Sesame Bok Choy with Quinoa

What have I been up to lately?  Reading, yes reading.  I made a personal resolution to finish the eight or so books I have started but not finished.  I began with John Robbins Diet for a New America.  Many vegans I know were vegetarian until they read this book.  I am starting to see why.  John Robbins was one of the first speakers I stopped to listen to when I started really learning about plant based eating.  I remember his talk. He was very interesting, but I hadn't really gotten deep into his book until now.  He really brings home the idea of the suffering animals endure in the name of making money.  Even though I began this journey to improve my health, I am starting to take on a little empathy for the animals. I've heard that there are three main reasons people go to plant based eating:  health, the environment, and the animals.  Once one door was opened the other reasons become clearer and it just all became part of what I think about when it comes to choosing what we eat.

We're going on vacation this year to see my son and meet my newest granddaughter.  We're going to be staying in a small two room dome made from earth and rock in the desert.  There's an outdoor kitchen with a cooler.  I thought I'd spend some time practicing some really easy recipes.  With those kind of meals in mind I can pick up some fruit and veggies, a little quinoa, some dates & nuts, and some beans and we're ready to spend the week eating plant based with a little decadence while camping. I flipped through the Vegan on $4 a Day cookbook I picked up this summer and it didn't take long to find an easy recipe with few ingredients.  It's a great book to practice those quick and easy meals.  I have some fresh locally made tempeh and started looking for a nice tempeh recipe. I found an easy tempeh recipe pretty quickly, but on the opposite page was a recipe for Sesame Bok Choy.  I remembered I picked up a couple nice heads of Bok Choy at People's Coop last weekend.  I'll use the tempeh tomorrow.

This whole meal didn't take longer than 30 minutes to prepare.  I diced an onion, sliced four carrots about an inch thick, chopped three nice cloves of garlic, and thinly sliced up two medium heads of Bok Choy.  I put 1 cup of quinoa on to simmer for 20 minutes in 2 1/2 cups water with a little sea salt.

While the quinoa was simmering I sauteed the onion, garlic, and carrots in 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil until they were tender.  Then I added the bok choy, about a tablespoon of tamari, , a teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger, a teaspoon of maple syrup, and a half a cup of water.  I let that all simmer together about five minutes.

I served that on top of the hot quinoa and sprinkled a few toasted sesame seeds on top.  Lovely meal and quick too.

Vegan Meal Plan ~ Start with Basics

A woman I've come to know through our local Vegan/Vegetarian potluck asked me to help her get started in her efforts to change her eating habits.  She wants to eat more plant based meals, but doesn't know how to get started and encourage her husband, who is not so willing to try new foods, to try the vegan meals she's cooking up.

My first thought when answering her question, "Where do I start?", was make a pot of beans.  That's how I start out each weekend.  I start with the basics, protein (beans), grains, and greens. This is what I did this morning.  I do this kind of preparation every weekend.

I put on a pot of black beans that I soaked overnight, 2 cups beans to 6 cups water. Very simple, sauteed an onion and some garlic, threw in a few spices: ground pepper, cinnamon, a little curry, and a dash of oregano. 45 minutes to 1 hour cooking.

I put on a pot of quinoa and black rice, 1 cup each. 20 - 30 minutes cooking time

With those things cooked I can make a variety of meals. I combined the rice and quinoa and added a simple citrus-pumpkin vinaigrette. I can eat it by itself or mix with veggies during the weekend.

I also put the ingredients to soak for trail mix cookies, raw almonds, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds,  pumpkin seeds, and some dried plums. (Plums from my friends tree that I dried myself.)

I usually add a very large salad to the menu, with at least ten vegetables in it. For a dressing I cut up avocado very small, (that makes the oil), and the juice of one whole lemon or orange.  If I want to change it up, I'll add some balsamic vinegar or sometimes nuts and seeds or dried fruit.

Since we are doing mostly green smoothies this week, that's about all I'll cook for this weekend.   But with those things made, I have a good base for any simple meal.  Greens, grains, and protein, that's the basics for a vegan meal. The cookies make a great satisfying snack with no added sugar.  There is food already made so when that urge to eat hits, the healthy stuff is handy.

Black Rice and Red Quinoa with Citrus Pumpkin Dressing

Trail Mix Cookies - Ready Tomorrow

Snow Day Begins with Warm Muffins

Frozen Rhoddies

Daffodils on a frozen February morning.

I get to stay home and let nature put on her show.  I am blessed. My husband usually rides his bicycle to work.  I don't need to drive in this slush. Gave the car to him today, I don't need it. I have lots to do on a day like this. What will I do?  Cook or course, read, maybe start some seedlings, but mainly stay warm and safe.  Hoping to get some practice in with this new camera of ours today.  The sky has been intermittently blue and gray.  I think I'll venture out in the yard during the next sun break. It may not be quite safe to drive, but a walk in the backyard is cold, but enjoyable.

