Green Lentil Pumpkin Seed Dip

Came across this dip on The Full Helping

(https://www.thefullhelping.com/simple-lentil-pumpkin-seed-dip/)

by Gena. She kind of downplayed it in her blog post, but I thought it sounded scrumptious. I decided to give it a try. Of course I didn’t have any cooked or canned lentils ready to go or some soaked pumpkin seeds, so it took me a day to get ready. I’ve just been reading Joyous Detox by Joy McCarthy and The Blender Girl by Tess Masters and they both strongly recommend soaking legumes, grains, nuts and seeds before using, and even sprouting them if you have the time. These authors convinced me that soaking is the way to go as it:

• improves digestion

• unlocks nutrients

• produces better flavour and texture

• reduces cooking time

• makes for smooooooth dips

So, I soaked my green French lentils and my seeds before blending up this dip today. Here’s my adapted recipe:

Green Lentil Pumpkin Seed Dip

1/3 cup soaked pumpkin seeds

1 1/2 cups soaked and cooked French lentils (Le Puy lentils)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsps. fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup tightly packed parsley

1/2 to 3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Put all the ingredients in a blender. Add 1/4 cup of water and turn blender on to low. Blend on low for a few minutes, scraping down the sides as needed and adding more water as needed, a tbsp. at a time, to keep the ingredients in the blender moving. Add up to 1/4 cup more water. Turn blender on to high and blend until quite smooth.

Serve with crackers or vegetable sticks. I spread the dip on some Pumpkin Seed Oat Rye Crackers that I happened to have in the cupboard … very tasty!

 

Deconstructed Salad Roll

I’ve been on a bit of a rice noodle kick lately. Today, while considering another meal to make with rice noodles, I had an inspiration! I thought of salad rolls and how they often include rice noodles and are wrapped with a rice paper wrapper. But salad rolls are a bit timely to make so … how about a deconstructed salad roll … eureka! A salad roll bowl! (And you all know how much I love bowls)! All I needed to do was julien up a few vegetables, prepare some rice noodles and whip up a peanut sauce. Easy peasy! And tasty too!

Salad Roll Bowl

1 carrot

1 green onion

1/2 cucumber

1/2 red bell pepper

wedge of purple cabbage

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 package rice noodles

Peanut Sauce

1 tsp Bragg liquid soy seasoning

2 tsps. tamari sauce

2 tbsps. peanut butter

2 tbsps. orange juice

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp sesame oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp finely minced ginger

2 tbsps. siracha

2 tbsps. rice wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

chopped peanuts or sesame seeds

Pour boiling water over the rice noodles and let sit for a minute. Use a spaghetti scoop to loosen and separate the noodles. Set aside while you prepare the vegetables. Julien-chop the carrot, cucumber, red pepper, and purple cabbage. Slice the green onion and coarsely chop the cilantro. Arrange the vegetables in two bowls as in the pictures. Drain the rice noodles, rinse with cold water and set aside. Make the peanut sauce by whisking all ingredients together. (You can heat the sauce if you want. This will soften the peanut butter for easier mixing. Also, I like the sauce a little warm when I pour it over the vegetables and noodles.) Arrange a serving of rice noodles in the middle of the bowl. Drizzle the peanut sauce over top of the vegetables and noodles. Sprinkle on some peanuts or some sesame seeds. Eat and enjoy!

Note:  You can also add mint leaves, tofu, and avocado to this bowl. That would make it even yummier!

 

Thai Noodle Soup

At my workplace, I participate in a Lunch Club. At the beginning of the school year, anyone who is interested signs up, with a partner, and commits to providing lunch for the rest of the participants. This year we have fourteen members and this works out to each partnership making lunch about 5 or 6 times a year. If it’s not your day to make lunch, then you are eating lunch someone else has provided. I really look forward to Thursdays (our Lunch Club day) because I don’t have to make lunch! I’m the only vegan in the club, but we also have a vegetarian and someone who doesn’t eat pork. This year’s crew have been really kind and conscientious and have always made sure that there are vegan options for me! This makes me really happy! Usually, when I attend something where lunch is provided, I have to find out ahead of time what the menu is. If a vegan option can’t be added, then I just bring my own. As I always say, “I don’t mind bringing my own lunch, I just need to know.” At my Lunch Club, I don’t even have to ask anymore. I can rely on my colleagues to consider all dietary wants and needs!

