Lentils and brown rice are staples in my pantry because they’re so versatile and cheap! While browsing the internet to find inspiration for dinner the other night, I came across this recipe, where lentils and brown rice are combined to make a really yummy filling for tacos or burritos or a topping for taco salad. The only change I’ve made to the recipe is cutting back the amount of water. The amount called for in the recipe is too much, so I suggest cutting it back to 3 cups. I also omit the bouillon.

How I love one pot meals!  What could be easier?!  I made this chili recipe last night for dinner and it was awesome.  All 3 of us enjoyed it… and the simple fact that Emma ate it should tell you how good this is.  I hope my second isn’t as picky of an eater as my first.  This recipe made a HUGE pot of chili, so you may want to cut the recipe in half.  We’ve got a baby coming soon and I’ve been making large pots of soups and stews to freeze for after she gets here.  This recipe made enough for all of us to have a bowl for dinner last night, plus enough leftovers to have later in the week, AND enough to freeze 2 quart jars.  Feel free to add whatever veggies you’ve got on hand; you don’t have to specifically follow my recipe.  I also kept the spice very mild because of Emma.  Even without using any jalapenos, it still had a little kick from the chili powder but is extremely mild.  If you prefer yours spicier, you could use a jalapeno or add some cayenne.  This chili recipe would also adapt very well to a slow cooker– saute the onions, carrots and celery on the stove top, then throw everything (minus the zucchini and potatoes) into the slow cooker.  I would guess 6 hours on low should do it.

Very Veggie Chili

2 TB olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 head broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

2 large chard leaves; stems removed and finely chopped (I use my food processor)

2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1- 28 oz. can/box pureed tomato product (I used strained tomatoes because it was all I could find in a box; you can use a can of crushed tomatoes, or puree a can of whole tomatoes)

1-2 cups water

1/4 cup chili powder (half would be 2 TB if you were cutting back on the recipe)

1 tsp allspice (next time I will use between 1/2 and 3/4 tsp instead)

2 zucchini, chopped

4 small potatoes, chopped

S&P to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onion, celery and carrots in the olive oil under tender.  Add the broccoli, chard, beans and tomatoes.  Add enough water until the veggies are just covered with liquid.  Add spices and simmer for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes of simmering, add zucchini and potatoes and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.  When the potatoes are cooked through, taste and season with S&P.

Dinner time rolled around last night and I had no idea what to make.  We were also pretty low on stuff in the house, so I had to raid my pantry and freezer for something.  Here’s what I came up with, feel free to make substitutions.  Literally, I just kept adding stuff as I found it and made this up as I went along.  It turned out pretty good too.

Kitchen Sink Salad

1 cup quinoa, dry

1 cup green lentils, dry

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 cup frozen/canned artichoke hearts, chopped

1/4 medium onion, chopped (I used white, feel free to use any color you have)

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen green beans

1/4 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/4 cup chopped basil

Dressing:

Juice from 2 limes

Juice from 2 tangerines

2 TB apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

S & P to taste

In two separate pots, bring 2 cups water to a boil (2 cups per pot).  Add quinoa to one, lentils to the other, cover, reduce heat and simmer until done.  The quinoa will be done in 10-15 minutes; the lentils will take about 20.

Meanwhile, combine all of the dressing ingredients together in the bottom of a large bowl.  Add the rest of the salad ingredients and the quinoa and lentils when they are done cooking.  Toss to combine and taste for seasoning.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

(I served ours over some romaine lettuce.  Once I made the dressing, I reserved some of it to toss the lettuce in.)

Doesn’t it look so tasty?  I got this yummy recipe in my inbox the other day from the VegNews Magazine recipe club e-newsletter.  Even though I have yet to try any of their recipes, they all look and sound so good.  I’ve been trying to concoct my own vegan meatloaf, but have not have much luck in getting it to stick together like a loaf and not crumble into itty bitty bits.  To be honest, I’ve only given it one try.  This recipe, though, sounds like a winner (and it’s soy-free if you use soy-free margarine!!). I’m definitely going to try this recipe the next time I get a craving for a loaf, although I may sub cooked quinoa for the brown rice.  What a great dish to serve on Thanksgiving!

