Black bean and banana empanadas

08Jul09

Crust:
1cup flour (half whole wheat bread flour, half all-purpose)
1/4cup melted butter or olive oil
2Tbs cold water

Blend butter and flour. Add water and form a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill one hour.

Filling:
1Tbs olive oil
1/4cup onion
1 stalk of celery
1/4cup green pepper
1cup black beans
2 cloves minced garlic
1 banana, diced
1tsp. ground cumin
1/4tsp. coriander
1/4tsp. curry powder
1/4tsp. cinnamon
1/4tsp. chili powder
2Tbs lemon juice
3Tbs salsa
salt to taste

Over medium high heat, sautee onions, garlic, pepper, celery until onions are translucent. Add in beans, bananas, spices. Continue to cook over medium – low heat until mixture thickens to desired consistency.

Preheat oven to 400F
Divide crust into four parts. Roll each into a ball and flatten with a rolling in until 6-8in. in diameter and 1/4in. thick. Fill with 2-3Tbs mixture. Fold crust in half, seal and crimp edges with a fork. Chill for 10 minutes once all empanadas are formed. Bake 20 minutes. Let cool for at least 5 minutes.

Filed under: Ethnic, Main dishes, vegan   |  Leave a Comment

Sweet potato hummus

05Jul09

1lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ pieces
1can (19.5oz) chickpeas
1/4cup fresh lemon juice
1/4cup tahini
2Tbs olive oil
2Tbs ground cumin
1 clove garlic, chopped
Coarse salt and pepper

Steam potatoes until tender, about 10-12 minutes.
In a food processor, combine ingredients. Puree about 1 minutes. Add water to thin if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Cool.
Refrigerate up to 1 week. Yields 4 cups.

Filed under: spreads & dips, vegan   |  Leave a Comment

Strawberry Muffins

05Jul09

1.5cups sliced strawberries
1/3cup + 1Tbs sugar
1.25cups all purpose flour
1/2cup whole wheat flour
2tsps. baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2cup Extra virgin olive oil
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F.
Line 12 muffin pans.
Toss berries with 1/3cup sugar, mash, set aside.
Whisk together flours, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon.
Combine buttermilk, oil, egg, vanilla and whisk to combine.
Make a well in the flour. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and berry mixture (with juice). Fold until combined.
Divide among muffin cups and sprinkle tops with remaining sugar.
Cook about 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle is clean. Cool completely. Devour

This recipe is from the Vegetarian Times magazine

Filed under: Breads, Breakfast   |  Leave a Comment

Peach Pie

05Jul09

Crust:
2cups flour
1/2cup melted butter
1/4cup cold water
optional sugar to taste
Blend butter and flour with a fork. Sprinkle water over and incorporate until a dough is formed. Separate into two parts and roll each into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator at least an hour.
This makes two crusts, one for the top and one for the bottom

Filling:
5cups peaches (about 9)
1cup sugar
1/2cup all purpose flour
1/2tsp cinnamon
2Tbs butter
2Tbs sugar

Preheat the oven to 425F.
Mix flour, sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
Peel and chop peaches. Mix in dry ingredients.
Turn peaches into a pastry-lined pan. Dot the top with the butter.
Cover with the second crust, cut slits in the top. Cover edges of crust with tinfoil.
Bake 35-45 minutes total. Remove tinfoil from edges and sprinkle with sugar for the final 15 minutes.

Lots of fruits can be substituted for the peaches:
Use 5 peaches and 2 cups blueberries; decrease cinnamon by half.

Filed under: Desserts, Summer   |  Leave a Comment

Pita bread

10Jun09

3 cups flour
1.5 tsp salt
1Tbs sugar or honey
1 packet (2Tbs) instant yeast
1 1/4 cup of water at room temp.
2Tbs vegetable oil, olive oil or melted butter

Mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Add oil, water and mix. The ingredients will clump, forming a ball. Flour a surface and knead for ten minutes until the dough becomes soft and elastic. Create a ball and place it in a greased bowl; let rest 90 minutes. When doubled in size, punch the dough down and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and cover them with a towel to rise for 20 minutes.
Preheate the oven to 400F, placing an overturned baking pan on the rack to heat.
Roll the dough to 1/4-1/8 in thick. When the oven is fully heated, place as many pitas as will fit on the baking pan and cook for 3 minutes. For a crunchier pita, bake 3-5 minutes longer.

The high temperature and thinly rolled dough shock the yeast, causing the pitas to form balloons in the oven while they cook. This is how the pocket is formed!

