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Meal Plan Monday, December 12, 2011

Posted in Meal Plan, tagged , , , , on December 11, 2011| 3 Comments »

Welcome to another week of the Gluten Free Menu Swap. This week our hostess is Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness and she chose citrus as the theme. I know at our house we have been enjoying the fresh clementines that are in season right now. We each are eating at least two a day. And the Texas Red grapefruit are starting to roll in too (sorry, Florida). Other than fresh fruit, I don’t cook or bake with a whole lot of citrus, unless I am making one of my many quinoa salads or this Lemon Pound Cake.

Although, today I just happened to start making limoncello – a lemon-flavored liqueur. But I am not sure that counts for the menu swap…not really a meal, I suppose.  Though now that I peeled and juiced a bunch of lemons, I have a big mason jar of lemon juice in the frig, ready to be used. So I will be very interested in the other lemon/citrus recipes that others may post.

In the meantime, while I am looking for ways to use up all that lemon juice, here’s our plan:

Chickpea Stew with Sweet Onions and Salad – chickpea stew recipe from Lorna Sass’s Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure – we didn’t get to it last week.

Indian-Spiced Roasted Squash Soup

Vegetarian Slow Pho with Roasted Tofu – vegetarian pho soup in the slow cooker from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

Kitchari with Cauliflower and Peas – a new-to-us recipe.

Spaghetti and Salad – if needed…

How are you eating your citrus these days? As whole fruit or in your favorite dishes?

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Meal Plan Monday, December 5, 2011

Posted in Meal Plan, tagged , , , , on December 5, 2011| 5 Comments »

With the holiday road trip sufficiently behind us, I can go back to meal planning. Last week I went to the store at the last minute, without planning, because we needed food RIGHT NOW, and so our meals were a little less satisfying than usual.

This week I will be gone most evenings, leaving the hubby to fend for himself. But I don’t like to leave him to fend for himself since that usually means he will end up eating pizza. He is fine with that, but I am not. So as has been typical of the past month or two, I have been cooking more on Sundays so that there are plenty of leftovers in the refrigerator for him to choose from throughout the week. And to save time, I have been plugging in at least one crockpot. When the crockpot is done, the contents immediately go into the refrigerator for later in the week.

On the menu for this week:

Spicy Black Bean Chili with Green Chile-Cheese Tamales and Salad – chili from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

Roasted Tofu with Scalloped Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Tart-Hot Kidney Beans with Broccoli and Rice – the bean recipe is from 660 Curries. And if I get motivated, Bhaakar (flatbread) too.

Make-Your-Own-Pizza – on an Udi’s crust.

Chickpea Stew with Sweet Onions and Salad – chickpea stew recipe from Lorna Sass’s Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure.

By the way, this week’s Gluten Free  Menu Swap theme is Holiday Treats. I am still debating whether I will be making any holiday treats this year. I will probably at least make some Buckeyes and chocolate fudge. But other than that, I am trying to avoid them this year. Although, I have a feeling that the closer we get to the holidays, the more I will want to make a few things.

Be sure to check out Angela’s Kitchen, where Angela is hosting the menu swap. This post is also linked to OrgJunkie, where you can find hundreds of meal plans, some of which are gluten free, some not. Enjoy!

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Three Bean Chipotle Butternut Chili

Posted in Beans, Soup, Tomatoes, Vegan, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Still feeling like you indulged too much over the recent holiday? Here’s a healthy, hearty chili to offset some of those feelings of guilt.

Chili with Smoked Gouda-Squash Pupusas

Three Bean Chipotle Butternut Chili

Olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

2 tsp dried oregano

1 cab diced tomatoes

8 oz can tomato sauce

2 cups (or more) vegetable broth

12 oz butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into chunks, pre-cooked slightly *

3 cans of beans, drained and rinsed well *

1-1/2 Tbsp chipotle pepper in adobo puree, add more or less as desired, check ingredients *

1/2 – 1 tsp salt

Heat 1 Tbsp or so of olive oil in a large soup pot. When hot, add onion and saute for about 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and saute until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and saute for one additional minute. Stir in chili powder, cumin and oregano and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently so that spices do not burn.

Stir in diced tomatoes and sauce. Add broth and squash. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until squash is tender (when pierced easily with a fork). Stir in beans and chipotle puree. Add more broth if needed, to get to desired consistency. Simmer for 10 minutes more or until beans are heated through. Stir in salt to taste. Serve topped with chopped avocado, cheese, green onions or sour cream.

Notes:

* This time I used pre-cut butternut squash from Trader Joe’s and I pre-cooked it for a few minutes in the microwave.

* Use any variety of beans. I used black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans.

* Be sure to check the label of your chipotle peppers in adobo, not all brands are gluten free. When I open a new can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, I throw the contents of the whole can in the blender and blend it into a puree. I store the remainder in the  freezer to use later.

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Recipe Index

Posted in General, tagged , , , , on December 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Hello! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. We did. And now we’re back and catching up.

Something that has been on my to-do list for a little while is to add a Recipe Index page and I today I marked that off my list! Be sure to go over and check it out.

Back soon with a couple of new recipes…

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Quinoa with Balsamic Butternut and Kale Saute

Posted in quinoa, Vegan, Vegetables, tagged , , , , , , , on November 18, 2011| 5 Comments »

My husband is frequently amused by the different pizza combinations I come up with, which are often inspired by other bloggers. Last weekend I finally got around to making Maria’s Sweet Potato Kale Pizza with Rosemary and Red Onion, and it was so full of gorgeous, seasonal flavors. The same evening, my husband made his standard (gluten-full) cheese pizza but he was intrigued by the kale on my pizza and so added some to his own. Maybe there is a possibility of his pizza tastes becoming more sophisticated? (Yeah, right.)

And so, that pizza sent my mind wandering around, thinking of the other possibilities for the flavors I had just enjoyed together. Somehow my mind landed on quinoa. And so did Maria. I laughed when I saw her Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Kale pop up one morning last week. I was like, dang, she beat me to it! But at the same time, it wasn’t quite what I had running through my mind. And so, I introduce you to…

Quinoa with Balsamic Butternut and Kale Saute

An original by Renee, inspired by those listed above

1 butternut squash (2-3#), seeded, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 large onion, chopped

1 Tbsp oil

3 cups kale, de-ribbed, torn into small pieces

1/2 tsp salt

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried rosemary leaves, crushed (or sage)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with foil.  Toss chopped squash in olive oil to lightly coat. Roast squash until tender, 30 minutes or so, depending on the sizes of squash pieces. Be sure to stir the squash at least once, halfway through. And give the squash plenty of room to “breathe” on the roasting pan so that they are crisp rather than soggy.

Cook quinoa in water according to your favored method (I prefer to use my rice cooker these days).

Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients and set aside.

Once the quinoa is cooked, in a large skillet, saute the onion in the olive oil until it begins to soften. Stir in the kale and allow to soften slightly. Next, stir in the roasted squash and allow to heat through slightly, especially if it had cooled down significantly (I had roasted mine the day before). Pour in half of the vinaigrette and stir to coat the vegetables. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes, then stir in the cooked quinoa and salt. Heat through if quinoa had cooled down significantly. Taste. Add more vinaigrette or salt as desired. Serve warm.

Additions:

We had some goat cheese that needed to be eaten, so I crumbled some up and sprinkled on top as well, after the photo – a very nice addition.

I also thought that adding a can of drained and rinsed white beans might be nice and add a big protein boost (although quinoa is already high in protein).

I saved the extra vinaigrette in a small glass jar to pour over the leftovers. Quinoa has a tendency to suck up some of the flavor and make it disappear after some time in the frig.

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Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Posted in Holiday, Quick, Vegan, Vegetables, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 16, 2011| 6 Comments »

Mmmmm…sweet potato fries.

Love them. But hubby does not. Oh well, more for me, right?

These would be perfect for serving with after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. Or any old time, say, with some lentil soup, like we did this week.

Sweet Potato Fries with Lentil Soup

Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Original by Renee, but inspired by many

2 large sweet potatoes, sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. (Or the highest your oven will go, if it doesn’t reach 500. The hotter, the better chance of crispy fries.) Line a cookie sheet with foil for easy clean-up.

