so far. It has just the right amount of nutty, lemony flavor. Sometimes I leave the garlic out and sometimes I add a little extra, depending on how I’ll be serving the hummus. It’s creamy, delicious, and the perfect accoutrement to just about any dish (in my opinion).
Miso in cookies? I know, sounds weird. But it’s so worth it! You can’t taste the miso but you’re getting all the goodness that comes from fermented foods in every bite. Throw in the the flaxseeds from the flax egg and dare I say this cookie is even a little bit…healthy? I’d say they fit perfectly into the category of healthy/delicious. If you’re a chocolate chip cookie fan and are willing to venture into the plant-based world, I highly recommend them!
Other recipes I’ve made recently:
Turns out, I don’t like hoisin sauce, which is one reason I didn’t love this recipe. It also didn’t resemble the typical cashew chicken you’d find at a Thai restaurant, which is the dish I was attempting to recreate. The description Chinese-American fusion dish at the beginning of the article should have been a giveaway. My fault for skipping straight to the recipe. If you like Chinese-American cashew chicken, this recipe might be worth trying.
This soup was a bit too creamy for my liking. It almost reminded me of queso, especially after it had been refrigerated. Even after adding water to thin it out, I wasn’t in love with the texture of the soup. I might consider adapting the recipe to make a vegan queso as the flavor was really good, but I wouldn’t make it again otherwise. If you enjoy really creamy soup, like really creamy, give it try.
Ideas Worth Considering
Tim Ferriss: Seth Godin
Do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish something. By going through a volume of work, you will close the gap and your work will be as good as your ambitions.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show (episode 728)
Rich Roll: Chase Jarvis
Creativity is a practice. It’s a habit not a skill. It’s a process not a product.
The only way you learn is through practice.
Action over intellect. If you are trying to figure something out, instead of trying to make the perfect chess move, make a lot of little imperfect moves. With each move, you learn a little bit of a lesson and then you move on, trying not to make the same mistake more than one or two times, ideally once.
It’s the action, the doing, that creates the learning.
The benefit of community is wildly overlooked. Building a community of people who are there to learn from you, teach you, and support you is the key to success in anything.
Source: The Rich Roll podcast (episode 472)
Reflections
On the creative act of writing and photography…
Some days words on the page don’t flow as freely, something I find extremely frustrating. Yet, each day I find myself pencil to paper, endlessly scribbling down thoughts as they emerge in my mind.
Despite the frustration, I find writing to be deeply rewarding. Putting my thoughts on paper helps me see them clearly and gives me more mental space to work through them. The time and effort it takes to uncover the meaning of my thoughts is unpredictable. There is always some amount of struggle, which I suppose is what makes the writing process so rewarding. The reward wouldn’t be as great without the struggle.
Though the learning curve has been steep, I’ve found photography to be very rewarding as well. It’s provided me with another means of expression, one that doesn’t involve words. Unfortunately, the perfectionist in me keeps me from engaging in these two creative acts, especially photography.
Over the past year, I’ve spent endless hours intellectualizing and little time attempting to write the cohesive narrative or improve my photography skills. It’s time to stop thinking and start doing. It’s time to start putting in the work that gets me closer to becoming the writer and photographer I aspire to be.
