Easy Biscuit Mix

I have a hard time finding this recipe from AllRecipes.com each time I want to use it, so I'm saving it here now.  I mostly use it as a base for cheddar bay biscuits.  It's essentially just homemade Bisquick.

Ingredients
10 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp salt
2 cups shortening

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Better yet, use a large food processor.  Blend dry ingredients first, then add shortening and pulse until it looks mealy.
2. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks.

Hot Cocoa Mix

I'm never bothering to buy hot cocoa mix again.  I make this exactly as Alton Brown's recipe dictates.  I went through the first batch inside a week, so I doubled the recipe and made it again tonight.

Ingredients

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• Hot water

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients (except water) in a container, cover, and shake to incorporate thoroughly.

2. Fill mug half full with hot cocoa mix, add hot water, and stir.  Serve hot.

Taco Spice

This is Sameer's recipe for "taco spice," so called because we use this now instead of the little packets of taco and burrito seasonings we used to get from the grocery store.

Ingredients
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili powder

Chipotle Salsa

I found this recipe inside another recipe for huevos rancheros.  I had originally planned on just using ready-made jarred salsa since most of the ingredients for this aren't fresh anyway, but I'm glad I didn't.  This salsa is so much better.  It almost tastes like pico de gallo but with more flavors.  The canned chipotles in adobo are key. 

Ingredients

2 (14- to 15-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice

1/2 cup chopped white onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus additional for sprinkling

1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Huevos-Rancheros-238099#ixzz2Coo2OjrV

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Huevos-Rancheros-238099#ixzz2Coo2OjrV

1 (28 oz.) can of whole tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup onion
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, stems removed
1 tbs canned chipotle chiles in adobo (I always just use 1.5 chipotles)
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp Kosher salt

Directions

1.  Put all ingredients in food processor and blend.

2.  Move salsa to a pot and bring to a boil on the stove.  Turn heat to medium-low and simmer for approximately 10 minutes until salsa is reduced and slightly thickened.  Serve hot or cold, with tortilla chips or poured over other things.  Doesn't matter.  

2 (14- to 15-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice

1/2 cup chopped white onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus additional for sprinkling

1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Huevos-Rancheros-238099#ixzz2Coo2OjrV

Slow Cooker Black Beans

I make these black beans to accompany huevos rancheros, enchiladas, or pretty much anything else you might want to eat a side of black beans with.  If you want a faster version, replace the dried beans and water with a can of beans, and replace the slow cooker with a pot on your stove.  They take hours to make, but if you have a slow cooker, you can turn it on at breakfast and have the finished product ready for dinner.  They're also incredibly cheap, even by bean standards.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dried black beans
7 cups water
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
2 tbs jalapeno, chopped

"Taco Spice"
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into slow cooker.  Turn it on high and ignore it for about 8 hours.

Cheese & Onion Quesadillas

Sameer had an eye appointment this afternoon, so I wanted to make something quick and easy for dinner tonight.  The only time consuming parts of this recipe are the black beans and salsa that go with it, but they also keep well in the refrigerator, so they can be made in advance and the leftovers can be made into huevos rancheros in a matter of minutes.  That's how we originally ended up using them with the quesadillas, actually -- leftover beans and salsa from huevos rancheros.

Ingredients
2 large flour tortillas
1 cup (or however much you want) cheddar and pepper jack cheese, shredded
1/4 cup onion, chopped

Directions

1. Place flour tortilla in an ungreased skillet.

2. Top one half with cheese and onion.  Fold in half.

3. Heat in skillet until tortilla is lightly toasted and cheese is melted.  Turn over so both sides are lightly browned.  Serve warm with black beans and salsa (recipes to follow).

Thanksgiving 2012

How time does fly.  Simran is eating solid foods now, though only finely pureed ones, so dinner is slightly more hectic than before.  Hence my forgetting to even attempt to post recipes for the last two months.

This week is Thanksgiving, and Simran and I just did our weekly grocery shopping this morning.  Since it's just the three of us this year, I'm keeping it simple and -- as always -- making most of the meal in advance.  Here is what's on the menu:

Breaded Seitan Strips with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
These are essentially like vegetarian chicken tenders.  I think I've posted them on here before in the form of breaded seitan steaks.  The difference is the size.  I have strips of seitans in my freezer right now, but not entire steaks of them, so we're having seitan strips.  They taste a little better that way too since you have more surface area for breading and seasoning.  The honey mustard dipping sauce recipe is new (to me, anyway).

White House Whipped Sweet Potatoes
This is a recipe from the Obama White House kitchen.  It's one Simran can try too.

Green Bean Casserole
I make this for every holiday and devour all the leftovers.  It's one of my all-time favorites.

Cranberry Waldorf Salad
I've made this for every major holiday since 2004, I think.  It's sweet and pleasant to eat, but mostly healthy too.

Bread
I'm not sure what kind of bread I'll make.  I have more than one good roll recipe, sweet crescent rolls I like to make for holidays, and baguettes that I've been making every week for awhile now.  All of them are pretty simple-yet-time-consuming, so I'll probably just ask Sameer what he prefers.  I like using the leftover rolls to make hot sandwiches out of other leftovers. 