Serves 4

What You Need:

1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons tamari, divided
1 tablespoon dark agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons garlic, minced and divided
4 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine, divided
1 cup onion, chopped and divided
1 cup portabello mushrooms, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, finely diced
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
2 cups cooked French lentils
1-1/2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, minced
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the tomato paste, 2 tablespoons tamari, agave, liquid smoke, and 1 tablespoon garlic. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons margarine and 1/2 cup onions. Sauté 5 minutes. Add the portabello mushrooms, and sauté for 7 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl. Add remaining 2 tablespoons margarine to the skillet and sauté celery, carrot, remaining 2 teaspoons garlic, salt, and pepper over low heat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. In a food processor, pulse rice and lentils 10 times, then transfer to a large bowl. In the food processor, pulse cooked vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, remaining tamari, mustard, parsley, arrowroot, and 1/3 cup of the tomato topping 10 times, then add vegetable mixture to rice and lentils. Fold in reserved sautéed onions and mushrooms, breadcrumbs, and the 1/2 cup chopped onion.

4. Press half of the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and spread the top with half of the tomato topping. Then, press the rest of the mixture into the pan, and coat with the remaining tomato topping. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes until top is browned. Remove from oven, and cool for 20 minutes before serving.

My husband and I really enjoy Amy’s veggie loaf frozen dinner.

The only reason I can figure that it isn’t advertised as being vegan is the addition of honey somewhere in the meal.  I don’t consider honey to be vegan (some vegans still eat it regularly), but I will eat it on a rare occasion in a commercially-made product.  Why is honey not vegan, you may be asking yourself?  Well, honey is food that bees make for themselves, not for me.  That’s why I don’t eat it.

Anyway, before I get completely off track, I was craving it last night (really, I was craving something with gravy on top accompanied by mashed potatoes).  I got all the ingredients and using the Magical Loaf Studio, I put together a recipe.  The Magical Loaf Studio is not working the way it’s meant to, but I did find the basic gist of making a loaf.  Now, for some reason, I can’t even find that.  Well, here’s how I made mine.

Lentil Loaf

2 cups cooked lentils, I used green (cook up 1 cup of dry lentils and you should get around 2 cups)

1 cup cooked quinoa (again, cook up 1/2 a cup and you should get around 1 cup)

1/2 cup nuts & seeds, I used 1/4 cup sunflower and 1/4 cup pecans.  Pulse them in a food processor until coarsely ground.

2-3 TB flax meal

1 TB soy sauce

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

5 TB ketchup

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

1 large carrot, diced

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the pan that you intend to cook your loaf in.  Size doesn’t matter; although, I read that an 8×8 pan makes for a crispier loaf.  I used the 8×8 pan.

Saute all the veggies in a little olive oil until tender.  Add the veggies along with everything else into a mixing bowl and combine.  If the mixture is too dry, add up to 1/2 cup of liquid.  This is where I messed up,  I think, because I didn’t use any liquid and my loaf was pretty crumbly.  Stock, broth or soy milk (unsweetened, of course), ought to do it.

Put mixture into your pan and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before cutting.  To cut, invert the loaf onto a plate or platter (so as not to scratch up your baking dish when you cut it).

My loaf, although a bit crumbly, was really tasty.  Even the kiddo ate it, albeit reluctantly at first.  I normally make my own gravy, but since I was making everything else from scratch, I opted for the mix that comes in the little packets.  I know, I know.  But, the one I bought was vegan and didn’t have anything weird in it.  Actually, it had pretty much everything in it that I would have put in it anyway, so maybe it’s not so bad.  The brand is Road’s End and I used the “savory herb” variety.  You can find it in the spice aisle of Whole Foods (for a measly 89 cents!).  It was pretty darn good, too.

