A Vegan Irish Stew

Just when I think the world can’t get any crazier it does. I’ve started to limit my news/social media to 15 minutes a day - honestly, I can’t take the insanity. I’ve also been doing the whole social distancing thing and it’s nice. I’m not an introvert but I do like my space. I get energy from people but I also get energy from reading, cooking and being on my own. 

We spent this weekend having friends over for movie night on Friday and then went over to Dan’s daughter’s place on Saturday for dinner. Ok, the guys built a computer and we built a desk from Ikea; we had fun.

St Paddy’s Day is looming and with all that’s going on it’s unlikely, we’ll be celebrating anywhere but at home. When I was young my mom always made corned beef and cabbage. I liked the cabbage and carrots but usually added a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the side - not a fan of corned beef. 

I do lamb and fish from time to time and considered lamb shanks for movie night but in the end, I found a vegan mushroom stew that looked pretty good so I decided to give that a go - a wise decision. I served it with Guinness Brown Bread - it was so tasty and filling. I started with a recipe from Straight Up Foods and in the end, I added my own spin. 

I added the vegan butter - and if you are not a vegan add regular butter - without it the stew didn't have that umami flavor. The mushrooms add a nice depth but it needed more. I also added additional spices to please my palette, for me it needed more. 

Ingredients

1½ large yellow or white onions, chopped into ¾-inch pieces (about 3 cups)

3 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into ¾-inch pieces (about 2¼ cups)

3 ribs celery, cut into ¾-inch pieces (about 1 cup)

10 ounces baby portabella mushrooms

1½ tablespoon finely chopped garlic (about 6 medium cloves)

5 cups of water

1.5 pounds white potatoes - I used small baby potatoes and did not peel them 

⅓ cup tomato paste (half of a 6-ounce can)

1 tablespoon dried Italian herb seasoning

1 T oregano

1 tablespoon paprika

1½ cups cooked peas (if frozen, rinse under warm water)

½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

2 T vegan butter 

chili powder - to taste

salt and pepper to taste

a few shakes of chili flakes 

Instructions 

Heat 1 tablespoon of water in a soup pot over medium-high heat. When the water starts to sputter, add the onions, carrots, and celery, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 8 minutes, adding water as needed.

Stir in the mushrooms and garlic, and continue to cook while stirring for 5 minutes more, adding water as needed.

Add the 5 cups of water, potatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and paprika, and bring to a boil, uncovered. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the rosemary and other spices. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the carrots and potatoes are very tender.

Add the peas and cook for 5 minutes more.

Place 2 cups of the stew (broth and vegetables) into a blender, and blend just briefly. Stir the mixture back into the pot to thicken the stew. Top each bowl with parsley.

Keep doing all those things you're doing - stay out of crowded places, wash your hands, read a book, watch a movie with your sweetie and stay healthy!

Weather, Virus and 3 Crazy Old White Men

Crazy weather, coronavirus, canceled everything, and 3 old white men who have trouble breathing want my vote - what a mess. There are lots of things to be grateful for - I have a job I love, good friends, a place to live and enough food, so I’ll go with that for now. 

Last weekend was our first real hint of Spring - although I’m not getting my hopes up - it’s only March and snow has been known to grace us here in MN in May. I’m planning to experiment with straw bale gardening this year - yes Anne Lapkin I am finally taking your advice - I know you’ll be proud. Not the whole garden but definitely part of it. 

My big challenge now is to find the right bales (not rye) and start the conditioning process so if anyone near me knows where I can get bales please send me a DM. Meanwhile, I’ve been busy deciding what to plant and what to experiment with. 

Last weekend I was looking for something fresh to go with the nice weather - I needed a change from the chili and hearty soups we’ve been cooking. I found a recipe for roasted broccoli and white beans on Shutterbean - Food Photography and Inspiration - their recipe is here. 

I had some zucchini, which I wanted to use up so I added it to the broccoli and beans - it was delicious. 

Roasted Broccoli, Zucchini and White Beans

Ingredients:

2 - 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for pan

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 large crown of broccoli cut into florets

1 large zucchini 

1 15 oz. can white beans, rinsed and drained

a heavy pinch red pepper flakes

juice of 1 lemon, plus a few slices to roast

kosher salt + fresh cracked pepper

freshly grated Parmesan

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Drizzle a baking sheet lightly with olive oil, set aside.

Combine olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes in a bowl, mix to combine. Toss broccoli and zucchini in garlic oil mixture to coat, followed by white beans (be careful not to break up white beans with heavy handling). 

