Dinner ~ Vegetable California Roll Sushi

While sushi is typically made with a sticky sushi rice, you can also experiment and use a combination of other grains including brown rice, wild rice, jasmine, and quinoa. You'll often see recipes that have sugar and vinegar added to sushi rice, however I choose to omit these ingredients. When you order sushi at a restaurant, it can also include mayonnaise. For that reason, you may want to inquire what is added so you can keep it as heart healthy as possible.

Vegetable California Roll Sushi

1 c sushi rice

2 c water

1/4 red pepper

1/2 carrot

1 mini cucumber

4 sheets nori

soy sauce

Rinse sushi rice until it runs clear to remove excess starch.  Boil 2 c water, add rice, reduce to low heat. Add flame deflector under pan, cover, and cook rice for 15 minutes.  Cool for 15 minutes in refrigerator.  Cut red pepper, carrot, and cucumber into long, thin slices. Steam pepper and carrot strips for 5 minutes. Place nori sheet on bamboo rolling mat. Add 1/4 c sushi rice to nori sheet and thinly spread, leaving 1/2" strip uncovered on one end. Line vegetables on opposite end and slowly roll toward the uncovered end. Gently squeeze roll in matting to seal nori sheet. Refrigerate roll and repeat with next 3 nori sheets. Using sharp knife, cut in roll in half, then proceed to cut into bit size pieces. Each roll makes 8 pieces. Serve with soy sauce. 

Dinner ~ Hearty Seitan with Tarragon Mushroom Gravy

Thanksgiving is coming and it's time to think of hearty, filling meals. If you haven't given homemade seitan a try, you're missing out on a wonderful meat substitute that can have a flavor and texture that beats any store-bought similar product. Seitan is flavored wheat gluten that is packed with protein. Refer to my September 3 blog post for directions on making seitan. I prepare enough seitan to have for several meals over the course of the upcoming week. The miso salty gravy is balanced with the tartness of the cranberry sauce.

Tarragon Mushroom Gravy
2 1/2 c water
1 tbsp fresh tarragon
1/4 c mushrooms
1/4 c white onion
2 tbsp barley miso paste
1 tbsp kudzo root

Heat 2 c water in saucepan and heat. Chop tarragon, mushrooms, and onions.  Add to saucepan. Bring to boil. Dissolve miso paste in 1/4 c cool water. Dissolve kudzu root in 1/4 c cool water. Reduce heat to simmer. Add miso paste and kudzo root to water and stir several minutes until thickened.

Dinner: Seitan with tarragon mushroom gravy, steamed kale, barley and rice salad with cranberries and almonds, and orange cranberry sauce. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seed & Umeboshi Vinegar Dressing

Hearty steamed greens, such as kale, and even delicate greens, like yu choy, can be enhanced with the nutty taste of the roasted pumpkin seeds combined with the salty sour taste of umeboshi plums. Both Eden foods http://www.edenfoods.com and Mitoku http://www.mitoku.com have an excellent selection of umeboshi products. It is easy to make in a good quantity of the dressing, to store in the refrigerator. A small quantity gives your leafy greens the extra bite of flavor. It also taste delicious on corn on the cob.

Grind until seeds are coarsely ground. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seed & Umeboshi Vinegar Dressing

1 c pumpkin seeds

4 umeboshi plums or 4 tbsp umeboshi vinegar 

1/4 c chopped parsley, cilantro, or scallions

Washing dry roast pumpkin seeds in skillet until light brown. Grind to a paste in a suribacchi grinding bowl. Remove pits from umeboshi plums, finely chop, and grind with seeds in suribachi  or add vinegar to pulverized seeds. Add water to obtain desired consistency. Parsley, cilantro, or scallions can be added. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Lunch ~ Yu Choy, Pesto Spaghetti Squash, Bulgur Wheat & Cucumber Salads

Yellow blossomed yu choy. 

Flowering yu choy is as beautiful to look at as it delicious to eat. I was fortunate to find an ample supply during the summer growing season from Flats Mentor Farm http://www.flatsmentorfarm.org, a refugee and immigrant farming community in Lancaster, MA. They produce the most diverse crops from their ethnic countries, selling them at many farmers markets around the Boston area.

I lightly steam the yu choy, as it is delicate and tender. To add a little tang to the steamed greens, top it with a small dollop of roasted pumpkin seed and umeboshi plum dressing. It is plated with a pesto spaghetti squash, a bulgur wheat salad, and a cucumber salad. As I'm not much of a baker, I add freshly sliced oranges for dessert.

Bulgur Wheat Salad
1 c bulgur wheat
2 c water
2 large heirloom tomato
1/2 c curly parsley
1/2 tsp dried garlic
lemon

Boil water. Add bulgur wheat and salt. Cover and cook 10-15 minutes. Dice tomatoes, chop parsley and add to bulgur. Add garlic and juice from 1 lemon. Refrigerate.

Pesto with Spaghetti Squash
1 large spaghetti squash
4 c basil
1/4 c pine nuts
1/8 c nutritional yeast
2 cloves fresh garlic
1/4 c olive oil
sea salt

Cut squash into half. Remove seeds. Then cut into quarters. Place into boiling water and cook for 15 minutes, until soft to forks pierce. Place basil in food processor. Finely process. Add pine nuts, nutritional yeast, and garlic. Process. Add olive oil and sea salt. Process. Remove spaghetti squash from boiling water and separate from rind. In large bowl, combine squash with pesto.

Cucumber Salad
1 thinly sliced cucumber
sea salt
1/2 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar

Thinly slice cucumber. Place in small bowl, lightly salt, then massage. Sprinkle with umeboshi plum vinegar. Refrigerate.

Lunch: Steamed yu choy, basil spaghetti squash, bulgur wheat salad, cucumber salad, and orange slices.

Lunch ~ Curried Sweet Potato Soup & Vegetarian Pizza

I'm going to start sharing with you some of my favorite products that make it easy to eat healthy meals when time seems to be short.  I like to have on hand go-to quick foods that can be supplemented with fresh ingredients to liven them up. 

Lunch: Sweet potato soup with vegetarian pizza and maple glazed apples and roasted pecans.

On this day, I reached for a container of Imagine's http://www.imaginefoods.com light-sodium Sweet Potato soup.  While heating in a saucepan on low heat, I added 2 tsp dried curry, 1/3 c chopped sweet pea tendrils, and 2 tbsp fresh chopped dill.

After the soup was warmed, I served it in a bowl and topped it with 2 Friends Farm's http://2friendsfarm.com "The Longevity" sprouted mix of pea greens, buckwheat, kale, and daikon radish. One of the nice things about the microgreens are that they last for quite a while in the vegetable crisper.  I add them to smoothies, salads, sandwiches, soups, and just about any dish that needs a little snap of color and nutrition!

While the soup was warming, I sautéed chopped sweet onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and kale. I added the vegetables to Schar's http://www.schar.com gluten-free pizza crusts. I topped with Cabot's https://www.cabotcheese.coop sharp cheddar cheese that I picked up on a recent trip their Vermont store. Baked for 15 minutes @ 425 degree oven. 

Dessert of apples picked from our backyard, pan-steamed with Vermont maple syrup and topped with a few toasted pecans.