Tag: vegan cooking

It’s Thursday night, which means I’ve just about reached my peak, maximum exhaustion level for the week (actually, the real pinnacle is usually Friday night after work… that’s when I really crash and burn…).  I used to hear my mom say it, but Goddamn…. “there just aren’t enough hours in the day.” Seriously.  I never even give myself enough time to unwind, exercise, sleep more than 6 hours a night, or even write this shitty blog, and I STILL don’t have enough time to do everything I want to do in a day (cleaning, exercising, writing, etc.). Work and chores and errands and taking care of the apartment, my cats, and everyone-but-myself seems to never end, and this is life without human children!  I think I’ve been living in a state of perpetual exhaustion for the past three years, and it shows.  I really need to start taking better care of myself, because these bags under my eyes are not cool.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I feel like working a 9-5 office job has aged me way more than the irregular hours and sleep schedule I kept as a server or working retail ever did.  At least then I seemed to be getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

Thank god tomorrow is Friday so I can sleep in the following day.  I’ve turned into a drone who lives for the weekend… FML. Work was absolutely brutal last week – I was doing like 10 hour days and coming in early so I could avoid staying late each night, but that also means working through my lunch breaks instead of getting out for a walk and some fresh air.  I fucking HATE sitting at a desk all day and not having time to walk or exercise.  I feel like such shit about myself and my body when I am not moving or walking and still eating a ton of food. Some might think I’m joking, but I am definitely asking for a desk elliptical for Christmas this year.  I think it will give me a better quality of life LOL.

I’m already thinking about Halloween and trying to make plans in advance so that I don’t end up staying in again.  I always have the best costume put together, and the last couple of years I haven’t even worn it out.  Such a shame! I love Halloween and dressing up and making costumes…. I live for that shit.

00/00/0000 – Marilyn Manson – – – Keywords: – Photo Credit: Photorazzi – Contact (1-866-551-7827)

This year’s inspo ^^^ I dressed up as MM once before and it was one of the years I didn’t end up going out.   This year, I’m going all out….come hell or high water.

Anyhow… here is my recipe for a “Thai-style” aka, white-people, bastardized-version of curry, made with butternut squash:

A couple of notes:

• Be careful cutting the squash, they’re really firm and you risk the knife slipping out and towards you if you aren’t careful
• This is kind of time consuming since the squash takes a full hour just to cook in the oven, so you may want to prep the sauce/squash a day before you assemble the actual curry….

INGREDIENTS:

A variety of veggies of your choice (below is what I used):

• 1 medium-sized butternut squash
• 1 green zucchini, chopped into bite-size chunks
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips
• 1 green (bell) pepper, cut into strips
• 1 can of baby corn
• 1 can of bamboo shoots
• 1 package of extra-firm tofu, cubed
• 1 small jar of red curry paste (Thai Kitchen brand is great and sold most places)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 box vegetable stock
• 3 Tablespoons yellow curry powder
• 1 Tablespoon turmeric
• 2 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (more or less depending on desired level of spicy)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (more or less depending on desired level of spicy)
• 1-2 limes (*the JUICE from 1-2 limes)
• 1 bunch of fresh thai basil, or regular fresh basil
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (*** OPTIONAL *** I’ve used in curries before, but I did not use in this one)
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• Cooked white rice to serve (Basmati or jasmine work best)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half length-wise (*** please do this carefully – it cuts with difficulty and you risk slicing yourself or the knife coming out if you’re not careful); gut the seeds and stringy pulp out from the center of your squash by scooping it out with a spoon.
3. Roast the squash at 400 degrees for 1 hour… test with a fork to see if tender:

1.

A couple of notes:

• Be careful cutting the squash, they’re really firm and you risk the knife slipping out and towards you if you aren’t careful
• This is kind of time consuming since the squash takes a full hour just to cook in the oven, so you may want to prep the sauce/squash a day before you assemble the actual curry….

INGREDIENTS:

A variety of veggies of your choice (below is what I used):

• 1 medium-sized butternut squash
• 1 green zucchini, chopped into bite-size chunks
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips
• 1 green (bell) pepper, cut into strips
• 1 can of baby corn
• 1 can of bamboo shoots
• 1 package of extra-firm tofu, cubed (OR… raw, peeled shrimp, OR…. sliced chicken breast, etc.)
• 1 small jar of red curry paste (Thai Kitchen brand is great and sold most places)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 box vegetable stock
• 3 Tablespoons yellow curry powder
• 1 Tablespoon turmeric
• 2 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (more or less depending on desired level of spicy)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (more or less depending on desired level of spicy)
• 1-2 limes (*the JUICE from 1-2 limes)
• 1 bunch of fresh thai basil, or regular fresh basil
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (*** OPTIONAL *** I’ve used in curries before, but I did not use in this one)
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• Cooked white rice to serve (Basmati or jasmine work best)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half length-wise (*** please do this carefully – it cuts with difficulty and you risk slicing yourself or the knife coming out if you’re not careful); gut the seeds and stringy pulp out from the center of your squash by scooping it out with a spoon.
3. Put the squash face-up on a roasting pan, and rub the face-up side with olive oil; roast the squash at 400 degrees for 1 hour… test with a fork to see if tender:
4. Once the squash has cooled down enough to handle, use a spoon to scoop out the orange fleshy part into a blender or food processor.
5. Add in about 2 cups of the veggie stock or enough liquid that blending will be possible (I know my blender has issues mixing everything if there isn’t enough liquid).
6. Once you’ve blended the squash to a creamy and uniform texture, dump the mixture from the blender into a large saucepan or soup pan/pot and turn the burner to a low heat.
7. Add in the entire jar of red curry paste and the entire can of coconut milk.
8. Add in your spices (granulated garlic, turmeric, curry powder, red pepper, cayenne, etc.)
9. You’ll most likely need to add more veggie stock at this point, as the curry will be way too thick.  My squash was huge, and therefore resulted in a lot of curry once it was blended…. the mixture was way too thick and I ended up adding the rest of my veggie stock.
10. The curry sauce should be a nice, thick consistency, but still viscous in nature…. it should not be straight-up puree, nor should it be too soupy and watery.
11. Add in the lime juice, the fish sauce (if you opted to use it), salt to taste, more pepper or seasoning as necessary, and some hand-shredded basil leaves (a nice handful).
12. Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside or put in the fridge if you’re planning to use later.
13. In a wok or large sauce pan, heat the vegetable oil over a low heat and get your fresh chopped veggies and minced garlic on deck (the canned veggies, like the corn and bamboo shoots, do NOT need to be sauteed with the raw veggies)
14. You’ll want to sautee your veggies and garlic at a medium heat for only a few minutes, as they will finish cooking in the curry sauce and you DO NOT WANT THEM to be over cooked and soggy (gross).
15. Once you’ve sauteed the veggies and garlic, add in the curry sauce and continue to cook over a low heat.
16. This is the point where you can add in whatever canned veggies you’re using, like the baby corn and bamboo shoots, as well as the TOFU.
17. Taste the sauce and add more seasoning to suit your tastes (you may want to make it hotter with more pepper, add a bit more salt, or a bit more lime juice for some zing).
18. Serve over cooked rice and garnish with a bit of fresh basil!

This one was a hit… I will definitely be making this, or variations of this, throughout the coming colder months!  Apart from the coconut milk, it’s also pretty healthy 😀  Or, at least that’s what I told myself after eating half a wok….