Posts filed under ‘Entree’
Pesto Pizza
This was the first meal I made in the kitchen in our new apartment. However…the oven was pretty much worthless and it took about an hour to melt the cheese! They are replacing our oven…yay! It was still delicious.
I started with garlic naan and topped it with pesto. Then I added some sliced roma tomatoes, artichokes, feta and romano cheeses and topped it all off with an Italian blend of cheeses and melted it all up in the oven. Yum. Yum. Yum. It was so fast and easy. Everyone had their own personal pizza and we devoured them.
Chipotle Veggie-Bean Burritos with Creamy Avocado Cashew Sauce
This recipe is sooooo yummy. It’s from Vive Le Vegan by Dreena Burton. I’ll be posting more by Dreena…she is fabulous. It was pretty quick to make…and we had leftovers . These are great for people who need to take a lunch with them to work…I just wrapped them up in foil for Matt and he re-heats at the office. Delicious. I did leave out the chipotle hot sauce. I used Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella cheese…and put a strip of it inside each burrito and crumbled it on the top as well. It was very tasty. Topped them with the Creamy Avocado Cashew Sauce (see below) and homemade salsa. You’ll definitely make these more than once.
Chipotle Veggie-Bean Burritos
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained (Muir Glen Fire Roasted will lend a natural smoky flavor)
1 T olive oil
3/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 t sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 t chipotle hot sauce (optional)
1 t chile powder
1 t cumin
1 t mustard seed
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 t dried basil
1 cup green bell pepper, diced (optional)
1/3 cup celery, diced
1 cup cooked beans (black or adzuki work well)
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 t liquid sweetener (honey if you’re not vegan)
6 large whole wheat tortillas (10 inch)
1 cup non-dairy mozzarella cheese (optional)
Press the drained tomatoes to remove as much liquid as possible. Set aside 3/4 cup of the tomatoes. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, chipotle hot sauce, and all the dried spices and hers. Stir through for 5-6 minutes, then add in the green pepper and celery, and stir through for another couple minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients, including the diced tomatoes (except reserved portion). Cook for a few minutes, then remove from heat and cool.
Preheat over to 375 degrees. Spoon about 1/6 of the cooled filling into each of the the tortilla, leaving a few inches around each edge. Bring the bottom edge over the top of the filling, and begin to roll up the burrito, tucking in the sides as you go until fully rolled.
Place the burritos, folded side down, in a lightly oiled 9 x 12 pan. Sprinkle the reserved diced tomatoes over the top of the burritos. Cover with foil and bake for 15-17 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle on the optional soy cheese, and bake uncovered for another 5-7 minutes until the tops have browned lightly and cheese is melted.
Makes 6 burritos.
Creamy Avocado Cashew Sauce
3/4 cup plain non-dairy milk (adjust for consistency)
1/2 cup avocado (1/2 of a good sized avocado)
1 T cashew butter
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 t sea salt
Pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in the blender and puree until very smooth. Adjust to taste with additional sea salt/pepper. If you don’t have lemon juice, you could use some apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar, but you won’t need as much, about 1 1/2 T.
Lentil Dahl
So many of you responded positively to the Honey Baked Lentil post…so I thought I would post my other favorite lentil dish, Lentil Dahl. It’s taken from a wonderful cookbook, The Vegetarian Mother’s Cookbook: Whole Foods to Nourish Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women and their Families by Cathe Olson. It’s so flavorful, and I love it because it’s a “pantry” recipe. Everything is dry or canned except the onion, so it can be made at anytime…hopefully without a trip to the store.
1 cup lentils (I love red lentils, but any will do)
1/2 strip kombu (optional)
3 cups water
1 T oil or ghee
1 onion, diced
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t tumeric
1/4 t cumin
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 cup diced tomatoes (or 1 can)
1/2 t sea salt
Place lentils, kombu, and water in a heavy-bottomed pan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 45-60 minutes or until lentils are tender. While lentils are cooking, heat skillet. Add oil or ghee, onion, chili powder, tumeric, cumin, and ginger. Saute 10 minutes or until onion is soft. Stir in tomatoes. Cook about 5 minutes. Pour cooked lentils and tomato mixture into food processor or blender and pulse to puree, leaving some texture. Serve with millet, quinoa, or brown rice and/or flatbread.
