Eggplant and Tofu Stew (No Added Fat)

I'm looking forward to our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show on Saturday April 4th; we'll be demonstrating appliances like a juicer, mandolin, immersion blender, and more. I'll be discussing the pressure cooker. Today's dish with my Instant Pot pressure cooker was simple, fast, tasty, and healthy - as usual! 

Ingredients

• Medium eggplant cut into 3/4" or 1" cubes
• 3/4 of a 14 ounce block of extra firm tofu cut into 5/8" pieces
• 14.5 ounce can stewed or roasted tomato (diced not whole)
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped into 1/4" or smaller pieces
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1/8 cup water
• Herbs: 1 t oregano and 1/2 t sage if dried; 1 T oregano and 1 t sage if fresh
• (optional) Medium Yukon Gold or red or yellow potato cut into 3/4" pieces
• 1/8 cup onion cut into 1/4" cubes
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper OR spicy crushed red pepper or hot sauce to taste
• Salt to taste

Process

1. Traditionally one would salt eggplant such as by generously sprinkling salt over the cut pieces in  a colander over a bowl for 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours or so and then rinsing. It would draw off excess moisture, helpful if dry cooking, and pull out some bitterness. However, eggplants have been bred to not be so bitter and I am pressure cooking, so I skipped this step as I usually do.
2. Put the eggplant, tofu, stewed tomato, garlic, garlic powder, and water into the pressure cooker.
3. If using potato, add it as well. I did use potato but in hindsight its flavor and texture was not consonant with the rest of the dish so I'd omit it.
4. If using dried herbs, add them too (otherwise add just before serving).
5. Cook under pressure for 2 minutes.
6. After the cooking is done, wait a few minutes and gently released pressure, then mix in herbs (if using fresh), onion, black or red pepper (or hot sauce), and salt.

 

Results

The dish was predictably delicious. I have been pressure cooking for some years now but still am amazed at the depth of flavor that can be achieved in minutes. We didn't care for the potato but it really didn't detract much.

Ideas for the future

I would omit the potato. I have used capers in the past for eggplant and tomato dishes - they go well together. I wonder what a little bit of roasted fennel would be like in this dish.

Teff Porridge with Potato and Sweet Potato, Crispy Seitan and Okra (No Added Fat)

I can't believe I've not posted in so long. I recently experimented with whole teff grain; we love Ethiopian food including the injera teff-based bread with which it is served. Teff provides a good source of protein, magnesium, calcium, iron, Vitamin B6, and more. I thought that I would try using this nutritious food as a base for a dinner porridge and did so successfully a few weeks ago.

The package that I purchased of organic brown teff suggested cooking for 12 minutes or so 1/4 cup teff in 2/3 cup broth. That ratio is 1/4 : 2/3 = 3/12 : 8/12 or, in easy terms, a bit less than 3 times as much liquid as grain. I've also seen recipes of 1:4; in the end one can have significant leeway for varying thickness.

I also made a seitan dish. My daughter doesn't love seitan so I served her smoked tofu. I also pan sauteed some okra halves. Here is what I did.

Ingredients

• Approx. 4 ounces teff; Whole Foods Market and I'm sure others sell this grain
• Approx. a cup and a half of water
• Stalk of broccoli; stalk cubed into small 1/4" or smaller pieces, florets cut into small bite-sized pieces
• 3 leaves of kale with pieces approx. 1 1/2" or so hand torn and then stems discarded (composted)
• Clove of garlic roughly chopped into 1/4" or so cubes
• 2 t ginger, finely (less than 1/4") chopped
• Approx. 1/4 - 1/3 cup of onion cut into 3/8" cubes (most of a small onion) put in two sets
• 2 medium Russet potatoes or 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, well cooked (I used my pressure cooker) and then cut into 3/4" cubes
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, cooked (I also pressure cooked) and then cut into 3/4" cubes
• Spices to taste - I suggest starting simply with 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper or lemon pepper, 1 t garlic powder, and salt to taste (maybe 1/4 t)
• Herbs to taste - I suggest a dozen fresh oregano leaves
• (optional) Hot sauce to preference

Process

1. I put all of the ingredients except the potato, sweet potato, second set of onion, and spices and herbs into a large stock pot and brought to a boil
2. I continued to cook, simmering on low-medium heat, dropping to low heat after 5 minutes or so, and stirring all the way from the bottom occasionally as the grain can coat the pan bottom and harden
3. I let the porridge cook down till most of the water was absorbed; there should still be some water as absorption will continue even after the heat is turned off
4. I mixed in the remaining ingredients and served

