Lentil "Stew", Chickpea Tagine, and Roasted Potatoes tossed with Chermoula...

....i.e. things I don't have a proper recipe for. This lentil "stew" was really more like potatoes, lentils, and noodles with a little bit of broth. It was really tasty no matter what you call it. I cooked one diced onion with three red potatoes, some salt, a bay leaf, a few cloves of chopped garlic, and a generous amount of red pepper flakes. It smelled fantastic, and I could have eaten it as was....but it wouldn't have been a very complete meal....not that that always stops me.

Yummy right? Next I added some rinsed lentils and stock and boiled it for about ten minutes before adding the macaroni noodles. I cooked it for about 9 minutes more and served it with whole wheat rosemary garlic bread. If I had some baby spinach I would have tossed it in at the end. I added extra red pepper flakes to mine and my husbands bowl. Everyone really liked it.

This lovely meal is a chickpea and carrot tagine that I made to suit what I had on hand. I added some frozen spinach to the mix for an extra veg, and I doubled the chickpeas and spices.

The potatoes were simply roasted and then tossed with chermoula. I liked both dishes, but felt they didn't go super well together. The next day I tossed the chermoula with rice and it was a much happier pairing. Don't get me wrong, the potatoes were fantastic, I just think they would have been better paired with something else. I am thinking it would make for a lovely lunch if I added some chickpeas and turned it into sort of a potato salad and stuffed the whole mess into a pita.

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Curried Rice and Chickpeas

When I saw Astra put squash into a slow cooker my world was changed. Just because squash and pumpkins start showing up in the produce section in no way means that the weather has started to cool down here. In fact this next week we are looking at a lot of 90 degree plus days. This is one of the many reasons I love my crock pot, it gives me the ability to enjoy the foods I love without turning my house into an oven. Thank you Astra.

This recipe was pretty tasty, I think next time I will replace the 1/4 cup of yogurt with coconut milk and add a can of diced tomatoes....I don't know why it just sounds good. I will let you know how those modifications turn out. I served this along side some curried potato patties. I will hopefully get around to posting that recipe soon. What you see in the middle bowl is simply a mixture of plain yogurt thinned out with vinegar, and a smidgen of sugar.



This recipe makes four servings

2 acorn squash washed, halved and degooped (pull out all of the seeds and etc)
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
5 tsp hot curry paste (like Pataks) divided
1/4 cup plain yogurt
4 cloves pressed garlic
1 small box of raisins (1.5 oz)
1tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp salt...or more to taste

Using 1tsp of the curry paste rub the insides of the acorns and sprinkle with salt.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients and distribute this filling evenly between the four halved squashes.

Cook on low, until squash is fully cooked. It took me about six hours, but will vary depending on the size of your squash and the crock pot you use. I had to stack my squash, they seemed to cook well regardless.

My daughter even pitched in on this meal by making dessert. Chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels. She was so proud to present them at the end of the meal.

Spicy Pan Fried Chickpeas

I promised this recipe a while back . Sorry it took me so long. I was hoping to find the original recipe where I got the idea, so that I could link back to it. Alas, I could not. I can tell you it was in a magazine, and that it went along with a really yummy soup. Also worthy of note, I've changed it up a bit...I believe they used AP flour and I use whole wheat, there was also turmeric in the original recipe, which I loooove....however I didn't feel like cleaning up after little turmericy hands the other day. Maybe next time.


2 cups cooked chickpeas
3 tbs flour
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chili powder.
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste preference

Oil to coat pan

Put all the ingredients into a Ziploc bag (except the oil) and shake.

Heat the oil over medium heat, and using a slotted spoon (to ensure you aren't frying gobs of flour) scoop out the chickpeas and place them in the pan. Pan fry over medium heat until golden brown.

Occasionally I add a clove of pressed garlic in the last minute of cooking time, very tasty!

I add these to soups, salads, rice, pasta dishes, alongside roasted root vegetables.....that is if I can keep my hands off them long enough for them to make it to the plate, as they are also quite tasty plain. :)

Sushi Rice Bowl

The weather here lately has been sooooo nice*. And by nice I mean you just want to get up in the morning, run outside, and DIE of heatstroke. The last thing I want to do in this sort of weather is cook.....the first thing I want to do is lie half naked under a ceiling fan sipping on a Jamba Juice....but since we don't have Jamba Juice here, and I live with other people that's not going to happen....Everybody good and hungry? :)

Back to the point (I totally have one)....which is, this is a super yummy cold dish that I've eaten two days in a row for lunch. It's basically brown sushi rice mixed with chickpeas, sauteed peppers and onion, avocado, and then I drizzled mustard wasabi dressing over the whole thing. Today I garnished mine with pickled ginger, and green onion.

