Vegetarian Pad Thai

I've already told you all about my love for pasta. What I have not mentioned, however, is that this love is not exclusively limited to your garden variety Italian sort of pasta. Chow Mein, Ramen, Pad Thai--they all totally count too. 

Pad Thai is a fun dish to make. But it can also be a bit of a frustrating one as well. 

See I'm the kind of person who likes to do things right the first time. Bluffing my way through a rough draft of a paper in college, knowing I'd have time to spruce it up before the final draft came around? No sir. Either I do something, or I don't.  Partial effort is not something I'm familiar with. 

Which is exactly why dishes that involve complicated or rare ingredients can sometimes give me a bit of anxiety. 

It's not that I don't want to make it correctly, it's just that sometimes, palm sugar or tamarind paste or preserved turnip aren't always available at the local grocery store. Shocking I know. And well, sometimes it's best to quit while you're ahead.

My solution has been to come up with an accessible, affordable alternative to some of the recipes that inevitably cause me some serious strife as I wander the aisles refusing to stop searching for that one ingredient that just can't be found, because, I'm too stubborn for words and, darn it, I'm going to do this recipe right!   

This recipe has all the flavor of Pad Thai, but none of that same frustration. The only original, less familiar ingredient that can't really be avoided is that tricky little bottle of fish sauce. That one is pretty essential. 

Sorry my friends, but I couldn't eliminate all the challenges now could I? 

What fun would there be in that? 

Vegetarian Pad Thai
Serves 2-3

6 ounces dried rice noodles, soaked in warm water until soft, then drained

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 medium sized shallots, chopped

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons fishsauce

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons dried red chili powder

¾ cup extra firm tofu, cut into ¼-½ inch strips

1 cup bean sprouts

½ cup green onion, sliced

2 eggs

¼ cup cashews, roasted and roughly chopped

The juice of 1 lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Place rice noodles into a large bowl, fill with warm water and leave to soak until noodles are flexible but not too soft. Drain. 

Heat the oil in a wok or very large pan over medium heat and add the garlic and shallots. Sauté until fragrant. Turn heat to medium-high and add the noodles, stirring constantly to avoid sticking. Add the sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili powder, stirring to combine.

Push ingredients inside the wok to the side to make space in which to crack the eggs directly into the pan. Stir continuously until eggs have scrambled then stir to combine with other ingredients.

Add the tofu, bean sprouts, and green onion--cook for additional 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Top with cashews and drizzle with lime juice, adding salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot. 

Mushroom-Kale Veggie Patties

We eat a lot of frozen veggie burgers around here. 

Part of it is because, let's face it, my family and I get a little lazy every now and again. After working all day, the thought of a home cooked meal can sometimes seem more like pain than a privilege, and popping a frozen veggie burger into a  sauté pan and calling it a day seems, well, wonderfully easy.

The other reason is that my parents just happen to really. love. veggie. burgers. 

Honestly. It's practically always their preferred food choice. 

I have called my mother up at work many times with a, "Hey mom, don't worry about dinner. I think I'm going to try making risotto tonight. or coconut baked shrimp. or enchiladas. or oven-roasted balsamic-glazed vegetables. or homemade pesto pizza." 

What I often get in response isn't, "Oh honey, that sounds great!" 

It's: "That sounds nice and all Elizabeth, but, um.... can't we just have those frozen veggie burgers tonight? Those just sound so good right now." 

I'm sorry, what?

That is some hardcore veggie burger love right there.

So, since my home coking clearly can't compete with the awesomeness that is the Whole Foods frozen veggie burger, I've come up with an alternate plan of action.  

I'm going to make the veggie burgers. That way, we both win. Genius, I know.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

Mushroom-Kale Veggie Patties
Serves 4-5

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups kale, chopped
3 cups mushrooms, finely chopped—I used a combination of baby bella, portabello, and shitake
¾ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup flour
½ cup pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
3 eggs, fork-beaten
1½ teaspoons balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon paprika 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and kale. Sauté until mixture is fragrant, onions are translucent, and kale has wilted and reduced in volume—about 5-10 minutes.

