Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Happy Halloween! Aside from a vaguely orange tint to our lentil meal tonight (due to turmeric), there is nothing Halloween-ish about it, but it was the perfect day for a crockpot meal--I threw in the ingredients when Berkeley started his nap today, and it was ready for us to eat in the mad rush to carve pumpkins, eat dinner, get him in costume, and head out for some trick-or-treating.

This is one of my favorite crockpot recipes. Simple but with great flavor. (And here is Berkeley in his Charlie Chaplin costume!)

Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Serve with tahini sauce, chopped tomatoes, and chopped romaine lettuce on top. Great with warm pita bread.


1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 c. brown lentils, rinsed
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tablespoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon turmeric, ground
3/4 cup brown rice
6 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee onion in olive oil in a skillet until soft. Add to the crockpot with the remaining ingredients, including the water, and cover. If cooking the dish all day, set heat to low for 6 to 8 hours; otherwise leave on high setting 3 to 4 hours. At the end, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6

Halloween Potluck Party

We hosted our vegetarian mamas group here for a Halloween party and potluck this afternoon. I made a stew from Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons by Robin Robertson. It was full of kale, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, ginger, and rice.

The other dishes were delicious. Pumpkin hummus with pita chips, barley vegetable salad, fresh baked bread, pumpkin muffins with pumpkin butter, hearty green salad, black bean and corn salsa, pumpkin bread, chocolate mousse, and vegan chocolate cupcakes. The kids in their costumes were precious, and it was a very fun and relaxing afternoon.

Dinner Menu for the Week of October 29

Sunday
A friend's vegan fondue birthday party!
Our dear friend Rosie hosted us tonight in honor of her birthday. She made three fabulous vegan fondues. One was a nacho cheese-style dip with some spice to it, and one was a swiss cheese-style dip. These two were served with a variety of just-cooked veggies (carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, snow peas) and chunks of bread for dipping. Both were delicious. I think I liked the nacho one the best (she made up that recipe), but the swiss was great too (that recipe was from The Nutritional Yeast Cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak. For dessert, she made an amazing chocolate fondue dip with fresh and dried fruit and cookies for dipping. Mmmmm. Great idea for a party!

Monday
Dinner Out
We had our dinner out early again this week, due to a busy weekend preventing me from planning and shopping for the week's food.

Tuesday
Egyptian Lentils and Rice
One of my favorite crockpot dishes--easy, simple, and full of great flavor. I found in on a crockpot recipe site. I serve it with tahini sauce, diced romaine, and chopped tomatoes on top.

Wednesday
Autumn Quinoa Pilaf with Sauteed Greens
This dish is full of quinoa, butter beans, sweet potatoes, onions, celery, cranberries, pine nuts, and spices. It's very unique and nourishing, with a mild sweetness to it.

Thursday
Cheesy Lasagna
Lasagna tonight--a new recipe that I'm adapting from one found on VegWeb.com. I'm going to make double and bring some over to some friends who just had a baby. I remember the first night we came home from the hospital after my son was born, we ate a vegan lasagna my mom had made for us, and it was like the best meal we had ever consumed in our lives. Sooooo comforting. I hope this recipe is as good--it gets raves online.

Friday
Black Beans Charros with Cornbread
I meant to make this last week, but forgot to soak the beans ahead of time so we ate something else instead--I forget what! Anyway, it's the one from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, and I just love it.

Saturday
Leftover Potluck

Menu coming soon!

Busy weekend--I'll post this week's menu tomorrow (Monday)!

Grilled Kielbasa Sandwiches with Sauteed Red Potatoes, Onions, and Green Peppers

We probably won't be hungry until dinner tomorrow! These were so filling and yummy. We decided not to grill the kielbasa (for reasons involving Rob having to go pick up our new couch and me not being the grilling type), and instead I just sauteed them in a little oil in a cast iron skillet. They got nice and golden brown on the outside, and stayed tender inside. In a separate skillet, I sauteed diced red potatoes in a bit of olive oil for about 7 minutes, then added some sliced onions and peppers (red and green). I sauteed everything until tender and added some salt and pepper to taste. I served these on a toasted hoagie bun with lots of mustard. Fun dinner for a Friday night!

