Author: lisa

Black bean & kale quesadilla

Truly simple — kinda like making a grilled cheese, just with a few extra ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 whole wheat tortillas
6 large kale leaves, de-stemmed and shredded/chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
cumin to taste (I used about 2 tsp)
chili pepper to taste (I used about 1 tsp)
diced garlic to taste (I used about 1 tsp)
fat-free refried black beans (you’ll need about 1/4 of a can or so, per quesadilla – about 4 oz or 1/2 cup)
Daiya shredded dairy-free cheddar cheese (optional)
Salsa, cilantro, guacamole — optional but delicious (for topping your quesadilla)

Method:
Warm up a flat-bottomed pan over medium heat, then spritz with a little olive or canola oil. Add your onions and saute until transluscent. Add the garlic and stir, then add kale and saute until tender. If you like a lot of cilantro flavor and you have some to spare, you can toss some chopped cilantro in there at the end. Spread a layer of refried black beans on one side of a tortilla. Once your kale & onions are done, scoop them out of the pan into a bowl and set aside. Wipe your pan & spritz with oil again. Place the tortilla without the beans on it into the pan and sprinkle with the Daiya if you’re using it, then top with the kale mixture. Gently place the black-bean tortilla on top. Cook until the bottom tortilla is browned to your liking. Place a plate over the top and hold in place with one hand while flipping the pan upside-down with the other hand. You’ll have the quesadilla on your plate. Spritz the pan with a tiny bit more oil and gently slide the quesadilla back into the pan, uncooked side down. Cook until nicely browned, then serve topped with salsa, guac, cilantro, mole sauce, enchilada sauce, or nothing at all.

Vegan Osso Bucco

Annie at Meet the Shannons is veganizing her way through the Betty Crocker cookbook. Kind of a cool project. Since I had some Gardein Beefless Tips in the freezer, I tried out the Osso Bucco recipe the other day. It came out a little salty, but seriously delicious and easy to make. Next time I’ll cut back on the boullion. I served the mashed potatoes and beefless tips with side of golden beet and asparagus from my garden (steamed), which was perfect.

Just goes to show that almost any recipe can be veganized with good results.

Walnut-fruit-brownie bites (vegan and gluten-free)

This is a modification of the raw choco-walnut-fruit balls I love so much. I started out trying to make another batch of those, but I was out of dates and apricots, and the mixture didn’t do what I expected. So I baked it and ended up with a flourless brownie-type thing. Super delicious, healthy, and rich-tasting. Very dense, so I cut into tiny bite-sized things and try not to eat more than 2 at a sitting! All measurements are approximate.

3 c walnuts
2 c prunes
1 c dried blueberries
1.5 c dried cranberries
2 T flaxseed meal
2 T agave syrup
2 T cocoa powder
1/4 c water or as needed

Pre-heat oven to around 275F to 300F. Pulse the walnuts in a food processor until finely chopped. Add fruit, flax, agave, and cocoa and process for 30 seconds. Add water and continue processing until you have a thick, sticky, “dough”. Line a rectangular baking dish with parchment paper. Press “dough” into pan – ideally, your dough will end up being about an inch thick. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until you feel like they’re done.* Cut into 24 bite-sized pieces! Will keep for a while in the fridge.

Nutrition data for 1/24th of above recipe: 197 cal, 10.3 g fat, (1.0 g sat, 7.1 g polyunsat, 1.4 g monounsat), 0 cholesterol, 2.3 mg sodium, 176.7 mg potassium, 24.9 g carb, 3.4 g fiber, 18.3 g sugars, 3.0 g protein

*I must say that one of the things I love about cooking vegan is not having to worry as much about food safety issues. With something like this, there are no eggs or butter or other things that might not be good if you don’t cook them well. You can eat the “dough” raw if you like!

Square lunch

Today’s lunch was soooo good. On the right is leftover curried red lentil soup with red potatoes, kale, tomatoes, carrots, curry, cumin, and garam masala (modified version of Liz’s recipe here).

On the left is a grilled avocado and white-bean spread sandwich. The whole-wheat flatbread (available at Costco) is only 110 calories per piece, each of which makes a fantastic sandwich – a nice way to cut the calories (vs. 2 pieces of regular bread). The white-bean spread is something I made with my new food processor that I got for my birthday this year (which I LOVE). It contains soybeans, Italian herbs, garlic, olive oil, Bragg’s liquid aminos, and a little apple cider vinegar. Blended together, the result is sort of like a soft herbed cheese (minus the cruelty, fat and cholesterol, and manure lagoons).

Raw choco-walnut-fruit balls


These are super easy to make (even in a crappy food processor), really delicious, and not bad for you! Quantities are approximate and can be modified to your taste. You might also want to play around with other fruits or nuts.

