Ginger Peanut Soba Noodles with Maple Tempeh

For fourth of July this year, one of the dishes I made was Oh She Glow's Rad Rainbow Raw Pad Thai. It had an amazing lime-peanut dressing that I thought would go great on a soba noodle dish. I added a bunch of veggies, some sweet maple-glazed tempeh, and voila! A yummy, easy new dinner favorite!

Nearly Raw Broccoli Slaw

Before I get to the other cookie recipe I made this weekend, let's have some greens, shall we?

Ok, so this technically might not be a slaw, but I just thought it had a nice ring to it ;-) This broccoli salad contains mostly raw ingredients, and just barely steamed broccoli, in a very light, slightly tangy and sweet, dressing. Barely-there dressing, but just enough to bring it all together. Crunch+sweet+fresh veggies= filling healthy meal love.

Farro with Beets and Apple Cider Broccoli & Rapini

Before we move on to Halloween treats and sweets, how 'bout another healthy dinner?

Yes, this is my second post with apple cider this week. But I like having multiple recipes to use an ingredient in, especially those ingredients that you don't buy all the time and that don't last indefinitely. And this is also another simple, easy, filling, delicious meal that can be thrown together after work.

Sweet Orange Tempeh and A Week of Asian Meals

Asian meals are great for summer because they are often light and quick to whip up. These noodle dishes taste great cold as well, so feel free to make the night before, have leftovers for lunch, or bring something more interesting than pasta salad to a picnic!

Easy Soba Noodle Stir-Fry- and a BIG weekend!

Sometimes work takes over life. It happens. This week has also been thrown off a little by what's going on this weekend- more on that later...  While I usually have pretty good work-life balance, that's not always the case. But that's when quick, healthy meals are the perfect option. This one, which comes from my sister-in-law, is one of those meals, and it features an ingredient I totally love: soba noodles. They rock. Buy some, throw 'em together with some veggies, and you have yourself one yummy little meal. 

Tamarind Tofu Bowl

Another great recipe inspired by Vegan Yum Yum! This healthy tofu bowl has a sweet flavor from the tamarind sauce, but is packed full of veggies and balanced by heartiness from the brown rice.

FYI, to satisfy your veggieosity, tamarind is a pod-shaped fruit that's kind of like a cross between a fig, date, and legume (at least in packaging). It's very sweet and can make for good sauce bases and pastes, as in this recipe.

Broccoli, Mushroom, and Tofu Salad

Getting right back on the vegan wagon, I made another new vegan dish recently, and this one was a total keeper.

Delicious healthy broccoli salad

This recipe, did, though, include another "weird vegan" ingredient that was a first for me: Vegenaise. Yup, vegan mayonnaise. Now, I don't even like regular mayonnaise. In fact, I pretty much avoid it at all costs. So it was a real leap of faith for me to try this. BUT, the link on Finding Vegan said "the best broccoli salad EVER." Ok, fine- you've got me. I'll try it. (I did, however, take my own advice and decrease the amount of vegenaise used in the original recipe).

Recipe adapted from/ inspired by 'Vegan Broccoli Salad' on Namely Marly.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 1 block extra firm tofu, drained and cut into bite-sized cubes (to drain tofu, not only remove all the package liquid, but also press with paper towels until excess water is removed)
• 2 large heads of broccoli, cut into florets (about 4-5 cups worth)
• 1 package of shittake mushrooms, sliced and washed
• 1 Tbsp EVOO (for pan to cook tofu)
• Sea salt to taste

Dressing ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegan mayo (I used Follow Your Heart brand Vegenaise)
• 1.5 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• scant 1/4 cup agave syrup (you could do 1/8 cup plus a Tbsp)
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds

Steps:

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl; it's ok if it's runny, as within 15 minutes the chia seeds will start to form their gel and the dressing will thicken a little.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add in the tofu cubes. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, and then stir & turn, evenly cooking each side until the cubes look lightly golden brown (this should take about 10-12 minutes). Add in the shittake mushrooms and cook about another 2-3 minutes, until mushrooms are tender.
3. Steam the broccoli, making sure you DO NOT OVERCOOK. This is key. The last thing you want is mushy broccoli- it would completely ruin the salad. The broccoli should only steam for about 3 minutes, and when you stick a fork in it, you should be able to insert the fork but it shouldn't just slide through. It will change color slightly from that light raw green to just steamed darker (but not deep) green.
4. Drain the broccoli and run under cold water in a colander to ensure it doesn't continue steaming. 
5. Transfer to a large bowl and pour in some of the dressing - you may not need all of it, just enough to lightly coat the broccoli. (I only used about 1/2 of my dressing! But it's good to have on hand later for salads, wraps, sandwiches, or even for a little dip- it will thicken a bit over time bc of the chia seeds).

