Vegan Chili

Ingredients:

2 peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
1 can black beans, drained
1 can white beans, drained
1 can diced tomato
1 pkg. BOCA Veggie Ground Crumbles
1 can chopped green chiles, drained
1.5 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 pkg. gelled, concentrated Knox veggie stock
1/2 cup boiling water
S&P to taste

I sautéed the peppers and onion in a little olive oil and added the garlic a few minutes later. Then added the rest of the ingredients and simmered for about 20 minutes. Served with Daiya cheese and chopped fresh parsley. So, so yummy and really easy!

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Vegan Greek lentil & rice soup with kale chips

Greek Soup:

1.5 cups of lentils
1.5 cups of rice
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup frozen peas
5 cups hot water
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon, split in half
Olive oil
S&P, Greek seasoning (from Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in GR), red pepper flakes, 2 bay leaves, chopped Italian parsley



Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in stock pot. Add onion, celery, carrots, and red pepper flakes (to taste) sauté for 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another minute. Add about 2 good tablespoons of Greek seasoning, bay leaves, crushed tomatoes, pepper, lemon zest, 1/2 of the lemon juice, rice, lentils, and water to pot. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, covered for about 20 minutes. Add frozen peas and test rice and lentils for done-ness. I let mine simmer for a few more minutes. Serve in bowl with some of the remaining fresh lemon juice, fresh cracked black pepper, and parsley.

Kale chips:

5 leaves of kale, with ribs removed and chopped into bite-sized pieces

Olive oil

S&P, red pepper flakes

Combine all in bowl, lay in single layer on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. (Use less olive oil and salt than you think you will need, mine were just a little too salty and oily than I would prefer, but still very tasty!)

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Vegan Aloo Matar

The Indian food in London was some of the best cuisine I've ever tasted. Since then, I've been so intrigued by the favors... they're very different than what I'm used to and sort of intimidating. Searched around a bit today for some more vegan recipes and found this. So simple and I had everything at home already!

Ingredients:

Olive oil, 1/2 an onion, 2 cloves garlic, about 1 inch of fresh ginger grated, 4 red skin potatoes, 1 cup of frozen peas, 1 cup crushed canned tomatoes, red pepper flakes, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala (I made my own), cilantro, and s&p.

I sautéed the onion with red pepper flakes, cumin, and turmeric until softened (however much of these seasonings you like, we like it hot!). Add garlic and ginger. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, diced potatoes, peas, chili powder, and s&p (again to your taste). Also add about 3 cups of hot water. Cover and simmer for about 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Take cover off, turn off heat, add chopped cilantro and garam masala. Serve over rice.

 

 

 

 

 

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Split pea soup

My mom texted me just a few days ago saying that she was making split pea soup. Ever since then, I couldn't get it out of my mind! So I decided to check out a vegetarian recipe and give it a whirl without the normal ham pieces.

Ingredients:

1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, 2 potatoes, and 4 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon each of sage, thyme, and cumin, 3 bay leaves, 3 tablespoons of hot & spicy mustard, and s&p to taste

2 cups dried split peas and 6 cups of stock (ok, so I have to admit, I used about 3 cups of chicken stock that I had made a few weeks ago and kept in the freezer, 1.5 cups of veggie stock, and 1.5 cups of water. This chicken stock, made by cooking an entire chicken in the crockpot with one bottle of white wine, Italian seasoning and s&p was just too good to throw away! I guess I can say I'm becoming more vegetarian right now, but not quite there yet)

 

I sautéed the chopped onion, celery, carrots, garlic, potatoes in some olive oil for a few minutes. Ten I added the seasonings, mustard, split peas and stock. Brought to a boil and then simmered with the lid cracked ever so slightly for about 50 minutes. I then took about 2/3 of the mixture and blended it coarsely in the blender. I mashed the remaining 1/3 with a potato masher. Added back the blended mixture and mixed thoroughly. I still wanted some texture to the soup, so I didn't blend it all.

 

 

So great for a cold winter night! Will have to make this again soon with all veggie stock.

 

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Vegetarian double decker tacos

I saw this lentil taco "meat" recipe on a friend's site a few months back (vegbonvivant.wordpress.com. Seriously, go here for so many good veggie and vegan recipes!) and have been waiting for the right time to try it. So, thank you Adrienne, for this amazing meal!

I started with sautéing one onion, red pepper flakes, and 5 cloves of garlic garlic in olive oil. Then added cumin, ancho and chipotle chili powder, oregano, s&p and one bag of dried lentils to the pan. Sautéed for a few minutes, then added about 6 cups of vegetable broth. Brought to a boil, then lowered the heat, and simmered, covered, for about 35 minutes. Uncovered, added one can of chili style diced tomatoes and simmered for another 10 minutes until soft. I used veggie style canned retried beans in between shells, veggie cheese, lettuce, cilantro, and lime juice on top. So very yummy, and I put half the batch in the freezer for next time!

