African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

Easy and delicious! The original recipe is made on the stove top but last time we made this we used the Instant Pot. Directions for both are below!

This recipe is from Fresh Off the Grid:

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium sweet potato, chopped into ¼ inch cubes
• 2 cups broth
• 1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons New Mexico chili powder
• 1 (14.5 oz) can chickpeas, drained
• 2 cups tuscan (aka lacinato or dino) kale, destemmed and chopped
• brown rice

Stove Top Directions:

1. Saute the onion in water for about 5 minutes, until translucent and just starting to brown in spots. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add the sweet potato, broth, tomatoes & their juices, peanut butter, and chili powder. Stir well to ensure the peanut butter is thoroughly mixed in and there’s no clumps remaining. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15-20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
3. Once the sweet potatoes are tender, add the chickpeas and the kale. Stir to combine and heat until the chickpeas have warmed through and the kale has wilted.
4. Serve over brown rice.

Instant Pot Directions:

1. Use the saute feature on the instant pot to saute the onion in water for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add all other ingredients, EXCEPT the kale and rice.
3. Set to manual, high pressure for 10 minutes.
4. Let it release naturally.
5. Once the pressure comes down naturally, stir in the kale.
6. Serve over brown rice.

Smoky Corn Chowder

This corn chowder has the best flavor thanks to the smoked paprika and liquid smoke. We also use frozen roasted corn from Trader Joes to give it even more of a smoky roasted flavor.

There are directions on how to make this corn chowder for both the instant pot and stove top below.

This recipe is based off High Carb Hannah

Ingredients:

• 2 large russet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into chunks
• 1 red pepper, cut into chunks
• white onion (about 8 oz.), cut into chunks
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Curry paste to taste (optional)
• 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon (vegetable) or 1 tablespoon of miso, add to taste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 one pound bags of frozen corn (use roasted frozen corn if you can find it)
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon or more of liquid smoke (add after cooking), to taste

Directions:

To make in the Instant Pot: Throw everything into the Instant Pot and cook 15 minutes with natural release. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. Add in liquid smoke. Serve over rice and garnish with extra smoked paprika if desired. Enjoy!

To make on the stove top: Add all ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about an hour. Use and immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. Add in liquid smoke. Serve over rice and garnish with extra smoked paprika if desired. Enjoy!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

This is the creamiest, cheesiest vegan broccoli soup! We have brought it to potluck lucks and everyone who has tried it has absolutely loved it!

This recipe is from Connoisseurus Veg:

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 medium russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 medium carrot chopped
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 cup vinegar based hot sauce (can omit if you don’t like spicy, but then you may want to add a splash of vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons white miso paste
• 4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 large crown)
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and water sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for about 1 minute more, until very fragrant.

2. Add the vegetable broth and stir in the potato, carrot, and cashews. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower heat and allow to simmer, uncovered, until the carrot and potato are tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Use an immersion blender to blend everything together. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth, working in batches if needed.

4. Once blended, stir in the non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, miso and broccoli. Place over high heat and bring everything to a boil. Allow to simmer until the broccoli is tender and the soup thickens up a bit, about 7 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and season with pepper to taste.

Moroccan Red Lentil Soup

This soup is super easy to make and really tasty!

The original recipe is from Fitness Blender.

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 6 cups water or vegetable broth
• Juice of 2 lemons

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot over medium heat, saute onion, garlic and carrot for 5 minutes, adding water as needed to prevent sticking.
2. Stir in pepper, cumin, turmeric, paprika and ginger; cook another minute.
3. Add water or vegetable broth and lentils; bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are fully cooked, 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove soup from heat, squeeze in the lemon juice and serve immediately. This soup is great over brown rice.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

This soup can easily be doubled. If possible, make this soup a day in advance as the flavors really come out the longer it sits.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, sliced
• 3 small celery ribs, sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tablespoons dried oregano
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 15oz cans white beans (or 3 cups cooked from dry)
• 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 cups kale (or more)
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. Heat some water in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and oregano and saute until the onion is translucent. Continue adding water as needed to prevent sticking.
2. Add the broth, beans, nutritional yeast, rosemary, and pepper.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer 20 minutes, or until the carrots are soft.
3. Once the carrots are soft, blend with a stick blender to the desired consistency.  (You can blend just a little bit and leave some whole pieces of beans and vegetables, or completely blend it)
4. Add kale and allow to simmer for about 4 more minutes.
5. Stir in the lemon juice, and add more rosemary and pepper to taste.

Enjoy 🙂

Picture coming soon!

Brussels Sprouts, Rice, & Corn Soup

Here’s a quick and easy soup we love.

This recipe is from a potluck dish made by Rayna Schroeder. Thanks!!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 large shallots or very small onions, cut into thin slices
• 2 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
• 1 9 oz bag shredded Brussels sprouts
• 4-5 cups water or low-sodium vegetable broth (0r more)
• 6 tablespoons (uncooked) long-grain brown rice
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels

Directions:

1. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add a bit of water, sprinkle in the crushed red pepper flakes, letting them sizzle for a few seconds.
2. Add the shallots or onions, and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until the shallots or onions start to soften, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook, stirring, just until they brighten in color, another minute or two.
3. Carefully add the water or broth and the rice; let the mixture come to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low or low so the liquid is barely bubbling around the edges. Cover and cook until the rice has plumped and become tender, about 35 minutes, stirring and adding liquid as needed.
4. Uncover; stir in the corn and cook until it has heated through, 3 or 4 minutes.