My Lunch Club partner and I don’t have to make lunch for another month, but we started talking about it this week. We decided to make Thai Noodle Soup. Now, I’ve never actually had this soup before, let alone made it, but my partner raved about it! Into a big bowl and onto a bed of rice noodles, a spicy broth infused with Thai flavours is ladled, then topped with a variety of tasty and textured toppings. Sounds great! Well, I decided I’d better give this soup a trial run before serving it up for a crowd of people, so I did some Pinterest research and made this Thai Noodle Soup last night for supper. Traditionally, this soup has lots of non-vegan things in it like fish sauce and chicken and meat broth, but I delved deeper into the offerings on Pinterest and found some vegan versions that I was able to combine and adapt until I came up with a recipe that satisfied me. Here it is:

Thai Noodle Soup

1/2 package rice noodles

2 tsps. coconut oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. of grated ginger

3 tsps. of minced garlic

2 tbsps. red curry paste *

2 tsps. curry powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 can organic light coconut milk

4 cups vegetable broth

about 6 heads of baby bok choy, chopped

2 tbsps. tamari

2 tbsps. coconut sugar

1 lime, 1/2 of it juiced, 1/2 of it cut into little wedges

1/2 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped

bean sprouts

Trader Joe’s Chili Lime Cashews (if you can get them!)

Put the rice noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water over to cover. Set aside for a few minutes, then toss and untangle with a fork or spaghetti scoop. Let sit until soft, then drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Melt the coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once melted, add the onions. Stir and cook for a few minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add the ginger and the garlic and continue to stir and cook for a few more minutes. If the onion mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the pot, add a tablespoon or two of water. Now add the red curry paste, the curry powder and the turmeric. Stir until mixed and coated. Pour in the coconut milk and the vegetable broth. Stir everything together. Bring the broth to a simmer, then add in the baby bok choy and lightly simmer for a couple of minutes. Lower the heat. Stir in the tamari and the coconut sugar and the lime juice. Heat through.

Divide the noodles among 4 big bowls (or two bowls and reserve the other two servings for tomorrow night’s supper). Ladle the broth into the bowls. Top each bowl with a handful of bean sprouts, a generous sprinkling of cilantro, a couple of lime wedges and a few cashews.

Serve with a knife, fork and spoon – “Tom” ate his noodles like spaghetti, rolling the noodles into a ball with a fork onto his spoon, and ate the soup with a spoon; I cut my noodles up with a knife and fork in the bowl, then ate noodles and broth with a spoon.

* check the ingredients on the package of red curry paste. Some have fish sauce and/or shrimp in the ingredients. Vegan paste is available and should be easy to find in a major grocery store.

Other toppings you could use: chopped green onion, small cubes of tofu, finely sliced green cabbage …

 

Springtime Eating: Dip, Soup, Salad

I’ve just returned from a trip to the old country, my birthplace and the home of most of my relatives. Although I absolutely love, and am grateful for, any opportunity to visit the folks overseas, I am always happy to return home. I miss my Canadian family when I’m away and I miss my own food! Every time I go to England, I have to begin every re-meeting with a reminder about my drinking and eating habits:

• “Okay, let’s just get this out of the way, upfront, here it goes … I don’t drink coffee or tea, I don’t drink alcohol and I only eat plants! Got it? Okay, let’s move on!”

In the United Kingdom, you see, everything is about beverages! All transitions, all arrivals, all social engagements involve a drink, usually tea, but often alcohol. You can imagine how my drinking habits are received!

• Julia, what can I get you?

• Nothing thanks, I’m good.

• What? Nothing? Surely a cup of tea?

• Okay, how about a cup of hot water?

• [mind blown]

• or

• Julia, what will you have?

• Nothing right now.

• What? Nothing? Not even half a pint?

• Okay, how about some ginger beer?

• [mind blown]

And food … cheese, savoury pies, fried food, Branston Pickle, salad cream, more cheese … not really a welcoming place for vegans. I admit that when I travel and when I am given room and board by my relatives, I become more of a flexitarian. I like to experience the food of the culture I am visiting and I’ll eat most anything put in front of me by someone who is kind enough to prepare and cook food for me. Having said that, I was craving nothing but salad and greens when I got home! Yes, I love chips and pub food when I’m in situ, but once I hit my home turf, I headed straight for the produce section of the grocery store and loaded up on vegetables and fruit. Here’s what I made for my first meal home:

Light Green Dip or White Bean-Edamame Hummus

1 cup cooked navy beans

3/4 cup edamame beans

2 tbsps. tahini

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tsps. minced garlic

1/4 + tsp salt

bunch fresh dill, chopped

Pub beans, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt in a blender or small food processor and blend until smooth – about 3 to 5 minutes depending on your appliance. Add in a tbsp. of water if needed to make a smooth dip. Add in the dill and blend until the dill is well mixed in. Serve with crackers and vegetable sticks.

