March « 2010 « Low Fat Vegan Cooking

March 27, 2010

Not Sizzling Rice Soup

Filed under: Chinese Cuisine, Gluten Free, Low Calorie Density, Soups — admin @ 1:05 am

: Not-Sizzling Rice Soup with Bok Choy, Mushrooms, Daikon Radish, and Scallions

Not Sizzling Rice Soup

Have you ever noticed that after the rice sizzles into Sizzling Rice Soup, it tastes pretty much like plain rice? But without the hearty goodness of brown rice, of course.

In going through the list of every Chinese dish we have ever had, i remembered the several times we had Sizzling Rice Soup, and wondered just what was in it, besides hot fried rice? Well, chicken broth, that’s ubiquitous in Chinese soups. But, i found from Googling several recipes, nothing much substantial. And what taste delight is the soggy rice a minute after it is in the soup? A little grease floats on the top of the bowl. So what, big deal! (Quote from Buckaroo Banzai).

Are the calories and health risk worth a little fancy presentation, often by a bored waiter?

I set out to make a good rice soup. It ended up fairly plain, nourishing but nothing to remember when you list your favorite dishes late at night… But, hey, a lot better than anything you get at a restaurant, and it has the goodness of brown rice.

So if you want a fast hot bowl of soup, that keeps well, and goes down easily, here it is.

From The China Study i know that in the countryside, many people eat a similar soup to mine, with rice and vegetables, and no added fat or meat. I often wonder just how much of any of the common dishes we get at a good Chinese restaurant in America would be familiar at all to the majority of people who live in China?

The other day we were eating at a busy Chinese Restaurant. Plate after plate went by, loaded with meat, and usually a few vegetables. Some plates had only a small garnish of vegetables, which from what i observed was not even eaten. Maybe people eat like this in the cities of China, but i think of all that meat as Americanized Chinese Food.

Not Sizzling Rice Soup

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 35 minutes

Can be made ahead

Freezes well

4 cloves garlic

6 c. water or vegetable broth

2 packets Savory Delight Bouillon or bouillon for 2 c. liquid (optional)

1 T. low sodium tamari

24 white mushrooms

1/8 t. or more white pepper

4 t. sugar (optional)

8 inch piece of daikon radish

8 medium bok choy, or another choy

1 c. water chestnuts, preferable fresh

1 c. sliced bamboo shoots

4 c. cooked brown rice

8 scallions, sliced thinly

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, while you slice the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms, garlic, tamari, white pepper, and optional sugar. Cook over medium heat at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate the daikon radish. Peel the water chestnuts, if fresh, or open a can or two of them and slice if necessary, and also slice the bamboo shoots, if you need to. Wash the choy carefully and slice thinly. The solid stem is edible, crunching something like celery.

Add the water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, and cook about 10 more minutes.

Add the choy and daikon and cook about 5 minutes.

Add the rice.

Garnish with sliced scallions.

You may want to add more rice if this is your only dish for the meal.

A salad of grated daikon radish and carrot with a little rice vinegar and sugar might go well with the soup.

This recipe was helpful.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 338 calories/12.1 g protein 14.3%)/3.2 g fat (8.5%)

Comments (0)

March 20, 2010

A Change in Posting Schedule

Filed under: Uncatagorized — admin @ 1:10 am

Hello Friends and Fellow Cooks:

I have reluctantly decided that i can’t keep posting twice a week anymore. Instead of posting on Wednesdays and Saturdays, i will now attempt to post just on Saturdays.

I will alternate an everyday very low fat dish one Saturday with a special more fancy and higher fat meal. with a salad and a dessert, the next Saturday. Hopefully i will be more able to get my posts done in time, and this will give me the time i need to get a recipe right.

Be seeing you.

Raven

Comments (0)

Low Fat Vegan Moussaka

Filed under: Gluten Free, Higher Calorie Density, Main Dishes, Middle Eastern Cuisine — admin @ 1:05 am

Moussaka with Eggplant and Potato, Cinnamon Tomato Sauce, and Tofu Bechamel Sauce, Accompanied by Asparagus

Low Fat Vegan Moussaka

The first time i had moussaka, i was a vegetarian, and the topping was a savory custard that was absolutely divine. For some reason, it was almost a decade before i tried to make moussaka myself, and although i don’t remember where or when this was, i didn’t save the recipe, so i know it was not a big success.

