Batch-Prepped Lunches!

It’s been a while since I posted about food, and not for lack of eating. With full-time parenting, full-time working, and full-time studying, I’ve had little time to make labor intensive foods, and even more so to take pictures and post about what I cook. Nevertheless, sourdough is still baked on a weekly basis at this house, and vegan meals get put on the table. One thing I’m going to do regularly for the foreseeable future is prep nutritious weekday lunches every Sunday; these come together in less than an hour and are really good to keep in the fridge.

The idea comes from my coach Karina Inkster, who held a food prep party via Zoom last week and inspired me to keep doing this. It’s pretty simple: you roast a ton of wholesome ingredients, lightly steam some greens, make a dressing, and pack everything in lunch-size containers. The ingredients for the meal pictured above are (amounts specified for five weekday lunches):

  • 1 big sweet potato (purple, in this case)
  • 3 medium-sized Jerusalem artichokes
  • 1 purple cauliflower and 1 white cauliflower
  • 1/2 red cabbage
  • 1-2 cans chickpeas
  • 1-2 blocks tofu
  • 1 large bunch kale

Heat up oven to 400F. Chop all ingredients, except the kale, into 1/2-inch cubes. Place on baking trays (spray with a bit of olive oil), lightly salt and pepper, and bake for about 40-45 mins. The kale should then be stemmed and lightly steamed.

While all of this is going on, make the dressing; I made this one.

Mix all the ingredients except the dressing and pack into lunch-sized containers (I filled five to the brim). When it’s time to serve, you can heat on the stove or microwave for 2 mins or so, drizzle the dressing, and enjoy!

Best Minestrone

As we are ensconced here at home, hiding from #hellastorm2023, I decided to make us the soup to end all soups and ended up with this delicious minestrone. One of its major secrets is that, rather than using canned beans, I used Rancho Gordo beans that cooked inside the soup from dry, adding the wonderful bean liquor to the already flavorful soup. I made it in the instant pot, but you can easily make it on the stove (the beans might require extra cooking time in that case.) Enough chitchat – here’s the recipe:

  • 1 tsp olive oil (optional)
  • 1 onion, minced
  • 2 Russet potatoes, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 10 kale leaves
  • 1 tsp herbes de provence
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 lb good quality dry pinto beans
  • 1 quart water, plus two cups
  • 2 tbsp vegetable stock concentrate
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • salt and pepper to taste (I didn’t put any and it turned out very flavorful)
  • 1/2 package lentil or chickpea pasta, or whatever pasta you like

Using the sauté function of the instant pot, sauté the onion, carrot, and celery for about 6-7 minutes (with or without olive oil.) After the onion is translucent, add the potatoes, garlic, kale, herbes de provence, crushed tomatoes, beans, water, stock, and tomato paste. Close the lid and cook for 40 mins on high pressure.

On the stove, cook the pasta until al dente.

Place some pasta in each dish and top with generous ladles of soup. You can top it with vegan parmesan but, honestly, it’s delicious as it is. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Kitchari

Now that the semester has ended on both sides of the Bay Bridge, I have some time to cook delicious things, rather than eating on the fly as I ride my bike and BART. I even cracked open a great cookbook–Oz Telem’s Cauliflower–and branched beyond my usual fare of whole roasted cauli, or cauli/olive/chickpea salad, to making this satisfying, stick-to-your-ribs upgrade to cauli rice. It’s an aromatic concoction of riced cauli and yellow or red lentils with some spices.

Ingredients

2-3 cups cauliflower florets

1 cup yellow or red lentils, preferably whole

1 scant tsp turmeric

1.5 cups water

1-2 tsp salt (I used truffle salt to great effect)

3-4 tbsp olive oil

6-7 garlic cloves

1 heaping tsp cumin

Place florets in food processor and process until it has couscous consistency. Transfer to a medium pot along with the lentils, turmeric, and water. Bring to a boil, add the salt, cover, and lower the heat to a simmer. Let simmer approx. 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils and cauli are soft but not mushy.

