Cauliflower Lentil Tostadas & Spanish Rice

 I love watching Jason Wrobel on "How To Live To 100" on The Cooking Channel. One episode was all about cauliflower. He made these Cauliflower Lentil Tacos but I baked up some corn tortillas and made tostadas instead.

You take a head of cauliflower and pulse it in the food processor until it is the size of rice grains. It's combined with cooked lentils and lots of other spicy ingredients to make this yummy taco/tostada/burrito filling. 

I also made Spanish Rice following the recipe in Give Them Something Better. It uses brown rice instead of white. It was kind of dry so I might add extra tomato sauce and water next time. I still like my own version of Spanish Rice better. 

Instead of the Guacamole recipe Jason uses I made the Avocado Tomato Salsa from La Dolce Vegan. Lots of lime juice and cilantro! 

Both of these recipes make alot so I froze the leftovers for a quick dinner on nights I don't want to cook.

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!

Cumin-Roasted Cauliflower & Kale

This sounded so tasty in Wild About Greens; cauliflower, red bell pepper, kale and cumin seeds; but it was rather bland. I sprinkled some Slavo Salt on top which helped. Eh, probably won't make this again unless I doctor it up alot. 

I served the roasted veggies with sauteed mushrooms, sliced Yukon Gold potatoes and Gardein Chik'n Scallopini. 

Citrus, Black Pepper and Cheese Cauliflower

I love when I  search my cookbooks for a recipe to use up a veggie or another ingredient I have on hand; I feel so resourceful and economical. So I had exactly one cup of cauliflower florets in the fridge and this recipe from Betty Goes Vegan called for one cup of cauliflower florets. I probably never would have tried this recipe because it sounds so weird. 

Ingredients for the roasted cauliflower

 Everything but the cheese, nutritional yeast and fresh basil gets tossed together and roasted. The cheese is sprinkled on top and after baking, the nutritional yeast and basil are added. It calls for lemon and orange zest but I didn't have a fresh orange so I used some dried orange peel that I ground up finer in my coffee grinder. It worked perfectly! Ooh, being resourceful again. 

I'm going to double this recipe next time. I could have eaten the whole pan of this but I decided I better save half for the hubby!

Cooking In the Cabin

Our cozy little cabin in Sedona. It's been in our family for over 40 years! My hubby and I have been working hard as she's been neglected the last few years. We've spent many hours giving this old girl lots of TLC! 

Cooking in the cabin is an adventure. Lots of vintage cookware and utensils; I had to update a few of them. The stove is half functioning as the gas stovetop works but the oven doesn't. So any meals I cook right now are one-pot meals. 

Here is the extent of counter space I have for cooking. Just enough room for my cutting board and ingredients. My hubby installed the undercounter light this time. It was a black hole before and you took your life in your hands trying to chop veggies in the semi-dark! 

I brought a couple of cookbooks; Sarah Kramer's Vegan A Go-Go and an extra copy of How It All Vegan. I ordered another copy of La Dolce Vegan (my favorite cookbook) to keep at the cabin. And my three ring notebook with copies of some of my favorite recipes. I didn't want to try any new recipes from the Veg Cookbook Club cookbook this month. I'll save that for more familiar and larger surroundings. 

From Vegan A Go-Go I made Creamy Curried Veggies. 

A mixture of cauliflower, carrots, onions, cremini mushrooms,coconut milk and lots of curry powder and spices. The recipe called for peas but I used edamame instead. I served this over soba noodles and garnished it with chopped cilantro. Mmm, mmm! This made plenty for leftovers. There is an awesome natural foods store in Sedona- "New Frontiers". I'm in heaven as soon as I walk in the door! All the organic veggies you could ever want and anything else you can think of. I even got to finally try some Daiya Havarti Wedge cheese. Yum! The only Daiya I can get where I live is the shredded. 

The other recipe I made was Smoky Tomato & Kale Soup from VegNews-Nov/Dec 2012 magazine.

This makes a big old pot o' soup! 

Onions, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, yellow potatoes, canned tomatoes, quinoa and kale makes a hearty, filling soup. We ate leftovers a couple of times and then I froze the rest and brought it home for a future quick meal.

I served the soup with some sourdough garlic bread toasted in my new toaster oven.

Can't wait for more adventures in "Cooking in the Cabin!"

