Blogs

Hey all,

Thought I would do a bit of a different entry for the blog. There has been a bit of a lull lately in our entries. Lavish Legumes and I recently setup a blog for her personal business, check it out at blog.chelseahailes.com.

That got me thinking about the blogs and other resources that I use to find recipes and inspiration around the web.

1. My Cooking Diary – This is a really cool site. It isn’t strictly vegetarian but a lot of the stuff on there is. Great pictures and I love the directions. It seems they are taking a similar approach that we are and showing the meals that they have as opposed to just recipes. I have made Enchiladas using there sauce recipe, followed their link to make pitas (my first time making bread), and am going to make their granola bars.
2. Fat Free Vegan – This is an excellent resource with lots of recipes. Just reading through her recipes I got lots of ideas on how to cook things using less fat. I recently made a roasted eggplant pesto which was a hit, even for some non-vegetarians. In this recipe she basically substitutes olive oil with the eggplant making it far less fatty, but still very tasty. I also made blueberry peach salsa, which is suprisingly good. She has a pretty huge recipe index so go check her out!
3. Epicurious – This has quickly become one of my favorite sites. They have an exellent iPhone app and huge Vegetarian (over 4500), Vegan (over 1300) sections with a great search engine that allows you to narrow down choices by ingredient so you can use up what is in you fridge! They also have a rating a comment system that is fairly well used so you can see if what you are about to cook is any good before you make the leap.

You can also check out the side bar for some old favorites.

Let us know about any places that you like to go to in the comments below!

Grilled Tofu Skewers and Potatoes

It’s BBQ season and we have taken our small charcoal grill down to the beach for some delicious dinners. Skewers work great on the grill and I used some tinfoil to cook potatoes. This also makes it easy to have everything ready ahead of time so that we can carry it down to the beach to cook it.

I have found that the best way to marinade Tofu is to freeze it first, then put it into a ziplock with the marinade, in this case Soya Sauce, and put it the fridge to defrost for about 12-18 hours, so you will want to do this ahead of time.

Ingredients

Tofu

• 1 Block of Tofu
• Soya Sauce or another marinade.
• 3 Mixed Coloured Peppers
• 10-15 Mushrooms
• Some Skewers

Potatoes

• 4-5 medium yellow potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
• A bunch of a herb, such as dill or rosemary, diced
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Tin Foil

Directions

Tofu

1. Marinate your tofu (see a marinating tip above)
2. Cut to tofu and peppers into large pieces.
3. Place the tofu and vegetables on the skewers in random order.
4. Cook on the grill for about 20-30 minutes, turning them every 5 minutes

Potatoes

1. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and toss
2. Wrap everything in tin foil so that it is air tight. This will help them cook faster.
3. Put on the Grill for about 50-60 minutes, turning half way.

I like to cook the potatoes first since they take the longest and will stay pretty hot even if you take them off the grill.

Summer Salads

Hot day? Cold Salads! Easy to make, sans lettuce and perfect for summer

Savory : Cucumber Couscous Salad

1 cup                couscous, cooked and cooled (measure 1 cup uncooked)
1 half               cucumber, shredded
1 handful        chopped Italian parsley

Toss above 3 ingredients together. Slice half an onion in long, very thin slices and let it sit for a while in a bit of oil, salt and pepper.

Sauce- olive oil, almond butter, crunchy peanut butter, lemon juice, sesame oil if you have it,  a bit of apple cider vinegar, a bit of agave syrup or honey, salt & pepper to taste. Put into a container and Shake! Toss the salad with the sauce and let sit chilled for a little bit. Add onions before you are ready to serve, and I like to top it with some pumpkin seeds!

Sweet : Carrot Walnut Apple Salad

4                         carrots, grated
1-2                      green apples, cored, cut into quarters, then thinly sliced
1/2 cup              walnuts, shelled and broken into halves or quarters
1/4-1/2 cup       dried cranberries, chopped

Sauce- Olive oil, tahini, apple cider vinegar, honey or agave syrup, nutmeg, salt to taste. Put into a container and Shake! Pour the sauce over the salad, let sit for a few minutes, and serve!

You may want to taste test the sauces, since I don’t have measurements to go by I would do 3:1 oil to lemon in the first recipe, then a bit of apple cider vinegar, and 3:1 or 2:1 oil to vinegar in the second recipe. I find if you are adding something like tahini or almond or peanut butter, you may want a little more of the tart. Check out our previous posts on dressings if you like!

Spaghetti

I spent some time living in Europe. I became very good friends with an Italian who has a lot to do with how and why I cook today. His passion was for Italian food, and he made amazing pasta. It opened my eyes. This recipe is largely influenced by him with a lot of my own twists in it.

Ingredients

• 15-20 Roma tomatoes, diced (Romas have less juice and more pulp so they will form a sauce faster)
• 4-5 Cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 Zucchini, diced
• 1 Large yellow onion or 2-3 shalots, diced
• 1 bunch basil, chopped
• 1 palmful of sunflower seeds, chopped
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Good quality Spaghetti Noodles (I use barilla)

Directions

1. Put a deep fry pan on medium heat
2. Once hot add olive oil and garlic
3. Once the garlic becomes fragrant, but not browned, add the tomatoes
4. Leave for about 10-20 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down
5. Add the zucchini and allow to soften
6. Put a pot of water on the boil, add a palmful of salt (The may seem excessive, but is very necessary)
7. Once boiling add the pasta and cook to package instructions, careful not to overcook, and drain
8. It is important to try to time the sauce and noodles so that they finish cooking at about the same time
9. Once the pasta starts to form a sauce like consistency, remove from heat and add the basil and sunflower seeds (Adding the herbs after cooking helps them to keep their flavour and creates a fresher taste)
10. Toss the noodles with the sauce and serve

If you are in a hurry you can add tomato paste to thicken the sauce. I use pecorino cheese on top instead of Parmesan. What ever you do, do not ruin the dish with that fake Parmesan that is already shredded. It is far better to keep a piece of cheese and shred it as you need it. Parmesan and pecorino are both hard cheeses and will keep in the fridge for a long time.