Green Spring Soup

1 tsp butter

1 tsp veg oil

heart of one leek, about 1/4 cup, chopped

4 spring onions, chopped (or one thick slice of white onion, chopped, if you don’t have green onions)

1/2 bunch asparagus, chopped

3/4 cup green peas

2 large handfuls spinach, chopped

1 potato, peeled, cubed, cooked in 1 cup of cooking water

4 cups vegetable broth (I used 2 cups chicken flavoured veg broth and 2 cups veg broth)

black pepper

salt

3 tsps. fresh lemon juice

Heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the leek and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the onions, asparagus and peas and saute for 3 or more minutes until everything begins to soften. Stir in the spinach. Then add the potatoes with their cooking water along with the veg broth. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for a few minutes. Blend everything together with an immersion blender to make a smooth green pureed soup. Add a few grinds of black pepper, a bit of salt to taste and the fresh lemon juice. Stir, heat through and serve. Deeelicious!

Springtime Pasta Salad

(recipe from The Fed Up Foodie)

3 cups dry rotini

2 cups broccoli flowers

1/2 English cucumber, cut into half coins

1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise

1/4 cup red onion, chopped in small pieces

1/2 red or orange bell pepper, chopped

1/2 bunch asparagus spears, chopped

handful or more of pea pods, cut in 1/2’s or 1/3’s

handful of green olives, sliced lengthwise twice

Dressing:

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar

1/2 bunch fresh dill, chopped finely

1/2 tsp salt

Cook the rotini until al dente. Drain the pasta over the broccoli so the broccoli gets blanched. Pour cold water over both the pasta and the broccoli to cool then add to a big bowl. Add all the chopped vegetables to the bowl. Make the dressing by whisking together the ingredients. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and pasta and toss to combine.

Note: The amounts for the vegetables are a guideline. Please adjust as you prefer, including changing up the vegetables.

 

 

Kale Beet Quinoa Salad

Being a herbivore, I eat a lot of vegetables. I roast, grill, and bake ’em. I steam, boil and puree ’em. I eat ’em raw and I eat ’em cooked. But probably my favourite, and most common, way to eat ’em is in a salad. I eat a salad or two every day. These days I’m getting my salad on by using seasonal vegetables as much as possible. Right now that means lots of slaws with cabbage and root vegetables. And kale salads. That’s what I’m giving you today … a kale salad recipe.

There are two vital things to do with kale to transform it into a salad green – tear or chop into small pieces and massage! I used to only eat kale salad at restaurants because I couldn’t be bothered to massage the stuff! But then I had a couple of experiences where I was served a salad with honkin’ big pieces of chewy, unmassaged kale, and I decided I’d better take things into my owns hands afterall! And I literally mean my own hands, because there ain’t no other way to massage kale than with your hands!

So here you go … get your salad on!

Kale Beet Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa, cooked

4 roasted beets, diced

1 head of kale (I used Dinosaur Kale), torn into small pieces

2 tbsps olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp maple syrup

Once the quinoa is cooked and cooled, set aside. Put the chopped beets in a large bowl and set aside. Put the torn kale into another bowl. Drizzle a tbsp of olive oil onto the kale and sprinkle on about 1/4 tsp of salt. Massage the oil and salt into the kale until the kale begins to soften up and release some juices. Pour the remaining tbsp of olive oil over the kale along with the red wine vinegar, the mustard, the maple syrup and 1/4 tsp of salt. Toss the massaged kale with the dressing ingredients. Add the kale to the beets and toss together. Add the quinoa and gently combine. The quinoa will turn purpley-pink in this salad … not necessarily a bad thing … I just wanted to warn you! Taste a spoonful of kale/beet/quinoa and adjust the dressing as needed. Needs more tartness? – add some more vinegar and/or mustard. Needs to be a little sweeter? – add some more maple syrup and/or some mustard.

If you prefer, you can whisk all the dressing ingredients together and massage it all right into the kale. Or you can massage the kale with oil and salt as above, then whisk the remaining dressing ingredients. Add the kale to the beets, pour in the dressing, toss gently, add the quinoa.

 

Parsnip Apple Soup

Today is very cold! The temperature dropped 10 degrees from last weekend to this weekend! We’ve even had snow! This kind of quick change in weather and temperature is hard to get used to. Even dressed for the cold, I found myself walking around outside with a tense and hunched up body, daydreaming about beaches in Hawaii!

I mean, look at it! The trees and bushes are still green (under that snow)! It’s not right! I’m not ready! Brrrr!

Well, when it comes to food and cold weather, what do you think of?

I think of soup!

