Italian-ish Stew by Nicole

Since I have been following ETL I have found some different blogs to check out and this is where I got this recipe from, a very hardworking ETL young woman named Nicole. Thank you Nicole this was so good. My new fave soup. Everyone who reads this must make this soup.
The recipe is:

2 cans of non salt cannelini beans
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
3 medium onions diced
3-4 cloves of garlic
2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 cups of pearl barley
1 pkg of Boca Italian Sausage
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp fennel seed
2 tsp rosemary
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
water (a lot)
a little veggie stock 1 cup or so

water saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic until soft. Add tomatoes and paste and heat through. Add barley and fill pot with water bring to a boil and let simmer until barley is tender, but still chewy. Add sausage and seasonings. Add veggie stock and let simmer lightly for a good hour. Serve hot with black pepper.

Again this was extremely good and I am so happy I had a lot of leftovers to freeze. We did eat it three nights in a row and I did not even get sick of it.

Tonight I made a smoothie and it was so good, it has to be one of my favorites since starting on the ETL bandwagon. The recipe is:

1/2 cup frozen strawberries
3/4 cup frozen cherries
1 tbsp ground flax seed
handful of raw cashews
1 cup almond milk
handful of goji berries
handful of baby arugula
three kale leaves water
2 medjool dates
1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder

blend and enjoy. This is my new fave smoothie.

Also tonight I made a sauce to top steamed Kale(which I used to hate and I have trained my self to love). According to Dr Fuhrman over at ETL, kale is the most nutritious foods on the planet(literally), so this means I have to love kale. Anyway, he must know how gross kale tastes because he has all of these healthy, creative recipes for sauces to pour over steamed kale in order to help people get it down their throats. SO the sauce I made tonight was called Sweet Potato Almond Sauce, here is the recipe:

2 cups steamed sweet potato
1/4 cup raw almond butter
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 cup water
plain soy milk as needed to find desired consistency

blend all ingredients in blender and pour over steamed kale (super food!) enjoy.
So Dr. Fuhrman is brilliant. Not only did he come up with sauces that we can drown our steamed kale in but these sauces are extremely healthful, so there is not need to worry about overdoing it. I was so excited about this. Needless to say ETL is great, though it is harder then any diet I have ever done. But this is not a diet it is a new way of life. I want to develop into a person that craves salads instead of Pizza Hut cheese bread sticks. Let's see if I can do it.

Enchiladas

Here are the enchiladas I made last night that were ETL friendly meaning, no processed anything, flour, sugar, oil, or salt. The recipe is:

Tofu Chorizo "sausage"

1 pound firm tofu
3 large dried ancho chiles
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp mild paprika
1 1/2 cumin seeds
1/8 tsp dried chili flake
4 whole cloves
1/4-inch piece cinnamon stick
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1 1/4 cup vegetable stock

cut and press tofu. Meanwhile cut dried ancho chiles and get rid of seeds and stems, blister on a pan. Then crumble into a food processor with garlic, oregano, paprika, cumin seeds, chili flake, cloves, cinnamon stick, apple cider vinegar, PB, veggie stock. Food process until smooth and thick. Now marinate tofu and black beans in some of the sauce for one hour.

After marinating tofu and beans saute the tofu, beans and sauce in pan until most of the sauce is soaked up. Add the rest of the sauce to a glass pan and layer tofu/beans and corn tortillas with sauce. Bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve hot. "Not bad" was the verdict from the meat eater.

Okay Let's do Eat To Live

Hi I am back. My creativity has been crushed due to my new interest in Eat To Live. I have been really going back and forth with it becuase it is quite a big step. I can't have meat(which is easy anway), no dairy(I have been doing this anyway), no oil, no added salt, no processed white flour or sugar. The white flour thing is killing me, I never realized how addicted I was to it until now.
Anyway I am going to attempt to follow the Eat To Live way of life though it is hard and I have to realize I am not perfect. I will stay as close to it as I can, I will use salted products from time to time, though I will not add salt and I will not add processed oil. I will use sweeteners such as dates or date sugar to sweeten different foods. I will cut out white flour and basically never eat it.

So I have been following this diet for a few days now and I feel great though my cravings are insane. I made an enchilada last night with tofu and black beans with some guacamole on the side. I will post the pics tonight.

"Beef" Stew

This was really good, it was comfort food that I really needed after eating so many raw veggies and smoothies this week. Here is the recipe:

TVP Chunks 1 cup

2 potatoes

1 medium onion

4 carrots

1 garlic clove

1 bag frozen green beans

3 veggie bouillon cubes

vegetarian Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp

1 tbsp kitchen bouquet

pepper

2 tomatoes

pinch of allspice

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water

2 bay leaves

salt optional ( I did not add it, there was enough I am sure in the bouillon)

first reconstitute the TVP chunks by boiling them in water then letting them simmer for 10 minutes. After this squeeze out excess water with paper towels. Marinate TVP in a mixture of veggie broth thyme, garlic powder, marjoram, kitchen bouquet, pepper, tomato paste. Let sit for one hour.