I also put in a cast iron pan with no oil pieces of seitan, garlic, and onion, and cooked on medium high till crispy, adding a bit of dried rosemary needles and more onion in the final few minutes, then mixed in, outside of the pan, a bit of lemon juice and garlic powder. I served it with lovely cherry tomatoes. On another cast iron pan also with no oil I cooked halved okra with onion and served it with a little bit of salt and, for my wife and me, a small amount of jerk seasoning.

Results

Dinner was good! We all enjoyed the meal. I was afraid that the porridge might be a bit bland but it was good. It's fun and easy to cook with teff!

Ideas for the future

I should explore more teff dishes - and one day maybe make Ethiopian injera. I do occasionally stop by an Ethiopian restaurant and pick up their whole-teff injera and use it as a base for dishes I make. I had thought of adding bell pepper to this dish and decided that it had enough ingredients, but bell pepper would be welcome with this kind of dish. Sauteed mushrooms would go well, too.

Seasoned Field Pea Nachos

I am excited to be discussing nachos in this weekend's So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show So Many Comfort Foods! - and we are now streaming not just to facebook but also YouTube and twitter. I have a draft of my section of the recipe document and will try to remember to link the whole document here once it is published. In it, I collected and named some references to "cheese" sauces that I have made in the past - bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce1, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce2, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce3, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce4, and bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce5.

I had leftover field peas from yesterday (by the way, I updated my pressure cooking table, available for free download at at bit.ly/DilipPressureCookingNotes, to include field peas) and decided to try a new way of making nachos with seasoned field peas.

The basic approach was to put the cooked field peas in a pan along with chunks of bell pepper, celtuce, broccoli stem (small 1/4" or smaller pieces), and spices (cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and a pinch of salt). I had intended to mix in some red onion at the end but forgot.

I also made a "cheese" sauce by blending 1/4 cup "raw" cashews, a small clove of garlic, between 1/8 and 1/4 cup water, 2T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t garlic powder, a small red bell pepper, 1 t lime juice, and a dash of salt (there was plenty leftover). I made nacho chips by taking tortillas, cutting them into triangles, and air frying them at 350°F and checking them after 3 minutes; they were almost done and another 30-45 seconds got them nicely browned (be careful as they can burn easily).

I served the chips, field peas, cheese sauce, and some salsa. On the side I had fresh tomato and broccoli. 

Results

We all loved the meal! Field peas by themselves can be bland but both yesterday and today we were quite pleased by the way I had prepared them. Nachos don't have to have black beans!

Ideas for the future

I should make nachos more often; made this way they are nutritive and tasty. I look forward to this weekend's show as my talented colleague Mark Cerkvenik is coming immediately after me and making "Pub Nachos"; his dishes always look great and I bet I'll have something to learn about new ways to make nachos.

Experimenting with Chinese Vegetables Sweet Conehead Cabbage and Celtuce (with Field Peas) (No Added Fat)

Beet-Vegetable Soup, Olive Lemon Bread

My daughter had new orthodontic braces put in yesterday and is preferring soft food. She likes soups, so I experimented with making a beet soup.


Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, roughly minced into 1/8" or 1/4" pieces
• 2 medium beets, rinsed and scrubbed then peeled and cubed into 1/2" cubes
• 3 medium Yukon gold potatoes (mine were organic so I didn't peel but I otherwise would have), also rinsed/scrubbed/cubed into 1/2" pieces
• 3 medium carrots sliced into 3/4" lengths
• 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh edamame
• 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
• 4 stalks celery chopped into 1/2" pieces
• Approx. 1 cup of broccoli florets
• Stem of the cup of broccoli florets cut into 3/8" pieces
• 1/2 cups onion cut into approximately 1/2" half moons 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)
• Seasonings: 1/2 t salt, 1 t ground cumin, 1 T dried rosemary needles, 1 t dried oregano, 1 t garlic powder, 1 t lemon pepper, 1/4 t smoked paprika; I'd add dried or fresh basil but I was out
• (optional) 4 leaves kale, stems removed for compost, and roughly hand torn into approximately 1 1/2" pieces [I was in a rush so omitted]
• (optional) Other vegetables that you favor [my daughter doesn't like asparagus but I put about 3" of the thick end of 3 stalks in for a touch of flavor]
• (optional) Subtle hint of hot sauce of choice

