Vegan Option!

I'd love to say I came up with this recipe purely to go vegan and improve my life and animal's lives all over the world, however.... I accidentally threw this together out of leftover abundance and laziness.  I really need meat.  There's a lot of argument over that, but I do have a metabolic disorder that complicates my system and proteins simply help the absorption of nutrients and slow the effect of sugar way better than veggies or complex carbs.  So, to have a vegan recipe in my house, is basically unheard of.

However, last night we had tacos: beef, black beans, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, hot sauce, sour cream, chives.  It was delicious.  When we finished dinner, I found I had a LOT of black beans left.  Normally, the kids will have these for lunch, heating them up with some cheese and sometimes dipping corn chips.  Today, I went to the freezer to see what meat to thaw, when I realized, it's going to take hours to thaw the chicken or beef or whatever, but there were black beans.  I was thinking a chicken quinoa soup, as I've been meaning to get back to soups and hopefully help heal my body a little (recently realized there's some struggles with solid foods...? what is this, regression?)  The thing is, I didn't want to wait for the chicken to thaw.  I really have been craving some veggies.  So, when I saw the massive bag of quinoa in the freezer (I'll explain,) then I was very excited.   I grabbed some open bags of frozen vegetables that looked as if they were going to get frost bite faster than they were going to be eaten and I set up to throw together an amazing meal.

*Note:  I keep oats, flours - garbanzo, coconut, etc, quinoa, and other such dry goods in the freezer due to a problem a few years ago.   I found an infestation of moths in one of my cans of almonds.  I cleaned those out and the whole cabinet and later found them in a sealed box of flour (which I had long since stopped using.)  One by one, the dry goods in my pantry became contaminated with these tiny bugs that would just not stop.  I cleaned out everything.  Any dry good that came into my house, went into the deep freeze after that.  It just must be that way for now, until I can trust the vermin with my food.   No, I'm not talking about the children....

So, today's recipe is 100% vegan (with the option of adding meat if you need/want to.)  It's also extremely nutritious, protein packed, and delicious!

Hot Veggie Quinoa

2 cups uncooked (but washed quinoa - any type)
2 tBsp vegetable soup base  (non vegan can use chicken soup base if you like)
1/2 small onion chopped (or 4-5 green onions chopped)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tBsp coconut oil   (non vegan can use butter if you like)
1 can or 10 oz black beans, rinsed and drained
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, your choice - I used a couple 1/2 full bags of edamame, mixed and green beans

OPTIONAL:
1/2 cup vegan shredded white "cheese"  for topping (non vegan - shredded parmesan)
2 chopped chicken breasts/ meat if wanting to add meat

The usual ratio of quinoa to water is 1:2.  If you have one cup of quinoa, you need 2 cups of water.  I used 2 cups of quinoa and 4.5 cups of water, maybe even a splash or two more.  I used a little extra water just to give it a smoother texture when I added the vegetables.  Heat large pot over medium heat with coconut oil, garlic and onion in it.  Cook until light brown about 5 minutes.  Add 2.5 cups water and add soup base mixing well until everything is swirled together in the water.  Bring the water to a light boil and add your quinoa.  Turn down the heat and simmer about 15 minutes or until the quinoa crack open and get al dente.  Add in the frozen veggies and black beans (and meat if you choose to have meat with this) and stir over low/med heat until hot all the way through.

Salt and pepper to taste and top with vegan cheese (or parm or nothing at all!) and ENJOY!!  This is very simple, quick, gluten free, appropriate for vegan, vegetarian or those avoiding meats and is still very delicious and healthy with a warm, comfort food appeal.

This recipe will easily feed 6-8, however, no guarantee there will be enough left for seconds or leftovers!

Saturday Morning Breakfast!

In celebration of breakfast today,  Friday's post is going to be Saturday morning!  That was the best excuse I had for not making it to my computer yesterday!  There was a lot going on and the day ended with me crashing at 8:30 at night.  I do wish I had a cup of coffee to share this interesting recipe, which I found at Food.com, but we can make due with a bowl of yogurt and almonds.

Things have come along well at the house.  Kids entertained, bedrooms cleared, and waiting for mom to show up.  I've been trying to make some menus (again yes!) to have an idea for grocery list and such, but so far I'm coming up blank.  Not sure what some good ideas are for when company is over.  There are still 300 soups in my freezer, so that's always a good fallback right? 

Let's discuss for a moment vegetarian and vegan perspectives in this blog.  I am obviously  not against eating meat in any way shape or form.  I am highly dependent on it for keeping my blood sugar regulated and my metabolic syndrome in check.   However, there are some people, like a friend of mine, who recently was told to stop eating meat - for medical reasons.  I'm going to go for an elementary and short explanation, search the web if you want more comprehensive idea of how these diets work, I don't follow them, so I'm NOT the expert!  Cutting out meat and meat products would be vegetarian.  Cutting out meat, dairy and any animal product or by product is vegan.  Vegans won't eat honey, eggs or milk because it's taken from bees and cows.  Vegetarians will or can eat honey, eggs and milk.  Everyone's food choices are what's best for them and in this blog, there's an abundance of meat.  You'll find sometimes that I've thrown in a vegetarian option (and I've tried to dabble in veganism a couple times to no avail.)  Coconut and almond milk can only go so far for a person who can't/shouldn't eat grains.  Eventually you need some substance.  Vegans can wake up in the morning and have a bowl of cereal with almond milk and go about their day.  I haven't had a bowl of cereal in over three years.  

