Tag: healthyliving

Indian Spiced Chana Dal Soup

Published on by richbLeave a comment

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of Chana Dal
  • 2 carrots pealed and sliced in 1/8 inch slices
  • 1/2 medium onion sliced thinly
  • 1 large potato finely diced
  • 3 crushed cayenne peppers
  • 3 oz of tomato paste (1/2 6 oz can)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric
  • 3 teaspoons of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of crushed ginger
  • 48 oz of water
  • 4 sprigs of cilantro finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions

Boil Chana Dal in water for about 45 minutes to 1 hour till they are very tender then drain and set aside. In large sauce pan on medium head add olive oil, potatoes, onion, carrot, and cayenne pepper. Cook till onions start to turn translucent. Now add ginger, cumin, turmeric and cook for 1 more minute. Now add in water, tomato paste, salt, and cooked Chana Dal. Stir till mixed. Simmer for about 30-40 minutes till carrot and potato are soft. Now add in cilantro and adjust salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy.

Spicy Kung Pao Vegetables

Published on by richbLeave a comment

For times when you want a healthy vegetarian/vegan meal with lots of flavor, this is a great meal. You can add tofu if you want to add protein. Eggplant can be added in as an additional vegetable also and you can leave others out or change the proportions.

Ingredients

  • Veggies
    • 1/4 head of cabbage roughly chopped
    • 1 yellow onion chopped into byte sized pieces
    • 2 carrots sliced crosswise thinly
    • 4 green onions white sliced thinly green ends sliced 1/2″ slices
    • 1 cup of broccoli florets
    • 1 green or red bell pepper chopped into byte sized pieces
    • 2 stalks of celery cut into 1/4″ slices
  • Sauce
    • 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
    • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
    • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
    • 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
    • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
    • 1/2 cup of water
    • 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
    • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
    • 1 tablespoons minced ginger
    • 2 tablespoons of corn starch
    • 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
  • Other Ingredients
    • Rice or noodles to serve with
    • Canola Oil for stir frying
    • Chopped Peanuts for topping (optional)

Directions

Cook rice to serve Kung Pao Veggies over. Chop veggies as directed. Blanch or microwave the carrots and broccoli  first to even out the cooking time for all the veggies. Combine sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix. Stir fry vegetables till done about 3-4 minutes then pour sauce into hot pan with veggies and let cook for 3-4 minutes to thicken and coat the veggies. Serve over rice or noodles and sprinkle chopped peanuts if desired.

Everyone’s Favorite Salsa

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I have made this salsa many times and have made some tweaks to the recipe. Whenever I make it everyone loves it and wants the recipe. You might need to make extra because it will be gone quickly. So here is is the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes along with juice.
  • 3 med to large cloves of garlic roughly chopped
  • 1 half of a large onion roughly chopped
  • 1 hot roasted hatch chili or 2 jalapeno peppers (adjust to desired spiciness)
  • Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
  • Juice from 1/2 of a lime
  • Approx 7 sprigs of cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 cup of water if needed to thin the salsa so it is not to pasty

Directions

Add everything to a food processor and process till everything is chopped up somewhat fine. Adjust to taste by adding lemon or lime juice, salt, and cumin. Serve with chips or your favorite food.

Great Baba Ganoush

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I really enjoy good Baba Ganoush and one awesome thing it is even healthy. I can easily eat about a half of this in one sitting. Here is the recipe so everyone else can enjoy also.

Ingredients

  • 1 large eggplant
  • 3 large cloves of garlic cut in half
  • 1/4 cup of good tahini
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp of cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Directions

Take eggplant and cut slits in it and insert the half cloves of garlic. You can either grill the eggplant till charred all over or if you have a gas stove using a pair of metal tongs char over the burner. Next put into a pan and bake at 350 degrees till completely cook and soft and mushy. Remove outer skin and stem, then put into a food processor along with all the other ingredients and pulse until smooth. I didn’t have naan (Indian bread) so I just served it with toast. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do

High Protein Vegetarian/Vegan Burger Patties

Published on by richbLeave a comment

These came out great and go well in a bun as a vegan burger. They are easy to make and high in protein.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup of mung beans (soaked at least 6 hours or overnight in water)
  • 1/4 cup of dried black beans (cooked) or 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
  • 3 tablespoons of corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon Chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of Vegetarian Beef Broth (if omitted use 1/4 teaspoon salt)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of Salt (Add more if desired)
  • Olive oil

Directions

In a food processor grind up mung beans into a paste. Add in all the other ingredients except the onions and black beans and pulse a few times to mix them in. Add in the black beans and pulse a couple of times, but keep the black beans mostly in tact. Pour into a bowl and mix in the onions. Heat a frying pan and add in the oil and spoon in the mixture and fry till nicely browned and the middle of the patty is firm when pressed on. Serve and enjoy.

