Hearty Mexican Stew with Seitan Sausage

This past weekend brought my second attempt at homemade seitan. This time I chose a recipe by the famous Vegan cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The recipe is called Simple Italian Sausages and my results were, well, just okay. Nothing to write home about, or really blog about for that matter. The texture was fine, but I think I was expecting to be "wowed" by incredible sausagey flavors. It didn't happen for me.

But on Sunday afternoon I felt like making a stew. And I knew that almost any seitan, even this one, would be great in a stew. Cut into chunks, it gives a vegetable/bean stew that meaty texture that is so rare in Vegan cooking.

I had just gotten some huge sweet potatoes in my vegetable share that I was itching to use, and along with black beans and some Mexican seasonings, I prepared a quick Mexican Stew that was totally delicious. This recipe makes quite a lot, so it's great for a crowd or sharing with your friends.

Coincidentally, Debby over at happyhealthylonglife.com was just talking about a fabulous new faux sausage product that she discovered when travelling. It's made by Upton's Naturals and it's called Chorizo Seitan.

photo courtesy uptonsnaturals.com

If you have access to this product, I highly recommend making this stew and using Upton's Chorizo. You can find out if it is sold near you by visiting their website. Unfortunately, it's not sold in Cleveland yet. Yet. I'll have to work on that!

Hearty Mexican Stew with Seitan Sausage
serves 10

Print me!

3 cups diced yellow onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 1/2 cups vegetable broth, divided
8 cups peeled and diced sweet potato (3 large sweet potatoes)
1 Tbsp ground cumin
up to 1 Tbsp ground chipotle chili power
3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can fat free refried black beans
1 recipe Seitan Sausage, cubed OR 2 packages Uptons Naturals Chorizo-style Seitan
1 large bunch kale, sliced into ribbons about 1/2" thick
juice of 1 large lime
1 Tbsp salt (or not)
optional: cilantro to garnish

Prepare seitan sausages according to recipe if you do not have packages of Upton's Seitan Chorizo.

Coat to base of a large soup pot with 1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Turn heat to medium high. When vegetable broth begins to bubble, add onion. Cook onion, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Turn heat to medium low and add garlic. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.

Add sweet potato and 1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Stir. Add cumin and chipotle chili powder. Add less chili powder if you like your food less spicy (the full 1 Tbsp of chipotle chili powder will make this quite spicy). Stir to coat onions and potatoes. Cover, turn heat to medium high, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.

Add 8 cups of vegetable broth, all of the black beans, and the refried black beans. Bring to a boil, stirring gently until the refried beans have dissolved.

Add kale and stir. Lower heat to low and cook for about 2 minutes, until kale softens.

Add lime juice and season to taste with salt. Serve immediately or keep over very low heat until ready to serve. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Have you tried any of the Upton's Naturals Seitan products?


Have you ever made a homemade Chorizo Seitan? If you know of a kick a$# recipe for that, please let me know!

Winner Announced and Sweet Potato and Kale Quesadillas

Thanks to all 136 of you who entered the Super Immunity Giveaway--a record number of entries for an HGK contest. My new friend, the random number generator, says that

#47 is the winner. Congratulations to Trish who answered "Flax and/or chia seeds. I can't start my day without one of them - in a smoothie or on top of my oatmeal." Please contact me at healthygirlskitchen@gmail.com with your full name and address.

Contests are really fun for me. I get to hear from a ton of readers who normally stay behind the scenes. Almost as much fun as making dinner with items commonly found in my pantry, freezer and fridge. No trip to the supermarket necessary! Here's what was going on at HGK for the past two nights:

HGK's Sweet Potato and Kale Quesadillas
serves 6

Printable Recipe

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and large diced
vegetable broth for sauteing
1 large yellow onion, diced small
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen corn, optional: fire roasted corn
1/2 cup of your favorite salsa (the spice level you like)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 packed cups (or more) chopped kale
hot sauce (or not)
salt (or not) or salt free seasoning
12 small whole wheat tortillas
optional: Daiya or other vegan cheddar cheese

Place diced sweet potato in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Check if potatoes are tender. When cooked, drain sweet potatoes.

While potatoes are cooking, heat about 1/4 cup vegetable broth in a large pan over medium heat. When broth begins to bubble, add onions and cook, stirring frequently, for eight minutes or until onions are translucent. Lower heat and add more broth if onions begin to burn. Add garlic and stir.

Add corn and cook for another 5 minutes. Add salsa, cinnamon, cumin and chili powder. Stir. Add kale and stir. Cover pot and cook for 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Kale should be tender.

