Robin’s Koginut Squash with RazzMatazz Grape, Purple Sweet Potato, and 'Cheese' Sauce (Almost No Added Fat)

I'm excited that this weekend is our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show where about a dozen of us Cooks will be presenting So Much Squash! and sharing tasty and nutritious squash recipes. The monthly whole food plant-based shows are broadcast live and then later edited and available on the Plant-Based Network.

I'm also excited that a new local regenerative farm, Union Grove Farm, contacted me and invited me to visit their operations. They are getting into high antioxidant muscadine grape production and grow a new small, seedless, thin-skinned variety, the Razzmatazz. I brought home some of their grapes and want to experiment with cooking with them.

Today, I used another locally grown item, Robin's Koginut squash, originally hybridized in collaboration with a chef. This variety has parentage of kabocha, one of my favorites, and butternut squashes (Food and Wine has a nice article about the squash). I love cooking winter squash in my Instant Pot pressure cooker; I simply rinse the squash, put 1/2 cup of water in the pressure cooker, and set the squash on a trivet so it doesn't touch the pot's sides. 8 minutes of pressure steaming should be enough but I used 10 minutes, and also cooked a purple sweet potato (also local, I believe!) along with the squash.

While the squash was cooking, I prepared a simple vegan "cheese" sauce. I blended about 1/4 cup raw cashews with about 3/4 cup water, 2T nutritional yeast, 1 T thick leftover kabocha squash and lentil soup, and 1/4 t each of onion powder and garlic powder, as well as a pinch of salt.

I served the squash with a sweet potato wedge and dollop of "cheese", and was going to pan saute some sweet onions but forgot (!). I did top with a small bunch of the Razzmatazz grapes. I served with a mixed grain and raw vegetables.

 

Results

Dinner was very good! I love the sweet and dense taste of this squash; it was the first time I'd tried it but it will be a variety I seek out now. A real testament was that my daughter, who doesn't normally like squash, really enjoyed the meal.

My family loves the grapes from this farm! Today's meal really used the grapes as a hearty garnish, and I ate the grapes as a palate cleanser. I want to work on some recipes where these cute, small, but nutrition- packed grapes are integral, and hope this week to maybe make a squash dish with grapes as part of a stuffing.

By the way, I made some "ice cream" with the Razzmatazz grapes after dinner. I put grapes, a little bit of plant milk (I used unsweetened flax milk), and that's it into my blender and blended for maybe 10 seconds till the mixture "seized up" and looked like ice cream. It was tart for my wife but my daughter and I quite liked it!

Though I don't classify this as a no-added-fat meal, it "almost" is; 1/4 cup of cashews is about 12g of fat and the sauce was enough for the three of us. In the PCRM Food for Life program, we suggest that any one dish on the plate should be no more than about 3g of fat, and this is close.

Ideas for the future

I am excited about the squash show and will use that as an excuse this week to continue to probe new squash dishes. I am also excited about connecting with this farm and enjoying their grapes. I bet I'll have a nice grape-squash recipe to demonstrate this Saturday!

Nachos with Broccoli

I've been wanting to use my air fryer to make almost no fat tortilla chips for a while and today followed simple guidance I found from Leanne of crumbtopbaking. I used sprouted corn tortillas that have only 1.5g of fat for 2 tortillas; I cut the tortillas into triangles and put them with nothing else - no oil or anything - in a single layer in my Cuisinart air fryer's frying basket. I cooked them in air fry mode for 7 minutes at 350°F. They came out a nice light brown color and crispy!

I had made a pot of black beans with spinach, onion, salt, garlic powder, and a little bit tabasco sauce in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. I also made a cheese sauce like I have in the past in my blender, but I only had a few cashews, so I also used almonds.

I simply served plates of the chips topped with the beans, onion, tomato, and cheese and salsa. I put a ring of cooked broccoli florets around the outside.

 

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Field Peas with Brussels Sprouts and Red Chard, Volcano Rice (No Added Fat, Gluten Free)

I had some dried field peas; I made a dish with them a month or two ago and thought I'd make another one. I read an article extolling their virtues and suggesting a 30m cook time. I tried 6m under pressure.

