Vegan Quinoa “meat” balls

Posted on April 24, 2016 by moviewitz

This one is PERFECT for Passover, or whenever…. and very easy to make. Inspired by a recipe I saw and quoted below, I’ve simplified and offer it for you here.

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Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa (I use the red quinoa, because it looks so good)

1/2 onion, chopped (I popped it in a food processor…)

2 cloves garlic

1 small tin of tomato paste

1 small can of diced tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

How:

Cook the quinoa and let it cool.

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Lightly sauté the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil, until translucent.

Put the cooked quinoa in a large bowl, add the onions, garlic and tomato paste. Mix it all together then form into small balls. I got about 16….

Place on a baking sheet, on top of a piece of parchment paper. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat up the diced tomatoes (Did I mention how easy this recipe is? I could have made a sauce from scratch, but I didn’t. The tomatoes I used also contained “Italian seasonings”. Yes. I know. Very lazy. But very good. )

Place cooked quinoa “meat” balls in a casserole dish. Top with cooked chopped tomatoes (leaving out most of the liquid).

Serve and enjoy!

 

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Potato and Kale Soup

Posted on November 20, 2014 by moviewitz

Apparently, winter has begun. On my way home from the office, I had to leave my car in a stranger’s driveway after watching several vans, SUVs, and sedans struggle in the storm, and realising there was no way my little Smart Car was going to make it down an extremely icy, snow-covered hill a few blocks from our place. (Yep, snow tires are booked for installation NEXT WEEK). We walked home through the blowing, freezing “winter wonderland”, and I decided tonight was a good night for soup.

This recipe uses a Vitamix.
soup
Ingredients (for two good-sized dinner portions:
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 stalk of celery, cut into — um — large chunks
1 shallot, diced
sliced mushrooms
1 tbs. olive oil
1 vegetable bouillon cube
3 – 4 large curly kale leafs
1 1/2 cups of almond milk
salt and pepper to taste

How:
Boil potatoes, carrots, and celery until slightly tender. Then add kale for a minute or two until bright green.
Meanwhile, sauté the diced shallot and a half a cup of mushrooms or so for a couple of minutes.
Place the shallot and mushrooms in the Vitamix. Add the almond milk, then the vegetables and the bouillon cube. Add a bit of fresh black pepper, and a little bit of salt (to taste).

Blend on low and level 1 for a couple of seconds, and gradually turn the dial up to ten. Continue blending until the soup is steaming hot, flicking the switch to high once or twice.

Serve and enjoy!

(Here’s hoping I can pick my car up in the morning!)

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Brussels’ Sprouts “slaw”

Posted on October 12, 2014 by moviewitz

It’s been awhile, but I’m back… with a really great recipe for a fresh take on an old standard. Inspired by a friend who told me about this fantastic recipe, I’ve spun it around a bit and made it my own.

I’m always a bit relaxed on quantities, so bear with me. I think this is one of those recipes where you really can’t go wrong with the ingredients you add. (My friend’s version included chopped kale).

I made this in the morning, to serve in the evening. I think it’s probably better to let the brussels’ sprouts marinate.
salad

 

Ingredients:

About 25 large brussels’ sprouts

1/3 of a medium sized red cabbage

1 cup fresh green peas

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tbs dijon mustard

1 tbs maple syrup

1 pinch salt

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds.

How to:

Chop the brussels’ sprouts and red cabbage (I used our mini cuisinart, on the chop setting)

Place in a large bowl; add the raisins and green peas and toss.

Mix together the other ingredients, and add and toss.

Top with 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds.

Enjoy!

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The matzoh lasagna that (almost) makes me wish Passover could continue for another few days…

Posted on April 22, 2014 by moviewitz

Well, we’re in the home stretch of Passover, and so I thought I’d go with that old standby – matzoh lasagna – revamped “vegetarianmoviemaker-style”. 

The result was really, really good; the picture I took doesn’t do it justice. This was extremely easy and quick to make. Here’s what I did: 

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Ingredients (for two generous pieces): 

2 pieces of matzoh (I used spelt, maybe it was egg matzoh; they were all in the same box, so I’m not sure, like I said, it’s been seven days….)

