Spicy Tomato Quinoa

This recipe is so tasty. I found it on this website
http://www.columbusvegan.com/2009/11/spicy-tomato-quinoa.html
Ingredients:
1 plum tomatoe (I used 3-it was still good)
1 cup on Quinoa
1-2 tsp of tomato paste
1 and 1/2 + 1/2 vegetable broth
1/2 red onion
3 garlic cloves
chipotle chili powder
Rinse the quinoa and let stand in water for 10 min to remove bitter taste
Chop tomato, onion and garlic cloves very thinly.
Boil the quinoa in 1 and 1/2 of vege broth and only add the 1/2 if it is not tender enough. The quinoa should absorb all the liquid.
fry the chopped tomatoe,onion, garlic in a bit of oil. salt is not recommended due to the tomatoe paste and broth.
When quinoa is done, turn off heat, add vege mix, tomatoe paste and chipotle powder and mix.
So tasty and spicy and healthy!

Vietnamese Rice Cakes in Banana Leaves

yield: Makes 1 cake or 4 servings

Banh chung

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham and are part...

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Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups sticky (glutinous) rice, preferably long-grain


• 1 drop of green food coloring (optional)


• 1/4 cup dried split mung beans


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 2 tablespoons chopped shallots


• 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce


• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper


• 5 ounces pork shoulder or butt, cut into 1/4-inch-thick chunks


• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil


• 2 (14" x 16") sheets plastic wrap plus extra


• 1 (14" x 16") sheet aluminum foil


• 2 (14" x 14") pieces banana leaf

Preparation

1. Place the sticky rice in a large bowl and cover it with 3 inches of water. Stir in the food coloring, if using, and let the rice soak overnight. (Once soaked, the rice will double to about 4 cups.) In a separate bowl, soak the mung beans for at least 4 hours. Drain both just before using and set aside in separate bowls. Add the salt to the rice and stir to blend.

2. Combine the shallots, fish sauce, black pepper and pork pieces and let marinate for 30 minutes.

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over moderate heat. Add the pork pieces and all the marinade and stir just until the meat is brown around the edges, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

4. Using a steamer basket, steam the mung beans until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

5. To make the packet, neatly lay down the wrappers in this order: 1 sheet of plastic wrap (leave the other for use later), the aluminum foil, 2 sheets banana leaves (one perpendicular to the other). Place one cup of the rice in the center of the banana leaf, spreading it to cover a 5-inch square. Place half of the mung beans on top, then add the pork pieces. Cover with the remaining mung beans and place 1 cup of rice on top. Bring the narrow sides of the wrappers together. Fold the gathered edges over twice, then flatten against the packet. (You now have two open ends.) Fold one end over and hold the packet upright. Add half of the remaining rice, tapping it and pushing it down so the packet will be an even square. Fold the end over and repeat on the other side.

6. Place the packet with the folded sides down in the center of the remaining plastic sheet. Wrap tightly so that water will not seep into the packet during cooking.

7. Tightly tie the packet with two parallel strings in both directions (as in a tic-tac-toe pattern).

8. Fill a large stockpot with water. Add the packet and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Place a colander or something heavy on top of the packet to keep it submerged in the water. Cook uncovered until done, about 6 hours, adding more water if necessary. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for 1 hour.

9. To serve, cut the packet (without unwrapping) into 1/2-inch slices. Remove the wrapping and arrange the slices on a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature. If wrapped in plastic and refrigerated, the cake will keep for 1 week.

Editor's Note: Mai Pham says the rice cakes will feel "plump and soft" when they are finished cooking. You can reduce the cooking time to about four hours by precooking the rice. Pham says to toast the soaked, drained rice in a nonstick pan over medium heat until it is dry and looks opaque.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vietnamese-Rice-Cakes-in-Banana-Leaves-233845#ixzz1NeGaSrLe

Babaganoush

This recipe is sooo tasty (especially with Naan Bread)

-heat 3 egg plants in the oven at 350 degrees celcius for 1 hour (or until soft)
-blend with salt, garlic and oil (however you want)

voila, babaganoush !

Bon appetit

French Lentil Soup (from Epicurious)

3 tablespoons of extra virgin oil
2 cups of chopped onions
1 cup of chopped celery stalks
1 cup of chopped carrots
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups or more of veg broth
1 and 1/4 cups of lentils (drained, rinsed)
1 and 1/4 cups of diced tomatoes
balsamic vinegar

saute celery, carrots, garlic about 15 min
add broth, lentils, tomatoes, bring to boil
simmer until lentils are tender (35 min)

blend about 2 cups and add more broth if you want it thinner
season with salt pepper or vinegar

Garlicy Alternative to Mayo (no eggs)

Ingredients:
1 head of garlic (the whole thing-not the individual cloves)
1 tablespoon of sea salt
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of olive oil (not virgin)

Put in jar, use a hand blender and blend until mayonnaise consistency! Sooooo good....

