Vegetable Tofu Soup

Panfry the tofu cubes before adding them into the soup.
This is a wonderful vegetarian soup that makes 4 servings. Tofu is an excellent source of protein and calcium.

To panfry a delicious tofu dish there are a few basic ingredients you need: oil-- olive oil is good, salt, acid (apple cider vinegar, lemon or lime juice work great), plus ginger and pepper, along with onion & garlic for flavor. Marinate the tofu in this mixture for at least 30 minutes or longer and then panfry it until slightly crisp.

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
8 shitake mushrooms, cut into bite-size pieces
4 cups water
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
½ pound extra-firm tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes and marinated (see above)
1 tablespoon freshly grated gingerroot
2 cups chopped kale (or spinach)
2 spring onions, cut into thin slices
1 cup cooked wild and brown rice
wasabi paste (if desired)
Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 4-quart soup pot. Add onion and garlic; sauté over medium heat until onion begins to soften. Add panfried tofu, carrot and mushroom pieces; sauté a few minutes more. Add water, soy sauce and gingerroot.
2. Bring heat up until mixture begins to simmer. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add chopped kale and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Spoon 1/4 cup of rice into each of four bowls. Ladle the soup over the rice.
4. Garnish with spring onions.

Spice it up by stirring in some wasabi, if desired.

Black Bean and Spinach Soup

Black beans are high in fibre, protein and iron. Try this tasty vegetarian soup on a cold day and sop up the juices with a crusty artisan bread. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast over each individual serving.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
3 cups water
1 tsp picante hot sauce
1 cup vegetable broth(low sodium, low fat)
1 can black beans
1 cup cooked wild and brown rice
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Directions:

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the spinach and saute for two minutes.
2. Add water, stock and hot sauce. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes. Stir in beans and brown rice, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for another five minutes.
3. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with either parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast. Serve with fresh bread.

Low Fat Yoghurt Cheese

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread! It makes for a light "cream cheese" that you can flavour either savoury or sweet. Spread it on crackers, use as a veggie dip, or add to a sandwich instead of cream cheese. Delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups low fat probiotic yoghurt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried hot chili peppers

Directions:

1.Place a sieve over a small bowl. Drape a coffee filter or cheese cloth over the sieve and put the yoghurt in the cloth. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. The longer you leave it (one to two days) the thicker the yoghurt cheese will be. The liquid that runs off into the bowl can be used in sauces rather than discarded.

2. Scoop the yoghurt cheese into a bowl and add your preference for either savoury or sweet. I made mine savoury by stirring in the garlic, pepper and dried chili peppers. Cover and allow flavours to blend in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

3. If you prefer sweet, you can stir in a little organic honey and unsalted, hulled, sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts & cinnamon.

Vegetarian Spinach Lasagna

I have been eating vegetarian for the past week and one important piece of information that I've discovered is that when you don't eat meat, poultry or fish, you have to be sure to get a good source of vitamin B12. The best vegetarian source of B12 is nutritional yeast. I used it at the table to sprinkle 2 tsp over my own lasagna instead of parmesan cheese as it has a kind of savoury, cheesy taste to it. This is not the same as brewer's yeast. It is a yeast that is grown on molasses and three tbsp contains more than your daily requirement of vitamin B12. You shouldn't eat more than 3 tbsp of it a day, because that can raise the uric acid levels in your blood, which is not good for your kidneys and can cause gallstones and gout.

I have not given up my eggs or my probiotic yoghurt. While I love the cheese in this lasagna, believe it or not, I am not a big cheese eater! I think it's all the delicious sauce that goes with it and makes the perfect combination. It was a big hit here yesterday!

Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cans (28 oz each) diced tomatoes & their juice
4 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt (or less)
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves (or 1 tbsp dried)
1 tsp dried red chili peppers
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (optional)

Cheese filling:
1 large egg
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 container (16 oz) light ricotta cheese (5% milk fat)

½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (set aside ¼ cup to sprinkle over lasagna later)

2 cups chopped baby spinach (chop before measuring)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 package fresh, no boil, lasagna noodles (6 noodles about 6 inches in width)

Directions:

1. Prepare sauce: Heat large heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat. Add olive oil, onion & garlic (& jalapeno, if using) and cook about 2 minutes.
   2. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, red chili peppers and salt & ground pepper; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Stir in basil.
   3. Meanwhile, prepare filling. In medium bowl, mix egg, pepper, ricotta, mozzarella, spinach and 1 cup of the parmesan until blended.
   4. Preheat oven to 375F. In 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish, evenly spread 2 cups of sauce. Arrange one noodle over sauce ( noodles will expand while cooking). Top with 1 cup cheese filling, spreading across noodle. Place another lasagna noodle over the cheese and top that with 2 more cups of sauce. Continue to layer in this way until you have used 4 of the lasagna noodles. Top with 2 cups of sauce. (If making a day ahead, cover and refrigerate at this point).
   5. Cover lasagna with foil and bake until heated through and bubbling, about 50-60 minutes (15 minutes longer if it was refrigerated). Remove foil. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup parmesan and cook another 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, uncovered, before cutting, for easier serving. Have some extra grated parmesan cheese on the table to sprinkle on top.