Add black beans and stir.

Drain potatoes and throw into the pot. Using a potato masher or the back of a large fork, mash potatoes. Stir with kale and bean mixture to incorporate everything. Taste and add salt if you must! Remove from heat.

Place a separate large saute pan over medium heat. Place one tortilla in pan. Dollop kale/bean/potato mixture onto the middle of the tortilla and mash down, covering all but the outer edge of the tortilla. Optional: Sprinkle with vegan cheddar cheese. Place a second tortilla on top and, with the back of a spatula, compress the quesadilla. After a few minutes, flip the quesadilla and crisp the second side. Remove from the pan and slice into 6 triangles (a pizza cutter works well for this step).

Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Just like a quesadilla should be, only without all that fat! Plus the added bonus of kale. How perfect is that?

Dr. Fuhrman's Waldorf Blended Salad

Thanks to all the HGK readers who entered this week's contest. You guys rock.

Seems like the kale and quinoa producers have seen a significant rise in sales over the last few years! If you missed your chance yesterday, don't forget to submit your comment in to win a copy of Dr. F's new book, Super Immunity. Contest ends tonight!

And in honor of what is coming up next on HGK (ooooh, it's gonna be so much fun!) and one more tribute to Super Immunity, I present you with an outstanding green smoothie recipe from the good doctor. It's surprisingly delicious!

Dr. Fuhrman's Waldorf Blended Salad
serves 1

1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1 apple, peeled and cored (I left the skin on)
1/4 cup walnuts
3 cups compacted collard greens and/or kale
1 cup compacted lettuce
1/4 cup water or ice cubes (I used a lot of ice cubes)

Place all ingredients into a high powered blender and blend until smooth.

Tempeh Tamale Pie and Zesty Jicama Slaw

 

Why is this the third Tamale Casserole that I have made in the past two months? Perhaps I am on a quest for finding the perfect Tamale Casserole recipe? First, it was The Happy Herbivore's recipe. Next, I "Nutritarianed" it up with my own version of a Tamale Casserole. And this past week, after reading about Mama Pea's all-time favorite recipeas, and finding out that one of them to make the list was her Tempeh Tamale Pie, I was like a moth to a flame.

Except I added kale. Lots of kale. Six cups of finely chopped up kale, to be exact (I made a double recipe).

The addition of kale was awesome. Surprisingly, I couldn't taste the tempeh. But the winning change was the addition of the jicama slaw.

The recipe for "Zesty Jicama" comes from Terry Walter's Clean Start cookbook, and you can find it on the internet here. A crunchy, light, citrusy and complex slaw, you can bet I'll be making this one again. Ms. Walters is a culinary genius in my opinion (and a friend of a college roommate--what a small world this is!), and if you don't already own both of her cookbooks, you are really missing out.

Fieldtrip: Indian Grocery Store and Absolutely Scrumptious Aloo Baingan Recipe

Thank you to everyone who has already entered my Plant-strong pride blogger giveaway! If you haven't had the chance to do that yet, don't miss out!

Have you ever heard of asafetida, a.k.a. hing?

I hadn't until about a year ago, and I didn't have it in my kitchen until a few weeks ago when my friends and I made a field trip to one of our local Indian grocery stores. I say "one of" because it is important to point out that we had our choice of three to go to, even in our little backwoods of Ohio. Okay, well, the eastern suburbs of Cleveland aren't exactly backwoods, but they aren't exactly metropolitan either! So I was stoked to find out that we had our pick of Indian groceries.

Why? Well, because I wanted that darned asafetida! That and just about every ingredient you could find that you need at an Indian grocery is far, far cheaper than, lets say, your local high end specialty health food chain (I won't mention any names here because you know how much I love me some Whole Foods . . . oops!).

Here's some of the goodies that I picked up:

Roasted chick peas. Imagine that! Gotta get us some more because they were devoured in a few days, and I didn't even get a chance to try them on my salads before they were all gone. They came salted and unsalted and my daughter requested that the next time I get them, she wants the unsalted ones!

Pretty much the same calorie stats as any chip, cracker or snacky food (if you check a lot of labels, you will find that so many snack foods come in at about 110 calories per ounce) but with far, far better nutrition.

I haven't gotten around to using this dried mango powder yet, but give me time Aloo Gobi! Give me time!

The spices are unbelievably cheap. Yes, cheap. Is that a bad word? I don't mean it like that. I just mean that the spices at an Indian grocery store are practically free compared to anywhere else. That's why you'll see me back at the Indian grocery next week!