Combine the sautéed mixture with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together with your hands to form paste-like consistency. Roll into small balls (they should be smaller than the palm of your hand) then flatten into patties—you don’t want them too thick otherwise it will be difficult to ensure even cooking at the center later. Should make about 8-10 small-medium sized patties. 

Heat nonstick pan on medium-high heat, coat with a small amount of olive oil. Spread patties inside the pan, with enough room to flip. Cook until heated through and both sides are slightly browned—about 4-6 minutes on each side. Serve hot.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ever picked up a copper-peeled potato looking thing and a cream-colored one and stood in the middle of the aisle trying to decide which was supposed to be the yam and which was supposed to be the sweet potato?

Don't lie to me now.

I've had this debate many times, and I've always wondered what the difference between the two was.

So, like any good intellectually-curious modern-minded young lady, I turned to Google for the answer. Since, you know, the internet never lies. 

Turns out, what we call yams.... they're really just another variety of sweet potato. The real yam is a kind of fuzzy looking dohingy with skin that looks like a combination of tree bark and wooly mammoth fur. 

Real "yams" originate from Africa, Asia and some tropical regions, and can be found almost exclusively in specialty food markets. WEIRD: 

source

"Yam" was just the name that the US Government and American food producers have chosen to perpetuate in order to distinguish between the sweet potatoes with darker, orange colored insides and their lighter, cream colored compatriots, when in reality, the real "yams" and sweet potatoes aren't even related.   

So next time you're at the grocery store and you're having the old yam v. sweet potato debate... don't feel too bad, it's kind of a moot point anyway. 

I still don't know why us Americans couldn't have come up with a better solution to the multiple-varieties-of-sweet-potato problem though. How about Orange Sweet Potatoes and White Sweet Potatoes? That would do just fine. Or maybe they could have come up with a name that isn't already the name of a totally different, unrelated root vegetable. 

And it's not like americans bother remembering which ones are the yams and which aren't, the term sweet potato often just gets used for both anyway.

Poor little "Yams"... Everyone else they hang out with in the grocery store gets to have fun, similar names that all fit naturally together: Russet Potato, Yukon Gold Potato, Sweet Potato, Red Potato and on and on. And then there's the Yam.


That's like belonging to a family where all your brothers are named Michael, Steve, John, and Chris and you got stuck being named Elmer. Or Eugene. Or Gaylord. 

Which one of these doesn't belong? 

It's tough to tell, I know.  

Poor, poor yams. So misunderstood. 

Good thing they're completely delicious. Sort of makes up for the awkward naming situation.... almost. 

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries
serves 3-4

3 sweet potatoes
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
kosher salt to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Cut into fries, by slicing into about ¼- ½ inch thick strips. Make sure that all the pieces are fairly consistent in thickness.

Drizzle sweet potato slices with olive oil. You want to use enough to coat them, without drowning them in oil. Toss with garlic salt, pepper, and paprika. Add or reduce seasoning depending on how you like your fries—feel free to experiment here.

Arrange fries on a greased or nonstick baking sheet. Make sure they are evenly arranged in one flat layer and spaced far enough apart to avoid crowding. This is necessary for them to crisp and to cook evenly. 

Bake for 15 minutes, flip, then return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes or so. Remove from oven. If desired, sprinkle with a kosher salt to taste. Serve hot.

Middle Eastern Chickpea and Quinoa Salad

I'm usually pretty good about doing most things in moderation. But every once in a while, I get a little obsessive.

When I was younger it was Paul Frank t-shirts and gigapets and Razor scooters and Beanie Babies and that snake game on my first old-school cell phone. 

Then it was Gilmore Girls. Cheddar-jalapeno bagels. Whose Line is it Anyway. My iPhone. Burt's Bees pomegranate chapstick. Watching Charlie Sheen make a fool of himself in interviews. Sudoku. TOMS shoes. Zumba. Paninis. The list goes on. 

