This turned into a lunch staple for several days running. I am not a person who plans for a leisurely pre-work morning, I’m up and out. But on at least one occasion, deciding last minute to pack lunch, have managed to pull this together and still make the train. Low effort and very satisfying.

Over medium [...]]]>

This turned into a lunch staple for several days running. I am not a person who plans for a leisurely pre-work morning, I’m up and out. But on at least one occasion, deciding last minute to pack lunch, have managed to pull this together and still make the train. Low effort and very satisfying.

Over medium heat, lightly brown one side of a sprouted wheat or whole wheat tortilla. Flip tortilla over and coat with a light spread of vegan pesto and sprinkle in a small handful of non-dairy mozzarella (I love Daiya*). Take several artichokes (in water) squeeze the excess liquid out and dry a bit with a clean cloth. Coarsely chop and layer them onto one side of the tortilla. For the red peppers, I used jarred and similarly cut into strips and dried with a towel. Layer over artichokes. Fold the tortilla over the veges and continue to cook flipping over once until both sides are light brown and cheese is melted. Serve with marinara sauce.

* If you don’t go through a package of Daiya quickly (I don’t), note that it freezes well.

Veggie soup turns out to be a pretty simple equation.  1 onion + 1 lb veg + 4-6 cups broth + 1/2 cup milk alternative + spice/bullion. Done.

Saute one chopped onion in a soup pot with just a little bit of water. Peel and chop about a pound of carrots (to about 1 inch pieces) [...]]]>

Veggie soup turns out to be a pretty simple equation.  1 onion + 1 lb veg + 4-6 cups broth + 1/2 cup milk alternative + spice/bullion. Done.

Saute one chopped onion in a soup pot with just a little bit of water. Peel and chop about a pound of carrots (to about 1 inch pieces) and add to onions once they are translucent (5 minutes). Add 4+ Cups water and a bullion or two. Add 2-3 square inches of chopped fresh ginger after about 10 minutes. Cook for about 20-30 minutes total, until the carrots fall apart with a fork. Turn heat off, add milk and blend. A little curry powder can be a good add, I was also a little short on carrots this past time and added some frozen butternut squash to good effect as well.

UPDATE: From The New York Times: Soup Equations!

Ingredients: 4 medium zucchini, shredded 1 onion, finely chop 3/4 cup hummus 1/4 cup Daiya mozzarella “cheese”

Directions: Over medium heat, cook onions for about 5 minutes, add zucchini and cook an additional 5 minutes [...]]]> Inspiration hit while making zucchini hash. I stirred in some hummus, added some cheese and formed it into little cakes and re-grilled them. Great with some salsa. Yum!

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini, shredded
1 onion, finely chop
3/4 cup hummus
1/4 cup Daiya mozzarella “cheese”

Directions:
Over medium heat, cook onions for about 5 minutes, add zucchini and cook an additional 5 minutes until it starts to brown. Move this mixture into a bowl and allow to cool. Stir in hummus and cheese. Form into patties and grill in a clean pan that has been prepped with cooking spray.  Re-spray between batches. Serve with salsa.

Kale is apparently a super super-food. Check this out, Kale scores highest (tied with Collards) on Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutrient Density Index (ANDI). 1,000 points to walnut’s 34! This is an easy way to prepare them, and it’s so delicious I can eat an entire bunch (head?) with dinner.

Soak and then rinse every nook and cranny [...]]]>

Kale is apparently a super super-food. Check this out, Kale scores highest (tied with Collards) on Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutrient Density Index (ANDI). 1,000 points to walnut’s 34! This is an easy way to prepare them, and it’s so delicious I can eat an entire bunch (head?) with dinner.

Soak and then rinse every nook and cranny of a bunch of kale (nothing is worse than gritty kale)
Trim out coarse center vein in each leaf of kale, roughly chopping the remainder of each leaf
In a soup pot or good sized pan, spray cooking spray and sizzle one or two cloves garlic (diced) for a few minutes until they start to brown
Optional: also add diced fresh ginger (an inch or so)
Add kale to pot
Splash with a good amount of white wine (1/2 cup?), a few shakes of soy sauce and juice of one lemon
Cover and cook over medium heat until well done… 10-15 minutes.

If you are not serving right away, hold off on adding the lemon – as it will cause the kale to turn it a little brown.

