Tag Archives: vegan

Coconut Red Lentil & Split Pea Soup

23 Feb

I followed a link for roasted brussel sprouts the other day, and ended up finding this soup recipe on La Petite Maison Verte. As I read further, I found it amusing that the recipe had a history. She had found it on 101 Cookbooks, who was turned on to it by her neighbor, who had adapted it from a copy of the Esalon cookbook. And now I pass it onto you, as I have made it. ; ) I had about a cup of roasted onions, carrots, and steamed collards that I used instead of fresh carrots, and though I attempted toasting the curry powder, I’m not sure that it made much of a difference. It may make more of a difference if you’re actually toasting the whole spices and grinding them yourself, as they do in traditional Indian cooking, so I just left it as an option.

This one is definitely going in my permanent rotation. It made a lovely meal on one of our last “winter” cold snaps. The pictures aren’t the greatest, but it was really delicious!

Coconut Red Lentil & Split Pea Soup

1 c. green (or yellow) split peas, rinsed
1 c. red lentils, rinsed
7 c. water
1 piece of kombu

olive oil for misting
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped or sliced
3 tbsp. fresh peeled and minced ginger

2 tablespoons curry powder (optional: toasted by heating over low heat in a small skillet until fragrant)

olive oil for misting
4-5 green onions, thinly chopped cross-wise
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can [light] coconut milk
1-2 tsp. sea salt  ( or low sodium soy sauce/shoyu/tamari or bragg’s, to taste )

1/2-1 c. fresh or frozen chopped greens, optional

Directions:

1. Place lentils, split peas, water and kombu in a large pot and set to boil. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet misted with olive oil, add onions and carrots and cook over low to medium heat until softened. When lentils and water boil (skim off any foam!), add onions, carrots and 2 tbsp. of the ginger. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Mist the skillet you cooked the onions and carrots in with a little more olive oil (or you can use a thin layer of water), and set to medium. Add green onions, remaining tablespoon of ginger, and raisins. Cook for 2 0r 3 minutes, stirring frequently, and add tomato paste. Cook an additional 2 or 3 minutes.

3. After soup simmers for 30 minutes, add green onion mixture, curry powder, coconut milk, salt and greens, if using. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. At this point you can use an immersion blender, or pour it very carefully into a blender in batches to get a wonderful, smooth consistency.

Enjoy!

image

image

image

image

(Raw) Vegan Milkshakes

19 Feb

Today we had a classic lunch of burgers and shakes, just done a little different. The burgers were simple enough… Gardein patties on sprouted grain bread with ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish. For dessert, we had these luscious vanilla milkshakes. (I was out greens, so no green smoothies today!) The little flecks of flax seed are reminiscent of vanilla bean. You can make these raw by using raw nut milk! You can customize these however you like by adding fruit, raw cacao, peanut butter, etc. :)

(Raw) Vegan Milkshakes
2-4 servings

2 large ripe bananas, frozen
3 c. of non-dairy milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. ground flax seed, optional
2 handfuls of ice cubes
pinch of cinnamon, optional
squirt of raw agave, optional

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust ice, milk or agave if necessary.

image

Raw Taquitos / Raw Taco Meat

13 Feb

I had seen raw tacos popping up all over the place lately ( here & here ) and decided to make my own attempt at nut/seed based raw taco meat. I used collard leaves to roll them up into cute little taquitos, but you can also use romaine leaves to eat these as raw tacos.

Raw Taquitos
3-4 servings

1 bunch of collard leaves, cut down the middle, rib removed

3/4 c. raw walnuts, soaked for 2+ hours and drained
1/4 c. raw pumpkin seeds, soaked for 2+ hours and drained

2 small carrots, cut into pieces
small shallot or about 1 tbsp. of finely chopped onion
2 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 10 minutes and drained

1 tbsp. taco seasoning of your preference, mine is the one from VCF

1 recipe Avocado Salsa, below

Directions:

1. Pulse pumpkin seeds and walnuts in the food processor until you get small crumbles. Scrape out into medium bowl and set aside.