You’re going to take one look at this recipe and think I’ve lost my mind.  I thought for a minute tonight that maybe I was crazy for adding beet greens to fajitas… but my dinner turned out awesome, so I guess that means I’m a genius! 

The Back story:  I bought a bunch of organic golden beets today.  I always buy them with the greens attached thinking that I’ll do something great with the greens.  I think to myself, I’ll cook ‘em up, juice ‘em, something awesome.  It never happens and they always turn to something that looks and smells like seaweed before I have the chance/ambition to do something great with them.  But Not Tonight (hey, isn’t that a Depeche Mode song?).

Funky Fajitas

Since I didn’t measure anything, I will describe how I made these.

1. Thoroughly wash your beat greens.  They are usually very sandy so take an extra minute to clean them well.  If you don’t have beat greens or don’t want to use them here, use kale, chard, spinach, or other green of your choice.
2. Remove the big stems from the greens (save them for juicing, if you’re into that sort of thing).
3. Roughly chop the greens and add them to a preheated skillet that has a little oil in it (if you are using spinach, don’t do this yet– you will want to add that last since it takes no time at all to cook).  Your skillet should be fairly hot.
4. Add half an onion that has been sliced.
5. Add 2 small carrots that have been peeled and chopped.
6. Cook a few minutes using tongs to move the veggies around, like you were stir-frying.
7. Add 2 small zucchini that have been sliced or chopped.
8. Continue to stir fry.
9. Add some beans if you want.  I had leftover black and pinto so that’s what I used (maybe a cup total).
10. Add spices– I used (maybe a TB of each) chili powder and cumin; about 1 tsp dried oregano.  S&P to taste.

Yummy additions:  cooked potatoes, mushrooms (if you like them, that is… I don’t), bell peppers…

I made a chunky guacamole to top them with and it was delicious!  Confession:  I also used the chunky guac as dressing for our side salad.

On the side, I sauteed up some plantains.  They were good, but super sweet.  I had bought them last week with the intention of using them in a recipe that I never got around to making.  Soooo… after sitting in the hot kitchen for a week, they are getting nice and black.  Anyway, I think I may try making plantain pancakes, waffles or muffins one day this week since they’re now too sweet for eating straight up, IMO.

Any ideas for using up 2 large plantains that are now at the very sweet, almost rotten stage? 

If you’ve got a small army to feed (or if you just want to have leftovers for the next week), then do I have a recipe for you!  I originally set out to make enchiladas, but when my dry tortillas started falling apart and when my bowl of filling started overflowing, I decided to throw it all into the baking dish and call it a day.  And, it worked out really well.  This dish has actually been better as leftovers, so I would recommend baking it in advance (if you can) and then reheating it when you’re ready to serve it– like make it on a weekend when you have extra time to serve at some point during the week.  If you don’t have time to make it ahead, no worries!  It’s delicious any way you want to eat it.

Feel free to mix up the veggies here.  I would think that mushrooms would be a nice addition, but I don’t particularly like them and don’t use them often.  Eggplant may also be interesting.

Enchilada Lasagna

(serves an army of hungry vegans)

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp cumin

1 TB chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp seasoned salt (or regular salt)

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 generous handful of baby spinach

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 zucchini, chopped

3 small potatoes, boiled and cubed (they’ll need to be mostly cooked)

1 cup pinto beans

1 cup black beans

1 package corn tortillas

2 cups enchilada sauce

2 cups marinara sauce

1 small can black olives

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish or cake pan with non-stick spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with one layer of corn tortillas and set aside.

Saute the onion in a little bit of oil and add all of the spices (everything through the pepper).  Cook until onion is tender then add to a mixing bowl with all of the other veggies and the beans.  Mix well and pour on top of the tortillas in the pan.  Add another single layer of tortillas (you’ll probably need 12 or so total).  Mix together the enchilada and marinara sauces and pour over the top.  Top with olives and bake (uncovered) for 45 minutes to an hour.

