Sweet Potato Coconut Curry

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This fragrant and warming meal takes under 20 minutes. It serves two people on its own, or four served with rice.

Ingredients

1 tsp suitable-for-vegan red chilli paste
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
400g sweet potato, peeled and in medium dice
1 small cauliflower, in florets
150g mushrooms, quartered
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, medium dice
4 green onions, chopped
100g spinach
Handful basil, torn

Method

1. In a lidded frying pan, or a wide-rimmed pot, mix the red chilli paste, coconut milk, vegetable broth, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Simmer for a minute or two until the sauce becomes fragrant.
2. Add the sweet potatoes and cauliflower, cover, bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, peppers, and green onions, re-cover, and simmer for 2-3 minutes more until cauliflower and sweet potato are cooked for your liking.
4. Turn off the heat, add the spinach and basil, recover, and allow to steam for about 2 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.
5. Serve and enjoy.

Sneaky Macaroni

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This dish takes under 20 minutes, serves 4-6, and is a hearty budget recipe. It’s called Sneaky Macaroni because the sauce is rich in phytonutrients, but you’d never know it from the taste!

Ingredients

75g pasta per person
2 heads broccoli, cut into the smallest florets you can manage

For the sauce

400g sweet potato, peeled and diced
200g carrots, peeled and chopped
1 can white beans (e.g. butter beans)
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp yellow miso paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp suitable-for-vegans Dijon mustard
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, or more to taste
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp onion granules
1 cup soy milk
1-2 cups vegetable broth, or as much as needed to thin the sauce to the desired consistency
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Make the sauce by placing the carrots and sweet potato in a large pot of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer until fork tender–about 7 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions, adding the broccoli in the last 3-5 minutes of boiling time, depending on your preferred doneness.
3. When the sweet potatoes and carrots are cooked, drain, and add to the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend to the desired thickness, adding enough vegetable broth to reach a smooth consistency.
4. Add the desired amount of sauce to the pasta, and stir through to warm. If the sauce has been sitting for a while and has thickened, stir through some more water or vegetable broth.

Sweet Potato Confetti Toast

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A colourful, simple lunch or side that takes under 20 minutes to make. This serves 2 people.

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, peeled
1/4 each red, yellow, and orange bell pepper (or just use 3/4 of one colour of your choice if you prefer), finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 avocado
1/2 tsp each garlic powder and onion granules
1 tsp lime juice
1 pinch red chilli flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Cut the potato into four long, 1/2-cm thick slices. To stop the potato rolling around as you try to cut it, take a thin slice from one side, and use this flattened side as the base to stabilize the potato.

Place the potato in a preheated health grill for 15 minutes, turning once. Alternatively, run it through the toaster for two rounds.

Meanwhile, mash the avocado with the garlic powder, onion granules, lime juice, chilli flakes, and salt and pepper.

Top the toasted sweet potato with the avocado, and sprinkle on the bell peppers and onion.

Roasted rutabaga, green apple and fennel soup

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Accented with ginger and scallions, this is a simple soup with a luxurious texture and comforting, subtle flavours. Add a little minced garlic (1T) for a little extra flavor.

2 cups peeled and diced rutabaga*
2 cups trimmed, cored and diced fennel
2 tart baking apples (preferably granny smith)*
1 scallion, minced (2″ of green reserved for garnish)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2t coarse sea salt
1T fresh grated ginger
2 cups of unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Toss everything up to (but not including) the soy milk in a large bowl until well-coated.
Spreading in a shallow even layer and roast until lightly browned (about 1 hour). Ovens vary; use the colour and texture as your guide.
Set aside about 2-4T of roasted vegetables for garnish and puree the remainder.
Add the soy milk and puree further until smooth.
Bring the soup to a simmer on low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine.
Ladle the soup out into bowls and garnish with a little roasted vegetable and scallion greens.

*Produce is often waxed to preserve moisture (including apples and rutabagas), and the wax may be made using animal products. Apples, for example, are still often coated with shellac made from insects. Organic apples are more likely not to be coated, but even some organic apples in the United States in particular are coated with beeswax. Choose unwaxed to be safe.

Triple scoop blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry frozen dessert

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Sometimes you need all three.

Ingredients

3/4 cups frozen blueberries
3/4 cups frozen raspberries
3/4 cups frozen strawberries
3T lemon juice each, separated
1 1/2 cups frozen banana, separated
1/2 cup soft, dried dates, pitted and chopped (or to taste)

Optional: 1t powdered maca root if you like. You could add a little chopped chocolate to the strawberry, ginger to the blueberry, a splash of white wine or 1T roasted red pepper to the raspberries to make the dish more ornate, or just keep it simple. You can leave the bananas out if you prefer or for a more sorbet like texture, but in that case, you may need to reduce the lemon juice a little and/or date more dates to taste.

