Category: Vegetarian

Family Favorites · Gluten Free · New Favorite · Soups and Stews · Vegan · Vegetarian

Women’s Bean Project…and National Soup Month

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January in National Soup (who knew) and there is nothing better than tummy-warming soup to take away the winter chill.  Good friend and neighbor, Maribeth, introduced me to Sarah’s Spicy Split Pea Soup and I was wowed.  The next day I went to my local King Soopers to buy it and made a batch that I’ve shared and frozen for future use. It’s also great knowing that my purchase contributes to the great work of this non-profit organization. My soup was packaged by Jessica (great work, Jessica, and I hope things are going well for you!). And here’s a shout out to SARAH for this great recipe.

Women’s Bean Project is Women’s Bean Project is a nationally recognized social enterprise that has created transitional employment in gourmet food and jewelry manufacturing for chronically unemployed and impoverished women for 25 years.

If you cannot find these great soup mixes in your area, you can purchase on their website.  I’m anxious to try their other soups soon.  To my Vegan and Gluten-Free friends, these soups would be a great addition to your pantry.

SARAH’S SPICY SPLIT PEA SOUP

1 package Spicy Split Pea Soup Mix
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used ham stock and increased to 8 cups)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil (I used olive oil)
1 medium diced onion
4 or 5 diced carrots
2 stalks celery diced (added per Maribeth’s suggestion
salt and pepper to taste
spice packet (included)
1 cup milk (optional and I did not add)
optional:  cubed ham

  • Remove spice packet. Wash and drain peas.
  • Assemble peas, broth and water in a 4 quart pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently for 1 hour uncovered, or until peas are almost tender.  Add more water as needed so that peas stay well covered.
  • While peas are simmering, saute carrots, celery, and onion in butter or oil until tender and add spice packet.
  • Stir veggie mixture into peas; add milk if desired, and simmer additional 20 minutes until peas are fully cooked.
  • OPTIONAL:  While the recipe does not include blending the soup mixture, I used a hand blender to bring the soup to a smooth consistency.  I then added the ham and simmered another 15 minutes until the ham was heated through.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

Garden · Gluten Free · New Favorite · Vegan · Vegetables · Vegetarian

Sweet Potatoes, Carrots and Apples Roasted with OJ

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Roasted Vegetables are my absolute favorite yet I didn’t discover this technique until a few years ago.  My carrot harvest this year was the best I’ve ever had, despite Joe’s (my 12 year old Golden Retriever) attempts to steal the carrots out of the basket.

I found this wonderful recipe which did not call for apples, but in later versions I added the apples and loved the added sweet/tart bites.

SWEET POTATOES & CARROTS WITH APPLE CIDER THYME

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 medium-large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch rounds
1-2 apples, peeled and chopped in large pieces
1 small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup apple cider
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Place cut sweet potatoes, carrots, red onion and garlic cloves on a baking sheet and spread them in a single layer.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together apple cider, olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Drizzle mixture all over vegetables and toss to coat evenly.
  • Roast for 35-45 minutes, until vegetables are caramelized to your liking. Serve immediately.

Adapted from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/food/2014/10/13/sweet-potatoes-and-carrots-with-apple-cider-and-thyme/

Gluten Free · Salads · Skinny · Vegan · Vegetarian

Cranberry and Mango Quinoa Salad

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Cranberry and Mango Quinoa Salad is a favorite salad shared by friend, Chris, at many of our Book Club and pot luck dinners. Finally, I decided to prepare it and savored every serving.  I’ve also tried adding other ingredients to add variety, including bits of turkey or slices or fresh avocado.
This salad is great for summer meals and gatherings.

CRANBERRY AND MANGO QUINOA SALAD

2 cups of water
1 cup of quinoa
1 cup fresh kale or spinach in bite size pieces
1.5 cup fresh or frozen mango chunks (one to two fresh mangos should yield just about 1.5 cups)
1.5 c cubed melon (I used Honeydew)
1/2 cup slivered almonds (toasted/optional)
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
pinch of salt

  • Bring water to boil and cook quinoa per the instructions.  Cool.
  • Add kale (or spinach), mango, melon, almonds, and cranberries to quinoa.
  • Mix together Lemon poppy seed ingredients and pour over quinoa salad.
  • Serving Option:  Slice fresh avocado slices over top of salad.

