Rice Pudding-Comfort Food

 

Everyone has comfort foods. Mine are all carbohydrates: pizza, bread, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, rice pudding. Here is a vegan rice pudding that really is delicious, especially when you eat it warm. Feel free to use almond, flax, oat, cashew, or hemp milk if you prefer any of these to coconut milk. Start with the minimum amount of sweetener and add more if you want your rice pudding sweeter. Enjoy! Betayavon!

 

Ingredients

1 cup coconut or almond milk

1-3 T. Honey (could use brown sugar or date spread instead)

1 T. Maple Syrup

1 cup cooked cold rice-white or brown, up to you

1 t. vanilla extract

1/8 t. cinnamon, plus a sprinkling on top

1/4 cup fresh apple, peach, pear, plum, or mango cubes, raisins or craisins, optional                                                          

 

Supplies

Sauce Pan spoon for stirring

measuring spoons and cups

Instructions

Combine cold rice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and half a cup of the milk of your choice in a sauce pan over medium heat, and stir to mix everything together. Add the honey and maple syrup, or use brown sugar as an alternate to the honey. If using brown sugar, your rice pudding will be a darker color, but still delicious. Slowly bring to a bubbling boil, and lower the light, stirring continuously as you add the other half cup of the milk. Keep stirring and simmer about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust cinnamon and sweetener you’re using. Add fresh mango, apple, peach, or plum pieces or the dried raisins or craisins. Turn off the light and let the mixture sit. This is when the final thickening will occur. This rice pudding is best served warm, preferably right after making, but if you will store in the fridge, please reheat before serving and sprinkle with cinnamon.

 

Roasted Cauliflower

This is the best way to enjoy cauliflower.  We had it first at our friend Dawne’s house for lunch one Shabbat. I never loved cauliflower until then, and she was nice enough to share her recipe with me, and I am, in turn, passing it on to you.  When you find out how easy it is, and then you taste how good it is, you might have the same reaction       I did, and make it all the time. It helps that my husband found beautiful fresh cauliflower that was marked kosher at Costco, and it was half the price of what I had previously paid for something similar in another store.  I hope you will enjoy. Betayavon!

Ingredients

Cauliflower, cut into florets

Olive oil

Any spices you like: suggested- salt, onion powder, garlic powder or minced garlic, turmeric to give it that wonderful brownish gold color

Supplies

Baking pan

Instructions

Cut cauliflower into florets. Coat with oil and any spices you like, such as salt, onion and garlic powder or minced garlic, and turmeric-which will give turn your florets a gorgeous golden brown. Add any other seasoning you can think of that you like. Then roast at 400 until browned. You may want to flip them once or twice, but I don’t.            I like the florets to be thoroughly cooked, but you may prefer them a bit firmer, so cooking time will vary, but at least 10-12 minutes, and then check often, until desired tenderness. Keeps well in the fridge, but doesn’t last long enough in my house to tell you how long it will last. This one doesn’t stick around for long!

 

 

Cranberry Walnut Quinoa Salad

 

 

Cranberry Walnut Quinoa Salad                                                                                                      This recipe,  adapted from The Food Network, is simple to make and delicious.  I’ve paired it here with chick peas and two kinds of winter squash, and the platter looks so appealing, thanks to the new dishes my kids got me for Hanukah.

Quinoa, is an ancient food, and I’ve noticed this gluten free food seems to be appearing in everything, from breakfast bars, pasta, and hot cereal.  Not really a grain although it resembles it, quinoa is actually a seed that is in the spinach and beet family. Very high in protein, it lends itself to doing almost anything with, as it absorbs the flavors or whatever sauce or ingredients you combine it with.  I know people who throw quinoa into soups and into their crock pot creations.

This quinoa salad is one of the dishes I shared at the presentation I gave last week, along with the Moroccan Chick Peas, and it was quite popular. I failed to mention that you should rinse the quinoa first in a fine wire mesh strainer, as it removes the bitterness, and luckily someone in the audience shared that important fact with the group, as it is a step that is best not forgotten. Betayavon! Eat Hearty.

