Author: lisa

Sweet potato-kale burritos

I spent a fair amount of my childhood in Texas eating Tex-Mex, so this recipe feels like “home” to me. I probably make burritos using this method about once a month, on average, and it’s always such a quick and delicious meal. I cheated by using a microwave to cook the sweet potatoes, kale, and peppers/onions – it would be better done in a skillet, but I was in a rush!

Ingredients

All hail the sweet potato!

1 medium sweet potato, peeled, diced into about 3/4″ pieces
1 small bunch kale, tough stems removed, chopped medium-fine
1 cup chopped bell pepper and onion  (I used frozen from Trader Joe’s)
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t salt, or to taste
4 whole wheat wraps/tortillas
1 can Eden Organics refried black beans
about half a jar of Appalachian Naturals Veracruz salsa
About 3/4 cup shredded “cheddar” (Daiya or soy cheese – could also use something like this vegan queso)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a microwave-safe bowl, toss your chopped kale, sweet potato, and peppers/onions with about a tablespoon of water and the cumin and steam, covered, in a microwave for 4 minutes. Stir, check for doneness, and cook for another minute or two until your sweet potato is done. Meanwhile, divide the refried black beans among each of the wraps, spreading onto most of the surface of each one with a spatula. When your sweet potato/kale mixture is done, spoon onto each of your wraps. Take each wrap, fold in the sides, roll up into a log, and place into a rectangular baking dish. The dish should be sized so that your burritos are snug against each other and snug against the sides of the dish. Once all the burritos are lined up in your pan, cover them with the salsa and cheese (I like my burritos covered, but not drenched – to each her own) and pop into the oven for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Seitan & Root Vegetable Stew

This is a filling, warming, nurturing kind of winter stew. The kind that makes you go “mmmm.”

Feel free to use whatever veggies you have hanging around. The combination I used worked well, but it would have been equally good with sweet potatoes, celeriac, a different kind of winter squash, rutabagas, and/or parsnips. Don’t be afraid of root vegetables! They are your friends! By the way, if you use regular red beets in this recipe, you will end up with pinkish stew. So go with golden if you can find them, and save the red beets for something else.

Ingredients

a little oil for sauteeing
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water
1 T Better than Bouillion vegetable broth concentrate
2 turnips, diced
1 large potato, diced
3 golden beets, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1/2 a butternut squash, peeled, seeded, diced
1 rib celery, diced
4-6 slices/hunks chicken-style seitan or veggie sausage
A splash of apple cider vinegar
3-4 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp smoked paprika
Chopped fresh or frozen sage, tarragon, thyme, etc. to taste
1 bay leaf

Directions
Warm the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced onions and garlic and cook a couple minutes. Add the broth, increase heat, add the rest of the ingredients. Once soup reaches a low boil, reduce heat to simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness (this was about half an hour for me, but it depends on how small your veggies are diced and how tender you want them.) Serve with croutons, crusty bread, or just a smidgen of freshly ground black pepper.

Number of Servings: 8
Approximate nutritional info per serving: 200 cal, 2g fat, 380mg sodium, 25g carbs, 5g fiber, 23g protein

Making Chinese dumplings

Making dumplings

Mark and I made Chinese dumplings for dinner tonight. The filling consisted of gai lan (Chinese broccoli), chopped and sauteed, along with chopped baked tofu, mixed with a little gyoza sauce from Trader Joe’s (which was also the dipping sauce). We steamed the first batch for 5 minutes, which wasn’t quite long enough… and we boiled the second batch for 4 minutes, which was a little too long. Both batches were delicious, though!

Lentil-Potato-Kale Soup

I love lentils. So easy to use, so delicious & nutritious. This soup is chunky, robust, and flavorful, not to mention wicked easy and quick.

Ingredients
1 t olive or canola oil
1 small red onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 small to medium potatoes, scrubbed & diced
1.5 to 2 c dry masoor dal (red lentils with skins on) or french green/brown lentils
big bunch of kale, washed, destemmed, torn into small bits
15 oz can diced tomatoes
1-2 carrots, diced
4-5 large button mushrooms, chopped
8 c liquid (veg broth, water, or mixture of both)
Splash of sherry
1 T Bragg’s liquid aminos
1 t cumin
1/2 t sage
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 t celery seed

Method
Warm the oil in the bottom of a large pot. Add onions & mushrooms and cook over medium heat until softened. Add liquid, then add rest of ingredients. Stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for half an hour or until lentils and potatoes are done. Enjoy topped with croutons.

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables

Adapted from a Whole Foods recipe. I recommend using golden beets unless you really like pink foods. I wish I had had golden beets on hand, but I’ve been getting all my fresh veg from Boston Organics lately, so I don’t get much choice! This was good and seemed to go over well at the department lunch today. I had to add the maple syrup because mine was a little bitter without it – not sure if that was from the quinoa (which can be bitter sometimes) or perhaps the rutabaga.

Ingredients
3 beets
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
3 carrots, chopped
3 turnips/rutabagas/radishes, chopped
1 cup uncooked quinoa
Juice of 1 lemon (I used 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar instead)
2 cups gluten-free vegetable stock or water
A splash of sherry (optional)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley (I omitted this)
1-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
2 tablespoons maple syrup (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 350F. Rub beets all over with 1 teaspoon of the oil, then season with salt and pepper. Wrap in foil, place on a small baking sheet and roast for about 1 hour, until beets are tender. Allow beets to cool and then peel and chop them. Meanwhile, toss remaining veggies in remaining 3 teaspoons oil, season with salt and pepper and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Rinse quinoa well in a strainer. Put quinoa, lemon juice/cider, stock or water and thyme (and sherry, if using) into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until quinoa is tender. Remove from heat and set aside to let cool to room temperature. Put quinoa, roasted carrots and parsnips into a large bowl and toss to combine. Add beets, onions, parsley, walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, mix well and serve.

Serves 6-8

Chickpea, Rice & Tabouli Salad

Chickpea, Rice & Tabouli Salad
3/4 c cooked black or brown rice (black rice = more antioxidants!)
3/4 c cooked garbanzo beans
3/4 c tabouli
2 large carrots, peeled, diced
1 c sugar snap peas
1 c green beans, snapped
1/2 c marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
1 small cucumber, chopped

I steamed the carrots, snap peas, and green beans for about a minute and then ran them under cold water before adding (I like how it releases the sugars, but it’s not really necessary). You may want to chill for a while before serving.
Serves 4-6.