Chop onion, carrots, garlic, potatoes and saute in large soup pan for about 10-15 minutes. I saute the veggies in a bit of veggie broth instead of using oil, but that is your call. Add six cups of water and bring to a boil. Add green beans and veggie broth cubes. Set to a quick simmer and add tomatoes (diced), allspice, sugar, bay leaves, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, kitchen bouquet. Let simmer until veggies are soft. Add TVP and heat through. Add cornstarch mixture and stir until thick. Serve with more pepper. This was very delicious and the TVP was so much like meat, the texture was very similar to the beef I used to eat in beef stew, I don't know if that is a good thing or not.

Dr. Fuhrman's Radio Show in Voice America

http://www.modavox.com/VoiceAmericaCMS/Webmodules/HostModaview.aspx?ShowId=185&channelurl=http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica

Everyone should really check out this radio show, it is Dr. Fuhrman's new radio show. It shows how diet can actually reverse cancer. Very interesting.

No Eat To Live For me

Okay so I made the post that I would begin the Eat To Live diet and I have changed my mind. When I talked to a girl on the website and she told me that cheating on Eat To Live consisted of using brown rice flour to make a cake I decided that this diet probably was not for me. I thought brown rice flour was the healthiest choice for a cake, well not according to Dr. Fuhrman. I guess it is considered a treat on the Eat To Live diet. So basically I decided I will take some words of wisdom from the book Eat To Live and simply stick to whole foods or unrefined foods meaning no refined salt, sugar, flour, or oil. I will indulge in as many veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and whole grains as I feel I need to.

Anyway there are a few things that I did learn from the two days I was on the diet, one thing was I need to eat more raw greens, that is one goal I know I can handle. I can make blended salads, which means I can make smoothies with fruits, nuts and greens and just drink them down instead of wasting all that time chewing them. Above is a smoothie I made with:

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

2 large kale leaves

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 cup vanilla soy milk

2 tbsp raw cashews

1/2 cup cranberry juice

blend, blend, blend until smooth

Eat To Live

Okay all so I am embarking on a new adventure, I read the book "Eat To Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. When I first read it I was so angry, I thought "how can this guy expect people to eat like this and enjoy life!" But after I had time to think about it I have decided at least to give it a try for one week. So this means not only will I not eat meat, dairy, cheese but I also have to cut out processed/refined sugar, oil, salt and white flour (my fave). We will see how it goes. Dr. Fuhrman recommends drinking smoothies, eating raw salads twice a day, soups, and sorbets in order to get all the fruits and vegetables in that are needed to meet his requirements. I am curious to see how I feel.

Spicy Autum Stew

I was not to impressed with this one either. Both the Sweet Potato Pie and this stew I made for Thanksgiving, so I was dissapointed at both dishes I made on Thanksgiving.

Sweet Potato Pie

I have never made sweet potato pie or even tried it. I love sweet potatoes but I was not to impressed with this pie. Anyway heres a look.

Introducing Spanky Lussier! AKA the little white man

He is truly a pure bred beaut.......................

Tofu Sausage Scramble and Garlic Oven Fries

Here is the tofu scramble with sausage and Garlic Oven Fries


Tofu Scramble
1/2 block of firm tofu, crumbled, soaked in veggie broth
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 small onion
2 large kale leaves, thrown in food processor
1 small red bell pepper
3 large baby bella mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
garlic powder
paprika
2 Gardenburger Sausage patties ,crumbled

cook veggies until tender, add crumbled tofu and spices heat through. Add Gardenburger veggie breakfast sausage and heat through. Add nutritional yeast and mix through. Serve on whole wheat English muffin.


Garlic Oven Fries
2 russet potatoes cut in french fry shapes
1 tsp olive oil
Montreal steak seasoning
garlic powder
onion flake
salt
pepper
paprika

spread cut potatoes on baking sheet toss with olive oil and spices. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

More Squish Soup..........................................

More Squish Soup

I made the Autum Squash Apple Soup from Venturesome Vegetarian, I gave it another try and it came out really good and thick this time. Check out this cookbook it is really great.

Thursday Night Nachos

I made some nachos for dinner tonight, I will share the recipe:

Thursday Night Nachos (for one girl)

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup canned kidney beans

3 large baby bella mushrooms diced

1/2 onion sliced

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp safflower oil

1/2 chili pepper

1/2 cup tomato sauce

pinch of cumin

pinch of chili pepper

1 tsp cilantro (dried)

Vegan Gourmet Cheddar to taste

Tofutti Sour cream to taste

1/2 cup salsa

blue corn chips

saute veggies and spices until soft, add beans and heat through, add tomato sauce heat through. Put mixture on top of corn chips, spoonful of salsa and sour cream on top. Enjoy.

