Now, I’ve never been graceful. I was always that kid who managed to get her cleats caught in the soccer goal; my hand-eye coordination isn’t much better. Such lack of bodily control extends to the kitchen as well, as evidenced by my multiple kitchen mishaps.

However, knife-related injuries might become a thing of the past as of this semester. As part of one of my final exams, I have to demonstrate basic knife skills by performing the following tasks:

• peel an apple with a paring knife
• mince garlic
• dice an onion
• section an orange
• chiffonade spinach
• julienne potatoes

I’ve watched enough Food Network in my lifetime that I actually know the “proper” way to complete all these tasks…but that doesn’t mean I actually slice and dice that way when I cook. Nonetheless, I consume all these foods on a regular basis, so I’ll be sure to get plenty of practice. Wish me luck!

How are your knife skills? As haphazard as I may be when wielding a knife, I rarely nick myself—although that might be more a function of dull knives than knife skills!

Here’s what I’ve been choppin’ up the kitch today:

Thursdays are busy school days for me, so I prepared breakfast ahead of time last night by making a batch of overnight oat bran. Yet another pudding-like breakfast treat!

I packed up a lunch to eat on campus featuring my beloved tempeh bacon.

For dinner, I whipped up two B-Hut recipes: a mock tuna salad wrap and acorn squash soup. Can you tell I want it to be fall?

Off to get geared up for a long holiday weekend:) G’night!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

I’ve been so busy posting recipes this week that I totally forgot to announce the winner of the Galaxy Granola Giveaway winner—sorry about that, lovelies. Without further ado, the winner is…

• katie, on August 24th, 2010 at 12:51 pm Said:

  Great giveaway! I’ve been so curious about this stuff.

  I love to mix granola in yogurt, top it on my smoothies, and add a little bit to oatmeal for texture.

Congratulations, Katie! I, too, love some granola action on top of my smoothies:)

Thanks to everyone for participating.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The other day, a group of us students discussing the subtleties of various chocolate chip cookie (totally normal, right?) when one of my classmates recited her famous chocolate chip cookie recipe step-by-step, from the creaming of the butter and sugar to the precise moment when to pull the cookies from the oven. Such an impressive recitation got me thinking about whether I could do the same…

If you’ve been a visitor to the Broccoli Hut for a while, you’ll know that I’m not much of a “methodical” cook, that is, I don’t follow recipes. Rather, I prefer to derive inspiration from cookbooks, magazines, and, of course, my fellow bloggers; I then improvise my own combination of ingredients in my desired proportions.

Nonetheless, I do occasionally follow a recipe, as I have done countless times with Cashew Ginger Tofu. I have prepared this recipe dozens of times, without straying much from the original Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan recipe. Something about that combination of ingredients satisfies my appetite like nothing else can—not even hummus.

It should come as no surprise then that I no longer need to look up the recipe every time I make it; this is one recipe I know by heart.

So, blog friends, which recipes do you know by heart? Feel free to post them in the comments section below:)

A few other recipes I know by heart are featured in today’s eats…

This morning’s breakfast was a modified version of my Banana-Coconut Breakfast Pudding—I used coconut milk instead of almond milk, and I used almond butter instead of coconut butter. Same flavors, just in different forms.

As a treat last week, I bought myself a bundle of fresh herbs at Whole Foods. With an abundance of herbs in the fridge, there was no question as to what kind of hummus I would make today—Hemp Herb Hummus, of course.

So I’ve decided that my spiralizer is my favorite new toy. Technically, I received it as a Christmas present last year; somehow it hid in my cabinets for eight months without a single use. With my recent move, however, it re-surfaced and has been providing endless entertainment. It reminds me of all those Play-Dough machines I used to love as a kid—except now I’m making fun shapes out of vegetables. What else can I spiralize? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Alright, off to prepare for a busy day of classes tomorrow. Ciao.

Filed under: Meals | 12 Comments »