Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

This easy soup is one of my daughter’s favorites (even though she doesn’t like sweet potatoes).  Serve with bread and a salad or veggie and you have a nice meal!  I like doubling this and freezing the extra.

• 1 medium/large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 1 red pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 cup)
• half a pinch cayenne pepper
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed (a little over 1 pound)
• 3 cups veggie broth
• 1 lb tomatoes, chopped or 1 small can diced tomatoes (with juice)
• 1/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter

Sauté the onion until soft and translucent.  Add garlic and ginger and sauté a few minutes more.  Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Simmer into everything is soft.  Pureé using an immersion blender or in batches using a container blender.  I like the smoothness by blending in my Vitamix and I often make this soup in the morning and then blend when cool at dinnertime.

Enjoy!

Thai Sweet Potato Coconut Salad

My daughter loves going to Modern Market and ordering their Thai Coconut Salad with Mango Peanut Dressing (without chicken).  Here’s my version that we make at home, which she luckily loves just as much!

• 1 head lettuce, washed, and chopped (or 12 oz mixed greens)
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 1.25 lb sweet potatoes, peeled
• 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3/4 cup peanuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

MANGO PEANUT DRESSING:

• 3 heaping Tbsp peanut butter
• 3 heaping Tbsp almond butter
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 4 chunks (about 1″) frozen mango
• 6-10 Tbsp water

Poke peeled sweet potatoes several times with a fork and microwave for 3 minutes.  (This makes them a little softer and easier to shred.)  Shred the sweet potatoes.  Microwave shredded sweet potatoes for another 10 +/- minutes or until fully cooked/tender.  Place in fridge (or freezer) to cool while preparing the rest.

Combine dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, adding water to reach a pourable thick dressing consistency. Place in fridge (or freezer) to cool while preparing the rest.

In a bowl, combine all salad ingredients.  Either dress the entire salad all at once, or if saving some for leftovers, dress just what you are serving and store the salad and dressing separately in the fridge for the next day.  Enjoy!

Coconut Curry Soup

This delicious soup goes wonderfully paired with some homemade bread.  Add a salad and you have a very complete, satisfying and delicious meal!  Next time, I will double this for sure, as it only makes about 4 dinner sized portions.

• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 5 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 cups veggie broth
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed well
• 1 can coconut milk

Sauté onion until soft.  Add garlic and sauté a few minutes more.  Add everything else except red lentils and coconut milk and simmer for about 25 minutes or until carrots and celery are mostly tender.  Add red lentils and coconut milk and simmer until lentils are very soft.  Enjoy!

Inspired by a One Green Planet recipe.

Roasted Tomatillo & Chickpea Curry

This was a surprise favorite of everyone in the house, even the skeptical 8 year old.  Tastes like an Indian dish – maybe I should call it Chana Tomatillo.

This was a fairly easy dish that we served over rice (1 cup brown rice to go with this amount) with a side of sauteed kale.  This made 3-4 servings.  Next time I will double this for more yummy leftovers.

Modified from a chef de home recipe.

• 1 lb tomatillos, husk removed and washed, whole
• 1 anaheim/poblano/other pepper, whole
• 1 onion, chopped into 8ths
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt (1/2 tsp if your chickpeas are salted), or to taste
• 1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 2 cans chickpeas (I used unsalted), somewhat mashed if desired
• 1/4 cup water

Prepare a baking pan with foil and turn the oven broiler on high.  Place whole tomatillos, whole pepper, and onion chunks on the pan.  Broil for about 10 minutes, flipping everything over halfway through.  Cool and then remove charred skin, stems, seeds, etc.

Combine roasted tomatillos, pepper, onion, cilantro, oregano and salt in a blender or food processor and pulse until the consistency of a well chopped salsa.

In a dry sauce pan, roast curry powder over medium heat for a minute.  Add tomatillo salsa mixture, coconut milk, chickpeas, and water and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

Roasted Tomatillo & Black Bean Tacos

A delicious new take on tacos for us…  we tend to get in a taco (or burrito) rut and make the same old things every time.  This was a wonderful way to change it up!  And two thumbs up from the 8 year old, too.  Inspired by a Vegetarian Times recipe.

• 1 lb tomatillos, husks removed and washed, but whole
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled, whole
• 1 red pepper, whole
• 1 onion, chopped into 8ths
• 1 anaheim/poblano/other pepper, whole
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 10 corn tortillas
• 2 cans black beans (warmed)
• salt (3/4 tsp if beans unsalted, 1/4 tsp if salted)
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 1/2 cup corn (warmed if frozen)
• 1 tomato, chopped

Turn oven broiler on high.  Prepare a baking pan with foil.  Place tomatillos, garlic, red pepper, onion, and spicy pepper on the baking pan and broil for about 10 minutes, flipping everything over halfway through.  After cooled off, remove charred skin, stems, seeds, etc, from all the veggies.

In a blender or food processor, combine: tomatillos, garlic, onions, spicy pepper & cilantro.  Pulse until the consistency of salsa.  Mix with the warmed black beans.  Salt to taste.

Fixins:  Chop the roasted red pepper and put in a bowl.  Other fixins for the taco include: avocado, corn and tomato.

