laurkamkitchen

[laurkamkitchen]

I think it’s only fitting that my first ever post on this blog, and the first recipe I’ve made this year, is this chia pudding. I have made this so many times now that it’s probably the only recipe I no longer need the instructions for (although it does help that they’re pretty straightforward).

I usually end up making a half batch of this, although I do keep the cinnamon and vanilla amounts the same as the full because, well, I love cinnamon and vanilla and they give this such great flavor.

The original recipe calls for fresh blueberries as a topping, but I’ll typically only add them if they’re in season, leaving them out and opting for other fruit that is, either as a topping or on the side depending on what it is.

The original instructions call for you to blend the initial ingredients, but I’ve found that if your almond butter is runny enough, a little whisking will still do the trick.

The same goes for adding almond milk upon consumption; when I make this at school, where the almond butter brand I buy tends to be more runny, it’s not usually necessary, but at home, where it tends to be much thicker, I usually add a lot and then stir. At the end of the day, it’s really all about personal preference and experimentation.

[laurkamkitchen]

I always, always take recipes which tout themselves as the ‘best’ of anything with a grain of salt, so while I was enthusiastic about trying this one, I still kept my expectations in check. However, I can say with full confidence that these are indeed by far the best vegan chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. Honestly, no way would you ever guess that they were vegan. They have the exact texture I love in a cookie, very much like Nestle Tollhouse. I would usually save such praise for the end of a review, but I will go ahead and declare here that this will be the only ever basic chocolate cookie recipe I use from here on out.

Remus and I (well, mostly me) made about ¾ of this recipe using a mix of snapped dark chocolate buttons and M&S chunks. I honestly was most motivated to make this recipe since it called for both coconut milk and applesauce, both of which I have been trying to use up, but somehow that created the perfect combo for deliciously gooey cookies.

We ended up with about 15 cookies and perhaps did not give all of them enough room for spreading. Ever concerned about our over-hot oven, I pulled the first batch at 8 minutes, thought the ends were too crispy, and so went for 7 on the second. I think, however, just because they were so crowded, 8 was actually probably the right call. Yes, the edges were a bit crispy, but with 7, the middles perhaps were not baked thoroughly enough.

But you know what, they’re vegan, so who cares if they’re not fully baked! Then you just miss out on all that extra gooeyness. And gooey goodness is exactly what this recipe promises. I know this is now going to be a forever favorite.

[laurkamkitchen]

I thought a good German potato salad would be the perfect side to accompany my dad's venison pastrami reubens. I liked the look of this recipe because it used baby potatoes and dijon mustard.

I made this in full, choosing to cook my bacon in strips rather than slicing it before hand. It might have taken longer to cook this way, especially because I had to do it in batches, but with the boiling time for the potatoes, it wasn't too bad of a setback.

I really wish I had quartered my potatoes rather than halving them, but at that point, I was running out of time and couldn't afford to dillydally. But I do think this would have been worth it, as it would have allowed the potatoes to absorb more flavor in the long run.

The dressing was phenomenal and you can't go wrong with bacon, so this was overall delicious, though not as creamy as I was expecting. Again, it really would have been more flavorful with smaller chunks of potatoes, but now I know for next time.

[laurkamkitchen]

What better way to enhance my dad's venison pastrami reubens than to make a homemade thousand island dressing?

I halved this using sweet pepper relish and adding quite a bit of extra salt and lemon juice, true to most dressings I make. The result was delicious and a perfect pairing for these classic sandwiches.

[laurkamkitchen]

This salad does not mess around with the crunch. It seriously might be the crunchiest salad I've ever eaten.

I halved this using julienned carrots. Both my carrots and the cabbage were definitely on the heavier side, true to my own form.

I think this might have been the third or fourth time I'd dried these particular chickpeas, so they were seriously primed for crunchiness and did not disappoint. In fact, combined with the seeds, I think this might honestly have been too crunchy — my jaw was starting to get tired by the time I was done eating!

This was far from blowing me away, but it was delicious and packed with plenty of plant-based fiber and protein. And I do love me an excuse to indulge in a good peanut sauce.

[laurkamkitchen]

It's been a while since I've enjoyed any kimchi, and I had half a block of tempeh to use up, so this recipe seemed like a perfect dinner pick.

I halved this, going, in my own typical fashion, a little overboard with the red cabbage and cucumber, which turned out to be a rather unfortunate mistake, as I think they ended up taking a lot of flavor out of the final product. I also shouldn't have put the cucumber in my serving bowl so early on, as all that did was add excess liquid to the end bowl.

My own flaws aside, I have to say that the peanut sauce was pretty disappointing. And so rarely is a peanut sauce ever disappointing! But, unfortuantely, I could barely taste it here.

However, the tempeh was excellent, and you can never beat a good mix of textures in my book, so this wasn't a total loss. Just not the most impressive bowl of its kind.

[laurkamkitchen]

This has just shot to the top of my all-time favorite salads list! It was unbelievably good, full of flavor and texture. I already want to make it again.

