Vegan Lasagna

The winds are picking up and I see the outer bands of Ida are making their way through the area.....and it's getting darker outside. I better hurry up with this post.  Good thing I cooked a bunch of rice and potatoes, just in case the power goes out :)

I had to use up my last eggplant, which was really starting to get oldish, and the last 2 big portobellos I had.  So I decided to make some sort of vegan lasagna, even though I had no "cheese" filling.  I had some whole wheat lasagna noodles I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Tanya's Vegan Lasagna:

(same ingredients as my Eggplant Parmesanless except I left out squash and basil)
plus 2 large portobello caps, sliced thinly
raw kale(however much you want)
1 box of uncooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 tbsp of nutritional yeast

Prepare the eggplant exactly as on the Eggplant Parmesanless, broiled and all, and set aside.  Cook the lasagna noodles as the package directs.  When cooked, I like to lay them out on kitchen towels to dry, so they don't stick together.  Prepare your baking pan (9x13) with just a slight spray of oil.  Make the same sauce as in the Eggplant Parmesanless and spread some onto the bottom of the pan.  Layer 1/3 of the noodles  onto the sauce.  Then layer 1/2 the eggplant on top of the noodles, followed by 1/2 the mushrooms, kale, and green peppers (I used 2 small green peppers total).  Add a layer of noodles, with some sauce on top of it.  Sprinkle the nutritional yeast on top of the sauce and then add the other half of the vegetables.  Follow with the last layer of noodles and sauce on top.  Then, top with the breadcrumb mixture from the Eggplant Parmesanless (you can add a little more nutritional yeast to the breadcrumb mixture if you want).  Bake at 350 for around 30 minutes if you like your peppers a little crunchy.....maybe a bit longer if you want softer peppers.


It made about 9 servings, which were not huge.  My husband and I each ate 1 1/2 servings for lunch. I froze 4 servings and put 2 in the fridge for later.  I think this is a good recipe for the McDougall plan.  There's no oil and barely any fat and it's vegan!

Ok, I'm off to eat some of my brown rice that's waiting for me in my rice cooker!  Winds are at about 30 mph right now...

Eat smart,
T.

A McDougall Day

I used the "Monk Bowl" idea for lunch today.  I cooked some brown rice in the rice cooker and steamed veggies on the stove.  For the sauce, I made the Shiitake Mushroom Sauce from The New McDougall Cookbook.  The only I did differently, was I used fresh Shiitakes, because I had a ton from last week's market! It made a lot of sauce, so now I have a ton leftover....which is good, because I also have a lot of leftover rice. And by the way, I used a flat leaf type of kale in the vegetables.  It was grown on the property at the Saturday market!

For dinner, I basically made my Cauliflower a la Lemon recipe, but I added some potatoes, because I didn't have a ton of broccoli and thought they would go nicely with the lemon flavor. However, I left off the couscous for this meal, since we had potatoes in there. And I didn't add oil, just a little spray on the pan first.

Tomorrow's market day!  I'm excited, are you?? (Is it wrong to look forward to Market Saturday every week?)

Eat smart,
T.

Broccoli-Barley AND Eggplant!

Ok, wow....so today I did two meals.  BUT.....the first was from (mostly) the McDougall cookbook I have.  Dinner was my own concoction....but was pretty darn good, if I don't say so myself!

Let me start with lunch.  I made the Broccoli-Barley Toss from "The New McDougall Cookbook".  I only changed a few things.  First, I added kale, because I love kale! Second, I used Shiitake mushrooms instead of regular ones (actually, he doesn't specify, to be exact).  I didn't have snow peas or bean sprouts and I left out the green bell peppers.  I think that's it.  And technically, I didn't toss it!  I put the vegetables on top of the barley.  It was very good, but it could've used just a bit more flavoring.  Maybe next time I'll use real ginger and something else.

On to dinner.  I still had some eggplant left...I had already sliced it and put it in a bag, raw.  I'm really not a fan of eggplant....I'm sure I've mentioned that before.  My husband wanted me to make something with it....something with tomato sauce and something spicy.  So I did.  And I actually liked it!  It tasted very much like eggplant parmesan, except there was no cheese in it.....it was vegan!

Tanya's Eggplant Parmesanless:


1/2 big eggplant (or a whole one), sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick
1 large green bell pepper, sliced in thin strips
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/2 cup almond milk, unsweetened
32 oz can of crushed tomatoes
italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, creole seasoning

fresh basil


Put the eggplant in a colander and sprinkle a lot of salt on it.  Let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out the water/bitterness.  Rinse, dry, and set aside.  Spray a bit of oil on a cookie sheet.  Mix the breadcrumbs with the seasonings (unless you have pre-seasoned crumbs), to taste.  Put the almond milk in a bowl.  Dip the eggplant in the milk, then cover with breadcrumbs.  Lay them all out on the cookie sheet, single layer.  Broil about 7 minutes on each side.

Spray a little oil in a 9x13 pan.  In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes with the spices (unless you are using jarred sauce, with seasonings).  Spice it up!  It's really good spicy.  Put about 1/3 of the sauce at the bottom of the pan.  Lay half the eggplant down on top of the sauce.  Then add the peppers and squash.  Pour more sauce over it.  Then add the basil all over the top, followed by the rest of the eggplant.  And top with more sauce.  And sprinkle a good amount of seasoned breadcrumbs all over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. 


I made some extra red wine sauce to go on top, but as it turns out....we didn't need it.  There was plenty of sauce in the baked dish.  You could add zucchini, onions...etc...if you want.  

