Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Who knew quinoa could taste this good? I got this recipe from here

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

 1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

 salt and pepper to taste

1 cup frozen corn kernels

 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.


Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.


Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through.

Mix in the black beans and cilantro.



I made this recipe twice. Both times I added some chopped black olives and the second time I added avocado which just made it so much better! This recipe is a keeper!

With some avocado

African Vegetable Curry

I got this recipe from here

Ingredients

• 1/2 head cauliflower
• 1 red pepper
• 1 small red onion
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoon curry
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon clove
• pinch corriander, tumeric, and paprika
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1/2 small zucchini
• 1 cup vegetable broth

Instructions

1. In a large skillet or stock pot, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat of medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, about five minutes. Add cauliflower and pepper, continue to cook until cauliflower begins to soften- another five minutes..
2. While vegetables cook, in a small sauce pan combine remaining olive oil, garlic, and spices. Heat and whisk until sauce is warm and combined. Add spice mixture, beans, zucchini, and vegetable broth to vegetables. Continue to cook uncovered for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Liquid will reduce by half and vegetables will be cooked through. Remove from heat and serve over rice (I used 10 minute rice.)

Personally I didn't use any cauliflower and I used a whole zucchini instead of half. Also my garbanzo beans (chickpeas) were made from scratch, not canned and I added an eggplant.

Baked Zucchini with Blue Cheese

My delicious new recipe! Sliced zucchini topped with olive oil, blue cheese, salt and paprika baked in the oven until the cheese starts to melt.

Turnip, Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

I've never cooked with turnips before but I bought one and decided to make some soup. This was one of the easiest soups I have ever made.

Ingredients 

1 turnip, peeled and cubed

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon dried herbs (I used oregano)

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup soy milk

Dash of nutmeg

Method

Boil the turnip, carrots and sweet potatoes until tender (around 20 minutes)

Blend and puree the vegetables. Return to pot and add milk.

Bring to the boil and then season.

Yum! I love thick soups but for those that don't it might be a good idea to add some vegetable stock to thin it out.

Butternut Squash Curry

I bought a butternut squash on a whim last month. I don't have much experience cooking with turnips, rutabagas, swedes and so on. I was surprised by how hard it was to cut the squash up into cubes. Maybe I need sharper knives.

Method

The first step was frying some onions, then adding garlic and spices (I used garam masala, cumin and cayenne pepper).

After that I added around half a can of cubed tomatoes and let it simmer for a while. 

After adding the cubed squash to the tomato mixture, I added some vegetable stock and let it cook for a while.

Near the end, I added some leftover kidney beans I had and cooked for an extra 5 minutes.Then I seasoned with salt and pepper.

It tasted great with brown rice!

Sweet Potato Curry

I started another Daniel Fast on January 7th,2012. That means 3 weeks with no meats, dairy, sugar or caffeine. Seafood is okay but I'll try to stay away from it as much as possible.

The first dish I attempted during my fast was a sweet potato curry


Ingredients


1 cup kidney beans, boiled
1 large sweet potato, diced
I head of brocolli, cut into mini florets
1 handful of raisins
2 carrots, cubed
1 can coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
Garam masala
Salt and Pepper
Cayenne pepper
Ginger
1 onion, chopped
Minced ginger

Method

Saute onions. Add spices and garlic. Saute further.

Add vegetables, beans and vegetable stock. Boil, then reduce to  medium heat. Cook until sweet potatoes are tender.

Add raisins and coconut milk. Heat.

Season with salt and pepper.

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year consisted of dinner with my landlords on Christmas Eve followed, a few hours later, by dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house and then finally a late Christmas lunch at my parents house. As you can see, all the food was amazing! I contributed with the baked sweet potatoes, my sister made her famous English trifle, and another of my sisters made lasagne.All in all, I had a wonderful Christmas. I thank God for my family and friends, my health and for helping me mature as a woman. This year has brought me so many blessings,more than I even deserve.

