Friday, June 22, 2012

Roasted Eggplant Stew with Quinoa

Just noodling around with some things I had in my kitchen tonight and came up with this dish.  Great flavors, super healthy.  Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants (1 1/2 -2 lbs.)
1 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 tomatoes, diced
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
2 t. vegan sugar
1 1/2 c. cooked garbanzo beans (or 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed)
1 T. sliced black olives (optional)
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. curry powder
1/4 t. tumeric (or ground ginger)
1 bunch fresh spinach, washed, de-stemmed and chopped
1/3 c. fresh basil, chopped
1 T. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
3 c. cooked quinoa
vegan sour cream for topping (see recipe or tofutti brand works well)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prick eggplants in several places with a fork and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake 55 minutes.  Cool, slice open and scoop the pulp from the skin.  Chop the pulp into bite-sized pieces and discard the skin.

Meanwhile, while eggplants are roasting, cook quinoa according to package directions.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add onion and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt, add garlic and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, or until onion is golden.  Add eggplant, tomatoes, lemon juice, sugar, garbanzo beans, olives and spices and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.  Add spinach, basil and parsley and cook an additional 10 minutes.  Add quinoa and season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with a spoonful of vegan sour cream and enjoy!



Thursday, June 7, 2012

Lentil No-Bake Casserole

This dish has an amazing cohesiveness with unexpected flavors meshing together.  This is a build your own layered casserole with brown rice, caramelized onions, fresh guacamole, lentils and kale, topped with vegan cheese.  
Ingredients:

1 1lb. bag dried lentils, picked through and rinsed
1 bunch kale, washed, deveined and chopped
2 t. ground cumin
1 t. curry powder
salt and black pepper to taste
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. olive oil
2 large onions, sliced then quartered
1 t. vegan sugar
1 T. tamari (or soy sauce)
1 T. red wine (optional)
3 c. cooked brown rice
prepared fresh guacamole (see recipe from April)
1 c. vegan mozzarella cheese (Daiya), grated



Start rice- cook according to package directions.

Place 7 c. water in a large soup pot and bring to a boil.  Add lentils, cover partially and reduce heat to medium.  Cook 30 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add cumin, curry and kale and cook an additional 5 minutes.  Add lemon juice, salt and black pepper and cook an additional 5 minutes with the lid off.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over med.-high heat.  When hot, add onions, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes, or until onions start to stick and brown slightly. Add tamari and sugar, and reduce heat to medium low, and cook an additional 20 minutes. Add red wine, stir to mix thoroughly.

Prepare fresh guacamole (see recipe -April), and get vegan cheese ready.

Layer in individual bowls in this manner:
Brown rice (pat down at the bottom), caramelized onions, guacamole, lentil mixture, then top with vegan cheese.

Enjoy!









Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Enchiladas

This is one of my very favorite dishes.  It is so worth the extra time needed to prepare it.  Make it on a day you have more time, like a weekend, or simply prepare some parts ahead of time (see notes below).  The payoff is worth EVERY second.  After you make it, you can say you actually made your own fresh enchilada sauce (instead of buying canned). The fresh spinach is much tastier than frozen.  Do it!


Enchilada Sauce:
2 T. grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
1 onion, diced
3 large green chiles (such as Anaheim- mild, or Poblano-med.)
3 t. chili powder
1 1/2 t. ground cumin
1 t. marjoram (or oregano)
4-6 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 t. sugar
2 t. salt

Potato and Spinach filling:
5 sm. yukon golden potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 lb. of fresh spinach (2 bunches), washed, de-stemmed and chopped
 1 T. grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/4 c. water or veggie broth
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 c. pepitas (sm. pumpkin seeds)
1 t. salt
ground black pepper to taste

1 can refried black beans
2 c. shredded vegan cheddar cheese (Daiya)
vegan sour cream for topping (tofutti brand or see recipe from blog)
14 sm. corn tortillas


Sauce:
Place chiles directly over the stove, on a gas burner over high heat.  Use tongs to rotate the pepper as the skin starts to blacken and blister.  Place in a large glass or ceramic bowl and cover.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes.  Peel away as much of the skin as possible (it's o.k. that some black remain).  Deseed and chop the chiles. Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, heat oil over med. heat.  Add onions and cook for 7 minutes or until softened.  Add the remaining sauce ingredients and cook an additional 5 minutes, covered.  Set aside to cool.  Puree with an immersion or regular blender until smooth.  Set aside.