Then last November, Ellen at I Am Gluten Free posted a recipe for moussaka, and i remembered how much i had liked it, and decided it was time to try it again. Moussaka is a Middle-Eastern dish. The Greeks usually use a béchamel sauce, and the Balkans are the ones that use a custard. My sauce is half way between a béchamel and a custard.

Moussaka

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 60 minutes, but you need to start cooking about 2 hours before you plan to serve the moussaka

Can be made ahead

Don’t even try to freeze it; the tofu won’t be creamy anymore

The Main Vegetables:

1 large eggplant or 4 small ones

2 large potatoes

TheTomato Sauce:

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

14 oz. can diced salt-free tomatoes

1 large red pepper

½ c. red wine (optional)

¼ t. ground cinnamon

2 T. fresh or 2 t. dried oregano

1/8 or more t. ground black pepper

½ t. salt (optional)

¼ c. fresh parsley

The Cream Sauce:

14-16 oz. silken tofu

1 c. soy or vegan milk

¼ c. tahini

1 T. lemon juice

¼ c. brown rice flour

Garnish:

¼ t. ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350&deg. You can peel the potatoes and eggplant or not. Slice about ¼ inch thick and place on two baking sheets. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and then aluminum foil (the parchment keeps the aluminum from leaching into the food). Tuck the aluminum foil securely under the edges of the pan. Cook about 1 hour, until the eggplant is tender and sort of puffy, and the potatoes pierce easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce:

Chop the onions and red pepper, and put them in a medium saucepan with the tomatoes, garlic, red wine or ½ c. water, cinnamon, oregano, red pepper, black pepper, and optional salt. Cook about 30 minutes until it has thickened a bit. Cover to keep warm.

While the tomato sauce is cooking, make the cream sauce:

Put the silken tofu in a blender and whirl until it is smooth. Set aside.

Heat the soymilk in a medium pan. Add the tahini and stir it in well. Add the lemon juice and watch the milk curdle. Stir in the brown rice flour (it doesn’t cake as wheat flour does, but add it bit by bit to get it all stirred in). Cook about 2 minutes until thickened.

Add the silken tofu and mix well. Heat, stirring constantly. Cover to keep warm and set aside until the eggplant and potatoes are done.

Mix the parsley into the tomato sauce.

Assemble the moussaka in a 8 x 8 inch baking pan, or a casserole. You can put the eggplant on the bottom and make layers, or alternate a slice of eggplant with a slice of potato until the slices are all used up. I had just a couple more slices of potato than eggplant.

Pour the tomato sauce evenly over the eggplant and potato.

Top with the cream sauce, and smooth it to the edges.

Bake about 20 minutes, until the cream sauce is lightly browned and the rest of the dish is hot.

Adapted from Vegan Meatless Moussaka by Ellen Allard, and from Eggplant-Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, with a careful read of the Wikipedia article on Moussaka.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 413 calories/22.4 g protein (21.7%)/13.7 g fat (29.9%)

Comments (2)

Pomegranate Molasses Salad Dressing

Filed under: Gluten Free, Higher Calorie Density, Salads — admin @ 1:03 am

Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Dressing and Lettuce, Red Pepper, and Carrot

: Pomegranate Molasses

Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

We were shopping at our alternate produce market, which has a lot of Middle Eastern foods, and i spotted a low fat vegan food new to me: Pomegranate Molasses. I had to try it.

When we got home, i Googled it and found that it was not actually molasses, but a syrup made from pomegranates. It tastes vaguely of them, and has a sweet, rich taste, but lighter than sugar molasses.

I thought it would be perfect for a salad.

Since it is a Middle-Eastern ingredient, i tried it with cumin and coriander. But i liked it best just with vinegar.

I thought red wine vinegar would be more appropriate than balsamic vinegar, but when i tasted the two mixes, i liked the balsamic vinegar with it more. Both are sweet, and blend well together.

When i first began making oil-less salad dressing, i watered it down to make the taste of the vinegar less strong. But i seem to have gotten used to it, as i sometimes make a dressing with just vinegar and sugar and herbs. I also often use half vinegar and half lemon juice in a dressing. But if just vinegar seems too strong for you, try mixing in half the amount of vinegar called for with water. If you had the dressing mixed, you would put in the water as the same amount of vinegar you’d used, and then add the rest of the ingredients again, to double the recipe, but half the vinegar.

I liked the dressing best so you could really taste the pomegranate molasses, so i put in more than a healthy amount of it. That’s why i rated this recipe High Calorie Density.

Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 5 minutes

Can be made ahead

Should keep for several weeks in the refrigerator

½ c. pomegranate molasses

½ c. balsamic vinegar

Mix thoroughly. The molasses doesn’t mix very easily into the vinegar.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 120 calories

Comments (0)

Cherry Almond Cookys – a Failure

Filed under: Cookies, Higher Calorie Density — admin @ 1:01 am

Cherry Almond Cookys

Cherry Almond Cookys – A Failure

Some things just have no solution. They look good, don’t they? I think so. But cherries and almond butter just do not go together in a cooky. And i am really thinking that maybe the whole idea of low fat cookies that are worth eating is wrong. Cakes seem to work out much better.

I try to make a special dinner every week on the day that we are going to take the evening off and watch a whole movie, all in one sitting. That is what i write up in the following week for my Saturday posts. Sometimes what i try to do is a blazing success. Sometimes it is not. Sometimes it seems like the recipe just needs a little change, and it will be all right. I don’t feel i can tell you about it if i haven’t gotten it right myself. So i have been cooking things two and three times. But sometimes i really feel nothing is going to help… the whole idea is just too flawed. If i am to keep posting here every week, i am going to have to sometimes admit defeat and move on.

And i am having to rethink my idea of posting twice a week. I’ve used up most of my recipes that were already tried and true. Now i’m in new territory, and some things just take time. I want to give you good recipes that are right the first time you make them. I’ll let you know what i decide about that when i am feeling better.

I am sad because i really was a cooky lover, not a cupcake lover. I certainly will take out the idea of a low fat cooky from time to time, but for today, i feel this phase is over.

I ate two, just to be sure. Nope. Not even close. I threw the rest out. I can’t share these with my good friends, or even Mellon. Rest in peace, cookies. I will miss you.

Raven

Comments (0)

March 17, 2010

Colcannon – Mashed Potatoes and Kale

Filed under: Gluten Free, Holidays, Irish Cuisine, Low Calorie Density, Main Dishes — admin @ 1:05 am

Colcannon - Irish Mashed Potatoes and Kale

Colcannon – Irish Mashed Potatoes and Kale

My mother celebrated all the traditional holidays, and some not so traditional, like Japanese Boys Day. When i left home, at first, i didn’t celebrate much of anything for a few years, but then i started celebrating in a small way, and on the major holidays i have at least a special meal. For years, my St. Patrick’s Day meal was a stew with Irish soda bread and apple pie (the true Irish love apple pie, or so i’m told). But this year, in the wonderful Vegan Yum Yum, i read about Colcannon for the first time, and i knew i had to try that. It’s a very simple dish that you could picture on many a country table, but it’s really delicious.

Colcannon

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 45 minutes

Best served as soon as it’s done, but try reheating it in the oven

Potatoes do not freeze well – they get watery

6 large potatoes

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 bunches kale

¼ c fresh or 1 T. dried thyme

1 packet vegan bouillon for 1 c. liquid or Braggs or ½ t. salt

¼ c. nutritional yeast

½ c. vegan milk

As Colcannon is best served as soon as it’s done, it’s best to get the rest of the meal ready before you start – a salad, fruit, the table set, etc. Or you could get everything ready to cook and then do the cooking at about 25 minutes before you plan to eat.

Wash and chop the potatoes, with or without the skins. Cook the potatoes in a pot with water just covering them about 15 minutes or until tender but not mushy. Drain well in a colander.

Chop the onion and cook it and the garlic in ½ c. water until just tender, about 7 minutes. The water should be mostly absorbed, but that’s fine – you don’t need much water to cook the kale, although you might need to add a little if there isn’t a couple of tablespoons.

Meanwhile wash the kale (i usually put it in a big pan or bowl, and swish it around in three changes of water – you do not want any grit in your greens!) Lay the kale leaves one at a time on a cutting board and cut out the center stems. I usually slice down the leaf on either side of the stem and remove it, then slice down each leaf half so you have four long leaves. I then set the leaves aside until i have three or four stacked up, and then i chop the stack up and put it into the pan. Repeat until all the leaves are chopped up, and then put them in the pan with the now cooked onions and garlic. Cook about 3 minutes until bright green and just tender.

Add the bouillon or other salty seasoning, the thyme, and the nutritional yeast, and stir them in. Add the potatoes and about ¼ c. vegan milk, stir, and then mash. You could heat the vegan milk if you want to keep the dish piping hot. I love my potato masher, which makes easy work of the mashing, but a fork will do in a pinch. Add more vegan milk until you have the potatoes more or less mashed. The mashing will help stir the ingredients together, too.