Sweet Potato Curry With Spinach and Chickpeas

I need a break from all the chicken I've been eating recently! I found this recipe .
I pretty much followed the recipe except I made it more spicy by adding hot sauce. I didn't garnish it either.

Baked Zucchini with Herbes de Provence

Like I've said before, zucchinis are one of the best vegetables ever! I know I got into them a bit late but I'm making up for lost time!

My friend told me about les herbes de Provence, which is a mixture of dried herbs that originated in France. I have some lavender flowers which I didn't know what to do with so I made my own mix.

Herbes de Provence

1 tsp each of dried lavender, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram. 

I sprinkled the mix on top of thinly sliced zucchini. I added some olive oil, mixed everything together and baked it until cooked. The lavender gave it an unusual smell and I loved the taste over-all!

Sweet Potato Soup

 This was one of the simplest soups I have ever made! Not only is it easy to make, it's also delicious. And thank you blender for not letting me down with the pureeing!

Sweet Potato with Smoked Paprika Soup

INGREDIENTS:
Approximately 1 tbsp. olive oil
2 small or 1 large onion, diced
2.5 lbs. sweet potato, diced
4 tsp. of vegetable stock add to 1 litre of water plus about 250 ml. water, enough to cover potatoes
2tbsp. paprika (smoked if you can, optional if you don’t like your soup spicy, and can decrease the amount of paprika if you just want a little kick to it)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil over medium heat.
Sauté the onions until it becomes brown and add the 1st tablespoon of paprika.
Add the diced sweet potatoes, vegetable stock mixture, 250 ml water, and the 2nd tablespoon of paprika, and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
Let it cool slightly and purée, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Orzo Broccoli Salad

Orzo might very well turn out to be my favourite grain! I remember when I went through my couscous phase, I was forever making colourful salads with it. Why not with orzo?
  
 Orzo Broccoli Salad

2  teaspoons  olive oil 
1  cup  sliced  mushrooms 
1/2  cup  chopped onion 
2/3  cup  orzo
1/2  cup  shredded carrot 
1  teaspoon  dried marjoram
1/2  teaspoon  pepper 
2  cups  broccoli florets
400ml vegetable broth 

 

 In a large saucepan heat olive oil over medium-high heat.

Cook and stir the mushrooms and onion in hot oil until onion is tender. 

Stir in the orzo. Cook and stir about 2 minutes more or until orzo is lightly browned. Remove from heat.

 Carefully stir in the  broth, carrot, marjoram, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until orzo is tender but still firm. Remove saucepan from heat

Stir in broccoli. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. 

Chick Pea Curry

I have become so interested in beans lately. I know how nutritious they are and they are also very versatile. The only thing I don't like is the bloating. That's why I decided to try chick peas because I heard they are the least gas-producing beans.

I went to an Indian store with my sisters and the chick peas were on sale so I took that as a sign that I had to get some!

I soaked  a cup and a half of the beans overnight. They soaked up so much water! They looked kind of cute.

So, I made chick pea curry. The recipe is here
I didn't exactly follow the recipe too closely. I added some coconut milk and instead of mushrooms  I added  yellow bell pepper. I didn't use any tomatoes either.

Potato Pancakes

Recipe here

Roast Potatoes

Vegetarian Jamaican Bean Stew

Since I'm on a 3-week vegan diet, I'm on the look-out for more vegetarian and bean recipes. This was delicious and lasted so long! Recipe here

Stir-fried Mushroom and Bok Choy

Creamed Spinach

Pumpkin and Couscous Cereal

I love pumpkins and I am always amazed by how cheap they are around Halloween.

I decided to try something else for breakfast instead of my usual oatmeal. This was very easy to make. I added some raising, cardamon and coconut oil to make the taste more interesting.

Pork Coconut Curry with Plantains and Vegetables

In celebration of Yukari's long-awaited return to Vancouver, I tried a new recipe. Actually, this was a mix of three recipes I found on the internet.

Corn and Potato Fritters