Vegan Bento

Most of the time, I like using canned black beans for speed. But there’s a smokier flavor to cooking from dried, so I made this soup. Mostly hands free, but takes a long time.

• 1.5 cup dried black beans, rinsed, picked over.

 Dump it in a bowl filled with water to soak overnight. Rinse, and drain and then dump it in a crockpot with 6 cups of water. Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours or until beans are tender.

 Once tender add:

• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 (15 oz) can italian or mexican stewed tomato
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/3 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 vegetable stock cubes
• salt to taste

 Cook another hour. Puree with hand blender and serve. Garnish with whatever is handy. Minced cilantro is esp good.

I had it for lunch with salad on the side. 

 Another one I tried out from "Vegan with a Vengeance."   This one improves with time, and freezes ok.

 

  

 When I first made it I packed a rectangle bento and threw it in the freezer. Here it is unthawed and packed with other goodies for my friend Carla at work. (It was my turn to make lunch.)

 

 

Low sodium V8 juice, the risotto, organic steamed cauliflower, organic kiwi, and Cinnamon Teddy Bear Graham crackers that I raided from Julia. 

 
This is adapted from a Peter Berley recipe. His calls for 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil, but since this is braised I really don’t see the point. You could just as easily drop it totally, or drop it down to 1 tbs and use something more flavorful like dark sesame oil or peanut oil.

Basically drain and blot 1 package of firm tofu. Cube, and then set in a frying pan with…

• 5 tbs low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tbs 100% maple syrup
• 1 tbs oil of  your choice or none at all
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp chili paste

bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for another 4 min. Helpful to toss the tofu so it’s evenly glazed before covering.

I garnished with green onion and served up with steamed jasmine rice and a side of steamed mustard green with a splash of soy sauce and sesame seeds.
 
I gave it to the two year old but skipped the greens ( too chewy for her) and fork mashed the tofu into her rice. She liked it fine.

I haven’t posted in a long time but it isn’t because I haven’t been cooking or photographing. Rather than try to catch up in detail, I decided to just post some eye candy and begin anew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently got a bag of sweet cherries that are truly deliciously sweet! I can’t get over them! So I had them on the side today for lunch with another batch of the millet polenta and sun dried tomato pesto and a basic tomato and lettuce salad.

 

Right now I’m really interested in learning more raw food recipes because I’m still stuck in salad land. While at the bookstore recently I came across Rawvolution and the pictures alone made me drool. The recipes looked straightforward and havng lots of photos so I knwo what I’m shooting for helps me a lot. 

NUTRITION FOR ENTIRE BOWL

(59% carb | 8 % protein | 36% fat) 

Calories: 515
Fat: 21 g
Saturated Fat: 3 g
Carbohydrate: 79 g
Fiber: 12g
Protein: 12

Unofficial WW Points: 11.5

Slightly changes from the "Lemon Gem Cupcakes" recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Mom likes lemon poppyseed and I didn’t make anything for Dad on Father’s Day so I decided to make them a batch to share.

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbs poppyseeds 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tbs lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds.

Peel zest off lemon with peeler and mince or blender to pieces. Nuke lemon for 20 seconds, then halve and juice. (Could do two lemons and use the other one for frosting and decorating with zest)

Whisk the oil, sugar, soy milk, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest in another bowl. Then whisk the dry and wet stuff together. Portion out into lined muffin tin and chuck into oven for 17-20 min. and then cool.

Then while this is happening… dump all these into a bowl and whisk up.

• 2 tbs Earth Balance spread
• 2 tbs soy milk
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp xanthum gum if you’ve got it to thicken the frosting a bit.

Chuck in fridge until muffins are done and cool. Frost and sprinkle with more poppyseed.

 

Made another batch with rice milk as mini muffins for church tomorrow. No poppyseeds, but almond slivers for garnish.

 

Julia wanted to eat one so I let her have some and she gave me half. Working with Xantham gum is interesting. While it does thicken frosting with no noticeable change in taste, the texture is very marshmellow-y. 

• 3.5 oz sun dried tomato ( you can soak them in the water first or not.)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

I added green onion on top. Both Julia and I liked this and the pesto was delish. I’ll have to try it on pasta.

 

Quick fix today:

 

1 cup sliced mango, 1 cup stemaed broccoli, then 2 cups of the last of Italian Style brown rice with peas and artichoke.

 

NUTRITION FOR ENTIRE BOWL

(78% carb | 9 % protein | 12% fat) 

Calories: 547
Fat: 8 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 110 g
Fiber: 15g
Protein: 11

Unofficial Points: 11 

I packed up the last of the pasta salad to go since tomorrow is my turn to bring lunch for Carla at work.

 

Some orange juice, the pasta salad, asian rice crackers, steamed broccoli, cut up melon.

The "twist" is obviously the pasta. The "shout" is what happens if you eat too many of the green rice crackers — those are the wasabi ones and are VERY spicy!

I make this quite a lot in varying proportions. Sometimes just for me. Sometimes for feeding a crowd. It tends to be a crowd pleaser and kid-friendly. It’s from Sue Spitler’s 1,001 Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes.

 

• 8 oz dry fusilli or other small pasta shape
• 2 cups chopped tomato
• 1 cup yellow corn
• 1/2 cup minced green onion

For dressing:

• 3 tbs chopped fresh basil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper 
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tbs olive oil

Cook pasta and drain.  While this is happening, prep veggies and mix dressing. Combine everything together and toss. 

NUTRITION FOR 2 CUP SERVING:

Calories: 446
Fat: 11 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 78 g
Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 11 g

WW POINTS: 9

EXCHANGES:

•  2 grain
• 1 veg