2. Pulse carrots, onion, and sundried tomatoes until finely chopped. And add along with taco seasonings to nut/seed mixture. Use a fork to mix until well combined.

3. Take one half of a collard leaf (inside up) and place about 2 tablespoons each of nut meat and avocado salsa, and roll tightly. (see pix below!)

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.

image

image

image

image

image

image

Result:

These were super good and will definitely be added to the regular rotation! We eat that avocado salsa right out of the bowl with a spoon.

Raw Apple Pie #1

12 Feb

I get a little weird about how much nuts are used in raw recipes. Though I didn’t notice any weight gain from eating high raw, I was mindful of this when I selected my recipes. Then I found out about buckwheat groats. Turns out you can use them for crusts instead of nuts! For my 1st raw apple pie attempt, I didn’t exclusively use groats (just in case!), but at least they were only about a third of the bulk of the crust. I used 1 1/4 c. of groats, but 1 c. would have sufficed so that’s what I jotted down below for you. I just didn’t want to have a 1/4 c. laying around. : )

Next I will probably try some kind of raw cacao banana pie!

Raw Apple Pie #1

1 c. buckwheat groats
1/2 c. raw almonds
4 dates
2 tbsp. of raisins
1 tsp. oil, I used light olive oil
1.5 tbsp. raw agave
2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of ground ginger
small pinch of salt

1 apple, cut into chunks
1 ripe banana, broken in half or quartered
2 tbsp. raisins
1 tsp. of cinnamon

1 apple, thinly sliced for topping

Directions:

1. Add buckwheat groats and almonds to a food processor and grind down to a sandy texture. Add dates, raisins, oil, agave and spices, and pulse until well combined. Press firmly into a pie plate with a rubber spatula.

2. Add apple, banana, raisins and cinnamon to processor and blend until smooth. Scrape out with spatula and spread onto crust.

3. Arrange apple slices in a pinwheel pattern to completely cover pie. Sprinkle with cinnamon and cover tightly with plastic wrap.

This slices up best when left to set in the fridge overnight!

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

Sinfully Good Salad Bar

7 Feb

image

Work was a little crazy this morning, so I wasn’t able to get out early enough to go home for lunch. Which also meant I wasn’t going to get to eat that raw caesar topped with leftover marinated tofu that I had been looking forward to. So I decided to hit the Whole Foods buffet instead. I got this monster of a salad which included:

Lots of kale, carrots, broccoli slaw, zucchini, red peppers, quinoa, wheat berries, lentils, sunflower seeds, buffalo tofu, lemon juice, dill & nutritional yeast.

I enjoyed this SO much, and it totally hit the spot for a mostly raw lunch, with some cooked grains/proteins. I saved most of the buffalo tofu for Thomas, because it’s his favorite, but pretty much killed this massive salad! : )

I love that Whole Foods has a buffet for when you can’t actually get to your own kitchen!  

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!

image

Oven-Roasted Onions and Carrots, pg. 168

image

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

image

Soba Sensation Sauce, pg. 209

image

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

image

Raw Vegan Nachos

25 Jan

So maybe seeing raw vegan nachos on Greenwave’s menu stuck with me, or maybe it’s just that I really love nachos… either way, I had raw vegan nachos on the brain. After reading a few recipes for sauces, I figured I had some pretty good ideas of my own to try, and took to the Vitamix. I think the secret to this sauce is really the smoked paprika. A nod to what makes Bang, Bang Cafe in Seattle’s vegan mac so good. I put a bit more turmeric, smoked paprika and cayenne than what’s listed below, but that’s a good place to start, and then you can customize it to your palette.

