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Written by Cassie Young
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Wednesday, August 27 2008 |
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I'm absolutely thrilled to have Pica of Bird by Bird and Feathers of Hope as one of our guest bloggers this week. She is here today to share an alternative method of cooking she's been using along with one of her wonderful garden-fresh recipes. Please welcome Pica!  I live in part of the country where the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is turn on the stove to cook dinner. We try and keep the air conditioning off most days, even when it's over 100°, but part of this requires no additional heat sources! Fortunately, we have a lot of sun, and we use it to cook with most of the summer (and on sunny days in winter too, though this takes a lot more planning.)
We got through two solar cookits before we decided to make the investment and buy a solar oven. The oven is more sturdy in the wind, comes with its own thermometer, but most important, has a four-way reflective surface that concentrates the sun's rays onto our little black dutch oven. Things cook faster. I've browned red peppers and walnuts, made cobblers: this oven regularly tops 250°. Mostly, though, we put food in to cook before we go to work and arrive home to a warm and sumptuous meal. This means treating the oven like a slow cooker. Any recipe that works for a slow cooker should work well in a solar oven. Our garden is producing wildly at the moment and that determines what ends up getting cooked. Almost any of the vegetables can be substituted with something fresh, though any crucifers tend to overpower what's cooking. Aduki Bean and Quinoa Stew 1 cup aduki beans, soaked overnight  1 cup quinoa
1 onion, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 5-6 leaves chard, deveined and chopped 1 small eggplant, chopped 2 zucchini, sliced large handful green beans, chopped into thirds large handful basil, leaves removed and chopped large handful parsley, chopped 5-6 pieces okra, sliced 7-8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half tamari to taste Mix all ingredients except parsley and basil in small dutch oven and add 3 cups water. Place covered pot in solar cooker and cook for 5 hours. More is fine. If you will not be attending the cooker during the day, orient the cooker so that it hits where the sun will be at around 2:00 pm. Add chopped herbs before serving.
Pica blogs at Feathers of Hope and Bird By Bird, where she attempts to post a sketch of a bird every day. She is a new and zealous gardener. Article and images Copyright © 2008 Pica |
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Written by Cassie Young
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Monday, August 25 2008 |
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This week we have three guest bloggers on board at Veggie Meal Plans, and today
I'm delighted to have the ever-so-talented Parikha of s i x o n e s e v e n
here to share a fabulous one-pot Indian recipe with us. Welcome Parikha!
Pav bhaji is a very traditional street dish in Mumbai, but over here it's one of our
go-to weekend recipes, on account of its simplicity. A typical Gujarati meal is usually
two curries, rotis, rice and dal - just imagine all the dirty dishes that pile up! That's
why I love this recipe so much, especially on days when I don't have a lot of time or
energy but I still want a comforting, home-cooked meal; it requires just one pot, and
once all the veggies are prepped, it comes together pretty quickly.
Pav Bhaji
(makes 3 cups bhaji, about 2 servings)
 Ingredients:
2 tbsp. canola or olive oil
1/4 tsp. whole mustard seeds (rai)
1/4 tsp. whole cumin seeds (jeera or jeeru)
1 c. (4 oz.) finely chopped onion, divided
1 c. (6 oz. ) peeled & finely chopped potato (I used small red
today because that's what I had on hand, but any type will work)
1 c. (4 oz. frozen) finely chopped cauliflower, thawed if using
frozen
1/2 c. (2.5 oz.) finely chopped carrots
~1/2 c. water
1 medium (7 oz.) tomato, chopped, or 1/2 of a 15-oz. can petite
diced tomatoes
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
1/8 tsp. red chili powder
2 tsp. pav bhaji masala (sold at most Indian grocery stores)
salt to taste
2 tbsp. + 1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. tomato paste (optional - use it if you have some around,
but it's not worth opening a fresh can just for this)
1/2 c. (3 oz. frozen) peas, thawed to room temperature if using
frozen
1/2 c. (0.75 oz.) chopped fresh cilantro, divided
ground pepper
Directions:
Heat oil in a large nonstick pot over medium-high heat. Add mustard
& cumin seeds, let them heat up just until they start to crackle & pop. Add
potato, cauliflower, 1/2 c. onion & carrots. Sautee 2-3 minutes, add 1/2 c. water,
cover and continue to cook over medium until potatoes are soft, adding extra water as
needed.
When the potato mixture has softened, mash everything with a potato
masher - if you don't feel comfortable handling a masher inside your pot, just smush all
the chunks everything with your spoon. Go ahead and use heavy hand; the mixture should
resemble really lumpy mashed potatoes. Add tomato, turmeric, red chili powder, pav bhaji
masala and salt. Stir well, cook until tomatoes have broken down and mostly dissolved
into the potato mixture. Stir in lemon juice and tomato taste, then gently stir in peas.
Continue cooking just until peas are heated through. Stir in 1/4 c. cilantro. Remove from
heat, serve with onion relish on toasted whole wheat rolls.
Onion relish: Combine remaining 1/2 c. onion, remaining 1/4 c.
cilantro, a few shakes of ground pepper, and 1 tbsp. lemon juice.
 Shortcuts & Variations:
- If you don't have/can't find pav bhaji masala, you can
substitute garam masala. Be careful, though; the heat of both masalas varies greatly from
brand to brand, so it's best to start out with just a little and add more to
taste.
- Save some prep time by using pre-packaged, diced onions
& potatoes (usually sold as hash brown or homefries mix, such as the Simply Potatoes
brand).
- Save some cooking time on the stove by microwaving the
potatoes, cauliflower & carrots with a few splashes of water before you add them to
the pot.
