Creamed Spinach

If served as a side dish, this recipe is for 4. If you plan to eat it as a main meal, with plain yogurt and bread, it is for 3.

Ingredients:

454 g spinach (large beg, check if it is pre-washed, if not - wash it!)

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 Tbsp white flour

enough oil to make paste with flour and garlic

1/2 cup milk (approximately)

salt

Put spinach in a large pot and add water to, let's say, half of the pot. Add salt on top.

Cover and cook on high. When it boils, cook 5 more minutes. Drain in fine sieve and cut horizontally, vertically and diagonally, to be sure you got it cut into small pieces. 

While spinach is cooking, take a small pot. Add oil, flour and minced garlic.

Stir to see if you can get paste. If not, add more oil. It is important because if it's not smooth, once you add milk it will curd. So at first I got something like this:

Then I added more oil (little bit more than I should) and got this:

Leave it like this (don't start cooking it) until spinach is done (drained and cut).

Once spinach is ready, put flour mixture on the stove and turn heat on. Stir flour with oil and garlic all the time. Keep stirring for about a minute or so. Add spinach and mix well. Start adding milk, little by little. If you add a lot of milk at once, flour will form small balls and your spinach will not be smooth. So, add little bit of milk, stir, add milk, stir... until you don't get desired consistency. That's why I said approximately in ingredients. 

Keep stirring and cooking until all milk is absorbed.

If you are serving it as a side dish, it is done and should be served immediately with the rest of your meal.

If you decide to eat it as a main meal which is my favorite way of eating it, add couple of Tbsp of your favorite plain yogurt, and try eating it with crusty Italian bread (to be honest, I tear bread into small pieces and mix it with spinach and yogurt, mmmmm - comfort food).

My kids love eating spinach prepared this way. Once I even overheard my son telling his friend: "Spinach rocks!"

Kale and Tofu Stir-fry

Ingredients:

1 bunch of black kale (I always use black kale because it's softer and less bitter than regular curly kale), washed and hard stems removed, cut into small pieces

1 package of firm or extra firm tofu, cut into cubes

1 in piece ginger, grated

1 bell pepper (whichever color you like or have on hand), cut into strips

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tbsp or more soy or tamari sauce

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp oil

Steamed rice noodles

Cut all vegetables and tofu.

Put oil into the pan, add garlic, ginger pepper and kale and cook stirring until kale is cooked. If ginger starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, add little bit of water and continue stirring.

Add tofu and stir-fry for about 1 minute.

Add soy and hoisin sauce, stir to combine all ingredients and cook just to heat up sauces. Cut green onions into small pieces and stir in.

Serve over steamed rice noodles.

   

Moroccan Chicken and Chickpeas

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cut in half

salt and black pepper

6 Tbsp flour 

1 Tbsp oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 lemon, skin removed and cut into thin circles

3 cups chicken broth

12 olives

1 can (540 g) chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 Tbsp red pepper powder

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed and cooked

Mix salt and black pepper with flour on a plate. Put oil into deep pan, big enough to hold all pieces of chicken in one layer. Pres chicken pieces into flour to cover all sides. When oil is warm, add chicken.

Fry them on both sides (they don't need to be done) and take them out.

Add chopped onion and sliced lemon, and cook stirring and scraping flour pieces from the bottom of the pan. 

If needed, add little by little chicken broth. Cook until onion is softened. Return chicken to the pan, add chickpeas, chicken broth and red pepper powder.

Stir it so there are no pepper lumps.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. At the end, add sliced olives. 

Serve over cooked rice.

Lentils and Bean Chili

Ingredients for 4 servings:

3/4 cup dry French lentils, rinsed

1 Tbsp oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1 can (540 g) diced tomatoes

1 can (540 g) black beans

1/2 cup cilantro

Rinse lentils and put them in the pot. Pour water over them. Water should be about 1 1/2 - 2 inches above lentils because during cooking lentils will absorb water. Cook for about 10 minutes or until done. If lentils are cooked but didn't absorb all water, strain them.

Mix chili powder, oregano, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper and salt in a small bowl, and set aside. Put oil in a pot, add onion, garlic and pepper. 

Cook stirring often, until vegetables are softened (about 10 minutes). Meanwhile rinse canned beans under cold water and set aside. 

Add spices to onion mix in the pot, and cook stirring for about a minute. 

Add canned tomatoes and canned beans. Cover and cook on medium to low temperature for 10 minutes.

While beans and tomatoes are cooking, chop cilantro.

After 10 minutes of cooking beans and tomatoes, add cooked lentils and cilantro and mix all together.

Serve sprinkled with some chopped cilantro.

Bean Patties

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic

4 green onions

1 Thai red pepper

1 can (540g) white kidney beans, rinsed and drained

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup parsley or cilantro

1/4 tsp black pepper

salt to taste

1 egg

1/4 cup corn meal

This patties can be baked or fried. If you are going to bake them, turn the oven to 400 F.

Cut garlic, onions, pepper and parsley. Put all ingredients, except corn meal, into blender and pulse until combined. If it's too dry add more oil and/or water.

There should be chunks of beans left. Make 8 patties. Roll each in corn meal and put on lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes or fry on both sides until golden.

I like to eat it with Ajvar (red pepper spread) but if you can't find it at your store, stir mayonnaise and lime juice.

Confetti Salad

Ingredients:

30 oz canned black beans

2 cups edamame, shelled, cooked and drained

1 Thai red pepper (or any small hot pepper)

1 of each: red, yellow, orange and green bell pepper

1 medium red onion or 3-4 green onions

Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup cilantro

3 Tbsp lime or lemon juice

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar (if you are in Europe, use less because your sugar is sweeter than North American)

1 tsp ground cumin

First, mix all ingredients for vinaigrette and set aside.

Take a big bowl, put in cooked edamame and rinsed and drained black beans. Before you open black bean can (or any other can), rinse the top with water and with paper towel go around where the can opener will pass. 

Now start dicing. Dice all peppers and onion into very small pieces. Be sure to remove all seeds from inside the peppers. The best way to do it is to rinse insides with water. Also, remove white parts from insides.

When you get to the Thai pepper, put on gloves or like me, who doesn't like using gloves, work with bare hands. Then go to put your contact lenses...just kidding (it happened to me).

Mix all ingredients in the bowl and add vinaigrette. Mix again, and again, and again, until all ingredients are mixed well. Put in a glass bowl and cover with lid or plastic wrap. Put in the fridge so all ingredients can blend together.

It can be eaten right after all ingredients are mixed together, but it's better if it stays in the fridge for couple of hours.

Red Lentil Dal

This recipe is from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook written by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre. This recipe is 6 or more people, so feel free to make 1/2 :)

 

 

Ingredients:

2Tbsp virgin coconut oil (it needs to be without taste)

1 1/2tsp black mustard seeds

1 1/2tsp cumin seeds

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic crushed

2tsp turmeric

2tsp ground cumin

cayenne pepper to taste

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

3 medium red potatoes, cubed

2 1/2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained

6 cups water

1 can coconut milk

2 cups chopped tomatoes or one 14oz can diced tomatoes

salt to taste

 

 

 

In a large 8-quart pot heat the oil over medium heat, then add cumin seeds and black mustard seeds. Sauté until they begin to pop. Quickly add onions and garlic and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.

 

Add turmeric, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, carrots and potatoes, and sauté a few more minutes.

 

Add lentils, water, coconut milk and tomatoes. Stir well. Bring to boil and then let simmer, covered for 20 minutes (original recipe says 45 minutes but I found it's way too long, at least for the kind of lentils that I use). Add salt to taste and stir. Serve hot.