Vegan Sweet-n-Sour Superfood Stuffed Cabbage

Lately I've been obsessing about an old country favorite of mine-Stuffed Cabbage. If you've never had it before, it's quite a treat. Originally made with ground beef and white rice as the filling, I think you'll find that my no-oil, no-added-salt, Vegan superfood version doesn't leave anything to be desired.

Some people might consider the preparation of Stuffed Cabbage to be an ordeal. But if you grew up eating it (thanks Mom!) and absolutely miss it now that you are Plant-strong, you might just consider this recipe worth every minute of your time. I know I do.

Like a woman, stuffed cabbage gets even better with age. I served it to a group of friends for dinner on the night that I made it. It was very good. When I ate some leftovers three days later, it was markedly more delicious. I think I actually had a foodgasm.

HGK's Vegan Superfood Stuffed Cabbage

Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced zucchini (1 small zucchini)
5 cups diced mushrooms (16 ounce package, diced)
2 cups cooked whole grain like quinoa, bulgur or brown rice
2/3 cup currants
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
1 large head green cabbage
1 recipe Sweet-n-Sour Tomato Sauce
1 apple, peeled and sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your whole grain if it is not yet cooked.

Prepare a batch of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce.

Boil a large soup pot full of water. Turn off until you are ready to prepare cabbage leaves.

Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Pour some vegetable broth into the pan to just cover the bottom. Once the broth is bubbling, add the diced onion and stir. Cook until the onion is translucent, stirring frequently. Add a touch more vegetable broth as needed to prevent burning.

Add the diced zucchini and stir. Let cook for three minutes. Add diced mushrooms and stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini and mushrooms are soft and liquid released from mushrooms evaporates.

Turn off heat. Add cooked grain, currants, walnuts, spices and 1/2 cup of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce. Stir gently to combine.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13" casserole dish with some of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce.

Bring the pot of water back to a boil. Carefully cut all the way around the core of the cabbage, as deep as you can go (about 3 inches deep). Carefully place entire head of cabbage into water. Let cabbage boil until the outermost layer is soft and is beginning to come away from the head. You may need to nudge it a little with a pair of tongs. When leaf comes away from the head, use the tongs to lift the leaf out of the water, letting the excess water drain back into the pot.

Keep the rest of the cabbage simmering as you roll each individual cabbage roll.

Lay leaf inside out in the middle of a dinner plate. Holding a paring knife (or other small knife) horizontally, carefully cut away the hard part of the stem. Place a heaping 1/3 cup of the filling onto the lower middle of the leaf. Fold the left and right sides of the leaf over the filling. Roll the cabbage all the way up from the bottom, pushing the left and right sides in if necessary. Place roll into casserole dish.

Repeat process until casserole dish is full of rolls or all of your filling has been used up.

Place apple slices evenly on top of cabbage rolls. Pour remaining Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce over rolls and distribute evenly. Bake, covered, at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn heat to 250 degrees and bake for an additional 2 hours.

The stuffing-mushrooms, zucchini, onions, currants, walnuts and quinoa.

The individual cabbage leaf, turned inside out, before stuffing.

Apple slices over the top add to the magic.

Sweet-n-Sour Tomato Sauce

10 pitted Deglet (small) dates, soaked in water for at least 1 hour (less dates if you are using the larger Medjool variety)
vegetable broth for sauteing
1 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 14.5 ounce (or 1 28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, unseasoned (not Italian style)
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
juice of 1 large lemon
In a medium sauce pan, saute onion over medium heat in a few Tbsp of vegetable broth until translucent. Add garlic, stir and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
While onions are cooking, pour tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor or high powered blender. Remove soaked dates from liquid and add to sauce. Blend until sauce is smooth.
Add diced tomatoes and tomato/date sauce to onions. Stir in lemon juice. Simmer on very low heat for ten minutes.

Here's a nice video demonstrating how to roll stuffed cabbage:


Do you prepare any special food that takes a long time but is oh-so-worth-it?

Tex Mex Quinoa with Cilantro, Lime and Apricots

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway yesterday with your most pressing plant-based nutrition question.

If you have not yet entered, please do! The contest closes on Thursday at midnight and Julieanna Hever has graciously offered to answer our 3 most popular plant-based nutrition questions in a guest post right here on HGK.

It's very interesting to read through everyone's responses. What I am struck by is the variety of questions. No single questions are being asked repeatedly by any volume of respondants . . . yet!

On to other big news, I made this quinoa salad as part of a taco bar (more on that in a later post) party that we hosted this past weekend. It was a big hit with the guests and I couldn't wait to share it with all of you.

HGK's Tex Mex Quinoa Salad with Cilantro, Lime and Apricots

Printable Recipe

1 cup quinoa
1 � cups water
1 cup packed cilantro
� cup raw pepitas
Zest of one lime
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tsp ground cumin
dash or two of Cayenne pepper (depending on your heat preference)
� tsp salt (or not)
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 roma tomato, diced small
2 scallions, sliced thinly
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 avocado, � inch dice
Place quinoa and water into a rice cooker and cook, or prepare as follows: In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes. Water should be absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl.

In the bowl of a food processor, add cilantro, pepitas, lime zest, lime juice, orange juice concentrate, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt (optional). Process, scraping down sides, into a paste. Transfer to bowl with quinoa.

To cooked quinoa and cilantro paste, add black beans, tomato, scallions, apricots and avocado. Fold well to combine. Taste and add more Cayenne if necessary.

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!

Red Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Corn, Revisited

I first blogged about this recipe one year ago. There was talk in my town of a delicious red quinoa salad recipe off the back of the Trader Joe's Red Quinoa box. I took one look at the recipe and knew it had the beginnings of a fantastic dish, but it didn't fit into my new found eating style as it was written. So I set out to remove the added oil and what resulted was worth making time and time again. It's no surprise that it's one of my first recipes to make as this summer's pot luck luck season is warming up. Just this weekend, Red Quinoa Salad is coming with me to two parties!