Seitan Portobella Stroganoff with Braised Kale

Wow! It's been a while since we've had stroganoff! This was such a great recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen. It was fun to make, and although it was a bit more time intensive than my usual weeknight dinners, it was worth it. Berkeley and Rob both loved it too. Well, Berkeley loves anything involving noodles. I was hoping he'd eat the peas, seitan, and mushrooms too. I think a few got in, but he mostly just had noodles. He did eat a bit of seitan at the end and said he liked it, but then wouldn't take anymore. In this pic you can see him carefully removing the pea from his noodle bite. Ha! This was the kid who ate peas almost every day of his life for months and months.

For the kale, I sauteed 3 minced garlic cloves in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, then added one bunch of washed, chopped kale and 3/4 cup vegetable broth. I turned it to low and cooked it for about 15 minutes. I think it was a bit overcooked; it probably should have only cooked for maybe 10 minutes so it wouldn't lose that nice bright green color.

Mock Crab Cakes with Lemony Quinoa

As I said in an earlier post, my parents are in Baltimore this week. We lived there when I was a kid, and frequently ate crab cakes. This was my first attempt at a vegan version. The main ingredient is peeled and shredded zucchini, which is combined with Old Bay Seasoning, breadcrumbs, Nayonniase, egg replacer, and onion. I realized too late that I should have added more breadcrumbs, because the batter was pretty mushy and by the time it firmed up in the pan, the patties were very dark brown. My friend Jodi, an expert potato latke chef, confirmed that they sounded too mushy and needed to be dried out more. I'll definitely make these again, because they were really easy to prepare and the flavor was great. Like crab cakes without the fishy taste, if that makes sense.

Mock Crab Cakes
2 cups peeled and grated zucchini
1 onion, grated or finely chopped (I just grated mine in the food processor)
1 cup bread crumbs (more if needed)
1 tablespoon Nayonnaise
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
egg replacer equivalent to one egg (I used Ener-G egg replacer)

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl If it's too dry, add more egg replacer; if it's too wet, add more bread crumbs. Heat some oil in a skillet (I used Canola). Form mixture into patties and fry over medium heat until golden brown on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Makes 4 big or 6 medium cakes.

The Lemony Quinoa was a nice compliment to the pan-fried cakes. I cooked the quinoa first, then added about a cup of chickpeas, some diced red pepper, and some tahini sauce (tahini blended with lots of lemon juice, 1 clove garlic, salt, and a bit of water to get the consistency you want).

Peanut Butter Cups

I think it's pretty much impossible to make a bad peanut butter cup. As long as there's chocolate and peanut butter involved, you're all set!

The Belgian chocolate dessert cups we found at World Market are so delicate and delicious! I think you could fill them with just about anything dessert-like and be happy. Fruit, chocolate cream, jam... But anyway, back to the peanut butter. I made the filling from organic peanut butter, a little soy milk, and some confectioner's sugar. The battery on my wand mixer was dead and I was too lazy to get out my Kitchen Aid mixer, so I just whipped it up by hand. I think the mousse would have been much lighter and prettier if I had used a machine, but it was fine. I just spooned it into the cups and froze them for about 30 minutes. We've been eating them all week!

Dinner Menu for the Week of October 22

Sunday
Leftover Earthy Lentil Soup
Dessert: Peanut Butter Cups!
Tonight we'll finish off the lentil soup from last week, and for dessert I'm going to try to whip up a peanut butter mousse inspired by some fun Belgian chocolate dessert cups I found at World Market over the weekend. These cups are begging for some peanut butter!

Monday
Mock Crab Cakes with Lemony Quinoa
In honor of my parents vacationing in Baltimore this week, I'll serve up a veganized Maryland specialty--the crab cake. We lived in Maryland for 7 years when I was a child, and I grew up around these. The recipe uses peeled, shredded zucchini as the base, along with the appropriate spices. The lemony quinoa dish is based on one I had recently at Wheatsville, our local food co-op. They have an amazing deli, with a huge variety of veg dishes prepared daily.

Tuesday
Take Out Night
It's a busy evening, work-wise, so we'll have our takeout night early again this week.

Wednesday
Seitan Portobella Stroganoff with Braised Kale
Mmmmm...another recipe from The Post Punk Kitchen. I'm excited to try this one!