Serve as soon as you can.

Adapted from Colcannon by the very good cook Lauren Ulm.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 461 calories/20.1 g protein (17.4%)/2.3 g fat (4.5%)

Comments (4)

Irish Soda Bread

Filed under: Breads, Higher Calorie Density, Holidays, Irish Cuisine — admin @ 1:04 am

Whole Wheat Raisin Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

My mom’s been making this as long as i can remember. I made it whole wheat, low fat, and vegan.

Makes about 12 servings

Preparation about 25 minutes

Can be made ahead although it is very good fresh out of the oven

Freezes well

4 c. whole wheat flour

1 ½ t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1 ½ t. salt (optional)

1 c. raisins

1 ½ c. vegan milk mixed with:

1 ½ T. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix dry ingredients. Mix in raisins.

Mix vegan milk and lemon juice. You should see it curdle. Mix this in with the rest.

Knead on a floured board about 2 or 3 minutes until smooth and form it into a loaf. Put in on a baking pan or an oiled loaf pan. My mom made a round loaf and cut an X into the top.

Bake 50 – 60 minutes for a loaf of the whole recipe, about 25 minutes for half a loaf. It is done when it sounds hollow if you knock on it, the bottom is brown and the sides light brown. You can also insert a toothpick and see if it comes out clean.

I cut the loaf into fourths and then each fourth into at least three pieces.

Thanks Mom.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 228 calories/6.5 g protein (13.8%)/1.2 g fat (5.9%)

Comments (1)

March 13, 2010

Scrambled Tofu

Filed under: Breakfast, Gluten Free, Higher Calorie Density, Main Dishes — admin @ 1:10 am

Scrambled Tofu with Whole Wheat Toast and Clementine Mandarin Oranges

Scrambled Tofu with Fresh or Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Italian Herbs

Scrambled Tofu has long been a special occasion breakfast for me, adapted from a scrambled egg dish from my vegetarian days. It was late, and i was tired, and i opened the frig and got out what i could find for a quick supper. I originally used fresh tomatoes, but then i discovered sun-dried tomatoes with Italian herbs in olive oil, and i used that, which made the dish even quicker and more delicious. I used dried herbs until fairly recently, but that too has changed. These days, i use plain sun-dried tomatoes in the winter and fresh tomatoes in the summer and fresh herbs year round if we have them, and i still consider this one of my favorite treats. Usually i have it for breakfast, but it is a good simple supper too, and fast enough to give you time to make a salad, at least a carrot and raisin salad.

Sun-dried tomatoes plump up fairly quickly, especially if they are not too old.

As i have said in other posts, i buy a lot of fresh herbs, not always knowing what i’m going to do with them. You can freeze them if they start to get old, and the frozen ones are fine in this dish.

Red onion is especially fine with this dish. Scallions are another possibility, although some of us mind them in the morning.

I especially like thyme, in this and most Italian dishes, so i use a preponderance

of that, along with basil, oregano, and sage. I love marjoram, though i have never found it fresh, but sometimes i put dried marjoram in with the fresh herbs.

Scrambled Tofu with Fresh or Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Italian Herbs

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 15 minutes

Can be made ahead

14-16 oz. firm or extra-firm tofu

¼ c. sun-dried tomatoes

¼ c. water

Or:

2 medium fresh tomatoes

½ white onion or 1 red onion

¼ c. fresh Italian herbs

Or:

1 T. dried Italian herbs

Chop the sun-dried tomatoes into ¼ inch squares. Scissors make this easy. Put in a small pan with ¼ c. water and the dried herbs, if using, and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook about 10 minutes until the water is absorbed, but watch carefully the last couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the onion into about ½ inch pieces and cook in a large non-stick skillet in ½ c. water until the water is absorbed and the onion tender, about 10 minutes.

Drain the tofu and wrap in a clean towel and press lightly.

Chop the tomatoes and herbs, if fresh.

When these steps are done, crumble the tofu into the skillet with the onions, and add the fresh tomatoes and herbs, if using. Cook until the tofu is hot and the tomatoes have released their juice.

Serve with toast and fresh fruit or your choice of accompaniments.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 118 calories/13.4 g protein (45.3%)/5.5 g fat (41.9%)

The nutritional information is almost the same whether you use fresh or sun-dried tomatoes and herbs.

