Heart of Palm Ceviche WFPB Oil Free

I made this WFPB and oil free ceviche today and it’ll definitely be a regular chez Hickman! I added some diced jicama and thinly sliced radish. Delicious! 

Original recipe here:

The Yummy Vegan Blog

Baba ganoush

 Baba ganoush 

Made some baba ganoush for snacks today, too. Yums. 

(Recipe adapted from Robertson, Robin. Vegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes. Vegan Heritage Press, 2008, p. 98.)

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants 

1 large clove garlic 

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 

1/4 cup tahini 

3/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

1 teaspoon cumin 

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

A couple handfuls of fresh cilantro 

Method:

Roast eggplants in the oven until they look all wrinkled and slighted deflated. (I puncture the skin of the eggplants with a knife a few times, rub olive oil all over the outside of the eggplants, and then roast at 400F for about 45 mins.) Scoop flesh out of eggplant once cooled a bit and place into food processor. Put the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth. YUM! 

New Post for a New Path.

Ethiopian Cabbage, Carrots, and Potatoes (Atakilt Wat) and Basmati Rice

Recipe modified from Vegan Richa's Original Recipe here: 

https://www.veganricha.com/atakilt-wat-ethiopian-cabbage-potato/

It's time to heal from all the chaos of the last few years. In an effort to do something for myself and motivate myself to eat better, I signed up for and just completed the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate at the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. Woo! 

Well, it worked. Better than I anticipated. 

The importance of no added oil was mostly unknown to me before taking this course! I took it to motivate myself to eat better ... which, for me, means to eat vegan. I also didn't anticipate being so motivated to cut out processed foods. So, a mostly Whole Foods Plant-Based (WFPB) diet it is! I'm not one to do most things rigidly and I usually have most success when I make gradual change. These things I know about myself. Progress over perfection. 

So, no added oil cooking was a bit of a mystery to me. I've never cooked this way. Every salad dressing I made had oil in it. First step was to find some yummy things to make! I'll record some of my endeavors here. 

First up ... I made this recipe from Vegan Richa using no added oil. Ingredient list and method of preparation via the link above. I revised it to make it no oil by steaming the carrots and potatoes. I also sautéed the onion, ginger, garlic, and hot pepper in a non stick pan in some water. I added the spices and then added the shredded cabbage. It actually worked! 

I thought it would be best served with some vegan raita. So, maybe some plain vegan yogurt made into raita on top would be super yummy. 

 

I also made my standard basmati rice recipe sans oil as well. It worked! 

Oil-Free BASMATI RICE  

1 cup of rice to 1 1/2 cups of water

Heat dry pan and add dry rice. Toast the rice for a few seconds. 

Add water, stir, bring to a boil. 
As soon as the water is boiling, lower heat to low, cover the saucepan, and do not disturb for exactly 15 minutes. Turn heat off and boom! Rice. 

**Sometimes I add a cinnamon stick and a few whole cloves to enhance the flavor.

Jicama and Radish Salad

This is so, so yummy! So light and refreshing.
I think I found this recipe in Food Network magazine.

Jicama and Radish Salad

1 jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks

about an equal amount of radishes, cut into matchsticks or shredded

3 or so scallions, sliced into tiny rounds

cilantro and mint, both chopped fine - about 1/4 cup each

Dressing:

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:
Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over jicama, radish, scallion, mint, cilantro mixture in a big bowl. Mix well. 

Sweet Mustard Broccoli Salad & French Carrot Salad

Both of these are really simple to make, healthy, and delicious. 

I expected the carrot salad to be good, but I didn't expect the broccoli salad to be that good! Yum!

Sweet Mustard Broccoli Salad

1/2 cup black Beluga lentils

1 head broccoli, cut into florets (about 4 cups)

1 small red onion or shallot, sliced in thin strips

1/4 cup chopped almonds

Dressing:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons agave nectar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

Method:
Rinse lentils and place in a medium pot with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, simmer for about 20 mins. Add broccoli during the last 4 minutes or so and cover until broccoli is slightly cooked (bright green). Meanwhile, make dressing: Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. (I whirled mine in a mini food processor.) Drain off any liquid remaining in lentils and broccoli and put into a big bowl. Pour dressing over, add onion and almonds. Voila!

French Carrot Salad

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 pound carrots (peeled and shredded)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Optional: Add minced parsley or shredded apple

Method:

Make dressing: Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. (I whirled mine in a mini food processor.) Pour over carrots and stir. Delicious! 

Attempts at Healthier Eating and New Cookbooks! Whoo hoo!

I made the granola and açaí bowl from Julie Montagu's Superfoods cookbook. I am never buying granola again! This was so, so good and made of only healthy things - no sugar. I LOVE this cookbook so far. The recipes are super healthy and all vegan. You might know Julie Montagu from Ladies of London on Bravo. Not only is she a healthy guru, she is also a Viscountess! She married the heir to the Earl of Sandwich. Neat!

