sweet potato aduki bean bowl

1 sweet potato, cut into slices
2 T olive oil
1/3 c cooking onion (if tolerated)
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
roughly 1 t each italian spice, corriander, tumeric (if tolerated),
za'tar seasoning (to taste, if tolerated)*

about 4 cups kale, washed de-stemmed and chopped

1 tin aduki beans, drained and rinsed
2-4 cups veggie soup broth (ic friendly)
2-3 T coconut aminos (if tolerated)

In a large pot, saute onion (if using) in olive oil for a few minutes until translucent. Add garlic and saute for another minute or so. Add spices and sweet potato slices. Add just enough soup broth to cover the sweet potatoes.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are cooked. Add in kale and aduki beans, cook uncovered for a few more minutes until most of the broth has evaporated. Stir in coconut aminos and any additional seasoning if desired.

Serve over grains.

* I've been putting za'tar seasoning on pretty much everything lately. It is a Palestinian spice blend with thyme, sumac, sea salt and sesame seeds. I got it from 10 000 Villages (fair trade!), and have seen it at No Frills as well.

mashed potatoes with cashew gravy, green beans and collard greens

Serves 2

Ingredients

2-3 medium red potatoes
1 small head of cauliflower
1/4 cup veggie broth (ic friendly)
sea salt and fresh pepper (to taste)
1 bunch collard greens
1-2 T onions (optional, if tolerated)
1 clove garlic
red pepper (to taste)
1 cup fresh/frozen green beans
1 T olive oil

for the cashew gravy:

1 cup cashews, soaked beforehand if necessary
2 t tahini paste (if tolerated)
fresh thyme (to taste)
1 small garlic clove
1/2 cup veggie broth
1 T coconut aminos (if tolerated)
salt and fresh pepper (to taste)

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Wash and cut up the potatoes and cauliflower and cook until soft (test them with a fork). Drain the water and mash them with veggie broth, salt and pepper (butter or vegan butter optional).

Meanwhile, wash and de-stem the collards. Steam them for 15-20 minutes.

Heat up olive oil in a frying pan or cast iron skillet. Saute onions (if using) for a couple of minutes. Add red peppers and saute a few minutes more. Add beans. Add collards to the pan when they are cooked. Add the garlic when everything else is lightly sauteed and cook about a minute more. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

For the gravy, blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until saucy. Serve everything together and enjoy!

red pepper sauce

Serves 3

Ingredients

1/2 cup cashews, soaked beforehand if necessary
2 red peppers, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped (optional- if tolerated)
4 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1/2 cup veggie broth (ic friendly)
1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
about 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 t sea salt, or to taste
2 T olive oil
fresh pepper (to taste, optional)
1 t each dried oregano, basil, and savory

In a frying pan or cast iron skillet, saute peppers and onion (if using) together for about 20 minutes on a low-medium heat. Add garlic and stir for a couple more minutes.

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor.

Note: If your blender is not very powerful, you can try blending just the contents of the frying pan, veggie broth, and sweet potato to start, before adding cashews, olive oil and seasonings, blending in the parsley at the end. If this is the case you probably also want to soak the cashews for several hours beforehand to make blending easier.

stir fry sauce

Happy summer everyone, and if you're a Canuck happy Canada Day!  I will be working on some cool summer recipes over the coming months if you want to check back.

Here is a tasty stir fry sauce with no soy sauce or miso (this was a challenge for me). I have been experimenting with coconut aminos (coconut seasoning sauce) as a soy sauce substitute. If you can't eat soy sauce this might work for you, although since it is an aged/fermented product it may not work for everyone. Please feel free to substitute for any ingredients here or leave them out. Also, of course feel free to add anything that you can eat but I can't!

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 cup veggie broth (ic friendly)
2 T toasted sesame oil
2 - 3 T coconut aminos (if tolerated)
1-2 T cashew, peanut or almond butter
1 t parsley flakes
1 t italian spice
1/4 t tumeric (if tolerated)
1/4 t garlic powder
salt and fresh pepper (to taste)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined and then add to your stir fry.