Dill and Asparagus Risotto

Lavish Legumes raved about my risotto in her Red Wine and Wild Rice Risotto recipe so I thought I would share it here. My risotto is more of a classic style of risotto than hers. Though I must say that I have never actually had a risotto other than my own (and a small taste of Lavish Legumes’ recipe) and it is strongly influenced by Jamie Oliver’s.

This recipe can be done with essentially any veg and herb combo, but since it is spring time I thought I would do a dill dish.
I find this is an excellent dish to make for when company is coming over as it is impressive and gives you a good reason to open a bottle of wine!

Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• 2 medium bunches of Asparagus, bottoms snapped off and set aside and chopped
• 1 bunch dill, stems removed and set aside, chopped
• 2-4 balls soft mozzarella or bonconni cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated.
• 2 onion, red prefered
• 2 stick celery, chopped finely
• 1 cup risotto rice
• 1 cup white wine, dry
• 3 1/2 cups veg broth
• boil a kettle of water
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

1. To start I usually put the oven on the lowest setting and put the serving plates in
2. Put the veg broth on mid heat with the bottoms of the asparagus and the steams of the dill(You have to remove these as they are for flavour and not consumption so I like to tie the dill stems with a bit of string)
3. Place high walled fry pan on medium heat
4. Add olive oil, onions, and celery with a splash of the kettle water
5. Allow to simmer until the water is gone and the onions and celery are soft without browning
6. Add the rice
7. Toast until it starts to become translucent, about 2-3 minutes
8. Add the wine and simmer untill the broth is absorbed by the rice.
9. Start adding and the broth a ladle full at a time
10. Let the broth be absorbed then add another ladle, stirring consistency to make sure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan
11. Once 1/3 of the broth is gone, remove the asparagus ends and dill, add the chopped asparagus to the broth
12. Keep adding the broth, bringing some of the asparagus with it until all the broth is gone
13. Taste the rice, if it is not cooked add boiled water from the kettle until the rice is cooked.
14. Taste again and season with salt and pepper
15. Add the mozzarella or bonconni cheese and half the parmesan or pecorino cheese to the risotto and cover
16. Let stand for 5 minutes.
17. Remove the bowl from the oven
18. Serve risotto with the remaining cheese on top

Rhubarb and Tofu

Spring has sprung and rhubarb is an amazing and underused spring vegetable. This is adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s recipes where he used pork. The idea is to pair the tartness of the rhubarb with a bit of heat and savory from the 5 spice and soy sauce.

Into food processor and puree

• 400 grams rhubarb, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• Thumb ginger
• 2 big chilies, chopped roughly
• Big teaspoon 5 spice (Chinese spice mixture)
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp honey

Tofu Stuff

• 1 kilo tofu, chopped
• Noodles, I prefer thicker udon  noodles
• Fresh coriander, just a bit for on top
• Spring onions, sliced
• Sunflower or groundnut oil to coat pan

Marinade: First, cut the tofu into about 1″ cubes. Marinade the tofu in the puree for a few hours in the fridge.

Once you are ready to cook the tofu put a fry pan on medium-high heat and add a bit of oil to the pan. Meanwhile, Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the noodles to the water; cook until done. Add the tofu to the fry pan and do your best to not add the rhubarb mixture. Once the tofu is browned, add the rhubarb mixture and warm it all up. Taste tofu sauce for seasoning.

You are ready to plate it up: Noodles, tofu on top, sprinkle onions, sprinkle herbs from a height, squeeze of lime, maybe some more fresh chilies if you like some extra heat.

This dish goes very well with a salad of other sour spring time vegetables like green apple, radish and chard.

Did I mention I’m in love with an immersion blender?

Just wanted to leave some comments about the following post!

After Gregarious Greens was given an immersion blender as a gift, I decided to get one myself! And so here’s my update: It’s amazing!!

I’ve used the small food processor attachment to make sauces, marinades and chop things for veg burgers. Today I used the measuring cup and blending wand, sceptically I might add, to make smoothies  and was very pleasantly surprised and impressed. I thought for sure my kitchen was going to end up with smoothie plastered everywhere- I mean, its an open cup and a spinning blade on a stick! So, I cleared the space, held my breath and hit the button! In a matter of seconds I had a delicious smoothie and a still clean kitchen   … I think the vent cuts on the end of the wand make it act as a sort of vacuum and it works so well!

I’m a bit of a no fuss person in the kitchen so I’ve actually substituted this immersion blender for a blender and food processor! You may still find you need those two other things, but so far this has been doing the trick for me.

And… just in case you were curious, today’s smoothie had:   1/2 ripe avocado, 1/2 frozen banana, few tablespoons of yogurt, almond milk as needed, nutmeg and 2 pitted dates.

Apple Cinnamon Greens

Just a simple salad that I thought was d-lish so I wanted to share It’s fresh, fruity and a little sweet, perfect for quenching a lunch time sweet tooth! Adjust the amount of ingredients as needed.

