STARTING SOMETHING NEW

Some of my FB family has let me know that they would like it if I posted some recipes, heart healthy tips and nutritional tidbits on my blog along with letting everyone know my continual progress. I am happily obliging.

As I am getting ready to make the final decision on what recipes should appear in the new cookbook, I am doing some experimenting.

Last night, I made a Low Budget, Vegan (Dairy and Meat Free), Low Fat, High Fiber, Low Sodium, Sugar Conscious dinner. It was easy to prepare; providing you have a handy food processor and a few pairs of food service gloves near by; and it really tasted quite yummy. Of course, I did alter the recipe a bit, making it my own (sorry Whole Foods, if I had made it your way, it would have been too bland and boring). Although, I do have to tweak the recipe a bit more before the final recipe can be acceptable for the book, I am going to share this wonderful recipe and menu with you today.

What will appear in the recipe

• Where you can get the ingredients
• Tips on how to prepare correctly for the most flavor
• Cost (I will present the lowest cost first to the highest)

Quinoa Loaf with Mushrooms and Peas

Serves 8 (use it like meatloaf: sandwich, wrap, or on its own)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon organic cold-pressed virgin oil (Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods)
8 ounces crimi mushrooms (Costco, Trader Joe's, Pike's Market, Whole Foods)
Seasoning: well this can be tricky. If you want to cut down on the salt, don't use any. What can you use instead? I used black pepper (no sodium), Trader Joe's no salt 21 Salute Seasoning and Red pepper for just a little kick. Feel free to experiment a little and use your own seasonings to create a one of a kind taste.
1 package of Trader Joe's Mixed Prepared Beans (Now you can use any beans. 1 15-ounce can of no salt added garbanzo beans, kidney beans, white beans, adzuki beans (not black beans because they tend to be a little small in the can but, make sure that it is the no-salt added variety. I would use organic and believe it or not Whole Foods has the cheapest and best selection of canned beans around. The reason I don't use canned beans is because of the BPA in the cans (Read the December 2009 of Consumer Reports).
3/4 cup rolled oats (Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's)
2 cups cooked organic quiona (Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods)

Cooking quiona

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods)

Rinse quiona (use a small strainer with little holes)

Add water, broth and quiona in a sauce pan with a heavy lid and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes and let sit for 5 minutes

1 cup organic petite frozen peas (Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods)
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme (Pike's Market (Farmers Market), Trader Joe's, Whole Foods)
10 sun dried tomatoes packed in oil and jarred, drained and chopped (Trader Joe's, Costco, Whole Foods)
1 cup (about one medium onion) chopped red onion (finely chopped if you can)
1 garlic clove smashed

Putting it all together:

Preheat your oven to 350F. I find that putting your oven on convection bake 335F works best for my over. Lightly grease (spray with canola oil or olive oil (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods)) an 8-inch loaf pan with oil.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet (I got away with a medium skillet) over medium-high heat. Add thinly sliced mushrooms and seasoning and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden brown and tender. This will take about 6 minutes. Now let me tell you that I experienced a little dryness to my mushrooms so I added about a tablespoon of water to the pan while they were cooking and this helped with that.

Meanwhile, which means after you finish with the mushrooms, put beans, oats and 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of vegetable broth into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. It will look like chunky baby food. But your kitchen by this time with start smelling really good. Let that mixture sit for a couple of minutes.

Take those onions that you just chopped and throw them in the skillet you just used for the mushrooms (this means take the mushrooms out of that pan and put it in a very large bowl). Cook them on medium-high heat along with a smashed garlic clove (the easier thing to do would be to get frozen garlic from Trader Joe's. That way you will always have smashed garlic on hand and it wont go bad sitting on your counter). Add some seasoning to this mixture if you would like.

So, in that large bowl that you put the mushrooms in, add the bean mixture from the food processor, Throw in 2 cups of quinoa, 1 cup of frozen peas (make sure they are still frozen. Peas get really mushy in the oven), 1/2 cup chopped parsley and thyme, sun dried tomatoes, onion (the onion you just sauteed in that skillet), pepper, no salt seasoning, red pepper or anything else you think would add flavor to this mound of vegetable gloriousness.

Mix it with your hands (this is wear the gloves come in handy).

Transfer mixture to loaf pan (did you remember to coat it with spray or oil?), gently pressing down and mounding it in the middle. Now at this point, I brushed on olive oil on the top of the mound. Often vegan things can dry out really quickly in the oven.

Bake until firm and golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let it rest for about 10 to 15 minutes before slicing (with a serrated knife) and serving.

Nutrition:

Per serving (6 oz, 172 g if you weigh your food): 180 calories, 5g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 254 mg sodium, 28g carbohydrate (6g fiber, 4g sugar), 8g protein

Budget: $0.82 per serving

Serve this with:

Amy's Vegan Macaroni and Cheese or Mashed Red Potatoes
and
Steamed Broccoli

Enjoy!!!

Updates on the happy heart coming very soon.