Slow Cooker Pear Delicata Squash Soup

I’m adding another fall recipe into the mix for Slow Cooking Thursday. I love everything about fall, the coolness at night, the leaves turning colors, and especially the lack of mosquitoes! Plus fall has a great abundance of veggies that are super tasty. I love winter squash, greens of all kinds, and root veggies.

Other than being obsessed with making paninis this week, I have been thinking about new soups to make. And yes, I have had a different panini for dinner every night this week. And I have friends coming over tonight for – you guessed it – paninis!

What are some of your fav veggie soups for fall? I’d love some new ones.

Slow Cooker Pear Delicata Squash Soup

• 1 delicata squash, peeled and cubed (you can use butternut squash if you can’t find a delicata)
• 2 pears, peeled and cored then cubed
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 cups vegetable stock (or filtered water with Vegetarian Better Than Bouillon no-chicken, or another vegetarian chicken-like bouillon cube)
• 1 Tb Port (or red wine)
• sprig of fresh thyme
• salt and pepper

Throw everything into the slow cooker and cook on low 6 – 10 hours. Remove the thyme spring and use a hand blender to puree everything together. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Top with sage pesto, or finely chopped pistachios.

Vegetaran Black Bean Burger Veggie Burrito Filling

Yes, I have been on a quick and easy kick lately. And you could use this filling on nachos, quesadillas, enchiladas, or even over rice. I used the Morningstar Farms Spicy Black Bean burgers because they were left over from our cook out last weekend. They are not vegan, but you could substitute another vegan burger and add some black beans and corn if you wanted to.

This is the week of hiding veggies for me, so if you don’t need to hide yours by all means use larger pieces of vegetables. All you’ll have to do is cook it longer.

Vegetaran Black Bean Burger Veggie Burrito Filling – serves 4

• 2 Spicy Black Bean patties
• 1 tomato minced
• 1 zucchini minced
• 1 small eggplant minced
• 1 handful mushrooms minced
• 1 handful collards minced
• 1 green pepper minced
• 1/2 onion minced
• big handful fresh cilantro minded
• 4 Tortillas preferably whole grain

In a non-stick pan cook onion until it’s translucent. Since everything is minced you’ll need to keep a closer eye on it and stir more often. Add green pepper, mushrooms, tomato, eggplant, collards, zucchini and cook until all veggies are softened. You may need to add a couple of Tbl. water and cover your pan if it’s taking longer than you want it to.

In a separate non-stick pan cook burgers and chop into crumbles with your spatula in the pan as it cooks. Add cooked burger crumbles and cilantro to the veggie mixture.

Most store bought tortillas will tear if you try to fold them unless they are warmed. You could warm them in the oven or microwave if you like. I usually warm theme by putting them one by one on top of the pan I have my heated filling in.

Fill the warmed tortillas with the mixture and fold into a burrito shape. Put the filling in the center and fold the tortilla in half. Next fold about an inch of both ends towards the middle, then roll it in half again.

After they are filled, I like to put them on a cookie sheet and bake them. They become a little liked their fried cousins the chimichanga.

Vegan Slow Cooker Veggie Mole Chili

It’s slow cooker Thursday!
See other great recipes at Diary of a SAHM

A great way to hide veggies from the haters! If you have a household of veggie lovers you don’t have to mince all the veggies, it’s just to allow them to disappear more in the chili.

Also if you don’t have any kidney beans, black or pintos would work too. You could also cook your beans in the slow cooker overnight to use in this recipe instead of canned.

Vegan Slow Cooker Veggie Mole Chili – serves 8

• 1 large (20 + oz) can of Trader Joe’s cooked kidney beans or 2 regular cans
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 yellow squash, minced
• 1 small eggplant, minced
• 1 handful kale or other greens chopped finely
• 1 handful mushrooms, minded
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I used one with lime and green chilies)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 t powdered chilies or cayenne – if you don’t like spicy foods start with less
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t orange rind, finely grated
• 1 Tbl. good cocoa powder or grate some unsweetened chocolate

Ok, put all of the above into your slow cooker. You may want to add about 1/2 cup filtered water if the mixture looks too dry. Remember that the veggies will put out some of their liquids as it cooks.

Cook on low for 8 – 10 hours.  try this as a filling in burritoes or enchiladas to hide the veggies even more.

I hope you enjoy it!

Vegan Polenta with grilled eggplant and heirloom tomato sauce

I decided to invite some people over this weekend and grill out. So that meant that we needed to get out the grill and do a trial run. This was pretty easy, though more time intensive since we use charcoal. But charcoal tastes so much better to me.