Note: If doubling or tripling this recipe, be careful about increasing the red pepper flakes as their heat increases exponentially.

Potato Corn Chowder

Looking for an easy meal for dinner? This is an easy recipe that can be made on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.

This recipe is from here:

Ingredients:

• 3 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped medium
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 large carrot, peeled, cut in half and cut into matchsticks
• 1 12 oz. Bag frozen corn
• 1 12 oz. Bag frozen cauliflower
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp. Black pepper
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Onion powder
• 4c veggie stock

Directions:

Stovetop:

1. Place large pot on stove over medium heat. Saute onions and celery in water for 5 min. Just so they start to soften a bit.
2. Add remaining ingredients, turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil. Stir well, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 25 min. Or until potatoes are very tender.
3. Use immersion blender to blend until semi chunky smooth.*
4. Check seasoning before serving. I recommend topping your soup with some smoked paprika.

Instant Pot:

1. In the IP combine all the ingredients, stir well and cover. Set to manual pressure, 13 min. Natural release.
2. Use an immersion blender to blend until semi chunky smooth.*

*If you do not have an immersion blender, you can add the soup in batches to a blender and pulse until semi chunky smooth.

Lentil and Barley Stew

This recipe was found in a newspaper a few years ago.  We just recently came across it and decided to try it in the Instant Pot, and it worked perfectly.  To make this recipe even easier, instead of cutting up onion, celery, and carrots, use one container of mirepoix from Trader Joe’s.

Stovetop directions are also given.

Ingredients:

• ½ onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water (or veggie broth)
• ½ cup dried lentils
• 1/3 cup pearled barley
• ½ teaspoon miso (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary (1/4 teaspoon if making in a pressure cooker)
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 large carrot, peeled and shredded or cubed

Directions:

For Instant Pot:

1. Dump everything in and stir.
2. Hit the manual button and time it for 18-20 minutes.
3. Allow it to come down naturally (not quick release).  We timed it for 20 minutes at first.  It was fine, but it may be okay to do a couple minutes less.  Will update blog the next time we try it.

For stovetop:

1.  Heat a small amount of water or vegetable broth in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook, stirring until tender, 3-5 minutes. Add celery; cook until softened, 5 minutes.
2. Add crushed tomatoes, water, lentils, barley, miso (if using), rosemary, and pepper to taste. Heat to a boil; reduce heat to simmer. Cover; simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the barely and lentils are almost tender, 25 minutes. Add carrots; cook until the barley and lentils are tender, 5 minutes.

Leek and Sweet Potato Bisque

Here’s another delicious soup recipe.  It’s easy to make, full of flavor, and a very light soup.  It would go great with a big salad!

This recipe was adapted from Fat Free Vegan:

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 2¼ lbs total)
• 3 large leeks, white and light green parts only
• 5-6 c unsweetened almond milk
• ¼ tsp nutmeg (more or less to taste)
• ¼ tsp ground ginger (more or less to taste)

Directions

1. Scrub sweet potatoes, then poke each a few times with a knife.
2. Bake sweet potatoes at 350°F for 1–1½ hours until centers are tender when pierced with a fork. Alternatively, cut each sweet potato in half and arrange in a single layer in a large microwave-safe casserole dish. Add a thin layer of water to the bottom, cover, and microwave for 16–18 minutes, until sweet potatoes are completely tender, turning them over halfway through cooking.
3. While sweet potatoes are cooking, cut the base and green top off each leek. Slice leeks lengthwise and rinse thoroughly between layers to remove any grit. Then slice leeks across the grain into half-inch semicircles.
4. In a large stockpot over medium heat, cook leeks, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. If you notice leeks beginning to stick, add a little water.
5. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking leeks, covered, for another 20 minutes. Stir every 2–3 minutes and add a little water (1–2 Tbsp) as needed to prevent sticking.
6. Remove pot from heat and scoop flesh from sweet potatoes (no skin) into the pot with the leeks.
7. Add 4 c almond milk, nutmeg, and ginger to pot.
8. Blend until smooth using an immersion blender.*
9. Add another 1–2 cups of almond milk until soup is just sippable.
10. Warm over low heat if needed, stirring continuously. Serve hot with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

*No immersion blender? Working in batches in a blender, puree leeks, sweet potatoes, and spices with just enough almond milk to facilitate mixing. And remember: Don’t fill your blender more than half full when working with hot foods, as steam buildup during blending can be dangerous. Return the puree to the pot and whisk in the rest of the almond milk.

Enjoy 🙂

Chili

We first tried this chili at a potluck.  It is a very flavorful chili and we knew we had to get the recipe to make again!

The original recipe is from Dr. McDougall’s Newsletter from March 2013 found here (the third recipe down). The recipe was adapted by our friends at a FOK Potluck, Sharyn and Bryan.

Ingredients:

• 1 15oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 lb firm tofu, crumbled
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 apple,  chopped
• 1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (drain the liquid)
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 heaping tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder

Directions: Put all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook on high heat for 6 hours.

There are a lot of ingredients in this chili, but it is so tasty that every once in a while it is definitely worth the extra effort.  I would definitely recommend making this on a weekend evening when you have more time.