And the dried beans too! In every variety . . . 2 pounds for $2.49. Wow! You know where I'll be getting ALL of my dried beans from now on.

Needless to say, I've got Indian food on the brain!

Kale Mallung, a Sri Lankan recipe, from Fat Free Vegan. How did Susan ever know that I had a box of washed and cut kale that I wanted to use up? The coconut and lime make this no-oil sauteed greens dish incredibly unique and incredibly tasty!

Manjula's Kitchen

My business partner was doing a google search the other day for vegan Indian recipes and she came upon a website/blog that neither of us had ever seen before. It's called Manjula's Kitchen and I have no idea how this incredible source came into being because from the looks of Manjula, there is no way that she is the blogger behind this wonder (no offense Manjula, but you look a lot like my mother's age and she doesn't even use a computer, let alone create videos and blog about her cooking).

Anyway, I digress. If you love Indian food like I love Indian food, then let me tell you, we have found the mother load. Unfortunately, since I did not grow up with an Indian mother and not even an Indian aunt, I have to teach myself how to make authentic tasting Indian food.

But without using any oil.

How's that for a challenge?

Good news my friends, I think I have finally mastered at least some of it. Barely-any-oil authentic tasting Indian dishes. I'm going to be eating this one until my stomach explodes!

HGK's Aloo Baingan (Potato and Eggplant)

inspired by a recipe from Manjula's Kitchen

serves 3-4

Print Me!

1 medium purple eggplant, un-peeled, cut into 1/2? cubes
5 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2? cubes
1 medium tomato cut into 1/2? cubes

1 1/2 cups fat free tomato sauce (I have been really into the Muir Glen brand lately-check the labels for the varieties with no fat)

cooking spray
Pinch of asafetida (hing) (don't stress out if you don't have this ingredient, just leave it out)
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 small chopped green chili (jalepeno-deseeded) adjust to taste!
1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste

2 tablespoons or more chopped cilantro

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Spray foil lightly with cooking spray and lay out chopped eggplant pieces on one sheet and chopped potato pieces on the other. Roast eggplant for approximately 15 minutes, until it is starting to soften, but not turn into a mush. Roast potato for approximately 25 minutes until edges of potato pieces are starting to brown and potato is just cooked.

While eggplant and potato are roasting, in a small bowl, mix the grated ginger, jalapeno pepper, coriander powder, paprika, turmeric, and 2 tablespoons of water to make a paste.

Spray the base of a pot with cooking spray and heat the pot over medium heat. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the pot; if seed cracks right away pot is heated to the right temperature.

Add cumin seeds and asafetida after seeds crack.  Add the spice mixture and stir-fry for 20 seconds, stirring continuously.

Add chopped tomato and stir-fry for a minute. Add tomato sauce.

Add roasted potatoes and eggplant. Mix it gently, let it simmer for three to four minute on medium low heat. Turn off the heat and add chopped cilantro mix it well.

Do you shop any International grocery stores? Tell us about it!

Updated Energy Soup Recipe and Beck, Day 4, Give Yourself Credit

For those that are participating, how are you all doing with keeping up with reading your response cards and sitting down to eat? I did pretty good with sitting down, better than I have in a long time, but I totally lost it on a grocery shopping trip at Whole Foods with my three kids at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was really hungry, so were they after a long day at camp, and I had gotten all of them a treat (vegan of course, but full of sugar nonetheless).

I proceeded to eat, as I walked around Whole Foods, a full half of one of their treats AND a mess of pretzels that were available for the pickin'.

The old me would have beat myself to hell, figured I could never stick to Eat to Live, and continue for however many days to eat whatever came my way. But the massive problem with that is the stress it causes us. So much stress that we never see the situation for what it is, a learning opportunity. We need to free ourselves of the hate talk and instead, take a deep breath and think about how, next time, things could go differently.

Next time, I can bring apples for all of us to eat before we go into the market. Or maybe there just shouldn't be a next time.

And instead of dwelling on the negatives from yesterday, I can focus on the positives, just like Beck insists that we do. We need to give ourselves credit, in our head, every time we make a good food decision, resist unplanned eating or overeating. Like this, "Wow, Wendy, that was awesome that you resisted eating the &#^$%@ on the kitchen table at work just now! Good going!"

Here's the reason I schlepped my kids to Whole Foods after work and before dinner: I needed mushrooms. I wanted to make a big batch of my Energy Soup. It has been a major weapon in my weight loss arsenal and I cannot remember the last time I made it. For real, that is not winning behavior. But I fixed that yesterday. Credit!