Pumpkin Pie
I'm not sure if I've ever made pumpkin pie before, but I like it, it looks really easy, and Sameer wants some to eat for breakfast while we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV.  I went through several potential recipes, but this one seems like the most reliable one to get started with.  I'll make my own crust and fresh whipped cream to go with it.

Meal Planning

I have actually been meal planning and cooking, and even cooking some things that aren't on this site yet, but Simran's demand on my time lately has made posting daily something I just don't do.  I'm in the process of getting her to sleep in her swing beside me for a nap as I make my grocery list.  Here is what I'm planning on making this week:

Chilaquiles Casserole
I've made this many times and already posted it on here.  I'm making it because I have leftover corn tortillas, a zucchini, and frozen corn I want to use up.  I also have some pre-shredded Mexican cheese blend that needs to be used and will save me from having to shred cheese.

Stuffed Peppers
Our neighbor has been bringing us lots of bell peppers (in varying stages of green and red) and roma tomatoes from his garden.  I'm using most of the bell peppers we currently have to make stuffed peppers, which taste good with any color peppers.  I also have some leftover tomato sauce and shredded Mexican cheese blend to use up that will go nicely in this dish.

Pasta Salad
My mother used to make this simple pasta salad recipe that I've amended slightly to include vegetarian chik'n strips instead of turkey, whole wheat rotini instead of tri-color, and one of my favorite salad dressings.

Pesto Pizza with Fontina and Roma Tomatoes
I'm going to use some of the roma tomatoes from our neighbor's garden in this pizza.  I also have a ready-made pizza dough in the refrigerator that I need to use that works well with this recipe.  I'll brown some extra vegetarian chik'n strips when I make the pasta salad so I can chop up the leftovers and use them on this pizza too.

Spicy Vegetable Curry
I'm making this dish this week because I have carrots, a potato, and frozen peas I want to use up.  I can also use leftover rice from this dish in my stuffed peppers if I make them on a later day.  I like being able to use leftovers in other dishes rather than make things like rice over and over again.

This is only five meals for seven days.  However we have eggs and things to make breakfast food, I'm getting marinara sauce so we could have spaghetti in a pinch, and we always keep a frozen pizza on hand for days when we just run out of time to make dinner before I need to put Simran to bed.  I'm currently in the process of using up pretty much everything in my freezer because something syrupy -- frozen blueberries, it looks like -- got loose and leaked all over everything, and it will be easier to wipe the freezer down in its entirety when there are there no longer syrup-soaked packages in it.  Which means there are some other frozen meal possibilities in there that would be good to use up too, mostly vegetarian burgers and sausages.  I had no idea how many bags of frozen peas I had hiding in there.  There are three.

Lasagna

I made lasagna for dinner tonight.  (I skipped posting yesterday because I made eggs and toast.)  I don't really know the proper way to make lasagna.  I just sort of wing it each time.  Here is what I typically do:

Ingredients
12 lasagna noodles (that's how many I used today anyway -- it was just the remainder in an open box)
40 oz. (about a jar and a half) of marinara sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup seitan, ground
1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup shredded mozzarella (or Italian cheese blend of your choosing)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan (the real stuff you have to buy whole and shred yourself -- the garbage from a plastic green container does not count)
1 egg
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
2 tbs Italian seasoning (or you can use a mixture of dried oregano, basil, and parsley)
garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste (you can use regular salt and minced garlic instead of garlic salt, but I don't bother with the mincing since I can't taste the difference in this dish)

Directions

1.  Half-fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Cook lasagna noodles as directed by the box.  (I prefer no-boil noodles because they save time, effort, and an enormous pot, but Sameer insists they don't taste as good.)  When the noodles finish cooking, drain the water, and you can put them in cold water to stop the cooking and keep the noodles from sticking together.  I never bother with the cold water step.

2.  While the noodles are cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

3.  While the noodles are cooking and the oven is preheating, heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan.  Add ground seitan and season it with the Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and pepper.  Cook until lightly browned.

4.  Add the chopped onion and thawed spinach to the sauce pan.  Heat through and add a jar of marinara sauce.

5.  Mix the cottage cheese, about 1 tsp of Italian seasoning, garlic salt and pepper, beaten egg, and Parmesan cheese.

6.  Prepare a 9 x 13" baking dish with non-stick spray.  Layer lasagna noodles, seitan mixture, more lasagna noodles, cottage cheese mixture, more lasagna noodles, etc.  Top layer should be noodles, marinara sauce, and then mozzarella blend.

