Daily Vegan Lunch for 17 May, 2013: Asparagus Mushroom Lemon Pasta

INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon oil
18 stalks chopped asparagus, bottoms trimmed off and thick parts cut in half
1/2 a lemon’s juice
2 cloves garlic
2 cups white button mushrooms, sliced and roughly chopped

6 cups cooked spaghetti

Fry asparagus in oil on medium-high heat in a large, heavy pan until slightly charred. Add mushrooms, toss until they are browned. Add garlic last, cooking until garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn off heat and add cooked spaghetti or other pasta. Pour fresh lemon juice over the mixture and toss.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 16 May, 2013: Avocado Salsa Hummus Burritos

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup hummus per burrito, homemade or store bought
2 Tablespoons salsa per burrito
Shredded lettuce
Slices of avocado (I used 2 slices per burrito)

1 soft tortilla

HOMEMADE HUMMUS INGREDIENTS

2 cups chickpeas
1/2 cup sesame seeds and 1 tablespoon olive oil OR
1/2 cup tahini
2 teaspoons salt
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup cashews or walnuts (optional)
1 cup roasted sweet bell pepper (optional)
1/2 a lemon’s juice

HUMMUS DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until very smooth, 2-5 minutes.

BURRITO DIRECTIONS:

Spread hummus in an oblong line down the center of burrito slightly to one side, layer on all other ingredients. Roll away from yourself, tucking in the sides as you go.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 15 May, 2013: Sweet Avocado Grapefruit Mango Kale Salad

ah, to live the life of kiki.

INGREDIENTS:

5 cups curly kale, massaged and torn into small bits
1 mango, skinned, pitted, and chopped
1/2 a grapefruit, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 avocado, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup orange juice only if mango is not very juicy
1 tablespoon agave nectar (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Massage kale by washing thoroughly (I use vegetable wash spray) and rinsing. Sprinkle the wet kale with about a teaspoon of salt and abuse it by wringing it in your fingers, mashing, twisting, and generally maligning it until it is tender.

Peel the mango, slicing it off of the pit. Chop mango into small pieces. If the mango is not juicy, you’ll add 1/2 cup orange juice to the salad later.

Mix kale with all other ingredients until well-combined. Add orange juice if necessary.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 14 May, 2013: Zucchini Ziti

Let’s doctor up a dull marinara sauce!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tablespoon oil
1 zucchini, finely chopped
1.5 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon each: fennel, dill, basil, oregano
1/2 jar of marinara sauce, about 1.5 cups
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup water

5 cups cooked ziti or other pasta

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pan, fry zucchini and onion in oil on medium heat until onion is translucent. Add garlic and herbs, stir until fragrant. Add spaghetti sauce, nutritional yeast, and water and stir well until heated through.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 13 May, 2013: Vegan Cheesy Broccoli Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup onion
1 teaspoon oil
2 cups broccoli, chopped
2 cups water
One veggie broth cube or 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 Tablespoons flour, any kind (I used chickpea flour a.k.a. besan)

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Fry onion in oil in the bottom of a pot on medium heat until translucent. Add broccoli, water, and broth cube or soy sauce. Some people prefer to cook the broccoli a lot, until it is soft and mushy. I don’t do this: since it is going to be blended into a smooth soup anyway, I prefer not to overcook the broccoli. Once broccoli is bright green and ever so slightly soft, transfer the broccoli-broth-onion mixture to a blender. Blend until broccoli is pureed and smooth, up to five minutes depending on the blender. Reserve 1/2 cup of puree and mix it with 2 tablespoons of flour to make a slurry. I used chickpea flour, otherwise known as besan. It is sold in most Indian grocery stores and is nothing more than ground up dried chickpeas. If you use a non-wheat flour like besan, this recipe is easily gluten free.

Dump soup back into the cooking pot. Add nutritional yeast and the flour slurry. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Add salt if needed.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 12 May, 2013: Kale Mary Smoothie

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup tomatoes
1 cup broccoli
1 cup kale
1 Tablespoon onion
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 Tablespoon vegan Worchestershire sauce
1 clove garlic
1 cup water

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a high powered blender. Blend until smooth.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 11 May 2013: Sunflower Seed Couscous and Asparagus

INGREDIENTS

9 stalks fresh asparagus
1 teaspoon oil

1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup onion, minced
1 cup couscous (I used whole wheat organic couscous)
2 to 2.5 cups water depending on what kind of couscous you use

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Wash asparagus and trim off white ends, chop into small pieces, cutting thick bottoms in half if necessary. In a sturdy pan on medium high heat, fry asparagus in a small amount of oil until it is a tiny bit charred. Flip the pieces a couple of times and salt to taste (I used coarse salt).

For couscous, fry onions and sunflower seeds in a separate pot from the asparagus over medium heat in 1 tablespoon of oil until onion is translucent and sunflower seeds are slightly toasted. Add couscous and water, mix well, cover, and take off heat. Let the couscous incubate until it absorbs all the water, about five minutes.

Serve asparagus on top of couscous, or mixed in, or on the side, in the crook of your shillelagh, etc.