Vegetarian Chili

This is a great vegan recipe that offers up comfort food without all the calories and artery clogging fats. I served it with some fresh italian bread--delicious! You can also just serve it over some wild or brown rice, or with a side of tortilla chips. This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 cups fresh cremini mushrooms, chopped into large chunks
2 tbsps olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 green, red or yellow sweet bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 large bunch of collard greens, thick stocks removed and leaves chopped (you can substitute spinach or kale)
1 tsp dried red hot chili peppers
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup medium salsa
two 28 oz cans diced plum tomatoes
1 cup water
2 heaping tbsps tomato paste
one 28 oz can black or kidney beans (or use chickpeas if you prefer), rinsed well and drained
1 tsp picante hot sauce (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions;

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the oil over medium. Add the onions, bell peppers, mushroom and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the carrots, collard greens, chili powder, dried chili peppers, and cumin; cook, stirring, about 1 minute.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, water, salsa, beans or chickpeas, tomato paste, corn, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Allow to come to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Balls

I got this recipe from a friend and changed it up a bit because I wanted some crunch to it. You can omit the sunflower seeds and the flax seeds if you prefer. In that case, you would want to reduce the peanut butter to 3 tbsps. They are an easy, delicious, no cook treat! This is a vegan recipe.

In a food processor, grind 1/2 cup dried pitted dates, chopped.

add in the following:
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup hulled sunflower seeds
1/4 cup dried coconut
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
4 heaping Tbs. peanut butter
dash of vanilla
tiny dash of salt

mix in the food processor for a minute or two until everything is well ground and mixed together.

turn into a bowl and stir in another 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
roll into balls, whatever size you like (you will get about 20 or so one inch balls)

sprinkle 2 heaping tbsps golden roasted milled flax seed onto a plate; roll the balls in the flax seed to coat and place them on a serving plate

chill for a little bit, or eat at room temperature.

Pancake Tuesday!

It is a tradition of mine to make english crepes, sprinkled with lemon and sugar for pancake tuesday. This is something my mom always did when we were growing up and I still absolutely love them. The secret is to only do it this one day out of the year and make it special. We always have them for dinner on pancake tuesday! Trouble is, today I FORGOT it was pancake tuesday until around 5pm and I didn't have any white flour (not very healthy but it makes for great crepes). SO, instead I made oatmeal flax pancakes and whippped up some fresh blueberry and fresh strawberry sauce to drizzle over top of them, along with the maple syrup. Delicious and much healthier than the lemon sugar crepes, although I won't be giving them up anytime soon. I will post both recipes here another time as I'm just setting up to relax right now!

LEMON SUGAR CREPES (english tradition) Makes about 12 crepes & serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (if using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tbsps margarine or butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
granulated sugar for sprinkling
bowl of lemon wedges for drizzling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven on low (250F) and have a oven-safe platter ready. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in remaining ingredients, except for granulated sugar and lemon. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Lightly butter 6-8 inch skillet; heat over medium high heat until bubbly.
2. Pour scant 1/4 cup batter into the skillet; IMMEDIATELY rotate the skillet until thin film covers the bottom. Cook until light brown; run wide spatula around edges to loosen; turn and cook on the other side until light brown.
3. Stack the crepes on the platter as they cook, separating with parchment or wax paper & keeping them in the oven to keep warm until you are finished with all of the batter.
4. To serve, lay out a crepe on each person's plate; sprinkle with sugar, roll it up and drizzle the fresh lemon juice over top; most people will want about three crepes.

OATMEAL FLAX PANCAKES WITH BLUEBERRY AND STRAWBERRY SAUCE (makes about 6 pancakes; serves 2)

Ingredients:

3 egss, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plain, low fat yoghurt
1 scoop protein powder (flavour of your choice)
1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh strawberries


Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients, except eggs and berries.
2. Stir in the eggs until just blended.
3. Prepare a skillet with about a tsp of cooking oil & heat over medium. Using an icecream scoop, scoop up batter and pour into heated skillet, pressing down on the batter to spread it out a bit. Cook on both sides until browned.
4. To prepare the blueberry and strawberry sauce, place the berries in two small sauce pans, with about 1 tbsp of water and 1/2 tsp of sugar each. Mash the berries and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. When the mixture becomes syrupy, pour into small serving containers. Drizzle the berry mixture over the pancakes (or use maple syrup)

BLUE BERRY PANCAKES (FROM MEN'S HEALTH)

Using yogurt and cottage cheese to make these pancakes does two things: It brings extra protein to the breakfast table, and it helps produce the lightest, moistest pancakes you've ever tasted. And once you try this simple blueberry compote, you'll never go back to lackluster syrup again.

You'll Need:
2 cups frozen wild blueberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (such as Fage 0%)
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese or ricotta
3 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

How to Make It:
*Mix the blueberries, water, and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the blueberries begin to break apart. In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, and lemon juice.

*Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl. Add the flour to the yogurt mixture and stir just until blended.

*Heat a large skillet or saute pan over medium-low heat. Coat with nonstick cooking spray and add batter in large spoonfuls (about 1/4 cup each). Flip the pancakes when the tops begin to bubble, 3 to 5 minutes, and cook the second side until browned. Serve with the warm blueberries.

Makes 4 serving

Beer Bread

I used to make this bread years ago, because it is so easy to make and tastes great! I have made it healthier now that I eat healthier myself. Give it a try; you won't be sorry!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup hulled roasted sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsps salt
12 ounces beer (your choice)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Mix flours, flax, sunflower seed, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2) Add beer and stir with a fork until just combined.
3) Turn dough onto a floured board; knead quickly and form into a ball.
4) Place bread on a baking sheet and use a sharp knife to mark an "X" on top.
5) Brush loaf with beaten egg.
6) Bake on lower oven rack until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.