Vegan Peanut and Sweet Potato Thai-style Curry

Back at home with my parents, and away from the yummy curries of Sydney, I've decided that's exactly what I wanted to eat for dinner :)  Instead of the typical Indian inspired curries we've done before, this one is Thai inspired, and so so satisfying.  It's getting colder here in southern Indiana and it really hits the spot.  My parents do not eat anything remotely spicy so I omitted any chili, but I imagine this would be beautiful with your favorite chilies minced and thrown in as well :)

BTW, I miss you and love you Kasey!

Vegan Peanut and Sweet Potato Curry

1 Sweet Potato, medium sized, diced (bigger chunks should be okay, but adjust the cooking time accordingly)
1 Onion, chopped, I used a sweet onion
2-3 Tablespoons of chunky Peanut Butter
3/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce
2 tablespoons of Tomato Puree
Zest and juice of 1 Lime
Handful of Coriander, chopped fine
3-4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon, Ginger, minced
1/4 of a Red Pepper, chopped fine
1 tin of Coconut Milk
2 tablespoons of oil (I used olive oil, since it was all I had on hand, but I bet coconut oil would be nice if you had it!)

Chilies, minced (Optional)

First, bring a pot of water to the boil and add the sweet potato.  You don't want to completely cook the sweet potato just yet, I only did this because I was concerned about cooking the sweet potato through.  Remove it from the heat after 5 minutes or so.  Then, in a separate bowl, combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, tomato puree, lime juice and zest, with the hot water.  Stir to combine.

I chopped up the ginger, garlic, pepper, and coriander and put them aside in a separate bowl.

Next, heat the oil and onions in a large skillet.  Let the onions cook until they soften, then add the sweet potato.  Saute for a couple of minutes, then add the coriander, garlic, ginger, and red pepper.  Stir for about a minute.

Finally, stir in the coconut milk.  I turned down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.  Serve with quinoa or rice, add a sprig of coriander and enjoy!!  I hope you love it as much as I did <3

Vegan Summer Stew

We had family fun night and one of our activities was to make a dinner together.  We added some serious love to this stew.  It was definitely a meaningful and loving meal we all shared.  My mom, dad and I enjoyed this stew one evening last week and it was one of the best ever.  YUM!

First cut up 2 cups of broccoli and 1 large thinly sliced sweet potato.  Boil for a few minutes in about 5 cups of purified water (we used reverse osmosis) in a large pot and reduce heat to medium and cook for about 25 minutes.

In another large pot, combine cut up garlic, onions, and olive oil in high heat.  Add in carrots after garlic and onions have browned.  Let cook for a few minutes.  After carrots are browning, add in vegan stock.  Mix in 1 cup of quinoa.  Cook for twenty minutes.  Then drain pot of broccoli and sweet potatoes.  Combine into the same large pot.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes and add one can of organic diced tomatoes.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups of fresh organic broccoli cut up smallish
1 large organic sweet potato sliced thinly
as many bulbs of garlic as you want lol (i think we used 4)
1 medium organic onion
3 large organic carrots sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of organic quinoa
1 can organic diced tomatoes (you could easily replace this with fresh)
2 cups of organic vegan stock
Sea salt
Fresh herbs (you could use thyme, rosemary or cilantro, etc)

Notice the tea rose and the Kangaroo?

Simple Vegan Carrot and Sweet Potato Stew

This is a dish to make when you want something healthy, filling and easy to prepare.

I am back to having no fancy kitchen equipment, lol.  I don't have a food processor, vitamix or any blender for that matter.  So its just a basic kitchen knife :)  I like this though...it is showing me how I can eat healthy without needing any fancy equipment.  I also am learning how to efficiently and deliciously use all the ingredients I have on hand, and combine them in ways that enhance flavors effectively!  Take risks and see what evolves.  Eating vegan can be so YUMMY and no one has to go hungry!

I had an extra big bag of organic carrots, some local organic garlic and a sweet potato that were calling my name all week.  So without Bethany here, I have been wondering how to make a yummy stew.  I finally just did it.  I didn't use a recipe...I just winged it LOL.  It turned out pretty nicely.  I wasn't even planning on using it for the blog until I tried it and was like WOW.  This is good, and it was surprising how simple it was to make.

