Fruit leather also makes me feel a little nostalgic for back to school and my colleagues at Live It Learn It who are back in the US. My coworker Erica and I were a little crazy for fruit leather at the end of last school year. It was our snack of choice during the many meetings we were having. She’d have a big stash in her backpack and I’d peak through and pull out my favorite flavors. Snacks are always a nice way to pep up the workday. 

But I almost never buy fruit leather because it’s usually expensive. It’s like $2 for four inches of dried fruit that I can eat in one second. With this recipe I made a 10.5×15.5″ baking sheet sized piece for less than £3 (about $5)! I’ll be honest it is way easier to buy it at the store. This is so easy to make and takes almost no hands-on time, but it takes forever – and I could still eat this whole tray in one second. However here are three reasons why I like this recipe:

1. I really like making things that I previously thought only came from the store. It makes me feel accomplished that I’m capable of DIY-ing something that seemed like a mystery.

2. It’s cheap! Seriously £3!!! The plums were £2, the lemon was 50p, and I don’t know what 3 tbsp of sugar costs, but you could swipe it from your local coffee shop if you wanted to.

3. Every ingredient in this recipe is normal and familiar and pretty healthy. It’s sort of nice to have a yummy and healthy snack where you can pronounce all the ingredients.

If you’re not into plums, you can do this recipe with any sort of stone fruit. But I do recommend the plums. They are so flavorful and the lemon makes it nice and tart. I also wholeheartedly believe you can do this with any kind of fruit if you just follow the pattern of the recipe.

Adapted from Sweets Made Simple.

Ingredients:

6-8 plums (I used 8 because mine were small)

200ml water (that’s .84 of a cup)

juice from 1/2 lemon

3 tbsp sugar

Directions:

1. Remove the pit from the plums. (TV tip: cut the plum perpendicular to the ridge and twist to remove the stone).

2. Roughly chop the plum flesh.

3. Put the plums and water in a saucepan. Heat on medium, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. It will turn a beautiful color!

4. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Take a potato masher and squash everything in the pot.

5. Heat for 10 more minutes.

6. If you have an immersion blender, mix up the fruit in the pot. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer the fruit to a blender and mix it until it is a smooth puree.

7. Cover a baking tray with plastic wrap. (Check that it is microwave safe). I know it seems weird to do this but I promise it will be ok.

8. Preheat the oven to it’s lowest setting. For me it was 50°. Maybe for you 130-140°.

9. Slowly pour the fruit puree onto the baking sheet. Use a silicon spatula and spread the mixture evenly on the tray. If you don’t have a rimmed sheet don’t worry, the mixture doesn’t ooze and spread too much. Make sure the plastic wrap doesn’t fall back on the fruit puree – if it does that part won’t get dry and harden.

10. Heat in the oven for 10 hours. I know, that’s forever. Do it before you go to bed and in the morning it will be ready. Or, do it on a weekend when you’re home all day.

11. When it cools peel it off the plastic wrap. It’s a pretty stained glass piece of fruit leather!

12. Put it on a cutting board. Cut it up how you like! You could do it in strips, roll it into bundles, cut it into shapes with a cutter, or roll it with parchment and store in an air tight container.

Messy level: I would say 1 spoon if you have an immersion blender, two spoons if you don’t. It’s easy, simple, and doesn’t make much of a mess.;

The post Plum Fruit Leather appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

This recipe might be the easiest and cheapest recipe I’ve ever posted. There are a couple of “flair” ingredients in the recipe, but it would be good if all you had was a bag of rice, a can of chickpeas, and bottle of teriyaki sauce. Those ingredients don’t cost much and you might already have them in the pantry. What could be simpler?

Also, I think this is a great meal to make if you’re only cooking for yourself. Is that a weird thing to say, that this is a good dish for one? Maybe…

However, when I lived alone I was always looking for recipes that didn’t make a billion servings. I didn’t like cooking that much then because I’d make eating that same meal for lunch and dinner for the next 4 days. It can get old. But this dish, is perfect for 2-3 meals. It’s perfect if you want to whip up something quick, small, and tasty.

While I stand by my original statement that this is good plain, it’s super delicious topped with pineapple salsa. It adds a little sweetness from the pineapple and some great zest fro the onions and cilantro. Yes, making the salsa is a little more chopping and prepping, but it’s tasty and beautiful.

