New Vegan Dishes

Lentil Stew

Lately I have been thinking a lot about adding some new vegan dishes into my repertoire. Since I have a stressful job, there are so many nights I get home and I am just too tired to think about what ingredients I can use to make a meal and am actually too tired to prepare anything that requires more than maybe 4 minutes in the microwave. That means vegan processed food. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of good V processed food out there, but I just think I was eating too much of it. And I lacked the motivation to ignore my fatigue and just start cooking.

So…….. I decided to just make it happen! One thing I realized was that I could consider combining a processed product with whole food products – that would get me started. One result of this idea was using a tahini sauce  that  I get at Trader Joes as a dressing with lettuce, cucumber, onions, tomatoes, parsley and dried figs. To this I add 3 falafel patties bought frozen at Trader Joes and microwaved for  1 minute – plop into the salad. This is quick, easy, pretty healthy and quite delicious.

I also wanted to make some meals with all fresh ingredients, especially ones that add protein and texture. Two I tried recently were lentils and quinoa. The lentils were another purchase from Trader Joes – a bag of smoked lentils with no additives etc. To use the lentils, I read through a few recipes both from the Web and some of my vegan cookbooks and then invented my own. I made a lentil stew with fresh grape tomatoes, potatoes, quinoa, onions, carrots, frozen corn and, of course, plenty of seasoning. The cooking aromas from the stew and the vegan corn bread I made to go along with it filled the kitchen. The result was a keeper, but the down side of tweaking multiple recipes and not writing it down means……… well, you know.

Another ingredient that I have used quite a bit is tofu. One popular preparation was a  Chinese type stir fry with other vegetables and sauce makings. It was another recipe mashup and never totally successful – very difficult timing procedures and not enough sauce. So I got lucky and was given a cookbook by a friend at work called “Vegan on a Budget” and, lo and behold, it had a recipe that was very similar to my original one, but it had a better and easier process and it provided a sweet and sour sauce that sounded delicious and made a large quantity. My assessment of this new recipe proved to be accurate and I have prepared it twice recently and despite a large batch made – there are never any leftovers!!!!!

So, I have broken through and am pursuing the vegan food adventure with renewed dedication and excitement. Will be exploring more lentil variations, researching the quinoa possibilities and tweaking the tofu for now. Oh...... and I am into roasting vegetables, fruit – seasoned cauliflower with vegan parm sprinkled after roasting; apples and squash and sweet potatoes – O MY!........ OK – gotta get back to my research – the next dinner time awaits. Compassion for all.

A tasty week

OK - I came up with my own vegan recipe that is out of this world. I wish I had taken a picture of it so you could see it, but I will try to describe it. It is basically a wrap using a whole wheat tortilla with some pretty yummy and attractive fillings. The main ingredient is a quinoa/chick pea dish made with the above 2 ingredients and vegetable broth, garlic, onions, seasonings and toasted almonds. The 'salad' ingredient is a coleslaw made with grated carrots, green cabbage and a dressing made of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a little lemon juice and seasonings. The coleslaw should sit for a while to get the flavors to marry. So, to put this thing together - First - I heat up the tortilla in the microwave or fry it in a pan with a little olive oil (if you want to be a little decadent) then I heat up the quinoa mixture and melt a slice of vegan soy cheese with it and put it on 1/2 of the warm tortilla. I top that with the coleslaw (cold), then wrap it up. My favorite part is the next - I dip some of my bites in a little hot sauce! Wow - the explosion of the warm and cheesy filling with the cold and crunchy bite of the coleslaw, then the kick of the hot sauce! I am talking about a treat with no meat, people! Talk about delicious. And I am very proud of myself for putting these elements together in my own recipe. Becoming vegan has definitely given me a boost in the food creativity department. Just a plug for the hot sauce - it is a Susie's hot sauce limited edition - with Barack Obama on the label. The type I used is called Susie's Calypso made by Susie's Hot Sause in Antigua!!! I also made an apple pie with the freshly picked apples and it was soooooo delicious. This version has a spicier kick with not only cinnamon, but nutmeg and allspice. The crust has a heartier taste since I use whole wheat flour and truthfully, white flour tastes so bland to me now that I use more of the whole grains for everything. Hope you are eating well and thinking about eating good nutritious food. Becoming a vegan has made me a more conscious eater - it feels so good!