Thursday
Black Beans “Charros” with Cornbread
From Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian--one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, given to me by my friend Cyndi last year. In the book, Jaffrey details every grain and legume, giving recipes for their preparation from all over the world. Every recipe I have tried from this book has been savory and delicious (a credit to her, not to me)!

Friday
Grilled Kielbasa Sandwiches with Sauteed Red Potatoes, Onions, and Green Peppers
Talk about comfort food! We'll grill these Tofurky Kielbasas on our little grill outside, and I'll serve them on a roll with sauteed onions, peppers, and potatoes.

Saturday
Halloween Party: Hearty Autumn Stew
Our vegetarian mamas group will gather for a Halloween party and potluck this afternoon. The stew will be full of hearty fall fare, including sweet potatoes, kale, squash, and brown rice.

TLTs with Seasoned Oven Fries

I loved this recipe! There were a few steps but they're worth it. I marinated the tempeh earlier in the day, and I made the hummus as the fries started cooking, before frying up the tempeh.

Whenever I eat something fried like this, I realize that so much of food's appeal is in the preparation. Meaning, this tasted so much like what I rememeber BLTs tasting like--crunchy toasted bread, crispy salty "meat," cool cucumber and tomato, added flavor from "mayo" spread (in this case, hummus on one side, Nayonnaise on the other). I can create vegan versions of most anything I used to eat as an omnivore just by using different flavoring and preparation techniques to recreate the mood of the dish.


Berkeley loved it too. I made him an amended version with just bread, hummus, and tempeh, since he would just pick off the "LT" part anyway. Messy, but fun.

Again, the recipe is adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (cohost of The Post Punk Kitchen). I'll post the tempeh bacon recipe here; you can prepare the sandwich part however you like.

Tempeh Bacon
3 T Bragg Liquid Aminos or tamari or soy sauce (I used tamari)
1/3 cup apple cider (I used apple juice)
1 tsp. tomato paste
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke
1 (8-ounce) package tempeh
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 T peanut oil or vegetable oil (I used Canola)


Combine tamari, juice, tomato paste, and liquid smoke in a wide, shallow bowl and mix with a fork until paste is fully dissolved.

Cut the tempeh into thin strips (less than 1/4 inch thick) lengthwise. you should be able to get 12 strips. Rub the strips with the crushed garlic, then add garlic to marinade. Submerge tempeh in the marinade and let sit, turning occasionally, for at least an hour and up to overnight.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add tempeh strips and cook for 4 minutes on one side; the bottom should be nicely browned. Flip the strips over and pour the remainder of the marinade over them; if there isn't too much marinade left add a splash of water.Cover and let cook for 3 more minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Uncover and check for doneness; if necessary, keep cooking uncovered until all sides are nicely browned. Remove from heat and serve.

Angel Hair with Tomato Eggplant Sauce

I have a love/hate relationship with my crockpot. When I bought it a couple of years ago, I had grand ideas for delicious, convenient meals. Through much trial and error, I have settled on the fact that it does several dishes very well, but many others just come out...mushy, with the flavors of all the ingredients indistinguishable from one another. Blech.

However, dishes that always turn out well are most kinds of soups, lentil dishes, and sauces. Tonight's dinner was so easy, because I just got the sauce going in the crock earlier in the day, and then I just had to cook the angel hair and it was done. Love that! Berkeley loves any kind of noodles, but doesn't have much experience with eggplant, so I was curious how he would like it. He loved it; ate two full bowls.

Those are toasted pine nuts on top. Mmm. I adapted this recipe from an online crockpot recipe group (I think it was this one).

Angel Hair with Tomato Eggplant Sauce

2 garlic cloves - crushed
1 medium onion, diced
2 T olive oil
1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced into 1” cubes
2 cans (28oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (6oz) tomato paste
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup water
1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 c pitted black olives, sliced
2 T minced fresh parsley
4 c hot cooked angel hair
2 T toasted pine nuts (optional)

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.

In a 3 1/2 - 5 1/2 quart crockpot, combine eggplant, onions, garlic, undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms, water and oregano. Cook on low 7 - 8 hours (high 3 1/2 - 4 hours). Stir in olives and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve over pasta. Garnish with toasted pine nuts.
Serves: 6

Earthy Lentil Soup with Garlic Bread

Mmm, zingy! The recipe (from Vive le Vegan) calls for curry powder, and I used some that is pretty spicy. It gave the soup an Indian feel.

