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#9/ Light Gumbo with Seitan Sausages

Happy Tuesday!  Today is going to be a quick post.  I have to clean up around here and I'm going to watch a movie with Keaton.  Yes he's home from school again. I went to go get his ears checked out and come to find out not only does he have fluid in the ears but he has strep!  He came home from school yesterday with a sunburn type rash and his hands/feet were sore.  The doctor said his throat looked red but that was it.  According to his other symptoms...strep. 
Food?

Yesterday's lunch.

Ezekiel English Muffin w/mashed white beans, avocado and tomato





 



Light Gumbo with Seitan Sausage

To get my recipe for my gumbo click here.  In making this gumbo lower in fat it also was a bit more runny than thick. I just used 2T. Olive oil and 3T. flour for the roux.  I only used 4 Cups of water and 1/2 a cup of pale ale(not dark) and 2 fresh tomatoes chopped.  I sauteed seitan sausage, chopped them and browned them in the skillet using olive oil spray.  The seitan sausage recipe was based on the steamed white seitan from Viva Vegan.  I just adjusted the spices accordingly and made 6 small loaves.

 

Enjoy your evening!





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.

Vegan Mofo #7/Simple Lentil Soup w/GF Chickpea Flatbread

It's been a week of MoFo'ng already... wow it flew by!  I've been trying to view other blogs this month that I've never been on before and it makes me so happy!  Everyone is doing fabulous and there is so much yummy vegan food!

  Lentil soup is one of those that you can add and do so much to.  I chose last night just to do a simple lentil soup.

Lentil Soup

Recipe:

Olive oil

1  1/4 C. brown or french lentils, uncooked but rinsed

2 med. yellow onions, diced

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 1/2 C. celery, sliced

2 C. carrots, chopped

3 red tomatoes, chopped with juices

1/3 C. white wine

6 C. un-chicken broth or vegetable broth

1/4 tsp thyme

red pepper flakes, optional

*s & p to taste

balsamic or chili oil, drizzled to serve (optional) 

1) In a large stockpot heat up 1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil.

2)Add in onion, garlic, carrots and celery cook until soft.

3)Add in red tomatoes, stir and let cook until they are quite soft.

4)Mix in lentils, white wine and thyme and cook for about 2min.

5)Pour in broth, stir and bring to a boil.

6)Once the mixture is boiling, cover with lid and bring to a simmer for about 40-45min. Cook until

   lentils are soft.

7)Once lentils are soft, use an immersion blender to blend some of it or take a cup or so and put into blender.  Blend until pureed and add back into mixture.  Stir thouroughly and add red pepper flakes if you wish and continue to cook for 10min. more.  Depending on how salty your broth is you may not need any salt.

8)Ladle into bowls.  You can drizzle balsamic or a chili olive oil on top if you wish.



Berean (Chickpea) Flatbread

Yesterday on the Melomeals $3.33 a day blog I saw these delicious flatbreads Melody  made with chickpea flour.  These are totally gluten free which is great, especially for Keaton.  The chickpea crepe recipe I usually use also contains white flour so I was very happy to make these ones. So last night I whipped some up and served them with our lentil soup!  Keaton loved these, alot. You must check them out try them for yourselves.    I also added some fresh rosemary to half the batter, yummy too.

MoFo#6/Balsamic Tofu w/peppers & onions

I hope everyone's weekend has started off to a good one.  The sky is cloudy and grey.  One of the perks with raining is that my water bill is a lot less money.  Bring on the rain!

Thanks for all the get well wishes for Keaton.  He woke up yesterday feeling alot better.  He still has a cough that's lingering but it's random now.

He's bummed because we didn't let him go to Magic Mountain with his friends but that's just a long day and

when Dave was giving him a hug this morning he noticed he was warm.   He'll be fine, rest is all he needs.

There was this meal I used to make for Dave, not myself, in my pescetarian days. It was a balsamic chicken with pepper and onions. This was one of his favorite meals. I gave it a go from memory and it was delicious! If you want to impress dinner guests but don't want to spend hours in the kitchen, this is it. I served it over mashed potatoes. You can adjust the recipe for a single serving to or just make more and just have it for left overs.



Balsamic Tofu w/peppers & onions

Recipe

4 servings

Olive Oil

14oz. Firm Tofu, sliced into strips

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 C. yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 1/2 C.  Red Italian or bell peppers, sliced

1 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1/4 C. White wine

1 T. balsamic vinegar

s & p to taste

Heat up skillet(I use cast iron) and add olive oil.  Once heated up add the onion, garlic and peppers to skillet and saute until soft.  Next add in the rosemary and a bit of salt and pepper, continue to saute for about 2 minutes.  Once done take out vegetables and put into a dish and set aside.  Next add a bit more oil to the skillet and add the tofu strips, sprinkling a bit of salt onto the tops.  You want to sear the tofu on both sides until they start to turn brown and get a bit of a crust on them.  Once the tofu is done add the vegetable mixture back in with it and add the wine.  Stir for about a minute or so until completely warmed through.  Then stir in the balsamic vinegar.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over mashed potatoes or pasta.