7.  Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes in preheated oven.  Remove foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Herbed Pizza Dough

Tonight we're having pizzeria-style pizza for dinner.  I made pizza dough last night and put it in the refrigerator since it tastes better when it's been sitting for at least 8-12 hours before cooking.  I found the original recipe on AllRecipes.  The one below has minor changes, mostly because I'm too lazy to mince garlic for this.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in bread machine pan according to your bread machine's instructions.  (For mine, this means wet ingredients, flour and dry stuff on top of that, then yeast in a little concave in the flour.  If you aren't using a bread machine, combine your sugar, warm water, and yeast.  Then while it's blooming for about 10 minutes, put together your dry ingredients.  Then combine your wet and dry ingredients.)
2. Turn machine on dough cycle.  (If you aren't using a bread machine, knead the dough for 15-30 minutes, then cover it with a cloth and let it rise for half an hour.)  Punch the dough back down and put it in a sealed plastic bag and store it in the refrigerator for up to three days.  It can sit in the freezer for even longer.
3. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
4. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. Don't bother with a rolling pin; use your hands and it'll be easier.  Spray a large pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray, or better yet, sprinkle the pizza pan with corn meal instead. Place dough on pan and add your choice of pizza toppings.
5. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Spicy Vegetable Curry

Today I'm making this dish, based on an above-average frozen dinner from my local grocery store's organic frozen foods section.  It's not actually that spicy the way I make it, but "spicy vegetable curry" was what I was aiming for and also sounded better than "plain vegetable curry."  The recipe isn't fancy since I'm terrible at seasoning sauces.  Just the worst.  But I managed to make this taste pretty good last time, especially the leftovers that had a chance to meld their flavors in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients
4 oz. extra firm tofu, diced (If you care more about taste than healthfulness, replace this ingredient with paneer.)
2 tbs ghee (a.k.a. clarified butter - If you aren't adventurous enough to find it in your local supermarket's international aisle, you can use normal butter.  Or vegetable oil.  But it won't taste quite the same.)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 potato, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 tbs mild curry paste (I'm sure you could whip this up from actual Indian spices like cumin and coriander, but I am not the one who can tell you how.  I prefer to just buy Patak's mild curry paste from the International Foods aisle at the store and leave it at that.  It's much milder and more flavorful than curry powder, garam masala, or any spice blend I've ever tried to create myself.)
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/8 tsp baking soda diluted in 2 tbs water
Honey, to taste
1/4 cup quinoa, cooked (Quinoa is a whole grain that just adds some bonus nutrition and texture.  If you can't find it, just leave it out.)
1 handful of fresh cilantro, rinsed and chopped
1 cup Basmati rice, cooked

Directions

1.  Cook the tofu in a non-stick skillet until lightly browned.  Since it typically comes in 8 oz. packages, I brown all of it, then set aside half for this recipe and put half in the freezer to use the next time I make stir fry.  (This makes an appropriate amount of food for two people plus a couple of servings of leftovers.)

2.  Put ghee, onion, carrots, and potato in skillet and fry until vegetables are tender.

3.  Add canned tomatoes, diluted baking soda in water, salt, and curry paste.  Stir together.  The baking soda diluted in water is meant to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.  If the sauce still tastes too acidic or sour, mix in honey or sugar until it doesn't taste bad anymore.

4.  Add peas and the cooked tofu.  Stir everything together and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

5.  Stir in cooked quinoa. 

6.  Serve over Basmati rice and garnish with chopped cilantro.  Serve fresh dahi [yogurt] on the side if you have it.

Edited 8/31/2012:  I originally listed 1 tbs of ghee in the ingredients, but last night I made this dish and used two without thinking about it.  Sameer and I both agreed it was EXPONENTIALLY better than ever before, so I amended the recipe.

Stuffed Peppers

Tonight for dinner I'm making stuffed peppers based on this recipe from AllRecipes.  I've made it with all colors of bell peppers and even tiny assorted bell peppers that our neighbors gifted us from their garden.  It works with all of them.  Today I'm using green because the organic green peppers were really cheap at the store this week.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 green bell peppers
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces textured vegetable protein (I use homemade seitans that have been ground up in a food processor and seasoned with a few shakes of Italian Seasoning.  You can also use Herbs de Provence, or just a mixture of oregano, basil, and parsley.)
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 4 ounces shredded reduced-fat cheddar
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine rice and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 15 minutes. 
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
3. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Cut tops off peppers and seed insides.  Add peppers to boiling water for 15 minutes, or until tender but crisp.  Arrange parboiled peppers in a large baking dish. Chop usable portion of the tops.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute textured vegetable protein and seasoning until lightly browned.  Stir in chopped peppers and onions in oil until soft. Reduce heat to low, and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Mix in cooked rice and 1 1/5 cups tomato sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the peppers, and top each with remaining tomato sauce.
5. Cover, and bake about 45 minutes. Uncover, top each pepper with cheese, and bake until cheese is melted.

 

Chilaquiles Casserole

I made Chilaquiles Casserole for dinner last night.  I found the recipe on EatingWell's website.  It included a lot of oil when I first started making it because I didn't realize you could cook corn tortillas in a pan without oil.  FYI -- you can.  I had a bad experience the first time I tried to make enchiladas and the tortillas came out chewy and raw, so I'd gone a little overboard with pre-cooking corn tortillas ever since.  This recipe is a lot lower in fat now that I know I don't have to use oil.  I don't even use the tablespoon of oil cited in the original recipe to cook the onion anymore.  It's really not necessary if you use a non-stick skillet, and it doesn't really add anything to the final dish, aside from fat.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, grated (I often use two)
• 1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained (I prefer the kind with green chiles mixed in)
• 1 1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 corn tortillas, quartered (I'm not sure how they use this many tortillas at EatingWell -- maybe there's a lot of overlap? -- but I only end up using maybe eight.  It's not like it even matters if you run out at the end.  Nobody will notice when everything is covered in vegetable mixture.)
• 1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce (I've used both, sometimes mixed together when I was using up leftovers -- it makes surprisingly little difference in the flavor of the dish)
• 1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (or use a mixture with Pepper Jack for more flavor)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Heat the tortillas in a large nonstick skillet one at a time.  Set aside.
3. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.
4. Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the pan. Top with half the vegetable mixture, half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Repeat with one more layer of tortillas, vegetables, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil.
5. Bake the casserole for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