Method

If your dates are quite dry, soak them a little ahead of time. Puree each set of berries separately with 1T lemon juice, 1/2 cup bananas and 1/3 dates. Scoop out and enjoy!

Spicy, smoky tempeh burrito with avocado, spinach and fresh tortilla

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Simple, spicy and rich, this makes enough for 2 good sized wraps, but easily doubles. For a single large burrito, overlap the tortillas by about 5″ – 6″ and roll everything together.

Ingredients

For the filling
1T avocado oil (or similar)
1/4t coarse sea salt
1 cup sweet onion, 1/4″ dice
1/2 cup red bell pepper, 1/4″ dice
1T fresh garlic, minced
1T smoked paprika
1/2T garam massala
1/2t dried red chilis (or to taste)
125g tempeh, minced (use pasteurized)
1/2 to 1T coconut sugar (start with 1/2T but sweeten to taste)
1/2T lemon juice
1 cup mushroom stock
1/2 cup tomato passata (or puree)
2T nutritional yeast
Coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the tortilla
1 cup heaping whole wheat bread flour
1/2 cup water

For the rest
1 ripe avocado, peeled, stoned and thinly sliced
2 cups spinach, coarsely chopped
2T nutritional yeast
A few pinches sea salt

Optional: Fresh habanero, jalapeno or even poblano pepper will add flavour and some heat to this dish. Maple syrup will do fine in place of the coconut sugar if that’s what you have. Use raw spinach if you prefer, but overall, expect some rolling challenges.

Method

First, start the tempeh, then make the tortillas and then the rest. Warm a large frying pan on medium high heat. Add the oil and sea salt. Add the onion and saute for 2 – 3 minutes. Add the red pepper and spices. Saute another 2 minutes. Add the tempeh and coconut sugar. Saute for 3 – 5 minutes, until the pan is starting to brown a little.

Add the lemon juice and deglaze the pan. Add the stock. Bring the pan to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Uncover, add the passata, and simmer another 30 – 40 minutes until the liquid is mostly cooked off. When done, remove from heat and set aside.

When the tempeh is getting thick, start the tortillas. Add the water to the flour. Knead until a smooth elastic dough forms, and then another 2 -3 minutes. Cover with a warm wet tea towel and let the dough rest about 15 minutes.

When rested, break the dough into 2 balls. Roll out on a floured board to 12″ – 14″, and about 1/8″ thick (or use a tortilla press if you have one). Repeat with the other ball of dough.

Warm a large frying pan on medium high heat. Dry fry until the tortilla is done on one side (it will be lightly browned and bubbled). Flip and fry the other side. Set aside and repeat with the other piece of dough. Cover both with a tea towel while you finish everything else.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450F. Add the spinach to a baking sheet or roasting pan and roast for about 5 minutes, until it’s nicely wilted. Remove and set aside. When the tortilla and spinach are ready and the tempeh has cooled a bit, season the tempeh to taste and add the nutritional yeast. Stir to combine.

To fill, add the spinach to a tortilla in a long, thin line toward the middle-bottom of the tortilla. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt and nutritional yeast. Add half of the tempeh mixture. Add avocado slices. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and nutritional yeast, and roll up carefully (warm filing can easily tear through a tortilla).

To roll, bring the bottom of the tortilla up away from you over the filling. Tuck. Fold in the sides. Roll over. Repeat with the other tortilla. Let them stand 2-3 minutes (or wrap in foil if you like), and then serve.

 

 

Creamy jicama, clementine and habanero soup

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A simple, mostly raw soup with a wealth of flavours and a little heat. This makes 4 small bowls or 2 large ones.

Ingredients

2 cups jicama, peeled and coarsely chopped
2T sesame seed butter
1 scallion, coarsely chopped, 2 – 3″ green reserved for garnish
1t fresh garlic, minced
4 small, ripe clementines, peeled, pith removed and seeded, 2-3 segments per bowl reserved for garnish
1/2T lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/8t fresh habanero pepper (I use 1/4t), minced with a pinch coarse sea salt
Coarse sea salt to taste
1/4 cup fresh mixed baby greens

Optional: Use dried chili or fresh, minced jalapeño as an alternative and/or sriracha for garnish to add flavour and colour. Oranges will also work in place of clementines, but they won’t work as nicely for the garnish. Add a little olive with the clementines for the garnish for an even richer flavor and colour. Raw sesame seed butter isn’t available everywhere, but you can grind your own, or if you prefer, simply use the regular kind. Raw almond butter will change the texture and colour, but raw cashew butter, macadamia nut butter, a little olive or avocado oil will all go nicely in this soup.