I soaked about 3/4 cup of field peas for about 5 hours then drained, covered with enough water to just cover, and cooked along with a cup of chopped red chard (chopped into 1/2" squares) for 6 minutes under pressure. In the meantime, I cooked 1/2 cup of Brussels sprouts by briefly putting them in the blender.  started heating a Saladmaster stock pan under medium heat with 1/8 cup of onions cut into 1/4" cubes, then added the Brussels sprouts once the onion was warm. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes.

I combined the cooked field peas, Brussels sprouts, and pinches of garam masala, turmeric, cumin, salt, lemon pepper, and garlic powder, along with a tablespoon of Meyer lemon juice and about 2 T of additional raw onion chopped into 1/4" cubes. I served with volcano rice and a macadamia nut milk smoothie with blueberry and mango.

Results

The meal came out well, though I think it could have been more flavorful. My wife quite liked the meal.

Ideas for the future

A little bit of jalapeno or hot sauce would work well with the main course. I should experiment with cooking chopped Brussels sprouts more, perhaps mixing in a sauce of some sort.

Blended Split Pea Soup with Sweet Potato (No Added Fat)

We are having colder than usual weather, so I thought I'd make a soup. Split pea soup always turns out well, and I had the idea of making a dhal with chunks of sweet potato. Then, on further reflection, I thought I'd blend sweet potato into the dhal. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• About 2 cups of cooked sweet potato
• 1 cup yellow (or green) split peas (1:3 8-10m)
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/3 cups potato cut into approx. 3/8" cubes (I used a small Russet potato)
• 2 cups carrots cut into approx. 3/8" thick slices (2 medium carrots)
• 2 leaves kale, stems excepted, roughly hand torn into approximately 1" squares
• 1t finely (1/8") diced ginger
• 1/8 t turmeric
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t garlic granules (or powder)
• 1/2 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes (I used half red onion and half sweet onion)
• Juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon (or lemon or lime); if organic, as mine was, then use the peel as well
• Additional cup of water

Process

1. I first prepared the sweet potato. I had 3 or 4 small (maybe 3/4" thick by maybe 5" long) locally grown sweet potatoes that would cook quickly; I pressure steamed for 10 minutes (the sweet potato was quite soft and could have cooked in 7-8 minutes I bet), along with one medium purple sweet potato that I had first cut into chunks maybe 1 1/2 " long.
2. Split peas cook in a 1:3 ratio to water for 8-10 minutes. I usually like this to be thick, but with my experiment with the soup, I thought I'd go with just 8 minutes of pressure. I put the split peas, water, potato, carrot, kale, ginger, turmeric, cumin, and garlic powder into my Instant Pot and cooked for 8 minutes.
3. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then mixed in the onion, lemon juice, and salt.
4. I reserved about 1/4 of the soup and put the rest in a blender, along with the lemon peel, and blended for maybe 15-20 seconds till homogenized. (I also blended in the extra cup of water as the soup thickened.)
5. I combined the blended soup with the reserved portion, then served, along with salad, and tomato-topped crusty bread.

Results

All three of us enjoyed dinner. Surprisingly, my daughter didn't complain about the ginger; in fact, after dinner, I made mango-ginger-pineapple ice cream (just blended in my VitaMix blender with a vegan almond cream) topped with cardamom, and we all enjoyed it, too!

Ideas for the future

The soup was thicker than I had thought it might be, but that's okay - it has a "stick to the ribs" warmth, good for cooling temperatures. I wasn't so happy with the color and wonder if I could make it more vibrant with perhaps a dollop of my homemade soy yogurt and, for adults, a slice of red jalapeno, perhaps. I might also experiment with similar soups, but with more chunkiness. I hope to make more blended soups!

Tuscan Tomato Navy Bean Soup (No Added Fat)

My daughter requested tomato soup and I found a nice creamy Tuscan tomato white bean soup recipe, made creamy by using beans. I didn't follow the recipe, but used the idea of blending beans into a tomato soup.