 I like this best served with low-fat sour cream to temper the spiciness of the sauce, but if you want to keep the dish healthy, DO NOT BUY THE SOUR CREAM.  I end up eating way too much of it.

Meal Planning

Here is my meal planning for the week:

Chilaquiles Casserole - This is the healthiest "casserole" recipe I've ever found and the only one I make with any kind of regularity.  It doesn't even have canned soup in it.  I decided to make it this week because I have a couple of zucchini to use up, as well as some leftover corn tortillas.

Stuffed Peppers - I grew up thinking I absolutely hated bell peppers, especially the green ones.  Turns out I just hated the stuffed peppers my parents made.  These ones are really good.

Spicy Vegetable Curry with Quinoa and Basmati Rice - I threw this together for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  It's a rip-off of a surprisingly good frozen dinner I purchased the week before that.

Pizza - I'm going to make a classic pizzeria-style veggie pizza.  This means homemade pizza dough in the bread machine.

Lasagna - I usually start to get lazy with my cooking come Friday, so this is a dish I can -- should, even -- make a day in advance.  To make it healthier (and cheaper), I use low-fat cottage cheese and a beaten egg in place of the usual ricotta, and I include ground, seasoned seitans and chopped spinach in the sauce.

Veggie Burgers - I'm even lazier on Saturday nights, so I'm planning easy no-fuss stuff for the weekend.  Frozen ready-made veggie burgers.  I didn't buy hamburger buns though, so that means making fresh buns in the bread machine sometime this week.  I wasn't being ambitious or even forgetful with the buns -- I'm just this cheap.

Spaghetti? - I didn't have to buy any special ingredients for this since I keep them on hand, so we'll either have spaghetti or, if we don't cook another night, whatever we had planned to have then.  Or maybe a frozen pizza.  Whatever.  We usually have at least one night when all cooking plans go out the window, so it's good to avoid buying fresh ingredients for seven nights of meals since they probably won't all get used.

I recently ran out of frozen homemade seitans, so I have a double-batch cooking on the stove right now.  We'll need them for the stuffed peppers, lasagna, and spaghetti this week.

California Wrap

This is the first time I've added a meal to this site since Simran was born 10 weeks ago.  I've been cooking and eating as fast as I can lately, but since she is sleeping in Sameer's arms at the moment, I'm updating tonight.

The California Wrap is one of the best sandwiches I've ever had.  I stole it from The Other Side Cafe in Boston, which closed earlier this year.  I wanted to make sure to write the recipe down so I don't forget what goes on it and end up unable to recreate it when their menu ceases to be available online.

Ingredients
Sandwich wrap (tortilla works)
Cucumber, sliced up julienne-style
Carrots, julienne
Red onion, sliced
Havarti with dill cheese, sliced
Alfalfa sprouts
Lettuce, chopped
Avocado, sliced
Cucumber dill dressing

Directions
Lay out the wrap.  Place a thin layer of cheese in a line down one side.  Pile on top of it thin layers of avocado, cucumber, carrots, red onion, a couple of tablespoons of dressing, and then lettuce and sprouts.  Roll up tightly, slice at an angle down the middle, and serve immediately.

Red Chile Pesto

There are surprisingly few recipes for red chile pesto available on the internet, so this is my mediocre attempt based on the ones I could find.  I'm pretty sure the reason it tastes good is largely due to the addition of the chipotle salsa.

Ingredients
2 dried ancho chiles (if none of the packages say "ancho," look for "poblano")
4 cups boiling water
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cilantro, rinsed thoroughly
fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup prepared chipotle salsa

Directions
Reconstitute the dried chiles by letting them sit in boiling water for at least half an hour.  Drain the water, cut open the chiles, cut off the ends, and scrape out the seeds.  Put chiles, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and a dash of salt and pepper in food processor and blend them together.  Fix any deficiencies in flavor by adding chipotle salsa as needed.

Avocado Grilled Enchilada with Red Chile Pesto

This recipe is my best attempt to recreate the dish by the same name from On The Border restaurant.  There's room for improvement in my reverse-engineering skills, but I personally like my version better than the original.  The ingredients listed below are aimed at making dinner for two, as I do.  Tonight I plan to serve it with red cabbage slaw and a side of seasoned black beans.

