Food Lush

Broccoli, Cannellini Bean & Cheddar Soup

by Jess M

This time of year I make a lot of soups for dinner. And cheesy soups always taste so good with a nice crusty roll and a salad on the side. But most cheese soups I’ve made (broccoli, cauliflower, potato) are very rich, have lots of cheese and are more suited to a special weekend meal rather than a weeknight dinner. This particular broccoli soup is lighter on the cheese, and is thickened with cannellini beans. It makes for a quick, creamy, and tasty soup that has a good dose of beans and greens.

Broccoli, Cannellini Bean & Cheddar Soup from EatingWell.com

This recipe is super simple: you basically cook the broccoli, and then puree it with the beans and melt in the cheese. I use an immersion blender so that I don’t have to transfer the hot soup to a blender and back again. I top it with some croutons and serve it along with a side salad. And for a vegan alternative, I think you could make this without the cheese and use vegetable broth.

(Photo from: me) 

Pantry Staple: Canned (and Dried) Lentils

Editor's note: Welcome to the lovely Sarah Anne, who is joining Food Lush's ranks. You can learn more about her at Fear No Food and on Twitter, too. 

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by Sarah Anne

Hey folks! I'm Sarah, a new addition to Food Lush, and I'm pretty excited to be able to talk to yet MORE people about food. Consider yourself warned!

As someone really keyed into not only the enjoyment of food, but also true nourishment, I tend to be a bit obsessive about making sure that we eat a well-rounded diet with plenty of fiber, protein, and other nutrients. It helps that I am constantly looking up nutritional stats of most foods, but it also helps that I keep my pantry and freezer well-stocked. Out of the many foods I keep on hand, which hopefully I'll go through in time, one of my most favourite pantry staples is a can or bag of lentils.

They are a great source of cholesterol-reducing fiber, vegetarian protein along with a couple B vitamins, folate, iron, manganese and a host of other vitamins and minerals. Not to mention, lentils are low calorie and nearly free of fat. As a vegetarian, I'd say they're a pretty good staple to have on hand, and we eat them a few times a week. 

There are several different types of lentils – brown/green, french or puy lentils, split red lentils, each of which has their use; I use brown or green lentils most often, with split red lentils coming a close second in the wintertime.

Canned lentils can be a great quick fix, and are wonderful in the summertime when you don't want to heat up the kitchen, as I rarely do in my 500sq ft apartment. Toss the rinsed lentils with chopped veggies and prepared vinaigrette for a nutritious and filling salad. Add a whole grain for even more oomph. Do the same in the fall or winter, but saute the vegetables and add the rinsed lentils toward the end, toss with dressing or sauce and you have a hearty, belly-warming meal. Our favourite this past summer was to add quinoa and canned lentils to Greek salad for a complete and super easy meal.

A bag of dried lentils can be just as useful, and even less expensive, but requires a bit more planning and prep time just to rinse and cook. It's still worth the effort to me! Here are a few of my recent favourites that used dried lentils. I've made each of these and have LOVED them. As an aside – so has my husband who is usually the test of a good, people-pleasing recipe.

Dreena Burton's “No-Fu” Love Loaf

(Source: Hannah Kaminsky & Plant Powered Kitchen)

Veggie Balls from Huffington Post

(Source) 

 

French Lentils with Walnuts and Goat Cheese from Laura Calder, Food Network Canada

(Source)

Lentils are such a versatile ingredient and a great option for meat eaters and vegetarians alike and are cheap to boot! From lentil loaves to indian style curries, everyone can get on board with something about lentils. Do you cook with lentils often? What kind? Do you have a favourite recipe that uses them? I'd love to find some new ones!

Broccoli potato soup

by Elsha

I love broccoli cheese soup. It’s creamy and comforting and delicious. However, my husband recently started avoiding dairy, so a cream based soup filled with cheese is sort of out of the question. Fortunately, with a little looking around and some modifications I managed an excellent dairy free substitute. 

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 to 2 lbs thick stemmed broccoli, stems peeled and diced, tops cut into pieces
1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 cans (5-6 cups) chicken broth or vegetable broth
3 cups water

(There's a lot of chopping to do.)

First, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is soft. Then add the diced broccoli stems, half of the potatoes, the broth, and the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the broccoli and potatoes are tender. 

Meanwhile, put the broccoli florets and the rest of the potatoes in a pot of water to cook. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. 

When the broccoli stems and potatoes are tender, use an immersion blender to puree the soup smooth. Add the broccoli florets and the rest of the potatoes as soon as they are tender. Salt and pepper to taste. 

(photo credit: me. The lighting in our kitchen is so yellow!)

