Tag Archives: easy

Jul 19 2012
2 Comments
Cooking

Southwest Pumpkin Chili and Corn Soup‏

A good friend found a huge pumpkin growing in her backyard and when she eventually harvested it she found herself with more pumpkin puree than she knew what to do with. This is where I come in as the lucky recipient of 16 ounces of pumpkin puree. It was really sweet and mellow so I decided to make a Southwest pumpkin chili and corn soup. You’ll need the following:
1 lb. of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup of salsa verde or juice from 1 lime if you’re short on time
1 generous pinch of chili powder
1 pinch of paprika
flaked red pepper and garlic salt to taste
1/2 cup of frozen corn
1/4 cup of cilantro leaves

I melted the frozen puree over medium-high heat in a sauce pan adding the dry spices. When the puree was melted and everything was getting steamy I adjusted the seasonings and added the corn and cilantro leaves. I stirred it in and reduced the heat to low until I was ready to serve.

The tartness of the lime will accentuate the sweet corn and mellow pumpkin. Cilantro will make the whole thing fragrant and beautiful.

I garnished mine with some paprika. Sprinkling some tortilla chips over the top might add to the texture but it’s awesome as is!

This is Christie, signing off.

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Jul 15 2012
5 Comments
Cooking

Rosemary Garlic Roasted Potatoes!

I’m a big fan of potato. I think it’s a vegetable that gets a bad rap due to all the Atkins style carbohydrate bashing. Potatoes are actually a delicious source of protein, fiber, vitamin C and iron as well as a bevy of other important trace nutrients like niacin, folate and B6. They’re also versatile and easy to work with whenever you want something tasty.

You’ll need the following:

5-6 fist sized red potatoes, cut into bit sized pieces

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

juice from 1/2 lime

6-7 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tbsp corn oil (or any other oil suitable for high temperature cooking)

garlic salt and flake red pepper to taste

Pre-heat your oven to 375F/190C. Place the potatoes and the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl and stir until they’re evenly coated. Spread them out on a foil lined sheet and bake. Depending on the size, they’ll be ready after 40 minutes if they’re on the small size (3/4 inch cubes) and longer if they’re bigger.

We served this up with some steamed asparagus. I trimmed the asparagus and steamed them in the microwave by adding a little water to the bottom of a large bowl and the asparagus on top. Three minutes was all it took for lightly steamed crisp veggies.

We also tried something new: vegan mahi mahi from Veggie Brothers. I’m usually wary of vegan meats because they’re usually ersatz and expensive. I was impressed by the flavor and texture, especially given the attractive appearance. It was tasty but overpriced. We bought a ‘single serving’ and split it. At $5 per person, it wasn’t quite worth it. I do look forward to seeing more from them and hopefully a price drop.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Jul 11 2012
6 Comments
Main Dishes, Thoughts

Vegan cheesy toast, scramble and bacon!

This is just a different assembly of some of our favorites which we casually call “the Heart Attack-Free, All-American Breakfast”. Side note: we’re really lucky to have located a bakery that will make custom gluten-free vegan bread for us. I find that most store bought varieties of gluten-free bread aren’t always vegan and even when they are, they taste like cardboard and sawdust. Below is Karin’s awesome multi-grain and -seed bread with Follow Your Heart mozzarella melted on top.

I sincerely hope that you don’t have to work too hard to find someone who can make awesome bread for you too! We toasted some vegan bread in our oven while scrambling some tofu and smoky maple bacon tempeh.

Above is our finished breakfast. It’s pretty kid friendly and I imagine that even a few non-vegans might be interested. The cheese, bread and tempeh were pre-made so we’ll just talk about the tofu.

Our standard tofu scramble is as follows:

1 carton of silken tofu

1 pinch of turmeric

1 pinch of paprika

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

garlic salt and flake red pepper to taste.

a touch of black (sulfurous) salt is a great addition but isn’t necessary

Sometimes I add chopped tomato, as I did in this case. We just throw everything into a pan and mix until it’s hot and awesome (Brent is in the background working on the tempeh). 

Sauteed mushrooms or chopped basil also make a great addition to any tofu scramble. I see a lot of variations on this theme, so I encourage you to experiment: adding scallions, chopped tomato, sun dried tomato, minced onions or garlic, chopped bell peppers, or whatever blows your hair back. I also know a lot of people use Chinese style tofu. I prefer silken tofu… it reminds me of runny eggs. If you’re a tofu scramble pro, I’d love to hear what you do.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Jul 01 2012
5 Comments
Snacks

Salsa Verde!

