Lima bean & root vegetable stew

Lima beans are delicious and nutritious. This recipe pairs these happy little legumes with turnips, potatoes, kale, and carrots in an aromatic broth. Most of the measurements are estimates and you can use more or less of an ingredient without fear - for example, you can use more broth & make this a soup!. I used some herbs that I harvested from my garden this fall and put in the freezer, but fresh or dried herbs would work fine as well. The fennel root is optional - it was something I had in the freezer and needed to use up.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons tomato paste
16 ounces water or vegetable broth
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 small purple-top turnips, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 small bunch kale (about 4-5 stalks)
1 cup diced potato (about 2 small)
1 cup diced fennel root
1 16 oz bag frozen lima beans
sage - 2 large fresh (frozen) leaves, chopped or teaspoon dried
tarragon - 1 tablespoon fresh (frozen) or 1 teaspoon dried
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Method
Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat, then simmer, covered, for about half an hour or until the vegetables are done.

Seitan & Root Vegetable Stew

This is a filling, warming, nurturing kind of winter stew. The kind that makes you go "mmmm."

Feel free to use whatever veggies you have hanging around. The combination I used worked well, but it would have been equally good with sweet potatoes, celeriac, a different kind of winter squash, rutabagas, and/or parsnips. Don't be afraid of root vegetables! They are your friends! By the way, if you use regular red beets in this recipe, you will end up with pinkish stew. So go with golden if you can find them, and save the red beets for something else.

Ingredients

a little oil for sauteeing
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water
1 T Better than Bouillion vegetable broth concentrate
2 turnips, diced
1 large potato, diced
3 golden beets, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1/2 a butternut squash, peeled, seeded, diced
1 rib celery, diced
4-6 slices/hunks chicken-style seitan or veggie sausage
A splash of apple cider vinegar
3-4 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp smoked paprika
Chopped fresh or frozen sage, tarragon, thyme, etc. to taste
1 bay leaf

Directions
Warm the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced onions and garlic and cook a couple minutes. Add the broth, increase heat, add the rest of the ingredients. Once soup reaches a low boil, reduce heat to simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness (this was about half an hour for me, but it depends on how small your veggies are diced and how tender you want them.) Serve with croutons, crusty bread, or just a smidgen of freshly ground black pepper.

Number of Servings: 8
Approximate nutritional info per serving: 200 cal, 2g fat, 380mg sodium, 25g carbs, 5g fiber, 23g protein

Lentil-Potato-Kale Soup

I love lentils. So easy to use, so delicious & nutritious. This soup is chunky, robust, and flavorful, not to mention wicked easy and quick.

Ingredients
1 t olive or canola oil
1 small red onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 small to medium potatoes, scrubbed & diced
1.5 to 2 c dry masoor dal (red lentils with skins on) or french green/brown lentils
big bunch of kale, washed, destemmed, torn into small bits
15 oz can diced tomatoes
1-2 carrots, diced
4-5 large button mushrooms, chopped
8 c liquid (veg broth, water, or mixture of both)
Splash of sherry
1 T Bragg's liquid aminos
1 t cumin
1/2 t sage
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 t celery seed

Method
Warm the oil in the bottom of a large pot. Add onions & mushrooms and cook over medium heat until softened. Add liquid, then add rest of ingredients. Stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for half an hour or until lentils and potatoes are done. Enjoy topped with croutons.

Six-ingredient easy Sunday supper

 Homemade seitan, curry sauce, cooked brown rice, snap beans from the garden, Chinese broccoli (gai lan) from the farmer's market.

Pesto pasta w/ zucchini & peas

This turned out so nicely. Used the pesto recipe from Veganomicon, whole wheat noodles, and zucchini from my garden.

Easiest stir-fry ever

This is my lazy cheater stir-fry recipe. Dinner's ready in 15 minutes as long as you have some leftover rice. If not, you can make this with rice noodles (the really fine ones that cook in 3 minutes in some boiling water) and it'll be just as quick.

Ingredients

1 package baked tofu, diced

Lots of veggies (Kirkland's Stir Fry Veggies frozen mix used here)

Leftover rice

2 T tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos

2 T rice vinegar

2 T rice cooking wine

1 T sweet chili sauce (or to taste)

1-2 t garlic (jarred minced)

1-2 t ginger (jarred minced)

Method

Put everything in a large saute pan or wok and stir-fry over med-high heat until the veggies are done. Serve garnished with liberal amounts of cilantro, lime juice, sriracha sauce, and/or chopped peanuts. That's it!