Optional :  If you want your sauce to be thicker, you can thicken it with cornstarch or arrowroot starch. Combine starch with equal parts cold water first and then whisk it into your sauce on a low/medium heat for a couple of minutes. Start with just a teaspoon or two of starch as you can always add more if necessary (side note: sometimes it doesn't look like it has thickened but when you put it on your food you'll notice that it has).

veggie shepherd's pie

A hearty meal for the cold weather that smells lovely baking in the oven. When I make this, I usually do a double batch on the weekend to eat later in the week.      Serves  6

Ingredients

1/4 - 1/2 cup soup broth
4 - 5 medium red potatoes
1 small sweet potato
1 14 oz tin of brown lentils, drained and rinsed (or equal amt cooked lentils)
1/4 cup cooking onion (optional - if tolerated)
1-2 cloves garlic
1 carrot
1- 2 cups kale
1 head of broccoli
red pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup fresh or frozen corn
Fresh thyme and sage
Salt and fresh pepper (to taste)
Olive oil (small amount)

1 pyrex pan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Wash and cut up the sweet potato and potatoes, removing any gnarly bits or rotten spots.  You can leave the skins on if they're organic.  Add them to the pot and reduce heat.

Heat up a little olive oil in a frying pan.  If using onions, dice them and add to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, until translucent.

Wash and chop the veggies and add them to the pan.  Saute for a few minutes, stirring often.

Smash and chop the garlic, add it to the pan and cook for a couple more minutes.

When potatoes are cooked (test them with a fork), drain the water.  Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup veggie broth and a bit of salt and pepper.  Mash with a fork or potato masher.

Add herbs to the pan and saute for another minute or so.

Preheat oven to 350

When veggies are somewhat cooked, transfer them to a pyrex pan.  Add the lentils and mix them together.  Add the mashed potatoes on top, making a relatively even top layer.

Put it in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

Additional notes: For a less potato-y crust, feel free to substitute one head of cauliflower for two potatoes.

parsley pesto

This pesto was my mom's inspiration, since fresh basil isn't usually available this time of year where we live.  I was skeptical of a pesto sauce without basil, but I think the experiment was a success! You can use this sauce in or on anything you like. It's absolutely delicious as a sauce on pizza (pictured below). Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 cup cashews (soaked beforehand if necessary)
1 cup parsley, washed and chopped
1/2 cup veggie broth
1 clove garlic
half of an avocado (optional)
salt and fresh pepper (to taste)

Blend ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Either flat or curly leaf parsley works for this and it keeps a little longer than basil (for my basil pesto recipe, see "cashew pesto").

dal

This is my mom's lovely dal recipe.  There's no lemon juice or hot spices, but it tastes so good I feel like nothing is missing :).                  Serves 3-4

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup cooking onion (optional - if tolerated), peeled and chopped
1/2 t each cumin and tumeric (if tolerated - just use more italian spices if you aren't using them)
1 t  italian spice
1 cup red lentils
2 cups soup stock
1T olive oil
1 grated apple or pear
1 grated carrot

If using, saute the onion in olive oil at the bottom of a pot for a few minutes, until it is translucent.  Add the garlic and stir, cooking for about a minute.  Add the spices and toast them for another minute or so, stirring often.

Add the soup broth (2 cups broth and an extra little splish of water) and bring to a boil.

Rinse and add the lentils. Also add the grated pear/apple and carrot.

Reduce heat and simmer, about 35 minutes or until lentils are cooked and your desired consistency is reached. Stir every few minutes and scrape the bottom of the pot because the lentils and garlic will stick to the bottom.

Taste test to see if it is done. Serve with grains and maybe a side of steamed vegetables.

Additional notes:  Feel free to adjust spices to taste. Bay leaf, coriander and cardamom are also good in this. Salt and pepper if desired.

cashew pesto

This is really nice with pasta and sauteed vegetables.  Tonight my boyfriend and I had it with pasta, sweet potato, broccoli, zucchini, red peppers and onions.  Requires a blender or food processor.  If your  blender isn't very powerful, you may want to reduce the amount of cashews slightly to 1 1/4 cups.
Serves 3

Ingredients

2 cups basil leaves
2 T Olive oil
1/2 cup veggie soup stock
1 clove chopped garlic
1 1/2 cups cashews (before soaking)
salt and fresh pepper (to taste)

If necessary, soak the cashews in water first to make them easier to blend.  If you have a food processor, you can probably just put all of the ingredients in and blend without soaking the nuts.  If not, to make it easier you can blend the cashews, soup stock, and olive oil first, adding the cashews a little at a time.  Wash the basil and prepare the other ingredients, then add them and blend.

Meanwhile you can cook some pasta and lightly saute some vegetables, if you desire.  Serve when everything is ready.

Note:  If you'd like a cheesy pesto you can substitute 1/2 cup feta and use 1 cup cashews, or sprinkle feta on top when you serve it