Process

1. I cooked the garlic on a cast iron pan on medium to medium-high heat with no oil for about 5-7 minutes till I obtained a full aroma and light browning.
2. I put all of the ingredients, including the garlic but excluding the celery, into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked for 20m.
3. My wife doesn't like celery so I separately cooked the celery in about a cup of salted water; after it reached a boil, I simmered on low, covered. (Otherwise I would have just cooked the celery with the other ingredients.)
4. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then served, mixing the celery into all but my wife's bowl.

NB: I ended up filling most of my 6-quart Instant Pot and wanted to remind folks to not overfill if you are cooking beans or other ingredients which expand. In this case I wasn't, so there was no problem - just plenty of soup including a significant amount to share with neighbors.

I am impressed with a product that I found this past weekend on sale, Divina brand green olive spread. It has no oil but only olives, capers, garlic powder, oregano, sea salt, and citric acid - and so has just 1 g of fat per tablespoon of serving (so low that I'm going to mark my dinner as no-added-fat)! I put a light smear on some specialty lemon rosemary bread and served with mixed slices of heirloom tomatoes.

 

Results

We all enjoyed the soup. I made it purposefully soft for my daughter so cooked it for 20m.

Ideas for the future

Beets maintain more of their nutrition if cooked whole and then peeled and chopped, but I did want to make the soup quite soft for my daughter. I've never cooked beets with soup and should explore more - I'd love to steam them and add 3/4" or so chunks to a soup. The color of the soup was nice but having even more beets would make the soup even more pretty.

By the way, our next So Many Cooks event is this Saturday (live on facebook at 2p eastern US time this Saturday). I will be discussing nutritional yeast and jerk seasoning and demonstrating air fried tofu.

Romanesco Cauliflower with Mixed Vegetables

Kiddo's Vegetable and Chickpea Soup, Cauliflower with Spinach (No Added Fat)

Kiddo is going to be making vegetable soup with chickpeas for this weekend's So Many Kids in the Kitchen program (12:30p on Saturday the 13th, east coast US time - facebook.com/somanycooks) and practiced a batch tonight. It was good! I made a simple side dish of waterlessly cooked cauliflower with spinach, as well as a salad of artichoke, tomato, and olive. It was a filling and tasty meal!

Rainbow Chard and Beet Greens with Sweet Potato, Beet, and Potato, served with Brown Rice with Baby Lima Beans (almost no added fat)

My daughter and I were invited again today to be on a PCRM nutrition class streaming for free to hundreds of people. She is one of the Kids in the Kitchen who do bimonthly cooking and nutrition shows live on facebook. It was fun and, we hope, helpful.

For dinner, I prepared some greens with sweet potato, beet, and potato. I made a simple side dish with brown rice and baby lima beans. 

Late this spring it will be 22 years that I will have known my wife and I am proud that I have never repeated a dinner for her. It doesn't so much reflect on me as it does on how easy it is to be plant-based. There seem to be just so many ways to create tasty, healthy, and nice looking meals from plants!

Today I wanted to cook some root vegetables with greens. I normally like to add some legume or perhaps soy product in my main course but decided instead to simply use frozen baby lima beans and mix them in with brown rice. Incidentally, regarding rice, for years I have been simmering brown rice in a 1 part rice to 2 parts water ratio for about 50m but lately I've been soaking rice, cooking in ample water uncovered, then pouring off excess water and letting it steam, off heat but covered, for a few minutes as I've seen suggested due to possible arsenic in rice.

