Cold sesame noodle salad

I just made these dudes but I made a few modifications so here I am writing it down. Instead of using 12 oz. of noodles, I just used one whole package of thin spaghetti noodles, which is 16 oz. I also added one package of pressed and cubed (uncooked) tofu.

So I decided to double the amount of sauce to cover the extra noodles and tofu. It worked out just about right! I made the sauce in our Ninja blender, adding a little bit of the hot pasta water to thin it out.

Spinach and artichoke grilled cheese

I may or may not have a Pinterest board dedicated to grilled cheeses, and somewhere lurking in the back of my mind (and the back of my fridge) were the ingredients to this masterpiece.

I recently learned about inside-out grilled cheese and it's safe to say we're entering a new era of deliciousness.

To make this, I spread pesto on one piece of bread and Veganaise on the other. While some butter melted in the pan, I shredded about 2 oz. of mozzarella cheese. I put on bread in the pan and sprinkled on the cheese (leaving about 2 Tbsp behind), some spinach, and chopped artichoke hearts (just a few will do-- I only used one quarter of one because that's all I had left). Added the second piece of bread on top.

After it cooked for a while on low heat, I flipped it over. While the former bottom is still hot, I sprinkled half of the leftover cheese on the bread (again, you don't need much). Then, once the now-bottom is starting to get brown, I flipped it over again and repeated the process (adding more cheese, one more final flip). That was it!

Recent recipes: Eggplant salad, flatbread, quesadillas, and sweet potatoes

Some recent recipes I've enjoyed:

Lunch: Mediterranean eggplant and barley salad from Smitten Kitchen. Ingredient substitutions are easy in this salad, but the eggplant was the best part!

Appetizers: Flatbreads with goat cheese and caramelized onions

Dinner: Black bean and sweet potato quesadillas (my recipe, from a cookbook, was similar to this only it didn't use any onions)

Snack: Baked tofu (marinated in balsamic and soy sauce) with roasted sweet potatoes and topped with halved cherry tomatoes and green onions

And finally, I retried this enchilada recipe veganized. Instead of cheese I used a block of tofu, drained, crumbled, and lightly browned with some cumin and red pepper. It ended up making too much of the filling, so next time I would cut down the corn a bit.

Breakfast (and lunch) tacos

I previously wrote about breakfast tacos here, but ever since a visit to Austin, TX, I've been stepping up my breakfast taco game. I had people over for brunch and people brought their favorite taco fillings, including sauteed peppers and onion, goat cheese, and soyrizo.

As I'm always searching for easy, healthy, and slightly creative breakfast foods, this week I experimented with some more b-fast taco variations. This was my favorite:

First, I started with two small, flour Rosario's tortillas and heated them up in a small ceramic fry pan. Meanwhile, I mixed together one whole egg and one egg white only and a bit of salt and milk (or cream). I also get out my other ingredients: goat cheese, avocado, and salsa.

Once the tortillas were heated on both sides, I sprayed the pan with a little oil and then poured in the eggs while on low heat.

Although you can add the avocado and goat cheese at the end, it was really good when mixed in. So after adding the eggs to the pan, I put in half and avocado, cubed, and then later some crumbles/pieces of goat cheese.

When the eggs were fully cooked I divided them into the two tortillas and topped them with Trader Joe's garlic chipotle salsa. I really liked that salsa and its combination of roasted tomatoes, garlic, and vinegar, but it was pretty watery. I didn't mind; isn't that how salsa is supposed to be?

Recent recipe round-up + staying organized

Recently I tried some new recipes, most of which I found on Pinterest. I liked them all, so here they are!

-Lentils with garden vegetables, avocado, walnuts, and hummus

-Avocado and egg toast for breakfast

-Japanese cucumber salad (went over well at a party)

-Banana-oat smoothie

I'm also trying to stay more organized this year with time management at home as well as at the office. Several things have really helped! It's only 3 weeks into the semester, but I'm hoping some of these habits will last.

-Committing to work 2 hours a day on research/"heavy-thinking" related tasks, mostly in the afternoon, at my office; doing my best to not work on nights and weekends

-Tracking my TA/work hours and working on it in chunks throughout the week

-Using the SelfControl app while I'm working on my laptop

-Bringing lunch to work, and keeping snacks and easy to assemble foods on hand (like hummus, wraps, sliced cheese, and veggies)

-Keeping a jar of espresso powder at my office (this stuff is the best, good for traveling too) and avoiding coffeeshops

-Bringing my gym clothes to school and heading straight there after work

-Making to-do and grocery lists on the weekend (on my fav mini-legal pads)

-And finally, keeping my bathroom and bedroom drawers more organized with the help of some of these

Roasted chili and bean salad

With hatch chiles in season this time of the year, I had my mind set on making something spicy and healthy. I ended up making a spicy bean salad that I put on top of a bed of greens with Annie's Green Goddess dressing and some cherry tomatoes. My ingredients were:

-1 can chickpeas and 1 can red beans, rinsed and drained
-3-4 hatch chiles, roasted and cut into pieces (4 peppers was quite spicy)
-handful of parsley, chopped
-1/3 red onion, finely chopped
-1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-salt, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and olive oil to taste

I served the salad (which was very filling) with a side of bread, butter, and cheese.

Garlic fried (or scrambled) eggs

I had a craving for eggs, onions, and garlic tonight. At first I thought adding garlic to eggs might be... weird... but then I thought about how much I love sriracha on eggs. After some quick googling I came across this recipe which was great since I had some extra lemons on hand: Middle Eastern Garlic Fried Eggs.

I heated about a tsp of mustard oil in a pan, added 2 cloves roughly chopped garlic and half of a small red onion, thinly sliced. I then added the juice of one lemon-lime (in India they are tiny little things that to me, are indistinguishable between lemons and limes; they taste like a less sweet lemon). After the garlic and onions began to brown, I added two whole eggs. They stuck to the pan a bit, so I ended up half-scrambling them. I added a bit of salt to the pan.

The result was surprising but good! Next time I might even add more garlic.