Ingredients
1 cup long grain brown rice
1 cup green lentils
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T nutritional yeast
1/4-1/2 cup cooked onions (1 medium to large size red onion, diced, cooked in olive or canola oil for 15-20 minutes, until reduced, slightly browned, and sweet)
Tools that you need
skillet/pan for cooking onions
sharp knife to cut onions
measuring spoons/cup
rice cooker with brown rice setting with rice paddle
What to do
Cook onions if not already prepared -- see directions above.
Rinse rice and lentils, if desired.
Put everything into the rice cooker, stir with rice paddle to combine, and set for brown rice cycle.
Enjoy!
You can top with additional fried onions, olives, etc. :)
Thoughts
I set this last night for delayed start to make for the girls for lunch today. It made 4 servings: 1 for Jacqui, 1 for Aji, 1 for me, and 1 for leftovers. I packed the girls' portions with an assortment of colored olives and sweet yellow pepper slices. I will report later with the girls' assessment of their Tuesday camp lunch. But, it had rice, lentils, and cooked onions, three of Jacqui's favorite foods, so hopefully she liked it! :D And they got to have their cool yellow sporknives with lunch today.
I ate mine as an early lunch (1130 today). I meant to have a few bites because I hadn't eaten much breakfast, but ended up eating the whole container. SO GOOD. I think I could add a bit more olive oil (some recipes I saw had A LOT more olive oil), but as this was my first time putting olive oil into my rice cooker, I didn't want to overdo it. Might try some more next time.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Cupcakes!
Yesterday was Adrianna's second birthday -- TWO YEARS ago she was born in a March snowstorm in Brooklyn. I'm not sure where those two years have gone, but she's really grown up the past few weeks. She's talking a lot more and jumping and skipping around.
We made cupcakes for Adrianna's birthday last night. I mostly used the vanilla cupcake recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking, but made a few changes: I used organic canola oil instead of the melted vegan margarine. I added 1 T of beet powder to make the cupcakes a deep pink. (We made these cupcakes for Jacqui's birthday in January and only used 1 tsp of beet powder. The batter was pink, but the baked cupcakes were just plain vanilla.) I used vanilla hemp milk for a little extra vanilla and lots of omega 3s and 6s. Yum.
The recipe always makes more than 12 cupcakes for me. This time, we had 18 lovely pink cupcakes.
The girls sprinkled organic powdered sugar to top the cupcakes before we stuck a number two candle into Adrianna's, sang happy birthday, and ate our cupcakes!
We made cupcakes for Adrianna's birthday last night. I mostly used the vanilla cupcake recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking, but made a few changes: I used organic canola oil instead of the melted vegan margarine. I added 1 T of beet powder to make the cupcakes a deep pink. (We made these cupcakes for Jacqui's birthday in January and only used 1 tsp of beet powder. The batter was pink, but the baked cupcakes were just plain vanilla.) I used vanilla hemp milk for a little extra vanilla and lots of omega 3s and 6s. Yum.
The recipe always makes more than 12 cupcakes for me. This time, we had 18 lovely pink cupcakes.
The girls sprinkled organic powdered sugar to top the cupcakes before we stuck a number two candle into Adrianna's, sang happy birthday, and ate our cupcakes!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Today's lunch - soup!
Today I ate the rest of the leftover Garbanzo/Lentil soup from Sunday. Yumm.
The picture does not do this soup justice.
The picture does not do this soup justice.
Lentil and Sweet Potato Burritto Roll-ups
Dinner last night was lentil and sweet potatoes. In burrito/roll-up form.
I started a baked rice dish (which I will post about later), but by the time it was in the oven for its 1/5-2 hour baking time, it was less than 30 minutes from when I wanted the girls to eat dinner. So, I looked at what I had in the kitchen and decided to make something with the few orange sweet potatoes and one large yellow/white yam that I had remaining. I used French lentils in the baked rice, so they went into the dinner too.