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup craisins
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup scallions, sliced thin
• 1 cup frozen green beans-thawed, and if desired, blanched slightly
• 1/8 cup veggie broth
• 1 T olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Supplies

• Fine wire mesh strainer
• Heavy pot and tight fitting lid
• Medium bowl and lid
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Whisk
• Large spoon for mixing

 

Instructions

Rinse quinoa and strain in a fine mesh strainer. In a medium pot, place the quinoa and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook about 15 minutes, until the water is all absorbed. Remove the lid and let quinoa cool slightly. You will notice white squiggly tails on the top layer of the quinoa, and notice that the grains have begun to separate and get fluffily, like rice and couscous do.

In a medium bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, dired cranberries, walnuts, scallions, and green beans, until they are well mixed. In a small bowl, whisk the veggie broth, olive oil, and garlic, until blended. Pour over the quinoa mixture and toss until well blended. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Chill in fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. Wonderful paired with any other vegetables, fruit, or sprinkled on a salad or cooked vegetable dish. Will last in the fridge for several days if container is tightly covered.

Moroccan Chick Peas

Moroccan Chickpeas

It was a pleasure to speak about incorporating more vegetables and other healthy foods into our diets at my local library this week. I was fortunate to be sharing the information with a lively, lovely group of people who definitely got the message and know exactly what to do with it. I’ve heard from many of you already, and really appreciate your taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it. I  shared some samples of Moroccan Chick Peas and a new Quinoa dish I’m hoping to perfect soon. I think the vinegar was a bit overpowering, and will remake using just veggie broth next time.       I am thrilled at how much everyone enjoyed the presentation and have received so many requests for the chick peas in the last three days.  I’ll post that for you now.    My daughter got this recipe from her best friend’s mom, a Sephardic woman who is a great cook. I learned that she found the recipe in Gilda Angel’s Sephardic Holiday Cooking.  Coming up next…Look for the quinoa recipe as soon as it’s perfected, and my son Isaac and I, are working on a new chick pea recipe that seems promising.

Moroccan Chickpeas, Quinoa Salad, Spaghetti and Butternut Squash

I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to those who came out to hear me speak, and especially to my family for helping and supporting me, both at home, and during the presentation.  I am happy to share my belief and enthusiasm about healthy eating with others and I am so grateful to those of you who read my blog and take the time to let me know you enjoy my recipes. Without further ado, here is the recipe for the Moroccan Chick Peas. Feel free to halve this recipe (use just one can and halve the rest of the ingredients if you only want a small amount.) My family never tires of these delicious easy to make chick peas. Please prepare this recipe in advance to allow the chick peas to “marinate” in the liquid overnight or for several hours, for best results. I enjoy using a cup of these as my protein on top of a salad. They have so much flavor, you won’t need to use any additional salad dressing. Canned chick peas are fine if you don’t have time to prepare the dried variety, just be sure to rinse them thoroughly. Betayavon! Eat Hearty!

Ingredients

2 cans chick peas, rinsed and drained (15-16 oz per can)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

4 cloves (or more, if desired) garlic, minced

Supplies

Large bowl with tight fitting lid

measuring cups and spoons

Cutting board, sharp knife

can opener

colander

Instructions

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate overnight.

Serve over rice, salad, or humus, or quinoa.

Squash, kale, and mushroom casserole or soup

With the sudden plunge in temperatures, it is definitely soup weather once again. My friend Lisa raved about a soup she’d just made and was kind enough to send me the recipe. With some slight alterations, especially  using more mushrooms than anything else (because I love mushrooms and had a ton of ton of them to use up), I came up with a dish I really liked a lot.  I went light on the fresh dill because my husband doesn’t love fresh dill. I found this to be a wonderful casserole or soup that I will make again. Just by adding a cup of veggie broth to a half cup of the veggies for each person, the casserole was reborn as a delicious soup, so it seems very versatile.  As always, I made a lot, and our family has been enjoying this heart warming dish for days. Betayavon! Eat Hearty.