Three fantastic things about this dish, you can make as much or as little of the components as you want and serve it several days in a row. You can change it up quite a bit and still have it taste quite good, throw in whatever you have on hand, leftover steamed veggies, maybe some carrot or cucumber sticks for more of a salad feel. And you can serve it without the dressing to keep it soy free, as I did for my son. Short on time? Try using a store bought organic salad dressing such as this.


Mustard Wasabi Dressing

5 tbs oil (I used canola)
3 tbs seasoned rice vinegar
3 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp mustard
1 1/2 tsp + more to taste prepared wasabi

Whisk all the ingredients together. This doesn't make a lot of dressing, but considering how little of it you need (I used about a tbs) it should do the trick.





*It's called sarcasm...love it, embrace it.

Cool and Spicy Chickpea Tacos

Too hot to make tacos?? Never! This vegetarian taco filling is served cold. And when separated from the tortillas, it would make an excellent lunch to take to work as it doesn't need to be heated. And what would a taco be without fixins'. I filled mine with spring mix, avocado slices and freshly made salsa! YUM!
I also wanted to show you how this meal is easily turned into a lunch the next day for my kids. Chopped up chunks of cheese, avocado, sweet potatoes, and taco filling. Little man ate all this and a bowl of rice. Baby girl ate most of it....but insisted she didn't like "sweet tatatoes"...even though she had eaten them the night before. Thus is the way of a four year old.


Ingredients

2 cloves pressed garlic
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tbs sour cream
1tsp lemon juice
2 tbs taco seasoning
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 can El Pato tomato sauce (spicy or with jalapenos whatever floats your boat)
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

1lb bag of chickpeas cooked according to package drained and cooled
tortillas and whatever you like to top your tacos with...onions, salsa, avocado, leafy greens, olives, sour cream....pickles? I'm not here to judge.

Whisk together the first nine ingredients.

Stir in the chickpeas, cilantro, and add the salt pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Fill taco shells as desired....easy peesy...peasy??....pesey?....

Lemony Chickpea and Rice Salad

It's hot. And I'm fighting off a cold. So I wanted a meal that would be refreshing, and light, with flavors strong enough that I might actually be able to taste despite my stuffy nose. This fit the bill quite nicely. It was refreshing and tasty. I will be making this again.

What you need:

2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs lemon juice
3 tbs oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tbs Dijon mustard
cayenne to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves of garlic peeled and pressed
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 1/2 cups cooked rice

More cilantro and avocado for garnish

Whisk together the first ten ingredients.

Stir in the chickpeas and rice to coat.

Refrigerate, and when ready to serve garnish with more cilantro and avocado.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

When life hands you stale tortilla chips....make this soup. I thought this soup was fun. You can set out all sorts of different toppings to dress it up, sour cream, avocado, olives, Tabasco, cheese....like a taco bar, but with soup..how fun is that?!?!...Ok so you probably shouldn't take advice on what is fun by someone who once aspired to be an ornithologist. But if nothing else this was a break from the norm, and a great way to use up some left over tortilla chips that were past their prime. This is a pantry meal, so go ahead and play with it to suit your pantries ingredients.

Ingredients
Olive oil about 1tbs
1 onion diced
1 tbs chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
cayenne to taste
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 cups of chickpeas
1 cup frozen spinach
2/3 cups salsa
4 cups of broth
stale (or not) tortilla chips

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and spices and cook for about five minutes or until tender.

Add the garlic and salsa, cook one more minute.

Add the chickpeas and spinach and cook for five more minutes.

Add the broth and bring to a simmer, simmer for about ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with cilantro, tortilla chips, hot sauce, sour cream, avocado...or whatever else you would like.

My son picked out all of the spinach.....and ate that first. Then he proceeded to finish his entire bowl, and half of mine. I can't blame him, I really like the way the spinach came through in this soup. My daughter decided she doesn't like lunch, so I offered it to her as a snack......she seemed okay with that.

P.S. Pictures will be up when I figure out how to get them off of my new (squeeeeeeeeee) camera.

