Fruited Breakfast Quinoa

Adapted from The Cancer Survivor's Guide: Foods that help you fight back by Neal Barnard, MD and Jennifer Reilly, RD

Quinoa is technically a seed, but used as a grain.  It has a bitter resin-like coating, saponin, that must be rinsed off thoroughly before cooking.  I use a very fine mesh strainer to do this. Barnard's book suggests covering the quinoa with water in a mixing bowl and rub it between the palms of your hands.  Pour off the cloudy liquid through a strainer.  Repeat two or three more times until the rinse water remains clear.

I used the basic idea of this recipe, but mixed the non-dairy milk with water.

Ingredients:

1 cup vanilla rice or soy milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

mixture of raisins, dried cranberries, apricots and/or
 mango, to taste
1/4 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:

1) Combine the rice or soy milk and quinoa in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a gentle simmer.  COver and cook for about 15 minutes, until the quinoa is tender.  I like to leave it just a little crunchy.

2) Stir in the fruit and vanilla extract.  Cover and cook for 2 more minutes.  Serve warm or chilled.

3) Stored in a covered container in the refrigerator, leftover fruited quinoa will keep for up to 3 days.

Miso-Mustard-Glazed Tempeh with Collard Greens

from washingtonpost.com -- WEEKNIGHT VEGETARIAN DEC 18, 2013

Pan-frying and then glazing tempeh with a sweet-and-sour mixture of miso and mustard gives it a big hit of flavor. This dish pairs tempeh with collard greens that are quickly cooked so they keep more of their color and texture.  The dressing was also good on chicken, so I was able to satisfy my vegetarian and meat-eating diners with the same recipe.  Very tasty.  Note that by using seitan instead of tofu, it is not gluten free.

SERVINGS:   4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound soy tempeh - I only had seitan and it worked very well.
Vegetable or peanut oil, for frying
1 pound collard greens
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced (also had shallots, so used some)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons white miso
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Cut each tempeh block in half crosswise, then in half again horizontally to create eight 1/4-inch-thick slabs. Cut each slab diagonally to form two triangles.

Line a plate with paper towels.

Pour the vegetable or peanut oil to a depth of 1/4 inch in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil shimmers, pan-fry the tempeh (working in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the pan) until golden brown and crisp, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the tempeh to the paper-towel-lined plate to drain, and pour out and discard any excess oil; you will be using the skillet again.

Strip the collard leaves from their stems, discarding the stems. Rinse the leaves but don't dry them. Stack the leaves, roll them up tightly, then thinly slice to form ribbons.

Pour the olive oil into a separate large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the collard greens and vinegar, toss to combine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens barely wilt, 5 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, then remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.

Whisk together the miso, mustard and water in a small bowl.

Return the skillet you used for frying the tempeh to medium heat. Pour in the miso mixture and add the tempeh pieces, tossing them to thoroughly coat for just a minute or two as the glaze bubbles.

Divide the collard greens among serving plates; top with the glazed tempeh. Serve hot.

Sesame Miso Dressing

Adapted from Joe Yonan's Eat Your Vegetables

This dressing can be used on greens, portobello mushrooms, noodles, roasted sweet potatoes or broiled eggplant, to name just a few.  And it just takes a few minutes to prepare.  If using for portobellos, let them marinate for 15 minutes before grilling.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 Tbsp white miso
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
6 Tbsp canola
6 Tbsp rice vinegar, unseasoned
3 tsp honey
pinch of sea salt

Directions:
1) Whisk the miso and sesame oil in a small jar.
2) Add the vinegar, canola, sesame seeds and honey; shake vigorously.
3) Add honey and/or salt as needed.

Brussel Sprouts with Orange Dressing

From Nutrition Action
Total time to prepare: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp. orange zest
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 cup thinly sliced shallots or red onions
1 lb. brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced
freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. kosher salt

Directions:
• In a small pot, simmer the orange juice until reduced to 2 Tbs. Remove from the heat and mix in the orange zest.
• In a medium sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Sauté the shallots until golden brown, 2-3 minutes.
• Steam the brussels sprouts until they are tender but still bright green, 3-5 minutes.
• Allow the brussels sprouts to cool slightly, then toss with the orange reduction and shallots. Season with pepper and up to ¼ tsp. of salt.

Serves 4.

Nutrition Information:
Per serving (1 cup)—
Calories: 150
Sodium: 150 mg
Total Fat: 7 g
Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
Carbohydrates: 20 g
Protein: 5 g
Fiber: 6 g

Sweet Potato-Black Bean Stew with Sweet Peppers and Peanut Sauce

This is from Molly Katzen's newest cookbook, The Heart of the Plate.  You might recognize her name from her Moosewood Cookbook, published in 1977.  She was vegetarian way before it was as popular as it is today.  I just took a walk down memory lane and browsed through my old food-stained copy of that book.  Her recipes in this hardcover new book are more interesting, as evidenced by this peanut flavored sweet potato stew.  The color pictures add a lot more interest as well.

I didn't take the time to make the banana-cheese empanadas that were meant to accompany this stew, but made a 2-minute version of them by top broiling banana, pepper Jack cheese and a squirt of lime on thin bread in the toaster oven -- not bad!!  She gives much more direction about preparation than I'm including here.

Some other interesting sounding dishes are Roasted Eggplant Salad with Coconut-Lime Vinaigrette, Golden Lentils with Soft Sweet Onions and Brussel Sprouts with Cranberries.

Ingredients:
For the stew:
2 Tbsp olive or roasted peanut oil, or a combination
2 cups minced red onion (1 large)
2 Tbsp finely minced fresh ginger
1 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
2 tsp minced or crushed garlic
2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes (7 cups)
1/2 cup water
1 large sweet red bell pepper, in 1/4 inch dice (2 cups)
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, or more to taste
3 cups cooked black beans or two 15-oz cans, rinsed and drained

For peanut sauce:
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp agave nectar or light-colored honey
Crushed red pepper (optional)

Optional extras:
Roasted peanuts, lime wedges, chopped cilantro leaves

Directions:
1) Heat a soup pot over medium heat for about a minute; add the oil and swirl to coat the pan.
2) Add the onion, ginger and 1/2 tsp of the salt.  Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes.
3) Add 1 tsp on the garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes longer, or until the onion becomes translucent.
4) Stir in the sweet potatoes, plus the remaining 1 tsp of garlic and another 1/2 tsp of salt.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
5) Add 1/2 cup water, cover again, and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are almost done.  Stir every 10 minutes or so.
6) Add the bell pepper and lime juice, stir, and cover to cook for 5 minutes or so until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender.  Add more water or lime juice if the vegetables are sticking to the bottom.
7) Gently stir in the beans during the last few minutes of cooking.
8) Put the peanut butter in a medium bowl and slowly stir in the boiling water, then vinegar, sweetener and remaining 1/4 tsp of salt.  Adjust taste.
9) Use a rubber spatula to scrape all the sauce into the stew, then stir gently .  Adjust to taste with salt, lime or possibly crushed red pepper.