Santa Barbara Shellfish Company

Santa Barbara Shellfish Company is literally the last restaurant on Stearns Wharf. We tried to come here the first night we got in town, but the tiny shack was so packed we decided to come back later. We ended up going on a Thursday right at 5 and were easily able to get one of the few outside seats with an amazing view of the water. On special that night they had Dungeness crab from San Fransisco and local Rock crab. We decided to stay local. The crab was super fresh and amazingly tasty...no need for butter with such sweet, good crab meat. If you're ever in the area, I definitely recommend this place, but plan to get there early or count on a wait.

http://www.sbfishhouse.com/

Avocado Salad/Santa Barbara Farmer's Market

Well, we made it to Santa Barbara!

However, our stuff has not :(. But it should arrive by next weekend, at which point I hope to get back to more regular posting. Until then, I'll try to post about some of the awesome restaurants we've been eating at.

We haven't been able to cook really anything, as the only utensils I have are plastic. And we only have one bowl and two coffee cups to eat out of.

But we did venture down to the Farmer's Market today, which was amazing, and I picked up the ingredients for guacamole. The avocados weren't quite ripe enough to mash with my plastic fork, so instead I left the pieces in chunks. I added some diced baby heirloom tomatoes, white onion, and lots of fresh lemon juice, and viola, we had a really yummy salad that we ate with flax seed chips.

Temporary Moving Hiatus

My husband and I will be driving to California to start new jobs this Wednesday. All my cooking stuff is packed up...so it will likely be about 2 weeks before we get settled and I can get back to regular posting.

I'm really looking forward to be in California, though, and having access to different types of ingredients!

Till soon,
GG

B.S. Sandwiches

My friend and fellow blogger, Kelly, made this sandwich, which was originally adapted from this really great article on the top 10 American Sandwiches, Veganized.  I love Brussels sprouts and thought this recipe looked super awesome...and it was! It was so good that I got three other meat eaters to go back for seconds.

I tweaked the slaw dressing and the original recipe calls for sauteing the Brussels sprouts, but I prefer to roast them in the oven.

Ingredients (this made enough for 8 sandwiches)
Slaw
-4 tsp honey or agave
-4 tsp lime juice
-1 tsp cumin
-1/3-1/2 C EVOO
-2 T red wine vinegar
-salt and pepper
-1 C slaw (I used the stuff from a package)
-2 Granny Smith apples, cut into fine matchsticks
-1/2 C crushed peanuts (optional)

Roasted Brussels sprouts sandwhiches
-1 package Brussles sprouts, about 30 or so, cut in half and trimmed
~6 cloves garlic, minced
-lots of sea salt
~3 T EVOO
-8 good buns
-4 T Hummus (the original recipe calls for making your own, but I just used the store bought kind)

Steps (Preheat oven to 425)
1. Make your slaw by whisking first 6 ingredients together and pouring over your apple-slaw mixture. Toss well and let sit in the fridge while you cook the sprouts.
2. Layer your Brussels halves cut side down in a large dish basted with EVOO. Drizzle EVOO all over tops of sprouts, then cover with your diced garlic and sea salt.Cook for about 15 minutes, then remove from oven and stir the sprouts. Cook for another 5 minutes or until sprouts are tender, but still slightly crunchy. Cover with more sea salt (I like my sprouts really salty, like popcorn).
3. Lightly toast your bread and spread hummus on one side.
4. Assemble sandwiched by layering the Brussels sprouts and slaw.

Polenta with braised greens, tofu, and cashews

This is another really easy vegan recipe that I got from Andrea's Easy Vegan Cooking, and tweaked only slightly. This was my first time making polenta and aside from forgetting to grease the pan I made it in, it turned out delicious and couldn't have been easier to make. Homemade polenta is very different in texture from the store bought kind that comes in a tube. Homemade polenta in texture was more like fluffy grits. Very yummy, and I think it would make a great base for just about anything.