Filed under: Breads   |  Leave a Comment

Strawberry Lemonade

31May09

1/2c. sugar
1c. coarsely cut strawberries
1c. water

Combine in a saucepan, bring to a boil and let simmer until berries soften and lose their color. Let cool, then strain through a fine sieve or cheesecloth.

Add 2 cups of lemon juice (4 lemons = approx. 1 cup juice)
3-4 cups cool water

Filed under: Summer   |  Leave a Comment

Caribbean Coconut Rice

27May09

2tsp unsalted butter
2tsp minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced (apporx. 1tsp)
1 3in cinnamon stick, or a good sized dash
1cup jasmine rice
3/4cup light coconut milk
1tsp sugar
1/2tsp salt
1/4tsp grated lime zest (or 1tsp lime juice)
1/8tsp white pepper
1/4cup toasted shredded, unsweetened coconut (optional)

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick (if using ground cinnamon, wait) and saute 1 minute or until fragrant. Stir in rice and saute 2 minutes until grains are opaque. Add coconut milk, sugar, salt, lime, pepper, 3/4cup water (and ground cinnamon) and bring to a simmer. Stir once, cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer 15 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork, let rest 5 minutes. Toasted with toasted coconut, if using.

This is a delish and easy dish from Vegetarian times. They inform me this dish has less than 1 gram of sugar, 6 grams of fat (4 unsaturated) 20 grams carbohydrate, 5mg of cholesterol and 245 mg of sodium

Filed under: Grains, Salads and Side dishes   |  Leave a Comment

Banana muffins

07Feb09

1.5cup all purpose flour (or 3/4cup all purpose and 3/4cup whole wheat pastry flours)
1t. baking soda
1t. baking powder
1/2t. salt
1/2t. nutmeg
1/2.t. ginger
3/4t. cinnamon
3 mashed bananas
1/2c. white sugar
1 egg
1/3cup melted butter (or 1/3cup canola oil)
1tsp vanilla

Optional crumb topping:
1/3cup brown sugar
2T flour
1/8t cinnamon
1T butter

Preheat oven to 375F and lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.
In a seperate bowl, beat banana, melted butter, egg, vanilla and sugar. Stir into the bowl with the flour.
For the crumb topping, in a small bowl mix brown sugar, 2T flour, cinnamon and cut in 1T. butter. Sprinkle over muffins.

Bake approx. 20 min.

Filed under: Breads, Breakfast   |  Leave a Comment

Sweet and sour tofu

02Feb09

This recipe is adapted from Mollie Katzen, author of the Moosewood cookbook. Ms. Katzen likes to cook her tofu in the sweet and sour sauce, but I prefer mine to be panfried.

1 can of chunk pineapple in juice
1.5cup OJ
2T tamari
1T honey, or to taste
2T cider vinegar
2T sesame oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2T grated fresh ginger
1 bell pepper
1 small carrot chopped in thin slices
1 medium size tomato
3T cornstarch

Cook the tofu first and set aside in a bowl.

Empty pineapple juice into a 2c. measuring bowl and add enough OJ to reach two cups of liquid. Set aside pineapples. Add tamari, honey, vinegar. Whisk and set aside.

In a wok or fry pan, add some EVOO ad sautee the onions, garlic and ginger about 5 minutes. Add in the bell pepper, carrots, pineapple chunks and tomato and continue to simmer on medium high heat until the tomatoes cook down.

In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with a little of the juice mixture; when thoroughly mixed add this back into the juice mixture.
Over high heat, pour this over the stirfry once it has cooked down and stir constantly until the liquid begins to boil and the sauce thickens to the desired consistency.

Serve with rice; top the rice and tofu with the sweet and sour sauce. It’s delicious!

Filed under: Ethnic, Main dishes, sugar-free, vegan   |  Leave a Comment

panfried tofu

02Feb09

One block of extra-firm tofu

Mix the following to create a marinade:
1/4cup tamari
1/4cup sesame oil
1/8cup brown rice vinegar
1/8cup lemon juice
2T maple syrup
1/2inch minced ginger
2 cloves choped garlic

Cut the tofu into 1in. cubes.
Boil for 20 minutes and drain. Boiling gives the tofu a firmer texture and can be done in advance.
Marinate for at least 2 hours, being sure that all of the tofu is exposed to the marinade.
Heat a fry pan over high heat and add in approximately 2T olive oil. Drain the marinade from the tofu, and add the tofu blocks to the fry pan. Flip occasionally to keep from sticking or burning. Cook until the tofu is crisp and browned on the outside.

Filed under: vegan   |  Leave a Comment