recipe – Page 11 – Discover Healthy Food

Recipe: Mexican Tortilla Pizza

Found this great recipe for Mexican Tortilla Pizza by Ellie Krieger on FoodNetwork.com. We really enjoyed it! Below is the original recipe and how we adjusted.

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:

4 corn tortillas, or whole-wheat tortillas (6-inches in diameter)
1/2 cup Black Bean Dip, recipe follows
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
1 cup shredded green cabbage [we used purple cabbage]
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
[We added fresh guacamole on top as well.]

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the tortillas onto a baking sheet and spread 2 tablespoons of black bean dip on top of each tortilla. Top with tomato and cabbage and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pizzas from the oven and sprinkle some cilantro on each one. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into wedges.

BLACK BEAN DIP:

2 teaspoons olive oil [we used water instead]
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin [we used coriander]
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil/water in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until they soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and jalapeño and cook for 1 minute more. Put the beans into a food processor. Add the onion mixture and the rest of the ingredients and purée until smooth. Yield: 1 cup

Recipe: Vegan tofu veggie stirfry

I’ve been in the mood for a stir fry with tofu, so I cleaned out the fridge from all the veggies I could get my hands on. Ultimately, the recipe turned out really good.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 white onion sliced
3 clove garlic, minced
4 baby bokchoy, cut into fourths lengthwise
2 c carrots sliced diagonally
1 head of broccoli cut into florets
1/2 orange bell pepper julienne sliced
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
2 zucchini sliced
1 package extra firm tofu, cut into rectangular slices about 1/2 inch thick
Tofu seasoning: Mix together 1 tablespoon each cumin, chinese five spice, crushed red pepper, white pepper
Water for stir fry
1/2 cup cilantro, rough chop for garnish
1 lime, cut into fourths for garnish
For extra heat, use chili paste or Sriracha for garnish (a little goes a long way)

DIRECTIONS:
Start with cooking rice because you’ll want the rice ready to eat before the stir fry is cooked. We used 2 cups brown rice, which yielded about 6 cups cooked. We like to have extra rice on hand for left overs. Rice cookers are a wonderful invention!

Preheat oven to 400 Degrees. Line 1 cookie sheet with parchment paper so that the tofu doesn’t stick. One piece at a time, coat the tofu slices with the tofu seasoning and lay the slices on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip the tofu slices and bake for another 10 minutes. Should be firm, with a little crispness on the edges. If not crispy, don’t bake longer because can get too hard. Once ready to serve, diagonally cut the tofu rectangles.

While the tofu is baking, cook the stir fry. Heat large skillet on medium-high heat. Add about 1/4 cup of water and water sauté the onion, garlic for about 3 minutes, adding water as needed so that the veggies don’t stick. Add the other veggies and continue to water sauté until cooked al dente – about 5 minutes. Covering the pan helps keep the moisture in for the sautéing

To serve, bed of rice with veggies and tofu rectangles on top. Garnish with cilantro, lime and Sriracha. No oil, no salt, no sugar, no explaining vegan needs to a Thai waiter. How do you say “bon appétit” in Thai anyhow?

Enjoy, my friends!

Recipe: Nutty Date Balls

These are fantastically rich dessert balls. Can only eat a couple! We love Dr. Fuhrman’s Date Nut Pop ‘ems, but wanted to try making our own. Recipe search and we landed on this goodie!

Yield: About 30 balls – about the size of a quarter.

INGREDIENTS:

9 oz dates, pitted
2.5 oz raw almonds
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
1 Tbsp flax seed
1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla
optional: 1-2 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder

DIRECTIONS:

Blend nuts together in a high-powered blender, or chop fine. To the nuts, add dates, vanilla and cocoa powder until paste begins to emulsify. One by one roll up balls and place in freezer proof container. Freeze until hard and cold. Eat frozen, or softened to room temperature – we particularly like them cold. Enjoy!

Recipe: Tempeh Tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Desiring Mexican food, I decided to make some tacos. Klint said it’s his favorite recipe so far. Ole!

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS: TACO FILLING
1 package plain Tempeh, defrosted, small dice
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
2 cups fresh salsa
2 tablespoons cumin
1/4 cup no-salt seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if you can’t handle the heat)
Water

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium sauce pan on medium heat, water sauté onion and garlic for about 8 minutes, or until soft. (NOTE: To water saute, just keep adding about 1 tablespoon of water while cooking to insure that the ingredients don’t stick to the pan. Great way to eliminate oil from a recipe.) Add bell pepper and sauté for about 1 minute. Add tempeh and sauté for about 2 minutes, adding more water to make sure mixture doesn’t stick. Add salsa and seasoning, stirring occasionally for about 7 minutes, or until heated through. Turn down to low once is cooked through.

