Healthy Kale Stir-Fry

Tags

cabbage, carrots, cooking, Food, healthy, kale, recipe, stir-fry, vegetarian

Nothing cooks faster than a stir-fry dish and nothing is healthier than kale. So when I am busy and hungry, my quickest solution is to do a quick kale stir-fry that satisfies my stomach and my body.

The recipe below is pretty easy and only takes about 15 minutes to cook from preparation until serving. I added eggs in my dish, but you can also cook without them if you want an vegan option.

Ingredients: (serves 3)

• 1 tbsp of coconut oil (you can also sub it with olive oil)
• 1 bunch of kale, chopped
• 1 cup of cabbage, thinly sliced
• 2 Carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp of tumeric
• 1 tsp of chili oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Wash and chop all the vegetables.
2. Heat a large wok or a frying pan with the coconut oil in low-medium heat.
3. Add the sliced green onions into the wok, then break the eggs into the wok.
4. Slowly let them cook until the egg white congeals. Stir the eggs occasionally like you are making scrambled eggs
5. Add kale, cabbage, carrots into the mix.
6. Season the mixture with salt (~1 tbsp) and tumeric. Gently mix and stir the content of the pan to mix the seasonings.
7. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 1 minute
8. Add pepper and chili oil into the mix and stir-fry x 5 seconds.
9. Serve hot!

-NZ

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Healthy Green Smoothie

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arugula, banana, cooking, green juice, recipe, smoothie, vegan, vegetarian

Believe it or not, arugula and bananas are a great combination for a smoothie. I know it sounds weird, but don’t dismiss it until you try it! The addition of lime also makes this smoothie refreshing. Rich in potassium and magnesium, this smoothie is also great for your heart health.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices lime or lime juice
• 2 bananas
• 1 cup of arugula
• 1 cup of milk alternative (such as soy or almond milk)
• 3-4 cubes of ice
• 1 cup of orange juice

Directions:

1. add all the ingredients into a blender
2. blend until smooth. For vitamix-blend on 4 for 10 seconds, then turn it on high and blend on 7 for another 10 seconds
3. Serve immediately!

-NZ (recipe created by my SO)

Healthy Vegetarian & Gluten-Free Stuffed Peppers

Tags

cooking, crockpot, Food, gluten-free, healthy cooking, recipe, stuffed peppers, vegetarian

Stuffed peppers are a healthy and versatile dish because you can choose to put a variety of ingredients as the “stuffing”. Traditional stuffing is made usually with ground meat, cheese and some veggies but I like to make my own version that is both vegetarian and gluten-free. Another great thing about this stuffed pepper dish is that you can make it either on the stove or in a crockpot. 

Ingredients: (serving size=6)

• 6 bell peppers
• 8 oz of organic frozen spinach (preferably whole leaf)
• 6 oz of organic cottage cheese
• 2 cups of cooked brown rice
• 2 eggs
• 4 mushrooms, diced
• 1 cup of corn
• 1 cup of carrots, diced
• 1/4 cup of onions, diced
• parsley, chopped
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• salt and pepper
• 2-3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of pepper flakes
• Options: parmesan cheese, grated

Crockpot Directions:

1. Cook the brown rice either in a rice cooker or on the stove top. Do this few hours early or the night before (you can refrigerate the rice).
2. Cut the tops off the bell pepper and removed all the seeds and ribs.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the onions and carrots. Cook until the onions become translucent.
4. Add the mushrooms, spinach and corn. Cover the skillet and let it cook in low-medium heat until the frozen spinach is melted (~3 min).
5. Add the cooked rice and season with pepper flakes and salt
6. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, mix the 2 eggs, then add the mix into the rest of the stuffing.
7. Add chopped parsley, cottage cheese. Blend and season the mix with pepper.
8. Place the stuffed peppers (with the opening facing up) into the crock pot.
9. Using a spoon fill each of the peppers with the “stuffing”.
10. Add the vegetable stock to the base of the crockpot. Avoid adding any liquid to the inside of the pepper.
11. Option: top each of the stuffed peppers with grated parmesean.
12. Cook the stuffed peppers on high heat for 3 hours.
13. Serve warm and enjoy!

