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| hi i'm going to start grad school in the fall and time will be very hard to come by. i still prefer cooking at home to eating out, especially fast food! i'm a vegetarian and prefer organic food, and food cooked at home- dried legums, whole grains (as opposed to prepackaged foods). i also try to avoid substitute meat products.
i'm looking for peoples' favorite easy, veg dinner ideas. (cyndi- so far i've loved your recipe ideas and all your food advice in general...)
i'm at work now, and don't have my recipe, but i'll post one of my favorites when i get home. (wouldn't want to forget any key ingredients!)
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
 
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Hey SY,
Here's one that I cooked today. This is sooo simple and easy to get. Do you have access to Swiss Chard?? It really doesn't matter since you can use any green leafy vegetable for this recipe, which is a good thing, because this is simple and basic and for every green vegetable.
What you will need is:
1/2 onion sliced in slivers or half moons
1/2 tuber of fresh Tumeric, chopped very fine.....can use Powder - 1/2 teaspoon - fresh is better and tastier
Several - at least 9 leaves of Swiss Chard (I like red, but any kind will work and so will any kind of green leafy vegetable...such as collard greens, spinach, turnip greens, sherloin, bok choy, and probably kale if you like it - I don't use it) - Chopped in small pieces, rinse off very well to remove dirt and sandy particles, if any. Sometimes soaking in water and letting sand float to bottom after chopping works good. Spinach is harder to work with, requires less cooking time and Tumeric needs to be cooked at least 10 mins...so be careful with spinach. May want to omit Tumeric if using spinach and add garlic instead, since garlic and spinach compliment each other very nicely. Also, garlic can be used in this recipe and added after you add the onions.
Dark Sesame Oil - use your judgement about how much...start with 1-1/2 Tablespoon
Sea Salt to taste
On medium to high heat - somewhere in the middle, heat Sesame Oil in pan, add onions and stir fry till lightly brown. Add Tumeric - fresh or powder and stir well, do not burn (powder will burn faster than the fresh tumeric), stir for a half minute or so, then add chopped green vegetable (I always allow water to stand on vegetables so that it provides some moisure when cooking - without having to add water later on). Stir fry for a couple of minutes, mixing everything up really well, turn down heat to medium, cover and steam for at least 10 mins, keeping an eye on it so that there is enough moisture to heat ratio - do not let it go dry, but yet steam it and try to reduce the water down at the same time and stir if you need to. Then remove cover and allow moisture to reduce, add sea salt at this time to taste.
Serve with Hot Jasmine Rice and if you like, we also had this recipe too:
Stir fry 3 beaten eggs in 1-1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or ghee, set aside.
In another skillet, preferably a wok, smear the bottom lightly with oil, just enough to coat it well, lightly...heat, then add 2 cups of fresh mung bean sprouts, cover and steam 2 minutes. Uncover, and add 1/2 block of Firm Tofu chopped in squares, cover again and steam for 1-2 mins, then uncover and add cooked eggs and mix up thoroughly. Turn off the fire or heat and add chopped fresh cilantro. Sea Salt to taste.
Hope you like it.
Edited by Cyndi 2006-05-12 2:39 PM
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| i tend to make a lot of soups. i just found a cookbook called "vegetarian soups for all seasons.' maybe you could find it in the library.
i find soup (if youhave stock on hand) to be very easy to make--quick too. i enjoy it. i usually use some kind of small dried legume (such as lentils and peas) and then some grain or seed like millet or quinoa. i add whatever veggies i like. If i have grain in it, i do not add starchy veggies.
so that's my thing. i like chilled soups in summer. you can make them the nite before, fridge overnite, and carry anywhere. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | One of my favorite chilled soups is Gazpacho....with a dallop of sour cream!! I would love to have some now, but for some reason, it is so friggin cold here in the mountains...I can't even get my tomato plants in the ground...and this year I found some heirloom purple tomatoes. Can you picture "purple" Gazpacho"?? Although, I do have a cookbook with a green and even a yellow gazpacho recipe....cool huh?
For the best vegetarian cookbook, I recommend the book, "1,000 Vegetarian Recipes", by Carol Gelles. This book won the Julia Child Cookbook Awards, from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. It has every kind of recipe you can imagine and then some. I call it my "Vegetarian Joy of Cooking" book. Also, in second line to this one, is the Vegetarian Times - Complete Cookbook. The first one has all the soup recipes that I like and the Gazpacho. I don't use a cookbook for soups though...I just throw whatever in.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Boy Scouts of America camp out for several different troops. It was amazing what these boys were putting together. Mostly soup...they called it "Stone Soup". They literally dug a hole in the ground, made this tepee looking thing with 3 sticks, and had their pots hanging from the middle over the fire in the hole. It was so interesting to walk by and see the different ingredients they had in their pots. The adults were more creative....like they were roasting a pig on this really creative style roasting oven that was hand made out of bricks and a mesh....with a 4'x4' area that had the coal's underneath. It smelled so good...but I just couldn't eat it, but I sure was tempted to. I had a bad experience the first time I ever saw a real pig being roasted...they had him hanging and dangling over this pit....it made me cry..I hated to see that as a child. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
  
| I am all for the soups as well. If you don't make your own stock there are really good Harvest Sun organic soup cubes that I love. I like to saute some onion, celery and garlic the add a whole bunch of carrots, cover with water plus about an inch and add stock cubes until it tastes good. Puree the whole shebang either with the immersion blender or in the regular blender or processor. Poof! Carrot soup  Oh - the last batch I added a can of coconut milk. Yummy! Then I sometimes add whatever cooked veg I have on hand or quickly microwavre a handful of spinach to throw in if I want a change. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | I like coconut milk. Have you ever added a can of coconut milk to rice while it's cooking?? The Tai Restaurant girl told me this recipe once. They just add the milk in the ratio to the amount of water you are suppose to add. You can use a rice steamer or over the stove method...either one. It's very good...Instant Coconut Rice,
The other day I had a virgin Pina Colada....I forgot how wonderful those are....the good news is that I didn't miss the Rum...cause' with good rum, you never tasted it anyway...so therefore, it was good....like old times...without the hangover, Well, you could taste the rum a little bit...my favorite rum was something with a pirates name or should I say of pirate nature,  |
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| ok, one of my favorites is a fried rice, but you can add any veggies you like. i started making this in college 15 or so years ago!