I really love the flexibility and creativity I’m feeling with raw food. It’s great to have so many fresh ingredients on hand and just use what I’m in the mood for, or what needs to be used up. For the nachos, I cut up the last three pieces of raw onion bread I picked up Saturday at Greenwave. They were starting to get crispy from sitting in the fridge, so they really worked well. For toppings I used the last of some romaine I had, a big handful of chopped cilantro, a seeded, chopped tomato, and a few sliced kalamata olives. Then I drizzled it all with this raw vegan nacho cheese sauce. I didn’t use any additional water because I liked the thick consistency, so I started with about 1.5 cups worth, and used about 1/2 cup of it. I saved the rest for another use.

This is obviously a limitless recipe of possibilities, and I must say… the sauce came out AWESOME! :)

Raw Vegan Nacho Cheese
makes 1.5-2 cups, depending on consistency

1 c. of raw cashews

1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/4 c. of water, plus more if you want it a little thinner
~1/2 tsp. olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 a small shallot or a little bit of onion
~ 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika (or more)
~ 1/2 tsp. turmeric (or more)
2 pinches of salt
cayenne pepper, optional

Directions:

1. Put dry cashews in a high powered blender or food processor and chop until they’re a fine powder.

2. Add all other ingredients, and blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings and thin with additional water as desired. If using a vitamix, you can blend a bit longer to warm mixture a bit. I just held the carafe to monitor the temp.

image

image

image

image

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.

image

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! ; )

Apricot Quinoa Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash w/ Marinated Tofu

3 Jan

So this meal was inspired by the lovely little acorn squashes I picked up on my shopping trip this week… and a couple of other recipes as well. When I made the Veganomicon Chickpea Pilaf the other day, another recipe caught my eye, the Israeli Couscous with pistachios and apricots. The quinoa here incorporates that pairing of apricot and grain, and also makes use of the yummy acorn squash seeds. The marinated tofu is just a slight adaptation of the one from the Angelica Home Kitchen cookbook.

The tofu and squash cook together for the same time to keep it simple. I put them both on the middle rack of the oven and switched them halfway. The quinoa comes together quickly and easily on the stove top. If you’re making the quinoa without the squash, you can substitute slivered almonds for the seeds, or some other seed or nut of your liking. Some steamed or sauteed greens would make a really nice addition.

Apricot Quinoa Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash w/ Marinated Tofu
Serves 4

2 acorn squash (preferably organic), scrubbed, halved, and seeds removed & reserved

Marinated Tofu

1 block of firm or extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into desired shapes (I used the pre-pressed kind and cut into 9 blocks)

Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp. Bragg’s (or shoyu or tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
few grinds of pepper
pinch of poultry seasoning, optional
pinch of rosemary, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare a cookie sheet for roasting acorn squash and place all 4 halves cut side down onto sheet.

2. Whisk all tofu marinade ingredients. Place tofu pieces into a 9×13″ baking pan in a single layer, and drizzle marinade evenly over all the pieces.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until squash is easily pierced with a fork.

Apricot Quinoa

olive oil for misting pot, or use a little water
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 c. of rinsed quinoa
a little less than 2 c. of water or broth
1 tsp. cumin
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of garam masala
pinch of cayenne pepper
a few grinds of pepper

1/2 c. of finely chopped dried apricot
juice of one lemon, strained

1/2 c. of toasted seeds or nuts (or toasted, salted seeds of 2 acorn squash)

nutritionaly yeast, for topping, optional

Directions:

1. To toast the raw squash seeds, heat in a small non-stick skillet with a pinch of salt over low-medium heat until they are dry and golden. Set aside.

2. Mist a medium pot with olive oil and heat to low-medium. Add shallot and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Add rinsed quinoa and keep stirring until it dries a bit, a couple of minutes. Add water and spices, and bring up to a boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in apricots, lemon juice, and toasted seeds*. Cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Fluff with fork. (*If you want crunchier seeds, don’t stir them in until the end.)

3. To serve, spoon the quinoa into the acorn squash half and plate with tofu. Enjoy!

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

Thomas makes Veganomicon Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf

31 Dec

image

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.

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 407 other followers