Stop Top Directions:

1. Cook the brown rice either in a rice cooker or on the stove top. Do this few hours early or the night before (you can refrigerate the rice).
2. Cut the tops off the bell pepper and removed all the seeds and ribs. The split the peppers into half vertically.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the onions and carrots. Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
4. Add the mushrooms, spinach and corn. Cover the skillet and let it cook in low-medium heat until the frozen spinach is melted. (~3 min)
5. Add the cooked rice and season with pepper flakes and salt
6. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, mix the 2 eggs, then add the mix into the rest of the stuffing.
7. Add chopped parsley, cottage cheese. Blend and season the mix with pepper.
8. In a separate skillet, add ~1 tbsp of olive oil and place the stuffed peppers the skillet. Let it cook in medium heat ~3 mins.
9. Turn off the stove, and using a spoon fill each of the peppers with the “stuffing”.
10. Add the vegetable stock to the base of the pan. Avoid adding any liquid to the inside of the pepper.
11. Option: top each of the stuffed peppers with grated parmesean.
12. Put a lid over the skillet and cook the stuffed peppers on low heat for  ~30 minutes or until the liquids are gone.
13. Serve warm and enjoy!

-NZ

Top 6 Vegan Products to Buy at Trader Joes

Tags

plant based, product reviews, vegan

First, want to thank Deborah of Urban Naturale for featuring us on her Plant-based postluck party! Our fall root-vegetable vegan black-bean burger was featured.

I want to start this post with a caveat – I am a huge fan of the plant-based lifestyle and I have tried to go vegan many times, but I have not yet fully succeeded. My last attempt floundered when I was doing a 2-week night-shift around the holiday season. Trust me when I say ICU nurses and Emergency Department nurses ALWAYS have access to candy and dessert, ESPECIALLY around christmas time! And then there was the candy drawer in the family medicine office – let’s just say nurses will always make sure there is some candy around. Maybe it’s because of their motherly nature, or due to their stressful jobs, or because their patients are so grateful to them and bring them candy. Probably a combination. I love my nurses though – couldn’t have survived residency without them!

Despite my unsuccessful vegan attempts at being vegan, my fridge and pantry is almost completely vegan, and I rely on certain products to make the majority of my diet pretty close to plant-based. Trader-joes has been a life-saver. My favorite story about trader joes is that the first voluntarily organic thing my husband ever bought was from Trader Joes! Pretty cool, huh?

I got the idea for this post because I saw this one from A Dash of Soul about the best vegan items at TJs, and after I got myself some of that strawberry coconut dessert, I decided the world needed to know how Trader Joes helps me be practically vegan. Here goes!

