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Cajun Beanballs & Spaghetti – Appetite for Reduction

17 Mar

Here’s another yummy meal made from Appetite for Reduction! I’m definitely going to keep this book in heavy rotation for a while. A.) because I need to drop a couple of pounds (not that it’s a diet book, but at least it’s mostly light on oil) and B.) because the recipes tastes really good!

Tempeh cubed and ready to hit the steamer.

About to be mashed into the rest of the bean ball ingredients.

Heading into the oven to bake.

Sprinkled with nutritional yeast & vegan parm. <3

The recipe consists of three recipes. 1 for bean balls, 1 for the sauce, which is a variation of her basic sauce in this book, just with some cajun spices, and 1 for the general recipe which includes 2 c. of chopped zucchini, for which I subbed cauliflower that needed using.

YUM!

Broiled Blackened Tofu w/ Jerk Asparagus – Appetite for Reduction

13 Mar


Here’s another meal from Appetite for Reduction that we really enjoyed. I took Isa’s suggestion and served it with jerk asparagus, but skipped the butternut coconut rice, and served it with some simple mashed acorn squash instead. I toasted up the squash seeds in a skillet to use as a garnish.

Roasted Acorn Squash Mash & Toasted Seeds

1 medium acorn squash, cut down the middle, seeds removed and reserved

desired seasonings (I used a pinch of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt & pepper)

sprinkle of sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare a roasting pan or cookie sheet, and place squash halves face down. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a fork pierces the skin easily. Remove from oven and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh, mash, and add seasonings to taste.

2. Meanwhile, place rinsed squash seeds and a small sprinkle of salt in a small skillet, and heat to low-medium heat, shaking occasionally until all are toasted and dry.

going in

coming out

I usually cheat and buy the sprouted, pre-pressed tofu, but they were out!

seasonings for blackened tofu

tofu heading in to broil

Mmm, jerk asparagus

made for a pretty plate! :)

Veggie Potpie Soup

12 Mar

Since I was SO behind on posts, I’m going to pepper in a few cooking posts with the restaurant reviews from our recent travels. A few weeks ago I had Thomas pick out a few meals from Appetite for Reduction. Around the same time we also found a cheap bag of TSP (TVP chunks) at WF that we couldn’t resist buying. The two meetup in this adapted version of Isa‘s Veggie Potpie Stew from AFR. The TSP chunks taste even better the next day after soaking up all the flavors. Speaking of the next day, I added 3 cups of water to it on day 2 (it thickens up a lot!),  along with half a bag of frozen, chopped spinach to give it a delicious little makeover as a second dinner. I served it with my drop biscuits for a warm, comforting, healthy dinner. Enjoy!

Veggie Potpie Soup

olive oil for misting

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper

1/2 c. split peas
6 c. filtered water + 2 bouillon cubes
1 c. TSP chunks, optional

3 small potatoes, cut into small pieces
1/2 lbs carrots, cut into 1/2″ chunks
3 small zucchini, chopped

1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 c. filtered water
1/4 c. flour
1 c. frozen peas

Directions:

1. Mist a 4-5 qt pot lightly with olive oil, add onions, and raise to low-medium heat. Cook until translucent. Add garlic, sage, salt & pepper, and cook another minute.

2. Add split peas, water and bouillon, and raise to a boil. After 5 minutes, add potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and TSP chunks (if using). Cover and simmer 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Whisk the flour into the cup of water, to dissolve it fully, and add it to the pot along with the last of the thyme and frozen peas. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 more minutes. It thickens up quite a bit, and even more so overnight.


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(4. The next day I added 3 c. of filtered water & half a bag of frozen, chopped spinach.)

Angelica Home Kitchen custom sammies

7 Feb

When I asked Thomas yesterday what he’d like to eat in the next few days, he asked me to make the yummy sandwiches I accidentally came up with a while back trying to recreate the Sam or I sandwich from Angelica Kitchen in New York. Instead of the kraut and seaweed that appear on said sandwich, I use oven roasted carrots and onions, and some steamed greens. For variety, any of their sandwiches can easily be made into a bowl, by serving over a grain instead of bread. All of the recipes come from their cookbook, Angelica Home Kitchen (available cheapest on their website). I was happy that at least if we were eating cooked food, we’re eating some quality macrobiotic deliciousness! Regardless, after eating some of the leftovers for lunch today, I couldn’t help but notice the difference in how I felt eating cooked food again. I missed the lighter feeling of eating raw, and am thinking lunch is probably a great time to continue to do so.

