Coconut Ginger Rice

Basmati rice cooked with lots of fresh ginger, a shallot, and coconut milk. Topped with some broccoli.

Mushrooms, beans, and kale served over rice and cauliflower

For the rice: 1 cup of rice and 1/4 head of caulifower, cooked with  3 green onions in the rice cooker with a dash of salt.

Saute 1 lb mushrooms in a dutch oven, DO NOT add oil. Cook until the mushrooms release some of their juices (about 1 TBL) and then remove mushrooms (leave liquid in the pan) and place them in a bowl. Cover mushrooms with balsamic vinegar and hot sauce (we use Cholula) and set aside. Mix together 1 cup water, 3 garlic cloves minced, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 TBL soy sauce, 1 tsp parsley, and 1/2 onion powder. Pour mixture in the dutch over and bring a boil. Drain most of the liquid from 2 cans of beans (we used white and pinto) and add to the dutch oven. Add 1 bunch of kale (dinosaur) and reduce heat to low, sprinkle with more black pepper. Cover pot and cook 10-15 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 5-10 minutes uncovered. Serve over rice-cauliflower and top with more hot sauce.

Curried rice with chickpeas

The title is sadly lacking in imagination, but the dish is full of flavor. It’s also a great quick meal to make when you are hungry.

Rice

1 3/4 cups dry rice, 1.5 TBL curry powder, 1/4 tsp salt,  1.5 TBL pine nuts, 2 cups water. Cook in a rice cooker, or on the stove. Allow to sit at least 10 minutes before fluffing.

Chickpeas

1 onion, finely chopped

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

2 TBL lemon juice

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 faux chicken bullion cube

3 large leaves swiss chard (stems included), chopped

1.5 TBL parsley

1 cup water

4 green onions, diced

For the garnish

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 orange, chopped

Saute onion and garlic for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add other ingredients, except green onions. Cook covered about 10 minutes. Stir in green onions and simmer uncovered 5 minutes. Serve over curry rice and garnish with chopped tomatoes and oranges.  (We also had marinated olives on the side!)

Mango salsa, vegan cheesy beans, and baked rice

Mango salsa adapted from Ellie Krieger

1 mango, chopped

1 cup grape tomatoes, diced

1 shallot, diced

1/2 c. cilantro, finely chopped

2 TBL jalapeno, diced

1 TBL lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

Chop everything up, mix, refrigerate. Our jalapeno was SPICY, deseed yours if you don’t like the heat.

Vegan cheesy beans and baked rice

1 batch easy vegan cheese sauce (We only used 1 tsp or so of tahini)

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 cans beans (black and pinto)

1 cup cooked rice

1 cup frozen corn

Blend the sauce with the spices. For the rice, pour the cooked rice into an 8 inch cake pan. Pour sauce over it until it is just barely covered. Add corn on top and bake at 400 for 20 mminutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.

For the beans, open the cans of beans. Drain the liquid from one can (we drained the pintos, but do whatever) and bring to a boil in a pot. Season with garlic, salt, and pepper. Add in cheese sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook at least 15 minutes. Stir to prevent the cornstarch from hardening too quickly.

Chickpeas with green beans

Chickpeas, green beans, rice, with fresh tomatoes, and avocado dressing.

Avocado and corn salsa, with black beans and rice

I would like to say I invented this most amazing of salads all by myself, but the truth is that there are lots of variations of this incredibly delicious concoction. Stef made her signature black beans and rice, which I can’t fully reveal here, but I will say that part of why it’s so good is that there is a very good proportion of beans to rice and that the texture is still fluffy, never gluey or gummy.

 

Avocado and corn salsa

1 avocado

1 large tomato

1 cup of corn (thawed if using frozen corn)

2 jalapenos

4 green onions

2 TBL lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the vegetables, stir everything together in a bowl. Let it sit in the fridge while the beans and rice cook. Serve and enjoy.