VeganMofo

Happy World Vegetarian Day

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(image source)

today….

-today is World Vegetarian Day and kicks off Vegetarian Awareness Month

– today is the kick off for VeganMoFo; unfortunately I won’t be participating this year but I can’t wait to read others posts

get started…

– this month make a vow eat more vegetarian meals

-or even better yet why not try being vegetarian or vegan for the month? or maybe until dinner? do what works for you

get inspired…

– FatFree Vegan Kitchen

– Oh She Glows

– Daily Garnish

get in the kitchen…

–curry coconut roasted butternut squash

– apple walnut cake

how are you celebrating world vegetarian day?

will you take the vow to go vegetarian for the month?

Quick, Cheap and Easy Meal

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Today I am doing a Living Healthy on A Budget workshop and in preparation for the workshop I decided to make a quick, cheap and easy meal of chickpea-quinoa salad, tofu and squash with tahini sauce. What I loved about this meal was how easy it came together and how little work it was for me. It is also packed with nutrition and uber tasty.

Chickpea Quinoa Salad 

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as en entree); 6-8 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving:~ $1.75 (Entree); ~$0.85-1.16 (side)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup  organic quinoa, rinsed +2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup organic scallions, sliced
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1/2 bunch organic fresh parsley, chopped
  • 2 cups cooked or canned organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Add quinoa and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.  Let stand 5 minutes.
  2. While the quinoa cools combine remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Add quinoa and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Delicata Squash

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes plus oven heating
  • Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving: $0.63
Ingredients:
  • 1 medium delicata squash; washed, halved, seeds removed and sliced into half moons
  • salt and pepper, taste

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat an oven to 350F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper
  2. Place the delicata squash slices on the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-30 minutes until fork tender.

Baked Tofu

  • Prep Time: 2 minutes plus oven heating
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving: $0.55
Ingredients:
  • 1 block extra firm organic tofu, drained and cut into 4 large triangles
  • 2 tablespoons organic shoyu

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat an oven to 350F.
  2. Place the tofu in an 8×8 baking dish, prick with a fork and evenly our over the shoyu.
  3. Bake for 25 minutes, flipping after 15 minutes.

Tahini Sauce

  • Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving: ~$0.60
Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons water, add more water if you would like a thiner consistency
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Place in a blender or food processer and process until smooth.

Total Cost Per Serving: $2.63

(4 complete meals plus 2 extra sides of chickpea-quinoa salad)

Recipe: Giant Beans in Tomato Oregano Sauce

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Last week during my Eating for Energy workshop a few participants got to talking about their favorite beans and one gentleman said how much he loved to make his beans in his slow cooker.  I thought that this sounded like a really great idea and decided to try it out myself.  I picked up these giant organic dried fava beans at the market on Saturday and decided to make a dish inspired by this dish Neil and I had a few years ago at a tasty Greek restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  The dish was made with giant white fava beans and had a tomato sauce with spices.  My recreation may not have been authentic but it sure was tasty!

Giant Beans in Tomato Oregano Sauce

Ingredients

Yields 6-8 Servings

  • 1.5 cups dried fava beans
  • 2 cups water plus more for soaking
  • 1-28oz can of crushed tomatoes
  • 2-3 garlic, sliced
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
Soak the fava beans for 8-12 hours, changing the water once. Once they a finished soaking drain and rinse; place in a slow cooker with the 2 cups of water and the crushed tomatoes.  Cover and turn onto low for 6 hours.  After 6 hours, add the garlic, onion, oregano, salt and pepper; stir and cover and allow to slow cook for 2 more hours or until the beans are tender.  Serve with your favorite whole grain or with whole wheat pita.

DC Recap- Day 1

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After an early start to the morning we finally made it to Dulles and then eventually caught the Metrobus and then the Metro to our hotel at Dupont Circle.  We stayed at the Palomar DC, it is located right off Dupont Circle and is in a great location.  The hotel is kind of funky and youthful; a great spot for us.

Our Hotel Room

We checked in and then headed out to lunch at Cafe Green where we cleaned our plates and then headed down to the National Mall to visit the National Air and Space Museum.

After spending a few hours looking at airplanes and spaceships we decided to catch at metro back to the hotel so that we could sit down and relax a minute before we headed to the Adams Morgan area for dinner. On our walk back from the metro stop we checked the time and realized we were just in time for the complimentary wine and appetizer hour that the hotel hosts from 5-6pm. So we decided to enjoy a glass…or 2 of wine as well as some marinated olives and flatbreads.