Method

Puree the jicama and sea salt until smooth. Add the scallion, garlic, clementines, sesame seed butter, lemon juice and water. Mince, then crush and grind the habanero with a little sea salt. If you haven’t handled habanero pepper before, be careful. You may even want to use gloves.

When your pepper is a paste, add it with the rest of the ingredients. Puree until mostly smooth and (mostly) creamy. Season to taste. Ladle out and garnish with baby greens, a few clementine segments and serve.

Slowcooked refried bean dip with mushrooms and spinach

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A very simple, flavourful dip with lots of greens,
garnished here with some scallions, sriracha and a white miso, sesame spread.

Ingredients

1 large, 6″ portobello mushroom, stemmed and cut 1/4″ dice
2 cups shredded green cabbbage (I use cole slaw mix)
3 scallions, minced, 2″ – 3″ reserved for garnish
1T fresh garlic, minced
1/2t dried, ground cumin
1/4t dried, ground coriander
1/4t dried red chilis (or to taste)
1/4t coarse sea salt
1 cup refried beans
1T cashew butter
1T lemon juice
1 cup vegetable stock
2T tomato passata (or puree)
2 cups packed spinach, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Coarse sea salt and black pepper/red chili to taste

Optional: Add more cashew butter to taste and
application. Garnish with scallions, sriracha, a sour cashew cream, etc. Serve with tortilla chips, fresh bread, whatever you like. If you don’t make your beans from scratch with a little dried kombu, you may want to add a small piece with the stock. Remove it before adding the spinach.

Method

Warm your slowcooker on high. Add the mushrooms, cabbage, herbs, spices, and sea salt. Cook on high for about 2 hours until the cabbage is well wilted. Add everything from the refried beans up to and including the passata.

Reduce heat to low and cook another 3 – 4 hours or so, until the dip has thickened, stirring periodically. Slowcookers vary depending on the size and exact heat. Use the colour and thickness as a guide.

When the dip has thickened, add the spinach and toss to combine. Let cook another 10 minutes or so to wilt the spinach. Remove from heat. Add the nutritional yeast.
Season to taste. Garnish and serve warm.

Ginger, coffee, and walnut nice cream sweetened with dates

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A rich, lightly spicy treat.

Ingredients

3 medium frozen bananas (about 2 cups)
1 shot espresso (short)
1t fresh ginger, grated and minced (or to taste)
1/4 cup dried, soft dates, pitted and chopped
1T walnuts chopped with 1t reserved for garnish

Optional: 1t maca powder.

Method

Blend everything but the garnish until smooth. Scoop out, garnish with the walnuts and serve. If your dates are hard, soften them in the coffee then blend.

 

 

Peanut butter, chocolate breakfast bar with dates and figs

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Simple, nutrient dense, no baking, no gluten, no added sugar, no added oil, and covered in chocolate.

Ingredients

1/4 cup whole grain teff
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup unsweetened plant milk (I use soy)
1T cocoa powder (I use a Dutch-processed, fair trade brand)
A pinch coarse sea salt
1/4 cup unsweetened, unsalted peanut butter (I use crunchy)
1/4 dried, soft figs, stemmed and finely chopped (I use calimyrna)
1/4 dried, soft dates, pitted and finely chopped (I use medjool)
2T boiling water
1T tapioca flour dissolved in 2T  water
80g dark chocolate (I use a fair trade, organic bar)

Optional: Add a little chili to the chocolate. Double the chocolate for more of a dessert. Use cashew or macadamia nut butter or even sesame seed butter as an alternative to peanuts. Add a tablespoon or two of coconut sugar for a sweeter tooth.

Method

In a small, heavy-bottomed pan with a lid, toast the teff on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the water and bring the pan to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low and and simmer for about 20 minutes (until the teff is pulling away from the sides of the pan), stirring more frequently at the end).

Add the plant milk and cocoa powder. Stir to combine. Increase heat to medium low. Simmer another 5 minutes. While the teff finishes, add the boiling water to the figs and dates and rehydrate a little. Add the tapioca mixture to the teff slowly, stirring continuously until it thickens. Remove from heat.

Mix the peanut butter in with the dates and figs but leave it marbled rather than fully combined. Pour into a 3″ x 9″ loaf pan and let cool 1 hour to setup.

When the bar has setup, turn out of the pan onto plastic wrap top down. Let stand about 15 minutes. Melt the chocolate using a double boiler, two doubled up pans, etc. When the chocolate has melted, turn the bar over. Spoon the melted chocolate over the bar and spread evenly.

Let stand about 30 minutes at room temperature for the chocolate to firm up. Chill uncovered about an hour. Wrap with plastic and chill until ready to serve (at least a few hours, or overnight).