everything here is eatable

Mostly-vegan low-fat whole foods recipes

Friday, June 30, 2006

Slow cooked beans and rice

Sometimes, I just want to be able to have a simple meal that takes barely any work...especially when I've been at the hospital all day and only have to feed myself. So I made this up on Wednesday night and have had it with some salad or quick soup for dinner the past 3 nights. I don't mind redundancy if I'm by myself.

Slow Cooked Beans and Rice

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 cup dried beans of whatever variety you choose
1 small onion, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, minced
4 cups of water, or maybe a little more depending on the humidity
1 tsp paprika (smoked is extra nice)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp fresh chopped oregano, basil, or a mix of both
1 tbsp nutritional yeast powder
3 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
1 tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients, excpet salt, to a slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours. Add salt once beans are completely cooked. You can also add some fresh spinach towards the end of cooking. Try mixing in some fresh salsa, avocado pieces, fresh corn kernels, marinated tofu cubes, etc after cooking to complete the meal and add variety if eating over several nights.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Stuffed Collards

Last Saturday at the farmer's market, we picked up this absolutly huge bunch of organic collards, along with an equally large bunch of swiss chard and some beautiful broccoli. I'm not sure what that farmer puts in the soil, but they are doing something right. So, before all the collards got fed off to the bearded dragons (Zeke loves his greens...) I used 4 of the leaves in place of cabbage to make a stuffed cabbage type dish.

Stuffed Collards

4 large collard leaves (12 inch diameter) or more if leaves are smaller
1 1/2 cups cooked couscous, quinoa, brown rice, millet or similar grain
1 cup dry tvp flakes
1/2 c veggie broth
3 tbsp braggs liquid aminos
1 large can diced tomatoes in water or sauce
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese or mashed soft tofu
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp each of minced basil, sage and rosemary
1 tsp honey or other sweetener
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp paprika

Trim the stalks off the the collard leaves. Boil a large pot of water and place the collard leaves in, stalk-end down, for 5 minutes to soften stem. Remove and set aside.

In a large bowl, put dry tvp, broth, liquid aminos, 2/3 of a cup of the tomatoes, paprika and chili powder. Let sit until most or all of the liquid is absorbed by the tvp. Add the cooked grains, cottage cheese or tofu, and fresh herbs. Stir well to blend and let sit for about 20 minutes to blend and absorb remaining liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a sauce pan, heat remaining canned tomatoes, honey, balsamic vinegar, and paprika. Let come to a boil and cook until it has thickened a little bit.

Take the collard leaves, position them underside facing up and place about a quarter of the stuffing (or an appropraite amount depending on the number of leaves you have) in the middle of the leaf. Fold the top of the leaf down over the stuffing, then the sides and then the stem end to make an envelope. Place seam side down in a large baking pan. Repeat until all leaves are stuffed.

Pour tomato sauce over top of the leaves. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25-35 minutes.

It actually came out quite pretty...one of these days I manage to get pictures up here.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Summer Greens and Fruit Salad

i need a digital camera.

The other night, since it was so Bleeping hot, we had a little air conditioned picnic in the bedroom. Part of this consisted of a store-bought veggie lasagna, but also a farmer's market special salad...with a few extras in the way of imported, yet still organic, fruits.

Summer Greens and Fruit Salad

4 cups mixed baby greens
1 banana, sliced
1/2 of a nectarine, sliced
6 large fresh strawberries, halved and sliced
1 large handful of almonds
1 large handful of cashews
1 large handful of dried cranberries
1 meduim handful sunflower seeds or pepitos
5-6 large basil leaves or 7-8 mint leaves, chopped into strips
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp sugar, honey or other sweetener
1 tsp seasoning salt (i used Penzyse's Northwood's Seasoning)
Mix greens, fruits and nuts/seeds together in a large bowl. Blend remaining ingredients together and pour over top of salad. Toss gently to coat, then serve.
I wish we had had some other fruits, maybe blueberries or raspberries, but hopefully later in the summer. The greens were from a local organic farmer, as were the strawberries. the banana and nectarine were from the grocery store. The herbs were from the windowsill, after I spluged and bought some basil, sage, rosemary and lemon thyme plants at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. There just isn't much better than balsamic vinegar over fruit, in my opinion.