It takes navy beans 25-30m to cook unsoaked and 20-25 soaked, with just enough water to cover. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 1 cup dry navy beans
• Enough water to just cover beans
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup onion
• 4 cups water
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 12T tomato paste (I used all of a 7 ounce bottle of tomato paste)
• 1/4 t dill weed
• 4t basil (I used frozen basil cubes)
• 1/2 t (or to taste) salt
• Medium tomato cut into 1/2" cubes (about 1 1/4 cups)

Process

1. I rinsed the beans then put them into my Instant Pot pressure cooker along with just enough water to cover them, and cooked for 30m.
2. While the beans were cooking, I added all of the remaining ingredients, except the tomato, to my Vitamix blender.
3. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then added the cooked beans to the blender.
4. I blended on low, ramping up to medium for maybe half a minute till ingredients were homogenized, then blended on high till the soup was steaming hot (about 3 minutes).
5. I added the fresh tomato and pulse blended briefly, making sure there were chunks of tomato left, then served.

Results

Dinner was good. I thought that the soup was a bit tangy, but it was just right with crumbled crackers. My wife really enjoyed the soup; my daughter liked it but wished that it had less garlic.

Ideas for the future

I love this idea of blending beans into a soup for creaminess. I've made other creamy soups, such as carrot, but have used cashew, which adds fat and expense. Tofu is another alternative, but my wife has problems digesting tofu.

I'd like to try similar soups in the future. I think that I could improve this one with half as much garlic and maybe more tomato. If we had plum tomatoes, I'd remove the seeds and use them. More - maybe even double the amount - of tomato paste would benefit the soup. I'm so glad to have experimented with a bean soup where the bean is not even the star of the soup, but a thickener that brings great nutrition to the dish.

Celtuce (Stem Lettuce) Saute with Seitan and Pesto (No Added Fat)

This afternoon at the farmers' market, I found a new (to me) vegetable called celtuce (also called stem lettuce). I bought two stems and the kind farmer threw in a third. It has a thick stem and upright lettuce-like leaves. The farmer said that the stems should be peeled and then the flesh was good cooked or raw; the leaves could be used but are bitter.

I thought that I would cube the vegetable and cook it briefly, then mix in seitan. Once home, I also found an article from this past December about celtuce.

I also bought some basil leaves. I found an interesting oil- and fat- free pesto recipe that I thought that I would try. Here is what I did:


Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped (1/4") sweet (or other) onion - I used about half of a medium Vidalia onion
• 8 ounce packet of seitan strips cut into approximately 1" x 1/4" x 1/4" slices
• 2 stems celtuce, peeled then chopped into 3/8" cubes (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 2T coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
• 1 1/2 cups (tightly packed) fresh basil
• 3 cloves garlic
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 1/2 cup water
• Approx. 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
• (Optional) 1T nutritional yeast

Process

1. I put the onion into a Saladmaster (or stainless or other) saute pan and turned the stove on medium. I stirred the onion for just 2 minutes or so; the onion was still not clear but was a little cooked.
2. I added the seitan and cooked another 2 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
3. I added the celtuce, stirred, and cooked another 2 minutes or so, again stirring occasionally.
4. I added the corn kernels; they were frozen, so I mixed for another 2 minutes or so until they were warmed
5. I added the coconut aminos and rubbed with my spatula against the bottom of the pan; the little bit of seitan sticking that had happened cleaned up fairly readily.
6. I turned the heat off, mixed in 6T of pesto (see below, which made maybe 10T), and served.

I also made pesto based on the recipe I cited above, though I used less water and added nutritional yeast.

1. I blended the basil, garlic, bouillon cube, and water, using the pusher that comes with my Vitamix blender, starting with low and going up to 3 or 4 on the blender's scale of 10. I took no more than 10 seconds or so.
2. I removed the pusher, added the salt and nutritional yeast, and briefly (5 seconds or so) blended on medium (4 or 5).

I also made some some Bhutanese Red rice; it calls for 1 part rice to 1 1/2 parts water simmered for 20m, but I used a little more water (1 3/4 parts) and a vegan bouillon cube. A few slices of cucumber (I would have preferred tomato for both taste and color, but we didn't have any) with hemp seeds completed the meal.

Results

I was a little surprised that all three of us really liked the meal. I was "okay" with the raw celtuce but my wife and daughter found even the stem a bit too bitter. But I guess the pesto (I'm so happy to have a tasty and no-oil version!) and flavorful seitan made the dish, perhaps in spite of the celtuce.

Ideas for the future

I wonder if pressure cooking would give celtuce a stronger flavor - though perhaps also more bitterness. It may be worth pressure cooking with some sweet flavors, like citrus or pineapple.

