Spiralized Raw Veggie Salad

I recently acquired my new favorite kitchen tool… A Spiralizer! This slicer turns a zucchini, beet, potato or any other veggie into long, noodle-like spirals, giving you a new way to prepare and present food. There are other blades that came with the contraption, but I’ve yet to try them out. In this tasty raw recipe, all of the vegetables have been put through the basic spiral blade. If you want one of these for yourself, check out the Paderno Spiralizer, which is the model I purchased.

Raw Spiral Salad

By Caroline MacDonald

Serves 5-6 as a side dish

Ingredients:

Spiral Veggies-

2 large zucchini

2 large carrots, peeled

2 beets, scrubbed and peeled

Dressing-

1/2 c lemon juice

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

2 T balsamic vinegar

1/4 t cayenne pepper

lots of lemon pepper, to taste

Step 1: Chop the ends off of each veggie and run through the spiralizer. Combine all veggies in a large bowl and toss until evenly mixed. Don’t be alarmed if the veggies start to tangle; this is bound to happen and is helped by using tongs as serving tools.

            

Step 2: Whisk together all dressing ingredients and pour over veggies. Toss until evenly coated. For best flavor, let the veggies marinate for a couple hours.

Serve Chilled.

Enjoy!

~Caroline~

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

My friend Paige and I were overdue for a cooking night. Our choice? Stuffed bell peppers! Since neither of us had ever made this dish, we decided it would be safest to follow a recipe. Next time I'll definitely create my own! This yummy recipe is protein packed and was really delicious. I added a little extra heat to up the Mexican-style feel of the dish. It would still taste great without the spice, which I why I put "to taste" next to the cayenne. I can't wait to create my own fillings in the future!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients:
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 T olive oil
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 T ground cumin
Cayenne pepper, to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, partly thawed
2 15-oz  cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
15 oz can black beans, no salt added, rinsed and drained
3/4 c dry quinoa
3 carrots, peeled and grated
1 c shredded cheese (I used vegan cheese)
4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed

Step 1: Heat oil over medium-high heat and saute onion, celery, and garlic until tender and fragrant. Add cumin and cayenne and saute for another minute. Reduce heat to medium, add tomatoes and spinach and cook for 5 minutes or until liquid is mostly evaporated (there will still be some, which is ok).

Step 2: Stir in beans, quinoa, and carrots, as well as 2 cups water. You can use a little less water is there is still a lot of water from the spinach and tomatoes. Bring this to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Quinoa should be tender. Stir in cheese.

Step 3: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour tomato juice in the bottom of a baking pan. Fill each pepper half  as full as possible with quinoa mixture and place in baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before eating.

Enjoy!

~Caroline~

Italian-Seasoned Veggie Sauté

I'm always looking for new sources of protein and this week's discovery (though it has been around for a while) was seitan! I had tried a bit of southwestern-style seitan from the Whole Foods salad bar and was immediately hooked. The texture is really great and I discovered that I can buy it in a wide variety of flavors! After proceeding to the refrigerated section of the store, I chose Upton's Naturals Italian-style seitan. Two words: Absolutely delicious. Here's the recipe I chose to incorporate it into!

Italian-Seasoned Spring Sauté
By Caroline Mac
Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:
2 oz Italian-style seitan, chopped
1/2 c chick peas
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/3 c sliced white mushrooms
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 leaves fresh basil, chopped
Handful of mixed leafy greens (I used Trader Joe's Power Greens)
1/2 T olive oil
1/2 t Penzey's Green Goddess dressing seasoning
Lemon pepper to taste
Splash balsamic vinegar

Step 1: Add olive oil celery, carrots, mushrooms, basil, and garlic to a pan and heat over medium-high heat. Saute mixture until garlic becomes fragrant and veggies begin to tenderize.

Step 2: Add chick peas and seitan and continue stirring until everything becomes heated through. Add Greens, seasoning, and balsamic vinegar and saute until greens become wilted and soft.

Serve warm.

Enjoy!

~Caroline~

Hearty Vegetable Soup

It's a snow day today! That means I can post some of the stuff I've been accumulating!

