Sunday dinner

You may remember Sunday night was all about soups for a while, then burgers, and now I'm trying to make at least one new recipe a month. I've already made one this month, but I have time so why not two?

I can't decide which one to try...

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2013/02/healthy-hash-brown-casserole.html
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/11/creamy-vegan-broccoli-and-rice-casserole.html

I think I'm going to do the first one--they are very similar, but potatoes sound good.  Oh, but I'm going to be crazy and stick broccoli in the first one instead of Kale.  (We have lots of both in our garden, but more broccoli.) I'll report back later.

(Maybe potatoes sound good 'cause Kira and her friend made these beauties last night--two trays worth. Yum!)

High fiber breakfast cookies

We like cookies...  Here are some that aren't too bad that we often make and eat for breakfast (and other times...).

Wet ingredients
½ cup (or 8 Tbsp) nut/seed butter (almond, peanut, tahini, or sunflower  etc.) We like peanut butter!
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1 t vanilla extract
½ cup liquid sweetener maple syrup (I sometimes do slightly less and add a little water)

Dry ingredients
½ cup  ground oats flour 
½ cup  ground almond flour
3 tablespoons flax
½ c rolled oats (not ground)
½ c fiber (either oat bran or whole flakes psyllium husks) You can choose how fiber-y you want them.
½ t baking soda

1/4 cup chocolate chips mixed in at the end (could be raisins or dried fruit if you wanted, but we like chocolate).   

Preheat oven to 350. Mix wet ingredients with a mixer.  Mix dry ingredients and add to wet. Batter will be thick (and delicious!).  Make into tablespoon sized balls and then flatten a bit.  Bake for 9-12 minutes.

Warning, if you use psyllium husks, I wouldn't eat more than 2 or 3 cookies in one day; plus, drink lots of water with these cookies (regardless of which fiber you use, but especially with psyllium)!   

P.S. If you make these with psyllium, you may need to add 2-6 tablespoons of water to get a good cookie dough consistency.  (I had to add 6 yesterday, add 1 tablespoon at a time until it looks good.)

 

 

 

 

Natalie and I make these often.  They freeze really well, too.  Pop them out of the freezer and into the microwave for 30 seconds (or so) and they are awesome.  Photos by Natalie.

Broccoli Harvest

Our broccoli is producing and it's yummy!  I typically just saute it with onions and vegan field roast sausage.  Although Friday night I made baked tofu and sauted the broccoli with the same marinade as the tofu.  It was good!  (Blog post with that recipe coming soon.)

Tonight I wanted something different so I made this dish from http://www.connoisseurusveg.com/2015/11/vegan-broccoli-cheese-casserole.html.

It's good and I'd make it again, but it doesn't seem as decadent as the author described it.  Four of five of us liked it.  (When our vegan who doesn't like vegetables doesn't like something she can eat beans (which we usually have made up) or hummus (again, we usually have it).) I changed the recipe a bit; here's what I did:

Step 1
3 medium yukon gold potatoes 
2  carrots
(boil them and drain them)

Step 2
In another large pan:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
(saute them)

Step 3
After you saute the onions add:
Either 

2 cups vegetable broth
½ cup short or medium grain brown rice
Cook up the rice

OR

1.5 cups frozen rice (to save time)
and some broth...I'm not sure how much I added about 1/2 cup at a time and when I felt the rice was done cooking, I added a little so I could add the broccoli to cook (see next step)


Step 4
Add 4 cups of chopped broccoli and cover the the pan and let them steam for a bit to soften

Step 5
In the food processor process the carrots and potatoes.  Add
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
¼ cup lemon juice
2-3 tsp. white miso paste (optional, but highly recommended)
and 1- 2 cups plain (unsweetened and unflavored) soy or almond milk

salt and pepper to taste

Step 6
Mix the food processor mixture into the rice/onions/broccoli and stir.  Cook until the broccoli is soft and all of the mixture is nice and hot.

Despite all the steps this wasn't that difficult or time consuming.  (I definitely like the time saving that comes from using frozen rice.)

Note the original author gets full credit for the recipe--go check out her site!  Lots of good things there.  (I re-wrote the directions with what I did 'cause I was a little fuzzy on what I was supposed to do so I made some stuff up.)