I also made the Creamy Carrot Soup and Whole Food Proteins bowl from the Rawsome Vegan Cookbook this week. OMG! This was also so, so good and packed with healthy things. I found a purple sweet potato at Whole Foods this week and it was out of this world good. I didn't know potatoes could taste that good. Damn. Anyway, every recipe in this book looks like something I want to make. It's gonna get a lot of use.

Chewie was being so precious today that I had a hard time leaving for work - more than usual when I look at his cuteness. He got a haircut and a new bed. Both seem to be agreeing with him.

Vegan Protein Blueberry Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Vegan Protein Blueberry Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2 cup frozen organic wild blueberries (Whole Foods has them in the freezer section)
1 banana
1 cup nut mylk (I use 5XProtein Unsweetened Almond Milk by So Delicious Brand)
2 scoops Orgain brand vegan protein - chocolate flavor

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Yum!

Had this smoothie for breakfast and made my cabbage curry for dinner. Yummmmmm.
Cabbage curry recipe here: Sundaegirl108's Cabbage Curry

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Cooking on Snow Days

It snowed a bit in Brooklyn this weekend.

So, I made some yummy stuff. First is this sautéed collard green dish that I adapted from a recipe in The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.

I just sautéed some garlic and olive oil in a large pan, added chopped collards (with a little water on them from when soaking them to rinse them), stirred and covered for a couple minutes to soften the collards, added 2 tablespoons pine nuts, quartered prunes, and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine and sautee another couple of minutes. Voila!

  I also made a quinoa bowl with cooked quinoa, avocado, cilantro leaves, steamed carrot and broccoli, chickpeas, and homemade lemon olive oil dressing. For the dressing: I just juice a couple lemons, add olive oil, diced shallot, fresh thyme leaves, a tiny bit of Himalayan pink salt, and pepper. Yum!

Healthy Vegan Mango Lassi Smoothie

 

Healthy Vegan Mango Lassi Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 mango or about 1 cup of frozen mango chunks
1 cup unsweetened almond mylk (I used 5XProtein So Delicious Brand)
1 - 3 tablespoons hemp protein (Optional: I like to amp up the protein by adding some hemp protein but it makes the smoothie greyish - not that lovely mango lassi color. I used just one tablespoon of Nutiva brand hemp protein. I think more than that wouldn't have tasted so good.)
1/4 cup of raw cashews
a pinch of cardamom powder

Method: Put all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend to smoothie perfection.

Nutritional Info (approximate):
330 calories, 16g protein, 35g carbs, 6g sugar, 15g fat, 0g cholesterol, 60% RDA of vitamin A, 29% RDA of iron

NOTE: I made this again with a scoop of the Vega Brand Vanilla Protein Shake instead of the hemp protein and it was even better tasting and more protein! (Pictured Below)  Yum!

Healthy Apple Crisp and other yummy things ...

Easy Healthy Apple Crisp

Ingredients:
5 medium red apples
ground cinnamon to taste
1 cup almond flour (or just pulse some raw almonds in your food processor until you get flour like consistency)
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
pinch of ground nutmeg

Method:
Layer thinly sliced apples in a baking dish and generously sprinkle them with cinnamon. (I use a mandolin to slice them really thin.)

In a small bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut oil, walnuts, and nutmeg. Then, sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Bake the crisp at 350F for about 20 mins or until the apples are soft. Serve warm.

If you have leftovers, you can put them in a bowl with some almond mylk for breakfast! Yum!

Recipe from: Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger

My local veggie stand had avocados for $1! So, I also made some guacamole and avocado ranch dressing for tonight's salad.



Guacamole

Salad with Organic Lettuce and Beets from our Local CSA, cucumbers, kalamata olives, and green onions

Pesto with Rice Noodles and BEYOND Vegan Chik Strips

Avocado Ranch Dressing

Avocado Ranch dressing and "Bestest Pesto" recipes are in Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Chewie got a haircut today too. XOXO

Deamy Blueberry Smoothie

Dreamy Blueberry Smoothie
(delicious and super healthy!)

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups water or almond mylk (I use almond mylk)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if using fresh I throw in 4 ice cubes)
1 soft medjool date, pitted
1-2 tablespoons unsalted almond butter
1 tablespoon chia gel (see recipe below)
1 tablespoon shredded unsweetened coconut
*optional: I also put a teaspoon of spirulina in mine.

Method:

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth on high setting (about 45 seconds).

CHIA GEL: 3 tablespoons chia seeds soaked in 1 and 3/4 cups water overnight

RECIPE FROM: Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger, M.D.

