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!

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.

Chickpea & Soy Curl Curry

This is a delicious vegan twist on Indian Butter Chicken inspired by a Vegan Richa recipe.  The chicken is replaced by soy curls, which have a creepily similar texture to chicken.  Creaminess from the cashew cream replaces the butter.  This is currently one of my 9 year old’s favorite meals!  Serve over rice, quinoa, or with indian bread.

• 6 roma tomatoes
• 8 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 green pepper, stem and seeds removed
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp paprika
• pinch cayenne
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 5.5 oz soy curls
• 2 cans chickpeas
• 2/3 cup cashews
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp more garam masala for later
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Purée tomatoes, garlic, ginger, green pepper and water.

In an InstantPot, pressure cooker, or soup pot, combine purée, spices, soy curls and chickpeas.  Cook in InstantPot or pressure cooker for 11 minutes or cook on stove until soy curls are tender.

While that is cooking, puree cashews and water.

Once the soy curl/chickpea mixture is done, add in cashew cream, additional garam masala, ground mustard and green pepper.  Cook until heated through (use sauté feature if using InstantPot).  Serve over rice or quinoa and garnished with cilantro.

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!

Peanut Sauce (with non-peanut option)

This is a perfect topping for the lettuce wraps.  You can make this peanut-free if you’d like by using all almond butter instead of half almond, half peanut.  Or, if you prefer, use all peanut butter.  Either way, it’s super quick – no cooking needed.

• 3 heaping Tbsp almond butter (preferably just ground almonds)
• 3 heaping Tbsp peanut butter (preferably just ground peanuts)
• 2 Tbsp reduced-sodium tamari
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp granulated garlic powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 2 Tbsp hot water (or more as needed)

Combine everything in a bowl or measuring up and whisk well.  Serve with lettuce wraps or spring rolls or anything you’d like!

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.