Recipe adapted from Skinny Minz and Healthy Pursuit

Family · New Favorite · New Traditions · Skinny · Vegan · Vegetables · Vegetarian

Roasted Fennel…another new love!

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Fennel was a target buy at Trader Joe’s for daughter Megan and I this week. My husband, Karl, used to love to cook Fennel as was prepared for him on business trips to Italy.  It’s been years since I’ve prepared it. Megan suggested we roast it and it was fantastic. I have to say that eating it raw was delicious, too.

The fennel was prepared the same evening as the Zuppa Tuscana (recipe to post next week).  We decided to put some of the fennel in our soup and loved the addition.  I even added cold roasted fennel to a roast pork and goat cheese sandwich…love it!

Next time I’ll try roasting the fennel with other vegetable, perhaps white and sweet potatoes and a bit of rosemary?

 ROASTED FENNEL

2 heads fresh fennel
olive oil
salt & pepper

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Rinse fennel.  Slightly trim bottom and top of fennel bulb.
  • Cut each bulb in half lengthwise.  Cut out core and set aside.
  • Slice fennel thinly and place on baking sheet.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
  • Roast for 15-20 or until brown on edges and tender.
Casseroles · New Favorite · Vegan · Vegetables · Vegetarian

Baked Stuffed Avocados…yummo!

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Baked Avocado…a new adventure for me and I loved it. The idea of using avocado as the binding ingredient for quinoa, tomato, cheese was great and included all ingredients I love. This recipe is worth experimenting with and can easily be adapted for a vegan or vegetarian diet.

BAKED STUFFED AVOCADOS

2 large ripe avocados
2 cups cooked quinoa (I used a mix of plain and Tri-Colored Quinoa from Trader Joe’s)
1 medium-sized tomato, diced
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Slice avocados lengthwise and remove the pit by gently tapping it with a large sturdy knife.
  • Scoop the avocado from the shell with a spoon and place in a mixing bowl.  Add quinoa, tomatoes, feta, salt and pepper.  Mix to combine, but leaving hunks of avocado.
  • Place the hollow avocado shells on a baking sheet and carefully fill each with the mixture.  (I found that I had more filling that the shells would hold and baked the remainder in a small greased casserole dish).
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is sufficiently melted.

recipe slightly adapted from P&G Everday

Gluten Free · New Favorite · Soups and Stews · Vegan · Vegetarian

West African Peanut Stew

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Peanut Stew is featured today thanks to this great recipe prepared by fellow Grandma-in-law (grandson Evan’s other Grandma), Chris, for our potluck last week as mentioned in Tuesday’s post.

She adapted the recipe per her notes below and it was absolutely delicious!  The original recipe serves six and is easily adaptable to vegan, omitting the chicken and using vegetable broth.  I will add this recipe to my favorites.

WEST AFRICAN PEANUT STEW

“A hearty stew that’s super-easy to make and great for peanut butter lovers. Can be made vegetarian or with chicken. In a pinch, feel free to use vegetable or corn oil for peanut oil, powdered ginger for fresh, water for stock, etc. Kale works well in place of collard greens.”

2 tablespoons peanut oil (I used coconut oil)
one half onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger (I prefer to slice them thick so you can fish it out)
a pinch of sugar to caramelize onion
1 pound chicken, cut into chunks (optional)
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper, or to taste (which for me was none)
I added about a tsp of cinnamon
salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 small sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 (16 ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
1/4 pound collard greens, roughly chopped
1 cup chunky peanut butter

  • Heat the peanut oil in a large pot over medium-high heat; cook and stir the onion, garlic, and ginger in the hot oil until softened, about 5 minutes.  (I used Costco rotisserie shredded chicken, so I didn’t add it until the last step, since it was already cooked)
  • Add the chicken; cook and stir until completely browned. Season with the crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Pour the chicken stock over the mixture. Stir the sweet potatoes into the liquid and bring the mixture to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover the pot partially with a lid, and cook at a simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Stir the tomatoes, collard greens, and peanut butter into the soup. Partially cover the pot again and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, another 20 minutes. (Mine simmered for about 30 minutes longer than that. I used a potato masher and crushed up the sweet potatoes and tomatoes a little after the recipe’s 20 minute simmer, so it would be thicker rather than chunky.)

I had extra collard greens and one review suggested to sauté them as garnish along with chopped peanuts.