Ingredients
2 large flour tortillas
1/2 tbs olive oil
1 avocado, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
1/2 cup Morningstar chik'n strips (or Tofurky or Gardein)
1 jar or can chipotle sauce (my favorite is San Marcos brand)
1/2 cup cheddar and pepper jack cheese blend, shredded
1 cup red chile pesto

Directions
Lightly sauté red onion, red bell pepper, and chik'n strips in as little olive oil as possible.  Add 1/2 cup chipotle sauce and mix until heated through.  Wrap half of mixture, cheese, and avocado slices in each tortilla, and grill in a skillet (no oil) over medium heat until lightly toasted and golden brown.  Serve with red chile pesto on the side.
 
Skip the cheese if you want to make it vegan.  

Red Cabbage Slaw

I do not know anyone else who likes this salad as much as I do.  Ever since Sameer and I left Boston, I've been looking for a recipe for red cabbage slaw that resembles the side dish served with every meal at Brookline's Sol Azteca restaurant.  This is the closest I've ever come to recreating it (keeping in mind that I haven't had the real thing in years) and I make it with most of my Mexican-style dinners.

Ingredients
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt (substitute Forager plain unsweetened cashew yogurt to make it vegan)
1 tbs mayonnaise (substitute Vegannaise to make it vegan)
1/2 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp celery salt

Wash and dry the cabbage.  In a separate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients.  Add as much or little of the dressing to the cabbage as you choose.  Stir, chill, and serve.  Keeps in refrigerator for a few days (I usually eat it all within two).

Homemade Ranch Dressing

 I like this dressing with salads, cheese fries (it closely resembles the spicy ranch from Outback Steakhouse -- the key is the cayenne pepper), and cut raw vegetables.  The dried herb amounts are all approximations since I don't bother using measuring spoons when I make this.  Go easy on the dill weed and do everything else to taste.

If you want to lose weight without trying, make this dressing and buy a bunch of fresh vegetables like broccoli florets and carrots.  Eat as much as you want of the veggies and dip whenever you want.  Any time I do this, I end up gorging myself on veggies and dip -- particularly in the afternoon before dinnertime -- and being too full of fiber and non-fat yogurt to eat much else.  Any time I make this dressing, I tend to lose about a pound per week.

Ingredients
1 small yellow onion
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt (for vegan option, use Forager brand unsweetened plain cashew yogurt)
2 tbs mayonnaise (for vegan option, use Vegannaise)
1/2 tsp dried dill weed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp freeze-dried chives
1/4 tsp garlic salt (I'm honestly not sure how much garlic salt I use. I typically turn the shaker upside-down and count to three. If you taste the dressing and it still has a sort of sour yogurty taste, add more garlic salt.)
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper (the 'fresh ground' part is important)
1-2 dashes cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Grate the onion into a bowl (I use the fine side of a cheese grater).  Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a bread machine according to machine instructions and set to "dough."  Alternately, if you don't have a bread machine:

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes.

2.  Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3.  When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.

4.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.

5.  Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.  (I prefer to divide the dough in half to make two thin crust pizzas.  Put one of the balls of dough in a ziploc bag and throw it in the freezer for up to 6 weeks or so.)

Tostada Pizza

Tonight, in honor of Sameer's return from NYC, I'm making this tostada pizza recipe loosely based the tostada pizza served at California Pizza Kitchen.

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust
3/4 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup cheddar/pepper jack cheese blend, shredded
1 (15 oz) can refried black beans
1/2 cup salsa
4 oz black olives, sliced
1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
2 tbs scallions, chopped
2 tbs tortilla strips
1/2 cup chilled iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped (I use romaine since it has more nutritional value)
1 cup chicken strips, cooked (optional -- I use Morningstar chik'n strip meal starters, sautéed in olive oil.)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Prepare your pizza crust and stretch it over a pizza pan or stone.  I made a whole wheat pizza crust for this (recipe to follow), but any dough (e.g., Pillsbury premade pizza dough) also works.  Top with ranch dressing.  I use the ranch dip I make (recipe to follow), but any bottled ranch dressing also works.  Mix refried black beans with salsa.  If you cannot find refried black beans, use a regular drained can of black beans and mix it in a food processor with the salsa.  Top pizza with the black bean mixture -- it will likely mix with the ranch dressing and that is okay.  Top with mozzarella, cheddar/jack cheese mixture, tomato, black olives, scallions, and chicken strips.  Cook in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (or however long your pizza crust packaging dictates to make crust golden and slightly crispy).  Remove cooked pizza from the oven, top with tortilla strips (I just break up some yellow corn tortilla chips by hand) and chopped lettuce, and serve.

Pesto Mayonnaise

I found this recipe for pesto mayo on Food.com.  There might be fancier ways to make this, maybe with fresh basil and garlic, but I like this one because it is really simple and quick to make.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tbs parmesan cheese
1 tbs dry basil
1 dash garlic powder

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together.

Garden Pretzel Sandwich

While Sameer is out of town, I've been mostly eating sandwiches for dinner.  Tonight I'm making a Garden Pretzel Sandwich, a rip-off of the best sandwich served by The Cup Joint, a Hoboken, NJ restaurant that no longer exists.  It is one of the tastiest sandwiches ever made.