The recipe for Soba Sensation sauce makes a lot (a whole spaghetti jar’s worth) but I’m going to use the rest of it over a package of soba noodles later in the week as a bed for some [made from their cookbook] Candle 79 crusted seitan. Oh and P.S., Thomas is making seitan this week, the long way, from actual bread flour using Candle’s recipe. So wish him luck! ; )

Baked Tofu with Lemon-Rosemary Marinade, pg. 105

I made a double batch because there is a tofu eating monster that lives in my house, and also because the other recipes make so much!

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Oven-Roasted Onions and Carrots, pg. 168

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Steamed Greens, pg. 99 (Just steam them for 5 minutes. That’s it.)

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Soba Sensation Sauce, pg. 209

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That’s a tasty sandwich! Served on sprouted grain bread.

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Dip, dip, hooRAW! More Terry Hope Testing & Avocado Salsa

5 Feb

Finished!

I’m pleased to report back to you on the results of two raw dips I tested this weekend. One was my little creation based on the tomato and avocado that needed using in my fridge, and the second, another recipe from Terry’s upcoming book for Mexican Pumpkin Seed Pate (Sikil Pak).

This avocado salsa is kind of like guacamole and pico de gallo had a baby… and then threw in some corn for fun. :) It’s delicious.

Avocado Salsa

1 or 2 ripe haas avocado
2 tbsp. of lime juice
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped finely
2-3 tbsp. of finely chopped white onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 large handful of cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 c. of fresh or frozen corn kernels*, optional
salt & pepper, to taste
cayenne pepper or 1/2 a jalapeño, chopped finely, optional

Directions:

1. Scoop out avocado into a bowl. Add lime juice. Add all other ingredients, and mash to desired consistency. Eat fresh or chill in the fridge to let flavors combine further.

*If using frozen corn kernals, just run them under some warm water in a fine mesh sieve before adding.

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Terry Hope Romero’s Mexican Pumpkin Seed Pate (Sikil Pak)

I was attracted to it since it was a raw recipe, and we do love a tasty dip for snacking or entertaining guests. The reviews that were already in were sort of a mixed bag, but it sounded like something we would like, so I decided to give it a go.

I started out with half of the suggested amount of water and got a chunkier dip, but then further thinned with the full suggested amount just to see if it smoothed out. It still retained the grainy texture, at least in my food processer, but if you want it creamy I’m sure a high powered blender would do the trick. She tells you to process to a chunky hummus texture.

Recipe called for soaking the seeds. I left mine soaking for about 5 hours.

A potent blend of pumpkin seeds, garlic, onion, cilantro, etc.

Finished!

Results:  This was pretty powerful stuff. The raw onion and garlic give it a heck of a bite, and it ended up tasting kind of like guacamole. We ate some fresh out of the food processor, and then wrapped it up in the fridge for later. We served it as a late snack for friends, and they loved it. An omni’s response: It’s fantastic. You could serve this to people, and they’d never know it was vegan. ; ) Hah, so there you go! I would definitely make this again.

And now here is a picture of Boris, for good measure. I caught him sleeping on the kitchen table and he was a little to sleepy to jump off immediately, so I snapped up his groggy, guilty little face. ;)

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High Raw, Week Two: Kale Salad & Thai Wraps

22 Jan

So this week we continued on our raw journey, though it wasn’t full raw; we added in some grains. Thomas had some grits for breakfast a few days this week, and we had that brown rice. We also ate a whole loaf of sprouted grain bread, most often toasted.

After I made the brown rice to go with the beet burgers on Monday, I ate the leftovers for lunch Tuesday with some sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, and dijon mixed in. It was tasty and filling, but it felt heavy after all my raw food eating, and all I craved for the rest of the day was a kale salad, in the worst way! So for dinner I came home and made a BIG kale salad adapted from The 30 Minute Vegan‘s Rainbow Kale Salad, pg. 138 (amongst other things, I added a pear for some sweetness),  and a whole lot of Thai Wraps adapted from RAW FOOD real world. This made so much that we were able to eat this yumminess for days (the latter is actually an appetizer recipe for 12), a major plus.