Indian Vegetable Cakes Recipe

Published on by richbLeave a comment

This is a healthy, great tasting vegan recipe that meat eaters will love also. The moong dal have a lot of protein and will really give you a satisfying fullness. You can eat this with an Indian pickle (It goes good with lemon pickle).

  • ¾ cup split moong dal or whole green mung beans
  • 3 tablespoons corn flour (corn starch)
  • 1 medium onion,chopped fine
  • 1 small carrot,peeled and grated
  • ½ green bell pepper,chopped fine
  • Optional 2 green chillies,chopped fine (you can substitue 1/2 to 1 tsp of cayenne pepper or leave out all together)
  • ½ teaspoon grated ginger
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • Salt about 1 tsp. You can sprinkle more on top while you are cooking if you’d like
  • Olive Oil or Canola oil  (Add a tablespoon or two to the pan before cooking)
  • Optional for more flavor (1/2 tsp of ground fenugreek seed, 1/2 tsp ground cumin)

Directions

Soak Moong dal or Mung beans overnight in water. Drain and in a food processor grind to a paste. now add the rest of the ingredients (except oil) and stir till well mixed. Add water and mix again. Add some oil to a nonstick pan and cook till it is nicely browned flip and brown other side. These are best when eaten hot. Enjoy!

Spicy Korean Tofu Stew

Published on by richbLeave a comment

This is a great hearty soup/stew and is one of the more filling vegetarian/vegan recipes that I have come across. I like to eat it in the colder weather the most, but it is good enough that I even eat it in the summer also.

  •  Ingredients
    • 3-4 cups Vegetable broth
    • 1 package Soft Silken Tofu broken up as desired
    • 1 6-8 oz package sliced mushrooms (Fresh or canned)
    • 4 strips of dried seaweed (sold as snack comes in paper like sheets)
    • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
    • 2 teaspoons course ground Korean pepper
    • 3-4 cloves garlic minced fine
    • 3-4 green onions chopped
    • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
    • Salt to taste
  • Directions
    • Add olive oil to preheated pan on medium heat along with garlic. Fry about 2 minuites
    • Add vegetable broth, tofu, pepper, soy sauce, seaweed, sesame oil and mushrooms
    • Cook on medium heat for 20 – 30 minutes
    • Serve in bowls topped with chopped onions if using green onions and serve with rice to eat with or scoop into soup

Spicy BBQ sauce

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I occasionally make BBQ sauce, this time I was going to make a batch of BBQ beans. I like a spicy,  vinegary sauce and that’s what this sauce is. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons of white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp prepared mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Add water to pan on low heat, then add tomato paste and mustard and stir till combined. Add in rest of ingredients and and leave on heat for about 15 minutes. Adjust by adding any additional salt at end if needed.

 

Hearty Roasted Eggplant Soup

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I have two eggplant plants and they are loaded with eggplants. I am looking for different ways to use them. This is one recipe that turned out great.

Ingredients

  • 4 large asian eggplants
  • 1/2 onion sliced
  • 2 ripe tomatoes pealed and chopped
  • 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 head of roasted garlic
  • 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
  • 32 oz of vegetable stock (Can substitute Chicken stock)
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

Directions

Spray eggplants and garlic head with oil and roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. When cool, remove inside of roasted eggplant and garlic chop and add into a pan along with the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro) a pan and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Stir in cilantro just before serving. Serve and enjoy.

Italian Seasoned Grilled Chicken Breast

Published on by richbLeave a comment

This is a great easy to make recipe. Just slice boneless skinless chicken breast up, add marinade mix to oil, water, and vinegar and marinate for a few hours. Grill and eat! They taste great. In a pinch you can use a packet of Good Seasons Italian Salad dressing mix instead of the mix on this recipe, they are pretty much the same.

Ingredients

  • Italian Dressing seasoning mix along with wet ingredients (See Recipe on this site)
  • 3 bonelesss skinless chicken breast (slice to split into 3 thinner beast pieces)

Directions

Mix together we and dry ingredients on Italian Dressing Mix Recipe, then add sliced chicken to marinade in a bowl or ziploc bag and marinade in the refrigerator for 1 – 4 hours. Heat grill very hot (I shut the lid with the burners on and heat to about 450 degrees fahrenheit) then add chicken to grill and cook till browned. Serve and ENJOY!