And last year, I added to the list. This new obsession of mine, I to this day have no idea why, was chickpeas.

I ate some kind of chickpea stew at a party and that was it.

All of a sudden I wanted hummus all day long. I toasted chickpeas with spices and ate them by the handful. I added chickpeas to my pasta, to my salads, to my breakfast scrambles.

But, as with many good obsessions, it all came to a crashing halt.

One day I woke up and instead of thinking about how deliciously soft on the inside yet crisp on the outside or how nutty and full of protein they were, all I could think was, Ugh, chickpeas. Gross. They're so round and obnoxious and chickpea-y. Enough is enough already.

I couldn't even look at another chickpea, heaven forbid add one voluntarily to my meals.

Thankfully, chickpeas and I have made amends.

Now, I can add it to my list of things I contentedly go about doing in moderation. Which is good, because they are definitely worth keeping around.

This is also a big relief, because this dish just wouldn't be the same without them. They break up the texture of the quinoa, they give a nutty softness to go with the chewy sweetness of the dates, and they have that perfect caramelized outside that makes your mouth water.

So go on and have yourself some chickpeas, just, you know, be careful not to get too obsessed. We all know how that can end.

Middle Eastern Chickpea and Quinoa Salad
Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 (16oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
3 cups cooked quinoa (brown rice or couscous are also good alternatives)
½ cup dates, chopped
¼ cup parsley, chopped
¼ cup mint, chopped

In a large nonstick pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until onion has begun to brown, this should take about 5 to 10 minutes. Once the onions are beginning to brown but have not completely caramelized, add the chickpeas. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until the chickpeas have begun to caramelize a bit on the surface. Remove from heat and add the salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder.

Combine chickpea mixture with the cooked quinoa, rice or couscous. Add the remaining ingredients, and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Toss to combine. Serve warm or room temperature.

Roasted Pear, Pecan, and Goat Cheese Salad

I love fall. I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite season. Well, maybe not. But it’s definitely in my top four.  

And right now, it is officially fall. I know this because the high in Los Angeles today, according to our local weather girl, is going to be 78 degrees.

Don’t understand the significance? Then you most likely live in a location that has actual weather and actual seasons. Unlike Los Angeles that has… sun, in varying degrees.

Her exact words, I kid you not, were, “See how these temperatures are dropping? Looks like we’ve got a cool week ahead of us.”

I wonder if I’ll have time to buy that winter parka I’ve been eying at the mall. Never know when you might need it with these freezing fall days that lay ahead.

To be fair, a day at 78 degrees is definitely a dramatic change from 2 weeks ago, when the thermometer on my 1997 Volvo station wagon—which is as reliable as the fact that I could probably drive that car through a brick wall and it would still be totally intact—reported that, as I pulled into my driveway, it was 106 degrees outside. So, 78 degrees, kind of a big deal. And, it was actually cloudy this morning.

So, Perky Weather Girl, maybe you have a point.

Anyway, whether having weather below 80 degrees, warrants it or not, you should most definitely make this fall salad.


It’s simple and warm and sweet and filling and fall-y, and that’s not a word… except for how I just made it one.

Roasted Pear, Pecan, and Goat Cheese Salad

Serves 3


For the salad:

3 bosc pears, ripe but not too soft, cut in half, cored, and sliced about ¼ inch think.

1 teaspoon butter

½ cup pecans

4 cups baby spinach

3 oz goat cheese

For the dressing:

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray and place pears, in one flat layer, on the sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. The bottoms of the pears should look caramelized and the tops should be soft to the touch. Remove from heat and set aside.

While the pears bake, heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add pecans and toast for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. They will begin to darken in color. Remove from heat.

Combine spinach, pears and pecans. Crumble goat cheese onto each salad.

To make the dressing, simply combine all the ingredients and mix well. Pour over salads and serve immediately.