Japanese Sweet Potato Dhal, Tricolor Quinoa with Parsnip, Multigrain English Muffin Open Sandwich (No Added Fat)

My wife and daughter returned from a nice trip to the Tennessee and Western North Carolina mountains and I had dinner almost ready when they arrived. I prepared some meals for a client yesterday including parsnip with mixed quinoa and a dhal (lentil soup) with sweet potato, both of which I loved and wanted to make for my family. Here is what I did:


Ingredients

• 3/4 cup red split lentils
• 3 times as much (i.e., 2 1/4 cups) water
• 2 Japanese (white, but other kinds are fine if white-fleshed can't be found) sweet potatoes, skin removed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/8 t turmeric
• 1/2 t ground cumin seed
• 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
• 1T fresh ginger
• (optional) 1/2 jalapeno (or to taste)
• 1T fresh lime or lemon juice (I used Meyer lemon juice)

Process

1. Yesterday for my client, I had simmered red split lentils for 25m stovetop and blended with a cooked squash. Instead, today, I thought I'd cook lentils and sweet potato. I was about to cook the sweet potato in the pressure cooker and cook the lentils stovetop, then blend, but realized that I could save time and energy by combining. I was in a rush to pick up my wife and daughter so didn't carefully think it out (or I'd have cut the sweet potato into chunks and used less cooking time), but simply put the water, lentils, and sweet potato into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked on high pressure for 20 minutes.
2. I knew that the lentils would be quite done; the sweet potato was also quite well cooked. I put all of the Instant Pot contents into my Vitamix blender.
3. I added to the blender the rest of the ingredients and blended to a puree.

I served the lentil soup (dhal) along with a whole grain English muffin with tomato, avocado, and olive. I also made quinoa as I usually do (1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, along with a vegan bouillon cube, brought to a boil for 3 or so minutes then left off heat, covered, for about 10 minutes till the water was absorbed and the quinoa got the characteristic spiral shape), but I also cut a parsnip into small 1/4" cubes and added them to the beginning of the cooking.

Results

I love this thick and slightly sweet dhal! I don't know if others have tried making a sweet potato or squash dhal. It was quite thick. I didn't include jalapeno, but it would have been quite interesting with the sweet flavor. I love the sweetness and texture that the parsnip adds to the quinoa!

Ideas for the future

I would love to try this dhal with jalapeno. I liked the thickness, but it could be thinned with more water.

Seitan Caponata, Creamy Carrot (Ginger) Soup, Corn

I had a nice imported bottle of Sicilian caponata and thought it might be nice to grill some seitan on a cast iron pan, then put the seitan, along with some onion, into a Saladmaster stock pan and heat with the caponata. I also made the creamy carrot soup that I often make but I only used carrot, water, vegan bouillon cube, salt, and onion (and garlic after serving my Dad, and jerk seasoning after serving my daughter), and forgot ginger. Dinner was excellent!

I think that I will label this an "almost no added fat" meal. The caponata lists olive oil, but I don't think there's more than 10g or so of fat in the whole bottle.

Apple-Fennel Soup (cooked waterlessly before blending), Leftover Seitan with Mushroom and Potato, Baby Arugula with Olive and Preserved Lemon; Note on Hot Chocolate and Lemon Oil

I taught a Food for Life class two days ago, including using fennel, and had about a bulb of fennel on hand. I found a fennel apple soup recipe online that calls for sauteing onion and then adding fennel and apple pieces and cooking for 5-10 minutes on medium heat till soft, then blending with stock. I decided to use that approach as an inspiration and try coming up with my own recipe.

At last week's banquet, the restaurant made a very tasty seitan, mushroom, and potato dish, and we still had leftovers. I served it along with a baby arugula salad with tomato, olive, and preserved lemon. My Dad doesn't eat leftovers, so I skipped the seitan but added some raw cashews to his meal. Here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium onion cut roughly into approximately 1/2" pieces
• Fennel with fronds (leaves) reserved, bulb roughly chopped into approximately 1/2" pieces, and stems saved for future use
• Apple; mine was organic, so I didn't peel, but otherwise it should be peeled; in any case, the apple should be roughly chopped into approximately 1/2" pieces
• 2 small Yukon gold potatoes (peel kept on if and only if organic), chopped into approximately 1/4" or 3/8" pieces
• 2 cups water
• Vegan bouillon cube
• Salt to taste (I used approximately 1/4 t)
• 1/8 t dried dill weed
• (Optional) 1t fresh or frozen basil