Wash and cut the sweet potatoes to desired thickness and length. (You don’t have to peel them, I don’t.) In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with olive oil. In a small bowl, mix the remaining spices together. Then sprinkle the potatoes with the spice mixture, stirring well until all potatoes are covered.

Spread potatoes out evenly on cookie sheet. Use two sheets if they are crowded. The more space they have to “breathe”, the crisper they will be. Depending on how thick you cut your fries, the longer they will need to bake. Start with 10-15 minutes, stir them and check to see if they are tender. Bake until tender.

Also, check out Elise’s recipe over at Simply Recipes and the hints from her readers on other ways to help crisp up your fries and dipping sauce ideas. These seasoned fries I prefer to eat plain.

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Meal Plan Monday, November 14, 2011

Posted in Meal Plan, tagged , , , , on November 13, 2011| 5 Comments »

This week we are working on clearing out the refrigerator in preparation for the upcoming food-filled holiday. So my meal plan is a little skimpy. Start conserving those calories now, right? (Kidding!)

This week’s Gluten Free Menu Swap theme is meatballs, which we don’t “do” in either the traditional sense, or even the vegetarian sense. This week’s host is Gluten Free Detroit Metro, so go on over and check out all the ideas. I know some of you are flexitarian, like me, and eat meat too, or perhaps there will be a surprise and someone has come up with a tasty, gluten free, vegetarian version.

On to our plan:

Leftover soups from this past week: Pesto Infused White Bean and Tomato Stew and Lentil Soup with Kale

Quinoa with Oven Roasted Winter Squash and Kale – an experiment, I will be sure to post if it turns out! I didn’t have time to make it last week…

Three Bean Chipotle Squash Chili – if I get ambitious and have the time. It’s still a recipe in my head and written in my idea notebook.

Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and Salad

Wild Rice Stuffing with Apples and Cranberries – we both have potlucks this week, so we will be making a double batch of this to take. And there are often leftovers. Mmm.

If we need something else this week, it will probably end up being something out of our freezer. What about you – what are you eating this week before the food frenzy of next week?

This plan is also posted over at OrgJunkie. Go check out the hundreds of links over there for more inspiration!

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Apple Crisp

Posted in Dessert, Fruit, Holiday, Vegan, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

On Friday evening I hosted a Gluten Free Gals get-together. I had suggested a theme of holiday dishes to help inspire everyone for the upcoming holidays and so I chose to make two of my standard Thanksgiving dishes. Wild Rice Stuffing and this Apple Crisp.

Our GF Gals group.

My grandma made this for me for my very first gluten free Thanksgiving sixteen years ago. And we’ve been making it ever since. It is easy, with few ingredients, and tasty. My kind of recipe.

Apple Crisp

Unknown source

2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced *

1/4 cup brown rice flour *

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firm *

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp melted butter * see notes for vegan option

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ square baking dish (with butter, oil, whatever you choose to use). Pour the lemon juice directly into the pan and add the apples as you slice them. Toss the apples periodically in the juice to prevent browning.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and spices. Stir in the melted butter and mix well. Then stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Bake for 35 minutes. Serve warm. It goes well with vanilla ice cream. (It’s also great for breakfast the next day!)

Notes:

* Use any baking apple. This time I used Gala. Slice your apples according to preference. I like my apples a bit thicker so that they still look like apple slices when they are done baking. If you slice them thinner, the apples will cook down and the individual slices will not be apparent, which is okay, just personal preference.

* I used brown rice flour this time. I’ve used white rice flour in the past. Other flours may work as well, perhaps even almond, for a grain-free version? Your standard flour mix will also most likely work. No xanthan gum needed.

* I reduced the sugar by two tablespoons this time around and I think it could be reduced even more. Play with it.

* I used grapeseed oil this time in place of the butter and it worked well. I would imagine that a dairy-free margarine will also work.

Enjoy!

This recipe is cross-posted over at Thanksgiving Favorites from Kim at Cook It Allergy Free. Be sure to check out all the links!