I know a lot of us have probably seen these in a local grocery store or farmer’s market and didn’t know what to do with them. This is a refreshing traditional preparation that’s quick and easy for company or just to enjoy yourself.

Friends, meet tomatillo! I love making salsa verde with these babies so here we go. You’ll need the following:

juice from 1 lime

1 generous pinch of vegan sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 jalapeño

1/4 cup cilantro, stems and/or leaves

5-6 lemon or lime sized tomatillo, husks removed

I hate wasting things so I usually save the stems from my cilantro when I use the leaves for a garnish. This dip gets blended up anyways so nobody will know but you that you. Fun fact: cilantro stems keep their unique flavor and aroma when frozen.

I spray a baking sheet with olive oil and bake them at 355F/180C on the top rack next to the broiler burner so that they blacken, usually for between 5 and 10 minutes. I’ve definitely taken a few tomatillos out of the oven to discover one was on fire. Don’t worry (put the fire out first, okay?) just blend them as usual after picking off any parts that are papery from being burned.

Then I throw all the ingredients into a blender and blend until everything is uniformly chunky or smooth, depending on your preference. This salsa is awesome on corn chips, tacos, burritos, whatever you want that needs a tart, spicy kick

This is a quick easy recipe that’s sure to please. We hope you get to try it!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Jun 29 2012
12 Comments
Cooking, Lazy Vegan

Vegan BLT… like a party in your face!

This is so simple I feel like I’m cheating by posting it.  We wanted BLT this Monday. We’ve got a reliable source of vegan gluten-free bread so the next step is to make it awesome.

All you need is some smoky maple bacon tempeh. We bought outs pre-flavored but a tablespoon of maple syrup and drop of liquid smoke or pinch of smoked paprika works perfectly. We sprayed a pan lightly with some olive oil and sauteed it until it was browned lightly.

We mixed up some chipotle lime mayo by combining the juice from 1/2 a lime, a heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast, a pinch of vegan sugar, 1 carton of silken tofu and 1 8 ounce tin of chipotle peppers (this will make it REALLY spicy) use 2-3 peppers for an amusing kick of spice) in the food processor and blending until smooth.

I spread that on a piece of bread, added some tomato and spinach, so technically it’s not really a BLT, it’s a TST but who’s counting anyways.

These babies disappeared really fast.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off.

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Jun 28 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Recipes

Ginger Squash Soup FTW!

Sometimes when it’s raining sideways and the sky is grey (which happens often in South Florida during the summer) you just want comfort food. We decided that squash soup with ginger and grilled cheese would fit the bill for a pair of hungry martial artists so this is what we gathered:

1 piece of ginger, (this will make it spicy and fragrant, add as little or as much as you like. Our piece was a little smaller than my palm)

1 carton of silken tofu

20 ounces of squash puree

1 tbsp Thai chili paste

1 tbsp syrup or sugar

1 cube of bouillon

1 pinch of cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

salt to taste

I blended up the tofu (I used a box of Mori-Nu soft silken tofu) and ginger until it was creamy and combined it with the squash in a large pan. I used 2 boxes of Cascadian farms frozen winter squash puree.

I added all of the seasonings, adjusted them as needed and stirred until it was thoroughly mixed and heated through. I also happened to pick up some vegan gluten-free olive bread at a local market and melted some Follow Your Heart mozzarella in the oven. It took about 7 minutes at 350F/180C to get bubbly and melty.

The earthy buttery savory flavors in the grilled cheese perfectly complimented the spicy floral sweet squash soup. Brent isn’t a big fan of squash but when I mentioned making a similar soup with carrots, he got excited. This particular dish is remarkably low in calories for how rich and creamy it is. The whole pot has about 320 calories and easily feeds 2 hungry people. It’s loaded with fiber, vitamin A and protein in addition to antioxidants and trace nutrients from squash, soy, chili, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger that are of particular interest to scientists.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jun 15 2012
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Veggie Hash with Spicy Lime Peanut Sauce!

This was another experiment. I’m capricious and easily influenced by how pretty things look. Fortunately, vegetables are also delicious so it has been working in my favor more often than not. To make the hash, assemble the following:
1 generous pinch of chili powder
Earth Balance butter as needed
chipotle pepper as needed
1 1/2 cup corn (frozen is fine)
1 sweet potato, peeled, diced
2-3 tomatillos, diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
garlic salt to taste
chipotle pepper to taste
14 ounce can blackeyed peas OR 1 cup of blackeyed peas, soaked
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Heat a large skillet on medium-high with 1-2 tbsp Earth Balance until it melts. Swirl to coat the pan. Add the corn, sweet potato, scallion, paprika, garlic salt. Stir occasionally until the sweet potato is soft.
Add blackeyed peas and stir to mix well; cook 1 more minute or until sweet potato are soft and blackeyed peas are warm through. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish.
 
