Chickpea Sandwich and Stirfry

A few days ago I made a delicious chickpea sandwich for lunch. I took half a large Ezikiel tortilla and filled it with lettuce, cold chickpeas, and alfalfa sprouts. It was simple, but very satisfying. The picture sucks, I know.



I also made a tasty stirfry using some eggplant and zucchini from the farmer's market. Here is the recipe:

Cherry's Zucchini Eggplant Stirfry

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 eggplant, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
3-4 large cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 15 oz can baby corn, drained and rinsed
1 cup of liquid of choice(water/broth/stock/vegetable steaming water)
1 T arrowroot powder or corn starch
1 T bragg's or soy sauce
.5 tsp. crush red pepper
7-8 oz tofu, cut into small trangles

Saute the onion and garlic in a little bit of liquid until onion is translucent. Then add eggplant, carrot, mushrooms, zucchini and baby corn and cook until carrots are easily pierced with a fork, about 10-20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the liquid of choice with the arrowroot, bragg's and crushed red pepper. When the vegetables are done, add this mixture as well as the tofu to the pan and cook a few minutes until tofu is warm and the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve with quinoa or other grain, if desired.

Yesterday I went to the Rec Center for the first time and worked out in the fitness room. I didn't do too much, I mainly wanted to see what equipment they have. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it! I will try to go there and strength train at least 2-3 times a week, in addition to my walk/jogs.

Quinoa and Wild Rice, Black Beans and Rice

A few nights ago, I made Simple Quinoa and Wild Rice Pilaf from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. However, I made quite a few adjustments. I omitted the bouillion cube, margarine and scallions and instead added a chopped zucchini, a can of pinto beans that needed to be used up, and some cumin(one of my favorite spices), dried rosemary and thyme. Very simple, yet delicious.

Then, I made a Black Beans and Rice recipe I invented. I was great! Here it is topped with some storebought salsa.



And here is the recipe:

Cherry's Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups dry black beans
1 strip kombu
enough water to cook black beans

1 cup long grain brown rice
2 zucchini, chopped
1 ear corn, cut of the cob
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. chipotle powder
1/2 tsp. paprika

Soak the black beans overnight. Then, in the morning, place the water, black beans and kombu in a crockpot and cook on high for 2 hours. Then, turn to low and continue cooking until the beans are done and the kombu has disintegrated. Or, you can cook it on low all day if you're not going to be home to watch it.

Drain the water from the beans into a glass measuring cup and set the beans in a bowl. Add enough water to the drained bean liquid to make 2.5 cups of liquid. Pour this into a pot, add rice, bring to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the zucchini and cut the corn off the cob. After the rice has cooked for 15 minutes, add the corn, zucchini and seasonings and continue cooking until rice is done, about 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When rice is done, add the beans, mix well, and cook for 5 more minutes.

Stirfry Success!

Last night I made a different, simplier stirfry than the one a couple of days ago. Despite it's simplicity, it was much tastier! It had onions, garlic, fresh ginger, cremini mushrooms, carrots, 3 baby bok choy, zucchini, snow peas, and this wheat roast I bought at Wheatsville. The wheat roast is similar to seitan, since the main ingredient is wheat gluten, but it is much firmer and denser, and also has peanut butter, tamari and nutritional yeast. It is so good! I also used a tablespoon of this stirfry spice mixture, which has seasame seeds and various spices, and made a sauce out of vegetable steaming liquid, bragg's, and arrowroot powder(although much less arrowroot than the last strifry!) based on the Basic Chinese Sauce from Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. So now I see that you can have a very tasty stirfry without globs of agave nectar and arrowroot powder!

For dinner tonight, I made Spicy Garlic Toss from How It All Vegan!. Along with it, we had whole wheat linguine, cooked lima beans, and grilled zucchini from the farmer's market last Saturday. I've never grilled zucchini before, and it didn't get any black grill marks or get really dry. In fact, it just barely got brown. I put it on a piece of foil because I really don't want to put it directly on the grill, since the grill is also used to grill meat for my brother (not at the same time, but still, it grosses me out). It still tasted pretty good, though. The garlic toss was very flavorful too. Overall, it was a very quick and easy meal to make, and pretty tasty.

For some reason it won't let me make a title. I don't know why. Anyone else having this problem?

Lentil Vegetable Pasta

For dinner tonight, I made a recipe of my own, making it up as I went along. I was trying to use up a lot of odds and ends in the frig, especially the HUGE zucchinis we bought at the farmer's market. It didn't really come out how I had wanted it to, but it still tasted great. Here is the recipe:

Lentil Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients:

For Lentils:

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
3 cups water
1 tsp. each: cumin, bragg's, and garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne

For Vegetables:

1/2 a large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TB fresh ginger, minced
3 stalks celery, sliced
2 TB tomato paste
1 tsp bragg's
1 tsp each: dried basil, oregano, thyme, ground cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 cup diced sweet potato
1 very large zucchini, sliced
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 handful cherry or pear tomatoes

8 oz. spaghetti or other pasta
water to cook pasta

Mix all ingredients for the lentils in a pot, bring to a boil, them simmer for 30-45 minutes, until lentils are tender. When lentils are done, drain them over a sauce pan so all the excess liquid goes into the pan, and set the lentils aside. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions, and drain when finished.

Add onion, garlic, ginger and celery to the sauce pan that you just filled with liquid and cook on medium-high for a few minutes. Then, add tomato paste, bragg's, and seasonings, mix in the pan for a minute or two, then add the sweet potato, zucchini and corn. Stir to mix together, then put the lid on and cook over medium for 10 minutes, until sweet potato is tender. Then, add tomatoes and cooked lentils, place the lid back on and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add pasta to lentil-vegetable mixture and mix well to combine.

Variation: to make it quicker and less "stew-like," use canned chickpeas instead of lentils, or leave out completely.

Sweet and Sour Seitan and Vacation Pictures

Tonight I made Seitan Baked in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. This is so delicious! I used the extra sauce to make a delicious stirfry of onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, cremini mushrooms, bok choy and zucchini. I subbed lemon juice for the vinegar, arrowroot powder for the corn starch, and chipotle powder for the chili sauce. I also left out the sesame oil. Yum!

Now, here are some lovely vacation pictures:



Here is a picture of our first glimpse of the ocean.

Now here are a few from various places in Olimpic National Park:







And here is a very brave deer. This deer let us get about 5 feet from her without even flinching.



And here is a banana slug. Banana slugs are only found in Olimpic National Park!



One last thing before I end this post: ever time I try to log in to my blog, I have to reset my password because for some reason my old password will not work. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Spinach, Potatoes and Black Beans, Costa Rican Style

Hey, I'm back. I've been real busy with school this week, and had no time to cook anything interesting or blog. Fortunately, I have Monday off, so I get a 3 day weekend. Tomorrow I have to go to a UIL tourament, though. Anyway, tonight I made Spinach, Potatoes and Black Beans, Costa Rican Style from the All God's Creatures Website. I'm not at all religious (in fact I'm an athiest), but this site has some great recipes on it. Next to it are some baked zucchini slices. I also had this salad:


It has romaine lettuce, cucumbers, red and green peppers, jicama, red cabbage, and tomato. I eat a salad similar to this one every day, either with lunch or dinner. Simple, but delicious.