I had thought the cold front was coming through earlier in the day, making soup seem more tempting, but I think it must have been at least 90 degrees while I was chopping the veggies and starting the cooking. Luckily it was pouring and much cooler by the time we ate it.

Dinner Menu for the Week of October 15

Sunday
Black Bean Corn Pone with Garlicky Collards
See post below.

Monday
I was at a birth all day (and night) so Rob and Berkeley fended for themselves (again, another time when having pre-cooked meals in the freezer would have been handy!). Unfortunately, I ate some sad beans, rice and veggies in the hospital cafeteria. :-)

Tuesday
Take Out Night Early!
Argh--I am way behind on planning and grocery shopping this week! Therefore we'll shift takeout to tonight instead of Friday. Probably Java Noodles.

Wednesday
Earthy Lentil Soup with Garlic Bread
A cool front is supposed to come through with some rain today, so soup seems like a good idea. This recipe is from Vive le Vegan! by Dreena Burton. I haven't made it before but I love-love-love lentil soup.

Thursday
Angel Hair with Tomato Eggplant Sauce
The sauce is a crockpot recipe, so I'll throw all the ingredients in that morning and just cook up the pasta when we are ready to eat.

Friday
TLTs with Seasoned Oven Fries
A twist on the BLT, made with marinated tempeh strips and hummus. The recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (cohost of The Post Punk Kitchen).

Saturday
Leftovers Potluck

Black Bean Corn Pone with Garlicky Collards

I finally got to make this tonight. I had bumped it from Thursday to Saturday, but we were at a birthday party until late that day, so I thought I would wait until a less hectic time to cook it. But today was crazy too! Luckily, this is SUCH an easy meal to make. The recipe for the corn pone comes from Jennifer of Vegan Lunchbox fame. You can find it here on her other blog. Don't miss out on her forthcoming cookbook, which is currently at the printer! For more information, stay tuned to her site.

For the collards, I just sauteed some minced garlic (about 3-4 small cloves) in 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil, then added some diced collards, salt and pepper. I stirred it to make sure the collards were coated in the olive oil, and then covered it and set it to low for 5-6 minutes. So simple and tasty.

More menu juggling...

We decided to eat leftovers on Thursday night after a busy day, so I'll make the corn pone and collards Saturday night instead. We also had leftovers for lunch a few days this week. It's nice to have so much prepared food in the fridge!

Sesame Tofu Stir Fry with Brown Rice

Love the stir fry! This time we used tofu, onions, celery, red bell pepper, ginger, garlic, and broccoli. We would have included carrots too, if I hadn't gone nutty last night with the glazed carrots and accidentally used them all up.

We heated some canola and sesame oil together, browned the tofu a bit first, then removed it from the pan. (The tofu had been first frozen, then thawed to make it denser; pressed in a clean towel; and cut into strips.) In a bit more heated oil, we stir-fried the veggies for a few minutes, added the tofu back in and stirred the sauce into the veggies and tofu until everything was well coated. My mom did the bulk of the work again tonight. I'm getting spoiled! We served it over brown rice.

Sesame Stir-Fry Sauce
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup tamari sauce
2 tsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tsp. hot red pepper flakes, optional
1 tsp. sugar

Pesto Pasta with Lemon-Glazed Carrots and Garlic Bread

This pesto is so easy and you'd never miss the cheese. I adapted it from an online recipe-sharing group, but it was so long ago that I forget who to credit for it. We also liked the glazed carrots a lot. I got the recipe here.

Cheese-Free Pesto
1 1/2 cups basil leaves
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon white or yellow miso
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/3 cup olive oil or more, to taste
1 cup pine nuts

Whirl all ingredients except pine nuts in mini food processor or blender until smooth. Add pine nuts and blend until texture is only slightly rough. Add more oil if necessary. Cook pasta of your choice and drain. Stir in the pesto sauce and enjoy!

Potato-Mushroom Enchiladas with Refried Beans and Spanish Rice

These were really tasty and not too "heavy" the way enchiladas can be sometimes. I usually use spinach in the filling, but I tried red chard this time and really liked the way it came out.