Comments (0)

Italian Herb Dressing

Filed under: Gluten Free, Low Calorie Density, Salads — admin @ 1:03 am

Italian Herb Dressing with Fresh Thyme and Roasted Garlic on a Salad of Red Cabbage, Carrot, Tomato, and Radish

Italian Herb Dressing

Years ago, i found recipe after recipe calling for balsamic vinegar, so naturally, i tried it. Never a big fan of vinegar in general, i found balsamic vinegar just too much, especially without oil to dilute it. And yes, i tried diluting it with water. When i came across it in recipes, i used red wine vinegar. But recently, i tried a little on my salad at Fresh Choice (a salad buffet), and i really liked it. So i nervously bought a bottle and tried it at home. Yep! I like it now. It has a rich, dense, and sweeter flavor than red wine vinegar. Here is my latest invention and current favorite salad dressing.

I use maple syrup or agave as it mixes so easily, but i’m sure sugar would be fine, and more traditionally Italian. Just be sure to mix it well. I like the dressing better with the greater amount of sweetener, but you know if you can do that for an everyday dressing or just for a special occasion dressing.

The produce market where i shop has fresh herbs year round, and although i keep some in the freezer, i often buy them fresh because that’s when they are the tastiest. I also have enjoyed a little plastic box from Whole Foods Market that has a mix of fresh Italian herbs. Any mix is fine, as long as it has some thyme in it… and actually more herbs are nice, as a kind of intense green in the salad.

Italian Herb Dressing

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 10 minutes

Can be made ahead, in fact it improves

Can be stored a week, but it is best used in a couple of days while the herbs are green

½ c. balsamic vinegar

2 t. – ¼ c. maple syrup, agave, or sugar

2 t. Dijon mustard

½ t. salt (optional)

½ c. fresh herbs

Mix the vinegar, agave, and mustard. Chop the herbs a little or a lot, depending on what you like in a bite of salad.

Pour on your salad or serve at the table, depending on what’s in the salad. Grated vegetables soak up the dressing and develop a blended mildness if they sit with the dressing for a couple of hours. Lettuce should be dressed just before eating.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving with 2 t. maple syrup – 58 calories

Per serving with ¼ c. maple syrup – 94 calories

Per serving with 2 t. agave – 51 calories

Per serving with ¼ c. agave – 101 calories

Comments (0)

Vegan Carrot Cake

Filed under: Desserts, Higher Calorie Density — admin @ 1:01 am

Carrot Cake with Walnut Icing

Carrot Cake with Walnut Icing

Every vegetarian cookbook seems to have a recipe for Carrot Cake, but this is one dessert that i don’t love every permutation of. I love raisins in carrot and raisin salad, and in pumpkin cookies, but for some reason, i hate them in Carrot Cake. Then there are the walnuts. They go so well with the carrots and the super sweet icing, but of course you don’t need nearly as many as most recipes have. So you may have your own favorite recipe already, but in case you don’t, here is mine.

Carrot Cake

Makes 12 cupcakes or 12 – 2 inch squares

Preparation about 60 minutes

Can be made ahead

Freezes well

1 ½ c. whole wheat pastry flour

¾ c. raw, demerara, or turbinado sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 ½ t. Ener-G egg replacer

1 t. ground cinnamon

½ t. ground allspice

½ t. ground ginger

1/8 t. ground cloves

¼ t. salt (optional)

1 c. vegan milk or carrot juice

2 t. vanilla extract

¼ c. chopped walnuts (optional)

1 c. carrot, grated, about 2 carrots

Preheat oven to 350°.

Prepare a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners or lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the vegan milk or carrot juice and vanilla and mix until the batter is uniformly wet. Mix in the walnuts and grated carrots.

Fill the cupcake liners or baking pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake 20-25 minutes for the cupcakes or 25-30 minutes for the cake.

Cool.

Walnut Icing

2 c. powdered sugar

¼ c. walnut or other nut butter, but not peanut butter

1 ½ t. vanilla extract

1 T. vegan milk

Orange food coloring (optional)

Garnish:

12 nice looking walnut halves (optional)

Ice the cake(s), preferably with an offset spatula. Or you could use a pastry bag and decorator’s tips to swirl the icing on top. Top with the optional walnut before the icing sets.

Adapted from Country Carrot Cake by the delicious Sarah Kramer in How It All Vegan and from Carrot Cake Cupcakes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero in Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World, which is worth owning just for the pictures.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 242 calories/3.5 g protein (5,7%)/5.3 g fat (19.7%)

Comments (0)

Older Posts »