Pureeing the potatoes and broccoli stems gives the soup a nice creamy base without using any milk or cream, and the yukon gold potatoes give it a nice buttery taste. Using vegetable broth makes the soup vegan, or you can go the other direction and sprinkle cheese on the soup when you serve it. Either way, YUM!

Do you have a favorite broccoli soup recipe?

Easy Pantry Meal: Crock Pot Beans and Rice

by Jess M

So many evenings I struggle to squeeze in some kind of dinner between school, homework, and kids’ activities. And sometimes those same evenings come at the end of a day filled with activities for the toddler, or errands or any number of things that can clog up my day and take over any of the time I may have had to prepare dinner ahead of time. On nights like these, it goes without saying that the children are eating a dinner out of the freezer: chicken nuggets or corn dogs, maybe with a side of canned fruit or applesauce if I remember. But my husband and I really want something delicious and preferably healthy, and I don’t want to attempt to make something that is going to take any amount of time to prepare. 

This recipe for Crock Pot Beans and Rice has become a staple for those nights when we hardly have time to sit down together and eat. And it’s also great for those nights when we can’t sit down together and I’m taking one kid one way and he’s taking the other another way. I can leave the crock pot on the counter and we can help ourselves. 

I'm really not sure how I came across this recipe in the first place: I think it was the result of my husband doing some random googling for meal inspiration. 

The recipe is super flexible, you could use any combination of beans you like and any kind of rice you may have on hand. It is also very quick for a crockpot recipe, I've had it be ready in as little as 3 hours on high, though 4 is better. I like to generously sprinkle some salt on top of my bowl and eat it standing up in the kitchen.

Chicken Wing Style Cauliflower

By Jessica

I haven't had a chicken wing in over two years and even before then I really only liked the boneless chicken "wings" with a thick crunchy coating and slick-yet-sticky sauce. To further "dumb down" my chicken wing card, that sauce I refer to, my favorite wing sauce? Honey BBQ. I simply am too much of a spice weenie to handle the traditional buffalo wing sauce (though I am far and away better than I was when I first moved to Texas) and don't even get me started on whatever Wicked Flaming Firey Death Sauce my husband gets on his wings. They should just call that stuff "Nose-hair curling, make it burn when you pee sauce." No ma'am. 

I do very much miss "chicken wings" though so when I found this picture on Pinterest?

I HAD to follow that pin, even though it was obviously traditional buffalo wing flavored. Doesn't that look fabulous? FABULOUS. 

My version via late night iPhone photography doesn't look nearly as pretty

but it was oh so very tasty. I made a few alterations to her recipe to make it dairy free. DAIRY FREE (I still weep, a little). 

• For the buttermilk I subbed 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk mixed with apple cider vinegar
• For the flour I mixed 1/2 cup AP flour and 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• Added 2 tsp garlic powder to the flour mixture
• Earth balance and olive oil for the butter
• Stubb's Hickory Bourbon and Bull's Eye Kansas City BBQ Sauces for the buffalo sauce
• Dairy free ranch for the blue cheese

After making these I can say that it's very important to use a shallow baking dish or even a cookie sheet covered in parchment. The first batch, the coating came up a little on the soft side and I think that is because I made them in a regular 13X9 pan. When I reheated them the next day on a cookie sheet? They came out much better.

(Photos from: The Curvy Carrot and me)

Sautéed Spinach

by Jess M

Like most of us, I try and get as many healthy things into our regular meal rotation as possible. And few things are as (smugly) satisfying as buying giant bags of spinach each week.

When I’m not succumbing to entire weekly menus of comforting, carb-ful and cheesy meals, I try and work spinach in as often as I can. Usually I serve sauteed spinach along with a piece of fish and maybe some rice or grain on the side.

Here is my basic sauteed spinach recipe:

• Rinse the spinach, I use my salad spinner; even though the bags say that the spinach is “triple washed” it can still be a bit sandy
• Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan, you can also add some garlic and onion or shallots
• Add the damp spinach leaves over med-high heat and saute them until they start to wilt. I use large tongs to turn the leaves over since the pan is overflowing with spinach.
• After a few minutes, add a couple of tablespoons of water and cover the pan with a lid to steam
• Remove the lid after a few minutes and continue to cook, stirring, until the liquid has cooked off.
• Add salt and pepper and serve.

This is my favorite go-to spinach recipe:

From Cook’s Illustrated’s Perfect Vegetables:

 

Sauteed Tender Greens with Mustard and Pecans

For best results use grainy mustard. If it is unavailable, regular Dijon mustard can be substituted.

 

 

¼ c chopped pecans

1 tablespoon grainy mustard

1 teaspoon light or dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium shallot, minced

2 pounds damp tender greens. such as spinach, beet greens or Swiss chard; stemmed, washed in several changes of cold water, shaken to remove excess water, and coarsely chopped

Salt and ground black pepper

1. Toast the pecans in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Set aside.

2. Mix the mustard, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons water together in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat the oil and shallot in a Dutch oven or other deep pot over medium-high heat until the shallot sizzles and turns golden, about 2 minutes. Add the wet greens and mustard mixture, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens completely wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish with the toasted pecans and serve immediately.