Ingredients
-1/2 large bag chopped mustard greens (I think about 1/2 a pound; you could also use kale)
-1 package extra firm tofu, cubed and drained (I recommend wrapping in a towel and then placing something heavy on top of the towel for about 30 minutes to really drain the tofu)
-1 T tamari
-2 T EVOO
-1/4 C cashews
-1/4 C raisins
-1/2 C sliced mushrooms
-2 carrots, grated/shredded
-1/2 tsp sugar
-2 T balsamic vinegar
-pepper
-1/3 C bread crumbs

Polenta
-1 C course grind cornmeal (I couldn't find course grind, but used fine as it was labeled for making polenta)
-3 1/2 C water
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 T nutritional yeast flakes (can be bought at any co-op, probably in bulk)

Steps
(Preheat oven to 350)
1. Make polenta by mixing all polenta ingredients in a large oven proof dish (e.g., casserole dish).
2. Bake polenta for 40 minutes.
3. After 40 minutes, stir and bake for 10 more minutes.
4. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.
5. While polenta is baking, drizzle 1 T tamari over tofu cubes in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.
6. Heat wok or large skillet on medium-hot; once skillet is hot add 1 T EVOO. Add tofu and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until tofu is browned.

7. Turn heat down to medium-low, and add mushrooms, cashews, bread crumbs and saute until all are lightly browned.

8. Stir in raisins, remove mixture from pan and set aside.
9. Turn heat back up to medium-hot, add one more T of EVOO and saute shredded carrots
10. Add chopped greens, stir to mix, then cover and cook for about 3 minutes until greens are a bright green color.

11. Reduce heat to medium-low, and sir in sugar and vinegar, and add some fresh pepper.
12. Add the tofu mixture.

12. Pour greens/tofu mixture over polenta.

Tofu Miso Salad

This is going to be my new lunch go to! I had picked up a small container of tofu miso salad from New Leaf and was really enjoying it so I looked at the ingredients. Come to find out I had most of them on hand so I decided to recreate it myself. The original had sunflower seeds, but I used crushed peanuts instead.

I've been eating it plain, but I think it would be great in a sandwich or on crackers.

Ingredients
-1 package firm tofu, sliced and pressed for about 30 minutes
-3 carrots, grated or cut into fine matchsticks (or you can just use a handful of pre-cut matchstick carrots)
-3-4 green onions, chopped
Dressing
-2 TBSP white miso paste
-1 TBSP tamari or soy sauce
-2 TBSP lime juice (about 1 lime)
-2-3 garlic cloves, finely diced
-2 TBSP EVOO
-1 small handful peanuts, crushed or chopped
-2 pinches nutritional yeast (optional)

Steps
1. Press your tofu for about 30 minutes. I do this by cutting it into about 6 slices and then sandwiching the slices in between a dish towel. Next I place something heavy (like a stack of books) on the tofu to press out the water.
2. While you're pressing your tofu, chop your carrots (I have a really cool set of peelers from my Aunt Gail that make match sticking really easy. You can purchase them here if interested.).
3. Chop you green onion down to the green part. Crush or chop up your peanuts.

4. Make dressing by mixing all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl with a fork. Dressing will be a thicker consistency.

5. Once tofu has set for about 30 minutes crumble it with your fingers into a large bowl. Add other ingredients and toss with dressing.

Peanut Butter Split Smoothie

My Aunt Nan recently passed on this awesome smoothie recipe. I couldn't believe how creamy, smooth, and delicious the addition of the peanut butter made the smoothie. My Aunt Nan recommends stirring in some Hershey's syrup and I concur.

Ingredients
-1 banana (frozen is best, but not necessary)
-1/2 cup low fat almond/soy/regular milk
-1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt
-1 1/2 TBSP creamy peanut butter


-1 TBSP Hershey's syrup (optional)

Steps
1. Blend the above until smooth.