Salad

• a bunch assorted greens (spinach, red & green leaf lettuce)
• 1 apple, cored, quartered, then cut into thin chip-like slices
• handful of whole raw almonds, roughly chopped (for extra nutritional value soak the almonds in water for a few hours. This makes them easier to digest)
• small handful of dried cranberries, chopped
• pumpkin seeds

Dressing (here’s some basics)

• about 3 tbsp olive oil
• about 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp tahini
• 1 tsp honey
• cinnamon to taste
• dash of salt

Combine dressing ingredients in small container with a lid and shake, shake, shake!!! Drizzle on your salad & toss!

The Basics of Homemade Veggie Broth

I’m sure that this trick is as old as time, but we just started doing it so we thought we would pass it along.

As a vegetarian we eat a lot of veg, and ended up throwing out a lot of ends of veg; things like the tops and bottoms of onions, tops and peels of carrots, ends of celery sticks, asparagus, broccoli. Almost anything you are putting down your garburator, or that’s edible and going into your garbage. If you compost, you can still do that when you are done with it! Instead of throwing out these odds and ends keep them in a container or bag until the end of the week, or you can freeze them and save for later if you can’t accumulate enough before things go bad. It takes us about 1-2 weeks to get enough veg to make about 10 cups of broth. Its hard to say how much veg exactly you need to have, but generally have enough to be just covered by the water.

To add flavour to the stock you can add a number of things. Most commonly we use the following:

• 5-10 bay leaves
• A palm-ful of black peppercorns
• 1-2 Tbsp of salt (You can also go salt free, but it will be fairly bland)
• A palm-ful of cumin seeds
• any leftover herbs from the week
• a couple whole garlic cloves

When you’ve simmered it all for a while and achieved some tasty broth, strain it to separate the liquid. Now you use it in recipes for the week or freeze it! You can even make your own broth cubes: continue to simmer just the liquid of the broth until it reduces a little then pour into ice cube trays!

~ Gregarious Greens & Lavish Legumes

Vegetable Tagine

My attempt at something Moroccan!

You are definitely welcome to improvise with this one and comment with helpful tips! I’ve made it a goal to go to Morocco and India to learn their delicious ways. For me they are two very flavorful, wonderful ethic foods that I can never seem to do well enough!

So the thing I’ve noticed about Moroccan is it’s unique mix of sweet and spicy, the sweet often coming from nuts and dried fruits like apricots, prunes, dates, etc. Whole spices are definitely important to the flavour of this dish.  Where the pestle and mortar falls short (ie: cinnamon sticks) I’ve found my electric coffee grinder is awesome!

(again, I don’t usually measure- these are kind of estimates, so just adjust to your taste!)

Vegetable Tagine
Spice blend

• about 4-5 inches of cinnamon stick
• 3 tsp anise seed
• 3 tsp whole coriander
• 1 tsp cardamom (I used ground)
• 2 tbsp  ground coriander

I ground the cinnamon, anise, cardamom and coriander together into a fragrant blend, and you can make a little extra to have on hand for other things. But feel free to put whole green cardamom pods (maybe 4-6) in your dish, just warn people or pull them out… not that it tastes bad to chomp on one, just a little surprising!   …mmm cardamom!

• olive oil
• 2 large onions chopped in large chunks, like wedges (I used 1 yellow and 1 red)
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped very fine
• 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced turmeric (or powdered if you don’t have fresh – it looks like ginger in case you’ve never purchased it before, it’s a little more burnt orange in colour)
• 3 carrots, chopped on a bias about 1/4 ” thick
• 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1-2 zucchini, chopped a little thicker than the carrots
• 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed, soaked and strained
• about 2 cups of veggie broth
• 3 bay leaves
• chili flakes or cayenne to taste
• salt to taste
• handful of dried apricots (halved or quartered)
• handful of toasted almonds

Pull out that deep fry pan, and lid again… That is unless you have a nice clay tagine to bake it in! I really don’t know much about cooking Moroccan so please feel free to leave some comments! I just made this to satisfy my craving and it was quite yummy

Ok! Here we go: Heat some olive oil (about 4 tbsp) over medium-high heat. Toss in the onion and get the edges browning a little, then reduce to med heat and simmer until translucent. You can add the garlic before the onion is finished and get it a little toasted. Add the ginger, turmeric, and about half of the spice blend- stir and let the spices warm for about 1 min. Add the carrots and a half cup of broth and cook for another 5 min. Now add in the tomatoes, zucchini, chickpeas, remaining broth (should be the consistency of stew but not like a soup), bay leaves, and a pinch of cayenne and salt. Cover and allow to simmer for 15 min. Then taste and add more salt, cayenne, or spice blend as needed, as well as the almonds and apricots. If you prefer your almonds to be fully crunchy feel free to add them at the end. Simmer until the veggies are cooked through and serve over couscous.

Couscous

Make enough portions of couscous to serve. You can make with veg broth instead of water, and add a sprinkle of turmeric while it’s cooking for added flavour and colour! When it was finished, I tossed it with a some hemp seed, flax, pumpkin seeds and fresh chopped mint. (just be sure to crush the flax with a mortar and pestle so your body can break it down and use it properly)

Wild Rice and Red Wine Risotto

I can’t seem to get enough of Gregarious Greens’ delicious risottos! So I decided to try my hand at an improvised version. And, as I’ve mentioned before I always seem to have a little red wine in the house, so I thought I’d make one with red rather than white. It turned out so good. Enjoy!

For the rice feel free to use the traditional risotto rice, arborio if you wish, but I wanted to try something different so I used a country wild rice mix that has a blend of brown and wild rice. Cooking times and the amount of broth may vary depending on the rice you use but follow the same basic steps and just test it until it’s done.

