jacobslentils

[jacobslentils]

"Vietnamese" tofu

This is inspired by the tofu in the delicious tofu bánh mì at Vui's Kitchen in Nashville.

Ingredients: firm tofu (probably not extra firm, definitely not super firm) large clove of garlic fresh ginger (size of a large clove of garlic) 1/3 cup light soy sauce 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar 1 teaspoon powdered sugar oil for frying Directions: Cut the tofu into 8 steaks like this:

Press the tofu for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the marinade: Grate the ginger and garlic real small and combine them with the soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. When the tofu is done pressing, marinade it in the mixture for a bit. It's ok if the ginger and garlic stick to it. Then fry it in a pan to desired doneness. YUM.

[jacobslentils]

Stuffed Acorn Squash

A yummy vegetarian entree for my veggie witch friends this Yule!

Ingredients:

3 good-sized acorn squash

4 - 6 tbsp butter or margarine

2 garlic cloves, minched

1 medium carrot, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, strings removed, diced

1 cup cubed squash (pumpkin, acorn, butternut, hubbard, or kabocha)

½ cup mushrooms, diced

3 - 4 cups stale French or country bread, in bite-sized pieces

2 eggs, lightly beaten (OPTIONAL)

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup chopped fresh sage (or 1 - 2 tbsp dried sage leaf)

1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)

2 cups (or more) vegetable broth, salted

1 cup (or more) hot apple cider or sweet white wine (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Wash the whole acorn squash and cut them into halves lengthwise. (This will make six bowls.) Remove the seeds and stringy stuff and set aside the cleaned acorn halves.

In a heavy skillet, heat the butter or margarine. Add the garlic, onion, carrot, celery, cubed squash, and mushrooms. Saute this mixture over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender.

In a large bowl, mix the bread pieces, (eggs, if desired) parsley, sage, and chopped nuts. Add the sauteed vegetables to the bread mixture and stir to mix thoroughly, then add the vegetable broth and salt to taste. Continue to mix, squishing with your hands if you like, until the stuffing is very moist and soft.

Mount the stuffing into the squash halves, place the stuffed squash bowls on a large baking sheet, cover with foil, and bake until the squash is tender and the stuffing is done (about 1 hour).

Alternative: Place the stuffed squash in a baking dish into which you have poured a cup or more of hot apple cider or sweet white wine, leave halves uncovered, and baste every 15 minutes with pan juices until done.

Serve hot. Makes 6 stuffed squash bowls.

[Recipe Source: Witch in the Kitchen, Cait Johnson, Destiny Books, 2001.]

[jacobslentils]

Lime collard greens

Ingredients: collard greens lime garlic, minced coconut oil brown sugar salt and pepper Directions: Wash the collard greens and julienne them or cut them small. Prepare an ice bath. Put a pot of water to boil with a little salt, and when it’s boiling, put in the greens and blanche them for a just a few minutes, stirring occasionally and making sure that they aren’t sticking flat together. When they’re bright green but still firm, strain them and put them in the ice bath. Strain when they’re cool. 

Heat some coconut oil in a pan and start frying the garlic. Put in the strained collard greens. Squeeze in the juice of about half a lime. Stir a little brown sugar to taste. Salt and pepper and sautee till everything’s mixed together and delicious. 

[jacobslentils]

African peanut sweet potato stew

This is a simplified and nightshade-free version of this, which is a white people version of mafe, which is a West African stew/sauce of yams and groundnuts. 

Ingredients

olive or vegetable oil

1 large onion, diced

~ 4 tablespoons of minced ginger

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon turmeric

1 tablespoon coriander

~ two medium sweet potatoes

~ 5 tablespoons natural smooth peanut butter

some cilantro chopped up

~ 5 leaves of collard greens (kale works too) chopped up

half a lime

some broth or bullion cube + water

Saute the onions, garlic, ginger, and spices in oil. Put in the sweet potatoes and cook until they start to get softy. Pour in the broth to make the amount and thickness that you want (at least cover the veggies). Simmer until the sweet potats are cooked. Stir in the peanut butter. Stir in the collards and cilantro, and squeeze in the lime. Done! 

[jacobslentils]

Baby Quiches

“There is nothing better I could have walked in here to than these quiches.” -- Julia 

 “I want you to know, these quiches kept me from going to Taco Bell.” -- Abbey

Ingredients 6 eggs veggies (small onion + four mushrooms + handfull of spinach OR equivalent) 1 to 2 spoonfulls of sour cream 1 rolled up pie crust olive oil butter salt + pepper (and other seasonings to your heart’s desire, like basil or oregano) cheese (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 380 degrees F. 

Take pie crust out of the fridge to soften up. 

Dice up your veggies small and saute them in oil. Saute onions the longest and spinach the shortest. Put a little salt and pepper. 

Butter a medium muffin tin (12 muffin holes). 

Unroll the crust and use a cup with a rim the same as or slightly larger than the rim of the muffin holes to cut circles into the crust. Smash up, roll out, and circle cut the trimmings. There may not be enough dough for the last two muffin holes, but naked quiches are still yummy. Gently press the circles into the muffin holes. 

Whisk well 6 eggs and 1 to 2 spoonfulls of sour cream. Add a little salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings. If you’re doing cheese, mix it in here

Spoon the sauteed veggies into the crusts. 

Pour the egg mixture in to the crusts. If you’re doing cheese, you can add a little on top. 

Bake for ~17 minutes. The naked ones bake a little faster so if you get hungry before the time is up you can pull one of those out and eat it. 

