Leftover Canellini Bean and Brussels Sprout Lasagne

I made lasagne; my daughter really liked the manicotti that I recently made and I had some of Miyoko's vegan smoked "mozarella" cheese that I had used. I put four layers of lasagne down, then added leftover canellini beans with Brussels sprouts, plus some of the vegan cheese and sauce. I put down four more layers, then sauteed onion and garlic, plus mushroom and Swiss chard and more sauce. I put down a final four layers then sauce, and baked in a preheated 375°F for 40m.

Results

Dinner was good and I was pleased at "reinventing" the leftovers this way. Though it wasn't no added fat, I didn't use a lot of the vegan cheese, so it was reasonably low in fat.

Ideas for the future

It's not so difficult to make lasagne, though it does take a bit of time. One puts sauce down in a baking dish (I used a 9"x13" glass one) then boils four lasagne noodles at a time (these wheat ones cooked in about 5 minutes) and places them on the sauce. Fillings go next, then four more freshly cooked noodles, etc. I should experiment with more types of lasagne; certainly today showed that the right kind of leftover can be a good filling. I should try eggplant to get something like a moussaka lasagne.

Brussels Sprouts with Canellini Beans (No Added Fat)

I wanted to cook with canellini beans - they're soft and creamy. I bought some organic Brussels sprouts yesterday and thought that they would go well with the beans.

I soaked the beans overnight then pressure cooked for 15m after just covering with water and adding a vegan bouillon cube. In the meantime, I sauteed halved Brussel sprouts, shallot, and garlic; when almost done (I cooked with no oil in a cast iron pan), I stirred in some red onion slices and cooked another few minutes.

I mixed the cooked beans with the sprouts, garlic powder, salt, chopped jalapeno, dried sage, and lime juice. It came out well!

Tempeh with Swiss Chard (No Added Fat)

I was cooking just for my wife and myself, so used tempeh, which my daughter doesn't like. I sauteed tempeh with onion and, when almost done, added Swiss chard and cooked down a bit. I also made asparagus and served a tomato and avocado sandwich.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Black Bean and Corn Pupusa (prepared), Brown Basmati Rice with Swiss Chard

I saw an interesting looking product in the store and picked it up, Tres Latin Foods' pupusas, and picked up their black bean and sweet corn variety, which I thought I'd use today, as well as their kale and pinto bean pupusa. Pupusas are a traditional dish from El Salvador; I love corn masa and bet these are good.The ingredients look great:

• (Black bean and corn pupusa) organic corn masa, water, black beans, corn, olive oil, and salt
• (Kale and pint bean pupusa) organic corn masa, water, pinto beans, olive oil, kale, salt, chili powder, chipotle powder, and onion powder

... and each pupusa only has 3.5g of fat.

I cooked the pupusas at 400°F for 10m then pan sauteed on a cast iron pan for a few minutes per side to get them a bit crispy. I served with some stewed tomatoes and raw red onion

I also made brown basmati rice (1:2 ratio of rice to water, plus a vegan bouillon cube, and I also mixed in frozen chopped Swiss chard, then pressure cooked it all for 25m) and steamed broccoli and mixed it with sauteed onion.

Results

These pupusas are good. They're not strongly flavorful but certainly satisfying and filling; one was enough for me.

Ideas for the future

I look forward to serving more of these prepared pupusas, and would like to top them with a spicy salsa and fresh avocado and onion. It would be fun to learn to make pupusas!

Smoked "Mozzarella" Manicotti with Spinach and Peas, Bell Pepper with Seitan, Corn (Gluten Free)

I recently found vegan smoked "mozzarella" from Miyoko's Creamery I had some brown rice manicotti shells and decided to make manicotti. The vegan cheese is a bit high in fat (it's an 8 ounce package and has 5g of fat per ounce), so I thought I'd make manicotti with half the cheese, but ended up needing about 3/4, so the total fat from the cheese (and nothing else contributed significantly more fat) was 30g of fat. The 9"x13" baking dish was heavy with the 16 filled shells and sauce; I anticipated that we'd each eat 3 shells, so have about 30g of fat x 3/16 = about 6g of fat. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 7 ounce box of manicotti shells, prepared according to directions (I used a gluten-free brown rice shell that had 16 shells that I boiled for 4 minutes)
• About 40 ounces (I used 25 ounce jars, so went through almost two) of a favorite marinara sauce
• 6 ounces of vegan smoked "mozzarella cheese" roughly cut into 1/2" or smaller pieces
• 1/3 cup onion cut into approximately 1/4" cubes
• 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh) chopped spinach
• 1/2 pound frozen (or fresh) peas
• (optional) Few T of nutritional yeast
• Ingredient 2
• 8 ounces of seitan
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 2 cups onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1 1/4" ( maybe 2/3 of a medium onion)
• 1 1/4 cups carrot cut into 3/8" slices (3 small-medium carrots)

Process

1. I put a thick (maybe 1/4") layer of marinara at the bottom of a 9"x13" 3-quart glass baking dish.
2. I mixed the cheese, onion, and spinach together to make the filling.
3. For each prepared shell, I stuffed (well, my daughter helped and she did the stuffing!) half way with the filling, then put enough peas in to leave only 1/3 of the shell empty; that I stuffed with the filling.
4. I placed each stuffed shell in turn onto the sauce in the baking dish.
5. Once the shells were all placed, we spread the remaining sauce on top of the shells, then my daughter generously sprinkled nutritional yeast atop.
6. I baked the (heavy!) manicotti for 40m, covered, in a preheated 375°F oven.

I also made a simple side dish of bell pepper, onion, garlic, and seitan (I used a crumbled chorizo seitan), as well as corn.

Results

Dinner came out well. My daughter especially loved the meal. I couldn't believe that she ate 5 manicotti shells and kept saying that she wished that she had room for more. I ate 2 and was quite full.

Ideas for the future

Pending

Whole Wheat Pearled Couscous with Tempeh and Mixed Vegetables (No Added Fat)

We had a Kindergartener friend over for dinner and I thought I'd make a simple whole wheat pearled couscous meal. The couscous is easily made in a ratio of 1 : 1.5 of couscous to water. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic finely minced
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pearled cousous
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 cup frozen mixed chopped vegetables
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 1/4 t salt
• 8 ounce packet of tempeh cut into thin rectangles maybe 3/4" x 1/2" x 1/4"
• 1/8 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes (I used both red and sweet onions)
• 1-2 T coconut aminos (or soy sauce or tamari)
• (optional) 1/2 t dried chives

Process

1. I dry sauteed the garlic for a minute in a large Saladmaster stock pan with no water or any other item.
2. I then added the water and couscous, along with the vegetables, bouillon cube, and salt, and brought to a boil.
3. Once at a boil, I reduced the heat to low and simmered, covered, for 10 minutes.
4. While the couscous was cooking, I sauteed the tempeh and 2/3 of the onion on a cast iron pan with no oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the tempeh was lightly browned (maybe 7-9 minutes).
5. I then put the tempeh and onion into a bowl, and mixed in the remaining raw onion, coconut aminos, and chives, and kept warm in a toaster oven.
6. When the couscous was done, I served with the tempeh; for the children, who may not like tempeh, I served with beans.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending