Simple Lentil Chili

There's nothing like a bowl of soup or chili in the cold, wintry months. This simple lentil chili cooks the lentils while simmering the chili. An easy dish for the upcoming weeks between snacks and time-intensive meals.

Ingredients: 

1 onion, diced 

3-4 garlic cloves, minced 

1 bell pepper, seeded and diced 

1 qt vegetable broth 

2-3 tsp chili powder 

1/4 tsp smoked paprika 

1 1/4 cup dry lentils 

1 can (14-oz) diced tomatoes 

crackers 

Directions 

1. Sauté onion, garlic and bell peppers until onion is translucent. 
2. Stir in chili powder and smoked paprika to coat. 
3. Add lentils and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. 
4. Add tomatoes (with juices) and broth. 
5. Cover and bring to a boil. 
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are tender. 
7. Salt and pepper to taste, plus more chili powder or smoked paprika if desired. 
8. Serve with crackers or crusty bread.

Notes:

• Serves 4 
• Takes ~40 minutes after prep
• Nutritional Analysis per serving (sans crackers): protein 16.3g, sugars 6.8g, fiber 17.7g, carbs 40.5g ,fat 1.1g , calories 235

Vegetable Rice Casserole

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked brown rice 

2 zucchinis, diced 

10-oz cherry tomatoes, halved 

2 bell peppers, seeded and diced 

1 onion, diced 

2 garlic cloves, minced 

1 cup frozen corn, thawed 

½ cup fresh basil, chopped
½ cup vegetable broth 

2 Tbsp flour 

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

2 tbsp nutritional yeast 

¼ cup breadcrumbs 

Directions: 

1. Cook rice if not pre-cooked. 
2. Preheat oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
3. Place zucchini on baking sheet in a single layer. 
4. Sprinkle cherry tomatoes and bell peppers over zucchini. 
5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until zucchini is roasted and tomatoes are shriveled. 
6. While the vegetables bake, sauté onions and garlic until translucent. 
7. Turn off heat and add flour, stirring to evenly coat onions and garlic. 
8. Stir in cold milk and broth. Stirring until there are no lumps. 
9. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. 
10. Once it starts to thicken, turn off heat and stir in nutritional yeast, plus salt and pepper. Set aside. 
11. In a glass casserole dish, mix together cooked rice, roasted veggies, and corn. 
12. Add sauce and mix again. 
13. Sprinkle with basil and breadcrumbs. 
14. Bake 25 minutes or until sauce bubbles and the top is toasty. 

Notes:

• Total Time: 50 min  Active Time: 10 min
• Per serving: 404 calories, 5.6g fat, 78.2g carbs, 11.3g fiber, 10.4g sugars, 15.3g protein
• I do not suggest making this in the summer. This is too warm of a dish for that.

Pumpkin Sloppy Joe

Sticking with the theme of lentils, and the seasonal pumpkin goodness, and warm sloppy joe sandwiches are a great winter meal.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked lentils 

1 onion, diced 

4-6 garlic cloves, minced 

2 tbsp chili powder 

2 tsp ground cumin 

1 cup vegetable broth 

1 cup canned pumpkin 

¼ cup tomato paste  

pure maple syrup 

8 slices bread 

Directions:

1. Cook lentils if not using pre-cooked. 
2. In a separate skillet, sauté onions and garlic until translucent. 
3. Stir in chili powder and cumin to coat. 
4. Add broth, pumpkin, and tomato paste, stirring to combine. 
5. Taste, adding maple syrup for a sweeter dish. 
6. Stir in cooked lentils. 
7. Heat over low until warm. 
8. Taste, adjusting spices as desired. 
9. Combine to make sandwiches and serve. 