Roasted Cauliflower with Pistachio Dressing



Roasted Cauliflower with Pistachio Dressing

(super delicious!)

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 small red onion, sliced into strips

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons curry powder

 

For the dressing:

1/2 cup raw pistachios

1 and 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup water

sea salt to taste

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.

 

In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower and red onion with the olive oil, salt, and curry powder. Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet and roast the veggies for about 15-20 mins or until fork-tender and slightly browned.

 

Meanwhile, make the dressing. Toast the pistachios in a dry pan for a few minutes over medium heat. Transfer all the dressing ingredients to a blender and blend until well combined but still a bit chunky. (I had to add a bit more olive oil and water because I thought it was too thick.)

 

You can either serve the sauce on the side and dip the cauliflower into it, or drizzle it over the cauliflower. I mixed the sauce and the cauliflower and it was delicious!

 

RECIPE FROM: Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger, M.D. 

Quick White Bean Salad

Quick White Bean Salad

Ingredients:
2 (14.5oz) cans large white beans (such as butter beans)
1 jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced
a couple handfuls of parsley, chopped fine
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Stir together the EVOO, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour over remaining ingredients in a bowl and toss. Yum.

I also made some muhammara today and raw spaghetti with veggie meatless balls for dinner. yum!

Chewie made his second trip on the subway yesterday. He held up better than last time. He's a shy pooch and the subway is a big scary loud thing.

 

Zucchini and Chickpea Curry (Sort of African, Sort of Indian)

Veggies and cilantro leaves getting ready to be cooked up ... and the curry cooking. Mmm

The final product (served with some vegan pierogies)! Chewie approves. ;o)

This was seriously delicious!

Zucchini and Chickpea Curry

2 zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 large can chickpeas
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno
1 inch piece ginger root, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
8oz can tomato sauce
1 bunch cilantro leaves
1-2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon of vegan butter
1-2 teaspoons cumin powder
1-2 tablespoons Madras-style medium hot curry powder
2 teaspoons hot Hungarian paprika
sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter and sauté the onion for a bit until translucent. Meanwhile, process the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno in a small food processor until minced. Add garlic, ginger, jalapeno mixture to the skillet and stir to combine with the onion. Stir in the fresh chopped tomatoes and zucchini. Stir in the spices and the tomato sauce. If you need to add a little water so that the zucchini is mostly covered by liquid, do so. Add chickpeas and some cilantro leaves on top. Put on lid to skillet and simmer over low-medium heat until zucchini is tender and flavors have combined. Serve with couscous, rice, or, well, pierogies tasted great with this!

Serves 4 hungry souls.

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African Black-eyed Pea Stew with Spicy Butternut Squash HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today began with some vegan pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes felt like just the right breakfast this morning. heh. I always make the pancakes from Vegan Brunch. They really are "perfect." Mmm.

 

Today also begins with my eating totally vegan for a while. I'm going to try to cut out processed foods and eat lower carb too just to  take off a few holiday season pounds. (Today's pancakes don't count. haha) I'm returning to my straight-edge vegan Krishna-core roots for at least a month as I think it really is the healthiest way to live. ;o) 

 

I like to watch a marathon of all the Planet of the Apes movies on New Year's Day. This year, I only got to the first movie 'cause I had a bit of a disaster. I finally ordered my long-awaited Vitamix (thanks mother-in-law and sister-in-law for the gift cards!!) ... and the damn thing didn't work right outta the box! WTF?! So, I have to send it back and reorder it. *cries* At least Amazon has an awesome return policy. But my smoothies will have to wait until a new one arrives. *sniff*

 

I made some avocado hummus for snacking on while we watched the movie. That's how I knew the Vitamix didn't work. :( Recipe here. Picture below. :)

 

For dinner, I made an African Black-eyed Pea Stew with Spicy Butternut Squash to be all traditional and stuff for New Year's Day. Happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year everyone!

This recipe is adapted from the Black-eyed Pea Stew with Spicy Pumpkin recipe in Linda McCartney's cookbook entitled Linda McCartney On Tour: Over 200 Meat-Free Dishes From Around The World (page 110).



 

 Black-Eyed Pea Stew

1 large onion, chopped

2 large carrots, sliced

1 bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon paprika

4 tablespoons peanut oil

1 and 1/4 cups vegetable stock

2 x 14oz cans black-eyed peas

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Tabasco to taste

 

Spicy Butternut Squash

2 tablespoons vegan butter
1 medium sized butternut squash, cubed
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons curry powder
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 and 1/4 cups water
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Black-eyed pea stew:
Sauté the onion, carrots, pepper, garlic, thyme, and spices in the peanut oil for 5 mins or so. Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, stir in the black-eyed peas, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and Tabasco. Cover and simmer for about 15 mins, adding more stock or water as necessary until the veggies are tender.

