Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash

This is essentially how I judged this recipe and deemed it worthy of sharing with you:

• easy? Yes.
• yummy? Most definitely.
• ingredients easily found at supermarket? You got it. (I had most everything in my pantry, actually. Win!)

And here we are.

You'll need:

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 2 large acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 cup garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (14 ounce) can veg broth
• 1 cup uncooked couscous

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Arrange squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, or until tender. Dissolve the sugar in the melted butter. Brush squash with the butter mixture, and keep squash warm while preparing the stuffing.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook 5 minutes. Mix in the garbanzo beans and raisins. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.

Pour the vegetable broth into the skillet, and mix in the couscous. Cover skillet, and turn off heat. Allow couscous to absorb liquid for 5 minutes. Stuff squash halves with the skillet mixture to serve.

Beanloaf Muffins with Kale & Carrots

Beanloaf Muffins from Peas and Thank You, Balsamic Glazed Kale and Carrots from 1000 Vegan Recipes, and a baked potato. The muffin recipe says it yields 4 muffins; I made five, but probably could have made it into six smaller muffins. Pretty quick and easy.

Banana Nut Muffins

This week I wanted to try a new muffin recipe, but wasn't sure what type of muffin. I also had a bunch of bananas that were definitely past their prime. I may or may not be a snob when it comes to bananas... but I make up for it by resourcefully using unsatisfactory-as-is bananas in smoothies and breads.

Anyway, the first two facts made me look at fruity/banana muffins. I found this recipe for banana nut muffins in 1000 Vegan Recipes. Not only did the recipe look ridiculously easy (I think I pulled these together in 10 minutes), but I had everything in stock. It calls for ground flax seed, which I discovered my Giant does not carry. If you can't find it at your normal grocery store, try a local health food store or a Whole Foods.

These little babies came out so beautifully and tasty. They are a test of will power, because I want to eat all of them. And then make more. And then eat those, too. Seriously, these blueberry muffins had better watch out because there's a new contender in the competition for the title of "Niki's Favorite Muffin Ever."

I couldn't find an online recipe for this, so suck it up and buy the book!

Tempeh Curry

Source: Whole Foods

I'm not sure how I feel about curries, but when I saw this recipe featured on Whole Food's Facebook, I decided to give it a go, simply because of the sweet potatoes. Yes, my culinary decisions are that easily swayed.

The prep took a bit of work - steam and cut tempeh, peel and cut sweet potatoes, cut onion, cut green beans - but after that, it was pretty easy to pull together.

I'm still not sold on curries, but that isn't to say this was a bad recipe. I just don't know how well curries and I mesh. If you like curries, or are tempted to try one, I'd say give this one a go!

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

1 cup long-grain brown rice
2 cups water
1 (8-ounce) package tempeh
1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon ground curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Method

Bring rice and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer until liquid is completely absorbed and rice is just tender, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, arrange steamer basket in a pot. Add enough water just to reach bottom of basket. Bring to a boil. Cut tempeh in half and place in the steamer basket. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and steam about 15 minutes or until tender. Remove tempeh and set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut tempeh into 1/2-inch cubes.

Bring 1/2 cup broth to a simmer in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook 5 minutes or until onion is translucent and tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in curry and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, potatoes, tempeh and remaining 1 cup broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir in green beans and return to a simmer, uncovered. Cook about 5 minutes longer or until potatoes and green beans are tender. Stir in 3 tablespoons cilantro and salt. To serve, spoon curry over rice and garnish with remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro.

Nutrition

Per serving: 510 calories (110 from fat), 12g total fat, 5g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 90mg sodium, 80g total carbohydrate (13g dietary fiber, 8g sugar), 24g protein

Black Bean & Corn Soup with Fired-up Jalapeno Cornbread

Source: 1000 Vegan Recipes

For my birthday - over the summer, mind you - a good friend of mine gave me 1000 Vegan Recipes. New cookbooks incite a special kind of excitement, but this particular book also invoked a feeling not typically associated with recipe books: trepidation. One thousand recipes? Kind of intimidating. I didn't know where to start. I've made a few recipes over the months I've had it, but I hadn't really dug into it.

One day, I decided enough was enough. I felt foolish for letting the sheer size of the book deter me, but I also kind of felt like a jerk for not getting the most out of a very thoughtful gift from one of my favorite friends. Whether I was ready or not, I added 1000 Vegan Recipes into my regular rotation.

Given my newfound sense of determination, I first tackled Black Bean Soup. Mexican-inspired food is easily one of my favorites. I attribute this to my affinity for: beans of all kinds, corn, and spicy foods.

The soup turned out beautifully. I love everything about this soup: the colors, the texture, the flavor. I also whipped up a batch of the Jalapeno corn bread, which went with this soup perfectly.

The undeniable yumminess of the soup only adds to my feelings of foolishness and jerkfulness. Oh, well. You live and learn.