Kale Salad

1 bunch of kale, stems removed and chopped into tiny pieces
1 half green cabbage, shredded and chopped
1 grated carrot
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped finely
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped finely
1 green pear, finely chopped

Dressing:

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. evoo
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. braggs
pinch of cayenne

Directions: Combine salad ingredients in a very large bowl. Whisk dressing ingredients and massage dressing into salad with clean hands. Let it sit in the fridge or out for a little while to let the flavors absorb, and the kale soften slightly.

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I made a lot of adjustments to the  Spicy Thai Vegetable Wraps, RFRW pg. 143. I cut the oil in half for the chopped raw cashew mixture, which worked just fine. I used green instead of savoy cabbage, and for the almond butter sauce, I halved the recipe, and had more than enough sauce to coat it completely. I also used a combination of lemon and lime juice, and instead of a red chile,  a little cayenne and red pepper flakes. My bean sprouts went bad, so sadly they were also left out. Also, I ran out of basil, so I just used a little more cilantro and mint. I didn’t bother at all with the tamarind dipping sauce, since they were plenty tasty on their own. So I ended up with…

Thai Wraps

1/2 c. raw cashews, chopped
1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
couple pinches of sea salt

1/2 green cabbage, shredded

2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbps. lime juice
2″ piece of ginger, chopped
pinch of cayenne
pinch of red pepper flakes
3/4 tbsp. braggs
1/2 c. almond butter

1 bunch of collard greens, stems removed and cut down the middle into two halves
2 small carrrots, cut into matchsticks
1 ripe mango, cut into thin strips
large handful of cilantro, finely chopped
large handful of mint, finely chopped

raw cashews, sesame oil, sea salt, mixed in a small bowl

maple syrup, lemon juice, chopped ginger, cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, braggs, and almond butter blended in blender and tossed into green cabbage

ready to assemble

take the stem out of the collard leaf and use half for each wrap

fill and roll

I ended up with 10 beautiful wraps. 12 if you don't have any halves you don't like.

Results:

The leaves were really sturdy and thus, made these keep really well. So we were able to eat these delicious and fresh tasting wraps for days. The flavors complemented each other well, all the different textures were nice together, and provided a lot of crunch. Once they were all assembled, I thought they would’ve looked like pretty little Thai enchiladas if I had drizzled them with some tamarind dipping sauce, but I was already ready to be out of the kitchen and eating at that point, so I didn’t bother! ; )

Beet Burgers

16 Jan

This was one of the dinners that Thomas had picked out from Raw Food: A guide for every meal of the day, which has turned out to be my favorite of the raw books. The recipes are simple, easily adaptable, always work, and don’t require a lot of prep, or a dehydrator to prepare. This was also one of the two recipes he picked that involved beets.

I’ve never bought beets before, so I was kind of perplexed when I looked in the bin at WF and saw that they had small ones like these, and also big giant ones. So I bought 1 big one and 4 little ones. This recipe called for 3 beets, so I used the 4 little ones. It turns out beets are really messy, but at least they stain your hands a really nice hot, hot pink. (This made me wonder if that’s what they use for the vegetable based Manic Panic shade of the same name that once graced my tresses. The fact that it easily rinsed off of everything but my hand sort of verified it, at least for me.)

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Recipe called for beets, carrots, avocado, lemon juice, sea salt, dijon mustard and pistachios were listed as optional, so I threw in a small handful of walnuts instead. The “burgers” are served on romaine leaves and garnished with capers.

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Results: The recipe leads you to believe that it’s going to taste something like a burger, but it doesn’t. And really, that’s okay with me. It kind of grossed me out to associate the lovely beets with bloody meat. It would still taste good, or even better if you called it Beet Mash on Romaine. My hand did lose the pink fairly quickly too, which was a relief! I served these with some hot brown rice simply cooked with a pinch of sea salt. I ate the leftover rice with meals the last two days too, though, I have to tell you, today I really just wanted more raw food instead, so that’s what we’re having for dinner. It’s funny how you crave what you start eating. Raw food is addictive. Watch out! ; )

Thomas makes Veganomicon Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf

31 Dec

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After all the holiday stuff settled down, I realized we were pretty low on ingredients. I was trying to think of what we could make that was delicious and based around quinoa and chickpeas when I remembered this tasty Veganomicon recipe that I made a while back. Thomas offered to make this easy recipe for us, and made a killer dinner. My edits to the recipe are to cut the oil way down or just mist the pot, used ground coriander instead of crushed coriander seeds and water + a bouillon cube for the broth. Easy, quick, satisfying. OH! If you want to serve this as a dinner (it’s actually a side dish) make sure to double the recipe. Otherwise it’s really only two dinner servings, and the next day when you’re craving it, you will be completely out of luck!

