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Spicy Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Collard Greens and Crispy Tempeh
Jan 26th
Spicy Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Collard Greens and Crispy Tempeh
On page 230 of Fresh Food Fast in the winter meal section, we found this awesome soup. It really seems a lot like a curry, actually. It has a really nice, rich flavor. The fact that it has sweet potatoes and collard greens is always nice so that we get lots of vitamin A and K. We are always looking for more dark greens in our meals because of they are so rich in calcium as well.
I accidentally over-fried the second half batch of tempeh, so we made due with half of recipe’s amount. This seemed like an adequate amount. The whole meal went together really quickly and easily. I will need to start the kids food earlier, because the soup and everything was done and we waited a while for the kids food to be done. I left out the jalapeño specifically so that the kids would try the collards, but that didn’t seem to work- so next time that spice is going in and we can figure out something else for the kids greens!
The kids had sweet potato fries and Quorn nuggets. They were pretty into these two things and didn’t have any of the collards. We will have to do something to make them more appealing, since they really didn’t have or try any. They are typically into kale and spinach if there is honey mustard or something, but raw collards might not fly. Maybe quickly cooked as simple side? They did eat their weight in sweet potatoes. We had rice with the soup, so that is always a hit with the kids- but again, not compared to sweet potatoes.
I could really see this being a family favorite.
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Jan 26th
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
We got this book last summer and it really is quite excellent. We went through a spurt last fall where we were making repeat batches, then we hit a lull… and I have picked it up again. Sam’s Club has these large-ish (6 quart square covered transparent containers for restaurants) where we can store the dough and honestly, it doesn’t even average to 5 minutes a day at this point- I bet it is way less. Our family is able to devour an entire loaf in a sitting. We are concentrating on the first lesson: the boule. It is turning our consistently even though our oven can be inaccurate at times.
Here is the book and their website, which has additional recipes: artisanbreadinfive.com. They have a new book out called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
Has anyone tried a recipe from this new or original book?
Here are a couple of our most recent loaves.
Italian Rice & Beans
Jan 23rd
Vegan Yum Yum's Italian Rice & Beans
This recipe has quickly become a favorite of our family. It is a Vegan Yum Yum miracle. We had followed Lauren Ulm’s blog for a while, but I hadn’t seen this recipe before. We first made it when we got her book last fall. I would say we have made it 5 times since.
I followed the recipe on page 59 of her book (exactly, I thought) but managed to mess it up the first time… because apparently I didn’t read it… it was a good lesson for me to read the whole recipe first. This is a bad habit that typically leads to issues. The website has nice step by step instructions, which I love, but following her book version I somehow got screwed up. Fortunately, this recipe can also be found on her website: Vegan Yum Yum’s Italian Rice & Beans.
We followed Lauren’s advice and got a Microplane grater for the lemon zest. Lemons and limes seem to wind up in almost everything that we make, so this was a really great purchase.
The kids eat the rice and beans and ignore the rest, but they typically do pretty well with it.
Lentil Black Bean Dip
Jan 17th
Lentil Black Bean Dip
We can’t love anything more. This is a huge favorite of ours. We like it best with Xochil chips. They are thin and crispy, with no preservatives, no cholesterol, no trans fats, no gluten, and no gmo. Lightly salted with sea salt, these chips are our favorite. The are thin (what makes them awesome) so there ends up being a lot of little pieces that we typically put a bowl with lentil dip on top and eat with a fork… it is just that good.
Lentil Black Bean Dip
Recipe by Bunnies Love Carrots
Ingredients
1 cup lentils
5-6 green onions - finely chopped
5 roma tomatoes- finely diced
1 15oz can black beans- well rinsed
4 oz can diced green chiles- with liquid
cilantro – a handful, finely chopped
6 oz fat-free catalina dressing
Xochitl Chips
tortilla chips- preferably Xochitl (bag shown at right)
Method
Take 1 cup uncooked lentils, rinse, cover with 4 cups cold water, bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water. Add the other ingredients and done.
Notes
Roma tomatoes work best because they are more fleshy, less seeds, but this would probably be even more awesome (if that is possible) in the summer with some of the awesome tomatoes available.
As for the catalina dressing, we genuinely like the fat free better… add this to taste, but we typically do 3/4 of a small bottle- around 8 oz. We typically use Kraft. Adding the whole bottle of dressing might be tempting because it might seem a little dry at first. Once the dip is able to sit for a bit it releases more moisture, so keep it slightly drier than you might expect. Missing link: Catalina dressing is one of the only things that we buy that has high-fructose corn syrup. It might be the only thing. Otherwise, it is just tomatoes and spices… who knew? The high fructose corn syrup explains a lot, since I have always thought of this dressing as way too sweet. Does anyone know of another catalina dressing without high fructose corn syrup?
