Bean Dips

vegan

Beans dips are just oh-so-easy, versatile in both ingredients and how they end up on your plate, as well as providing a quick dose of protein.

The above is a Kidney Bean Dip, with cumin, lime, tomato and other flavors inspired by Nigella Lawson. Here served with my new favorite tortilla chips: Whole Earth Really Seedy Multi-Grain Tortilla Chips (we buy 'em at Costco).

Hummus - process cooked chickpeas with olive oil, lemon juice, tahini and salt to taste. Yum!
I also make an identically delicious version with green mung beans (and here) instead of chickpeas.

Elias treats us to hummus (he is a master home chef and Lebanon-born, so you know he knows hummus!)

Refried Beans - very easy to make yourself - a staple in one of our signature meals: nachos!

I still loosely use the recipe I originally found in How it all Vegan
(this one does require some easy stove-top cooking):

Refried Beans
Cook in a medium pot on medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes:

• 2 c cooked beans
• about 1/2 c water – may want to hold back a bit at first
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c chopped cilantro
• 1 t cumin
• 1/4 t cayenne
• 1 tomato, chopped

Remove from heat and mash if desired.  Add salt to taste. Serve over rice or in a burrito, etc.

10-minute Carrot and Bean Skillet

vegan

So fast, there's no reason not to cook at home. Your rice might take longer, so have that ready or start it a bit beforehand.

Grate and saute carrots with spices of your choice (cumin, coriander, curry, ginger or ...)
Add canned or cooked beans, heat through. Add salt and more olive oil to taste.
Serve on rice or whatever suits your fancy.

Grated carrots are a nice base for quick-fried veggies, also see Carrots, Portobellos and Edamame but the variations are endless!

Rye Flour Muffins

Alternative baking... as if my baking wasn't alternative enough! haha...

Although rye contains gluten, at least it's not wheat, so one thing at a time.


Pumpkin-Rye Muffins

ovo-veg (or vegan with egg replacer)
wheat-free
recipe from Bob's Red Mill

They didn't turn out too pretty and I'm guessing some slightly incorrect proportions are to blame. For one thing, I nearly always end up substituting something(s). For another, I gotta get myself dry measuring cups. It ends up being a bit of an eyeballing adventure with the cups meant for measuring liquids.

Left: Pumpkin-Rye     Right: Banana Cinnamon

Banana Cinnamon Muffins

ovo-veg
wheat-free
recipe from Best Health Mag

The topping adds a nice touch! Both aesthetically and for an added texture/sweetness.

Stewed Carrots, Portobellos and Edamame

vegan

Saute, covered:
- coconut oil (the best for cooking, they say!), diced onion and portobello mushrooms with a few twists from the salt grinder
- add grated carrots, plus a bit of soy sauce and hot water to keep everything juicy
- shell cooked edamame and mix in, leave a few minutes until heated through
- just before serving, mix in and also garnish with chopped parsley
- serve on a bed of grains (I happened to have a cooked pot of red Job's tears and mung beans)

Parsley: makes a Green Monster better!!

Whether adding parsley for flavor, or letting it supply the entire "green" part of the green monster, it's a delicious, original addition and also happens to be one of the top detoxifying foods!

vegan

Kinda like an actual recipe!
a mug of black tea and 3 dried apricots, soaking in it overnight
large handful parsley, infused in hot water
1-2 T ground flax
3 scoops fresh papaya
3 large slices apple, chopped

Blend. Enjoy.

That's one Smooth Papaya!

vegan

This can easily double as a dessert!

4 ingredients:
- fresh papaya
- fresh coconut
- ground flax seeds
- Turkish apple tea

ok, I tossed in a slice of lemon just for kicks, but I'm ok with the special bitterness of the rind

Quiche

Ovo-veg, easy to make dairy-free



This is an easy, quick, pretty and delicious meal and works really well for potlucks.

Preheat oven 350-400F

Crust*
I use this oil crust recipe below

1. Mix 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp salt with fork.
2.  Beat 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup fridge-cold water with whisk or fork to thicken. Add to flour and mix with fork.
3. Press it into pie plate by hand and although it doesn't say, pre-bake it after poking some fork holes all over so that you will actually get a crispy crust (5-10 minutes seems ok in a hot oven)

Filling
1. Sauté veggies if using anything you want cooked before eating (onions, mushrooms and spinach are a rockin' combo). Something like tomatoes can just get sliced and added raw. Sweet peppers can go either way, but I think they really come to life in a gourmet way after being sautéed.
2. Whisk 4 eggs with ~1 cup "milk" (I use non-dairy, also try half yogurt), season with s/p and Italian herbs. Pour over veggies in crust.
3. Sprinkle with cheese if using, can top with fresh basil leaves - press them just under the egg mixture so they don't burn
4. Bake 30-40 min

* The crust can also be made out of thinly sliced potatoes. Line the pan with them, spray or sprinkle with a little water and pre-bake for ~10 minutes.

