Tempeh with Seabean (Almost No Added Fat)

Kale with Itaian Seitan, Bagel with Avocado and Tomato

Brussels Sprout-Bean Saute (No Added Fat)

Shiitake Mushroom, Broccoli, and Italian Seitan cooked with Jade Pearl Rice

Ingredients

• 1/4 onion cut in 1/4" cubes
• 8-10 shiitake mushrooms cut into thick 1/2" slices
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 1c Jade Pearl Rice
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 vegan bouillon cube (optional but recommended)
• 6 ounces of ground seitan (I like Upton's Italian seitan, but only can find it at one local store so don't often have it in stock - but I did today!)
• (optional) 1t nutritional yeast per plate (more or less to taste)

Process

1. In a stainless steel pan with no added fat, I added the onion and started gently dry sauteeing, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes over medium heat
2. As the onion cleared in color, I added the mushroom and cooked for another 2 minutes or so till the mushroom cooked down a little and the onion was just starting to carmelize
3. I then added the water, rice, broccoli, and bouillon cube, brought to a boil over medium-high, then covered the pan and simmered on low heat for 20m (Jade Pearl cookes in a 1:1.5 ratio over 20m)
4. I added the seitan, stirred, and let the mixture sit, covered, with heat off for several minutes (just to heat the seitan)
5. I served, sprinkling some nutritional yeast on top and offering hot sauce at the table

Results

I recently discovered (actually, I forgot but first used this last May) this creamy rice and find that it comes out creamy and reminiscent of risotto. This dinner was indeed quite tasty!

Ideas for the future

I wonder if this might be even better with a mild gravy. Perhaps I could puree some dilute miso, mustard, and maybe carrot and serve with a dollop of the gravy atop the rice. The dish does not need additional moisture, but some additional flavor surprises may be fun. My wife doesn't eat tofu, which bothers her digestion, but a baked or otherwise firm tofu, or tempeh (no need to saute but just add near the end as with seitan in today's version) would be good as part of the dish.

American Flatbread Pizza, Great Northern Bean - Citrus Salad (Almost No Added Fat)

We don't often get frozen pizza, but there is one brand, American Flatbread, that I do occasionally get when it's on sale as it is particularly good and they have two vegan versions - one with vegan cheese and one that I picked up a few days ago, Farmers' Tomato Pie (each third of the pizza is 5g of fat, so I classify this as an almost-no-added-fat meal). I had stopped by a Harris Teeter supermarket a day or two ago, and found this at a significant sale, so will probably pick up a few more pies before the sale ends.

It sure made a quick and tasty meal tonight, the opening night of the NC International South Asian Film Festival (that I have been helping to organize and for which I had to introduce the first film). I came up with the idea of cutting up some citrus and mixing with beans for a salad - it came out tasty!

Asparagus - Potato - Roasted Pepper Saute with Vegan Apple Sage Sausage served w Injera (Almost No Added Fat)

After a photography class that I taught last night (right now, on Wednesdays I'm teaching FFL nutrition and cooking classes in the morning and photography in the evening), I enjoyed dinner with a student at a favorite local restaurant, Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant. Their vegan platter is always so good, and we love the fermented injera bread. It helps that it is run by a friend of ours who puts her love and home cooked touch on things!

I brought a bit of injera home and made a simple saute with leftover baked potato, asparagus, onion, a vegan apple-sage sausage (10g of fat for the whole sausage, so less than 5g for our serving), and a little bit of marinara sauce. I served it with the injera and some tomato. Other than the sausage, this was a no-added-fat meal.

Okra with Fennel and Orange Bell Pepper, Baked Potato, and Chickpeas with Chickpea Miso-Ginger-Mandarin Orange Dressing (No Added Fat)

Seitan Saute with Baby Corn (No Added Fat)

Pasta with Spinach served with Asparagus (No Added Fat)

Penne and "Chreese", Raw Kale with Hemp Seed and Miso-Ginger Dressing (for Kiddo and Daddy)

My daughter loves vegan macaroni and "chreese" (I like it once in a while, too, but my wife doesn't), so I served it tonight when my wife wasn't eating with us. I also made a big raw kale salad. We both enjoyed dinner!

Seitan and Plantain with Bok Choy, Quinoa with Carrot, Miso, and Eggplant Marinara (No Added Fat)

Quick Pizza and Fries Dinner (for myself only)

I found a Rustic Crust brand of pizza crust and used it as a base for dinner that I made just for me tonight. The crust was actually quite good and made for a tasty pizza.