1 tbs olive oil

1 cup sliced white mushrooms

1/3 of a head of cauliflower, washed and cut into thin slices

1/3 yellow pepper, diced

1 cup or so of good quality (organic) tomato sauce (I caved here and bought some). 

1- 2 slices of mozzarella cheese (organic) 

How: 

Preheat oven to 375.

Cook the vegetables together with a little bit of olive oil until tender.  I sautéed and then covered the pan for a couple of minutes to help the vegetables along.

Heat up the sauce in a small sauce pan.

I used a loaf pan for baking. Take a bit of the sauce and spread it along the bottom of the pan.

Break the first piece of matzoh in half, and put it on the bottom of the pan, to create the first layer. Then take the vegetables, and put on top of the matzoh. Cover with the other half of matzoh, then spoon some tomato sauce on top. 

Repeat, until you’ve used both pieces of matzoh and all the vegetables. 

Cover the final half of matzoh with the cheese, torn into small pieces, then cover with sauce. 

Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Take the foil off and continue baking for another 5 – 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven, cut in half, and enjoy! 

*a note: I seem to recall that some recipes suggest that you wet the matzoh before assembling the lasagna. I tried that first — the matzoh became a gushy, yucky mess. Not wetting the matzoh was the way to go. 

 

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Really good date and peanut snacks

Posted on January 11, 2014 by moviewitz

I felt I’d kind of perfected the date and cacao treats discussed earlier on this site, but then I tasted a fantastic peanut butter and chocolate concoction the other day at a local cafe near my office.

I decided to try my hand at my own version, adding a few of my own favourite ingredients. Here goes….

6 dates, pitted

2 tbs organic pure peanut butter

2 tbs quick oats

1 small chunk of fresh ginger, about an inch or so, cut into small pieces.

2 tsp of raw cacao

2 tbs black chia seeds

How:

Place all ingredients in a small Cuisinart or other device that will grind and blend. Blend together until it forms a very rough, chunky paste.  Like me, you may assume this will be difficult to form into anything and that it will fall apart the minute you try to work with it. But –

Form into small balls. I managed about 8 from the above recipe, not counting the teaspoon or so that I just had to taste. Refrigerate, and enjoy!

date:nut

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Avocado Chickpea Hummus

Posted on November 24, 2013 by moviewitz

This was an experiment that I’ll definitely do again, but will also adjust the ingredients. However, feel free to try it out for yourself, and let me know your thoughts, please.  My plan was to see if I could do this without adding any olive oil. The resulting spread was not as creamy as it should be, but I figured a whole avocado AND olive oil was pushing it….

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpeas (I cooked up a batch yesterday)

1/8 cup sesame seeds

1 small avocado

juice of 1/2 lemon

a pinch of cumin

1 sq. frozen garlic (way too much for my liking; next time, I’m not going to be lazy and just put in a small clove)

maybe some salt….

Place all ingredients in blender (I used our trusty Vitamix); blend until smooth and enjoy!

hummous

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Really easy tomato soup

Posted on September 15, 2013 by moviewitz

Well, we did it. We bought a Vitamix. I’d been waiting forever to get one, and since one of the lower end models was finally on sale, we are now the proud owners of this incredibly powerful blender.

And so, now I’m on a bit of a Vitamix kick, making almond milk and fruit ice cream, green smoothies, and the other night, vegan tomato soup.

Here’s the recipe. I’m sure it’s do-able in a regular blender, just probably not as quick to prepare.

Ingredients (for 3-4 servings):

1 small shallot, peeled and cut into quarters

1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into chunks

1 stalk celery cut into chunks

1 28-oz can of organic diced tomatoes

4 – 5 fresh basil leaves

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How:

Place the ingredients in the blender. I didn’t follow a specific order, but I think you’re probably supposed to put the more liquid stuff in first.

Turn on the blender. Ours doesn’t have all the fancy pre-set dials, so I turned it on low, then flipped it to “high”, then turned the dial up to 10 and let it go for 3 – 4 minutes.