Chickpea Pot Pie

Sorry about the lack of pictures, I promise to get in a whole slew of them once I can figure out how to get them from my phone to my computer....Now you have to ask yourself, which is better, no pictures, or a slew of cell phone pictures. I will leave you to decide weather or not you want to check back and see about those.
This was yummy! The sauce was a little thick/non existent. Mostly because I second guessed myself and added two extra tablespoons of flour. It's pretty much just chicken pot pie, but with chickpeas, and instead of a crust I used drop biscuits. It's a pantry meal so adjust it to whatever you have on hand. Since it has vegetables, protein, and grains, there was no need to make any side dishes to go with it. And we had leftovers for lunch the next day. /happy dance

For the biscuits
1 1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix together the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients all at once. Stir to combine. Set aside.


For the filling
2 cups of chickpeas
2 cups of frozen veg (I used a mixture of peas and spinach)
2 potatoes diced
olive oil
2 tbs butter
4 tbs flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp seasoning salt divided
1/4 tsp pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour 1/4 tsp seasoning salt and pepper. Cook for a minute or two or until the floury taste is gone. Pour in the milk all at once, whisking as you go. Heat through. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile pan fry the potatoes in olive oil until golden brown and add salt to taste.

Pour frozen veggies, potatoes, and chickpeas into a greased casserole dish. Pour sauce over the top, and drop biscuit dough in rows over the top of the veg mixture.

Bake at 350 for 30-50 minutes or until biscuits are done, and the filling is bubbly.

Addendum
Here is the aforementioned slew....
Note the negative space, the contrasting colors....


The shadow of my elbow...
oooooh aaaaahhh

Vegan Malai Kofta.....kinda

Who loves a cell phone photo....show of hands? Alright then. This lovely dish is what we had for dinner tonight, and I gotta tell you it knocked my socks off. Malai Kofta is a dish made of... you guessed it unmeatballs (I know that is kind of becoming my thing) and a creamy sauce. Well traditionally they are packed with nuts and raisins, and all sorts of things my kiddos are allergic too. So this is my version, without the allergens, and packed full of chickpeas instead of cheese so they are vegan. They are great for a celebration, or special evening. You can make the unmeatballs a day ahead of time and cook them up when you are ready to make the sauce. Great served over rice, this recipe is also gluten free (be sure to check your ingredients).

For the unmeatballs
1lb bag of chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked according to package directions
3 baked potatoes with the skins removed
2 tbs olive oil
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt or more to taste
cayenne to taste

Heat the oil over medium low heat and add the garlic, salt, and spices. Cook for two minutes or until fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic. then remove from heat.

Puree the chickpeas until smooth in your food processor and pour into a large bowl.

Mash in the potatoes and the spice/oil mixture until well combined. Taste, and add salt and cayenne as desired.

Shape into balls and refrigerate until ready to cook.


For the sauce

2tbs olive oil
4 cloves pressed garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
cayenne to taste
1/4 tsp salt (or more, the amount you need will depend on the saltiness of your tomato sauce, I'm erring on the side of caution here. You are welcome to add more salt)
1 can of tomato sauce
1 cup of coconut milk

Heat the olive oil over medium low heat and add the garlic and ginger. Cook for about a minute taking care not to burn the garlic.

Add the spices and salt all at once. Add a dash of cayenne (you may add more later for more spice). Cook for another minute or two while stirring.

Add the tomato sauce, (lower the heat if your stove runs hot, mine does :) tomato sauce burns quickly) and stir in the coconut milk.

Heat just to a simmer (not boiling) and lower heat. Cook for about five minutes and add salt, and more cayenne to desired spicyness. *

Pour sauce over unmeatballs...enjoy! :)

Little man ate 5 of these over rice. Big man had about that many too, and would have had more, but he was saving room for pie. My darling girl only ate one, and some rice, it seems she was saving room for pie as well.

*Did you know that spicyness isn't a word?? A fact my spell check keeps trying to inform me of. That can't be right.....

Cilantro and Ginger Rice with Chickpeas (late night snack)

Since about February I have been working out.... a lot. And so far the main difference I've seen is that my rings are loose......but my pants are still tight. You do realize what that means right? All of my weight is redistributing from my hands to my aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. Not quite fair if you ask me, the point being that the hubster and I went to the gym tonight and when we got home, after feeding, dressing, changing, and putting the kiddos to bed we found ourselves HUNGRY. In need of some good fuel for our bodies (and apparently mainly my...back to the point) I thought I'd whip up a sauce that go over some chickpeas and rice that we already had on hand.