Notes

• Makes 4 sandwiches
  
• Per serving: 390 calories, 4.2g fat, 67.2g carbs, 23.2g fiber, 9.8g sugars, 23.8g protein

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I screenshot this recipe off of no less than three Instagram accounts that I follow. Obviously, I was super excited to make it. The original recipe is from @sixvegansisters. The original recipe called for mini chocolate chips, but I couldn't find any. I've seen it with chocolate chunks in a post by sixvegansisters and I wish I'd gotten the chocolate chunks I like and used those.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 cup vegan margarine (from a tub, not sticks)
1/4 cup nondairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (vegan)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through cornstarch.)
4. Using an electric mixer in a large bowl, cream together the margarine, milk, sugars, and vanilla.
5. Using a rubber spatula attachment, add half the flour mixture to the wet mixture and combine.
6. Add the rest and mix until combined.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips.
8. Drop round balls of the size of your choice of the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheets.
9. Bake for 9-11 minutes for small balls, 11-13 minutes for medium balls, and 13-15 minutes for large balls. Continually check to be sure they are baked to your liking.

Notes:
Supposedly makes 1 dozen cookies, but my very large balls made more like 21 cookies.

Pasta with Red Lentils

Resuming posting recipes, starting with this pasta and lentil dish. It's one of my favorites, takes about 20 minutes, and is perfect comfort food.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil 

1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
8-oz dry macaroni or shells
1 quart vegetable broth
¼ cup tomato paste 

1 cup dry red lentils 

Directions:

1. Cook macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and rinse. (While boiling, proceed to steps 2-8.)
2. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet.
3. Saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper until onion is translucent.
4. Stir in tomato paste to coat.
5. Add broth and lentils.
6. Cover and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are soft, about 20 minutes.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Stir together with cooked macaroni and serve.

Notes:

• Serves 4
• Per serving: 434 calories, 2.8g fat, 78.7g carbs, 20.7g fiber, 4.9g sugar, 26.6g protein

Book Review: Incredible Plant Based Desserts

I was generously offered a e-book copy ahead of release of Incredible Plant-Based Desserts by Anthea Cheng from the publisher for a honest review through Netgalley. My review also appears on Goodreads.

The book starts with some kitchen gadgets that may make your life easier. Then, even though it is called Incredible Plant-Based Desserts, the book starts with some breakfasts. Some of these may be  familiar or unfamiliar. I know I'm not a fan of ONOs or smoothies, so I didn't try some of these based upon that. There are some fun recipes, such as popsicles that people with kids would do well with. The snacks section was full of things I would consider desserts and not snacks, but that's probably my age showing.


Many of the recipes are sweetened by dates. Unfortunately, I do not care for dates - at all. Which means that any recipe that required dates would not be one I would try. I learned that even using dates for sweetening is not something I enjoy based on recipes I have made in the past. However, if you are looking for a less refined sweetener, dates is the way to go.

The layout is pretty. There are beautiful, vibrant color images, and little thought bubbles in painted swirls.

I only tried two recipes: the Chocolate Brownie Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies and the Cookie Dough Bars. I initially planned to try about six recipes. However, there are two big drawbacks to the recipes in this book: the ingredients can be expensive and hard to find (I paid $15 for just one ingredient for the cookie dough bars) and the resulting treats taste healthy or like non-vegans expect vegan food to taste. Unfortunately, for my family and I, those are deal breakers. My family asked me not to make any more of the planned recipes after two such duds.

I found the recipes to be very easy to make and not particularly time consuming. They also were very rich. So if you like rich treats, these will be right up your alley.

I would recommend this book to vegan families and parents who are trying to make healthier treats for the kids. Many of the recipes engage kids to participate with the decorating and are lunchbox ready.

Slow-cooker Moroccan Chili

It's still chili season, so here is another slow-cooker chili for you. Here's a hint, I have a few of these slow-cooker chili recipes and I hope to get them all up this fall.

Ingredients:
2 baking potatoes
1 onion, diced
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
4 carrots, sliced
4 celery stalks, sliced
2 cans (15-oz ea) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp Ras el Hanout
2 cans (14-oz) diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. Throw everything except the potatoes together in a 6-8 quart crock pot.
2. Cook on low 6-8 hours until veggies are soft, the chili is warm and tasty.
3. Meanwhile, bake your potatoes.
4. Serve chili over potato.

Notes:

• Serves 4
• You can make this stove-top by sauteing the onion and garlic until translucent, adding the veggies and cooking until tender, stirring in spices to coast, then adding beans and tomatoes plus some water, cooking for about 20 minutes, stirring as needed, until warm and tasty.