Tag Archives: basil

Coconutty Tofu and Egglant with Basil

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I just love the summer produce here in Georgia!  Berries, basil, eggplant, melons, black-eyed peas, figs, corn, peppers, jalapenos, squash, okra, and so much more!

I just purchased a bunch of long, skinny eggplants (Asian eggplants), garlic, and red onions along with other delicious items from the farmers market.  And, I decided to experiment with it.  I was inspired by an eggplant/tofu/basil dish I had in the past, at a  Vietnamese restaurant here in town.  I already had the tofu in my fridge and the basil in my backyard, so I gave it a shot.

I experimented with the ingredients until it tasted delicious.  So, now here it is.

This dish is easy, quick, delicious, filling, and pretty healthy.  It goes very well with both quinoa and brown rice.  Today, I served it with quinoa.

Ingredients:

  • 1 block of extra firm tofu (sliced in 1 inch blocks)
  • 1/2 cup of vegetable broth
  • 1 large red onion (sliced lengthwise)
  • 4 large cloves of garlic (minced)
  • 2/3 cup of fresh basil (chopped)
  • 3 medium-sized long eggplant (sliced 1 to 1.5 inches in length)
  • 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 4 tablespoons of shredded coconut
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of sriracha hot sauce (optional)
  • liquid aminos to taste

Directions:

  1. Prepare your veggies.
  2. Cook rice or quinoa.
  3. Heat up your pan/skillet.
  4. Add coconut oil.
  5. Add garlic and saute for less than a minute.
  6. Then add tofu, onions, eggplant, and broth.
  7. Cook for 10 minutes.
  8. Add liquid aminos to taste (I use this instead of salt)
  9. Cook for a bit longer until the liquid is gone.
  10. Then add basil and the shredded coconut.
  11. Cook for another minute or two.
  12. Serve over rice or quinoa.
  13. Enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Tangy Tofu

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Dinner!

Ingredients:

  • Spinach
  • 1 large tomato (sliced)
  • 1 package of firm tofu (sliced)
  • Sprouts (alfalfa or clover)
  • 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
  • Seasoned salt for the tofu
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Olive oil spray (to grease the pan)
  • Fresh basil (chopped)

Vinaigrette Dressing:

  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons of aged balsamic vinaigrette
  • 1 a small clove of finely minced garlic
  • a dash of Tabasco or any hot sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions for the tofu:

  1. Grease the pan with olive oil spray.
  2. Add tofu.
  3. Add lemon juice.
  4. Sprinkle on the seasoned salt and Italian dressing.
  5. Serve with your salad.

^Note:  You can also make a vegan capri with these ingredients.  Just add miso to the lemon juice and Italian seasoning, and saute with the tofu.  Then, add basil and dressing.

Roasted Garlic White Bean Spread with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil

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Tonight, I served up a roasted garlic white bean spread with sun-dried tomatoes and basil on a freshly baked bread.

Yep, my house smells delicious!

Ingredients for the ROASTED GARLIC WHITE BEAN SPREAD:

  • 3 cups of cannellini beans (soaked overnight and then cook in medium heat for 3 hours..or until it is soft)
  • 1 whole bulb of roasted garlic
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/8 cup of cold pressed olive oil
  • 3 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
  • 1.5 teaspoons of dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon of celtic or ancient sea salt (note add a little bit and taste…add more if you need to)
  • 1/4 teaspoon of paprika
  • pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook the beans.
  2. Roast garlic.

    Slice top off of the garlic, drizzle with a little olive oil, and wrap in aluminum foil.Bake in a 400 degree oven or toaster for 45 minutes.

    And, TADA, it will look like this!...plus your house will smell like delicious roasted goodness...

  3. Make the bread.  For super EASY bread recipe, CLICK HERE.
  4. Now it is time to make the BEAN SPREAD!

    Place all of the ingredients in the food processor. And, blend together for a few minutes.

