Dinner

I'm so excited that friends of mine just had a baby and I'm first in the meal train to bring food over! It's always a privilege to be able to be connected in any way with a new baby and I'm thankful that I get to take food over. I like to include fenugreek when I cook for new Moms to help stimulate lactation; I don't like the flavor of fenugreek but when I cook with it, I always make sure that the fenugreek is enveloped with many other strong flavors so it doesn't show through. Here is what I did. Ingredients 3 cups red split lentils 2 cups kale (I used frozen, but fresh is fine) 1 cup spinach 2 cups cauliflower florets 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets 2 cups carrot (2 medium carrots) cut into 3/8" chunks and then halved 1T finely (1/8") chopped ginger 2 medium cloves garlic, finely (1/8") chopped (about 1 1/2 T) Vegan bouillon cube 1t turmeric 1t garlic powder 1t cumin seed 1T fenugreek seed 6 cups water 2 cups chopped bell pepper (approx. 1/4" x...

Hurricane Florence is bearing down on the Carolinas and I am concerned about those who live or have property along the shore. I remember living through Hurricane Fran , which was scary, and that was a category 3 storm; this could hit category 5 and be much more destructive. However, I'm hopeful that by the time it hits our area, we'll get perhaps 30-40 mph winds, which wouldn't be bad. With that as a long preamble, we are not going to be surprised if our power goes out, so I thought I should start eating up frozen foods. If we do lose power and have frozen foods, they will quickly spoil and need to be discarded. I had a favorite frozen pizza, Vegan Harvest by American Flatbread  on hand; I love its crispy crust and find it better than some pizzeria pizza. I also made a waterless broccoli dish with broccoli, kale, garlic, onion, lemon juice, turmeric, garlic granules, and salt. I recently found a nice breakfast dish with organic grains and quinoa called a  Cinnamon Vanill...

For dinner today, I wanted to use some beans but hadn't soaked any. This is the reason I keep a few cans of beans around; I had a 15 ounce can of organic "salad beans" (chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans). I did a waterless preparation of the beans with onion, garlic, kale, and mixed vegetables cooked in a  Saladmaster stock pan. I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes though 10-12 minutes would have been enough (I just wasn't ready to serve). I mixed some red curry paste with millet and brown rice ramen . The bean mixture went atop, and roma tomato thirds triangulated the plate. Results Dinner was good! The curry paste was just spicy enough for my daughter and I liked it; my wife added some hot sauce. I was pleased about how easy, nutritious, and quick this meal was! Ideas for the future We all like curry pastes; I should coo...

I made a Yukon Gold-sweet potato-carrot hash cooked on a cast iron pan, plus a waterless baby lima bean and greens dish, along with a mixed tomato and olive salad. Dinner was good!

I was happy to have a cousin in town today who came over for dinner after his business day. I thought I'd make a bean dish and was originally thinking of cooking cannellini beans then mixing vegetables and soba noodles into them. I ended up instead serving soba noodles as their own side dish. Here is what I did. Ingredients 2 cups cannellini beans soaked overnight (I got away with soaking for maybe 3 hours and it worked out okay, but I think I'd get softer beans if I soaked for longer) then rinsed and drained again Enough water to just cover the beans Vegan bouillon cube 3/4 cup compressed cup kale leaves, roughly hand separated from stems into approximately 3/4" squares 3 medium carrots cut into large sections approximately 1/2" in size Garlic to taste; 2 cloves finely (1/8" or so) chopped garlic would be good, but we had fresh green garlic, and I used at last a tablespoonful cut into larger 1/4" or so pieces 1t grated or finely (1/8" or so) chopped gi...

I had some prepared vegan gravy and made a simple meal. I simply poked Russet potatoes a few places (to make sure that pressure wouldn't cause them to explode) then put them in my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker atop the trivet with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water and pressure steamed for 20m. I mixed in mushrooms and cooked the gravy down a bit, then served atop the potatoes. I also had a massaged kale salad and baked beans.