Ingredients

7 cups mushrooms, cleaned, broken into 1″ chunks, and packed tightly

medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

20 oz. fresh or frozen butternut squash cubes (thawed)

10 oz kale, cleaned, checked, and broken into small pieces

fresh or dried dill (fresh is better, of course) to sprinkle in soup and to garnish, as well

salt and pepper, to taste

for soup: low sodium vegetarian broth, 1 cup per bowl of soup

Supplies

Cast iron pot and lid

large spoon and ladle

measuring cups and spoons

colander

cutting board and sharp knife

Mushrooms, Butternut Squash, and Kale makes a great casserole or soup

 

Instructions

Sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil. Add a pinch of salt, and when soft-in about six minutes- add the mushrooms. Cook on medium light until they release their liquid, and then lower light and add the cubes of butternut squash. Cook for another five minutes, and when tender, add the kale. Cook just until it is wilted, about 3-4 minutes. Add fresh or dried dill, salt, and pepper, according to your taste, and garnish with more dill, if desired.

 

Still Life with Vegetables

So Much Beauty on a Rainy Day

Today was a rainy day, and a lot of people, including me, had the idea to visit the Art Museum in Philadelphia.  I wasn’t there because the weather kept me indoors, but went specifically to hear Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Philadelphia, perform their winter holiday concert under the massive central staircase.  The singers, complimented by today’s soloists and instrumentalists, sounded like a troop of angels.     I feel so lucky I was there to hear the gorgeous voices of Nashirah who filled my soul as well as the expansive hall.

Before leaving the museum, I met my husband and toured the American Still Life exhibit, from Audubon to Warhol. I’d already eaten lunch, but salivated from Peale’s incredible still life paintings of vegetables and fruits. A fly painted on one of the pictures looked as though it had landed on the canvas, instead of having been intentionally drawn. Without the flies, the pictures were certainly realistic enough, but the flies added another life like dimension.  My husband said trying to find the flies on the fruit was like looking for Waldo!  The exhibit runs until Jan. 10th, so there’s still time to catch it. Sadly, Nashirah was only there today for two concerts.

So here are some of my still life creations. Betayavon! Good Appetite!

Cauliflower Soup or Puree

My daughter Emily created a thick, creamy, delicious soup using a humongous cauliflower. Boy was that good. Throughout the week, I enjoyed the leftovers, both as soup, and then, instead of using the leftovers as soup in a bowl, I stuffed the cold puree inside of a hollowed out baked potato topped with salsa and some chopped cilantro. It was so good that they next day, I stuffed the cauliflower puree into a hollowed out zucchini. Yum. Delicious inside yams, too. Can’t wait to make this easy dish again. So it’s easy to make, requires only a few simple ingredients, you can make this as thin or as thick as you want. Adding more almond or coconut milk, or any non-dairy milk you like will dilute it further, make it go further, and possibly change the texture and taste, but you do have that option, if you so desire. Betayavon! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• one large head of cauliflower, washed, checked, and cut or broken into florets, or frozen florets
• one large onion, chopped
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• one box (32 ounces) organic veggie broth
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• salt and pepper, to taste
• dash of turmeric

 

Supplies

• Cutting board and sharp knife
• Large pan, spoon for stirring
• measuring cups and spoons
• Food Processor

Instructions

 

 Chop onions and sauté them in the olive oil. When they begin to turn brown and soft, add the cauliflower. Stir frequently so the entire batch of florets cook and become softened. This step may take up to 15 minutes, depending on the amount of cauliflower you’re working with. We used a very large head, so it took time until it all began to soften. Next time I’d use a larger pot to give a larger heated surface.  Once it is soft enough to easily pierce with a fork, remove the pot from the heat and cool the vegetables.