Process

1. I put, in this order, the onion, fennel bulb, apple, and potato into a small Saladmaster stock pot and, covered, brought to medium high heat. Once the vapor lock started rattling, I reduced the heat to low until the rattling stopped, and cooked for about 20m. (Instead of waterless cooking, one could just gently cook the ingredients on medium heat, stirring occasionally.)
2. I put the cooked vegetables into my Vitamix blender (any blender would do), along with the rest of the ingredients, and blended to a puree.
3. I sampled the soup and found it to be too sweet, so added a small shallot and blended; it was still too sweet. I wondered what to do, so tried adding 3 leaves of kale, stem and all.
4. I blended on high a few minutes till the soup was steaming hot. In a regular blender, the pureed soup could be poured into a pan and heated.
5. I served, topped with a garnish of fennel fronds.

I also served the leftover seitan dish, as well as the salad.

Results

Dinner was good but I was critical, more than the rest of the family who seemed to enjoy it a little bit more than I, of the sweetness of the soup. It was good but I didn't taste much fennel and it was, well, a bit too sweet. It was reasonably thick and didn't need cashews added to the blending, as I thought it might, to thicken. The seitan was great, and the salad was quite good.

Ideas for the future

I would like to continue to experiment with an apple-fennel soup - or maybe a pear-fennel or some other sweet fennel soup. Next time, I'd use half as much apple. My Dad doesn't eat garlic, but a hint of garlic, maybe a clove or possibly two, would be nice in this dish. The kale wasn't really necessary, but added good nutrition today. I could use maybe one leaf of kale next time for a hint of color and, of course, the nutrition, but I'd like to come up with something savory to counteract the apple and make its sweetness a bit more subtle. Cumin might be good.

Note on Hot Chocolate and Lemon Oil

Incidentally, I had my daughter help me to make soymilk-based hot chocolate earlier in the evening. I rarely use a powerful ingredient I keep in my refrigerator, Boyajian brand lemon oil, but was inspired by recently trying a surprising but excellent combination of organic lemon ginger chocolate with black pepper. So I mixed in not just cinnamon and vanilla (and later topped with freshly ground nutmeg), but also a drop or two of the oil. As the Boyajian website states, "Our citrus oils are natural essences that are cold pressed from the rind of the fruit. Extracts and flavorings don't come close to the remarkable intensity of these oils. Use sparingly in place of zest or peel. As a general rule, start with 1/2 teaspoon per cup of dry ingredients, plus 1/4 teaspoon per cup of liquid ingredients in any recipe."

The hot chocolate was excellent, and we both loved it! I should use these strong oils occasionally (I also have lime oil), as they impart a powerfully pleasing flavor.

Kale and Turnip Vegetable Soup, Leftover Curried Tempeh

We are going through some cold weather, so I thought that soup would again be a good idea. never cooked squash in a waterless fashion (put in a high quality Saladmaster pan with no water, oil, or anything else; bring to medium high heat, covered, until the vapor lock starts to rattle; then reduce heat to low so the lock doesn't rattle) and decided to try it tonight. As I started working on this dish, I was reminded of the vegan "cheese" sauce that I described this past April, and thought it would go well atop the vegetables. I ended up making a one-course meal, as follows.


Ingredients

• 6 kale leaves (about half of a bunch), bottom 3/4" or so removed and then, including  both stem and leaf, cut into 1 1/2" lengths
• 1 medium turnip, peeled, and cut into 3/8" cubes
• 1 medium carrot very quickly cut into 1" or so lengths (I ended up needing a second carrot, similarly cut)
• Medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/8" cubes (I used a purple-skinned white sweet potato; I recommend, for color, using a white one if possible, but orange would be okay. A purple fleshed one would probably result in a brown and unappetizing looking soup.)
• 1 medium onion cut into eighths
• 1 vegan bouillon cube
• 3 cups water divided into 1 cup and 2 cups
• 2t chopped basil (I used frozen basil)
• 2T broccoli stalk chopped into 1/2" cubes
• Salt (try 1/2 t) and lemon pepper (or black pepper - try 1/2 t, as well) to taste
• 1/4 cup cashews
• (optional) 2T nutritional yeast