I thought I'd make a brown lentil dhal; lentils cook under pressure in a ratio of 1 to between 1 1/2 and 2 for 15-20 minutes; I wanted a souply dahl so thought I'd go for a 1:3 ratio for 20 minutes. Here is what I did. Ingredients 1 cup brown lentils 3 cups water 2 cups Russet (or other) potato cut into larger 1/2" cubes (a medium potato) 1/4 cup onion cut into 1/2" cubes 2 cloves garlic, finely (< 1/8") minced 2 cups carrot cut into 3/8" slices (about 3-4 small carrots) 1 packed cup kale, roughly hand-torn into approximately 1" pieces (stems excepted) and then cut down into approximately quarters via knife 1 cup frozen sliced mushrooms 1/4 t turmeric 1/2 t black salt 1/2 t cumin seeds (optional) small piece of organic Meyer lemon, skin and interior intact Another 1/4 cup onion, this time cut into 1/4" cubes 1T lemon juice (I used Meyer lemon juice) (optional) 2 T organic Meyer lemon skin, cut into 1/2" pieces Process I put the lentils, wat...

I have a little Miyoko's Kitchen   vegan mozzarella left and thought I'd make an eggplant dish with some cheese. Eggplant cooks nicely (in just 3 minutes!) in the pressure cooker, so I started that going. By the time the eggplant was done, it tasted great with no cheese, so I skipped the cheese. Here is what I did. Ingredients 5 cups eggplant (skin intact) cut into 1/2" cubes (maybe 4/5 of a medium eggplant) 2 cups shelled edamame 2 packed cups kale, hand-ripped into roughly 1" squares 2 cloves garlic, finely (< 1/8") minced Vegan bouillon cube 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup onion cut into 1/4" cubes 1/2 t tarragon (I couldn't find my tarragon so used oregano instead) 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper 1/8 t salt Process I put the eggplant, edamame (I used frozen; if fresh, I'd just mix in at the end), kale, garlic, bouillon cube, and water into my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker and cooked for just three minutes. After the cooking was done, I waited a few m...

I made a simple dish by cooking in a small stock pan onion, garlic, Field Roast brand  smoked apple sage sausage , and zucchini; after a few minutes, I added kale and spinach and continued cooking for a few more minutes. I then added marinara with basil and simmered, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. I served with a little of the Miyoko's Creamery "mozzarella" cheese I had recently bought. Results Pending Ideas for the future Pending

I was teaching my daughter in our homeschool into the evening, then had to quickly get dinner going. I heated a simple bean dish for her then got to work on dinner for my wife and me. I had on hand lemongrass basil simmer sauce , and thought I'd cook some vegetables and tempeh or seitan with it - but, surprisingly, we were out of both seitan and tempeh. Instead, I decided to go with just vegetables and used about 1 1/2 cups frozen peas, about a compressed cup and a half of kale leaves, roughly hand torn from the stems into about 1" pieces, a cup or so of carrot cut into 3/8" slices. I cut up about a half dozen Yellow Finn potatoes into approximately 1" pieces and pressure steamed them, along with a peeled but uncut clove of garlic for 6 minutes. In the meantime, I put the vegetables and kale (as well as a teaspoon of coarsely chopped ginger) into a large pan and cooked, stirring occasionally, for about 10-12 minutes. The vegetables were partially but not fully cooked...

I had my wife make a batch of cannellini beans while I was out; they weren't soaked, so she pressure cooked a cup of them for "0 minutes" (i.e., just brought to pressure then rinsed before cooking again) and then added 1/4 cup or so of grilled " ArtiHeart " artichokes and 3 cloves of roughly chopped garlic, and pressure cooked for 20 minutes. I blended the result along with a little onion, garlic powder, salt, and nutritional yeast, then grilled on a cast iron pan with no added oil, making a patty with my hands and then covering with a light coating of whole wheat pastry flour. I also served some mixed vegetables and organic Mandarin with an olive. My daughter especially loved the burger! I am happy that it did come out well. I should make more burgers from scratch.

