Apricot BBQ Sauce

Sauces. They really do make or break a meal. That’s why a saucier is so important in commercial kitchens. But how to eco-up something that can have a ton of ingredients? Easy. Make sure the ingredients (as many as you may want) are as “green” as you can get.

Here’s a recipe for an apricot barbecue sauce. I think the sauce tastes absolutely great (I happened to eat it on fish) and I think it could be really good on chicken (organic and free-range of course), seitan, or tofu. You could also sub the apricots for other seasonal fruits such as peaches.

Apricot Barbecue Sauce

• 1/2 small Yellow Onion, chopped
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 3-4 Apricots, pitted and sliced
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Broth
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
• 1/4 tsp. Ground Coriander
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 1/8 cup Molasses
• 1 tbsp. Maple Syrup
• 3 tbsp. Tomato Sauce
• 2 tbsp. Tamari Soy Sauce

Saute the onions until brown. Then add the garlic. Deglaze the pan with the veggie broth. Add the apricots, ginger, and coriander and bring to a boil. Cover and lower to a simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and add the remaining ingredients. Cook for 10 more minutes and then transfer to a food processor. Blend until smooth. Top your chicken, tofu, seitan, or fish with it. Yum yum!

ECO-BENEFITS

1. Using seasonal, local produce (like the apricots) leads to tastier products that are better for the environment. Win win!
2. Buying organic spices and vegetables helps to alleviate pesticides from poisoning our watersheds.
3. Vegetable broth is a great alternative to chicken stock if you’re trying to avoid using so many animal products.
4. The fruit salad I had on the side of the dish is a hodge podge. You can really make it with any fruit you’re trying to rid your refrigerator of.
5. If you’re using fish, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch List to know which fish are sustainable and which you should be avoiding due to overfishing.

Hawaiian Stir-fry

Ok. I officially realize that I’ve been making a lot of vegan recipes lately and I also realize that all of you out there are not vegan. For that reason, I’m going to make a conscious effort to make some vegetarian, fish, and even some meat recipes for your reading pleasure. This, however, is not one of them because I had not realized how much vegan goodness I’d been cooking up until this recipe. I promise I’ll do better from now on.

I was having a craving for pineapple when I came across a recipe for a pineapple stir-fry. I redid the recipe to fit what I had in my refrigerator (why make a whole trip to the store if you don’t need to) and it totally warped my view on how pineapple should be used in cooking. I’ve always been one of those “pineapple is better by itself or in a dessert than as a savory ingredient” types of people and I was definitely put in my place with this. Maybe it’ll change your view too?

Serves 2

• 1/2 cup Quinoa
• 1/2 cup Macadamia Nuts
• 2 tbsp. Tamari Soy Sauce
• 1/3 of a Pineapple, cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
• 1 Scallion, white and green part chopped
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 1/2 inch Ginger, minced
• Cayenne, to taste
• Mint, to taste, chopped

Boil 1 cup of water and then add quinoa, turning down the heat and covering. Let simmer for ~10 minutes or until all of the water has been soaked up. Set quinoa aside. Place the macadamia nuts in a pan that has NOT been oiled. Toast them to a golden brown. In a bag, marinate the pineapple chunks in the tamari. In a separate pan, saute the red bell pepper, garlic, and finger in oil until tender. Add the scallions and let brown a little. Add the pineapple and saute until just turning brown. Mix in the cayenne. Add the macadamia nuts and mint to heat/reheat and mix in. Place the mix over the quinoa and you’re finished! (I topped mine with some chia seeds too).

ECO-BENEFITS

1. Quinoa is a quick-cooking grain. It cooks much quicker than rice and is grown with less water. Because of that it is a great “greener” alternative to rice.
2. Getting the veggies local and organic can cut back on food-miles and the use of no pesticides helps protect our land and waterways.
3. Nuts are a great source of protein that help us avoid heavy foodprint proteins such as meat and fish.
4. Vegan! Though I promise I’m not going to make everything vegan because that wouldn’t teach you anything about how to go greener with the food you’re always eating (unless you are vegan).

Grilling

So let me tell you a little about my living situation at the moment… I’m living at my house with my dad and my dad’s friend’s son who has basically become a part of the family for the summer… and they’re both HUGE carnivores. As you all know by now, I’m a pescetarian, however, what you may not know about me is that I definitely do not try to change other people’s eating habits apart from telling them what are “greener” options. Therefore, when they decided to grill up some pork chops tonight, I decided to embrace the grill and make myself a vegan grilling alternative: a Portobello Mushroom Burger. Furthermore, as much as I talk about whole wheat being the “greener” alternative to white flour products, the boys had a TON of white burger buns and the greenest choice is to always make sure not to waste anything so that’s what I used for my burger. I also utilized a delicious seasonal vegetable that’s super easy to grill: CORN! During summer, it has such a delicious sweet flavor and it was really a great side. It doesn’t take much to make corn taste good–>we grilled it in its husk so it got a “smoky husky flavor” as my dad and Alex would say. Earlier this summer, my mom topped our corn with olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper while today I just buttered it a little. Either way, it really doesn’t take much. Regardless, here’s a great portobello mushroom burger recipe you’ll have to try! And if you’re more of a meat eater, the marinade would taste delicious on a regular burger as well!

Portobello Mushroom Burger

• 1/3 cup White Wine
• 2 tbsp. Tamari Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp. White Balsamic Vinegar (or any other vinegar)
• 2 tsp. Ground Ginger
• A dash of Cayenne Pepper
• 1 large Portobello Mushroom
• Burger Bun (preferably whole wheat)
• 3 tbsp. Unrefined Sugar
• optional: Any veggies such as Roasted Pepper, Lettuce, Cabbage, Tomato, etc. that you have on hand.

