Tag Archives: spinach

Oct 27 2014
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Cooking, Uncategorized

Easy Quinoa With Mushrooms and Spinach

Quinoa. Mushrooms. Spinach. What could go wrong? Nothing! It’s a great dish for vegans and non-vegans and it’s very easy to make, especially if you have a rice cooker.

Let me take a step back for a minute: I haven’t been the best vegan lately. I can rattle off all the usual lame excuses and legitimate reasons but it really boils down to this: I haven’t been eating well, whether I’m being a good vegan or breaking down and eating a block of cheese with a side of yogurt. I’ve also been exercising a lot more which is great, but I can definitely feel that it’s bordering on unhealthy because I’m not getting proper nutrition.

I’m trying to get back to healthy eating – meaning that I’m trying to ensure that I’m getting all the nutrients I need. This easy quinoa dish is a step in the right direction. It makes a great side dish with tofu or other protein of your choice and is totally versatile. Add some walnuts or sweet peppers or squash! Yum.

Quinoa with mushrooms and spinach

Easy Quinoa with Mushrooms and Spinach

(adapted from Damn Delicious)

1 cup quinoa
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (I used baby bellas)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 cup spinach
1 tbsp canola or safflower oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse and cook quinoa according to the package instructions. I use a rice cooker and it is perfection!

2. Heat up the oil in a pan. Toss in the garlic. After it starts getting fragrant, toss in the mushrooms, salt and pepper, and saute until cooked, about 3-4 minutes.

3. Lower the heat or remove from heat altogether and toss in the spinach – it all depends on whether you want the spinach fully cooked or just wilted.

4. Stir in the quinoa until well combined.

I ate this by itself, but I encouraged the fam to eat it as a side dish with fish or chicken. Feel free to throw in other spices or veggies! I myself sprinkled some crushed red pepper on this and that added a great kick.

As far as nutrition goes, I felt really good about eating this since:

  • Quinoa is a good protein source AND has a perfect balance of important amino acids AND also has a good amount of fiber and iron
  • Baby bellas are a great source of selenium, niacin, copper and pantothenic acid – all good things
  • Spinach is just awesome. Do I really have to explain why? There’s a reason that Popeye wolfed down a can of it to power up!

 

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Nov 18 2013
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Cooking

Hot pot!

When Brent and I are feeling particularly lazy but still want to eat something healthy, we make hot pot. This is an East Asian fun thing that can be enjoyed by small groups of friends or just your family. We use a simple electric wok that’s resistant to tipping over and fill it with our favorite kind of broth. It’s a great way to use just about any vegetables that are available in our refrigerator – broccoli, green beans, baby corn, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, tofu, tofu skins, mushrooms, snow peas, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, noodles (we use thin rice noodles and konjac noodles). Napa cabbage, spinach and Romaine lettuce are favorites.

After that, all you need is some fresh veg chopped into bite sized pieces and maybe some dipping sauces. Our broth recipe is as follows
1-2  liters of water

1-2 cubes of bouillon (we use “chicken” or mushroom)

1 tbsp of Szechuan peppercorns (we like spicy, what can I say)

2 star anise pods

15-20 goji berries

10-15 scallion onions, chopped into 2 inch pieces

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

a pinch of ground cumin

2-3 pods of allspice

1 coin size slice of ginger (optional)

juice from 1/2 lemon (optional)

1 tbsp chili or garlic flavored canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

I combine everything but the scallion onions in my pot and boil for 30 minutes or more until it’s fragrant and steamy. Then I add the spring onions and take the pot to our table. You put the veggies into the soup pot and wait for the liquid to return to a boil. Then we remove the vegetables without chopsticks, wait for them to cool or dip them in sauce or not (I like a home-made chili-lime-peanut sauce, Brent prefers a garlic chili sauce) and DEVOUR! Just be careful that the hot liquid doesn’t splash anyone and that the contents don’t spill onto anyone. It’s HOT (hence the name *hot* pot)! This might not be a dish for the faint of heart, but it is for the hungry, adventurous and lazy. Just put down a towel for all the drips and splashes.

As versatile as this particular dish is, there’s something for everyone. Just don’t get hurt when you realize someone ate your mushroom.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jul 15 2013
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Main Dishes

Mushroom Spinach Risotto

I admit I’ve been delinquent in my duties as a blogger. We had to move (our former land lady disagreed with us on an appropriate time frame for air conditioner repair in Florida in the summer). I can’t find my camera, but that’s no excuse. I’ve got a phone. Brent is pretty awesome and cooks for both of us when I’m too exhausted from work or moving or all the bologna that goes with all of that, so I wanted to treat him for being so proactive in the kitchen with some comfort food.

I started by making some creamy cashew cheese.

3/4 cup of dry cashews soaked overnight in water (hemp hearts can be a suitable substitute if you’ve got a nut allergy)

juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp herbes de provence

1 pinch salt

I blended this up until it was creamy and put it into the fridge until I was ready to make my risotto. We ate a lot of it with crackers. Oopsie!

To make the risotto I assembled the following additional ingredients.

1/2 cup arborio rice (this is more than enough for 2 people)

2 cups spinach (our was frozen)

1 and 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms

1 cup of white wine (I like chardonnay for this recipe, but I used pinot grigio because we had it)

1/2 tsp herbes de provence

1 quart of water

1 cube of vegetable bouillon

1 onion, diced

1/2 tsp garlic paste or chopped garlic

1 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

I started by microwaving the bouillon and water, stirring to dissolve the bouillon cube.


