Coconut Rice and stir-fried Veggies

Ingredients for coconut rice

  • 1 Cup Basmati Rice
  • 3/4 cup Coconut Milk
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 tsp salt (cut to 1/4 tsp if using a sauce with added salty flavor)

Instructions for Coconut Rice This recipe adapted/tested from a NYT recipe – added sugar is removed https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019200-coconut-rice

  1. Rinse 1 cup basmati rice and drain.
  2. Combine rice, coconut milk, water, and salt in a pan on the stove that has a lid.
  3. Uncovered, heat the mixture till it simmers (bubbles appear, low boil)
  4. Cover the pot with the lid and reduce heat to lowest setting. Cook for 15 minutes.
  5. Remove the lid, fluff the rice slightly, cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

Instructions for Stir-fried veggies you can cook up almost any veggies pretty quickly to accompany your coconut rice. These basic instructions can be used for peppers, zucchini, onions, chickpeas, squash, broccoli, kale, and many more veggies.

  • yellow onion sliced thinly
  • 2 mushrooms washed and sliced into bite sized pieces
  • peppers, washed and cut into bite sized pieces (save a few small rings for garnish)
  • cooking oil any type
  • lemon wedges for squeezing for juice
  1. heat a pan on the stove, add a spoon of oil.
  2. Cook onions first 2-5 minutes.
  3. Add mushrooms and other veggies next. Cook another minute or two. Veggies should have a little crunch still.
  4. Serve with your coconut rice. Put pepper rings on top for garnish.

Sprouted Cauliflower

What is it like? Sprouting white cauliflower has a mild savory pungent flavor a little like broccoli and a firm texture between broccoli and potato. It is delicious eaten raw, roasted, or chopped up and added to stir-fried vegetables. Sprouted or flowering cauliflower can be found at farmers markets but doesn’t usually show up at major grocery store chains. The buds can bruise easily and the shelf life is shorter than a larger head – plan to use sprouted cauliflower within 2 days for best color and firm texture.

How do I tell if it is still good? A common question about cauliflower is ‘what are the little brown spots? is it bad?’ Small brown spots aren’t a problem and may be bruises. They do mean that you should use it soon though. The bruised areas will break down more quickly. Cauliflower can have a strong pungent aroma like other cruciferous veggies like broccoli and be in fine condition to eat. If your cauliflower is going bad it will start to be mushy, slimey, fairly discolored, or have visible mold- it is time to toss if you see these things.

Recipe: Oven Roasted Sprouted Cauliflower

Equipment:

  • Oven, preheated to 400F
  • Pan for roasting in the oven

Ingredients:

  • 1 bunch of sprouted cauliflower
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional: Any ground spices you like including coriander, ginger, curry powder blends, garlic, etc.

Instructions:

  1. Wash cauliflower either by running under water or submerging in a bowl.
  2. Shake off the water or leave a few minutes to drip
  3. Trim cut ends of stems if tough or dry
  4. add 1-2 tbs of oil to the cauliflower on your roast pan, sprinkle salt, pepper, and any optional spices.
  5. Spread cauliflower in a single layer on the pan.
  6. Roast 7 minutes, then check to see if the cauliflower is golden in spots and if the stems turned from bright green to a slightly more cooked green look. If they aren’t quite done check every 2 minutes.

Serving suggestion: Eat with rice and roasted chickpeas or meat

Store any leftovers in the fridge and reheat to serve. Use in 1-3 days.

Boba With Oolong Milk Tea

Ingredients: Oolong tea, Tapioca Pearls (Boba), Sugar Packets, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Boba Straws

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot. Add in 10 Oolong tea bags, turn off heat and let steep for 10 minutes. After the tea has steeped removed the tea bags and place the tea in the refrigerator to cool. To prepare the Boba, bring 4 cups of water to a boil in small pot. Add Boba and wait till it floats to the surface. Cover the pot and let boil for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and let simmer for another 3 minutes. Pour Boba into a strainer and rise under cold water until the Boba has cooled, about 20 seconds. Place strained Boba into a small bowl and toss with 4 packets of sugar. Now you are ready to assemble! Place 1/4 of Boba into the bottom of a glass. Next add 3 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk, and top with 1 1/2 cups of Oolong tea. Stir all the ingredients together and taste for sweetness. Add more sweetened condensed milk if you choose to have it sweeter. Enjoy!

Margherita Pizza Bread

This is simple and your taste buds will enjoy the beautiful fresh flavors of summer!

Ingredients

1-Baguette sliced in half

3 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1-Tomato Sliced

6-tsp Balsamic Vinegar

Thinly Sliced Basil & Shredded Mozzarella Cheese.

Salt and Pepper To Taste

Directions

Placing your hand lengthwise on your bread gently slice bread down the middle.

Drizzle 1 ½ Tablespoons of Olive Oil on each slice of bread

Slice Tomato into Six slices and place on top of bread

Salt and Pepper to taste the tomatoes and spoon 1 teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar over each tomato

Chiffonade your Basil, which is simply slicing your basil thin by stacking your leaves on top of each other (largest to smallest) and rolling them up like a pinwheel.  Then carefully slice your basil and sprinkle on top of tomatoes.