Couscous and Lentil Salad

This is from a organic supermarket that I like to frequent...so tasty:

Cous-cous, brown lentil, carrot, red onion, green onion, ginger, garlic, tamari, lemon juice, sunflower oil, sea salt, pepper and h& s....

Mmmm.

Pine nut, basil quinoa

This is a very healthy vegan recipe from an book called " The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone...

1 cup quinoa
handful of fresh basil
1/2 cup pine nuts (pretty pricy but worth it)
sea salt
1 table spoon of oil

Prepare the quinoa by boiling 2 cups of water.
Add the quinoa, let it boil again and then cover it
Let it soak up the water (about 5-20 minutes)
*this is good because it will remove the bitter taste

while the quinoa is cooking, put the pine nuts on the sauce pan and roast until brown (about 6 min)

chop the basil

Mix all the quinoa, basil, pine nuts and oil. Add a pinch of sea salt and voila!

Tasty, healthy and filling vegan dish...

When the quinoa is done, just mix pine nuts basil,

Squash rice rolls

Bake squash with a bit of oil and then salt when done.*

Find rice wrap papers and dip in water.

Find lettuce, mint, etc.

Wrap all in rice wrap and dip with fish sauce or peanut sauce. Sooo healthy and tasty.

*If you don't like squash you can use fried egg with green onions,etc.

Green Onion Pie (less fat version :P)

This recipe is from one of my dear friends who cooked it one day when I was over. It's much simpler and healthy from the traditional Green Onion Pie.

Just mix

3 eggs
4-5 chopped green onions
2 cups of water**
3/4 cup of flour **

**The water and flour can vary depending on how thick or thin you would like the texture. More water for thinner pancake and less for thicker or more flour for thicker pancake,etc. (You get the point).

Put oil in frying pan and fry like omellete. When finished, a suggested dipping sauce is red vinegar. Tasty tasty. But you can dip it with maggie sauce or soya sauce too. Or get get creative and dip with something and share it by posting a comment :)

Enjoy!

Yummy Mozzarella Sticks!

There was this book called Deceptively Delicious that I bought which includes all easy recipes for kids. Sooo good.

Ingredients:

Shredded mozzarella
Califlower
Bread crumbs (whole wheat is healthier)
Sesame Seeds and flax seeds
oil spray

Put the bread crumbs, seseme seeds and flax seeds together in a bowl. This will be what to coat the cheese sticks.

Steam the califlower for it to be soft and then blend it to make a puree.

Grate the mozzarella

Mix the mozarella with the Califlower puree and then shape into sticks.

Cover in the bread crumb mix and wrap each stick in tin foil or wax paper. Place in freezer for 20 minutes so they become firm.

Take out a frying pan and spray with oil spray. Then on medium heat place some olive oil or whatever oil and then fry the cheese sticks for about 4 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy! Mmmmm.

A Caloric Guilt inducing pleasure

Okay, this is quite the tasty conconction.

Cheese/Onion Bread + poached egg + mayonnaise. Soo good.

Watermelon Juice...mmm

You know, this is such a simple idea that I think I have a tendency to overlook.
You just buy a tasty watermelon (when you shop for one, you tap on the watermelon and if it sounds hollow, it is sweet and watery), chop it up and blend! Voila! Watermelon juice, fresh, ready, healthy and ready to drink!

A tip is you can chop up the watermelon, freeze it and then blend it for a nice slushy type of fresh fruit juice. If it melts, you have a nice juice to drink anyways.

The same idea can apply to any other fruit of choice.

Enjoy! mmm...

Dessert Dumplings!!! Mmmmm so delicious

I just randomly created this when I was making my vegetarian dumplings today and had some left over wraps.

Ingredients:
* nutella
*graham crackers
*dumpling wraps

Crush the graham crackers finely.
Put some melted nutella.
Mix.

Fill in perogies.

Fry in pan with oil.

The result is a crunchy (depending how you fry it), sweet, scrumptious dessert!

Mmmm! I love cooking! (and eating of course!)

Yogurt Dill Dressing or Dipping (which ever you prefer)

This recipe was given to me but I did not have any mint leaves so I used dill as a substitute.

Yogurt
Dill
Salt
Cucumber (1 small kirby cucumber should suffice)
Onion (half an onion is good)
Garlic (1 garlic is good)

Just chop everything up and mix into yogurt.

This is tasty on rice or dipping with pita bread (or whatever your tastebuds and imagination can come up with!)

Bon appetito!!!

Creamy Dill Potato Soup

This is just an alteration of the Creamy Tomato Soup (See October 2007), I just subtituted the tomatoes for potatoes and I used water instead of vege broth (because I did not have any)

Need:
*1 large carrot
*1 large celery stick
*1 medium onion
* 2 garlic cloves
* 6 potatoes
* real dill herbs (chop as much as you like-more equals more flavor)
*4 cups of vege stock (or water in this case of mine-still taste good, you just add salt)
*2 cups of soy (book version) or milk

chop all

fry the carrots, celery and onion listed above over medium heat until onions are golden

add garlic and fry alittle, then add the dill ,and then the potatoes and stock...let simmer for 30 mintutes...let cool, blend, and then add the soy milk/milk...warm up soup...

enjoy!!!!

