Lemongrass & Greens Soup w/ Raw Garnishes

I got some lemongrass stalks and Thai basil from my friend Sara, so I thought I’d try to put them to good use and also eat plenty of raw in the process.

I made a broth with pureed coconut shreds, broccoli stalks, and kale, coconut water and homemade vegetable broth, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, a green chile, salt, and a small amount of the basil.  Then I cooked the broccoli florets in the broth but still found something was missing…..roasted peanuts!  They really changed the flavor of the soup for the better.  The garnish is carrots, bok choy, kale, avocado, and Thai basil. 

 It was really tasty but I think in the future I may just keep things more simple and start eating more raw broccoli.  I had previously thought I didn’t like it raw, but I had a few bites of a stalk and liked it.  Of course a sauce with the lemongrass would be excellent even raw!

Kale Salad & Cucumber Boats (raw)

Kale salad has red and green bell pepper, carrots, and a creamy raw cashew-cilantro-orange dressing with garlic.

The cucumber boats are stuffed with an avocado, onion, garlic, tomato, lime, cilantro, and celery mixture.

Both are excellent!  The cashew dressing with some sweetness from the fresh orange juice pairs well with the kale.

More Greens

Not including the peanuts, mung bean sprouts, cilantro, and green onions, this salad, for a medium-size bowl, has 22 grams of protein, 1,067% RDA of Vitamin A, 76% of the RDA of calcium, 401% of the RDA for Vitamin C, and 59% of the RDA for iron.  The dressing I used was simply lime juice, sambal oelek (the chili paste I’m bonkers over), and soy sauce (I always use gluten-free soy sauce).

The tofu is marinated with cilantro.

VeganMoFo - Favorite Dish for Company, Weeknight

One of my favorite quick dishes that I like to serve to others is Pad Thai, especially the recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance, with some extra vegetables thrown in.  You can’t beat the garlic, lemongrass, chile, peanut, and lime flavors - such a great combo!

Ancho-Lentil Soup w/ Pineapple & Lime

 

Veganomicon

I felt like Isa and Terry were in the kitchen with me when I read that “we” were going to make our own chile powder!  (In fact, I love the feel of the whole book - it’s like your best friends are guiding you through the process.)  It was a piece of cake and I’m sure enhances the spiciness of the soup.  This is kind of a “set it and forget it” soup.  Once you’ve got everything in the pot, you let it simmer for 30-45 min., stirring here and there, and then finally prepping your pineapple for grilling or broiling.  I used my immersion blender to get a creamier texture.

Is it good?  Well, around the PPK, the phrase “fork yeah” is seen often, but that wouldn’t be appropriate for soup.  So…..SPOON YEAH!  Especially with a touch of Frank’s hot sauce.

Lavender-Blueberry Brulee and Dhal w/ Dumplings

Lavender Rice Pudding Brulee with Blueberries, Joy’s tester recipe

Toovar Dhal with Cilantro-Lime Dumplings, from Veggie Chic

Photos are repeats, but dishes were made again Wednesday night!  With hundreds of cookbooks on my shelves, you can tell I really like something if it happens to make it in the queue more than once. 

This time, I used dates to sweeten the rice pudding and some whole-grain flour in the dumplings.  Delicious!

Thai Noodle Salad

 

ExtraVeganZa

This is one of my favorite salads, with vermicilli rice noodles, baked tofu, bok choy, broccoli, spinach, red bell peppers, green onions, cilantro, peanuts, a serrano chili, and a lime dressing.  It was brought to the AR meetup picnic at Pennypack Park, along with some collard greens with mustard oil, sesame oil, garlic, nori, and salt.

Peanut-Basil Noodles & Green Curry Tofu

www.ivu.org/recipes

This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, as well as Rich’s, because he requested it for his birthday!  It’s a coconut-peanut-basil sauce with kale, bean sprouts, brown rice noodles, topped with peanuts.  Also shown is a green curry tofu, made just using some coconut milk and green curry paste.  We had some sweet & spicy nori strips and chilled mellon for dessert.  Apparently, someone wanted a healthy birthday without cupcakes!  How will we take over the world now?  :( 

Barley & Blackeyed Pea Salads

Barley salad with whole-grain barley, cucumber, carrots, scallions, cherry tomatoes, and mint and lime.  This is one of my favorite grain salads!

Blackeyed pea salad with blanched kale, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, garlic, and tarragon vinegar.  Super-delicious and very healthy.

Vive Le Vegan!

From the above cookbook, I made the lemon herb tofu, which is one of the best way to eat tofu, in my opinion, but I also added steamed broccoli and cauliflower and broiled them for a few minutes.  This is perfect!  I’m going to have leftovers for days.

I have seen people write things about tofu, as in it’s inedible, not fit for human consumption, and other insults.  I wonder if these people realize that when humans feed their babies meat for the first time, the babies usually reject it, and only eat it after a few or many attempts to coerce the baby to eat the animals.  My point being - try it many ways, more than once, and familiarize your taste buds with cruelty-free food.

Also shown is corn on the cob.  Not pictured is some sourdough rolls I made yesterday with the spelt sourdough starter, teff, quinoa, and buckwheat flours, along with unbleached white.  The rolls are tasty without any additions, but I could have let them rise a little bit longer; they are dense.

Seitan-Tofu Tacos & Zucchini-Corn Patties

Veggie Chic (for zucchini & corn dish, which is gluten-free)

These zucchini and baby corn cakes are spiced with cumin and dill and bound with the natural zucchini juices combined with masa harina.  The smell of masa harina cooking and especially with cumin is heaven to me!  Served with a chile and garlic sauce.

The tacos have a shredded seitan and tofu filling, Simply Organic southwest taco seasoning mix, and are served with a side of Tex-Mex pinto beans (garlic, onion, thyme, and oregano), romaine lettuce, pico de gallo, and guacamole.  Lime juice and cilantro are abundant in these dishes and accompaniments, which always makes for a great meal, in my view! 

The making of the guacamole: