Quinoa Pesto with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

This recipe came together when I was looking for something to make for dinner with ingredients that I already had on hand. It is a hybrid of a few different recipes that I found from across the web, and I can't remember the specific websites I was looking at (sorry about that!).  The only item I really had to buy was the pine nuts and it was a great way to use up the basil and tomatoes that I had from the garden outside.

This recipe really comes together with three different recipes - Vegan pesto sauce, quinoa, and oven roasted tomatoes.  Don't worry, it really isn't that complicated and it doesn't take that long to make!  Here is what you need:

Oven Roasted Tomatoes:
many cherry tomatoes, cut in half - enough to fill a 13x9" glass baking dish
big splash of olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar

You'll want to start the tomatoes first.  Cut all of the tomatoes in half and place cut-side up in a 13x9" glass baking dish.  Mix the olive oil and brown sugar together and pour over all of the tomatoes.  Make sure the tomatoes are completely coated in the oil/sugar mixture, and arrange them so they are all cut-side up on the baking sheet.  Place the tomatoes in a 350 degree oven, and bake for 45-60 minutes until they are all shrunken and roasted.

Vegan Pesto Recipe:
huge bunch of fresh basil (about 3 cups worth)
several cloves of garlic (I used 6-7, use less if you're not a garlic fanatic like me!)
6 tbsp raw pine nuts
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup nutritional yeast (I used 1/4 cup, but you may want to use more)

Place all items, except oil and nutritional yeast in the food processor and blend.  Then, add the olive oil and nutritional yeast and combine until smooth and creamy.

Quinoa Recipe:

1 box of quinoa (or at least 1 cup uncooked quinoa)
extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup corn, frozen
1 cup spinach, chopped
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup Vegan Pesto recipe
oven roasted tomatoes

Cook the quinoa.  Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a saucepan, 2-3 minutes.  Add the quinoa and corn, and cook for a few minutes.  Stir in the spinach and cook for a few moments, until the spinach begins to wilt slightly.  Remove from heat, and add the pumpkin seeds and pesto.  Stir through and serve.  Top with the oven roasted tomatoes.  Add salt to taste, if needed.

You'll have to time this one out properly - start cooking the tomatoes first, and while they are in the oven, prepare the pesto and then the quinoa.  Once the tomatoes are almost finished, prepare the final quinoa recipe.

This one is super tasty and I've also made other variations of the recipe since making this!  I'll be posting that soon as well!  Very healthy, wholesome, and a great way to use up some items that you may have hanging around the kitchen or the garden!

Green Beans with Toasted Sesame Seeds

This dish is really quick to prepare and make - you'll be done in no time! It is very healthy and fresh tasting. It is a great way to use up those green beans from the Farmer's Market!  This makes for a wonderful vegetable side dish - we prepare this one on a regular basis.

INGREDIENTS

10oz green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp maple sugar (you can use brown sugar also)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (ie. Kikkoman brand)
Pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan of boiling water, blanch the green beans for 2 minutes. Drain and refresh in ice water, and drain again.
2. In a grinder, coarsely grind sesame seeds and transfer to a bowl. Mix in sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and salt to form a paste. Stir in the beans to coat.

Roasted Vegetables with Fresh Herbs

Mmmm. Just look at all of those rustic roasted vegetables. Here is a hearty and healthy meal that involves a lot of veggie chopping, but other than that, not much preparation. You can make as much or as little of this as you want, adding your favorite veggies in various quantities. However you prepare it, your home will be filled with an amazing aroma! We filled two casserole dishes and had some leftovers - yes, two casserole dishes split between the two of us, but hey, we were hungry, don't judge! ;) 

So, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Then, begin chopping your vegetables.  The veggies we used here were:  potatoes (boiled and soft enough when you pierce with a fork), carrots, zucchini, onion, yellow and orange pepper, and whole cloves of garlic.
When you chop up your veggies, try to keep them in larger chunks, especially the onions. You want all of the vegetables to cook at a similar rate, and you don't want any vegetables to get too mushy (and conversely, have some vegetables be too crunchy).

Throw all of the veggies into your casserole dish.  Drizzle generously with olive oil.  Then, you can add your spices. I ground up a whole lot of coriander seed in my mortar and pestle.  Then, I used a whole bunch of fresh rosemary, fresh basil, some Vietnamese cilantro that I had growing in the garden (which isn't much like regular cilantro leaves...I would stay away from adding that, unless you really want to experiment!), and of course, salt and pepper.  I think I used some dried rosemary here as well.

Every fifteen minutes, stir the mixture and add more spices if you'd like.  Each fifteen minutes, I would add a little extra ground coriander, freshly ground pepper and dried rosemary on top.  You will probably have to cook the mixture for about an hour in total before serving.

This is such a delicious recipe for using up all of those fresh summer veggies, but of course, you can enjoy it all year long! This dish would be perfect to make in the Fall or to make for a Vegan Thanksgiving dinner.  Or bring it to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner as a vegetable side dish. I think just about everyone would go crazy for this, Vegetarians and meat-eaters alike!

Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf from Veganomicon

One of my favorite go-to cookbooks is Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I love quinoa both for its health benefits and the taste, so I'm always looking for new quinoa recipes.  I found this recipe printed in the Veganomicon cookbook and I found it was pretty easy to make and quite delicious. I'm also a fan of chickpeas and spices like cumin and coriander - this recipe includes all of the above!  I also deviated from the original recipe by adding some diced yellow pepper, increasing the amount of garlic (Paul and I can't seem to get enough garlic!), and adding a bit of cayenne to spice it up.  You could probably add some other veggies of your choice as well.

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped finely (about one cup)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp coriander seed, crushed with a mortar & pestle

fresh ground pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1-15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 cups vegetable broth

DIRECTIONS

1.  In a saucepan over medium heat, saute the onions in olive oil for 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.

2.  Add the tomato paste, coriander, cumin, black pepper and salt; saute for 1 minute.

3.  Add the quinoa and saute for 2 minutes.

4.  Add the chickpeas and the broth; cover and bring to a boil.  Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to very low, cover, and cook for 18 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all the water.  Stir occasionally.

5.  Fluff with a fork and serve.

Refrigerator Pickled Green Beans

On the same day that I made these Refrigerator Pickles, I also made some Refrigerator Pickled Green Beans. The green beans required a little bit of extra time in the fridge before eating, so we did not eat them until today. After eating the refrigerator pickles and now these green beans, I have a new found love for homemade pickled vegetables. They are quite delicious and fresh. The green beans still have a crunch to them and have a mild sweetness to them, combined with spiciness from the hot pepper. These are assembled a little bit differently than the pickles, and they are pickled with apple cider vinegar rather than plain white vinegar.

I think that we'll be doing a lot more pickling around our house in the future! I also should mention that this is super easy to do - all you need is a mason jar and the following simple recipe:

Spicy Pickled Green Beans

1 lb green beans, trimmed
1 jalapeno (I used a few smaller hot peppers from the garden)
few sprigs of fresh dill
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
1 small clove garlic, lightly crushed (I used several)

For extra spicy beans, make a cut in the jalapeno.  I cut all of the peppers in half for maximum heat!  Add all of the ingredients to a large jar, topping off with water if necessary to cover the beans. Refrigerate for 3 weeks before consuming.

The hardest part is waiting for three weeks before eating them!  Just put them at the back of your fridge and forget about them for a while. It will be a special treat the day you are able to crack open the jar and devour them!

Lentil Salad

Here is a great recipe for a lentil salad. It is super nutritious and tasty, and it makes a pretty large quantity that you can keep in the fridge for the next few days as leftovers. Lentils are especially excellent for vegetarians, vegans, or those of you who are looking to include other protein sources in their diet. Here are a few facts about lentils:

• They contain 26% protein - the highest content in any vegetable except soy beans
• They have a high fibre content (31% in green lentils, 11% in red lentils) and B vitamins
• Lentils have virtually no fat
• Lentils are one of the best vegetable sources of iron. This makes them an important part of a vegetarian diet, and useful for preventing iron deficiency

Now that you're familiar with the goodness of lentils, here's the recipe! It doesn't take long to prep, and takes about 25 minutes to cook.

Ingredients (Lentils):
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 bag of green lentils, washed (approx. 2 cups)
4 cups vegetable stock

Ingredients (Dressing):
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 cup freshly ground flaxseeds
1/8 cup flaxseed oil
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
salt to taste

1. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp of oil on medium-low heat. Add garlic and onion, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the broth and lentils. Cook on medium heat until boiling, then cover, and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes. Cook until all of the stock has been absorbed and there is just no liquid left in the mixture, but the mixture is still moist.

2. While the lentils cook, prepare the dressing. Grind the flaxseeds (you can easily do this in a coffee bean grinder). Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl for the dressing. Whisk until the mixture thickens. Set aside.

3. Once the lentil portion is fully cooked, remove from the stove and pour into a large bowl. Mix half of the dressing in with the lentils.

You can now place the lentils in the fridge and let them cool, or serve them warm. When serving, put a little more of the dressing on the lentils. Keep the lentils and the dressing in the fridge and you can have this tasty dish over the next few days if you wish! You can serve immediately after cooking, or wait until the mixture cools in the fridge.

Vegan Tom Yum Soup (Thai Lemongrass Soup)

Here is a super nutritious quick & easy soup to make that is also vegetarian and vegan. It is called Tom Yum Soup and is a vegetarian variation on the popular Thai dish. It has a distinct flavor from the lemongrass, which you should be able to find at many grocery stores in the herb section. If you can't find it fresh, you should be able to find it in a small jar. Paul and I used to always enjoy this soup years ago from a Thai place in the food court, until I realized that it most likely had fish sauce in it. Since we're both vegetarians, I modified it slightly to make a vegetarian version, and we've been making it ever since!

When I buy lemongrass at the grocery store, I often get asked by the cashiers what I use lemongrass for in my cooking. Hopefully this recipe will allow you to enjoy the wonderful flavor and aroma in your cooking, too, especially if you've never cooked with it before!

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2)

4 cups vegetable broth
3 large stalks of lemongrass, trimmed, bruised, cut into 2" lengths
3 green onions, cut
2 tbsp roasted chili paste
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp soy sauce
lots of sprouts, steamed
lots of broccoli, steamed
noodles (rice vermicelli or cellophane noodles)
3 garlic cloves, cut

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring stock to a boil, add lemongrass to broth, reduce to simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Put green onions and garlic into a serving bowl. Steam sprouts and broccoli.
3. Remove lemongrass. Add remaining ingredients to the simmering stock. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Serve. You can add red pepper flakes to the bottom of your bowl if you're looking for even more spice.