You can freeze them! You can make them gluten free by ditching the crust! Remember they will bake a lil faster.  You can make them dairy-free by taking out or substituting the sour cream, but I haven’t tried this and I don’t think it would be as good. If you’re Antoni, you can use greek yogurt instead of sour cream. If you want ranch-flavored baby quiches, you can use ranch dip (sour cream with the ranch powder mixed in), but don’t add any extra salt or other seasonings!!!!

[jacobslentils]

Coconut Dal

Indian lentils! Appropriate first post for Jacob’s Lentils since, based on Tiffany’s reaction when she tasted this, she would probably sell her birthright for it. 

Serves 6, takes about 45 minutes if you’re as slow as I am at dicing stuff. 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 white or yellow onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled, minced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp coriander

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

½ bouillon cube

2 cups (375 g) dry red lentils

1 can coconut milk

3 cups water

fresh cilantro for serving

Heat the coconut oil in a large pot, and cook the onion, garlic, ginger, and spices til they’re soft and fragrant. 

Add the coconut milk, lentils, water, and bouillon cube and simmer or low boil for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom. I started with less water, and added more as it boiled down. 

It’s done when it’s thick and mushy! Put cilantro on top!

Notes:

Must be red lentils, substituting other lentils will not work!

Add ½ tsp red pepper flakes with the rest of the spices to make it not nightshade-free. 

You can do veggie broth, veggie stock, or other broth instead of water + bouillon cube. 

Serve with rice or naan or other fried bread. 

Source

[jacobslentils]

Black Bean Mushroom Burgers

small/medium onion, diced

1 can black beans

a few cloves of garlic, tiny diced

3-4 mushrooms, diced

salt

pepper

rosemary

oregano

1/3 cup of bread crumbs (mine are seasoned whole wheat)

handful of small-chopped walnuts (optional)

one egg

Preheat oven to 350 and oil a baking sheet.

Fry the onion, garlic, and mushrooms, all diced, in a pan. 

Drain the can of black beans and put them in a bowl and microwave them for 30 seconds to soften them up. Mash them somewhat with a fork. 

When the onion/mushroom mix is almost done (quite soft), add the seasonings and fry a bit longer. 

Mix the fried stuff, the beans, the bread crumbs, and the walnuts. Taste the mix to see if it's yummy. 

Add one egg and mix it. 

Form the borgors on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip. Bake for another 10 minutes. Done!

Notes:

You can err on the side of more bread crumbs, up to 1/2 cup. 

If you use unseasoned bread crumbs, probably put more seasonings. 

Based on this cool veggie burger formula. 

[jacobslentils]

Berry “Torte”

According to the wikipedia description, this is definitely not a torte. It’s most like a crumble. But the original recipe said torte and I feel loyal to it. 

Crust

1/2 cup oatmeal

1 cup sugar

2 cup flour

3/4 cup melted butter

Filling

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries OR any other berries! 

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Combine oatmeal, 1 cup sugar, flour and melted butter. Save 1 cup for topping and press remaining into bottom of 9 x 13 pan. 

Cook water, 1 cup white sugar, and cornstarch until clear and thick, stirring occasionally. This takes a little while. Add your berries. 

Spread over base in pan. Top with reserved crumbs.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, and serve with ice cream!

Notes:

If you don’t feel like buying a whole thing of cornstarch, get some from Rachel and Abbey. 

A small bag of frozen berries has a little over 2 cups. Just use the whole bag ;)

The best one is frozen mixed berries. 

Source

[jacobslentils]

Cool Couscous Salad

2 cups dry couscous

3 cups water

3 carrots, big shreds

~1 tbsp olive oil

~1 tsp red wine vinegar

~2 tsp balsamic vinegar

some chopped fresh ginger

squeeze of honey

two garlic cloves minced

pepper

golden raisins

Make the couscous: Boil the water, put the couscous in and stir, immediately take off the heat and cover. Leave it for about five minutes, then fluff with a fork. 

Make the dressing: Mix everything else besides the carrots. 

Let the couscous cool for a bit, and let the dressing sit so the raisins can get plumpp. Mix it all together!

Notes:

Couscous seems like it’s some healthy alternative grain BUT it’s just tiny pastas! Made of wheat. So it’s not gluten-free. 

The dressing is really by taste, I never measure it. 

You could also put cucumber shreds, cilantro, bell pepper (that would un-nightshade-free it), fresh mint... 

I actually used some of the ginger syrup and the byproduct candied ginger, and not fresh ginger and honey. 

[jacobslentils]

Coconut Dal

Indian lentils! Appropriate first post for Jacob’s Lentils since, based on Tiffany’s reaction when she tasted this, she would probably sell her birthright for it. 

Serves 6, takes about 45 minutes if you’re as slow as I am at dicing stuff. 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 white or yellow onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled, minced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 bouillon cube

2 cups (375 g) dry red lentils

1 can coconut milk

3 cups water

fresh cilantro for serving

Heat the coconut oil in a large pot, and cook the onion, garlic, ginger, and spices til they’re soft and fragrant. 

Add the coconut milk, lentils, water, and bouillon cube and simmer or low boil for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom. I started with less water, and added more as it boiled down. 

It’s done when it’s thick and mushy! Put cilantro on top!

Notes:

Must be red lentils, substituting other lentils will not work!

Add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes with the rest of the spices to make it not nightshade-free. 

You can do veggie broth, veggie stock, or other broth instead of water + bouillon cube. 

Serve with rice or naan or other fried bread. 

Source