Place the veggie and bean mixture on the baking sheet, and tuck a few lemon slices in the mix. Season with salt & fresh cracked pepper and roast in the oven, tossing occasionally for about 15-20 minutes. When beans and broccoli begin to char, top with a heavy dose of Parmesan cheese, turn the oven to BROIL and cook for 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starting to bubble.

Remove from oven, squeeze with lemon juice and serve. 

We served this with quinoa and baked acorn squash with a little vegan butter and brown sugar. It was delicious.

Pho not Pha

First my apologies, I’ve been out of the loop for the entire month of February. We’ve been traveling (to Arizona) and trying to get some household things in order. No excuses just facts. 

Coming off of Super Tuesday some of us are happy, some sad, some disgruntled and some - like me - looking for new recipes. That is not to say that I a not following what is going on politically or in the world, it means I’m invested in a lot of things. 

Our trip to Arizona was wonderful. We spent time with my cousin Gayle in Tucson and then time with friends Ann & Warren in Phoenix. I loved both cities, each has its own charm and sites. 

We loved the Air Museum (thanks to Ken Kauffman for recommending it), Taliesin West (Frank Lloyd Wright’s home), the Desert Botanical Garden, the Bryce Thomson Arboretum, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Heard Museum - it was a busy holiday. The best time tho was spending time with friends and family. Dan had an opportunity to bond with my cousin, do some hiking and my friend Ann & I solved many of the world's problems with wine - so much fun!

We’re home now and back to cooking and anticipating Spring - the weather here has been amazing - today it was 40, sunny and a little wind, by Saturday we are looking at 55 and sunny - the snow could be gone! Good Times.

When we were in Phoenix we had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was good but we missed the Pho. When we got home I was in the mood for a hot bowl of deliciousness so I search the trusty internet and found a recipe that had a miso broth, fresh vegetables (raw and cooked) and just the right amount of spice. We both agreed we would make it again and the best part about Pho is it can be different every time, depending on what you have in your fridge. 

I made a quick trip to the Asian grocery store for supplies and we created a Pho that suited our style and palette.  

Ingredients:

Broth

2 star anise

2 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

5 whole allspice

1 tablespoon whole coriander

3 sticks lemongrass

2 inch or 5 cm piece fresh ginger sliced

1 onion roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic roughly chopped

3 dry shiitake mushrooms

3 tablespoons miso paste

2 tablespoons soy sauce

6 cups of 1.5 l vegetable broth

4 cups or 1 l water

Pho

7 oz or 200 g rice noodles

7 oz or 200 g mushrooms (I used enoki and baby portabella

4 baby bok choy

3 carrots julienned

a handful of fresh spinach

a handful snow peas - cut on the bias

Garnishes

Hot chili peppers thinly sliced

Cilantro leaves

Bean Sprouts

Instructions:

Make the broth:

For the pho broth, dry toast the spices (star anise, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and coriander) in a large pot under medium heat until fragrant. Add chopped lemongrass, sliced ginger, roughly chopped onion, and garlic. Cover with vegetable broth and water, add whole dried shiitake mushrooms and bring to a boil under medium heat. Reduce the heat and let the broth simmer for 30 minutes.

When the pho broth is done, strain it through a sieve, keeping the shiitake mushrooms. Slice them and add them to the soup. Add miso paste dissolved in a ladle of hot broth. Try the soup and add soy sauce to taste.

While the broth is on the stove, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook your rice noodles as per package directions (usually about 3 minutes). Rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking process.

Clean them and chop mushrooms if needed. Separate out the large bok choy leaves and add them to the strained broth together with julienned carrots. Add spinach after about 4-5 minutes and cook for 2 more minutes.

Garnish:

Distribute snow peas and bean sprouts among the bowls and pour the soup over them. They don’t need to be cooked.

Choose any (or all) of the above-mentioned garnishes and add to the bowls. Add more soy sauce and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cauliflower and Chickpea Tacos

Tacos come in many forms from ground beef to fish to veggie, but no matter the filling the end result is deliciousness. I love the crunch from the shell (if you are using that), the savory fillings and the salsas - sometimes sweet as in mango, sometimes spicy as in tomatillo with chilies and sometimes smokey, they all work in one form or another. 

There are times when I shop with purpose and other times with abandon. I browse around the produce section of my favorite store and grab what looks good or what I am in the mood for. Last week at our local market the mangos were on sale for 50 cents each (I know right), so I grabbed 3 or 4 with the hope that we would find a way to incorporate them into our weekly meals. 

Little did I know that chili-roasted cauliflower and chickpeas topped with a colorful, refreshing mango salsa wrapped in a toasty tortilla would land on my table - .the ultimate meatless handheld delight that is low in calories and packed with flavor.

One of the reasons I love mango so much is because of how it can be used in such a variety of savory dishes. Everything from salsa and salads to marinades and stir-fry. It has just the right dose of sweetness to balance out savory, salty and spicy flavors.