Here is how I made the main course:

Ingredients

• 2 medium beet roots, scrubbed, skins intact, with very bottoms removed and composted and leaves rinsed and reserved
• 1 medium Russet potato, scrubbed
• 1 sweet potato (I used Japanese sweet potato, my favorite, but any kind is fine), scrubbed
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 cup onion cut into approximately 1/4" cubes
• 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8" or smaller) minced
• Bunch of collard greens, rinsed and bottom 1/4" removed and composted, then sliced crosswise with the stem in the middle into 1" strips
• Bunch of beet greens (I used golden beet greens but any beet or even other greens would be fine), rinsed and then carefully atop parchment paper that covered the cutting board (to avoid stains) chopped into approximately 1" squares
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t lemon pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
• 1/4 t salt (more or less according to preference)
• 1/2 t finely chopped herbs like basil and/or oregano and/or sage (I use a grinder with a mix of dried herbs)
• (optional) 1/8 t smoked paprika
• 1t lemon or lime juice (I used fresh squeezed meyer lemon juice)
• 1 1/4 cups carrot cut into 3/8" slices (3 small-medium carrots)
• (Optional cheese sauce)  1/4 cup water, 3-4 T unprocessed cashews, 4 T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t garlic powder, pinch of salt

Process

1. I put the beet roots, sweet potato, and potato atop a trivet in my Instant Pot pressure cooker and added water (about 1/2 cup or maybe a bit more, but to stay below the level of the trivet), then pressure cooked (the Instant Pot calls this "steam" mode when the food doesn't touch the sides) for 10 minutes.
2. While the pressure cooking was happening, I took the onion and garlic and put into a large Saladmaster stock pan; any good heavy pan would do, but I favor stainless steel. I cooked over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.
3. I added the greens and 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 10 minutes. (Without such a pan, I could simply have cooked on low heat, covered, and stirred occasionally.)
4. When the pressure cooking was done, I carefully opened the Instant Pot, waiting a few minutes before gently releasing pressure and then opening the pot away from me.
5. After a few minutes when the root vegetables were easier to handle, I roughly chopped the potato and sweet potato into approximately 3/4" cubes and added to the greens.
6. I put the beet under cold running water and easily rubbed the skin off, then chopped (over parchment paper and with a wet paper towel handy) into 1/2" cubes after discarding the very top. I added the beet to the greens.
7. I made the optional "cheese" sauce simply by blending the sauce ingredients and mixed the sauce into the dish.
8. I mixed in the seasonings and lemon juice and served.

 

Results

Dinner was very good. I love what a bit of lemon does to cooked beets. The greens were a good visual and texture backdrop to the root vegetables. The rice and lima beans went well together. The sauce was just a nice subtle flavor to contrast and uplift the other flavors.

Ideas for the future

I should cook with beets more often! I've enjoyed the past week or so with many beet recipes. By the way, I have several beet recipes, like bit.ly/Beets1, bit.ly/Beets2, and bit.ly/Beets3, referenced in our recipes document from the So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show from last weekend on heart-healthy recipes - there are many other recipes from other Cooks, as well as details on handling beets and a nutrition guide from my friend Brenda Davis, RD.

The dish was almost no fat but did have the cashew; each tablespoon of cashew has about 5g of fat, and this main course was more than enough to serve my family of three with some leftovers. The dish would have been fine without the "cheese" sauce but it was a nice addition.

I could have included carrots when cooking the greens as they would add nice color, nutrition, and taste. A bit more onion would also be fine.

Roasted Cauliflower and Beet (No Added Fat)

It's been a while since I made tasty roasted cauliflower and I had a head of cauliflower peeking out at me from my refrigerator. I am presenting beets at the somanycooks show this weekend and thought it would be fun to make a roasted beet and cauliflower dish. I was amazed at the the deep color - perfect for white cauliflower!


Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower separated into florets
• 2 medium beets, tops and bottoms removed and then the remainder peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed so skins loose but with skins otherwise left on
• 2T (more or less as desired for moisture level) Coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
• 1t (or more as desired) dried herbs; I used a spice grinder with a variety of Italian herbs
• 1/4 t salt
• 1t lemon juice

Process

1. I put the cauliflower, beet, and garlic on a baking tray, tossed with coconut aminos and herbs, and put in my toaster oven on its convection setting at 400°F for 15minutes; for regular ovens, I'd go with 20-25 minutes.
2. I transferred the ingredients to a metal bowl, looked for the garlic and pressed down, and mixed in the salt and lemon juice.

That's it! I served with brown rice cooked with baby lima beans and cucumber slices.

 

Results

We all enjoyed the meal, even my daughter who doesn't love beets. I was very happy with the bright color and of course taste of the main course. Other than being careful about not staining the deep beet roots (I immediately washed the cutting board in cold water and luckily had no juice coming onto my counters but I would have wiped any immediately), this was quite easy and required little effort!

Ideas for the future

This was a nice main course! Here are a few thoughts about additional ideas.