 

 

 

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Veggie hash breakfast

Really craving lots of veggies upon waking today. Good thing too because we've got veggies over taking our fridge right now from our garden.

I started by sautéing some chopped carrots and green peppers from the garden with some red pepper flakes. After a few minutes, I added the onion and fennel bulb veggie mix from Thursday night and some of the chopped potato pancakes from Wednesday. Also added the rest of the left over mashed potatoes. Sautéed for a few more minutes until the mashed potatoes were brown and crispy. Topped with guacamole, fresh tomato, chopped green onion, and chopped parsley. Perfect veggie breakfast! G's breakfast also included a fried egg and sharp cheddar cheese. Nom!

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Sautéed onion and fennel salad with roasted salmon

Fennel bulb is one thing that I've never cooked with before. So I was excited to learn that fennel bulb goes really well with salmon, which we had in the freezer already!

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then, I sautéed four chopped fennel bulbs, one very large chopped onion, and red pepper flakes in olive oil. After a few minutes I added some chopped garlic, s&p, lemon and lime zest, and Italian seasoning. After a few more minutes, I added the juice of said lemon and lime and then added 4 thawed salmon filets on top of this mixture. I put the whole pan in the oven for about 10 minutes. In that time, I microwaved a bag of frozen brown rice (best invention ever!). Serve with chopped green onion and chopped parsley.

 

 

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Sautéed greens and beans

Pair with any starch for a quick and tasty vegetarian meal!

Heat olive oil in skillet. Add red pepper flakes and chopped onion. Sauté a few minutes, then add 5 cloves of chopped garlic. Sauté a few more minutes. Add a can of drained beans ( I used pinto here bc that's what I had, but I've used canellini before). Also add a whole bunch of chopped and washed greens (I used Swiss chard and spinach). It will seem like too much to fit in the pan, but it wilts down a lot. Add s&p, some italian seasoning, a dash of nutmeg, and about 3/4 cup of veggie stock. Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. G made mashed potatoes and potato pancakes for the base. Serve with chopped green onions and chopped fresh parsley.

 

 

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Mushroom sherry bisque

First time making mushroom sherry bisque, and definitely not the last!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean one pound of white button mushrooms and trim tough ends. Chop one large yellow onion into large chunks. Chop mushrooms into large chunks. Peel 6 cloves of garlic. Take these three and mix in bowl with olive oil, s&p, and chopped, fresh rosemary. Spread out mixture on baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring a couple times. When roasted and brown, take out of oven and pour .5 cup of dry sherry into the pan. Scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of them pan. Transfer some of the mixture to a blender. Add a little bit of veggie stock (you will use a total of 5 cups of veggie stock). Blend the roasted veggies and stock until creamy. Transfer that to a soup pot. Do this with the rest of the roasted veggies until all are blended and in the soup pot. Pour in any left over veggie stock. Bring up to a simmer. Add about 3/4 cup of skim milk. Add a cornstarch and cold water mixture until it is the consistency you desire. Serve hot with chopped parsley and crusty Italian bread.

 

 

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Snacks from the garden

New produce to work with, so new recipes for me too!

 

Salted, roasted sunflower seeds:

I've never roasted sunflower seeds before because birds always tend to get to the seeds before I do. I saw some recipes online for fancy flavorings, but wanted to do something just simple for my first try. I simmered the sunflower seeds in heavily salted water for about 45 minutes. Then roasted them in the oven for another 45 at 325 degrees. This lets the salt inside the shell casing so the seed itself is salty. Yum!

 

Next, I used almost anything I could to make fries. The two pictured here are zucchini fries and green bean fries. The recipe is the same for both:

Take beans or sliced zucchini, coat in flour, dip in egg+water mixture, then coat in a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs, s&p, and paprika. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until crispy and slightly browned. Turn them around once or twice and in about 30-45 minutes, bam! Fries!

 

 

 

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Vegetarian Moussaka

I've been overrun with eggplant lately and I'm never quite sure what to do with them.

I roasted them with evoo, s&p, and garlic cloves once and that was pretty good, but you can only do that so often. I tried baba ghanouj a few weeks ago and HATED IT (although, I never really gave it a fair shake because I didn't have tahini at the time so I used a recipe that replaced tahini with something that I can't remember).

This time, I left it up to friends and family to suggest a way to use this over abundance. The most suggested dish was moussaka. Now, although I really always try very hard to research traditional recipes and follow them as closely as possible, I wanted this dish to be a vegetarian stand-by. My rainy-day veggie recipe, if you will. I saved 3 different moussaka recipes, substituted things I wanted, and combined all three for the recipe I offer below.

