Rainbow Black Bean Soup

The most colorful soup we’ve ever laid eyes on…and one of the easiest (and most delicious!)

4 1/2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups cooked black beans

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup red pepper, chopped

1 cup red chard, chopped

3/4 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup purple carrot, chopped

1/2 cup carrot chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

1 jalapeno, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp black pepper

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook oil and onions for 5 minutes
• Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT chard, and bring to a boil
• Reduce to a simmer, cover, an d cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes
• After 30 minutes, turn off heat, add chard, and stir in until wilted

(purple carrots from the winter farmer’s market!)

 

Kale & Collard Green Polenta Cutlets

More meat-resembling food from us!

Just shaping things into cutlets gives them a different vibe.  They transform any veggie, bean or grain into a main dish, worthy of adding additional vegetable sides to them, just like most of America does.  Except generally the main dish is a burger and the “vegetable” is fries or onion rings.  These cutlets go great with any tomato sauce or past-get creative!

I got the idea for these from JL Goes Vegan..someone I’ve connected with on Facebook and Twitter 🙂

2 cups chopped kale

1 cup chopped collard greens

3 cups vegetable broth

2 cups coconut milk, divided

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2-1 cup breadrcumbs

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

• In a saucepan, cook onions and oil over medium heat for 5 minutes
• Add kale and collard greens and stir continuously for 10 minutes
• Add milk, vegetable broth, salt and pepper, whisk together, and bring to a boil
• Reduce to low heat, and add cornmeal, 1/2 cup at time and whisk continuously so there are no lumps
• Stir for about 15 minutes until thick and creamy
• Transfer polenta mix to a greased 13  9 baking pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• After 30 minutes, cut polenta into triangles
• Dredge through coconut milk, then dip into breadcrumbs
• Place on greased baking and cook at 400 degrees for 10 minutes
• Flip over and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown on both sides

Chickpea Parmigiana with Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

Chickpea cutlets really were the greatest discovery of all time.

We’re testing out all of our old chicken favorites by replacing the meat based recipes with chickpeas and using vegan cheese as a substitute as well.  These came out wonderful and although it usually grosses me out to eat things that resemble meat or poultry, I really love that these have the same texture and consistency as chicken cutlets…without the cruelty!

1 batch chickpea cutlets

1 cup mozzarella Daiya cheese OR 1 cup shredded regular mozzarella

FOR THE SAUCE

2 cups chopped tomatoes

3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 30 minutes

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp white pepper

• Preheat oven to 40 degrees
• Blend all ingredients for the sauce together in a blender until smooth
• Spoon sauce mixture evenly over chickpea cutlets then top with cheese
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then place under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes, until cheese begins to bubble

Rainbow Chard & Tomato Barley Risotto

I fell in love with this dish…hard.

The only downside to this recipe was that I ate almost all of it in one sitting.  It’s super creamy, and I just couldn’t resist going for seconds. And thirds.  Doubling this recipe would be ideal in the future!

2 cups chopped rainbow chard

1 1/2 cups pureed tomatoes

1 cup dry barley

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

• In a saucepan over medium heat, cook barley, basil, oregano and oil for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring continuously
• Then add tomato puree, coconut milk, vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper
• Bring to a boil, and then cover, and reduce to low heat
• Let the mixture sit, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 or 7 minutes so it doesn;t stick to the bottom of the pot
• After 30 minutes, turn off heat, add chard and garlic to barley mix and stir until well blended and chard begins to wilt a little