Risotto

• 3 cups        broth (homemade veg broth)
• 3 tbsp         olive oil margarine
• 3                  cloves of garlic, minced
• 1                   medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 cup           wild rice mix
• 1/2 cup       red wine (I had a med-full bodied blend)
• 1/2 cup       organic canned peas
• 2-3 tbsp      fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup       freshly grated parmesan cheese (save some for garnish!)
• 1/4 cup       crumbled feta cheese
• pinch          freshly ground black pepper to taste

Use a deep fry pan with a lid for this, a saucepan will also work if you don’t have one. I had started simmering some vegetable broth about an hour before and had it warming and ready to use on the side.

1. Melt the margarine over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and saute until the onion becomes clear. (about 8 min)
3. Add the garlic, stir and saute for about another minute.
4. Now toss in the rice, stir and let it toast for about 5 min.
5. Pour in the wine and cook until it is absorbed. (about 2 min)
6. Now we begin adding the Broth a little at a time, so pour in 3/4 cup and let simmer until it is absorbed. (stir occasionally, about 8 min)
7. Repeat step 6 (about 12 min)
8. Add the rest of the broth and simmer for 10-15 min covered.
9. Remove the lid and test the rice, continue to add more broth or simmer more if necessary.
10. Over medium heat, add the peas, rosemary, cheese, and pepper and stir until heated through.
11. Serve, sprinkle with some Parmesan for garnish, and…Voila! Risotto!

I served mine with blackened carrots and roasted asparagus! ~ To prep this while you make your risotto: Chop a few carrots on a bias, place in a backing dish at about 350F with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, toss occasionally. They are done when they reach your desired blackness. You can add the asparagus about 10 min before the carrots will be done.

Immersion Blender

Hey folks, sorry for the long no posting period. We went through moves to new houses and have been settling. We are hoping to have new posts on a more regular basis.

During this period I celebrated my birthday. One of the wonderful gifts that I received was an immersion blender. I have used it a few times now and I love it.

The main use that I have for it is for soup. If you look back at some of the soup posts on the blog you will notice that I mention pulsing the broth in a blender or food processor until smooth. This is great, but it can be hard to blend everything in the pot and creates quite the mess. Well no more! I simply place the immersion blender into the soup broth, pulse for 30 seconds and I have a smooth broth with little to no mess. I don’t have to clean the food processor or blender containers anymore! Immersion blenders run a range of prices but I am led to believe that the one that I received was well priced and it works great for me.

I got a cuisinart immersion blender. It also comes with a few other attachments such as a whisk and a mini food processor for quickly chopping small batches of veg that I have yet to use.

Do you have an immersion blender or thoughts on them? Let us know in the comments below.

Creamy Potato Soup with Salad

~ Tonight’s secret spice is Nutmeg! ~

This dish is so easy and has great simple flavour! Definitely comfort food

Soup

• 2-3 yellow potatoes, skin on and diced into small cubes
• 2 leeks, cut lengthwise (be sure to rinse out any sand) and thinly chopped
• 1 onion, long thin slices
• vegetable broth, about 2 cups (I had some homemade left over from Moroccan the night before)
• almond milk (make sure it’s completely unsweetened! I used almond breeze)
• about 4 tbsp butter (or we use olive oil margarine)
• about 1-1.5 tbsp nutmeg

I like to use a deep frying pan with a lid for dishes like this so I can saute the vegetables first.

1. Melt about 1 tbsp butter in the pan and add the onion on mid-high temp with the lid and let it sit until it starts to brown.
2. Add the nutmeg and stir let it warm on the heat for 1-2 min.
3. Stir and add the rest of the butter and the leak.
4. Put the lid back on and cook until the leek starts to soften, stir occasionally.
5. Add the potato and the veg broth with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper.
6. Let cook with the lid on until the potatoes start to soften (about 15 min).
7. Stir in almond milk, add more nutmeg, salt or pepper to taste if needed.
8. Heat through about 5 more min.

I mashed the potatoes a little at the end for thicker consistency, like a more rustic version of a blended soup. You could also blend this soup if you’d like

Salad
I wanted to make a salad that also had a bit of the nutmeg flavour. It tasted a little like carrot cake! Yum!!

• red leaf lettuce
• 1 carrot, grated
• handful of pecans

Dressing

• olive oil
• apple cider vinegar
• about 1 tbsp tahini
• about 2 tsp honey (or agave syrup)
• nutmeg to taste
• salt to taste – and I threw in a pinch of some leftover blended spices from the Moroccan food (cinnamon, cardamom, coriander & anise)

Salsa Soup

I love salsa. This soup is inspired by salsa and my love for it.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound tomatoes; chopped in half and roasted on a cookie sheet at 400F for about 30 minutes
• 5 cups miso or veggie broth
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3-4 bulbs garlic, minced
• 1 can black beans
• 1-2 Jalapeños, seeds removed and chopped finely
• 2-4 tbsp Cumin
• Hot sauce to taste
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Roast the tomatoes in the oven.
2. Once they are done, fry the onions and garlic with olive oil in a deep pan until they start to soften.
3. Add the tomatoes, jalapeños, half the black beans and broth.
4. In an upright blender or food processor blend it in batches until it’s all smooth.
5. Add the rest of the black beans, cumin, salt and pepper, and spice it up to your liking with the hot sauce.
6. Heat and serve.

You can serve with a bit of cheese grated and/or tortilla chips broken up over top.

