Eggplant Stir-fry with Ginger Lemon Rice

You’ll Need:
1 Eggplant, peeled and chopped
1 Orange Bell Pepper, chopped
1 medium Onion, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
4-8 oz Mushrooms, chopped
4 Celery Stalks, chopped
half head Bok Choy, chopped
1-2 TBSP Cooking Oil of Choice
0.75-1.5 TSP Ginger Powder (Note: Use  2 TSP fresh Ginger if you have it.)

1 TBSP Sesame Seed Oil
1 Lemon
Salt
Pepper
1 TBSP Honey (optional)
1 cup Dried Rice (Jasmine is pictured here)

1. Cook rice according to directions and set a side, covered.
2. In a large skillet, add 1 TBSP cooking oil, eggplant, garlic, and onions, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add peppers, celery, fresh ginger*, and mushrooms, and cook for 8-10 minutes.
4. Add juice of half of a lemon, ~1 TSP ginger powder*, salt, pepper, and bok choy. Turn off heat. Stir mix to bury bok choy, allowing it to steep.
5. Add 1 TSP sesame seed oil.
6. Pour rice into a large bowl. Add 1-2 TSP sesame seed oil, dash of pepper, juice of half a lemon, 0.5-1 TSP ginger powder, and honey. Mix well.
7. Serve.

Tomato-Basil Lentils and Rice

The kids enjoyed last week’s Chicken and Rice version so much that they were begging to have it again. I decided to try an almost meatless version, substituting chicken breast with lentils.

You’ll Need:
1.5 cups Brown Rice
1 cup Lentils, dry
6.75 cups Water
2 TBSP Chicken Base
1 small Onion or large Leek, Chopped
1.5-2 cups Tomato Basil Sauce
Salt and Pepper as desired

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until desired consistency.

Makes 6 servings.

Tomato-Basil Chicken and Rice

You’ll Need:
1.5 cups Brown Rice
3.75 cups Water
2 TSP Chicken Base
1 lb Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breast
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 small Onion, Chopped
1.5-2 cups Tomato Basil Sauce
Salt and Pepper as desired

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until desired consistency.

Makes 4-5 servings.

Note: You could easily hide other vegetables in this dish, either cut small or pureed. Pumpkin and winter squash would be easy to incorporate.

Black Beans and Rice with Hidden Eggplant, Squash and Potatoes

Do you ever find yourself with leftover veggies from a meal and wonder what you’re going to do with them? Well, that was the situation for me a couple of nights ago after hubby made dinner. He only used half an eggplant, half of the potatoes he had prepared, and then reminded me we had zucchini and yellow squash crying for my attention. “No worries,” I thought. I’ll just cook them up and find something to put them into later. And that’s exactly what I did.

You’ll Need:
A mixture of veggies such as…
1 half Eggplant, peeled
1 Potato, sliced
1 Yellow Squash, sliced
2 Zucchini, sliced
3 Tomatoes (I used Heirloom Ugly Tomatoes)
4-6 Garlic Cloves, sliced or crushed
1 small Onion, chopped
half cup Ketchup
a lot of Cumin
32 oz Black Beans, cooked
Salt as desired
Brown Rice, Cooked
Veggies to decorate your dish

To start, combine all veggies and garlic into a skillet and cook thoroughly. After they are soft and fully cooked allow them to cool. Once cooled, add ketchup and puree the veggies until they reach a desired consistency. (Some like their tomato base to be chunky, others like it smooth.) Place the tomato base into a skillet or sauce pan and add black beans. Bring bean mixture to a simmer and add cumin, salt, and cilantro if you have it. Place black beans over brown rice and decorate.

Needless to say, my kids took over with my plate and decorated it for me, giggling the entire time. The best part is that they also ate their entire meal never realizing I had hidden veggies inside.

Lentil Soup

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Lentil soup is often considered a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern dish/soup and is widely talked about on Vegetarian/Vegan blogs. Did you know that it’s high in fiber, protein, iron and potassium? This means it can easily fill in as a … Continue reading →

The Standard Stir-Fry

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Stir-fry is a routine meal in our home, mostly because we can create something new each time, using whatever is lingering in the fridge. This stir-fry is a basic mix of broccoli, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms and rice… with SESAME … Continue reading →

Roasted Beets and Marinated Artichokes over Brown Rice

Sometimes dinner or a dish for dinner can be as simple as selecting a few items from the fridge. Recently I combined some leftover roasted beets, marinated artichokes, onion and garlic in a skillet. It accompanied other dinner items, including brown rice. I’m always amazed with how well my son eats roasted beets… making this a great side option if other dinner options are a bust.

Notes: There are many recipes for roasting beets and I know I’ve posted the ‘How To’ for it many times. Our favorite method is to let them roast uncovered until they are slightly chewy and very sweet. Much of it’s genuine earthy-root flavor is masked by natural beet sugar with this roasting method. The smaller your beet cuts, the faster they will roast.

-Angela

Stuffed Peppers

Have you ever considered stuffing a bell pepper with something other than ground meat and rice? While making boxes on Wednesday, and fully grasping the reality of how many green peppers we were getting in our box, I quickly began thinking of a stuffed pepper recipe for dinner. 

You’ll Need:
0.25 cups Red Quinoa
0.25 cups White Quinoa
0.75 cups Water (to cook the Quinoa)
1 cup Brown Rice
1.25 cups Water (to cook the rice)
1 can of Black Beans, washed
3 large Scallions, chopped
6 large Green Bell Peppers, gutted
1 batch of Jen’s Roasted Grape Tomato and Garlic Pesto

Start with cooking the rice (~60 minutes) and quinoa (~30 minutes). Add the beans and scallions to the cooked rice and quinoa and mix in a large bowl. (You can add salt, pepper, garlic, cooked mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. if you wish.) Now you have your stuffing.

Pack as much of your stuffing mix into each pepper. You might hear air escaping as you gently push the mix, compressing it. When peppers are stuffed, place them in a casserole dish and top with Jen’s sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for ~60 minutes. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

Enjoy your protein, calcium, anti-oxidant and fiber packed gluten-free vegan stuffed peppers!
-Angela

 

Beet, Cabbage and Squash Stir-Fry

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As a complete experiment, my husband used beets in a stir-fry simply because they were in the fridge. None of us were too sure what to expect on our palate. The result… a vibrant and earthy delight. In fact, we … Continue reading →

Brown Rice Treats with Browned Butter and Sea Salt Recipe

I made these yesterday.  Today they are half gone.  This recipe has nothing to do with vegetables or health (even though I used brown rice), but it was so good I had to post it.

Find the recipe on my other blog, Seed.