For lunch today, I had a delicious Tomato Fennel Soup at Tractor Everyday Healthy Foods (http://tractorfoods.com/). Warmed me right up, it did! Later, when I got home and saw that I had parsnips and leeks in my CSA box, I immediately decided to make my own soup.

I’d just read the latest post on Dishing Up the Dirt and there was a Parsnip and Apple Soup featured so I decided to use that recipe as my guide. I think you’re going to like it!

Parsnip Apple Soup

(adapted from Dishing Up the Dirt, Parsnip and Apple Soup, http://dishingupthedirt.com/recipes/parsnip-apple-soup/)

scant tbsp. butter (vegan or the real thing)

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 leek, chopped finely

3 parsnips, peeled and chopped in small pieces

1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped in small pieces

3/4 tsp coriander

salt and pepper

2 cups chicken flavoured vegetable stock

1/4 cup cashew cream

Melt and heat the butter and the oil together over medium heat in a medium to large sized pot. Add the leek, parsnips and apple and combine, increasing the heat a little bit. Add in the coriander and salt and pepper (I used several grindings of fresh black pepper and about 1/4 tsp salt). Stir together and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 to 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft and releasing their juices. If you like, you can add a splash of water to keep the vegetables from sticking. Pour in the stock, cover and simmer over medium to low heat for 20 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to your desired consistency. (In our household, “Tom” prefers a bit of texture in his soups, so I left a few bits of vegetables in the soup. I think the soup would be quite lovely if you thoroughly puree it too). Stir in the cashew cream, warm through and serve. Yum!

 

 

 

Red Lentil Squash Curry

I don’t know about you, but my menu planning tends to suffer as the workweek goes on. I usually start off well with part of Sunday devoted to earmarking recipes, food prep and ingredient shopping for the week ahead. And this bit of planning ahead is really helpful as it allows me to arrive home from a long work day knowing that supper is planned and partially prepped. By Thursday, however, my ideas have petered out, my creativity is low and I drive home from work thinking about whether I’ll order out or have avocado toast for supper! It’s not so much the making the meal that wipes me out, but the thinking of what to make. If I have a plan for supper, I don’t really mind making it even when arriving home after a 9 or 10 hour work day. This is when the slow cooker has often come to the rescue! If I can throw something together in the slow cooker in the morning before leaving for work, then it’s doing double duty – the meal is planned and the meal is cooked! Here’s what the slow cooker produced recently. (I apologize for the pictures! I tried to make the curry look appetizing in my pics, but it’s really difficult to make cooked red lentils look like anything but tan-coloured mush!)

Red Lentil Squash Curry

(adapted from Kitchen Treaty, Slow Cooker Pumpkin, Chickpea, and Red Lentil Curry)

1 small to medium sized onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 delicata squash (or equivalent squash), cut into bite sized pieces

3 small potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1 large carrot, but into bite sized pieces

1 cup dry red lentils

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas

1 tbsp. curry powder

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp cumin

scant 1/4 tsp cayenne

2 cups veg broth

1 tomato, skinned and chopped

1 can light coconut milk

1 tsp salt

juice from 1 lime

cilantro, chopped

1 cup brown basmati rice

1 cup peas

Put everything from onion to veg broth into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Also, before you leave for work, wash the rice and leave it to soak in two cups of water. When you get home, drain the rice, put it in the rice cooker with just under 2 cups of water. Next, turn the slow cooker to high, stir in the tomato, coconut milk and salt, cover and cook while the rice is cooking. When the rice is done, fluff it up, stir in the peas, and keep warm. Stir the lime juice into the curry. Serve the curry over the rice with a side of something green and steamed like kale or broccoli. Sprinkle some chopped cilantro over the curry.

 

Kale Salad with Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette

I got a new blender this weekend! I bought it to replace my on-it’s-last-legs blender. This old blender operated only on the lowest setting or on pulse, plus the rubber ring that sits between the blade and the bottom of the blender pitcher disappeared!

The blender I ended up purchasing is a Hamilton Beach Professional 1500 watt Blender.

This blender is a compromise, or maybe a blending of two requirements … I wanted a high powered blender and “Tom” wanted a quiet blender. It turns out that the higher the wattage or power of a blender, the noisier it is and we wanted a blender with a minimum of 1000 watts. Well, it turns out that there actually are a few quiet high powered blenders out there. They can be very expensive though. We finally settled on this Hamilton Beach blender because it’s got the power, it’s got a quiet shield, it’s got a variety of settings including a self-clean setting, and it was on sale at London Drugs right near our house! The pitcher is a bit small at only 1 litre, but I think I can live with that.