Generously add your shredded mozzarella on top and bake your bread on a cooking sheet at 450 degrees for 8 minutes or until the cheese is slightly golden. Every oven is different so don’t be afraid to peek on your bread. Enjoy!

broccoli salad

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli

1 onion

8 packets mayonnaise

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

4 packets sugar

¼ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup cranberries

Chop broccoli into bite-size pieces. Chop ¼ of an onion. Add mayonnaise packets, apple cider vinegar, and sugar packets to small bowl and stir together to create the dressing. Add broccoli, onion, sunflower seeds, and cranberries to a medium sized bowl and top with dressing. Stir all ingredients together and add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit in fridge for 1 hour before serving.

Lebanese Tabbouleh

Adapted from Martha Rose Shulman

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/4 cup fine bulgur wheat (note: original recipe called for ¼ cup, in the HSRC test kitchen we thought we might enjoy it as much or more with twice as much though)
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced (optional)
  • Juice of 1 large lemon, to taste
  • ½ bunch chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 sprig chopped fresh mint
  • 1 Roma tomato, very finely chopped
  • 1-2 scallions, finely chopped
  • ⅛-¼ tsp salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste
  • Up to ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 romaine lettuce heart, leaves separated, washed and dried

PREPARATION

*to wash scallions, parsley, and mint, put them in a bowl filled with water and swish around with your hand. Hold scallions under running water in the sink and run your hand over the scallions.

  1. Place the bulgur in a bowl, and cover with water by 1/2 inch. Soak for 20 minutes, until slightly softened. Drain through a strainer, and press the bulgur against the strainer to squeeze out excess water. Transfer to a large bowl, and toss with the garlic, lemon juice, parsley, mint, tomatoes, scallions and salt. Leave at room temperature or in the refrigerator for two to three hours, so that the bulgur can continue to absorb liquid and swell.
  2. Add the olive oil, toss together, taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with lettuce leaves.
  3. This keeps for a day in the fridge.

Buttery Sautéed Cabbage

Buttery Sautéed Cabbage 

  • 1 small head green cabbage about 2 1/2 pounds
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  1. Cut the cabbage in half from its top down through its core. Place the cut-side down on your cutting board, then slice it as thinly as possible around the core so that you have fine ribbons. Discard the core.
  2. Heat a large saute pan or similar heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and butter. Once the butter is melted, add the cabbage, salt, and pepper. Saute for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender and begins to brown. Don’t feel like you need to constantly stir it. Leaving cabbage undisturbed for a minute or two as you go is what will allow it to develop brown caramelized bits. It will feel like it might not fit in the pan at first but it will shrink as it cooks down. 
  3. Remove from the heat. Taste and add a bit of additional salt and pepper if you like. Serve warm.

Notes

  • TO STORE: Store Sautéed Cabbage in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for up to one week. 
  • TO REHEAT: Place Sautéed Cabbage in a microwave-safe bowl or on a plate and reheat gently until warm. You can perk your leftovers up by adding another sprinkle of salt and a splash of apple cider vinegar after reheating. 
  • TO FREEZE: Sautéed Cabbage can be frozen if placed in a freezer-safe container. The texture of the cabbage may change slightly while frozen, but will still taste delicious when thawed. 

Adapted from Well Plated 

Jalapeño, Lime, and Spinach Veggie Spaghetti with Roasted Chickpeas

This basic meal strategy shows how to combine pasta, herbs/greens in oil, and a roasted bean. This can be varied and a fast healthy plant based meal. After trying this recipe I made another version using beet greens cooked with a shallot and lemon juice. Kale or cabbage would be good choices too.

The spaghetti recipe below is adapted from AcademiaBarilla.it. This is essentially the same recipe in terms of instructions, but the veggies are doubled and the protein is increased by adding roasted garbanzo beans.

Beet Greens with Lemon and Shallots, served with spaghetti and roasted chickpeas

Step 1: Veggie Spaghetti with Lime, Spinach & Jalapeño

Ingredients:

  • 12oz Box Veggie Spaghetti
  • 1-2 Jalapeños Sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1TBS Olive oil (for Spaghetti)
  • 2 TBS Olive oil (for cooking)
  • 8oz Spinach Leaves

Instructions:

  1. Boil water, add a pinch of salt. Cook spaghetti according to box instructions for 8 minutes (one minute less than stated.) Drain pasta spread on a sheet pan or plate to cool tossing with 1 TBS olive oil.
  2. Slice jalapeños into thin rings.
  3. Crush garlic and remove paper layer. Chop into big pieces
  4. Heat 2TBS olive oil in a skillet. Cook garlic and jalapeño about 1 minute.
  5. Add spinach leaves to the skillet and cook till wilted. The pan will be very full but the spinach will decrease in volume a lot when heated. Set aside the spinach to cool.
  6. Juice 2 limes. You don’t need a citrus juicer. Cut lime in half, using a fork squeeze the lime around the fork to extract the juice collecting it in a bowl, remove seeds before using.
  7. Combine the spaghetti, spinach mixture, and lime juice. Add salt as desired. Refrigerate for a while before serving.

