Garlicky Fried Rice with Asparagus and Mushrooms

The poor lighting in this photo does not do this dish any sort of justice.  Garlicky Fried Rice with Asparagus and Mushrooms was so good, I couldn't stop eating it.  Only putting the leftovers away saved my stomach from exploding.  This was easy to prepare and even easier to eat.  I'm sure your taste buds would agree.

Garlicky Fried Rice with Asparagus and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. Coconut Oil
2 Carrots, chopped small
8 to 10 Asparagus spears, ends trimmed, and chopped small
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 head of garlic, sliced thin
2 cups of leftover, cooked brown rice
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped peanuts

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.  When oil is melted, add the carrots, asparagus and mushrooms.  Stir-fry for five or so minutes, until just fork-tender.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer.  Add the rice, soy sauce and ginger.  Cook another five minutes, until heated through.  Add the peanuts and stir.  Serve immediately.  So, so good.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Fresh Spring Soup

Hello, hello, hello!  My apologies on the break at last posting.  Summertime with the Blessings is quite busy.  I actually made this soup in the heart of spring, but I finally found a moment to post it.  Also, a warning, my middle Blessing seems to have spilled a fruit drink on my keyboard, and so until further notice I cannot depress the letter that is between "i" and "k" in the alphabet.  Luckily, none of the ingredients involve that letter. Also my mouse sticks to the desk now and seems quite "uncleanable."  But, we must carry on!

This is one of those cupboard dishes that almost always turn out great.  I loved the finished product; it was delicious and used up so much of the awesome seasonal produce that I picked up at the Farmer's market.  Give it a try in about ten months!  :-)  Ha ha, only kidding, you can have it now.

Fresh Spring Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. canola oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 cups chopped cauliflower
2 cups chopped Brussels sprouts
1 corn on the cob, kernels sliced off (it's even good if they come off in chunks!)
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
2 cups favorite spaghetti sauce (I used some in a glass cylindrical containers, er, storebought)
1 cup leftover rice
Water to cover
 1/4 cup mint leaves
1 cup chopped parsley

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, and cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and corn.  Cook for another ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the pepper, salt, spaghetti sauce, rice and water, and cook for another twenty minutes.  Add the mint and parsley.  Stir well, and it's ready to serve.  So tasty!  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Fava Bean and Green Chile Succotash

Fava beans are in season now, and I've been playing around with different recipes featuring them to see if I could really present them in a way that I like.  They are big and meaty, and that tends to turn me off when it comes to beans.  But, I wasn't giving up, and I came up with something that I really like, and I hope you will too.  It's my version of succotash, and even though I wanted to dump a can of tomatoes in the dish - because tomatoes makes everything taste better - G had been eating tomatoes for days and wanted a break.  Can you believe him?  Anyhow, I was skeptical that I would like fava beans without tomatoes around, but this is a very flavorful dish, and the green chiles add just the slightest punch.  Served over quinoa, it makes for a complete meal.

Fava Bean and Green Chile Succotash

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 head garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 - 12 to 15oz. can of corn, drained
1 - 4.5 oz. can chopped green chiles
1 cup shelled fava beans
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup quinoa, prepare according to package directions

Directions:  

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery, and cook for about ten minutes, until they are fork tender, stirring occasionally.  Add the corn, green chiles, fava beans and seasonings, and cook for another ten minutes, until beans are softened, and everything is cooked through, stirring occasionally.  Serve over quinoa.  Surprisingly tasty!  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Red Beans over Barley

I made a slight variation on the classic dish of red beans over rice.  I've discovered that barley is not just for soups.  It can also work very well on its own.  It's chewy, tasty and filling - a nice alternative to rice.  Anyhow, we eat a lot of beans in my home...a lot, and I've been making simple red beans over rice for a very long time.  It's an easy recipe that is nutritious, as well.  Served over barley with a nice veggie on the side, it makes a complete meal.  This time we had jumbo artichokes from the farmer's market with which to pair it.  Yum!