White Bean & Mushroom Ragout with Polenta Cutlets
Jan 13th
White Bean & Mushroom Ragout with Polenta Cutlets
I made this ragout from page 73 of Moosewood Restaurant’s Simple Suppers. It was really good, very Italian. The polenta in cutlet form (I followed the instructions on page 184) went over slightly more than regular polenta does with the kids. For whatever reason, I haven’t gotten them convinced to really try polenta… they just sort of pick at it. Beats me. I hear that it is typically a kid favorite, but not our kids! Our oldest picked out all the beans from the ragout, but after trying a tiny bit of mushroom- was done with that. After seeing his big sister eat the beans, our 2 year old did as well.
We had some left over “real” Parmesan cheese, so I used a tiny bit of that. The other reason is that after lots of experimenting with cheese alternatives- I don’t know of one that would be considered acceptable. We have never tried a Parmesan substitute though. I would rather go without cheese than do a cheese alternative, personally.
Next time I am going to do fresh polenta with more flavorful herbs (not pre-made plain polenta) and do thinner cutlets.
Maybe sweet polenta would be more of a hit with the kids (versus savory). Does anyone know of any kid-friendly polenta options?
Chickpea Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts
Jan 9th
Chickpea Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts
The chickpea cutlets are from Veganonicon page 133. Very, very good. Nice flavor and texture. I did make them a little thick because I tried to fit them all in our cast iron pan. That was a mistake. So, next time I need to make them thinner and do two rounds in the pan or maybe bake them. They were excellent fried, however- it would be better if they were crispier. Again, super tasty.
The kids ate them with ketchup (not surprising) and we ate them with dijon mustard.
Brussel sprouts have quickly become our favorite veggie… but not the kids. They do both eat a couple, so that is good and they do seem to like them, but it is always the last thing that they touch. We like to bake them with a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. It makes them so tasty.
The mashed potatoes were a little starchy, dense and shiny because of the Earth’s Balance (partly) and because I whipped them. They were really too dense. I think without cream, milk or butter- it is better to just smash the potatoes a little. Unless someone has a better idea?
BLT (Tempeh Bacon, Kale and Tomato) Salad
Jan 9th
Tempeh Bacon, Kale and Tomato Salad
This recipe is from Vegan Yum Yum. We have tried is a couple times and is a huge favorite for us. The kids eat a bit of it. We can’t say enough good things about it. Kale is a super food too, tons of vitamin K, A, and C. We on a constant search for good, kid-friendly recipes that have dark green leafy vegetables.
This salad is just way too good. We try to save leftovers for lunch, and this never lasts until the next day. We typically eat it as the main course. We give the kids the ingredients separately (kale with dressing, bacon, and then add some carrots… and half of a pb&j sandwich).
Tomato Basil Cream Pasta with Green Salad
Nov 25th
We tried a recipe from this awesome website that we found, Vegan Yum Yum, for Tomato Basil Cream Pasta which we served with a fresh green salad. The kids ate it with a smile- and it was super quick and easy to make. The “cream” is made with raw cashews, so we were able to use our new immersion blender- which has turned into a really handy kitchen tool. We were able to use basil from our garden. This will be even better when we have fresh tomatoes in the garden!
Vegan Yum Yum has some really great recipes and gorgeous photos of the food. It just makes me hungry to cruise the site.
Mexican Chopped Saled with Honey-Lime Dressing
Oct 1st
This recipe is right up our alley. We got the recipe for the Mexican Chopped Saled with Honey-Lime Dressing from Epicurious. We also did Chili Cornmeal Crusted Tofu from Veganomicon. The kids loved the tofu- we all did. It was crusty and tasty. The salad was awesome. We separated out a bunch of the ingredients for the kids- who seems to like that better than the salad all together.
Highland Grill
Sep 25th
We went to Highland Grill for a Father’s Day treat. I got the Huevos Rancheros (charred corn, peppers, mushrooms, onions- all scrambled in three eggs with white cheddar and spices. Served with seasoned hash browns, housemade vegetarian chili, crispy tortilla and lime sour cream) hello… twas awesome. Molly got the Walleye Burrito (grilled flour tortilla jam-packed with beer battered walleye, iceberg lettuce, garlic aioli, tartar sauce, roma tomatoes and Tillamook Cheddar… and fries- it was a special. It too was heavenly. There are several great options that we would like to try. Like the Squash & Mushroom Risotto, Eggplant Parmesan, Vegetarian Chili Mac, tons of great salads and what looks like a complete breakfast menu. This is going to be a new favorite stop for us.
The kids got pancakes and mac and cheese. Both we awesome and kids inhaled them- always a good sign.