Bok Choy Stir Fry

Dinner... easy... once everything has been prepped! We recently received some Bok Choy in our CSA veggie box. It's the first time we've ever had Bok Choy - and we enjoyed it. With a few adaptations to a stir fry recipe in Vegetarian Times, we had dinner on the table quickly.
Prepare the sauce and set aside:
1 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. Chile sauce (optional)
Prepare the veggies:
Wash, cut, slice, chop whatever veggies you have on hand. We used yellow yummy peppers, red onions, minced garlic, and Bok Choy (leaves and stems, separated). Lots of all of them!

Line a frying pan with a thin layer of water, steam/sauté the onions, peppers, and garlic until tender but still with a slight crunch. Add the Bok Choy stems and sauté until tender. Note: Add more water if it has evaporated away. Add the leaves and sauté until wilted. Add sauce, and stir-fry an additional minute.  If desired, sprinkle with green onions or raw cashews. Serve over rice, or not.  Enjoy!

Meatless Monday

Savoring another meatless Monday around here.  Our Community Supported Agriculture farm (Spiral Path Farm) is up and running in full swing with two spring deliveries already.  The weekly box of local organic veggies included fresh kale and winter harvested yams which are the main ingredients for this quick and easy African Yam and Kale soup.  Delicious! Packed full of flavor, it uses a nice variety of spices (chili powder, garlic, cumin, curry, and cinnamon) to create a tasty broth for this soup. The recipe is from the Happy Herbivore, and can be found on her website, here.  Oh yum!

 

Meatless Monday - Black Bean Soup

We recently prepared a stock pot full of  Bountiful Black Bean Soup for dinner. Using Bob's Red Mill soup mix, and following the easy recipe on the back of the package, we had a delicious meatless meal. You can find the recipe on their website by following this link. Quick, easy, hearty, and tasty, we plan on making this one again. The recipe serves 10, so plan on preparing it for a crowd!

Meatless Monday - Hearty Nachos

As part of our Meatless Monday celebrations, we are sharing the Hearty Nachos we prepared.  This recipe is provided by Julieanna Hever, R.D.  If you google 'hearty nachos', several links to recipes will appear. The Daily Meal included it as one of their suggestions for enjoying a healthy Superbowl party.  You can find the recipe here.

It is a fun recipe, a meal in itself, but be forewarned that it requires using a wide variety of kitchen appliances.  We utilized the blender, the Cuisinart, the cook top, and the oven to pull this together!  But once it was done, we enjoyed it with relish.

Meatless Monday - Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

For meatless Monday, we have been sampling the recipes shared on the website, Forks Over Knives, and those found in their cookbook of the same name.  The recipes are created using whole foods, and encourage following a plant based diet for the many health benefits derived from following this regimen.  The Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash is a recipe from the Happy Herbivore that was shared on the Forks Over Knives website.  We found it to be quite flavorful.

Stuffed Acorn Squash
Serves 4

• 2 acorn squash
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon mild curry powder
• ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups finely chopped spinach

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cut acorn squash in half, place cut side down on a cookie sheet, and bake 30–35 minutes, until fork-tender. Meanwhile, combine quinoa, vegetable broth, curry powder, a few dashes of cinnamon (about 1/4 teaspoon), and raisins in a pot. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce to low, and cook for 15 minutes, or until liquid evaporates. If quinoa is not fluffy after 15 minutes, add more vegetable broth and cook longer. (Sometimes the raisins will absorb the liquid also, so more is needed to cook the quinoa. I find this is particularly true with electric stoves.) After quinoa is done, stir in spinach, add another dash or two of cinnamon, plus salt if desired, then cover and set aside, away from heat. Once acorn squash is done, flip it over and scoop out seedy matter. Then use a sharp knife to cut the point off each base so the acorn bowls sit upright and don’t fall over. Spoon quinoa mixture into squash and serve warm.

Meatless Monday - Tuscan Bean & Kale Soup

This hearty bean soup was easy to prepare, and delicious to consume!  This recipe was provided by Spiral Path Farms, our CSA, and with a few modifications, we were quick to taste test it!
1 c. diced carrots, celery, and onions
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 cans garbanzo beans (15.5 oz.), rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes (30 oz.)
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. dried thyme
3 bay leaves
1 tsp. ground coriander
salt and pepper, to taste
3 c. herbed tomato sauce
3-1/2 c. water
2 c. fresh kale greens, chopped

Saute carrots, celery, and onions in small amount of water until soft.  Add garlic, saute an additional minute.  Add garbanzo beans; stir.  Add diced tomatoes with juice and herbs and spices.  Cook 2 minutes.  Add tomato sauce and water.  On high heat, bring to simmer.  Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.  Add kale.  Cook, stirring as needed, an additional 10 minutes.  Remove bay leaves before serving.  Sprinkle individual servings with shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Meatless Monday - Stuffed Peppers

We enjoyed Mexican Stuffed Peppers the other night, a recipe from the Clean Eating Magazine.  Large green bell peppers are stuffed with a beautiful assortment of finely diced onion, pepper, grated zuchinni, minced garlic, corn, tomatoes and red beans, plus a host of seasonings.  They are then put into the crock pot and allowed to simmer most of the day, topped with cheese just before serving, and enjoyed by all!  The recipe can be found here.

This recipe was a winner the first time we served them, that I've made them again.  Clean Eating Magazine is about enjoying whole foods in its most natural state, making healthy meal choices and avoiding foods that have ingredients you can't pronouce.  I've tried several of their recipes, and have been pleased with the ones that I made.  This is a vegetarian meal, but there is a wide variety of all types of food options offered in the magazine.