Polenta with grilled eggplant and heirloom tomato sauce – serves 2 as a main course

• 1 package trader Joe’s precooked polenta sliced thick (or your own made from scratch, chilled and cut into rectangles)
• 3 large tomatoes (I used Purple Cherokees from my garden!) – cut in half width-wise
• 1 small eggplant sliced thin
• 1 medium zucchini sliced thin
• Handful fresh basil chopped
• A couple of sprigs of fresh oregano
• 1 Tbl. tomato paste

Make sure your coals are hot, but not all flamey and get ready to grill! First we’re going to grill the tomatoes, so we can use them and make our sauce. Spray a little oil on the cut side of the tomatoes and place cut side down on the grill. You will cook this a couple of minutes until they are cooked through to almost the top end. Once you take them off the grill they will cook the rest of the way.

the veggies:

Mix the eggplant and zucchini slices with some salt and oil then put on the grill in singles layers.  You won’t need to cook these long, plus we want to achieve a meaty texture with these veggies. After they are cooked on both sides remove from grill and mince them. Sprinkle the slices with fresh ground pepper. Set aside for now.

the sauce:

1. Heat a non-stick pan
2. Scrape out the insides of the grilled tomato into a food processor with basil and oregano – puree
3. Pour into the hot pan
4. Add tomato paste
5. Cover partially, and cook over low heat until it thickens a bit.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste

the polenta:

Slice in thick slices, oil the surfaces that will be exposed to the grill, and grill on both sides until it is done enough for you.  Mine tried to let the grill cut into them, and I’m not quite sure why.  I just flipped them if they looked like they were starting to sink in.

put it all together:

Lay a few slices of polenta, cover with the eggplant/zucchini mixture, cover with your thickened sauce and a couple of small basil leaves.

I really liked the smokey flavor the grill gave the veggies. I’ll be making this again. It’s easy and looks impressive.

Vegetarian Slow Cooker Pumpkin White Bean Lasagna

Insanely easy. In fact people will think you made a gourmet lasagna from scratch. It takes about 15 minutes to put together in the morning. But it’s worth it to come home to a healthy tasty dinner that’s not your everyday lasagna.

This is a quick and dirty recipe, but if you have more time you can certainly cook your beans, marinara sauce, and pumpkin from scratch.

Vegetarian Slow Cooker Pumpkin White Bean Lasagna

• 1 15 oz. can cooked pumpkin (organic if possible)
• 16oz. ricotta (low fat) (substitute pureed tofu for a vegan option or use Pumpkin Tofu “Ricotta” – recipe below)
• 3/4 package of whole wheat lasagna (I got my at target – it cooks up really well)
• jar organic marinara sauce (I used Bertolli’s and it was really pretty good)
• 1 can cooked white beans (low or no salt is best, and organic if you can find it)
• Handful of sun dried tomatoes minced

You can skip oiling your slow cooker if you’re brave, but it would be best to put a spray or two of olive oil to make the clean up easier later on.

In one bowl mix the ricotta and the entire contents of pumpkin. It will look a little odd, but I promise you it tastes great!

You are going to need to break off the corners of one side on each piece of the lasagna noodles so that they fit snuggly in the crock pot. You can do this now, or as you go – which either one is easiest for you.

You will repeat the following layers until you get about 2 inches from the top of the slow cooker. You can make fewer thicker layers or more thin layers depending on your preference. I like lots of layers myself.

1. Spread thin layer of sauce covering the floor of the slow cooker
2. Put in a single layer of whole wheat lasagna noodles
3. Now spread some of the cheese pumpkin mixture
4. Spread another thin layer of sauce
5. Put on some of the white beans, trying to keep them spread out instead of clumps
6. Sprinkle some of the sun dried tomatoes on top of the beans

Repeat above ending with a last layer of lasagna noodles and top that with sauce.

Cook on low for about 8 hours. It’s ok to leave it longer if you need to.

If you want to top it with shredded mozzarella don’t do it now or it will cook hard and nasty on top. Instead, once the lasagna is ready to eat, top it with shredded cheese and put the whole slow cooker in the oven to melt it.

For a vegan version you can use this as a filling:

Pumpkin Tofu “Ricotta”

• 1 container tofu
  (soft or firm)
• 1 15 oz. can organic pumpkin
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  (optional, adds a more cheesy flavor)
• 1 Tb. Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. onion powder
  (or 1/2 tsp onion salt and leave out the extra salt)
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
  (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
• 1 Tb olive oil
• 3 sun dried tomatoes, re-hydrated
  (pour boiling water over them and let them sit for a few minutes)
• salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor blend the olive oil and sun dried tomatoes until you have a paste. (It’s ok if there are still some lumps in it). Add the rest of the ingredients, blend until creamy. Add a little water if you need to thin the mixture. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Spring Harvest Quesadilla

See, I told you I would really write this week! Even though I am a bit preoccupied with redoing my resume, I wouldn’t have time to write in my blog if I get a new job. Well, at least not during work hours… They love me here and pay me well, they just don’t have very much for me to do.

Last night I made a yummy clean out the fridge dish that was super quick and tasty too. As strange as it may seem, the recipe is for 1 quesadilla. My partner is anti-veggie and I have been pushing the veggies lately, so she got to have a plain cheese one which is her favorite. Plus I know that she’s going to eat more veggies than she can even comprehend as soon as I’m harvesting from my garden.

I was originally going to add some fresh corn in the mix, but I decided to make Veganomicon’s corn pudding with coconut milk. It was fabulous – you should make it if you haven’t already. Cheryl was crazy about it.

Spring Harvest Quesadilla

• 2 taco size low carb whole wheat tortillas (just cause they have less calories)
• Handful of shredded cheese of your choice (dairy or non-dairy) I used Kroger brand shredded quesadilla cheese. It has no hints about what kind of cheese it really is, so I’m pretending it is a nice queso.
• 1/2 shallot minced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 small or 1/2 medium zucchini cut into bite size pieces
• Big handful of rainbow chard cut into thin ribbons and chop the stems in small pieces
• 1/2 t cumin
• Pinch ground chili pepper (can use any kind you like – I have a blend from SEEDS at the farmers market)
• Salsa of your choice (my choice was salsa verde)

Heat a non-stick pan, then add shallot and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Then add zucchini, chard, and spices. Saute until the veggies are just the way you like them. I like my greens cooked well, so I added them before the zucchini.

Heat another non-stick pan if you are (like me) too lazy to clean out this pan. Put a tortilla on it and then spread your veggies evenly over the tortilla and cover with cheese and the second tortilla. Cook until browned on one side, flip and cook until brown on the other.

It will take less time on the second side, and even less time on the first side of the second quesadilla you cook. I’m not sure why this is true, but I always burn the first side of the second one.

This is a great fast meal. I served a can of Trader Joe’s Refried Black Beans and the corn pudding and it was yummy. It would be great with just a salad.

Vegan Chocolate Orange Mousse Recipe

The perfect summer dessert and easy too! I got the idea of making a mousse with silken tofu from 101 cookbooks’ Amaretto-spiked Chocolate Mousse Recipe. I changed it to fit my taste, I love chocolate with orange.

I found the amount of chocolate in her recipe to be a little rich for me. This time I used a whole dark chocolate bar that you would normally eat. Of course you can use any chocolate that you love!

Vegan Chocolate Orange Mousse - serves 4

• 1 box Mori-Nu, Tofu, silken extra firm
• 1 Dark Chocolate Bar sweetened (3.5 ounces or 100g) or about 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 Tbl. Maple Syrup – use more or less depending on how you would like it
• 2 Tbl. Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, or other orange liquor
• 1/4 t. vanilla
• optional 1/8 t. orange flavor or fresh grated orange rind

Break up chocolate in a double boiler (or non-stick pan, but you have to watch it closer) on low heat.

Put all other ingredients in the food processer and blend until creamy. You will need to stop and scrape the bowl a few times. This will insure that it will be smooth.

Once the chocolate is melted, add to the food processer and blend some more.

Put in a big bowl or individual serving glasses. Refrigerate for at lest 1 hour .

Serve and surprise your friends with the secret ingredient after they taste it.

Nutritional Info - does not include liquor or flavorings

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 170.6

• Total Fat: 8.0 g
• Cholesterol: 1.0 mg
• Sodium: 54.8 mg
• Total Carbs: 18.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.4 g
• Protein: 7.3 g

Vegetarian Fried Rice

You could make this a vegan recipe buy leaving out the eggs. You should be able to find some good ones at your market that are free range and haven’t been fed any antibiotics.

On the farm tour we went on a month or so ago, we saw some true free range chickens fertilizing the fields for the organic veggies that would be grown there later in the year. What a great way to recycle!

Vegetarian Fried Rice

Serves 2

• 2 cups long grain brown rice – use leftover rice cold from the fridge
• 2 heirloom carrots cut in small pieces (I used one burgundy and one yellow)
• Handful of fresh green beans, ends trimmed cut in small pieces
• 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper (I used red and green)
• 1/2 onion minced (sweet onion is always good)
• 1 clove garlic minced (or use 1 cube Trader Joe’s frozen garlic)
• 1t ginger minced
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 handful pea (frozen or fresh)
• 2 Tbl. soy sauce (low sodium)
• 1/2 cup veggie broth or filtered water
• optional: 3Tbl. soy ginger sauce (I used whole food’s brand)

In a large non-stick pan heat up a few Tbls of water and add onion once pan is hot. Once the onion are translucent add garlic and pepper cook for about 3 minutes more.

Then add carrots, green beans, ginger and the rest of the broth/water. Cover and let veggies steam over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

Uncover and let almost all of the water cook off, push veggies to form an outer circle around the pan. This is so you can cook the eggs in the middle.

Add eggs and keep stirring them until almost done. Some will get into the veggies, but don’t worry about that – you’re going to mix everything up in just a minute anyhow.

Add soy sauce (and soy ginger sauce if using) and mix the egg into the vegetables. Add the pre-made rice. Cook until rice is warm making sure all ingredients are mixed well.

I served with some grilled thai marinated tofu.

Calories		411.9
Total Fat		7.3 g
	Saturated Fat	2.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.6 g
Cholesterol		212.5 mg
Sodium		769.1 mg
Potassium		741.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate		71.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	10.7 g
	Sugars	6.1 g
Protein		17.0 g

Vegan Slow Cooker Lentil Chard Soup Recipe

It’s slow cooker Thursday!
See other great recipes at Diary of a SAHM

Adapted from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

I would have never put chard in this without her recipe!

Slow Cooker Vegan Lentil Soup – 4 large servings

• 1.5 cups uncooked Lentils
• 1 Onions chopped
• 3 cloves Garlic minced
• 2 Carrots cut into medium irregular chunks
• 6 cups water (filtered is best)
• 3 Tbl Veggie Broth Concentrate (I used chicken-less flavor by Better than Bullion)
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 large leaves of Swiss Chard cut into ribbons
• 2 Tb of fresh herbs

Turn your slow cooker on high and add onion and garlic while you get the other ingredients ready.
Cut carrots, add them and the lentils. Follow with the water and veggie broth concentrate. You could easily substitute real veggie broth for the water and leave out the concentrate. You could even use plain water and add some salt. Add oregano and bay leaf.

Set slow cooker on low and go away for about 8 hours.

Come home, and prepare the chard. Roll the leaves up and slice into thin ribbons. Mine were a little large and next time i would cut them in half as well.

Boil some water with a little salt in it and cook the chard for 5 minutes. This helps take any bitterness out, which is great for greens haters you are trying to convert. You could leave out this step and throw the chard in the slow cooker and cook until the chard is tender – probably 5 – 10 minutes.

Add boiled chard and a handful of fresh herbs that you have minced. I went to my herb pots and brought back bits of these: winter savory, marjoram, lime thyme, tarragon, and oregano. Cook for another 5 minutes and then dinner is ready! Salt and pepper to your taste.

Nutritional Info from Sparkpeople’s recipe calculator

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 224.6
• Total Fat: 0.7 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 342.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 40.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 14.7 g
• Protein: 15.5 g

Vegan Heirloom Carrot Salad with Seared Oyster Mushrooms

This was a yummy experiment. When I was looking up heirloom carrot recipes I came across Ms. Glaze’s Oyster Heirloom Carrot Salad with Warm Oyster Vinaigrette. I chose to make it vegetarian, and to substitute oyster mushrooms for the oysters, but that recipe was definitely my inspiration.

Heirloom Carrot Salad with Seared Oyster Mushrooms on Toast

2 servings

• 3 Heirloom carrots (1 purple, 1 yellow and 1 orange)
• 2 Handfuls lettuce (I used speckled lettuce)
• 1/2 Shallot (I used a fresh one – it is spring after all!)
• 2-3 Oyster mushrooms per person
• 3 T. Orange champagne vinegar (From Trader Joe’s)
• 2 – 3 T. Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• toast rounds (I used fresh 9 grain bread and cut out leaf shapes with cookie cutters.)

First wash the lettuce and spin or drain on paper towels, tear into small pieces and set aside. Use a vegetable peeler on the carrots to make long thin strips. Steam them lightly.

Mince the shallot and add the champagne orange vinegar to it in a cup. Use a whisk and begin whisking while slowly adding the olive oil to create the shallot vinaigrette. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat, once it’s hot add the oyster mushrooms, turn over with tongs or a fork about 1 minute once the mushrooms have started to brown. Brown on other side and set aside. (You can drain on a paper towel if you it absorbed too much of the oil.) While the mushrooms are searing, toast the bread in the oven or toaster. I used a cookie cutter to make a leaf shape before toasting the bread. You could use any shape, or cut the toast in triangles.

Toss the lightly steamed carrots in the shallot vinaigrette. On the serving plate put the torn lettuce, then layer the carrots on top. Layout toast pieces and put mushrooms on top of the toast. Pour leftover dressing over lettuce. Put freshly cracked pepper over everything and a light dusting of kosher salt.

Enjoy as an appetizer or light summer meal.