Other ingredients that would probably work (untested):

• Cilantro; garnish with it or add it chopped up about 2 minutes before you serve the soup
• Corn; add it after the blender or the same way the black beans were
• Some salsa!
• Roast the garlic with the tomatoes
• Hemp or Sesame Seeds; add just before serving

Burger and Fries

Nothing beats a burger and fries. When we first went Veg we used to eat the soy burgers with oven fries all the time. Since then we have found a few recipes that are good and easy to make to replace the store-bought soy paddies. The nice thing about these paddies is that they are made from things that don’t go bad so they can be made without having to go shopping.

These are from the book “The Thrive Diet” which I would recommend getting as it has lots of recipes that are quick and nutritious.

For these you can use any nut you have around. You can change the herb and spices; just try to keep the wet to dry ratio the same so that they form nice patties.

They have basically the same instructions. Put everything into a food processor and then form into paddies. They can be eaten raw or you can heat them in a frying pan or they would be great on the BBQ. Makes 2 paddies.

Almond flaxseed

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup almonds
• ½ cup ground flaxseed (coffee grinder works great to grind them)
• 2 tbsp balsamic
• 2 tbsp oil (EFA or olive is best)
• A pinch of salt

Walnut Hemp

• 1 cup walnuts
• ½ cup hemp seeds
• 2 tbsp apple cinder vinegar
• 2 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp basil
• ½ tsp oregano
• A pinch of salt

You can see the similarities between the 2 recipes. The flavour combos are endless. You can use half a cup of 2 different types of nuts, mix it up with the seeds, dig deep in the cupboards and find some fun vinegar. Fresh herbs like dill would make for a nice fresh paddy.

Garlic Oregano Yam Oven Fries

• 2 medium yams- peeled and cut into fry shapes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds, chopped
• 1 tbsp oregano
• ½ tbsp basil
• 1 ½ tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Toss everything and put it in the oven on a cookie sheet at 300F for about 35 minutes. If you are BBQ’ing you can tinfoil wrap them and throw them on.

UPDATE – I recently tried freezing the burger before cooking them and it works great! I pressed them into paddies and then placed wax paper between each one and put them into a ziplock. works great for lunch and for evenings when you don’t feel like making supper.

Get Better Soup

My girlfriend was feeling sick and since us veggies can’t have chicken noodle soup I thought I would make something to help her feel better. Soups can be fairly quick and easy to make; this is an example of something healthy, quick and good.

Puree

• 4 cups veggie broth (I used bouillon, make sure you read the label and find one without MSG!)
• ½ bunch spinach
• 1 thumb ginger
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• ¼ red pepper

Fry

• 1 onion
• 4-5 mushrooms
• ¾ red pepper

You can use a food processor or a blender to puree the first set of ingredients. Add the puree to the fried stuff and bring to a boil. Ours came out a little to gingery so I added a spoon of tahini as well to mellow it out. I also added a bit of hot sauce to get the sinus going. I served it with a bit of cheese grated on top and garlic toast.

Beet It! A Leftover Creation

I find that some of my best meals are the result of trying to use up what’s in the fridge. They are a product of me having to try to combine flavours that I would not have thought to combine in the past. There are basic things that are essential to have in the house to make this work. For this recipe we still had a bit of left over beet paddyy and a beet left in the fridge from this recipe . I rolled the leftover beet paddy into small balls and put them in the oven at 350F for 10 -15 minutes; beet balls. There was also lettuce from a couple of the salads that we have had.

Lettuce is a great way to turn some left-over food into a meal. Miso is also something that I use to help make quick and delicious soups. It is a soup base that is a paste and it keeps in the fridge forever. I bought the brown rice miso paste, but there is a bunch of different kinds that you can choose from. I also added dulse to the soup. Dulse is a sea vegetable that is one of the very few sources of vegetarian B12. It doesn’t have a great taste on its own, but is good in miso base soups.

Soup

• 1 beet, shredded
• 2 tbsp miso
• 2 ½ cups water
• 4 bulbs garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup dulse

Put the water and miso into a pot and bring up to a light boil. Add the other ingredients and reduce heat. Allow to simmer until the beet softens.

Salad

• A bunch of lettuce
• Salad dressing – I added a bit of balsamic
• Beet balls (Beet paddy rolled into balls and baked at 350F for 10-15 minutes)
• 1 tsp hemp seeds
• A handful of almonds and a bit of pine nuts

Put everything in a bowl and toss.

Noodles & Greens with Citrus Peanut Tahini Dressing

For the Salad:

• 1 bunch broccoli, steamed and cooled
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1-2 green onions, chopped
• mix of lettuce (we used a spring mix and spinach)
• mix of seeds like sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, hemp, etc.
• handful of chopped almonds
• cooked and cooled pasta

We used just a regular fettuccine for this one but try out some others! Buckwheat, spinach or a gluten-free pasta would be great too!

Dressing

• 2 tsp tahini
• 2 tsp peanut or almond butter
• olive oil
• juice of 1 lime
• juice of 1/2 large orange (and I added some zest too!)
• 1 tsp honey (other alternative like agave syrup for vegan)
• pinch of salt

Toss into a container and shake!!

We put a bed of salad on our plates, topped it with a bit of pasta and the drizzled with dressing… Bon Appétit!

Lime and Black Bean Chilli

Chilli is a fairly easy meal to make in large quantities. Great to freeze for lunches or future dinners on nights you might be feeling lazy. This recipe made about 4 servings, but you can scale it up as much as you like. Chilli is a great way to use up wilted or about-to-go-bad veg in your fridge. I used fresh tomatoes, but you can replace part or all of them with canned tomatoes. Using canned tomatoes makes it a bit easier, but I love the flavour of fresh. I prefer Roma tomatoes because they aren’t as juicy and don’t take as long to cook down, but you can use any tomato that is in season. I added the seeds as an extra protein and iron boost. Seeds have a lot of benefits and it is good to add them to soups, salads, and baking. Get creative with them!