Red Beans over Barley

Ingredients:

1 pound dried red beans
Water to cover
1 - 32 oz. box of vegetable broth
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

2 cups barley
4 cups water 

 Directions:

 Sort beans for grit.  You can either soak them the night before, or if your digestion is used to beans, just make them the same day without soaking.  If you soak, be sure to rinse the water out and put fresh water in the pot in the morning.  Put beans in a pot with enough water to cover them about two inches over the top of them.  Bring to a boil, and boil for five minutes.  Turn heat down to medium, and cook for two hours.  While cooking, when water is below the top of the beans, add the broth, and stir.  As the broth cooks down, add just enough water to cover just the top of the beans by a half an inch or so.  You are not making a soup.  Test the beans after two hours; if they are almost tender, add the spices.  In a separate pot, combine the barley and water, and bring to a boil.  Cover with a lid, and reduce heat to low.  Cook for twenty minutes.  Beans should be done by the time the barley is.  Serve beans over the barley, spooning any of the bean gravy over the top.  Serve with a nice vegetable to round out the meal.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Easy Vegetable Fried Rice

Here is an easy way to use up leftover rice.  I always make a big batch of rice because JK likes it for lunches, and I also like to use the leftovers in soups or other dishes.  The veggies in this dish are usually those that you may have on hand at any given time.  Enjoy!

Easy Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 head of green cabbage, chopped small
3 carrots, chopped very small
4 stalks of celery, chopped small
2 green onions, sliced thin
2 to 3 cups of leftover rice
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce or another favorite sauce; this time I used: OrganicVille Island Teriyaki sauce, which is also gluten-free

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add all the veggies and cook for five minutes or so, until fork tender.  Add the rice, and stir well, breaking up any clumped up, cold chunks.  Cook for another five minutes or so, until the rice is heated through.  Don't stir constantly, but let it sit for a minute or so to slightly crisp and brown, and then stir.  Once well heated, add the sauce and stir.  Cook for another minute or so, and then it's ready to serve.  Very tasty.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Savory Stuffed Peppers and Christmas, 2011

We had another great Christmas this year.  I have some pretty hysterical pictures of five-year-old JK completely ecstatic over the celebration.

As usual, I made a big breakfast buffet for my family and parents and then made some dishes to bring to the family potluck for dinner.  I decided to bring stuffed peppers for dinner, and they were super tasty.  I've got the recipe below, but first we have to cover some highlights.

You'll see in one of the pics below what my buffet looked like.  I made:
Scrambled Tofu with broccoli, mushrooms and spinach
Sausage and Cheese muffins (recipe on a future post)
My mom's fruit plate
Chocolate chip cookies
Oatmeal cookies
Brownies
Lemon Sugar Loaf (recipe on a future post)
Coconut Caramel Happy Birthday, Jesus, Cake

For dinner:
Savory Stuffed Peppers
Tofurky
Dessert:
Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Glaze (recipe on a future post)

Just a note on the peppers:
I made enough for 22 people, so you can definitely halve the recipe or more for your needs.  Or, you can make the whole batch, and freeze what  you won't eat in the next few days.  I also cut my peppers in half, but you can use fewer peppers and keep them whole.  With all the food at the potluck, I thought having a whole pepper would be too much for some people.  I also used white rice to appeal to more people, but brown could be used, of course.

Savory Stuffed Peppers

Stockings hung with care, even for the dogs and cats

Breakfast Buffet (fruit plate hadn't yet arrived)

Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Glaze (for potluck dessert)

R.I.P. - Here lies the blank spot where there was a great photo of the kids, but GR was embarrassed and pleaded with me to remove it.  The caption is below.

All the kids enjoying JK's new superhero masks.  They seem to have suddenly taken on the powers themselves!

GR and JK delivering our annual Christmas cookies to the firefighters.

Now, on to more of the recipe photos:

Here are the peppers, washed and waiting for the water to boil.

The stuffing being sauteed.

Blanching the peppers.

Completed peppers, ready to go!