Then add the veggies to the food processor with only the S blade in. Puree the cauliflower until it is thick and the mixture is all pureed.  Now add the puree back to the pot and add the coconut milk and the broth. Dilute using more or less liquids so that your soup will be as thick or thin as you prefer. You can also thin it with water, but that will yield a more watery consistency and less flavor than the broth and coconut milk. But it still works. Stir and adjust the seasonings as you desire. Heat mixture and enjoy as a soup, vegetable, or stuffed inside your other veggies or potatoes.

 

Your Vegan Thanksgiving Photos

Gallery

Dear Friends,

As this is the time to give thanks, let me say thanks to all of you for sharing your love and your Thanksgiving holiday pictures with me!

Keep sending in your photos and I’ll update the blog to include them.

Vegducken All Wrapped Up

Cornucopia of Vegetables

Inside A Vegducken

Cranberry Chutney

 

Carrots Wellington

Potato Salad

 

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Challah Stuffing

Cranberry Orange Pecan Relish

Succotash

Beets, Corn, and Hearts of Palm Salad

Cranberry Relish

Jewish Apple Cake

THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!

FEELING THANKFUL                                 

Happy Thanksgiving to my family, friends, and blog followers. As this is my first Thanksgiving as The Kosher Vegan, I am so excited to have a chance to tell you how much much I enjoy having this space to share wonderful food with all of you.

I’m glad that Thanksgiving is here, since I appreciate any opportunity to be around my loved ones and let those I care about know just how much they mean to me. Cooking for my family allows me the chance to express my love. Nothing makes me happier than cooking and sitting around the table with my family. So happy and relieved that on this holiday, school, work, and most other distractions take a back seat to good old fashioned family time.

I am aware that Thanksgiving denotes and connotes different popular associations for each of us. In my world, it’s a short list: family, friends, food. Since I have sons, football gets added to the list.  Some of the other popular things that I don’t personally indulge in, such as shopping for black Friday deals and cyber Monday bargains are what the retailers and wholesalers spend all year waiting for. To each, his own.                I imagine everyone has been busy gathering ingredients, perusing recipes, cooking, and baking to be ready for their special meal.

For Thanksgiving, I don’t really depart from the traditional meal too much. If I did, my husband and children would likely mutiny.  I’m not really a tofurky kind of gal, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But  I am so happy with the soup, salad, sides and veggies, that a mock turkey isn’t on my radar for this particular holiday.

Several of my blog follower friends have described things and sent me photos of what they’re serving for the big meal- often from recipes they found online, and have given me permission to post these pictures along with their names. As always, I appreciate and you should feel free to send in your recipes, photos, and ideas.

Hope I don’t sound like a Thanksgiving renegade, but I’m about to post a completely different sort of recipe on this night before the big bird event. Not even close to what you might expect of a vegan at Thanksgiving. Not even close. While my new blog post isn’t Thanksgiving themed,  I am excited to share with you my newest recipe, that I perfected, with my husband’s help,  at the request of our dear friend, Amy.  I’m sure by now she completely forgot. After all, how long can you wait for a recipe?????????  As summer came to an end,  Amy asked if I could come up with a borscht recipe that would be better than the one from the popular diet club she had tried and wasn’t in love with.   I think I’ve nailed it with this one.

While eliminating meat from the list of ingredients definitely decreases the calories quite a bit, there’s no reason that the taste should suffer.  She probably hoped I’d have created something in time for the Jewish New Year, which was a week or two before when she asked me about this. But that was months ago.

To me, borscht, which I grew up eating, is a cold weather food. I have always considered borscht in a category I think of as Russian peasant food, along with pumpernickel with a schmeer of schmaltz, pickled and chopped fish, and something my family particularly loved when I was young: lox and potato soup. Have you had that one? Either borscht is my brother Richard’s favorite food, or else he just likes saying the word. Still haven’t figured it out.

Not long after I received Amy’s request,  my friend Mayda sent me a vegan borscht recipe, and then I began researching others online. Then I forgot all about it.  But when I was outside today without a coat and really feeling the chill in the air, I was struck with the sudden realization that it is finally borscht weather. This recipe may sound like a couple more steps than you’d like, but it sure was worth it. It tastes amazing. Reconstituted porcini mushrooms give this a delicious and “meaty” flavor. Full of vegetables, this soup is a main course meal.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends. Give thanks as often as possible and give a lot of hugs. Thanks for reading my blog. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up to get The Kosher Vegan sent directly to you each time I post a new recipe. And please share the recipes and my blog with your family, coworkers, and friends.  Betayavon! Eat Hearty!