The recipe is adapted from the a great cookbook called The Happy Herbivore. It’s a vegan cookbook, but really accessible for people who like vegetable based meals, but don’t actually want to be vegan.

Messy level: This is one spoon! You cook everything in two pots, there’s so little chopping, and it’s just so darn easy!!

Teriyaki Chickpeas and Rice

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Chickpeas

• 1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ⅓ cup teriyaki sauce (or more if you like!)
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• ½ tbsp raw sugar (just swipe 2 packets from your local coffee shop)

Rice

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked white or brown rice

Pineapple salsa

• ½ cup chopped pineapple
• 2 tablespoon chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• lime juice (from about ½ a lime)

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, mix together the chickpeas, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce and sugar. Let the chickpeas marinate in the skillet while you get the rice ready.
2. In a medium pot, bring the 2 cups of water to a boil.
3. Once the water has come to a boil add the rice. Cover the pot and turn to low. Let simmer until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Rice is done when rice is tender and water has cooked off.
4. Turn the skillet with the chickpeas to medium. Heat until the chickpeas are cooked enough to our liking, usually about 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. While everything else is cooking do whatever salsa chopping you need to do in case you didn't do it before you started. Then mix also salsa ingredients together in a bowl.
6. Serve the rice in a bowl then top with chickpeas and salsa.

3.5.3226

The post Teriyaki Chickpeas and Rice appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

But this recipe is awesome.

Seriously. It’s vegan and it’s awesome. And not only awesome, it’s quick and easy to make. It’s the kind of thing you can make when all you have is condiments and a few vegetables. This recipe comes from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook by Lindsay Nixon. She calls is “Cheater Pad Thai” because it’s so easy to make. As a warning, this recipe although delicious, doesn’t really taste like Pad Thai in a restaurant. It has Pad Thai flavors in it, but there’s something a little different about it. But, if you want a taste of Thai at home, this is a good recipe.

Also this is a recipe you can fool around with depending on what you have at home. You can alter the proportions of the sauce to your taste, and you can use whatever vegetables you think will taste best. I usually use carrots, onions, garlic, and bell pepper. I’ve also done peas, leafy greens, bean sprouts, and squash. If you need your meat, you can cook up pieces of chicken, shrimp, or beef and throw it in with the rest of the ingredients.

When it comes to stir fry, I like to use a wok. Now, prior to having a wok I thought it was something scary to use. That might be because I saw an episode of Top Chef once where the contestants had to cook Asian street food using a wok and some of them freaked out because they had never used one before. So I thought, if those professionals are scared of a wok, how can I use a wok? Ryan and I got it as a wedding present and we were really excited. I unpacked it and then did a whole lot of research. I watched YouTube videos and read a bunch of articles online.

Now I may be using the wok wrong, but I totally love it. What I learned (I think) was you’re supposed to use a wok at very high heat, which then sears the vegetables, and then because of the shape of the pan it keeps the vegetables from getting too soft – so they are cooked but crunchy. Also you’re supposed to use your “aromatics” first to give the pan flavor. That means you saute things like onions, garlic, and ginger first – and then you add the vegetables based on crunchiness (so carrots before bell peppers). Also you’re supposed to stir constantly and move the vegetables around and up the sides of the pan. This helps cook them, make them crunchy, and give them good flavor. If you have a wok, try it out! A regular pan works well too. I like the wok because it’s spacious and I can swirl the veggies around without flinging anything out of the pan.

Ingredients for 2-3 servings:

1/3 to 1/2 box of rice noodles.

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp sweet red chili sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1 cup (or as much or as little as you want) of chopped vegetables

Directions:

1. Cook rice noodles according to package instructions.

2. Stir fry vegetables until they are softened but still a bit crunchy.

3.  Mix soy sauce, peanut butter, chili sauce, garlic powder, ginger, and hot sauce. Alter ingredients to taste. I like a little more peanut butter because it makes the sauce thicker

4. Once the vegetables are almost done, add the sauce to the wok. Mix the sauce and veggies together.

5. Add the noodles to the sauce and veggies. Mix until you’re satisfied. Serve and eat!

two sp

Messy Level:
Low to Medium. The pan ends up being coated in sauce so it takes a good scrub. But, it doesn’t use that many pans, therefore dishes don’t take that long!

The post Pad Thai Inspired Noodles appeared first on Cooking is Messy.