Delicicious Brie Raspberry Soy Ginger Salad

This was created spontaneously and it was so delicious I have to share it.

Use the spring salad mix (that you can buy from the grocery store-its the one with the mixture of green and dark red lettuce-not sure of the name of the vegetables)

-some brie
-some raspberry jam
-some soy and ginger vinegarette (I bought this at the local grocery store, but I am sure it is easy to make on your own since the name gives away the ingredients and you just add some seseme oil and vinegar to it)

Just cut up the brie (as much as you like)
Take one teaspoon (or as much as you like ) of the jam
Mix with the dressing

Sooooooooo yummy!!!

Bon appetit!!

My awesome vegetarian dumplings!!! yummy

Ingredients(for filling):
-tvp simulated beef (can get it from the blueline choices from Loblaws or ask for tvp simulated beef from any other grocery store)
-frozen chopped lemon grass (pretty cheap from Chinese grocery stores)
-maggie sauce
-chopped onions
-chopped green onions
-garlic powder
-1 egg
-dumpling/perogie wraps from Chinese grocery stores
-seaseme oil
Ingredients(for dipping sauce):
-rice vinegar
-water to dilute if too salty
-sugar
-thinly chopped ginger
-add seaseme oil too if you want extra flavor
-mix and set over night-you can taste the ginger if you do this.

mix all together and let marinate (I recommend overnight as the flavors will be much richer)
-Now, you just take a small spoon and put some of the mixture in the middle of the perogie wrap and fold it like a dumpling( I'll have to upload a video when I videotape myself as it is difficult to explain,but for now, I will attempt to describe in words as if someone were blindfolded)

-How to fold:
Hold the perogie wrap with the filling in the middle.
Dip you finger into the egg white (for gluing the wrap edges) and smear it on one half of the top edge of the circle/wrap.
Take the bottom part of the circle and fold it up to the edge with the egg white and pinch in the middle.
So now you have the back and the front of the perogie. On the layer that is facing you, now that you have pinched the middle, take the layer on one side from the middle and fold it towards the middle and pinch. Then take the corner on the same side and pinch to the middle of the one side.
Do the same for the other side of the perogie.
Once that is done, take the perogie and tap the bottom on a plate with flour (so that they don't stick to the pan later and this also makes the bottom crispy when you cook them)

-To cook
Take a bowl of water and add some flour to mix.
When the perogies are on the frying pan, pour the water mixture on top just enough that half the pergoies are covered.
Cover and cook until the water evorates. It's important to cover because the steam will make the wrap soft. Also, if you have a non stick pan, there is no need for oil, unless you like that type of crispiness that oil gives.


*video will eventually be inserted, but hopefully, this will be clear in the meantime.

Enjoy!

Spinach Banista

This is one my my favs. It is delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:
-300 g chopped frozen spinach(I bought a package for 0.99 on sale. My suggestion would be to wait until they're on sale and stock up)
-1 pack of phyllo pastry sheet
-6-7 eggs
-300g feta cheese, crumbled
-300 g of plain yogurt
-1/2 can of carbonated water
-butter, sunflower oil

What to do:

-preheat the oven to 325 degress celcius
-mix the eggs, thawed spinach, feta cheese and yogurt
-mix butter(melted), sunflower oil and use to lubricate pan.
-Layer two sheets of phyllo pastry on top of oiled pan (with a smaller pan, just fold the sheet)
-Place mixture and spread on sheet
-place another two sheet phyllo, brush butter mixture, place mixture
-repeat

once the phyllo, butter, mixture repetition is done (when you run out of mixture), cut the banista and add the carbonated water on top.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Et Voila!

Three Sisters Stew

1 tsp oil l large onion,
sliced l clove garlic,
crushed l jalapeno chili, finely chopped
2 squash of different kinds, e.g. butternut and acorn, peeled and sliced
2 large or 4 small zucchini, cut into l inch pieces
3 cups fresh or frozen green beans, cut into l inch pieces
l cup fresh or frozen corn
l teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tsp savory salt and black pepper to taste
2 (l6-ounce) cans kidney or pinto beans
1-2 cups vegetable stock or water (don't let the stew boil dry)

Saute onion, garlic and chili for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Cook covered over a low heat 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently until squash is tender.
Serve with wholewheat bread and a green salad.

http://veg.ca/content/view/290/112/

Jello-marshmello rolls

Okay, my sister made a dessert that looked so cool, but I didn't see her make it( but it tasted so good!) I am only guessing how she made it but I am writing it here for my own reference so that when I do cook it, I can go to my blog.

Take jello, mix it and place the liquid in a pan. Put marshmellows on top and bake until it melts into the jello.

Put the mixture into the refridgerator. When it's done, I think you slice it and then roll it into rolls. Soo tasty!