Bean-Stuffed Acorn Squash, Mexican-Spiced Veg on Beans, Faux Chikken Dinner

BEAN-STUFFED ACORN SQUASH WITH BRAISED KALE

Right now I am enjoying eating the mostly greens and beans way (with some apologies to Dr Joel Fuhrman since I do enjoy my spices and other condiments). I had found a lovely little organic acorn squash at the market, had some home-cooked black beans (unseasoned) in the freezer and a lovely bunch of dinosaur kale in the crisper. This had to make a good meal.

First the squash, which I simply halved and baked, face down and lightly covered, at 350 degrees for around half an hour. While this was happening, I tossed a little onion and garlic into a pan to get the onions to a translucent state (using a little water to sautee, as usual, although I have been known to 'cheat' and use a teaspoon of oil), and added a chopped tomato. In went the black turtle) beans, about 1-1/2 cups, along with a tablespoon of tomato paste from a tube, a tablespoon of organic pure maple syrup, a squirt of Bragg liquid aminos/all-purpose seasoning, a shake or two of thyme and oregano, a sprinkle of red chili flakes and just enough water to let it all simmer while the squash baked. The kale was stripped of its coarse stems, sliced crosswise into ribbons and lightly braised with a little garlic in a very little vegetable stock with a few raisins.

This all came together before I knew it, and with a quick baby spinach and orange salad to start we had a delicious meal. You'll be seeing more of my beans 'n' greens meals in the next little while.

And this one is also about beans, pureed as I like to do sometimes now, with some mixed vegetables. Have a look:



MEXICAN-SPICED BROCCOLI, MUSHROOMS AND RED BELL PEPPERS ON BEANS

As you see, the beans (I used lima beans here, cooked with garlic, onion, bay and a little chili) are well pureed, not too soupy but placed in a shallow old-fashioned-style soup plate for presentation rather than from need. I water-sauteed broccoli florets with some red bell pepper/capsicum, quartered mushrooms and sliced onion. These I seasoned with Mexican Chili Spice Mix with a little extra cumin and cayenne. When the beans were heated through again after being pureed, the vegetables were ready, with any liquid absorbed. I sprinkled some vegan parmesan-style cheese on top.

This next one does not, however, use beans, but there's still something green there :)



FAUX CHICKEN DINNER WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND ASPARAGUS

Coming home too close to mealtime meant I reached for a package of PC Meatless Chicken Breasts (the fake meat is made by Gardein, I note). Iit comes in a sealed pouch with sauce included, intended to be microwaved or boiled in the bag, but I pop it into a baking dish in the oven while I do the rest of the meal, although I'll probably reconsider that option if I'm still using it when the weather gets hot. In this case, the baking option worked fine, since I quickly chopped some potatoes and carrots to roast on the same shelf. While this was happening, a salad was in preparation and, while we were consuming that, I put on the water to steam the asparagus you see in the photo. That takes about two or three minutes while the plates are being changed and the glasses recharged.

This fake meat is very tasty, and seems to come in just a couple of flavours (the sauce, remember?). One Tuscan (i.e. tomato and herbs) and the other, which is pictured above, is Dijon (more French and with a mild mustardy sauce). Both are very good. I went for years 'not approving' of faux meats, mainly because I didn't like the taste, I think. Good products have me rethinking me stubbornness, and I do now keep one or two on hand (watching the expiry dates carefully) as a change or for emergency use. This would go well just with a big green salad too.

CHILIED ASPARAGUS WITH QUINOA AND TOFU, SPICED LIMAS WITH GARLIC BROCCOLI

Chilied Asparagus With Quinoa And Tofu


This way of doing asparagus is a hit in our household, since we love Asian-inspired dishes, especially the hot and spicy ones. Here I chose for lunch today to do the asparagus in the quickest possible way, stir-'fried' (without oil and just a little liquid) in a skillet with a little finely chopped ginger and garlic, a dash of low-sodium tamari, a pinch of sugar, dried chili flakes, and to finish about 1/8 tsp of oriental sesame oil put drop by drop over the top of it all. (The dish is originally from Hong Kong via Madhur Jaffrey's excellent Vegetarian World Cuisine.) Traditionally it would be served with rice, but I chose quinoa for its wonderful nutty flavour (not to mention the nutritional value). Additionally I had marinated some firm tofu slices in a little Braggs amino into which I had stirred some cayenne, powdered ginger, garlic granules and onion flakes (I like to use these dried rather than fresh versions for marinades sometimes, but it's a toss-up which I use.) I baked the tofu in the oven until slightly brown and firm. When the tofu was almost ready, we had our salad and then, while the salad plates were being cleared I tossed the asparagus around in the skillet until barely cooked - still crisp is sensational with asparagus. A good meal.