• I bet mixing red and golden beets would be attractive.
• I was originally going to air fry some seitan and mix into the dish, but my air fryer is also my toaster oven and I didn't have enough time to run it twice, though it would really only be for maybe 5-6 minutes of air frying. I should try adding seitan or maybe tempeh.
• I really like citrus and bet mixing in fresh tangerine pieces when serving would be nice - maybe along with a bit of olive and rosemary needles.
• I also like lemony beets and perhaps should try adding a lemon marinade before roasting.

Thick Golden Beet Dhal

I wanted to explore another beet recipe today and thought of embedding beets in a thick dhal. I made the dhal and beets separately in my pressure cooker.


Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 cups water
• 4 large leaves kale, hand stripped from the stems and then roughly hand torn into approximately 2" squares
• 1/2 cup whole or chopped spinach, fresh (washed) or frozen
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1/8 t smoked paprika
• 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
• 2 medium beet roots (I had very small ones so used 5 or 6), rinsed but not peeled
• Another 3/4 - 1 cup of water
• 1/4 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes
• 2 t lemon juice

Process

1. I put the lentils, kale and spinach, water, turmeric, cumin, and paprika into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked for 20m.
2. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then removed from the pressure cooker and mixed in the lem
3. I used a new pot for the pressure cooker and put in a trivet to keep food off the bottom and sides, then added about 3/4 - 1 cup of water, below the trivet level, and the beets atop the trivet.
4. I pressure steamed. These were very small, only about 1 1/2" in diameter, so 10 minutes of pressure steaming nicely did it. For regular sized beet roots, I'd go with 15-17 minutes and for large ones above 3 1/2" in diameter, I'd go for 25-30 minutes.
5. When the beets were done, I did a "quick release" of pressure.
6. I waited a few minutes to handle the beets, cut the very top and bottom off of each beet, then held each under cold running water and rubbed the skin off.
7. I cut the beets into approximately 3/4" cubes and mixed into the dhal, along with the onion and lemon juice.

 

Results

This came out well though I preferred the beets with beans that I had made a few days ago. The beets were so delicious - I should cook beets more often! I'm glad that they were well done and soft.

Ideas for the future

Carrot would have gone great in this dish. If I had beet greens (I actually do have some but want to have them last till this Saturday's show), they would also be good. Using red beets would add a nice contrasting color, but I definitely prefer the sweeter flavor and much less staining of golden beets. I should make beets more often; they're easy, with these tips:

• Pressure steam, like I did today, for 10-30 minutes, depending on size
• Dice into 3/4" pieces and pressure cook, submerged, for 8-10 minutes
• Boil 25-60 minutes, periodically checking for fork tenderness
• Roast whole by covering in parchment paper and then roasting for 40-60m (check tenderness as above) at 400°F
• As I described in March 2017, you can also roast beets after cutting them and mixing in some herbs (and perhaps a liquid like orange juice or soy sauce); the cook time drops depending on the size of the cubes but I really like the ease of whole beet roasting, cutting the beet once cooked
• After removing the skin with a potato peeler, you can grate raw beet onto salads
• Greens are healthy and tasty but, unlike beets which can easily keep in the refrigerator for months, the greens limp quickly so they should be removed from the roots and stored, unwashed, in a separate bag for about 3-5 days

You don't have to remove the skins until you're done cooking. The skins slip off easily once cooked, like I described here.

Pasta Alfredo Primavera (from PlantPure meal starter kit)

I received a shipment of Plant Pure Meal starter kits and am looking forward to trying these out. This one required cooking a seasoning packet in plant milk (my wife can't digest soy milk so I just blended 1/8 - 1/4 cup almonds with 2 1/4 cups of water) and cooking with vegetables (I used a variety of frozen vegetables).

It came out well and was easy to make. I mixed some nutritional yeast in and could have used a bit more, plus maybe some fresh garlic.

