Carrot Oatmeal Cookies

The last attempt I made at vegan cookies was so horrible I could not even blog about it. I finally gathered up the courage to try again after surfing through Heidi Swanson’s cookie recipes on her oh so amazing blog, http://www.101cookbooks.com/  She has two vegan cookies recipes posted that look amazing to me. This week I tried out her oatmeal carrot cookies and they are absolutely delicious. I substituted regular flour & olive oil and they still taste great. Next chance I have, I’m going to give her peanut butter ones a go!



Carrot Oatmeal Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup real maple syrup, room temperature
1/2 cup unrefined (fragrant) coconut oil, warmed until just melted
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the nuts and carrots. In a separate smaller bowl use a whisk to combine the maple syrup, coconut oil, and ginger. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Drop onto prepared baking sheets, one level tablespoonful at a time, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.

Cabbage & Chickpea Soup

Simple Cabbage and Chickpea Soup


I am a solid believer in the soup diet theory. Soup is filling and nutrious, and something you can have large portions of without killing your calories intake for the day. When I saw this soup on http://www.fatfreevegan.com/, I decided to give it a try.

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
4 cloves garlic cloves, minced or pressed
6 cups hot water (plus bouillon cubes, below) or vegetable broth (and no bouillon cubes)
3 cubes no-salt added bouillon cubes (or enough to flavor 6 cups of water)*
1/2 head cabbage, chopped
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 16-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas)
2 teaspoons oregano
generous grating black pepper
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted (optional)

Instructions

Heat a large, non-stick pot. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and garlic and cook for another two minutes. Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT the basil and pine nuts. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes.

Stir in fresh basil and serve in individual soup bowls, topped with 1 teaspoon of pine nuts, if desired.

Gingered Carrot Soup with Sage

This soup is a Dave Lieberman recipe - the only liberty I took in order to make it vegan friendly was leaving out butter and I promise you will not miss it! The ginger and carrot go so well together and the color of the soup is just beautiful. Even though spring is around the corner it is still chilly enough up here in Boston to merit a nice warm soup for lunch.

Ingredients:
• 2 lbs carrots, peeled and trimmed
• olive oil
• 2 small onions, diced
• 3 garlic, cloved minced
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 14 -16 ounces vegetable stock
• kosher salt
• pepper
• 6 -12 fresh sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 lemon, juice of

Directions:
1. Slice the carrots in half lengthwise and then into 2 inch chunks.
2. Pour enough olive oil into the bottom of a heavy stockpot to coat the bottom. Add carrots and onions and saute over medium heat. Cook until the onions start turning translucent.
3. Turn the heat down, add the garlic and continue cooking another 5 minutes.
4. Add the ginger and cook another minute or two.
5. Add the stock and enough additional water to cover the vegetables. Taste and add salt and pepper to your taste. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to barely simmer.
6. Add 6 sage leaves (the remaining ones are for garnish). Cook until the carrots are very tender, about 45 minutes.
7. Remove the sage leaves. Puree the soup
8. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and add the sugar and lemon juice. Taste and season again with salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with sage leaves.

Vegetarian Thai Red Curry

Living in England helped me develop an appreciation for curries and I am always on the look-out for new recipes. The following Thai curry was super easy to make and just as good as a dish you might get in any restaurant. The recipe is from BBC Good Food but given what I had in my kitchen, I made a few substitutions/exceptions. Instead of jasmine rice I used rice noodles, and I substituted jalepenos for red chillies. I also skipped the snap peas and mushrooms but I think this dish is quite versatile and any vegetables you want to skip or add should be fine. Also, the original recipe tells you how to make red curry paste from scratch but I simply substituted store bought to save time. Hopefully you enjoy this one as much as I did!