  5. Slice the bread.
  6. Spread the bean paste on your freshly baked crusty bread.
  7. Add organic sun-dried tomatoes (re-hydrated of course).
  8. Top it off with fresh basil.
  9. Enjoy with some VEGAN wine (The Daily Red).
  10. …or just some water :)

Pesto with Quionoa Pasta Noodles

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Ingredients for pesto sauce:

  • 2 qt bag or 1 to 1.5 cups of fresh basil
  • 2 cups of fresh spinach
  • 1.5 cloves of an elephant garlic or 4 to 6 cloves of regular garlic (NOTE: We love lots of garlic in our pasta, if you don’t, then reduce your amount to a few cloves of garlic.
  • 2/3 cup of nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pine nuts (Note: I sometimes add a few tablespoons of cashews to make it a bit creamier)
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1 fresh tomato (medium)
  • salt
  • pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook quinoa noodles..
  2. First saute the pine nuts and cashews (cashew optional) in a little bit of olive oil until it is brown and toasted.
  3. After it is toasted, place the nuts in the food processor with oil, tomato, nutritional yeast, and garlic.
  4. Process together until it is smooth.
  5. Add spinach and basil, then process again for a few minutes.
  6. Add salt ant pepper to taste.
  7. Add to quinoa noodles.
  8. Top it off with some more pine nuts (optional).
  9. Enjoy!

Quinoa Pasta Vegan Pesto Salad

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We love basil!  We love pesto!  We love quinoa pasta! :)

Ingredients for pesto sauce:

  • 2 qt bag or 1 to 1.5 cups of fresh basil
  • 2 cups of fresh spinach
  • 1.5 cloves of an elephant garlic or 4 to 6 cloves of regular garlic.  (NOTE: We love lots of garlic in our pasta, if you don’t, then reduce your amount to a few cloves of garlic.
  • 2/3 cup of nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pine nuts (Note: I sometimes add a few tablespoons of cashews to make it a bit creamier)
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1 fresh tomato (medium)
  • salt
  • pepper

Veggies to mix in the salad: Today, I just used ONE CUP of steamed peas, but usually I would add lightly steamed broccoli along with it.

Directions:

  1. Cook veggie quinoa pasta (I used the curly pasta).
  2. First saute the pine nuts and cashews (cashew optional) in a little bit of olive oil until it is brown and toasted.
  3. After it is toasted, place the nuts in the food processor with oil, tomato, nutritional yeast, and garlic.
  4. Process together until it is smooth.
  5. Add spinach and basil, then process again for a few minutes.
  6. Add salt ant pepper to taste.
  7. Mix sauce with cooked veggie quinoa pasta.
  8. Serve hot or cold.
  9. Enjoy!

Raw Vegan Mung Bean Sprout Salad

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Sorry, I didn't have enough time to "plate" it. :) .....I was hungry! LOL

This salad is so tasty and healthy, I just can’t get enough of it!  By the way, this took less than 10 minutes to throw together (besides the sprouting, that is).

I just posted a mung bean salad with quinoa recipe on here recently, if you are interested….also, it will have info on sprouting.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of mung bean sprouts
  • 1 large tomato (diced)
  • 1/4 to 1/3 of a red onion (diced)
  • 1 large bell pepper
Dressing:
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil or 2 tablespoon of cold pressed coconut with 1 tablespoon of cold pressed olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh minced basil
  • 2 cloves of minced garlic
  • dried parsley and oregano (a few pinches each)
  • 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • sea salt and pepper to taste

Mung Bean Sprout and Quinoa Salad

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Here is a new and delicious dish I put together today!

Here is how I did it….

First you sprout!

  • Soak mung beans over night in a jar covered with cheese cloth.  Note: use rubber band to keep cheese cloth in place.
  • Rinse and pour out all of the water from the soaked mung beans.
  • Then place jar diagonally in a bowl, like picture below.
  • Wash mung beans 2 times a day.  You can have them grow 1 to 2 inches in length…but, I just kept them short.  I just let it sit for a little bit more than 1.5 days.
  • It is ready to eat after washing.

Note: You can cook them for a few minutes in boiling water if you want to decrease your chances of ingesting a bad bacteria :)

After 1.5 days of sprouting.