We had ours topped with some guacamole and some avocado slices.  Have I mentioned how good this is?  You should make some tonight!

YES!  I’m back in action.

For dinner last night, we had all the makings for black bean burritos,but I wanted to do something different.  I immediately thought of black bean burgers, but my gripe with burger patties made from cooked beans is that they are always too mushy.  Well, I thought maybe I could fix that, so I combined several recipes to make one delicious, not-so-mushy spicy black bean patty.  Note:  these are spicy (because there’s lots of spice going on), but they aren’t too hot.  If you’re worried about the heat, cut back on the chili powder and omit the Tabasco and chili sauces.

I made ours into a “quesadilla” by placing the cooked patty on a tortilla, adding some salsa and baby spinach and crisping the tortilla in a pan the way you would a quesadilla.  I think I prefer the crispy tortilla to a plain tortilla because it gives it a contrasting texture to the patty.

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

1 TB ground flax seeds

3 TB water

1 TB onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 TB chili powder

1 TB cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

4 TB flour

1/4 cup corn, either fresh, frozen or canned

In a food processor, whip the flax seeds with the water until thick and creamy (this is known as a “flax egg” FYI).  Add all the the spices (everything up to the black beans) and process until incorporated.  Add the black beans and the flour and pulse just to break up the beans a bit and to incorporate the flour.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and fold in the corn.  Refrigerate until ready to cook.

To cook, drizzle a little canola oil (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) into a pan.  Make patties (you’ll get 4 from this recipe) and put them in the oil to cook.  Cook about 8 minutes per side, or until golden.

I’ve made these several times and every time I make them, I can’t help but wonder why I don’t make them more often.  I mean, the last time we had these was at Christmas.  The recipe is from ED&BV and I topped them with the cranberry sauce also from that book. The filling is a mixture of white beans, walnuts, spinach, basil and roasted red peppers all wrapped up in crispy filo dough. And the cranberry sauce is just cranberries (fresh or frozen) and maple syrup. I add a little bit of arrowroot because I like it a little thicker.  So good, relatively easy to make, and so filling.  These are great for pretty much any meal too– brunch, lunch or dinner.   The best part is that the filling can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge (no need to worry about the spinach and basil turning brown).

I love soy-rizo.  I’ve found it at my local grocery store, as well as at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.  If you’re missing something meaty, try this stuff out.  It will definitely satisfy your craving.  Having said that, this stuff is pretty high in fat and I’m not much into processed soy foods (like fake deli meats, fake chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc), so things like this soy-rizo are occasional treats in my house.

I had some sitting in my freezer and the other night, I decided to whip up a taco filling with it.  After sauteeing a little onion and garlic, I added in the defrosted soy-rizo and browned it up a little.  Then I put in a can of cannellini beans, some crushed red pepper flakes and a little bit of dried oregano.  Oh yeah, I also made homemade tortillas. 

Not the most appetizing photo, I know, but these were delicious!  And homemade tortillas are much easier to make than they sound.  After looking up a recipe on the internet, I finally came across one that didn’t use shortening.  Not that I’m against shortening (non-hydrogenated, of course) for things like frosting, but it’s not something I want to eat everyday.  Anyway, I’ve made a few changes to the tortilla recipe that I found, so here it is:

Almost Whole Wheat Tortillas

(click here for a printer-friendly version)

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (not whole wheat pastry)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1/2 + 1/8 cup warm water

Mix ingredients. Knead a few times then separate into 8 equal parts (cut in half, then in half again (to make quarters), then cut each quarter in half). Roll into balls then cover and let sit for 10 minutes.  Heat a large (ungreased) pan over medium-high heat. Using a rolling pin, roll balls out into 6-8 inch flat tortillas. These will puff as they cook, so roll them out as thin as you can.  Cook one at a time in the pan until the top bubbles, indicating that it’s time to flip them (just like pancakes).