Ingredients:

1 cup cilantro washed very thoroughly
2 cups spinach ditto
3 cloves peeled garlic
3 tbs olive oil
3 tsp vinegar of your choice
3 tsp minced ginger
1tsp honey (or more to taste, some vinegars might be sweeter than others requiring less to balance the acidic taste)

Salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Everything except the salt, pepper, and cayenne, goes into the food processor until smooth. Add salt pepper and cayenne to taste. Spoon over rice and chickpeas. Super simple, super good.

In other fantastic news little man's sweat test (test for cystic fibrosis) came back normal! :)
/happy dance

Vegetarian Cinco de Mayo

This soup was a hit with everyone. It had crispy strips of fried corn tortilla, chickpeas, onion, garlic, refreshing cilantro....and oh yes, did I mention these......















Spicy un-meatballs anyone? I know, I've been on an unmeatball kick lately. I can't help it, they are so versatile, easy to eat, and a great way to pack my kids food with veggies that would otherwise be vetoed for texture reasons like spinach and eggplant.

Spicy un-meatballs

2 cups chickpeas
1 block of cream cheese
1/2 cup salsa (divided)
1 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup of COOKED brown rice
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup or less bread crumbs
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
2 tbs finely chopped cilantro
Tabasco and cayenne to taste

Defrost and drain the spinach. While the spinach is defrosting mix the chickpeas, 1/4 cup salsa, cream cheese, and garlic in your food processor until well blended. Pour into a large mixing bowl
and add the rest of the salsa, rice, pepper, drained spinach, cheese, cilantro, Tabasco, and ground cayenne. Stir and add the breadcrumbs slowly until the mixture becomes a doughy consistency that can easily be shaped. Form into balls and chill (I made these a day ahead of time)....fry those suckers up in some olive (the kind that says "for high heat cooking") until they are golden brown. Or bake them.
Serve over rice or in tortilla soup!

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
1 Onion Diced
1 cup chickpeas
2 cups frozen corn
2 cloves of garlic sliced
2 tsp chili powder
dash o' cayenne
olive oil
1 batch of spicy unmeatballs
corn tortillas cut into strips
4 cups stock or broth of whatever kind suits your fancy.
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat about 1 tbs of olive oil over medium heat in a large stock pot, add the onions and cook until they are tender. Add the corn, chickpeas, garlic, spices, and cook for two more minutes stirring occasionally. Add the broth and bring soup to a simmer. Meanwhile fry strips of tortilla until crispy, and place on a paper towel to drain. Sprinkle with salt. Once soup is simmering and cooked through add salt and pepper to taste. Add the tortilla strips, and unmeatballs to individual servings along with cheese, sour cream, avocado, or any other toppings you desire. Enjoy!

Rockin Moroccan Stew....

....saves the day.

I think I have mentioned before the importance of freezing meals. I had a fantastic morning, followed by a not so fantastic mid morning faint/legs giving out thingie and hitting my head (on the driveway? car?). Either way now I'll never be a teen model.....sigh.

So I came in, put my feet up and my wonderful hubster brought me some juice and promised me a dinner out. Well I got to thinking, and I realized not only would I much rather save the money and have a nice meal out when we are on vacation, but also I had some of this in the freezer. It has been so long since I have made it I am not sure of all of the modifications, but I can tell you that I used sun butter in place of the peanut butter, and I most likely doubled the spices. It is one of my favorite ways to eat sweet potatoes, and that it is an excellent meal on it's own, or served with rice and chapati bread.

What a life saver! Now all I have to do is read a book, get some rest, and heat up dinner whenever the mood strikes me. Jaime Oliver said something on the season finale of "Food Revolution" that stuck with me....not of course enough for me to remember it verbatim (blame it on the head injury). It went something like this "You CAN do it, within the time and in budget".....and it was an ah-ha moment. That is exactly what I want this blog to be about. Just reaching other people and letting them know they can eat healthier, not go bankrupt, and teach their children to do the same. Simply put that's it. I'm not a super Mom by any means. I have days where I am not at my best, and don't have the energy or time to cook. By planning ahead I avoid filling my body with junk and YOU CAN do it too.

Vegetarian Breakfast Patty (soy free)

I don't know how I feel about these. The hubster loved them, but to me the texture was off, and I think I will use more brown rice next time to get that chewy, hearty texture one expects from a breakfast patty.

What you need
1 onion
1 1/2 cups of cooked chickpeas
1 cup brown rice
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp sage divided
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt divided
1 cup breadcrumbs
olive oil for frying

Dice the onion and saute with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp sage until golden brown. Add half of this mixture, along with the clove of garlic, black pepper, cream cheese, garlic salt, chickpeas, and 1/4 tsp sage to your food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pour this mixture into a bowl and stir in the brown rice, bread crumbs, the rest of the onions, and salt and pepper to taste. Shape this mixture into a log and refrigerate. Slice and pan fry when ready to eat.

