Baked Potato with Navy Beans and Mushrooms

It’s cold, eat more potatoes.

Hot and Sour Soup

Adapted from Veganfood.net.

4 TBL cornstarch
10 TBL water
8 TBL rice vinegar
2 TBL dry sherry
4 TBL Bragg’s or soy sauce
1 tsp White pepper
1 TBL oil
4 inches fresh ginger, grated
1 medium onion, sliced finely
16 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 leek, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
2 cups broccoli
1-2 tsp cayenne
2 quarts veggie stock
1/2 package brown rice noodles
1 cup shredded jicama
siracha

Mix the cornstarch, vinegar, water, sherry, Braggs, and white pepper together until smooth.

Heat the oil in large pot and saute the ginger, onion, and half of the mushrooms for 2 minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil and add the remaining mushrooms, cayenne, carrot.

Add tofu cubes, simmer gently for 30 minutes. Add broccoli and cook gently for 3 minutes, then slowly stir in the vinegar/cornstarch mixture until the soup thickens.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil and cook noodles about 3 minutes, until al dente.

Serve soup with noodles, and top with jicama and siracha.

Isa’s Mushroom Hot Pot and Lettuce Wraps

Don’t worry, this is still a ginger post! We borrowed Isa’s new Mushroom Hot Pot recipe and this delicious Lettuce Wraps recipe from the Veggie Converter.

We followed the lettuce wrap instructions with minimal changes. We reduced the agave and soy sauce, and subbed tiny pan-fried tofu cubes instead of seitan. (Yes, actual size was cute x cute.) This was SO GOOD. If you’re soy-free, try diced, pan-fried mushrooms, or maybe even jackfruit?

The soup turned out really well, with lots of surprising flavors in every bite. We used tons of cremini mushrooms and some veggie broth instead of the mushroom broth, and not as much coconut milk (full-fat) instead of the 1 can of reduced fat. We also ditched the bell pepper, added extra tomato, and extra red pepper flakes. For the mix-ins, we used what we had on hand: fresh cilantro, green onions, mung bean sprouts, and grated jicama. And of course, lots of extra lime juice in each bowl. The jicama gave the soup a similar mouthfeel to rice noodles, for an added heartiness!

Miso Ginger Mushrooms and Spicy Ginger Peas

To make up for yesterday’s skimpy post, today is a twofer. Too bad we didn’t think of this ahead of time; it could have been Twofer Tuesday. Also, don’t worry, we will post the moussaka recipe soon!

For the mushrooms:
Adapted from Treehugger

1 lb mushrooms
1 TBL Earth Balance
2 TBL water
3 inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic
3 TBL miso
2 TBL shallots, diced
1 TBL lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450 F. Blend together Earth Balance, water, lemon juice, miso, ginger, and garlic. Mix until fully combined with no big chunks of ginger or garlic. In a cake pan, toss together mushrooms, sauce mixture, and shallots. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 or so. Remove from oven when sauce is nice and thick.

For the peas:
2 cups green peas
1 TBL Earth Balance
1 tsp cayenne
1 jalapeno, diced
3 TBL fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp Tandoori powder (or garam masala)
1 TBL lemon juice

In a pan, saute Earth Balance, ginger, and jalapeno on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add spices and lemon juice, cook another 2 minutes. Add peas, cook for 2 minutes or until heated through. Deglaze pan with water if needed.

Serve with baby spinach and mung bean sprouts.

Jicama and Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

Sometimes you need to eat salad with your hands.

Contrary to the past week’s post, we eat actually eat a lot of uncooked foods. Salads, of course, and sometimes desserts, but also raw noodles, curries, and other tasty treats. One of our favorite recipe books is Ani’s Raw Food Asia: Easy East-West Fusion Recipes the Raw Food Way, which is full of terrific and accessible recipes for jazzing up raw foods. Though not completely raw (because of the peanut butter), this lettuce wrap is inspired by Ani!

8-10 lettuce leaves (we used romaine, but iceberg or butter lettuce would be easier to handle)
1 cup mushrooms, quartered and sliced
1 cup  jicama, grated
1/2 cup red onion, chopped into thin pieces
2 TBL ginger, sliced thinly
1 lime, juiced
1 TBL peanut butter
1 tsp Bragg’s or soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Combine lime juice, peanut butter, Bragg’s, and sesame oil and whisk well. Toss with mushrooms, jicama, ginger, and red onion, and marinate for 30 minutes. Serve spooned into lettuce leafs.

Bet you can’t eat just one!

Vegan everything pizza with whole wheat crust

Everything = vegan spinach dip, marinara, spinach, mushrooms, red onions, sundried tomatoes, daiya mozzarella, and a whole wheat crust.

With a fresh, tasty salad!

Gluten-free shells with “creamy” pesto, mushrooms, onions, and broccoli

For the pesto: drain and rinse 1 can of white beans, blend together with 1 cup fresh basil, 1/3 cup nutritional yeast, 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 TBL lemon juice.

Cook your pasta and saute your veggies. Mix it all together in a big, delicious bowl.

Twin beans, kale with mushrooms, guacamole, and homemade chips

Vegan whole wheat crust pizzas

It’s Sunday, which means lots of cooking around here. This week has so many tasty meals that I’m really excited about. Tonight we made pizzas using half whole wheat flour in a our favorite recipe.  We make a double batch of dough, divide each batch into 4 instead of 2 pizzas for 8 total, and bake the pizzas in lightly oiled cake pans. Then we freeze the leftover dough in individual portions. Easy!

Pizza 1 has sundried tomatoes, Daiya vegan cheese, olives, and fresh basil. This is the best thing I’ve eaten in awhile.

Pizza 2 has asparagus, mushrooms, and Daiya. This was excellent, too, but it could have used some garlic or shallots. Next time!

White bean dip with roasted mushrooms and asparagus

First, toss 16 oz of mushrooms and one large bunch of asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Set aside to cool.

For the white bean dip, drain and rinse one can of white beans. Add 2 TBL raw cashews, 1/2 cup tomatoes, 1 shallot (chopped), 2 TBL tahini, 2 TBL lemon juice, and some salt and pepper, then blend well until smooth and slightly pink. You may need more tomatoes depending on your tastes.

Top fresh arugula with mushrooms and asparagus, white bean dip, and slice black olives. BOOM.