For Meatless Monday, here is a favorite dish of mine that is simple and is a healthy veggie twist on traditional fried rice. Instead of using pork or chicken, this fried rice dish is packed with plant-based protein from organic black beans and edamame. I always stick with organic edamame because I know it's also GMO-free.
As well, at Costco, I found an organic SunWest Foods Harvest Rice Medley consisting of CalMati brown rice (like Basmati), wild sweet brown rice, wild rice and heirloom red rice that has 10g of protein per 1/2 cup.
It's no secret I'm obsessed with heirloom tomatoes, and before summer comes to a close, I like, check that, LOVE to make salsas combining summer fruit and heirlooms.
I went to the Davis farmers market and found the most delectable white plums. These babies were like sinking your teeth into nature's candy.
After eating the beet red quinoa at Source, I was inspired to make some at home coupled with a chicken and chard stir-fry. I like the yin yang symbolism in the plate. Instead of white and black, I have red and green going on representing a plant flow of energy. See how metaphysical I go there for a sec?
I've been wanting to experiment with vegan enchiladas for awhile now, and happy to say that my experiment turned out really well. My carnivore dad wanted to eat these!
Deciding to cook at home instead of going out for dinner one night, my friend Nima had the most brilliant idea of cooking a Fish Chowder Sandwich he saw on Hulu.com on an episode of Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home starring Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. For those with good memories, Julia and Jacques did this public television cooking show back in 1999 for one 22-episode season. Fortunately, you can watch all the episodes for free on Hulu.
This is my kind of healthy fast food, and a new vegan favorite great for Meatless Monday! This dish takes about 5-minutes to make and no-cooking is involved except cutting up some tomato, avocado, and onion chunks, and micro-waving an 8.5oz bag of Organic Ready-to-heat Quinoa Brown Rice from Seeds of Change Foods. I bought a whole small case of the stuff at Costco.
I went the extra mile and used all organic ingredients in my dish.
When I lived in Phoenix, one of my favorite restaurants was Dr. Andrew Weil's Kitchen. The food there is amazing! They make healthy eating fun and sexy. I went so much I was the Foursquare mayor several times of the Scottsdale location.
One of True Food Kitchen's signature dishes is their Tuscan Kale Salad. Here is the recipe for their version which contains Pecorino or Asiago cheese and bread crumbs. I made a version at home of their Tuscan Kale Salad that is vegan AND gluten-free.
For the kale, I got a bag of Tader Joe's pre-cut Organic Lacinato Kale. Instead of dairy cheese, I shaved some of Daiya's vegan Jalapeno Garlic Havarti Wedge. In place of bread crumbs, I pulverized walnuts in a food processor until it had the texture of bread crumbs. The crushed walnuts added the same texture as bread crumbs but with more protein, and safe for those avoiding gluten.
This Tuscan Kale Salad is so delicious, you can easily eat this every day!
One of the fun things about living in San Francisco is the Saturday farmer's market at the Ferry Building. I love going to that market because I always find something new and exciting.
This week, I discovered tatsoi which is a beautiful leafy Asian green also known as spinach mustard, spoon mustard, or rosette bok choy. To me, tatsoi tastes like a cross between bok choy and spinach. I love it! I have a new green to add to my list of favorites.
For a gluten-free dinner, I made a simple dish using the tatsoi combined with leeks, cremini mushroom, and ground turkey.
2 cups fresh tatsoi
1 leek stem chopped
3/4 cup cremini mushrooms cut in slivers
1/2 lb ground turkey
2 tbsp black bean sauce (Use a gluten-free version like Chang's)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Let's cook:
Heat the olive oil in a wok or saucepan on medium heat. Brown the ground turkey with the leeks and mushrooms for a couple minutes. Season the turkey with a couple pinches of salt and pepper.
Mix the black bean sauce with 1/2 cup warm water in a cup. Pour the mixture into the pan with the turkey, leeks and mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft and the turkey is cooked all the way through.
Remove the pan from the burner and mix in the tatsoi with the turkey mixture. Let sit for about 5 minutes. The tatsoi will cook in the heat as the food cools down.
Couple your tatsoi and turkey with jasmine rice and dabbles of sriracha sauce. Enjoy!
Have you tried tatsoi? What is one of your favorite dishes?
Happy New Year! I'm still in holiday mode and don't have the motivation to cook anything from scratch, but did want to start off the new year eating healthy things. For dinner, I made these vegan Thai peanut noodles which took 10 minutes to make because everything came from a packet or a bottle.
For the noodles, I used Trader Joe's organic gluten-free, brown rice spaghetti noodles. These noodles are the best gluten-free pasta I've tried. In fact, my folks thought they were eating regular wheat spaghetti noodles. These spaghetti noodles cook in 9 minutes. I made about 2 cooked cups worth.
For the peanut sauce, I used Whole Foods 365 brand organic peanut sauce. This sauce is vegan but not gluten-free. If you can find a bottled peanut sauce that is gluten-free, then you can make this whole dish gluten-free friendly.
While the noodles are cooking, in a wok or medium sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat.
Add 1/2 cup creamy organic peanut butter, 1/4 cup of organic peanut sauce, two pinches of organic ginger powder, and 1 cup of organic rice milk. The olive oil helps keep the peanut butter from sticking to the pan. Coconut milk would be best but you can use any dairy-free milk. I had rice milk in the fridge.
Continuously stir all the ingredients together well for about 5 minutes until you have a nice smooth heated sauce. Add more milk in if you want a thinner sauce.
Toss in the spaghetti noodles and mix well with the peanut sauce.
From the Whole Foods salad bar, I got shredded beets, carrots, green onions, and chopped cashews which I used to top the noodles.
Voila! Ready to eat in 10 minutes. If you want to make this dish from scratch, here is a recipe I did back in April.