Aloo Gobi Potatoes & Cauliflower~pg. 141

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Easy to make and delicious. I didn't add the hot pepper or the cayenne; I thought I would be nice to my husband since he doesn't like his food too spicy! I served this over rainbow quinoa which I love even better than brown rice. I made my favorite brussels sprouts recipe-"Dijon Mustard Brussels Sprouts" (pg. 185 of LDV) to serve with it. I topped my potatoes & cauliflower with some sriracha sauce for a hot, spicy kick!

Curry Fennel Cauliflower Bake~pg. 147

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Yum! I've made this several times and both my husband and I like it. I used edamame instead of the frozen peas and I like to add some golden raisins to mine. I got to use the organic broccoli and cauliflower I had in my Bountiful Baskets box. First time I've gotten a box and I love it. Lots of great organic produce I can use to make delicious meals!

Cauliflower Red Lentil Soup~pg. 107

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Didn't have time to take a fancy picture on this one, I was busy babysitting my grandson! I have made this soup several times. I like the combination of cauliflower, red lentils and the cilantro (of course). I have made a decision to skip a few of the high sugar desserts; all that sugar really messes me up. I'm skipping the Cinnamon Doughnut Holes and Basic Cake Glaze for now. I might be inclined to make it in the future though! I would like to try this challenge again next year using a healthy vegan cookbook. Any ideas?

Pot Pie & Dancing

I was right in the middle of making this 'Curried Vegetable Pie with Chickpea Crust' from The Garden of Vegan when I got a text from my friend asking me "Where are you?". My brother has a classic rock band and they were playing for a benefit and I was missing the party! So I finished making my pot pie, ate a piece, squeezed into my 'nice' jeans and boots and went dancing. So, I got my cardio in for the day!

Of course it's always the girls who like to have a good time and dance while the guys sit around!! We ended the night with 'Mustang Sally'-"ride, Sally, ride". I'm on the far right workin' it!

This was an excellent pot pie. It had a chickpea pie crust that was really good and chickpeas in the filling. It reminded me of the frozen chicken pot pies I used to eat. I don't know what I was thinking because we're supposed to make another pot pie today for the La Dolce Vegan! Challenge. I'll do a taste comparison.

Veggie Goulash~pg. 140

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Bubbling away on the stove!

Sorry it's messy I was hungry!

I added some minced shallots to my chopped onion because I hate to waste food and it looked so lonely in my crisper! I also used a can of tri-blend beans (kidney, pinto, black) instead of just pinto beans. I sprinkled a good helping of No-Salt Shaker (pg. 303) on top and ta-da~ my favorite starch to serve it over~quinoa!

Eat one cup of quinoa (a single serving size), and you’ll consume:

• 220 calories (70 percent carbs, 15 percent fat, 15 percent protein)
• 40 grams of carbohydrates (13 percent daily value)
• 8 grams of protein (16 percent of daily value)
• 3.5 grams of fat (5 percent daily value with no saturated fat)
• A glycemic load (blood sugar spike) of only 18 out of 250
• 5 grams of fiber (20 percent of daily value)
• 20 percent of daily value of folate (various forms of Vitamin B)
• 30 percent of magnesium daily value (beneficial for people with migraine headaches); 28 percent daily value of phosphorous; iron (15 percent); copper (18 percent); and manganese (almost 60 percent)

Quinoa is stocked with life-sustaining nutrients all across the board, including all eight essential amino acids. There are other highly beneficial compounds, vitamins and minerals in this food that the Incas reverently called "chisaya mama" (mother of all grains). www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/quinoa-nutrition-facts

Cauliflower Potato Soup with Nutmeg~pg 108

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:



I made this soup today instead of yesterday because I was welcoming a new grandson into the world! This will make two grandsons now. I thought this soup tasted delicious; perfect for a cool, fall day (not here though, it's a high of 102 and right now it's 88 degrees!) But I am going to take the soup, Cumin Spiced Quick Bread (pg 267) and some of Wolffie's Brownies to my daughter and her family; they get home from the hospital today.

Day 12 Cumin-Spiced Brown Rice~page 190

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I love the flavor of cumin; using the seeds gave it extra cumin flavor! I don't particularly like the taste of fresh parsley so I used 2 tsp. dried parsley which I added with the rest of the ingredients.

I just had to show off my new red plates!  I served the Cumin Rice with Tofu Aloo Gobi (cauliflower & potato curry) from Nava Atlas' cookbook "Vegan Express." I seasoned everything with a good dash of Braggs Liquid Aminos.(I love that stuff!)