Note: Sprouting of the mung beans increases calcium, iron, protein quality, fiber, vitamin A, B, and C.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 1.5 cups of sprouted mung beans
  • 1/2 cup of bell peppers (diced)
  • 2 medium tomatoes (diced)
  • 1/4 of cup of red onions (diced)
  • steamed corn for topping (optional)
  • spinach

Salad Dressing:

  • 4 tablespoons of cold pressed coconut oil
  • 4 tablespoons of Bragg’s all natural apple cider vinegar (raw)
  • 1 clove of garlic (minced)
  • 3 pinches of dried oregano
  • 2 pinches of dried basil
  • 1 pinch of dried cilantro (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Prepare sprouts
  2. Cook quinoa
  3. Steam. corn
  4. Prepare veggies (mince, slice, and dice)
  5. Place quinoa and prepared veggies in a bowl and mix in dressing.  Then, place over a bed of spinach.
  6. Top off with corn (optional)
  7. Enjoy!


Vegan Stuffed Portobello Mushroom over Quinoa

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Oh, mushrooms….I just love them so much!

I just put this all together today…and it turned out very tasty!

Ingredients:

  • Cooked quinoa
  • 4 large portobello mushrooms
  • 1 package of firm tofu (frozen and thawed)
  • 1/2 of a large tomato (diced)
  • 1 cup of fresh spinach
  • 1/4 of a large red onion (diced)
  • 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
  • 1.5 teaspoons of dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon of dried basil
  • 1.5 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
  • Daiya vegan mozzarella “cheese”
  • olive oil
  • balsamic vinegarrette
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook quinoa
  2. After the tofu has thawed, drain and squeeze the excess water off.
  3. Brush off portobello mushrooms and remove the stems.
  4. Make the marinade for the mushroom:  3 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette, salt, and pepper (just keep adding the salt little by little until the marinade tastes good to you).
  5. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and add the onions, garlic, oregano, and basil.  After you sweat the onions, add the tofu.  Note: smash the tofu with your hands and place it into the pan.  Keep stirring and cook on medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes.
  6. Add Nutritional yeast, spinach, tomato, and lemon juice to the tofu.  Cook for another minute then set aside.
  7. Dip the mushroom in the marinade and place on a baking pan (top side down).
  8. Stuff the mushrooms with the tofu and veggies.
  9. Top it off with vegan “cheese”.
  10. Preheat oven 370 degrees.
  11. Bake stuffed mushrooms for 15 to 20 minutes.
  12. Serve over quinoa.

Tofu and veggies

Getting ready to pop them in the oven.

Serve over quinoa.

Quick and Healthy Lunch: Tomato Sandwich with Spinach Salad

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Tomato Sandwich with a Spinach Salad

For some reason, I always crave this meal!…tomato sandwich with a spinach salad…
It is delicious, healthy, and super quick to put together.  It makes me feel full without that “heavy” feeling.
 

Tomato Sandwich:

  • Lightly toasted sprouted whole wheat bread (2 slices= 10 grams of protein)
  • WAYFARE “cheese” spread
  • 2 thick slices of tomato
  • a pinch of basil

All natural, vegan, gluten free, non gmos, and kosher. http://www.wayfarefoods.com

***Note: grilling the sandwich makes it even better…but, you will also add a little bit more oil/fat.  Grill with Earth Balance VEGAN butter.

Salad:

  • Spinach
  • Shitake vinaigrette dressing
  • Sprouts
  • Carrots
  • Vegan croutons
  • Topped off with HEMP SEEDS

(Note: 2 tablespoons contains 11 grams of protein and omega 3 and 6.)

If you are worried about protein, this whole meal contains around 20 grams of protein.  That is more than half of what I need in a day.

Eggplant Soup!

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This soup is awesome!   Not only is it  “feel good” soup,  but the ingredients in the soup are very good for you, which is what you need during this time of year when everyone is sick!

**Eggplant contains fiber and protein.  It is also known for its high mineral content, high vitamin content, and antioxidant properties.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large eggplant
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 medium sized carrot
  • 4 cups of vegetable broth (you may adjust the amount of vegetable broth…just in case you want it a little thicker)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
  • 1 teaspoon of basil
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
  2. Slice veggies and toss it with olive oil and a few pinches of salt and pepper (onions, garlic, tomato, carrot, and eggplant).
  3. Bake veggies for 30 to 40 minutes.  Then, peel off the eggplant skin (optional…if the skin is too tough).   Note: if you want to keep the skins on, bake the whole eggplant wrapped in aluminum foil.
  4. In a food processor, process veggies.
  5. In a pot, boil the vegetable broth with basil and thyme, then add the processed veggies, salt and pepper.

Serve with a vegan sandwich or just vegan whole wheat bread.

Enjoy!