Black bean soup in the slow cooker

Today's recipe is inspired by a bunch of different black bean soup recipes I've seen over the years. The oranges come from Mollie Katzen's version. I'm making this to take into work tomorrow, so it is intended to be about 8-10 servings.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

1 T diced garlic (about 8-10 cloves)

2 large carrots, diced

1-2 large bell peppers, diced

8 cups broth/water

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

2 cans black beans (rinsed & drained if you want to cut down on the salt)

1/2 c dried lentils, rinsed & picked over

1 c frozen corn

1 T cumin

2 t coriander

1 jalapeno, diced or 1 t red chili flakes or a small amount of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

2 oranges or 4 clementines, peeled, seeded, & chopped

Method

Combine everything except the oranges into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Stir in oranges about an hour before serving. You can add some cooked brown rice toward the end if you want to make it heartier. You can also blend half (an immersion blender works well for this) to make it smoother. Top with cilantro tofu cream and/or vegan cheddar cheese and/or chopped green onions and/or cilantro. Serve with cornbread!

Pasta with veggie sausage, kale, & cabbage

The last few weeks of the CSA, we received lots and lots of cabbage. I currently have 5 HUGE heads of cabbage in my basement! I must say, it's getting a little old - we've been eating cabbage every day for a while now. I made cabbage soup, put cabbage in my stir-fries, and used it in the braised veggie sausage dish I made on Sunday. I think I need to try making sauerkraut and kimchee.

Anyway, this recipe arose from the need to find more uses for cabbage. It turned out really well and was super easy and quick.

About 4 servings cooked pasta (I used whole-wheat rigatoni, but penne or spirals would work just as well)

2 links veggie sausage (I used my homemade sausage from Sunday), diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 shallot, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 t Italian seasoning

1 medium bunch kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped (I used a combination of purple and green curly kale)

1/4 to 1/2 head green cabbage

1-2 T Parma! (vegan parmesan), optional

In a large pan, saute the onion and shallot over medium heat until softened. Add the sausage and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and seasoning, stirring to combine. Add the kale and cabbage, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until kale and cabbage reach desired doneness. You may need to add a little water. If you have room in your pan, add the pasta and stir to combine. Otherwise, you can ladle pasta into bowls and top with sausage and kale. Sprinkle with Parma! to serve.

Moroccan Unchicken & Veggies

I had some leftover couscous from the stuffed squash recipe, so I decided to make a Moroccan-themed dish. Consulting various recipes, it looked like the spice blend should be cinnamon, paprika, cayenne, turmeric, garlic, and lemon juice, and that a garnish with fruit would be appropriate, so I came up with this. I love how the kale stands out against the yellow of the rest of the dish, and it tastes really, really good - a nice change of pace.

Moroccan Unchicken & Veggies

1 T olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1/4 t cayenne

1/2 t paprika

1/2 t turmeric

1 t cinnamon

1 T lemon juice

1 T Bragg liquid aminos

1 can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes with liquid

1 package Trader Joe's Chickenless Chicken Strips or similar

1 head cauliflower, chopped

2 carrots, peeled & chopped

1 small bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped

1/2 head radicchio, chopped

About 1 1/2 c couscous, cooked

1/4 c raisins (optional)

1 T vegan parm/nutritional yeast (optional)

In a large pan, saute onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until softened, then add garlic and spices and stir. After about 30 seconds, add lemon juice, Bragg's, and tomatoes, and stir to combine. Add unchicken, cauliflower, and carrots, lower heat, and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add kale and radicchio, stir, cover, and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until kale reaches desired doneness. Stir in cooked couscous or serve on the side. Serve garnished with raisins and vegan parm/nutritional yeast.

Lentils and rice in the rice cooker

Just returned from a week in California, eating restaurant food for every meal. It's good to be home - I miss my own cooking when I'm away!

I have a Zojirushi 5-1/2-Cup Rice Cooker that I absolutely love. It makes amazing brown rice, which I make at least twice a week. Tonight I decided to experiment with making both lentils and rice together in the rice cooker.

I used brown jasmine rice from Trader Joe's, by the way - very good quality, organic, not too expensive.

2 rice cooker cups brown jasmine rice, rinsed (rice cooker cups = 180 ml, about 3/4 c)
1 rice cooker cup dry brown lentils, washed/picked over
2 c water (approx)
1 t minced garlic
1 t olive oil
1/2 t garam masala
1/4 t cumin seeds
1/4 t salt

Add all ingredients to rice cooker, stir, select brown rice setting, and hit start!

I served this topped with sauteed onions, kale, and tomatoes, along with fresh cilantro, a little Bragg Liquid Aminos, and nutritional yeast.

Ditalini-Veggie Sausage Soup

Definitely soup weather here, plus I'm still getting tons of veggies in my CSA share that need to be incorporated into various dishes. Soups are awfully forgiving and you can hide all kinds of vegetables in them! This recipe uses onion, bell pepper, radishes, carrot, garlic, and celery.

