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.

Yummy lentil tacos in an organic blue corn taco shell topped with salsa and shredded cabbage.  Yummy!!!  Would you believe that I didn’t have any chili powder?  Kinda hard to make tacos without that, right?!  I was so mad at myself because I went to the store just yesterday.  I left it out and used the 1 tsp each of cumin and oregano, then added some Tabasco sauce at the end.  I also didn’t have any celery so I just left that out.  It was still really good– so good that I went back for seconds!  Even when you don’t have all of the ingredients on hand, you can improvise and still make a really tasty dish.

We had ours alongside some fresh sauteed corn (I used evoo in place of the butter and I only did 3 ears) and a salad of organic romaine and golden beets.  So summery!

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? 

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/funky-fajitas/feed/ 2 http://www.missionvegan.com/enchilada-lasagna/ http://www.missionvegan.com/enchilada-lasagna/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:16:01 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=2297 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!

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/enchilada-lasagna/feed/ 3 http://www.missionvegan.com/whats-this-a-recipe/ http://www.missionvegan.com/whats-this-a-recipe/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:29:27 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=2279 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.

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/whats-this-a-recipe/feed/ 0 http://www.missionvegan.com/blog-food/ http://www.missionvegan.com/blog-food/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:58:30 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=2117 I haven’t had the motivation to cook lately.  Just one of those funks.  But I feel really bad every night when dinner time rolls around and (1) there’s nothing ready to eat or (2) it’s something easy and lazy.  Last week I decided that I would make a new dish every night from recipes on blogs that I enjoy reading even if some haven’t been updated in a reeaaallly long time (ahem!!!).  It didn’t really work out as I had planned it, but I did manage to make a fair amount of dishes that I’ve never made before.

6 Layer Bean Dip from Disposable Aardvarks Inc.

Dippers were hemp and veggie tortilla chips with flax seeds (hey, you gotta get in those Omega-3s!), and some veggie crudite.  This was good, but I put on way too much sour cream.  I think we all would have liked it better if I’d not been so heavy handed with the sour cream, especially since it has the same consistency of the beans and it was pretty impossible to scrape off.

While on the topic of sour creams, I tried a new brand that I’m not sure I’ve blogged about before:  Vegan Gourmet Sour Cream Alternative.  It was good and I would use it again, but I think I still prefer Tofutti.

Next up are Mini Samosa Wraps from The Veggie Guy.

I left out the crushed red pepper.  Even with that, these still had a little kick to them (good for me because I like spicy).  Emma even tried a few bites and, while she wasn’t wild about them, she didn’t spit it out.  These were good, but it was too much of the same texture for me.  Mushy potato inside and soft tortilla outside.  I was really missing the deep-fried crispy texture of a traditional samosa.  Flavor-wise, these were spot on.

Sloppy Joses over Polenta from One Frugal Foodie.

The original recipe calls for ground turkey, so I substituted a vegan ground “beef.”  Also, I couldn’t find polenta in a tube for some reason, so I had to make my own and it actually turned out really good.  To make the polenta, I used 2 cups of veggie stock and 2 cups of plain, unsweetened soy milk and 1 cup of polenta.  Yum!

This recipe was really tasty (and made excellent taco filling for a leftover night), but my hubby had the brilliant idea of just using corn bread in place of the polenta next time.  So much easier and a better texture.

Chili from Vegannifer.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but I think it still turned out pretty close to the original.  Changes I made to the original recipe:

1. I omitted the cubanelle pepper and tomato.  I just used 1 onion and 2 green bell peppers and added some chopped celery because I had some that needed eating.
2. In place of water, I used veg stock.
3. In place of pineapple juice, I used a tropical carrot juice.
4. I don’t know what Vegebase is and I didn’t have any, so I didn’t use it.
5. I didn’t have red beans, but substituted one 15 oz. can of black beans and one 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans.
6. I omitted the rice.
7. I didn’t have cilantro flakes or chipotle powder and omitted those as well.
8. I had leftover Sloppy Joses and threw that in the pot too (just the beefy part, not the polenta).

After all those substitutions and omissions, this chili recipe was pretty good.  Next time, I won’t add the seitan chicken.  It’s good with it, but we’ve been indulging a little too heavily in the fake meats lately and I feel off.  I’d rather not eat those as often as we have been.  Later this month, I think I’m due for a fast/cleanse of some sort.

Spicy Jalapeno Pizza from Tofu N Sprouts.

I prefer a veggie heavy pizza as opposed to a cheese heavy pizza.  I think this pizza is a good blend of the original recipe and my personal pizza preference.  Please do read through the original recipe as there are LOTS of great vegan pizza making tips.  One such tip: prebaking the pizza dough and then broiling the cheese.  From now on, I will prebake my dough then broil the cheese to melt it, then put the veggies on, then broil some more.  When you try to make a pizza with lots of veggies and vegan cheese, the water in the veggies makes the cheese too wet and it’s not the most pleasant thing to eat.  But, if you broil it first to melt the cheese, then add the veggies, it makes a perfect pizza.

It’s probably also worth mentioning that I just used the Pepper Jack rice cheese and jalapenos.  I didn’t add any of the other stuff to the dough… as I mentioned previously, I am lazy.