Mix the white wine, tamari, vinegar, garlic, and cayenne together in a plastic bag. Place the portobello mushroom in the bag for 10 minutes or longer so it can marinate. Take the portobello out of the bag but DO NOT TRASH THE LIQUID. Grill for 3-5 minutes a side or until tender. Meanwhile, place leftover liquid and the sugar into a pot and reduce until it becomes syrupy. Toast bun. When portobello is off of the grill, place onto bun and top with the reduced liquid.

This is a super easy really delicious portobello burger so I hope you enjoy it!

ECO-BENEFITS

1. Grilling is super versatile! You can make an entire meal on a grill which means no extra energy from other appliances!
2. Using a marinade as a topping means no waste and you definitely get the delicious flavor!
3. Corn is in season and easy to find locally and organic. Plus it’s super delicious right now and doesn’t need much to make it delicious!
4. Vegan cooking is great because you have no animal production wastes involved (which can lead to high greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, excess crop production, etc.)
5. A lot of times if you use less ingredients in a recipe you have less packaging involved (which causes waste and can be energy-intensive).

Seitan With A Citrus Ginger Teryaki

So… the time has come where I’m answering the call for eco-friendly meat recipes… but first I’m gonna push the vegan thing one more time :). While my mom ate the Rosemary Garlic Chicken I made her last night, I ate this vegan deliciousness. And as I’ve stated, going vegan is the #1 way to reduce your foodprint. This is because you cut out all animal byproducts and animals take a lot of land, and the animals themselves eat a lot of veggies that you could have in your diet instead! Plus, a lot of time the meat is flown from all over to get to your plate. And don’t forget that cow flatulence contains methane which is a greenhouse gas 20x worse than carbon.

But… I’m gonna get off my high-horse. Tomorrow you’ll get information for how to be eco-friendly and eat chicken but today you’ll get a delicious vegan recipe:

Seitan With An Orange Ginger Teryaki

Serves 2:

• 1 package Seitan: I used WestSoy’s Seitan Strips
• 1/2 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce or Tamari
• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/3 cup Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice (or any citrus fruit in season)
• Orange Zest
• 1 tbsp. Ginger, grated

This is a super easy recipe: Just place the soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, brown sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and ginger in a pot and bring it to a boil. Then lower it to a simmer for around 30 minutes or until it boils liquid off and thickens. It’ll taste REALLY strong. But trust me. When there’s only a little time left on the sauce, saute your seitan (I didn’t use any olive oil but you can if wanted) until warm. Top with the teryaki and munch :). I had mine with some brown rice and some asparagus and mushrooms (I’ll give you those recipes with your chicken tomorrow).

ECO-BENEFITS

1. VEGAN Vegan vegan…
2. Using seasonal citrus fruits allows you to buy them tastier and with less food miles attached.
3. If you don’t want to buy packaged seitan (thus cutting back on packaging–>eco praise if you do this) you can totally make it yourself. Here’s a recipe.

See you tomorrow for the chicken you’ve all been waiting for.

Things That Make Me Happy

Things that make me happy:

• My roommates and I having late night crazy singing parties.
• Roadtrips
• Cooking
• The environment
• The ability to spread the things I’ve learned with others.
• Days that all of these things come together.

Today was one of these days. My roommate, L, and two of my best friends, K and B, decided to go on an adventure to the home of the split pea soup. And after getting hopped up on sugar at a local Danish town, we stayed up late singing Eminem and Brandy You’re a Fine Girl. Tomorrow, I am in a sustainable cooking competition at my school. I hope to show everyone at the competition everything I’ve been learning through this project. I’ll let you guys know how it goes, but here is the recipe I’ll be using:

Thai Veggie Pasta with a Peanut Dressing

• Whole buckwheat soba noodles
• Red Bell Pepper, cut in skinny strips
• Carrot (the SECRET ingredient), cut in skinny strips
• Broccoli, cut into small florets
• Cauliflower, cut into small florets
• Green onion, chopped
• Zucchini, cut in skinny strips
• Peanut Butter
• Sriracha
• Maple Syrup
• Sesame Seed Oil
• Soy Sauce
• Ginger
• Ground coriander
• Roughly chopped parsley, toasted sesame seeds, and grated carrot to top

Ok. I know there are a lot of ingredients, but they’re all local, organic, and seasonal. If these aren’t in season where you are, pretty much any vegetables can be used. Saute the vegetables in extra virgin olive oil while covered. Meanwhile cook the soba noodles per instructions. Mix the remaining ingredients (minus the parsley, sesame seeds, and grated carrot)–>I didn’t put portions for anything because if you like things spicy, you’ll want more sriracha, or if you like things sweet, more maple syrup (make sure to get 100% maple syrup). When the noodles are finished, mix in the veggies and the peanut sauce and top with the parsley, sesame seeds, and grated carrot. I recommend using a little less sesame seed oil than you might think because my first test was a little too peanuty and lessening the amount of sesame seed oil seemed to fix this problem.

Eco-Benefits

1. It’s a vegan recipe! Check out Why Going Vegan is Like Riding a Bicycle to understand why this is awesome.
2. All of the ingredients are local, in season, and organic. I’ve raved about these things in almost every post.
3. Soba noodles take less time to cook so you’re using less fossil fuels! And covering the vegetables while you saute them cooks them faster as well!