What Have These Vegans Been Cooking?

Original recipes have been in short supply around here lately (the cold weather has frozen my creative side), but that doesn't mean we've been having take-out food. We have been doing the usual salads, fresh fruit and lots of greens, but doing them simply. Soups have been important, because of the weather, and lately more stews and bakes than earlier in the year (or so it seems to me right now). Check below:



PASTA BOLOGNESE

Sometimes the simplest things are the best. This is another case of taking one's favourite recipe for home-cooked pasta sauce, adding a little crumbled tofu or tvp, simmering until blended and putting atop one's favourite kind of pasta. Have a lovely green salad first (in the North American way) or after (in the Italian way) and you've got a lovely meal, right? Yumm!

Below you have two similar ideas:

VEGETABLE STEW WITH LENTILS



LENTIL SOUP WITH VEGETABLES



They were made at quite different times, but I recall flavouring each with Indian spices and herbs. And both were what I call spicy hot! Eggplant was important to each (it blends so nicely with lentils) and apart from that and some carrot, perhaps a little sweet potato, it's more or less a free-for-all as far as the vegetables go.

The soup made a lovely light meal with a salad, and the stew was consumed as a main course with crusty homemade whole wheat bread. What a treat! Shall work on these some more and post the recipes when I'm happy with them.

More soon - I'm still having trouble with the photo thingie on this new computer :(

Beet & Apple Salad With Avocado, Red Quinoa & Lentil Medley, Tofu Red & Green Pepper Stirfry

BEET & APPLE SALAD WITH AVOCADO

[Edited to correct seasonings, etc.]

This salad was the star of the meal, I think, and appropriately we almost always have our salad first these days. (Okay, we used to always follow our main course with a salad course, and that's how I still stubbornly have pictured them in this blog, but lately, well, we have switched back to the North American custom. But don't hold me to it!!!! LOL

I took the time to slice three or four small cooked beets (we were making soup with the rest) and marinate them in garlic, a mix of vinegars (I think I used rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, but cider vinegar might have been there instead of the red wine - I winged it!), 1 tsp or a little more of Dijon mustard, and some pepper (I generally use a mix of red, black, green which I grind fresh). Then the rest was simple, as you see. Some lovely greens on each plate, a few sliced onion shreds on top of them, and sliced red apple (sprinkled with a little lemon juice to keep them fresh looking) and then the beets arranged with avocado over it all. The marinade from the beets - a lovely thick red mixture - I spooned over the top. Simple and delicious.

RED QUINOA AND LENTIL MEDLEY

To follow, we had a 'medley' of some leftover plain cooked red quinoa (so pretty) plus some leftover lentils (previously cooked with herbs, onion, celery and carrot in the Tuscan style) and a few extra vegetables that were hanging around the crisper - celery, no doubt, onion, crushed dried chilies, etc. (I forget exactly - it was nearly a week ago). The vegetables cooked first in a little water in a skillet, the lentils and quinoa to follow with, I think, a Tbsp low sodium soysauce and/or a Tbsp Annie's Organic Vegan Worcestershire Sauce. Very pretty, very tasty - and very nutritious too I suppose ;)

And to accompany it -

TOFU AND RED & GREEN PEPPER STIRFRY



But of course we don't 'fry' but steam or water-'sautee' the vegetables. The tofu was marinated in a Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce, minced garlic, minced ginger, minced red chilies, then added to the 'stirfry' at the end, just to heat through. (Tofu doesn't need to be 'cooked'.) Celery, onion, ginger root, garlic, red and green pepper, etc., were the vegetables that day. Maybe mushrooms too - I usually do something with mushrooms whenever I find the excuse - just love them and always have a bag of them in the fridge.

SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL SOUP

SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL SOUP
(Serves 4)

This is a great soup because it uses very few and simple ingredients and is ready in a little more than twenty minutes. It can be kept in the refrigerator for about three days or it can be frozen. You can add spices of your choice or leave it pretty well as is. We leave it as is usually :) OR add a little crushed chili flakes to the pot while cooking OR stir in a little garam masala at the end.

1 small onion, chopped
5 oz (ca. 300 g) sweet potato, chopped (OK, that's about 1 small-medium, right?)
1 cup red lentils
3 cups veg stock (your own, preferably, or cheat)

In a large pot/saucepan, heat a little stock or water and add the onion and stir over medium for a couple of minutes until it is soft.

Add the sweet potato, lentils and stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until sweet potato is soft (the lentils only take about 15 - 20 minutes, so this timing depends on the sweet potato).

Blend in batches (either in a blender or using a stick blender/wand) until mixture is smooth, and return to the saucepan to reheat before serving.

You may find you need to add more stock or water - this can be VERY thick :)

It’s a great combo of flavours to which, as I say above, you can add your own for variety.

SPICY LENTILS WITH TOMATOES & AROMATIC VEGETABLES

This recipe is adapted from one in Bishop, _The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook_ (1997). The original recipe required oil to saute the onion, carrot, celery and garlic first. You can do that if you prefer. It also assumed you’d be working from scratch and cooking the lentils from dried ones. I pre-cook mine and freeze until needed, so . . .

SPICY LENTILS WITH TOMATOES & AROMATIC VEGETABLES

1 medium onion, minced
1 medium carrot, minced
1 celery rib/stalk, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cups drained canned whole tomatoes, chopped (probably a 14-oz can - I used what was left of my larger sized can)
4-1/2 cups cooked brown lentils (home cooked or canned. It’d be about 3 cans, I think.)
1/2 tsp cayenne (it really gives the lentils a zing)
2-3 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced
salt to taste

In a large pot, put the onion, carrot, celery and garlic with a little stock over high heat until the veggies are soft. Add all the other ingredients except the salt and parsley. Add half a cup or more of stock. (I used the liquid saved from cooking the lentils.)

Bring the mixture to a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for around 10 or 15 minutes, until the flavours have had time to blend nicely and all the liquid has evaporated. You should keep an eye on this and add more stock if it evaporates too quickly and stir from time to time. (You’ll figure it out.)

Stir in the parlsey and salt to taste. Serve with crusty bread and salads.