Quinoa Croquettes

I've been making these croquettes a lot lately, I never use black eyed beans though, and substitute whatever I have on hand so far I've tried kidney beans, chickpeas and cannelloni beans. They are so versitile too, each time we have served them in a different way, one night we had them with pasta and tomato based sauce and a cheesy sauce, another night with mashed potatoes and gravy and last night we took them to a potluck with a tangy dipping sauce. They freeze really well too. I recommend doubling or tripling this recipe and freezing what you don't need.

Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes from vegan with a vengeance

1 1/2 cups cooked black-eyed peas, drained, or 1 can, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 cup cooked quinoa, at room temperature

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp paprika

For the bread crumb coating:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used gf breadcrumbs)

1/8 tsp sea salt

Few dashes of black pepper

1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

2 tsp olive oil


1.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (350°F) degrees. Mash the black-eyed peas (or whatever beans you subsitute) and combine with the olive oil and soy sauce until just blended. I made it with food processor last night but they become too soft. Add the quinoa and spices and combine the mixture. You should be able to mould them into balls that readily stick together.

2.

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the breading. Spray a baking pan with a little oil. Form the croquettes into walnut-sized balls. Gently roll the balls between your palms 3-4 times, then flatten out the ends so that the croquettes resemble marshmallows. Coat each ball with the bread crumbs and place on the baking sheet. When all the croquettes have been formed, spray lightly with oil. Bake for 40 minutes, turning once after 20 minutes.

Excuse this slightly blurry pic

Lentil Quinoa Stew

I'm bacckkkkkkkkk. Or rather my camera is back.

This dish is a regular winter dish in our household. I can't believe I haven't blogged about it before. It ticks all of the boxes: healthy, cheap, delicious, easy and it's a one pot meal. I really wanted to caculate how much this soup was but was too tricky because a few things were out of the food co-op box, and the quinoa was bought in bulk from costco.

We served ours this week with some gf toast with margarine and nooch.

Lentil Quinoa Stew from La Dolce Vegan

1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 ½ cups vegetable stock
½ cup dry red lentils
¼ cup quinoa
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 medium tomato, diced
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coriander, chopped (we often skip it or replace it with whatever we have on hand, we used parsley this week)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté the onion in oil until translucent. Add the celery, carrots and garlic and sauté for five minutes. Add the stock, lentils, quinoa, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover with lid and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are tender.

In a food processor or with a hand blender, blend half of the soup until smooth (I always skip this step since I like it with a bit of texture). Return to pot, stir in tomatoes, vinegar and coriander reheat and serve.

Spabetties Seven Layer Tacos- Vegan MOFO Day 13

It was only a matter of time before I blogged about a recipe from a vegan mofo post as I have been

bookmarking so many new recipes,so many great ideas!

These are delicious, and I love the idea of quinoa in tacos so much more nutritious than my previous tacos. I loved the cashew cheese too. Really need to make cashew cheese more often.

Here is the recipe from xgfx blog, she also has her own blog here.

 Seven layer tacos Ok so technically six, since I omitted the olives.

The Layers:

1. jalapeno beans
2. salsa spiced quinoa
3. noocho cheese sauce
4. chopped lettuce and scallions
5. chopped tomatoes
6. cubed avocado
7. jalapeno soaked olives

Layer in hard corn taco shells, or in a serving dish as a seven layer dip. I have served these in small bowls as individual dips as well. No measurements for this – make as little or as much as you want, with layers as thick or thin as you want.
Base layer – canned pinto beans (drained) and chopped jalapeno:  2 cans beans and 2 seeded jalapenos, processed in food processor to a blend of chunky/creamy. I also fried this for a few minutes so it was warm and used chilli flakes.
Second layer – salsa spiced quinoa – quinoa cooked with dried and powdered “salsa flavors” added to the water: I used 1 cup quinoa to 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth, I added 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 teaspoons chili flakes, 1 teaspoon chili powder, bring to boil then simmer 25 minutes.
Third layer – noocho cheese sauce / dip. Recipe follows.
Fourth through seventh layers – layer the lettuce and scallions, then tomato, then avocado, then olives.


This noocho cheese has gained notoriety as well – it is a favorite in our house and many others. A perfect blend of spicy heat, a subtle buttery sweet from cashews, and the cheesy nutritional yeast – my cravings for this border on obsessive.

noocho cheese sauce

vegan, gluten free, dairy free
1 cup raw cashews, soaked
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce (we used less as we are wusses when it comes to heat)
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Begin with soaked cashews – process alone to an almost creamy consistency. Add lemon juice, Tabasco and a couple tablespoons of the water – continue processing until smooth. While processing, add garlic, nutritional yeast, paprika, chili and onion powders, stopping to scrape sides. Add water until desired consistency is reached – more water for sauce, less for dip.

Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna-That Recipe Looks Familar

My last post for that recipe looks familiar involves lasagna, but not the regular kind. This uses zucchini instead of pasta and has a quinoa filling. Although the recipe is originally from another overseas blog, I only come across it when Vicki posted it for vegan mofo last year. I doubled this to make enough for dinner and leftovers for tomorrow and added more cheezly on top.

Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna from Peas and Thank You  as seen on Vicki Vegan
Serves 4-6

• 2 large zucchini, cut into 12 thin, 1/4 in. thick slices
• salt
• 1 c. quinoa, rinsed
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 1/2 c. tomato sauce
• 1/4 c. minced onion
• 1 t. dried oregano
• 1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 T. organic or non-dairy cream cheese (optional) tofutti sour cream
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 jar  marinara sauce
• 1/2 c.  non-dairy cheese

Preheat oven to 400.
To prepare zucchini, cut a strip off of one side to make a flat base.

Then, thinly slice zucchini into “noodles.”  You’ll want 12 noodles in total.

Place noodles in a colander and sprinkle with salt, layering between paper towels.

Let this sit and absorb moisture while preparing the quinoa.

Combine quinoa, vegetable broth, tomato sauce, onion and oregano in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.

Cover and lower heat, simmering for 20 minutes.
When quinoa has absorbed all the liquid, fold in cream cheese and herbs.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and try not to eat the whole pot.

Believe it or not, it gets better.
Pour enough of marinara in the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish to cover the bottom.  Using a clean dry towel, blot remaining moisture and salt from zucchini and layer 4 noodles across the sauce.

Put a layer of quinoa across the zucchini,

and cover with another 1/3 c. of marinara sauce.
Repeat with another layer of quinoa, sauce and zucchini.
Top the final layer of zucchini with remaining sauce and 1/2 c. of cheese, if using.

Bake lasagna for 30 minutes, until heated through and zucchini is tender.



Toby and I both enjoyed this and found it to be a great way to use up quinoa but probably prefer my mothers tofu lasagna if we had to choose, but then you always prefer you mothers cooking, right? Overall though the quinoa worked really well as a filling, it held together well and was quite feeling, I wonder how it would go if I combined the two recipes.

Quinoa Avocado Salad and Broccoli Chickpea Salad

To cope with the 40 degree weather we had a fortnight ago, I made two salads the day before. I'm not really a salad type gal, I think lettuce based salads are boring and unnecessary but if it the salad is based around beans/grains/noodles then it's a different story. Inspired by Michael's dish at a potluck, we made Quinoa avocado salad which seems to be a popular Melbourne salad lately, Steph recently blogged about and Emily started the blogging inspiration.

Quinoa Avocado Salad
serves 4
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup red or white quinoa, rinsed well
2 large lemons
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
2 medium firm-ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
5 sprigs coriander, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup almonds
4 tbs white sesame seeds (optional)

Freshly ground black pepper
In a medium bowl, soak the raisins in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside (I didn’t do this, but if yours are rock hard, then you should)
Heat saucepan and toast almonds until brown. Turn off heat and crush almonds with a mortar and pestle. Toss in sesame seeds in pan while pan is still hot, and toss it around till brown. Remove from heat.
In same saucepan, bring water, quinoa, and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Fluff with fork and leave to cool.
In a small bowl, zest and juice lemons. Whisk in olive oil, coriander, cumin, paprika, and 1/4 tsp. salt.
In a large bowl, toss vinaigrette with the quinoa, raisins, avocado, coriander, and almonds. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

This was delicious, although not quite as tasty as I remember Michael's version that I tasted. Maybe it was because I skipped the coriander and sesame seeds.

I also made this super easy broccoli chickpea salad from Martha Stewart but without onion. Unfortunately this was quite boring so I added more mustard and mayonnaise.

Broccoli, Chickpea and Cherry Tomato salad

Serves 6.

• 1 pound broccoli, separated into florets (4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1. In a large saucepan with a steamer insert, bring 1 inch of water to a boil. Add broccoli, cover, and steam until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together Dijon, vinegar, oil, and onion; season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, and broccoli. Toss to coat with dressing. Let cool 5 minutes. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

It wasn't the greatest salad in the world but simple and still tasty. I'm kind of biased though since I adore chickpeas and can eat them plain.

