Toss Your Own Salad

Any schmuck can put bacon on something to make it delicious. Vegetarian chef Eddie McNamara takes the boring out of healthy-ish, meatless cooking, one post at a time. * BUY MY COOKBOOK* Buy Toss Your Own Salad online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or at a bookstore in real life. 

[tossyourownsalad]

Being a 9/11 First Responder Made Me a Fat Vegetarian

Sometimes you remember who you used to be and think, "How did I get here?" It was that motherfucker Osama Bin Laden.

Check out my piece at Vice Munchies 

[tossyourownsalad]

TossYourOwnSalad.com

I have a real website now. Later Tumblr Check it out at:

https://www.tossyourownsalad.com

[tossyourownsalad]

Buy a Book From ME

HOLIDAY SALE Do you know a person? Do they eat food? The perfect gift is here. Save them from boring meals with Toss Your Own Salad, the plant-based cookbook that meat eaters should also buy because everyone needs vegetables. Signed by author, $20. Buy at the eBay link, paypal me at mcnamara.eddie@gmail, or find me on Venmo (search my name and pick the guy who looks like me). eBay link here

[tossyourownsalad]

Sichuan Style Vegan Ramen

We tend to think of Ramen as something distinctly Japanese, but until that pesky WWII, Ramen in Japan was just called Chinese Noodle Soup (but they managed to make the name offensive—true story).

In the last 50 years, the Japanese have perfected the dish and made it their own, but some of the best ramen I slurped in Tokyo was in Chinese noodle houses. It was completely different, and completely awesome. This is also the ultimate sick food. Fuck a chicken soup. A big bowl of this will cure your ills.

Ingredients:

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 leek (clean it good, those things are filthy), thinly sliced

1 bunch chives, chopped

8 oz seitan, cubed

2 cups baby corn

1 cup spinach

1 quart veggie broth

1 quart water (too much sodium makes you bloated. Lookin out for ya)

3 T Sichuan Chili Paste (Start with 3 if you’re a hot food hero. Start with 1 T if you’re not a capsaicin junkie—you can always add more)

1 T ground ginger

1 T Shoyu

4 oz ramen noodles

Bean sprouts

Sesame seeds

Shake of dark sesame oil

Instructions:

In a large soup pot, combine everything except for the noodles, sesame seeds a bean sprouts. Stir to blend the flavors together.

Bring that to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer, cover and let cook for 20 minutes. It’ll get spicier and more delicious as it cooks.

Bring another pot of water to the boil and cook the noodles: 2 mins for fresh, 5 minutes for dried.

Remove the noodles, but save the cooking water.

Divide the noodles evenly into 4 big bowls—or 2 huge bowls if you want to do it fat bastard style.

Ladle the soup and veg over the noodles. Use ramen cooking water if you want it soupier

Garnish with sesame seeds, bean sprouts, sesame oil and maybe a little chili sauce

Slurp!

[tossyourownsalad]

How Food Motivated a Prison Escape and a Recovery From PTSD

When necessity becomes passion, lives can be saved by gastronomical methods.

Check me out on Nat Geo. 

[tossyourownsalad]

Moroccan Eggplant Salad With Tomato Sauce

Check out the new recipe here. Big thanks to The Tastiest Book. 

[tossyourownsalad]

I’m honored to be part of this amazing event put on by the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation. 

[tossyourownsalad]

How Cooking Helped a Former 9/11 Rescue Cop Overcome PTSD and Find His True Calling

Former September 11 responder Eddie McNamara shares how a national tragedy ultimately led him to life as a chef

Awesome article about me and TYOS in People Magazine! 

[tossyourownsalad]

Kimchi and Summer Squash Frittata with Quick Pickles

[tossyourownsalad]

At Market Block Books. Troy, New York

[tossyourownsalad]

White Trash Risotto

Fuck all that standing around and stirring, the Mets are playing the Yankees, and you don’t have time for that bullshit. 

Ingredients:

2 C arborio or carnaroli rice.

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 can artichoke hearts (Trader Joe’s has an awesome vacuum sealed pack)

Parmigiano Reggiano, a whole grip of it grated

Instructions:

Get a pot of salty water to a rapid boil.

