Santa Fe Pumpkin Chowder

I discovered a great blog this week, Karina's Kitchen, a gluten free blog, where I found this Santa Fe Pumpkin Chowder recipe. It is not a vegan blog but she has lots of vegan recipes. This was absolutely delicious. I added black beans to mine and used a hot salsa so it was very spicy, which is how I like it, but you can make it more mild.

Baked Lima Beans

This is another wonderful bean recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cookbook. She says it is a Greek recipe from nuns in Macedonia. It is really simple to make with just a few ingredients. It is baked for about two hours but there is little prep time. She does call for cooking dry beans but you could use canned or frozen lima beans and add broth instead of the bean's cooking liquid. I usually cook dry beans a couple of times a week and use them in a variety of recipes.
I highly recommend this cookbook. It has about 200 recipes and most are vegan or easily veganized. She has an Indian cooking one as well but I haven't tried it yet.

Black Bean Chili

Chili makes for a very filling and healthy meal and I am always looking for new variations. I find that the recipes in most of my vegan cookbooks usually call for some kind of mock meat. I am not fond of mock meats. Honestly they freak me out a bit. I understand why many vegetarians and vegans rely on them but I usually avoid or alter recipes that call for them. This is a mock meat free vegetarian chili recipe from Emeril Lagasse and it is full of veggies and beans and is delicious! I garnished it with chopped avocados and onions.



I haven't felt very inspired lately in the kitchen. Perhaps this happens to all of us. I look in the cupboards and refrigerator and nothing seems appealing to me. So I have been searching my cookbooks, the vegan blogs and the web for inspiration. I came upon a contest that Chocolate Covered Katie is having that seems perfect when you are in a cooking slump. You have to try a new food or one that you haven't tried in awhile and will be entered in a drawing for some vegan goodies-see her rules here. So I bought some adzuki beans which I have been wanting to try. Now I just have to find a recipe.....

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Fourteen: Black Bean Soup

My month of quick and easy pantry cooking posts has come to end. For the final post of this series, I saved my favorite go to recipe, black bean soup. We have this at least every other week, usually when I don't feel like coming up with a new recipe or want something really easy to make. It started as a recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook but I have changed it over the years. It is so easy to make and is a filling meal by itself but is great with a scoop of brown rice in it or served with some cornbread.

Black Bean Soup

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne depending on your taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1- 28 ounce can crushed, diced or whole tomatoes
• 1/4 cup water
• 2- 15 ounce cans black beans
• cilantro, chopped (optional)
• vegan sour cream (optional-I use Tofutti brand)
• salt to taste

Saute onions, garlic and cayenne in oil in a large pot until onions are translucent about 10 minutes. Add the cumin, water and tomatoes (break them up if using whole tomatoes). Cover, bring to a boil then let simmer for about five minutes. Add the black beans. I add them with their liquid but if you prefer, you can drain and rinse them. Continue simmering for 15 more minutes. Puree 1/2 of the soup in the blender or with an immersion blender. Season to taste. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro.

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Ten: Lemon and Rosemary Tomato Soup

This is my go to soup when I want a healthy, fast yet filling soup. The lemon zest and rosemary in this hearty tomato soup give it a really fresh flavor. Cannellini beans make it hearty and rich in protein. Sometimes I use the fire roasted tomatoes to give it a more rustic flavor. This recipe was originally on Everyday Italian, Giada de Laurentiis' show on the Food Network. I altered her recipe a bit and veganized it.

Lemon and Rosemary Tomato Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1-15 oz can cannellin beans, drained and rinsed
• 1-28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• 2/3 cup vegan sour cream (I use Tofutti brand)
• zest of one lemon

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender, about five minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, 1 teaspoon of the rosemary and the red pepper flakes. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Puree all or part of the soup. If you don't puree it at least partially, which is what I do, then it won't get that creamy texture. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, the remaining 1 teaspoon of rosemary and lemonzest. Serve soup with a dollop of the sour cream mixture on top.