I cooked last night for the first time in a while.  Cooked as in something a little more complicated than pasta with sauce from a jar.  I was really craving burritos and I had some potatoes that needed cooking, so I thought I’d make a spicy potato to put in the burrito.  I’m sorry to say that I didn’t actually measure anything that I put in, but I can sort of estimate and describe how I made them.  They were really good– in fact, I’m eating some right now for breakfast!

Start off by first washing and chopping your potatoes.  I used about 2 pounds of red and baby yukon golds.  Put into a pot of cold water and bring to a boil, semi-covered.  Cook until fork tender.  Meanwhile, sautee half of a small onion in some olive oil.  When potatoes have finished cooking, drain them and add them to the sauteed onion.  Here’s where you’ll have to figure things out for yourself… I spiced them up with cumin (about a tsp), chili powder (about a TB), dried oregano (about 1/2 tsp) and S&P (to taste).  While these were spicy, they were not hot.  If you want more heat, add some cayenne.  My hubby doesn’t like things as spicy as I do, so I had to go easy with the heat.

And here they are in my burrito with refried black beans, vegan sour cream, lettuce, tomato, black olives and hot sauce.  These came together really quickly (probably less than 30 minutes total kitchen time) and were really tasty and filling.

While shopping the other day, Emma nearly sweet talked me into buying Oreo-esque cookies.  Good thing my better judgment took over before I grabbed them off the shelf and threw them in the cart.  As a compromise (and a good way to pass time on a rainy afternoon), we made up a batch of Dreena’s chocolate chip cookies.  And because we’re crazy like that over here at Mission: Vegan, we added some sprinkles to them.  Yum!

We also picked up a starfruit the other day.  At $3 for just one, it wasn’t cheap, but I’ve never had one and wanted to try it.  For being so pretty, it really didn’t taste that great.  It sort of has the texture of a cucumber and isn’t sweet like how I expected it to be.  It almost had a green taste to it, sort of like an unripe banana.  Maybe I needed it let it ripen some more before trying to eat it.  I’m really not sure.

I’m very happy to announce that I have perfected my bread recipe with the addition of some flax seeds and by using whole wheat flour in place of   some of the all-purpose.  Definitely more healthy and I have to say it was the best loaf I’ve ever made.  Yummy!

Whole Wheat Oat Bread

(click here for a printer-friendly version)

1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 TB flax seeds

Put ingredients into bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer.  Use medium setting.

And for breakfast on this rainy morning, my Emma requested waffles.  Not having the desire to make waffles one-by-one in my waffle iron, I convinced her that blueberry pancakes were the way to go.  I can’t say enough how much I love the pancake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking.  They turn out perfect every time.  If you don’t have this book and are interested in baking vegan goodies, I highly recommend it.  There’s all sorts of stuff in here from cookies to brownies, scones and muffins, breads and cakes.   And you can’t beat the chocolate cake recipe– easier than a box cake mix and so good that people are often surprised to learn that it’s vegan (because “vegan” surely means that it should taste like sprouts and tree bark).

While I’m on the subject of chocolate cake, I’ll sneak this in.  We celebrated my friend Emily’s birthday this weekend and I surprised her by making a birthday cake.  It’s very simple– chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream decorated with swirls of buttercream and little candies.  This one was a triple layer and was oh-so-good.

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/rain-rain-go-away/feed/ 1 http://www.missionvegan.com/soy-rizo-tacos/ http://www.missionvegan.com/soy-rizo-tacos/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:27:37 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=1305 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).

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/soy-rizo-tacos/feed/ 0 http://www.missionvegan.com/no-queso-dillas/ http://www.missionvegan.com/no-queso-dillas/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:18:33 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=1245 I’ve made black bean and sweet potato enchiladas before and I thought the combo would work equally well in quesadillas.  Well, there’s no cheese, so can you really call them quesadillas?  Anyway, we ate these all weekend long, tweaking the filling a bit to make it a little bit different each night.  These were super tasty and the perfect portion when paired with a simple green salad.

To prepare the sweet potato/yam, chop it up and spread onto a baking sheet.  Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil or canola oil and sprinkle on some cumin, chili powder, cayenne, oregano, and S&P.  Use as much or as little as you like.  I rarely measure spices when I’m preparing stuff like this, so you’ll just have to trust your judgment.  Toss to coat evenly and spread out into a single layer.  Roast at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes until browned on all sides (flip over as needed to prevent burning).

When the potatoes were done, I mashed them up a little bit on my tortilla to give the black beans some glue to stick to.  Top the potatoes with black beans and any other vegetables you may have on hand.  We had ours one night with sweet potatoes, black beans and sauteed onions and bell peppers.  The next night we had that same combo with a little spinach thrown in.  These were so good, you won’t miss the cheese!

Speaking of cheese, I’ve loosened the reins a bit and allow my Emma to eat cheese on occasion.  I’ve concluded that my reasons for being vegan don’t have to be hers, although I hope she’ll chose a vegan lifestyle when she is older and can decide for herself.  Anyway, I was cutting some cheese for her to eat the other day and decided to taste it myself.  It’s been about a year since I’ve had cheese and I was just curious to see if I still like it after not having it (I was a huge fan of cheese– in fact, it was my arugment against going vegan for a long time because I thought I couldn’t give it up).  When I tasted it, I thought it was disgusting.  It coats your mouth with all sorts of creamy funk.  Nasty!