Process

1. I put all of the ingredients, except the 2 cups of water, cashews, and nutritional yeast, into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked on high pressure for 3 minutes.
2. In the meantime, I put the remaining ingredients (2 cups of water, cashews, and nutritional yeast) in my Vitamix blender.
3. When the pressure cooking was done, I slowly let out the steam and opened the pressure cooker, transferring all the cooked ingredients into the blender.
4. I blended on high for a few minutes till the soup was homogenous and nice and hot (in hindsight, I should have added boiling water instead of tap water to obviate much of the blending time to heat the water), then served. (I sampled and decided it needed more carrot, so put in a second carrot and blended.)

I also served some leftover curried tempeh from our banquet on Sunday.

Results

The soup was better than I expected it to be! The thickness was good and the flavor quite good. My wife particularly loved the soup.

Ideas for the future

I would have added garlic to the pressure cooker (perhaps 2 or 3 cloves), but my Dad doesn't eat garlic. Perhaps 1/4 jalapeno in the blender would have been good, as well.

Turkish Red Lentil Soup with Pressure Steamed and Stove Charred "Baked" Potato (No Added Fat)

Recently, my family went out to eat at a Turkish restaurant that we like, Talulla's (we love their warm hummus and many other dishes that they make). We had a pureed red lentil soup that was quite good, and I've had it on my mind to learn how to make something like this.

I found a recipe, coincidentally on the Whole Foods Market (a favorite place for us to shop) website, for Turkish Red Lentil Soup. It is a simple recipe of putting into a pot and then simmering, uncovered, for 25m or until the lentils are falling apart and vegetables are very soft these ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup red lentils, rinsed (I only had a cup)
• 7 cups vegetable broth (I used 6 cups of water and 2 vegan bouillon cubes)
• 1 large onion, finely diced (I aimed for 1/4")
• 1 large carrot, finely diced (I aimed for 1/4" and used 2 carrots)
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (I used 2 teaspoons, and also added 1/4 t turmeric)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste (I skipped due to feeding my daughter)
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste

Half of the soup is then pureed and mixed back in to come up with a mainly smooth soup with some small chunks. The recipe calls for optionally serving with lemon wedges and chopped mint; I put a leaf of mint in the bowl and a chunk of preserved lemon.

I also made a pressure steamed and then stove charred "baked" potato, as per an Instant Pot recipe. The recipe calls for putting 2 cups of water into the Instant Pot pot, putting baking potatoes into a smaller bowl set atop the Instant Pot's steamer rack, steaming on high pressure for 25 minutes, and then flame charring the skin.

My Dad didn't eat with us today (he was with friends), so I was free to use the garlic, which contributes an important taste in this recipe. All three of us - my Kindergartener, wife, and myself, loved the soup! I recall the restaurant's one as being a bit better, but my wife wasn't sure and also suggested that they probably had oil in theirs, adding just a bit more luscious flavor.

I already increased the spices that the soup recipe had called for, but it could perhaps use maybe 3t of ground cumin, an extra 2 cloves of garlic, and possibly a third carrot. To deepen the red, a bit more tomato paste could be used - perhaps a total of 3T - but not so much as to lend too strong of a tomato flavor. The mint and lemon were great! While I didn't use cayenne, my wife and I added hot sauce at the table, and that was quite welcome. Were I not cooking for spice-averse people, I would try a teaspoon of chopped jalapeno instead of cayenne.

Small chunks of asparagus would go well with this soup. I would love to reinvent this soup by incorporating kale, though the color would change to a less appealing brownish one. I could change the character of the soup by serving with chopped raw bok choy and perhaps chunks of cooked squash. The soup was great in consistency, but instead of using a 1 part lentil to 6 part water ratio, would be just fine 1 : 4 of 1 : 5 for something more thick.

The potato was good. We ate it as-is without added fat. I think that the potato could be done a bit more, so might cook for maybe 28 minutes next time.

Incidentally, I chose not to pressure cook the main course because red (split) lentils take 15-18 minutes to cook under pressure, not much less than 25 minutes on the stove. I could have made it all in the Instant Pot, and perhaps should try sometime.

