Quinoa Salad

Prepare Quinoa:

1c quinoa, rinsed

2c water 

Bring water and quinoa to boil. Stir, cover and reduce to simmer for 10-15 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat, fluff with fork. (I let it cool before mixing with other ingredients)

Saute 1 medium onion, 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper in coconut oil until soft. Add to quinoa with 3 small tomatoes (diced), feta cheese, a cup of black beans. Stir in with olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. 

YUMMMM!!!! Daniel loved it even more than I expected. It ended up making a huge batch! 

Vegan Corn Chowder

I modified this recipe from All Recipes. I used almond milk instead of soy milk. I love love love corn chowder and this was delicious. Bizarrely, there were no potatoes in the original recipe. I would also consider making this with sweet potatoes. This could feed a family of four and still have leftovers. Add a loaf of bread and a salad and you've got two meals.

I also stirred in 1/3 cup of TVP crumbles. Could have put in a 1/2 cup or more. So I ended up with corn chowder with chik'n.


2 tablespoons of olive oil or some cooking spray
1 small onion, chopped (I forgot this)
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 cups water
3 cups corn (or a whole bag of frozen corn)
2 cups soy milk or almond milk (maybe other plant milk?)
1 tablespoon cornstarch (mix with water for a slurry)
1 teaspoon dried parsley (I only had fresh)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Spray pot with cooking spray. Stir in onions and celery; cook until just slightly golden. Stir in carrots, raw potato and garlic; cook until garlic is slightly golden.
Add two cups of stock, bring to a boil and let boil until potatoes are fork tender...10 minutes or so. If you forgot the onion in the first step, then cut a tablespoon sized chunk of dried onion powder off a blobulous old hunk you have in a baggie and drop it in the pot. Add water, if necessary. Reduce heat to low, and pour in 1 cup milk. Stir soup well, then stir in remaining 1 cup milk. Quickly stir in slurry. Stir in parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until chowder thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Split Pea & Barley Soup

I love this soup. I didn't have barley the first time and made it with wild rice. It was great but I love it more with barley. It's from allrecipes.com but I am adding my modifications. I just throw the garlic, onion and bay in at the same time as the water and I've changed the recipe below to have the carrots and other veggies go in 90 minutes before it's done. not 60. Doubles very easily.

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 bay leaf
* 3 cloves garlic, minced (or garlic powder, to taste)
* 2 cups dried split peas
* 1/2 cup barley
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 8 cups water
* 3 carrots, chopped
* 3 stalks celery, chopped
* 3 potatoes, diced (left them out once, used turnips once, LOVED the latter)
* 1/2 cup chopped parsley (I forgot this the second time)
* 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
* 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the oil, onion, bay leaf and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper. Simmer for another 1.5 hours, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.

Curried Cauliflower

You can use frozen or fresh cauliflower for this recipe.

20 oz. frozen cauliflower florets or 1 small head cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt
oil

Steam the cauliflower until its just getting tender. Move it to a saute pan or wok, with a bit of your preferred oil - mine are canola or olive oil. Liberally sprinkle with salt, then the spices. Add more spice if you like. Saute and stir about five minutes until every floret is coated with curry and done to your liking.

Spicy Butternut Ginger Soup

Another Love Soup recipe, but this one is Ben's favorite. He requests it all the time now that it's fall.

2.5 lbs. butternut squash
2 yellow onions (450 g)
yellow or red potatoes (225 g. or 8 oz.)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
3 cups vegetable broth
3 Tbsp. finely chopped ginger
1/3 cup (20 g) chopped cilantro (we skip this)
2 tsp. rice vinegar (essential)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, plus more to taste
1-2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar

Preheat oven to 400.

Peel and seed squash. Chop into 2-inch cubes. Peel onions and cut into large pieces. Scrub potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Toss vegetables with the olive oil and a teaspoon of salt and spread them on baking sheets or casserole dishes. Roast veggies for 30 minutes, stir them and turn them over, lower heat to 375, and roast for another 30 minutes.

Put roasted veggies into soup pot with 2 cups water and the veg broth, fresh ginger, cilantro (if using), and rice vinegar. Simmer together for 30 minutes, then puree soup using immersion blender or in a blender. Bring soup back to a simmer and season with lemon juice and honey/agave. Adjust seasonings as needed - tasting is important here.

Enjoy!

Barley-Tahini Casserole

This recipe is vegan, but Bridget was sure it had cheese in it because the tahini sauce is so creamy. We all really liked this and we'll definitely be making it again. It's from Alicia Silverstone's cookbook The Kind Diet.

serves 6 to 8

2 cups hulled or pearled barley
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 jumbo (or two medium) onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, grated or finely diced
2 celery stalks, diced
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup Tahini dressing (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350. Bring 3 cups water to boil in a large saucepan and add barley. Cook for about 40 minutes or so, until tender (check it). Drain off any remaining water and set cooked barley aside.

Heat oil in large skillet over med./high heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add a little more oil or a bit of water to the pan if the onion starts to stick. Measure out about 1/4 cup of the cooked onion and garlic and reserve it for the tahini dressing. To the remaining onion and garlic in the skillet, add carrots, celery, soy sauce, salt, basil, oregano, and garlic powder and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables are tender. Add barley to skillet, and stir over med. heat for a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Transfer half of barley mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and drizzle half of tahini dressing over it. Add a second layer of barley mix and then the remainder of the dressing. Bake, uncovered, until heated through, about 35 minutes.

Tahini dressing:

1/4 cup reserved, sauteed onion & garlic
1/2 cup tahini
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of paprika
1/8 tsp. dried basil
pinch of dried oregano

Combine onion, garlic, tahini, spices and 1/2 cup water in food processor or blender. Blend for 1 minutes or until creamy.

Split Pea Soup - Vegan

The kids read a book that features split pea soup and have been asking me to make it, but I used to feel sick to my stomach when my mother would make this soup with the ham bone in it. That bone and meat boiling away just smelled so bad! So I found this ham-free version in Love Soup. We tried and it was better each night. It made a ton of soup. I can't believe I liked this soup, but I would make it again.

1 lb. dried green split peas
3 stalks celery chopped (200g)
3-4 medium carrots, chopped (225 g)
1 large yellow onion, chopped (300 g)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme OR 1 tsp. dried thyme
hot paprika (I used crushed red pepper and regular paprika)
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used 1 Tbsp. dried parsley)
2 -3 cups vegetable broth
ground black pepper

Combine the rinsed split peas in a large soup pot with 8 cups water and the chopped celery, onion and carrots, the bay leaf, thyme, and pinch of paprika. Bring to boil and cook briskly for 20 minutes. Lower heat, add 1 tsp. salt, parsley, and vegetable broth, and simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes. The peas should be completely soft.

Remove bay leaf. Taste and add salt if needed. Grind in black pepper. Add more veg broth or water if it's too thick, then puree in blender or with immersion blender.

This soup will thicken up as it cools and then becomes more liquid when it's reheated. But each time it's reheated it will lose water through evaporation, so reheat it with the lid on. Enjoy!