Yesterday, I did a variation on a previous idea (see my last blog entry).




Spiced Limas With Garlic Broccoli

Remember the fava beans? Well, yesterday I cooked white limas, added some dried herbs and spices (including chilies), pureed the lot and served it surrounded by stir-'fried' (as before) broccoli with garlic and just a few chili flakes thrown in for a little bit of interest. Since I had allowed the bean puree to be much thicker than I had used before, I had the fun of piling them up like pureed potatoes in the centre of the plate. The tiny spoonful of liquid remaining the the skillet from cooking the broccoli was drizzled over the beans at the last minute. This was a big hit - and of course almost any vegetable would have worked well here - just trying to get our greens, though, especially at this time of year. And our beans. Hmmmm, what bean to try next I wonder!

WARM BEET SALAD, BROCCOLI WITH TEMPEH, KALE WITH RAISINS

One thing I've been doing while shamelessly neglecting this blog is eating lots and lots of greens. Anything green!

WARM BEET SALAD



I love beets and I also love beet greens, lightly steamed, but they are available as tender baby greens for only a short while. The other day they had some lovely little organic beets with their pretty leaves still attached, so we bought a bunch - and wished we'd bought more!

I cooked them in their skins, because the skins slip off so easily once they're done, then sliced them through while still warm and put them in a fatless 'vinaigrette' of vinegar, mustard, horseradish, pinch of sugar. Then I roughly sliced and cooked the greens until just done (although they look a little overdone in the photo, I think). The greens were then tossed with the beets (I made enough dressing to coat the greens too) and served the dish warm. You could make this ahead of time, but it's best, in my opinion, either warm or at room temperature rather than chilled.

My husband is wild for this dish - so guess who is getting up early for the next market day!


BROCCOLI WITH TEMPEH

Broccoli goes beautifully in stir-'fried' dishes, and when teamed with tempeh needs little more than some nice fluffy brown rice to complete the meal.



I like to 'marinate' the tempeh, cut into little strips, in a little low-sodium soy sauce, a spoonful of minced ginger, another spoonful of minced garlic and one of minced chilies (I use sambal oelek, an Indonesian chilie sauce/paste sometimes made in California, but I doubt it matters much). Then I cut the broccoli into florets (saving the stems for another use another day) while I steam 'saute' a small sliced onion in some water to which I have added a couple of slices of ginger root (cut into tiny matchsticks) and a couple of large cloves of garlic (finely chopped) and one or two hot chilies (minced). The trick to getting broccoli to taste its best is not to overcook it, so must before it is 'ready' I throw in that tempeh along with its marinade, heat the tempeh through, then get the whole thing out into a heated serving dish before the broccoli starts to lose its crispness. Lovely!

KALE WITH RAISINS



When I can get kale, I buy a couple of bunches and we have it over a couple of days. The rest of the time I just pine for it! Preparation is a cinch - remove the tough stems and slice thinly (or keep them for stock), then slice the leaves at about quarter-inch intervals. It is much quicker and easier if you face them all the same way and then rolle them lengthways into a long cigar shape.



Kale is indeed a favourite of ours, and we especially like it when it is lightly steamed with a little sliced onion and a handful of raisins - The raisins puff up beautifully, and their sweetness adds a pleasant surprise when encountered in the occasional forkful (which is why we use only a small handful - to keep up the surprised factor). A squeeze of lemon over the finished dish makes it perfection!