Ingredients: 2 eggplant, olive oil, s&p, 16oz can diced tomato, 1/2 onion, 1/2 bulb garlic, 12oz pkg Morningstar griller crumbles, 4 carrots, Greek seasoning, dash red pepper flakes, dash cinnamon, dash nutmeg, 3/4 c red wine, 1 c skim milk, 1/2 c shredded mozzarella, 3/4 cup chopped or crumbled feta, 1/2 c shredded part cheese, 1 lemon, 1 bunch flat leaf parsley.

Basically, moussaka has three distinct components: eggplant, tomato/meat, bechemel sauce.

Eggplant: First, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I sliced 2 different kinds of eggplant in about 1/2 in rounds, covered in olive oil and s&p and roasted for about 10-15 minutes. At the same time, I cut the top off of a half bulb of garlic and threw that in there too (lately, I tend to enjoy roasted garlic in things rather than sautéed).

Tomato/meat sauce: I sautéed some Morningstar griller crumbles (one 12oz pkg) in some evoo for a few minutes, then added about a half an onion and about 4 carrots from our garden (I say about four because I wasn't sure if they were ready yet, so I pulled them out, only to find that they were not completely ready. Oops). I added some red peeper flakes, fresh ground black pepper, a bit of cinnamon & nutmeg, and a bunch of Greek seasoning I got at GR Greek-fest (mostly salt, oregano, thyme- I think, and maybe some other stuff). I sautéed all that together for a few minutes until the onions started getting soft. Then I added a 16oz can of diced tomatoes, with all the juices, and a good splash of red wine. At this point, I took the eggplant out of the oven and chopped up the roasted garlic and threw that in the tomato/"meat" mixture. I also turned the heat down to 350. Sautéed for a few minutes until the liquid reduced by about half. During this time, I started the bechemel sauce.

Bechemel: Being (semi-)health conscious lately (only when I remember, actually), I decided to use a recipe containing only skim milk and flour for the bechemel (instead of the typical butter, flour, milk routine). I brought 1 cup of milk to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. I added small spoonfuls of flour until it became thicker, whisking vigorously the entire time. I think I probably added about 1.5 tablespoons. Then, I turned the heat to low and added a small handful of shredded mozzarella cheese and two handfuls of crumbled feta cheese. Whisked again until all the cheese had melted.

Assembly: I took a small amount of the tomato/"meat" mixture and placed it on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. I took half of the roasted eggplant and laid it out over the mixture. Then, another later of tomato/"meat" and then the other half of the eggplant. I finished with the remaining tomato/"meat" mixture and then lured the bechemel over the whole top. Last, I grated some fresh part cheese on top. I baked, covered, at 350 for 30 mins, then took the tinfoil off and baked uncovered for another 30 mins.

Before putting in oven:

After the oven:

After cutting a piece out, I squeezed lemon juice and sprinkled some fresh chopped parsley over the top. This one I can say is so amazing, I can't wait until this pan is gone so I can make another batch!

 

 

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Boca crumbles round 2

When I sautéed the Boca crumbles with onion this morning, there was a lot left over. I love having this stuff in the fridge, in a pinch, you can make anything that you typically would using ground beef. For dinner, I made a taco salad using lettuce, Boca crumbles with onions, black beans, corn, tomatoes, cheese, cumin, cilantro from the garden, and crushed tortilla chips. I used Kraft fat free Catalina dressing. Added up, this huge and satisfying meal is only around 5 points.

 

 

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Omelets two ways

The hardest thing when cooking with WW specifications is cooking for two. I've learned that G sometimes doesn't always want WW friendly food. In this case, I've got to make something that can be easily transformed for his tastes and mine at the same time. This morning's breakfast was a perfect example of that. Omelets are the easiest thing to make and you can throw anything into them (including any and all leftovers in the fridge)!

This morning, I sautéed some Boca crumbles with onions and red pepper flakes. Then I assembled the ingredients for the two omelets. G's included two whole eggs, the Boca crumble mixture, marinated artichoke hearts, tomatoes, shredded 4-cheese blend, Parmesan cheese, and parsley from our garden. For mine, I used just two egg whites and omitted the 4-cheese blend, opting for just a few savory teaspoons of freshly grated parm cheese. Fresh Parmesan cheese is the best for WW recipes because while it is rather expensive for the real kind, you need just a tiny bit for tons of flavor! As you can see below, G's looks a lot better than mine, but the taste is spot on for both!

Cheers!

Forgot to mention: the egg white omelet is only 1.5 to 2 WW points, depending on how much of the Boca "meat" you put in!

 

 

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Cheap, quick WW dinner/snack

When I get home from work, sometimes I just know I need something quick to hold me over until dinner (which we usually eat late). I've found this cheap and quick low point snack a perfect mix of filling fiber and tasty goodness!

 

 

1/2 cup of Bush's Grillin' Beans in Black Bean Fiesta - 1 point, 1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese - .5 points, 1 large dollop of fat free sour cream - .5 points for a total of 2 WW points! If this was going to be dinner instead of just a snack, I'd wrap it in a tortilla for 2 extra points.

 

 

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