Even though the recipe calls for both jalapeños and chili powder, I promise these tacos are not spicy at all. I’d classify their heat level as “warm.” Read on and if you dare, give them a try.

Ingredients

Tacos

10 corn or flour tortillas

4 cups chopped cauliflower (~1 small head)

1 cup cooked chickpeas (if using canned, be sure to drain and rinse them)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp cumin

Zest of 1 lime

Pinch of sea salt and black pepper to taste

Mango Salsa

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped

½ red bell pepper, diced

Juice of 1 lime

3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line two rimmed baking sheets with foil.

Combine cauliflower and chickpeas in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine olive oil, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, lime zest, salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine. Pour over cauliflower and chickpeas and toss to evenly distribute.

Spread mixture evenly onto baking sheets (try to avoid crowding) and roast for 25 minutes, tossing once halfway through.

In the meantime, prepare the salsa by combining all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To prepare tacos, fill shells/wraps with cauliflower and chickpeas, top with 2-3 tbsp of mango salsa and additional toppings if desired: cabbage slaw, extra cilantro, lime juice, and yogurt. Enjoy!

Carrot Ginger Soup with Chickpea Artichoke Bread

Just took a batch of chickpea flour bread with artichokes and garlic out of the oven - it smells delicious. Traditionally Dan is the bread baker in our house but I found this recipe and it looked so delicious that I had to give it a try. I love love love artichokes, in salads, on pizza, in dips (the super cheesy, gooey kind I should not eat) and well now bread. 

I’ve been trying to get more organized about my cooking these days and by organized, I mean having a sense of what we’ll have over the course of a week. It makes my grocery shopping easier and I don’t end up with lots of things that I really don’t need. This week we seemed to have an abundance of carrots so carrot ginger soup came to mind. 

I have to confess I got an immersion blender for Christmas. I asked Santa for one last year but he didn’t see his way to bringing me one so finally, I purchased it myself and gave it to Santa - score!

Seems like snow, wind and cold are on the way - the leftovers will be good for a quiet night by the fire watching the latest season of Frankie and Grace!

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp low-sodium vegetable broth

1 medium onion diced

5 cups carrots chopped (about 10 medium carrots)

1 medium sweet potato peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

4 - 6 garlic cloves minced - I used 5

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 inch piece of ginger peeled and grated

1/2 tsp dried thyme

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1/2 tsp Himalayan pink sea salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

14 oz canned coconut milk

Instructions:
In a 6-quart dutch oven, saute the diced red onion in 2-3 tbsp of low-sodium vegetable broth until it’s translucent. Season with a pinch of salt to help the onions caramelize. 

Add chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, cinnamon, grated ginger, minced garlic, thyme, low-sodium vegetable broth, salt, and pepper. Give it a good stir and bring it to a low simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the soup, and let it cook for 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft. 

Blend the soup with an immersion blender until thick and creamy. Add the unsweetened coconut milk and mix it well. Let the soup cook a few more minutes until it's hot all the way through. Taste and add any additional seasonings now.

Chickpea Artichoke Bread

ingredients:

1 1/4 cup chickpea flour

1 1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 cup marinated artichoke hearts chopped

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Add the chickpea flour, salt, and nutritional yeast to a mixing bowl and then add the water. Stir with a whisk for about 30 seconds until all the lumps are gone and you have a thin pancake-like batter. Add the arctics, oregano, and garlic powder.

Grease a small 8x8 baking dish with about 1 tbsp of oil and pour the batter into the dish. (You could also use an iron skillet or a pie dish).

Bake at 425° F for 20 minutes, then take out of the oven and sprinkle with Kosher salt (optional). Turn down the oven to 350° F and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Thanks for Stopping By!

Welcome to the Roaring 20's

Happy New Year and welcome to the Roaring Twenties, I’m hoping they are as amazing as the last ones. This new decade has the promise of change; retirement, travel, volunteering and enjoying life.  

Last year I cut my hours back to 25 a week and I am loving my afternoons off, it allows me to volunteer at the school, exercise at the local health club and spend time with friends and family when I’m not so tired.

I have goals for 2020 - blog more often (which means cooking blog-worthy food more often), read 52 books (1 a week), volunteer at the Arboretum’s new Red Barn and workout 5 days a week. It might be an ambitious list but I think I can do it. 

I got the recipe for the BBQ tofu bowls from Dan’s cousin Elwood McCreary. We were at a birthday party for his lovely wife Marie and he made this - one taste and I was hooked. The original recipe is from The Kitchen - it is delicious, and honestly, I wanted to lick the bowl clean it is that good. 