Very good.

If you are in a bad mood just look at this........

Hungry?

Eggplant Parmesan, Tofu Basil Ricotta, Pesto

Here is a picture of the eggplant parmesan before it went into the oven. Half of it has cheese on top and the other half does not. Cheeze needs cheese, he is addicted.

This came out really good. It was a lot of work but well worth it. Now we have leftovers for the rest of the week. Also in the layers of eggplant I have layers of pesto that I made last night and layers of tofu basil ricotta from VwaV. Then we had brown rice pasta with tomato sauce and pesto on the side. I am so full. And people ask Vegans "but what do you eat?!" what a silly question.

Last night was a Success

Tonight is eggplant parm night, with tofu basil ricotta. I can't wait. I am still debating on weather to bake or fry the eggplant, I am leaning towards frying.

Last night I made pesto with brown rice fettuccine, it was very very good. I have not had pesto in years and I forgot how much I loved it. Even Cheez loved it, he asked me if it had butter in it. HA go figure, I told him no it did not have butter because you really don't need butter for great flavoring, this was proof to him. Also for the side I made some "grain balls", sounds appetizing right? I had some left over Bulgar wheat in the fridge so I mixed it with some crumbled tofu, WW breadcrumbs, kitchen bouquet, Bragg's, onion flakes, garlic flakes, bacco bits, tomato paste and some oat flour to hold it all together, I sauteed them in a little safflower oil, they were very good. I wanted to add baby bella's that I had but this was supposed to be a quick dinner and it was getting late. The texture was so much like meat it sort of gave me a chill. I brought them for lunch, I am going to smother them in mushroom gravy and make a sammich with some spinach. Oh and yeah I forgot to take a picture of this meal last night, I ended up eating it up to fast. It was damn good. Tonight there will be pics.

Squish Soup!

Last night I decided to make a butternut squash apple soup. I completely messed it up in so many different ways. First I used vanilla almond milk instead of vanilla rice milk which the recipe called for. Second mistake was I was supposed to cut the squash (which took 1/2 hour to cut), onion, apples, carrots and boil them in just the rice milk, instead I boiled it in a ton of water and then added the almond milk (was supposed to be rice), which resulted in a super watery soup. It tasted good and even smelled like incense but the wateriness was very bad. I felt like I was drinking squash, not cool. Also I don't think almond milk is supposed to be boiled, it seemed to have curdled, mmmmmmmmm................................................ Anyway yes it was a failure so there are not any pictures, I ended up dumping it after we ate it for dinner, there was just no way I was going to ever reheat it, especially since it already looked curdled. I HATE throwing food away, especially organic veggies.

I also wanted to mention the website Compassionate Cooks, I discovered this website yesterday while listening to a podcast on Vegan Freak. Colleen Patrick Goudreau lives in the Bay Area in California (lucky!) and she runs this website, teaches cooking classes, and hosts the podcast that can be found on http://compassionatecooks.com/, it is so cool I listened all day while working yesterday. She gives so many vegan cooking tips, baking tips and transition tips. Also her website is so helpful. I wish I did not live a thousand miles away I would take her cooking class in a second. I will subscribe to her website today or tomorrow.

Another question, what is this I keep hearing about Wildwood soy products?! I have never heard or seen them before. All of a sudden everyone is talking about this product on different blogs and websites, I want to try it. Most people say it is the "best" tofu! they have ever had, they even make a super firm version which is great for grilling. If anyone on the East Coast knows about this product could you drop me a line. I can't even find Nigari Tofu around here, damn East Coast!

Also I am making a eggplant parmesan tomorrow with VwaV tofu basil ricotta, I will post a pic and verdict on how that turns out.

Oat Bran Breakfast

I want to share a quick and tasty breakfast idea with you. I make this a lot on the weekends when I need something really quick, really tasty, and healthy. I am not one for measuring ingredients so I tend to be very vague with measurements, just bear with me.

1/3 cup oat bran
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp Earth Balance
couple splashed of plain soy milk
salt to taste

I nuke the oat bran with about a cup of water, once it is done I mix the rest of the ingredients in with the oat bran and it tastes like a cheesy polenta I used to eat. This breakfast is my default breakfast for example when I had a late night and proceed to sleep until noon on Saturday and need a hearty breakfast to get me going on my Saturday chores. I did not want to take a picture of this breakfast it is not very photogenic but it is tasty. My boyfriend watches me as I make it and each time he asks me "what is that? Sawdust?" each time I have to remind him that, "No, it is nutritional yeast." Which then is followed by a look of utter disgust because of the word "yeast." Oh well, more for me.

