4 Pepper Arrabiata Sauce w/ Olive and Chard, Vegan Sauce

It’s all in the sauce! 4 pepper arrabiata

I learned long ago that sauce and seasoning can make or break a meal. It is the same with vegan eating. If you are having a hard time eating vegan, or healthy in general, I recommend starting with the sauce.  If you have a great sauce, you will never miss eating lower on the food chain.

Here is a variation of marinara sauce (Italian red tomato sauce), made arrabiata with the addition of peppers.

 

This includes:

1 Hot Tomato Pepper

1 California Sweet Yellow Pepper

1  Paparik pepper (which I grew hotter than usual this year)

1 Wenk’s Yellow (grown to orange, very hot!)

Start out w/ your favorite marinara sauce recipe (uncooked), then:

Slice up all the peppers except the Wenks Yellow, leaving out the seeds and rinds, rinse in cool water and toss in the sauce at the start of cooking. Leave the Wenks Yellow whole, and make sure to take out before eating the sauce. No one wants to eat that hotness. If you like it extra hot, poke some holes with a fork in it to let out more heat.

Next: add sliced organic olives, and chopped up chard leaves. (optional)

Cook the sauce.

This will add a nice flavor to the sauce, and it is what I had on hand from the organic garden, so that is what went in it.

Enjoy!

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Vegan Idili Sambar

Idili Sambar

One of my favorite South Indian foods is idili sambar. it is considered to be a ‘complete’ protein of steamed rice and bean buns.

I made this with urad daal (like a split white lentil), basmati rice, both were a new organic brand from India.

First clean everything well, then soak over night. Then clean again and grind the beans and rice up and leave overnight to ‘ferment’.  The next day you will have a nice bubbly batter to use.

You can use the batter to steam the idili, if you don’t have an idili steamer, you can use a steamer with pyrex flat container and cut the idili in cubes, or even muffin tins if you don’t mind aluminum cook wear (I do mind, so don’t do this way). Just make sure you oil the container, which ever one you use. It you are using an idili cooker, then I dip a paper towel in the oil and spread it around.

It will take you a few tries to get it right, but eventually you may become an idili expert.

As for the sambar, it is basically a lentil (red/yellow) soup with veggies in it.  Make it how you want, but we like it spicy. In this version, I have a lot of yellow squash in the garden, so that is what ended up in the stew.

There are lots of recipes online for this.

 

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Vegan Chili tacos

Chili Tacos

Make some chili, rice, etc. what ever you want, then put it in the taco. Make sure you are using organic corn tacos, soft or hard, as if they are not organic, they are probably not vegan (see previous posts on corn https://foodforavegan.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/the-only-vegan-corn-is-organic-corn/

Homemade vegan chili

My chili secret is to use chilies I grew myself, and to shred all of the veggies. Whatever veggies you put in (except celery or corn), they are better shredded, even the onions. Also, this is a great way to get kids to eat the chili and their veggies too!

Vegan chili tacos

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Kid Friendly Vegan Enchiladas

Kid friendly, vegan enchiladas

I regularly get asked what are some good kid friendly vegan recipes.  Really, it depends on your kid.  This right here, a kid made (even the nice presentation) so I am thinking it is safe to say this is for sure “kid-friendly”.

What was used:

Organic re-fried beans, organic wraps, vegan Mexican cheese shreds,  Whole Foods brand organic enchilada sauce, fresh organic chives from the garden, and Meijers brand organic black bean corn salsa.

It was baked like regular enchiladas and eaten all up 🙂

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Organic Vegan Veggie Pie

Onion pie, Greek style, with a little bit of creativity.

Somehow this ended up with lots of veggies and lasagna noodles inside.  A very tasty dinner. 🙂

And good for kids too, who doesn’t want pie for dinner.

Here is a closer look in the middle:

Inside the pie

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Vegan Homemade homegrown bamies and gigantes, Greek stew

Homemade homegrown vegan bamies and gigantes

At the end of the garden season the okra is so bountiful, it is easy to get behind in eating it. Never fear, just pop those babies in a freezer bag and cook whenever you get the hankering for okra again.

This batch I took from the freezer bag, added tomato sauce, tomato juice, dill, garlic, etc. and gigantes (giant lima beans) and cooked for a very long time.  You’ll know when it is ready as the okra will start to fall apart, or be very tender.

 

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Okra Potato Stew, Greek Bamies Stew

Fresh from the garden okra, tomatoes and potatoes make this hearty organic vegan Greek stew

There are a few ways that okra tastes just heavenly, one of those ways is Greek style.

The okra is soaked in vinegar before cooking, this is the secret to making a delicious tasty dish.

Here, potatoes were also added to the traditional okra tomato bamies, for a hearty meal.

(For you Corrine)

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Vegan Minestrone

Vegan minestrone

The snow melted down enough for me to cut some fresh garden herbs and make minestrone.

I think I may have gotten carried away with all the veggies, but can you blame me? Veggies are so good!

My ‘secret’ ingredients in this are rare homegrown hot peppers that I froze whole in a freezer bag. I take the peppers out before serving.

Also, if adding noodles, always cook them seperately and add them in before serving. The soup should also be stored this way, noodle free.

 

Veggie Stir Fry Dinner

Veggie Stir Fry

Made with all organic veggies of red onion, pea pods, rapini (or Chinese Broccoli), straw mushroom, shiitake mushroom. Sauce is Organic Siracha BBQ, Organic Tamari, Organic mustard (spicy brown), homegrown andhome made Organic Chili paste using Korean Hot peppers,  all mixed with a dilution of water.

Served with Jasmine rice cooked in veggie broth, Edamame, and Marinated Organic Tofu jerky made in the dehydrator.

 

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Chili Stuffed Baked Potato with Cashew Sour Cream

Chili stuffed Baked Potato with Cashew sour cream

Easy to do! Bake a potato and cut open. Pour a spoon of homemade chili over the top, and top with cashew sour cream.

Cashew sour cream take a little planning but is super easy to make. Soak some raw cashews for about 4 hours, add  a bit of lemon and apple cider vinegar, salt and water and blend in food processor, until it’s creamy. It tastes even better after it’s chilled a few hours.