Ingredients
Lentils
1/2 cup dried French lentils
1 cup water
sprinkle of ground cumin
Sweet potatoes
2 small orange sweet potatoes
1 large yellow/white yam (sweet)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
Daiya cheese (mozzarella style)
salsa (optional)
4 long flax/whole wheat flat rectangular wraps
What to do
First, cook the lentils with the sprinkle of ground cumin. Adrianna helped by measuring and adding the lentils and water. This was the step that took the longest for us last night in dinner-making land.
At the same time, cook the sweet potatoes. (I used the microwave because I was using the oven to bake rice, but you could use the oven.) When they are cool to touch, peel and mash with the ground cumin and chili powder. (You could use more of both the cumin and chili powder if you want - I was keeping it on the less spiced side for the girls.)
To prepare the burrito-roll-ups:
Spread some of the sweet potato mixture onto a wrap. Add some warm lentils. Top with Daiya cheese (and salsa if you want -- I didn't include it for the girls). Roll up. For kid-sized burritos, cut the wrap in half before making the burrito. If the lentils aren't warm enough to melt the cheese, you can put everything in the oven for a few minutes to warm and melt. If the lentils are still warm (as ours were), they will melt the cheese.
Eat and enjoy!
Jacqui topped hers with the applesauce I made on Sunday, despite my warnings that it would make it hard to eat. It was. She ended up using a spoon to eat her roll-up, but the applesauce was a sweet addition to the sweet potatoes, spices, and lentils. Adrianna ate 1/3 of her roll-up with big bites, then needed the rest by spoon. The girls each ate 1/2 of a large burrito. I ate one large, and Dave had one large when he got home later. And we had one leftover (for someone's lunch or a snack). They were warm, easy to make, lightly spiced, and filling.
I started a baked rice dish (which I will post about later), but by the time it was in the oven for its 1/5-2 hour baking time, it was less than 30 minutes from when I wanted the girls to eat dinner. So, I looked at what I had in the kitchen and decided to make something with the few orange sweet potatoes and one large yellow/white yam that I had remaining. I used French lentils in the baked rice, so they went into the dinner too.
Ingredients
Lentils
1/2 cup dried French lentils
1 cup water
sprinkle of ground cumin
Sweet potatoes
2 small orange sweet potatoes
1 large yellow/white yam (sweet)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
Daiya cheese (mozzarella style)
salsa (optional)
4 long flax/whole wheat flat rectangular wraps
What to do
First, cook the lentils with the sprinkle of ground cumin. Adrianna helped by measuring and adding the lentils and water. This was the step that took the longest for us last night in dinner-making land.
At the same time, cook the sweet potatoes. (I used the microwave because I was using the oven to bake rice, but you could use the oven.) When they are cool to touch, peel and mash with the ground cumin and chili powder. (You could use more of both the cumin and chili powder if you want - I was keeping it on the less spiced side for the girls.)
To prepare the burrito-roll-ups:
Spread some of the sweet potato mixture onto a wrap. Add some warm lentils. Top with Daiya cheese (and salsa if you want -- I didn't include it for the girls). Roll up. For kid-sized burritos, cut the wrap in half before making the burrito. If the lentils aren't warm enough to melt the cheese, you can put everything in the oven for a few minutes to warm and melt. If the lentils are still warm (as ours were), they will melt the cheese.
Eat and enjoy!
Jacqui topped hers with the applesauce I made on Sunday, despite my warnings that it would make it hard to eat. It was. She ended up using a spoon to eat her roll-up, but the applesauce was a sweet addition to the sweet potatoes, spices, and lentils. Adrianna ate 1/3 of her roll-up with big bites, then needed the rest by spoon. The girls each ate 1/2 of a large burrito. I ate one large, and Dave had one large when he got home later. And we had one leftover (for someone's lunch or a snack). They were warm, easy to make, lightly spiced, and filling.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Danish Rye Bread
I'm working on perfecting this bread. It's a Danish Rye bread.My problem right now is getting the insides to fully bake without conflating.
The bread tastes wonderful, even when the insides compress a bit. Aji and I really like it. Jacqui is not such a fan. Can't please them all.