Healthy Girl's Energy Soup
makes 10 servings (2 cups of soup per serving)

Printable Recipe

1 very large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves if garlic, smashed
vegetable broth for sauteing
8 cups vegetable broth (2 boxes)
6 medium sized zucchini, cut into cubes
1 package mushrooms, cut into chunks if mushrooms are large
3 big handfuls kale, washed and rough chopped
1 bag fresh spinach or 3 big handfuls fresh spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasoning to taste
12 ounces frozen butternut squash, defrosted

Saute the onion over medium heat in a large soup pot in a few tablespoons of vegetable broth, until translucent and slightly soft. Add more broth as necessary to prevent burning. Add garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

Add the 8 cups of broth, zucchini, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes or zucchini are soft.

Stir in kale and let it wilt. When kale is wilted, stir in fresh spinach, it will wilt immediately.

Using a hand (immersion) blender, puree the onion-garlic-zucchini-mushroom-spinach mixture until soup reaches your desired consistency. Some will like it completely smooth, others will like to puree about 50% and leave a lot of chunks and texture. It is delicious both ways!

Add the defrosted butternut squash and stir until it is incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and ANY other seasonings you like, to taste. (I use a Southwest spice blend and you can use whatever spice blend you like, there are so many on the market now. My husband likes everything spicy, so we add hot sauce to his.)

How are you going to remember to give yourself credit? I'm going to create a credit account right here, on the right side of my blog. At least once a day, I will edit what is in there and fill it with the good choices that I have made that day.

Here's why giving ourselves credit is so important. Ultimately, if you do it consistently and you never stop doing it, it ends the struggle over eating food that is off plan. You start to feel really, REALLY great (like a natural high) about staying on your plan. Way better than if you gave in and ate the junk. I know it sounds hard to believe, but this happened for me, and I was able to walk right by the stuff I didn't want to eat and feel so great about doing it.

It's a very important skill to master. So how are you going to remember to give yourself credit throughout the day?

What have you done today that you can give yourself credit for?

Takin' Care of Myself: Black Beans in a Red Velvet Mole Sauce

I'm still sick. Can you believe it? I can't!

On Tuesday I figured that this Friday night dinner had better be "just us" and boy am I glad that I did. I think I went to sleep last night at 8 o'clock. But before going down, I was able to put together another easy and winning dish from Appetite for Reduction.

I had a large bag of kale in my fridge that I wanted to use up and also way too many whole grains hanging out in my pantry. I have learned that adding beans to that duo creates a perfect vegan trifecta, so when I opened up Appetite for Reduction and saw the recipe for Black Beans in a Red Velvet Mole Sauce, I was intrigued.

It all came together into one fairly easy and memorable meal. The funny thing is, when it comes to food, I am the equivalent of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. It's almost like I never wear (eat) the same outfit (recipe) twice, no matter how gorgeous (tasty) it is. There are some exceptions of course (here, here, and here). So would I make this dinner again? I don't know, but it sure was tasty!

Here's what you will need:

1. The recipe for Black Beans in a Red Velvet Mole Sauce. I didn't have anise seed in my spice cabinet and I can't say that the recipe was missing anything. I would also advise to blend with your immersion blender VERY CAREFULLY as this could get very messy. I was cleaning mole sauce off of my back splash last night. I also think any beans that you have in the house will be fine (I used one 15 ounce can of black beans and one of pinto beans) and that you could actually use a lot more beans in one recipe if you want to stretch the dish (who doesn't). I could have doubled the amount of beans and it had many more dinners.

2. Any ole recipe for sauteed greens.

3. A cooked whole grain. I made quinoa in my rice cooker and added currants, sliced almonds, salt, pepper and a little vinegar. It was the perfect compliment to the beans and greens. Because the consistency of the quinoa made in a rice cooker is so sticky, I decided to mush my quinoa into a square mold (picked that up watching lots of episodes of  Chopped and Top Chef). It made a really nice presentation.  

I'd like to say that this food was so nutritious that my cold magically disappeared this morning, but that would be a lie. At least it's the weekend!

Enjoy your weekend folks! Make good food and peace out!

I'm "Cookin' with Gas!" and a Recipe

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Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Salsa
"They're not good, they're GREAT!"
-Marv Solganik

?My kitchen renovation is finished (well, almost, but it's nothing that's stopping me from cooking like mad and having parties). Thank you to all of the wonderful HGK readers who stuck with me through my recipe dry spell. You won't be disappointed! I am on the warpath.
I love the sound of  gas igniting a burner. That's probably because I have been cooking with electric for the past 4 years. And most of the 7 years before that. So it's been mostly electric for over a decade. Why? Control. With electric, you have little control over the heat. With gas, you have a lot. Plus, a roasted marshmallow every now and then couldn't hurt anyone, could it?