Toward the end, heat olive oil in a pan. Thinly slice and add garlic cloves and cumin. Fry until golden. Add contents of the pan to the pot and mix well. Serve with a nice vegetable stew (pictured) or with coconut yogurt (I like Cocojune.)

By the way, we’ve had to find a new produce delivery service, and in an effort to prevent food waste we now get our fruit and veg from Imperfect Foods. This recipe came about because they brought us lots of wonderful cauliflower! In addition to the lovely produce, they have an impressive array of plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy, many of which we’ve never tried before, and we’re very happy with them so far.

Moroccan Red Stew

This was absolutely delicious, and the reason there was no picture the first time I made this is that it was gobbled up before I had the chance! Good thing I remembered to take a picture the second time. It comes out a very vivid and appetizing shade of red, because of the tomatoes and the beets, and can be served over mashed potatoes, rice, couscous, or quinoa.

Ingredients:

1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 leeks (just the white parts), thinly sliced
7-8 garlic cloves
splash of vodka
1 cup vegetable broth
1 little basket of cherry tomatoes
1 carrot, sliced into thin rounds
1 beet, chopped and thinly sliced
3/4 cup yellow lentils, dry
1 cup chickpeas, cooked
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp baharat
2 tsp ras-el-hanout
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat up a Dutch oven on the stove until a drop of water at the center looks like mercury. Then, add onion and leeks and cook until the bottom of the pan begins to brown and the onions are translucent and a bit golden. Add a splash of vodka to deglaze the bottom, add the garlic, and cook for another 30 seconds. Add broth, tomatoes, carrot, beet, lentils, chickpeas, and spices. Place lid on Dutch oven and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the dish is fragrant and the lentils are soft.

White Bean and Hemp Herbed Burgers

This post doesn’t have a photo, and not because the food was ugly; it was really pretty. But it got eaten so fast that I didn’t make it with the camera!

I had about a cup and a half of white beans in the fridge, and with some herbs and other delicious things the whole thing was transformed into beautiful green burgers, reminiscent of falafel, which were delicious with hummus and vegetables. Here goes:

1 1/2 cup white beans
2 tbsp each: dill, parsley, cilantro
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp Mrs. Dash
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp polenta
4 tbsp hemp seeds

Heat up oven to 375. Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse until well combined. If too wet, add polenta and hemp seeds. Form four burgers and place on a baking sheet with a silpat mat or waxed paper. Bake for about 20 minutes and serve hot.

Butternut Squash with Beans and Leeks

It’s always a special day when we get a big delivery from Rancho Gordo, purveyors of delicious and unique heirloom beans. Sure, you can open a can of beans (I do that sometimes, too!), but cooking your own beans from scratch yields a much more flavorful and textured batch. So every week we cook a pound of beans–different beans every time–to use in that week’s cooking.

This week we cooked Domingo Rojo beans, which were delicious, but I’m sure this recipe would work with any red or black bean. The combination of creamy, baked squash with the beans is comforting and satisfying.

1 small butternut squash
1 cup cooked black or red beans
1/2 cup chopped leek, white and green parts
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup water or vegetable broth
1 tbsp ras-el-hanout

Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds and stringy innards, and place in a 375 degree oven, face down, for 45 minutes or until the squash is soft and creamy throughout. At this point it should be easy to peel. Cut the peeled squash into 3/4-inch cubes.

While the squash is cooking, saute leeks and garlic in a little bit of vegetable broth. After about 3 minutes, lower the heat and add the beans and the ras-el-hanout. Cook for about 10-15 minutes.

Gently mix in the squash cubes.

Roasted Chickpeas

This is one of the best snacks I’ve concocted recently, and with good quality canned chickpeas, so easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sumak
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red paprika

Heat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Layer a pan with foil. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, then arrange on foil in one layer. Bake for about 30 minutes, until chickpeas are crunchy.