Category Archives: dinner

Spicy Chickpea Carrot Soup

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What’s more comforting than a bowl of soup? How about some spicy soup? You can decide how spicy, onion-y, and garlicky you want to make this. For diced tomatoes, I used fire roasted with green chiles from Muir Glen. This recipe is all up to your own taste. Also, I prefer to use a neutral veg stock/broth because some brands are “too vegetable-y”. (IYKYK.) Use a hand blender to smooth out, or you can use a blender. (I use a hand blender). These are the ingredients:

Ingredients

  • 2 cans chickpeas, rinsed, drained
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes (either spicy or regular)
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, chopped (you can roast them first too!)
  • 1-2 TB garlic
  • olive oil
  • 1 carton of veg broth (I like Swanson’s veg broth)
  • a little lime juice and zest to taste
  • corriander, to taste
  • cumin, to taste
  • crushed red pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a Dutch oven or stock pot, sauté onion, garlic, carrots in olive oil, medium heat until softened. Add the diced tomatoes, cover and cook until some of the liquid has cooked out and the tomatoes have cooked down (10-15 min, depending on your stove). Add the 2 cans of chickpeas and the spices, lime juice and zest too. Again, all are to your own tastes. I like it medium spicy, not too many onions or garlic. Stir and let simmer for 20 minutes. Then, take out your hand blender, use until the soup is well blended and smooth. There, you’re finished. Now go enjoy your soup.

Spicy Peanut Sauce

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Lately, I’ve been making a lot of brown rice and mixed (frozen) vegetables because it’s a quick dinner. I got tired of just adding Bragg’s so I made a quick spicy peanut sauce. You don’t really need that much on a couple servings of rice and veg, so you can adjust and make more for noodles or whatever else. You can also thin it out more, which is what I did. I think it’d be a nice veggie dip alternative to say, plant-based (or regular) Ranch dressing.

Ingredients

  • 1/4C natural peanut butter
  • 1/2C boiling water
  • 1 tsp agave
  • 2-3 tsp of hot sauce (or more!)
  • dash of crushed red pepper flakes
  • dash of Bragg’s (or soy or Tamari sauce)

Put peanut butter and condiments in a small bowl, then slowly add boiling water. I whip it up with a fork rather than a spoon. Get it to the consistency you desire and adjust the spice level. Drizzle over rice and vegetables. A little goes a long way!

Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad

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I used to hate Brussels sprouts as a child. Up until about 10 years ago I realized what I’d been missing and really love them now. I usually roast my Brussels sprouts but this is a nice change. It’s crisp and light and works as a good side dish for dinners or as a main for lunches. It’s pretty adaptable as well. Don’t like chickpeas? You can omit them. Like red onion? Add some thin slices. Don’t have pumpkin seeds? No problem. I think toasted hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans would work too. I will say that toasting the pumpkins seeds adds a different flavor than just raw seeds. I switched it up a little this time and used Newman’s Own Light Italian salad dressing (I usually use oil and white wine vinegar). Add what you feel is right but don’t over-saturate the salad. No one likes soppy salad.

  • 1 bag of Brussels sprouts, washed trimmed, thinly sliced
  • 3-4 carrots, sliced
  • 1 can of chickpeas
  • 1/2C toasted pumpkin seeds
  • Newman’s salad dressing

Add all ingredients in a large bowl. This makes enough for probably 3-4 people. Or, will be enough for several meals if it’s just you. It lasted me about 3 days.

raw brussels sprouts salad with carrots and chickpeas
Raw Brussels sprouts salad

Raw Cauliflower Salad

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This salad has everything: raw cauliflower, jarred artichoke hearts, pepperoncini, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, vegan mozzarella, and raw pumpkin seeds!

But, perhaps you’re not a fan of cauliflower. That’s ok. Not everyone likes cruciferous vegetables. If that’s the case, you can just be polite, nod your head and say, ‘No thank you’ like (hopefully) your parents or grandparents taught you. This recipe makes a LOT. Serves 4-6 easily as a side dish. Though, I’ve eaten it as a main dish with a slice of bread and a glass of wine for dinner when I don’t feel like cooking.

  • 1 head of cauliflower, washed, trimmed, and cut into bit size pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2C pepperoncini peppers
  • 1/2C kalamata olives, diced, or whole if you prefer!
  • 1/4C raw pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2C vegan mozz
  • handful of grape tomatoes (optional)

Dressing:

For the dressing I just used some of the liquid from the jar of pepperoncini and a little bit of olive oil. I’ve also used white wine vinegar and oil in another version. You can also omit the oil altogether. I like the punch that the juice from the jarred peppers gives this salad.

Assemble!

Add all ingredients in a large bowl then add the dressing. This is such a nice and crunchy salad to have for lunch or even dinner. It makes a LOT. Enjoy!

Cauliflower salad

Bitchin’ Potato Salad

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Did I need to make another post about potato salad? Yes, I did because I changed up the dressing! I am now a HUGE fan of Bitchin Sauce. Primarily the Chipotle flavor, which I used here in this iteration of potato salad. I mean, this stuff is dangerous, in that I could eat the entire 8oz tub of sauce. (okay, that would probably be a terrible idea). This recipe is basically the same except for a few minor adjustments. Enjoy!

Salad:

  • 2 medium russet potatoes, washed, skin on
  • 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
  • 2-3 dill pickle spears, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped

Dressing:

(you can eyeball this. I estimated measurements):

  • 1/4C of mayo (or, as I “measured” it, several squirts from the bottle)
  • 4TB Bitching Chipotle Sauce
  • 1 glug of canola oil

Directions:

Wash/scrub potatoes and dice them into bite size pieces, add to large, glass bowl and cover them with water. Cover the bowl with a piece of wax paper and cook in microwave for about 10 min. My microwave has a “potato” setting, so I used that and selected “2 potatoes” which was about 8 minutes. I added a couple extra minutes to that. You can figure out the done-ness of the potatoes by piercing with a knife.

Once cooked, drain potatoes in a colander and run under cold water for a brief moment. Let them cool. Once cooled, add the chopped red pepper, pickles, and celery to the same bowl. Now, let’s make the dressing.

In a small bowl, add mayo, Bitchin’ Sauce and oil, mix with a fork or a tiny whisk. Throw in some crushed red pepper too. Taste it to see if the measurements are okay, if not, adjust according to your tastes. Add dressing to the vegetables. Stir it up so everything is coated. Do you need more dressing? Well, make a little more! I don’t like “soupy” potato salad. I like everything just coated.

chipotle Bitchin' Sauce potato salad in glass bowl
Bitchin!