Hummus Sandwich & Whole Wheat Carrot Cake.

Simple dinner for me last night. Homemade hummus on toasted pita bread with cucumber and harissa.

Made a carrot cake when I got home today. I just needed it. Mondays you know...

I cut myself a slice after dinner and my husband brought me a fresh cup of coffee. Was delicious. I used white whole wheat instead of all purpose white flour so it was a heartier cake but still very moist.

Eggplant Bean Stew Burgers!

I had a brainwave at work while eating leftover stew for lunch (pictured above). It had such great flavors of cumin and fennel that I thought it would taste good mashed up as a burger. As soon as I got home, I got to work.

I had about 3 cups of stew leftover which had gotten nice and thick in the fridge overnight. I put it into a big bowl and mashed it up real well. Then I added about 1/2 cup of ground almonds and sunflower seeds that I whizzed up real quick in the blender. Then about 2 cups of whole wheat bread crumbs, a handful of oats and some spices (chipotle chili powder, mesquite and more cumin, salt, pepper). I shaped them into patties and baked in a 375 F oven for 30 minutes, flipping halfway.

I served them with a topping of harissa mayo (just Vegenaise mixed with harissa, which is a Moroccan chili sauce), grilled onions and mushrooms. YUMMY!

Moroccan Lentil Stew and Homemade Harissa

I love to throw stuff in a pot and call it dinner. This is what happened tonight after a long day at work. I've made this before using this recipe, but this time I took some liberties and used red instead of brown lentils, and added other veggies like corn and zucchini. On top there is a blob of North African style chili paste, also known as "harissa". I love to eat this stew on top of rice. Lentils and rice. You can't go wrong.


I must have been anticipating a Moroccan/North African flavor because I made the harissa over the weekend. I used New Mexico and Japones dried chilies, LOTS of garlic, mint, coriander, caraway, cumin and olive oil. It is SO FREAKING GOOD.

Harissa Spaghetti with Spinach, Mushrooms and Chickpeas

I am so in love with the homemade harissa that I made. I want to use it in everything! Luckily I know about this delicious spaghetti recipe that combines the wonderful flavors of spicy harissa, tomato and saffron. It is also cooked in a broth so there is so much flavor! Recipe here.

Moroccan Lentil Stew (again!)

I made Moroccan Lentil Stew again and served it on top of rice for a change. It is so comforting and so good! I added a tsp. or so of ras el hanout to make it more Moroccan, haha! That's a blob of fiery homemade harissa on top. I can't wait to have leftovers tomorrow! Recipe here.

I'm going to repost this recipe here in case you have trouble with the link. Recipe taken from americanheart.org

Moroccan Lentil Stew
Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped Spanish or other mild onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
28-ounce can no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, undrained
8 ounces red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup lentils, sorted for stones or shriveled lentils and rinsed
1 medium carrot, chopped
Low-sodium vegetable broth or water (as needed)
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, snipped or chopped
Cooking Instructions

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Pour the oil into the pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Cook the onion for 3 to 4 minutes, or until translucent, stirring frequently.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir in the cumin, curry powder, and cayenne; cook for 30 seconds to release flavor. Stir in the tomatoes, potatoes, broth, lentils, and carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the lentils are tender, stirring occasionally and adding more broth or water if needed to keep from sticking. Stir in the peas; simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley.

Cook's Tip
If lentils have been stored for an extended time, they may take up to 1 hour of cooking time to become tender.

Nutrition Analysis (per serving)
255Calories
3.0 gTotal Fat
0.5 gSaturated Fat
0.0 gTrans Fat
0.5 gPolyunsaturated Fat
2.0 gMonounsaturated Fat
0 mgCholesterol
88 mgSodium
46 gCarbohydrates
12 gFiber
12 gSugar
13 gProtein
Dietary Exchanges
2 starch, 3 vegetable, 1 very lean meat

Moroccan Lentil Stew

I've been in a Moroccan state of mind recently. My blog picture up top is now a bowl of chickpea tagine. I've been looking at all my Moroccan picture books and recipe books and visiting my favorite lifestyle blog My Marrakesh several times a day, just to stare and stare at beautiful photographs and yes, to dream. One day I will make a trip to this beautiful, exotic desert paradise to soak up the local culture and lounge in beautiful courtyards while drinking mint tea. Hopefully I'll get the chance to stay at this luxurious guest house.