I quartered this using the lesser amount of olive oil (I don't like my dressing to have too strong an olive flavor, unless it's for something Mediterranean) and the maximum amount of kale. For optional toppings, I toasted 2 tablespoons of pecans and added a tablespoon of dried cranberries.

I'm honestly surprised that more salad recipes don't encourage you to smash your avo in with your kale. I do this for my own salads, and it truly is a game-changer.

The tempeh came out perfectly crisp, the sweet potatoes were delectable, and everything together was pure perfection. The toasted pecans truly put this over the edge. I love, love, love this recipe!

[laurkamkitchen]

I think it’s only fitting that my first ever post on this blog, and the first recipe I’ve made this year, is this chia pudding. I have made this so many times now that it’s probably the only recipe I no longer need the instructions for (although it does help that they’re pretty straightforward).

I usually end up making a half batch of this, although I do keep the cinnamon and vanilla amounts the same as the full because, well, I love cinnamon and vanilla and they give this such great flavor.

The original recipe calls for fresh blueberries as a topping, but I’ll typically only add them if they’re in season, leaving them out and opting for other fruit that is, either as a topping or on the side depending on what it is.

The original instructions call for you to blend the initial ingredients, but I’ve found that if your almond butter is runny enough, a little whisking will still do the trick.

The same goes for adding almond milk upon consumption; when I make this at school, where the almond butter brand I buy tends to be more runny, it’s not usually necessary, but at home, where it tends to be much thicker, I usually add a lot and then stir. At the end of the day, it’s really all about personal preference and experimentation.

[laurkamkitchen]

This recipe seemed like a fun combo of some of my favorites — collard wraps and egg salad with a yummy Mexican twist. I couldn't resist.

I made this in full using a green chili and skipping the extra jalapeños. Thanks to the food processor, this was pretty easy to pull together — would be perfect if you're looking for a quick, filling lunch.

Overall, I think the Mexican connection here was pretty weak, but this was still delicious. This is a creative combo I never would have thought of, and thus made for a fun twist on some of my favorites.

[laurkamkitchen]

Happy belated pancake day! I've had my eye on this recipe since I went through my Pinterest archive looking for ways to use up my huge bag of cornmeal, and it just seemed perfect for a little treat in the midst of my work day.

I quartered this using oat milk and coconut oil. It was pretty standard as far as pancake recipes go: dry, wet, mix, fold. It does warn that this is intended to be quite thick, which I was all for, however, I thought it was perhaps just too thick to really even out in the pan, so after my first pancake got going, I added another little splash of oat milk, which did the trick perfectly. The rest was easier to spread but still had that nice thick texture that made this recipe a real winner for me.

As simple as the ingredients, I was surprised to find just how flavorful these were. Thanks to the cornmeal, they had just the slightest crisp on the outside, with an inside that was still soft and cakey, which is honestly the perfect pancake texture in my book — I think I can call this a new favorite!

[laurkamkitchen]

I'm shocked that I've never made this recipe before — or never featured it on the blog, at the very least. This is a classic bowl with all my favorites — quinoa, sweet potato, beetroot, chickpeas, a little bit of greens, and a tahini dressing — and quite honestly might be one of the best I've made in a while!

I roughly halved this using only about a quarter of the quinoa, as that was all I had prepped. 20 minutes at 200℃ was perfect for my veg, and, other than that, I really don't have much else to add here. This is all pretty straightforward as far as bowls go.

Straightforward yet delicious, let me tell you — I absolutely loved this and already have it on the menu again for this week. It's just everything I love all piled together. Again, I can't believe I've never made this until now!!

[laurkamkitchen]

New salad recipe, a recent, very autumnal find!

I made roughly a third of this using a small beet and half a small sweet potato. This was super easy to pull together, really just roasting the veggies, making the dressing, and assembling everything else. I added the dressing to the kale to help soften while the veggies were in the oven as opposed to letting everything sit at the end (that just sounds like sogginess waiting to happen, if you ask me).

And speaking of that dressing, boy, was it divine! I ended up adding 3 tablespoons of water, but my tahini was a little clumpy and I do enjoy a thinner consistency than what it looks like they were going for here.

This reminds me a lot of what is probably my all-time favorite salad, which also features roasted sweet potato and kale, but this is definitely a more autumnal version of that, which I just loved. This was so delicious, with simple ingredients that really made for a great meal. A new seasonal favorite, I think!

[laurkamkitchen]

Poke bowls are one of the few bowl types that Remus will agree to for dinner without too much convincing, and thus are a great dinner option for us, though I believe this is the first appearance of any kind of poke bowl on the blog.

I essentially made ¾ of the bowl part to divide between Remus and me, and about 1/3 of the beets for myself (Remus chose instead to have raw tuna on his). In lieu of the spicy mayo, I opted for a half batch of our favorite shrimp sauce, ever the winner in these kinds of situations.

