Moroccan-style Couscous

Vegan, delicious, quick, easy.

2 tbsp of earth balance butter
1/2 onion, minced
1 pinch of cumin
1 pinch of cinnamon
1/2 tsp garlic salt, or to taste
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 juicy tomato, diced
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup almonds,  unsalted

I cup couscous, cooked

Heat vegan butter and toss in onions.  Cook on medium heat in a saucepanabout 3-5 minutes.  Add spices and stir until fragrant.  Toss in carrots and peas, and cook until soft.  Add chickpeas, raisins, almonds and couscous, stir until well mixed and almonds are soft and chewy.  Add tomatoes and any juice from cutting them, and stir.  Serve hot.

Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas

Cauliflower:
1 head of caulilower, split and chopped
Oil, about 1 tsp.

Chickpeas:
1 can chickpeas, rinsed, drained, patted with towel
Oil, about 1 tsp.
Cumin - 2 pinches
Cinnamon- light dusting
Salt, 1 pinch

Sauce:
Tahini, about 2 tablespoons
Vegetable oil, dash
Warm water, 1 tbsp.
Lemon juice, squeezed
Salt and pepper to taste


Toss both chickpeas and cauliflower with oil and spices, but keep separate. Roast chickpeas first in a pre-heated oven at 450 degrees, for about 25 minutes, until the chickpeas are ceunchy on the outside, but tender on the inside.  Add in the cauliflower on another pan about 10 minutes in, for 18 minutes.

Mix tahini with warm water until it becomes runny.  Add fresh lemon juice to taste.  Mix well (whisk) and salt and pepper to taste.

Top with sauce and serve hot!

Pup-i-scream

Yes, this is ice cream for your pups... or as my pups know it, "PuppyScream"!  I scream, you scream, we all scream for pup-y-scream!

Knowing how dogs totally love these ingredients and I never ever get through bananas before they are over-ripe for me, I decided to make my spoiled pooches a great cold treat.

Mash together in a large mixing bowl:

2 over-ripe bananas (frozen-thawed are fine)
an equal volume of whole organic yogurt
1 heaping teaspoon of all-natural peanut butter; crunchy or smooth

Once mashed, pour into polystyrene containers to the depth of ¾ inch or there about and freeze. When I pull out a new frozen container, I remove the pup-y-scream and cut it pie-style into eighths with my big chef's knife. The pup-y-scream warms enough in just a few seconds to easily remove it from the container and if you are quick, nothing freezes together.  Each batch then produces 24-32 pieces, depending on my starting amounts.

Talk about love your dogs.

Vegetarian "Unstuffed" Cabbage Soup with Fennel

This is a wonderful and easy go-to soup that is hearty and delicious.  Fennel and cabbage go so well together and below is my favorite variation of the classic stuffed cabbage soup. (photo forthcoming)

SIMPLE VERSION

INGREDIENTS
¼ c extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 package of your favorite veggie "ground beef" crumbles
6 cups julienned cabbage, cut into 2" lengths
28-oz can of organic crushed tomatoes (or a quart jar of any home-canned tomato product you love)
28 or so ounces of water
1-2 cups of fine egg noodles (optional)

EQUIPMENT NEEDED
mortar and pestle or spice grinder (optional)
chef knife
cutting board
stock/soup pot

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat a large heavy-bottomed stock pot to medium.  While it is heating, peel and slice your garlic and, if you have one, crush the fennel with a mortar and pestle. If you don't have a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, just toss the fennel in whole. Also trim and dice the fennel bulb.  Once hot the pot is heated, pour in your olive oil.  Add the sliced garlic, fennel seed and crushed red pepper.  Stir frequently and when the garlic begins to brown, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the chopped fennel bulb and your frozen veggie crumbles (or even lean ground beef or ground turkey).

Keep an eye on the pot and stir regularly, breaking up the veggie crumbles as they thaw. In the meantime, slice half of the cabbage into ½" slices then chop into 2" pieces.  Once the fennel is softened, add the tomatoes, water, then cabbage, increase your heat to medium high and bring the soup to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and allow the soup to softly boil for 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes, add the noodles and continue to boil your soup for the time stated on the package.