The photo is of a round loaf that I made in a cake pan. Taste was great (and the bread was devoured within two days), but it was too much dough I think to fully bake. Second time I made two long oblong loaves - reason #1: fully bake; reason #2: sandwich bread! That worked better, but the time to bake fully meant that the crust was a bit more crusty than I wanted. We've finished the first loaf (with dinner last night) and I froze the second loaf because I made wild rice bread yesterday.
As soon as I perfect the recipe, I will share it! :)
Applesauce, Garbanzo Lentil Soup, and Wild Rice Bread
Happy New Year!
We finally returned home to Brooklyn Saturday night and I made a few things for eating Sunday. The new thing: applesauce! The old thing: a version of my garbanzo/lentil soup. Yum. Oh, and one more new thing: wild rice bread.
Applesauce
We had a bunch of apples that were near the end of their lives, so I made them into applesauce. It was much easier than I had expected, and quite tasty. The recipe is easy: take the apples you have, peel, core, and chop them. Add them to a big pot (I had Aji do this step) and then add water, some vegan sugar, and cinnamon. For eight apples, we added approximately two cups of water, 1/4 cup natural sugar, and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Cook, covered, until the apples are soft. Then, puree with a handheld blender or mash with a fork. Et viola, applesauce!
Wild rice bread
I've been on a bread making kick lately. I dug out the breadmaker from storage and I've been making loaves at least once a week. I have a rye bread that I really like (but Jacqui doesn't). As soon as I figure out the water content for it, I will post that recipe. I've also been making a teff bread at my mom's that Jacqui loves. It keeps inverting though, so I need to work on it a bit. :) This bread turned out lovely and was relatively easy to make. Enjoy it sliced, with applesauce, with butter, with jam. :)
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups cold water
3 T canola oil
3 T agave nectar
2 tsp sea salt (finally got iodized sea salt!)
1/3 cup rye flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups bread flour (+4 T)
2 tsp bread yeast
1/2 cup wild rice
little bit of soy milk
4 T sunflower seeds
What to do
I made the dough in the breadmaker and then shaped the bread and baked it in the oven.
To make the dough, out the water, oil, agave in the bread maker. Then add the salt, rye flour, oats, whole wheat flour, and bread flour. Make two indentations for the yeast. Put it on the dough cycle. When it beeps to add ingredients, add the wild rice.
When the dough is finished in the breadmaker, if it is still wet, add the extra bread flour one Tablespoon at a time (I needed to add 4T) and knead. Shape the bread into a round or oblong loaf (or you could get fancy and make three strands and braid it together, but I didn't!).
Cover with a cloth and place in a warm spot to rise. Preheat the oven to 375F. (I put the bread on top of the stove to rise using the heat of the oven as it warmed up.)
When the bread has doubled in size, brush the top with the milk and sprinkle the sunflower seeds on top.
Bake it for 25-30 minutes (or longer, as needed) until it is golden, a knife or skewer stuck in the middle comes out dry and not sticky, and the bread sounds hollow if you knock it on the bottom. My bread took about 45 minutes because my oven never made it to 375. But it was delicious once it came out! :)
Garbanzo Lentil Soup
This is a version of this soup and this soup, made on the stove (instead of the crock pot) and with orange sweet potatoes and white/yellow yams. I love this soup.
Ingredients
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6-8 tiny sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large white/yellow yam, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp tumeric
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup dried green lentils, picked over
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
2 1/2 - 3 cups cooked organic garbanzos (with liquid)
6 cups warm or hot water
2 low-salt vegan bouillon squares
What To Do
Heat the oil in the soup pot while chopping the onion. Saute the onion for 5-10 minutes, letting it brown a little. Chop the garlic, and add it for one - two minutes. Then, add a bit of water to de-glaze the pan (get all the good brown stuff off the pan). Let this simmer while you put all the other ingredients in the soup pot.
Add the water and bouillon. Add the cooked garbanzos, chopped sweet potatoes and yam, and green lentils. Add the ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamon. Stir everything well.