Ingredients:
1 T oil (EVOO or canola)
1 onion
1 green pepper
2 homemade or commercial veggie sausage links (I used this recipe, which is the best veggie sausage recipe I know of)
1 14 oz can diced tomato
1 28 oz can crushed tomato
2 28 oz cans of water
4 radishes
1 large carrot
1 stalk celery
8 cloves of garlic
1-2 t Italian seasoning
2 c dry ditalini pasta (small tube-shaped, about half a box/4 servings)
1 t mushroom base (or 1 un-chicken bouillon cube)
2 T nutritional yeast, optional

Method
Cook ditalini according to package directions in a separate pot or in your handy microwave pasta cooker. At the same time, add oil, chopped onion & green pepper and saute over medium heat. Add chopped sausage and saute until browned. Add tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Chop carrot, radishes, and celery, then add them to the pot. Add cooked ditalini, lower heat. Add the rest of the ingredients , stir, cover, and simmer until carrots reach desired tenderness (about 20 minutes).

Soup x 2

I don't know about you, but when the weather turns in September, all I want is soup! So here are two soup recipes I made this week.

Italian Mish-Mash Soup
Olive oil
1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 squash/zucchini
1 bunch kale
1 bunch dragon beans
2 homemade seitan sausages or Field Roast Company Italian sausages
1 c cooked quinoa
Broth/water to cover (~8-12 c)
1 tsp tahini (optional)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 bunch fresh basil (optional)
1/3 c nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions: in a large stock pot, saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until softened and fragrant. Add chopped squash, kale, beans, faux sausage, and quinoa and stir. Add veggie broth/stock/water sufficient to cover the veggies. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer until kale is done (~20-30 minutes). Depending on your taste and the flavorfulness of your stock, add the tahini, vinegar, basil, and yeast while simmering. Serve with a crusty bread and green salad.

Creamy Pesto Potato Soup
Olive oil
10 medium Yukon gold-style potatoes
2 medium fairy eggplant
2 medium leeks (white and light green parts)
2 homemade seitan sausages or Field Roast Company Italian sausages
1 bunch fresh basil
4 cloves garlic
Broth/water to cover (~8-12 c)
1 T Bragg liquid aminos (optional)
1/3 c nutritional yeast (optional)
1/3 c soy creamer (optional)

Dice the potatoes and eggplant and thinly slice the leeks. Add to a large stockpot with about 1-2 T olive oil. Put on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth/water to cover and add remaining ingredients except creamer. Bring to a low boil then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are done. Remove from heat, stir in soy creamer (if using) and either blend half in a blender or use your immersion blender until soup is about half blended.

Curry

Curry

Tonight's dinner was really fantastic: a Thai-style coconut milk curry with maifun (thin rice noodles), green beans and sugar snap peas from my garden, tomatoes from my garden and the CSA, broccoli, onion, garlic, basil, and cilantro from the CSA, and extra-firm tofu. Also included a little homemade peanut butter, red curry paste, Bragg's liquid aminos, and rice vinegar. Forgot to add ginger and lime juice, but there was already so much going on with this dish that I doubt it would have made much difference. The coconut milk, garlic, curry paste, basil, cilantro, and Bragg's were all blended in my food processor and added at the very end, along with the tofu. I actually had seconds, it was so good (I never have seconds!).

Soba with squash & green beans

Soba with squash

Tonight I made soba noodles with squash and green beans from my garden, adapting a recipe from Whole Foods. It turned out okay, but not great. Not sure what it lacked, but it seemed oddly flat. Pretty, though!

1 (8.8-ounce) package uncooked soba noodles
1 T canola oil
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 T ginger paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T Better Than Bouillon mushroom base
4 summer squash
3 T low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1 T rice vinegar
1 bunch green beans
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 bunch basil leaves, chopped
1 block baked tofu, diced
1 t rice flour (optional)

Method

Prepare soba noodles according to package instructions and drain well. Toss with a little sesame oil and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add carrots, onions, ginger, and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Add squash, mushroom base, soy sauce, water, and vinegar and cook for 3 minutes more. Stir in green beans, tofu, cilantro, and basil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until green beans are bright green. Add cooked noodles and toss gently to combine. Add rice flour if desired to thicken sauce.

Lentil stew with potatoes, greens, and mint

Made a very hearty and spicy lentil dish for dinner this evening. Used the CSA potatoes, beet greens, and garlic and my own mint.

Time: about 1/2 hour
Serves: 4

Ingredients

* 1 Tolive oil
* 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1 onion, chopped
* 3 cups water or vegetable broth or no-chicken broth
* 1 cup lentils, rinsed, picked over
* 4-6 red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 1 T lemon juice
* 1 bunch fresh spinach, kale, or beet greens
* 3/4 t cumin
* 3/4 t dried or 1/8 c fresh thyme
* 1/4 t cayenne pepper (optional)
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and stir 30 seconds. Add water/broth and lentils; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add potatoes; cook, covered, until potatoes and lentils are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

2. Add lemon juice, greens, cumin, thyme, and cayenne. Cover and simmer until greens are done. Mix in mint. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.