It’s a mouth full - in name and off the fork. It’s also really delicious. Idea credit goes to Demetrius on this one. I’ve made it for various settings, including potlucks, dinner parties, and for my omnivorous parents. Everyone loves it, and for good reason! More after the jump.
Tabouleh (also spelled Tabbouleh, Tabouli, Taboule, etc.) is something that I really love, but don’t make often enough. Most tabouleh recipes call for more parsley and bulgar wheat, but I like mine a bit crunchier and with more veggies. The recipe is super flexible too- you could easily replace quinoa or couscous for the bulgar wheat or red onion for the green onion, add some jalapenos if you’re feeling spicy, add some fresh mint, change up the veggies… you get it. With some pita bread and hummus, this tabouleh is filling on its own, but would also go great as a side to any Mediterranean meal or a salad bed under some falafel. Recipe after the jump.
Demetrius and I had a big Thanksgiving - we brought our families to DC instead of trying to split the holiday. We had a great time, and ate very well. We also had a LOT of food leftover - including many pounds of raw broccoli and carrots. So, I set to work on Monday, using what I already had to make two very yummy broccoli carrot dishes, a soup and a salad, that also happen to be vegan and gluten-free. If you have an abundance of one or both of these, or want some veggie-heavy foods to keep your immune system zooming along during flu season, OR just want something delicious for dinner, I recommend these. They’d also be great for a potluck.
Dish #2: Broccoli Carrot Salad
Ingredients:
4 large carrots, grated
3-ish cups broccoli, chopped
1 cup cabbage, shredded
5 small scallions, chopped
1/2 jalapeño minced
1/2 cup toasted almonds (or more!), chopped
dressing:
1/2 lime
2 heaping tbsp garlic ginger paste (or add your own freshly minced ginger and garlic)
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/8 cup braggs
1/2 cup vegetable broth (make your own!)
1/4 cup currants
salt & pepper
Make it happen:
Chop, shred, and grate veggies and almonds and put them in a big bowl. Make dressing separately by stirring all but the currants together. Then add the currants and let them soak in the dressing for 10 minutes or so. Toss veggies, almonds, and currants in the dressing and VOILA! Delicious. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!
Demetrius and I had a big Thanksgiving - we brought our families to DC instead of trying to split the holiday. We had a great time, and ate very well. We also had a LOT of food leftover - including many pounds of raw broccoli and carrots. So, I set to work on Monday, using what I already had to make two very yummy broccoli carrot dishes, a soup and a salad, that also happen to be vegan and gluten-free. If you have an abundance of one or both of these, or want some veggie-heavy foods to keep your immune system zooming along during flu season, OR just want something delicious for dinner, I recommend these. They’d also be great for a potluck.
Dish #1: Creamy Carrot & Broccoli Soup
A kind of play on cheddar broccoli soup, this was warm and hearty with a little spicy kick at the end.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
At least 4 cups carrots (I used 6ish really big ones), chopped
7 cloves garlic (or more!), chopped
1/2 jalapeño, chopped
3-ish cups broccoli, chopped
3 or 4 cups vegetable broth (make your own!)
1 can coconut milk
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp salt-free Spike
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp earth balance
1 tsp cayenne
Salt & pepper
Make it happen:
A rough chop on all your veggies is fine, because we blend the soup at the end. However, the smaller the veggies, the faster they will cook. But you knew that already.
Start by heating the olive oil in a soup pot. When it’s starting to sizzle, add onions and stir until they begin to become translucent. Add carrots, garlic, and jalapeño. Stir for a few minutes to soften the carrots. Add broccoli and stir for a few minutes until they become bright green. Then add the rest of the ingredients - add salt and pepper to your own taste. If using your own homemade broth, a bit of salt is desirable, but if you are using store-bought or from bouillon, I’m positive you won’t need it.
Bring it all to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Use an immersion blender to blend it all together, or a stand-up blender in batches if that’s all you have — just be careful to not overfill and burn yourself! Simmer blended soup covered for 20 minutes or longer to allow all the flavors to get to know each other well.
Taste it, and add more of something if you think it needs it - maybe you like it a little spicier? Maybe it needs more broth? Maybe it needs more fat? This is your time to shine, chef!
Enjoy!
We celebrated Thanksgiving early at our house this year because Meghan is spending the date in eastern Chad for work. (Follow her updates via Darfur Dream Team’s Facebook Page)
We made a lot of food for the potluck, but one of my favorites was a Kale & Brussels Sprout Salad, which I discovered via Epicurious.
My adaptation after the jump.
Yesterday I did a lot of work outside at our house, including cleaning up the garden beds out front. It’s honestly a little sad looking at this point, with a little bit of kale here and there and itty bitty beets (why didn’t they get big?), so you can imagine my surprise (& delight!) when I realized that we had a huge carrot harvest!
Naturally, I had a lot of kale in the fridge and I was going to a pre-Thanksgiving potluck, so I put together a veganized version of this recipe from Serious Eats.
See more after the jump.
We made this barley salad at home for ourselves one night when I was really craving lots of raw vegetables. It was so yummy we decided to make another batch to take over to our neighbors who had a baby about a month ago.
Barley Salad with Teriyaki Dressing
Ingredients
1.5 cups dry barley cooked in ~6 cups veggie broth (homemade!)
Lots of roughly chopped raw vegetables (we used kale, cauliflower, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli and cucumber)
2 parts teriyaki sauce to 1 part sesame oil & 1 part rice vinegar (amount to your liking)
Instructions
Cook the barley ahead of time (it takes a while!) and after it’s cooled a bit, mix with the raw veggies and then pour dressing over. Enjoy warm or cold!
It’s the season for outdoor cookouts, BBQs and potlucks. We have been grilling pretty often at our house lately and have made a few salads to complement. Here’s one we were really into!
Quinoa Salad (mix all of the following)
2 cups dry quinoa cooked in 4 cups veggie broth (homemade!)
lots of roughly chopped vegetables (we used broccoli, red onion, red bell pepper, kale [duh], carrots and purple cabbage)
equal parts olive oil and white vinegar
lime juice
salt and pepper
cilantro
