African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

This dish is one of those ones that you'll have to pack away the leftovers right away, or else you'll find yourself coming back to the pot over and over again to sneak "one more spoonful" until you're left with pants that are too tight, and minimal leftovers for lunch the next day! I first tried this recipe when my super mother-in-law made it for us this Christmas...we've pretty much made it every other week since then!!

The secret ingredient is the peanut butter...it makes the stew so creamy and slightly sweet when it meets the tomato and sweet potatoes. The recipe calls for sweet potato and kidney beans, but I've made it with butternut squash and chickpeas (as pictured) and it turned out just as fantastic! We like to serve it over quinoa, but any grain will do! The recipe makes a good amount so you should have enough to freeze or serve the next day (if you heed my warning from above!).

Ingredients

3 tablespoons water or oil (for sauteing)
2 medium onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon light brown sugar (I skip this, it isn't necessary)
1 teaspoon grated or minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (a little generous if you like things on the spicy side)
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter (crunchy is fine too)
3 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 can (15 oz.)red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (19 oz.) diced tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes, diced
4 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted dry-roasted peanuts (optional)

Directions

Heat water or oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, ginger, cumin, cinnamon and cayenne pepper, and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.

Stir in peanut butter and tomatoes, stir until melted and distributing evenly.

Add stock, sweet potatoes and kidney beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft (30 – 40 minutes). Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve over your choice of grain with chopped peanuts on top!

Enjoy!

This recipe is from Colleen Patrick Goudreau's The Vegan Table

Coconut-Lime Chickpea Stew with Rice

I found this recipe in the Holiday issue of Food & Drink magazine...you know, the one you can pick up for free at the LCBO. After reading the title I was a little bummed as it was originally called Coconut-Lime Chicken Stew with Rice...booo! But after thinking for, oh, a nanosecond, I realized this stew would be fantastic with chickpeas instead! And so it was...sooo fantastic!

I made a few other changes to the recipe in addition to the chickpeas...here's the final product.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cups onions, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
4 cups sweet potato, finely cubed
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 can coconut milk (light or regular)
1 cup cooked basmati rice
1 can cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In large pot, heat oil over medium heat, add onion, red pepper, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes - sauté until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the sweet potato and stock, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Add remaining ingredients and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve.

A note on freezing: This soup freezes really well, the only thing I'd recommend would be to let it thaw in the fridge overnight, then warm it up...rather than using the "defrost" function on your microwave. When reheating a soup with rice, you want to heat it as little as possible so as to avoid overcooked soggy mush. :D

Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Curry

I've been meaning to share this fantastic Pumpkin Curry recipe with you all for a while now...it's become a regular favorite in my house as of late. It features mild curry flavours including slightly spicy from the red chilies and ginger, and creamy sweetness from the coconut! Best of all, it's SUPER easy to make! I know, I know, I always say that...and yes, I always mean it! But this one is even easier than usual...the only chopping you'll have to do is the onion and garlic, the rest is measure, pour and stir!

I've made some minor adjustments to the recipe, mainly in the spicing. Feel free to play around with it depending on your tastes though. I like to serve it over some brown basmati rice, but it's just perfect on it's own too! Oh, and it freezes superbly...so make a big batch and save some for a rainy (or snowy) day!

Pumpkin Curry
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium-size yellow onions, finely chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups red lentils
3 cups water or vegetable stock
3 tbsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne OR 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups nondairy milk OR 1 can coconut milk
1 large (796 ml) can of pumpkin puree (not the pumpkin pie filling!)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Directions
Saute onion, garlic, ginger until onions are translucent (about 6 min).
Add lentils, water, curry powder, cayenne, chili flakes and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook until lentils are almost cooked al dente (soft but still retains body and texture) (about 15-20 minutes).
Stir in milk, pumpkin puree and shredded coconut. Stir well and heat through on medium heat.
Serve over rice or other grain if desired.

Enjoy!!

This recipe is adapted from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan Table.

Roasted Yellow Pepper and Corn Bisque

With the crisp Fall temperatures coming at us these days, it's nice to have a comforting soup to come home to. This dish is perfect for the season, using fresh corn, yellow squash, and yellow peppers. Together, they make a beautiful yellow soup that is slightly sweet and very creamy! Due to the pepper roasting, this soup does take a bit more preparation than others, but it's so worth it! And if you're really keen, you can roast and prep the peppers the day before to save some time. Try roasting them on the barbecue, it gives you an excuse to spend some more time with the big guy before he's put away for the winter!

