Please help me use up Ingredient X.
Posted by Heliamphora on Feb 13, 2009 · Member since Oct 2006 · 4798 posts
Ahoy folks! I thought I'd start a thread where you can ask for recipes and advice on how to use up an ingredient (e.g. a vegetable, fruit, grain, bean, etc.) of which you have lots and lots and lots; or which is new to you and you don't know where to start with it.
I'll go first. :P I have many, many tasty carrots from the farmers' market which I need to use before they go soft.
Recipes, please.
I know, I know, carrots - simple - should be a no-brainer... but I was not fond of them for a long time, simply because I'd never known anything but raw or steamed carrots with very little flavour. I like to do INTERESTING things with them. They're so adaptable! Gimme your adaptations! :D
cook the pears with cinnamon (maybe sugar if you like things really sweet) and toss with the rice with some agave nectar and pecans and vanilla. Maybe add a little soy/rice/almond milk of you want or some craisins.
Never had it, but it sounds tasty.... lol
I have A LOT of brown rice cooked and just sitting in my fridge, plus quite a few home grown pears. Any really tasty salad ideas or anything else??? Thanks :)
Two different ideas. For the brown rice, you can't go wrong with this, LucidAnne's famous Lentil Rice Salad. http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=18137.0 (It gets better and better as it stands).
For the pears,I love to poach them in red wine with sugar, cinnamon, clove and ginger. Brown rice syrup or agave would work fine. Just peel them in stripes, stand them in a saucepan and pour in the wine and spices. Simmer gently until done.
SirD, I'm very odd as you know but I like fermented beancurd just on the side, particularly if I'm eating something that came out rather bland, like a rice dish or whatever. I take a tiny bit on my fork and scoop up some of the dish, and pop it in. It is an acquired taste but one that I quickly acquired. In any case, it keeps for ages in the fridge in a tightly-covered jar.
Yabbit, since you seem to know fermented tofu pretty well - how is it supposed to taste? I bought a jar recently, opened it, and... well, aside from the slightly unnerving burst of gas from the inside of the jar, and the foamy albumin goo in which the tofu was resting, it tastes quite sour and beery. Is this normal, or should I be expecting to die of botulism in the near future?
Ummmm...the popping and foaming doesn't sound right. Not +that+ fermented, unless it says "champagne tofu" on the label. I get the normal "opening a sealed jar" click-pop but not foam and the smell of beer! :o
It has a "dark", sharp taste, like a strong cheese. Reminded me of port wine cheese, in fact.
Yeah, it wasn't a click-pop; it was like opening a shaken bottle of kombucha. :o It's been ages since I've tasted anything even resembling strong cheese, so I might just not be used to the sharpness. I was expecting a taste more along the lines of dark miso or natto. But definitely not beer...
I acquired some yellow sun dried tomatoes from the farmers market....It was slim pickings because of the holiday and I felt bad only buying a squash...(90% of the stuff was un-vegan baked goods) and umm...
I've never used sun dried tomatoes....I don't even know what to do with them really....any ideas??
Chop them up finely and put them in a silken tofu quiche/frittata. ;)b Or make them into pesto.
Pack them in a jar and cover with olive oil. Leave for a week or so or more (they will stay good indefinitely like this, even outside the fridge.) I have been known to just put them on sandwiches. Or chop them and toss in a salad or with pasta.
And then, if they've sat long enough in the oil, you get the most lovely SDT flavoured oil to put on pasta or salad!
Put them in soup.
Eat them in a smoked tofu sandwich on wholegrain bread.
Oh I am so hungry now!
ooo....genearlly I avoid oil...but that sounds way to tasty. I think you win =-)
I :)>>> sun dried tomatoes. I buy the kind that are already packed in oil, but if yours aren't, then do YG's olive oil idea. They're great on crackers, sandwiches, or pizza, and in salads, pasta dishes, risotto, and dips (for an easy dip, I cook white beans with rosemary and garlic, mash them up, and add finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and some of the oil they came in). The oil is also great for salad dressings, or you can use it to fry mushrooms and other vegs for any Italian-style dish. Or just dip crusty bread in it. Yummy.
wow those r some good ideas i might have to try!
sun blush toms are really good too, don't seem as dried and intense, and a little goes a long way
My favorite way to use sundried tomatoes is in pasta. But a sundried tomato spread might be good for crackers, dipping veggies, or for sandwiches (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=11895.0). If you make homemade hummus, you can use them this way by making sundried tomato hummus (if roasted red pepper hummus works, this can too!).
I've got a couple things lyring around that I have too many/much of. Mostly Asian food items, lol.
Dried tofu "skins", lots of purple laver seadweed, other kinds of seaweed like thick green kelp, lots of dried, shiitake-like mushrooms (also wood-ear mushrooms), thin wheat nooodles, flax seed, semolina flour, wheat germ, whole and halved mung beans, rye flour, squash (delicata and butternut), dried legumes (lentils, red and brown, and lotso beans), dried chilies, applesauce, refried blac k beans, frozen edamame, fox nuts, preserved cabbage, and rice noodles.
Also, I've got a huge bag of frozen milkweed flower heads picked from last summer (yes, milkweed). They're similar in taste (but not texture) to green beans. I'm thinking they might be good in a soup, but I'm not sure how to use 'em up. Any ideas?
Well...you can sub split mung beans in any split lentil recipe, though you may need a taste more water to cook em in. I highly recommend the the Sweet Potato Dahl for that.
So I just scored a 2lb bag of golden flax for free. The problem is I don't like it in my oatmeal. I'm thinking flax crackers? But I don't have a dehydrator. Does anyone have any ideas?
i remember hearing u can put your oven on a really low setting and it acts the same as a dehydrator... haven't tried it though
i remember hearing u can put your oven on a really low setting and it acts the same as a dehydrator... haven't tried it though
It's a good ingredient to throw in breadstuffs as well.
So I just scored a 2lb bag of golden flax for free. The problem is I don't like it in my oatmeal. I'm thinking flax crackers? But I don't have a dehydrator. Does anyone have any ideas?
A low oven setting can act pretty well as a substitute dehydrater.
Do you like flax on its own? Look up the Raw Pancakes recipe on this site- all it is is cup of flax meal mixed with a mashed banana and some vegetable oil. You can put fruit on top of it like pancakes. It's actually pretty good, and seriously filling.
I add flax to pie crusts, in homemade bread and in cookies and cakes... just use it as half of the flour needed
i have some pumpkin seeds.. any ideas? apart from roasted pumpkin seeds
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