Tasty Thursday: Vegan Mommy Chef's Sweet Potato Kale Frittata

I have to say that this recipe is a WINNER!  Not only did I find it delicious but my omnivore spouse finished up about half of the frittata, going back for seconds and thirds while delivering lots of compliments.  When an omni gorges on something that is made with a substitute for eggs when they are the major ingredient in a recipe it sure is a good feeling.

You can find Vegan Mommy Chef's recipe here and my version below.

Now I will mention that I do not own a food processor so this was a little more work to make than I like to put into a recipe but it was worth every bit of the effort.  I plan to make it again this week.

Ingredients:

'Egg' base:
1 1/2 cups Burmese tofu (I'll share this recipe tomorrow)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup Trader Joe's ground almond
1/4 cup tapoica starch
2 TB coconut oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pink sea salt
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 TB whole grain mustard
1 TB chia seeds
water as needed for blending (I ended up using 1/2 cup)




Vegetable filling:
1 tsp coconut oil
1 red torpedo onion from our CSA share, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, skin removed then cut into small cubes
6 leaves lacinato kale from our CSA shrare, stems removed and leaves cut into 1" bits
2 TB worcestershire sauce substitute (I'll share this one tomorrow too)
1 tsp local honey

First, I melted the coconut oil in a cast iron pan, then added the cubed sweet potato, stirred for a minute or two then added the onion.  I allowed it to cook for a few minutes, then turned it off because I had to answer a telephone call and was afraid I'd get distracted and let it burn.  It sat covered for about five minutes.  When I came back I added the kale, sauce sub and honey to the pan.  It cooked for about eight minutes, then I removed the lid, stirred it and let it sit covered with the burner off for a few minutes while I finished blending the egg sub items and greased my ceramic quiche dish with coconut oil.

While I was cooking the veggies I  ran the egg sub ingredients through the chopper attachment of my stick blender to break them down as far as I could, then transferred to the regular blender to liquefy.  This was a pain in the butt, however in the end it was all worth it.  I really should purchase a food processor.  Do you have a food processor you like?  If you do, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.  But I digress. 

Once the egg sub is blended, add it to the veggies in the pan.  Mix well, then scrape into quiche dish, distributing evenly.  Bake 35 minutes (or as long as needed) in a 350F oven then enjoy this delicious frittata!

Tasty Thursday: Penniless Parenting's Swiss Chard with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I love Penny's recipes.  She's not afraid to use something 'past prime' so I was very happy to find this recipe on her blog for the once-beautiful bunch of chard that was now a week old in my fridge and beginning to wilt.  I modified her original recipe very little which was also a very happy surprise.  I usually have to modify out so many things that I find it hard to achieve the same level of spice as in the original recipe when I have to modify out a bunch of different peppers.  It was nice that the only peppers in this spicy dish were a 'sprinkle of pepper flakes'.  The spice in this yummy meal comes from garlic and ginger, both of which we use often in our home.  I encourage you to enjoy this very tasty and easy to make dish.

1-2 Tbsp. oil (I used some olive oil, realized I didn't have enough and added some coconut oil.  Don't cringe, it tastes great.  Next time I'll use all coconut oil.)
1 onion, sliced thin (I used a large Vidalia)
2 organic farm carrots, sliced thin
1 bunch organic farm swiss chard, stems and leaves separated and sliced
1/3 cup water
2 Tbsp. peanut butter (I used  organic smooth but in the future I'm going to use crunchy.  I think the little bits of nuts would be a great addition but I'm not cleared to eat nuts yet.)
2 Tbsp. soy sauce (I used coconut aminos because we recently learned that soy is my daughter's migraine trigger)
1 Tbsp. honey or sugar (I used a teaspoon of local honey)
1 tsp. garlic powder (I used a tablespoon of dried shaved garlic)
1 tsp. ginger powder (I used organic purchased from my local HFS' bulk jar)
1 tsp. salt (I used sea salt)

Cook onion and carrot in oil until onion is translucent, stirring as needed.  Add chard stems, continue to stir as needed for about four minutes until stems are softening.  Add chard leaves, cook another four minutes in the same manner.  Add all other ingredients, stir well to mix, cook until peanut butter and honey are melted and all items are well blended and veggies are coated.

I ate the three tablespoons of food my sleeve can hold without any other accompaniments and served this to my family over a bed of rice and lentils.  It got good reviews all around.  I plan to try this sauce on other vegetable combinations very, very soon!

Tasty Thursday: My Version of GF/Vegan Cholent

Reading about Cholent on one of the blogs I follow, Frugal and Kosher, got me curious about a vegan version.  I found a recipe to get started with, then modified it with what I had on hand in the kitchen.

I put the following into the crockpot:

4 cups water
2 cups TJ's hearty vegetable broth
9 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. caraway seed
1 tsp. applewood smoked salt
4 twists on the pepper mill
2 bay leaves
2 cups red lentils
1/2 lb. bag of matchstick carrots
3 large organic russet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 jar TJ's pizza sauce
1/2 can black beans

The black beans were leftover from last night's meal.  I had planned to add another can of red kidney beans but the crock pot is so full I'm thinking if it needs something more I will toss more beans in at the end.

While this is cooking we tossed a batch of these molasses cornbread muffins into the oven to serve with the soup.  The batter filled my Lodge cornbread pan, mini muffin pan and small loaf pans.   I use blackstrap molasses so we get a little extra iron from that plus the benefit of cooking them in the cast iron pans.  The sub for whole wheat flour was my favorite, most convenient GF blend, Bob's Red Mill.

Tasty Thursday: Sweet Red Lentils and Rice

Another easy crockpot recipe.  I got my inspiration here.

Into my crockpot I tossed:

2 1/2 cups red lentils (1lb. bag)
4 cups liquid (I used 1/2 cup orange juice, the rest water.  Would have used a whole cup OJ if I'd had it.)
1 tsp. powdered ginger, organic
1 heaping teaspoon dried local garlic flakes
4 Tbsp. local honey
A good shot of Bragg's Liquid Aminos
2/3 cup rice, uncooked

Turned the pot on Low and let it sit for four hours.  If I hadn't been sleeping I might have taste tested it and turned it off a little earlier.  The rice started to get a little gummy, but overall I'd rather have that than crunchy, undercooked rice.

It came out quite tasty!  Hubby added a little margarine to his, which made me want to try that too, but I prefer it just straight out of the crockpot.  Each of us had two bowls and there is some left for folks to take to work for lunch if they'd like.

Enjoy!

Tasty Thursday: Oven Baked 'Fried' Rice

I found this recipe today and just couldn't wait to try it.  This is one of those recipes that you can throw in just about whatever your taste dictates and you'll enjoy it.

I used:
white rice
can of pineapple chunks, drained (it was in juice and nothing else, so I drank the juice for dessert)
bunch of scallions, sliced
Bragg's Liquid Aminos
oil
bag of frozen peas
bag of broccoli florets, thawed

Mix your items together in a large bowl, coat your cookie sheet or glass casserole with vegetable spray, place in 350F oven.  Stir every 20 minutes until done, mine was in about an hour and twenty minutes.

I served this with edamame pods on the side.  Next time I'm planning to shell the edamame and put them in the mix.  Have fun with it!