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. 

 
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.

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.

 

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

 

 

Another one from Jack Bishop’s Pasta e Verdura. I had it with watermelon for lunch.

 

 I don’t do much in raw foods other than cut up fresh fruit or veggies and then the usual salads. I suppose this counts as a kind of pasta salad too but it was a good way to use up produce and doesn’t take long to make. The only thing I did was add green onion because I had to use those up too.

 

• 1.5 lbs zuchinni or yellow squash or combo
• 1 lb tomato ( I used grape)
•  1 small red onion
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup minced cilantro (and this makes the dish — don’t skip)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp balck pepper
• 1 lb pasta, twists for preference
• mince green onion, garnish

Boil water for pasta and cook pasta til al dente.

While that’s happening, whisk olive oil, lemon, salt and peper in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, grate zucchini.  Add minced onion.  Add tomatoes, halved. Scissor cilantro in a cup to minced fine and toss in there. Add cooked pasta, dressing and toss.

NUTRITION FOR 1 serving (about 2 cups)

Calories: 305
Fat: 8 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 50 g
Fiber: 4g
Protein: 9 g

WW POINTS: 6

Yesterday afternoon I set Julia up in the foyer with some tubs and together we shelled fava beans and fresh peas. I think she had a good time exploring.

 

She kept talking about making "Peas! Making surprise for Daddy! Peas!" and "I cookin’ it!" and "Peas pop out! Where are yoooouuu?" Of course, I didn’t tell her Daddy hates peas.

The sad thing is that I had a large box full of fresh favas. Then it was a bowl full. Then after blanching to pinch them out of their skins, I ended up with MAYBE half a cup. Oy. What a lot of work for so little favas.

It’s the first time I’ve had them (fresh or otherwise) so I went with the "Warm Garlicky Fava Beans" recipe from Vegetarian times as inspiration and scaled it down as best I could.  

 

 Julia got to taste her handiwork though.

 Like me she was indifferent. Take it or leave it. They were soft and slightly sweet, but if I’m going to eat immature legumes I prefer peas. It’s got a nicer taste. These reminded me of a cross between peas and limas and I can’t stand limas so…

I’m going to have to give it another try after I find a more interesting sounding recipe and enough favas to make it with.

Originally I was going to make Kale soup from the PDQ cookbook but I misplaced it and didn’t find it til dinner was over. Fortunately there was the Pasta E Verdura that Karen gave me for Christmas. Not as fast as the 20 min soup promised by PDQ, but 30 minutes I can live with.

The pasta and kale makes up about 8 cups. Then the potato topping makes about 2 cups, so it’s 1 cup of pasta + 1/4 cup potato per person. 

 

Julia always has trouble with long pasta even when I cut it up for her so I may have to change pasta shapes if/when I make this again. I wanted to use up some Da Vinci organic pasta that I had handy. My only other non-asian pasta was alphabet letters and that would have been totally wrong for this meal!

I cut the oil in half and while this yields a drier pasta dish, I rather have that than a puddle of oil on my plate. (Maybe add stock next time.)

Paul had his with leftover turkey sausage and he said it was good with the sausage. I didn’t bother defrosting any Tofurky Italian sausage for me and Julia though I’ll have to consider it later for leftovers to see if it helps boost the appeal of this dish.  To me it was a nice change, but not stellar. When I tasted it I decided to sprinkle some lemon pepper on top and that helped perk it up some. 

It was also interesting to use potato as a garnish on pasta — I don’t think I’d ever think of that on my own. 

But here’s my adaptaion of the Jack Bishop recipe:

1) First preheat oven to 400 deg and set water to boil in large pot to make pasta. 

2) Then in a casserole dish dump in…

• 12 oz red new potatoes, scrubbed, cubed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 4 clove minced (or pressed) garlic
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

 Mix this all up in the casserole so it all lays in one layer and chuck into oven for 30 min. (Check half way and stir up)

3) Dump the pasta in the pot and cook for 10 min.

4) While the pasta is cooking, tear 12 oz (about 1 bunch) of kale up to remove stems. Rinse well, then scissor up into bits. When pasta is about done, plunge kale in with the pasta and stir it. Cook 1-2 minutes so kale starts wilting and turns bright green. Drain everything and return to pot. Add 2 tbs olive oil and 2 tbs lemon juice. Mix well and dish up as eight 1 cup servings.

5) Check potato. Garnish pasta with 1/4 cup potatoes when those are done.  

 NUTRITION PER SERVING

Calories: 310
Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 55 g
Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 8

 

I always feel a little bit crazy on Tuesday evenings when produce comes and there’s a box on my front stoop.

It’s a mixture of glee that I have a new box to eat through and a mixture of dread because inevitably the baby wants to "help" put it away and I also have to get dinner together if I hadn’t cooked ahead.

I went to visit my parents today so NO, I had NOT cooked ahead. In the end I managed to clean, sort and box so it is all in the fridge now.

Here’s a glimpse of what produce will be like for the next two weeks:

• Arugula
• Baby Carrots
• Bananas
• Fava Beas
• Fuerte Avocado
• Gold Delicious Apples
• Green Bell Peppers
• Kiwis
• Lacinto Kale
• Red Onions
• Red Potatoes
• Ruby Grapefruit
• Spinach
• Valencia Oranges
• Yellow Squash

The "Italians Style Brown Rice with Artichokes and Peas"  is another fast fix adapted from Donna Klein’s PDQ Vegetarian cookbook. (Skipped the oil and the salt called for. ) Other than the initial measuring when dumping things in the rice cooker and then stirring something in at the end, it’s something I can ignore and have hands free for something else. So a good choice when I’m busy with my produce box. Nuke some veggie sausage and leftover carrot and we’re good to go.

 

I liked this one a lot even though Paul didn’t like it at all because he hates peas and this features peas quite heavily. Julia didn’t have any since she had leftovers from yesterday to eat but I’ll try her on it tomorrow.

Set this aside:

• 1.5 cups frozen peas
• a 6 oz jar of marinated artichoke, drained (save 1 tbs of jar juice) 

Dump all this into a rice cooker and cook til done:

• 1 tbs of the artichoke marinade
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 vegetable boullion cube
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp oregano
•  1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

When it clicks off, stir in the peas and artichokes and serve. The lemon pepper is what makes this dish for me.

 I served it with veggie "sausage" patties and braised carrots. Paul got turkey sausage on his.

 

NUTRITION FOR 1 CUP SERVING RICE:

Calories: 248
Fat: 2 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrate: 51 g
Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 7 g

 

We all crashed after work and we probably would have kept right on sleeping if I hadn’t had to wake up to use the bathroom! Exhausting day for all of us.

This one is going to need some work. I used Alessi brand caponata and it was too salty and too strong on the olives. Julia disliked it. I’m going to have to eat the rest of this by myself but I’m not crazy about it either. Paul refuses eggplant in any way — "too squishy."

 I need to try it again with a different brand of canned caponata or just go with fresh made the next time I make it because I do like potato gnocchi and I’d like new ways to fix it.

Though I can’t argue with the time — It was very fast fix and while I added the spinach, it came from Donna Klein’s PDQ Vegetarian cookbook. When I’m trying to make some at 10 PM at night, that’s the way to go.

 

NUTRITION PER CUP SERVING

Calories: 268
Fat: 5 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 47 g
Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 7 g