VARIATIONS:
- If you don't have access to fennel bulb, you can omit it entirely.
- If you don't like the fennel flavor, eliminated it and replace fennel seed with 2 bay leaves and fennel bulb with white onion.
- Eliminate the noodles and serve over rice.
- Cook the beef with the fennel bulb.  Wrap the mixture in fresh cabbage leaves, and line a 9x13" glass baking dish.  Create sauce with garlic, fennel seed, crushed red pepper and tomato.  Add 1 c-ox can of tomato paste, about 28 oz of water and heat through.   Use as a sauce and pour over the stuffed cabbage.  Top with cheddar cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Hummus from Scratch

I have a ton of dried beans that I am learning to use... and with the ease of making homemade hummus on the fly and being able to season and flavor it on a whim, I developed this basic recipe.  The recipe is a "quick" boil rather than overnight prep or crockpot overnight.  You could also add the spices and cook the chick peas over night on low.

The volume of beans that I've used here produces an amount of hummus similar to what you get in a grocery store container.  Flavoring the beans during the cooking process is fabulous as you can eat them plain, add them to salad, rice or quinoa, dry roast them for a snack... and of course, grind them to a paste to make hummus.

CHICK PEA BOIL INGREDIENTS:
½ cup dried chickpeas

water

... later more water

2 bay leaves

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

½ teaspoon black pepper (I use telicherry pepper from a specialty store, but any will do)

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

⅛ teaspoon ground sumac

small pinch of cinnamon (maybe 1/16 teaspoon)

pinch of salt (start with ½ teaspoon)

optional: ½ t baking soda to further soften the beans (it will effect the taste, but in a fine way)

HUMMUS INGREDIENTS
the cooked beans (about 2 cups)

reserved seasoned water from your chickpea boil

juice  and zest of 1 lemon; maybe 2

½ cup of tahini

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (go to a restaurant supply store and buy it in a large container, for making dressings, sauces, etc.)

2 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons cumin (paprika and za'tar are also great)

salt, ground pepper if needed

OPTIONAL GARNISHES
extra virgin olive oil

kalamata or similar olives

parsley

EQUIPMENT NEEDED
colander
4qt or larger pot
chef's knife
zester (a microplane is a great tool to have)
cutting board
measuring spoons/cups
large bowl
ladle
stick blender, blender or food processor

INSTRUCTIONS
Rinse the chickpeas well in a standard colander, making sure to remove any debris.  Put the chickpeas in a 4 qt saucepan and cover with 3" of water.  On an appropriate sized burner, bring contents of the pot to a rolling boil.  Turn off the heat and let the chickpeas sit in the pot for an hour.  They will double in size.

Drain and rinse the cooled chick peas in the colander.

Cover with water 4-5" above the beans.  They will double in size again during this cooking phase. Add all of the ingredients listed under "Chickpea Boil Ingredients" aside from the salt (you will add this in the last 15 minutes of cooking).

Bring the contents to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Be sure to check the pot to ensure you haven't boiled all of the water off.  You can certainly add water, need be.  At this point, add your salt.  Boil for another 15-30 minutes to desired tenderness.

For softer beans, you can add ½ teaspoon of baking soda and/or leave the lid partially covering the pot during the boil.  Experiment with that to see what you prefer.

Turn off the heat on your pot. Put the colander in the large bowl and drain your beans, keeping the boiling liquid in reserve.  Remove the bay leaves from your beans.  Either transfer the beans to a blender or food processor or a bowl in which you can grind them with a stick blender.

Add the zest and juice of one lemon, fresh garlic, cumin, olive oil and tahini.  Blend until it starts to get smooth.  Taste the paste.  Add some more lemon juice or even a bit of tahini if you want the flavor to change.  Blend. If the hummus is too thick, little by little add some of your reserved liquid until you are satisfied with the thickness.  If you forget to reserve liquid, water will do.  Keep blending.  When it is your desired thickness, taste and add a little salt or pepper if you want to.  Blend again.