- For more protein, you can substitute cooked lentils for some
or all of the potatoes, or add crumbled tofu to the potato mixture for a vegan version of
paneer bhaji.
I had so much fun putting this together - thanks for inviting me
over to Veggie Meal Plans, Cassie!
Parikha is an engineer by day, and a knitter/crafter/hobbyist
photographer on the side. She lives in Washington, DC, and can be found online at
sixoneseven.blogspot.com and sixoneseven.etsy.com.
Article and images Copyright © 2008 Parikha. |
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Written by Cassie Young
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Thursday, August 21 2008 |
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 I whipped up another batch of chocolate sesame cookies after talking to Kathryn who suggested adding some spices in, specifically chilli. I thought her idea was brilliant so I tried it and actually ended up using a pinch of cayenne along with some cinnamon and cumin. And it works so well!
The mix doesn't make the cookies too spicy, but it does add another dimension of flavor along with a hint of something mysterious. The cookie recipe has now been updated and if you try it, do let me know what you think. And big thanks to Kathryn for sharing her wonderful idea. Speaking of sharing ideas, thanks to all of you who've taken the time to leave your smoothie ideas in the comments after I had asked for your help. I'm blown away by the great ideas you all had and am feeling so much more inspired now.  On to more site news as I promised to keep you posted. I have lined up three special guest bloggers for the last week of August here at Veggie Meal Plans. I'm absolutely thrilled they've agreed to come on board as each of them has something interesting and unique to bring to the table. You won't want to miss it, so do come back and check it out! Now I'm packing my bag along with a few cookies and some other food to head out on a little camping getaway. Wishing you all a glorious weekend!
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Written by Cassie Young
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Thursday, August 14 2008 |
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 I love smoothies but lately I seem to be in a sort of smoothie rut, making the same kind over and over, as though on auto-pilot: non-dairy milk or yogurt, frozen fruit and sometimes banana, oats or hemp added. It's very good, but I need a change!
So I thought I'd pop in and ask all of you what some of your favorite smoothie combinations are. Got any ideas to share? Hope you're all having a beautiful week!!
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Written by Cassie Young
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Monday, August 11 2008 |
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 I pulled an old recipe from the archives last night: lentil shepherd's pie with mashed potatoes on top. I've updated the recipe and have done away with the vegetarian Worcestershire I originally included as it just doesn't need it. I forgot how much we love this dish, and how wonderfully warm and hearty it is - something we both needed this cold, rainy weekend - and as a bonus, it's not at all hard to make!
Now a little site news: I'm taking a break from Veggie Meal Plans for the rest of August. All is well here, so no worries, but it's something I need to do as I take some time to rebalance, refresh, and work out some new goals and ideas. Of course comments will remain open (though they are moderated and can take time to appear) but if you need to get in touch directly, you can do so via email. Will keep you posted! From the archives: Lentil Shepherd's Pie with Chive Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
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Written by Cassie Young
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Saturday, July 26 2008 |
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 I was out mowing the lawn yesterday and noticed the saskatoon berries were finally starting to ripen! So pretty I couldn't resist photographing them. Then I greedily plucked all the ripe ones off the scraggly shrubs and went off in search of more.
Hit the jackpot a little deeper into the wilds of our property and found saskatoons about ten feet high and dripping with perfectly ripe clusters that I picked by the handful. I've got a few pounds worth and am going out for more later today. What am I doing with all the berries? I'm keeping some to eat fresh and using the rest to make saskatoon jam, mustard and maybe a vinegar. And to go with that jam will be a fresh baked loaf of dark rye beer bread - love the two combined. I made Dreena Burton's scrumptious blueberry oat squares a couple of days ago and am also thinking of making a saskatoon version to share with co-workers. So that's going to keep me busy in the kitchen for a bit. Oh, and I'm picking these here in northern British Columbia, but if you happen to be in or around the city of Saskatoon, check out Susan's list of U-pick farms at her site, Vert-à-Go. And if you've got saskatoons, I'd love to hear how you're using them! 
And for simple refreshment after mowing and berry-picking: iced green tea with pineapple mint, fresh from the garden, and a little agave nectar to sweeten - it's my favorite drink these days. (In the background of the photo are blueberry oat squares and a bowl of freshly picked saskatoon berries.) Oh, how I love summer... Wishing you all a splendid weekend!
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Written by Cassie Young
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Tuesday, July 22 2008 |
 What's on my plate: sweet and spicy beer baked beans, rye crispbread with avocado, cucumber and tomato and some fresh strawberries. The baked beans taste great hot or cold and they're even tastier after the flavors have had a chance to mingle a while. I'm thinking they'd probably freeze well too, but haven't tried that myself as we've already polished off the entire batch. Do any of you ever freeze baked beans? Stove-Top Sweet and Spicy Beer "Baked" Beans For ingredients that list a range of quantities (molasses, sugar, chipotle, vinegar) start with less and add more if needed - though you might want to keep in mind the flavors do concentrate some as the mixture reduces down while cooking. I included smoked paprika in the recipe, but I'm not sure it contributed much, so skip it if you'd like. 1-2 teaspoons oil, for sauteing 1 onion, diced 1 sweet bell pepper, diced 2 garlic gloves, minced 4 cups cooked navy beans, drained 1 bottle (341ml) of your favorite beer
3-4 tablespoons cider vinegar 3-4 tablespoons light molasses 3-4 tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar 3 tablespoons tomato paste 1 heaping tablespoon mustard, any kind you like 1/2-1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon allspice Heat oil in a pot and saute onions, bell pepper and garlic until softened. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until thickened to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4 1/2-5 cups. Related Articles: |
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