Borscht for Thanksgiving!?!?!?!?

The Pilgrims Probably Didn’t Make This One

Ingredients

10 dried porcini mushrooms

1 1/2 cup boiling water

1 medium onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup veggie broth

1/4 cup red lentils

1/2 bag shredded cabbage and carrots

2 cups water

 

two carrots, sliced into thin rounds

13.75   oz. box or can chopped tomatoes

1 large bunch of fresh dill, soaked, checked, rinsed, and chopped

1 large beet, boiled, peeled, and shredded

4 small red skinned or 1 large potato of your choice, peeled, boiled, and cubed

salt and pepper, to taste

Supplies

small bowl for soaking dried mushrooms

fine wire mesh strainer for straining reconstituted mushrooms [please do not discard the soaking water as it forms a very hearty broth]

2 small pots and lids

colander

cutting board and knife

measuring cups and spoons

large soup pot and a spoon for stirring

Instructions

Boil water, measure 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and pour over dried porcini mushrooms that you place in a small bowl. The boiling water will reconstitute them.  Allow to sit for half hour.

Meanwhile, wash four small red skinned potatoes or one large potato of your choice and place in a small pot. Add enough water to come halfway up the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower light to simmer until they’re soft. Drain. Save for later. Won’t get added to soup or it will get too mush, but to individual serving bowls.

In another small pot, place the scrubbed beet. Not necessary to peel the beet. If you don’t have another small pot, wait until the potatoes are soft, drain, and use the same pot for the beet. Cover the beet 3/4’s of the way up from the bottom of the pot with water, and boil, lower light to simmer, and cook until a fork inserted in the beet pierces it easily. Drain. Cool, remove skin, and grate into a bowl. My husband did this for me. Won’t get added to soup as it will turn the soup beet colored. Add to individual serving bowls.

In the large soup pot, sauté the chopped onion in a tablespoon of olive oil. After three minutes, add 1 cup of vegetable broth, salt and pepper to taste, and one cup of water. Add 1/4 cup of red lentils, which will both thicken your soup and give it a really meaty texture. Use your fine wire mesh strainer to pass the soaking porcini mushroom water into your soup pot. Some debris may remain in the strainer that you’ll toss out, but you want that delicious soaking liquid, as it will greatly enhance the flavor of your borscht, and give it a very meaty flavor. Much better than flanken does, if you ask me! Save the mushrooms to put into each serving bowl. Don’t want to dilute this incredible flavor by overcooking or making them rubbery.

Add half a bag of shredded cabbage and carrots or just shredded cabbage. Slice two carrots into thin rounds and add to your soup pot. Dice a large bunch of dill that you’ve soaked, checked, drained, and removed stems, and add to the soup. Add the box of chopped tomatoes, then fill the box with water and add to your pot, as well. Just bring the whole thing to a boil and turn off the light, which will allow the veggies to remain a bit crunch while allowing all the flavors to blend.

 

 

Finely chop those now soft porcini mushrooms that you had soaked in the boiling water.

Into each serving bowl, add a diced potato, 1 tablespoon of the diced beets, and 1 teaspoon of the boiled and diced porcini mushrooms.

Cover with the soup, making sure to swirl everything together with your spoon.The beets give it such a deep hue, as you’ll soon see.

This was so yummy. I will say that my kids were amazed how much they liked it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

All of a sudden, it’s soup weather.

I love this time of year.                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crisp cool mornings. Sunny afternoons. The gorgeous fall foliage. Honey crisp apples. Perfect sleeping weather.

Ok, that’s the end of my list. Knowing winter will follow is the only downside to this time of year.  In the fall, local squash is in season; ours come from Isaac’s garden. You can’t get fresher organic produce anywhere!