While this is cooking, toast the pepitas in a dry pan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until slightly browned, stirring occasionally.  They will "sweat" so set aside on a paper towel or paper napkin when done. Once they are cooled, chop them coarsely.


Cover potatoes with water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium, cover and cook for 20 minutes.  Drain.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and add garlic.  After about 1-2 minutes (when it's sizzling), add the spinach, stirring constantly.  Partially cover and cook 6 minutes or until spinach is wilted, and sprinkle with salt. Add potatoes, water (veggie broth), lemon juice, cumin, 1/4 c. pepitas, and salt.  Mash the potatoes somewhat into the spinach using the back of the spoon.  Season with a dash of pepper, and place into a bowl.

Assembly line:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place sauce in a medium bowl, place beans in a separate bowl, have spinach filling ready, get a pie plate ready and fill with about 3/4 c. of sauce, have casserole dish ready (9x13") and layer a bit of enchilada sauce evenly across the bottom, have a dry skillet ready for warming corn tortillas (med. heat), have the corn tortillas on hand, as well as the shredded cheese.

Take a corn tortilla and warm it on the skillet for 30 seconds, then flip it over and heat 30 more seconds.  Drop the tortilla into the sauce in the pie plate and coat the entire tortilla, both sides with sauce.  Place the tortilla in the casserole dish, place about a T. of beans and about a T. of spinach mixture on the tortilla (pinch into a line to make rolling easier), top with a bit of cheese, roll it up and place it in the casserole dish.  Repeat until filled, tightly packing the enchiladas next to each other. Add more sauce in pie plate as needed.  You will develop a rhythm with heating the next tortilla and filling another one simultaneously.  Also, embrace your messy hands! This is fun. :)

Pour remaining sauce over the top, followed by remaining cheese, and lastly, sprinkle the remaining pepitas over the top.  Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cool.  Top with sour cream and serve!  Enjoy!




Notes:  Since this dish is a bit more time consuming than other dishes I make, you can prepare some of these parts ahead of time.  Here are some tips:  Wash, de-stem and chop the spinach the night before.  The entire sauce recipe can also be made ahead of time.



Monday, June 4, 2012

Mac. and Cheese

This recipe is the best vegan mac and cheese I've ever tasted, and this version is also gluten free.  The kids love it so much, I actually made it two nights in a row.  See how a traditional cheese dish can be made from plant based foods, and you'd never know the difference.  Also, note the hidden veggies that will pass from the kids' plate to their mouths right before your very eyes. :)

Ingredients:
2 sm. golden yukon potatoes (or 1/2 russet potato), peeled and chopped
1 sm. carrot (or 1/2 lg. carrot), chopped
1/2 sm. onion, chopped
1 1/2 c. raw cashews
1 c. hemp milk (or almond milk works great too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 t. salt
2 T. nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 t. paprika
1 t. dijon mustard
2 T. vegan butter (Smart Balance)
1 pkg. elbow pasta (I used Organic Brown Rice Pasta, found at Trader Joe's)
ground black pepper to taste
dried parsley for garnish
chopped tomatoes for garnish

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sauce pot, add potatoes, carrots and onion and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook 15 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat up water and cook pasta according to package directions.
Drain and place in a large bowl.

In a food processor, grind cashews to a fine powder.  Add milk, garlic, lemon juice, salt, nutritional yeast flakes, paprika, mustard, butter, and black pepper.  Blend until smooth.  Add cooked veggies and blend until smooth.  Add sauce over pasta and mix well.

Place in a sm. casserole dish (7x9") and bake for 30 minutes.  Cool for about 10 minutes, garnish with fresh tomatoes and parsley.  Enjoy!

Notes:  I also serve this with a side of steamed kale.  Actually, I love to mix the kale right into it.  While the mac. and cheese is baking away in the oven, I simply steam the kale, then chop and serve.