Mary Lou's Cinnamon Peach Cobbler

I got this super simple recipe for peach "cobbler" from my aunt, Mary Lou. As I've mentioned before, I'm not big into baking, so for me to bake something it has to be super simple. This totally fits the bill.

Ingredients
-Two 28oz cans of peach slices, reserve liquid from one can

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 box yellow cake mix

-3/4 Cup butter, melted

-vanilla ice cream (optional...but so worth it :)

Steps

1. Put peaches and about half of the packing liquid from one can in the bottom of cobbler pan (13 X 9).  Add vanilla, cinnamon, and stir.

2. Sprinkle cake mix evenly on top - do not stir! Also, try not to let the peaches peek through the cake mix.

3. Drizzle melted butter all over top.

4. Bake at 375 for about an hour, until golden on top.

5. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Vegetarian Taco Pasta

Last night was one of those nights where we didn't have much in the house, but I REALLY didn't want to stop at the store on the way home. So I took a mental stock of some things we had: pasta, cheese, salsa, corn, green onion, veggie crumbles, and realized we had almost everything we needed for Taco Pasta, which I first learned about from my friend, Noemi's blog. All I was missing were the beans, and thankfully my friend, Melissa, and fellow food blogger, was able to lend me a can of Navy beans. Originally I wanted black beans, but I actually think the Navy worked out better for this because they're a bit blander and more porous than black beans, and thus able to soak up more of the seasonings. Anyhow, for just kind of scraping something together this ended up being super easy and really tasty. Thanks Melissa and Noemi for making it happen!

Ingredients
-1 can Navy beans (or black if you prefer)
~8 oz pasta (bowtie, shells, macaroni, penne...whatever)
~1 C frozen corn (or one can of corn)
-1/2 bag of Morning Star Farm veggie crumbles
-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1/2 packet taco seaoning
-1 jar salsa
-1 C Mexican shredded cheese
-1 bunch green onions, chopped
-couple TBSPs of sour cream

Steps
1. Cook pasta and drain.
2. While pasta is cooking, saute veggie crumbles, beans, corn, garlic, and taco seasoning with a little EVOO.

3. After a few minutes, add the jar of salsa and about 1/3 C of water. Mix and let simmer on low-medium for as long as it takes the pasta to cook.

4. Once pasta is done and drained, you could: a) mix it in to your skillet with the bean/corn mixture, top with green onions and cheese and serve, or b) plop pasta and bean/corn mixture into a greased casserole dish and mix. If you use the casserole dish, layer 1/2 your chopped green onions and then add cheese on top.
5. Bake for about 5 minutes at 350, or until cheese is melted. Top with remaining green onions. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Fettuccine with spinach and cheesy herb sauce

This is a slightly modified recipe from Cooking Light. It was super easy and I really liked all the dill in the pasta.

Ingredients
-8 oz fettuccine
-1/2 C whole-milk ricotta cheese
-3 C baby spinach leaves
-1/4 C chopped fresh chives
-1/4 C chopped fresh dill
-Grated Romano or Asiago cheese
-2 TBSP olive oil
-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
-1/4 tsp salt

Steps
1. Cook pasta according to package. Drain over a colander and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
2. Combine 1/3 C cup cooking liquid and 1/2 C ricotta in a blender and process until blended. (Add more cooking liquid if needed, depending on how you like the consistency.)
3. Combine hot pasta, cheese sauce, spinach, herbs, salt, pepper, grated cheese, and EVOO in a large bowl. Toss gently.

Simple protein smoothie

Ingredients
-1 Handful of frozen blueberries
-1 banana, quartered
-1/3 C Greek yogurt
-2 T honey
-splash of O.J.
-splash of soy or almond milk

Steps
1. Blend above and enjoy!

Note: I subbed apple for banana one day and that was good. Another day I mixed yogurt, banana, and heath bar chips and that was nice for dessert.