Since I'm up enjoying the snow from the inside this morning.  Thought I'd send some warm muffins to work with my honey. These started out as oatmeal chocolate chip muffins but I found I had no oatmeal so I used a combination of quinoa flakes and some whole grain cereal. I used pumpkin seed oil instead of olive oil.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup non diary milk
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup chopped nuts,
1 cup chocolate chips (I used the nondairy mini choc chips)

Fruited Quinoa & Sugar Free Apricot Muffins

Cherry Vanilla Quinoa

We usually have a smoothie during the week for breakfast, but on the weekend I like to do something different.  I found a nice recipe for quinoa and apricots, cooked in non dairy milk with raisins and vanilla.  I used dried cranberries and the apricots I canned last summer.  The quinoa is kind of special because I grew it in the garden, homegrown quinoa.  We failed to take a picture of it, but I'll post the recipe because it's very easy and it came out very good.  It was raining pretty hard this morning and a warm breakfast was very welcome.

Fruited Breakfast Quinoa

Makes about 6 1/2-cup servings

Quinoa is a highly nutritious grain that was a staple in the diet of the ancient Incas. It has a delicious flavor and a light, fluffy texture.

1/2 cup dry quinoa, well-rinsed
1 1/2 cups vanilla rice milk
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 cup chopped fresh or canned apricots
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine quinoa and rice milk in a medium saucepan. Bring to a slow simmer, then cover and cook for about 15 minutes until the quinoa is tender. Stir in cranberries, apricots, and vanilla, then transfer about 1 1/2 cups to a blender and purée. Return puréed mixture to the pan and stir to mix. Serve warm or chilled.

I opened two pints of apricots and drained them for the quinoa.  I was left with about a cup of apricots and quite a bit of good liquid from canning.  When I canned them, I only used  lemon juice and a little stevia. I made some sugar free muffins by substituting 1/2 teaspoon of liquid Stevia and about 1/2 cup of the apricot juice.

Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Apricot Muffins

Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Apricot Muffins

    * 2 cups whole wheat flour
    * 1/2 tsp Stevia and 1/2 cup apricot juice or water
    * 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
    * 1/2 tsp baking soda
    * 1/4 tsp salt
    * 1 tsp ground ginger
    * 1 cup coconut milk
    * 3 tbsp sunflower oil
    * 1 TB ground flax seed and 3 TB water
    * 1 cup canned apricots

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a nonstick 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray, or line with paper cups.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, oil and egg.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add wet ingredients. Stir until just moist.

Scoop about 1 tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup followed by a teaspoon of apricot preserves. Fill cups evenly with remaining batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden, then cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 regular or 24 small muffins.

Quinoa with Roasted Squash and Greens

I took the rest of the roasted squash, a pumpkin, a delicata, and the butternut squash and cut them up in about 1 inch cubes and tossed them with some quinoa.  Then I sauteed a red onion, rough chopped portabello, some fresh green beans, garlic, a little sea salt and pepper and then added chopped Swiss chard and tossed it about until the chard was just wilted.

Garden Update September

It was a slow start and we didn't get to give away as much vegetables as last year, but the garden is booming now.  We've harvested probably three loads just like this one this week.  It's been a busy week of washing, preparing, storing, and finding homes for our garden goodies.  It's been fun though.  I have lots put up for the winter.  I don't think I will be visiting a grocery store as much as I did last winter.  While canning my sauerkraut made from our garden cabbage this weekend, I realized that I am entertained by watching a canner simmer or fresh ice cream churning. Funny.

Fresh Wild Salmon with Quinoa & Roasted Vegetables and Fresh Garden Peas

Fresh wild Salmon poached in vegetable broth, Quinoa with roasted vegetables: red pepper, fennel, carrots, & onions, and fresh peas and garlic tops from my garden lightly steamed in the vegetable broth I used for the salmon. 

Sweet Potato Au Gratin

Sweet Potato Au Gratin—Sweet Potatoes, yams, red potatoes, asparagus, red onion, non-dairy bechamel sauce topped with panko bread crumbs mixed with some parmesan cheese and oregano.

Raw Vegetable salad with many fresh vegetables and fresh peas from our garden.  :D

Black Quinoa salad with raw green beans, yellow bell pepper, walla walla onions, chili oil, and lemon juice.

Black Quinoa Salad with Red Pepper and Bok Choy

Now this is an original recipe.   While browsing through the bulk grains at People's a couple weeks ago, I noticed some black quinoa.   I like black rice, I should probably like this, so I bought some and finally tried it today.   I cooked up a cup and let it sit and cool for a bit.   Then I added chopped red bell pepper, a couple diced cloves of garlic, about a teaspoon of ginger juice, a tablespoon of chili oil, a tablespoon of flax oil, a little lemon juice, shoyu, and a dash of Celtic sea salt and cayenne pepper.   I had about half a head of bok choy from last week's market so I sliced it very thin, kind of a chiffonade.  I also added some chopped parsley and cilantro, both picked in my garden today.  It's has a nice zesty flavor and it's pretty too.  It should be really good tomorrow after sitting in the cooler all night letting all the flavors meld together.

Millet, Quinoa, & Peas - Seaweed Spectacular Salad

Pretty easy meal last night, Quinoa, Millet, caramelized onions, a little flax oil, some frozen organic peas, and pan roasted almond slivers, served on a cabbage leaf. A whole grain serving at only 133 calories per serving. It's another 'healthy snack day' at work. This is my contribution.

Millet, Quinoa, & Peas

Antioxidant Seaweed Spectacular Salad - A recipe I got to test for the Flexitarian Cookbook coming out soon. Sea vegetables, spinach, orange, red, & yellow peppers with a nice dressing made of seaweed, sesame oil, garlic, and miso.

Antioxidant Seaweed Spectacular Salad