Golden Beet and Chickpea with Greens (No Added Fat)

I am excited about our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen program, this one on Heart Healthy Dishes. I wasn't sure what I'd make as whole food plant-based eating is in general very heart healthy, but I decided to feature beets. I experimented today and love what I came up with. Here is what I did.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas
• EITHER 1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight then drained
• OR 3 cups cooked chickpeas, such as approximately two 14 1/2 ounce cans of prepared chickpeas
• 2 medium beets, washed, peeled, and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 4-5 large kale or chard greens OR all leaves from a bunch of beets, rinsed, stems removed, and roughly hand chopped into small fistfuls of perhaps 4" square
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped/minced into pieces smaller than 1/4"
• Just enough water to cover chickpeas (if starting with dry chickpeas)
• 1 14 1/2 ounce can of diced tomatoes (alternately, use 2 medium tomatoes diced to less than 1/2" cubes)
• 1/2 cup onion cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 t lemon pepper
• 1t dried oregano (I use ground mixed dried herbs)
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1/4 t salt
• 1T lemon or lime juice

Process

1. If using dry chickpeas, put chickpeas and just enough water to cover them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker
2. Put beets, garlic, greens, and diced tomato into pressure cooker and cooked for 10m
3. After the cooking is done, wait a few minutes and gently released pressure
4. If using precooked/canned chickpeas, mix them in
5. Mix in the onion, spices, and lemon juice

Serve with rice or other grain and a salad.

 

Results

My family enjoyed the meal, as did our neighbors for whom I dropped off some of the main course. I was originally going to go with a white bean but decided to use chickpea - and am glad that I did, as the flavors worked very well together. I wasn't originally going to include diced tomatoes, but they too worked out well for a touch of a contrasting flavor.

Ideas for the future

Beet greens (like I described several times in March 2007) are even more nutrient dense than the roots and I had wanted to integrate them but the beets that I had found were roots only. I'd love to make this dish with beet greens.

Chili with Leftover Beans, Seitan, Vegetables, and Roasted Red Bell Pepper (No Added Fat)

I had a fun demonstration (check it out on Facebook or Twitter, or outside of social media) of the PCRM 21-Day Kickstart day 2 menu of 10-Minute Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry and Ambrosia. After that I wanted to quickly put dinner together and made a simple chili. I had baked beans and other beans as leftovers; I reheated them and cooked with them some seitan crumbles, celery, corn kernels, and roasted bell pepper pieces. It was good with some hot sauce!

Below are some pictures from the demonstration, including a shot that my wife took of me. I love cooking PCRM recipes - they're always healthy, easy, and so tasty!

New Year's Day Black-Eyed Peas with Steamed Collards, PCRM Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry (No Added Fat)

It's traditional on New Year's Day to make a simple dish with black-eyed peas and collard greens, and I did just that. I soaked black-eyed peas overnight then pressure cooked, mixed with garam masala, turmeric, and a pinch of salt - in my Instant Pot, it was just a 5-minute cook time!

PCRM has an excellent 21-Day Kickstart program to help people try with support twenty-one days of whole food plant-based eating - and it's free, available on the web or as an app for a smart phone. Fellow Food for Life instructor Lisa Karlan has put together a daily #LunchBreakLive January 1-21 to have a different person demonstrate that day's kickstart dishes on the Jane Unchained show, and tomorrow I'm going to be demonstrating a stir-fry and ambrosia salad so experimented with the recipes today; the stir-fry was part of our dinner and the ambrosia was our dessert.

I think that tomorrow's show will be streamed on facebook, YouTube, and twitter. It's a good way to start the new year; next week is our So Many Cooks in the Kitchen soups/stews show and the following weekend the Kids in the Kitchen interview Genesis Butler. Happy New Year!

Carolyn Strickland's Holiday Crescent Ring

Shortly before Thanksgiving we had a nice So Many Thanksgiving Dishes! show and my colleague Carolyn Strickland made a great looking Holiday Crescent Ring. I tried today, using squash, several kinds of mushrooms, tempeh, kale, onion and seasonings like garlic powder, lemon pepper, and oregano for the filling. I should have photographed it, but when I served I added some cranberry sauce on top.

 

Results

We all loved Carolyn's dish! As a personal chef I'm delivering some food on Christmas Day and think I may make one of these rings for my client!

Ideas for the future

I wish that the crescent rolls were whole wheat. I should make my own dough or buy some whole wheat dough. I also think this would be good with filo dough. In any case, Carolyn's dish is a winner - easy, tasty, and it looks festive.

I didn't grow up with vinegar and, though I now like ume plum vinegar and use it periodically in salads, I am a relative vinegar "novice" and generally don't love the flavor. However, Carolyn's recipe calls for a vinegar glaze before baking and the results were nice. I should experiment with vinegar glazing more dishes.