Gastrawnomica’s Raw Thai Pasta in memory of Rynn Berry (who passed away a few hours ago)

Yesterday, I was shocked to hear that my good friend Rynn Berry had been unconscious since December 31 (or possibly the 29th). He is an expert on the history of vegetarianism and is the author of many beautifully written books. He was primarily a raw food vegan. He has been my guest a number of times. Unfortunately, he passed away at 12:30p today. May he rest in peace; he contributed so much and will be missed.

To honor him, I prepared a raw food dinner tonight. I found a good looking Thai "pasta" recipe online, and prepared it fairly closely to the recipe, but omitted cilantro. We dimmed the lights, lit a candle, and talked about Rynn while we ate. I sure miss him!

Spinach - Broccoli saute with Ginger Juice finish, Mashed Potatoes

Sauteed Vegetables with Udon Noodles (No Added Fat)

Kale Saute Sandwich, Roasted Chestnuts, Chickea Salad (Almost No Added Fat)

(Each chestnut has .4g  of fat, so this is essentially a no-added-fat meal.)

Simplified Carrot-Ginger Soup (with updated recipe), Leftovers (Quinoa-Couscous Seitan, Purple Sweet Potato Mash)

Happy New Year! My birthday was a few days ago and my wife took me to Cafe Parizade, where we host Thanksgiving, for a very nice meal with a good variety of dishes. There was this awesome purple sweet potato dish, and a unique quinoa-couscous tempeh dish that I brought home as leftovers. All of the food was great!

I heated up the leftovers from my birthday dinner and made a simplified version of my carrot-ginger soup. I first described it in March 2010, using a Vitamix recipe but substituting cashew for tofu (I should try it with tofu when cooking just for my daughter and myself). It basically involves a quick saute of carrot, onion, and garlic, before blending with ginger, tofu/cashew, and broth.

Today, I decided to try a simplified version of the soup. At least once before, I did the same thing - I skipped the saute. The soup tasted just fine and none of us found it significantly different from how it has been in the past! Below is my revised recipe that I think that I will use from now on.


Ingredients

• Four medium organic carrots, washed but unpeeled with just a bit of the very ends removed; they will be pulverized by the blender so don't really need to be cut, but I often roughly cut them into maybe 2 or 3 inch pieces
• 1/4 small onion (I also used a small shallot), as is or perhaps cut into halves or thirds
• 4 cloves garlic (I skipped garlic; my Dad is visiting for about a month and doesn't eat garlic)
• 1/4 t salt (more or less to taste)
• 1T fresh ginger root
• (optional) 1/4 of a fresh jalapeno, more or less to taste (I didn't use as my daughter would find the soup unpalatable)
• 1/3 cup (less if you want less fat) raw cashew pieces (or whole raw cashews, but they are more expensive)
• 2 cups water
• 1 vegan bouillon cube; I use Rapunzel brand without salt
• (optional) pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• (optional) Sprig of rosemary or other fresh herb (I skipped this time)

Process

1. In the order as above, put all the ingredients, except the optional black pepper and fresh herb, into a high powered blender like a Vitamix. It will also work with other blenders, but the carrot may need to be cut into smaller pieces first, and the soup may need to be made in batches.
2. Turn the Vitamix on to low (1) and slowly, over about 10 seconds, to medium (5) until all the ingredients are chopped and the nascent soup is looking almost uniform.
3. Turn the blender to high and blend for about 4 or 5 minutes until steam is generated. Less powerful blenders may not be able to sustain this; in that case, blend till uniform and then transfer to a stock pan, bring to a near boil, then simmer, uncovered, for a few minutes.
4. Serve, optionally with black pepper and/or a garnish of fresh herb.

The original recipe has this as yielding 4 1/2 cups and having 6g of fat per cup. Light silken tofu, at least as formulated by one brand, has only a gram of fat per 91g of tofu, and this calls for even less tofu. Raw (not that cashews can truly be raw without including a bit of poison, but that's a different discussion :-) ) cashews have 12g of fat per ounce, and an ounce of cashews is about a quarter cup by volume, so 1/3 cup has about 16g of fat. So my recipe should have about 3-4 g of fat additional per cup, or about 9-10g of fat per cup.