Kimberly Steele's Blog, page 13

Daily Vegan Lunch for 21 September, 2013: Superfood Smoothie

Tastes just like the $3 bottle super-sweet one you can buy from Odwalla, a traitor brand that supports Monsanto and GMO secrecy legislation, except mine is much better than theirs because mine is 100% organic, fresh, and non-GMO.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups kale, washed and densely packed

1.5 cups frozen mango chunks, I used ones I chopped and froze earlier this summer

2 frozen bananas, chunked

6 dates, pitted

2 cups apple juice

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender on the smoothie setting. If you have a lower speed blender, be prepared to blend for 10 minutes, taking periodic breaks so the motor doesn’t burn out. In the case of lower speed blenders, a good strategy would be to use less kale, like 3 cups instead of four, and add an additional cup of apple juice. It will make a thinner smoothie but it will blend much more easily. The traitor brand’s Superfood smoothie is actually more on the thin side, like juice.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 20 September, 2013: Cauliflower Tomato Peanut Millet Bowl

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons oil

1.5 cups onion, chopped

1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped

2 – 3 large tomatoes, chopped or one 13 ounce can stewed tomatoes in their juice

1 carrot, chopped

1 cup red bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon peanut butter

1.5 cups chopped peanuts to garnish

SPICES

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1 teaspoon hot sauce/sriacha

4 cups cooked millet or rice, to serve on the side

DIRECTIONS:

Chop cauliflower roughly. In a large pot, immerse cauliflower in water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn heat to medium high and simmer 10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork-tender but still has some of its firmness. Drain the cauliflower and set it aside.

Fry the carrot and onion in the bottom of a second large stock pot on medium high heat until it is translucent, about 3 minutes. Make a well in the center of the onion-carrot mixture. Add 1 tablespoon of peanut butter to the onions and stir until it melts. Add all spices: cumin, nutmeg, thyme, paprika, and cayenne pepper or hot sauce, stir briefly, about 30 seconds. Add cauliflower, red bell pepper, garlic, and chopped tomatoes. Cook for 3 – 5 more minutes until tomatoes release their juice and are heated through. Serve alongside cooked millet or rice and garnish with chopped peanuts.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 19 September, 2013: Fresh Broccoli Pesto and Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups fresh broccoli, cut into chunks

2 cups basil leaves

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

Salt to taste

4 – 5 cups cooked spaghetti or angel hair pasta

DIRECTIONS:

Cook noodles according to package directions, set aside. Combine uncooked broccoli, basil leaves, pine nuts, olive oil, and garlic in a blender or food processor. Pulse about 20 seconds. Taste test and add salt to taste shortly before before the basil is rendered as paste. Add 1/2 cup water if desired; I did not add water. Pesto should be very finely chopped but not liquid sauce.

Combine pesto with cooked spaghetti or angel hair, mix until thoroughly combined.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 18 September, 2013: Tomato Black Bean Corn Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons oil

1.5 cups onion

5 cups fresh tomatoes, pureed in blender or 3 cups tomato sauce plus 2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups cooked black beans (I soaked dried beans and cooked them in the crockpot)

1.5 cups corn kernels

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:

Puree tomatoes in a food processor or blender until liquified. Alternately, mix 3 cups tomato sauce with 1 cup vegetable broth and set aside.

In a large soup pot, fry onion in oil on medium-high heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and thyme, stir, and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes/tomato sauce & veg broth, beans, and corn. Stir until heated through, about 5 minutes. Salt to taste.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 17 September, 2013: Black Bean Guacamole Pita Pizza

INGREDIENTS:

1 pita round

1 tablespoon onion, chopped

3/4 cup black beans, mashed with a fork

1 teaspoon taco seasoning (generic blend of cumin, chili powder, and onion powder)

OR

1/2 cup refried black beans mixed with 1/4 cup salsa

1/2 recipe of homemade guacamole (about 1/2 avocado’s worth or 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup corn kernels (I used organic frozen ones defrosted in the microwave)

Homemade blender salsa, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

Mash taco seasoning into black beans until they are a paste.  Mix in onions.  Spread the black bean paste on the pita round.  Top with corn.

On an oven proof pan or cookie sheet, broil the pita round with the black beans and corn on it for 5 – 7 minutes.

Take out of oven and spread with guacamole.  Serve with salsa.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 16 September, 2013: Tomato-Arugula Pine Nut Pita Pizza

Another mini-pizza using pita bread!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pita round

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

2 teaspoons vegan mayonnaise or tahini (I used tahini)

1 tablespoon minced onion

Salt to taste

1/2 a tomato, sliced

1 cup arugula or other dark green leafie

2 tablespoons pine nuts

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, mix chopped onion, vegan mayonnaise, and nutritional yeast, and salt until it makes a paste. Spread the paste on the pita bread thinly covering one side. Place the pita bread mayo side up on an ovenproof pan. Top with sliced tomato, arugula, and pine nuts.