Monday, June 12, 2006

mexican lasagna

The other day I took the Vegetarian Time Complete Cookbook out from the library, dispite warnings on the yahoo Vegetarian_group that the recipes don't come out many times. Well, I made the Mexican lasagna on Saturday night and, yeah, it didn't come out. It was very good, mind you, but not lasagna-y at all, more like a mushy casserole without discerable layers. However, it was pretty and made an excellent dip the next day with leftover tortillas....I'm going to give the book a few more chances, but I also got another Nava Atlas cookbook, so I'm anxous to try some of those recipes.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

dinner last night

Ok, so we very often have baked marinated tofu "steaks" (firm tofu cut into large slices then frozen to give it a meaty texture), roasted salt potatoes and some form a steamed green veggie. Last night was no exception. You can actually bake both at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes (though i normally pull the tofu out after 20-15 minutes).

another tofu/seitan/veggie marinade

1/3 cup soy sauce or braggs or mix of both
1/4 c balsamic, red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup or other sweetener
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp rosemary

blend and pour over tofu pieces or whatever you are marinating. Shake or stir to blend and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour.I like to bake marinated tofu slices at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

Roasted potatoes

1-2 lbs of salt potatoes, quartered
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place potatoes in a baking pan in a single layer.Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the spices. Stir to coat. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

and we had steamed broccoli and sliced garlic and a little bit of soy sauce on top. heavy on the soy but its the first night this week.

lettuce wraps

Lettuce Wraps

2-4 large lettuce, escarole, large-leaf spinach leaves
1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salad dressing/sandwich spread
1 tbsp hummus
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes
several thin tomato slices, cucumber slices, finely shredded carrot or other veggies
several pieces of vegetarian deli slices, veggie peperoni, bacon, thin sliced seitan pieces, cheese or veggie cheese pieces or whatever you have on hand

mix the balsamic vinegar and dressing. Spread the hummus in a thin layer on each leaf, then spread a layer of vinegar/dressing mix over that.Sprinkle a fine coating of nutritional yeast over the dressings. Layer any veggies you want over that, then the "meat" or cheese.Carefully roll the leaves, starting from the stem, to form a wrap. Fold extra edges over and pin with a toothpick if necessary. Very transportable as it doesn't run as much of a risk of getting sorry.

2 smoothies

yay, an amazing way to get yogurt (probiotics), protein, fruit and powdered supplements in one great drink.

Katie's favorite smoothie

2/3 c yogurt or soy yogurt, plain
4 medium frozen strawberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp l-glutamine powder (optional- for mouth sores)
1 tbsp soy protein powder (optional)a little bit of honey, if necessary

Put everything in a blender then blend on high until there are no fruit chunks remaining.

My favorite smoothie

2/3 c yogurt or soy yogurt
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4-1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
2 tbsp ground flax seed

This can be a little bit thick, so I sometimes add a few tbsp of soy milk.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

sushi salad

i made this up for myself tonight...Katie still doesn't have much of an appetite since the first round of chemo, though she did admit it smelled good....

Sushi Salad

1 c uncooked brown rice

2 c water

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/2 a cucumber, cut into matchsticks or small slices

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 sheet nori, cut into 1/2 inch squares

2/3 c extra firm tofu cubes

1/4 rice vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari


Bring water to a boil, add rice and cook, covered, over medium heat for 30-35 minutes or until cooked. In the meantime, in a large bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar and soy sauce. Whisk until sugar is dissolved then add the vegetables (except seeds and nori) and tofu. Stir to coat and set aside. When rice is cooked, add to bowl with the veggies and sauce. Add nori and sesame seeds. Stir to blend and then cover and let cool in the fridge for a few hours, stirring once in awhile to redistribute the sauce. Serve cold.