This made a decent post workout snack, but there is room for improvement. I will let you know how it turns out in dinner. I'm making vegetarian Loco Moco.

Peanut Soup....only not really

You know when your expecting one thing, and you get something completely different, how you can't fully appreciate that different thing because you are still longing for the first thing. No....just me then? Well that is what this soup has been like for me. I saw a peanut soup, or stew,...or maybe it was a chili...well anyway, it was on food network, and it looked delicious. It was creamy, spicy and warm, I knew at that instant I must have that soup! However, five to ten instances later I had forgotten about that soup, probably it was pushed to the back of my mind in favor of a cookie or chocolate, as so often happens to me.

But then I saw it again on the menu somewhere "African Peanut Soup", and all of the longing and desire rushed back. Imagine my surprise when the dish served to me was more like a noodle soup with greens and little bits of crushed peanuts on top. It was neither spicy, or creamy, and it re-inspired me to make the peanut soup in my head......that didn't come out sounding as normal as I thought it would. Anyhoo, today I set out to do just that, I got some chickpeas out of the freezer along with some veggie broth....except I didn't have any veggie broth /sigh and I ended up making something else entirely.....so this dish was a journey, that started with desire, and ended up "Chickpeas in a spicy peanut sauce".....it was a good journey filled with ups, downs, and cookies (as all journeys should be), but a long one. So without further ado here is a recipe.

Chickpeas in a Spicy Peanut Sauce

2 tbs Olive oil
1 Onion
5 Garlic cloves minced
1tbs Ginger
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp salt
1 can coconut milk
3 cups chickpeas
1/3 cup peanut butter or sun butter...or cashew butter...mmmmm...I keep wanting to try this recipe with cashew butter.
cayenne to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, add the onions and cook for about four minutes, or until the onions are tender. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook for a minute more. Stir in the next four ingredients and cook a minute more. Lower the heat and stir in the chickpeas and peanut butter until everything is coated with spicy peanut buttery goodness. Then add the coconut milk and simmer covered for about 10 minutes, add cayenne to taste. This satisfied my craving quite well...considering it was not at all what I set out to make.

Sweet Chili and Garlic Un-Meatballs

It's always difficult to come up with a name for vegetarian loaf recipes, and of course just as difficult to come up with a name for their small round cousin the vegetarian meatball. You want a name that says what it is, but who wants a second helping of bean loaf or veggie balls??? I think that this recipe was a success in taste and name*, the fam agreed.


Ingredients:
3oz cream cheese (this is the binder, you could sub egg or a vegan preference)
1/4 cup sweet Thai chili sauce
4 cloves of garlic sliced
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 cans of chickpeas
1/3 cup COOKED brown rice
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil if pan frying

Stir together the first five ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Mash in the chickpeas (this took quite a bit of work. I think next time I will run them through the food processor before adding them). Stir in the brown rice and add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate this mixture for about an hour, this will make it easier to shape. Once done chilling, shape the mixture into balls and bake at 350 for ten minutes. After baking, I pan fried some of mine in a little olive oil for added fat and calories. The fried ones went to the kiddos. The hubster and I ate ours with a sauce of olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and green onion that was reduced over medium low heat for about ten minutes.

*If I just put "un" and a hyphen in front of a word, that makes it a word....right?

Quick Chickpea and Potato Curry

I recently bought some Masala simmering sauce from Trader Joe's. I wanted to be blown away and I was not. Super sad face goes here--->, because I love TJ's and wanted a super quick curry for lunches.
Well with a wee bit of adjustment, adding things like fresh garlic and ginger I was able to give it a more homemade taste.

What you need
1 tbs olive oil
5 cloves garlic smashed and minced
1 onion diced
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 dash cayenne (or more to taste)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 Jar of masala simmer sauce
1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 potato diced
2-3 handfuls of spinach (optional)
yogurt and chopped cilantro for garnish

In a large pot heat the oil. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, potatoes, and salt, cook for two minutes. Add the spices and cook for one more minute. Add the diced tomatoes, simmer sauce and chickpeas. Simmer covered until potatoes are cooked. Add the spinach and cook for a few more minutes. Serve topped with yogurt and cilantro....or not. This is also yummy on top of rice, but then it really isn't a one pot dish.