Broil at 400 degrees for about 5 – 7 minutes.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 15 September, 2013: Kimdian Eggplant Tomato Masala

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tablespoon oil

1 eggplant, roasted and peeled

4 fresh tomatoes, chopped roughly

1.5 cup sliced onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

SPICES

1 teaspoon mustard seed

1/4 teaspoon fennel

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon garam masala

hot peppers, to taste or hot sauce

Salt to taste

 

DIRECTIONS:

Why pre-roast eggplant?

I like to pre-roast eggplant because if you just fry raw eggplant, eggplant absorbs oil like there’s no tomorrow.  If I pre-roast it, I feel I have much more control over how much oil is in my final dish so I don’t end up with a gross oily pool.  As much as I like Indian restaurant cuisine, it usually has way too much oil for me, case in point the last time I ordered Indian cuisine.  I don’t like super-oily food because not only is it fattening, it upsets my stomach.

Poke holes in eggplant with a fork.  Roast whole eggplant on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees for one hour.  You can roast it for less time if you like a firmer eggplant.  Once the eggplant is out of the oven and cool, peel the skin off, chop it, and set it aside.

In the meantime, fry onion in oil on medium heat, add all spices.  Add tomato chunks, stir, and allow to cook while the eggplant roasts.  Once tomatoes are bright red and juicy (about 10 minutes) add the garlic.  Allow it to cook about 5 minutes.

Chop the peeled, roasted eggplant and mix thoroughly, serve with bread (I like toasted pita bread) or rice.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 14 September: Summer Squash Soup with Macaroni

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tablespoon oil

1.5 cups onion, chopped

1 summer squash, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 potato, peeled and chopped

2 legs celery, chopped

6 cups vegetable broth or 2 broth cubes plus 6 cups water

2 tomatoes, blended in blender

Salt to taste

1 cup elbow macaroni (I used organic whole wheat elbows)

DIRECTIONS:

In the bottom of a large stockpot, fry onions in oil on medium-high heat until translucent.  Add 6 cups water or water & broth cubes.  Turn heat to high.  Add vegetables and tomatoes and let everything come to a boil, about 10 minutes.  Once it does, turn heat to medium-high and simmer.  How fast it cooks will depend on how small you cut your veggies, this is why I tend to cut my veggies very small.  Add macaroni.  Soup is done when macaroni is tender, about 10 more minutes.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 13 September, 2013: Mashed Potatoes with Gluten Free Gravy and Steamed Broccoli

INGREDIENTS:

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 cups water for boiling

3/4 cup soy or other plant milk

Salt to taste

GRAVY INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon gram (chickpea flour) also known as besan plus 1/4 cup more chickpea flour

1 tablespoon oil

1. 5 cups water

Salt to taste

Chopped broccoli and 1 cup water

Combine peeled, chopped potatoes and 3 cups water in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave 5 minutes.

On the stovetop, mix 1 Tablespoon chickpea flour and 1 Tablespoon oil into a paste in the bottom of a cast iron skillet.  Turn heat to medium-high.  Stir and watch it carefully.  Prepare 1.5 cups water mixed with 1/4 cup more flour at the side of the stove.   In 10 minutes or less, the mixture, known as a roux, will begin to darken because it is browning.  Allow it to darken but not burn.  Douse it with the flour-water and stir it so the water becomes thick gravy.  Add salt to taste and a little water if gravy is too thick.

Steam broccoli by combining it with water in a bowl and putting in the microwave for 1 minute.  Drain water when it is done.

Drain the potatoes and fork mash them in a bowl with plant milk, adding more milk if you like creamier potatoes.

Serve potatoes with gravy and broccoli on the side.

S

Daily Vegan Lunch for 12 September, 2013: Congee with Pickled Plums

If I could go back in time, I would have this for breakfast before school every day.

INGREDIENTS:

1. 5 cups overcooked, mushy sushi rice (or any white rice cooked with 1/2 – 1 cup too much water)

1.5 cups vegetable broth (I used 1.5 cups water mixed with 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon)

4 – 5 pickled plums or umeboshi, pitted and chopped fine

1 tablespoon chopped green onion

DIRECTIONS:

Finely chop pickled plums and green onion.  Stir rice into broth and add plums and green onion.  Reheat on stove or microwave if needed.