4 handfuls (about 2 c) of walnuts
4 dates, pitted
6-8 dried apricots
1-2 handfuls (about 1 c) Craisins
2 T flaxseed meal
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T agave syrup

In a food processor, process walnuts for about a minute or two, until they are finely chopped. Add dates, apricots, Craisins, and flaxseed meal and process until nicely blended and finely chopped (another minute or two). Add cocoa powder and agave, and process until well blended (maybe 30 seconds). Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Using your hands or a pair of spoons, take hunks of the mixture, form into golf-ball-sized balls, and place on the cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for an hour or two, then put into a storage container.

Makes about two dozen balls.

According to SparkPeople’s recipe calculator, each ball is about 100 cal, 7g fat, 11.7g carb, 1.8g fiber, 8.7g sugars, 2g protein.

Kale, Beans, & Quinoa

Ingredients:

2 c veg broth
1 t olive oil
1 bunch kale, washed, destemmed, and torn into small pieces

1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 c cooked beans (I used soybeans, but any kind would work)
1-2 links veggie sausage, diced (I used homemade)
1.5 c cooked quinoa
2 T fresh cilantro (optional)
Method:
In a large sauté pan with lid, saute the onion and sausage in a little olive oil over medium heat. Once onions are softened and sausage is browned, add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add broth, carrots, beans, and kale. Reduce heat, cover, and cook until kale is done. Stir in quinoa and garnish with cilantro.

Easiest stir-fry ever

This is my lazy cheater stir-fry recipe. Dinner’s ready in 15 minutes as long as you have some leftover rice. If not, you can make this with rice noodles (the really fine ones that cook in 3 minutes in some boiling water) and it’ll be just as quick.

Ingredients
1 package baked tofu, diced
Lots of veggies (Kirkland’s Stir Fry Veggies frozen mix used here)
Leftover rice
2 T tamari or Bragg’s liquid aminos
2 T rice vinegar
2 T rice cooking wine
1 T sweet chili sauce (or to taste)
1-2 t garlic (jarred minced)
1-2 t ginger (jarred minced)
Method

Put everything in a large saute pan or wok and stir-fry over med-high heat until the veggies are done. Serve garnished with liberal amounts of cilantro, lime juice, sriracha sauce, and/or chopped peanuts. That’s it!

Black bean soup in the slow cooker

Today’s recipe is inspired by a bunch of different black bean soup recipes I’ve seen over the years. The oranges come from Mollie Katzen’s version. I’m making this to take into work tomorrow, so it is intended to be about 8-10 servings.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 T diced garlic (about 8-10 cloves)
2 large carrots, diced
1-2 large bell peppers, diced
8 cups broth/water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2 cans black beans (rinsed & drained if you want to cut down on the salt)
1/2 c dried lentils, rinsed & picked over
1 c frozen corn
1 T cumin
2 t coriander
1 jalapeno, diced or 1 t red chili flakes or a small amount of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 oranges or 4 clementines, peeled, seeded, & chopped
Method
Combine everything except the oranges into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Stir in oranges about an hour before serving. You can add some cooked brown rice toward the end if you want to make it heartier. You can also blend half (an immersion blender works well for this) to make it smoother. Top with cilantro tofu cream and/or vegan cheddar cheese and/or chopped green onions and/or cilantro. Serve with cornbread!

Hoppin’ John

I’m originally from Texas, but I never had Hoppin’ John (a supposedly traditional Southern New Year’s dish) until I moved to Massachusetts. Now I like to make it every year – and it’s really easy to make vegan. My version usually uses spinach instead of collard greens, just because it’s what I have on hand, and veggie sausage. This year I included carrots because I have a bunch in the fridge, and it added a nice sweetness.

Ingredients
brown rice
black-eyed peas (1 c dried makes about 2-3 c cooked)
water to cover the peas
1 T powdered veggie broth (I get mine in bulk at Whole Foods)
1 t smoked paprika
2 t cumin
4 links veggie sausage, diced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg frozen spinach
2 T Bragg’s liquid aminos
2 T nutritional yeast
black pepper to taste
Method
After soaking peas for about 8 hours, drain and rinse well, then return to your pot. Add enough water to cover by at least 2 inches, then add your (salt-free!) veg broth powder, cumin, and paprika. Bring to boil, lower heat, and simmer for about an hour.
Meanwhile, cook your brown rice.
About half an hour before the peas are done, start preparing the rest of the ingredients. First, in a large sauté pan, brown your veggie sausage in a little cooking oil. Remove from pan, give it a wipe (or not), add a little cooking oil, and sauté your onion and carrots until softened. Add your spinach and a ladle or two of the cooking water from your peas and stir. Cover and simmer until the spinach is cooked. Add your sausage and mix well, then set aside until the peas are done. Once they’re finished, combine your veggies and sausage with your peas. At this point, you may want to remove some of the water — it depends on how much liquid you started with and how soupy you want the final product to be. I went for a stew-like consistency rather than a soup, but it’s up to you.
Season the whole thing with Bragg’s, nooch, and black pepper to taste and serve over brown rice (or mix the rice in with everything else if you like).