Recipe | Super Grain Veggie Bowl

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What you'll need:

• 1 cup Super Grains mix (mine was from Whole Foods with red & white quinoa, buckwheat, and millet)
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 10-15 grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 carrot, shredded or thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler
• 1 cup frozen edamame
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

*to make this a complete meal, add some sauteed tempeh or seitan

Combine the super grains, vegetable stock, onion, garlic, and some salt and pepper in a pot and set over high heat. Bring the mixture up to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed. With about 5 minutes left of cook time, add the frozen edamame to thaw.

If you're adding tempeh or seitan to the dish, start sauteeing in some olive oil on medium heat while the grain mix is cooking. This should take about 5 minutes on each side.

When the grains are done cooking, add the tomatoes, carrots, crushed red pepper flakes, and some more salt and pepper to taste. Fluff with a fork to combine everything. 

Enjoy!

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Tonight's Dinner | Quick Quesadilla

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First and foremost, thank you to the new Bloglovin' Followers for deciding to keep up with my random, weird, all-over-the-place blog! You guys are the bomb dot com, seriously! 

Secondly, I decided to add yet another element to this blog: art. I liked writing up my last blog post about Jan Ironside, and I know I've brought art related topics up in past posts about my own personal art and what I've been working on, but I think every Tuesday will be dedicated to sharing a new artist with you guys - whether it's an old favorite of mine, or a new one that I just found out about. I think it's important to continuously look for inspiration in life, and this is going to be my way of doing just that. Let me know what you guys think! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I already have two Artist Focus posts scheduled for the next two upcoming Tuesdays.

Alright now. Quesadillas. They're easy. They're delicious. They're what I had for dinner tonight. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to throw a quesadilla together, but I thought I would just share this one with you guys since I have been lacking in the recipe department.

1 whole wheat quesadilla (check the ingredients! Some torillas have FISH GELATIN in them! Gross!)

1/2 bell pepper, diced

1/4 onion, diced

1/2 tomato, diced

1/4 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup shredded cheese of your choice (use soy cheese to make this vegan)

1 tbsp of your favorite hot sauce

some extra virgin olive oil

Set a large skillet over medium heat with some EVOO. Saute the onions and peppers for a few minutes, then add the corn and combine to thaw - about 2 more minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add half of your cheese to one side of the tortilla, then add your veggie mixture, tomatoes, and hot sauce. Top with the remainder of the cheese. Fold over to form a half-moon shape and throw it on the hot skillet for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the cheese is all melted and the tortillas is golden brown.

Serve with guac, salsa, sour cream, or just eat the whole thing on it's own in an embarrassingly short amount of time.

Enjoy!

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Recipe | Baked Vegetable Eggrolls

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This is more of a process suggestion rather than a recipe. You can add whatever vegetables you have on hand in your egg rolls, this is just how I chose to prepare mine.

This will yield 6 egg rolls.

6 egg roll sheets... mine were vegan but that's up to you
1 bell pepper, any color, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large or 2 small carrots, cut into matchsticks, or julienned
1 cup alfalfa sprouts, or any kind of sprout
a couple tbsp water

Preheat your oven to 425°F

Evenly distribute your veggies among the 6 egg roll sheets, layering a few pieces of each veg ontop each other

To wrap up your egg rolls, fold in the left and right sides of the egg roll sheet, so that your filling is partially covered. Then just roll over your filling until the bottom of the wrapper is facing up at at you. Then take a dab of water on your finger, and run it across the final edge of the wrapper so that it sticks to itself and doesn't come undone in the oven

Repeat this for all of your egg rolls. Place them seam side down on a baking sheet prepared with tinfoil/parchment paper and/or spray cooking oil.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the wrappers are golden brown.

I didn't salt the veggies inside the wrappers because I didn't want to bring out all of their moisture and make my egg rolls soggy. I served mine with some soy sauce mixed with grated fresh ginger, honey, and crunchy peanut butter and that was all the seasoning I needed.

