Simply Healthy

Here are some of our favorite recipes, made as we used to make them - very simple, quick, and easy.   They are great for times when you are under stress or time pressures or for the beginner cook.   Most of my 5 ingredient or less recipes used to involve meat, but these are all meat-free. 

Tips for simplifying soups and stews:

• Buy canned or frozen beans, low or no sodium
• Use lentils as a soup base (they cook much faster)
• Buy frozen vegetables to add to your soups
• Buy frozen greens to add to your soups
• Buy frozen, chopped onions & bell peppers to add to your soup.  These can be sold separately or as a cooking mix.  
• Buy minced garlic in the jar. 
• Use a store bought or make-your-own seasoning blend that works for all soups. Then, customizing the individual soup only takes 1 or 2 separate spices.   (See recipe below).
• Buy pre-chopped mushrooms
• Buy other fresh vegetables in the packaged produce section (as in, sno peas, shredded carrots, shredded broccoli slaw, and so on)
• Buy jarred tomatoes or tubes of tomato paste. 

STOCK:
All about stock -  you can use a canned vegetable stock or a vegetable juice base like carrots, or you can make your own.   Now, this one won't be as fast as opening a can, but the taste doesn't compare either.    A very simple way to make stock is to heat a teaspoon of oil or a half cup of water in a sauté pan, then add chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic, and mushrooms to it.  Let it simmer while you gather your other soup ingredients.   You'll know it's ready by its aroma and by the onions turning translucent.   You can make it as you make the soup or make it in advance and freeze in individual portions (approximately 1-2 cups of the mix per batch of soup).    ALL of my soups start the same way – heating the onions, mushrooms, garlic and so on in a pan.   It’s a running joke around here that I get those things going in the pan even before I know what I’m cooking.   If you use canned or jarred stock or juice, you can skip the sauté step if you want and just add the ingredients in blue to the soup, but I'll say it's usually always worth taking the few minutes to sauté. 

Seasoning blends – ours has equal parts black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika, and a 1/4^th portion of cayenne and/or crushed red pepper.    Make your own, store it and save lots of time when you cook. 

Black Bean Chili, Simplified 

http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/09/black-bean-chili.html

Really, this chili can be made from any bean you have or any combination of beans.   Many times, we've popped in the three leftover cans of navy, pinto, and black beans to scrounge up a batch of chili.  

3 Sisters Stew

http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/10/three-sisters-harvest-soup.html

Quick Lentil Soup

http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/10/quick-soup-healthy-soup.html

Split Pea and Carrot Soup

http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/10/split-peas-and-carrots-soup.html

Cheezy Kale Soup

http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2013/01/cheezy-kale-soup.html

Other simple meals:

Vegetable fajitas   http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/08/veggie-fajitas.html

Rice bowls   http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2013/03/rice-bowls.html

Lettuce bundles -  http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/08/lettuce-bundles.html

Pasta with hidden vegetables - http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2013/02/kid-friendly-pasta-with-hidden-goodness.html

Breakfast – Apple Pie Oatmeal http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2013/02/apple-pie-oatmeal.html

Baked goods – health nut cookies http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2013/03/health-nut-cookie-bars.html

or banana bread http://plantbites.blogspot.com/2012/09/banana-bread.html

Carob Date Nut Cubes

This original recipe is from the Dr Fuhrman website.  It works well as a fudge type dessert or a Lara bar replacement.  You can flavor the bars as desired.

Ingredients:

10 oz raw cashews
3 oz raw blanched almonds
1 oz walnuts
1 oz raw sunflower seeds
4 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
14 oz pitted dates
3 oz carob powder
2 tsp vanilla

Optional flavor variations/ingredients:  vanilla, coconut, dried fruits.


Finely chop nuts and seeds in food processor.  Add dates to the processor and finely chop.

Pour mixture into a large bowl and add carob powder.  Hand mix and knead until fully blended.

Pour into 7x11 in pan and press down until level and firm.  Cover with wax paper and refrigerate to cool.  Cut into cubes or bars.

The mix is almost 1:1 nuts/seeds:dates.

You can reserve some nuts to mix in as bigger pieces.

You can add other dried fruits to vary the taste.

Tofu Mushroom Bean Burgers

That title is quite a mouthful, but this is a somewhat complex burger.    It's not hard to make, and it finally converted my bean-burger-hating son over to the dark side.   He's eating a double patty burger as I type this. 




Ingredients:
1 pound organic, sprouted tofu, drained
1 can beans or equivalent in fresh cooked beans
1 cup oats, whole or processed into flour

1/2 pound mushrooms
1/2 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1/2 bell pepper
green chiles, 1 small can or equivalent fresh peppers
1 large tomato, diced
1 cup spinach (or more)

seasonings:  cayenne or crushed red pepper, to taste, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, etc.


Chop the vegetables and saute in a teaspoon of olive oil or 1/2 cup water.   When onions are translucent, let vegetable mixture cool, then add to tofu, beans, oats, and seasonings in the food processor and process until smooth or nearly so.    Taste the batter to test the seasonings - there's nothing animal based to worry about eating raw.

Bake in 350 degree oven until firm, flipping at least once.   Or, pan fry on the stove top with a mist of olive oil.    We generally bake them since we do so many at once.

General Tso

Another favorite chinese restaurant order, made over.    It disappeared too fast to take a picture, so next time we will both double the recipe and snap a picture quickly.    There's no getting around that this one is high in sodium, so either budget for it or reduce the higher sodium ingredients.


Ingredients:

1 pound extra firm tofu (organic, sprouted tofu)
1 pound bag frozen vegetables (asparagus stir fry mix or broccoli florets, etc).
1 teaspoon oil (optional)

8 dried red chilis or 1/4 tsp dried red chili flakes
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thin sliced
1 tsp white sesame seeds (optional)

Sauce:
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tsp hoison sauce (or oyster)
2 tsp chili sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tablespoons sweetener (honey, date syrup, etc)


Rinse, drain the tofu then cut into cubes or thin slices.  Pan "fry" it or bake it until firm.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Cook the frozen vegetables (stove or microwave).   You can steam the equivalent amount of fresh vegetables, also.  We use frozen for the convenience and because fresh vegetables disappear too fast here.

Prepare the sauce:   1 a small bowl, stir together ingredients. 

In the tofu pan, add the dried chilis, garlic, ginger, and white scallion pieces and stir fry until fragrant, about 40 seconds.  Then, add the sauce and stir until thickened, about 1 minute.  Add the cooked tofu into the sauce and toss to coat.   

Serve the sauce over the broccoli, toss gently to coat the vegetables with the sauce and sprinkle the scallion greens and sesame seeds over the dish.    Serve this over cooked, brown rice or even over steamed greens.