Variations: Substitute plain soy yogurt for the sour cream. Fresh rosemary is best for this recipe but you could use dried, 1/4 teaspoon in the soup and 1/4 in the sour cream. Add croutons.

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Nine: Black Eyed Peas in Spicy Coconut Sauce

This is a dish that is made almost entirely from canned goods. I like to keep the ingredients in stock because this is so easy to make, full of protein and makes a filling and healthy dinner especially when paired with a salad.

I serve it over brown rice but any grain that you have in stock would work well. If you don't have black-eyed peas, you can substitute any kind of bean (pinto beans are a good substitute). I prefer the flavor of the black-eyed peas in this dish but most beans would taste really good. I used a can of tomato sauce because that is what I had. A can of diced or crushed tomatoes would also be fine.

Black-Eyed Peas in Spicy Coconut Sauce

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-15 oz cans black-eyed peas, drained, rinsed and partially mashed
• 1-15 oz can tomato sauce, diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1-14 oz can light coconut milk
• 2-3 tablespoons cilantro or parsley, chopped (optional)
• salt to taste

Saute onion in oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add all ingredients except cilantro and combine well. Cover pan and simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add cilantro. Serve over rice.

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Six: Lentils and Rice

A few days ago I cooked one pound of lentils. I used half for a lentil salad that day and saved the rest to make lentils and rice. I used brown rice to make it healthier and the brown rice pairs nicely with the lentils, but you could use whatever you have.

I usually cook my rice in veggie broth to add more flavor. Sometimes I use the broth in the cartons but those can be expensive. I do try to make my own broth but that doesn't happen as often as I'd like. So I always keep two bouillon products in stock. The Rapunzel Vegetable Bouillon is wonderful because it comes in individually wrapped cubes and there is a no salt version. This one is good for throwing in with rice or to make a cup of broth to drink. The other one I use regularly is the Better Than Bouillon vegetable base. This one is a bit salty but is a great base for soups. It is a thick liquid that comes in a jar. For this dish, I used one Rapunzel bouillon cube.

Lentils and Rice

1/2 lb dry lentils, cooked

1 cup brown rice

1 vegan bouillon cube

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Cook brown rice according to package directions. Add bouillon cube to rice at start of cooking or replace water with veggie broth. While rice is cooking, saute onion, garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil until onions are translucent. When rice is done, stir in lentils, onion mixture and parsley. Season to taste.

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Four: Lentil Salad

Beans are so versatile and healthy. There are practically endless types of beans and endless possibilities for preparing them. Beans have been a staple food throughout the world for thousands of years. Whenever someone says that they don't like beans-I always ask which one. How could someone not like all beans. Maybe I'll dedicate a month to beans! Being that I am not fond of meat substitutes, tofu, seitan and tempeh (shocking I know, a vegan that doesn't love all those things), I depend on beans for my main source of protein in a meal.

This lentil salad is so simple and you can vary what you add to it depending on what you have. I made a Mediterranean style salad but you could give it a more latino feel with cilantro, cumin and jalapenos or add whatever you like. I cooked the whole 1 lb bag of lentils and used half for this and the other half I set aside for a future dish.

Lentil Salad

1/2 bag (1/2 lb dry beans or 1 1/4 cup dry beans)

2 tomatoes chopped

handful parsley, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

4 tablespoons olive oil

zest of one lemon

juice of half a lemon or about 2 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

variations: add chopped kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, green onions

Cook lentils (no soaking required for lentils) in a large pot of water on medium low heat for 45-60 minutes until tender. Drain. Add all ingredients and mix. Serve warm or cold.

I wanted to make a quick and easy dessert last night so I found the decadent brownie recipe in The Garden of Vegan cookbook. It was so easy to make. But I was so disappointed in the result. It did not make brownies. Brownies are fudgy and rich, a cross between chocolate cake and fudge. This recipe made a chocolate cake. It was a good cake but when you want brownies, this was disappointing!