Hemp Seeds

Sesame Seeds

• 6 hot house tomatoes, chopped
• 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 small potatoes, finely chopped
• 1 red onion, cut
• 1 lime
• 1 can black beans
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 8 large mushrooms, cut
• Hand full torn cilantro
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 4-8 cloves of garlic or to taste, chopped finely
• Chillies to taste (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the mushrooms and onions. Put them in a non-oiled deep frying pan over medium heat. The oil from the mushrooms will be enough to cook both. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, cumin, garlic, and the juice of the lime. Allow to simmer until the tomatoes start to breakdown and the potatoes soften. Add the black beans, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, and chillies and allow to simmer for about 15-20 more minutes. When the chilli is almost done add the cilantro, taste and add salt and pepper as needed. It is best served in a warmed bowl with some garlic bread.

Thai Green Curry

You’ll need to cook up some rice to serve this over. I made 2 cups for this size recipe; 1 1/2 cups brown basmati and 1/2 cup wild rice. I use a rice cooker, which I highly recommend, 2 cups water for every cup of brown rice.

I often make this dish when another recipe calls for a small amount of cilantro.  Since you buy them in bunches, there’s often a lot leftover.

This fed 3 of us and created enough leftovers for 2 lunches.

Thai Currys are fairly easy, flexible, and delicious. This time I made the curry paste a day ahead of time, because my cilantro was starting to wilt, but I usually make it just before I start frying things up. Lemongrass is a bit hard to cut, but it is amazing in this dish. You will want to cut it up fairly finely even though it is going in the food processor because it takes a lot to break it down. I cut about half of it up. Keep the top half to the side. Add all the ingredients to the food processor and send them for a whirl. I like it a bit chunky, but it is also really good smooth.

Green Curry Paste

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 or 2 sticks of lemon grass; sliced thin
• 1 thumb of ginger
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 bunch cilantro
• Juice of 1 -2 limes
• 1 tbsp cumin or garam masala
• Add chillies to taste (optional)

Green Curry

base

• Green curry paste
• 1 onion
• 4-8 mushrooms
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 red pepper

for this dish

• Handful of snow peas
• 1 head of cauliflower, lightly steamed. I do it in the rice cooker for about 15 minutes
• 4 carrots, steamed with the cauliflower

This is best cooked in a wok, but a deep frying-pan also works great. Over fairly high heat you want to add some oil to the pan. I use canola oil because the smoke point is higher than in other oils making it less likely to burn. Add the onions and mushroom and cook for a couple minutes until they are tender. Add the red peppers and cook for another couple minutes. Add green curry paste and let it liquify a bit. After that you can add the coconut milk and stir it all together. This is the base of the green curry.

This time I added cauliflower, carrots and snow peas, but this dish is quite good with many other vegetables. Broccoli, spinach, chard and tofu are things that I regularly add, but you can add anything that you have in the fridge that you think might be good. It’s a bit of a one pot recipe so all the flavours come together as you simmer it. Add the tops of the lemon grass for the extra flavour and all the veg let it all simmer at medium heat for 10-15 minutes. When it is done remove the lemon grass tops. Serve over rice.

Winter Beet Burgers, Mashed Potatoes & Grilled Asparagus

Pull out the food processor again… We tend to use it a lot, makes things quick and easy! We use ours so much it’s a little ghetto now I’ll try to include  a picture in the future, it’s pretty funny!

So anyways, get some potatoes boiling. We used new potatoes, cut them in half and left the skin on for a more rustic mashed potato.

While that’s going here’s how to do the burger patties, which we ate Salisbury style, but you are welcome to have bread with it like a normal burger if you like.
This is on page 663 of my How to Cook Everything Veg book (see book recommendations). We changed a couple of small things…

Winter Beet Burger

Combine in the food processor….

• 1 lb. beets, grated (I like to leave the skin on)
• 1/2 c. dates or dried plums
• 1 inch ginger (chopped up but we leave it un-peeled)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 c. red wine (I’ve always got some of this in the house I keep the last of a bottle around when I don’t drink it before it goes off and use it to cook with later in the week)
• 1-2 tbsp Dijon mustard (we like to use whole seed mustards)
• cayenne or hot red pepper flakes to taste

Mix it all in a bowl with enough bulgur (about 1/2-1c.) to bind everything. Shape into patties, makes about 6, and cook in a pan with a bit of olive oil until crispy and brown on each side.

While the burgers cooked we grilled the asparagus with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper in a cast iron pan on the stove top.

We mashed the potatoes with some olive oil margarine, unsweetened almond milk, chopped fresh garlic, fresh chopped dill and salt and pepper to taste.

Made for a cozy comforting winter meal!

Mustard

I think that mustard is one of the most underrated condiments in the fridge. I grew up on Dutch mustard; seedy, rich and delicious. Of course, I also grew up on French’s a-little-too-yellow mustard. I think this is the staple mustard in most homes. That squirt lid that always forms that little hard piece. I am here to tell you that this is not actually mustard.

Mustard comes in a wide array of shapes, sizes and flavours. In my fridge there are frequently at least 3 different mustards open, from the basic mustard to red pepper and curry to amazing beer mustard or even horseradish mustard when you want a bit of kick.