I was thinking of cooking rice with riced cauliflower, but then thought I'd instead use peas, which my daughter loves. I had on hand some Trader Joe's brand " sprouted California rice " and used it. Here is what I did. Ingredients 2T onion cut into 3/8" cubes 1 cup brown, red, and black rice mixture 2 cups water 1/4 t salt 1/8 t turmeric 1 cup peas 1/2 cup sliced mushroom Ingredient 2 8 ounces of seitan Vegan bouillon cube 2 cups onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1 1/4" ( maybe 2/3 of a medium onion) 1 1/4 cups carrot cut into 3/8" slices (3 small-medium carrots) Process The rice that I used calls for simmering for 25m in a 1 1/4 : 2 ratio to water, but I favor extra water to be sure that rice is moist, so went with 1:2. I first sauteed for a few minutes on medium heat the onion, stirring occasionally, then added the rice, water, salt, and turmeric. I brought the rice to a boil then reduced heat and simmered on low, covered, for 25m. I...

We are having colder than usual weather, so I thought I'd make a soup. Split pea soup always turns out well, and I had the idea of making a dhal with chunks of sweet potato. Then, on further reflection, I thought I'd blend sweet potato into the dhal. Here is what I did. Ingredients About 2 cups of cooked sweet potato 1 cup yellow (or green) split peas (1:3 8-10m) 3 cups water 1 1/3 cups potato cut into approx. 3/8" cubes (I used a small Russet potato) 2 cups carrots cut into approx. 3/8" thick slices (2 medium carrots) 2 leaves kale, stems excepted, roughly hand torn into approximately 1" squares 1t finely (1/8") diced ginger 1/8 t turmeric 1/2 t ground cumin 1/4 t garlic granules (or powder) 1/2 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes (I used half red onion and half sweet onion) Juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon (or lemon or lime); if organic, as mine was, then use the peel as well Additional cup of water Process I first prepared the sweet potato. I had 3 or 4 small (may...

Happy Halloween! I had a little pumpkin puree on hand and was very happy with my recent ( October 18th ) experiment cooking with seitan and pumpkin puree. I came up with the idea of cooking seitan with vegetables and pumpkin, then mixing in fresh, raw tomatoes when I served. I made the mistake of mixing the tomatoes in with the couscous which I had thought to make as a side dish - and, in hindsight, I think my "mistake" was fortuitous as it nicely elevated the taste and presentation of the couscous. Here's what I did. Ingredients 1/2 cup whole wheat couscous 3/4 cup water (I accidentally used 1 cup) 1 cup frozen Brussel sprouts Vegan bouillon cube 2/3 cup tomato cut into 1/2" cubes (much of a small-medium tomato) 2T minced basil leaves 3/4 cup onion cut into thin half moons app. 1/4" x 1 1/2" 8 ounces of seitan (I used strips, but any convenient size can be used) 1 1/3 cups carrot cut into 3/8" widths (I used two medium carrots) 1 2/3 compressed cups k...

My friend Fran Costigan  is in town for a cooking demonstration tomorrow and I was lucky to meet her today for lunch. I wish that I could attend her demonstration tomorrow but hope that we can have her back for an event in the future. For dinner tonight, I decided to make a waterless dish. Here is what I did. Ingredients 1/8 cup leek, carefully cleaned, and then cut into 1/2" squares (alternate: 1/8 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes) Medium sweet potato cut into 3/8" cubes 3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame 1/2 cup (compressed) kale, roughly hand torn into approx. 1" squares (stems composted) 2t lime or lemon juice 1/4 t turmeric 1/4 t salt Process I put, in this order, the leek, sweet potato, edamame, and kale into a large Saladmaster stock pan. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes. When I was ready to...

I found fermented vegetables from Farmhouse Culture brand on sale at the store today, and purchased "garlic dill pickle" fermented vegetables  (cabbage, water, salt, cucumber, dill, garlic). The corn yesterday was such a hit that I made something similar today using an Anaheim pepper and sale priced leek. Here is what I did. Ingredients 3T leek (or onion) cut into 3/8" squares 1T fennel cut into 1/4" pieces 1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame 1 cup kale (I used chopped frozen; if fresh, roughly hand tear into approximately 1/2" pieces) 1/4 cup marinara sauce 1/4 t salt Process I put, in this order, the leek, fennel, edamame, and kale into a small  Saladmaster stock pan. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes. I added the sauce, mixed, and covered the pan again, letting it cook for another 5-7 minu...