We invited our friend, Dave, over for dinner.  I think it was maybe a bit too hot for him.  But if you like it spicy, go for it!  I hope I didn't forget anything because I never write this stuff down. 




I forgot, I made some hummus as an appetizer:


Tanya's Hummus:


1 16 oz can chickpeas
juice of 2-3 lemons (I like it lemony!)
1 tbsp tahini
salt, pepper


Blend it all together, add a little paprika and it's done! Served it with some raw veggies.


And I guess that wraps it up!  Still going to make millet soon......maybe tomorrow?

Until then....
Eat smart,
T.

Veggie "Fries" w/Steamed Kale and Broccoli

I was browsing blogs today and found a good recipe for "Veggie Fries" here on the VeganMindedBlog site.  Looked so good, I had to try it. I also used zucchini and yellow squash.  I used only a very small amount of unsweetened almond milk and Vegenaise.  Had whole wheat breadcrumbs, which I flavored with Italian Seasonings, garlic, creole seasoning, salt, and pepper.  Was pretty good!  I served it with some steamed kale and broccoli.  Had some leftover Asian Ginger sauce from a recent Monk Bowl.

I'm not sure the 2 went together....the Italian seasoning, with the Asian.  Oh well....had to use up the sauce.  I was going to make a millet dish (I was so excited that I bought millet today!), but decided I'll do that maybe tomorrow.  I've never made millet, but I noticed so many vegan blogs use it.

I also ordered nutritional yeast!  A lot of vegans use that, and seems to add some "cheese-like" flavor to foods, so I'm excited to start using that too.  And it's an excellent source of Vitamin B-12!  Since I'm really cutting  down on my dairy consumption, I thought I could use some.  Speaking of that, the McDougall program seems to be doing the job.  If I stick with  non-oil and non-dairy foods, my weight really does go down!  Yay for rice and potatoes! :) .....and now for millet!  (although I do have quinoa, which I love too)

Tomorrow, I may go to TWO markets.  Yes, 2. We'll see how the day goes and how many vegetables I can handle.  Wish me luck!

I finally have a few days off, so I can do a little blogging.  Exciting, no?

So that's all for now....off to see a chamber music concert in a bit (Musaica).
Eat smart,
T.

The Mayan Bowl

Tonight's dinner: McDougall's Mayan Bowl with Enchilada Sauce.  You can find the recipe here.  This is my second bowl recipe.  Last time I made a Monk Bowl with the Asian-Ginger Sauce.  I think I prefer the Monk Bowl and Asian Sauce, but this one was pretty good.  I must say it did need quite a bit of added salt.  Other than that, thumbs up!

I made it with a mix of red, brown, and white (because it was local from the csa) rice.  The vegetables: broccoli, carrots, mustard greens(not sure those worked great, but they were also in the csa box), and corn.  I added some black beans on top.  Do you think I overloaded the steam basket???  :)

And for a snack while watching TV, I made myself a nice sprout and slaw salad: sprouts, broccoli slaw, coleslaw, cucumber and celery.  Who knew you could have a great dressing without oil??  I know now!  Just squeezed some lemon juice on there with a little garlic powder and salt.  Was absolutely delicious!

Well I think that's about it for today.  By the way, saw Michael Moore's new movie Capitalism.  Great movie.  I highly recommend it!


Eat smart,
T.

Catching up over the weekend

Sorry I haven't been able to post.  Haven't felt up to it.  Couldn't sleep last night either...waking up every 45 minutes coughing.  I think I feel a little better today.  We'll see when nighttime rolls around.  That seems to be when it's at its worst.

Ok, on to the food then.  On Saturday night, I made my Potato Salad Oregano, but added raw fresh white turnips I'd gotten at the farmer's market.  I just cubed about 4 medium to large white turnips and put them in.  I don't think my husband was really into it. (I guess that's why there's so much left...more for me!)  It grew on me.  It was different.  I thought about cooking the turnips first, but decided I wanted the extra crunch instead.  I might consider cooking the turnips next time, but I liked it this way.  You can try whatever you want....let me know if you cook yours first.

Next: the Monk Bowl.  I'm really excited about this.  I found the idea on the Hungry Vegan's Blog.  She wrote an interesting article on Dr. McDougall.  So interesting, I went out and bought one of his program books and a cookbook of his.  She mentions this Monk Bowl, which you can find here.  There are a ton of different variations.  I decided to make one last night.  I made the Monk Bowl with the Asian-Ginger Sauce.  I used a mix of red and brown rice and steamed: green beans, carrots, broccoli, golden zucchini & yellow squash.  Different vegetables steam at different times, so add accordingly. Also added the lima beans I had just cooked that morning (I just put them on top of the other vegetables in the pot for the last couple of minutes of cooking).  I left out the tofu.  I have to say, it was SO good!!  I'm excited to try all the other variations too.

It was so good, we're having it again tonight (leftover rice and sauce).  I just have to steam up some vegetables.  I just started reading his book, and there are some things I don't agree with (there's always going to be something), but that's ok.  I like a lot of his ideas.  Basically, he tries to avoid all added fats (well, there's going to be some fat in your food, which is ok), meaning no oil!  That's probably the hardest thing to avoid, if you cook a lot.  He also doesn't like nuts....not sure why, except that they are high in fat.  But I'm sticking with my almond milk (especially since I just bought a case of it online!).  He uses rice and soy milk.  All of his recipes are vegan.  I still like my cheese once in a while and some yogurt too.  He concentrates on complex carbohydrates (seems to be the opposite of the Atkins diet).  Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Now I have to go make dinner....easy, just have to steam the veggies (my husband hates that word).  VEGGIES!  hehehe.......

Back to work tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to post something in the next few days.
Eat smart,
T.