To pump up the nutrition with extra fiber and protein, I added red lentils. Red lentils are my favorite trick for adding nutrition and thickness to creamy soups because they break down so well once cooked - you really don't notice they're there!

You can choose to partially blend or fully blend this soup depending on your mood. I chose to blend about 2/3 of the soup and keep the rest unblended. This added a nice texture to the soup, especially the fresh corn because it's still a bit crisp!

This is officially my new favourite Fall soup...until I find my next fav anyway :) Give it a try!


Ingredients

4 yellow bell peppers
3 cups fresh corn, cut from the cobs (about 4 cobs)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium sized onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cups yellow summer squash, cut into small cubes
1 cup dry red lentils
4 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 (14 oz) can of coconut milk (light is fine)
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
juice of 1 lime, or to taste
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cut the stems off the peppers and pull out the seeds. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (covered in parchment paper) and bake for about 40 minutes, turning once. The peppers should be very soft and collapsed. If you are roasted them on the barbecue, place them on the grill whole, and turn them as the skins blacken. Let them cool and sweat in a bowl wrapped tightly with plastic wrap before peeling off the skin and removing any remaining stem and seeds. Roughly chop the peppers.

In a large pot, saute the onion in the oil to 5 to 7 minutes over a medium-high heat, until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and the chilies and saute for another minute or so.

Add the corn, squash and lentils; cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until moisture begins to release from the squash. Add the roasted peppers, vegetable broth and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about 20minutes, covered.

Add the coconut milk and blend the soup, either by using an immersion blender or by slightly cooling and then transferring the soup to a food processor or blender in batches. Reheat the soup and stir in the nutmeg, maple syrup and lime.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Creamy Broccoli and Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk

Ok...I know it's summer, and people don't typically think of eating a steaming bowl of creamy soup when it's hot and sunny outside. But hey, like everyone else, I go to work everyday and soup has always been a tried and true staple for my weekday lunches. And it's always nice to have a couple servings of soup lying around in the freezer for those nights when cooking something for dinner sounds like torture!

A few weeks back we visited the farmers market here in Ottawa and I got so excited by all the fresh greens available!! I decided to buy a bunch of broccoli and spinach, not knowing yet what I was going to do with them.

At home, I found a recipe for a creamy broccoli and spinach soup and that was that! The recipe however, called for milk as the creamy base so I decided to use coconut milk instead. I also added some red lentils to add additional thickness and to boost the protein and fiber content of the soup. The result was fantastic!! This creamy soup is now one of our favourites! As can be expected - the coconut milk is the real star here...but if you'd like to reduce the fat content, feel free to use light coconut milk, or just reduce the amount and compensate with more veggie stock.

Pair this soup with some whole grain crusty bread for a filling and complete meal. Feel free to play with garnishes as well, I've used sunflower seeds here, but you could use any nut/seed really, or croutons, or fresh herbs, or crackers... you get my point!

Eating a big steaming bowl of greens will make anyone feel healthy - thereby making that sweet treat you've been craving all day a guilt-free dessert!

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped roughly
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
1-2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup red lentils
12 oz broccoli (about 4 cups) cut into florets
8 oz fresh spinach, packed (about 3 1/2 to 4 cups)
4 cups vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
pepper to taste

Directions:
- Saute onion and garlic in oil until lightly cooked - about 5-7 min.
- Add red lentils and cook 1-2 min
- Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for a few minutes to get the lentils cooking.
- Add broccoli and simmer until broccoli and lentils are tender - about 10-15 min depending on size of florets
- When broccoli is fork tender, add spinach, coconut milk, nutmeg and pepper. Cook spinach for 2-3 minutes until wilted.
- Use a blender to blend soup (really well) in batches until all the soup is smooth.

Enjoy!

This recipe was heavily adapted from Susannah Blake's 500 Soups: The Only Soup Compendium You'll Ever Need

Chili

Hey everyone, sorry for my absence last week, I was a touch under the weather...but I'm back this week with a great chili recipe!

Chili is one of those meals that hits the spot on a cold winter day! I had been searching for a good standard vegetarian chili recipe for a long time but somehow they always fell flat...or included strange ingredients that I didn't necessarily want to see in my bowl of chili! So I was determined to create one that met my tastes and was easy to make...