Enjoy! :)

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Recipe | Chunky Vegetable Soup with Cannellini Beans

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This recipe yields roughly 7 pints (I stored all my leftovers in handy pint-sized Mason jars- I suggest you do the same to portion everything out and have easy, quick dinners for the week!)

1 quart of Vegetable Stock (you might want to get a low sodium one so you can control the saltiness level of your soup)
a couple tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
4 cups water
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 zucchini, cut into fourths, length-wise, and then chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped (use whatever colors you have - I had a green and a red so that's what I used)
2 cups frozen broccoli
1 15oz. can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.
1 cup pasta (I used broken up pieces of linguine)
1 tbsp hot sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce (not photographed - this was a last minute addition)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large stock pot over medium heat and add some olive oil. Sautee the carrots for about 7 minutes. Then add the chopped bell peppers, zucchini, and garlic and sautee for another 5-7 minutes, or until they start getting tender. Add some salt and pepper and the cumin, turmeric, and hot sauce. Stir to incorporate the spices and then add your stock and water. Add your broccoli, beans, and soy sauce to the pot. Cover with a lid and bring the soup up to a boil. Once at a boil, drop your pasta in and cook until the pasta is al dente (or of desired consistency). Adjust seasonings to taste and enjoy! The soup gets better the longer it sits - so left overs are GREAT :)

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Recipe | Another Simple and Delicious Warm Barley Salad

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Makes 4-6 servings, depending on if you're eating it as your main meal or as a side dish

2 cups cooked barley
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
2 small zucchini, cut in fourths, lengthwise, and then chopped
1 tomato, chopped
6 slices of Smart Deli baked ham, chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

I had my barley already cooked from when I made a huge batch earlier in the week. I suggest cooking your barley ahead of time, because the other steps of this recipe don't take much time to cook so you might end up over cooking your veggies while you wait for your barley to finish cooking. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with because this "salad" can be eaten piping hot, room temperature, and even cold.

Set a large skillet to medium heat and add some extra virgin olive oil. Sweat the onions and peppers for about 5-7 minutes.

Add some salt and pepper and then throw in your zucchini. Cook everything for another 5-ish minutes. I didn't want the zucchini to get too mushy, so I cut the cooking time a little short for it so it was still a bit crunchy. If you want the zucchini softer, cook it closer to 7-8 minutes.

Add some more salt and pepper to the pan along with the red pepper flakes and then add your "ham" slices. Separate the pieces a little bit with your hands as you're adding them to the pan. You don't need to cook this as it's already fully cooked. So just stir everything to warm the "ham" through.

Combine your veggies and protein with your 2 cups of barley and then throw in your chopped up tomato and toss everything with a few more tbsp of olive oil. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. You can enjoy this as just a side dish or as your entire meal.

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Recipe | Warm, Asian-Dressed Barley Salad

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2 cups cooked Barley
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
1 small red onion - chopped
a couple tbsp vegetable stock
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup thai lime, chili cashews, chopped
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and sriracha together in a bowl and set aside.

I used 10 minute barley and just made the whole package. Cook your barley according to package directions. You can either do this ahead of time and have it ready or you can cook your veggies and other components while you're waiting for the barley to cook. However, wait to cook your veggies until your barley is about half done if it's not quick cooking, other wise your veggies will get too soft and over cook and won't be delicious.

Anyway, set a large skillet to medium heat and add some extra virgin olive oil. Sweat the onions and peppers in there together for about 5-7 minutes. Add some salt and pepper. When they start to become translucent, add the fresh ginger and vegetable sauce. Stir to incorporate the ginger.

You can now add all of your frozen veggies, reduce the heat to simmer, cover with a lid, and wait until your barley is finished cooking. Add some more salt and pepper to this layer of veggies.

When your barley is done cooking, drain and add two cups of the cooked barley to your vegetables. introduce the sauce you made earlier and stir to combine everything. Taste for seasonings and add more salt and pepper is desired.

Top with your chopped thai, chili, lime cashews.

I served this as a side dish to just a veggie burger and it was quite filling. There was a load of leftovers so this would be a great dish to bring to a party or a picnic or something. It tastes great cold or room temperature, too!