I then put the rice into my pan with the wine and herbes de provence over low heat until the wine cooked off and some of the liquid was absorbed. I continued to add the broth while I started to sautee the onion in the olive oil.

After the onion was soft I added the mushrooms. Once they started to soften, I added the spinach and turned off the heat once it was wilted.

Once the rice had absorbed most of the broth and was mostly translucent except for a little opaque bit in the middle of the rice grain, I added the nutritional yeast, garlic paste and then combined that with the sauteed vegetables.

Then I stirred in 1/2 cup of my cashew cheese and adjusted the salt and pepper to taste. Hey, guess what… it’s ready. The addition of cashew cheese makes this dish more reminiscent of the cheesy delightful artery clogging dairy rich dish but it’s way better for you and super ultra mega tasty.

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 10 2013
1 Comment
Main Dishes

Tunaless Melt!

This could have made an amazing sandwich but it made an awesome wrap. I’ve been missing tuna melts, not for the fishy tinned tuna but for the melty goodness and crunchy celery. To make the filling I combined the following:

1 32oz tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp vegan mayo

1 cup of chopped celery

1/2 chopped onion

a generous pinch each of tarragon and thyme

1 tbsp marmite or vegemite

salt and flake red pepper to taste

I started by adding the celery and onion and microwaving it until the onion was soft.

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I actually used a fork to mush the chickpeas. I liked the texture it provided since it reminded me more of real tuna that way. Once it was all mixed together, I microwaved it until it was hot and then adjusted the seasoning.

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We combined this on a wrap with some Daiya cheddar which we melted by microwaving and then topped with some spinach and tomato. It hit the spot, EXACTLY!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Apr 25 2013
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Chickenless Salad Wraps

This was an inappropriately easy dinner. We’ve been busy trying to find a friend for our bunny so we haven’t had a lot of time to make anything elaborate. All we did was combine the following:

2 cups soy curls

1 cube bouillon

1/2 tsp herbes de Provence

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We covered them in water and microwaved one minute at a time until the water was absorbed. Then I added 2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

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We added it to a wrap with some spinach (I added that after I took this picture), home-grown sprouts, tomato and bell pepper.

It was sweet, savory, crispy, chewy, and satisfying.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Feb 22 2013
1 Comment
Main Dishes

Italian Wraps!

We had some awesome looking sausage from Pure Market Express and we decided to make something simple with it so we could really appreciate the flavor.
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This was crazy easy, all we did was pile up some Muir Glen fire-roasted tomato, black olives, and sausage on a lightly greased foil-lined baking sheet and topped it with some oregano and some Follow Your Heart mozzarella. I toasted it under our broiler until the cheese was melty and bubbly and then we scooped it onto a spinach lined wrap. I added some extra oregano and some flake red pepper. Brent added some vegan parmesan.

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It was as tasty as it looks. The sausage was a little sweet but I think I can balance it in the future with some garlic salt. This might make a better sub sandwich if you’re not sensitive to gluten or have easy access to gluten-free rolls but we’re using wraps since it’s what we’ve got.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jan 22 2013
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Spinach Pesto!

Brent and I have been pretty lazy lately and that’s mostly burrito kick since we found gluten-free wraps made from teff. This wasn’t one of those nights.

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All you need is the following in your blender.

1 cube of veggie bouillon

juice from a lemon

1/4 cup of hemp hearts (pine nuts work too but hemp is cheaper and more sustainable)

5-6 cloves of garlic (more if you like it spicy)

1 large bunch of spinach (frozen is fine)

1 tsp flake red pepper

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 block of silken tofu (use a cup of dry cashews, soaked overnight if you’ve got a soy allergy)

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BLEND! We served ours with pasta that we tossed with chickpeas, sun dried tomato and porcini mushrooms.

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It was definitely a worth while experiment because it was tasty and loaded with nutrients.

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This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Dec 16 2012
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Thoughts

Sunday Bunday!

Okay… so we’re exploiting our bunnies for their cuteness but it’s a victimless crime… right?

They love kale, spinach, Brussel’s sprouts and everything else green and leafy. Clearly they’re smarter than most of us were at the age of 4.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Nov 09 2012
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Cooking

Piccata revisited

Melissa is the author of the best piccata vegan or not. We decided we wanted some so we changed up a couple of the elements and were pleasantly surprised. We started by preparing some tempeh according to Melissa’s recipe and setting it on low to simmer.

We sauteed some spinach with garlic and flake red pepper.

Next we sauteed some polenta.

I served it all up hot with extra lemon caper awesomeness poured over the top and a sprinkle of paprika.

It was delicious and did not last long. I ended up having to make another batch immediately after this one disappeared. What this really translates to is a recipe that’s robust and reproducible. A huge “THANKS!” goes out to co-author Melissa. She’s pretty rad.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Nov 02 2012
4 Comments
Snacks

Cucumber, olive and hummus sammiches!

I made a loaf of bread and decided we needed to make some awesome sammies. This is inspired by a local restaurant that started serving a similar option with ham… we are skipping that and going straight for the good stuff.

This is as amazing as it is simple. Cucumber, pitted kalamata olives, spinach and your favorite hummus. Slice the cucumber and peel it if you like.

We spread hummus on the bread, put the olives on it (slice them in half if you like), add the spinach and then use the cucumber to moosh it down. Add some more hummus to the top piece of bread if you like.

NOM!

This was an awesome snack that was crisp and cooling from the cucumber and spinach with a savory element from the olives and hummus. It is an excellent option for a hot afternoon or just as a midnight snack.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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