Raw Kale and Cranberry Salad

Whole Foods sells this salad at the deli, but with pine nuts. It's suprisingly delicious. Cheryl and I are obsessed.

1 bunch kale
drizzle of walnut oil (or olive oil)
grape tomatoes
sliced almonds
dried cranberries
Salt
Pepper

Tear the kale into bite size piecies. Massage (if you will) the oil into the kale. It will turn bright green and soften up a bit. Combine as much as you'd like of the remaining ingredients.

Wheat Berry Salad

My friend Angie made a really delicious cracked wheat salad this weekend. I tried to make something similar but with wheat berries. It's not quite as amazing as the original, but still great!

Ingrediants
2 cups wheat berries
1 Cucumber
2 Tomatoes
4 Scallion
1 cup Corn
Handful of Parsley
Basil
Mint



Dressing
Juice from 1-2 Lemons
1/8ish cup Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Cover wheat berries with 2 inches of water and simmer for 1 hour. Rinse and drain.

Chop of veggies, toss together with dressing. Done.

Blueberry Almond Quinoa with Lemon Basil Dressing

I wanted to make a quinoa salad using a mango, but since my mango wasn't ripe I went searching for something similar. I got the idea to add blueberries from this recipe, used her dressing, then added veggies that I had in the fridge.

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 cup or more of each:
blueberries
diced cucumbers
diced red pepper
sliced scallion
sliced almonds



Dressing:
3 T EVOO
4 T lemon juice
10 Basil leaves, chopped finely
Salt and pepper

Cook the quinoa as directed, whisk together dressing ingredients and combine everything.

Roasted Cauliflower and Wilted Spinach Pasta

This recipe comes from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook, which has become a new favorite.

This came together in no time with minimal chopping - an appreciated change to all the soups and roasted veggies I've been making. The flavors are delicious and similar to the Spinach Pasta Salad posted 4/5/10, but its served warm and sooo easy.

(Karin, maybe roasted broccoli or asparagus instead of cauliflower? Roasted anything I suppose).

Ingredients
1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tbsp dried herbs (I used oregano and thyme, can also use basil, and marjoram)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Black pepper to taste
3 cups penne pasta (I used farfalle)
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips (I used regular tomatoes and it worked fine)
1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette (or more)

STEPS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and put a pot of water on to boil.

2. Place the cauliflower in a baking pan in one layer. Add the olive oil, dried herbs, salt and pepper and toss with the cauliflower until coated. Roast for 20-30 minutes until just beginning to brown and fork-tender, but not mushy. Turn the oven to broil and broil for 1-3 minutes until nicely colored.

3. Cook the pasta then drain and rinse in cool water. Toss with a small amount of olive oil to prevent sticking if not using immediately.

4. Place the spinach in a large bowl. Dump the hot cauliflower on top of the spinach and gently toss. Set aside and let the heat from the cauliflower wilt the spinach. Add the pasta on top.

5. Add the tomatoes and vinegar and toss well. Add more olive oil if needed. Season to taste with more salt/pepper and vinegar until the flavors really pop.

South American Black Bean Soup

This recipe is modified from "125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes". So good!










1 TBS EVOO
2 onions, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, finely chopped
1 TBS oregeno
2 TBS cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp chipotle crushed red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can tomatoes, pureed
2-3 cups veggie stock
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

In soup pot, sautee onions, celery and carrots until tender. Add garlic, jalepeno, oregeno, cumin, salt, pepper and chipotle flakes. Add pureed tomatos and veggie stock. Simmer for 30-45 min. With a submersion blender, puree about half the soup.

Vegan Shepards Pie

This is another version of Karin's Shepard's Pie. It makes enough for 2 pie size dinners. I just froze one and am pretty happy about that. (I didn't add sweet potato topping to frozen pie so not sure how that would work out - probably fine).





2 cups lentils
cooked in 4 cups veggie broth (or water) with a bay leaf

Sautee
1 diced onion
2-4 diced garlic cloves

Add cooked lentils to onion and garlic mixture
Add 2 cans diced tomatos
1 TBS cumin
Salt and pepper

Pour mixture into 2 pie plates
add a layer of frozen corn and peas
(Trader Joe's fire roasted frozen corn)

Sweet Potato topping:
Bake or microwave 1 sweet potato per pie.
Add 1 TBS of vegan butter and milk substitute and mash.

Top pie with sweet potatoe mixture.

Bake at 350 for about 30 min.

INDIAN VEGETARIAN CURRIED FRIED RICE

Yum, yum, yum! This is so good. Tom and I loved it. My only suggestion for this dish is to have everything ready. This goes quick. So quick you don't have time to chop and cook. Believe me I tried and now regret that I didn't take a picture of my kitchen. Looked like a tornado hit it! But boy did it taste good. Really good.

2 T. peanut or veg oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 T. minced ginger (I used a tad more)
1 c. green beans, cut into 3/4" pieces
1/2 c. 1/4" diced carrots
1 T. curry powder (I used a tad more)
3 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 c. halved cherry tomatoes
2 T. low-sodium soy sauce (I used shoyu)
1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper

Heat a 14" flat-bottom wok or 12" skillet over high (not non-stick). Swirl in 1 T. oil, add onion and ginger, and stir-fry for 10 seconds or until ginger is fragrant. Add green beans and carrots; using a metal spatula, stir-fry for 1 minute or until beans are bright green. Stir in curry powder and stir-fry for 5 seconds or until fragrant. Swirl in remaining oil, then add rice. Stir-fry for 1 minute, breaking up rice with a spatula until it's well combined with vegetables. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, soy sauce, and pepper and stir-fry for 1 minute or until mixture is heated through.
Makes 4 servings.
* Use cold rice in this dish; hot rice will make your meal gummy.