Category: Vegetarian/Vegan

Wow… the past few months have simply flown by! Yesterday, the BF asked if I could meet him for a few hours and so shortly after work I was headed to his place.

 

I made sure I brought along the remaining Black eyed peas stir fry with veggies. You can read about my Black Eyed peas stir fry, with veggies, here.  He said, ” I really love this! I could eat an entire plate of this food.” This dish was vegan all the way. I must say I’m thrilled that he’s very open to trying vegan cuisine.

Since we’ll see him this weekend, I’m already thinking of a few dishes I could prepare. Top on the list is some type of homemade bean burger… vegan of course. I’m also thinking of making egg rolls or wontons? Perhaps we can add freshly made pasta too? We’ll see!

 

Also, I think I’ll bake a peach pie. Opal, baking? Shocking… right? I can bake, and I’ve been told that I do make some “great” dishes; however, since I’m not much of a sweet eater there’s really not much point. My daughter loves sweets, but eats mainly homemade cookies, which I really don’t consider baking.

Why am I baking? The BF told me his father loves peach pie and so I’ll be playing around with a few recipes and having my daughter and him sample them. Next weekend, we’ll be visiting his parents. They live in Delaware.  So you could say my daughter and the BF will be the willing guinea pigs. We’ll see what they say. .

Upcoming announcement – What could it possibly be?

So much going on, and so little time to write!  I most likely will have an announcement to make in a few months… 😉

Yesterday, I was craving a dish with black eyed peas. I mentioned it to the BF when I was talking to him and he told me how much he loved them, although none of his other coworkers did. I believe I said, “they don’t know what they’re missing!”

With that conversation fresh on my mind,  last evening, I pulled out my 8 qt. Presto cooker, added my dry black eyed peas with water. I stepped away for about twenty minutes and let the pressurized cooker work it’s magic.

I came back to fully cooked black eyed peas that gave off a slightly nutty aroma. Mmm… I made enough to use in several meal preparations. The cooked beans that I did not use immediately, were put into smaller glass storage containers and frozen.

And while I like the dish I created below, I sure would have loved if I could have added a bit more color. However,  a quick check in my refrigerator, showed me that I was missing a lot of produce.

I have not been to the store (I’ll be going there today) and I did not feel like going to our garden to pick some greens to add to this dish; however, I will take care of that today. There is plenty of this left over and so tossing in a few extra ingredients won’t be an issue.

Today, I’ll be making black eyed pea burgers, with some of  the plain peas.

I’ve been craving dhal for weeks, but with so many other delightful dishes on hand, I have not had a chance to satisfy my craving until this week. However, the past week or so, I’ve been making all sorts of dishes  that used lentils as the main ingredient and so I knew before long I’d be making dhal!

Well, I no longer have cravings. Late in the evening (exactly two days ago) I finally got around to making my beloved dhal and I was immediately remembered why I love this dish so much. It’s simple, flavorful AND… it makes the perfect dip for breads and veggies.

My daughter tried a tiny bowl, shortly after it finished and promptly went back for “just a little more.”

However, when I went to get the flour to make the chapati, I quickly discovered that I was out. Sighs… no worries, I’ll stop by the market this weekend and stock up on flour.

Grumbles and even though I was craving chapati also, the dhal still tasted amazing on it’s own.

I will admit, that it wasn’t as ‘colorful’ as I usually like to make mine. I was out of tomatoes. Yes, those will be on my list of things to purchase this weekend. I can’t wait for them to start making an appearance in the garden, then I won’t have to purchase any more until the fall.

 

I’m really impressed with the small company where I purchased my lentils. They are grown and harvested by Palouse Brand. I purchased a five pound bag off of Amazon. Amazon allows third party sellers to sell their items through their site.

About a day after my purchase, Palouse Brand sent me an email to tell me how to store their beans and legumes. I already know, but this is great for those who might not know. In the email, they stated that since their products aren’t irradiated they could be a home for pests.

