Our Veggie Kitchen

I had a staff meeting and a board meeting on a Monday this month. It was a unique opportunity to cook for my coworkers, as I had Sunday to prepare. I put together a spread of Greek Pesto Pasta Salad, Zucchini fritters, my favorite coleslaw and a chickpea, chard & sun dried tomato salad (needs some tweaking, but a definite future post).

Out of everything, the coleslaw was my favorite. This was one of those inspirations where I threw everything together as they sounded good and everything worked perfectly. With the cabbage & carrots, it has a pleasing contrast of color, the green onion is a perfect flavor complement and the dressing, spiked with a little vinegar and horseradish, topped everything off. Perfect. It was also great with the Sloppy Joes (pictured below).



Perfect Coleslaw
1 head cabbage, cored & shredded
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 bunch green onions
1 tsp salt
Dressing:
1/2 cup Vegenaise
3 tbs vegan sour cream
1 tbs prepared horseradish (read the label)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Core the cabbage and cut into thin shreds. Chop the shreds into 2-3 inch lengths. Peel and grate the carrots. Cut the celery stalks in to 2-3 inch lengths and cut into thin batons. Do the same with the green onions, including the stalks. Combine in a large bowl and toss with a tsp of salt.

Combine the dressing ingredients and stir thoroughly. Pour over the cabbage mixture and stir to combine. Let sit for at least half an hour, preferably longer, until some of the moisture has wicked out of the cabbage. It is best refrigerated overnight.

Makes about 8 cups.

8 Servings: 124 cal (10g fat, 6g carbs, 1g protein)

The weather finally decided to jump into summer around here. And one of my favorite uses for summer herbs is pesto. My cilantro went to seed this year before I could get a single decent harvest, so cilantro pesto will be from the store this year. But my basil is just coming in and my parsley and oregano are out of control, so this pesto was perfect. It's a parsley and oregano pesto with a little basil and lemon zest.

Also, this is good hot or cold. If serving cold, give the pesto some time to rest or the garlic & oregano will be too strong.



Pasta Salad with Greek Pesto
1 lb pasta (penne, fusili, etc)
3 cups green beans, cut into 1-2 inch lengths
Greek Pesto:
1 bunch parsley, divided (about 2 cups, loosely packed)
1/2 cup basil loosely packed, divided
1/4 cup oregano loosely packed, divided
2 Tbs cashews
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 lemon, zested & juiced
1 tbs miso
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt

For the pesto: Chop up the herbs, mix well and reserve half. Put the other half in a food processor or blender, with the other ingredients. Puree into a paste. Mince the remaining herbs, then add to the paste. Pulse to combine. If using with cold pasta, let rest for at least an hour or, preferably in the refrigerator overnight. If using on hot pasta, you can use it right away. The heat will mellow the raw flavor of freshly minced garlic.

For the pasta: Combine the pasta and green beans in boiling water and cook until the pasta is al dente. Drain. For cold pasta salad, plunge into cold water to cool the pasta. Drain and stir in the pesto. For hot pasta, drain, return to the pan and stir in the pesto.

Note: my blender doesn't handle this quantity of pesto well. I either make a double batch with the blender or I use a coffee grinder for a single batch. Pesto freezes well, so I usually do a double batch.

5 Servings: 471 cal (12g fat, 77g carbs, 15g protein)

I used to love meatloaf sandwiches.  Since abandoning those days, I've tried a couple of nut loaves and lentil loaves, but nothing really matched the texture.  Nothing made for a satisfying sandwich.  So, finally, I started playing with ingredients and arrived on this recipe.  It's got great texture, just firm enough to hold together when hot and perfect for cold sandwiches the next day.  And it was moist as well.  I added coconut milk (yummy saturated fat) and minced onions to the loaf to keep it from dying out and it worked like a charm.  Just make sure you chop your onions very finely. 


Vegan Meatloaf
Bulgur Mixture:
1/2 cup bulgur
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup coconut milk (small can)
2 tbs vegan Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbs steak sauce

Dry Ingredients:
6 oz tempeh, grated
1 onion, very finely chopped
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tbs ground flax seed
1/2 tsp Marmite (optional, but very good)
1 tsp browning sauce (optional, for color)
3/4 cup vital wheat gluten

Herbs:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp fresh oregano, minced (or 1/4 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (or 1/8 tsp dried)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup parsley, chopped

Glaze:
1/3 cup ketchup

Combine the bulgur with the wet ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stir and remove from heat. Set aside, allowing the bulgur to absorb the moisture, for about 20 minutes. It will still be a bit saucy.

Meanwhile, start grating & chopping. Combine all the dry ingredients and herbs, EXCEPT the vital wheat gluten. When the bulgur is ready, stir together with the dry ingredients. Add the vital wheat gluten and knead with you hand for a couple minutes, allowing the gluten to fully hydrate. Form into a loaf and place into a greased bread pan. Spread the remaining ketchup on top of the loaf. Cover with tin foil.

A few minutes before you're ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 60 minutes, removing the foil for the final 15 minutes of cooking. Let cool for 5 minutes.

6 servings:  312 cal ( 14g fat, 28g carbs, 22g protein)

I was lucky enough to receive a case of POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice and my mind's been spinning with ideas ever since. My wife will be making cupcakes and I've got pomegranate & blueberry waffles on my radar, but what really clicked with me was this sauce. I've been wanting to make a rhubarb 'pan' sauce for a while and I thought the tart & sweet pomegranate juice would pair nicely. And it really looked well. It wasn't overly sweet (my initial concern), but it was a complex sweet sauce that worked perfectly with chicken flavored seitan cutlets.



Rhubarb Pomegranate 'Pan' Sauce
4 cups chopped rhubarb (5-6 ribs)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
1 tbs fresh rosemary leaves
1 cup POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice
1/2 lemon juiced
2 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine

Add the rhubarb, sugar, rosemary and Marsala wine to a sauce pan.  Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until the rhubarb dissolves into a sauce.  Add the Pomegranate juice and bring back to a boil.  Push the contents through a strainer (see note). and return to the pan.  Stir in the butter, until melted and add the fresh lemon juice.  Serve warm.  Makes about 2 cups.

Note:  You just want to get most of the pulp out of the sauce.  It was a bit of a messy job and I ended up with about a cup of pulp that I discarded.  It still had a fair amount of liquid, but I had plenty of sauce. 

8 servings: 108 cal (3g fat, 21g carbs, 1g protein)

Sometimes you buy too many bananas. Sometimes they don't get eaten. And these banana muffins are my go to recipe for over-ripe, almost-ready-for-the-compost-heap bananas. They're worth heating up the kitchen for a half an hour, even in the July heat. Good muffins rarely last a day in my house, and these get gobbled in a heart beat.



Chocolate Banana Muffins
Dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingrients:
2 mashed bananas
3/4 cups soy milk
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup vegan chocolate or carob chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, except the chips. Stir to combine. Then pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just enough to combine. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, and divide the batter among them.
Bake for about 20 minutes.

12 servings: 212 cal (4g fat, 40g carbs, 5g protein)