This recipe is really easy, especially if you're making use of a slow cooker. Don't get anxious, but there's one new ingredient that you may not have seen or used before...textured vegetable protein (or TVP for short). It's a high-fiber, high-protein meat substitute made from soy flour. To use it, you just need to rehydrate it - making it a great substitute for ground meat. I get mine at the Bulk Barn, easy peasy! For a bit more on TVP, check out this explanation. If you can't find TVP, or are still a little weary, try adding veggie ground round, it's easy to find in most grocery stores and it works just as well!

Now go make some chili! Cozy up with a warm bowl and watch some Olympics!


Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup onions, chopped finely
1 large pepper, any color, chopped finely
2 stalks celery, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
3-4 cups cooked beans (about two cans) any kind of bean works here, I usually use 1 can kidney, the rest adzuki or black beans
1 1/2 cups dry TVP or 1 pkg veggie ground round
3-4 cups water
4 tbsp chili powder (just make sure it's not the crazy hot variety)
2 tbsp cumin powder
2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp - 1 tsp cayenne powder (depending on your taste for spice)
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels

Directions
Add chopped veggies and garlic to large sauce pot with saute for about 5 min. Add all remaining ingredients except frozen corn (start with 3 cups water then add more if required later). Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer until veggies are cooked to a desired consistency - about 30 minutes. Add frozen corn at the end and warm through.

If using a slow cooker, throw everything in the pot; for quick cooking, set it on high heat for about 3 hours; for slower cooking, set it on low heat for about 6 hours. Add frozen corn at the end and warm through.

The best garnish for chili is avocado! Just chop some up and throw it on top. Another good way to eat it is to serve it with tortilla chips on the side - yum!

Enjoy everyone!

Soup's On!

Last year Jeff (my husband) and I decided to do a 21-day cleanse wherein we omitted all meat, fish, eggs, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar and, as a result, shifted our eating toward more whole food including using new grains and lots of organic produce. This was based on the cleanse suggested in Kathy Freston's Quantum Wellness (see my reading list). Throughout the 21 days we were so surprised at how easy it was to eat this way--the food tasted amazing and we felt better (physically and mentally) almost instantly! After the three weeks, we decided to stick with this diet for the most part because we just couldn't come up with a good reason to go back to how we were eating before.

Last week, I learned about a similar program being sponsored by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart is a "program is designed for anyone who wants to explore and experience the health benefits of a vegan diet". If you're interested, check-out their website, it's got some really fantastic resources including a full 21-day meal plan, personalized grocery shopping lists, tons of recipes, celebrity tips, and some great videos! In the spirit of the 21-Day Kickstart, I decided to test out a couple of the recipes on their site. I chose two soups because, well, it's winter, and soups do a great job at warming us up on those cold and snowy days! The pictures are from my own kitchen, so what you see is what you get!

Butternut Soup with Cinnamon Cream
Makes 4-6 servings

This soup is sooooo good!! I'm a big fan of creamy soups and this one does not disappoint! It's super silky and creamy from the buttery squash and it's got just the right amount of flavour kick from the ginger and cinnamon. Best of all, it's really easy to prepare!! This soup would be a great starter for any meal. Or pair with a hearty salad and some crusty bread for a complete meal.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 pounds butternut squash (about 6 cups), peeled and chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, chopped (this wasn't original to the recipe--silly eh?)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground coriander
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup soymilk (or any non-dairy milk)
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat oil over medium heat and sauté onion for 5 minutes, until golden. Add squash, carrot, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, and coriander. Cook while stirring for 5 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables are browned.

Add the vegetable stock and soymilk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring for 30 to 35 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Blend until smooth in a blender or food processor. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Lentil Barley Stew
Makes 6 1-cup servings

I love barley in soups! Well, I love barley in anything really, it's so chewy and hearty and pairs really well with beans and lentils. This soup is really tasty, it's got the exact right flavour that you'd expect from a lentil and barley stew...and it's got just a tiny bit of spice at the end to keep you coming back for more! This soup is a meal all on it's own, but paired with some fresh whole wheat crusty bread, it's over the top ;)

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry lentils, rinsed
1/4 cup dry hulled or pearl barley
4 cups Vegetable Broth or water
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Place all ingredients except salt into a large pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils and barley are tender, about 1 hour. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy!