Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

I was going for a hearty, cold weather soup here. Something with spice and personality. The spice base is mostly mexican. While the broth base has its roots in France. It's an unusual pairing, but it turned out pretty great. Even though it's vegan, the broth has a beefy, meaty punch. It's very satisfying. The neutral combo of lentils and barley easily bridges all cultural divides. I especially find the red wine works famously with the typical mexican spices. 1 can black beans, plus can brine 1/3 cup red wine 1/4 cup dry lentils 1/4 cup dry pearl barley 1/2 medium red onion, sliced 1/2 pint cremini mushrooms, sliced 1 poblano, diced 1 jalapeno, diced 1 serrano, diced 3 cloves garlic, sliced 1/2 bag steam in bag broccoli/cauliflower mix 1 cup fresh parsley 2 tbls olive oil 1 tbl spicy mustard 1 tbl soy sauce 1 tbl sriracha 3-4 cups water 2 tbls nutritional yeast 1 tsp cumin seed 1 tsp coriander seed 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp turmeric

Keeping with my current theme of simplicity, I prepared this mushroom and black bean dish. It was tempting to add brandy and mustard and too many herbs and spices, but I resisted. The result was clean, flavorful and easy to prepare. 1 pint white mushrooms, sliced 1 jalapeno, diced 5 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped 1 can black beans, plus liquid 2 tbls olive oil 1 tsp crushed pepper flakes 1 tsp basil 2  tsps salt 1 tsp black pepper I had a pint of sliced white mushrooms. Sadly, the washing they requried took up more time than buying whole and slicing myself. But those were the ones on sale. This is a basic saute. I began by cooking the mushrooms in salt and pepper. Once the pan was hot, I drizzeld in the olive oil. Wait for the mushroom to brown. Be patient. This will take a bit of time, but is worth the wait. Then you can add the garlic and peppers. Saute themy for 5 minutes before you throw in everything else. Then just cook down until the liquid has thickened

I've been experimenting with keeping things very simple and trying to coax all the flavor I can from a very minimalist set of ingredients. It's been less clean up and more flavor overall. This is just a saute of red beans and veg. Every ingredient stands on its own and shines. 1/2 a yellow onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, smashed, chopped 1 poblano, diced 1 jalapeno, diced 1 can red beans, liquid included 1/3 cup white wine 2 tsps soy sauce 3 tbls olive oil 1 tsp celery seed 2 tsps oregano 2 tsps salt 1 tsp black pepper Saute the onions in the oil until translucent. Add peppers and garlic. Saute 5 more minutes. Deglaze with wine. Cook off wine for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer until reduced by 1/3.

I love throwing everything in a pot and just letting it simmer and reduce. It's an easy way to extract the maximum amount of flavor with the least amount of effort. 1/2 yellow onion, sliced 1 poblano, diced 1 jalapeno, deseeded, diced 5 cloves garlic, smashed 2 tsps soy sauce 2 tbls olive oil 1 tbl asian garlic chili sauce 1/2 can chick peas, whole can of brine 1/3 cup white wine 2 tsps celery seed 1 tbl nutritional yeast 2 tsps dry thyme 2 tsps dry rosemary 3 dry shishito peppers, broken, deseeded 1/2 cup dry lentils 5 cups water Toss it all in a pot. Do not cover. Let it come to a boil. Then simmer for at 25 minutes.That's it. Easy and delicious!