Filling:
2T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 small russet potatoes, washed and diced
6 mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
6 leaves red chard (stems removed), chopped

Sautee some onion and potato together in the olive oil over medium heat. Once they start to soften, add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 more minutes, then add red chard and let that cook down until tender. Spoon the filling into small corn tortillas, roll them up, and line them in a 9x13 glass baking dish which has some of the enchilada sauce (see below) spread over the bottom of the dish. Cover them with the rest of the enchilada sauce and bake at 350F for 25 minutes.

Super-Easy Enchilada Sauce:
1 15 oz can enchilada sauce
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients in a blender.

Dinner Menu for the Week of October 8

Sunday
Potato-Mushroom Enchiladas with Refried Beans and Spanish Rice
This was scheduled for last week (see post below) but will be tonight's dinner instead.

Monday
Date Night
(Berkeley and Nana eat Not-tuna Sandwiches and Fresh Fruit)
My mom is here to watch Berkeley while Rob and I celebrate our wedding anniversary. Sandwiches are always a good bet for him, since he loves them so much.

Tuesday
Pesto Pasta with Lemon-Glazed Carrots and Garlic Bread
Mmmmm, this pesto recipe is so good! Basil, pine nuts, olive oil, miso, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice, all whirled up in the food processor and tossed with some fusilli pasta. I'm curious to see how the lemon-glazed carrots come out, as I just found the recipe recently.

Wednesday
Sesame Tofu Stir Fry with Brown Rice
A stir fry is a great way to use up lots of vegetables. By varying the sauce a bit, it's easy to create different meals from pretty similar ingredients. I usually do sliced marinated tofu as the protein, but you could do seitan, tempeh, or beans too.

Thursday
Black Bean Corn Pone with Garlicky Collards
Southern comfort food, vegan style!

Friday
Takeout Night: Taco Xpress
Rob's current favorite taco place. They have vegan refried bean tacos, black bean tacos, and verde tacos full of sauteed green beans, eggplant, green pepper, and onions.

Saturday
Leftovers Potluck

Chickpea & Sun-Dried Tomato Pilaf with Tossed Salad

Recipe adapted from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin


This meal always turns out well, no matter how closely I follow the recipe. Something about the combination of the sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, onions, and greens--it just tastes good! My mom is visiting and did most of the work tonight, so she gets the credit!

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 T chopped sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in warm water
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
2 1/2 to 3 cups cooked brown rice
2 tsp minced fresh basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste
ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh chopped kale or collards

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sautee onions until slightly translucent. Add chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and parsley and cook for 3 minutes. Add rice, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on 2 Tbsp water (or more if needed). Cook, tossing frequently, until the mixture is heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the nutritional yeast and mix well. Place kale or collards on top of mixture, cover and reduce heat to low for 5-10 minutes, or until greens are soft. Stir greens into mixture and serve.

Babies Born, Menu Rearranged!

Due to my work as a birth doula, our dinners got a little out of whack this week! Wednesday's enchilada dinner and Thursday's pilaf dinner got bumped in favor of leftovers while I was off at the hospital. We were back on track Friday night with our takeout dinner from Java Noodles, which we ordered and feasted on with friends while our kids all ran around with rice noodles and tofu hanging off of them.

I decided to go with the pilaf for tonight and plan to make the enchiladas on Sunday. As my doula work picks up, I really see the value in having some nice meals stashed in the freezer so Rob and Berkeley can eat well at home while I'm gone. Rob is perfectly able to cook a nice meal, but if he's alone with Berkeley it's a bit harder for him to pull something together with short notice.

Tofu Scramble with Hashbrowns and Fresh Fruit

Breakfast for dinner! This was a fun meal to make. Scrambles are so variable and easy, much like a stir fry.

I start by sauteeing some diced onion in olive oil, and then add whatever other fresh veggies I have on hand: diced carrots, kale, tomato, pepper...Once these are starting to soften, I add the tofu, which I have pressed ahead of time to remove extra moisture. I then either dice it up and throw it in, or (as in last night's version) I smash it up with my hands as I add it in, making it more of a scrambled egg texture. I then add some turmeric (mostly for color), some tamari, salt, pepper, and a handful of nutritional yeast, which add some richness. Stir it all together and continue to cook on medium heat until it starts to brown--you mainly want to cook most of the tofu moisture out of it, so it's not too mushy.