Savory Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

11 green bell peppers, tops trimmed, seeds and heavy pith removed, and halved lengthwise
1 cup white rice, uncooked, prepared according to package directions
2 Tbs. canola oil
1/3 cup chopped shallots
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 - 12oz. pkgs. Lightlife Smart Ground, original style
1 - 15oz. can of black beans, drained
1 Tbs. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 - 15oz. cans tomato sauce, divided
Non-stick spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a very large pot about two-thirds full with water, and bring to a boil.  This will take some time, so you can prepare the rest of your dish while waiting.  Cook the rice and set aside.  In a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook for two minutes.  Add the Smart Ground and mash with a fork or potato masher, so there are no big lumps.  Cook for two or three more minutes, stirring often, so it doesn't burn.  Add the beans and spices and cook until heated through, about three or more minutes.  Add the rice and stir well, so it's thoroughly mixed.  Add two cans of the tomato sauce and mix well.  Spray two baking dishes with the non-stick spray.  If the water is boiling now, carefully dump the peppers in it and boil for five minutes.  Drain in a colander in the sink.  Using tongs, place the pepper halves cut side up on the baking dishes.  Spoon the filling into the well of each pepper - use every last drop of it.  Spoon the last can of tomato sauce over each pepper.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.  So good.  Feeds five hungry vegans and seventeen close friends and family.

Black Bean Mole' over Coconut Couscous

I cannot take the credit for the creativity of this dish.  I got this out of a newspaper clipping several years ago.  All I've done is veganize the toppings and bring out larger quantities of them, adjust some of the ingredients, give directions on how to toast the coconut, and make the directions in more my style, with slight changes.  But, my family, all of them (gasp!), loves this dish, and it's so fun and different, that I just had to share.

Black Bean Mole' over Coconut Couscous

Ingredients:

Couscous:
1 cup uncooked couscous
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mole':
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 - 15 oz. cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 - 16 oz. jar of mild or medium salsa
1 and 1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Toppings:
1 pkg. Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheese, Monterey Jack style, finely shredded
1 container of vegan sour cream
6 green onions, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced - we used a combination of red and yellow tomatoes

Directions:

For the couscous: Prepare the couscous according to package directions.  Set aside in a covered pot.  While the couscous is being prepared, take a small pot and heat it over medium heat.  Add the coconut and cinnamon and stir.  Continue to stir until the coconut begins to brown, or toasts.  It should emit a nice fragrance, not a burned one.  Once toasted, stir into the couscous and recover.

For the mole': Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for less than a minute, until it releases its wonderful aroma.  Do not over cook - garlic is quick to burn.  Add the rest of the mole' ingredients and stir well.  Lower the heat to medium low and cook for another five minutes, or so, until all is heated through.  
Serve mole' over couscous and load up the toppings.  So, so good! Feeds five hungry vegans.

Radical Rice Salad

I like to jazz up different ways to make salads, so they're not boring.  This is one way to do that, that I make several times a year.  The more goodies tossed in this particular salad, the better, in my opinion!  I threw together a veggie dish on the side that tasted way better than I anticipated, so I will post that easy recipe next.  Enjoy!

Radical Rice Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup of uncooked brown rice, prepared according to package directions
3 cups fresh veggies - we used: broccoli florets, chopped small; carrot, grated; green onions, sliced; tomato, chopped
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1/2 can quartered artichoke hearts in water
1/2 can garbanzos, drained
1/2 cup of your favorite salad dressing - I used a tangy French dressing
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Once rice is cooked, add it and all the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.  Best served chilled but can be served at room temperature in a pinch.  If chilling, use non-breakable bowl before putting in refrigerator.  Stir before serving.  Serve with a side of sauteed veggies.  Feeds five hungry vegans well. 

Brown Rice topped with Caramelized Onions, Garlic and Tomatoes

This is such a simple recipe, but the end result feels so gourmet.  It's a nice way to snazz up the home kitchen.

Brown Rice topped with Caramelized Onions, Garlic and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 cup of uncooked brown rice, prepared according to package directions
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 red onion, halved and sliced (both halves)
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tomato, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

When the rice is nearing its end cooking time, heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the onion when oil is hot, and cook for at least fifteen minutes, until the onion starts to turn color (past the translucent stage).  Add the garlic and cook for two more minutes.  Add the tomato and seasoning, and turn off the heat.  Serve over the brown rice.  A taste bud treat!  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Hint of India Garbanzos

This was one of those dishes where I was really craving curried garbanzos but didn't have any curry on hand. So, I kind of pushed that aside and decided to get more creative with the spices I already had in my cupboard, especially my poor neglected, underused garam masala. What turned out was a dish a bit on the spicy side but very tasty, definitely deserving of a reappearance.