And this one goes well when you want to serve spinach alongside a Mexican dish: Espinacas Guisadas (Mexican Sauteed Spinach) - I use this as a guide, and substitute canned, diced tomatoes.

Other Food Lush writers have written about spinach here.

(Photos from: me, Amazon)

Stuffed Eggplant

By Jessica

I love eggplant, you can do so many things with it and if I feel like trying something new with an eggplant I might have on hand? I can just do a search for something that I think might sound good, like Sausage Stuffed Eggplant and chances are, I'll find something that is either easy for me to tweak to my own preferences or sounds good as is. 

I'm sure the recipe I started with (linked above) is great as it's written but I didn't happen to have any homemade (or even jarred) tomato sauce made, so I decided to go with pesto instead*, I used Italian seasoned Panko Bread Crumbs and of course I don't eat meat so I used Field Roast sausage. I also didn't add the Italian seasoning (since it's in the bread crumbs already) or the garlic powder (since the pesto has more than enough garlic).

My husband and I loved it and my teenager grudgingly admitted it was "pretty good," so I'll take it.

*if you use pesto you are going to need WAY less. I used several healthy tablespoons but that's it. Nothing on the side was necessary. 

(iPhone photo)

Easy and Delicious Ravioli Dinner (Semi-Homemade)

by Maura

I hate the term semi-homemade because it calls to mind the annoying Sandra Lee from the Food Network and her ridiculous, ever-changing decor. However, I do not have anything against delicious semi-homemade dinners. I'm always looking for a way to make store-bought ingredients taste like I slaved over them even better.

Store-bought ravioli is an easy and tasty dinner, but it can be pretty boring. Using ingredients I have on hand, like pesto, sun dried tomatoes and garlic, I turned this ho-hum product into an easy and delicious dinner.

While the pasta was cooking, I warmed a few tablespoons of pesto in a non-stick frying pan. I added some garlic and sun dried tomatoes and stirred until the mixture was combined. I added a small splash of olive oil to loosen it up, but you may not need to depending on whether your pesto and sun-dried tomatoes are sufficiently liquidy. When the pasta was done, I tossed the pasta in the sauce. 

The result was absolutely delicious! I think it might be even better with some artichokes, warmed at the last minute in the sauce.

What are your favorite semi-homemade dishes?

Lemon tahini dressing

by Katie

We do a lot of steamed vegetable + tofu variations in our house- it's a quick healthy dinner, and an easy standby. Usually we go with some version of a peanut sauce or General Tsao's, but last week I was craving something different. I don't know why I thought of tahini, as I'm not usually ahuge fan, but it sounded like a nice change of pace.

(Picture from: amazon.com)

This turned out really great- bright and tangy and a little nutty. I sauteed some tofu with a dollop of the dressing, then served it with broccoli, red peppers, zucchini, brown rice, and spinach, with a little more dressing drizzled over the top.

A blending note: I underestimated the power of our blender and accidentally made lemon tahini mayo by letting it run too long, but that was a delicious mistake- I thinned it out with a little water to drizzle over vegetables, but have also used the thicker version as a dip for cut-up raw vegetables, and it's also great spread on sandwiches to add a little Mediterranean flair.

Lemon Tahini Dressing

Juice of 3 lemons

3-4 T olive oil

3-4 T tahini (sesame paste- found in the middle eastern section of large supermarkets)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. (I like things pretty lemony- if it's too tart for your taste, add a little more olive oil.)

Twitter Question: Vegetarian Main Dishes

By Jessica

Recently, fellow Lush writer Elsha asked for assistance replacing meat-heavy main dishes with more vegetarian offerings, on twitter:

"I would love a @foodlush post about what vegetarian/vegan main dishes you guys make! I rely a lot on meat."

The first thing I did in response to that request is send her a link to this post I did for Kristie (former Lush writer) as a round-up of easy to prepare main dishes during a busy time, for her, at work.

Some other vegetarian main dishes I love:

Jonna's grilled eggplant

Grilled stuffed avocado

Vegetarian chili dogs

Rachel Ray's eggplant stacks

Vegan enchiladas from Oh She Glows

Massaman Curry

Veggie naan pizza

Vegetable pot pie

Tortilla and black bean pie from Pink Parsley

And something else I've been eating lately as a quick main dish, I fry up an over easy egg and put it over the top of some veggies I've pan roasted in a cast iron skillet mixed with my favorite brown rice and quinoa blend. It sounds weird, but it's really so good.