Sausage, potato, and red pepper turnovers

I got the original recipe from Cooking Light, but I modified it a bit. Well, in all honesty I actually forgot to put in one of the key ingredients (spinach), but these still tasted awesome, and I ended up just making a little side salad with the spinach I forgot to add :). This recipe looks a little complicated (at least to me), but it was really pretty easy.

I'm sure you could easily make these vegetarian by using the fake meat crumbles instead of sausage, if you prefer.

Note: This recipe makes 8 turnovers..and you'll probably end up with a little extra stuffing--we plan to serve it over noodles with some marinara or add it to some beans and broth and make a soup.
Ingredients
-4 red potatoes, diced into smaller than bite size pieces
-1 red bell pepper, diced into smaller than bite size pieces
-1 yellow onion, diced into smaller than bite size pieces
-5 links hot Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
-3 T fresh basil or oregano, chopped
-1 package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
-1 egg, lightly beaten
-3 T Parm or Asiago
-salt, pepper, crushed red pepper

Preheat oven to 400.
Steps
1. Heat a large skillet to medium-hot. Add sausages (with casings removed) and brown on both sides. Then, using a spatula, break the sausages up into small pieces.
2. Once you've broken up the sausage, add in the diced onion, potato, and red pepper. Saute for 3 minutes, then cover for about 3 minutes. Stir and cover everything again for about 3 minutes or until potato is soft.
3. Stir in basil/oregano, salt/pepper/crushed red pepper to taste, remove from heat. (This is where you were supposed to add the spinach, if you were so inclined.)

4. Flour a large working surface and a rolling pin (or if you're like me and don't own a rolling pin, flour a cylindrical object like a coffee thermos).
5. Cut your two rolls of pie dough into four equal pieces each. Ball each up and then press them out into a circle with your hands. Then roll them out into large circles, about 6 inches wide.

6. Spoon about 1/2 C sausage mixture on half of each circle, leaving a 1/2-inch border.

7. Fold dough over potato mixture and then bring bottom edge of dough over top edge; press with your fingers or crimp with a fork.  
Tip 1: the warm sausage mixture is going to make your dough gooey and start to tear easily, so don't overfill your turnovers. Also, try to work quickly. I ended up just pressing the edges together with my fingers because crimping with a fork was making the dough tear. If your dough does tear, don't worry unless it's a big tear, as a small tear will allow ventilation. If it's a big tear, borrow some dough from another turnover to patch with.
Tip 2: make your turnovers on the greased baking pan. I made the first one on my work surface and then it started to fall apart when I transferred it to the baking pan. So, I recommend making all your turnovers on the baking pan you're going to cook them on.
8. Brush your whisked egg over the top of each turnover.
9. Bake for about 15-18 minutes (on the TOP rack) or until turnovers are golden brown.
Tip 3: All ovens vary, but my turnovers started to burn on the bottom rack, so I transferred them to the top two racks. Then, I rotated the turnovers (switch the top and second to the top) half-way through so they got equally browned.
10. Grate some cheese on top of each turnover once you pull them out of the oven.

11. Enjoy, but be careful because they'll be very hot inside!

Super Easy Homemade Pickles

I always thought to pickle something you had to let it sit for days, if not weeks; however, these pickles are ready to eat in a few hours. They do pick up more flavor after several days, but they really are good to go after only a short time. These make for an awesome snack or appetizer.

Note: It's going to seem like you don't have enough liquid for your pickles; however, if you just shake them and rotate the jar every now and again all the cucumbers should soak up enough liquid. Plus, more liquid will be made during the fermentation process.

I made them "Japanese" style by cutting them into thin rounds instead of spears. However, if you prefer spears you can cut them any way you want.