The original recipe was found on Epicurious.

 

Gluten Free · New Favorite · Skinny · Soups and Stews · Vegan · Vegetarian

Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup…surprisingly delicious!

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Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup, with only 5 ingredients, sounded too easy to be good. I was wrong.

It was full of flavor and, depending on your taste buds, could be enhanced with additional vegetables and spices. I think I will add a bit of curry next time.

What would you add?

 SWEET POTATO AND CAULIFLOWER SOUP

1 head cauliflower
3 sweet potatoes
1 sweet onion
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic
7 cups water
Salt and pepper

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Cut up cauliflower and lay out on a cookie sheet, drizzle with oil, and bake for 25 minutes.
  • In a large pot bring water, sweet potato, onion and garlic to boil.  Cook until sweet potatoes are tender.
  • Remove half of soup and puree in food processor.  Return to soup pot.
  • Garnish with green onion, salt and pepper, parsley.

Recipe adapted from Living Paleo Cuisine

Breakfast · New Favorite · Vegetarian

Quinoa Omelette Bites

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I am a protein breakfast person.  Straight carbs just don’t last for me.  If I eat cereal or toast, I’m starving in an hour. My typical breakfast is either Greek yogurt or an egg, with a strong cup of coffee. My dear friend, Jan, told me about this wonderful recipe.

I modified the original recipe to fit my taste buds and loved the results. The next morning I reheated in the microwave and they were equally as good and  filling.  Hello breakfast for the week!

QUINOA OMELETTE BITES

1 cup quinoa, warm
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese
1 egg white & 1 whole egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup minced green or red bell peppers
1/4 cup minced sweet onion

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray.
  • Cook the quinoa according to package instructions.  Chop and microwave, on high, the onions and peppers, for 1.5 to 2 minutes.
  • In a medium bowl, mix the warm quinoa with the cheese to melt the cheese.  Add the eggs, garlic, salt, spinach, peppers and onion.  Stir to combine all ingredients.
  • Spoon mixture into mini muffin tins, filling to the top.

  • Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from muffin tins.  Run a small knife around the edges to loosen and pop out of the tins.

Recipe adapted from Tablespoon.com

Family Favorites · Salads · Vegan · Vegetarian

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette for Quinoa Salad, Green Salad or Marinade

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Cilantro is an herb that people either LOVE or HATE.  I’m on the love side of Cilantro. It brings such a fresh, aromatic addition to select dishes, including this Vinaigrette and Salad. This Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette was a discovery a few years ago and I love it, especially on a summer Quinoa Salad, enjoying the salad throughout the week.

CILANTRO LIME VINAIGRETTE

3 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T red wine vinegar
2 T freshly squeezed lime juice
1 small jalapeno pepper (or less) chopped
1 clove garlic, halved
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1.5-2 tablespoons fresh cilantro

  • Put all ingredients in food processor or blender. Pulse until ingredients are blended. Shake before serving.

QUINOA SALAD

  • To prepare the quinoa, cook 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups liquid (water or chicken broth) for 15-20 minutes. Drain. Cool.
  • Then I throw in whatever I have on hand: onion, peppers, beans (garbanzo or black beans), carrots, celery, tomatoes, etc.  I’ve never had a combination I didn’t like.  You can use it as a side dish or add a protein to make it an entrée.
Gluten Free · New Favorite · Vegan · Vegetarian

Pecan Quinoa Breakfast Bowl…MMMMMM!

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Quinoa is a staple in my pantry and I’ve been anxious to try a quinoa breakfast dish. Pecan Quinoa Breakfast Bowl has, again, been in my stack of ‘must make’ recipes and it didn’t disappoint.  It’s slightly sweet and protein-rich.

I believe this recipe could easily be adapted to Vegan/Vegetarian by using almond milk (or water) and vegan butter.

The leftovers will be saved for another day…cold or reheated.

PECAN QUINOA BREAKFAST BOWL

2 cups 1 percent low-fat milk
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup dried craisins or raisins
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • Bring milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Stir in quinoa, cranberries and butter.
  • Cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
  • Remove from heat. Stir in pecans, honey, salt cinnamon and nutmeg.
  • Spoon quinoa mixture into four bowls. Top each serving with additional chopped pecans, milk, honey or brown sugar.

Serves four. Recipe from Relish.com and the Georgia Pecan Commission