As soon as we got the blender home, we wanted to try it out – me to try out the high power and “Tom” to test out the quiet shield. I decided to make the salad dressing for a kale salad in the blender (I would usually make a dressing in a measuring cup with a whisk). Well, let me tell you that a high powered blender whips salad dressings together so well that the oil and vinegar does not separate! So cool! And quiet? Yes indeed! “Tom” is very happy with that quiet shield!

Kale Salad with Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I took of the salad. I took it with my phone in poor light.

3 tbsps apple cider vinegar

2 tbsps honey

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic (minced if you are whisking, cut in quarters if you are high power blendering)

pinch sea salt 2 tbsps olive oil

handful of walnuts, broken

1/2 bunch kale, stems removed, chopped into small pieces

salt

5 or 6 fresh strawberries, large dice (I used local strawberries which are still available from the local road stand if you can believe it!)

In the blender, add the dressing ingredients, vinegar to oil. Blend on medium power for less than a minute, until ingredients have transformed into a smooth sauce. Toast the walnuts in a small frying pan over medium heat, shaking and stirring, for about a minute or so until the nuts smell toasty and just start to brown. Set aside to cool. Place the kale leaves in a large bowl. Add a drizzle of the salad dressing and a sprinkling of salt. Massage the sauce and salt into the kale until the leaves begin to wilt and reduce down. Add the strawberries to the bowl, pour on about 1/2 of the dressing, toss gently to combine. Sprinkle on the cooled walnuts.

Vegan Cream Cheese

I am so proud of myself! I made vegan cream cheese today and it’s delicious!

You know, sometimes I lack confidence in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking and creating delicious and creative vegan dishes and meals, but, most of the time, I follow a recipe. I get a bit anxious about launching off on my own without a recipe to anchor my creativity. Oh yes, there are several dishes I can make off by heart or have invented (humous, various salads and salad dressings, chili, bowls …), but most cooking days find me consulting a recipe. Now, this cream cheese recipe … I based it on Kaylie Johnson’s Dairy Free Paleo Cream Cheese Recipe on the blog Paleo Gluten Free Eats. I followed her recipe, but I wasn’t pleased with the flavour. So, you know what I did? I added a bit of this, a bit of that until I was satisfied. While I was adjusting, I realized that I was feeling confident and sure, that I have enough experience to just go for it. Although I used someone else’s recipe to start, I made this recipe my own. I can truly call it my own because I used what I know, what I like, and made something that worked for me. Yay me! So here it is:

1 cup cashews, soaked

1 1/2 tbsps water

1/8 cup + freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/8 tsp salt

1/16 tsp finely minced garlic

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until very, very smooth. If you are using a high powered blender like a Vitamix, you shouldn’t have to blend for too long to get everything blended and the right consistency. If you have an ordinary blender, like I do, you will have to blend for at least 5 minutes, probably more, scraping down the sides as you go. I was able to keep the blender going while using a spatula to push the mixture from the sides into the middle. This way, the blender didn’t get stuck and I got everything really well blended together.

This cream cheese is a savoury type, due to the salt and garlic, so use it in that way – on crackers, on bagels, on toast, with tomatoes … whatever your cream cheese thing is! I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m sure you could use this cream cheese in things like a layered mexican dip or in a salad dressing. Try it and let me know what you think and how you used it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a snack!

 

 

Greek(ish) Salad and Humous(ish)

I really love Greek salad and humous! I love the freshness of the vegetables in the salad and I love the wholsomeness of humous. Humous, of course, is a mainstay of a vegan’s diet and I make it weekly if not more often. And I make some version of Greek salad regularly as well. I call this one Greekish salad because it has what I consider the base of a Greek salad – cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes with a lemon juice and olive oil dressing – then has a few other things thrown in that you wouldn’t typically find in a Greek salad. Same goes with the humous – a base of chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon juice –  it’s a bit “ish” because I changed the type of beans. Read on to find out more.

Greekish Salad

1 English cucumber, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

10 (or so) grape tomatoes, cut in quarters

5 green onions, diced

1 cup of quinoa, cooked

handful of chopped green cabbage (optional)

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsps red wine vinegar

2 tsps fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/2 tsp salt

several sprigs fresh oregano, minced (if you can get it)

Put the vegetables and quinoa in a large bowl. Whisk the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and oregano together then pour over the vegetables. Toss together.

Humous

1 1/2 cups navy beans

2 tbsps tahini

1 clove garlic, minced

juice of 1/2 lemon

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend for at least 5 minutes until very smooth, adding water 2 tbsps at a time. I like my humous to be not too thick and not too runny.