Wakame Broccoli, Tofu and Broccoli Stir'Fry'

WAKAME BROCCOLI

Dunno if anyone else is as mad for wakame as I am, but I like to add it to all kinds of things. This week we've been eating our way through some broccoli we got from our organic grocer. After a stir'fried' (read steamed) dish the other day, we needed a change. So, short of putting it in lasagna (a great recipe but one for which I didn't have the energy or time today), I decided to steam it up with lots of minced garlic, ditto minced ginger root, a little red bell pepper and a hefty pinch of crushed chilies while I was reheating some pre-cooked and frozen components of our lunch today: chickpea curry and three-grain medley. While I made a salad - our favourite spinach, cranberry, pear and cranberry concoction with a raspberry balasamic dressing - I soaked some wakame, so that by the time the broccoli was just about done I could stir it in. It went very well, I'm pleased to admit :)

This evening we have concert tickets, so it's a quick meal of soup (cabbage and tomato) with some rye bread I made this morning. Simple things, simple things.

And here's the

TOFU AND BROCCOLI STIR'FRY'



I used what I had on hand, and as you see there was a mix of vegetables (not out of a package, although that might work too) as well as the broccoli - and the tofu which had marinated in a little low-sodium soysauce, minced ginger and minced garlic and not added until the end. Instead of frying, of course, I simply steamed the veggies in a little water. We had it all with brown rice.

GREENS SOUP

GREENS SOUP

1 medium onion, chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 potato (about 6 ounces), scrubbed and diced
1/2 cup red lentils, picked and rinsed
2 bay leaves
4 cups water
1 zucchini (about 7 ounces), diced
1-1/2 - 2 cups fresh broccoli, chopped small
1 - 10 ounce pack frozen spinach, defrosted
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, put the onion, celery, potato and lentils with the water and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.(You need to do this because the soup will later be blended.) The potatoes and and vegetables and lentils will be softish.

Add the zucchini, broccoli, spinach, basil, cayenne, cumin and salt/pepper (if used) and return to the boil, lower heat and simmer covered for another 10 minutes or until the broccoli and spinach are cooked.

In batches, blend the soup in a blender until smooth. Return to the pan, reheat gently and adjust water content if needed (it may have become very thick). Taste for seasoning. Garnish as you please - as you see, I put aside a couple of spoonsful of the cooked veggies before blending so that I could add them to the soup as garnish. Frankly, I don't think it helps much except to advertise (to those who didn't see you make it) what's in the soup :) Accompany with breads of your choice - we chose our stand-by homemade sourdough last evening.

ROTINI WITH BROCCOLI & TOMATOES

This recipe is adapted from one by Jennifer Raymond in Neal Barnard’s _Eat Right, Live Longer_ (1995), p. 318. The original served twice the number of people, had less roasted red pepper, proportionately, and contained tahini and olive oil. (I am experimenting with cutting all oils out of all recipes right now.) The cooking instructions are changed to allow for no oil and for my hang-up about keeping fresh tomatoes actually tasting fresh :)

ROTINI WITH BROCCOLI & TOMATOES

Serves 3 or 4.

6 ounces rotini pasta (I used the tricolour kind, because I wanted to make it pretty)
2-3 large garlic cloves, very finely minced
1/4 tsp crushed red chilies (or more to taste)
Abt. 3/4 pound broccoli (half a bunch), cut into florets
Abt. 2 large tomatoes, diced (my single tomato weighed in at ca.12 ounces)
1 cup cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans (if you use canned, save the liquid)
1/3 cup roasted red peppers (mine from a jar purchased for the recipe)
1-1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp (or to taste) freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Prepare your vegetables.

Put the water on for the pasta and then cook it according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a skillet set over medium-high heat, add the broccoli, garlic and chile flakes with abt 1/3 cup of water, mix very well to coat the broccoli with the flavours, reduce heat a bit and cover. Steam for around 3 minutes or until the broccoli is _just_ tender, no more.

While the pasta is cooking and the broccoli is steaming, puree the garbanzos, red peppers and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, adding a little water (or reserved bean liquid from the can) if needed to make it possible to blend properly. It will be a delightful pinkish colour! Set aside.

When the broccoli is done, remove it from pan and set aside.

Add the tomatoes to the pan with a couple of Tbsp water, cover and cook around 4 or 5 minutes.

Add the broccoli to the tomatoes and stir very well, carefully reheating the broccoli but not letting it overcook. Broccoli should be still a little resistant rather than soft.

Stir the garbanzo mixture into the cooked pasta. Spread the coated pasta on a serving dish and sprinkle with pepper. Add the broccoli-tomato mixture to the top.

Serve NOW! :) Truly delicious!