MoFo #10/ A different Tahini recipe w/chickpeas, veggies and brown rice

Did you think I had forgotton about todays post?  It's almost 5 and I just got back from a day of errands and after this it's off to the Farmers Market.

One of the first vegan meals that I had in my rotation was this.  I usually use shitake mushrooms in it but I didn't have any on hand.

I'm not going to give out exact measurements but I will tell you what I used in the recipe.  You can also use what veggie you have on hand.  Shitake just goes so well with this dish and I usually don't use carrot either.  First I cooked up a pot of brown rice.  As the rice is cooking you saute up some yellow onion and 2 minced garlic cloves,until soft.  Then add in veggies of choice. I had broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and italian red pepper. Saute just until slightly tender and then add about 2 C. chickpeas.  The sauce mixture I just add right into the pan-1/3 C. Tahini, 3 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos or Tamari, 1 1/2 C. no-chicken broth or veggie broth and mix in well and let reduce slightly.  Add firm tofu chunks if you with.  I did.  Add more tamari if you wish as well.  Serve over brown rice.

Okay I got to go.  Have a great night.

Vegan MoFo #8/ Lemon Tahini Sauce over GF noodles

Happy Monday to you!

It's on to the second week of Vegan MoFo!  There are so many delicious recipes to try.  I'm trying to check out new blogs everyday and support my usual blogs at the same time.

FYI.  If you haven't seen the film FOODMATTERS you really need to.  It's also a really good one to share with your non-vegan family members.   

Lemon Tahini Noodles



Tahini sauce makes for a nice change instead of using a peanut sauce over noodles.  The noodles I used were rice noodles from TJ's.

Lemon Tahini Noodles

1pd. rice or udon noodles

Prepare noodles according to package.  While water is boiling prepare sauce.

In a blender add the following ingredients and blend until smooth.

1/2 C. Raw Tahini

1 garlic clove
2 T. fresh ginger, chopped

3 T. maple syrup or agave

3 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos or Tamari

2 T. Brown Rice Vinegar

2 T. sesame oil

3 T. fresh lemon juice or more to your liking

2 T. cilantro

2 scallions, chopped

Splash of sriracha or more if you like to add some heat

1/2 -3/4 cup of water to thin out.

Vegetables:

olive oil

1 garlic clove

1tsp. ginger

vegetables of your choice.

 Gently saute vegetables in a large pan with garlic and ginger.  Once vegetables are slightly cooked add the noodles and the sauce.  Stir together well.  You can then serve into dish and top with sesame seeds.

Quick, easy & tasty...

I hope everyone had a good weekend. We felt this weekend went by so fast! Our town had it's tree lighting on Friday and Christmas Parade on Saturday.
It's raining today, yay! We didn't even have to do a rain dance, but I was so ready to.
I was really craving this meal. It's so easy to make and is very comforting...to me anyways. I don't have measurments it's just all by taste.

Cook up some brown rice, set aside. In a large pan, saute onion, few minced garlic cloves. Next add in a chopped bell pepper, shitake mushrooms, once these are getting soft add the brocolli. You make the sauce right in the pan. Sauce: tahini about 1/4-1/3 cup(I love tahini so I had more) a little white wine(dry sherry), ginger, soy sauce & veggie broth. Just stir around with the veggies until warm and add a can of garbanzo beans & 8 oz. cubed extra-firm tofu. Stir until all warmed through. Serve on a bed of rice or grain of choice.

Grilled Falafal & Veggie Wrap

These pictures aren't very good, I really need a better camera, but you can get the idea of what the falafel wrap looked like cut in half. I broke out a book I bought during the holidays called The New Vegetarian Grill, Revised Edition: 250 Flame-Kissed Recipes by Andrea Chesman . The book has everything from individual grilled veggies to sandwich's and noodle dishes. It's pretty neat since our bbq will be in use for the rest of the summer. It's been about 100 degrees or hotter out and with weather like that we eat later and don't want anything to heavy.

My first recipe was the Grilled Falafels. These were so very easy to make and pretty tasty too! I sprayed them with olive oil before I put them on the grill, they held together great. I then grilled up, sweet potato, sweet onion, red bell pepper and zucchini. Sliced some tomato and avocado. For the tahini dressing I made the one from VCON but halved the recipe, I didn't have fresh dill so I just added a little bit of dried. Then I wrapped some rice tortillas in foil and heated them up on the bbq for a few minutes. Rice tortillas worked perfect for this because they don't get soggy like a flour tortilla. You can obviously use pita to if you wish. Assembling: I smothered a rice tortilla with tahini dressing, then on one side I layered the falafel and veggies then folded over, cut in half and served with a salad. One half of the falafal wrap was the perfect amount of food but the whole wrap would be fine if you are a bit hungrier and it still wouldn't weight you down.

Below are my changes to the recipe taken from:

Falafel

recipe from The New Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman

3 C. cooked chickpeas (or two 15oz. cans), drained

4 slices sandwich bread, sprouted whole grain

8 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley

3 garlic cloves

2 tsp. ground cumin

]1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground red chile pepper (I used flaked chile pepper) or to taste

s& p

2 T. Olive oil

Puree the chickpeas and bread in a food processor. Scrape into to a large bowl. Then puree the scallions, cilantro, parsley and garlic. Add to the chickpea mixture along with the spices. Mix thoroughly adding olive oil. Use your hands to completely mix if needed.

Form the mixture into patties about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Brush with olive on both sides or use a spray olive oil/canola oil like I did.

Heat the grill or bbq up to a medium heat, about 375. Grill the falafel about 4 minutes on each side, just until grill marks and cooked through.

Note: I think the recipe calls for the bread because it helps bind the ingredients together so they don't fall apart on the bbq.