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Barbeque Seitan Tacos

A couple months ago when visiting my parents, I had really good barbeque seitan tacos at a restaurant in Providence.  I decided to make some of my own, and they were an easy, protein-packed veggie meal.  Heated up the seitan (and some chickpeas- which I seem to throw into a lot of dishes) in barbeque sauce, then put that in the tortillas with some salsa and homemade guacamole.  Added a little cilantro, and that’s it!

Baked Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal

I’ve been making a lot of things with oatmeal this winter, and this latest creation, with blueberry and coconut flakes,  is delicious.  It came out nice and moist, and tasted like a healthy version of blueberry pie.

Recipe is adapted from the “two peas & their pod” blog (http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/baked-blueberry-coconut-oatmeal/)

Ingredients:

2 cups oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1 egg
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 4 oz. container unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl and then stir into dry ingredients. Mix in blueberries. Pour oatmeal mixture into a greased 8×8 baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes.

 

Black Bean Brownies

After making cookies with chickpeas, I went on to make brownies with black beans, and they were delicious too!  Tasted the chocolate flavor more than the beans, but knowing the beans were in them made them seem healthy.
This is based on a recipe from the Chocolate-Covered Katie blog (http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/06/no-flour-black-bean-brownies/)

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
2+ Tbsp cacao or cocoa powder (the original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp, and after putting in 2 Tbsp, there was a little cacao powder left in the bag, so I emptied the rest of it out, making the total probably closer to 3-4 Tbsp)
1/2 cup oats (gluten-free if desired)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup coconut or vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
Chocolate chips (the original recipe calls for 1/2 to 2/3 cup, I was low on chips and didn’t even have 1/4 cup, but thought maybe I made up for fewer chips with the extra cacao powder)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a food processor, and blend until mixture is smooth. Stir in the chips.

Pour mixture into a greased 8×8 baking dish (mine didn’t fully cover the dish). Cook for about 25 minutes, until the brownies start to crisp a little on top and the edges.  Let cool for several minutes before cutting.

I think that spicy black bean brownies might also be good, so might put chili flakes in them the next time I make them.

General Tso’s Tofu

 

I have a lot of other stir-fries in my “Tofu Stir-Fries” post, but this was the first time I made one with a few spoonfuls of corn starch thrown in.  I didn’t get the tofu as dry as I should have, so the corn starch didn’t coat the tofu that evenly, but it still gave the tofu a nice texture, and seemed to make the tasty sauce stick to it a little more.  This was a delicious dish made with Trader Joe’s “General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce,” which made my job easier since I just had to add the tofu and veggies!

Vegetable Lo Mein

This is the third and final (for now) Asian recipe I made from the Wegman’s mailing.  I don’t like that noodles at some restaurants can be too greasy; these were much lighter but still had a good flavor.

Ingredients:
Frozen lo mein noodles, thawed (I used 3 pouches of Wegman’s brand noodles, 7.05 oz. each)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
1 package (12 oz.) Asian slaw
1 package frozen Asian vegetable mix
1 cup Asian stir-fry sauce
Cashews
Green onion

Heat frozen noodles in large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes.  Drain noodles and set aside.
In a large pan, heat oil and add onion.  After a few minutes, add the slaw and frozen vegetables.  Once the frozen vegetables start to cook through, add the noodles, sauce, and a handful of cashews.  Toss the ingredients and cook a little longer to heat them through.  Garnish with sliced green onion.

Chili Garlic Eggplant

This is another recipe I modified from the Wegman’s mailing.  It was a nice & spicy take on eggplant, I think I’ll be using chili garlic sauce more often.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (the original recipe didn’t have these, but I was looking to add some protein and always seem to have an extra can of chick peas around)
2 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch-discs, then into 1/2-inch sticks
2 shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
2 tsp Kikkoman black bean sauce with garlic
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil + vegetable oil for sautéing
1 green onion, sliced

Make sauce by combining the chili garlic sauce, black bean sauce, and sesame oil in a small bowl.
Steam eggplant in 1 inch of water for 7 minutes.  Drain & set aside.  Heat the garlic & shallots in some vegetable oil in a large pan.  Stir & cook for a few minutes.  Add chickpeas and cook for a little until the beans start to heat through.  Add eggplant to the pan and pour spicy sauce over the eggplant and beans.  Add salt to taste if desired.  Stir until sauce evenly coats eggplant/bean mixture and garnish with green onion on top.  I served this over brown rice.

Chia Seed Pudding

My one attempt at making rice pudding didn’t work out at all, so chia seed pudding appealed to me since it seemed easy to make without messing up, and it was.  I combined 1/3 cup chia seeds, 1.5 cups milk, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  I put it in the fridge and stirred it periodically for the first half hour so that the seeds wouldn’t clump together, then left it covered in the fridge overnight to thicken.

Thai Tofu & Brown Rice Soup

I got this recipe from a mailing from the great grocery store, Wegman’s.  It’s a recipe for chicken & rice soup, so I made it with tofu instead of chicken.  While some of the ingredients are Wegman’s brand, a similar soup could be made using a stock with some red curry sauce/paste.  I thought it was tasty to have a curry flavor in the soup.

Ingredients:
2 cartons (32 oz. each) Thai culinary stock
Celery, diced (I used about 7 stalks)
Carrots, diced (I used about 20 baby carrots)
1 small onion, diced
1/2 of an 8 oz. package of leeks, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 container (8 oz.) red curry simmer sauce
2 packages of firm tofu, or 1 package of tofu and 1 can of chick peas (as I was making the soup, I wished I had more than 1 package of tofu, so threw in a can of chick peas to add some additional protein)
2 packages (8.8 oz. each) of 90 second steamable brown rice
Salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Saute vegetables in a large pot with a little stock and the seasonings.  Once vegetables start to soften, add in the rest of the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer.  Add in the curry sauce, tofu, chick peas, and rice.  When the soup is done, remove from heat and stir in the soy sauce.

Black Bean Chilaquiles

This is another recipe from the “Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites” book.  I received the cookbook as a gift some years ago, and have recently had some more time to try the recipes in it.  These aren’t chilaquiles in the traditional sense, but more like a Mexican casserole, or lasagna even!

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onions

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped tomatoes (I used a little over a cup)

1 can of corn kernels, rinsed and drained

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons lime juice

Salt

Pepper

Cumin (optional)

Spinach

Tortilla chips (I used the “reduced guilt” ones from Trader Joe’s)

Shredded low-fat cheese

Salsa

(4-6 servings)

 

Start by sautéing the onions in oil for about 8 minutes, until they become translucent.  Add in the tomatoes, corn, black beans, lime juice, salt, pepper, and cumin.   The original recipe doesn’t call for cumin, but as I was stirring the vegetables and beans, thought they would be good with a little cumin thrown in.   Let that sauté for another 5-10 minutes, until ingredients begin to heat through.  While that is cooking, steam the spinach until it just starts to wilt, then drain and dry it.  The original recipe calls for 2 cups of spinach, and I was using fresh spinach leaves, so I added some more since 2 cups didn’t seem like that much.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly oil an 8×8 baking dish.  Spread a layer of tortilla chips on the bottom, then spoon the vegetable/bean mixture over the tortilla chips.  Add a layer of shredded cheese over the vegetables, then put in the spinach and cover that with salsa, saving some of the salsa for the final layer.  I had one jar of salsa, and if I make this again, will probably use a little more salsa to make the dish a little more moist.  Cover everything with another layer of tortilla chips, then spoon more salsa and cheese on top.  Bake for about 35 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown.  Since the salsa I used was relatively mild, I served the dish with some hot sauce on top.