Category: Recipes

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).

Brown bread in the bread machine

I love my bread machine. It’s an Oster 5838 ExpressBake Breadmaker that I’ve had for a number of years. The best thing about it? I can make homemade bread in an hour. Seriously! The ExpressBake setting works really well. There were only 3 recipes in the 1-hour ExpressBake section of the instruction book, though, so I haven’t used that setting as often as I would like. Recently I decided to attempt to modify one of the recipes (the Onion Soup bread) to make a whole wheat version, and it turned out great! If you try this in a regular breadmaker, I can’t guarantee that it will turn out right, but here it is for posterity.

1 c + 2 T hot water (115-125 F)
2 T oil
2 T blackstrap molasses (the healthiest sweetener)
1 c bread flour
1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c oats
1 t salt
2 T ground flaxseed
4 1/2 t quick rise yeast
Place all ingredients in bread maker in order shown, making sure that the yeast does not come into contact with any wet ingredients. Set breadmaker on ExpressBake 58-minute setting and hit start. Let cool completely before slicing!

Pasta with veggie sausage, kale, & cabbage

The last few weeks of the CSA, we received lots and lots of cabbage. I currently have 5 HUGE heads of cabbage in my basement! I must say, it’s getting a little old – we’ve been eating cabbage every day for a while now. I made cabbage soup, put cabbage in my stir-fries, and used it in the braised veggie sausage dish I made on Sunday. I think I need to try making sauerkraut and kimchee.

Anyway, this recipe arose from the need to find more uses for cabbage. It turned out really well and was super easy and quick.
About 4 servings cooked pasta (I used whole-wheat rigatoni, but penne or spirals would work just as well)
2 links veggie sausage (I used my homemade sausage from Sunday), diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 t Italian seasoning
1 medium bunch kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped (I used a combination of purple and green curly kale)
1/4 to 1/2 head green cabbage
1-2 T Parma! (vegan parmesan), optional
In a large pan, saute the onion and shallot over medium heat until softened. Add the sausage and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and seasoning, stirring to combine. Add the kale and cabbage, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until kale and cabbage reach desired doneness. You may need to add a little water. If you have room in your pan, add the pasta and stir to combine. Otherwise, you can ladle pasta into bowls and top with sausage and kale. Sprinkle with Parma! to serve.

Vegan Dinner Party

We had our neighbors over for dinner tonight. They’re not vegan, but are very open to vegan dishes and very willing to make vegan food for us. I made an autumnal menu:

  • Arugula and mesclun salad with radishes, carrots, walnuts, and cranberries
  • Homemade onion soup bread
  • Homemade seitan sausage braised with Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and radicchio
  • Mashed parsnips
Finished off with an apple-cranberry crisp that our neighbors brought. It all came out really well and they both had seconds!

Moroccan Unchicken & Veggies

I had some leftover couscous from the stuffed squash recipe, so I decided to make a Moroccan-themed dish. Consulting various recipes, it looked like the spice blend should be cinnamon, paprika, cayenne, turmeric, garlic, and lemon juice, and that a garnish with fruit would be appropriate, so I came up with this. I love how the kale stands out against the yellow of the rest of the dish, and it tastes really, really good – a nice change of pace.

Moroccan Unchicken & Veggies

1 T olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 t cayenne
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t turmeric
1 t cinnamon
1 T lemon juice
1 T Bragg liquid aminos
1 can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes with liquid
1 package Trader Joe’s Chickenless Chicken Strips or similar
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 small bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped
1/2 head radicchio, chopped
About 1 1/2 c couscous, cooked
1/4 c raisins (optional)
1 T vegan parm/nutritional yeast (optional)
In a large pan, saute onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until softened, then add garlic and spices and stir. After about 30 seconds, add lemon juice, Bragg’s, and tomatoes, and stir to combine. Add unchicken, cauliflower, and carrots, lower heat, and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add kale and radicchio, stir, cover, and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until kale reaches desired doneness. Stir in cooked couscous or serve on the side. Serve garnished with raisins and vegan parm/nutritional yeast.

Soyrizo and Kale Stuffed Delicata Squash

Quick, easy, and yum! Delicata squash rinds are edible, which is nice. Plus they have a sweet taste that pairs nicely with a somewhat spicy soy chorizo.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 delicata squash, halved, de-seeded
Olive oil for sauteeing
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 link of soy chorizo, crumbled or diced (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
1 small bunch kale (or spinach), destemmed, chopped finely
2 c dry whole-wheat couscous

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Place squash, cut side down, in a baking dish and add about 1 c water to the pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Alternatively, cook the squash in a covered dish in the microwave, on high, for 6 minutes per pound.

Place couscous in a large bowl and cover with about 2 c boiling water. Cover and let sit while you make the rest of the meal. Fluff with spatula or fork before serving.

Saute onion till softened, then add garlic and soyrizo. Saute for a few minutes. Add chopped kale and a little water if needed and cook, stirring, over medium heat until kale is done to your liking (took about 3 minutes for me, but I like my kale with a little tooth to it).

To serve, place couscous in a bowl or on a plate, then top with half a squash and spoon the soyrizo-kale mixture into the squash.

Lentils and rice in the rice cooker

Just returned from a week in California, eating restaurant food for every meal. It’s good to be home – I miss my own cooking when I’m away!

I have a Zojirushi 5-1/2-Cup Rice Cooker that I absolutely love. It makes amazing brown rice, which I make at least twice a week. Tonight I decided to experiment with making both lentils and rice together in the rice cooker.

I used brown jasmine rice from Trader Joe’s, by the way – very good quality, organic, not too expensive.Rice cooker lentils & rice

2 rice cooker cups brown jasmine rice, rinsed (rice cooker cups = 180 ml, about 3/4 c)
1 rice cooker cup dry brown lentils, washed/picked over
2 c water (approx)
1 t minced garlic
1 t olive oil
1/2 t garam masala
1/4 t cumin seeds
1/4 t salt

Add all ingredients to rice cooker, stir, select brown rice setting, and hit start!

I served this topped with sauteed onions, kale, and tomatoes, along with fresh cilantro, a little Bragg Liquid Aminos, and nutritional yeast.Finished dish