Honey Baked Lentils
I found this recipe on the Mothering forums…but there are lots of variations elsewhere. I was looking for a great recipe to use up my red lentils, and I FOUND IT! I am in love with this recipe and I will definitely be making it a lot this winter. It’s really, really inexpensive…especially if you are buying your lentils in bulk. I love that it’s a “one-pot” recipe. I just threw all of this into my stoneware loaf pan, covered it in foil, and poof! Time to eat.
1 cup lentils (I use red)
2 cups water
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp gluten free tamari
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ginger
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
salt & pepper to taste
Bake in a covered dish at 350 until tender (about an hour and a half).
You could also substitute 1/3 cup of rice or barley for some of the lentils…and add whatever “winter” vegetables you have on hand. When I made it, I used squash and potatoes. It was delicious.
We ate this as a soup, but it could also be eaten over brown rice or quinoa, or on some flatbread. We eat it as the main dish, but it would be a great side dish as well. Can’t wait to make this again!
Tofu Sticks
Bella loves to dip things…so this week we made “Tofu Sticks” from Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olson. They are deliciously crispy AND tasty.
1 lb. extra firm tofu
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs (whole wheat) or cracker crumbs
3 T sesame seeds (optional)
1 T nutritional yeast
1/4 t paprika
1/2 t kelp powder
3 T olive oil
Press the water out of the tofu using a towel. If you use the tofu packed in water, you may want to rest something heavy on it for 10-15 minutes to get the water out. In a pie plate or shallow bowl, combine crumbs, seeds, nutritional yeast, paprika, and kelp. Cut the tofu block in 1/2 lengthwise. Turn tofu back to the widest side, and cut tofu into 1/2 inch slices across the shorter end. You should have 12 pieces.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss tofu sticks with olive oil…coating all sides. Next, carefully roll the sticks in the breading mixture until coated.
Place them on a baking sheet (stoneware works best). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until brown and crisp. You may have to turn them once.
For the sauce, I use vegenaise with a little dill pickle juice and lemon juice added. Yum! These were a big hit.
Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce
Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) is a wonderfully perfect little “supergrain”. It’s a complete protein, so it’s great for vegetarians (and everyone else for that matter). Bella loves it plain.
Here is a recipe from another one of my favorite cookbooks, “Vegan with a Vengeance” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. This recipe is somewhat time consuming…but everything is from scratch, so that’s expected. Even if you don’t make the croquettes, the mushroom sauce is so delicious alone and would work great over pasta. You could get a little crazy and use shitake or portabella mushrooms as well. This dish is extemely filling and has a hearty flavor. Enjoy!
Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked black-eyed peas, drained, or 1 can, drained and rinsed
1 T olive oil
1 T soy sauce (I use tamari)
1 cup cooked quinoa, at room temperature (how to cook quinoa)
1/2 t dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 t paprika
For the bread crumb coating:
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/8 t sea salt
Few dashes of black pepper
1/2 t finely grated lemon zest
2 t olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend the black-eyed peas with the olive oil and soy sauce until just blended. Or use your hands to mush it for a truly messy experience. Add the quinoa and spices and combine the mixture. You should be able to mold them into balls that readily stick together.
In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the breading. Spray a baking pan with a little oil. Form the croquette s into walnut-sized balls. Gentlly roll the balls between your palms 3-4 times, then flatten out the ends so that the croquettes resemble marshmallows. Coat each ball with the bread crumbs and place on the baking sheet. When all the croquettes have been formed, spray lightly with oil. Bake for 40 minutes, turning once after 20 minutes.
Mushroom Sauce:
3 cups veggie broth
2 T arrowroot powder
1 T olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 t dried thyme
1 t salt
Few dashed of black pepper
1/2 cup white cooking wine
2 T soy sauce
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup plain soy milk
In a small bowl, whisk the broth and arrowroot powder until dissolved. Set aside.
In a medium sauce pan, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the white wine and turn the heat up to high to bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce and the broth/arrowroot mixture. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the nutritional yeast and whist until dissolved. Add the soy milk and whisk for another minute or so. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.
Serve this by putting the extra quinoa on the center of the plate, then put 4-5 croquettes on the quinoa and then add a nice helping of the mushroom sauce around the edges of the plate. Don’t pour sauce directly on the croquettes, as they will get too mushy.
Happy Foody 