Month: November 2012

Simple Black Bean Burrito

Melissa King 21 Comments

Growing up in Texas, my husband is a huge fan of Mexican food.  He always gives me a hard time because I am such a wimp when is comes to spicy foods.  We just didn’t eat much spicy food in Boston.  So this dish is a compromise between the two of us.  I am sure my husband will drop a ton of hot sauce on his before eating. 🙂  Hope you like it.

Simple Black Bean Burrito

 

 

Simple Black Bean Burrito

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Ingredients

  • 3 cups black beans
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped
  • 1 orange bell pepper chopped
  • 1 cup sliced baby tomoatoes
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1 small shallot diced
  • 2 large cloves of garlic
  • 4 green onion bases (the white part minus the root up until it begins to seperate)
  • 2-3 T light oil (I used safflower)
  • 1 T cumin
  • 2 tsp fajita seasoning
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Cook the rice according to the instructions or in the rice cooker and set aside. 
  2. I only purchase dry beans, so they were soaked over night and then boiled and rinsed to soften before I started.
  3. In a large skillet, heat the oil under medium high eat. 
  4. Put the stalk part of the green onion in the oil and let it sit for about 30 seconds allowing the onion flavor to infuse in the oil.
  5. Next, add the pepper, shallots, and garlic and let cook for another 5 minutes. 
  6. Afterwards add the beans and spices and let cook for about 5 – 7 more minutes stirring often.
  7. Add the rice last, stir, and remove from heat. 
  8. Before serving, add the cold sliced tomatoes with the warm bean mixture.
  9. Wrap up in a whole grain tortilla and enjoy!

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Healthy Candied Yams

Melissa King 41 Comments

Thanksgiving it a time when we tend to blow our diets.  So I am trying to find healthy alternatives to those holiday staples.  Recently, I posted a recipe for my vegan green bean casserole.  Here now is my healthy candied yams. These healthy candied yams got the thumbs up from my non vegan in laws.  I hope you like it too.

Healthy Candied Yams

Before starting this recipe, I thought that sweet potatoes and yams were pretty much the same.  After doing some research, I found they are actually quite different.  Yams are much sweeter with a darker flesh than sweet potatoes.  That is probably why they work so well in this dish

I made this recipe with only one yam because I wasn’t sure how it would taste.  Feel free to double this.

Healthy Candied Yams

Healthy Candied Yams!

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Prep Time 15 min Cook Time 30 min

Ingredients

  • 1 yam cubed
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 2 T maple syrup
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400. 
  2. Slice the yam into 1 inch cubes. 
  3. Throw them in a pot of boiling water for about 5-7 minutes until they are slightly underdone.
  4. Transfer then yams to a greased baking pan. (For this recipe I used an 8X8 glass dish) 
  5. In a measuring cup, mix the orange juice, 1T maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
  6. Pour the mixture over the yams. 
  7. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. 
  8. For the last 2 minutes of cooking, pull the dish out and brush with the last T of maple syrup.  Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Butternut Squash Bread

Melissa King 94 Comments

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Bread.  I made you some butternut squash bread!  I know I have said this before, but I just love getting my co-op basket.

You never know what fruits and vegetables you are going to get.  I love squash and have been using it a lot lately, so when I saw it in my basket, I wanted to try something different other than roasting it or making a soup.

So I decided to try baking some bread with it.

 

gluten free butternut squash bread

 

This gluten free butternut squash bread came out moist and delicious!  This recipe is great because butternut squash is already naturally sweet so you can use much less sweetener.

I am all about cutting the sugar whenever possible.  This would be yummy to make on a cold day.  We just haven’t had many of those yet here in Dallas.

Baking it also makes the house smell so good.  I hope you enjoy it.

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Bread

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Bread

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 45 min

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325. 
  2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
  3. Mix all wet in a smaller bowl. 
  4. Add wet to dry and place batter in a loaf pan.  I used an 8 inch loaf pan .
  5. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

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Vegetable Tempeh Mash

Melissa King 7 Comments

I have to confess, this dish was supposed to be tempeh veggie burgers, but I just could not get them to bind up.  So alas, the tempeh vegetable mash was born!  It is really tasty.  Sometimes you have to make a mistake to discover something wonderful. 🙂

I ate this dish as is, but it would go well into a whole wheat hot dog bun too.  Or, you could serve it over some rice or quinoa.

Vegetable Tempeh Mash

Vegetable Tempeh Mash

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Prep Time 15 min Cook Time 20 min

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg tempeh
  • 1/4 -1/2 head green cabbage shredded
  • 1 large carrot shredded
  • 4-5 mushrooms diced
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 T toasted sesame oil
  • 2 T organic soy sauce (I used SanJ)
  • 1 T mirin
  • 1 tsp ume plum vinegar
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

Instructions

  1. In a large pan, cook the sesame oil, garlic, mushrooms and tempeh until the mushrooms are soft.
  2. After they are softened, add the cabbage and carrot.
  3. After the carrot and cabbage start to soften, add the soy sauce, mirin, ume vinegar and breadcrumbs.
  4. Cook until all flavors are blended. Plate and serve.

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Healthy Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Melissa King 12 Comments

Thanksgiving is that time of year when you stuff yourself silly with all the guilty pleasures.  I am going to try to make healthier versions of all the naughty dishes.  The first one that came to mind was to make a vegan green bean casserole.  Who doesn’t love it in all it’s decadent glory?  The original version is not vegan and contains a lot of unwanted ingredients.  My vegan green bean casserole is much healthier
and just as delicious…

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

I am including a gluten free option in this recipe as well.  So you can save all the calories for dessert. 🙂

What are some other Thanksgiving guilty pleasures?

Healthy Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Healthy Vegan Green Bean Casserole

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 25 min

Ingredients

  • 2 cups green beans sliced
  • 3 cups + 1/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 3/4 cup + 4-5 sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1 T arrowroot powder
  • 1/2 cup + 2T whole wheat panco bread crumbs (to make this gluten free, just use gluten free breadcrumbs.)
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. 
  2. In a large sauce pan , saute 3/4 cup mushrooms, onions and olive oil. 
  3. In another pot, boil the green beans in the 3 cups veggie broth for 10 minutes. 
  4. In a food processor , combine the arrowroot, 1/4 cup milk and 4-5 sliced mushrooms until mixture is fully pureed. 
  5. Once the beans are boiled, drain and add them to the mushroom/onion mixture. 
  6. Add the pureed mushrooms to the pan. 
  7. Now add the salt and breadcrumbs. Stir well.
  8. Place in the oven and bake for  20 minutes. 
  9. Pull it out and sprinkle last 2T breadcrumbs over the top and cook for another 5 minutes.

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