I moved to California from Austin almost six years ago and still long for the Tex-Mex breakfast and brunch options from places like Trudy’s or the former Las Manitas. The closest I’ve found in these parts is Papalote. Their salsa is excellent and they have great grilled veggie tacos (zucchini/eggplant) or seasoned tofu tacos. When I [...]]]>

I moved to California from Austin almost six years ago and still long for the Tex-Mex breakfast and brunch options from places like Trudy’s or the former Las Manitas. The closest I’ve found in these parts is Papalote. Their salsa is excellent and they have great grilled veggie tacos (zucchini/eggplant) or seasoned tofu tacos. When I was there last weekend, I bought a jar of their salsa and that has me fired up to use it as often as possible. Here’s what I put together to approximate their offerings.

Caramelize an onion by slicing into thin half moons and heating in a skillet over high heat for about 10-15 minutes, lower heat and continue to cook for another 30 minutes or longer until very well done. Set aside. Chop up 4 small zucchinis and cook in the skillet until brown. Combine with the onions. Season and bake some tofu from this recipe here. Heat some refried black beans, and serve with onion/zucchini mixture. Add sliced avocado and salsa if you’ve got it! You can also serve with corn or flour tortillas or I enjoyed this with blue corn tortilla chips.

I wish I were in Austin this weekend! It’s SXSW and I would love to be filling up on Trudy’s breakfast tacos and then heading out to hear some music. To fill the taco void, I made a satisfying tofu scramble for breakfast. And now I will throw on some L’il Cap’n Travis and finish [...]]]>

I wish I were in Austin this weekend! It’s SXSW and I would love to be filling up on Trudy’s breakfast tacos and then heading out to hear some music. To fill the taco void, I made a satisfying tofu scramble for breakfast. And now I will throw on some L’il Cap’n Travis and finish my taxes. Sigh.

Ingredients:
1/2 block of firm tofu, drained
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
vegan american cheese, about a half a slice
chili powder

Directions:
Crumble tofu with your hands into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle in turmeric, garlic powder, taco seasoning and mix with a fork. Prep a skillet with non-stick spray. Over medium-high heat, cook onions, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and brown for another few minutes. Add tofu mixture and peppers. Stir in chili powder, to taste. I like a few teaspoons full. Continue to cook over a high heat until slightly browned, about another 5-10 minutes. Add american cheese and stir until melted. Serve with salsa, a side of black beans and some vegan sour cream if you’ve got it. I added a handful of blue corn tortilla chips. Avocado slices would have been a nice addition as well.

Wow, was this good. Barely feels like a recipe, but I need to share. I think the trick was to brown the onions over a pretty high heat and then they got all caramelly and gooey. Mmm.

Ingredients: 1 clove garlic, or I used about a teaspoon of jarred minced garlic 1 onion, chopped 1 lb fresh asparagus, [...]]]>

Wow, was this good. Barely feels like a recipe, but I need to share. I think the trick was to brown the onions over a pretty high heat and then they got all caramelly and gooey. Mmm.

Ingredients:
1 clove garlic, or I used about a teaspoon of jarred minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 lb fresh asparagus, with the tough ends snapped off and cut into short pieces
Juice of half a lemon
Generous splash of white wine

Directions:
Spray a frying pan with non-stick spray. Over medium high heat, add garlic, then onions. Cook for about five minutes, tossing/stirring regularly so onions get a bit browned. Add asparagus, lemon juice and wine and cover to simmer (I added just a little water as well) about 5-10 minutes or until the asparagus is al dente. Serve!

I had a lovely ladies brunch to attend last weekend and wanted to tackle the challenge of making a savory dish that was still vegan and easy. A friend suggested something with polenta and a lightbulb went off… I had some Whole Foods roasted red peppers in a jar, a can of black beans… and [...]]]>

I had a lovely ladies brunch to attend last weekend and wanted to tackle the challenge of making a savory dish that was still vegan and easy. A friend suggested something with polenta and a lightbulb went off… I had some Whole Foods roasted red peppers in a jar, a can of black beans… and a trip to my fantastic local market, Bi-Rite to look for something like pesto but not quite like pesto yielded a small container of their house-made Chimichurri sauce. Not familiar with Chimichurri? Me neither. I asked what it went well with, and got “it’s great on steak!” Hmm.  I muttered something about polenta and trusted my instinct that it would work with my idea, and I was right. I’ll try to make my own someday, but for now, Bi-Rite has me hooked on their version. Ingredients: Italian parsley, Champagne vinegar, garlic, serrano peppers, EVOO, S & P. If you don’t have access to or feel like making the sauce, the rest of the ingredients can stand on their own. Try with a bit of fresh pepper, olive oil and balsamic instead. Maybe some chopped fresh basil?