Every time I open this book I always wonder why I don’t cook from it more. It’s HUGE and has SO many amazing recipes. I always see something new that I want to try.

Field Roast Hazelnut Cranberry Roast & Thanksgiving 2011 Wrap-Up

27 Nov

The rest of my Thanksgiving preparations went really well. And what I really mean to say is… after the debacle that was my pumpkin pie baking Wednesday night, I managed to cook everything else perfectly.

Okay, let me tell you what happened! Remember how I tested pies ALL MONTH until I came up with the perfect pie recipe? Well, I screwed up when I doubled the recipe, and didn’t put the right amount of pumpkin in, and in the second batch, forgot the salt to boot! (I’m good at math, it was just a stupid mistake!) I didn’t realize it until was adding the doubling instructions to my recipe that I had goofed! Then I tried not to lose my mind. We tasted pieces from both of the batches, and they were still good. They still tasted like pumpkin pie, they just weren’t as good, so I was a bit disappointed in myself, especially after all that hard work! I did have half of my perfect pie left from the night before, so I served that one first. The one I made crustless was a success, however. I added that info to the recipe post too.

Everything else came out great. The Field Roast Hazelnut Cranberry Roast en Croute was a nice addition to the meal. Both of my parents really enjoyed it and so did we. I was still glad I made the Tofurky though, because the field roast was more like a pastry wrapped sausage. The Tofurky filled the turkey void, and even made the house smell like Thanksgiving, according to Thomas : ) More people might have tried my fake meats had my aunt not shooed them away by saying, “that’s made from tofu, you won’t like that!” It was actually seitan, but I didn’t feel like getting into it. More delicious fake meat for me!

Out of the box!

Out of the oven! I misted both the pan & the roast with a little olive oil before baking.

Some of my contributions, Field Roast, Tofurky with roasted veggies, and roasted brussel sprouts

The brussel sprouts were a big hit even though they got a bit overdone from being reheated at my mom’s sans foil, too close to the element. No one seemed to notice. As an aside, I did think that the medium sized ones, halved, that I used for my pre-Thanksgiving trial dinner had a better texture than these mini ones left whole.

Here's a pic of the crustless pumpkin pie I made.

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I lightly greased the pie plate with some oil on a paper towel and poured in the filling. It actually sliced and served surprisingly well, and only 101 calories and 0.8g fat!

This was actually a picture of my breakfast plate, the next day!

Ah, the beauty of leftovers. This was brunch the next day. Cornbread, Tofurky and roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, field roast, stuffing, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes with pecan topping. SO GOOD! The only non-vegan dishes that were served ended up being the ones my aunt brought, which were turkey, green bean casserole and squash. So I had plenty to eat. She did take home a pie though, and texted me later that it was delicious. I only wish I had been able to send everyone off with the correct version of the recipe, but hey, there’s always next year!

Hope you and yours had a great one!

Angelica Home Kitchen Marinated Tofu & Salad

1 Nov

I think this dinner was inspired by my receiving the brand new, hot off the presses, I had it on pre-order, Candle 79 cookbook. That and my parents had given me two avocados from their tree, and they were perfectly ripe!

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This was basically a deconstructed avocado salad. I made a side salad out of lettuce, yellow bell pepper and avocado, lightly dressed with balsamic vinaigrette, and served it with brown rice and marinated tofu.  It’s amazing how delcious brown rice can be next to a flavorful protein when only prepared in water & a pinch of sea salt. This seemingly light dish was super filling and did not dissapoint. The tofu marinade was lemon juice, balsamic, braggs, olive oil, rosemary & pepper. I prepared it just slightly differently from the directions, leaving it in bigger pieces and flipping halfway for maximum flavor. We ate this while watching, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. : )

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***

(Sorry for all the over exposed pictures!) And here are the kittens wishing every a Happy Halloween last night. ; )

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