First.  Wash off carrots and cut the long ones in half.  Throw them in a medium sized pot with four cloves of garlic.  Fill up the pot 2/3 the way with spring or filtered water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium.  Cook for 20 minutes and then add in cubed sweet potato.  I scrubbed the potato before adding it in.  I allowed the veggies to cook for one more hour over medium heat.  Adding extra veggies at this point would be a fun and creative idea, (but I didn't have too much on hand right now).  Next, drain water and remove garlic.  lol I ate a piece of garlic just for fun.

In a large bowl, combine vegan stock with cooked veggies, sea salt and dried herbs.  You could also use fresh herbs.  I found a blend of Italian Seasoning at Big Lots.  YAAAAAY.  Have you checked out your local Big Lots, Marshalls or TJ Maxx recently for discount health foods?  I find great deals on things like organic coconut oil, flax seed powder, raw vegan kale chips, salsa, herbs, and sea salt.  At Big Lots I checked the ingredient list of the herb blend and there were no nasties so I was happy.  Straight up dried herbs with nothing else added.  Side note:  there are reasons to double check all ingredient lists...I used garlic salt on some popcorn last night to find out later that TCP was added.  I googled it and it comes from cow's milk.  FYI.

As I stirred it together, the carrots and sweet potato naturally broke apart and mixed together quite nicely :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb regular carrots
1 large sweet potato cut up into squares
4 cloves of fresh garlic
1 tsp each of dried marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil (or get creative with your own favorites!!)
Sea salt to taste

Quinoa and Vegetable Vegan Stew!

I'm freezing.  Winter is coming.  Kasey and I hosted a dinner party last weekend and we puzzled over what we could make.  No vegans were attending BUT we can't resist preparing a beautiful vegan menu.  It's such a nice feeling when people that expect vegan food to be bland and tasteless and boring are proven wrong :P We decided on a stew because what's better when you're cold and want something warm and hearty.  This stew was so fun to make, and simple.  The chopping took a while but if you have a good knife or a food processor that would help a lot.

We started with making the stock.  I think making a stock can seem a bit intimidating if you've never done it before.  It creates the base of the stew and that's where your base flavor starts.  I'll break this recipe into two parts to simplify.  Keep in mind, that if you are low on time it is perfectly okay to buy a pre-made vegan stock at the store, but we found it fun and delicious to make our own.

Vegetable Stock

1 Brown Onion, cut into quarters

2 Stalks of Celery, chopped in half

4 Carrots, medium size, cut in half

8 cloves of Garlic, cut in half

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon Cumin

Handful of fresh Parsley

Handful of fresh Rosemary

Salt and Whole Peppercorns, we didn't really measure, just added as we went

6 Cups Spring Water

*We included mushrooms in our stock, but removed them after about 10 minutes when we realized they could be overpowering.  

Throw all of it in a big pot with a lid.  Heat on high until boiling.  Then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about 2.5-3 hours.  We ended up letting it cool over night just for extra flavor development.  Strain completely (you might be able to find another use for the leftover vegetable, Kasey happily ate the carrots on their own they were so good :D).  You'll need about 2 cups of stock liquid for your stew.

Quinoa and Vegetable Vegan Stew

1 Brown Onion, chopped 

2 Carrot, chopped

1.5 cups Quinoa

2 tablespoons of Macadamia Oil

1 tablespoon Cumin

2-4 cloves Garlic, finely minced

Salt and Ground Pepper to taste

Handful of Rosemary

Handful of Basil

5 Medium Tomatoes, chopped

2-3 cups of red and green cabbage, shredded

2 Cups Kale

1 Sweet Potato/Kumera, chopped

2 Cups of the above prepared stock

2-3 Cups Spring Water

Add the chopped carrot and onion and garlic to your pot, with the macadamia oil.  Cook it off just a bit then add the quinoa.  

 Now add the stock, water, and the tomatoes.  Simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Finally, add in the cabbage and the kale and the sweet potato.  Put in the spices, the cumin, the rosemary, the basil, and your salt and pepper.  We taste as we cook and season accordingly, so our measurements might not be exact, but remember that you can always add more if you think it needs it.

Turn the heat down and continue to cook for 15-20 more minutes.  We checked on it constantly just to make sure the flavors were right.  It smelled so nice :)  Basically it's done when the sweet potato is cooked.  Enjoy!