Ingredients:
3-4 tablespoons red curry paste
200g firm tofu , cubed
4-5 tbsp soy sauce
juice 3 limes
2 red chillies, 1 finely chopped, 1 sliced into rounds
2 tbsp vegetable oil
400ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
1 courgette , chopped into chunks
1 small aubergine , chopped into chunks
½ red pepper , deseeded and chopped into chunks
140g mushrooms , halved
40g sugar snap peas
20g pack basil , leaves picked
1 tsp brown sugar
jasmine rice, to serve

Directions:
1. Marinate the tofu in 2 tbsp soy sauce, juice 1 lime and the chopped chilli.
2. Heat half the oil in a large pan. Add 3-4 tbsp paste and fry for 2 mins. Stir in the coconut milk with 100ml water, the courgette, aubergine and pepper and cook for 10 mins until almost tender.
2.Drain the tofu, pat dry, then fry in the remaining oil in a small pan until golden.
3.Add the mushrooms, sugar snaps and most of the basil to the curry, then season with the sugar, remaining lime juice and soy sauce. Cook for 4 mins until the mushrooms are tender, then add the tofu and heat through. Scatter with sliced chilli and basil and serve with jasmine rice.

Tofu Saag with Brown Rice and Curried Cauliflower

Last night I tried another one of Kim Barnouin's recipes, Tofu Saag with Brown Rice. It was super easy and quite good. I even cheated a little bit and used frozen spinach since that was all I had on hand. Looks a bit like baby food.....but regular saag paneer does too so I suppose its acceptable for this dish.

Oh and I made a side of roasted curried cauliflower from another one of her recipes which was also delicious so I will include that as well.

Tofu Saag with Brown Rice

Ingredients:
2 Tb grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 yellow onion chopped
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 pound spinach, stems removed
1/3 cup light coconut milk
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 ( 8 oz ) package firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups freshly cooked brown rice



Directions
1. Place the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 6 minutes
2. Add the broth and spinach, cooking until the spinach begins to wilt.
3. Add the coconut milk, cumin and cinnamon, and simmer 7 minutes.
4. Pour the mixture into a blender or the work bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
5. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Gently add the tofu and cook 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve over hot brown rice.

Roasted Curried Cauliflower

Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tbps minced parsley



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F
In large bowl, whisk oil, garlic, curry, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Add cauliflower and toss until well coated. Pour into a 13x9 inch baking dish and bake until tender, 25-30 minutes.



Quick Vegan Corn Chowder

Living in New England, it is imperative that I can make some version of a chowder to see me through the winter. This corn chowder is a delicious and easy vegan substitute for the rich, creamy clam chowder that is so popular here.

Quick Vegan Corn Chowder

6 small red potatoes, diced in medium sized chunks
1 small onion, diced
½ cup celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil for sautéing
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups almond milk
2 springs fresh thyme
2 cups corn
1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons water

 Sauté the onions and celery in olive oil until onions are transparent and veggies are starting to soften. Add garlic and sauté another thirty seconds. Add the broth, milk, potatoes, corn and thyme. Simmer for 20 minutes until all the potatoes are tender. Wisk the flour and water together and add to the soup, simmering for another five minutes.

Provencal Tomato Sauce with Pasta

Pasta is the ultimate comfort food for me. And having spent so long in Italy, I like to think I can whip up some pretty special pastas when the need arises. Sadly, eating pasta every day is not very diet friendly. In order to still allow myself some of the joys of pasta while watching my calorie intake, I like to follow Mark Bittman's advice  - more sauce & less pasta. It is so easy to whip up a tomato based sauce, load in some veggies, and pile it on.....and all the while keep things vegan of course. :)

Provencal Tomato Sauce with Pasta

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, cut into large cubes

Salt

3 tablespoons of olive oil

Black Pepper

2 small zucchini

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 can chopped tomatoes, juices drained

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence

8 oz pasta

Fresh basil, for garnish

Vegan Parmesan

 

Directions:

Sprinkle eggplant liberally with salt, let rest in colander for 20 minutes, rinse, pat dry. Bring large pot of water to a boil and salt it.

Put 1.5 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add the eggplant, sprinkle with pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 6 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Put the remaining oil in the pan and add the zucchini, sprinkling with salt and pepper. Cooke, stirring occasionally, until its tender, 7 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, another 3 minutes or so. Add the tomatoes, herbs de provence, and cook until the tomatoes start to release their juice. Return the eggplant to the pan, stir, and turn off the heat.

Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserve some cooking liquid in case the sauce is too thick. Serve with torn basil and vegan Parmesan.