quinn's place

heyhey. i made this tasty little colorful dish o' veg. and quite delighted about it.

and it's accidentally vegan! i didn't realize until after i was done making it and had to read over the ingredients like 10 times to verify they were all plant-based. huzzah!

i don't think all peanut butters are technically vegan, but i used an all-natural one with just peanuts. so watch out for that if you are indeed a plant-based eater.

this spicy peanut sauce is so mighty delicious and flavorful...i'd like to eat it on its own. it has kind of a lot of ingredients, but i think they all matter to get the full flava flavvvvv.

this dish is simple to make, too! the sauce ingredients just go in a food processor or blender, and thats that. the vegetables get chopped and sautéed in one pan, and thats that. you could easily have everything ready in 30 minutes.

i thought this was a great meal that tastes exciting and a little complex with the peanut sauce, but at the same time its just fresh vegetables. a good balance of healthy freshness with yummy savory, creamy, spicy, & zingy flavor. i don't know if 'zingy' is actually a word, but i think i use it a lot. i think what i mean is that it has a kick! ginger + red wine vinegar + shallots + lime = all the zingers.

also, if i'd had red thai curry paste on hand i would have added some to the peanut sauce for sure. then this recipe could just be called 'spicy curried thai veggies' instead of this other kooky long title that i've come up with for it. oh wHell.

i think the little broccoli florets were surprisingly my favorite part since the peanut sauce seeps down into all its little crevasses and they're bursting with spicy creamy peanutty flavor. "flavor treasure troves", as pete would call it :)

this is certainly one of those things that tastes a little better the second day after all the veggies and sauce have ample time for flavor melding goodness, by the way. mmm boy!

Veggies with Spicy Coconut Peanut Sauce

Serves 2-4

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Spicy Peanut Sauce (yields 1 1/2 cups of sauce)

1 inch knob of ginger
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/2 can (about 7 oz.) coconut cream
3 garlic cloves
2 medium sized shallot cloves
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB sriracha
3 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. black pepper
juice from 1 lime
dash of salt
dash of paprika

To prepare the peanut sauce, add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside. Store extra sauce in airtight container in fridge.

Veggies

1 large zucchini, chopped into chunks
4 broccoli crowns, stems removed and cut into florets
1/2 a red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1/2 a green bell pepper, seeded and sliced
5-7 small crimini mushrooms, chopped into chunks or wedges
1 medium carrot, peeled and then shaved into ribbons
1/4 cup cashews, roughly chopped
2-3 TB olive oil

Instructions:

Prepare peanut sauce as described above.

Chop all veggies as instructed above. Heat a large pan to medium heat and add 1 TB olive oil. Add the zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms to the pan and drizzle 1 more TB olive oil over the top (mainly on the mushrooms). Sautée these veggies for about 5-7 minutes, tossing frequently with a wooden spoon until tender but still crunchy.

Reduce heat to medium/low and add the broccoli florets and carrot ribbons. Add about 1 cup of the peanut sauce. Gently coat the veggies in the sauce and simmer 3-5 minutes until sauce is heated and thickens a bit.

Remove from heat and serve immediately, with rice if desired. Add a drizzle of extra peanut sauce, and sprinkle the chopped cashews over the veggies as well.

flavah bombbbbbbbb.

i've started a new category tag for 'flavor bomb' recipes because sometimes certain dishes/recipes require such a description. if i called this "tuna salad," it would just seem so sad.

also, i'm real skerred about taking photos of meat in general and now, specifically, tuna fish. i sure hope people think this looks tasty and that the photos translate the actual deliciousness of this tuna salad!! because it is!

this recipe was inspired by a tuna salad i used to get from this pasta deli next to the starbucks i worked at in college. i'd go over there sometimes on my lunch break, only on days when i was feeling a little crayzay like spending a lil moolah on some eats instead of the same ol' discounted/free bagel or breakfast sandwich that i am still to this day so perma sick of. anyhoo, i once made the grave mistake of ordering a full pound of tuna salad there (because you'd order everything by the pound and i had no concept of what an appropriate weight for a serving of tuna salad was) and it cost me like $9!!! even though the sign probably/definitely said "$9 per pound," i just couldn't believe the amount in the cup they'd served me was anywhere near a full pound, let alone $9 worth of tuna! dat shi is supposed to be on the cheap cheap, so i thought!

this instance was similar to the time that i paid $8.22 for a bag of green grapes at the store and i will never forget it!!! granted these were the cheapo depot college days where i didn't want to spend more than $4 on anything. needless to say, the cost of that tuna salad and the green grapes just flabbergasted me and i probably told this tale to everybody who would listen, and learned some life lessons on price per pound trickery along the way.

so, in this frugal season of my life, i learned that i needed to order closer to 1/3 pound of the tuna salad if i wanted to also get a potato roll and breeze out of there having only spent around $4. then i'd swing over to the utensil/napkin/free homemade bread croutons zone and pop a few of those hunks o bread in my little box on the way out and make it back to the 'bux where my free break beverage awaited me. ah those were the days.

in real life, the ingredients for this tuna salad are super affordable and the whole thing is very easy to make. the outcome is soooo flavorful, fresh, zingy, and satisfying.

i've eaten this tuna salad on its own, in pita bread pockets, or in lettuce cups or wraps. having it on top of a little crunchy heart of romaine lettuce leaf is so so fresh and crisp. this is "green leaf lettuce" in these photos. i call this "the cute lettuce" because it looks better in pictures; especially in pictures of cheeseburgers! :)

i like using the crunchy part of the leaf near the heart (is that what its called?..heart? i mean the whiter crunchy firm area), for stability and crunchability. texture is everything, people.

Fresh & Flavorful Tuna Salad

Serves 2-3

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

15 oz. tuna fish (I used (3) 5oz. cans of tuna in water)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/3-1/2 a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 TB mayonnaise
2 tsp. dill pickle juice
1/2 tsp. black pepper
pinch of salt
romaine lettuce or green leaf lettuce for serving tuna salad in lettuce cups (optional)
pita bread (optional)

Instructions-

Drain the liquid from the canned tuna fish and place tuna in a medium bowl. Add mayo, pickle juice, salt and pepper and mix roughly with a fork to combine. Don't mix it too much; you want the tuna to be chunky still.

Chop the red onion, cilantro, and red pepper and add to the bowl. Gently mix just until ingredients are incorporated.

Serve this tuna salad immediately, using romaine or green leaf lettuce as lettuce wraps/cups, or pita bread to sandwich the tuna salad in.

Enjoy!