Dinner

My daughter loves manicotti and I decided to make a batch tonight. She readily agreed to help. It ended up being too late for my wife, who enjoyed leftovers; she will eat this tomorrow and I may cook a tofu dish for my daughter and me. I used Jovial brand manicotti shells  made from brown rice. I used the recipe that they had on the box as a rough starting point. In one pan, I made a sauce with a 14.5 ounce can of crushed tomatoes, along with peas (my daughter's request; I would have used artichoke hearts), spinach, butternut squash, nutritional yeast, oregano, salt, pepper, and red chili powder. As it simmered, I prepared the filling. I had purchased on sale Kite Hill brand "ricotta cheese" made from almonds. The box's recipe called for 16 ounces of ricotta, but my tub was half that size, so we needed to improvise to get additional bulk for the stuffing (the recipe even had additional items - 4 ounces of Parmesan cheese, a beaten egg, and 4 ounces of mozzarella che...

I had a full day and came home late. I love tofu and decided to make udon noodles with curried tofu, spinach, and bell pepper, for a simple dinner for myself. Results Pending Ideas for the future Pending

We have a new store that opened near our house last week called Sprouts ; we visited and found it doesn't have the variety and quality of coops or Whole Foods Market , but it's nice that it's nearby so we may occasionally visit. They had a few products we've not seen elsewhere, such as  Lightlife brand vegan "sausage" ravioli  that I picked up and decided to make today. It's not particularly healthy as it has 16g of fat and a long list of ingredients, but I thought we'd try it. (It turns out it had soy which my wife is a bit intolerant of, so I prepared some pasta instead for her but used the same sauce, side dish, and salad for her.) I made a homemade sauce by sauteeing chunks of just-ripe but firm tomato, bell pepper, garlic, and onion, and mixing in oregano, salt, and black pepper when off the heat. I don't often make tomato sauces - this one was good! I put, in this order, onion, garlic, frozen cauliflower, and frozen baby lima beans into a la...

I made lasagne; my daughter really liked the manicotti that I recently made and I had some of Miyoko's vegan smoked "mozarella" cheese that I had used. I put four layers of lasagne down, then added leftover canellini beans with Brussels sprouts , plus some of the vegan cheese and sauce. I put down four more layers, then sauteed onion and garlic, plus mushroom and Swiss chard and more sauce. I put down a final four layers then sauce, and baked in a preheated 375°F for 40m. Results Dinner was good and I was pleased at "reinventing" the leftovers this way. Though it wasn't no added fat, I didn't use a lot of the vegan cheese, so it was reasonably low in fat. Ideas for the future It's not so difficult to make lasagne, though it does take a bit of time. One puts sauce down in a baking dish (I used a 9"x13" glass one) then boils four lasagne noodles at a time (these wheat ones cooked in about 5 minutes) and places them on the sauce. Fillings go ...

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 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...

My wife is traveling so for a few days I get to use tofu, which my wife can't eat due to problems with digesting it. I cooked on a cast iron pan some tofu, fingerling potatoes, broccoli, mushroom, onion, and garlic. I mixed in some bok choy in the final minutes of cooking and served with coconut aminos (like soy sauce) and dried chives. I also made brown rice pasta.

I wanted to make a pinto bean dish today. Here is what I did. Ingredients 1 cup pinto beans, rinsed, soaked for at least 5 hours, and rinsed again Enough water to just cover beans 2 Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 1/2" cubes (about 2 cups) 2 cloves garlic 1t finely chopped ginger 1/2 t turmeric 1 1/4 cup chopped spinach (I used frozen but fresh would be fine) 1 1/4 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes 1 3/4 cups (large bell pepper) bell pepper cut into 3/8" cubes Juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon) 1/2 t (or to taste) salt Process I had my wife put the beans, water, potato, garlic, ginger, and turmeric into my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker and set it to cook for 30m. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then mixed in the spinach, onion, bell pepper, lime juice, and salt, and served, topped with a bit of salsa (no salsa for my daughter's portion). I also made some " supergrain garden pagoda pasta " which has as all organic ingredie...

I made a simple pasta with bean dish, along with some tasty potato salad that I had purchased from Deep Roots Market  Cooperative Grocery when I visited a few days ago in Greensboro, NC. I used Tinkyada brand "grand shell" brown rice pasta.