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Recipe | Vegan Veggie Melt with Crispy Tempeh

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This recipe will yield one sandwich for a super hungry person who hasn't eaten in about 8 hours :)

about 1/3 of a baguette - you can use whatever bread you like, this is just what I had on hand. If the baguette is HUGE then just use 1/4 or whatever looks like a decent size for a sandwich for you.
4 oz tempeh (1/2 of an 8 oz. package is usually 1 serving) cut into slices
A couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bell pepper, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 avocado, mashed
2 oz soy mozzarella, sliced
1 tbsp or so of your favorite hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

I used a toaster oven to melt the cheese, but you can go ahead and use a regular oven. Set it to 450°F before you start cooking.

Set a skillet to medium heat with some extra virgin olive oil. Begin browning off the slices of tempeh on both sides - about 3-5 minutes on each side.

When they're done browning, take them out of the pan and begin sweating the onions and peppers. Add some salt and pepper and cook them down for about 5-7 minutes.

While the peppers and onions are cooking, you can get started on preparing the bread part  of your sandwich. You're gonna want to cut the loaf in half, but don't bring the knife all the way through to the other side. You want one side still intact so your filling doesn't fall all over the place when you're eating it later. Then just gut out the bread-y part so you can fit alllllllll the fillings inside. My bread was a little stale so I just popped it in the toaster oven after I did this to toast it up a bit. If your bread is fresh, this toasting step isn't necessary unless you want it extra crispy.

When your peppers and onions are done cooking, you can start assembling your sandwich. Try not to drool all over it while you're doing this though. Especially if you have guests... I found this part especially difficult to avoid.

You don't have to assemble yours like I did. I'LL NEVER KNOW. I just found this way was best to keep everything all nice and glued together once the sandwich is finished.

Start off with the peppers and onions on one side of the sandwich and the mashed avocado on the other side.

Then, go ahead and add the strips of tempeh to the peppers and onions side, and the slices of tomato to the avocado side.

Top off the tempeh, peppers, and onions with your soy mozzarella.

Sprinkle the whole thing with some salt and pepper. Toast it up in the toaster oven, or an actual oven, for like 5-10 minutes... however long it takes for the cheese to start melting and the bread to crisp up. Top it off with your favorite hot sauce and enjoy!

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Recipe | Vegetable Stir Fry with Chili, Garlic, Ginger Sauce

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Makes 4 servings

a couple tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 1/2 cups water (optional)
1 cup brown rice (optional)
1 package of fake chicken pieces (I used the Gardein brand, you could use anything, really - tofu, seitan, even a couple sliced up veggie burgers if you wanted)
1 onion, sliced
2 bell peppers, sliced
3-4 carrots, julienned (I only had baby carrots, so you're looking for about a cup of chopped carrots)
3 handfuls of saute greens (my mix had baby spinach, baby kale, and baby swiss chard)
1 zucchini, cut in half and then sliced
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen or canned corn
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
3 tbsp raw agave
1 tsp chili garlic sauce (you can find this in the ethnic food section of your grocery store)
1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE SAUCE:

Make this before you start cooking everything so the flavors have enough time to love each other and develop into a delicious sauce

Combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce, ginger, and agave in a bowl. Whisk to combine everything and set aside. The reduced sodium soy sauce is important because you don't want your dish to turn out too salty - you should be able to control the amount of salt that goes into your cooking.

FOR THE STIR FRY:

I served mine over rice, so if you plan on doing this as well, and your rice isn't quick-cooking, start on that before you cook the veggies. For long-grain brown rice it's typically 2 1/2 cups of water brought to a boil. Add 1 cup of rice to the boiling water, cover the bot, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 35-40 minutes.

Side note: You want all of your veggies to be roughly the same size, so what I did was after I sliced the carrots and peppers, I cut those slices in half, like so:

The onions and zucchini aren't that important because they get very pliable when they're cooked so bigger pieces don't usually pose as an issue.

While your rice is cooking, set a large skillet to medium heat with some extra virgin olive oil. Start browning off your pieces of fake chicken. This should take around 3-5 minutes on each side.

Once your protein is done browning on both sides, start cooking the carrots. Cook them first for a few minutes because they will take the longest to soften up. After about 3 or so minutes have passed, add the peppers and onions. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

Once the carrots, onions, and peppers start softening up, add the zucchini and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add a little more salt and pepper but refrain from salting the dish again until the end of the cooking process.

Now you can add the frozen broccoli, corn, red pepper flakes, and the sauce you made earlier. Cover the pan and let everything simmer for another 5-7 minutes. Uncover and add the greens. Turn the heat off and work them in until they're all wilted down. The sauce probably adds enough salt for the remainder of the dish, but adjust any seasonings to your taste.

Serve over rice, lo mein/rice noodles, or just enjoy on its own!

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Recipe | Chiocciole with Garden Veg Sauce

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This makes approximately 3 servings, depending what you serve it with.

2 cups chiocciole
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 soy sausages, chopped into half moon shapes
1 1/2-2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
3 cups saute greens - mine had a mixture of baby kale, baby spinach, and baby swiss chard
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large pot of water on high to boil. Set a large skillet on medium and add  some extra virgin olive oil. Brown the soy sausages on both sides. I found that leaving them in bigger pieces for the browing process is easier than cutting them up before hand because you're going to remove the pieces from the pan after they're browned. Whichever way you decide to brown them, they'll take about 3-4 minutes on each side to get nice and crispy

When the sausages are browned, remove them from the pan and saute the peppers and onions in the left over oil until they begin to soften and caramelize a little bit. Salt and pepper them after about 7 minutes of cooking.

Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Take two of your tomatoes, roughly chop them (seeds and all) and add that to the pan. Reserve the third tomato for later. Salt and pepper your sauce and add the crushed red pepper flakes. Your water should be boiling at this point so drop the pasta in. Lower the heat under your skillet to about medium low or close to simmer, cover, and cook for 6-7 minutes. Uncover the pan, add some starchy pasta water (about 1/4 cup) and continue to simmer until your pasta is done cooking.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Turn off the heat under your skillet. Add the saute greens (you may need to add them in batches, giving each batch a chance to wilt down so your pan doesn't overflow with greens), the reserved tomato, and the chopped soy sausages. Salt and pepper the dish if necessary.

I served this with a couple falafel balls, so it lasted me a couple meals. You could stretch it by adding more vegetables (like zucchini or eggplant or more peppers).

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Recipe | Embellished Boxed Mac and Cheese: Recipe 2

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1 box of your favorite mac and cheese
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup roasted red/any color peppers
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen peas
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup water
a couple tbsp fresh basil, roughly chopped
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. While you're waiting for that to boil, set a large skillet on medium heat and add a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Saute the onion, sun dried tomatoes, and roasted peppers. Cook them for 5-7 minutes, or until the onions begin to soften. Salt and pepper the veggies.

Add whatever cheese sauce comes with your mac and cheese box to the veg mixture along with the 1/2 cup of water. Incorporate the cheese and water to a creamy consistency. You can use veg stock if you want, I just didn't have any on hand. Add the frozen broccoli, cover the pan, and cook until the broccoli is thawed - another 7-10 minutes. Remove the lid, reduce the heat to simmer, and let the sauce cook down a little bit. Salt and pepper this layer and add the crushed red pepper flakes.

While the sauce is reducing, your water should be boiling, so you can drop your pasta in. If you find your sauce is reducing too quickly, feel free to add some of the starchy pasta water to it to loosen it up a bit. This will also help the sauce stick to the pasta when you incorporate the two of them.

When your pasta is done cooking, drain and add it to the sauce along with the frozen peas. Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes and basil. Salt and pepper the dish if necessary. It's important to wait until the end of the cooking process to ass the peas because they will break down and turn to mush if you add them early on. The residual heat from the sauce and pasta together is enough to thaw them through. Or, you can thaw them out ahead of time if you're worried about serving frozen peas.

Enjoy!

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