I picked up some nice looking  Jimmy Nardellos peppers  at the farmers' market today. I hadn't seen these before but read that they saute well. Here is what I made. Ingredients 8 ounces tempeh cut into thin (app. 1/4" thick) 3/4" squares About 10 Jimmy Nardellos peppers, rinsed but with stems intact 1 t onion, chopped into 1/4" cubes 3 ounces mushroom cut into 1/4" or so slices (I used frozen but either fresh or frozen would be fine) 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") chopped 1/2 t salt 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper 1/2 t lemon or lime juice Process I sauteed the tempeh in a cast iron pan that I had put a few drops of oil onto then wiped clean first to leave a small oil residue. I sauteed for maybe 10 minutes on medium - medium-high heat, turning occasionally, till brown, adding the onion and mushroom about halfway through. In another cast iron pan similarly prepared, I sauteed the peppers on medium heat, stirring occasionally, till all peppers had a bit...

We're excited to be seeing one of our favorite dance troupes, Paul Taylor Dance Company , tonight (and twice tomorrow!) at American Dance Festival . We're friends with one of the dancers and she was interested in one of my home cooked meals, so I made extra tonight and packed food for our friend! Ingredients 1 1/2 cups chickpeas, rinsed, soaked overnight, and rinsed again Just enough water to cover chickpeas - about a cup 1/2 cup split peas (I used green but yellow split peas would be fine) 1 1/2 cups more water (so a total of about 2 1/2 cups) 1 3/4 cup beet (I used one medium yellow beet), peeled with ends cut off and then chopped into approx. 1/4" cubes 2 cups crimini or button mushrooms (I used 14 crimini) cut into thirds so that each slice is about 3/8" thick (thicker mushrooms can be cut into quarters) 2 cups kale leaves, stems excepted, roughly hand torn into approx. 1 1/4" squares (I used 12 lacinato kale leaves) 3 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") diced ...

We're so lucky - we have new neighbors a few houses down. We enjoyed starting to get to know them a few weeks ago when they were quite pregnant - and they had their baby a few days ago! I wanted to bring a meal over so made a larger quantity of tonight's dinner, knowing we'd be sharing. Here is what I did. Ingredients 1 cup onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1" (app. 1/2 or a bit less of my medium Vidalia onion) 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") minced 1 cup thin okra (I found beautiful about 3/4" length thin red locally grown okra and cut a few pieces that were bigger into halves; if using thicker okra, try 3/8" slices) 15-20 small crimini or button mushrooms sliced into thirds (about 1 cup) 16 ounces seitan as thin strips or cubes up to 3/4" thick 1 medium green (unripened) tomato cut into 3/8" cubes (about 1 cup) 1 cup bell pepper slices (approx. 1/4" x 3/4") (I might have used 1 1/2 cups but pepper can cause gas, and ...

We had a visitor from Mexico City coming tonight to spend two nights with us. He's not vegetarian, so I thought I'd make something with seitan to let him try a food he likely hadn't had before. I made a waterless Brussels Sprouts dish. Here is what I did: Ingredients 1 cup onion cut into approx. 1/4" x 3/4" half moons (I used about half of a medium Vidalia onion) 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") diced 2 cups (12 small-medium) Brussels Sprouts, halved 1 1/2 cups button or crimini mushrooms cut into quarters (I used 8 crimini) Kernels stripped from one cob of corn (maybe 3/4 cup?) 3 leaves bok choy, each leaf halved and then cut into 3/8" pieces 8 ounces seitan, slices or cubes 10 leaves fresh oregano, roughly chopped into approximately quarters 1/2 t salt 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper Process I put, in this order, the onion, garlic, Brussels Sprouts, mushrooms, corn, bok choy, and seitan into a large Saladmaster stock pan. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I...