Topless Hummus

Here is a pic of the topless hummus, I had it for lunch yesterday.

Easy Lunch Ideas

For some reason or another I have the most difficult time planning lunches, which is a reason I bought Jennifer McCann's new book Vegan Lunchbox, but anyway when I think of a something different for lunch I tend to get excited. Thinking of what to make for lunch and actually making it causes me to be late for work every day. I tend to get sick of things quickly and I need a big variety and for some reason lunch is such a challenge to me. Anyway I have a few quick lunch ideas for anyone else who has the same dilemma.

Sweet Sun Sandwich

sunflower nut butter
agave nectar to taste
Cinnamon to taste
cloves to taste
2 slices of whole wheat bread

mix the agave, Cinnamon, and cloves with the nut butter and spread on the whole wheat or whichever bread you prefer. Enjoy.


Topless Hummus

2 slices of whole wheat (toast bread)
romaine lettuce
baby spinach
radish sliced
broccoli cut small
hummus
black pepper
salt

Pile on top of toasted bread and enjoy

I will keep adding simple and healthy lunch ideas along the way

Date Squares Tonight

I made Date Squares tonight from one of Dreena's cookbooks, I believe it was Vive Le Vegan. These were delicious, they tasted like caramel bars that I used to eat as a kid. I used Medjool dates that I bought at Wild Oats today. I have never had Medjool dates before and I think that I may be in love. Before I made the Date Squares I was pitting the dates and stuffing them with pecans, it was heavan.

Introducing Bella!

This is Bella and she is very nervous most days.

Another cute pup

I will post pics of my fave animals until I start taking pictures of food I have cooked which should start tonight. Also I am learnign how this blogger thing works. Thanks for your patience.

Fennel Stir Fry

Okay so I have never used fennel before and I have had a fennel bulb in my fridge for the past few weeks, finally last night I decided to use it. I got the idea from a recipe on recipezaar, though I changed this one around a lot.

it is as follows

Fennel Noodle Bowl

2 packs of ramen noodles cooked and drained
2 cm of fresh ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, sliced or diced whichever you prefer
1 tablespoon of kitchen bouquet
2 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp of oil, I used safflower, I just recently found out canola is bad! (I never knew this)
1 tbsp sesame oil
sliced beef style seitan
1 bulb of fennel sliced into sticks
1 carrot sliced into sticks
3 small radish sliced into circles
1 package of beef broth or 1 tbsp of beef broth powder (vegetarian of course)

Directions: Add oil to pan along with sliced onion, minced garlic, minced ginger, carrots saute until softened a bit. Add fennel saute for a few minutes. Add water and beef broth powder bring to a boil and let simmer for about 30 mins (maybe even add some sake or mirin), until veggies are soft. While simmering add tamari, kitchen bouquet and seitan slices. Meanwhile prepare noodles (I used two packs of ramen noodles) and drain. Simple throw the sesame oil in the simmering broth and stir then serve this on top of noodles. You could sprinkle some sesame seeds on top if you like. I had this last night and it was so delicious I could not contain myself.

Linkage to Pindi Chana thanks to Erik Marcus

http://www.punjabilok.com/rasoi/pindi_chana.htm

Here you can check out this recipe to the Pindi Chana I made the other night.

My camera is MIA!

I got a gorgeous camera for Chirstmas last year and it is missing. I have been dying to take pics of all the cooking I have been doing but I can't, so I will proceed to just chat about what I made.

This past weekend I made an Indian dish called Pindi Chana that Eric Marcus suggested on his podcast. So me and my cheeze(fiance) had a romantic dinner by candlelight on Saturday. Saturday we took a trip to a Indian Store in Cambridge called "Shalimar" they had everything I needed for the recipe and it was cheap. I got coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, aeosfida, paan, garam masala, and tamarind all for under $10. I was so excited.

Anyway we also went to Whole Foods and got some Samosa and Pakora for apps. THose were very tasty. But the naan we got was so incredible, it was sweet like molasses. I could not get enough of it.

Now for the Pindi Chana it was incredible. There was a very unique taste to it, it was nothing like I have ever tasted. It was very rich in flavor so I could not eat to much of it. But it was a magical dish. Cheeze added chicken to his since he is totally anti-vegan. I wish I could have gotten a pic of this meal. Also ghee was called for in the recipe and instead I just doubled up on the olive oil.

Hi Everybody

I am a 29 year old who lives in the Boston area. I recently have adopted a veganish diet and I don't know a single other soul who is Vegan. Many people in my life think I am completely out of my mind for snubbing meat and especially CHEESE!! I want to show the people I love and the world how beautiful, tasty, and exciting Vegan Food can be. I grew up on meat and potatoes and I was a complete junk food addict until about two months ago, I had to force myself to like vegetables, I succeeded and I know others can do the same.