Red Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Corn

Printable Recipe

1 cup red quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth
1 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
2 cups roasted corn (I used the frozen bag from Trader Joe�s)
1/2 avocado cut into small pieces
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
� cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 large bunch cilantro, finely chopped
Optional: lettuce of your choice

For the dressing, put all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend:
1/2 large bunch cilantro, washed and cut the stems off in one slice
juice of 1 orange
juice of 2 limes
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 Tbsp agave syrup
1/2 Tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
dash of Sea salt and pepper

Cook quinoa as directed on box with broth.

While the quinoa cooks (about 15 minutes), put beans, corn, avocado, tomatoes and onion together in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss gently. Add the chopped cilantro and toss.

When the quinoa is cooked, set aside to cool. When it is cool, spread quinoa on a platter. Top with the bean and corn salad mixture.

Variation: serve on top of a large bed of lettuce.

The corn, black bean, tomato, avocado, cilantro mixture dressed with the tasty no-oil dressing would even stand alone as a winning dish.  It's that good!

I find it's best to layer the entire dish onto a large platter. First, lay down a bed of lettuce (romaine, spring mix or whatever you fancy). Next, pile on the cooked red quinoa. Finally, Top with the corn, tomato and bean mixture. The dressing will seep into the quinoa and lettuce creating the perfect amount of dressing.

Dr. Neal Barnard Comes to Cleveland, Part II and a Chef A.j. Inspired Quinoa Salad

Here I am at work today, enjoying my variation on Chef A.j.'s Quinoa Salad with Pistachios and Currants, for BREAKFAST. Not my usual fare, but sometimes I just can't eat the same green smoothie again.

I'm still thinking about some of the things I learned at Dr. Barnard's lecture on Tuesday evening.  Here are a few more of the highlights:

1) Even non vegans should be taking a B12 supplement, especially after age 50. There just isn't enough of it in any food for anyone to get enough of it, whether they eat cow or not.

2) Why a low fat diet works so well for weight loss. There are two components to the lean vegan effect. First, because a low fat vegan diet is so high in fiber (plant roughage, fruit and beans), your appetite never gets out of control and you are so much less likely to overeat, a.k.a. "Volumetrics." I have found this to be miraculously true. And second, the thermic effect of food is at work. Also termed "the after meal calorie burn," the following is an explanation of this mechanism:

"Contrary to many popular diet books, Dr. Barnard says: 'Insulin is your best friend when it is working properly.' What�s more, 'Carbohydrates are not the enemy,' says Dr. Barnard. 'They are, in fact, our natural energy source.' Insulin, made by a gene on chromosome 11, can stimulate calorie burn. The problem is it can also shut down fat burn. The trick of is finding a proper balance between the two functions. Again, according to Dr. Barnard, the key is the type of food you eat.

The job of insulin is to push the proteins and sugars we eat into our cells to build body parts and provide fuel (glycogen) for our movements. 'Insulin travels to your muscles, liver, and fat tissues, where it pushes proteins and sugars into your cells,' says Dr. Barnard. 'As it does so, it temporarily shuts down your fat burning machinery,' he adds. That makes sense, of course, because there�s no need to burn fat when food is being pushed into the cells.

Happily, the building process inside the cells speeds up the metabolism and burns calories. '[It�s] is a big job, causing your cells to actually release calories in the form of heat,' says Dr. Barnard. This after-meal metabolism boost is called the thermic effect of food (TEF). 'It�s a nice way to burn calories,' says Barnard. 'All you do is eat, and your body does the rest. These calories are gone forever � they never even get a chance to turn into fat.'

The foods with the biggest TEF are those containing plenty of complex carbohydrates or a mixture of carbs and protein. 'For example, broccoli and other vegetables are about 50 percent complex carbs and 40 percent protein, a mix for a good burn,' says Dr. Barnard. 'On the other hand, butter, chicken grease, and [egg yoke] are just fat, and deliver a much poorer burn.' Again, plant foods win out over animal foods.

Under normal circumstances, the interruption in fat burning is brief. A problem arises if you become flabby and out of shape, however, because your insulin doesn�t work as well. The extra fat on your body requires more insulin and your calorie-burning system becomes sluggish. 'The body produces more and more insulin, and it shuts off fat burning more effectively than it should,' says Dr. Barnard.

You�re insulin also works overtime if you snack constantly. An endless stream of junk food never gives your insulin a chance to rest. 'If you have a constant supply of snacks, your body has no need to use its fat, and insulin keeps your fat-burning processes slower than they would normally be,' Dr. Barnard writes.

A lack of fiber is also a problem. 'Normally, fiber � plant roughage � helps keep insulin levels in check by slowing the release of sugars from the food you eat,' Dr. Barnard counsels.

To keep your after-meal calorie burn up and minimize fat-burn stoppage Dr. Barnard suggests a diet high in healthy carbohydrates and fiber, and low in fat." http://www.cbass.com/FatGenes.htm

3) It's never too late to undo the damage done by years of poor eating. Have you ever cut your finger? Did it heal? Of course it did! The same goes for your internal parts . . .the human body will heal if given a chance!

Dr. Barnard would love this quinoa salad that I'm eating as I type this. I threw it together last night and didn't have all of the ingredients that Chef A.j. called for, but it was outstanding nonetheless!

Simple Quinoa Salad with Currants and Pistachios
based on a recipe from Unprocessed by Chef A.j.

8 cups cooked quinoa
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (the juice of 3 lemons)
3/4 cup pistachios
1 cup currants
1 cup finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Enjoy!

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