The recipe calls for a yogurt-based sauce but since I don’t do dairy I eliminated it - next time maybe an avocado sauce would be good. This will definitely be in the regular rotation. 

Ingredients:

14 to 16 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained and patted dry

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for the baking sheet

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds total), cut into 1/2-inch-thick half-moons

3 cups broccoli florets (about 1 medium head)

1/4 cup barbecue sauce

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro - optional

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425°F and lightly coat 2 rimmed baking sheets with olive oil.

Wrap the block of tofu in a few layers of paper towels, then set on a dinner plate or cutting board. Weigh it down with a heavy object and drain. Tear the tofu into bite-sized pieces.

Place the sweet paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper, and smoked paprika in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Pour in 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil and stir to combine. Add the tofu and gently stir to evenly coat. 

Place the tofu in a single layer on one of the prepared baking sheets. Place the sweet potato and broccoli on the other baking sheet. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to coat. Spread into an even layer.

Roast the tofu and vegetables for 15 minutes. Flip the tofu and sweet potatoes, and toss the broccoli. Rotate the baking sheets between racks and from front to back. Roast until the tofu and vegetables are lightly browned, about 15 minutes more.

Drizzle the tofu with the barbecue sauce and toss to combine. Divide the rice and black beans between 4 serving bowls. Top with the tofu, sweet potato, and broccoli. Drizzle with the dressing and garnish with the cilantro. Serve warm.

Movie Night and Vegetarian Enchiladas

Happy Holidays! Snow is on the ground, the tree is up and decorated, cookies are baked and the Amazon Prime people stop by daily to drop off the things I have purchased - the last holidays of the decade is in full swing. 

I’ve been absent from blogging for almost a month! No excuses except we’ve been busy. I’ve tried a few new recipes and some old stand by’s too. We spent Thanksgiving with my my side of the family this year in Indiana. Aside from 2 very turbulent plane rides and an 8 hour plane delay we had a fabulous time. The last time we spent Thanksgiving with them was 7 years ago - we vowed we will not wait another 7 years.

We’re skipping our Mexico trip this year and heading for new horizons - Arizona. It is one of the few states I’ve never visited and we have relatives and friends to visit.

We continue our monthly movie night tradition with friends Gerd and Maria. There is always great conversation, wine and food - oh and a movie too of course. I’ve been hungry lately for enchiladas lately - not the kind smothered in cheese that we get at our local hangout but healthy ones. My sister in law made vegetarian enchiladas at the lake and they were delicious. I used a mild enchilada sauce and spiked it up a bit with cumin and chili powder. Some of the enchiladas had cheese (for the cheese lovers) and some did not (for me - who likes cheese but it just doesn’t like me). 

You can add whatever vegetable mix you like. The potatoes can be all white or sweet potatoes, you can even skip the turnips - I had some in the fridge so I tossed them in. 

Ingredients

1 white potato, cut into 1-inch dice and rinsed 

1 medium sweet potato1 inch dice

5 small salad turnips

1 medium onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup red/yellow/orange bell peppers, sliced

8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets

1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed

6-8 large while grain tortillas

2 cups red enchilada sauce, plus more for serving

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp mild chili powder

1/2 Tbsp dried thyme

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast 

salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

If you have a steamer pot, steam potatoes and turnips until soft, set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. If you don't have a steamer, boil potatoes and turnips until fork-tender, drain and set aside. 

Heat 1-2 Tbsp of water in a heavy-bottomed pan until bubbly. Add sliced onions. Saute for 5 min, add garlic, and cook 1-2 min more.

Add peppers, mushrooms and broccoli to the pan with onions. Stir and saute about 3 min, until the vegetables become softer. Add drained and rinsed beans, all seasonings except nutritional yeast and salt, stir the mixture well and let the beans get heated through. Take the pan off the stove.

Add steamed potatoes. Sprinkle in nutritional yeast. Mix well with a wooden spatula, slightly breaking up the potatoes. The mixture should look like chunky mashed potatoes with vegetables. Add salt to taste. 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Warm up your enchilada sauce. Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch casserole dish. Working with one tortilla at a time, spoon about 1/6 to 1/8 of potato-vegetable filling in the center of each tortilla, making a line with the filling. Roll the sides of the tortilla over the filling. The ends should stay open. Place rolled enchilada into the baking dish with the seam down. Repeat with all tortillas. 

Pack enchiladas tightly into the baking dish, do not overpack. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the rolled enchiladas. If desired add cheese to top of enchiladas. Bake at 375°F for 20 min uncovered. When done, let cool for 5-10 min before serving.

We served with a simple spinach salad with raspberries and blueberries and light vinaigrette dressing.