I love Edamame and mung bean sprout fettuccine   and wondered what it would be like with lentils. Even better, how about if I cooked the pasta not separately, but together with the lentils? They might get overcooked, but it's worth trying! Here is what I did. Ingredients 1 1/2 cups green or brown (I used brown) lentils 2 1/4 cups water 1/2 t ground cumin 1/2 t turmeric  1 cup carrot (2 medium carrots) cut into 3/8" slices - 20m 1 cup  Edamame and mung bean sprout fettuccine  (or other pasta, but cooking time may have to be adjusted) cut into approx. 2" pieces Medium shallot cut into approx. 3/8" cubes (few tablespoonfuls) ginger 1/4 t garlic powder 1/4 t salt Process I put the lentils, water, cumin, turmeric, and carrot into my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker and cooked for 20m (green or brown lentils cook with a 1 to 1.5-2 part ratio lentil to water for 15-20m; I wanted this to be thick so went for minimum water and maximum cook time). After the cooking was ...

I have heard of people making curried tomato sauces and found a simple and interesting recipe that I could easily make vegan. It calls for cooking onion, bell pepper, garlic, curry powder, and thyme till vegetables are soft, then adding stewed tomato and simmering for 5m. I thought I'd use fresh tomatoes. I was thinking of making a rich Indian-Italian inspired tomato sauce and mix in artichoke quarters, but as I got going, I thought that I had a good collection of vegetables and that artichokes wouldn't be properly hilighted. Below is what I came up with. By the way, a fellow Food for Life instructor, Cathy Katin-Grazzini, shared today a very nice "cheese" sauce recipe that I should try. Her website is a great resource for healthful vegan cooking. Ingredients 2 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") diced 1 medium shallot, finely (1/8-1/4") diced 3 spring onions cut into 1/2" lengths Medium bell pepper cut into approx. 1/2" squares (about a cup) 3 medium...

I was busy pruning roses  and it became late, so I wanted to put a quick dinner together. I had some interesting black bean pasta elbows from Ancient Harvest brand (the pasta's ingredients are black bean flour, brown rice flour, and organic quinoa flour). I thought I'd put together a Three Sisters meal with corn, climbing beans, and squash. I used frozen vegetables -  a full bag (10 ounces) of butternut squash cubes (maybe 3/4" cubes), 8 ounces cut green beans (maybe 3/4" lengths), and 2 ounces of corn. I put in maybe 1/4 cup onion cut into 1/2" or so cubes first, and then the squash, then the bean, and finally the corn 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. I served the vegetables atop the pasta, and put a little marinara sauce with basil, as well as an...

I had the idea of doing some sort of a saute of fennel with seitan. I ended up essentially braising (though not strictly as I didn't cover the pan with liquid) and came up with an interesting meal. Here is what I did. Ingredients 3 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") chopped About 1 cup of fennel bulb, chopped into approx. 1/4" x 1 1/4" slivers (most of a medium bulb) 8 ounces seitan (cut not important - I used large 3/4" or so chunks, but thin slices would be good, as well, with a different but also good mouth feel) 1/4 cup broth (I used a vegan bouillon cube and 1/4 cup water) 1/2 cup peas Process I put the garlic in a Saladmaster skillet with no oil and sauteed over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 2 or 3 minutes, letting the garlic develop a nice bouquet and soften a bit. I then added the fennel and continued the saute for another 8-10m or so, till the fennel was softened and some pieces were slightly browned. I added the seitan, stirred, and continue...

We are having a snowy weekend with cold weather, so soup is in order. I don't usually make a straight up vegetable soup, typically including beans. I decided to make a simple vegetable soup in my Instant Pot  pressure cooker. It has a "Soup" button that cooks for 30m; I was going to cook just for 20m to have firmer vegetables, but my daughter was helping me cook and wanted softer vegetables, so we stuck with 30m. I've been meaning to make a pasta e fagioli  bean and pasta soup sometime; this wasn't a bean soup, but I still used whole wheat pasta in this non-fagioli. Here is what I did. Ingredients 3 small Yukon Gold potatoes cut into large 1" or so chunks 1 small sweet potato also cut into large 1" or so chunks 2 carrots cut into 1/2" wide discs 4 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") diced 1/2 cup onion cut into approx. 1 1/4" x 1/4" half moons 1 cup whole wheat pasta 2 vegan bouillon cubes (I wanted a strong broth, so used two cubes) 1/2 t d...

I recently bought a nice looking product, organic green lentil lasagne from Explore Cuisine  and decided to make lasagne. These noodles are 50% green lentil flour, and otherwise are made of green pea four and brown rice flour. I like Rao's pasta sauces but have only bought them a few times as they are expensive. They were recently on sale, and I purchased their artichoke sauce . Here is what I did. Ingredients 8 ounce dry uncooked lasagne noodles 2 ounces tempeh cut into thin slices approx. 1/4" x 3" x 3" About 20 ounces marinara or other favorite tomato based sauce 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 In a glass baking dish, I put one noodle down and covered it with ample sauce. I repeated, with less sauce in the middle, and ample sauce again atop. In between two of the top...