We hope you love it as much as we did!  We had about 12 servings but everyone wanted seconds so it was hard to tell.  It was perfect for our chilly evening dinner party.  It was a big hit, for vegans and non-vegans alike :P

Vegan Veggie Burgers with Raw Vegan Ketchup and Sweet Potato Fries

This is a vegan version of the veggies burgers they showed on My Kitchen Rules the other night.  My sister and I LOVE this TV show.  As a combiner, Kerrie and Craig used an egg.  To make mine vegan, I used raw oats instead of an egg.  I didn't wait to fry mine so I chose to bake them.  I love raw sprouted chickpeas/garbanzo beans, but I find that I get a tummy ache when I eat too many of them.  I had some left over ones in the fridge marinating today so I decided to bake some veggie burgers!  It literally took me only a few minutes to throw the veggies into our *delightful* new food processor and get them in the oven :)

The raw vegan ketchup is divine.  My sister said she likes it better than regular ketchup!  My sister loved it so much she said she wished we had made a bigger quantity and stored it in the fridge.  I don't know how long it would last, but the raw lemon and salt would help preserve it for a little while.

Sweet potatoes are yummy and loaded with vitamin A.  The sweet potato fries/chips could easily be made raw, if you have a dehydrator.  We don't, so we put them in the oven.  I've done some research and it seems that any time a person combines a starch with oil at high heat it can become unhealthy so I have always eaten mine plain and started to like them better that way.  I personally LOVE them plain!  Yes, the spices and oil do add a nice flavor too :) So my point is, you have options :^) 

As for a bun.....lol....I got lazy and didn't feel like it needed one anyways.  Who knows, maybe I'll try one out next time and update this post. 

Raw Vegan Ketchup

1 cup chopped roma tomatoes (any tomato will do, but we like roma best)
1/3 cup pitted dates (soak for a bit first and drain...this water is yummy--drink some!)
1 cup sundried tomatoes (soak for a bit first and drain)
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1-3 cloves of garlic (man I am loving garlic lately so I always add extra.  Start with one and see how you like it :))
Sea salt to taste

Process or blend all ingredients until smooth.  Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve!

Vegan Chickpea Veggie Burgers

If you want to go a step above and beyond, you can marinate your chickpeas beforehand.  For a marinade I like a pinch of sea salt, tablespoon of macademia nut oil, a squeeze of lemon or vinegar, few shakes of garlic, lots of cumin, and a pinch of ground chili.   

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Ingredients:
2 cups of soaked chickpeas/garbanzo beans.  I soak mine over night, and then sometimes marinate them.
1/4 of a bell pepper/mild capsicum.  Any color!
4 cloves of garlic
5 sprigs of fresh coriander
1/3 cup of raw oats
1 tablespoon of macadamia nut oil.  (It would be interesting to see how coconut oil would taste!  From my research mac oil and coconut oil seem to be the safest to cook with)
1/2 medium jalapeno pepper. Your choice whether to remove the seeds!!  I took out half
1/2 large yellow onion
Throw in some of your favorite spices.  I used cumin, sea salt, chilli flakes and ground coriander.

Put everything in your food processor or high speed blender.   Process until slightly still chunky.  Shape into patties (I had 7) and bake for 30 minutes.  Flip over and rotate if needed.  Bake for an additional 15 minutes or so, checking to see your patties are a nice golden color.

Sweet Potato Fries

These are so simple to make.  The only challenge in my opinion is cutting up the sweet potato.   Rinse, dry and chop up one large sweet potato in half first, then into fry size pieces.  I leave the skin because it is nutritious, tastes nice, and why take the time to peel it away lol?

Now it is time for those options I was explaining above.  I seriously just love the natural sweet potato flavor.  I put them in the oven and bake at 400 degrees on a baking sheet, checking them after 20 minutes.  I keep checking until they are nice and crispy.

A yummy raw vegan version can be followed here:  http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-sweet-potato-fries-w-chipotle-mayo/#more-750

If you like seasoned fries baked with oil:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Perfect-Oven-Sweet-Potato-Fries/

My sister (and everyone at the dinner party we made these for) wanted some flavoring so we set some plain ones aside for me and put the rest in a plastic bag with olive oil, yummy spices like fresh rosemary, sea salt, and pepper.  Shake until evenly coated.

Enjoy!!!!!