Ingredients:
Pretzel bread
Provolone, sliced
Avocado, sliced
Red onion, sliced
Lettuce
Tomato, sliced
2 tbs pesto mayonnaise

Directions
Cut open pretzel bread.  Place a layer of sliced provolone and red onion slices on bread and melt in a toaster oven.  Add lettuce, tomato, avocado, and pesto mayo to sandwich and serve warm.

Sautéed Garlic Spinach

Finally, tonight I'm making this sautéed garlic spinach from EatingWell.com to use up some fresh baby spinach that I have leftover from making other dishes this week.  Based on my previous experiences with cooking spinach, I plan to replace the lemon juice with a couple dashes of red wine vinegar and see how that goes.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
20 ounces fresh spinach
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add spinach and toss to coat. Cover and cook until wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add lemon juice, salt and crushed red pepper. Toss to coat and serve immediately.

Butternut & Barley Pilaf

I've never tried this recipe before, but I have butternut squash and I have barley, and it just seemed like a logical choice for using both.  The recipe is from EatingWell.com.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup pearl barley
2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash, (3/4-inch cubes) (see Tip)
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth, water, barley and squash; bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the barley and squash are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 45 minutes. Add parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper; mix gently.

Breaded Seitan Steaks

Tonight for dinner I'm making breaded seitan steaks, butternut barley pilaf, and sautéed garlic spinach.  The breaded seitan recipe is from AllRecipes.com.  The original is vegan, but my version below has a couple of minor changes, including the addition of an egg to make the breading stick significantly better.  You can leave the egg out to keep it vegan though.  I use my own homemade seitan steaks, and the finished product tastes like chicken fried steak.  It's really good with mashed potatoes and milk gravy.

Ingredients
2 - 4 seitan steaks (each approximately the size of a deck of cards)
2/3 cup nutritional yeast (I had no idea what nutritional yeast was before this recipe, but now I love the stuff. You can find it on Amazon if you can't find it in stores, and it works much better as breading than actual bread crumbs.)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Bragg liquid aminos
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
In a small bowl, combine nutritional yeast, garlic powder, coriander, cumin, and black pepper. In another bowl, mix the egg and liquid aminos.  Dip seitan in egg mixture, then in the yeast and spice mixture. Set aside.
 Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry seitan steaks until browned on both sides.  This step can be done up to a day in advance -- just refrigerate the breaded steaks until you're ready to eat them.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly coat an oven-safe dish with non-stick cooking spray and place breaded seitan steaks inside.  Cook seitan steaks for 25 - 30 minutes.

Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in an oven, but microwaving takes the moisture out quickly enough that they rapidly go from warm and tasty to rock hard and inedible.

Flavor Sauce

This is the recipe for yogurt sauce I use with falafel.

Ingredients
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1 tbs mayonnaise
1/4 cup fresh grated cucumber
1/2 tsp dried dill weed
1 dash white pepper
garlic salt to taste

Directions
Mix together all ingredients and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Serve over falafel.

Falafel

I forgot to post last night's dinner.  We ended up having falafel.  The recipe I use is a variation on one from AllRecipes.com.  The only real difference is that I bake my falafel instead of frying it.

Ingredients
 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup dry bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large bowl mash chickpeas until thick and pasty; don't use a blender, as the consistency will be too thin. In a food processor, chop onion, parsley and garlic until smooth. Stir into mashed chickpeas.
In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and baking powder. Stir into chickpea mixture along with olive oil. Slowly add bread crumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together; add more or less bread crumbs, as needed. Form 8 balls and then flatten into patties.  Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray and place patties on it.  Cook for 20-25 minutes, turning once so that each side browns.
Serve with pita bread, chopped romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and flavor sauce.

Homemade Seitan

If I'm going to make seitan steaks for dinner this week -- ideally tonight -- I really need to make more seitan.  This is an easy recipe, but a rather time consuming one, so I prefer to do it well in advance of dinnertime and just keep them on hand, ready to eat whenever.  I'm not sure where the recipe originally came from since it's been reposted all over the web, but this one from Epicurious.com is the one I use.  My version below includes a few modifications for personal taste and availability of ingredients.  It will always be cheaper to make these than to buy seitan ready made from a store, but if you want to make them really cheap, you can do what I do and buy the vital wheat gluten flour by the case from Amazon.  It stays good in the freezer for upwards of a year and, for me at least, it's always used up months before that.

I typically make a double batch of these and then keep them in the freezer until I use them since they have a limited lifespan in the fridge (maybe a week at the most).  You can grind them up in a food processor to make a ground beef substitute (great for spaghetti sauce), slice them up and use them in stir fry, or keep them whole and serve them as breaded chicken-fried-steak-esque steaks, like I plan to do tonight.  Sameer even likes them plain, straight from the broth, but I personally think they need to be seasoned and browned first.

Ingredients

Gluten Dough:
2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth (or warm water with a tablespoon of vegetable Better Than Bouillon)
3 Tablespoons reduced sodium tamari or Bragg liquid aminos (full-sodium soy sauce makes them too salty)

Broth:
4 cups water
1/4 cup reduced sodium tamari, soy sauce, or Bragg liquid aminos
4 slices of ginger (optional)

Directions
Gluten dough:
Combine all dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Combine all liquids and add to the dry mixture; mix with a fork until the dough reaches a kneadable consistency. Knead a couple of dozen times, then let the dough rest 3-5 minutes.