Avocado-Flax "Nutty" Green Monster

vegan

I must say, although it's easy to grind my own flax seeds even in my aging blender, having bought the ready-to-go package of ground flax makes life one step easier and the evenly ground flax kernels have such a delicious nutty smell and taste, I can practically eat them with a spoon!


So, here this nutty flavor then hypes up the avocado's nuttiness. A short ingredient list and the result? Thick, creamy deliciousness!

Blend together:
Coconut water, pure water, mustard greens and kale (steamed), chopped avocado, ground flax seeds, Amazing Grass Green Superfood

Very Green Pretty Tasty!

Vegan

As I mentioned, since I try to err on the side of healthy, many of my green monsters can be disasters flavor-wise. This one's worth noting down. A variation on the Back On Track

In order of admittance:
1. Grind flax seeds
2. Add Turkish apple tea, then steamed greens. Blend.
3. Add diced Asian pear (also lightly cooked, since I avoid raw. I find it caramelized its flavor, too!), a tablespoon coconut oil, a few slices fresh ginger, scoop of Green Superfood or similar.
4. With the blender going, toss in a dash of cinnamon.

Voila!

Refreshing Green Smoothie

Vegan

I've just discovered romaine lettuce as a very neutral-flavored thirst-quenching base for green monsters.

This is (quick-steamed) romaine, fresh papaya, tahini, teaspoon green tea powder, flax seeds, fresh mint leaves and a herbal tea for the liquid: ginger-infused Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger.

The overall flavor is pleasant but fairly mild.

Green Love Rice Bowl

Mid-Autumn Festival
Vegan

This meal is fit for St. Patty's Day!
Brown Rice with Cucumbers, Green Beans, Avocado and
Mung Bean Dip: cooked mung beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, olive oil

all dressed with a little extra lemon j and EVOO

Green Smoothie Pile-Up: Squash and Fresh Coconut

Vegan

I'll be honest with you, not all green smoothies I've been making have been of the "Mmmm... delicious" variety. Sometimes the flavors really didn't gel that well. Here's a thick, creamy,

delicious winner. It was so thick in fact, that it stood up above the glass rim. : )

Mustard greens add a zippy peppery taste.

Cooked squash, fresh coconut meat, mustard greens, peanut butter*, green tea powder*, Amazing Grass Green Superfood*, water

*can really overpower, less is more

Salmon Burgers with Arame and Steamed Kale

Pescotarian

salmon burgers recipe
subs: dill for parsley, fresh basil for dried

Arame is a Japanese dark and very flavorful seaweed. I followed the Fresh method of preparing it: soak in freshly boiled water for 15 min, drain and pour on their Simple Sauce to add loads of intense flavor - a little goes a long way! Note: this forum says the sauce recipe should call for roasted sesame oil.

Matcha Cookies

Ovo-Lacto (egg, butter)

Rescue Mission (use-up-so-can-buy-more-fresh): green tea (matcha) powder, dried cranberries

recipe

My first Green Monster!

Vegan

Inspired by the Green Monster Movement, among other green smoothie challenges out there - curious if a steady daily diet of these will really make me feel fab inside and out?

I don't do much raw or cold, due to lax digestive ability (hopefully aided by these creations!), so...
- cooked celery, some kind of Chinese green leafy veg, Asian pear
- flax seeds, warmed oat milk, scoop of Amazing Grass Green Superfood

Yum!

Ginger Mint Lemonade

Vegan (if you're ok with honey, or use another sweetener)

This guy's a winner! A very few steps, a bit of infusion time and voila, yummy refreshing hot-weather DIY lemonade.

from the garden: fresh mint

- into a jar: grated ginger and lemon zest, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, fresh mint leaves
- infuse in fridge for several hours, strain into glasses once ready to drink
- add to taste: sweetener, dissolved in hot water
- serve with ice cubes, a slice of lemon and fresh mint

Color and Couscous

Lacto-veg (added a dab of butter to the couscous)

Couscous is the meal-in-a-flash maker: in a bowl, add same amount of boiling water, salt and oil, stir and cover for 5 min, add a dab of butter and fluff with a fork - voila!

- finely chopped carrot in a pot w water to just cover, add pumpkin
- cinnamon, dried currants, couscous first prepped as per above, fresh mint and basil sliced into strips

Served with a creamy chai tea

Zucchini Spaghetti

Lacto-veg (cream cheese)

Inspired by this recipe

Alterations:
- diced green pepper instead of green peas, chopped basil and almonds for pesto
- added sundried tomatoes

Soaking veggies

Don't just rinse your veggies, bathe them!