I made this Moroccan inspired lentil stew for dinner tonight. What could be better than coming home from a long day at work and getting to eat a warm and comforting bowl of this stew? I added some authentic Moroccan spice to my stew: ras el hanout which means "head of the shop". Its a blend of many spices and to be honest I'm not sure what spices are in the blend that I bought! I also wanted to use the homemade harissa I made on Sunday. I took a photo of the stew but I haven't eaten yet. I will wait until I come home from work. Hope everyone has a great day.


Looking forward to a bowl of this with a dollop of harissa on top.
Recipe here.

Homemade Harissa

Happy Mother's Day! My mom took a shift at work today so she won't be off untill dinnertime when we will order her a pizza. Her request! She's not a fussy lady, she likes everything simple. Pizza is her favorite treat and that's what she'll have. Since I didn't have to cook for her or the family today, I had time to experiment in the kitchen. I was flipping through "The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook" today and came across a harissa recipe. Harissa is a North African chili paste that is fiery hot and flavored with things like cumin, coriander, caraway and mint. I had all the ingredients so I decided to make a jar for the fridge.


Here are all the ingredients: olive oil, red chilies which had been soaking in hot water for an hour, garlic and spices: mint, coriander, caraway and cumin. All of this gets thrown in a food processor.


I guess it depends on what kind of chilies you use to determine what the color will be. Mine was a bright orangey red and I used de arbol chilies.


I filled a little jar which had been washed in hot soapy water and dried in an oven for 20 minutes. It's kind of cool that I made my own. It cost me pennies and it'll last for about 6 months. Now I have this spicy condiment to use with dishes like couscous, soups, Moroccan stews, bean salads and pastas. Here's a good pasta recipe that uses harissa.

Spaghetti with Spinach and Mushrooms + Strawberry-Mango Crumble

I made this pasta recipe the first year I went vegan. I had just subscribed to Vegetarian Times magazine and I was exploring and trying recipes from various issues. That was about 2 1/2 years ago so I thought I'd come back and make this dish again. This recipe requires baking the dry spaghetti in the oven for a while to toast them which creates a nutty flavor. The toasted spaghetti is then cooked in a broth flavored with mushrooms, tomato paste and harissa (a North African red chili paste) and allowed to plump up which creates a rich and silky texture. The mushroom flavored broth with the kick of spice from the chili made it taste similar to asian style noodles. Very comfort foody.


Not the best picture, I was too anxious to start eating! I served it with fresh slices of ciabatta bread.

I also made a strawberry mango crumble for dessert. Behold...



I veganized this recipe which simply required substituting Earth Balance margarine for butter. Otherwise it was all as written. I did switch out rhubarb for strawberries, I kind of think they have a similar tarty sweetness, don't you?


Not pictured but I had this with a scoop of vanilla non dairy ice cream. It was perfect. So glad I made this!

Moroccan Tagine of Chickpeas

I got this recipe from a cookbook I just bought called 'Food of Morocco'. It has mostly meat recipes but a few were vegetarian or vegan. The Tagine of Chickpeas recipe was completely vegan to my delight. This stew is beautifully flavored with a medley of spices: paprika, turmeric, cumin, ginger, cinnamon and harissa (a North African red chili paste) and is bathed in a rich tomato sauce. I didn't feel like couscous tonight and I don't know where to get Moroccan bread, so I enjoyed it with a loaf of Iranian Barbari bread (wheat flour, water, yeast, salt) that I picked up from Payless Produce on the way home from work today.

VeganMoFo: I Heart Olives.

Whenever I go to Whole Foods Market, I like to stroll by the fresh olive bar and just feast with my eyes and nose. They've got a serious variety of mouthwatering olives, some stuffed, some unstuffed, in black, purple, green, brown... They are beautiful. But unfortunately in this time of financial concern, they are way too expensive, like $13245677 a pound. No, not really but still way more than I can afford for a tiny container of olives. I've bought some before here and there in the past and they were divine but haven't lately because of the price tag.

The only olives I cook with are the really bland California black olives or jarred green olives and now that I think about it, that's kind of sad. And I don't really eat those out of hand because they don't offer that much in flavor. I was flipping through my new favorite cookbook, 'Olive Trees and Honey' and I found a section on marinated olives. I had a large jar of plain green spanish olives in my pantry and decided to use them to make these Moroccan Fiery Marinated Olives or Zeitoom al Had as they are called in Arabic. Wow, these are hot and so flavorful! They are cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, cumin, lemon slices and harissa and then left to cool. These would have been great as part of the meze last night.