Scalloped Potatoes with White Beans, Veggies and Crispy Panko Topping.

I had a craving for more potatoes so I made this dish. I used to make it for Thanksgiving ages ago using butter, milk and cheese but it is easily adaptable for vegan diet.

Recipe

2 lbs small white, Yukon gold or russet potatoes, sliced

3 tb Earth Balance margarine

1 cup chopped red or yellow onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

3 tb flour

1-2 tsp mixed dried herbs  (Rosemary, sage and thyme)

1 tsp dried parsley

2 cups soymilk plain and unsweetened

1 head of broccoli, cut into bite size pieces 

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cups panko bread crumbs

Paprika

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with cooking oil spray.

Boil water in a large pot and cook potato slices until just tender. Drain and set aside.

Steam broccoli in a steamer or microwave for 3 minutes covered in a bowl with a little water added.

Heat 2 tb of the margarine in the same pot over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic and red bell peppers for 5 minutes.

Stir in the flour, herbs, salt, pepper and soymilk. Heat and stir until thick and bubbly.

Stir in white beans and broccoli. Then add potatoes and stir gently to coat with sauce. 

Pour it all into a baking dish.

Melt 1 tb margarine in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir the bread crumbs and margarine together. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of potatoes. Sprinkle paprika on top. 

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Cake and Soup.

Got home yesterday from work and really wanted cake. Made a quick chocolate cake with a cocoa glaze with nuts. Hit the spot!

For dinner, a white bean, cabbage, potato, rutabaga, carrot soup seasoned with summer savory.

So tasty!

For dinner yesterday I made the Spicy Chickpeas and Carrots from the River Cottage Veg cookbook. It has great flavors: cumin, garlic, orange zest, orange juice and smoked paprika.

For supper tonight we had a bunch of lovely things to nibble on. Salad, tomato bruschetta, white bean hummus, agave roasted cherry tomatoes (that I made yesterday) with fresh seeded baguette slices.

Arugula, cranberries, grilled zucchini, grilled mushrooms tossed in a light italian dressing.

Tomato bruschetta which is simply fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil, salt and pepper.

Popped open the Moroccan Olive Salad that I bought yesterday from World Market. This stuff is good! Green olives bathed in olive oil, tomato sauce and spices.

All served on seeded baguette slices. I love eating like this so much.

So tasty!

Flatbread sandwich, White bean ketchup curry and Mushroom rice.

My inspirations today are from my two current favorite cookbooks: Mary McCartney's FOOD and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg. The above sandwich I had at lunch is Mary's "hummus, avocado and chili jam sandwich" on a whole wheat flatbread instead of toasted whole grain. Very messy and very delicious.

Dinner was the ketchup curry from Hugh's book. He uses chickpeas but I was all out so I subbed white beans. It was a super easy 10 minute recipe that uses ketchup instead of tomatoes. Loved it. On the side, more flatbread and one-pot mushroom rice from Mary's book.

Mock Crab Cake Wrap, Cauliflower White Bean Dip

Yesterday's "crab" cakes made beautiful wraps for lunch today.


Also on the lunch menu: cauliflower white bean dip. This was adapted from the "Lower Fat Cauliflower Hummus" recipe from Veganomicon. I didn't have any chickpeas so I used white beans as a nice and creamy substitute.

White Bean and Kale Soup

I just had my last serving of Super Green Kale Soup that I made a few days ago. It was delicious and I went through it a lot quicker than I planned. So today I made another big pot of soup, this time a white bean, yam and kale soup. The recipe can be found online here. This soup is really flavorful with smoked paprika and curry powder and hearty from the beans and sweet yams. This should last me until the weekend, I hope!

Hey Giada, I veganized your soup!

I like to watch the Food Network pretty much because I'm obsessed with food. I know that most of these shows are very meat centric but every once and a while I'll watch a show that features a dish that I would love to make at home. I like Giada's Everyday Italian because she features hearty and simple Italian dishes with fresh flavors. She does make a lot of meat but there are several dishes that can be veggie-fied. This weekend she made a beautiful Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup which looked so creamy and delicious. And it was totally veganizable. (Is that a word?) Here is my adapted version, suitable for animal free diets! Mine features added cauliflower because I wanted to add a vegetable element. Worked wonderfully and gave it a nice flavor!

Giada's Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup Veganized

2 TB Earth Balance margarine
1 TB olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 sage leaf (I didn't have this so I crumbled in a pinch of dried sage leaves)
2 (15-ounce) cans cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups steamed cauliflower florets, chopped (optional)
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cloves garlic, cut in half
1/2 cup plain soymilk
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste


Place a medium, heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the Earth Balance, olive oil, and shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sage and beans (and/or steamed cauliflower) and stir to combine. Add the stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the garlic and simmer until the garlic is softened, about 10 minutes. Pour the soup into a large bowl. Carefully ladle 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Be careful to hold the top of the blender tightly, as hot liquids expand when they are blended. Pour the blended soup back into the soup pan. Puree the remaining soup. Once all the soup is blended and back in the soup pan, add the soymilk and the pepper and salt to taste. Keep warm, covered, over very low heat.

Edit: This soup also tastes good with a squirt of lemon!