Vegetable Curry (a Vegan recipe)

Last night for supper I made Vegetable Curry.  I love spicy food but this time around I made it with a new curry blend I purchased from Penzy's Spice Company and it was HOT.  Too hot for my palate and I had to consume more rice than I had planned on to keep my mouth from burning up.  The rest of the family must have loved it as we didn't have any leftovers.  Next time I'll make a double batch and go easier on the curry spice.

Vegetable Curry (a Vegan recipe)

3 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium green pepper, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tomatoes, skinned and diced
1 T lemon juice
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
2 tsp turmeric
1 T curry powder
2 T cornstarch
1 can lite coconut milk

Add the pepper, carrots, and celery into a large pot or pan and saute on medium heat until the vegetables start to soften.  You can use oil to saute with if you'd like.  I just use splashes of water.

Add the onion, apple and tomatoes.  Stir.  Add lemon juice, curry powder, and turmeric.  Mix and heat on low for about 10 minutes.  Add in cornstarch and coconut milk.

Add in cornstarch and coconut milk.  Mix well.  Heat on medium until it begins to boil, reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with Basmati Rice.

Pad Thai Vegan

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

1 pound tofu cubes
12oz flat rice noodles
3 Tablespoons vegetable stock, carrot juice (what I used) or water
1 garlic clove, minced
4 green onions, chopped
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup bean sprouts (next time I'm going to add 2 cups)
1/2 tsp chili powder
4 tablespoons low-sodium tamari
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons home-toasted peanuts or other nuts (I used raw cashews), chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to high broil. Drain tofu and cut into 1 inch cubes. Place on a baking sheet covered with non-stick spray (I always put aluminum foil down for easy clean up). Spray with Bragg Liquid Aminos. Broil cubes for 10 minutes. Turn over tofu cubes and spritz with Bragg Liquid Aminos again. Broil for another 10 minutes, until browned on both sides.
2. Place rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water. Let sit for 20 minutes.
3. Heat the vegetable stock (or other liquid you chose) in a wok or large nonstick skillet. Add in the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add in the onions, noodles, broccoli, tofu and sprouts, one at a time - stirring in between each one. Add in the chili powder, tamari and lemon juice. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts.
Serves 4.

Pasta Primavera Vegan

I am trying to eat more and more vegetables and surprisingly even my 17 year old son has accepted the non-meat meals.  When I asked him if he liked this dish, he replied with a grin and said I'm going in for seconds.  I take that as a yes.

 

Pasta Primavera

Ingredients: 2 zucchinis, sliced
1 summer squash, sliced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 T oregano, dried
1 jar of low-salt pasta sauce
1 cup carrot juice, optional
16 ounces whole-grain spaghetti, cooked (I used linguine)
 1 cup raw cashews, ground

 I have this amazing food processor made by The Food Network and it sliced all of my vegetables (except the tomatoes) for me, including the carrots. Then I threw them all in a pan and water sauteed them until tender (first 6 ingredients). Add in the diced tomatoes, oregano, juice, pasta sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over the spaghetti.  Garnish the top with the ground cashews.

BBQ Pizza Vegan

This recipe comes from the Engine 2 Diet book and was a HUGE hit with my husband.  After not eating anything sweet for three weeks the BBQ sauce was a bit sweet for me.  I think next time I'll add a little more tomato paste or try and find a BBQ sauce that isn't so sweet.  It's really hard to find a sauce that doesn't have sugar as one of the first three ingredients.  If anyone knows of any, can you please leave a comment with the brand name and where you found it?

 

Burt's BBQ Pizza Ingredients:

4 ounces tomato paste
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 tsp dried oregano
2 Kabuli crusts (I couldn't find those so I used whole grain naan flatbreads)
1 small red onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced (I used a green one)
2 handfuls of fresh spinach (next time I'll go with 3 handfuls)
1 jar pineapple chunks, drained
1/2 cup finely ground raw cashews

 Preheat oven to 425°.  Mix the tomato paste, barbecue sauce and oregano together in a bowl.  Generously spread the sauce on the crusts and layer with the vegetables and pineapple.  Top with the cashews.  Bake on a sprayed cooking sheet or pizza stone for 15 minutes. My son added some pre-cooked chicken to  his pizza but my husband and I kept ours animal protein free (the Eat to Live way).