Got turned onto this excellent way to ensure no dirt or bugs are left on my veg by an old roomie. Especially effective for leafy veg, which have all kinds of ruffles and dips for dirt and critters to cling on to.

 Step 1: For bunch-growing veggies, cut off the connecting bit at the bottom and separate the leaves in water. If you don't want the stems, eg. in spinach, pinch or cut them off first. (Spinach is often the dirtiest thing to come home from the market!)

Step 2: Add some salt to a bowl of water. I just kinda toss in about a teaspoon. Here is a recipe for a vegetable wash that calls for more salt, as well as vinegar, to remove pesticides.

Step 3: Plunge veggies in and stir them around a bit with your hands. Leave for 5-10 minutes.

Step 4: Discard water (your plants will love it!) and fill bowl with fresh plain water. May need to repeat several times until the water bath is clean. I give a final rinse in a colander and get cookin'.

This also works for root veggies like potatoes when they're especially mucky - soaking them first loosens up the dirt and you don't need to scrub as hard. I think it also gets them cleaner.

Blender Mornings

I have a recent guideline for eating breakfast, which is to have it by 9am. Beyond that, especially after 10am, it's getting much too close to lunch and will overload the body's natural digestive rhythms. (which are primarily focused on:

elimination 4am-12noon ** digestion 12noon - 8pm ** absorption 8pm - 4am,

which is why it's good to have your biggest meal at midday and taper off heavy eating by late evening)

So especially when it's getting later in the morning, or just to have a light, quickly absorbed and easily digested meal, I whip up a smoothie. Some recent creations have involved:

- warm Banana Oat Milk (from Fresh At Home cookbook)

- Papaya smoothies with non-dairy milk and mixed-grains powders (sold here in Taiwan as "hot cereals" to be mixed with boiling water for a super-quick snack or light meal, eg this kind of thing:)

the Chinglish description at the bottom makes it even more enjoyable!

- and today's creation, Banana Mango Smoothie with oat milk, soy protein and greens powder

It was going to be banana-blueberry, but I found the mango looking quite forlorn with black spots on one of its sides, so it was a rescue mission, and a tasty one at that, albeit it ended up being quite sweet, probably the whole-foods equivalent of a sugary breakfast cereal or muffin, so I don't recommend this combo for daily use or for anyone worried about diabetes. I munched some nuts along with it to offset spiking my blood sugar levels.

Then... I blended the rest of the very ripe sweet little bananas and very ripe mango with vanilla ice cream and plopped that into my popsicle molds. Taste test to come.

Carrot Cookies

Vegan
well-received : )
from Helen Nearing's Simple Food for the Good Life

Recent Ayurveda reading told me cooked honey is toxic, so maple syrup it is.
Oven 350-375C

Job's Tears Pudding

Vegan

For those of you begging the question: "Can you make "rice pudding" with Job's Tears?"

The answer is - why, yes, and it's delicious! Quinoa and all sorts of other grains work well too.

- cooked 大薏仁＋小薏仁 (from what I can gather, these are two types of barley, 小薏仁 is pearl barley and 大薏仁 is apparently known as adlay or Job's tears)
- apple, cinnamon, raisins, almonds

Kasha with Mung Bean Sauce and Fresh Tomato

Vegan
Successfully executed current ideal chow: whole grains with veggies and good-quality protein

ain't she a beaut?

Mung Bean Sauce

Asian PBJ

Vegan

This is a 燒餅 shāobǐng = "flour oven roll" : crispy sesame-covered crust, often part of a traditional breakfast, slathered with black sesame paste, topped with honey and banana. Yum!

DIY Soy Milk meets Oatmeal

Vegan

... and it's made its way into a new favorite breakfast oatmeal:

- quick oats, salt, prunes and almonds in a bowl, pour boiling water to just cover oats, cover bowl with plate
- grind cooked soybeans with water in a blender, pour on top - voila!

Lemon-Dill Zucchini with Fried Rice

Success! Quick, easy, colorful, fresh, simple, delicious meal!
Rescue Mission: leftover rice

Vegan -  Lemon-Dill Zucchini

- fry zucchini in olive oil, adding salt, pepper and dill once it softens
- at desired level of done-ness, remove from heat and toss with fresh lemon juice


Ovo-veg- Carrot and Egg Fried Rice

- great way to use up leftover rice, which apparently works better than freshly cooked
- flavoring made from mixing whatever bottled sauces I found on hand: soy, sweet chili, veg oyster (mushroom) and sesame oil

Lazy Rice Bowl / Greek Salad

Vegan
(though it would've had goat cheese in it, had I taken it out of the freezer in time)

This here is a bowl of rice with a Greek-type salad on top. Good for short-on-time and/or lazy cooks!
Dressing: EVO oil+lemon juice+herbs

Fruit Bowl

Vegan (though you could dress it with some yogurt if that's your sort of thing ;)

Such a yum and healthy way to enjoy fresh fruit - have it at breakfast, snack, dessert time...

