Supergreens Pesto (Vegan)

Here's an awesome pesto recipe that my friend Nancy Burgos shared with me:

Ingredients

• ½ head of broccoli
• 8 kale leaves, deveined
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 cup parsley
• 2 cup basil
• 2 cup walnuts
• ⅓ cup olive or macadamia oil
• 2 lemons, juice
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Throw it all in the food processor and go!

 Nancy says:

"You can really put it on anything. Stir it into soups, make it a salad dressing, a dip… the possibilities are endless… I’ve put it on grilled sandwiches, or tossed it with veggie stir-frys, cold pasta salad, tossed it with warm quinoa and veggies…"

Thanks Nancy!!!! 

Garlicky Eggplant and Garbanzo Bean Skillet

This recipe happened.  I came home from work.  I didn't have a plan for dinner, but I had two eggplant.  I looked up vegetarian eggplant recipes and I found one that looked good but it involved lentils.  I didn't have lentils, but I did have garbanzo beans.  And that worked.  I had made bulghur pilav for mom the night before, so we heated the leftovers up and served this over it.  It's a quick dinner.  Start to finish takes about 30 minutes.
 I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 large Japanese eggplant, cut into 1/4" sliced into wedges (cut eggplant lengthwise, and then cut each half lengthwise again...then cut the wedges into 1/4" slices

1/2 cup water

1 Tbsp Herbs d'Provence (or Italian seasoning)

1 15.5 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

pepper to taste

Salt to taste

1 15 oz can diced tomato (with basil)

1 tsp paprika

a PLOP of greek yogurt to top off each bowlful

Directions: 

I use my wok for this, but a large nonstick pan would be great too.

Satue the onion in the skillet until it goes translucent.  Stirring.  Add a pinch of baking soda and your onions will start to brown.  Add the minced garlic and cook another couple minutes.

Add eggplant, water, seasonings and cover.  Let the whole thing cook down for about 10 minutes.  Stir frequently.  Eggplant should be soft.  Add all the rest of the ingredients .  Cover and cook about 15 minutes til the eggplant is saucey.  Add salt, pepper.  

OPTIONAL:  Add a heaping tbsp of greek yogurt on top of each bowl.  Serve on top of brown rice or bulghur wheat pilav.

Serves 5-6

Lentil & Barley Soup (Vegan)

I used yellow, red and orange carrots, but any carrots will do.

Now that the weather's cooling a bit (okay, seriously, it's 88 degrees outside!), I like to start making soups for dinner (and to pack for lunch).  This lentil soup is easy, filling, and totally inexpensive to make.  It cooks up in an hour, and is delicious.  Since I always have lentils in the cupboard, onions, carrots and celery in the fridge, it's my go-to soup when I can't think of what to cook.
This receipe makes about 5-6 good-sized servings





Ingredients:
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 cup lentils
1 medium onion, chopped
6 carrots, sliced
6 medium stalks of celery, OR the inner part of the celery with the leaves and such, chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp of olive oil (or 1/4 cup water to saute)
8 cups water
1 can diced tomatoes (optional) and/or bouillion
Salt and Pepper

Rinse and wash lentils and barley, checking for little stones.

In a soup pot, add oil or water and saute and chopped onion, garlic, celery and sliced carrots until onions are translucent.  Add lentils and barley, stir.  Add water.  Cover, and simmer for one hour.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until lentils and barley are soft *but not mushy - about an hour.  Serve with lemon wedges.

NOTE:  I have added diced tomatoes and I have also added vegetable bouillion...but I like it just as described above.  It's not overly salty, the flavor of the onions, garlic, mushrooms is not overpowered by the broth.  

c'mon...you know you want to!

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Vegetarian Stuffed Eggplant with Rice, Tofu, Onion and Sprouted Adzuki Beans

On Thursdays in Downtown L.A., right in the plaza of my work place, they have an organic farmers market.  It's always great to see what's fresh, and I get to pick and choose a lot of great produce.  Today, I found these beautiful mini eggplants, about the size of a navel orange.  I bought three of them and spent my commute home thinking of ways to stuff them.  With what?

I had about 3 ounces of silken tofu in the fridge.  I've always got rice, onions, and the sprouts for the this week were some experimental adzuki beans that I started on Saturday.  So here's what I did:

Ingredients:
3 small (orange size) eggplants
2/3 cup basmati rice
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
3 oz silken tofu
1/2 cup sprouted adzuki beans (or any other type of bean sprout)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bottled reduced fat spaghetti sauce (or you can use tomato sauce)
salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Use small eggplant - the size of a navel orange. Wash and cut the top off and discard top. Using a spoon, hollow out the eggplant. Keep the insides and put in the bottom of a large pan. Once eggplants are hollowed, add a little salt on the inside and set aside and allow to weep. 
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• In a bowl, add 2/3 cup basmati rice (rinsed), 1/2 medium onion finely chopped, 3 oz silken tofu, 1/2 cup sprouted Adzuki beans (or other bean sprouts), minced garlic, and mix together. 
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• Rinse the salted eggplant and dry. Fill with the rice mixture. equally among the 3 eggplant. Stand the eggplant in the pan with the eggplant insides (the parts you removed) on the bottom. Spoon about a tbsp of the sauce on top of each eggplant, pour the rest of the sauce over the eggplant. Put an inverted plate over the eggplant to keep them from floating. 
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• Add water to the pan to about 1/2 way up the side of the eggplant. Cover the pan and cook on the stove under medium low flame for about 45 minutes. You can serve with plain yogurt on top (but count those points). 1 eggplant = 1 serving  About 8 weight watchers points plus per serving (without the yogurt)

Heart Healthy Garlic, Mushroom & Kale soup (with barley)

If you live on the West Coast like I do, it's hard to think of making soup in September, unless you happen to love soup like I do.  Soup is so soothing, and easy to make.  I had gone to Sprouts market and bought some mushrooms and kale last Saturday.  On the bus ride home, I was looking up recipes for kale on the Vegetarian Times website.  They had a recipe for garlic kale soup (different from this) but that's where I got the inspiration for this soup.  It came out great.  I ran the points on the WeightWatchers site and a good size portion, which is about 1.5 cups is only about 3 points...and very healthy for you. Mamajan (my mom) has been staying with us and is always surprised that she doesn't miss the meat, because the recipes are so flavorful.  This is a heart-healthy soup because so many of the ingredients are good for your heart:  kale, garlic, whole grains, mushies!!!  Enjoy! 8 cup(s) vegetable broth                                                                             3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced (I used plain ol' mushrooms, but it would probably be great with a mixture of different types) 20 cloves large garlic cloves , peeled and sliced 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup rice vinegar 2 small red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes 1/4 cup pearl barley 1 bunch baby kale (regular is fine too) Salt and pepper to taste Cook barley in 8 cups vegetable broth and 2 cups water. (You can use vegetable concentrate broth or vegetable bouillon, or broth in a carton) Cooking the barley will take about 20-30 minutes til tender. Cover your pan while cooking and use low heat to avoid bubbling over.  In a nonstick pan, add oil and cook sliced mushrooms turning with a spatula. Cook about 10 minutes until the mushrooms are brown and glazey looking. Add sliced garlic and cook another 10 minutes. Your pan will have all this nice brown sauce stuck on it. Add 1/2 cup rice vinegar, and using a wooden spoon, loosen all that sauce, stirring, and then allow the vinegar to evaporate out.  Add the mushrooms/garlic mixture to the broth/barley mixture. Stir, cover and simmer for about 10-20 minutes allowing all the flavors to come together. Add the chopped kale and cook another 10 minutes until tender. (If you're using regular kale, cook a little longer).  Serve hot. with a little parmesan cheese grated on top.  Add more water if broth absorbs into the barley. Season with salt/pepper to taste. Good with a squeeze of lemon too. Makes 8 good-sized servings. 3 Weight Watchers points plus per serving

Mardi Gras Salad - A festive salad with cauliflower, broccoli, quinoa and garbanzo beans

I went to Sprouts Farmers Market today and they had the most beautiful yellow and purple cauliflower for sale.  I didn't know what to make with it, so I experimented and this is what I came up with.

1 head purple cauliflower, cored and broken into small florets

1 head yellow cauliflower, cored and broken into small florets

1 1/2 cups red quinoa

3 cups water

3 tbsp white miso paste (or any type of broth)

1 large broccoli crown, cored and broken into small florets

1 15.5 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained

1 oranges, juiced

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

2 Tbsp ume plum vinegar

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

2 tsp garlic powder

Blanch the cauliflower seperately, then plunge
in cold ater to stop the 

1 tbsp Trader Joe's everyday seasoning

1 tbsp no salt seasoning

Salt to taste

Cook quinoa in 3 cups water with miso paste added (or you can use 3 cups of any type of broth). Uncover, move to bowl and cool.  You'll be adding this to the vegetables.

Clean both heads of cauliflower and broccoli and cut into small florets. Boil a large pot of water. First, drop in the yellow cauliflower. Boil about 2 minutes til tender but not mushy. Remove with a slotted spoon and put into colander. Run cold water over it to stop the cooking process. Drain and put in bow. Next, do the same first with the purple cauliflower, and then with the broccoli. Combine the cauliflower, broccoli, and drained garbanzo beans, and onion. Add seasonings, vinegar, juice,, stir and chill. Adjust seasoning to taste. Chill.

Note:  If I had lemon, I would have used it instead of the orange juice...but all I had were 2 oranges, and that worked .  I didn't add any oil to save on the points values.

Makes 14-15 cups

Points Plus Value =  4 points per 1 cup serving

I just thought this was pretty 

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