Boil the rice for 15 minutes, drain

Stir the cream of mushroom in. Stir the artichoke hearts in. Season with salt and pepper. Top with grated cheese.

[tossyourownsalad]

People Magazine said you MUST READ my book. Bieber, every Kardashian, Drake, and J-Lo agree.

[tossyourownsalad]

Low Carb Vegan Cacio e Pepe

I have been obsessed with Momofuku Nishi’s ‘cece e pepe’ for one month and two days now. David Chang’s Korean/Italian mashup is fucking genius. Instead of using Pecorino Romano, he uses butter and hozon (a Korean fermented paste made from chickpeas). I was all like, “what if I could make it vegan, and make it with zoodles instead of bucatini pasta, for people who GAF about being healthy?”; So I did it. Now, you can too. 

Ingredients:

2 T Earth Balance or similar vegan butter substitute

1 T white miso

5 regular sized zucchini, or 3 YUGE ones, spiralized

Punch of salt

1/4 t crushed red pepper

5 cranks on a pepper grinder, 

1 T black sesame seeds

instructions:

In a small bowl, combine the butter sub and the miso until you have a miso butter. Use a fork to make your life easier

Heat a large saute pan over medium. Drop the miso butter in, let it melt.

Drop the zucchini noodles in. Hit them with some salt and pepper. Use tongs to combine the zoodles and the miso butter. After a couple of minutes the zucchini should release some its water, keep tossing with the tongs, that water will combine with the miso and make your sauce. This should take no more than 5 minutes total from the moment you add the zucchini to the pan.

Garnish with the black sesame seeds

[tossyourownsalad]

[tossyourownsalad]

Warm Veggie and Grilled Haloumi Salad

My friend Kristen is one of those people who are good at everything. She’s a great dancer, a great artist, a tattooer, knows everything there is to know about vintage clothing; she can design her own clothing, build any-fucking-thing with her own hands, knows the history of everything, has a razor sharp memory, and is glamorous AF. Nobody said life was fair. Apparently, she can throw down in the kitchen too. She sent me a few of her recipes, and I was all like, “damn, these look good.” She had a warm veg and grilled Haloumi salad that sounded awesome. I tried to make it from memory using whatever I had in my kitchen. It’s an awesome light and colorful summer dinner salad. Good on ya, mate.

Ingredients:

12 oz. green beans

1 bunch broccolini, keep the leaf, toss the leaf, I don’t care

3 oz. package instant ramen

3 yellow squash, sliced paper-thin (a mandolin or slicer on a box grater work great here)

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 t capers

2 t sliced green olives

8 oz. Haloumi cheese, sliced widthwise into 6 slices

1 t white miso

1 t mirin

¼ C olive oil

¼ C rice vinegar

1 t honey

Directions:

Get a big pot of very salty water to a rapid boil with a bowl of cold water and a big salad bowl nearby.

 Blanch the green beans for 2 minutes, shock in the cold water. Drain and add to the salad bowl.

 Blanch the broccolini for 4 minutes, shock in the cold water. Drain and add to the salad bowl.

Cook the ramen for 3 minutes. Drain and add to salad bowl.

Add the squash, tomatoes, capers and olives to the salad bowl.

Heat a grill pan over medium and cook the Haloumi for 2 minutes on each side. You should have nice grill marks/color

Meanwhile, combine the miso, mirin, oil, vinegar, and honey in a small jar. Stir a bit, then shake it up to make your dressing.

Dress the salad (start with half) and save any leftover dressing in the fridge.

Cut the cheese... into triangles and serve on top of the salad.

Whenever I’m cooking with broccolini, I sing Broccolina, Broccolina to the tune of Bop A-Lena. Try it, it’s fun. 

[tossyourownsalad]

Tikka Masala Ramen

Super easy #ramen #tikkamasala. Make the tikka masala sauce from the book. Poach a couple of eggs in the sauce. Make 2 packets of instant ramen, drain and toss with the sauce. #eatathome #mostrestaurantssuck

[tossyourownsalad]

I took the 3-in-1 challenge at Extra Crispy on Facebook Live