Ingredients:

Polenta – I used one of those long shelf life tubes and cut it up into 3/4 inch rounds
2 roasted red peppers, chopped
1/4 of a red onion, diced
1 can of black beans – drained and rinsed
Chimichurri sauce  - about 1/4 cup or to taste

Directions:

Slice polenta and place on a cooking-sprayed cookie sheet. Broil on both sides (took about 10 minutes on each side). Keep a close eye on it, you don’t want it really browned.  You can either serve the polenta with a pepper/bean/onion mixture on top, crowned with a bit of sauce, or cube the polenta and mix everything up. Option one has more curb appeal, but for the brunch I went with option two and it was easier to serve and still worked. If going with option two, however, it occurred to me later that it might have been better to roast the polenta in cubes, rather than cutting up the rounds post-roasting which was less clean looking.

This dish started out as quesadilla filling from one of my first vegetarian cookbooks, Vegetarian Cooking at the Academy.  I like it as a stand alone dish but it is also good in a whole wheat tortilla, with a generous spread of vegan sour cream (future post to follow, but basically, silken tofu, [...]]]>

This dish started out as quesadilla filling from one of my first vegetarian cookbooks, Vegetarian Cooking at the Academy.  I like it as a stand alone dish but it is also good in a whole wheat tortilla, with a generous spread of vegan sour cream (future post to follow, but basically, silken tofu, onion powder, garlic powder,  lemon juice, dijon mustard and a little mayo or soaked cashew nuts).

Ingredients:

Two cloves garlic, pressed
One medium onion, diced
Two medium zucchinis, grated
Chili powder
Taco seasoning mix – optional

Directions:

Prep a frying pan with non-stick spray. Cook garlic over medium-high heat, until it starts to brown, add onion and cook until it also starts to brown (5-10 minutes) Add zucchini and sprinkle in chili powder and taco seasoning mix (to taste, I used about a heaping teaspoon of very flavorful Penzy’s Medium Chili Powder, and a teaspoon of taco seasoning mix) and cook about 10 more minutes. The more the zucchini is browned, the better.

Add-in options: ¾ cup frozen butternut squash, sliced roasted red pepper, frozen/fresh corn, cubed tofu, meatless crumbles (like Boca Crumbles), black beans.

I’ve been curious about roasting radishes, and noticing a little traffic coming to LRR via radish recipe searches, thought some experimentation might be in order. Since I had luck broiling chickpeas (and having just soaked/cooked some the day before), I thought it would be interesting to throw some radishes on the cookie sheet as well. [...]]]>

I’ve been curious about roasting radishes, and noticing a little traffic coming to LRR via radish recipe searches, thought some experimentation might be in order. Since I had luck broiling chickpeas (and having just soaked/cooked some the day before), I thought it would be interesting to throw some radishes on the cookie sheet as well. I also added some cauliflower.

Ingredients:

1 9 oz bunch radishes
1/4 head cauliflower
chick peas – about a cup
olive oil
salt
garlic powder
juice of half a lemon

Directions:

Prep a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Trim ends of radishes, scrub and quarter.  Toss with a quarter teaspoon olive oil. Place on cookie sheet. Cut cauliflower into florets, toss with a quarter teaspoon olive oil and add to cookie sheet. Toss chickpeas with minimal olive oil and add to cookie sheet as well. Broil for 10 minutes, stirring midway through. Lightly salt and combine in a bowl. Toss with garlic powder and lemon juice.

Lunch!

Note: I also wanted to experiment with roasting some in the toaster oven, found this recipe on Recipezaar, and started off another bunch, prepped much the same way as above (minimal oil, cooking spray on aluminum foil). But then…I got sort of curious about what they would taste like really browned (how I like my other roasted vegetables – potatoes, onions, etc.).  So I cooked them at 400 for 25 minutes then broiled until brown – about another 5 minutes. I have to say I preferred the batch above, which had minimal browing. Somehow the nutty roasted flavor competed with the simple sweetness of the non-browned batch (or how they probably turn out if I’d followed Recipezaar’s idea to the letter!)