Cook and cook over medium-high heat; let everything come to a boil. Reduce the heat, and let the soup cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring every so often.
Serve warm with slices of bread (you can use the bread I made or any other bread). It's also good with rice or couscous.
Happy New Year!
We finally returned home to Brooklyn Saturday night and I made a few things for eating Sunday. The new thing: applesauce! The old thing: a version of my garbanzo/lentil soup. Yum. Oh, and one more new thing: wild rice bread.
Applesauce
We had a bunch of apples that were near the end of their lives, so I made them into applesauce. It was much easier than I had expected, and quite tasty. The recipe is easy: take the apples you have, peel, core, and chop them. Add them to a big pot (I had Aji do this step) and then add water, some vegan sugar, and cinnamon. For eight apples, we added approximately two cups of water, 1/4 cup natural sugar, and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Cook, covered, until the apples are soft. Then, puree with a handheld blender or mash with a fork. Et viola, applesauce!
Wild rice bread
I've been on a bread making kick lately. I dug out the breadmaker from storage and I've been making loaves at least once a week. I have a rye bread that I really like (but Jacqui doesn't). As soon as I figure out the water content for it, I will post that recipe. I've also been making a teff bread at my mom's that Jacqui loves. It keeps inverting though, so I need to work on it a bit. :) This bread turned out lovely and was relatively easy to make. Enjoy it sliced, with applesauce, with butter, with jam. :)Ingredients
1 1/3 cups cold water
3 T canola oil
3 T agave nectar
2 tsp sea salt (finally got iodized sea salt!)
1/3 cup rye flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups bread flour (+4 T)
2 tsp bread yeast
1/2 cup wild rice
little bit of soy milk
4 T sunflower seeds
What to do
I made the dough in the breadmaker and then shaped the bread and baked it in the oven.
To make the dough, out the water, oil, agave in the bread maker. Then add the salt, rye flour, oats, whole wheat flour, and bread flour. Make two indentations for the yeast. Put it on the dough cycle. When it beeps to add ingredients, add the wild rice.
When the dough is finished in the breadmaker, if it is still wet, add the extra bread flour one Tablespoon at a time (I needed to add 4T) and knead. Shape the bread into a round or oblong loaf (or you could get fancy and make three strands and braid it together, but I didn't!).
Cover with a cloth and place in a warm spot to rise. Preheat the oven to 375F. (I put the bread on top of the stove to rise using the heat of the oven as it warmed up.)
When the bread has doubled in size, brush the top with the milk and sprinkle the sunflower seeds on top.
Bake it for 25-30 minutes (or longer, as needed) until it is golden, a knife or skewer stuck in the middle comes out dry and not sticky, and the bread sounds hollow if you knock it on the bottom. My bread took about 45 minutes because my oven never made it to 375. But it was delicious once it came out! :)
Garbanzo Lentil Soup
This is a version of this soup and this soup, made on the stove (instead of the crock pot) and with orange sweet potatoes and white/yellow yams. I love this soup.
Ingredients
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6-8 tiny sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large white/yellow yam, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp tumeric
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup dried green lentils, picked over
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
2 1/2 - 3 cups cooked organic garbanzos (with liquid)
6 cups warm or hot water
2 low-salt vegan bouillon squares
What To Do
Heat the oil in the soup pot while chopping the onion. Saute the onion for 5-10 minutes, letting it brown a little. Chop the garlic, and add it for one - two minutes. Then, add a bit of water to de-glaze the pan (get all the good brown stuff off the pan). Let this simmer while you put all the other ingredients in the soup pot.
Add the water and bouillon. Add the cooked garbanzos, chopped sweet potatoes and yam, and green lentils. Add the ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamon. Stir everything well.
Cook and cook over medium-high heat; let everything come to a boil. Reduce the heat, and let the soup cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring every so often.
Serve warm with slices of bread (you can use the bread I made or any other bread). It's also good with rice or couscous.
Happy New Year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