Keep these three things in mind when you're going over some of my recipes: 

1.  Chicken stock/broth can always be substituted with vegetable stock/broth.  Always.  It's good stuff!  Likewise with milks, some recipes (not yogurt! or custards, they require different methods) can have almond or coconut milk substitute

2.  Some soups/foods can omit the meat and still taste great.  Try substituting portabella mushrooms for steak or hamburger. 

3.  Beans are also a good meat substitute.  Later, you'll find me substituting wheat flour with beans.  =) 

Today's recipe is neither vegan nor vegetarian but you can modify it to vegetarian if you like (just leave out the bacon! - what??? Leave out bacon is capital crime in my house.)

Here's my source!  http://www.food.com/recipe/carb-free-cloud-bread-411501  Yes, I changed some things,  YES! I do make the recipe as stated FIRST before making my modifications.  You can be sure this recipe is a lot of fun in my house and makes amazing hot ham and cheese sandwiches! 

Bacon Onion Cloud Bread

3 eggs separated (very carefully - no yolk in the white at ALL!)

3 pinches of cream of tartar

2oz softened cream cheese

8 drops of liquid stevia

5 green onions chopped into tiny pieces

2 pieces of bacon (cooked) and the meat parts (cut off ALL the fat) chopped into tiny pieces

Preheat the oven to 300f. 

In a mixer,  mix on high the egg whites and cream of tartar until STIFF white peaks form.  Stiff is the keyword here.  High, fluffy, and can stand in towers on their own.  

In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, cream cheese, liquid stevia, green onions, and bacon until as smooth as possible.  

Then, we're going to FOLD, the yellow mixture into the whites.  Don't go crazy here.  Take a spatula (bowl scraper) with a silicone end and fold fold fold, then stop.  If you over mix it, it's going to turn into a liquid and that's what we want to avoid.  Go for fluffy. 

These things tend to be a bit sticky.  Try wax paper on your cookie sheet but just cooking spray or oil is not going to be enough to keep them from sticking.  I greased my pan with liquid bacon fat (from cooking the bacon) but they still got stuck, but didn't fall apart taking them off the pan.  

Drop into large spoonfuls on a cookie sheet.  I get about 6 to a sheet and they are the size of a regular burger bun.  They do not spread so much, but leave some room.  

Bake on middle rack for 23 minutes.  Some people might need longer, some shorter, just keep an eye on it, you don't want them overly browned but white is definitely not done.  

Cool on a cooling rack and store in a plastic container in the FRIDGE!  Use two to make a delicious hot ham and cheese sandwich (heat a fry pan med heat, put some butter in it, put cheese on one 'bread' and top with meat, and another bread - fry on one side till the cheese is melty, then flip and cook another 3 min.)   This bread is also good if you add 2 cloves crushed garlic and serve with low carb spaghetti or one of the soups on this blog!

Hope you enjoy this recipe, it's a LOT of fun to make.  I have added sweet things to it too as a dessert or breakfast bread and it's always turned out well.  They are fluffy, low carb, wheat and gluten free,  interesting bread substitute and easy to pull out of the fridge and have for any meal.  

Here are some pics of the steps I took.  I DO have a camera now, but I was still using my droid for these pics!  

Have a fun weekend! 

Sneak Peek Monday - Return of the Coconuts!

Who doesn't love coconuts?   I could go into minute detail about every lovely thing about sweet coconut flesh, but then I'd have to ask everyone to get their heads out of the gutter and follow me to the kitchen.   My favorite is probably Thai (or young/green) coconuts.  Getting into these things is a lesson in machete wielding.  There is no easy way.  Lucky for us, there are plenty of YouTube videos to show us how to do it.  As you can see from Friday's post, I had a bit of trouble organizing the yogurt party, but do not worry, this week, I'm very focused on making it this week's achievement.  If any of you tried the pudding over the weekend, you'll know it was pretty heavenly, rich and definitely tropical.  When served cold, it's almost too rich to eat for breakfast... yep.  I had it for breakfast - or tried.

So this week, I doubt I will be buying any Thai coconuts, but I will be buying a lot of coconut milk, and stocking plenty of patience as I work with my thermometer and yogurt maker.  Be prepared for an explanation of epic proportions.  Also, you'll need some yogurt starter, or cultures, a little bit of sugar, and something to thicken.  Some people use corn starch, some use pectin, or agar flakes.  I tried gelatin last time and got nothing but I think my major mistake was sugar content.  I was trying to go easy on sugar, but when you do that - you starve the bacteria.  They need to grow to ferment correctly and without it, you get nothing.  By the time the fermentation is done, there should be little to no sugars left as the bacteria have eaten them.  Obviously, if you're here for the vegan aspect of this recipe, you'll not use gelatin.  I'll work on that perhaps another time.  I have corn starch but us sugar babies should steer away from this, corn is very carb heavy/sugary.

Coconut milk is healthy and tasty, not to mention a great low sugar addition to any diet.  It's better than cow's milk in the fact that there's no lactose (dairy sugars - which can be a double bad for some people) plus no worry about growth hormones, antibiotics or fair and humane treatment of animals.   It's definitely a vegan dream.  Here's your hint for the week!  {You're probably thinking, "Why do we need a hint, you just told us we're going to make yogurt!"}  Sure, we're going to try to make yogurt.  That is not a guarantee of success.  It's just this week's challenge which I hope to be posting a successful recipe by Friday.  I realize there are a lot of successful recipes on the internet, but so far, they are not working for me.  I will continue to experiment until I find one and then you can come here and try it for yourself.  The hint is:  if my yogurt fails again this week, I'll be posting a recipe for a super sweet sugar free treat that is easy, fun, perfect for summer and a coconut lover's dream.

See you Friday!