Most grocery stores now have a wide array of available mustards. I have found that farmers markets are a great place to find locally produced, unique, and delicious mustards. The last batch of mustard that I received came in mason jars from the Calgary Farmers Market and I haven’t found much that can beat them in terms of flavour.

Next time you’re out grab and new mustard and enjoy!

Veggie Sandwiches and Smoothie deliciousness!

So I thought I’d write about our lunch today… we went out for dinner last night, so we didn’t have anything to share. But here’s what we had for lunch, a couple of our all-time fave foods!

Again these are foods that can be done in a basic version, but are a lot of fun to experiment with and make with whatever flavours you’re feeling that day! So these are just the versions we made today…

Veggie Sandwiches

• 2 slices of bread, anything goes: grainy, seedy, carrot, rye, a wrap or pita if you prefer! Toasted with Garlic butter  …Oooh! Toasted naan with garlic butter would be so good!
• sliced tomatoes
• avocado slices or guacamole
• red onions – very thinly sliced (in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper; let them marinade while you prep your other veg, it takes the overpowering bite out!)
• shredded carrot
• a yummy mustard of your choice: we used roasted red pepper and curry today!
• cheese! – (optional) we used gouda for this one, but we often use spiced havarti, smoked or old cheddar, swiss, etc.

Other toppings we also use:

• cucumbers
• sprouts
• fresh herbs like dill, or basil goes nicely with just tomato and bocconcino cheese
• spinach
• pickles
• falafel
• tzatziki

Smoooooooothies!!!

• 1 chopped frozen banana
• handful of frozen blueberries
• handful of spinach (you don’t really taste it, just adds a bit of iron, calcium, and a ton of other good vitamins for you)
• half can of coconut milk
• small handful of mint leaves
• top with almond milk for the right consistency as you blend

Other ingredients we also use (not necessarily all together )

• Almonds
• flax seeds
• virgin coconut oil
• cinnamon
• any other dark green leaf like kale
• avocado (makes it really creamy and smooth!)
• any berries
• apples, pears, kiwis, mangoes, papaya, etc. …any fruit really
• yogurt
• cooled herbal or green teas, or matcha powder
• you can also use a protein powder or something as a protein boost

Basically anything you find on the menu at a smoothie place, just go home and make it healthier, yummier and cheaper! hehe… These are awesome for breakfast too, or after any physical activity.

The frozen ingredients are what will give you that smoothie texture. So start freezing those fruit and veg you can’t eat before they go bad!

Toss into the food processor or blender and go!

Roasted Veg Salad and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. AKA We Got our Roast On

Basics of Hummus

You will need:

• 1 can chickpeas, garbanzo beans (we used a 400 ml can but use however much you like)
• splash of olive oil
• about 2 tbsp tahini
• about 2-3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon or lemon juice
• pinch of salt. This is a wonderful salt, you use far less and get more flavour! (We crush it with a pestle and mortar and keep some in a jar by the stove)
• garlic galore!
• Food processor

For this recipe:

• 2 red peppers
• Some Sesame Seeds

So last night we decided to make a roasted red pepper and garlic hummus. It really complimented the roasted flavours of the veg in our salad and the whole dinner had a nice nuttiness to it!

To make this one we cut up 2 red bell peppers into quarters and pealed 1.5 bulbs of garlic (vampires beware!). Roast them in the oven until they get some nice blackened edges, turn occasionally. A temp of about 375-425F is good. We have a cast iron pan that’s great for roasting in the oven and grilling on the stove top. Also adds some iron to the diet! I also roasted about 2 tbsp of sesame seeds on a cookie sheet for this batch- keep an eye on them, they brown quickly!
Now just toss it all into the processor, blend and taste. Feel free to add more lemon, or whatever, as needed. Chill and serve with veggies, fresh or baked pita, or tortilla chips. This one is pretty nutty, but we often make it with half roasted garlic and a couple cloves of fresh garlic and add some crushed chilies or a pinch of cayenne powder for more zip. Roasted pine nuts, or almonds are delicious too!

Roasted Veg Salad

You will need:

• Some mixed lettuce
• Salad dressing – We made a balsamic vinaigrette. With equal parts balsamic and sherry wine vinegar and no lemon juice.
• Crumbled Goat cheese
• Pecans
• 1 zucchini
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (or you can use olive oil)
• A bit of salt.
• A bunch of Brussels sprouts

For this salad we made zucchini chips, which are a delicious addition to any salad. To make zucchini chips cut the zucchini into thin ‘chips.’ Put the chips on to an oiled cookie sheet, we use coconut oil. Lightly oil and salt the tops of the chips and place in the oven at 300F for about 30 minutes, or until they turn brown and crispy.

We quartered the Brussels sprouts and oven roasted them at about 350F in a cast iron pan (you can use a baking tray) until they turned brown and crispy about 20 minutes to half an hour. The inside gets soft and the outside crispy and while I never like classically cooked Brussels sprouts, these are amazing! Cool the sprouts and the chips until you can touch them without burning yourself so they don’t wilt the lettuce. Place everything in a bowl and toss.

Salad Basics

The secret to a great salad is the dressing that you use and the lettuce. Iceberg lettuce will make for a dull salad no matter what you put on it. Romaine is ok, but I think we can do better. In the summer farmers markets are a great place to find quality and interesting lettuce. In the winter we buy containers of mixed greens at the grocery store. Spinach is also a great choice as is a source of iron. The vitamin C from the lemon juice in salad dressing helps you digest the iron making them a perfect match.