 

I absolutely love lentils! I make them in a variety of dishes,

but one of my favorite ways to prepare lentils, is to make dhal with a side order of homemade chapati. The above photos, is taken from a post that I created on March 31, 2012. It’s dhal with brown rice and a honey ginger garlic sauce. The only thing missing in the above photo, was chapati.

Of course, in order for me to make the type of dhal that I’ve been craving, I needed lentils and I did not have any in the food pantry. I normally purchase my lentils locally; however, earlier this week, I decided to purchase them online at Amazon. Since I’m an Amazon a Prime member, I get my products within two days.

 

I bought a five pound bag that should arrive some time today. Soon after they arrive, I’ll be making a dhal and some chapati. If I like the lentils grown and harvested by this small company, I’ll be purchasing a 45 pound bag.

 

Hearty Lentil Stew – Vegan

This past Sunday, my daughter and I were at the BF’s and so I decided to make a large pot of lentil soup. I told the BF, it was one less meal he’d have to prepare during the week.  Those who know me, already realize I don’t follow recipes. I just tossed in what spices and seasonings were available. I will say, my selection was limited since I was using what was on hand at his place. However, I’ve been gradually introducing a variety of herbs/spices to his food pantry.

Last evening, he posted about the stew on his Facebook page and tagged me in the post.

He also posted this picture of us. Please note, I hate this picture of me, but he loves it a lot. He went on to declare how much he loved me. I told him, it’s the food, that’s what he loves so much. I’m just the person who creates it! I’m joking, it’s much more than that. Since I’m introducing him to healthier lifestyle, you’ll see more food related posts here at Celebrate Life.

Initially, I referred to dating as the dreaded “d word”. 😉 I am almost sure I mentioned that to Jennifer in some of our email conversations, after all, Jennifer, was the first online buddy that I mentioned him too. Jennifer and I have ‘virtually’ known each other for about nine or ten years? She’s also the #1 blog pal I want to meet in person. She’s super sweet, beautiful and funny. I know we’d get along well in person.

Last evening I was craving spicy, however I did not want to take the time to cook beans in my pressure cooker. I looked in the refrigerator and saw what I thought was rice… a much closer inspection proved that was wrong. I was looking at hominy. Hmm… No worries! After all, I’ve prepared hominy in numerous ways before.

 

I added the cooked hominy into my old friend (my wok, it’s over 23 years old). In addition to the hominy, I added vegetables, onions, garlic and freshly ground spices and herbs. This was cooked in about a tablespoon of coconut oil.

I tossed the ingredients for a few minutes and the meal was prepared.

What were the results? My daughter loved this dish. She said, “Mommy, you come up with the weirdest dishes, but they always end up tasting amazing!” High praise indeed…

A few weeks ago, I mentioned lentil tacos to my BF. I told him it was one of my favorite type of tacos to prepare/eat. Well guess what? Since I talked about them, he’s been craving them. In fact, he told his mother about them and he said she would like to try them too.  This past Friday, I finally got around to making them for him and my daughter.

He loved them so much he posted about them on his Facebook page and thanked me for introducing them to him. With the exception of the taco shells, all the ingredients within the lentil tacos were freshly prepared. What did the BF think? He told me that they were “one of the best tacos” he had ever eaten. My daughter chimed in and said this is one of the best finger food meals that I prepare. He also said he’d be craving them since he’s had them. Guess what? Lentils can be a great meat replacement.

Although my BF is not vegetarian or vegan he’s very open to trying meatless cuisine.

I juice almost daily. The only time I don’t juice is when I have leftover juice from the day before.

Here’s what I juiced this morning.

1. 5 medium sized Apple
2. 1 cup of strawberries
3. 1 cup of spinach
4. 1.5″ Ginger

I’m not sure what I call this, but it tasted great. I much prefer savory drinks, but I wanted something sweet and this was wonderful. With this high energy drink, who needs coffee? I never was a coffee drinker.

Guess what? The BF, hasn’t had coffee in over three weeks. He’s juicing also. Initially he was shocked that he did not need coffee as a stimulant in the morning, but now… not so much. I told him, I’d turn him into a juicer. If you’d have asked him a few months ago would he be juicing produce he would have laughed and said, no. In fact… he did. 😉