Best Dal EVER

Thanks to Sherrie Cheema, my dear friend's mom for blowing my mind with this one! I've never been a huge dal fan, but this is thick and rich, flavorful but not spicy and really filling!

Protein: lentils

Carmelize 1 chopped onion
Add to a pot of cooking lentils (3 cups lentils with 6 cups water)
1 boullion cube
6 cloves chopped garlic
2 inches chopped fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. salt (preferably Hawaiian sea salt, though I just used regular old salt)
2 tsp. cinnamon

Awesome served with rice, barley, or quinoa (best with red quinoa)
AND a salad of cucumbers in rice vinegar, sugar, and salt
The flavors all combine deliciously!

Watermelon Gazpacho

Okay, no protein here, so it's not an entree, but it's really good:

In a blender, combine:
Watermelon (4 cups or so)
1/2 a large

cucumber (skin on)
1/4 red onion
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1/4 tsp. salt
a few shakes of black pepper

Serve chilled.

Broccoli-Lentil Salad with Honey-Mustard Dressing

Another winner from the Vegetarian Times:

Protein: Lentils, walnuts

1/2 cup beluga lentils al dente
1 head broccoli cut into florets, lightly steamed but still crunchy (2-3 minutes)
1 small red onion diced
1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts)


Honey-mustard dressing:
4 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. honey
2 tsp. Dijon mustard

Tasty Breaded Seitan

This is my new favorite recipe. Incredible with the Bob's Red Mill recipe shown below. This recipe is directly lifted from:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tasty-breaded-seitan/detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package seitan
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine nutritional yeast, garlic powder, coriander, cumin, and black pepper. Dip seitan in tamari, then in the yeast and spice mixture. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry seitan in batches until browned on all sides.

Healthful (sort of) but Delicious Pasta Alfredo

I don't eat this stuff because I don't eat pasta, generally, but my daughter adores it.

Protein: cheese, milk, more cheese

Make a white sauce:
in a pan, add 3 Tbsp. olive oil
5  Tbsp. white flour
1 cup milk
adjust amounts to right consistency--a creamy sauce
Add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Add cooked noodles to pan. Enjoy!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Protein: Tofu, peanut sauce

In rice paper, roll up:
bean sprouts
tofu
mint leaves
shredded carrots (optional)

Serve with peanut sauce

Peanut Sauce

This is great on Tofu with broccoli/spinach/kale/bok choy/whatever. Also great on seitan

10 Tbsp. water
8 Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 tsp. honey
4 tsp. grated ginger
4 cloves garlic

Easy Chickpea throw-together

Thanks Aneeta R. for this great quick and easy recipe!

Protein: Chickpeas

Put 3 Tbsp. olive oil and 2 cloves garlic in a pan
Throw in 1 can drained chickpeas
Sautee for a while--until soft (or wait and let them brown)

Salt and pepper to taste
Mix in with avocado and other stuff--cucumbers, red onions, etc.

Hemp & Cashew-Stuffed Potatoes

Just subscribed to Vegetarian Times and hallelujah on this recipe! Wowsers!

Protein: Cashew nuts, hemp seeds

1 cup raw cashews
4 large baking potatoes, scrubbed
6 Tbsp nutritional yease
4 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. yellow miso paste
1 cup chopped scallions or chives
1 cup chopped parsley leaves
1 cup hemp seeds

1. Soak cashews in a large bowl of cold water for 1 hour to soften
2. Preheat oven to 400, Bake potatoes for 45-60 minutes
3. Cut potatoes in half and scoop out flesh, trying to retain their shape.
4. Combine flesh in a food processor with drained cashews, combine with nutritional yeast, coconut oil, lemon juice, miso in food processor until smooth.
5. Refill potato skins with the mixture.
6. Put potatoes back in over and bake 15-20 min until tops are golden
7. Serve sprinkled heavily with hemp seeds, scallions, and parsley

My New Favorite Breakfast: Nutty Pancakes

This is AWESOME! I have literally had this every morning for breakfast for the past month! I double this recipe, freeze it all and then microwave each morning (about 2 pancakes per person). With this, we get breakfast every morning for the whole family for two solid weeks.

Protein: Nuts, nuts, nuts

• 2 c. ground oatmeal (grind to powder in food processor)--alternatively, oat bran works
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 3 c. ground nuts (grind almonds or walnuts to a powder in food processor)
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 c. applesauce
• 2 c. milk 
• 1.5 c. ground flax seed (optional)

I separate this into three separate bowls and add:

- Blueberries to one bowl

- Dark chocolate chips to another (for some reason, dark chocolate has a much richer flavor than either milk or semi-sweet chocolate in this recipe)

- Dark chocolate chips and frozen bananas (If you eat them right away, fresh bananas work fine, but if you are going to freeze and unthaw the pancakes one breakfast at a time, for some reason, frozen bananas come out with a much better texture). 

Then ladle them out on a flat grill and flip when they are golden brown on the bottom. 

Freeze (I label the batches and pack them separately in the freezer for easy unthawing--1 min. in micro).