The classic salad of cucumbers and tomatoes is also a bit boring, not that these aren’t welcome in our salads. Nuts and seeds work great and help liven up any salad while providing great nutritional value. Almonds and pumpkin seeds are often found in our salads.

We have also had a lot of fun with what we call ‘hot salads.’ These are what they sound like. We will heat up some veg, roasted of fried, left over rice and beans, or anything yummy in your fridge, and will put it over the salad with the dressing. This transforms a boring side salad into something that can be eaten as a main and leaves us feeling satisfied.

Salad dressing basics

Store bought salad dressing can help make for an easy dinner, but making your own can be far better, and more nutritious! Even the best store-bought dressings can be plagued with low quality oils, artificial flavours and a myriad of ingredients that cannot be pronounced. There is no reason to use these dressings as a basic homemade one can taste fresh and delicious.

Basic Dressing

• 1 part lemon juice (from lemon or we keep a bottle of lemon juice on hand)
• 3 parts oil (We usually use Extra Virgin Olive oil, but I have recently also been incorporating EFA oil blends as well as there are a good source of omega fatty acids)
• A bit of mustard (delicious mustards add a great flavour and are a binding agent so the dressing doesn’t separate as quickly)
• A pinch of salt and pepper

Shake it up in a container and taste it, make any adjustments that may be needed and we have a quick easy dressing!

From this base we can flavour the salad to match the meal.

If we are eating Mexican style food then a bit of cumin and some hot sauce will zip up your salad. You can replace the lemon juice with lime juice for an extra kick.

One of our favourites is balsamic and sherry wine vinegar.

A bit of tahini(usually found next to the peanut butter in the grocery store) makes a more creamy dressing.

Some chopped up garlic is always welcome in our salad dressings.

Some dill and a bit of honey will make for a sweeter, summer time dressing.

See salad basics

Fresh and full of flavour!

Cold Beet Salad | Mung Bean Dal with Apples, Coconut & Mint | and a Mojito of course!

Tonight’s dinner was inspired by our beautiful January! Being new to Vancouver, I’m in awe of the mid-winter “summer” weather we seem to have. So I decided to celebrate it with summer-fresh flavours …I can’t quite lay on the beach yet, but I can make a yummy dinner that would compliment a mojito in my hand and pretend!

(Oh, and just a heads up! I don’t often use recipes, and when I do I don’t always follow them… so use the measurements more or less as guidelines! Cook with your taste buds and your heart and it will be delicious!)

~ Makes enough for 4 portions

COLD BEET SALAD (truth be told I had a salad  like this at Moxie’s recently… It was delicious and I’m totally stealing it!)

• 2   beets: 1 large red and 1 large gold, chopped into wedge chunks, boiled or roasted (separately to keep their colours) then chilled.
• about 1/2  head of lettuce: red leaf, green leaf or arugula
• about 1/2 – 2/3 cup pine nuts (can be super expensive so improvise with other seeds or nuts if you like)
• homemade crouton crisps: you can use a baguette and slice thinly… I had an extra bagel and it did the trick nicely! Bake in the oven until golden.
• goat cheese: might also be yummy with peppered or cranberry or something! Mmmm!! I love cheese!

Toss it all in a bowl and top it with a homemade dressing. Moxie’s used a sherry vinaigrette, tonight I made it with a balsamic. Just put equal parts virgin olive oil and a vinegar of your choosing into a little container with a lid and shake shake shake! I also added some pepper, garlic powder and about a teaspoon of honey. You could add more vinegar than oil to make it a bit stronger too. Have this ready to go and just add the croutons and the dressing right before you serve it.

MUNG BEAN DAL with APPLES, COCONUT & MINT (easy to make!)

A “Dal” if you haven’t made one, is an Indian dish that refers to a soup made with legumes.

• 1 cup dried mung beans: I found they cooked pretty fast since they are so little (you could use lentils or black-eyed peas if you can’t find these)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2 medium green apples, cored, peeled, and chopped
• 2-3 tbsp ginger: peeled and finely chopped
• 2-3tbsp garlic: peeled and finely chopped
• a pinch of turmeric (optional)
• 2 cups coconut milk (if your can has a little less than this just top up with water)
• 1 tbsp honey, or alternative sweetness
• freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
• about 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup sliced scallions or green onions
• juice from one lime

I let the dry mung beans boil in about 2 cups of water at the bottom of a large pot while I prepped the rest of my ingredients, about 15 min or so. Then add the coconut, apples, ginger, garlic, turmeric, coconut milk and honey all at once. bring to a boil on high heat, then turn down to med/low to simmer (bubbling gently). Stir occasionally, adding some salt as the   beans become soft.  Add more water along the way if it’s getting really thick , but I didn’t find I needed to. I think this takes about 30 min? I just started prepping the onion, lime and mint and the beet salad while it simmered and it was cooked by the time I was done. Once the beans are soft add some pepper, stir in the mint, onion, and the lime juice. Cook for a couple minutes more, adjust any seasonings as needed and SERVE! YUM!

last but not least… THE MOJITO!

You can have your kitchen helper make these while you dish up the meal

You need:

• Coconut rum (my favorite, but golden and white rum work too)
• limes
• mint
• club soda
• sugar (raw if you have it).

Fill a tall glass with ice. Put about 10 or so mint leaves on the top and sprinkle about a half teaspoon of sugar (depending on how sweet your rum is). Then crush it all in with a spoon or fork… kind of grind the mint leaves against the side of the glass and between the ice. Squeeze about half a lime over, add 1-2 shots of rum, top with soda and ta-da! Summer in a glass

Hopefully our dinner relieves someone’s winter blues! Enjoy!