To make the spicy lime peanut sauce, combine the following:
 1/2 cup almond milk
juice from 1 lime (use a fork to get more of the juice out as shown)
zest from the lime
2 tsp peanut butter

Mix well and adjust the seasonings to taste.

 
I served mine with spinach that I prepared with garlic and jalapeño. I plated the spinach and add the roasted corn, yam, and blackeyed peas mixture to the center of the spinach. Add the spicy peanut lime sauce as desired, sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
We hope you enjoy it!
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
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Jun 08 2012
3 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes

Vegan Rainbow Bake!

I was feeling adventurous today so we made something a little different. I picked my ingredients based on an inexplicable urge to eat more colorful foods: orange sweet potato, indigo blue potato, and vivid green Brussel’s sprouts.

This is what we used:

1 sweet potato, cut into bite sized pieces

8 small blue potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1 lb Brussel’s sprouts, cleaned and cut in half

1 tbsp fresh chili paste

2 tbsp capers (optional)

juice from 1 lemon

1/3 cup of veganaise

I put the vegenaise, capers, lemon juice, and chili paste into a bowl and mixed it.

Then I added the potatoes and sprouts and mixed them until everything was evenly coated with veganaise sauce.

I put everything onto a foil lined baking sheet and baked it 45 minutes at 350F/175C.

It came out moist and flavorful and crisp and caramelized around the edges.

We will probably do this again: the spicy lemony sauce went well with the herbal flavors in the sprouts, the creamy sweetness of the sweet potato and the starchy comfort of he blue potato. It was filling and full of vitamins and minerals.

 

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jun 01 2012
5 Comments
Snacks

Nuts about Flowers: Lavender Almond Chia Pudding

After how adorable and delicious the rose pistachio chia pudding turned out I wanted to give another flower combo a go. I decided that lavender might have the right herbal flowery aroma to pair with toasted almonds so I will need the following:

1 tsp lavender syrup (more if you like sweet things)

1 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

10 or so roasted almonds

2 generous pinches of food grade lavender flowers

I combined the seeds, syrup and almond milk and set it aside for about half an hour.

While the chia were absorbing the liquid, I put some roasted almonds in a paper bag and bashed them with my favorite rolling pin. It was very cathartic.

I mixed them into the pudding with the lavender flowers, saving some of each for a garnish. This is a refreshing snack that I feel like I should be enjoying with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

Some of you might be asking yourselves what sort of syrup I use for my lavender and rose flavoring. Monin makes vegan syrup in organic and conventional varieties as well as sugar free syrups. I’m a big fan of their line.

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 29 2012
7 Comments
Desserts, Snacks

Nuts about Flowers: Rose Pistachio Chia Pudding

Rose is one of my favorite flavors. I’m not big on the flowers themselves but as a food ingredient I think rose is the bees knees. I’m known to add a little rose syrup to a glass of sparkling white wine every now and again (I especially love Spanish cava!) so I’ve got rose syrup just lying around. I have long wanted to make rose pistachio rice pudding but have been too lazy to cook rice… that’s kind of sad. Anyways, I was recently introduced to the joys of chia seed pudding and it’s quickly become a house favorite.

I wanted to use rose with pistachio to flavor chia seed pudding; I just had an inkling that the two would work well together. I also wanted to see the pink and green together.  I combined the following:

1 tsp rose syrup (more if you like it sweet)

1 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

about 10 pistachios, shelled and crushed

2 generous pinches of food grade rose petals

I combined the seeds, syrup and almond milk and set it aside for about half an hour.

I shelled and crushed the pistachios and mixed them into the pudding and garnished with a little pinch of petals and nuts. I LOVED how the nutty, salty vanilla roasted flavors in the pistachios picked up the delicate rose and made it warm and earthy in addition to being deeply floral.

I love how the pink rose petals offset the green of the pistachios against the calico pudding. The petals aren’t necessary for good pudding, I’m just secretly artsy. If you use your own petals, be careful that they weren’t treated with any chemical herbicide, pesticide or fungicide that might make you or your family sick. This is common with roses you might buy at your local florist.

This is Christie, signing off!

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