As I was researching and writing this up, I noticed that Talulla's calls their soup Mercimek Soup. I guess this traditional soup is known in Turkey as Mercimek Çorbasi. One recipe suggested incorporating sauteed potato (I presume cut into small cubes, perhaps 3/8" in size) as well. I can't wait to make some version of this again, perhaps in the pressure cooker and with more / with no garlic, depending on whether my Dad is visiting. 

Cranberry Bean - Kale Burgers, Quinoa (No Added Fat)

I loved the cranberry beans that I made in early September! Most of the places that I shop don't seem to carry these beans that cook into a filling, creamy texture, but I found them at Whole Foods Market in Durham, NC today. I had the idea of mashing the beans and then cooking them as burgers. I refined the idea to blend the beans instead of mashing them.

Ingredients

• One cup cranberry beans, soaked overnight (see above for variation)
• 1/2 t finely chopped (1/8" or so cubes) ginger
• Water (just enough to cover beans)
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 1/4 cup onion cut into large 1/2" pieces and separated into two halves
• Salt, and/or freshly ground black pepper, to taste - start with 1/2 t of each
• (Optional) Hot sauce or jalapeno
• 4-6 leaves kale, roughly cut into 1" squares, stems left behind
• (Optional) 2 cloves garlic roughly diced into 1/8" pieces or so
• (Optional but recommended) 8-10 leaves fresh basil
• (Optional but recommended) Approximately 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1T miso
• 1t nutritional yeast
• 1t chopped onion
• 1/4 cup water

Process

1. Rinse and drain the beans. (I didn't soak the beans overnight but soaked them about 7 hours; I used boiling water and changed the water - with a new batch of boiling water - about half way through.)
2. Put the beans and ginger in the Instant Pot pressure cooker and put in just enough water to cover the beans; cook on high pressure for 22m. I should have added the bouillon cube but forgot; I instead added it before blending. (The ginger can be helpful to prevent gas, though my family doesn't seem to have an issue with these beans.)
3. Let the pressure cooker cool down a bit (putting a moist towel on top helps) and then slowly reduce pressure and remove the top.
4. Put the cooked beans, half the onion, salt and pepper, and the hot sauce or jalapeno (I omitted both as my daughter wouldn't have eaten this) into a blender (along with the bouillon cube that I missed earlier) and blend briefly to homogenize.
5. Add the remaining onion, garlic (which I skipped, as my Dad doesn't eat garlic, but I've included in the writeup for the future), basil, and kale to the blender and blend briefly at medium (I used 70% power on my Vitamix variable setting), mixing everything in but being careful to keep recognizable small pieces of the newly added vegetables.
6. I transferred this fairly thick paste to a bowl and, in turn, took two large tablespoonfuls into my clean hands, rolled into a ball, and flattened into a thick (3/4"?) patty.
7. I had some prepared bread crumbs that included garlic as an ingredient. Since my Dad doesn't eat garlic, I cooked his burger as this patty. For the rest, I gently pressed both sides of the burgers into the bread crumbs first.
8. I put the patties, with or without bread crumbs, into a cast iron skillet that had been preheated for a few minutes on medium high, but added no oil. I checked the bottom after about 3 minutes and then every minute or so until it was gently brown (I think it took about 4 or 5 minutes), then flipped and cooked the other side similarly.
9. In parallel, I had made a miso sauce by blending the miso, nutritional yeast, additional teaspoon of onion, and water. I served the burger with the sauce on top.

I also made some quinoa by first sauteeing (with no oil) some bell pepper and onion, then cooking the quinoa in a 1 part quinoa to 2 part water combination, along with a vegan bouillon cube. I let it simmer for about 3 or 4 minutes then covered and turned the heat off; the characteristic quinoa spiral was evident with the liquid absorbed after about 10 minutes. I mixed in a little salt and ground cumin and served along with an heirloom tomato slice.

Results

We were all amazed at the "bean dip" that came out of the pressure cooker. I was tempted to stop and not make burgers but instead saved some (and put on bread for my daughter's lunch tomorrow) as a dip. This was the first time that I've tried making burgers of any kind from scratch, and all of us liked them. My wife suggested that a little bit more binding may help, such as may be obtained by including some potato. I liked the burgers with the consistency that they were, but wouldn't mind exploring (dehydrating?) getting them more firm. But we all liked the burgers.