Spicy Butternut Squash:
Melt the vegan butter in a large saucepan or pot. Sauté the onion in the butter for a bit until it softens up. Add the squash, garlic, tomatoes, spices, and water. Stir well and simmer, covered, until the squash is tender (about 10-15 mins). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with the black-eyed peas.

This was quite good. I hope all that about black-eyed peas is true. ;o)

Kitchen Tips ...

I made this combo of roasted eggplant, olives, tomato sauce, Italian spices, and a sautéed onion the other night to throw over some pasta. It was fab. Mmm.

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And now ... Some kitchen tips you might know and, then again, maybe not ... Just thought I'd share some of my faves.

♥ To freshen your kitchen sponge and disinfect it, throw it in the top rack of your dishwasher and run it through a cycle of dishes. Voila! Clean, disinfected sponge.

♥ To soothe a minor burn on your finger, smear a little Anbesol (made to soothe mouth sores) on it. Takes the sting right out.

♥ To steam things without them sticking to your steamer basket, cut out a round of parchment paper and make several folds in it. Take a single hole punch and punch holes in it. Unfold and lay in steamer. The holes you punched will allow the steam to come through.

♥ To open a jar easily, just slide a bottle opener tip under the top and let some air in by pulling out the side of the top slightly. The top will pop and it'll be easy to screw right off. No help from big biceps required. ;) [see pics below]

Raw Tomato Sauce

Raw Tomato Sauce

Our CSA also yielded some awesome organic tomatoes this week, so I threw together a sauce for dinner. It was so yummy! (I served it over some Trader Joe's vegan meatless balls (which certainly aren't raw, but they're also yummy. heh.)

Method:
Roughly chop tomatoes and throw in blender with a large handful of fresh basil. Blend until smooth. I made enough so that I had about 3/4 of a blender full when done. You could throw any other spices into the blender to process them to make this completely raw, but I sautéed a little minced garlic in olive oil in a saucepan and then added the tomato mixture to heat it a bit. I also threw in some red pepper flake, oregano, salt & pepper to taste. :)

Vegan Summer Rolls

I finally made summer rolls! They were far easier than I thought they'd be! I thought I'd be wrestling with broken rice paper wrappers and unable to actually make a neat roll. Not shabby for my first attempt ...

The lovely filling stuffs ... some avocado, sprouts, basil, julienned orange pepper, sliced cucumber ... I also put some shredded carrots and cellophane noodles in these rolls.


To make cellophane noodles: The package should have the instructions, but all you do is drop them in boiling water, turn off the heat, let them sit for about 10 minutes, and drain.
To make summer rolls: Just dip rice paper wrapper quickly in room temperature water until it becomes pliable. Lay on a cutting board and put in some of the ingredients you've chosen to stuff them with. Roll wrapper over ingredients, tuck ends in (like a burrito), and finish rolling up.
Voila! So healthy ... so delicious! 

I like to dip these in peanut sauce or sweet and sour sauce (both of which you can buy over the counter).

Summer Tomato Salad (thanks to my local CSA)

Summer Tomato Salad

My CSA delivered some delish local organic tomatoes this week, so I made this simple salad that was out of this world. It's just fresh sliced tomatoes, roasted red pepper, pitted kalamata olives (capers would also be nice here), and some homemade pesto dotted on top. Yum!

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Israeli Couscous Salad with roasted tomatoes, peas, and olives ...

Israeli Couscous Salad

2 cups Israeli couscous
2 1/2 cups water
3-4 cloves garlic - sliced very, very thin
1 package grape tomatoes
1 lemon (juice of and zest)
1 small package frozen peas, defrosted
3/4 of a can small or medium black olives, all olives cut in half
1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped fine
olive oil
ground black pepper, to taste
oregano (fresh or dried), to taste

Method:
Preheat oven at 400F. Cut grape tomatoes in half. Spray cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Place grape tomatoes, cut side up, onto cookie sheet and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Sprinkle some black pepper and dried oregano on grape tomatoes and then put in the oven to roast for about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic in the oil for about 30 seconds over low-medium heat. Toss in the dry couscous, turn heat up to medium, and stir continuously for about 3 minutes just to toast the couscous a bit. Pour in the water, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to lowest setting and cover the saucepan. In about 10 minutes, most of the water should be absorbed by the couscous. If it still needs to absorb more water after ten minutes, let it go for another 5 minutes. Once the couscous is done, toss in a bowl with the peas and olives. Cover and refrigerate for a few minutes to chill it slightly before adding the rest of the ingredients. Let the grape tomatoes cool before adding them as well. When both things are cool, combine and add the chopped parsley, zest of one lemon, and juice of one lemon. Add black pepper and oregano (fresh or dried) to taste and maybe a little more olive oil drizzled over top if you're feeling decadent. Enjoy!