While taco filling is cooking, prepare the following:
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup cilantro, chopped
Spiked tofu sour cream
2 cup fresh salsa
1 cup fresh guacamole
4 cup chopped lettuce
16 corn tortillas
Veggie cheese (we used pepper jack flavor)

TO SERVE:
For each person, use a microwaveable plate to heat 4 corn tortillas – will be 2 tortillas per taco (one tortilla breaks too easily). Heat on high for 30 seconds. Place 1/2 slice veggie cheese on two tortillas, then add 1/4 cup of taco filling mixture. Add any of the toppings. Repeat for second taco. Enjoy!

Recipe: Chickpea Ginger Curry

Love Indian food, so created this vegan curry.

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium white onion, diced
2 clove garlic, sliced
2 tablespoon sliced fresh ginger
2 15-ounce can chickpea (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup carrot, diced
2 bay leaves
5 dried chiles
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 15-0unce can light coconut milk
Water

DIRECTIONS:

In medium sauce pan on medium heat, water sauté onion, garlic and ginger for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of chickpeas and blend in high-powered blender with coconut milk. Return to sauce pan. Add the remaining ingredients and stir occasionally for 20 minutes.

Before serving, remove bay leaves and dried chiles. Be careful to remove all pieces of chile because will cause serious gastronomical pain!

Serve with wild rice. We used forbidden rice cooked in rice cooker. Sprinkle with cilantro for garnish. Enjoy!

Recipe: White bean basil salad

Great bean salad to eat alone or on green salad.

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

1 can northern white beans, drained, rinsed
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon no-salt seasoning
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup Julienne sliced fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you want a little heat)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe: High Cruciferous Vegetable Stew

A little sun shining on my stew… It’s like God himself is pleased with this healthy dish! Another good one from the Eat To Live book.

Serves 10 (Yep! That’s going to be a lot of leftovers for us. But, I like do have extra for quick dinners during the week)

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups of water [we did 5 cups]
2 1/2 cups carrot juice
1/2 cup dried split peas
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/2 cup adzuki beans, soaked overnight, or no- or low-salt canned adzuki beans, drained and rinsed [we used one whole can]
1 bunch of kale, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves coarsely chopped [we used half bunch]
1 bunch of collard greens, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves coarsely chopped [we used half bunch]
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
8 ounces fresh or frozen Brussels sprouts, cut in half if large [we didn’t have any, so used 1/2 head of cauliflower cut into pieces]
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, cut in half [we didn’t include, I don’t like mushrooms]
10 ounces celery sticks, cut into 1-inch pieces [we used 8 stalks, diced]
3 leeks, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 parsnips, cut into 1-inch pieces [we didn’t have]
3 medium onions, diced
4 medium zucchini, cubed [we used 2 zucchini and 2 yellow crook neck squash]
4 cloves garlic, chopped, or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, no-salt-added or low-sodium
1/4 cup Dr. Fuhrman’s VegiZest or other no-salt seasoning [we used 1/3 cup no-salt seasoning]
2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash [we didn’t use]
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup broccoli sprouts (optional) [we didn’t use]

DIRECTIONS:

Place all the ingredients except the parsley and sprouts in a large soup pot. Cover and bring to a simmer, cooking until the adzuki beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. (If using canned adzuki beans, simmer until the vegetables, lentils and split peas are tender and the flavors blend, about 1 hour.) In a food processor or high-powered blender, blend one-quarter of the soup until smooth. Return to the soup pot and stir in the parsley and broccoli sprouts (if using).

Vegan lifestyle tip: Wraps

Knowing that there are times I don’t want to cook, I make sure to keep my kitchen stocked with things that are fast and easy to make.

Wraps are one of my favorite ways to eat quickly, but healthy. Helping me to stay true to my vegan way of eating.

In this wrap, I reheated some left over yellow squash and zucchini stir fry, with salsa, spiked sour cream, and guacamole. Fold up the end and roll the sides together… It’s almost like eating a Mexican burrito, but lighter and healthier.

The trick is to have ingredients on hand and ready to go all the time, including:

Guacamole
Fresh salsa
Spiked sour cream
Left over cooked veggies
Ezekiel Bread wraps (LOVE these)

Look in your fridge and make sure that you have ingredients to be used in multiple different dishes. I promise, it’ll make your life easier! Plus, you’ll be more inclined to eat healthy because you’ll have yummy stuff ready to go!

Recipe: Apple Pecan Quinoa

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups red quinoa
1 apple small dice
1/2 cup chopped pecan
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup currants
1 avocado cubed

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare quinoa using directions on the package. Allow to cool on the counter top for 1-2 hours. Mix together all the other ingredients and add in the cooled quinoa. Serve as a stand alone dish, or on bed of lettuce with drizzle of your favorite dressing. We served on red leaf lettuce and Walnut Cinnamon Dressing.

Recipe: Walnut Cinnamon Dressing

Created this dressing off the cuff because we needed something to add to the Apple Pecan Quinoa salad.

Yields about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup walnuts
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon no-salt seasoning
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup pomegranate juice

DIRECTIONS:

Blend all ingredients together in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy. Add extra water if necessary. Chill until ready to serve.

Note: We used this dressing with the Apple Pecan Quinoa salad.