Step 2: Roasted Chickpeas

This is one of my favorite foods, really! Follow this fast and flavorful recipe for a plant based protein boost.

Ingredients:

  • 15oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans
  • 1 TBS oil (olive oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil etc. all work fine)
  • salt & pepper
  • Optional: any dried ground spice or spice blend you enjoy (corriander, ginger, garlic powder, red chile, curry powder, chili powder, cumin, tajin – any flavor you like)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425F.
  2. Open can of chickpeas and drain liquid. Rinse if desired, drain well.
  3. Toss the chickpeas in a bowl with oil, salt, pepper, and any ground spice.
  4. Spread on a sheet pan.
  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Chickpeas should have some browned color, appear drier, a little crispy. If they don’t seem quite done, cook a few more minutes. If you cook more than one can of chickpeas or if they are very wet when you first put them in the oven it will take longer.
  6. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Texture will firm up a little.

Chef Salad

Chef Salad

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce (This recipe uses two types a butter lettuce-romaine cross type and an iceberg-romaine cross)

Hard boiled Eggs (follow this recipe from Kenji Lopez Alt at Seriouseats.com for PERFECT eggs)

Grape tomatoes

Green Onions (Scallions)

Sunflower seeds

  1. Prepare Hard boiled Eggs. Boil water water on the stove. Carefully lower cold eggs into the water. Cook 10-11 minutes at a low boil. Remove from heat and chill in cold water for a few minutes. Crack shell near the ends and peel off the shell. Slice or dice into pieces.
  2. Wash romaine leaves by pulling leaves apart and submerging in water. Replace water and repeat. (Farm fresh organic lettuce might have slugs or other insects, just pull them out when you wash the lettuce. )
  3. Wash tomatoes and slice or dice if you’d like. (See pictures above for how to slice round foods.) Holding tomatoes against the cutting board, use a sharp knife to cut them in half from the side keeping your fingers up away from the board.
  4. Wash and slice green onions. There are lots of different sizes and shapes you can cut them into.
  5. Assemble the salad in a bowl and enjoy. OR Spread out leaves and put small amounts of the salad ingredients inside to make little salad bites.

Any dressing of your choice can go with this salad or just add a little salt and pepper and let the creaminess of the egg and the juice from the tomato dress your salad.

About Types of Lettuce in this recipe:

in this recipe there are two different types of lettuce. The smooth strong leaves (pictured above on the left are a cross between Romaine and Butter lettuce, sometimes called ‘little gem’ lettuce. It is great for making lettuce wraps or small bites. The more lettuce with the larger white rib and the crunchier texture is a cross of romaine with iceberg, sometimes called ‘Cos lettuce’. If you’d like to read more about types of lettuce check out this post by Kristina Hick-Hamblin at Gardener’s path to see photos and explanations of uses for 29 types of lettuce.

Lettuce wraps are a good way to use lettuce.

Emily Kim is a Korean-American Youtuber and cookbook author. Learn about how to make Beef Bulgogi Wraps from her video. If you don’t use beef and would like to try a Vegan Bulgogi with tofu instead, Seonkyoung Longest has a great video with instructions.

Lemon and Garlic Broccolini

Most of us have heard of broccoli, but have you ever tried broccolini? Although they look similar and both belong to the cabbage family, broccolini is different from broccoli. Broccolini was developed as a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese broccoli. Broccolini is distinguishable by its longer, slender stem and smaller florets. The stalk, florets, and leaves of broccolini are all edible. As for taste, broccolini is milder and sweeter than broccoli. Sautéed, steamed, roasted, or grilled – there are endless ways to cook this beautiful vegetable and make it delicious! Chockfull of fiber and vitamin C, broccolini is a nutrient-packed food with limitless possibilities. Try this Lemon and Garlic Broccolini recipe below.

Broccolini versus Broccoli

Ingredients:

  • 1 head broccolini, separated into florets
  • 4 tsp fresh lemon juice, separated
  • 2 Tbls water
  • 3 Tbls butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pinch salt

Directions:

  1. Place broccolini florets in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir 2 teaspoons of lemon juice with 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and pour the mixture into the skillet. Cover turn on medium heat, steam until broccolini is bright green and tender (cook time will vary, 6-15 minutes depending on your stove and heat).
  2. While broccolini is steaming, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in the garlic and salt. Turn the heat to low and let the garlic gently fry until golden brown.
  3. Drain the water from the cooked broccolini and return to skillet. Sprinkle with 2 more teaspoons of lemon juice and the butter and garlic mixture. Sprinkle broccolini with black pepper or other spices of choice, toss to combine, and enjoy!

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

For more information about types and storage visit FoodHero: https://www.foodhero.org/sites/foodhero-prod/files/monthly-magazines/Broccoli%20March%202021%20Monthly.pdf