The hashbrowns were just diced russet potatoes sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper, which cooked covered on low for 20 minutes or so. I also added some toast with Earth Balance spread, and a little fresh fruit.


I figured Berkeley might just eat the fruit and ignore the rest, but Rob managed to get him to eat everything! I think he bribed him with grapes (his favorite food right now) to eat a few tofu bites, and once he tasted it, he ate it on his own. And he loves potatoes now, especially if there is ketchup involved.

Here is Berkeley finishing off his meal with an orange slice!

Bah!

I know I promised more pictures this week, but I keep forgetting to charge up my camera battery. I will do so this afternoon. But in the meantime, I'll share some recipes to make up for the picture void.

Sunday's Black Bean Burgers were really tasty. Rob said they were his favorite burgers ever, but he is prone to hyperbole on the topic of food. Berkeley wasn't interested in the patties, so he ate a PBJ with his sweet potato fries.

Black Bean Burgers

1 cup cooked brown rice
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
1/2 a large onion, diced
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
salt to taste
2 T flour
olive oil

Blend rice, beans, onion, and spices in a food processor until just mixed. Add flour if the mixture seems too runny to form patties. Heat olive oil in skillet, enough to cover the bottom generously. Form patties in your hand and place in heated oil (it's okay if the patties are really sticky or mushy--cooking them will firm them up. Fry on each side for 4-5 minutes, or until brown and lightly crisped. Serve on a bun with all your favorite fixings.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium sweet potatoes, washed and sliced into strips
2 T Tamari
2 tsp. oilve oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 T packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425F. Whisk together tamari, olive oil, garlic and brown sugar. Toss sweet potatoes in a bowl with this mixture. Place sweet potatoes on baking sheet in a single layer and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown. Serve hot.

Monday's dinner:

Crockpot Red Beans & Rice
This recipe is so easy and hearty, and perfect for a day when you don't have lots of evening prep time.

1 lb red beans, soaked overnight in water then drained
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
15 oz can tomatoes, stewed or diced
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T vegan worchestershire sauce (I use Annie's brand)
1 tsp. liquid smoke
ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
water to cover

Put everything in the crockpot at the same time, except for the rice. Turn
on high for 4 hours, then on low for 6 hours. During the last 1 1/2 hour,
add the rice.

Maple Cornbread
My all-time favorite cornbread recipe, from the Vegetarian Network of Austin newsletter a few years ago.

2/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients and bake for 35 minutes at 350F in a lightly oiled square glass pan (9x9).

Dinner Menu for the Week of October 1

Sunday
Black Bean Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries
Thanks to my friend Jody for the sweet potato fries inspiration...I'm going to try a new recipe for them that includes a soy sauce/brown sugar marinade. I'm going to wing it on the black bean burgers--I'll mash together beans, cooked rice, herbs, some diced onion, and a little soy milk if it's too dry. Form into patties and fry them in a little olive oil.

Monday
Red Beans & Rice with Maple Cornbread
I will make this in the crockpot because I have a meeting late afternoon and won't have a lot of time to cook in the evening. The cornbread is easy to throw together.

Tuesday
Tofu Scramble with Hashbrowns and Fresh Fruit
Breakfast for dinner tonight! We'll see how Berkeley likes the scramble; he is back on a tofu-loving kick again.

Wednesday
Potato-Mushroom Enchiladas with Refried Beans and Spanish Rice
These usually have spinach in them too, but I'm not sure I can find any right now. I might try red chard instead.

Thursday
Chickpea & Sun-Dried Tomato Pilaf with Tossed Salad
This is a recipe I've adapted from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin. Full of chickpeas, herbs, collards, onion, brown rice, and sun-dried tomoatoes. I also include some nutritional yeast to give it a richer flavor. Mmmm.

Friday
Takeout Night: Java Noodles
Our favorite Indonesian restuarant, and they deliver to our house! It's enough for two meals for us, although it's a bit spicy for Berkeley so he might get something else for dinner.

Saturday
Leftovers Potluck