2 cups rice- i prefer short grain brown rice, but any rice will work.
2 TBSP sesame oil
2 scallions
1 egg
other veggies such as a small carrot, cabbage, etc...
salt, pepper and tamari to taste
scramble the egg and break into pieces and set aside. heat sesame oil. add scallions and stir fry. add other veggies and stir fry to desired texture. add rice and mix until rice is heated through. finally mix in egg and season. enjoy!
i practically lived on this in college... it's super quick, cheap and yummy! and you can do any variation to use up veggies in your house.
i have my current favorite recipe, but need to figure out the measurements of the spices. i don't usually measure things, but if i post it i want to have suggested measurements. i'll submit it shortly...
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| porridge
and
gruel
with assorted whole grains
super easy, and you can make enough for the entire week in a few hours with plastic glad ware containers for storage |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Porridge is something I have been having on and off since I was a kid. Lately, I decided to go back to it and have it usually 6 days a week for breakfast and sometimes for my 4 pm "supper." Real, not quick, porridge oats, a few minutes in the microwave, sprinkle liberally with ground flax seeds, brown sugar or honey and some organic plain yogurt. Awesome! I ahve a recipe somewhere for a porridge with all kinds of crazy grains that you cook overnight in the oven so it is ready when you wake up. I'll try to find it. |
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| Breakfast--oatmeal with honey and fresh ground flaxseed
Lunch -- assorted whole grain porridge, whole grains cooked in water until thick-very bland, but very healthy
Dinner--whatever the wife decided we would have--or i pay for the family to go out |
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| glenda, that recipe sounds great...
here's my current favorite, quick dinner...
curried chick peas
3 cups cooked chickpeas
2-3 diced tomatoes
veg oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
med onion
3 cloves garlic
1-2 (or to taste)tsp of each: curry powder, coriander, cumin
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
pinch of cinnamon
sea salt to taste
heat oil and cook mustard seeds until they pop. you'll want to use a lid, because they sputter when they pop.
turn down heat, cook onions and garlic. add spices all spices and fry for a minute or two, just don't let them burn.
add chick peas and tomatoes
cook until heated.
serve with rice (i love it with brown rice).
enjoy! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | SY,
Thanks for the recipe. I call it "Chana Masala"....and I've been looking for this recipe. It's the cinnamon that makes this recipe and was the ingredient I couldn't figure out because it is so subtle. I've been making a similar one, but after reading your's I KNOW this is the one.
Anyway, when I make my trip to Asheville, I like to eat this on the food bar at Earthfare...Now I can make my own.
Today:
For Mom's Day, we have fresh wild caught Salmon that I will be roasting along with a Pesto sauce. To compliment the Salmon, we have wild caught Costa Rican Jumbo Shrimp, lightly seared in a light Asiago Sauce with Red and Orange Bell Peppers and a touch of Parsley, with Fettucine or Angel Hair Pasta (haven't decided for sure yet). As a side salad, I am making marinated cucumbers with Vidalia Onions and Tomatoes.
Ya'll take care and Happy Mother's Day!!
P.S. Regarding the measurements on your Chana Masala recipe, Satyam advised this. This is the traditional Nepalis way of making this masala.
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1 & 1/4 Teaspoon Coriander
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder or if you want to use fresh Curry leaves, add 10 curry leaves after you pop the mustard seeds and fry for a 30 seconds or so.
Satyam says to always add just a little bit more coriander than cumin. So, if you are using less than or more than a teaspoon, adjust it accordingly to where the coriander is 1/4 to 1/2 more than cumin.
Edited by Cyndi 2006-05-14 9:32 AM
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| cyndi,
thanks for the measurement recommendations for the masala. another spice people occasionally add in addition to cinnamon is ground cloves (just a pinch). that's good, too.
happy mother's day to you and all other moms on the forum.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Oatmeal
1 C unrolled oat groats
1/2 c pot barley
1/2 c rye kernels
1/2 c nuts of choice (opt)
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c pumpkin seeds
Ratio is 1 cup of the mixture to 4 cups water & pinch of salt. Cook covered in the oven
overnight at 200F.
I find I can do as little as a quarter of the recipe and it still works.
This still makes enough for about 2 or three servings, so it is possible to
add some milk to it before putting it in the fridge, then heating it in a
pot the next morning.
The health food store is the only place to find all the whole grains.
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| I have a great cookbook called Vegetarian Express. It gives you recipes for full vegetarian meals that can all be made in 30 minutes or less. And everything I've tried so far is awesome. |
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favorite (easy, veg) recipes
