Author: laura

Healthier fettuccine alfredo

When you do your grocery shopping once a week, you learn to have some meals with ingredients that will make it to the end of the week, or even beyond if need be. Things happen and you can’t always cook everything when you want. This Fettuccine Alfredo from The Happy Herbivore works well as that dish. And broccoli is one of my go to sturdy vegetables. Other great back-ups are frozen peas and frozen greens.

This turned out creamy and a little tangy from the nutritional yeast. It even made an abundance of sauce so there was a little extra to drag my broccoli through. Oh, and this fits in great with a lazy vegan lifestyle. I also used that Good Karma Flax Milk again with good results. Sprinkled on top is the Vegan Parmesan from Yellow Rose Recipes. I like it better than Parma.

Roasted garlic and beet soup

After being down with the flu for a couple of days, I was craving healthy, comforting food. Soups, lots of veggies. Recently, I started getting Whole Living magazine and I’ve been pretty impressed by its offerings so far. The January/February issue had a cleanse plan as one of its features. The recipes are mostly vegan and stick with pretty seasonal ingredients. Pretty impressive! This Roasted Garlic and Beet Soup caught my eye. I love beets, but Kevin does not. He was out of town this week, so the timing was perfect!

This was delicious. So good that I might make it again this week to take for lunches. Once blended up, it’s smooth enough to drink from a cup, but still has some body to it and feels fairly substantial. Of course with beets I always live in fear that I’ll get it all over my face or clothes. But what the hell, live dangerously! Also, beets are like $0.69/lb. at the farmer’s market so it’s super cheap to make. Leeks aren’t cheap, but I bet you could substitute green onions.

Italian polenta loaf with beans and kale

Diving back into World Vegan Feast, this time something with simpler, homier flavors, the Italian Polenta Loaf with Beans and Kale (scroll down). So, clearly that’s a big pile, kind of a patty, not really a fried up slice of loaf. The amount of polenta the recipe called for didn’t seem to envelop the rest of the ingredients well enough. It did set up pretty well in the loaf pan in the refrigerator, but when it was sliced to pan fry, it wouldn’t keep together. Not sure if the answer is to chop the greens finer, use less of them, or what.

This definitely wants a sauce or gravy, even if just a little bit. Instead of Bryanna’s recipe, I used the simpler Rich Brown Gravy from Vegan Vittles. It’s also low in fat so this turns out to be pretty healthy and satisfying.

Kooksu at Takorea

While I do love the tofu tacos and sesame fries, the Kooksu (soba noodles, cucumber, cabbage, lettuce, Korean red pepper sauce – ask for no egg and it’s vegan) at Takorea hits the spot when you’re looking for a healthier option. Of course, I then end up destroying this and taking more than a couple of Kevin’s sesame fries. It cannot be helped. Heads up, they do trivia on Thursday evenings. It gets loud.

The lighting outside the window made the trees look all spooky.

“Pork” tenderloin, limas and ‘tatoes

Our CSA box contained fresh lima beans. Seems like all the recipes I have call for dried or frozen. After googling around a bit for ideas, I settled on this recipe for Tok-cel Lima Beans. So, I don’t know what the deal was with those limas, but they never softened up. Not even after microwaving leftovers. I ate them anyway and the flavor of the recipe was good, but I don’t know if my limas were weird or the recipe was off. If you make it, I’d boil until nearly done, then finish the recipe. That should work.

The “pork” is Match Meat.  It was just defrosted, seasoned with salt and pepper and rolled into a tube like a tenderloin. Again, I consulted my googles for tenderloin glaze ideas. This maple glaze was super easy and tasted great. Then I seared the tenderloin in a frying pan. After it was seared, it was basted with the glaze and then it cooked again on all sides in the pan on low heat, glazing as needed. I drizzled the extra on top after it was sliced.

The mashed potatoes were, mashed potatoes. I’m lazy and leave the skins on pretending that I do it because it’s healthier. I add a couple of cloves of garlic to the boiling potatoes and mash them in with Earth Balance and non-dairy milk. Since I was trying out that Good Karma Flax Milk, I used it. Worked great!