So, what better way to enjoy the beautiful butternut squash Isaac gave me last week than in a delicious creamy soup. Wait until you read how easy this one is. We went nuts for this soup the first time Emily made it for us last year, scraping our bowls and asking for seconds and thirds. I’ve been asking her to make it for us again ever since. Ok, so sometimes I may have nagged her, but hey, we like our soup. She was kind enough to share her recipe, and then I watched her prepare it for Sukkot.  When it’s soup weather, I’m happy to eat a hearty soup and a salad for dinner every day.

The hardest thing about making this soup is cutting the squash. The larger the squash, the more difficult. They have very tough skins, which is why, I suppose, the deer, squirrels, and rabbits didn’t devour the squash the way they did everything else Isaac grew. So tackle that task with a sharp knife and cutting board.  I’ve found that I can add more water or broth to make it thinner or less liquid to have it thicker, depending on my mood. Usually I go for the thicker consistency, but either is fine.  Just don’t dilute it too much, or it might taste too bland.  You can add as many or few seasonings and spices as you like, but we’ve found we like rubbed sage the best. Once I didn’t have sage so I added a bit of poultry seasoning, and that was nice too. Some people enjoy cinnamon as a complement to acorn and butternut squash, so it’s all really a matter of personal taste. I say experiment and see what you like best. Betayavon! Enjoy!

Ingredients

In addition to this……

 

You’ll need these things…..

 

• Butternut Squash
•  Organic Vegetable Broth (1 Qt)
• Onion
• Apple
• Dab of Oil or No-Stick
• salt and pepper, to taste
• Optional seasonings: garlic powder, rubbed sage (*my favorite),  cumin, curry, cinnamon. I just wouldn’t suggest using all of these in the same pot of soup!

Supplies

• Large roasting pan
• Sharp Knife and cutting board
• Large spoon for scooping out seeds and strings
• Pyrex dish if you want to roast the seeds
• Aluminum foil
• Food Processor
• Large Pot and Spoon for stirring
• Ladle for serving and soup bowls and spoons

Instructions

Using a sharp knife and cutting board, cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the stringy insides, which will also contain the seeds inside the tangle of squash innards. If you want to use the seeds, separate them from the stringy material and wash the seeds. We like to roast them in a pyrex dish with a bit of sea salt while baking the squash. But the seeds won’t take nearly as long as the squash, so keep an eye on them to prevent burning. They’re nice on top of the soup, natural croutons, I guess you could call them. You just want them to be fully cooked, browned, and crispy. Our son David loves them.  If you don’t want to save the seeds, just discard them.

Enough about seeds already; let’s talk about cleaning out the inside of the squash. Use a spoon to scoop out what you can, and then place the halves of squash on the roasting pan that you sprayed with a bit of no-stick spray or a dab of olive or coconut oil. Wash the apple, and wrap the apple in foil, and peel the onion and wrap it too, in foil. Place the apple and onion on the roasting pan next to the squash and bake on 375 for about an hour, if the squash is sizable. The apple won’t take that long, so remove it after 20 minutes or so- when it can be squeezed or pierced with a fork. It will resemble a baked apple (sans the cinnamon). The same with the onion. But if you happen to forget about them (as I’ve done-ahem), and the apple and onion get too soft and mushy, fear not, as it won’t hurt anything.  But you’ll have less of them, as they will shrink. You may have to bake the squash longer than an hour, depending on the thickness. We’ve baked squash that were so large they stayed in the oven for up to two hours. Just keep checking and when you can easily pierce it with a fork, it’s done.

Remove everything from the oven and let it cool. When cool, add to the food processor, along with the Organic Vegetable Broth. Transfer to large soup pot and heat until soup comes to a boil.  Add more water, if you want a thinner soup, or keep it on the thicker side, depending on your personal preference. Add salt and pepper to taste, and if you like, a bit of sage, or garlic, or curry, or cumin, or cinnamon. I just wouldn’t suggest using all of these in the same pot of soup!