Because I was also making a pasta main course, I let the soup heat up in the blender, then transferred it to a pot to simmer. This soup was so smooth and creamy, I actually thought it had almond (or regular) milk in it. It didn’t.

Enjoy!

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Really easy vegetable stew

Posted on May 8, 2013 by moviewitz

This is one of those things made with stuff that’s in the fridge, in the cupboards, and leftover from the previous night’s meal.

Ingredients (for 2 –  3 servings):

2 shallots, peeled and diced

1 small yam, peeled and chopped into chunks

2 stalks of celery, cut into slices

28 oz can of organic diced tomatoes

1 cup mixed beans (I had made some kidney beans and chickpeas the other night)

1/2 cup brown rice (left over from a stir fry made yesterday)

1 stalk of broccoli (cut into slices)

4 large black olives, quartered (or more; 4 olives is all I had left in the fridge)

1 tbs of olive oil

photo

 

How:

In a deep sauce pan, sautee the shallots in the olive oil. Add the chopped yam, and sautee until tender. Add the celery, the beans, and the rice and continue cooking.  Add the tomatoes, broccoli and olives. Cover and cook over medium heat, for about 20 – 25 minutes, until all vegetables are tender and flavours have had a chance to blend.

If you feel like adding a topping and want to keep it vegan, add a tsp of nutritional yeast flakes when serving. Enjoy!

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Kamut Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

Posted on April 30, 2013 by moviewitz

I’m doing a bit of a detox cleanse right now, one that (thankfully) includes eating actual food rather than drinking a lot of smoothies and other beverages (not that there’s anything wrong with that….)

So for ten days, I’m giving up wheat products. dairy, and a few other things, and the biggie – sugar. I don’t eat a lot of sugar, but it’s pretty illuminating once you realize how much sugar creeps into my daily meals (and daily biscotti snacks and really good vegan chocolate zucchini muffins). (The program is through a wonderful naturopath, http://jodilarrynd.com.)

Here’s what I made last night; it was delicious.

kamutpasta

Ingredients (for two servings):

1 cup cauliflower, chopped into big chunks

2 small yams, cut into chunks

4 brussels sprouts (these were huge ones that I got at Whole Foods), cut into quarters

4 cloves garlic

1 – 2 tbs olive oil

black pepper

85 grams kamut vegetable pasta spirals (I buy the Eden Organic Pasta brand)

How:

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash all vegetables and prepare. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place vegetables on the sheet, evenly. Drizzle with olive oil, and toss the vegetables around so they get some of the oil on them. Grind some fresh black pepper. Bake for about 35 minutes or so, until tender.

Prepare pasta, drain and return to pot. Add in the roasted vegetables, add a little more olive oil and black pepper, toss, and serve. Top with rice parmesan (or the real thing, if you want).

Enjoy!

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Yam and Quinoa Bake

Posted on March 30, 2013 by moviewitz

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So, remember that quinoa dish I made the other day for the Seder? I ended up making way too much quinoa, and put the leftover amount in the freezer.

Last night, as I pondered what to make that was suitable for Passover and filling enough for dinner, I came up with this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 zucchini, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper

1 cup tomato sauce (I still had leftover sauce from the seder recipe)

3 small yams, baked, peeled and mashed.

How to:

Lightly oil the bottom of a loaf pan, then add the quinoa so that it completely covers the bottom of the pan.  Cover with the tomato sauce.

Sautee the onions and vegetables, then layer that on top of the quinoa/tomato sauce.

Carefully peel the yams (I didn’t let mine cool that much, hence the caution!), mash in a bowl, then add to the loaf pan as the final layer.

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It will look something like the picture above just as you start to add the yam layer.

Cover with foil and bake in a pre-heated oven, around 375 degrees, for about 40 minutes. (I’m not sure if it’ll take less time if you defrost the quinoa before you put it in the oven… I didn’t.)

Remove foil and bake for another 5 – 10 minutes. Serve, and enjoy!

p.s. Not sure if this would have held up as an actual loaf-like creation, if I’d let it sit for a few minute before serving.

(here’s what it looked like before it went in the oven).

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