Serve in a beautiful bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of fresh parsley.  I love adding olives, too!  Serve with pita, sliced veggies or even feta cheese!

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A note on tahini:  It keeps quite well in the refrigerator.  Two things I love doing with it:

Make a vegan dressing: tahini, lime juice and zest, rice wine vinegar, mirin (optional), sea salt, freshly ground black pepper.  I use this to make a vegan cole slaw... here is my recipe: Vegan Cole Slaw

Make a sandwich: baked tofu on a toasted crusty whole-grain bread, thinly sliced cucumber, mung bean sprouts. Mix equal parts of tahini and peanut butter.  Thin with a little rice wine vinegar and add a drop or two of liquid smoke.  Spread some on the bread and enjoy!!

Buffalo Cauliflower

This very simple, delicious dish is a wonderful addition to any Thanksgiving table or special occasion.  I also love to pour a hot bowl of Manhattan clam chowder over a few florets of cauliflower cooked this way.

Make no mistake, it is not light or calorie-free.  At the same time, this cauliflower is not breaded and can be vegan and gluten-free.  

Finally, if you do not have quality heavy-bottomed pots, try this in a large ramekin or heat-proof deep glass dish, cover with parchment paper and then foil and cook in the oven at 350F.

INGREDIENTS

1 head of cauliflower that is the approximate diameter of a saucepan you wish to use.  (This is VERY important for the dish to work

2-3 Yukon gold potatoes (or sections of zucchini, yellow squash, cabbage)

8 oz butter or vegan butter (I use Smart Balance, but use your favorite)

*** Chef's note: this is delicious without adding the below additions*** these are optional ***

1T finely minced hot pepper (I use habanero) WARNING: YOU MUST WEAR GLOVED OR WASH YOUR HANDS VERY WELL AFTER MINCING HOT PEPPER. 

1T finely minced garlic

¼ cup Tabasco sauce (you can use any vinegar-based hot sauce, just increase the volume if you choose one less hot, such as Crystal)

1 teaspoon chili powder

GARNISHES (optional)

chopped fresh parsley

sweet paprika

EQUIPMENT

Chef's knife

Cutting Board

4 qt saucepan with tightly fitting lid 

INSTRUCTIONS

Remove the leaves from the bottom of your cauliflower.  Put the cauliflower head down in your saucepan.  Trim the cauliflower so that it fits as snugly (diameter-wise) as possible in the pot, but the lid fits tightly on the pot.  It is alright if the cauliflower is too short.  Typically, they are so large, I cut off about ½ from the bottom and then make a few shaves in the pot. Check that the lid easily fits all the way down. 

Remove the cauliflower from the pot and over very low heat add your butter or butter substitute.  Once the butter begins to melt, add the hot pepper and garlic. Watch carefully so your butter doesn't burn.  It will be melted in a short time. When it is fully melted add the chili powder and tabasco and stir. Remove from heat. 

Place the cauliflower head down in the pan. Cut wedges of potato (or zucchini, squash or cabbage) that will fill the gaps between the flat side of the cauliflower and the pan.  You want to ensure as little steam as possible escapes, so you want everything wedged in tightly.  When finished, check your lid tightness again and trim everything that might be blocking the lid from sitting all the way down. 

Place back on very low heat and allow to simmer for 1.5 hours.  Do not lift the lid at any time during the cooking process.  

Once finished remove the cauliflower and other veggies carefully with tongs and a spatula and then pour any remaining butter sauce on top.  If for some reason your cauliflower is not done enough for your taste, put it back in the pot and continue simmering.  It should be falling apart on the plate. 

Top with your favorite garnishes and serve on a platter.  

Delicious Green Smoothie

1 handful each:

Frozen cut pineapple
Frozen cut mango
Fresh spinach
Banana

1/2 apple, chopped
Soy milk, about 1/2 cup, or coconut milk
Tbsp. Almond butter
1/2 lime
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

Mix in blender until smooth.  So delicious and fresh.