Hint of India Garbanzos in serving dish

Now nestled on a plate surrounded by goodness

Hint of India Garbanzos

Ingredients:

2 - 15oz. cans of garbanzo beans, undrained
1 yellow bell pepper, diced small
5 garlic cloves, chopped small
1/2 red onion, diced small
2 tsp. garam masala
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients in a medium pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let boil for five minutes. Lower heat to medium low and continue cooking for 20 more minutes. Complete your meal by serving it over brown rice with steamed veggies on the side. Feeds five hungry vegans.

Veggie Soup with Rice

Hello, everyone! It's good to be back, and I really hope this posts well, and I can comment on my site and on yours. Thanks to Vegan Flower, we added on Firefox, and that's what I'm using to create this current post. Since this is my first post using Firefox, I have a new question: how do we upload pictures so that they stay in the order we want? I've tried two times so far. The first time, Firefox loaded them alphabetically, not the way I had intended. So, then I went back and changed all my pics names, so that they were alphabetical and in the order I wanted them to upload. But now Firefox hasn't loaded them alphabetically! This will be important when I have a post that has recipe steps involved with photos; I'll need them to be in order. Anyone? Vegan Flower?

I thought I'd give you a very short summary of what's been going on with us in the last couple of months. G's toe's skin has finally healed, but his toe joint and foot are still in pain. SR's wrist is still in pain, even after a cortisone shot. I'm trying to talk her into acupuncture. I pulled a calf muscle, the same one three times now in two years. And, I'm just healing from a back sprain. Ugh. I did earn my certificate to become a birth doula; that was a two and a half year process. We celebrated SR's, JK's, and both my parents' birthdays, as well as their anniversary, so we've been twirling in frosting over here. Both girls graduated from the last and highest level of swimming class, and JK is proud to be a guppy! We've had appliance repairs, auto repairs, and everyone but JK got new glasses, yay. Our garden went kaput. I took pics in June, and very soon after that, the dogs ate the grapevine and most of my nectarine tree, and the almond tree died. Both pups got spayed and had cone hats at the same time, very funny. What about you? What have I missed? I've been offline, not just on blogging, but pretty much everything - just trying to enjoy the summer with my kids.

Below the photos is a simple soup recipe that is a winner every time. You can use it as a guideline to build your own delicious soups. :-)

Veggie Soup with Rice

A simple wrestling cake for JK's 5th birthday

Strawberry Tall Cakes for SR's actual 14th birthday

Cookies 'n Cream Cupcakes for SR's party - GR's grabbing one!

One of our artichoke plants, while it was thriving

Veggie Soup with Rice

Ingredients:

8 to 10 cups of fresh and/or frozen veggies, choppped
We used: broccoli, cauliflower, orange carrots, yellow carrots, red bell peppers, green beans, corn, and celery
1 - 32 oz. box of No Chicken Broth
1 - 15 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
1 - 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
(In a pinch, I'll use spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce V8 or tomato juice)
1 - 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans (or any beans you have on hand)
Water to cover everything by one to two inches
1 Tbs. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 to 2 cups of leftover rice (your rice should already be cooked, or else it will soak up all the broth)

Directions:

Heat all the ingredients, except for the rice, in a large pot over medium heat for thirty to forty-five minutes. When it is bubbling, and everything is tender, add the rice. Turn down the heat to medium low, and add a bit more water if needed. Simmer for about ten more minutes, until the rice is thoroughly warmed up. Easy squeezy. Delicious and feeds five hungry vegans!

Rustic Lentil Zucchini Soup

This is a soup made from some of our garden zucchini abundance. We are thankful for the bounty that these plants continue to offer us, but I have been trying to come up with new ways to serve zucchini so that my children will continue to eat it. This soup certainly stepped up to the plate, er, bowl. The zucchini didn't overpower the other flavors and was a nice change for my children, who ate it all up. By the way, we eat soup year round, we love it so, therefore the hot dish doesn't bother us. Maybe you'll like it, too.

Rustic Lentil Zucchini Soup

Ingredients:

8 cups of water
1 cup of lentils
2 Tbs. of homemade bouillon or one cube of store bought bouillon
5 zucchinis, chopped
1 - 28oz. can petite diced tomatoes
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1/2 cup of parsley, chopped
1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 cup of pre-cooked brown rice

Directions:

Put the water and lentils in a large pot together on medium heat. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining ingredients, except the rice, and continue cooking for another fifteen minutes or until the lentils are completely cooked and the veggies are tender. Add the rice and stir five minutes before serving. Great with a hunk of good bread and a side salad. Feeds five hungry vegans.