Ingredients
-4 small cucumbers (I recommend getting the pickling kind of cucumbers, sometimes called "hot house")
-1/2 C cider vinegar or distilled vinegar
-1/4 C water
-3 T sugar (I used light brown, but that's the only kind I ever use...)
-several sprigs of dill
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 red onion, cut into thin slices
-2 cloves of garlic, sliced

Steps
1. Cut cucumbers into thin, round slices.  Put cucumber and onion slices in a large mason jar or some other kind of air tight container.
2. In a small saucepan, combing vinegar, water, sugar, dill, garlic. Bring to a boil.
3. Pour vinegar mixture over pickles and seal container.
4. Shake/agitate the container very well.
5. Chill for at least two hours (might be good to give the pickles a shake every 30 minutes - 1 hour for first two hours, and then once a day after that).

Southwestern Sweet Potatoes

I'm finally feeling good enough to cook and eat (I was seriously sick for about a week) so I will be back to more regular posting.

This recipe was a cinch and has such great flavors. We'll definitely be making this again. Credit and thanks go to Andrea's Easy Vegan Cooking for the original recipe.

Ingredients
-4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed
-2 avocados, diced
-1 can black beans
-1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes with chiles)
-2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced
-1 bunch green onions, chopped
-1 scallion, finely diced
-juice from 1 lime
-3 TBSP cilantro (optional), chopped
-1 TBSP EVOO
-salt & pepper

Steps
(Preheat oven to  425)
1. Cook sweet potatoes for about 40 minutes in the oven or until you can easily stab through them with a fork.
2. About 10-15 minutes before potatoes are done, put together your guacamole, my mashing your avocados (a fork usually works fine) and stirring in the lime juice, cilantro, salt & pepper, and diced scallion. This this link for a step by step on making guacamole.
3. Heat a skillet over medium. Add oil and saute garlic and green onion for about 1 minute.
4. Add beans and diced tomatoes; stir until heated through.

5. Your potatoes should be done by now. Slice them open down the center, and squeeze the ends in to make an opening for your toppings.
6. Top potatoes with black bean mixture and then scoop on a big dollop of guacamole.

Pasta Caprese

This recipe comes direct from Chef Adam. I decided to leave it unchanged and have made only minor additions (in italics).

Ingredients

- 1 lb. Penne pasta

- 2 - 2.5 lbs plum tomatoes

- 3 TBSP EVOO

- 1-3 TBSP red wine vinegar (depending on how sour you like the tomatoes)

- Juice from 1 lemon or lime

- 8oz Mozzarella cheese

- 3T basil chopped (one of those packages with fresh basil at Publix will do) 

- Salt & pepper to taste

- 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

- Chilled Vodka 

- Romaine lettuce (optional)

Steps

1. Wash your hands.  

2. Retrieve vodka from freezer and mix with whatever sour-mix, soft drink, or, depending on your bravery, other alcohol that is readily available and proceed to imbibe.  

3. The original recipe calls for “seeding” the tomatoes and this is the best method that I have found for doing so: Rinse and cut the ends off the tomatoes then cut them in half lengthwise.  Using your thumb, remove the seeds, you may need to make extra cuts in the tomatoes to get to the other compartments as halving them sometimes does not expose all the seeds.  (I used a melon baller and that worked really well.) Once finished, chop them up and place in a large plastic dish.  

4. Continue drinking vodka, you should be on glass #3.  Ignore the large gash you have inflicted upon yourself during the tomato cutting phase.  If asked about the gash, brush it off as the remnants of the tomato paste balsamic bald eagle skull wine reduction that you just whipped up in order to make what you now call the “Great Meal of Unending Happiness and Perpetual Tranquility” more enjoyable.  

5. Cut mozzarella cheese into bit size pieces, place in dish with tomatoes along with oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, & pepper (and garlic if used).  Let marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes - 2 hrs.  

6. Relax and watch “Rock of Love” remarking how stupid the human race is.  

7. Cook and drain pasta, mix with tomato mixture, adding basil and a dash more salt/pepper.  

9. Serve and enjoy, making sure to exclaim how amazing the food currently numbing your mind of all toxic thoughts is, thanking the person whom sent this recipe to you (i.e., Adam).  

10. Optional: Serve over romaine lettuce.