1. Mildly Spiced Organic Vegetable Burritos: These guys are awesome. You get two burritos for $3.29! Way cheaper than the other frozen burrito alternatives out there – Amys black bean vegetable burritos for example, are generally $3.00 for one burrito. And they are quite delicious. A lot of vegan burritos have a ton of rice, and this decreases the nutrient density of the burritos. These burritos are big on vegetable and bean content. I usually take off some of the tortilla to further improve on the nutrient density.
2. Trader Joes Creamy Valencia Peanut Butter – This peanut butter is one of the best peanut butter finds ever! Valencia peanuts are super low in sugar and starch, and have 3g of fiber per 2 tbsp serving. Valencia peanuts are less likely to have aflatoxin, which is something found mostly in peanuts grown in humid climates. Although the government monitors how much aflatoxin is allowed in peanut butter, it’s always good to minimize the possible susceptibility to liver cancer. Valencia peanuts are also generally sweeter. This means they really don’t need any extra sugar to sweeten the peanut butter.
3. Trader Joes Goddess Dressing: For those who love creamy dressings, this one comes as a salad-rescue. This dressing has a tahini base and is one of my favorites, next to just using lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil. The tahini flavor isn’t over-bearing either. Beware the fat content though! 18% of your daily recommended intake!
4. Trader Joes Cruciferous Crunch Collection Salad Mix: The easiest salad you will ever make is using a small handful of this salad mix, and combining it with a bigger handful of any other salad green (eg. Arugula, Spring Mix, Mache) and adding a small handful of nuts. Toss with the above dressing, and voila! You have a salad that is crunchy and flavorful, and of course, packed with immune-boosting, cancer-fighting cruciferous vegetables.
5. Trader Joes Organic Oats and Flax Seed Oatmeal: Flax seeds pack lots of nutrition. They are high in fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. Flax seeds and oats are both particularly high in soluble fiber, which is really good for decreasing your cholesterol (soluble fiber binds to bad cholesterol and fat). Soluble fiber also is particularly helpful for improving your gut flora as it has prebiotic properties (helps build a favorable environment for good bacteria to grow). Thats why this product is a staple in our house. Beware – it does have some sugar – 1 packet has 11g to be precise. That’s about 2.5 tsp. I’m willing to live with that.
6. Trader Joes Dark Chocolate Chips – I know, they are a dime a dozen – most dark chocolate chips are vegan, too. However, a lot of dark chocolate chips are kind of hard and you might as well be biting into very sweet cacao nibs. The way these are formulated, they are super deliciously easy to bite into. Throw them in your oatmeal, eat them on a peanut butter sandwich with some toasted coconut, blend them in your smoothies – these are magnesium containing, anti-oxidant rich, pure decadent, deliciousness. 1 tablespoon of these contains 8g of sugar, so something to watch out for.

Do you have any TJs favorites? Would love to hear yours!

-DS

How to Make a Vegan Bean Burger with Whats in Your Pantry

Tags

anti-inflammatory foods, Beans, coconut oil, vegan

After last weeks post (Translation: after wasting hours of productivity looking at delicious vegan and vegetarian black-bean burger recipes), I realized that bean burgers are one of the most versatile recipes out there. An old Mark Bittman customizable soup recipe came into my mind, and I decided to impart to you all a customizable vegan bean-burger recipe.

Since my inspiration for this post was the many bean burger recipes out there in cyberspace, at the bottom of this post, I’ll also post some links for other bean burger recipes that I found helpful.

The components of a bean burger:

1. Beans – (any kind – 2 cans will suffice. Examples – black beans, chickpeas, white-beans). Dont throw away the liquid, and mash these up. You want to mash them up enough so that you have a batter, but not so much that its a puree.
2. Binder: This is to hold your patty together. Personally, I love my black-bean patties a little crumbly. Lots of recipes use eggs – 1-2 will suffice, but we are going for vegan here. You can use a vegan egg replacer. Here’s a nice infographic with egg substitutions:  I am not sure how well bananas, apple sauce and peanut butter would work out here though. If you were using a vegan substitute, just use the vegan equivalent of 2 eggs (eg) 2 tbsp of ground flax. Whats nice is that you actually dont have to let the flax seed sit in water before hand for this recipe because the flax will absorb the moisture from the batter.
3. A grain or starch: Other than the potato/sweet-potato and brown rice, the starches also have a binding quality to them. Most recipes use a cup. Example are grains like quinoa, oats, brown rice, panko bread crumbs and even bread (one recipe suggested you put bread into a food processor and use the bread-crumbs from that). I have seen other recipes use sweet-potato or just potato, and chick-pea flour (besan) is another common one. You can also use corn starch or tapioca starch. You can use whole grains or you can grind them in a coffee grinder to make a flour. Oh yeah, you can use wheat or a gluten-free flour of your choice too.
4. Filler: Add whatever vegetables you want! Whatever you use, chop it up really fine. Lots of black-bean burger recipes use cilantro, onions, corn and jalapenos for the south-west feel. Beets, surprisingly, were a big hit. Lots of burgers include a green vegetable like chopped frozen spinach or kale. Zucchini or squash is another common add in. For a mediterranean feel, you can use chick-peas as your bean and egg-plant as your dominant vegetable, and then add parsley and paprika. Basil, ginger mushrooms and soy sauce will give you an asian feel
5. Spices: Go nuts! Use whatever you want! Most use cumin and garlic powder at a minimum. Use about 1tsp of salt or more to taste. If you arent using jalapenos, you might want to add crushed red pepper, sriracha, or chili powder. Paprika lends a smokey-ness. Soy-sauce lends a nice, savory umami flavor.
6. Dipping sauce (optional): Adding a tbsp of Sriracha to some vegan mayo you have lying around is common. You can use some salad dressing. Another option is to make a tahini or nut-based based dipping sauce. Or you can use any condiment in the fridge. An avocado base or guacamole is another option.
7. 2 tablespoons of your choice of heathy cooking oil