Wet hands (to prevent gluten from sticking) and knead another dozen times, then let the dough rest another 10 minutes. While waiting, prepare broth (below).

Wet hands and a knife; cut gluten into 6-8 pieces and pull into thin strips.  Add to boiling broth, bring back to a boil (you'll know the seitan are cooked when they start to float) and then simmer, covered, for one hour.

Broth:
Combine all broth ingredients in a large pot with a lid. Bring broth to a boil, add gluten dough pieces, bring to a boil again, cover and reduce to a simmer for one hour. Check occasionally and add more water if needed.

Tip:  This dough is exceptionally sticky.  The bowl used for mixing the dough will be easier to clean out if you let the remnants dry complete and scrape them out, rather than try to rinse or scrub them out.

Spinach and Feta Pita Bake

I'm making these little pita pizzas for dinner tonight instead of on Pizza Thursday because they are quick and easy and I don't feel like doing much.  The recipe is originally from AllRecipes.com -- my version below has my notes and a couple minor alterations.

Ingredients
2 - 4 (6 inch) whole wheat pita breads
1 (6 ounce) tub sun-dried tomato pesto (Fresh made-from-scratch sun-dried tomato pesto can be even better, but I find it twice as expensive to make as it is to buy ready made.)
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch spinach, rinsed and chopped
4 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I'm not supposed to have feta while pregnant, so I'm using shredded mozzarella tonight.)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 pinch ground black pepper to taste


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Spread tomato pesto onto one side of each pita bread, and place them pesto side up on a baking sheet. Top with tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, feta cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Season with fresh ground pepper.
Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven or until pita breads are crisp. Cut into quarters and serve.

Savory Polenta

This is the only polenta recipe I've ever used.  It is from Alton Brown of FoodNetwork.  The version below includes my notes.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion (I prefer to run it through a food processor to make it extra fine.)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 quart chicken stock or broth (I use low-sodium vegetable broth.)
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces Parmesan, grated

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large, oven-safe saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the red onion and salt and sweat until the onions begin to turn translucent, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, and saute for 1 to 2 minutes, making sure the garlic does not burn.

Turn the heat up to high, add the stock, bring to a boil. Gradually add the cornmeal while continually whisking. Once you have added all of the cornmeal, cover the pot and place it in the oven. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent lumps. Once the mixture is creamy, remove from the oven and add the butter, salt, and pepper. Once they are incorporated, gradually add the Parmesan.

Pour the polenta into 9 by 13-inch cake pan lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Catalan Sautéed Polenta with Spinach and Butter Beans

This recipe I'm making tonight is originally from EatingWell.com.  The recipe listed below is the slightly modified version I make.  I guess "sautéed polenta" is a misnomer since, the way I make it, I sauté everything but the polenta, but whatever.  I've called it this for too long to bother calling it something else now.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 batch of savory polenta
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (the smoked part is very important -- the flavor is completely different)
1 15-ounce can butter beans, rinsed
4 cups packed baby spinach
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

Directions
First prepare the polenta and put it in the refrigerator to set.  This can be done up to a day in advance.  Then cut the chilled polenta into one inch cubes, place in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet, and broil until lightly singed around the edges, about 7 minutes.  The outside will be crispy and the inside will be slightly melty and very delicious.

While polenta is broiling, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat, add onion, and cook until slightly translucent, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and bell pepper; cook, stirring, until just tender, about 3 more minutes. Sprinkle with paprika; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir in beans, spinach and broth; cook, stirring, until the beans are heated through and the spinach is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese and vinegar. Serve vegetables over polenta. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.

Baked Brown Rice

This recipe is from Alton Brown on FoodNetwork.  It's Sameer's favorite way to eat rice, and it's his favorite starchy accompaniment to stir fry.  [Edited 5/9/13: If you want your rice vegan or heart-healthier, just leave out the butter and salt.  I've started making it with just rice and water -- particularly when serving something else over it -- and it tastes just fine.]

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tbs unsalted butter (optional)
1 tsp kosher salt (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

Tofu & Vegetable Stir Fry

This recipe varies for me based on what is currently in the refrigerator and freezer.  Anytime I have more vegetables than I can use in other meals, I chop them up and freeze them to use in this stir fry.  All of the ingredients in this stir fry freeze and reheat well.  Here is my favorite version of this recipe, and the version I'm making tonight. 