Notes:
I was definitely skeptical of the vegan mayo. But, once I found out it's made of natural ingredients - canola oil, brown rice syrup, soy protein, mustard flour and lemon juice, I figured it was worth trying. The dressing was a little tangy & sweet, and just a tiny bit creamy but still very light. This was a delicious, easy salad, and there is plenty of room for variation. I like the shittake mushrooms in it, but chick peas, regular peas, raisins, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds would all be good additions/substitutions. You could also sub tempeh for the tofu (as in the original recipe, which called for smoked tempeh 'bacon' - I avoided because I don't like smoky flavors), or probably even cannellini beans would work for protein too. This is also a good make-ahead dish, as it's meant to be served cold, and stores well for at least a few days. Hellooooo good lunch leftovers!

Broccoli, Chickpea, Tomato & Bean Salad

I've posted the recipe for this salad previously here: Broccoli, Chickpea & Tomato Salad

I changed the original just a tad by adding black beans for more protein! Filling, refreshing, delicious, and sooooo easy to make!

Dressing is a Dijon mustard/olive oil/vinegar mix (I use 1 Tbsp of each- slight change from the original). Onion may be omitted (as done in these pics- didn't have one and didn't miss it!).

Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables

Adapted from: Spa Cuisine at Home, Chef Nadine

If you haven't ever heard of quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa), go out and buy some now. It's awesome. Quinoa is so healthy, full of fiber and protein, and is not like any other grain. It's not quite cous-cous, not quite rice... it's better. It lends itself well to being the base for many recipes, and is very filling but still very healthy. Most grocery stores today should have it, but Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are a sure bet. I was first introduced to this wonder-grain in a cooking class I took through the Boston Center for Adult Education, called "Spa Cuisine at Home." Not sure if they still offer this class, but it was wonderful and I got so many great recipes and techniques. I've edited the original recipe a bit over time, but no matter how you vary your quinoa dish it's easy to work with.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 and 1/4 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 cup of water
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Optional; can use vegan Parm. for vegan, although I haven't tried)
• 1-2 cups of broccoli
• 1-2 cups of cauliflower (or full head of cauliflower)
• 1/2 cup of yellow onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Chop broccoli and cauliflower into small pieces and spread over a cookie sheet greased with olive oil. To avoid florets getting over crisped, you can loosely cover the pan with tin foil for the first 15-20min of cooking. Set timer to 45 minutes to roast the veggies.
2. Chop the onion and garlic. Heat olive oil in a pot and add the onion, saute for about 1-2 minutes and then add the garlic and cook for about 1 more minute.
3. Add the quinoa, water, and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 14 minutes- you will see a white line in the quinoa grains - until the liquid is gone.
4. Add the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, mixing, and then add the roasted veggies. Serve hot.

Notes: There are TONS of variations of this dish! Sometimes I add fresh chopped spinach to it too. The original recipe calls for arugula, shitake mushrooms, and carrots instead of broccoli & cauliflower (also good, but I love the flavor the roasted broccoli and cauliflower gives to the quinoa). Another good variation is to serve cold and add peas, olives, chopped fresh asparagus, and some dill & parsley for a summer version (leave out the Parm cheese though).

Also note that you can use 2 and 1/4 cups of vegetable stock (as opposed to part water); I just prefer to water down the stock as they are often chock full of sodium. Also, note that it's a good idea to rinse the quinoa before use.

*See my post of other grains for more healthy dishes like this!

Broccoli, Chickpea, and Tomato Salad

From: Great Food Fast

Ingredients:

• 1 pound broccoli
• 1/2 small red onion, minced
• Coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (note: grape tomatoes also work, but the cherry ones taste better!)
• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Dressing:

• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp red-wine vinegar (note: Apple cider vinegar works here too!)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Steps:

1. Cut the broccoli florets from the stalk. Steam in large pot until crisp but tender, about 5 minutes (the book recommends using a steamer basket with 1 inch of water beneath). Rinse with cold water in a strainer after cooking to cool.
   
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, olive oil, and onion. Season with salt & pepper.
3. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and broccoli. Toss to coat ingredients with the dressing. May be served at room temp or chilled.

Notes: This is very easy to make! I usually don't add the full amount of dressing, as I prefer it very light, but the recipe is not heavy as is, so just add slowly to your preference. And if you are looking for a good cookbook, I highly recommend Great Food Fast- it is filled with simple, quick recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients but that still taste great. But it's not a vegetarian cookbook, so if you are veggie, be prepared to pick through or do some substitutes.

Pictures and a variation: here.