Strawberry Banana Flax Smoothie

Lacto-veg (added yogurt)

It's strawberry season in Taiwan! These little gems are so amazing fresh!

DIY Ingredient: GROUND FLAX SEEDS
I made this "discovery" the other day - if you want ground flax seeds in your smoothie, just start them off in an empty blender and after 30 seconds - minute of awfully loud blending, voila! Fresh as can be. Since flax seeds oils are fragile and will go rancid very quickly after being ground, this is the ultimate way to go, I think! If you appreciate grinding your coffee and/or spices fresh, don't skimp on the flax!

Omelette à la Rich

Ovo-lacto veg

My Baby knows breakfast!

Simple Pumpkin Soup

Vegan

- cooked pumpkin in a little water with ginger, nutmeg, cumin.
- mashed with soy milk, reheated, garnished with oregano.

Rice Pudding

Vegan 
Rescue Mission: on-its-way-out banana and (cooked) purple rice mix

Ok, I know, I know, gruel, right?  So delicious!

Heated unsweetened soy milk, added the (cooked) rice mix with a dash of cinnamon and followed Kath Eats Real Food's method of whipping in the banana. Pleasantly sweet enough for me! Yum yum!

Brown Rice Congee and Veg

Vegan
Rescue Mission: various veg that have been idling in the fridge for nearly a week

Ok, nothing glamorous here... Let's face it, it's gruel... But it's pretty tasty!

High water to rice ration (up to 8:1)
Cooking time: 1 hour or more on low heat, just stir occasionally

Flavors: started with fresh ginger, added ground cumin, soy sauce, sesame oil
(+ salt & lemon juice to serve)

Veg: carrots, eggplant, red pepper, bok choy

Stewed Fruit

Vegan
Rescue Mission: using up past-its-prime fruit or fruit that was disappointing in taste (eg. bland)

Any fruit, fresh and dried is a good combo. Add water, spices and stew away... viola! Topping for oatmeal and pancakes, can serve as a jam-like spread, etc

The before and after. Suggested serving below!

Overnight Oats

Vegan (or not)

Unbeknownst to me, even as I searched hi and lo for easy nutritious breakfast ideas, Overnight Oats have apparently been taking the world of food blogs by storm.

The promise of a sunny day and a happy re-discovery of soy yogurt while grocery shopping means, tonight's the night!

Masala Chai #1

Lacto-veg Recipe from Rainy Pixels

Peppy, though the black bean soy milk and possibly the black tea I used bunked it up a bit

Spiced Basmati-Almond Muffins

Ovo-Lacto Veg

This is a recipe from Sunlight Café by Molly Katzen, creator of the Moosewood Restaurant phenomenon.

Overall, not bad, could be more moist (sub applesauce for oil next time and my rice was quite dry AND not basmati but a regular brown). The main issue was collecting all the ingredients... By the time I chopped nuts, zested the orange, ground the spices, squeezed the lemon juice and measured everything... oh boy...

However, I brought a few out of a freezer on a day hike and they really hit the spot, being all chewy and hearty and giving us sustained energy to keep trucking on.

Savory Sweet Potato Bread

Ovo-veg

Everyone likes this stuff (me included!)

*Note: I prefer either cutting down on or entirely skipping the 1/2 cup sugar in the original recipe, otherwise you get a strange mix of too-sweet with rosemary. I've also baked it in a loaf pan, just takes a bit longer.

• 1 ½ C uncooked shredded sweet potato
• 1/3 C oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 C white flour
• ½ C whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbl sesame seeds

• ---

• Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom only of 9” round pan or 8” square pan
• Mix sweet potato, (sugar), oil and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except sesame seeds
• Spread in pan. Sprinkle with sesame
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

• Recipe suggests serving warm with orange butter

Warm Ginger Papaya Smoothie

Vegan

Wanted something soothing and light to start the day after doing this Motivation-Activation Flow Practice video from Yoga Journal.

Inspired by the food-replacing liquid fast combo of guava-papaya-apple, I left out the apple this time and used warm ginger tea for the liquid.

I scoop out the guava seeds for smoothies, but then eat that bit with great relish, since I think the creamy flesh around the seeds is the best thing guava's got going.












Smoothies with a watery liquid (eg herbal tea) are kind of a nice lighter alternative to the creamy soy milk etc - based ones I often make. And you taste the actual fruit more. Witness this intensely colored blueberry-banana number from yesterday (left), compared to a creamy one (right):