Cheatin' Curry Tofu

This is one of my favorite curry dishes that I make a couple of times a year, but I can't take full credit for it. I'm cheatin' with a box! However, I can't help myself because the end product is this saucy gravy concoction that I just love. The spice comes in three heat levels, and when I cook for the whole family, I use mild. I kick it up to medium or hot, if it's just going to be my husband and me. But, I'm well aware that anything beyond mild is going to send my uber-masculine husband into a hiccup fit. So, I just sit back and chuckle at him when that happens. You gotta give me a break, though - the man hiccups from eating slightly spicy mustard! The spice is called Golden Curry and is made by S&B. I hope you like it, too.

Cheatin' Curry Tofu

It looks like this in the beginning, and you break it into individual bars.

The end result, with a salad on the side.

Cheatin' Curry Tofu

Ingredients:

Brown rice
1 Tbs. canola oil
2 pkgs. extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into triangles

1 and 1/2 cups of veggies - we used:
2 medium zucchinis, sliced diagonally
2 celery stalks, sliced diagonally

1 green onion, sliced diagonally

1 pkg. S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix with heat of your choice

2 and 1/2 cups of water

Directions:

Cook brown rice according to package directions. While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the tofu, and cook until partially browned, about 20 minutes over medium high heat. Stir occasionally. Add the veggies, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for another ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the water and bring to a boil. Break up the big bar into its smaller bars and add to the sauce. Turn the heat down to medium low, and stir constantly until the bars are dissolved. This will thicken up into a wonderful curry gravy. Serve the tofu mixture over the brown rice. A salad on the side rounds out the meal. Feeds five hungry vegans.

Savory Bulgur Dressing

Tonight, I thought I'd show our menu and pics of our Thanksgiving dinner and feature the recipe of our Savory Bulgur Dressing. This was actually a recipe of my father's that I've tweaked over the years to make it mine. When my oldest daughter (now 12 years old) was a toddler, we decided to have Thanksgiving at our home and have one holiday where our child could eat whatever was on the table. The last few years, I've let each family member pick a dish that they would like to have on the table; sometimes it's been traditional, sometimes not. So this year's menu is:
Tofurky Feast (picked by my 9 year old daughter)
Potato Salad (picked by my 12 y.o. daughter-we almost always have this!)
Savory Bulgur Dressing (picked by me)
Cranberry Sauce (picked by 12 y.o.-she likes whole berry, but I also got jellied)
Black-eyed Peas (picked by my husband, who also prepared them)
Fried Cabbage (picked by my husband)
Strawberry Tart (picked by me)
Pumpkin Pie (picked by me)
My three year old son went along for the ride. I realized later that he didn't pick something, but next year I'll make sure he does. A note on the cabbage: my Arkansas-bred husband likes fried cabbage to slide down his throat. He thinks chewing it is over-rated and unnecessary, and to get this way, it has to be an unnatural brown. So, I was happy to still have recognizably green cabbage hit the table this year. Anyway, on with the pics and recipe. Hope you like it!

This is a picture of the Savory Bulgur Dressing.

This is a picture of our Thanksgiving table. The green cabbage is in the front right corner of the table. The object in the back right corner is a scarecrow we made last month. You can make out the legs of my nine-year old daughter in the back left corner.
These are our Thanksgiving desserts. The little white pumpkin is my nine-year old's pet pumpkin, Pumple, and she was very happy that Pumple was going to be famous by having its picture in my blog.

Savory Bulgur Dressing:
Ingredients:

1 Tbs. canola oil
1 large onion, diced
1 bunch of celery, sliced small
1 pound of white button mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 cup of parsley leaves, chopped (we used flat parsley from our garden)
1 can of black olives, drained
2 cups of bulgur
2 and 1/2 cups of vegetable broth
1 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat the oil on medium heat in a large non-stick pan that has a lid. Saute' the onion and celery until tender, about ten minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for five more minutes. Add the parsley and olives and stir. Add the bulgur right to the pan and the broth, with the salt and pepper, and stir thoroughly. Put on the lid and place in the oven. Bake for one hour. Feeds a whole bunch of hungry vegans!