Ingredients
1-2 tbs peanut oil
1 cup extra firm tofu, cubed (this recipe also works well with sliced seitan or a combination of the two)
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 tsp fresh ginger root, minced (or ginger paste, if you're lazy like me)
1 clove garlic, minced (or about 1 tsp garlic paste, if you're lazy like me)
2 carrots, chopped
1-2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 cup baby corn (or however much is in half a can)
1/4 cup water chestnuts, sliced (or however much is in half a small can)
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, sliced (I like to slice up one of each, use about a third of each, and freeze the rest for later)
2-5 tbs Braggs' Liquid Aminos (Adjust to taste.  Low sodium tamari also works, but I find full-sodium soy sauce makes the dish unbearably salty.)
1/2 cup water
1 tbs corn starch
1/2 tbs honey or brown sugar
2 tsp sesame oil


Directions

1. First drain the tofu.  If it is already cubed, just drain as much liquid as possible.  If it's still in one big block, wrap it in a couple of paper towels, place it between two dinner plates, and put a few cans on top to weight it down.  After a couple of minutes, most of the water should be drained from the tofu block.  If you didn't buy at least firm or extra firm, get more liquid out of it by re-wrapping it in new paper towels and doing this step again.  Unwrap it and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes.  Heat the peanut oil in the skillet and add the tofu cubes (or seitan)  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned all over -- about five minutes. 

2. Add the sliced onions to the skillet.  Cook onions until slightly translucent, then add garlic and ginger. 

3. Whisk together Bragg Liquid Aminos, corn starch, and water, and add this sauce to the skillet. 

4. Add remaining ingredients.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.  I usually cover the skillet and let it cook on low for about 30 minutes while the rice finishes cooking.  If the vegetables cook to the point of getting mushy, it just makes them taste more like take-out, so I've never seen this overcook.

I serve this over Alton Brown's baked brown rice.  It's also good with brown rice noodles.

Meal Planning

I started actually meal planning and cooking a proper dinner most every day about two years ago.  It took a lot of getting used to.  I think it will be interesting for me to write down my weekly meal plan here and see how much of it I actually end up making.  Here is my meal plan for this week.

Tofu and Vegetable Stirfry with Brown Rice - I've made this almost every week since I got pregnant because I crave the vegetables so much, and it's an easy way to use up leftover fresh or frozen vegetables from other dinners.

Breaded Seitans Steaks with Butternut Barley Pilaf and TBD green vegetable - I have a small amount of leftover fresh butternut squash from Christmas dinner that I need to use, and I have all that barley from Amazon that I needed to make the vegetable barley soup, so I'm trying this new "butternut barley pilaf" recipe I found on EatingWell.com.  I try to make one new recipe per week.  The green vegetable yet to be determined will probably either be sautéed garlic spinach, if there is enough leftover spinach from other meals this week, a salad, or maybe something made out of frozen green beans, since I always keep those on hand.

Catalan Sautéed Polenta with Spinach and Butter Beans - I found this recipe on EatingWell.com when I was looking for more ways to include dark green leafy vegetables in meals, and it's a lot better than I ever imagined it would be.

Pita Pizzas - This is a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com.  It's the healthiest pizza recipe I know, and it's really good and really easy.  I generally plan for one pizza recipe per week, usually on Thursday.

Falafel - I decided to make falafel because the pita pizzas only use up about half a pack of pitas, leaving me with about four pitas to use up.  It's also a good weekend dinner because it's tasty.  Anytime I count on making something that is healthier than it is tasty for a weekend dinner, we tend to end up eating take-out or a frozen pizza.

Spaghetti with TBD green vegetable - Whole grain spaghetti with marinara and ground up seitans is one of Sameer's favorites, it's really quick and easy, and I always have the ingredients on hand.  I generally plan for one or two meals per week that don't involve buying fresh produce that could go bad, since we do tend to go out to eat, get take-out, or eat a frozen pizza at least once a week.

Polenta with Vegetarian Chili - My polenta recipe always yields twice as much polenta as I use in that Catalan Sautéed Polenta dish, so I'll use it up on this.  I have a couple small containers of leftover homemade chili in the freezer from a week or two ago, so I'll just cut up and broil the polenta and then serve the leftover chili over it.

Vegetable Barley Soup

Ingredients
2 quarts vegetable broth
1 cup uncooked barley
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 zucchini, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (I use the vegan kind by Annie's since the real deal typically includes anchovies, but if you can't find this at the store, a dash of red wine vinegar also adds the appropriate tang.)

Directions
Pour the vegetable broth into a large pot. Add the barley, carrots, celery, tomatoes, zucchini, garbanzo beans, onion, and bay leaves. Season with garlic powder, sugar, salt, pepper, parsley, curry powder, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 90 minutes. The soup will be very thick. You may adjust by adding more broth or less barley if desired. Remove bay leaves before serving.



Tonight for dinner I'm making vegetable barley soup (original recipe from AllRecipes.com) and sandwiches.  I've been wanting to make this soup for awhile since the leftovers make a good lunch and it also freezes well.  This soup is really forgiving in terms of vegetable content, and I have about half a leftover yellow squash and some extra zucchini that didn't get used in last night's veggie fajitas, so I'll throw them in too.

I'm going to make the sandwiches out of leftover crescent rolls I made for a previous dinner, some Gruyère that I bought to make something else I never ended up making, vegetarian ham slices, and Dijon mustard -- I lightly toast the finished product in the toaster oven.  Sameer says only white people eat sandwiches for dinner, but he said he would eat this when I asked him.  Still, he might end up eating off-brand Spaghetti-O's tonight, of which we now keep a stash on hand, just in case.  

Barley seems to be almost impossible to find in any stores around here, so I had to order a massive quantity of it from Amazon.  I'll have to find some more barley-oriented recipes.