Using a good balsamic is real important.  My mother-in-law always makes sure I have balsamic vinegar handy and luckily she knows which ones are best.  This one is from Oliviers & Co. and tastes wonderful!  It's more syrupy but not too much and a bit sweet instead of real acidic.  This is the kind you can drizzle over pasta or veggies before serving your guests or yourself.

Vegan Mofo #5/Almond Milk & Tulsi Tea

Happy Friday and MoFo day 5!

Yesterday I didn't make much in the way of food.  My son Keaton has been home from school since Wednesday.  He started with a cough Monday night,Tuesday evening the dry coughing progressed and he was very tired.  At least he's able to sleep through the night. He had a fever yesterdaywhich I think was a good sign that his body is finally fighting, whatever is going on, off.  He had such a busy weekend last week and stayed up until the wee hours in the moring at a sleepover.  I'm thinking his lack of sleep didn't do any good for his immune system as far as fighting off anything he was exposed to. 

 I usually use Umcka cold care or Sambucus Elderberry syrup but decided to try a homeopathic one.  I know it takes time to work but I just wasn't feeling that it was doing much for him.  I went back to our local health food store and purchased New Chapter Immunity Take Care Lozenges, and

Honey Gardens Apitherapy Honey Wild Cherry Bark Syrup(the gal highly recommended this one).  The honey is raw and not heated so it contains the medicinal properties in it to fight bacteria and virises.  As a vegan to use honey is a personal decision.  Personally I don't buy much honey but when I do it's from a respected smaller farm and usually local.  As far as this syrup containing honey, I'd rather give this to my son than antibiotics or medication. 

So this morning he looks better, no fever, no dizziness, still has a cough and a bit of a yucky stomache but I think the stomache issues are linked with the coughing.  We'll see.

 

Homemade Almond Milk

So a  couple of weeks back I saw a video on The Plant Based Dietician blog where they made almond milk using filtered water and raw almond butter.  Talk about saving some cash, this is so easy to make.  Isn't it pretty? 

This is Holy Basil Tea which they call Tulsi Tea.  Keaton and I tried some this summer when we hit up the Farmers Market in Arcata, CA this summer.  This is just such a nice tasting and smooth tea with a bunch of great health benefits to go along with it! 

Office before painting. (Shelving was taking down already)

Office finished

I guess since my computer is back up and running, we finished our office and fixed our computer, I can finally
post our summer vacation.  Hey better late than never.  What a great month to post about it too since I have to blog like every day.  I promise I will post about it!
See ya tomorrow!

Mofo #4/ Homemade chickenless nuggets and Bok choy salad

Good day to all it's day 4 of Vegan Mofo! 

Before I continue with today's food I must let you all know that Trader Joe's Hemp milk that I previously posted about is quite delicious!  Hempseeds have a strong flavor yet the milk doesn't have that taste at all and is quite mild in taste.  It seems that Hannah at bittersweet has also tried it and enjoys it as well.  They also make a vanilla hemp milk.  You can't beat the price for a great tasting non-dairy milk 

I found this great recipe online  for fat-free chickenless nuggets and I tell you these are so yummy and easy to make too.  It was less expensive to make and doesn't have a bunch of extra stuff in it as well.

The recipe comes from Happy Herbivore so click on over to get her recipe.  Her recipe does say "fat-free" but I melted a bit of Earth Balance and drizzled over each piece before I baked the nuggets.  I'm sure you could spray olive or canola if you wish to as well.

The reason for making the nuggets were to add to this crisp and crunchy bok choy salad.  One of my girlfriends signed up for the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart Challenge and I signed up as well to see about getting some new lower-fat recipes to help my husband out. This recipe by celebrity Ginnifer Goodwin stood out and it's just the perfect meal for a hot day or if you want a light meal.  I actually couldn't stop eating it. lol!  

GINNIFER'S RECIPE:

Gramma's Bok Choy (& Chick'n) Salad

Makes 6 servings

1 medium head organic bok choy, washed, cored, and dried

1 bunch organic green onions, chopped

2 1/2 ounces organic sesame seeds

1 2-ounce package organic sliced almonds

2 3-ounce packages Nissin Top Ramen Oriental noodle soup mix, uncooked

garlic powder, to taste

2 generous tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar or cider vinegar

1/2 cup organic sugar

1 package Gardein Crispy Tenders vegetarian chick'n, prepared as directed



Chop bok choy into bite-size pieces; add onions and chill. Discard seasoning packet from the soup mix or save for another use. Break up noodles. Sauté sesame seeds, almonds, and noodles in oil. Add garlic powder and salt. Cool and store in a covered container for an indefinite time. An hour before serving, combine soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar and boil for no more than 1 minute. Toss the salad with Gardein chick'n and all of the above ingredients. For variety, this salad is also great with chopped pimiento or mandarin orange. Enjoy!

*note-I used a different Ramen noodle from our local health food store.
Until tomorrow......laugh a little.