To make the burger:

1. Mash up the beans with the bean juice from the can using a fork or masher. Add in your starch, spices, and binder. Add in your veggies. Use a wooden spoon or your washed hand to mix the batter so the ingredients are distributed evenly.
2. To cook the burgers, coat a cast iron pan with your oil of choice (I like coconut for its high smoke point). Spoon the batter on to the pan and flatten with your spoon so it looks like a patty. Let it cook on low heat for 20 minutes on each side. The burger is ready to be flipped when it is holding together on the side which it is cooking on. The flip and cook to your desired crispiness.
3. You can also bake these too but I havent tried to do that yet. I will update this post if I do.

Add on your condiment and place between 2 pieces of scrumptious bread if desired. Serve with a side salad to make the meal complete.

Other Black-bean burger Recipes:

Black-bean Burgers with Chipotle Lime Tahini and Crunchy Guacamole from Host the Toast

Simple Black Bean Burger Recipe on All-recipes.com

Spicy Chick-pea veggie burgers from Running on Real Food

Sweet-potato Black-bean burger from minimalist baker

Vegetarian Mushroom Burger from Rock-Recipes

Best-ever beet and bean black-bean burgers from Epicurious

Fall Root-Vegetable Bean-Burger

Tags

anti-inflammatory foods, Beans, chilli, gluten-free, vegan

Lately, I have had an insatiable craving for vegan black-bean burgers. I have no idea why, but the crispy crunchy outside with the soft inside, combined with the savory flavors of the vegan mayo and/or sriracha on top..mmm… the symphony of flavors was begging for a replay.

..So I had one, and then another, and then I just started to look for recipes for vegan black-bean burgers online. It’s funny, I know how hunger works, and it is not satiated if you look at 20 pictures of just delectable looking vegan black-bean burgers on the internet. Of course, make delicious vegan black-bean burger patties is what I did. When my husband who has the most discerning palate of anyone I know said they were tasty, I knew I had to share with the world. Especially because bean-recipes are one of my favorites to share with the world.

I was super excited about this recipe because I literally did zero shopping for it – everything I used was already in my pantry.

Ingredients:

• One can of black beans, drained, and one can of chickpeas, with the juice.
• 2 packets of trader-joes organic oats and flax oatmeal
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 4 serrano chillis chopped fine (I like my burgers spicy! You can de-seed and use jalapenos, or sub bell-peppers if you like)
• 1 cup of Frozen root vegetables (or frozen beets or steamed or canned beets)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen or canned corn
• 2 tbsp of coconut oil

Pic of a raw frozen patty. Batter should be mashed up but still chunky. Pink color is from the beets

Instructions:

• Mash up the beans and chickpeas. You should still be able to see half fragments of beans – so don’t mash up too much!
• Add chopped jalapenos and serranos, salt, coconut oil and soy-sauce
• Grind oatmeal in a coffee grinder to a fine powder and add to the mixture
• Grind frozen root vegetables in a blender into a powder. Use the dry blades that make powders for this. You can also grate fresh beets/root veggies, or coarsely blend steamed (preferrably lightly steamed) or canned beets. Shredded or grated carrots are a good addition here as well.
• Add frozen spinach
• Mix everything together so the ingredients are distributed evenly
• Spoon onto a cast iron skillet coated with oil and heat for 15 minutes on each side. The cooked patty is brown and has a crust on the top and bottom.

Check out some of my inspirations for this recipe on our pinterest vegan burger board

The topping for the burger is a local jalapeno pesto from the farmers market – Baby Clydesdales Small Batch Hot Sauce

– DS

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