Dinner

I came home and got to work almost immediately making dinner. I had purchased collard greens several days earlier and wanted to use them; I thought of the idea of collard rollups and found a recipe that suggested blanching the collard leaves and then filling; I may try this interesting recipe with coconut curry sometime. I didn't have time to cook beans so used a 13.4 ounce box of kidney beans and a bit of canellini beans that I had on hand. 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 for about 20 minutes) the beans along with a clove of chopped garlic, along with other chopped vegetables (a green onion, broccoli including stem, and about a half dozen olives), plus 1/4 t salt, 2T nutritional yeast, and 1/4 cup marinara. I blanched the intact collard leaves one at a time by putting each leaf in a pan with about an inch of boiling water for 15 seconds a sid...

Recently we stopped by Living Kitchen , a very nice vegan and (subject to ingredient availability) organic restaurant, and had a tasty thick cauliflower soup. I picked up a head of cauliflower today and decided to try making a similar soup. I had made a c auliflower soup back in February 2011  that was good but I wanted to better it. I found a roasted cauliflower soup recipe from a very nice site by a woman named Jessica  and it looked great. The key ideas were to roast cauliflower, coated in a little olive oil and along with garlic cloves, at  450°F for 15m, then blend with sauteed onion. I made a few changes; I used the convection ("air bake") function on my air fryer toaster oven  which cooks faster and went with 400°F for 15m, instead of using oil, I mixed in Coconut Secret brand c oconut aminos garlic sauce (soy sauce or their normal coconut aminos would have been fine), and I used oregano instead of thyme.  I didn't have any bouillon cubes on hand or bro...

I made an air fried eggplant dish with grits on the side. I used Ener-G Egg Replacer to have a sticky "egg" that I dipped eggplant slices (about 3/8" thick) into, followed by dredging them in a mixture of panko bread crumbs, along with a little nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, salt, and black pepper. I air fried with no oil for 5 minutes at 400°F. I also made a fresh tomato sauce by gently simmering cubes of tomato with onion, dried oregano, a little hot red pepper, and salt, and serving it atop the eggplant. I prepared grits by getting 3 cups salted water boiling then adding maybe 1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame. I cooked for a few minutes till the edamame was defrosted, then added 1 cup grits and a few tablespoonfuls of nutritional yeast. I stirred occasionally and cooked for 5-7 minutes until thick. Results Dinner was very good! My daughter particularly liked the meal and ate leftovers again later in the evening. The eggplant was nicely crispy and the sesame flavor wa...

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 decided to make risotto like I described last May  with a 1 to 2 ratio of arborio rice to water pressure cooked for 5m, along with cubes of potato and carrot, plus peas, onion, and garlic. I also prepared tempeh (tofu for my daughter; I had some tofu, too) in the air fryer at 350°F for 4m. Results Pending Ideas for the future Pending

I prepared Anasazi beans in my my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker by soaking for 8 hours then cooking with just enough water to cover for 23m. I put the beans in a large  Saladmaster  skillet pan after sauteing, without oil or anything else, shallot slices. I mixed in bell pepper, salt, and cumin, and cooked for a few minutes. I then added 1/2" cubes of fresh tomato and cooked for another 2 minutes or so. I served alongside some quinoa that I had made (1 part quinoa to two parts water and a vegan bouillon cube, brought to a boil and then, with the heat off but covered, let stand for 10m or so). Originally, I was going to experiment with using cranberry sauce mixed into the beans, but I had purchased some tasty organic cranberry sauce that tasted so good that I decided to top the quinoa with the sauce so that the sauce could be used by itself, with the quinoa, or with the beans, as each of us desired. Results Pending Ideas for the future I should indeed experiment with ...

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...