I haven't made soup from scratch in a very long time. On Sunday, I decided it was time to change that. The result was a hearty (and easy!) soup packed with colorful veggies in a flavorful broth!

Note: This makes a LOT of soup. I won't have to cook at all this week, as a result. I also thought the soup tasted even better after sitting in the fridge overnight, since the flavors had time to come together; so don't be afraid of leftovers!

Hearty Vegetable Soup

By Caroline Mac

Ingredients: 

4 c low sodium vegetable broth

1 can low sodium kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 white onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

4 celery stalks, thinly sliced

10 asparagus spears, chopped

1.5 c broccoli florets, broken into smaller pieces

1 c sliced white mushrooms

1  14-oz can diced, no salt added tomatoes in juice

1/2 c chopped fresh basil

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 t chili powder

1t ground cumin

1 1/4 t salt

1/4 t ground black pepper

1/2 t Penzey's Trinidad Lemon Garlic marinade

Step 1: Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add all vegetables and garlic and saute until they begin to tenderize and onions turn translucent. This may take a little while, due to the large amount of veggies. 

Step 2: Add chili powder, cumin and basil and stir for another 2-3 minutes. 

Step 3: Add vegetable broth, tomatoes, and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Add salt and Trinidad marinade. Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Step 4: Serve warm! Refrigerate remaining soup for delicious leftovers.

Enjoy!

~Caroline~

Balsamic Beet and Carrot Salad

Hi all! It's been FOREVER since I've posted a recipe, so I figured I'd stop being lazy and post something. I had a bunch of beets from Trader Joe's in the fridge, so I decided to use them up.


I don't think I used as many veggies as the original recipe called for, so there was a lot of excess dressing. Just know that you may have some tasty dressing left over to use on future salads.

Balsamic Beet and Carrot Salad
Adapted from Simple Spoon
Ingredients:
1 package Trader Joe's pre-cooked beets (or 3-4 cooked beets)
1-2 cups baby carrots
1/2 cup raw almonds
Crumbled Feta cheese for topping
1T agave syrup
Sea salt

Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette
15 basil leaves, shredded
2 cloves minced garlic

Step 1: Heat saute pan to medium. Add almonds and cook until fragrant, stirring regularly but not constantly. Once they've darkened slightly and are fragrant, turn off heat and add agave. Stir until almonds are evenly coated. Sprinkle with salt. Transfer to a clean plate. Syrup will solidify, creating candied almonds!

Step 2: Steam baby carrots until al dente.

Step 2: Add all dressing ingredients together and mix until homogenous. Drizzle beets and carrots with dressing and top with feta cheese and almonds.

Enjoy!

Southwestern Tofu Scramble

Until just a couple weeks ago, I had never eaten a tofu scramble! Crazy right? A vegetarian that has never had this dish... Well, it turns out that I love it. My initiation into tofu-scramble-dom occurred at Whole Foods. They had a Cajun tofu scramble with Cajun sweet potatoes.

It turns out that making a tofu scramble is incredibly easy. I think they're generally made for breakfast, but I did it for dinner. My dad got me a gift of gourmet spices at a cooking shop near my studio, including Southwestern seasoning, a Singapore seasoning, and an Balti seasoning. I've made it my goal to make something each night with these spices as the inspiration. Tonight was Southwestern night. I found a basic recipe online and decided on my own spices and serving suggestion.

Check back in tomorrow for a new Asian recipe!

Southwestern Tofu Scramble
Inspired by Vegetarian Times
Ingredients:
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 clove garlic, minced
2t Southwestern seasoning
1 16-oz package extra firm tofu, rinsed, drained, and crumbled
1-2t Mexican hot sauce
2T cilantro, chopped
Salsa verde, for garnish
1/2 avocado, garnish
Olive oil for saute

Step 1: In a large sillet, saute pepper and carrots in olive oil over medium-high heat until tender. Add Onions, garlic, and seasoning and cook for a couple more minutes.

Step 2: Add Tofu and hot sauce, stir until evenly mixed and cook until heated through.

Step 3: Stir in cilantro.

Step 4: Serve topped with salsa and avocado. You can also add more hot sauce if you prefer a spicier dish.

Enjoy!