Can't be stuffed cooking

I love Lolo's post about low cook or no cook recipes we regularly make her soy-mirin tofu but over rice (or in our case noodles) with peanut sauce. And while I don't have any of my own recipes to contribute I thought it might be a good idea to discuss some of my favourite dishes to make in this crazy heat we have been having. For the most part we try not to cook, because it's hot enough in our non- insulated place without adding any more heat from cooking. So lately we have been eating out or cooking bulk so that it lasts for a few days worth of meal on the slightly cooler days. Anyway on to the dishes that we do often make (sorry there is no pics but my camera is not working): The first two my friend Erin introduced me to and since she doesn't blog about food I don't think she will mind me sharing the recipe love:       Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad

5 servings

1 large russet potato, peeled & quartered 1 large sweet potato, peeled & quartered 1 cup corn kernels 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons lime juice 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 1 clove minced garlic 3 tablespoons canola oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced into thin half-rounds 1/2 red onion, sliced thin 1/4 cup finely chopped dry-roasted unsalted peanuts Put the russet potato pieces into a large saucepan, and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil then lower heat and cook for 5 minutes at medium. Add the sweet potato pieces and cook an additional 20 minutes. Test each potato to see if cook (slightly firm but not breaking apart). Add corn kernals and cook 30 seconds more. Quickly drain in a colander. Fill the saucepan with cold water (a few ice cubes wouldn't hurt) and return potato/corn mixture to the cold water for 5 minutes (this stops the cooking process on the potatoes). In a large bowl, combine the mustard, lime juice, cilantro and garlic; whisk. Slowly add the oil while whisking; add salt & pepper to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Drain the cooled potato/corn mixture in a colander again. Now cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Add the potatoes, corn, cucumber & onion slices to the vinaigrette. Mix well and serve chilled with a sprinkling of chopped peanuts. The recipe is from here     Sesame Noodle Salad 2 packages 3-minute noodles, broken 1 Tbsp sesame oil 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 Tbsp vegetable oil 2 Tbsp soy sauce 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 2 oz (57g) fresh snow peas, blanched, cut into thin strips 1 large carrot, coarsely grated 1/2 cup smoked tofu, cut into thin strips 1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds 2 green onions, thinly sliced) fresh coriander leaves for garnish Cook noodles; drain and rinse. Toss immediately with 1 Tbsp sesame oil to keep noodles sticking together. Combine vinegar, veg. oil, soy sauce, garlic and red pepper flakes in a small microwaveable bowl. Heat on high, uncovered, for 30 seconds. Or bring to a boil in a small saucepan and cook for 1 minute. Combine vinegar mixture w/ cooked noodles, toss and add onions, snow peas and shredded carrot. If not serving immediately, refrigerate. Just before serving, toss w/ toasted sesame seeds and top w/ tofu strips and fresh coriander leaves. I'm not sure where the original recipe is from. but we love it!   Happy Tuna Salad (No cooking if you used canned chickpea) from the amazing veganmania

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas 1 cup finely chopped celery 1 tbsp. chopped sweet pickles 2 tbsp. sweet pickle “juice” (brine) 3/4 cup vegan mayonnaise 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning 1 tbsp. prepared mustard pinch of dried kelp powder

Pulse the chickpeas in your food processor until they are just broken up into little pieces (not mushy). Transfer them to a mixing bowl. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Serve on a bed of lettuce, or in a sandwich, or on crackers, or any other way you can think of. Will keep 3-4 days refrigerated.

Serves 6-8.

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We also love to make the perfectly amazing pasta salad (but with cream cheese) and auntie bonnies chickpea salad both from The Garden of Vegan.

And I used to love making the laziest burritos with refried beans, salsa, soy cheese and avocado with the sandwhich press but I make them so much that Mr T now hates refried beans.

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The last couple of days I have tried a few new dishes both of which I already love.

The first is incredibly lazy and also requires only 3 minutes of cooking but was just the thing after a long first day back at work. It involves making a sandwich out of shredded carrot, store bought capscium pesto, tomato and a really thick layer of white bean aioli (minus the garlic because I burnt it) from veganomicon.

The second dish I found at vegalicious . Here's the recipe:

Quinoa Beet Salad

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

for the salad:

4 beets 1 cup quinoa 1 vegetable bouillon cube 2 cups water 2 red onions olive oil handful fresh mint leaves hanful of chopped walnuts

for the dressing:

1/4 cup miso 2 tablespoons mirin (or other sweetener) 1/8 cup water 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon tamari (Japanese soy sauce) 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon sesame oil  

Directions:

Clean and cook the beets, allow them to cool, and cut them into small bite sized pieces. Wash the quinoa well with cold water or allow it to soak for 15 minutes in warm water and then rinse well, to remove the bitter oil from the outside of the quinoa. Cook the quinoa in 2 cups of water with the vegetable bouillon cube. When the qunioa is cooked, remove from the heat, allow the quinoa to cool, with the lid on the pan, it will absorb the steam and excess water. Mix the cooled quinoa and beets together well to make sure that the quinoa has become a pretty rosy pink color. Mix the salad dressing and pour over the salad. Allow the salad to season well for at least 1/2 an hour. Shortly before serving, mince the mint and mix into the salad witht eh chopped walnuts. Serve on a bed of salad leaves (shown here are fresh beet greens and baby field salad).  

I didn't wait very long to allow the flavours to marinade and it was already a very interesting variety of flavours.

So what do you like to make in this weather?