Poor quality iPhone photo but you get the idea

After drinks and a quick change we made the 20 minute walk up to the Adams Morgan area for dinner at Meskerem an Ethiopian place that I had seen on Groupon and had purchased $15 for $30 worth of food.  Our initial thoughts upon arrival that it was very bright, the staff seemed bored and overall not a great atmosphere at all.  We were hopeful that the food would at least be good.  We decided to start with the Sambusas both the collards and cabbage one.  We enjoyed both but the collards was our favorite.
Following the Sambusas we had one of our favorite Ethiopian dishes the tomato salad which is simply onions, tomato, chili and an acid (lemon juice maybe or vinegar?).

For our main event we got the vegetarian platter with more tomato salad instead of the Meskerem salad which has cheese in it.  We really enjoyed all of the food however we were slightly put off by them not bringing warm wet towels to wipe our hands of prior to digging in like other Ethiopian restaurants we have visited.  Overall we enjoyed the food but we wouldn’t return based on the service and atmosphere – I hear there are a number of other really delicious Ethiopian Restaurants in DC.

Ratings:
Value: 3/5
Food: 4/5
Vegan Friendly: 3/5
Atmosphere: 0/5

Holiday Recipes

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Cranberry-Apple Glazed Tempeh

4 Portions

  • 8oz block Tempeh, sliced in half and then sliced in half through the middle to make four 2oz portions
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • Juice of 1 apple or 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 1/2 cup of cranberries
  • 1 apple, diced
  • 2T brown rice syrup
  • 1/2T low-sodium soy sauce
  • 3 sage leaves, sliced
  • pinch of pepper

Directions:

  1. Heat a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, pour in the broth and place the tempeh in a flat layer.  Bring up to a simmer, flipping once the broth has reduced by half.  Continue to simmer until the broth is gone. Remove the tempeh and set aside.
  2. In the pan over medium-low heat cook the cranberries, apple slices, brown rice syrup, soy sauce and pepper for 1-2 minute until the apple start soften.  Stir in the apple juice and cook for 3 minutes until the apples soft and cranberries burst.  Strain the liquid from the sauce and reserve both the fruit and liquid.
  3. Place the tempeh back in the pan over medium heat and add the liquid. Simmer until the sauce has thickened and glazed the tempeh.
  4. To serve top with some of the reserved cranberry-apple mixture.

Ciabatta Squash-Sage Dressing

Serves 2-3

  • 4- 1/2inch slices of ciabatta, diced
  • 1T vegan margarine
  • 1T olive oil
  • 7 sage leaves, sliced
  • 1/2 cup onion diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 cup butternut squash, diced and roasted
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup vegan chicken gravy
    • 1T vegan margarine
    • 2T AP flour
    • 1 cup vegan chicken broth

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Toss the squash with a little oil, salt and pepper; place on a sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes until the squash is soft.
  2. In a cast iron skillet or saute pan heat the olive oil and margarine until margarine is melted.  Toss in the sage and cook until crispy and then toss in the onion and saute for 3 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and cook for 4-5 more minutes until the onion is soft.  Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and leave place in a bowl; set aside.
  3. Place the bread in the pan and stir around, coating with the oil.  Cook on medium-high until the bread is toasty.  Remove from the pan and set in the bowl with the onions.
  4. Place the squash in the bowl with the onions and the bread.
  5. In the skillet heat the broth until bubbly and then pour over the bread; toss to coat and serve immediately.

Dining in DC: Cafe Green

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We started our DC trip off with a visit to Cafe Green, a vegan restaurant near Dupont Circle. I lucked out and got a a great deal on Groupon. The lunch menu has a great selection of salads, sandwiches and raw entrees. We had a really hard time deciding on what we wanted but eventually decided to go with Cheeseburger and Raw California Pizza Platter. The Cheeseburger was really delicious however the slaw was really the star of the plate. The Raw California Pizza Platter was so delicious however unfortunately they were all out of kale chips so I had the kimchi instead and it was amazing.  The Hubz and I were overall very impressed with our meal, the location, the service and it also had a great drink list.

Cheeseburger Soy patty on a wheat bun, topped w/ cheese, lettuce & tomato, sautéed pepper, and onion

Raw California Pizza Platter (GF) Our raw pizza with guacamole and raw cheese topped with tomato, cucumber, carrot onion and peppers. Served with Kale Chips and a petite spinach salad

Ratings:
Value: 3/5
Food: 4/5
Vegan Friendly: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

White Bean Mash

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White Bean Mash

Serves 4
Ingredients:

  • 1T olive oil
  • 1-15oz can of white beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2T non-dairy creamer
  • 1/4C white wine
  • 10 oil packed sundried tomatoes, sliced
  • 1t Italian seasoning
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet heat the oil over medium high heat, toss the onions in the oil and saute for 5-7 minutes until the onions are softened. Stir in the garlic and then stir in the wine; cook for 3-5 minutes until the wine has reduced.  Stir in the beans, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and then mash until chunky.  Stir in the sundried tomatoes and the non-dairy creamer.