Serve tacos on warmed corn tortillas and enjoy!

 

Chickpea Lettuce Wraps

My daughter and I first tried a version of these at our local natural grocery store at a food demo.  I modified them to suit my needs and they are a favorite in our house.  Messy to eat but so delicious.  And it’s super quick and easy – no cooking involved!

Don’t skip the peanut sauce as a topping!  Amazing.

• 2 cans chickpeas (I used unsalted), drained
• 1/4 cup scallions or green parts of green onions, finely chopped
• 1 small red pepper, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 Tbsp dried rosemary, pulverized with a mortar and pestle (or fresh if you have it!)
• 2 Tbsp white (or red) wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt (omit if chickpeas are salted)
• ground black pepper

• 1/2 head lettuce leaves, for serving
• Peanut Sauce for topping

Combine everything in a bowl.  Serve room temperature with lettuce leaves and peanut sauce.  Make a mess trying to eat, but enjoy every moment of it!

Cabbage & Noodles

This variation on halusky, an eastern European comfort dish, is a delicious fall (or winter) dish.  You can make this quicker by cooking on higher heat, but I think the slower cooking brings out the sweetness and makes it that much yummier!  It’s very easy, though, and requires little attention.  Typically this dish is made with egg noodles (which obviously aren’t plant-based!) so I used some brown rice fettuccine which has a similar feel in your mouth.

• 3 Tbsp Earth Balance (I avoid cooking with oil or Earth Balance, but was flexible tonight for some authenticity; it’s a lot less butter/oil than would normally be in it, at least!)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 large or 1 1/2 small/medium cabbages, chopped
• 3/4 tsp salt, or to taste
• lots of fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup frozen peas, optional – adds some color to an otherwise blah looking dish!
• 14 – 16 oz. brown rice fettuccine

At some point while the cabbage is cooking , start a pot of boiling water for the pasta and cook pasta according to package directions!

In a soup pot, melt Earth Balance over medium heat.  Add onions and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and reducing temperature if they start to brown on the bottom.  Add cabbage and cover and cook another 25 minutes or even more, stirring every now and then, until everything is very soft.  Add seasoning and peas.  Mix the cabbage mixture with the drained pasta (which I ran under cold water as the package suggested) and serve.

No-egg Omelette

Ok, so I was skeptical about making a recipe like this one.  Like, really, a vegan omelette?? Come on!??!  But, this actually was really good and my 7 year old asked for seconds.  It didn’t taste like eggs or omelettes (as I remember them), so abandon any ideas of what it should taste like.  Just expect it to taste good.  🙂  I served it with some soup on the side.  Makes 4 omelettes.

• 1 1/2 cups chickpea flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened original non-dairy milk (I used almond)
• 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp granulated onion
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
• Veggies of your choice for stuffing – I used finely chopped Swiss chard (a few leaves), broccoli (half a head) and tomatoes (1 or 2) because that’s what I had on hand
• Topping of your choice – I liked salsa on top; avocados would be great also

Combine all ingredients except veggies and toppings and whisk until combined.  Heat a NONSTICK (I have pretty much changed to stainless but pulled out my nonstick here!) skillet over medium heat and wipe with a bit of olive oil.  Pour about a quarter of the batter in the pan.  Sprinkle about a quarter of your veggies over half the batter, as shown.  (The amount shown here was a good amount.)  Cook on medium heat until the batter bubbles and the edges cook and get firmer.  Then using a spatula, carefully fold the omelette in half – the non-veggie side onto the veggie side.  Cook another 3 minutes on medium heat.  Then turn off the heat and cover and sit for 5 minutes.  (If you are worried about the one side getting too brown, you could flip before covering and steaming on no heat.)  Serve and enjoy!

Kohlrabi Hash

This was a delicious use of a veggie that isn’t generally my favorite.  Win!

• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance
• 3 cups shredded kohlrabi (thick outside peeled first)
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup shredded carrot
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
• ground black pepper
• Optional:  top with this topping

Heat a large saute pan on medium-high heat.  Add Earth Balance and heat until melted.  Add remaining ingredients and cook about 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so.  Do not overcook – the pepper should still be a little crunchy.  Serve immediately.

This recipe was modified from a recipe on our local CSA’s website, http://www.GrantFarms.com.

Cauliflower Schwarmas

A little middle eastern delight for your lunch or dinner.  Gobbled (and seconds requested) even by my (getting pickier) six year old.

• One large head cauliflower, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (or as you wish depending on desired heat level)
• ground black pepper (about 1/2 tsp)
• optional: 1 Tbsp oil

Fixins:

• pitas
• hummus
• chopped cucumber
• chopped tomato
• lemon tahini sauce (I used the second version tonight – either is fine)

In a large saute pan, add cauliflower, water and salt.  Cook on medium, covered, for about 10 – 15 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.  Add all spices (and optional oil) and cook 2 minutes more.

Recommended assembly.  Take whole pita, slather with hummus, add cauliflower, top with cucumber, tomato and a drizzle of lemon tahini sauce.  Fold and enjoy!

Tweaked a tad from this recipe.