My beets were already precooked, so I was able to skip that step and move straight on to cooking the rice.

Other than that, I really don’t have many notes here. This was a super simple, super classic, and yet also delicious recipe. I love how well the beets swap in for the more traditional tuna, and this is definitely one you can easily customize to your taste. A true poke bowl staple, if you will.

[laurkamkitchen]

I was browsing through my Pinterest archive looking for a new salad dressing, and this one just seemed perfect, even if I am sadly lacking in miso at the moment.

I doubled this, subbing the miso for soy sauce and skipping the onion powder. I've been on such a turmeric kick lately and was so excited about this, but sadly I found it a little lacking. It had that slight grittiness you sometimes get adding turmeric to a sauce and was really lacking in the bright acidity I enjoy in a salad dressing, even after I added more lemon juice. I have to think it would be better with miso, but I also can't say for sure.

Pick Up Limes rarely steers me wrong, especially when it comes to yummy dressings, but this was just not it for me.

[laurkamkitchen]

I’ve made this recipe before, back in December before I had this blog, and I remember it being so good, so I decided to make it again for my latest batch of hummus.

The reason I tried out this recipe originally was because I had a jar of roasted red peppers I needed to use up, so I skipped the self-roasting process and just used one from the jar, which I also did this time around. I’m sure roasting your own would give it a nice fresh flavor, but the added oil and richness of the jarred pepper makes this hummus a bit more indulgent in texture and flavor (or at least, I’m going to assume).

So I skipped directly to step 8 here, combining everything in my food processor from the outset. I love that this recipe uses so much tahini and lemon juice, as I personally think those are the two most important ingredients to a good hummus. For once I used real garlic cloves, and instead of doing ¼ tsp hot sauce, I did ¼ cayenne, which is to me so essential, as it gives it just the slightest kick to elevate the red pepper flavor. I also added in the ¾ tsp of salt called for in the roasting process into this step; salt is also essential to a good hummus.

I skipped the garnishes, of course, and because this recipe is so good, you hardly need anything extra here. I don’t want to discount my go-to hummus, but this may be my favorite hummus recipe ever, give or take.

[laurkamkitchen]

This was one of the first Pinterest recipes I ever tried. It was a go-to for Emma and me in halls, one we could easily throw together without having to really cook anything. It’s a great one to make with a friend, as you both get into the groove of chopping side by side, and will always make me think of her. It’s been a while since I’ve made it though, as I haven’t seen Emma much this year, but with collard greens in season here, I simply couldn’t resist, as this really is an old favorite.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it easily allows you to make as much as you want. Usually for one serving for myself, I use 1 medium carrot (Emma and I have also bought pre-shredded carrots in the past, which works well and eliminates some of the work), ¼ cucumber, ¼ cup uncooked quinoa, and 4 collard leaves to contain it all. Emma and I have usually substituted the red cabbage with red bell pepper to avoid buying a whole head, which works well as a substitute. In the past, we’ve used whatever hummus we’ve had, but this time I actually did do a curry one, using this recipe which was a bit simpler than the one linked in the ingredients list.

This time to cook my quinoa, I borrowed the pre-cook toasting tip from the notes of this recipe from Minimalist Baker, adding salt and about ¼ tsp curry powder to the uncooked quinoa and letting it toast for a few minutes before adding the water and proceeding as normal. It elevates the quinoa just slightly and really does make a yummy difference.

I took a third of the peanut sauce recipe this time, simply whisking in a bowl since breaking out the food processor seemed unnecessary since I making such a small batch. I used tamari rather than soy sauce as well as crunchy peanut butter, a tip Emma and I have found to work really well. By using crunchy peanut butter, you still get that extra texture without having to worry about buying and chopping peanuts on their own, as the listed ingredients would have you do.

The peanut sauce really makes this recipe, which is one of those that is both super yummy and indulgent and yet also really healing, thanks to the freshness of the veggies. It’s got all sorts of sentimental associations for me now, and every time I make it, I feel so satisfied and whole.

[laurkamkitchen]

I think it’s only fitting that my first ever post on this blog, and the first recipe I’ve made this year, is this chia pudding. I have made this so many times now that it’s probably the only recipe I no longer need the instructions for (although it does help that they’re pretty straightforward).

I usually end up making a half batch of this, although I do keep the cinnamon and vanilla amounts the same as the full because, well, I love cinnamon and vanilla and they give this such great flavor.

The original recipe calls for fresh blueberries as a topping, but I’ll typically only add them if they’re in season, leaving them out and opting for other fruit that is, either as a topping or on the side depending on what it is.

The original instructions call for you to blend the initial ingredients, but I’ve found that if your almond butter is runny enough, a little whisking will still do the trick.

The same goes for adding almond milk upon consumption; when I make this at school, where the almond butter brand I buy tends to be more runny, it’s not usually necessary, but at home, where it tends to be much thicker, I usually add a lot and then stir. At the end of the day, it’s really all about personal preference and experimentation.