I realized late in the process that I should have enhanced the sauce at least with ginger and some citrus perhaps. The dressing was reasonable, but the choice of ketchup for my daughter's burger may have been a better one for us all. The quinoa, as always, was good.

Ideas for the future

I need to redo this recipe but stop once I get the "bean dip" and serve it like a hummus or perhaps in a Mexican-style layered dish. That dip is a winner - I wonder why cranberry beans aren't better known. I was pleased with how the breading for the burgers worked out and should use bread crumbs more often. I should try making burgers again. Garlic would have been a welcome addition to the burgers (and perhaps quinoa), but wasn't really necessary as the flavors were reasonably rich. The kale in the burger could be optional but I liked the green color that it contributed but, more significantly, loved the nutritional punch that the kale contributed to an already nutritious meal. It's fun and rewarding expermenting with this bean in particular!

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower served with Limed Jerk Seitan and Heirloom Tomato topped with Hemp Seeds (No Added Fat)

I don't often eat cauliflower; I occasionally enjoy a bit raw in a salad, or perhaps cooked Indian-style as part of a curried dish. But I've heard of creamy mashed cauliflower and what I've heard is that it's easy and quite tasty. An online search came up with just such a recipe from a blog called A Vegan and a Vitamix. I modified it slightly to double the liquid and garlic, and add nutritional yeast. The recipe calls for initially steaming the cauliflower florets for about 13 minutes, and I used a hint about steaming cauliflower in a pressure cooker which suggested 3 minutes of steaming under high pressure would do (the Instant Pot website has a good summary of pressure steaming). Here is the recipe with these modifications.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• Medium head of cauliflower cut into maybe a half dozen smaller pieces, leaves and large stem removed and remaining cauliflower cut into sections of florets (I guess it could be cut into the individual florets, but it would have taken more time and been more difficult to keep atop the steamer trivet)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup unsweetened (homemade) almond milk (this is a staple for us, but any other plant "milk", preferably unsweetened, could be used)
• 3T nutritional yeast
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Process

1. I put the trivet (just a little metal basket or shelf to get ingredients up off the water level and off of the pot sides) in the Instant Pot, and put the cup of water in, double checking that the trivet was above the level of the water (it was - if not, I'd reduce the water till it was at least a bit below the trivet).
2. I then added the cauliflower, closed the pot, and selected "Steam", which is high pressure steaming; I set it to 3 minutes.
3. When I was ready for the cauliflower, I let out any remaining steam and pressure (just a few minutes later, there was little pressure left), and put the cauliflower into my Vitamix blender (any reasonably powerful blender should do).
4. I added the rest of the ingredients (garlic, almond milk, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper) and, using the tamper (a pole that pushes ingredients down into the spinning blades), blended on a variable setting of about 7 (out of 10; beyond that, the blender can go into a high speed mode) till the cauliflower was homogenized. It was soft and pliable, but not runny - for those who want it a bit softer, some more milk could be used.
5. That's it! I served it, using the plastic Vitamix long spatula to scrape out remnants.

I also made my signature lime-marinated jerk seitan (a video is available) by sautéing with no added fat in a cast iron pan seitan and onion, then mixing in lime and jerk seasoning (I prefer to first marinate the seitan in lime, but not when I am cooking in cast iron), as well as a bit of salt.

Results

Dinner was great! What a nice and easy recipe that cauliflower dish is - it's a winner! I think that I overdid the garlic, though my wife enjoyed it. The nutritional yeast was a good addition - just enough to lend a subtle hint. We always love the limed jerk seitan!

Ideas for the future

I'd like to try this again but cut the garlic in half. Maybe I should try this as is but with the garlic pressure cooked, making it have a milder roasted flavor. My wife suggested that a little bit of chunk in the form of some raw onion cubes might be nice, though I'm not sure. I wonder what similar dishes would be like with other vegetables like turnips or some other mild vegetable.

While I was preparing the seitan, I came up with an idea - seitan would be good with some raw tomato mixed in (and maybe raw onion) when served. Another idea would be to mix in some pressure cooked green tomato to get just a subtle tomato flavor.