Broccoli Pesto Pasta & Garlicky Spinach

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~from Everyday Happy Herbivore: Garlicky Spinach

Lots of garlic in the Garlicky Spinach. I used a half and half mixture of spinach and lacinato kale. You saute' the garlic (6 cloves!) in a small amount of vegetable broth and then add Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes for seasoning. Very tasty!  

 ~from The Happy Herbivore:  Broccoli Pesto Pasta

After steaming the broccoli it is blended with 3 garlic cloves, fresh basil, tofu and other seasonings. It is then tossed with cooked pasta. I added the optional kalamata olives, some capers and quartered cherry tomatoes for extra flavor. Basically, it is an uncooked pasta sauce so the raw garlic is quite potent. We had a "garlicky" dinner tonight. Along with the garlic in the spinach and pasta I also made garlic bread! Whew! Good thing we were both eating it!

Veggie Lo Mein

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~from Everyday Happy Herbivore:

This Veggie Lo Mein was so easy to throw together for a quick meal! Instead of sauteeing the veggies in just water I did add a little sesame oil to the pan. Oops; not totally oil-free! 

I bought a bag of Asian Blend veggies-green & red cabbage, broccoli slaw, carrots, kale and snap peas. I also added some sliced red bell pepper to the mix. After cooking, I tossed the veggies with spelt soba noodles and the Lo Mein sauce. 

For extra flavor I topped the Lo Mein with some Gardein Teriyaki Chik'n Strips. Yum!

Cruciferous Cravings

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

It seems lately all I have been cooking is kale, collard greens, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. I just discovered they are all from the same group of plants! I must be craving some special vitamins and minerals they have. 

Both of these recipes are from Everyday Happy Herbivore.  It's been great this month digging into Lindsay Nixon's two cookbooks I have. I know most of the recipes are pretty simplistic but that makes it so much easier to get dinner on the table at night. And I usually have most of the ingredients already in my pantry and fridge. 

~ Broccoli & Red Pepper Stir-Fry ~

Sauteeing the broccoli and red pepper in savory sauce. 

I wanted to add some protein to make this a one-pot dish so I browned pressed diced firm tofu sprinkled with Butler's Chik-Style Seasoning. 

 I served the Broccoli & Red Pepper Stir-Fry on top of some brown rice. Yum!

~ Gobi Palak ~

This was soooo yummy! After cooking the yellow split peas for about 45 minutes you add lots of spices and cauliflower and let it cook down then toss in some baby spinach. I served it over brown and jasmine rice and garnished with some chopped cilantro and garlic-chili sauce. 

So easy!

Spicy Greens & Cajun Fries

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~ The Happy Herbivore: Spicy Greens; Cajun Fries

~garlic powder, onion powder and flakes, paprika and cayenne~ 

So easy to make these potatoes and so yummy. I found some cooking spray that doesn't have propellants in it. Yuch! This grapeseed oil spray only has the grapeseed oil in it. I found that I didn't need alot of oil for these potatoes to get nice and brown and tasty. 

Sauteeing the collard greens, garlic and onions in water. Love me some collard greens! 

I browned some sliced Tofurky Italian Sausages for the Spicy Greens. These sausages have a little spicy kick to them!

Cajun Fries and Spicy Greens with Tofurky Italian Sausage

Hubby enjoyed everything tonight. I'm surprised since it was all a little spicy! 

Pancakes & Blueberry Sauce

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~ The Happy Herbivore: Pancakes; Blueberry Sauce

Mmmm! This is the best vegan pancake recipe I've tried so far. After mixing up the ingredients, you let the batter rest for 10 minutes. The baking powder makes it light and fluffy and it makes a wonderful pourable batter. The blueberry sauce is really easy to make using frozen blueberries. It was a little tart so I added some brown rice syrup to give it a little more sweetness. 

"Crab" Cakes, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~ Everyday Happy Herbivore: "Crab" Cakes; Remoulade 

Love these 'crab' cakes! A delicious combination of pressed shredded tofu, chopped oyster mushrooms and lots of seasonings; these definitely take the place of fishy crab cakes. Her recipes use no oil but instead of using the vegan mayo recipe she suggests, I used Vegenaise so my 'crab' cakes do have some oil. Maybe that's why they tasted so good! I also made the Remoulade sauce to smear on top of these. Again, I used Vegenaise along with the ketchup, dill pickle, mustard, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice and Tabasco to make a tasty, spicy topping.

 ~ The Happy Herbivore: Dirty Mashed Potatoes; Dijon-Herb Green Beans

Mashing the Dirty Potatoes

These are called dirty because you leave the skins on the potatoes. This recipe called for 2 Tbsp. of garlic powder; I cut that down to 1 Tbsp. Of course no "butter" is called for so I added some Earth Balance margarine when I ate mine! 

Mixing the green beans in the Dijon-Herb sauce. 

Instead of all the herbs and spices this calls for I used 2 1/2 tsp. of my Italian seasoning blend. 

I thought the flavor of the sauce was great but the hubby wasn't particularly fond of it. Maybe the combination of Dijon mustard, lemon juice and the herbs was too much for him. He likes things "plain jane". I should have just cooked some plain ol' green beans for him! 

"Crab" Cakes, Remoulade, Dirty Mashed Potatoes and Dijon-Herb Green Beans

"Tuna" Salad & Greens

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

The Happy Herbivore: "Tuna" Salad ~

I've made chickpea salads before that I love but this one really has the consistency, taste and texture of tuna "tuna" salad.  I used a pastry blender to mash up the chickpeas; it works really well. Instead of chopping the celery you shred it and then combine sweet pickle relish, kelp powder and a few other seasonings. I served it over a bed of arugula and spinach with chopped red onion, cherry tomatoes and yellow sliced mini peppers. I ate the leftovers in warmed corn tortillas with shredded spinach. 

Everyday Happy Herbivore:  Rainbow Greens ~

The recipe calls for rainbow chard but this time I used red chard. So easy, yet a delicious way to eat your greens. I saute' the chard stems with the garlic to soften them up a little. The combination of the  apple cider vinegar and the raisins helps to balance the bitterness of the greens. 

Chili & Cornbread

Vegcookbookclub January 2014 ~ 

January we are cooking out of all of Lindsay S. Nixon's books. I have two of them and haven't used them very much. I'm so glad the first recipes I made were delicious! Both of these recipes are out of The Happy Herbivore. 

Chili sans Carne

Lots of great spices in this chili including curry powder which I've never used in my chili. It added an extra rich, spicy flavor I really liked. I'm not that paranoid about using no oil in my cooking so I sauteed the onions in a Tbsp. of olive oil instead of the water. The recipe calls for TVP and I used slightly crumbled Butler Soy Curls. Love the soy curls; you could say this is "Chili con Carne" and get away with it! 

Cornbread 

I usually just use an 8x8 square pan to make my cornbread but decided to try my cast-iron skillet. It gave the cornbread a nice crunchy outside and it was still moist on the inside. This was surprisingly tasty without using any oil. I did choose the option of using more cornmeal instead of flour for a more "corny" taste. 

Chili sans Carne & Cornbread