I have been spending every spare minute I have in my kitchen. I almost feel like I have to give it a nickname. It's definitely a "she." She is very feminine, really. Classic. Retro. Large. With an industrial element. So I need a name that reflects all of those qualities. Got any ideas?

I'm loving it that I can spread out and still have my kids and neighbors hanging out with me and having dinner. What an incredible luxury! I feel very blessed.

So what was the first thing that I whipped up in Bessie (if that's what we are going to call her . . . I'm not sure)? A recipe inspired by Gena Hamshaw at Choosing Raw, of course! As many of you know, it is rare that I create an original recipe. What I am really good at is tweaking recipes to fit within the Nutritarian framework, or at least be as Nutritarian as I can get them to be. I love the brilliance of adding Blackstrap Mollasses to vegan enchiladas in Gena's recipe. It's a great source of iron and as all of us Nutritarian's know, iron is something we should keep an eye on. And vegan enchiladas are hearty, crowd pleasing dishes. You really can't go wrong with that.

Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Salsa
Inspired by this recipe by Gena Hamshaw
Serves 8-16, depending on how much other food you are serving!

Printable Recipe

2 jars green tomatillo salsa (at least 20 oz. total)
5 large sweet potatoes (or 8 regular ones), peeled and cut into large cubes
1 large yellow onion
2 8 oz. packages sliced mushrooms
4 packed cups chopped kale (you could even use more)
2 cans black beans, or 4 cups freshly cooked
6 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp tahini or almond butter (optional, but makes the filling nice and creamy)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt (to taste)
2 tsp cumin
4 tsp chili powder
Black pepper to taste
8 large whole grain tortillas (with sides trimmed off) or 12 small corn tortillas
1 cup or so Daiya pepperjack or cheddar cheese (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil a large pot of salted water, and add the sweet potatoes. Cook till they�re fork tender, and drain. Transfer to a very large bowl.

Saute onion with a few tablespoons of vegetable broth. Add broth as needed during saute process. When they�re tender and light brown, add the mushrooms and kale and stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until kale is tender.

Mash sweet potatoes, but leave them a little chunky.  Add cilantro, black beans, molasses, tahini or almond butter (if using), lime juice, salt, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper, and stir.

Coat the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with tomatillo salsa.

Assemble your enchiladas by rolling about 1/8 of the filling into each of your large tortillas (adjust proportions if using small corn tortillas) and laying them side by side into the baking dish. Cover them with the rest of the the tomatillo salsa (they�s supposed to be smothered).

Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and bake until cheese has melted and enchiladas are hot (if you make the enchiladas ahead and refrigerate them before baking, you�ll need to bake them for at least 45-60 minutes before the cheese step).

So what do you think would be a good name for my kitchen?

No-oil Almond Ginger Dressing and Crock Pot Lemony Lentil and Kale Soup

Just so I don't scare you guys who are here for the plant based recipes with all of my talk of how to be successful at adapting a plant-strong diet, here are some of the things I made this week in my makeshift kitchen. Just 4 more weeks until I am back in full action! The time is really flying.

I dressed a huge salad that I made for a girl's night pot-luck dinner with this creamy and delicious dressing. This recipe would also work well as a dip for veggies, just cut the amount of water in half.

No-oil Almond Ginger Dressing

adapted from a recipe from DrFuhrman.com

makes about 2 1/2 cups

1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened soy, hemp or almond milk
1 cup water
4 tablespoons tahini or unhulled sesame seeds
6 dates, pitted
2 small cloves garlic or 1 medium clove garlic
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled

Place all ingredients into a high powered blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add more water if a thinner consistency is desired.

This soup is best if you serve it the day after it is made. It allows the flavors to develop.

Crock Pot Lemony Lentil Soup with Kale

 adapted from a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, January 2010 issue

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups low-sodium or no-sodium vegetable broth

2 cups green lentils

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 tsp. salt

8 cups chopped kale leaves (about 6 ounces)

6 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Place all ingredients except kale into a crock pot on low heat (approx 8 hours). A half hour before serving, stir in kale and let kale wilt.

What's going on with you? What are your plans for Memorial Day Weekend? Do your plans involve social gatherings with food? How are you preparing to handle those challenges?