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Meal Plan Monday, November 7, 2011

Posted in Meal Plan, tagged , , , , on November 7, 2011| 2 Comments »

It’s slow-cooker week, and it’s being hosted by Angela over at Angela’s Kitchen. I don’t know about you, but I have two slow-cookers, one basic and smaller and one big fancy one with the auto-off/warm features. Two cookers are plenty for me (but not for Stephanie, I’m sure!). And in fact, last weekend I plugged in both and had most of our meals for the week cooked by Sunday evening. It took a lot of pressure off of me and allowed me to do other things in the evenings instead of spending a bunch of time cooking. I was able to just heat dinner up! I love those nights.

Now, as a vegetarian and gluten free household, you’re probably thinking, what the heck does she do with a crockpot since she can’t throw in a slab of meat? Well, there are a lot of good things to make. Of course, soups and stews are the most logical, which I do make a lot of. Of course you can also cook up dried beans, as well as make hot beverages, desserts or breakfast in them. Some people even make homemade yogurt!

As is my habit lately, I plugged in the crockpot on Sunday and made a future meal, the Lentil Soup below, so that I could use up some of the kale I still have coming on – despite the frost. Later this week, I will also make another crockpot meal to finish off the last of the homemade pesto and tomatoes. So that makes for two “no-cook” evenings, and with the leftover enchilada bake from this weekend, also below, there is another one or two “no-cook” evenings. Yay!

But that is good since I will be cooking up a storm later in the week in preparation for our gluten free gals get-together this weekend where we are focusing on holiday favorites. And since, as usual, I can’t decide on what I want to make, I will make as many items as time allows and we’ll have leftovers to send everyone home with!

So here’s the plan:

Lentil Soup with Kale and Oven Baked Spicy Sweet Potato Fries – the soup is made in the crockpot and is a recipe from our favorite vegetarian slow-cooker cookbooks, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I made the soup on Sunday so that we will have dinner ready-made on our two busy evenings, and although I will need to roast the fries, they are super easy and not time-intensive.

Pesto Infused White Bean and Tomato Stew over Pasta – the stew will be made in the crockpot and is also from the cookbook above.

Quinoa with Oven Roasted Winter Squash and Kale – an experiment, I will be sure to post if it turns out!

New Mexican Green Chile and Pinto Enchiladas – we will be eating these throughout the week as I made them over the weekend too. This time I made them stacked, a sort of lasagna-esque casserole with the corn tortillas forming the layers instead of rolling them into ‘real’ enchiladas – less time! The recipe made one large 9×13″ and one small ~6×8″ pan and so I think I will toss the smaller pan in the freezer for later.

So what is your favorite vegetarian slow-cooker meal?

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Meal Plan Monday, October 31, 2011

Posted in Meal Plan, tagged , , , , on October 31, 2011| 3 Comments »

There are typically two evenings a week that I do not actually make dinner and rely on leftovers or something from the freezer. That is why you typically only see me post four meals or so a week. And this weekend I was finally craving warm soups. As I looked through my cookbooks for some inspiration I realized that there were quite a few soups that sounded especially nice. So today (Sunday), I decided to fire up both crockpots so that a good part of this week’s meals are already made. Yay! I know I will definitely enjoy my forethought even more later this week.

So, can you call soup that you cook and put immediately into the frig, leftovers? Not in my book. Especially since a lot of soups and stews are even better the second day, right?

Black Bean Chili with Winter Squash-Smoked Gouda Pupusas – we ate this for dinner tonight. The pupusas were awesome (recipe from Vegetarian Planet) and the slow-cooker chili recipe came from one of our well-used cookbooks, Fresh from The Vegetarian Slow Cooker.  (Yes, the pupusas were on last week’s menu but we didn’t get to them.)

Corn-Red Pepper-Potato Chowder with massaged kale salad – we still have kale! And the chowder recipe is also from Fresh from The Vegetarian Slow-Cooker, see above.

New Mexican Green Chile and Pinto Bean Enchiladas – it’s been time for pinto beans and green chile but I haven’t yet been in the mood for them until this week, so I am bringing this recipe back out.

Sweet Potato Kale Pizza with Rosemary and Red Onion – I’ll make this on an Udi’s crust and hubby will eat his own glutenous pizza.

Have you moved into a fall food mood finally, like me? Or did you move into winter this weekend with the surprise snow? Thankfully it was still sunny and warm here.

 

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